Making Mei more fun (and balanced!) across all ranks

General Discussion
1

When Mei returns, and bugs are fixed, the following changes would make Mei more competitive at higher ranks without significantly benefiting lower-ranked players, resulting in a more balanced hero. To put Mei in-line with other DPS heroes she would have access to a unique movement ability (passive) that would consume primary fire ammo, and an ultimate that is actually worth countering by other ultimate abilities. The goal of these changes is to balance Mei across ranks by increasing her skill ceiling and making her kit more mobile and fun to play.

Endothermic Blaster (Primary):

Decreases damage from 100- to 80-per second
Penetrating Ice:
— Deals 40% more damage vs. Shields
— Deals 40% more damage vs. Armor
— Deals 40% more damage vs. Overhealth

Endothermic Blaster (Secondary):

Increases damage from 75 to 85 per icicle

Cryo-Freeze:

Removal of ability cast time (from 0.1 seconds to instantaneous)
Healing rate increased by 33%
Maximum duration decreased by 33%
Restores 45 ammo per second, max 90, (previously 15 ammo per second, max 60)

Ice Wall

Ice Wall pillar health increased from 250 to 300.
Range increased from 20 to 25 meters

Blizzard (Ultimate):

Mei’s ultimate now silences all movement abilities and AoE speed buffs.

Cold-Adaption (NEW Passive Ability):

+25% Movement Speed, +25% Reload Speed (replaces DPS passive), If Mei is using, or has used, her Endothermic Blaster (Primary Fire) in the past 0.5 sec the ability persists; may be used outside of combat.

2 Likes
2

Whos Mei? That a new hero? /j

Anyways, these are some really good changes tbh

1 Like
3

I really, really like these changes. Cryo Freeze needs to be sped up. It should instantly reload ammo as well.

1 Like
4

The problem with making it too quick is it doesn’t give an enemy time to make an escape and if she comes out full health with her spray-and-wipe at the ready they are pretty much dead unless they have burst to kill her instantly. I use the time she is in there to run for it as I don’t want to face a fully healed mei at close range.

5

I like this all except for the passive.

I feel it’ll make her oppressive and more unfun to play against.

1 Like
6

Thank you for your feedback! Do keep in mind that while Mei is in combat in her pre-removal state, she already has this movement/reload passive (from the DPS passive). This suggested character-specific passive would just allow he to keep that DPS passive after the devs remove it from other characters, and would allow her to use it by skating around outside of combat at the cost of ammo. That way she can return to the battlefield if she gets picked early, as all of the other DPS can do with their movement abilities (sprint, teleport, dash, blink, etc.)

7

They need to restore her ability to freeze from her primary fire.

They need to fix the bugginess of her wall.

They need to make her ult not be blocked by line of sight. Even a tiny lamp post will break it.

8

That by itself would be pretty nice.

It was already a pretty bad Ult, and Kiriko+ Zarya makes it almost worthless.

1 Like
9

It’s gonna be hard but maybe we can get Mei to be useful. The pace of the game is just so fast now

1 Like
10

Tanks outright shrug off blizzard, it freezes them for half a second then they are free to move again.

1 Like
11

We’re agreed that Mei’s ult is unusually weak compared to other DPS. Supports don’t even bother using their own ult to counter in most games, because even if it isn’t eaten, cancelled, stunned, reflected, or cleansed, there are so many heroes that can use movement abilities, increased speed, or direct counters like Fortify or Zar bubble that Mei’s ult feels trivial in 80% of matches. Lately I’ve started using it more to bully Ana / Zen, but it just feels bad when other DPS out there with an ultimate ability that’s actually scary and requires coordinated counter-play or support ults to block a team-wipe. A speed/movement silence is definitely one of the most important items I’d like to see implemented.