With 2-2-2 is on the way, it is inevitable that you one of your team’s DPS role slots will be filled with a Mei.
I’ve written a collection of suggestions to help people think about how they can see Mei as an asset during their matches. And no, she shouldn’t be picked in every round and doesn’t fit every situation. Even with the suggestions below, you honestly shouldn’t spend all your time worried helping your Mei either.
I’ve written short lists to begin, and then went into more details further down. Hopefully there are some decent points, tips, or thoughts sprinkled in this madness. I look forward to reading comments and any other ideas you have about how to work with Mei.
General:
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Try not to move Mei’s current target.
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Wait to Stun/Sleep/Pull.
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Watch for Mei to isolate enemies.
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Use Mei’s cryofreeze iceblock as a last ditch hiding spot.
Tanks:
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Shield Mei from the cold
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Get into position
Healers:
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Know when to fully heal Mei.
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Be prepared to heal Mei after cryofreeze.
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Use Mei to help with pesky divers.
MORE DETAILS:
What I’ve written here is for the people who know that eventually, they will be paired with a Mei. So when that happens, those who want to do their best to win with her support, I’ve made some suggestions. Yes, some are more practical than others. Hopefully I left this open enough because my intentions here are to just to get people thinking about how to adapt their playstyle to gain a benefit from having a Mei on their team.
I’m not saying that Mei player shouldn’t do the same, by adapting or swapping when needed to help her team as well. I’m just leaving this here to maybe help teammates work out how to synergize better with Mei when she is actually picked.
General:
- “(Don’t) Boop” Try not to move Mei’s current target.
Sometimes, it is a natural reaction to to push whatever target is in front of you away. Doing so might lower your team’s chances for a critical kill. It hurts when Mei is waiting for that icicle to finally fire off after she has pulled the trigger, only to watch her target’s juicy frozen head and body zip across the room.
Really, this applies to any ability or action that moves the target that Mei is focusing on (they keep adding more and more and more of these…). There are obvious abilities like Lucio’s Sonic Amplifier’s push ability but there are also less obvious ones. D.Va And Hammond’s “bumps” are top offenders in my matches. When Mei is freezing a target, either by directly freezing with her attack or with her ultimate, try to fight the urge to move the target. I do get it though, diving forward into a crowd or at a target can’t always be helped.
Oh, and if there is a hero that can climb or has a chance to escape being dropped into an environmental hazard, it might be better to do quick direct damage instead of going for that tasty “frozen ledge BOOP!”
- “Wait for it…” Wait to Stun/Sleep/Pull.
This relates to Number 1, but I wanted to separate them and explain my thoughts here a little more.
When Mei is focused on a target, it allows her team to not only damage that enemy more easily but also land their abilities on them with ease as well. The problem with that is it may hurt your team in the long run. What you want to do is to “space out” or “chain” abilities. What I mean by that is that you should try and do your damage, then if the enemy survives being frozen, have your stunning ability ready. Nothing hurts more than being frozen, thawing out, and then put right to bed by Ana’s sleep dart!
Here is an EXTREME example as to why you shouldn’t use your stuns all on one target:
Mei has frozen an enemy. Your team-
(1) Fires off a sleep dart,
(2) Hacks the enemy,
(3)Shield bashes,
(4) Hooks,
(5) Uses hammer down on the target.
Most likely, that enemy is now very dead. You may have also created a very funny scene by glitching out Blizzard’s animations. Sure they are dead… but that might not matter because the five other enemy teammates have all rolled up on you. They have an advantage because your team is now down 5 stun/interrupting abilities.
- “Iso! Iso!” Watch for Mei to isolate enemies
Personally, when playing as Mei, I use the “Group Up” voice line to signal to my team when I have an enemy isolated from their teammates. When I catch someone on their own I’ll do my best to let my team know we might have an easy kill while I freeze them. Not every Mei does this, but if there isn’t an audio cue you should try to keep an eye/ear out for Mei’s walls. Most likely there might be an enemy wedged with their back to it. That gives you some safety to engage and keeps the enemy away from their healers.
With some time, you might even be able to get a good feel on when you might want attack. An example would be saving your Rein charge for the moment Mei pop’s her wall. Dashing towards the wall when there is a shivering Rein in between it and your hero can do a lot of damage.
You may be surprised by the amount of damage that you actually do by staying within line of sight of your Mei. Not only can you land body shots more easily thanks to her attacks slowing down enemies, but depending on which hero you are playing, you can increase your accuracy.Your critical hits and confirmed kills as well if you get good at headshot finishers.
- “Ice Saves Lives!” Use Mei’s cryofreeze as a shield!
This one is VERRRY situational or sort of a “tip”. It works best with a good, coordinated team. Basically, not only does Mei’s icewall shield you from damage, but so does her cryofreeze iceblock. Mei can’t take damage when she is in the ice, so try to use this to your advantage. Run behind a frozen Mei to cut off the line of sight to you so you can hide from enemy attacks. Even for a split second, you might shave off a few shots from 76 as an example. Cryofreeze can even block an exploding D.Va MEKA*! Only thing is I believe your head still sticks up, so you have to CROUCH down behind the iceblock after putting Mei in between you and the MEKA. Hammer down is another one you can avoid by hiding behind popsicle Mei*.
When you get good at it, you can even use an enemy Mei’s ice to guard yourself slightly too*. I think enemy fire still goes through friendly iceblocks, but certain abilities like Roadhog’s hook doesn’t!
*I haven’t tested these in a while, so these may have changed.
Tank:
- “Shield from the cold”
Mei is invulnerable when is is inside of her cryofreeze iceblock. She is also a tasty “ice-steak” for the enemies that know she will eventually have to come out of there. Most often there are enemies focusing all of their attention on Mei when she has activated this ability. They might get sidetracked, just waiting to attack her at the right moment. Tanks can use this to their advantage. Zarya can bubble her right away and not only save her but quickly grab some charge. A well placed tank shield or ability can catch the distracted enemy off guard. Shattering a clustered “pack of wolves” for instance. Not only that, but the unexpected survival of your Mei means that you can flip the engagement since she doesn’t have to worry about escaping.
**Don’t go TOO far out of your way to save a Mei that is very far out of position.
- “Get into position.”
Tanks can help attack, but sometimes it is better to do something else. Well if you aren’t doing damage, what should you do? Most often, during matches, tanks should be thinking about where they should be placing their shields or bodies.
With a friendly Mei on the field, you can help isolate targets by moving in between them and other enemies. With Mei focusing on a target, if it is safe, you can make sure that your team is safe by advancing forward between Mei’s current target and the rest of their team. This not only allows you to protect your team, but you could be scanning for enemy healers too. Doing so, you may cut off the healer’s line of sight to Mei’s target so that now they can not be healed. A well placed shield and thoughtful tank play can be the determining factor in securing a kill for your team or not.
It isn’t just about shields either. Sometimes guarding a Mei by stepping in front of her and taking the incoming damage while she is safely shooting a target by blasting her freeze beam through your hitbox can lead to a frozen treat for your team to kill.
Healers:
- Don’t top her off
This one is a little hard to explain…
It might vary on the Mei player you are teamed with. I play with a style that takes a lot of damage and transfers that into ultimate charge. Mei, like other self healing heroes, can build up a little ultimate charge by healing herself in cryofreeze. All healers can now use their abilities to add their healing to Mei’s while she is inside the iceblock (thank you for finally fixing this Blizzard!). I am still surprised some people don’t know that you CAN heal Mei inside of cryofreeze.
My suggestion for healers is to not always completely heal Mei when she is cryofreeze. This will allow her to heal herself some and build up ultimate charge. It is the same sort of thing with trying to avoid grabbing health packs when your healers could heal you and build their own ults up. I believe Mei can heal up to 150HP with cryofreeze. With a 250 health pool, that only means you need to heal her for about 100HP IF she is going to stay in the entire duration.
I’d have to ask some of my healer friends but this one takes the most “feel”. Sometimes, it is better to just heal your Mei right after cryofreeze is activated. That way, Mei can get right back into the fight. Other times, say after a teamkill, you might consider swapping your healing target quickly after giving some Mei minor attention and let her finish the rest herself.
***Yes, I know… Critical shots and doing damage are better for ultimate charge. It is just that you can sometimes work in rapid "bursts" of ultimate charge when it is safe in certain situations.
- Going to need a pick me up
Going along with #1, healers should know that Mei can’t fully heal herself. She only heals for 150HP when she has a max of 250HP. That means it would be a good idea to keep an eye on her when she is coming out of cryofreeze. Even if you helped to heal her while she was frozen, more than likely she is going to need your help to survive the upcoming attacks that are being prepped for her. Like I mentioned before, attackers drool over a frozen “Mei steak” that has been laid at their feet. This means that Mei can be a good ultimate charger because of her limited mobility. After cryofreeze she is most likely going to draw a lot of fire. I’d say that it could be possible that post-cryofreeze seems to be the time I might need the most healing when I play Mei.
Also if your team is focusing on Mei’s target and your Tank is busy drawing fire, you might want to help heal the Tank. That way they survive and can help cut off the enemy heals trying to save their frozen friend.
- “Not on my watch” Use Mei to help with pesky divers.
If possible, when playing healer you might want to keep a general sense of where your Mei is. Especially if the enemy keeps diving you. Healers are usually target #1 on the battlefield by enemy heroes in general Mei is effective in detouring some of these heroes. So if you get in trouble from diving flankers, sticking close to Mei might help your survivability.
