Mei

Mei is a Damage hero in Overwatch.

Overview
Mei’s weather-altering devices slow opponents and protect locations. Her Endothermic Blaster unleashes damaging icicles and frost streams, and she can Cryo-Freeze herself to guard against counterattacks, or obstruct the opposing team's movements with an Ice Wall.

Strategy
Mei is a strong fighter who excels in 1-on-1 fights. Her freezing effect from Endothermic Blaster will let her win over most heroes. Icicle deals heavy damage when used correctly, making her a threat at both short and long ranges. Ice Wall can be used to trap or distract the enemy, as it can completely block the enemy's vision, or split some of the enemies from the others. Mei's Cryo-Freeze creates thick ice around herself, restoring her health and rendering her invulnerable, allowing her to play like a semi-tank. Blizzard is a very strong Ultimate, able to turn the tide of battle when used correctly. Not being a true tank, Mei can still be outdamaged and killed easily. Her primary fire deals little damage and needs to land several hits to fully freeze the target. Due to lacking raw killing power and mobility tools, playing Mei well is challenging.

Weapons & Abilities

 * Endothermic Blaster: Mei's primary weapon. The primary fire, when held down, launches a beam that will deal continuous damage on the enemy. Affected targets will gradually move slower, eventually being completely frozen for 1.5 seconds after taking 30 shots. The secondary fire will launch an icicle-projectile on a linear trajectory, consuming more ammo than primary fire but dealing heavy damage. Icicle has a short cast time, during which Mei's movement speed is slowed.
 * The Endothermic Blaster's two firing modes make a simple combo. Freeze the target with primary fire at close-range, then launch an Icicle at the frozen enemy's head. This combo will kill most non-tank heroes.
 * The primary fire deals little damage per second compared to other stream-type weapons. Sticking to Icicle is a better option to deal damage.
 * The primary fire pierces enemies.
 * The primary fire of Mei's weapon has travel time, meaning that she has to lead the target when firing on a moving enemy.
 * The first hit will create an initial slowing effect on the enemy, which is useful to slow a mobile hero.
 * The slowing effect only influences standard movement speed, not movement abilities. Enemies like Tracer, Genji, Junkrat, or Pharah will be able to quickly escape Mei's attack unless their movement ability is on cooldown.
 * While Icicle no longer has a damage falloff restriction, keep in mind that fighting mid- to long-range hitscan heroes is unfavorable due to their high damage at maximum range.


 * Cryo-Freeze: Mei's personal defensive ability. She will create a thick ice coating around herself which makes her invulnerable, but immobile for 4 seconds. She will ignore most debuffs and recover health while the skill is active (150 total if the full duration is used), and the ice will disappear after the end of the duration. Mei can manually cancel this ability early.
 * Cooldown triggers after the Cryo-Freeze ends.
 * Mei acts as an obstacle during Cryo-Freeze, which can prevent some abilities from going through her to affect her allies, such as Reinhardt's Earth Shatter, Roadhog's Hook, or D.Va's Self-Destruct.
 * Instead of using the full duration, it can be useful to use Cryo-Freeze in a short burst to avoid damage (like from D.Va's self-destruct) and then cancel it. It's also useful to cancel Cryo-Freeze early if you want to only heal a small amount of damage and start your cooldown timer or rejoin a fight as soon as possible.
 * Combined with Ice Wall, good timing can allow Mei to survive in many situations, even when outnumbered.


 * Ice Wall: When activated, Mei will create a wall of five ice pillars at the targeted location. By re-pressing the ability button, she can switch the wall's orientation between side-to-side and front-to-back. The wall will be generated upon pressing normal attack, becoming an obstructing object which can block all line of sight for allies and enemies alike. Ice Wall can be ended several ways; it can be destroyed by enemies or a moving payload, its duration can expire, and Mei can melt it herself with the ability button.
 * Use Ice Wall with care, the downside is that it completely blocks Mei's allies as well as her enemies. Beware of cutting your own allies off from support or retreat.
 * Each pillar has its own health. While most heroes can fit between them when only 1 is destroyed, some (like Reinhardt or D.Va's mech) are too big to fit.
 * Mei cannot cancel her Ice Wall while stunned.


 * Blizzard (Ultimate): Mei's Ultimate ability. Mei deploys her drone at the targeted point. The drone will travel toward the point as a slow projectile with a small arc. After the drone is on the ground, it will unleash the frostbite and wind in a wide area. The storm will deal some damage and slow the enemy's movement speed. If the enemy lingers in the area for 2.5 seconds, they will become frozen solid for some time.
 * As a projectile, Blizzard can be countered by D.Va's Defense Matrix and Genji's Deflect.
 * The drone can go through an enemy's Barrier.
 * While the Blizzard has very large area, it doesn't go through environment objects. It still goes through the enemy's obstructing abilities, like Mei's Ice Wall.
 * The storm has a surprisingly high vertical area, so even heroes like Pharah will have trouble escaping vertically.

General strategies

 * Mei is a great fighter in 1-on-1 match-ups. Her Endothermic Blaster can freeze the enemy and finish it with an Icicle projectile. She can block the enemy's attempt to escape by placing Ice Wall to block the escape route. However, she has low killing power against groups of enemies, since her Icicle has a cast time. When fighting in groups, take advantage of the piercing freeze effect to incapacitate as many enemies as possible.
 * If you are surrounded, a Cryo-Freeze and/or a well-placed Ice Wall can get you out of many sticky situations. Placing an ice wall beneath yourself allows you to quickly dodge an attack, or retreat to cover while the enemy navigates around the new obstacle.
 * Icicle's long cast time can make it difficult to hit moving opponents, though as a projectile, it can be used as suppressing fire against targets in cover.
 * Mei's Icicle projectile is a viable long-range weapon, and can be used in combination with Ice Wall to disable or distract snipers. Previously, the Icicle was the only projectile that suffered from damage falloff at long range. Although the falloff damage restriction was removed in a patch, fights against heroes with accurate long-ranged attacks still won't be in her favor.
 * Mei's Ice Wall is her key ability. It can be dangerous to the enemy team when used correctly. It's most effective when she communicates with her teammates before setting up her Ice Wall, as it can backfire on her team when used in the wrong time or place.
 * Mei can use the Ice Wall to block off enemies from leaving spawn at the beginning of the game, giving some extra time to hold them away from objectives. It can also be used to split the enemy team in half, ideally allowing your team to fight two consecutive 6 versus 3 fights, rather than engage in a 6 versus 6.
 * A well placed Ice Wall can be used to disable or block certain Ultimates, such as Reinhardt's Earthshatter, which will not contact the ground when Reinhardt is on top of the Ice Wall.
 * Since Ice Wall and Cryo-Freeze's cooldown timers start after the effect ends, Mei can shield herself with Cryo-Freeze to stay safe while Ice Wall's timer counts down.
 * Be ready to melt your Ice Wall if it becomes a disadvantage to your team.
 * Mei can afford to be more aggressive than other Damage heroes due to her higher hit points and defensive abilities. She excels at pushing payloads, since the payload can carry an ice wall with it.
 * If Mei is guaranteed to die soon and only has Cryo-Freeze to defend herself, don't use it. You'll only give the enemy more Ultimate charge with those extra hit points, and delay your own respawn by a few seconds.
 * Blizzard is a powerful Ultimate that can freeze enemies in very large area. However, it needs 2.5 seconds to successfully freeze the enemy, which won't be enough against enemies with good movement abilities or who are near the edge of the AoE. Try to combo with more immediately-effective movement-impairing Ultimates from teammates such as Zarya's Graviton Surge or Reinhardt's Earthshatter, so she can guarantee a successful freeze more easily. You can also use Ice Wall to block an enemy from escaping in one direction.
 * You should mainly use Mei’s Cryo-Freeze to bait enemy abilities, such as Mccree’s flashbang, Ana’s sleep dart or biotic grenade or Roadhog’s hook. This gives Mei the upper advantage in 1v1 fights, as many heroes are reliant on their abilities to defend themselves from Mei, usually giving Mei an easy kill. You should only use Cryo-Freeze to heal yourself when absolutely necessary.

Story
"Our World Is Worth Fighting For."

Cheerful, creative, and optimistic, even in the face of overwhelming odds, Mei is a world-renowned climatologist who has taken the fight to preserve the environment into her own hands. She specializes in the study of abnormal climate phenomena and their effects on different ecosystems around the world. She strongly believes in preserving the world for future generations, and is determined to fight for a better future. While originally just a scientist, Winston's recall order has inspired her to heroism.

Mei is a fan of Lúcio's music.

Early Research
"Studying climate phenomena, I've run into some pretty obstinate anti-intellectualists, but you might be the worst. You can argue with me, but you can't argue with data! And the data says...you're incredibly annoying!"

- Mei loses her 'cool'

During her years in climatology, Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou encountered a number of "obstinate anti-intellectualists." At some point, she attended a climatology conference. She introduced cutting-edge innovations in the field of climate manipulation that protected at-risk areas in Asia and beyond.

Ecopoint: Antarctica
"A little bit about me: my name is Mei (yes, that Mei!), and I specialize in abnormal climate phenomena and their effects on different ecosystems around the world. I know that sounds really boring, but I'll do my best to make it entertaining!"

- Mei in her journal

Though many blamed the planet's escalating, unexplained climate phenomena on the advent of new technologies, the rapidly growing omnic population, and drastically increased consumption of resources, the true cause remained unknown. To find a solution, Overwatch established a series of eco-Watchpoints at remote, critical locations worldwide.

Mei was a member of this multi-year initiative. A peerless climatologist, she was assigned to the program's monitoring station at Watchpoint: Antarctica. An atmospheric anomaly above Antarctica was the basis of the base's research, but then, disaster struck: a sudden, catastrophic polar storm battered the installation and cut it off from the outside world, leaving the facility damaged and the scientists stranded. As their supplies dwindled, they entered cryostasis in a last-ditch effort to survive until a rescue attempt could be made. Before entering cryo, Mei made a recording, anticipating waking up and finding a wealth of data to examine (as she left the sensors on).

Rise and Shine
Nine years passed before Mei woke up, not a physical day older due to being in cryo. Her cryo pod was reactivated once the base received an external message, albeit too weak to properly display on the base's terminals. Alongside Snowball (the base's droid), she got dressed, made tea, and looked at the data she'd collected, discovering that the anomaly was much worse than predicted. Snowball revealed that she'd been in stasis for nine years, much to her horror; surely Overwatch would have come for them in that time. She tried to communicate with the outside world, but the comms were down. The base however, had accumulated news reports over the years the comms were active, which revealed that in the interim, the Ecopoint had been considered lost in the ice storm, and Overwatch had been shut down. No one knew they were here. It was at this point that she began to wonder where her fellow researchers were, and rushed back to the cryo-chamber. She discovered that all of the pods bar her own had malfunctioned, and as a result, they had perished. She broke down crying, alone in the base, with only Snowball for company. She promised to get the data they'd collected to the world. Or at least try.

Mei headed outside. However, the dish was broken (which prevented any outgoing transmissions), the base's vehicles were incapacitated, and looking out across the vast Antarctic landscape quickly discouraged any thoughts of hiking out. She went back inside, faced with isolation (bar Snowball), and the knowledge that the base's power wouldn't last indefinitely. She noticed the transmission that had been sent earlier, one that was being sent over Overwatch's emergency frequency. Perhaps someone knew they were here, but to find out, they'd need to reinforce the radio tower so she could climb it and access the dish. Over the next several days, Mei scavenged material to build an endothermic blaster and a makeshift antenna. She nearly completed it, but it was at this point that the base's last battery gave out. Snowball sacrificed his own power to recharge Mei's workstation, and as such, she was able to finish the blaster. Through it, she was able to use its ice properties to climb the tower and get to the dish. Using her antenna, she discovered that the message had been sent from Winston, urging Overwatch's former agents to get back together to face the troubles facing their world. Mei decided to answer the call. Before leaving, she paid her final respects to her friends before taking a sled of supplies, and hiked across the Antarctic landscape with confidence. To her joy, she found that Snowball (whom she'd taken with her) had regained his power, thanks to a portable solar panel she had taken with her.

A New World
"People look at me like I'm crazy when I say I miss Antarctica. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was lonely. But the scenery... I've never seen anything like it! There's a mountain range called Wolf's Jaw, in Queen Maud Land...Stone spikes, thousands of feet high, jutting from that featureless white expanse...That was Captain Opara's favorite place. Some day, when this is all over, I want to go back."

- Mei reflecting on her time in Antarctica

Mei found herself awakened to a world that had undergone considerable changes. Not only was Overwatch no more, but the serious climate issues had worsened, and none of the eco-watchpoints were in operation. Any clues that they had uncovered were lost. Mei decided to continue her work on her own. Equipped with a portable version of her climate-manipulation technology, she traveled around the world, hoping to re-establish the eco-network and track down the causes of the threats to the planet's ecosystem.

Despite her ordeal in Antarctica, she still missed the continent, and hoped to return to it someday.

New Journeys
Note: The following events aren't necessarily in chronological order.

The Arctic
At some point Mei rescued a nest of endangered Arctic wildlife from a collapsing glacier using her technology. Her deeds were reported on by Olympia Shaw.

Mei's Adventures
"So I'm starting this journal. Honestly, I'm not sure who's going to want to read this. It was the idea of my colleague, Winston. He thinks that people will find my "unique" perspective interesting. (We'll see if he's right!) At the very least, it'll help me pass the time, and believe me, when you're huddled in a shelter and it's -20° C outside (brrrr!), you have a lot of time to kill. (And 雪球 isn't the greatest conversationalist.)"

- Mei's first journal entry

At some point after this, Mei got in touch with Winston. He suggested she start writing a journal, telling her that people would find her "unique" perspective interesting. She made her first journal entry and made it available to the public while in the Yukon near Mount Logan, while testing her new gear. She concluded that it was in working order (a step up from a few days ago, when she'd accidentally frozen her arm), and began studying the local wildlife. Six days later, she decided to head to Asia, to investigate the abandoned Overwatch stations there. Before doing so, she took a break by flying into Los Angeles to see Six-Gun Killer. Two days after that, she was in Asia, investigating a mountain ecosystem (possibly the Himalayas).

One of her avid readers is D.Va, who is fascinated with all the different places Mei has seen as the young mech pilot is not able to freely travel herself.

Holiday Season
"White Christmas! Massive winter storm hits England!"

- Mei, in a television interview with Atlas News

During the winter holiday season, Mei reported on a massive snowstorm that was hitting London on Atlas News.

Zero Hour
"Winston? What's on your mind, Mei? Do...do we have enough people for this mission? As long as we stick together, we'll be fine."

- Mei and Winston before landing

When Null Sector attacked Paris, Mei teamed up with Winston and Lena Oxton, as they flew in the Orca to engage the attacking omnics. Mei expressed doubt that the three of them would be enough to defend the city. Winston told her that as long as they stuck together, they'd be fine. Landing, they engaged the omnics. Winston told Mei to get the civilians to the Orca, but before she could do that, a Titan made its presence known. It fired missiles followed by a laser, the latter of which destroyed the Orca and ruptured the utilities beneath the street, causing a chain reaction of explosions. Mei used her blaster to create an ice wall, protecting the civilians, but was left exposed herself and injured in the resulting blast. Out of options, Winston told Oxton to get Mei out of there, while he held the omnics off, despite Mei's weak protest that Winston had earlier said that they'd stick together.

As it turned out, Winston didn't need to sacrifice himself, as other Overwatch members joined the fight. One of them was Angela Ziegler, who healed Mei's injuries, getting her on her feet again. That said, there was still the matter of the Titan. At Winston's suggestion, Mei's backpack (the one which powered her blaster) was combined with one of Oxton's pulse bombs. Oxton was able to get inside the Titan to deliver the combined explosive, freezing the Titan, which subsequently shattered under its own brittle weight. The battle won, Oxton introduced Mei to the newly arrived Overwatch members. Winston declared that Overwatch had indeed returned.

Rio
"You're with me. We're getting aboard that ship."

- Reinhardt to Tracer and Mei

As it turned out, Paris was the first of numerous locations attacked by Null Sector. One of them was Rio de Janeiro. Alongside Oxton, Reinhardt Wilhelm, and Lúcio, Mei fought her way through the city streets to the omnics' command ship.

Trivia

 * Mei's placeholder name during development was Frostbite. Early versions of the character were an explorer outfitted with climbing gear and bounty hunter who used an ice gun to freeze captured bounties in cryostasis.
 * Earlier ideas for ice-based characters were included in an early pitch for the game: Frost, a man with a white fur-lined jacket and a visored helmet, envisioned as using an Ice Axe and abilities named Ice Patch and Ice Wall; another yeti-themed character named Yetzi was envisioned as having an Ice Storm ability.
 * Early concepts for Mei were revised as they were too close to Zarya.
 * The name Mei-Ling translates to "beautiful" and "spirit" in Chinese, and thus together "beautiful spirit".
 * "Mei-Ling" is Mei's actual given name, not "Mei"; there is no middle name convention in traditional Chinese names. (The layout of 周美灵 in English is 'Zhou, Mei-Ling'.) One can imagine her saying, "Hi, I'm Mei-Ling, but you can just call me Mei!"
 * One of her sprays reveals her drone's name to be Snowball.
 * Mei's biological age, 31, does not include her time spent in cryostasis. Her chronological age is roughly 40.
 * Mei's favourite drink is tea (also with boba [the tapioca pearls in bubble tea]).
 * Mei is the ninth playable Overwatch character in Heroes of the Storm. She is also a purchasable announcer. Additionally, an image of Mei appears on the shoulderpad of Rexxar when using his Fire Raider skin.
 * From a development standpoint, Mei is more of a "normal" hero, designed to show that anyone can rise to be a hero. Michael Chu has joked that her 'superpower' is being optimistic in the face of overwhelming odds.
 * Mei has became a symbol of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. She was chosen ironically, being a Blizzard character, following the suspension and penalization of a Hearthstone e-Sports player blitzchung (Wai Chung Ng), after he publicly advocated for the Free Hong Kong movement. Fans of Blizzard and Overwatch have produced numerous images of Mei depicting her protesting the Hong Kong government or advocating for human rights, in the hopes that the Chinese version of Overwatch would be banned from the market.