Mei Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for Mei. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Mei's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
Mei's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
---|---|
1 | ? ✓ ? |
4 | ? ✓ ? |
7 | ✘︎ ✓ ? |
10 | ? ✓ |
13 | ✓ ? ? |
16 | ? ✓ ? |
20 | ? ✓ ✘︎ ? |
Mei's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Icing Build
RecommendedMei's Icing Build is focused on improving your damage to enemy Heroes and increasing the crowd control you can provide during team fights, at the cost of some survivability.
The cooldown reduction provided by Cold Front at Level 4 is great for using Black Ice at Level 16 more often and to have Icing up when Blizzard is up thanks to the cooldown reduction given by Flurry at Level 13.
Cryo-Freeze Build
SituationalMei's Cryo-Freeze Build is designed to increase her survivability and sustain damage via Basic Attacks.
The additional survivability comes from Crystallize at Level 4, a defensive Talent that makes it harder for the enemy team to break the Shield provided by Cryo-Freeze.
The damage increase is primarily provided by Heat Transfer at Level 1, combined with the Passive effect from Cooling Servos at Level 13. With these Talents, you can pressure the enemy frontline.
Snow Blind Build
SituationalMei's Snow Blind Build is quite good to counter enemy Heroes who primarily deal damage via Basic Attacks and also lack mobility (notably The Butcher and Zul'jin).
Blind them twice in a row thanks to Fresh Powder at Level 16 and then again thanks to Heavy Pack at Level 1 giving cooldown reduction. In addition to that, Skating Away at Level 7 grants Physical Armor, which also counters Basic Attacks.
ARAM Build
ARAMMei's ARAM Build is focused on improving your damage to enemy Heroes and increasing the crowd control you can provide during team fights, at the cost of some survivability.
The cooldown reduction provided by Cold Front at Level 4 is great for using Black Ice at Level 16 more often and to have Icing up when Blizzard is up thanks to the cooldown reduction given by Flurry at Level 13.
Level 1 Talents for Mei
Increases the duration of Snow Blind's Slow by 1.5 seconds. Each time Blizzard damages an enemy Hero, reduce the cooldown of Snow Blind by 0.5 seconds and gain 3 Mana.
Heavy Pack is a situational Talent that slightly improves Snow Blind by doubling the duration of its moderate Slow—but not of its useful Blind—and by reducing its cooldown and giving some Mana back based on how many times Blizzard damages enemy Heroes.
Heavy Pack has synergy with Flurry and Cooling Servos at Level 13 because they can both reduces Blizzard's cooldown and make you benefit from this Talent more often, but they will make you consume more Mana.
Considering that it lets you cast Snow Blind more often, the cooldown reduction has synergy with all Snow Blind-related Talents: Slushball at Level 4, Fresh Powder at Level 16, and The Big One at Level 20 (to compensate for the fact that their cooldowns are not aligned).
Every 3rd hit of Blizzard against enemy Heroes deals an additional 42 (+4% per level) damage. Blizzard's final Stun damage is increased by 150% against all enemies.
Ice Storm is a strong Talent that more than doubles the damage done by Blizzard to both enemy Heroes and non-Heroes, making it a great choice to increase your team's waveclear.
While it will be not that easy to get full value out of it during team fights, using Ice Wall as a setup may help you with that.
Ice Storm has good synergy with Flurry at Level 13 and Cooling Servos at Level 13 because they can both reduce Blizzard's cooldown and make you benefit from this Talent more often.
Basic Attacks against Stunned, Rooted, or Slowed Heroes deal 33% more damage. Each time Mei Stuns or Slows an enemy Hero she heals for 16 (+4% per level) Health.
Heat Transfer is a good Talent that increases Mei's Attack Damage against Heroes affected by Roots, Stuns, or Slows.
Applying those crowd control effects to enemy Heroes will heal Mei by a small amount, an effect that has good synergy with both Cooling Servos at Level 13 and Polar Vortex at Level 13.
Level 4 Talents for Mei
Snow Blind deals 75% increased damage and Structures hit are disabled for 3 seconds.
Slushball is a decent Talent that increases the damage done by Snow Blind—also increasing your waveclear by a mediocre amount—and makes it disable enemy Structures for a few seconds—allowing you to protect allied units from damage and enabling your whole team to siege.
The bonus damage has synergy with all Snow Blind-related Talents: Heavy Pack at Level 1 allows you to cast it more often, Fresh Powder at Level 16 gives you a second charge, and The Big One at Level 20 makes you hit more enemies.
It is worth mentioning that the bonus damage provided by this Talent does not get amplified by The Big One at Level 20, however, the bonus area still helps hitting more targets—notably two adjacent Towers—at the same time.
Reduce the cooldown of Icing by 3 seconds. If Mei enters her own Blizzard while Icing is active, the cooldown of Icing is reduced by 5 seconds and she gains 80 Mana.
Cold Front is a strong Talent that reduces the cooldown of Icing by a few seconds and, if you cast Blizzard in the direction you intend to slide with Icing, you restore a good amount of Mana and gain additional cooldown reduction, basically giving you a form of escape a few seconds after your engage or more chasing potential when playing offensively.
Considering that it lets you cast Icing more often, the cooldown reduction provided has obvious synergy with any Icing-related Talent: Skating Away at Level 7 and Black Ice at Level 16.
Reduce the cooldown of Cryo-Freeze by 10 seconds. Mei gains 40 Spell Armor while Cryo-Freeze is active and for 1 second after.
Crystallize is a situational Talent that heavily increases Mei's survivability by reducing the cooldown of Cryo-Freeze and making it give a lot of Spell Armor during and immediately after her Trait gets used.
The cooldown reduction has synergy with Cooling Servos because it makes you benefit from that Talent more often.
Level 7 Talents for Mei
Blizzard reduces the damage dealt by enemy Heroes inside of its area by 40%.
When Blizzard ends, enemy Heroes still within its area gain this effect for an additional 4 seconds.
Induce Hibernation is a weak Talent that reduces the damage done by enemy Heroes inside the area covered by Blizzard.
If they do not get out before Blizzard ends, they will keep the same debuff for a few more seconds, even if Blizzard and its Stun will be over at that point. That said, we do not recommend this Talent because the crowd control provided by Blizzard is enough to indirectly reduce incoming damage.
Induce Hibernation has synergy with Flurry and Cooling Servos at Level 13 because they can both reduces Blizzard's cooldown and make you benefit from this Talent more often.
When Icing ends, Mei and all nearby allied Heroes gain 20% Movement Speed and 50 Physical Armor for 3 seconds.
Skating Away is a strong Talent that, when you cast Icing, gives Mei and nearby allied Heroes a good amount of Movement Speed and Physical Armor for a few seconds.
The additional Movement Speed may help you body block enemy Heroes, especially if they are affected by one of your Slows, and nearby allied Heroes to reposition either offensively or defensively.
The bonus Physical Armor makes Mei more resistant immediately after engaging and increases the survivability of nearby allied Heroes as well.
Skating Away has synergy with Cold Front and Cooling Servos because they can both reduce Icing's cooldown and make you benefit from this Talent more often.
- Cooldown: 70 seconds
Activate to remove all Roots and Slows and regenerate 20% of maximum Health over 2 seconds. The cooldown of this ability is reduced by 10 seconds each time Mei picks up a Regeneration Globe.
Backup Battery is a situational Talent that increases Mei's survivability by providing her an Active Ability to remove Roots and Slows from herself and/or to heal for a considerable amount when doing so.
While it has a relatively long cooldown, picking up Regeneration Globes will shorten it. You can activate it at any moment, even if you have full Health.
Level 10 Talents for Mei
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.
- Mana: 80
- Cooldown: 90 seconds
After 0.5 seconds, roll a massive snowball that consumes enemy Heroes in its path. At the end of its path, the snowball crumbles, releasing the consumed Heroes, dealing 220 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning them for 0.5 seconds per Hero consumed.
Avalanche is a decent Heroic Ability for splitting the enemy team and immediately starting a team fight to abuse the numerical advantage.
Avalanche has synergy with Acclimation at Level 16 because it can increase any damage dealt by up to 20%.
- Mana: 50
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Vector Targeting
After a 0.75 second delay, create an impassable wall that traps enemy Heroes hit for 2.5 seconds. When the wall expires, trapped Heroes are Slowed by 75%, decaying over 3 seconds.
Ice Wall is a strong Heroic Ability that makes up for Mei's mediocre engage by giving her a powerful tool that can be used to setup enemy Heroes for your team and/or split the enemy team.
Level 13 Talents for Mei
While in her own Blizzard, Mei gains 50% increased Attack Speed and Blizzard's cooldown refreshes 125% faster. If Mei is in her own Blizzard when it ends, gain these bonuses for 3 additional seconds.
Flurry is a strong Talent that gives Mei bonus Attack Speed and makes Blizzard refresh its cooldown faster while she is within its area and for 3 second after being "hit" by its ending part.
The bonus Attack Speed has decent synergy with Heat Transfer at Level 1 because it allows you to get more value from the bonus Attack Damage while the cooldown reduction has strong synergy with Cold Front at Level 4 because it basically aligns Blizzard's cooldown with Icing's cooldown.
While Cryo-Freeze is active, Mei's Basic Ability cooldowns recover 200% faster.
Passive: Basic Attacks Slow by 20% for 1.5 seconds.
Cooling Servos is a good Talent that makes every Mei's Basic Attack apply a small Slow to the target and makes Cryo-Freeze heavily increase the cooldown refresh rate of every Basic Ability.
The bonus Slow has synergy with Heat Transfer at Level 1 in prolonged team fights because that Talent requires the target to be Slowed and your Basic Abilities will not always be available to give you that.
The cooldown reduction provided is extremely helpful to disengage when in danger, but it can also be used aggressively to keep the fight going when not risky.
Cooling Servos has strong synergy with Crystallize at Level 4 because standing still for the whole duration of Cryo-Freeze is often dangerous without the Spell Armor provided by it.
Using an ability causes Mei to deal 24 (+4% per level) damage a second to nearby enemies for 4 seconds. Enemy Heroes damaged by this effect also have their Movement Speed and Attack Speed Slowed by 20%.
Polar Vortex is a good Talent that makes Mei deal area of effect damage to nearby enemies for a few seconds after casting an Ability.
In addition to being damaged, enemy Heroes will have their Attack Speed reduced and a Slow applied to them. Slows help you to body-block and to connect Blizzard.
The bonus Slow has synergy with Heat Transfer at Level 1 in short team fights because that Talent requires the target to be Slowed.
Level 16 Talents for Mei
Snow Blind gains an additional charge and its range is increased by 33%.
Fresh Powder is a situational Talent that provides a second charge of Snow Blind and slightly increases its range.
The second charge allows you to Blind enemy Heroes twice in a row and has synergy with all Snow Blind-related Talents: Heavy Pack at Level 1, Slushball at Level 4, and The Big One at Level 20.
Icing's Slow effect no longer decays over its duration. Icing deals 300% more damage to enemies very close to Mei.
Black Ice is a strong Talent that turns the decaying Slow provided by Icing into a powerful non-decaying Slow and increases the damage done by Icing to very close enemies as well.
The buff to the Slow helps the final part of Blizzard to connect and therefore increases the chance that the Stun will happen.
The bonus damage helps your team secure kills before the focused enemy Hero can be saved, but be careful not to mess up your team's follow-up with Icing's knockback effect.
Each time Mei Stuns or Slows an enemy Hero, the damage she deals and healing she receives is increased by 1%, stacking up to 20 times. While at maximum stacks, Mei also gains 10 Armor. Lasts 8 seconds.
Acclimation is a good Talent that increases Mei's survivability in prolonged team fights. In particular, it gives Mei increased healing from any source (notably her Cryo-Freeze) and a bit of Armor.
Keep in mind that the bonus starts low and gradually increase while fighting, so we cannot really consider it a good anti-burst tool; instead, see it as a tool to increase your sustain, especially when your team has a sustain Healer rather than a burst one.
Level 20 Talents for Mei
While traveling, Avalanche constantly launches a volley of untalented Snow Blind snowballs ahead of itself.
Passive: Reduce the cooldown of Avalanche by 30 seconds.
Cascade is a good Talent that reduces the cooldown of Avalanche and makes it launch 22 untalented Snow Blind projectiles: 17 shots while rolling, and 5 shots at the end.
While the Heroes inside Avalanche cannot be hit by anything, the first group of shots can hit enemy Heroes before they get caught by it. Both groups of shots will hit a single Hero with 1-4 shots that will deal between 70 and 280 damage in total, randomly increasing the damage of Avalanche from 220 to 780 damage, but averaging 500 damage.
When Ice Wall expires, trapped enemy Heroes hit take 210 (+4% per level) damage and have their Armor reduced by 25 for 5 seconds.
Shatter is a strong Talent that turns the already powerful Ice Wall into a scary engage tool by dealing damage and reducing the Armor of all enemy Heroes caught.
Every 15 seconds, the next Snow Blind you cast has 67% increased area and 200% increased damage.
The Big One is a weak Talent that increases the damage done and the area covered by Snow Blind, but not every time you cast it because there is an internal cooldown of 15 seconds.
You cannot use Cooling Servos at Level 13 to reduce its cooldown, but you can use Slushball at Level 4 to disable 2 adjacent Towers.
The internal cooldown removes the otherwise possible synergy with cooldown-reducing Talents: Heavy Pack at Level 1, Cooling Servos at Level 13, and Fresh Powder at Level 16.
We do not recommend this Talent because it does not provide enough value compared to the other options in the same Tier.
When Mei takes fatal damage she instantly gains Cryo-Freeze. This effect has a 180 second cooldown.
Flash Freeze is a situational Talent that considerably increases Mei's survivability when she is going to die, but only once every 3 minutes.
The automatic activation allows her to survive against scary engages based on crowd-control paired with burst damage, a combination that would otherwise not give you enough time to manually activate Cryo-Freeze.
Cryo-Freeze and Flash Freeze do not share their cooldowns, so you can use them one after another, regardless of the order. If you are scared of enemy crowd control effects, prefer using Cryo-Freeze first because Flash Freeze will automatically go off when you are not able to cast your Abilities.
Changelog
- 20 Sep. 2023: ARAM Build added.
- 04 Sep. 2022: Builds updated.
- 16 Jan. 2021: Builds updated.
- 01 Dec. 2021: Builds updated.
- 17 May 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 10 Mar. 2021: Builds updated.
- 06 Mar. 2021: Builds updated.
- 16 Feb. 2021: Builds updated.
- 15 Feb. 2021: Builds updated.
- 20 Jan. 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2020: Descriptions changed according to the latest Balance Update.
- 21 Aug. 2020: Talent Build page updated.
- Balance Update revision.
- Minor fixes.
- New layout.
- 03 Aug. 2020: Talent Descriptions updated.
- 16 Jul. 2020: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Jul. 2020: Builds updated.
- 24 Jun. 2020: Guide updated.
- 20 Jun. 2020: Guide created.
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Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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