Overwatch Mei Tactics Guarantee No One is Safe from Earthshatter

One Overwatch play engineer has brought a handful of tactics to light showcasing Mei as the ultimate crowd control specialist—regardless of team.

Overwatch content creator
McMagicMarv posted a video on their YouTube channel on Tuesday, Sept. 7, showcasing five unique ways to use Mei's crowd control abilities to wreak havoc on the opposing team. Not only can Mei be used to cut off an opponent's path—her abilities can create platforms and jumping points for players to circumvent the game's limitations.

Overwatch Mei Tactics Guarantee No One is Safe from Earthshatter

These maneuvers make use of Mei's self-freeze and ice wall abilities to corral, move, lift, and boost both teammates and their abilities. Apparently, to Overwatch, Mei's wall and cryo block count as surfaces on which players and their abilities can be placed on top. Players essentially use these as ways to reach places they normally wouldn't be able to or as a shortcut to route the opposing team.

The two most mechanically complex and, by extension, most rewarding, are "Iceshatter" and "Cold Stall Shatter."

Iceshatter

As stated above, Overwatch treats Mei's wall as a surface all on its own. Therefore, players can stand on it and use it as a platform—or place their abilities on it to travel. The most deadly form of this is pairing Ice Wall with Reinhardt's ultimate, Earthshatter—resulting in the maneuver's name.

It's important to note this will only work so long as the wall is placed between two high platforms. Here's how to do it:

• Make sure Rein has his ultimate ready to go—otherwise, this will just become a platform bridge.
• Spawn an Ice Wall so that one edge is touching the platform or structure the Rein is currently standing on. It's critical that this platform is elevated and on the same elevation as where they want the ultimate to travel.
• Have Rein perform Earthshatter either on the flat top or facing the Ice Wall.

Earthshatter will automatically travel down its path so long as the surface it started on is connected to the top of the wall. From there, it will jump to the second platform and wipe out the player who thought themselves safe from the opposing Rein. That Rein can also travel across the wall as it will act like a bridge.

Cold Stall Shatter

This also makes use of Overwatch's treatment of Mei's abilities by trapping heroes such as Reinhardt and Lucio—characters whose ultimates have a wind-up or charge-up animation—resulting in a brief pause in their use. We've laid out the steps below:

• Have Rein (or Lucio) back themselves into a corner.
• Mei Cryo Block into them while walking forward. Overwatch will automatically correct their position on top of the block.
• Have Rein (or Lucio) perform their ultimate while aiming on top of the block. The game won't let them bring it down on top of their teammate, causing the animation to stall.
• Mei should now release the block, resulting in the teammate sliding to the ground with the stalled animation.

From the moment the teammate's feet hit the floor, the animation will continue. It can be prolonged with a bunnyhop in certain instances but will continue as normal otherwise.

This move can be used to surprise opponents from around the corner or pre-charge the ultimate before firing it at enemies. Since players usually expect to see the wind-up, having the ultimate pre-charged will give them less time to assess the situation and potentially escape.