The infinite Pulse Bomb Tracer build

"Remaining active in combat will allow Tracer to throw Pulse Bombs at a rate your enemies will find alarming.”

-Kevin 'Cloaken' Johnson

When I heard these words in the Tracer Spotlight video my brain started tingling in the way it seems to when a new hero is released, and my first instinct was to investigate Tracer’s talent tree for ways to make this “rate” as alarming as possible. I chose talents that increased the recharge rate of Tracer's heroic and synergized with a playstyle I think will be similar to Zeratul's "blink in-blink out" style. As this was done before her release it is, at best, speculation but I think this build makes it possible for Tracer to spam her heroic faster than any other.

LEVEL 1



Pulse Strike: Increases Melee’s Pulse Bomb charges from 10% to 15% against Heroes.

Tracer doesn’t use mana so the only thing limiting this ability’s usage is Cooldown time and opportunity.

LEVEL 4



Parting Gift: Recall leaves behind 3 bombs that deal 250 damage each to different targets.

Since Tracer will be diving in to deliver her Pulse Bomb it’s likely that Recall will be saved for a quick escape. Leaving behind 3 little bombs plus a Pulse Bomb before recalling to safety should provide some nice value.

LEVEL 7



Jumper (Choice): Increases Blink’s charges by 1.

This is a toss up. Spatial Echo gives more survivability but I think Jumper will synergize well with the Build’s playstyle and with the lvl 20 talent, Get Stuffed!, 4 charges of Blink will do more for your Pulse Bomb delivery service than Spatial Echo will. More Pulse Bombs > More Survivability.

Spatial Echo (Honorable Mention): Using Recall grants 2 charges of Blink.

Tracer will likely be most vulnerable when she runs out of Blink charges and her Recall is on cooldown. This talent gives Tracer a boost in survivability.

Also, I wonder if these charges stack on top of 3 charges of blink? Some tool tips (like Lili’s lvl 7 Pitch Perfect talent for her Q) say whether or not something can stack but we’ll still have to test this. If it does, I might pick it over Jumper.

LEVEL 10 (Heroic Upgrade)



Pulse Rounds: Increases Pulse Bomb’s range and charge rate from Basic Attacks against Heroes by 100%.



This is what the build is all about. The increased range allows Tracer to have a safer playstyle and the increased charge rate to basic attacks means each shot now recharges Pulse Bomb by 1% instead of 1/2%. This is the 5% base recharge per Clip seen in Spotlight Video at the 2:20 minute mark.

LEVEL 13

Ricochet: Your Basic Attacks have a 50% chance to hit another nearby enemy, prioritizing Heroes.

This was the hardest tier to choose a talent from due to the challenge of ascertaining the potential value of each. Ricochet introduces RNG (Random Number Generator) into Heroes of the Storm and requires knowledge of statistical analysis to fully comprehend. A Reddit post from u/Aaternus breaks down how Tracer’s talent, Ricochet, is affected by RNG and I used his calculations to figure out how much it increased the recharge rate for Pulse Bomb.

This basically means Ricochet gives Tracer a 65% chance of getting 4-6 extra bonus shots per clip. However, it is possible for there to be times where it's less or more by a shot or 2. That's the nature of RNG. It's important to note these numbers assume that Tracer is landing all of her shots with at least one additional hero fitting the “nearby” criteria.

Also, even though shots that hit minions aren’t worth double, Ricochet still improves Tracer’s wave clear while also giving her guaranteed multiple targets to shoot. And on maps like Tomb of the Spider Queen, Infernal Shrines, and Battlefield of Eternity where enemy heroes and minions are frequently clumped up, Ricochet’s prioritization of heroes could get surprising value.

Lastly, I chose Ricochet over Bullet Spray (Increases Melee’s radius by 50%, and causes it to damage all enemies in range) because both talents depend on two enemies being nearby each other. However, Ricochet doesn’t force Tracer into close range. Add that to the synergy with the lvl 10 upgrade and I think it fits the build’s playstyle better. I do plan on testing both to see which consistently gets more value because the risk vs. reward is tempting; hitting 2 enemies with Melee=30% charge. 3 enemies=45% charge. 4 enemies=60% charge.

LEVEL 16



Sleight of Hand: Reduces Reload time by 50%. This equals 20% more damage per second.

While Locked and Loaded may be the best choice on this tier if you’re going for AA damage, Sleight of Hand allows Tracer to empty and reload in 1.625 seconds and that translates to a faster rate of recharge.

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.



This is basically Kael’thas’ old double living bomb combo was and we all know how powerful that was.





This is how I'm going to feel when I land Get Stuffed!

I think this talent is super powerful. Because Melee requires Tracer to get in close the knockback provides some much-appreciated cushion and will likely translate to increased survivability. And now Melee is on a 5-second cooldown. That’s so convenient with Tracer being able to empty 3 clips in 4.875 seconds due to her lvl 16 talent.

Final Thoughts

With this build, at lvl 20, Tracer will be able to shoot 30-50 rounds while spamming a 15% recharge from Melee every 5 seconds. Because the Pulse Rounds upgrade to Tracer's heroic makes each shot recharge 1% that's 60-80% recharge for her Pulse Bomb. Of course, I'll have to test this out but if it proves to be the case then this build is indeed, alarming. Let me know what you find out. I'd love and appreciate your feedback.

Reddit user u/N8CCRG did some additional calculations on the subject. Check it out



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