Heroes of the Storm's New, Super-Mobile Character Starts Out With Her Heroic Ability

Blizzard has officially revealed the first character from Overwatch to come to Heroes of the Storm: Tracer. In addition to offering a quick look at her in action, we now know what her abilities and talents are--and she's quite unusual.

Tracer is incredibly mobile, possessing the ability to repeatedly dash and (more significantly) attack while moving. Not unlike Tychus when using Overkill, Tracer's basic attacks fire regardless of whether she's standing in place. She also possesses the ability to teleport back to where she was three seconds earlier. While the recently added Dehaka can jump across the map, Tracer has the potential to be mobile over a somewhat confined area unlike any character in the game.

One way in which she unarguably differs from everyone else in HotS is due to her Heroic ability. She has only one, and she has access to it right from the start of the game, rather than having to wait until level 10 like everyone else. After building up enough charges to activate it (done by dealing damage), Pulse Bomb sticks a bomb to the first target it runs into and deals area damage, with the targeted enemy taking twice as much damage.

Once reaching level 10, when players would normally be choosing from two different Heroics, Tracer players get to pick from one of three talents that modify Pulse Bomb. This includes increasing its range or removing the area-of-effect damage entirely in favor of doing more damage to the target.

Another differentiating factor is the way Tracer has ammo that needs to be reloaded as she fires her basic attacks. Firing all 10 rounds will automatically cause her to reload, or you can do so at any time by activating her trait with the D key. Interestingly, one of her level 16 talents introduces a sort of Gears of War-style active reload system, where activating the trait in the last 50 percent of its cast time increases basic attack damage with the following 10 shots.

You can check out the full list of talents and abilities at Tracer's disposal below. Preordering Overwatch through Battle.net offers access to her in HotS on April 19. Those who don't preorder will be able to purchase her starting on April 26.

Abilities:

(Trait) (D) Reload

Tracer is able to execute Basic Attacks while in motion. Activate to reload all Ammo over 0.75 seconds. This trait activates automatically when player ammo reaches 0. Basic Attacks consume Ammo and add pulse bomb charges.

• You can attack 10 times over 1.25 seconds, draining Ammo with every shot. Reload sets your Ammo to full.

(Q) Blink

Quickly dash toward target location. Includes 3 charges.

• 6 second cooldown per charge

(W) Melee

Deal damage to an enemy, prioritizing the nearest enemy Hero. Hitting non-Heroes grants 5 Pulse Bomb charges. Hitting Heroes grants 10 Pulse Bomb charges.

• 8 second cooldown

(E) Recall

Returns player to the position they were 3 seconds ago. Also refills Ammo and cleanses negative status effects.

• Comes with 1 second of invulnerability while it casts
• 24 second cooldown

(R) Pulse Bomb

Attaches a bomb to the first target hit, dealing damage in an area, or 2x damage to the primary target.

• Dealing damage charges this ability
• Costs 100 charges to cast
• Holds maximum of 100 charges

Pulse Bomb is available to cast from level 1. Instead of a second heroic, at level 10, Tracer can pick talents to modify

Pulse Bomb in the following ways:

• Sticky Bomb: Increase the radius by 50%, and enemies hit are slowed by 60% for 3 seconds
• Quantum Spike: Pulse Bomb no longer does damage in an area, but deals additional damage to a single target equal to 15% of their Maximum Health
• Pulse Rounds: The range of Pulse Bomb is doubled, and Basic Attacks versus Heroes give 50% more charges to Pulse Bomb

Talents:

Level 4

• Parting Gift: Recall leaves behind 3 bombs that deal 250 damage each to different targets.
• Is That a Health Pack?!: Increases Regeneration Globe and Healing Fountain healing by 100%.
• Untouchable: Takedowns increase your Basic Attack damage by 2% up to 30%. These bonuses are lost on death.

Level 7

• Jumper: Increases Blink’s charges by 1.
• Bullet Time: Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Blink by 0.1 seconds.
• Spatial Echo: Using Recall grants 2 charges of Blink.

Level 10 (Heroic Upgrades)

• Sticky Bomb: Increases Pulse Bomb’s radius by 50% and enemies hit are slowed by 60% for 3 seconds.
• Quantum Spike: Pulse Bomb deals an additional 10% of the primary target’s maximum Health.
• Pulse Rounds: Increases Pulse Bomb’s range and charge rate from Basic Attacks against Heroes by 100%.

Level 13

• Bullet Spray: Increases Melee’s radius by 50%, and causes it to damage all enemies in range.
• Ricochet: Your Basic Attacks have a 50% chance to hit another nearby enemy, prioritizing Heroes.
• Leeching Rounds: Your Basic Attacks against Heroes heal you for 20% of their damage dealt.

Level 16

• Sleight of Hand: Reduces Reload time by 50%. This equals 20% more damage per second.
• Focus Fire: If an entire ammo magazine is unloaded on an enemy, the last bullet will deal 90 bonus damage. This is equal to 30% of the total magazine.
• Locked and Loaded: Reactivate Reload within the last 50% of its cast time to increase your Basic Attack damage by 35% for that magazine.

Level 20

• Get Stuffed!: Reduces Melee’s cooldown by 3 seconds. Hitting an enemy with Melee who is stuck with a Pulse Bomb causes the bomb to instantly explode and knocks the target away from you.
• Total Recall: Recall also heals you equal to the amount of Health lost during that time.
• Composition B: If you successfully stick a Pulse bomb to an enemy Hero, you also drop another one at their feet that deals 50% damage and explodes slightly earlier.