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There are well over 30 heroes in Overwatch 2, but the developers have still managed to maintain a good balance level given that a starter character like Tracer still feels great to use. In the game, you fight in a team of five to secure a specific objective or prevent the enemy's push.

RELATED: Overwatch 2: Widowmaker Hero Guide

Mobility can be vital in this game because you can become an easy target if you stay in the same position for a long time. And when there's a mobility requirement, Tracer is the best choice because her abilities allow her to surprise the enemy with constant movement.

Tracer's Role In Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 Tracer In Game Pose In Practice Mode

While there are five people in a team, there are only three roles: Damage, Support, and Tank. Usually, one Tank, two Damage, and two Support characters make up a team. But the rules are different for the Open Queue game mode that you can play in both Unranked and Competitive.

Tracer belongs to the Damage role, and her job is to find a way to get to the enemy's back line and get rid of their Support and Damage characters. Using her light speed, she can easily get into positions where the enemies won't be expecting her.

Every Damage character in the game shares a special ability that increases their movement and reload speed whenever you eliminate an enemy character. This can be vital for Tracer to get away or to follow up on her kill.

Tracer Abilities

Overwatch 2 Tracer Smile Close Up From Trailer

Every Hero in Overwatch 2 has a set of skills that consist of Weapons, Active, Passive, and Ultimate abilities. There are only a few characters that have their special passive apart from the passive given to them because of their role.

As you'll be able to see from every cinematic she's featured in, Tracer's trump card is her mobility. Almost every ability she has contributes to this, and here's what they do:

Ability Name

Ability Type

Description

Pulse Pistols

Weapon

Tracer has a set of two pistols that shoot at the same time when you press the weapon button in the game. The damage dealt by these pistols is calculated with a hit scan and not the projectile motion.

Blink

Active Ability

There are three stacks to this ability, and each of them allows you to dash in the direction you're moving. You can see the number of dashes you have in the middle of your screen symbolized by the arrows pointing upward.


It is important to note that Tracer will blink in the direction you're moving, not the direction you're facing. This can be hard to judge at the start, but you'll get used to it as you play the character.

Recall

Active Ability

Whenever you press this ability, Tracer goes a few seconds back in time. This means that you'll go back to the location you were in, and you'll also have the health and bullets you had then.

Pulse Bomb

Ultimate

Upon pressing this ability, she throws a sticky bomb in the direction she's facing that explodes after a short delay and deals massive damage. This bomb can essentially get rid of the entire health bar of a squishy character.


At the same time, this bomb also deals damage to Tracer herself, so you need to get out fast after placing it. Furthermore, it doesn't have a long trajectory, so it'll fall a few feet away whenever you activate this ability.

Tips To Play As Tracer

Overwatch 2 Tracer Slipstream Skin Pose Close Up

It can be quite confusing to play this Hero for the first time in Overwatch 2, given the amount of mobility she has. There will be times when you'll be left wondering where you ended up, but you'll get used to that as you play the character often. Tracer is not one of the characters that you can learn quickly.

Furthermore, here are a few tips that you can pay attention to if you want to make a dent in the enemy team with her:

Tracer's Damage Is Negligible At Long Range

Overwatch 2 Tracer Damaging Training Bot From Far

Different characters in the game have different damage numbers depending on the range and the type of ability they have. Since Tracer's main play style is at short range, she barely does any damage from far away. This means that it's essentially useless to shoot at enemies unless they're very low on health.

Shooting at enemies from far away when you're hidden, and they don't know your location is particularly bad since this will tell them where you are as well. In these terms, there's quite a lot of patience required while playing as Tracer.

To put it into perspective, a headshot with your weapon from far away will deal about half a small bar of damage for a squishy character. Moreover, the Support characters on the enemy team will most likely heal their teammates faster than you can damage them from that range.

Avoid attacking from range, and try to get up close to the enemies if you want to use your Pulse Pistols to their full potential. To disincentivize people from shooting at long range, the developers also made her shots spread massively as the distance between you and your target increases.

Confuse Both The Enemy And Yourself

Overwatch 2 Tracer Shocked While Carrying An Item And Flying

The best play style for Tracer is to confuse the living hell out of your enemies. You can change your location up to four times using your three Blinks and one Recall. Use these to go everywhere around the enemy, so they spend all the time trying to aim at you while you constantly devastate them.

There's a downside to this if you're playing Tracer for the first time. When you dash around the enemies, sometimes it'll end up confusing you about your location as well. This might end up discouraging you to use dashes while shooting at someone.

It is important to keep this practice because your damage is fairly low even at a short range. This is because you have 40 bullets in a magazine and shoot two of them at the same time. If you go in a head-on battle with an enemy without blinking, they can defeat you easily at any range.

Don't Greed For Kills

Overwatch 2 Tracer Staring At Screen Worried

You must have faced many instances where an enemy escaped when they were one-shot, and these can be annoying. Unfortunately, there'll be a lot more of these scenarios with Tracer because of how her abilities work.

Since her overall damage is low, the enemies get a chance to react to her and escape if they have a dash or teleportation. In these instances, you need to judge your next move wisely. Usually, people would be tempted to follow the enemy and kill them, even if it means getting themselves killed as well.

This is not always a good decision, because you might be cutting it close in a game, and losing you could tip the balance in the enemy's favor. After all, when Tracer is in a team, the other team has to make sure she doesn't take away a squishy from behind.

If you aren't aware of the exact position of every other enemy, it's a better choice to simply let the low-health person get away and catch them again later. On the other hand, if you're after someone who's carrying the game for the opposing team and they're low, it can be beneficial to chase them too.

The Second Chance Ability Is Strong

Overwatch 2 Tracer Using Recall Skill

The potential for Tracer's Recall should not be underestimated. It is already a strong ability because it lets you get into the enemy back line, kill one of their Support or Damage characters, and get back to full health and ammo in case someone chases after you.

But there are a couple more special uses for this ability that makes her unique:

  • Firstly, in case you fall down an edge or get pushed by someone like Lucio, you can use this ability to get back into the fight without having to wait for a ten-second cooldown.
  • And secondly, this ability can synergize well with your Ultimate and Blinks. In a perfect scenario, you'd use the Blinks to get close to the target enemy, stick the Pulse Bomb on their body, and then Recall to get your health back while the enemy helplessly dies.

She Has Quite A Few Counters

Overwatch 2 Pharah

Unfortunately, it's hard to be a one-trick Tracer in the game because of the sheer amount of complete counters she has. Here are a few of the popular heroes that can easily counter them:

  • Pharah can fly high in the sky, never letting her get close. This can be devastating because she can easily kill you while you won't even be able to scratch her armor.
  • Any character with teleportation or push-back ability can easily get away from you because it takes a long time to kill an enemy with her.
  • Support heroes like Moira or Mercy can also be your nightmare because the former can heal back up while attacking you, and the latter can fly to her teammates making a lot of distance quickly.

NEXT: Overwatch 2: Ashe Character Guide