Tracer Abilities and Strategy
Welcome to our Abilities page for Tracer. Here, we give you an overview of every ability in Tracer's kit. For each of them, we explain what it does, how to best use it, and how it works in combination with Tracer's other abilities. We also give you strategy tips to play Tracer efficiently.
Tracer's Tips and Tricks
- Use 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 to deal burst damage to enemy Heroes and quickly charge Pulse Bomb. Melee can also be used to assist with waveclear as needed.
- Tracer can safely overextend thanks to 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 to quickly clear units that do not have Health, but take a certain number of Basic Attacks. Examples include Doubloon Chests or 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 can be used on Heroes in Stealth to finish them off or reveal them with damage.
Blink
- Charges: 3
- Recharge Time: 9 seconds
Dash towards an area.
Stores up to 3 charges.
Blink gives Tracer extraordinary mobility allowing her to outmaneuver most Heroes. Although it ignores unit collision, Blink can be blocked by terrain and Structures. Use Blink to close distance on enemy Heroes, avoid skillshots, or escape. Refrain from using charges unnecessarily so that they will be available when you need them to secure kills, or for self preservation. Blink is an excellent way to get into range to deal damage with Melee and Pulse Bomb.
Melee
- Cooldown: 8 seconds
Deal 220 (+4% per level) damage to a nearby enemy, prioritizing Heroes. Gain 5% Pulse Bomb charge when using Melee against an enemy, and 10% against Heroes.
Melee deals a decent amount of burst damage. Use Melee whenever Recall is off cooldown, so that you may Recall away if you need to. Because Tracer is extremely fragile, it is best to avoid getting into Melee range without an escape plan. While Blink can be used for escape, it does not remove negative status effects like Recall does. Melee as often as you have safe opportunities to do so. When comboing your Abilities, cast Pulse Bomb first so that it begins charging up when you Melee.
Recall
- Cooldown: 20 seconds
After 1.25 seconds, Tracer returns to the position she was at 2 seconds prior to casting, refilling her ammo, and removing all negative status effects from herself.
Recall relocates Tracer to the position she occupied 2 seconds prior. Upon activating Recall, Tracer enters a 1 second Stasis before being relocated. Recall also removes all negative status effects, and refills Tracer's Ammo.
Recall defines Tracer's hit and run shenanigans gameplay style, enabling her to get away with aggressive positioning that would otherwise result in a death. When Recall is available for use, you should be looking for opportunities to kill vulnerable enemy Heroes. Use Recall to extract yourself to safety after being aggressive. Avoid overextending when Recall is on cooldown.
Pulse Bomb
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.
- Heroic
Fire a short range bomb that can attach to an enemy if it hits them. The bomb explodes after 2 seconds dealing 298 (+6% per level) damage to them and 149 (+6% per level) damage to other nearby enemies.
This ability is slowly charged over time by dealing damage to enemies with Basic Attacks and Melee.
Pulse Bomb is Tracer's highest damage Ability, and gives her solo kill potential on many Heroes. Apply Pulse Bomb before using Melee when possible, in order to begin charging your next Pulse Bomb. Given Pulse Bomb's characteristic to stick to the first target it contacts, it may be difficult to target Heroes that are obstructed by Minions or other undesirable targets. Avoid using Pulse Bomb for harassment; it should be used in conjuction with your other damaging Abilities to attempt kills.
Reload
- Cooldown: 1 seconds
Tracer can Basic Attack while moving, and after attacking 10 times she needs to reload over 0.75 seconds. Tracer can manually reload early by activating Reload.
Basic Attacks heal Tracer for 10% of the damage dealt.
Reload enables Tracer to move while Basic Attacking. She can deliver 10 basic attacks before needing to Reload. Reload will automatically activate if Tracer runs out of Ammo, but can be manually activated at any time. Reloading takes 0.75 seconds.
Reload exceptionally allows Tracer to deliver Basic Attacks while moving. Right-clicking a target will cause her to lock onto that target, making it the focus of her Basic Attacks. Because Tracer will always focus the selected target, you can focus on positioning freely, without needing to reacquire your target with right click again. Using the attack move command ("a" + left click) will automatically lock onto the closest unit within range. Target locks are maintained at an infinite range. When you disengage, remember to activate Reload so that you maximise your damage in the next encounter.
Changelog
- 07 May 2020: Updated Abilities accordingly to May 6th balance patch.
- 17 Oct. 2019: Reviewed Abilities discussion to ensure relevance.
More Ranged Assassin Guides
Derenash has been playing Heroes of the Storm since 2015 and has achieved Grandmaster in multiple seasons, peaking at Top 1 in Season 3 and 4 of 2018. He participated in the HGC Copa America in 2018 where his team had a strong victory. He is passionate about teaching others about the game, and streams often on Twitch in Portuguese, and you can find him in Wind Striders' Discord as well where he is happy to answer any questions in English or Portuguese.
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