Tracer has (arguably) been the face of Overwatch since the release way back in May of 2016. Many people have fallen in love with the heroine from London, not just for her bubbly personality but for her playstyle and arsenal on the battlefield as well. Her pulse pistols and time-traveling abilities can prove to be quite the nuisance to the opposing team during battle. I hope that I'm able to provide you with some helpful tips and tricks to help you out while you're trying to improve your Tracer play.

One of the handiest things to learn if you're an aggressive Tracer player, which all Tracer players should be, is the good ol' blink-bash.

The blink-bash is self-explanatory, it's when you Blink, and then, surprisingly, use your melee, or bash, almost immediately after to do some melee damage to your intended target. This is a great finishing move, usually done if your enemy is one hit away from death. The distancing is kind of hard to measure out at first, but hop into the bot training and you'll have the blink-bash down in no time!

Timing your pulse bombs once you get them is extremely vital as well.

During my playtime as Tracer and seeing hours upon hours of competitive Overwatch, it seems as if Pulse Bombs are most effective in the middle of a teamfight. Because Tracer doesn't have the highest damage output, she can slowly chip away at the health of tanks and other enemies, and when they're all grouped up she can toss a Pulse Bomb at them and see that killfeed light up. A great example is shown here by Boston Uprising's Nam-Ju "Striker" Gwon in a game against the Dallas Fuel.

As shown in the clip, the damage-boosted Winston dives on the enemy team, starting the teamfight, damaging almost all of the opposing players and giving Striker the opportunity to sneak up behind them and do what we see in the clip. Without the damage from the boosted Winston and Zenyatta, there was almost no way Striker was going to be able to create enough damage to burn through the Fuel's tanks.

I also don't recommend saving your Pulse Bomb either, as it recharges pretty quickly. I would recommend that you try and pick off some high-value targets (such as healers, Widowmakers, etc.) if your team isn't there to get some valuable kills, which can help your next teamfight immensely.

So don't go throwing your Pulse Bombs all willy-nilly, be sure to pay attention to your teammates, and drop your Pulse Bomb when your team has done some damage on the enemy!

Your Blinks are really important as well, as they serve as one of the quickest ways of getting out of a sticky situation. The tip I will give you is to always try and keep at least one of your three Blinks in your reserve. Tracer is a fairly low HP character so if a high DPS character such as McCree manages to land a shot or two, having a Blink in reserve can be the difference between life and death. Having a Blink in the reserve can also help take down targets, as opposed to escaping from targets trying to take you down.

To help you visualize this, let us say that you're sneaking around on the first point on Eichenwalde and your Pharah gets a direct shot on the enemy Mercy. The Pharah calls out, "The Mercy is one hit in the back!" Having that extra Blink can be huge and help you get into the backline of the enemy team, allowing you to finish off the Mercy, or any healer for that matter. You can even utilize that nifty blink-bash trick I mentioned earlier, possibly opening up the attack for your teammates!

Your Recall is very important and should only be considered as a last resort.

Recall is a very important ability for Tracer, as it not only gets you out of those Roadhog-hooked-me-but-can't-aim situations, but it also regenerates any lost health. I've noticed that a large majority of Tracer players, myself included, use Recall as soon as we take the slightest bit of damage, when that shouldn't be the case.

If your team has some decent healers, be sure to try and get them to heal you first before even thinking about using your Recall. Getting your healers to heal you and saving Recall will save your skin when you're in a situation where you actually need to resort to your Recall. Your healers should be able to heal you fairly quickly since Tracer's HP is not very high, then get back to healing the rest of the team while you venture out and try and disrupt the rest of the enemy team as much as possible.

An obvious but useful tip is to never face enemies head-on. Try and avoid fighting heroes face-to-face, as many heroes have abilities that strongly counter Tracer (think of McCree's Flashbang, Roadhog's Hook, Brigitte's Shield Bash, Ana's Sleep Dart, etc.). Rather, try and flank around and disrupt them from behind or the sides. Doing this not only distracts the enemy team but can also open up the opportunity for you to get some vital kills on heroes with low health.

Tracer can be a vital tool in winning games in Overwatch, so try and master her and her abilities to help your team win as many games as possible! Tracer is a disruptive character, but by no means does that mean you should go and try to take down the entire enemy team singlehandedly. Be sure to have your healers on standby and target characters that would cripple the team. Hopefully, the tips I have supplied you with can help you mow down your enemies.

That's going to be all for today, ladies and gentlemen. Be sure to have some fun out on the battlefield!

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