Tracer Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Tracer. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Tracer's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Tracer's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
---|---|
1 | ✓ ? ? |
4 | ✘︎ ✓ ✘︎ |
7 | ? ✘︎ ✓ |
10 | ? ? ✓ |
13 | ✘︎ ✓ ✘︎ |
16 | ? ✓ ✓ |
20 | ? ✓ ✘︎ ✘︎ |
Tracer's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Burst Build
RecommendedTracer'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 and 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 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 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 charges.
Basic Attacks Build
SituationalLevel 1 Talents for Tracer
Reduce the cooldown of Melee by 1 second and it gains an additional charge.
Recall leaves behind 6 bombs that deal 240 (+4% per level) damage each to different targets. Heroes hit with these bombs are slowed by 50% for 0.75 seconds and grant 7% Pulse Bomb charge.
Increase Basic Attack range by 10%. Basic Attacks against Heroes reveal a small area around them for 3 seconds.
Discussion
One-Two Punch will greatly increase Tracer's single-target damage and bomb generation speed. This Talent is recommended when playing Tracer as ganker, since the extra damage from Melee will be crucial to secure a kill. However, be aware that the charges have a 3-second cooldown between them, so it is good to use the first one instantly when ganking, to then use the second charge, finishing the target.
Parting Gift adds damage to Recall, which otherwise deals no damage. 6 bombs that Slow and charge Pulse Bomb will be created when Recall is used. It is recommended to use a blink behind the target before recalling, making sure one of the bombs will hit. This Talent is considerably harder to use than One-Two Punch is. However, it can be a great pick if your team has good single target burst damage, as the damage can be done instantly, without needing to wait the 3 seconds cooldown between Melees.
Tracer Rounds can be useful when chasing enemies into bushes, or around corners. When you would normally lose vision of your target and be unable to continue attacking, this Talent allows you to continue your assault. Besides the extra vision, it will also increase Tracer's Basic Attack range, allowing her to kite enemies easier. We recommend going for Tracer Rounds when you are playing against a composition with good crowd control, since they will punish dives attempts. The extra range will be necessary to play safe in those situations.
Level 4 Talents for Tracer
Increase the healing from Basic Attacks by up to 200%, based on the amount of health Tracer is missing.
Successfully sticking a Pulse Bomb to an enemy Hero heals Tracer for 18% of her maximum Health over 1.5 seconds and refunds a charge of Blink.
Collecting a Regeneration Globe instantly heals Tracer for 10% of her maximum Health and reduces the cooldown of Healing Fountain by 15 seconds.
Drinking from a Healing Fountain instantly heals for 20% of Tracer's maximum Health.
Discussion
Leeching Rounds slightly improves your self-sustain based on how much Health you are missing. This Talent will only give tracer a heal similar to Pulse Generator when she is very low on Health. Since Tracer is a very squishy Hero, playing offensively when she is close to death is risky, and therefore, not recommended.
Pulse Generator is a great Talent with many different uses. You can use the healing from it either to survive or to make better trades against enemies. The extra Blink charge it provides will be very noticeable, and can be used to go deeper, to reposition in battle, or to retreat if necessary. This is the standard Talent for this tier because of the flexibility and usefulness of it.
Is That a Health Pack?! adds a small self-sustain to Tracer in lane or during rotation, but does not add anything to fights. We do not recommend this Talent due to how Pulse Generator will be much more effective in all matches.
Level 7 Talents for Tracer
Reduces Reload time by 50%. This equals 20% more damage per second.
If an entire ammo magazine is unloaded on an enemy, the last bullet will deal 80 (+4% per level) bonus damage. This is equal to 35% of the total magazine.
Reactivate Reload within the last 50% of its cast time to increase Tracer's Basic Attack damage by 40% for that magazine.
Discussion
Sleight of Hand increases your damage per second unconditionally. It does not require planning or good timing, it just works. It is a great Talent to take if you are just learning Tracer, or if you are a seasoned Tracer player facing a difficult matchup.
Focus Fire does not benefit from Ricochet. It only works if you spend all your magazine in a single target, and still deals less damage than Locked and Loaded. If you are not comfortable going Locked and Loaded, it is still better to go for Sleight of Hand instead, since it will have synergy with Ricochet, Pulse Generator, and Pulse Bomb.
Locked and Loaded is the hardest Talent to use effectively in this tier, but has the highest potential damage bonus. This Talent further increases her mechanical difficulty, while increasing your damage if you can reliably land the timed Reload. Bonus damage from Locked and Loaded are also applied to Ricochet. Take this Talent if you are up to the challenge. While adjusting to this Talent, try "priming" it on Minions and holding the bonus damage for an enemy Hero. This will allow you to practice the Reload timing, and will guarantee the 40% bonus damage for the first magazine used against a Hero.
Level 10 Talents for Tracer
Increases Pulse Bomb's radius by 50% and enemies hit are Slowed by 70% for 3 seconds.
Pulse Bomb deals an additional 6% of maximum Health as damage to Heroes.
Increases Pulse Bomb's range and charge rate from Basic Attacks against Heroes by 100%.
Discussion
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given upgrade for your Heroic Ability. If you want to read how it works in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use it, check it out in the Abilities and Strategy page.
Sticky Bomb transforms Pulse Bomb into a better follow-up Ability. Sticky Bomb is strong with combo oriented team compositions. It can be a choice if you are coordinated with another Hero such as a Diablo with Apocalypse or a Fenix with Planet Cracker to combo with you.
Quantum Spike deals increased damage to targets based on their maximum Health. This allows Tracer to deal more damage with each Pulse Bomb. While it has a greater effect on Heroes with large Health pools, the extra percent-based damage adds burst damage to all takedown attempts. This Heroic will usually help you secure takedowns faster than the others, and will be a great option in games where you need to focus a squishy backline.
Pulse Rounds greatly increases the range and charge rate of Pulse Bomb. This, in turn, increases the frequency with which Pulse Bomb may be cast, and the number of positions from which you can stick it to enemy Heroes. This Talent has great synergy with Pulse Generator, since it will add much more Blinks and better self-sustain for Tracer. We recommend going for this Talent if you got Pulse Generator.
Level 13 Talents for Tracer
Passive: After Blinking, gain 20% Movement Speed for 1.25 seconds.
Quest: Takedowns increase Tracer's Basic Attack damage by 5%, up to 25%. These bonuses are lost on death.
Passive: When Blink has no charges remaining, its cooldown refreshes 150% faster.
Casting Blink grants Tracer a Shield equal to 6% of her maximum Health for 3 seconds. This Shield stacks up to 3 times.
Passive: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes reduce the cooldown of Recall by 0.1875 seconds.
When Tracer arrives at her Recall location she becomes Unkillable for 1 second and nearby enemies take 175 (+4% per level) damage and are knocked back.
Discussion
Untouchable can be considered a win-more Talent, as it will only be impactful if you are already winning the game. The extra movespeed is negligible, as it cannot compare to the extra Blink charges provided by Jumper. Even if Tracer manages to get all 5 stacks, Jumper will be a better pick, as it will enhance Tracer's survivability and mobility, resulting in dealing more damage in a teamfight.
Jumper will greatly reduce Blink's cooldown when no charges are available. This Talent excels in situations where tracer wants to constantly harass their enemies, since it gives her a Blink charges whenever she needs it. With good sustain damage and extra mobility, she can be a great nuisance to enemy frontline. We recommend Jumper in every game, unless you are very confident on your abilities and need the extra Attack Damage from Untouchable.
Telefrag is an underwhelming Talent, since Tracer wants to only use Recall when it is extremely necessary, instead of spamming it. The damage, unkillable status, and knockback effect provided by the Talent will be useless in most games, because Tracer will be recalling towards a safe position, far from enemies.
Level 16 Talents for Tracer
Increases the radius of Melee by 30%, and causes it to damage all enemies in range.
Heroes hit by Melee have their Armor reduced by 15 for 4 seconds.
Tracer's Basic Attacks have a 60% chance to hit another nearby enemy, prioritizing Heroes.
Discussion
Bullet Spray slightly increases Tracer's area of effect damage in team fights, and gives her more waveclear. Only take this Talent together with One-Two Punch, and if enemies cannot punish you for staying in melee range, or you will not be able to get value from it. However, be aware that Tracer's sustain damage in late game without Ricochet will be considerably lower than it could be.
Heavy Handed will increase all the subsequent damage after Melee for 4 seconds. Since this Armor reduction is only applied after Melee, it will not increase Pulse Bomb's damage when it gets exploded earlier with Get Stuffed!. It is also decent against targets with high Armor, like Garrosh, since it will greatly increase the damage dealt by your whole team.
Ricochet will greatly increase your damage in fights. Tracer will be most of the time abusing her high mobility, by positioning herself at the edge of the fight while hitting the enemy frontline. So, even though Ricochet's damage is random, it will be effective, since you will be damaging the opposing backline while being far away from them. This is the standard Talent for this tier, since it is essential to increase Tracer's sustain damage in the fight. However, be aware that you will have a hard time hitting Forts and Keeps with it, since the ricochet can easily bounce towards an enemy Hero, making these dangerous Structures focus you.
Level 20 Talents for Tracer
Casting Blink causes Basic Attacks to not consume ammo for 1 second.
Increases Melee's Pulse Bomb charge against Heroes from 10% to 20%. Hitting an enemy with Melee who is stuck with a Pulse Bomb causes the bomb to instantly explode and knock the target away.
Recall heals Tracer equal to the amount of Health she lost during that time.
Successfully sticking a Pulse Bomb to an enemy Hero also drops another one at their feet that deals 50% damage and explodes slightly earlier.
Discussion
Chrono Triggers slightly increase Tracer's damage over time, but gets better the more Attack Speed she has. For this reason we recommend going for it if you have Abathur with Adrenal Overload, Lt. Morales with Stim Drone or Rehgar with Bloodlust to empower you. It also requires Jumper at Level 13, since blinks will be constantly available with it.
Get Stuffed! increases Pulse Bomb charge rate, and can be used for peeling or to push an enemy towards your team. You will have an instantaneous strong burst damage; Turning Tracer into a real threat. With this Talent, do not be afraid to use your bombs to peel or harass someone, since it will be available again in 6-10 seconds.
Total Recall returns all recently lost Health when Recall is activated, effectively making it a burst heal. Unfortunately, since Tracer gets healing from many other ways, this Talent is not necessary. Chrono Triggers and Get Stuffed! will be better options.
Composition B can be strong on combo oriented teams, and pairs well with Sticky Bomb. But again, Get Stuffed! should not be skipped for small and unreliable damage.
Changelog
- 09 Feb. 2022: Updated Level 1 Talent descriptions after recent Balance patch.
- 30 Jan. 2021: Updated Chrono Triggers and Untouchable's descriptions and recommendations.
- 03 Mar. 2021: Updated Talents and Builds after recent Balance patch.
- 28 Nov. 2020: Updated Talents and Builds to reflect current meta.
- 08 Jul. 2020: Updated Heavy Handed discussion.
- 04 Jun. 2020: Updated Talents and Builds to reflect June 3rd balance patch.
- 24 May 2020: Updated Talent recommendations.
- 07 May 2020: Updated Talents and Builds accordingly to May 6th balance patch.
- 25 Mar. 2020: Updated Talent discussion and build to current meta.
- 17 Oct. 2019: Updated Talent discussion and recommended build to reflect current meta.
- 27 Mar. 2018: Updated Talent discussion to reflect balance changes in Fenix patch.
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.
- Heroes of the Storm Live Patch Notes: December 9th
- Heroes of the Storm Updated PTR Patch Notes: November 26th
- Celebrating 30 Years of Warcraft in Heroes of the Storm
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: November 14th
- Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes: October 14th
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: September 26th
- Heroes of the Storm Live Patch Notes: August 12th
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: July 15th