Tracer: Tips, Maps, Counters, Abilities, and Ultimate

Key Takeaways

• Tracer’s best maps allow her to dart in and out of natural cover to safely apply pressure to the enemy team.
• Tracer struggles on maps with limited flanking options, such as King’s Row. These maps force her to get involved in the thick of the action, which makes it easier for enemy players to target her very low total health pool.
• Tracer counters stationary heroes that have trouble hitting her, such as Zarya and Reaper. Against these types of heroes, she can control engagements and stay safe despite her low total health pool. 
• Tracer struggles against heroes that can easily do damage to her, such as Torbjorn and Moira. Even a small amount of damage forces Tracer to retreat, or she can die very easily. 

Tracer Quick Tips

• Tracer has 150 health, with no armor or shields.
• Tracer is a high skill ceiling hero, meaning skilled players can use her kit to get an enormous amount of value. At the highest levels, it’s difficult to truly counter Tracer due to how well players can manage and cycle her abilities, especially in terms of movement.
• Although Tracer is effective in a direct sense, the mere threat of Tracer can also throw enemies off guard. For example, enemy Ana players need to keep their heads on a swivel when playing against Tracer, which may reduce their effectiveness.
• Download the Z League app to find teammates in your skill bracket who will help you dive enemy backlines and win games easily.

Tracer Abilities Explained

Img via Blizzard Entertainment

Pulse Pistols (Primary Fire)

Tracer’s primary fire is a hitscan weapon that’s most effective between short and medium range. Due to its damage falloff, using Pulse Pistols at long range isn’t effective, other than preventing enemy support players’ healing passive from activating. 

Tracer players should aim to control their engagements so that they’re in a sweet spot where damage dropoff isn’t a problem, but enemy players also aren’t too close to them. This strategy allows for Tracer to stay as safe as possible while also dealing the most damage she can. 

Blink

Tracer has a bank of three Blinks. Each one causes her to move 7.5 meters in any horizontal direction nearly instantaneously. It takes three seconds to recharge each Blink, with no cooldown penalty if all three are used up.

Blink is Tracer’s primary movement ability and has a wide range of effective uses. It’s useful to close gaps between Tracer and enemy players, especially if Tracer can use Blink to move seamlessly behind natural cover, therefore allowing her to close as much distance as possible without necessarily using up her entire bank of Blinks. Blink can also be used during combat as a strafing tool to make Tracer extremely difficult to hit. Lastly, Blink can be used to quickly close the gap between Tracer and an enemy player to enable her to land a melee attack and finish off the kill, even if she has to reload.

Recall

Recall teleports tracer to the position she was at three seconds prior. Her health is restored to the highest value it was at within the last three seconds as well. The ability has a 12 second cooldown. 

Recall can be used as an escape option, especially if Tracer overextends with Blinks to secure a kill. A Tracer without Recall is highly vulnerable, meaning that once Recall is used, assuming the fight is still ongoing, Tracer should usually look to play safely and recharge her Blinks and wait for the cooldown of Recall. 

To avoid clearly telegraphing where Tracer will return to when Recall is used, Tracer players should look to move around the map erratically and quickly. 

Pulse Bomb (Ultimate)

Tracer’s Pulse Bomb launches a small sticky bomb in front of her. It can attach to enemy players, walls, or the ground. Upon detonation, it deals 350 damage if the enemy is within its immediate radius, and some splash damage to players outside of its immediate radius. 

Pulse Bomb is best used as a way to guarantee kills on squishy enemy players (most damage and support heroes). It can also be used to quickly delete a large portion of a tank’s health pool. Due to its short range, Tracer is vulnerable when using Pulse Bomb, so Tracer players need to expertly make use of Blinks to safely get into position and attach Pulse Bomb, often using Recall or more Blinks to get away from close range where she’s in a vulnerable position.

Pulse Bomb charges quickly, requiring just 1,260 points (damage dealt), so Tracer players should look to use their ultimate quickly after they get it, especially as a tool to quickly win teamfights by getting a pick.