Mei Abilities and Strategy

• The moderate Slow provided by Snow Blind can be used to slightly increase the chance that Blizzard will connect and that Icing will hit enemy Heroes from a good angle.
• The high but decaying Slow provided by Icing must be used to drastically increase the chance that the Stun at the end of Blizzard will trigger.
• Avalanche can split the enemy team by pushing some enemy Heroes away, even behind impassable terrain.
• After you aggressively get behind an enemy Hero by using Icing, you can push them towards your team with Avalanche.
• If you catch 3 enemy Heroes with Avalanche, you can follow the snowball with Icing to be in range for casting Blizzard as a follow-up to the prolonged Stun.
• Ice Wall can be used to split the enemy team by putting in Time Stop some Heroes and fighting the others.
• A well-timed Blizzard—exactly 0.5 seconds after your Heroic Ability connects—will always Stun enemy Heroes affected by Ice Wall.
• You can use Ice Wall behind enemy Heroes to block their retreat or in front of them to stop their engage.

Snow Blind (Q) Mei

• Mana: 35
• Cooldown: 10 seconds

Throw a snowball that hits all enemies in an area. Enemies hit take 70 (+4% per level) damage, are Slowed by 35%, and are Blinded for 1.75 seconds.

Snow Blind is a Basic Ability that deals damage, Slows, and Blinds all enemies in a small target area.

You can use this Ability to peel your team or even to Slow an enemy Hero that you want to engage on, so that you will have more chances to Knockback them in the desired direction when Icing ends.

Blizzard (W) Mei

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 14 seconds

Command Snowball to create a Blizzard at the target location for 2 seconds. Enemies within the blizzard take 13 (+4% per level) damage every 0.25 seconds and are Slowed by 7%, stacking up to 35%. When the Blizzard ends, enemies within its area take an additional 75 (+4% per level) damage and are Stunned for 1.25 seconds.

Blizzard is a Basic Ability that deals damage and applies a stacking Slow to enemies in a big target area over 2 seconds; furthermore, it deals additional damage and Stuns when it ends.

Considering the 2-second delay before the Stun effect goes off, you should usually start your engage with Snow Blind to Slow enemy Heroes inside the Blizzard and then follow-up with Icing to Knock them back if they try to leave.

In total, this Ability will deal 192 damage to all enemies hit, making it a decent tool for clearing Minions in some scenarios. That said, if your team does not lack waveclear, you better keep it for other uses.

Icing (E) Mei

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 14 seconds

Slide quickly in the targeted direction. When this effect ends, enemies near Mei are knocked back, take 52 (+4% per level) damage, and are Slowed by 80%, rapidly decaying over 1.5 seconds.

Can be canceled during sliding.

Icing is a Basic Ability that gives mobility, mostly useful for engaging or escaping. At the end of the slide, Mei will Knockback, deal damage, and apply a decaying Slow to all enemies within range.

The slide can be manually canceled by pressing the same key again, a feature that is key to engage on enemy Heroes without mobility tools. You start by casting Blizzard on an enemy Hero and then you use Icing to Knockback them inside the area covered by Blizzard. If done properly, they will be Stunned at its end.

Considering that both Mei's Heroic Abilities have a delay, you can use the Slow provided by Icing to increase the chance that they will connect on the desired enemy Heroes. Since they have a long cooldown, it is important to avoid wasting them.

Due to its high Mana cost and low damage, you should not use Icing for clearing Minions, especially because the Knockback will spread them all and the rest of your team will spend more time to clear them.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Avalanche (R) Mei

• Heroic
• Mana: 80
• Cooldown: 90 seconds

After 0.5 seconds, roll a massive snowball that consumes enemy Heroes in its path. At the end of its path, the snowball crumbles, releasing the consumed Heroes, dealing 220 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds per Hero consumed.

Avalanche is a Heroic Ability that, after a short delay, puts every enemy Hero hit in Stasis while the snowball is rolling and then Stuns them when it breaks at the end.

Stasis does not work on Unstoppable enemy Heroes, so it will just pierce through them (for example Deathwing). Stasis can be used to free up allied Heroes from enemy Stasis effects (such as Gorge by Stitches).

It is important to know that the snowball will go through impassable terrain—including the terrain covered by Structures—however, if the ending point happens to be impassable terrain, then the snowball will break pre-emptively. While it is not that important to predict that in the middle of the Map, it is obvious and therefore easy to remember that it will always happen when the snowball reaches the external border of the Map.

Even if you can cast this Heroic Ability to push enemy Heroes out of position, it can be occasionally better to push the rest of their team away instead. This way you can create a temporary numerical advantage for your team.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Ice Wall (R) Mei

• Heroic
• Mana: 50
• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Vector Targeting

After a 0.75 second delay, create an impassable wall that traps enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. When the wall expires, trapped Heroes are Slowed by 75%, decaying over 3 seconds.

Ice Wall is a Heroic Ability that, after a short delay, puts every enemy Hero hit in Time Stop for a few seconds and then applies a decaying Slow. Note that enemy Heroes can see the target area with an indicator on the ground.

You can use this Ability in various ways: from engaging to peeling, from isolating some Heroes to fight their allies to blocking them all in place for a wombo-combo. That said, in most cases you should use it for setting up kills.

If you cast Blizzard 0.5 seconds after the Time Stop effect starts, you will Stun all enemy Heroes imprisoned by Ice Wall. This is your most reliable way to engage for your team.

Note that any crowd control effect other than Knockbacks is paused during Time Stop and continues as usual when Time Stop ends. So, if you happen to hit enemy Heroes who are already crowd controlled, you can delay Blizzard a bit.

Ice Wall counts as impassable terrain, blocking the path to both allies and enemies. Because of this, sometimes you can also not aim for enemy Heroes but use it to prevent them from running away in a narrow corridor or from passing through a Gate between Towers.

Time Stop can block Unstoppable enemies too. This can be used to counter effects that persist on the ground (such as Sanctification by Tyrael) or to buy time against Unstoppable enemy Heroes (for example Diablo during Lightning Breath).

Avoid using Ice Wall on enemy Heroes who are going to be hit by the final effect of Blizzard or any other impactful Ability cast by allied Heroes (for example Pyroblast by Kael'thas) because the Time Stop status will make them completely immune for the duration.

Keep in mind that this Heroic Ability has Vector Targeting: press the key, drag the mouse in the desired direction, and release the key. To have a higher chance to hit enemy Heroes, you should aim the Ice Wall so that the starting point will be directly on top of the enemy Heroes you intend to hit.

Cryo-Freeze (D) Mei

• Cooldown: 40 seconds

Become encased in ice for 3 seconds, gaining a rapidly decaying Shield that absorbs up to 1104 (+4% per level) damage. While active, this Shield grants Unstoppable and restores up to 35% of Mei's maximum Health.

Cryo-Freeze is a Trait that drastically increases Mei's survivability by giving her a powerful Shield for 3 seconds that heals her and makes her Unstoppable, but she cannot move for the duration. If needed, you can choose to cancel the effect pre-emptively by pressing the same key again.