Tracer Build Guide “The cavalry's here!”

Last updated on Feb 09, 2022 at 15:20 by Derenash 16 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for Tracer, a Ranged Assassin in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.

1.

Tracer's Overview

Tracer is an extremely mobile Ranged Assassin. Due to her fragility, she relies on her Abilities to constantly reposition and outmaneuver enemy forces. With her high burst damage and many escapes, she can be a nuisance to the enemy backline.

2.

Tracer's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
X Weaknesses
  • -Extremely poor waveclear
  • -Very fragile
  • -Requires Level 7 to deal decent damage
  • -Can be difficult to master
  • -Easy to kill if controlled
  • -Is easily countered by Heroes with good ranged damage, such as Raynor or Sgt. Hammer
3.

Tracer's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Burst Build

Recommended
Level 1 One-Two Punch Icon Parting Gift Icon ?
Level 4 Pulse Generator Icon
Level 7 Locked and Loaded Icon Sleight of Hand Icon ?
Level 10 Sticky Bomb Icon Quantum Spike Icon ? Pulse Rounds Icon ?
Level 13 Jumper Icon
Level 16 Heavy Handed Icon Bullet Spray Icon ?
Level 20 Get Stuffed! Icon

Tracer's Burst Build is a good template to use while approaching each game. Because Tracer must typically deal sustain damage until she can go in for a kill, her effectiveness scales with the amount of time that she can safely remain within Basic Attack range. While Talents like Jumper Icon Jumper and Pulse Generator Icon Pulse Generator facilitate her playstyle around that, your Level 1 and Level 16 Talents are great for having more burst damage to execute the target.

One-Two Punch Icon One-Two Punch greatly increases Tracer's damage outside of team fights, but you will not be able to use melee that often during a team fight for an Objective. However, Parting Gift Icon Parting Gift is a good choice at that Level, as it adds a more consistent burst damage on an immobilized target, because you do not need to wait for the cooldowns between Melee Icon Melee charges.

Basic Attacks Build

Situational
Level 1 Tracer Rounds Icon
Level 4 Pulse Generator Icon
Level 7 Locked and Loaded Icon Sleight of Hand Icon ?
Level 10 Pulse Rounds Icon
Level 13 Jumper Icon
Level 16 Ricochet Icon
Level 20 Get Stuffed! Icon

Differently from Burst Build, this build is focused on constantly attacking the opposing frontline, while dealing the maximum possible damage without risking yourself. This Build is recommended if the opposing team has many stuns or polymorphs that can shut you down during your dive.

4.

Tracer's Synergies and Counters

V Tracer synergizes with

Tracer does well with Heroes who have strong waveclear, who can also deal area damage over time. Malfurion is a good pick for Tracer. He can heal her from a long distance due to how Regrowth Icon Regrowth works. Anduin is also good with her, because with her high mobility, Tracer can easily make Lightbomb Icon Lightbomb hit the opposing backline.

X Tracer is countered by

Tracer is threatened by Heroes who have Abilities that can target her directly, such as Poly Bomb Icon Poly Bomb or Taunt Icon Taunt. Her survival depends on mobility; she dies very quickly when she cannot avoid damage. This makes her vulnerable against Heroes with powerful ranged Basic Attacks, and Heroes who can disable her with single target crowdcontrol that prevents Recall from being cast.

5.

Tracer's Maps

Tracer's stronger maps
Cursed Hollow Dragon Shire Sky Temple Towers of Doom Volskaya Foundry Warhead Junction
Tracer's average maps
Alterac Pass Battlefield of Eternity Blackheart's Bay Braxis Holdout Garden of Terror Hanamura Temple
Tracer's weaker maps
Infernal Shrines Tomb of the Spider Queen

Tracer is generally strong on maps that encourage enemies to split up, where she can punish Heroes caught away from the safety of structures or allies. She can struggle against PvE map objectives, especially if the design promotes teams to group up.

6.

Tracer's Tips and Tricks

  • Use Blink Icon Blink to close distance on enemies, dodge Abilities, or escape danger.
  • If you have not already, set Blink's Quick Cast to "On" (under Settings > Hotkeys > Quick Cast Setting). This will make the Ability much more responsive, which will help you to avoid skillshots with it.
  • Use Melee Icon Melee to deal burst damage to enemy Heroes and quickly charge Pulse Bomb Icon Pulse Bomb. Melee can also be used to assist with waveclear as needed.
  • Tracer can safely overextend thanks to Recall Icon Recall. Use this to kill low Health enemies, who may be too dangerous to reach for your allies.
  • Activate Recall to remove negative effects before other enemy Heroes are able to follow-up with Silences or Stuns.
  • Use Tracer's extremely high Attack Speed from Reload Icon Reload to quickly clear units that do not have Health, but take a certain number of Basic Attacks. Examples include Doubloon Chests or Cocoon Icon Cocoon.
  • Use Tracer's life steal to sustain yourself. Even if you cannot hit Heroes, it is good to retreat and attack Minions or Structures to get your Health back.
  • Even thought Tracer's Basic Abilities cannot reveal targets, Pulse Bomb Icon Pulse Bomb can be used on Heroes in Stealth to finish them off or reveal them with damage.
7.

Tracer's Role in the Current Meta

Tracer works best on a team that can reliably waveclear, so that she can focus on killing Heroes. She can be the hyper-carry of a team, but can also fit into team compositions as a finisher, much like Nova or Zeratul. Tracer can run down most enemy Heroes who try to flee from team fights. She is very good against fragile Heroes who lack mobility.

Tracer's ability to reposition constantly can make her hard to deal with for some Heroes, especially those who lack a way to target her directly. While she can be a terror to Heroes who lack answers, she can be stopped in a variety of ways. Because she can self-cleanse soft crowd-control with Recall Icon Recall, silences, stuns, and displacements are the most effective tools against her. Abilities like Polymorph Icon Polymorph, and Hammer of Justice Icon Hammer of Justice cannot be dodged, making her extremely vulnerable to follow-up when these affect her. Knockback from Abilities like Face Melt Icon Face Melt and Concussive Blast Icon Concussive Blast can disrupt her combo, since she will often use up Blink Icon Blink charges to get in range for Melee Icon Melee. Being aware of (and playing around) Abilities that can hinder your mobility is key to getting the most out of Tracer.

8.

Changelog

  • 09 Feb. 2022 (talents page): Updated Level 1 Talent descriptions after recent Balance patch.
  • 09 Feb. 2022 (this page): Guide updated after recent Balance patch.
  • 30 Jan. 2022 (this page): Updated Builds to reflect meta development.
  • 03 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds after recent Balance patch.
  • 03 Mar. 2021 (this page): Updated Builds after recent Balance patch.
  • 30 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Updated Chrono Triggers and Untouchable's descriptions and recommendations.
  • 28 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds to reflect current meta.
  • 28 Nov. 2020 (this page): Builds updated to reflect current meta.
  • 08 Oct. 2020 (this page): The Guide has been reviewed and is in accordance with the latest patch.
  • 30 Jul. 2020 (this page): Updated Quantum Spike's relevance.
  • 08 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Updated Heavy Handed discussion.
  • 08 Jul. 2020 (this page): Updated Heavy Handed's relevance in her Builds.
  • 04 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds to reflect June 3rd balance patch.
  • 04 Jun. 2020 (this page): Updated Builds and Weaknesses to Reflect June 3rd balance patch.
  • 24 May 2020 (talents page): Updated Talent recommendations.
  • 07 May 2020 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds accordingly to May 6th balance patch.
  • 07 May 2020 (abilities page): Updated Abilities accordingly to May 6th balance patch.
  • 07 May 2020 (this page): Updated Builds, Strengths and Weaknesses accordingly to May 6th balance patch.
  • 25 Mar. 2020 (talents page): Updated Talent discussion and build to current meta.
  • 25 Mar. 2020 (this page): Updated Basic Attack build and her Weaknesses and Strengths.
  • 15 Dec. 2019 (this page): Updated Role in the Current Meta to include information on current Nexus Anomaly.
  • 17 Oct. 2019 (talents page): Updated Talent discussion and recommended build to reflect current meta.
  • 17 Oct. 2019 (abilities page): Reviewed Abilities discussion to ensure relevance.
  • 17 Oct. 2019 (this page): Updated Talent discussion and recommended build to reflect current meta.
  • 27 Mar. 2018 (talents page): Updated Talent discussion to reflect balance changes in Fenix patch.
  • 27 Mar. 2018 (this page): Updated Talent discussion and builds to reflect balance changes in Fenix patch.
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