Edit: I should mention that Mei has seen a nerf since this thread was created! This is the nerf in question:
She should be easier to defeat now as you won’t be locked down as frequently or slowed as much by her primary fire on contact! 
Now, back to your regularly scheduled anti-Mei advice thread…
I’m sick of seeing “Mei is op plz nerf” threads. Competence needs a buff. I’m opening this thread so that players can reference what does work against Mei. My hope is to provide not only a bit of dichotomy to the forums, but also a reference point of positivity and edification when considering this hot topic.
Please list any hero pairs, combos, or abilities that make it easier to defeat Mei! I’ll start:
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As a general first piece of advice, don’t try to 1v1 Mei. Mei thrives in duels and has a hard time playing against multiple opponents. She can’t kill everyone simultaneously! And almost every hero in Overwatch is weak to 2v1, 3v1, or more.
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Pharah outranges Mei. If you can force the opposing Mei to swap off of Mei, that’s a technical win. If she doesn’t switch, have fun farming her! Consider using Concussive blast to knock her away from targets she wants to freeze. If you’re on the ground, expect to get frozen. Barrage annihilates ice walls and everything behind them. Blow up the walls!
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Ashe does stupid amounts of damage to Mei, can outrange her with ease, displace her with Coach Gun, and force out Cryo by using Dynamite. Bob also requires Mei’s full attention or an ice wall as a response. Bob lasts longer than ice wall too. While Mei’s distracted, flank her then shoot her in the face!
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Genji doesn’t work against Mei. Don’t use Genji.
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Reaper is one of the few heroes who can go toe to toe with Mei. Fight her on your terms and skill shall prevail! This is a fair fight. Use wraith form if you need to, and try not to get outplayed. Aim center mass because Mei is THICC
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Soldier works well against Mei. He can safely poke her from range, and burst fire should result in a swift death. Mei players who panic with cryo will usually follow up with an ice wall, so don’t waste your rockets. Use Biotic field to save a teammate who’s being frozen. Don’t sprint away if she’s already freezing you. Stand and fight and you might win. Drop a biotic field if you’re being frozen. If you did and you still die, maybe it’ll still provide some value to your team. Tactical visor forces Mei to use cooldowns. Just try not to get walled off the moment you ult. That, or just wait to use Visor until after you see an ice wall expire. SHOOT THE ICE WALL!
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Bastion resists Mei’s ability to freeze and one-shot heroes, but I wouldn’t call him a specific Mei counter. Recon mode is good for gunning down mei, and Sentry mode rips apart ice walls. Tank mode can also force Mei to use cryo-freeze, and two tank mode shots will blow up an ice pillar. Mei is also effective against Bastion. Use your head. TANK mode has no known critical hitbox. Use this to your advantage.
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Sombra is extremely effective against Mei. Mei’s THICC body is vulnerable to bullet spread, and Sombra can outrange Mei’s primary fire and still deal considerable damage. If you hack Mei, she’s already dead. Be sure to announce when you’re hacking Mei, and try to hack her from an angle that she isn’t expecting or looking at. If your hack is interrupted by damage, it will be a forced 2 second cooldown before you can try again. Use EMP to counter blizzard. You might not stop Snowball, but you will make it more difficult for her team to follow up. DO NOT EMP ICE WALLS. THEY ARE NOT BARRIERS and will not be destroyed. Just shoot the wall. Trans locating resets your freeze/slow ticks. Use this to your advantage.
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Tracer can be pretty effective against Mei, but Tracer is a glass cannon. Tracer recently got a range buff (damage falloff begins at 13m) so you can safely engage targets from a surprisingly long distance. Use blinks to dodge icicles and maneuver around Mei. Use recall if you’re about to be frozen and then retreat if you must. Use sticky bombs against Mei while she is in Cryo to ensure her death. Be sure to stick just before Cryo ends and she will have no escape. Tracer is a glass cannon hero, so make sure not to get shot in the face by an icicle. That’s an OHKO.
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McCree works pretty well against Mei, but I suck at McCree. Use Hitscan fundamentals like outranging your opponent, using flashbang + FTH to force Cryo or to punish Mei for misusing Cryo once she emerges from it. Don’t get walled off while using High Noon, but remember that High Noon will force Mei to use her cooldowns. Anyone got McCree tips for fighting Mei?
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Wrecking ball does not work against Mei no matter how good you are or how well you think you can kite her. All she needs to do is press and hold M1 or R2 or Right Trigger or ZR to outplay you. Ice walls will mess up your grapples. JUST SWITCH OFF OF BALL, even if you have ultimate. In fact, deploy a minefield while you roll back to spawn and swap to a better tank option.
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Zarya’s iconic bubbles will save yourself or teammates who are being slowed or are already frozen. Use personal bubbles just as you are about to be frozen for maximum effect so you will have the largest window of opportunity to outplay her. Bubbling a frozen support is the best way to earn yourself a 5 minute pocket. Bubble any hero being frozen if they are surrounded or have less than 500 hp and are 1v1ing a Mei. Don’t be afraid to use the “get down, Mr. President!” move and jump in front of a teammate while using your personal bubble. You can save a life like this and turn a 1v1 into a 2v1. Use lasers to melt ice walls. Primary and secondary fire are both great options against Mei, especially with high charge. If she uses cryo, back up. I think Zarya’s laser outranges Mei’s ice beam, and I know secondary fire works well against mei from any range. There is no reason to put yourself in a bad position against Mei. Grav will force Mei to use cooldowns, but it is not a guaranteed kill against her.
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Orisa was pretty great before she got hella nerfs, but the principles remain the same: gun down Mei from a distance, use Halt to keep her at bay, use Fortify when you’re about to be frozen, and keep a shield between the two of you. Stand your ground and fight! Invest a supercharger if you need to. Orisa is one of the best options to contest Mei, but her shield is paper thin on an extremely long cooldown. Fortify will not stop teammates behind you from getting frozen, but body blocking is what you must do as a tank sometimes.
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Winston can make Mei’s job pretty difficult. Her icicles don’t have enough DPS to destroy a Winston bubble before it naturally expires, and bubble provides huge coverage from frost beam. Be ready to jump away if you’re being frozen, and don’t leap onto Mei without any backup! Winston’s Tesla cannon deals consistent damage and can force Mei to use Cryo before she wants to. Use Primal Rage to bully Mei and knock her away from targets she wants to freeze. If you are frozen, it might be a death sentence. No risk, no reward!
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Roadhog can work against Mei. Her THICC body is susceptible to roadhog’s gun, and Roadhog has enough HP to win a fight against Mei. I don’t recommend 1v1ing a Mei under any circumstances, but Roadhog might do it better than some. Use the hook combo to cripple her and force out cryo-freeze if you don’t confirm the kill. Try to pre-fire a secondary shot before you hook her. Better yet, hook Mei after she emerges from cryo to ensure a swift demise. WHOLE HOG WILL OBLITERATE ICE WALLS AND KNOCK MEI OUT OF HER EFFECTIVE RANGE! Use this to your advantage. Roadhog is one of the best heroes for destroying ice walls. Shoot the damn wall! Don’t vape before or as you’re being frozen, otherwise you might get frozen mid-vape. Vape after you’ve been frozen to receive its full effects. note: players have been commenting that hog doesn’t work that well against Mei. Use at your own risk. Maybe I just die a lot to hog.ok I get it hog apparently hog feeds Mei like Genji. I see hog in 1/3 of my games though, and I don’t see any of y’all making strategy threads. If you opt to use hog, try your best and shoot the wall. Consider this bulletpoint advice for if you wanna force hog. -
Baptiste is an excellent option when fighting Mei. Both heroes have options in their kits to outplay one another though, so don’t consider Baptiste a hard counter to Mei or vice versa. They check one another more so than counter one another. Baptiste’s gun is extremely effective against Mei and will most likely force her to use cryo-freeze before she wants to. Balance dealing damage to Mei and healing your team so they won’t die to her headshots. Use immortality field to deny Mei a kill against a frozen target. It will make your allies happy and frustrate the Mei player who will likely target you next. Gun her down while she’s seeing red. Baptiste’s splash healing, especially when combined with fist pump, can outheal Mei’s dps if she’s not getting consistent headshots (or being damage boosted), but don’t think you can heal all of your problems away. Fist pump + healing grenades as an ally is frozen should save them from death. Shoot ice walls to help destroy them faster, or use exo boots to jump over the wall entirely and ignore it. Jump over ice walls and throw down a clutch Immortality Field to save a teammate who has been separated from the rest of you. ICE WALL WILL FREEZE IMMORTALITY FIELD AND STOP IT FROM WORKING IF THE ICE WALL IS BUILT UNDERNEATH THE LAMP! I have used this technique frequently when I don’t have time to shoot the 3 icicles required to destroy the lamp. Be wary of ice walls and think for a second before you YEET your lamp. You don’t have to make a bazillion calculations, but remember that lamp only has 200 HP and it can be outplayed. If she uses Blizzard and you’re within its range, just blow all your cooldowns because she will likely come for you first. You could also consider shooting her while you get frozen. Keep your distance. If Mei closes the gap, you’re probably going to die.
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Brigitte is pretty effective against Mei too! Overheal is the name of the game here, and ensuring that your squishy allies remain above 200 HP will deny A LOT of Mei’s value. See someone getting frozen? Repair pack! See an ally starting a fight against Mei? Repair pack! Did you just hear the enemy Mei’s Blizzard voice line? Repair packs! Make like Oprah and give some to everybody! Use whip shot to knock Mei away from frozen enemies because most Mei players will stand still to line up their shot. Use Shield Bash as Mei is freezing a target or after a target has already been frozen to interrupt her and maybe deny the kill. While Mei is stunned, apply a Repair Pack to your helpless teammate. Try to time your repair packs to keep your allies above 180 HP as much as possible because this is the combined total damage of an icicle and a fist to the face. If Mei is closing in on you, USE RALLY! Rally has instant activation and if you’re above 130 HP when you use it, she can’t finish you off with a headshot because you will be gaining armor faster than she can charge up an icicle. This will give you time to fight back. Similarly, use Rally + an armor pack to save teammates from certain doom. Armor up your team before the fight starts (as the enemy is approaching) or as it’s beginning so that your team won’t fall victim to a lucky freeze combo while your attention is elsewhere. If you’re caught in a blizzard with allies, try rally. You might not save everyone, but you just might. It requires a combination of shield play and whip shots to keep Mei at bay and win a fight, but remember that your barrier will be down after only 3 icicles so work quickly. Even though Mei vs Brigitte is a somewhat fair fight, resist the urge to YOLO and 1v1 the mei. Exercise discipline and call for backup. Look for any opportunity to turn a 1v1 into a 2v1 to improve your odds of success. Shield bash Mei after she emerges from cryo-freeze in order to ensure her death. Your team should be surrounding her as she uses Cryo for maximum effect. Don’t whip her away as soon as she emerges from Cryo or she will use Ice wall and escape. Use third person camera with shield up to “peek” around Ice walls before you blindly charge around them. Brigitte only has 58 DPS, but you can still apply cleave damage to ice walls. It’s better than nothing!
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Lucio is a decent option against Mei, so long as you can stay out of range of her ice beams. Look for opportunities to save your team by knocking Mei out of the way of frozen targets or using Amp it Up! Amped heals will save yourself as you are being frozen, and will likely save any teammate being frozen as well. Amped speed can help your team evade her attacks, or enable a sprinting soldier to successfully reposition while being slowed. I have personally seen allies escape being slowed with a well timed speed amp, and live to fight back and enact revenge. If you are being frozen, you must choose: Do I amp speed or amp heals? You only get one amp, one chance to save yourself, but if you can get away, you can take high ground to heal and re-engage. If you get caught in a blizzard, accept your fate. I have wasted many a sound barrier in an attempt to resist Blizzard because a smart Mei will combo Blizzard with primary fire to freeze Lucio faster. If you witness Blizzard affecting your team and you are not within its range, go ahead and use a Sound Barrier to save some lives. Try to keep the speed on so your team can out-maneuver Mei because it is not your job to directly contest her. Wall ride out of her range, use primary fire to apply additional damage from a distance, and look for opportunities to BOOP her. If Mei wants you dead, she will chase you down. Is a beat drop necessary to save a frozen tank or secondary support? Sometimes. Use amped speed to help your team escape Blizzard. I can’t really think of anything else to say on this one.
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Zenyatta can be surprisingly useful when fighting Mei! Discord orb will surprise lots of Mei players and they might die before they can cryo, or waste cryo to get rid of discord. It will also clearly mark the mei for death. Communicate to your team so they can all pile on damage to eliminate her quickly. Harmony orb might save a target that’s being frozen, but they will most likely have marginal health after the fact. Transcendence is great against blizzard, but baby D.Va and Tracer will still die from one icicle to the face. Keep your distance, because if she closes the gap you’re not likely to make it out alive. Spam volleys in her direction and you might force cryo or kill her outright! A fully charged orb volley will deal 240 damage without boosts or headshots. This is more than half the damage required to destroy an ice wall pillar. Shoot the walls! Charging up the volley to unleash as the wall expires is also a viable gamble!
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Widowmaker completely outranges Mei, so it should be an easy fight for you. Do what you must. Look for opportunities to score easy headshots. Body shots will force Mei to use cryo freeze before she wants to. You can then line up the headshot for when she emerges! Some Mei players will try to wall you off. If they put a wall in your face, you could try going for a sexy grapple shot. What could go wrong? Grappling the ground for a surprise headshot is also pretty effective. You can also place venom mines at the feet of a Mei using cryo-freeze to apply additional damage once she emerges. Don’t be afraid to shoot the wall because you should have another shot charged up by the time the wall is destroyed or naturally expires. Ice walls lasts for roughly 5 seconds if left untouched. Use wallhax to see what’s lurking behind the nearest ice wall or to simply line up your next headshot or body shot!
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Hanzo is a beast with his overloaded kit, and is a great mei counter. His ability to deal large amounts of burst damage means that you should have no trouble destroying ice walls or Mei herself. If she walls you off, climb up the wall and let loose an arrow to deter threats and hopefully get a kill. Ice walls are instant high ground for you! If she walls off your team, do anything in your power to destroy the wall so your healers can heal through it and you can shoot through it. Use recon arrows to find out where Mei is so your team isn’t met with a nasty surprise. If Mei uses cryo freeze, nock an arrow so that you can deal instant damage when she emerges. Most Mei players will ice wall as soon as cryo freeze ends, so climb up that wall and use Storm Arrows to finish her off! If Mei closes the distance, keep your distance with Leap and use storm arrows to kill her or force her to use cryo when she doesn’t want to. You shouldn’t be caught in a blizzard, but if you are you could try leaping to get out of it and using dragon strike to deter threats. If your tank is walled off, consider using Dragonstrike through the wall to deter the enemy from collapsing on your separated ally. No guarantees. Do what you must. Keep your distance.
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I’ve heard that Junkrat is pretty effective against Mei, but I don’t play a lot of junkrat. Anyone got some tips?
This is all I can think of for now. Another piece of advice? SHOOT THE DAMN ICE WALLS!
Edit: typos, and added a note about hog due to feedback.
Big edit: I meant to edit this in the other night, but here goes: Since a lot of players seem to be getting hung up on the fact that the OP did not include specific hero combos (despite the 2nd paragraph asking for them), or meta analysis, and instead focused more on individual strategy and advice on how to outplay Mei, allow me to include some advice given to me by a ~3.8k Mei main (for multiple seasons) who peaked at 4K. He duos with a brig player if that means anything to ya.
It’s paraphrased, but that’s the gist of what he said.
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Read on to find posts mentioning advice for heroes like Junkrat, Symmetra, and Doomfist, all of whom can also work well against Mei! There’s also some discussion regarding her hitbox, teamwork, getting walled off, and focus fire!
you might also see me systematically roasted for mentioning hog 
