Had an interesting conversation last night about the enemy Tracer after a QP game. They were pretty solid and excellent with pulse bomb sticks. I got stuck 4 times. Problem was I was playing Moira, so I faded and the bomb dropped uselessly to the ground every time.
Post match, we were discussing the Tracer’s overall strong play (and who we all wish we could have endorsed). I maintained her pulse target selection was poor, as she repeatedly stuck me with no impact. My teammates maintained I was the best target as I was putting out the lion’s share of the healing.
The match was on Midtown. We were on defense. Our team was Moira (me), Kiriko, Junker Queen, Echo, and a Sojurn/Soldier. No one was carrying in particular, as it was a fairly good match.
Who do you think should have been priority pulse target?
I was holding fade for the pulse bomb after the first one, and playing corners so I could duck behind cover. Was making it difficult to get pressured, I guess.
She was pressuring our Kiriko quite a bit though. Kiriko player kept complaining about her.
Especially with Kiriko in the meta, Tracers Pulse Bomb is really hard to get value with.
Your team was also relatively hard to play against:
Moira: Fade (6 sec)
Kiriko: Protection Suzu (14 sec) + Swift Step (7 sec)
Junker Queen: only 150 dmg with Commanding Shout (15 sec)
Echo: Hard to hit, but possible
Soldier: Easy to hit
It would have been best if the enemy Tracer had waited for Kiriko to use her Suzu and then kill Soldier or Echo.
That’s not exactly correct. Sure, the supports are always a higher priority than damage dealers. However, they are simply the worse choice in this constellation, because some cooldown will always be active to rescue them and it is downright impossible to kill them. (Of course, baiting out is still possible but its a pain in the a**)
In the end it doesn’t really matter WHO you target with Pulse as long as you can effectively take someone out, preferably in the beginning of a fight.
Both healers are like ghosts and both hard for Tracer to deal with (Kiriko’s headshot (which lands quite easily close-up, where Tracer is fought) will insta-kill - perfectly targeted treshold).
Blizzard’s new design philosophy: Mary Sues and Gary Stus everywhere. Woe be any old-school healer (Ana f.ex.) or any flanker fighting these new designs.
1 - you (after fade - you’re a bigger and easier target than…)
2 - Kiriko (after bell, high value but small hitbox to stick), and after that I’d say Queen and Soldier as opportunities arise.
But the value of a stick is not necessarily a support, it’s just “one pick down.” Supports, DPS, tanks - I say stick 'em all and let God sort 'em out.
Always stick the player who can’t dodge/escape the pulse bomb. If they were consistently able to stick you as Moira, they should have no issue keeping Soldier/Sojourn in spawn for the rest of the match. Yeah, it’s not ideal to “only” kill a DPS with pulse bomb, but what else can you do with it besides feed support ult?
Most players panic when they hear that pulse stick and backpedal right into a teammate. Can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve had to scramble or just died by a DPS doing this in front of me (support)/
In your particular group I’m disregarding cooldowns because a good Tracer is going to make sure they’re not available for the enemy before sticking.
That was my thought in the discussion with my team. While the rest of the team was raving/complaining about the Tracer’s play, I was skeptical as I thought her pulse target selection was poor. I was holding fade for the pulse, and she couldn’t pressure fade out because of my positioning and good peel from my team.
I just played Tracer in Nepal and I did get a three man pulse bomb kill (Sigma, Pharah and a healer I can’t remember who)
I usually try to stick the bomb on one of the DPS and hope that they stupidly fall back towards their supports and blow them up as well. I normally steer clear of heroes that can nullify it. Tanks I rarely stick.
In this case, not the supports. Both Kiriko and Moira can avoid the stick.
Both of the dps would be good picks (though Echo might prove difficult and could technically save herself by ulting) and even Junker Queen isn’t that bad of a target, provided you stick her right after her shout has ended. Tanks normally should be ignored, but JQ has so little health without commanding shout up that the 350 damage from pulse bomb will make her very easy to finish off.
He shouldve gone for soldier since he was the easiest target. Or bait out your Fade. Either way, if you can get 1 pick with pulse bomb every fight, youll be doing pretty well, so that tracer shouldve gone for the target she KNEW she could elim
