Tracer

Tracer
"Cheers, love! The cavalry's here!"
Real Name	Lena Oxton
Age	26
Nationality	English
Occupation	Adventurer
Base	London, England
Affiliation	Overwatch (formerly)
Voice	Cara Theobold (English) Dorothee Pousseo (French) Emiri Kato (Japanese) Analiz Sanchez (American Spanish) Ana de Castro (European Spanish) Luiza Palomane (Brazilian Portuguese) Gea Riva (Italian) Luisa Wietzorek (German)
Quotes	Quotation page
Role	Offense
Health	150
Character Video

Tracer is an Offense hero in Overwatch.

Summary

With a unique ability to control the speed of her own passage through time, Tracer zips and blinks around the battlefield, eluding attackers and sneaking past defenses. A perfect skirmisher hero, Tracer is fragile but hard to hit, keeping one step ahead of her attackers while she harasses and harries the enemy team. Tracer excels at getting behind enemy lines, but it is inadvisable to move her through chokepoints. Should she find herself blinking into an ambush, she can rewind time to her position and state a few seconds earlier, giving her a second chance.

The developers consider Tracer to have one of the most unique play styles in Overwatch.

Official tips

• Tracer is highly mobile using Blink and Recall.
• Her short range pistols and low health encourage a hit-and-run play style.
• Her Pulse Bomb devastates static defenses and tightly grouped enemies.

Abilities

This page is a candidate for deletion. Reason: "The PTR is used less often now and the wiki has a hard enough time staying updated as is."

For differences on the Public Test Region, see Tracer/PTR.

Pulse Pistols

Type

Weapon

Effect Type

Rapid fire hitscan

Tracer rapid-fires both of her pistols.

Damage:

3 - 12 per shot
1.5 - 6 per round

Falloff range:

11 to 30 meters

Headshot:

✓

Rate of fire:

20 shots per second

Ammo per shot:

2 rounds per shot

Ammo:

40

Reload time:

1 second

Example Video

Blink

3 seconds per charge

Type

Ability

Tracer zips horizontally through space in the direction she’s moving, and reappears several yards away. She stores up to three charges of the blink ability and generates more every few seconds.

Ammo:

3 charges

Max. range:

~7 meters

Example Video

Recall

12 seconds

Type

Ability

Tracer bounds backward in time, returning her health, ammo and position on the map to precisely where they were a few seconds before.

Healing:

Changed to the value
3 seconds earlier

Duration:

1.25 seconds rewinding
Rewinds 3 seconds back

• Details

Ability details:

• Despite its description, Recall does not return Tracers ammo to what it was a few seconds earlier, but instead fully reloads her weapons.
• If Recalling to a position on a platform (or the payload) that has moved during the last few seconds, Tracer will not be Recalled to a position in the air, but instead she will be returned to the platform, wherever the platform is now.
• The Recall ability can be combined with the Blink ability to recover a lot of previous ground.
• Recall also takes note of where you were previously looking three second prior. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage. It could flip you around to make an escape, or could mess up your final blow on an opponent.
• When you activate Recall, you are completely immune to all damage during the 1.25 seconds. You can use this to dodge Ultimate abilities or other lethal situations.
• With Blink's cooldown being exactly three seconds, you are able to use it's cooldown timer to pinpoint exactly when you would need to activate Recall.

Example Video

Pulse Bomb

Q

900 points

Type

Ultimate Ability

Effect Type

Splash projectile

Tracer lobs a large bomb that adheres to any surface or unfortunate opponent it lands on. After a brief delay, the bomb explodes, dealing high damage to all enemies within its blast radius.

Damage:

400

Headshot:

✕

Duration:

1 seconds casting

Area of effect:

3 meters radius

Example Video

Strategy

Tracer is a close-range skirmishing hero who specializes in speed and single target damage. Her mobility and high single target damage makes her excellent at picking key targets with very low risk. Tracer can quickly traverse a map with the use of Blink to outflank her enemies, deal damage to them, and then retreat before they have a chance to respond. Her low base Health and lack of regenerating shields means that she must make good use of Blink and Recall to avoid or reverse damage.

Weapons & abilities

Tracer's primary weapons are her dual Pulse Pistols. Her primary fire rapidly shoots both pistols, dealing heavy damage. These pistols have a large cone of fire and heavy damage dropoff, making them ineffective beyond short range engagements.

Tracer's Blink is her most important ability. Blink teleports Tracer a short distance in the direction she's currently moving. This allows Tracer to move unpredictably: she can Blink past an enemy to attack their back, or Blink to the side to dodge an enemy's attacks. Multiple Blinks can be chained back-to-back, allowing Tracer to travel across gaps that normally can't be reached with just her jump (such as the large gap leading to the last point on Hanamura).

Recall is equally important for Tracer. When activated, Tracer will "rewind" to three seconds in the past, setting her health and position to whatever they were at that time, as well as reloading her gun and removing all debuffs from her (such as Zenyatta's Orb of Discord). Recall is mainly used to restore Health, but it can also be useful for escaping: jump off a ledge, wait for an enemy to follow you, and then Recall back up the ledge. Recall has a short animation that plays when activated, during which time Tracer is invulnerable and invisible. This can be used to avoid potentially deadly attacks by activating Recall right before Tracer is hit.

Tracer's ultimate is Pulse Bomb. When activated, Tracer tosses her bomb forwards a short distance. If it impacts an enemy, it will stick to that enemy. Otherwise, the bomb will stick to the first solid surface it lands on. After a short delay, the bomb explodes, dealing a heavy amount of damage to enemies in a small area around the bomb. Note that this explosion will also damage Tracer. Pulse Bomb is devastating on clustered groups or static defenses like Torbjörn's turret. A common ability combination to safely bomb a target is to use Blink to get in close, toss the bomb on them, and then Recall to get back out of danger.

General strategies

When playing Tracer, do your best to avoid fighting your opponents head on. Tracer can only deal good damage when close to her enemies, as opposed to other Assault heroes like Soldier: 76, and she lacks durability. Take advantage of her speed to travel rapidly through side routes so that you can get behind your opponents before attacking. Try to find single targets that are separated from their team and take them out. Be wary of diving into large groups to try and kill a target, unless you have Pulse Bomb ready, as a full enemy team can quickly turn and kill you before you can Recall or Blink to safety.

If you're starting to lose a fight and are low on Health, don't be afraid to retreat, as Tracer's speed can let her get to Health Packs well before her opponents can. This gives her an advantage in dueling single targets, as she can simply outlast them through good use of Recall and retreating to grab Health Packs before returning to battle.

Tracer is considered most effective in King of the Hill maps. Her horizontal mobility is unparalleled, making her ideal to flank enemy lines and to patrol flanks. Her lack of vertical mobility can be problematic on Payload or Control Point maps where other heroes can give Tracer a difficult time to traverse the map safely.

Her Pulse Bomb can also be very effective with heroes that have medium health pools that are in Zenyatta's Transcendence. You cannot kill the Zenyatta during Transcendence, but you can take out heroes with less than 400 health as Transcendence provides invulnerability only to Zenyatta, not the heroes around him.

Good Counters to Tracer

Genji has just as much mobility as Tracer, and is capable of chasing her down and engaging her. His quick burst fire damage will tear through Tracer's low health.

File:Icon-mccree.png McCree is Tracer's worst nightmare; while stunned due to Flashbang, Tracer cannot Recall, which makes her very vulnerable to Fan the Hammer, or even a headshot followed by a melee attack.

Torbjörn's turret, with its nearly instant lock-on, serves as excellent area denial to the low-health Tracer, who can do little to get into range. However, one must be wary of Tracer's Pulse Bomb, which is designed to rip through static defences.

Bastion is similar to Torbjörn's turret, in that it serves as excellent area denial. While lacking lock-on, Bastion makes up for it with massive firepower. However, like the turret, Bastion is highly vulnerable to the Pulse Bomb.

Roadhog's Chain Hook is hard to land on Tracer, but if it does, she's good as dead. Unless she can Recall fast enough, there's no way for her to survive a point-blank shot from Roadhog's Scrap Gun.

Story

"Cheers, love! The cavalry's here!"

The former Overwatch agent known as Tracer is a time-jumping adventurer and an irrepressible force for good. She hails from London, and has traveled all over the world.

She was a great admirer of Tekhartha Mondatta, and was inspired by Mei, an Overwatch scientist.

Overwatch

"So, you want to hear my story. It all started a few years ago. Overwatch was looking for a hotshot pilot to test their next-generation teleporting fighter: The Slipstream. Enter: Lena Oxton (call sign: “Tracer”). [giggles] That’s me! It was the opportunity I had trained for my whole life. But on my first flight, the teleportion matrix malfunctioned; and I disappeared."

Tracer by the Slipstream

Lena Oxton (call sign: "Tracer") was the youngest person ever inducted into Overwatch's experimental flight program. Known for her fearless piloting skills, she was handpicked to test the prototype of a teleporting fighter, the Slipstream. But during its first flight, the aircraft's teleportation matrix malfunctioned, and it disappeared. Lena was presumed dead.

Tracer, suffering from chronal disassociation

She reappeared months later, but her ordeal had greatly changed her: her molecules had been desynchronized from the flow of time. Suffering from "chronal disassociation," she was a living ghost, disappearing for hours and days at a time. Even for the brief moments she was present, she was unable to maintain physical form. Sometimes she had strange dreams about the past, including being a kitchen maid at a large house in the country.

Overwatch's doctors and scientists were stumped, and Tracer's case seemed hopeless until a scientist named Winston designed the chronal accelerator, a device capable of keeping Tracer anchored in the present. In addition, it gave Tracer the ability to control her own time, allowing her to speed it up and slow it down at will. With her newfound skills, she became one of Overwatch's most effective agents. At some point she was stationed at Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

Post-Overwatch

Since Overwatch's dissolution, Tracer continued to right wrongs and fight the good fight wherever the opportunity presented itself.

Recall

" Winston? Is that you, love? It's been too long."

Years after Overwatch's disbandment, Tracer was contacted by Winston as he issued a recall order for Overwatch agents. She commented that they'd been out of touch for too long; an assessment that Winston agreed with. Tracer was in East England at the time.

Alive

"Trying to crash another party, love?"

Tracer confronts Widowmaker

A few hours after her talk with Winston, Tracer was present in King's Row, as Shambali leader Tekhartha Mondatta addressed a joint human-omnic crowd. She came to suspect there would be an assassination attempt, which would be correct and she confronted Widowmaker among the rooftops. The two carried out a run and gun battle, but despite her efforts, Widowmaker successfully assassinated the omnic. Enraged, Tracer tackled Widowmaker, demanding to know why she had done this. Chuckling, Widowmaker easily incapacitated her and departed in a Talon aircraft.

Day at the Museum

Tracer fights in Numbani

"You know, the world could always use more heroes."

Widowmaker and Reaper attacked a museum dedicated to Overwatch, trying to steal Doomfist's gauntlet. Tracer fought them alongside Winston and the villains were forced to retreat. Tracer complimented two young boys that had helped her in the aftermath, commenting that the world could always use more heroes. The whereabouts of Tracer, Winston and the two who managed to escape is unknown at this point.

Achievements

Name	Icon	Description	Reward
Total Recall		Recover 400 health using Tracer's Recall without dying in Quick or Competitive play.	Pixel
Special Delivery		Stick 4 of Tracer's Pulse Bombs onto enemies in a single Quick or Competitive play game.	Cute

Cosmetics

v · d · e Tracer Skins
Common (Free)
Classic Weapons: #1		Overwatch 2 Weapons: #1
Rare (75 )
Electric Purple Weapons: #1	Hot Pink Weapons: #1	Neon Green Weapons: #1	Royal Blue Weapons: #1
Epic (250 )
Posh Weapons: #1		Sporty Weapons: #1
Epic (Lunar New Year) (750 )		Epic (Overwatch Anniversary)
Rose Weapons: #1		Lightning Weapons: #1
Epic (Summer Games)		Epic (Winter Wonderland)
Union Jack Weapons: #1		Wooltide Weapons: #1
Epic (Tracer's Comic Challenge)		Epic (Twitch) (100 )
Comic Book Weapons: #1		Overwatch League Gray Weapons: #1
Epic (Shop) (1000 )
Constable Weapons: #1		Synthwave Weapons: #1
Legendary (1000 )
Punk Weapons: #1	Ultraviolet Weapons: #1	Mach T Weapons: #1	T.Racer Weapons: #1
Legendary (Lunar New Year) (1500 )
Hong Gildong Weapons: #1		Nezha Weapons: #1
Legendary (Overwatch Archives) (1500 )
Cadet Oxton Weapons: #1		Cavalry Weapons: #1
Legendary (Overwatch Anniversary) (1500 )
Graffiti Weapons: #1		Tagged Weapons: #1
Legendary (Summer Games) (1500 )		Legendary (Halloween Terror) (1500 )
Sprinter Weapons: #1	Track and Field Weapons: #1	Will-O'-Wisp Weapons: #1
Legendary (Winter Wonderland) (1500 )		Legendary (Origins Edition)
Jingle Weapons: #1		Slipstream Weapons: #1
Legendary (Battle Pass)		Legendary (All-Stars Weekend 2018) (300 )
Street Urchin Weapons: #1		2018 Atlantic All-Stars Weapons: #1
Legendary (Shop) (1900 )
Polar Weapons: #1	Antifragile Traysi Weapons: #1	Formalwear Weapons: #1	Operative Oxton Weapons: #1
Mythic (Season 5 Battle Pass)
Adventurer Weapons: #1

v · d · e Tracer Victory Poses
Common (Free)
Heroic
Rare (75 )
Over the Shoulder	Salute	Sitting
Rare (Lunar New Year) (200 )
Fireworks
Rare (Overwatch Anniversary) (200 )
Wink
Rare (Summer Games) (200 )
Medal
Rare (Halloween Terror) (200 )
R.I.P.		Pumpkin
Rare (Winter Wonderland) (200 )
Toast
Rare (Battle Pass)
Newspaper

v · d · e Tracer Sprays
Common (25 )
Blink	Bomb's Away!	Cavalry's Here
Cheers, Love	Cheers	Clock's Tickin'	Confident
Emily	Fighter	Icon	Kneeling
Lena	Lena And Emily	Orange	Pew! Pew! Pew!
Pistols	Portrait	Poster	Pulse Bomb
Ready for Action	Rose	Salute	Shaded
Tagged		Whatcha' Lookin' At?	Wings
Achievements
Cute		Pixel
Summer Games		Halloween Terror
50	2020 Challenge Spray	50
Track	Union Jack	Trick or Treat	Will-O'-Wisp
Winter Wonderland (50 )
50		Challenge Spray
Ornament	Snowboarding	File:Spray Tracer Wooltide.png Wooltide
Lunar New Year
Dragon Dance	Fan Dance		Nezha's Mischief
Archives (50 )		Anniversary (50 )	Shop (100 )
File:Spray Tracer Cavalry.png Cavalry	Slipstream	Ace of Diamonds	File:Spray Tracer Constable.png Constable
Season 2 (Battle Pass)		Season 5 (Battle Pass)
Extra!	Street Urchin	Realm Heroes
Season 8 (Shop)		Season 9 (April Fools Challenge)
File:Spray Tracer Ostentatious Oxton.png Ostentatious Oxton		File:Spray Tracer Dev Doodle Tracer.png Dev Doodle Tracer

Trivia

Tracer statue

• Tracer is a playable character in Heroes of the Storm. Her visage can also be found on a color variant of Tychus's armor in the game. She was playable before the release of Overwatch itself.

• A Tracer statue will go on sale at some point in the future.

• A Tracer portrait is available in StarCraft II for those who purchase the Origins Edition.

• A Funko Pop Tracer figurine will be released by June, 2016.

• A life-sized statue of Tracer is present on Blizzard's campus.

• A giant action figure of Tracer was displayed on the Hollywood Boulevard as part of the leadup to Overwatch's release.

Development

The origins of Tracer lie in Titan, though not as a character per se. Rather, she was based on one of Titan's playable classes, namely the Jumper. Most of the concept work on the Jumper was male. This signaled a shift a game design, as while the classes of Titan were player characters, the characters of Overwatch were intended to be distinct individuals. The Jumper was thus made female and given a backstory.

Tracer conceptually began with the idea of a hero that blinked across the map. She was one of the first three heroes developed for the game, alongside Reaper and Widowmaker. According to Chris Metzen, Tracer "was one of the first characters we really got to know." While not created for a starring role, the development team warmed up to her. Metzen has likened her to Spider-Man.

Currently, Tracer is the 'mascot character' of Overwatch, and its centerpiece hero. She has been called the "Rosetta Stone" of the game. Her design used to include a jacket.

External links

• Official Site - Tracer
• Tracer Guide on Icy Veins