damage
Specialist
Mei-Ling Zhou - Age 33
Xi’an, China (formerly)
Hit Points
300300 Health - 0 Armor
Mei is a scientist who has taken the fight to preserve the environment into her own hands.
PRIMARY FIRE
Hold to spray a short-range cone of frost that damages and slows enemies. Deals 110 damage per second (90.58 overall with reload), slows movement by 30%, with a max range of 10 meters. Uses 20 shots per second from a 140 ammo pool.
PASSIVE
Eliminating an enemy briefly increases your reload speed by 33% for 3 seconds.
SECONDARY
Launch a long-range icicle projectile. Deals 85 damage (2x headshot for 170), fires 1 shot per 0.8 seconds, consuming 10 ammo per shot. Projectile speed of 115 m/s with a 0.4 second cast time.
PASSIVE
Primary fire impacts build up to a slowing effect that sticks to the enemy target and slows them. Secondary fire impacts can detonate this effect for bonus damage.
SHIFT
Become invulnerable and heal yourself for 62.5 health per second for up to 4 seconds (250 total). Restores 15 ammo per second. Clears cleansable status effects. Cannot move or use abilities while encased. Can be cancelled early. 12 second cooldown starts after effect ends.
E
Create a wall of 5 ice pillars in front of you, each with 250 health. The wall obstructs line of sight, stops movement, and blocks attacks. Lasts up to 5 seconds. Can be rotated between perpendicular and parallel before placement. Can be manually destroyed by pressing the ability key again. 12 second cooldown starts immediately.
ULTIMATE
Launch a weather control drone that creates a blizzard in a 10 meter radius for 4.25 seconds. Deals 20 damage per second and progressively slows enemies from 50% to 75%, freezing those who linger for about 2 seconds. The drone projectile pierces barriers. Can be absorbed by Defense Matrix or reflected by Deflect.
PASSIVE
Eliminations briefly increase reload speed and movement speed.
PRIMARY
A versatile climate weapon with two fire modes: a short-range frost spray (beam-type, 5.5 damage per tick at 20 shots/sec, 10m range) that slows enemies, and a long-range icicle launcher (85 damage, 2x headshot, 115 m/s projectile speed). 140 ammo capacity with 1.5 second reload time.
SECONDARY
Long-range icicle launcher.
Minor Perks
Biting Cold
Secondary fire hits slow enemies by 15% for 1.5 seconds, stacking up to 30%.
Permafrost
Ice Wall duration and cooldown are increased by 2 seconds.
Skating Rink
Allies within Blizzard gain 25% increased movement speed and heal for 50 health per second.
Glacial Propulsion
Double jumping creates a small ice pillar that launches Mei into the air, up to approximately 6.5 meters. Cannot be silenced or interrupted by hinder. 10 second cooldown.
Major Perks
Chilling Reach
Primary Fire range is increased by 30%.
Deep Freeze
Continuously hitting enemies with primary fire freezes them for 1 second. Triggers after 30 hits on Damage/Support roles (1.5 seconds of continuous fire) and 46 hits on Tank roles (2.3 seconds). Counter resets after 0.5 seconds of not hitting.
Cryo-Storm
Cryo-Freeze slows and deals 70 damage per second to nearby enemies within a 4.5 meter radius.
Damage per second increased from 100 to 110.
Developer comment: This damage increase ensures Mei's Primary Fire remains the consistent choice in close-range duels.
No longer shares a cooldown with Ice Wall. Cooldown increased from 6 to 10 seconds.
New Minor Perk. Double jumping creates a small ice pillar that launches Mei into the air.
New Minor Perk. Allies within Blizzard gain 25% increased movement speed and heal for 50 health per second.
Removed.
Removed.
New Major Perk. Continuously hitting enemies with primary fire freezes them for a short time.
Moved to Minor perk. Secondary fire hits slow enemies by 20% for 1.5 seconds.
Removed.
No longer increases cooldown of Ice Wall.
Developer comment: The cooldown increase for Permafrost has been removed to ensure it does not create negative impact for Ice Wall.
Cryo-Freeze slows and deals 70 damage per second to nearby enemies.
Secondary fire hits slow enemies by 15% for 1.5 seconds, stacking up to 30%.
Primary Fire's range is increased by 30%.
Ice Wall's duration and cooldown are increased by 2 seconds.
Secondary fire base projectile size reduced from 0.15 to 0.12 meters. Secondary fire damage increased from 75 to 85.
Developer comment: Mei's damage output over time is intended to be on the low end for a Damage hero, as she offers strong utility and survivability through her ability kit, but we would like to make the secondary fire icicle more rewarding by increasing the damage and slightly more difficult to land consistently.
Heal per second increased from 50 to 62.5.
Ammo increased from 120 to 140.
Health increased from 250 to 300.
Maximum ammo reduced from 150 to 120.
Developer comment: We're reducing the maximum ammo to limit how long Mei is able to continuously slow an enemy target now that the primary fire deals more damage.
Slow effect decreased from 40 to 30%.
Developer comment: With some of the recent changes, Mei is now slightly overperforming. Her improved primary fire damage output is good for her role, so rather than adjust that further, we're instead targeting the more commonly frustrating crowd control aspect of its slowing effect.
Damage per second increased from 70 to 100. Now immediately slows enemies by 40% instead of building up over time.
Deep Chill passive removed.
Developer comment: We liked the one-two combo that Deep Chill provided, as it added an interesting layer for hero mastery. However, in practice, it increased the amount of crowd control suffered by enemy players while also reducing Mei's effectiveness. Rather than further increasing the slow or increasing cumulative combo damage, both of which would lead to a more frustrating experience for the opposing player, we are reverting Mei back to her balance prior to adding the Deep Chill passive.
Damage increased from 65 to 70 per second. Duration before slow falls off between primary fire hits increased from 0.5 to 0.6 seconds.
Developer comment: Mei is still underperforming after her last set of changes, so we are increasing the effectiveness of primary fire and improving the quality of life to Deep Chill.
Deep Chill bonus damage can now also be triggered with quick melee.
Maximum slow applied by primary fire reduced from 50% to 40%. Primary fire damage per second increased from 55 to 70.
Developer comment: Despite the primary fire gameplay feeling more interesting now, Mei's effectiveness overall was negatively impacted by the trade in damage for more slowing utility. We're shifting some of that power back into her damage.
Deep Chill maximum slow applied when this effect activates reduced from 75% to 65%.
Damage per second reduced from 100 to 55. Primary fire slow is no longer always 40% and now scales from 30-50%. Primary fire impacts now build up to a slowing effect that sticks to the enemy target for 1.5 seconds and slows them for 75%. Secondary fire impacts can detonate this new slow effect, dealing an additional 40 damage.
Developer comment: This set of changes is intended to bring back some of the gameplay and feeling Mei's primary fire used to have previously, though without the hard crowd control of a full freeze stun.
Ultimate cast time reduced from 0.5 to 0.4 seconds.
Developer comment: Mei's Blizzard ultimate cast time sometimes led to situations where the animation appeared to have been completed, but there was still additional time that it could get interrupted. This change will help mitigate that feeling without significantly reducing counterplay.
Ultimate cost reduced 5%.
Ultimate cost increased by 15%.
No longer removes Sigma Gravitic Flux effect.
Pillar health reduced from 400 to 250. Range reduced from 35 to 20 meters.
Freeze stun removed. Immediately slows targets by a constant 50% instead of building up over time. Slow duration reduced from 1.0 to 0.5 seconds. Damage per second increased from 55 to 100. Ammo increased from 120 to 150.