It’s been a while since we reported on Blizzard’s online MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, but the company has just given us something to be very excited about. The newest hero to join the game will be Mei from Overwatch, and she’s bringing all of her ice-type abilities to the battleground. Mei will be just the 9th character from Overwatch added to the massive roster, which includes a who’s who of all-stars from all of the Blizzard Entertainment franchises.
Mei will be the newest Tank in the game, meaning she has a plethora of health, low damaging attacks, but plenty of crowd control and peeling for her allies. As you can already guess, her move set consists of ice/freezing abilities, which means that she’ll be slowing and stunning a lot of her opponents. As with all Heroes, Mei has a special Trait ability that is unique. Hers is called Cryo-Freeze, where she encases herself in a shield of ice that rapidly thaws over time. While this is active, Mei’s health regenerates to a certain percentage, as well as granting her an unstoppable status.
Mei’s Tank prowess comes into play when she uses her first main attack, Snow Blind, where she literally flings a snowball at her opponent. This immediately blinds and stuns the enemy, meaning that they cannot move, nor can they target anything. However, it’s her second main ability where her real crowd control comes into play, Blizzard. That’s right, her main Ultimate in Overwatch is a basic ability here, and it’s devastating to say the least. Mei tosses out Snowball, her tiny robot, as it creates a giant 360-degree field of ice that entraps enemies and slows them. Once it ends, it then afflicts further damage and even stuns whoever was inside of it for more sustain.
Mei’s third main attack is called Icing, where she slides on a stream of ice in one direction. This can be used to burst into an enemy, or as to escape if Mei is taking too much damage. Mei’s two Heroic’s abilities are Avalanche and Ice Wall. For Avalanche, Mei rolls a massive snowball that consumes anyone in its patch, dealing a good chunk of damage and stunning them once it’s done. As for Icewall, this famous, or infamous move from Overwatch has been the bane of may players’ existence. Mei creates a giant wall of ice that is impassable and also traps anyone unlucky enough to be in the way when she brings it out. When it expires, anyone that was trapped in the wall is immediately slowed for 3 seconds.
Mei will be released alongside a brand new event, Nexomania II, which is a luchador-wrestling themed event complete with its own skins, portraits, sprays, and challenges that expire once it ends. Mei is available to play now in the Public Testing Region (PTR) for those who want to try her out before she’s released publicly. The Nexomania II event commences next week, going from June 23 to September 7. Heroes of the Storm is free-to-play on PC through Battle.net.