How to Handle Mei: Countering One of Overwatch’s Most Annoying Heroes

At this point, Bastion and Mei are easily the two most hated characters in all of Overwatch, and it’s not hard to see why.  

Mei’s defensive abilities make her at best a huge pain and at worst a nightmare when she’s playing defense.  Not only can she temporarily become invulnerable while regaining health, making her difficult to finish off, but she can also slow or freeze enemies at close range and seal of entries with her Ice Wall.  

Despite her strength, Mei has a lot of strategic counters that can make dealing with her much easier.

General Counters

• Stay away!  Mei is most effective at short range, where she can freeze players before going in for the kill with an icicle.  Mei is easiest to deal with when you have a lot of range and mobility on your side as her icicles are relatively slow and have a low rate of fire.
• Be wary of chokepoints.  Mei can easily seal up most paths with her Ice Wall, which is only limited to her line of sight.  Be aware if the path you’re on can be blocked with an ice wall.
• Keep the pressure on her.  If you have a longer range than Mei, you can easily do enough damage to force her to retreat or Cryo-Freeze herself.  While this won’t always get you a kill, it will cause her to fall back, making it easier to advance to the objective.

Character Specific Counters

Junkrat – Junkrat’s grenades have a relatively long range, and since they fire at an arc they can be angled over her Ice Wall.  If that’s not enough, he can use his Concussion Mines to launch himself over the wall, and his ultimate will drive straight through it.

Hanzo or Widowmaker – Both have long ranges that put them outside Mei’s freezing range, and are mobile enough to not be hindered by her Ice Wall.

Zarya – The one of the only characters who can reliably take Mei in close combat, Zarya’s Particle Barrier can protect her from being frozen long enough to deal some serious damage.

Pharah – Pharah’s Jump Jets can easily bypass Mei’s Ice Wall, and by hovering in the air she’s out of the freezing range.  Her rockets can make quick work of Mei’s health, killing her or causing her to fall back and heal.

Winston – Winston’s Jump Pack lets him hop over Mei’s Ice Wall with ease.  From there, he can drop a shield to protect himself from being frozen, dealing damage with his Tesla Cannon at a close range.

And those are some of the best ways to deal with one of Overwatch’s biggest annoyances.  Got any other great counters? Leave a comment telling us the best way to best Mei.