in game, Tracer is a hard to lock down assasin who has many ways to move around in a fight. she has 2 main talent builds, one a very burst-y close range assasin, and one a sustained damage assasin who deals nice ranged damage.
this is the official Tracer video!
in this guide, you will find a fully comprehensive talent build, a description on abilities, tips and tricks, and playstyle.
Tracer's trait, reload, allows her to shoot auto attacks while moving. her basic attacks use ammo, and at the end of firing 10 shots she reloads over 0.75 seconds. she can also reload while moving. she attacks pretty fast, so she will spend a lot of time reloading, but it is not something to worry about. you can manually reload any time by pressing D. tracer also heals for %10 of basic attack damage dealt.
Tracer's Q is blink. when used, she dashes forward a small distance. thats it. she can hold up to 3 charges of blink, and together, they can go pretty far. blink is a extremely versatile ability. use it to chase, escape, reposition, dodge, get in range, and everything in between. this is probably tracer's most important ability, and it is crucial to her gameplay. CHARGE COOLDOWN: 9 SECONDS
Tracer's W is melee. when activated, she punches the nearest enemy, prioritizing heroes, dealing good damage and granting 10% pulse bomb charge on heroes, and 5% charge on others. this is Tracer's main source of spell damage, and burst damage, and can be used to finish off enemies, or soften one up. as the name suggests, it has a small radius. melee can not be activated when no enemy is in range. COOLDOWN: 8 SECONDS
Tracer's E is recall. when used, she bounds back in time, and in 1.25 seconds, appears where she was 2 seconds before casting. this ability is Tracer's defining ability. with it, she can do plays other assasins can only dream of. she can tower dive deep with blink, kill the target with a melee, and recall back to where she started without a scratch. recall also clears Tracer of most negative effects, such as damage over time effects, like Kael' Thas's living bomb, or other, miscellaneous effects, like Illidan's hunt. this ability reloads Tracer's ammo as well. beware, though, of the cooldown. COOLDOWN: 20 SECONDS
unlike other heroes, Tracer only has one ultimate, available at level 1, pulse bomb. pulse bomb is a short range skillshot that attaches to the first enemy it touches and explodes, dealing high damage. it has a small area of effect that also deals moderate damage to other enemies in the blast radius. if it does not touch an enemy, it travels max distance and stays on the ground, exploding as normal. this ultimate has no cooldown. instead, similar to D.Va's eject, it charges up %0.6 charge every time tracer basic attacks, meaning that tracer, if she stays in combat, can throw these bombs quite often. at level 10, the bomb can be upgraded in 3 unique ways, described below.
Sticky bomb increases the radius of pulse bomb by %50 and enemies hit are also slowed by %70 for 3 seconds. pick this if your enemies are bunched up, or if you cant seem to secure squishy kills or just need CC.
quantum spike adds 6% of maximum health as damage against heroes. take this to secure tanky kills, sofen up the enemy team, or deal massive burst damage.
pulse rounds doubles the range and charge rate of pulse bomb from basic attacks. take this in any occasion, as its nice DPS potential and long range add lots of versatility to Tracer's kit.
Tracer's blink can be used in practically infinite ways, but dont waste them
Recall can be used if you are being ganged, for a tower dive, if someone is chasing you, or if you need to reposition.
use basic attacks from a distance, then dive in close to finish them.
use melee liberally, and to apply as much pressure as possible in the beginning of fights, but in the end wait so you can use it as a finisher.
use blink to dodge predictable skillshots, such as chromie's sand blast.
at level 1, take one-two punch for the increased melee damage and pulse bomb charge rate.
At level 4, take pulse generator for the health and blink charges.
at level 7, take sleight of hand for the DPS and pulse bomb charge rate.
at level 10, take the one that fits you best, they are described above.
at level 13, take untouchable for the increased mobility and damage.
at level 16, take heavy handed for increased burst.
at level 20, take get stuffed! to complete your melee arsenal.
at level 1, take tracer rounds for the range and to keep track of your target.
At level 4, take pulse generator for the health and blink charges.
at level 7, take sleight of hand for the DPS and pulse bomb charge rate.
at level 10, take the one that fits you best, they are described above.
at level 13, take untouchable for the increased mobility and damage.
at level 16, take ricochet for the better sustained damage and to hit the backline without diving.
at level 20, take total recall to let you tower dive more efficiently.