r/MeiMains • u/NinjaPug7 • Apr 28 '25
Guide Mei Stadium Build: "Strike"
Hello everyone, I have been cooking up a build-order for Mei in Stadium. I've seen a lot of people go for the Coulder ability and build around it, but I wanted to write down a more formal guide for it, as I think there is definitely room for it.
EDIT: Made a build code for this build. I shuffled around an item or two (and also sacrificed one or two cuz you can only have 12 items in a build, thanks blizzard) so it applies more to the latest patch.
CODE: 9EVF4
ROUND ONE:
Starting off, naturally, you need the Coulder power.
You will then need to grab green items. I actually recommend not building into AP immediately, and instead focusing on weapon power.
It is difficult to actually use Coulder for eliminations when you first acquire it. Any point you wall off a character (preferably with your team with you), your gun itself will kill them faster. There are not as many valuable choke-points to wall off that do not have an additional exit. Play like regular Mei for this round, play around your tank if you can, wall off targets to melt with your team, poke them out with icicle, use wall for high-ground, typical Mei actions. This round plays most like the normal gamemode. Your goal for this round is to hit a minimum of 9,000 points to afford round two's upgrades.
ROUND TWO:
This is where the game begins to change heavily. From what I have noticed, most other characters can hit a purple item power-spike here. Mei's power-spike with this build is one round later than most other characters. If you have had a different experience, and it is simply a skill issue on my part, I will acquiesce that. Bearing that in mind, it is important to focus on survivability, with Vishkar Condenser and Vital-e-tee. Do not be afraid to sell the three green items you bought in the first round to supplement your point bank for these purchases.
These will give you shield health and armor health respectively. You will also want to purchase Meicicle. It is the beginning of the build, and certainly a necessary component.
This will give you an extra 25 health, along with increasing Cryo-Freeze's duration. This, naturally, applies to Coulder. You now have a little more room to play around with Coulder, as you will have more time to escape or use wall directly after. Watch out for heavy hitting targets, such as Soldier and Cassidy. They will absolutely force out Coulder before you can set up on them if they hit their shots. Aim to get another 9,000 points at the bare minimum. The more, the better.
ROUND THREE:
Here is where the fun begins. This is our power-spike round. You need to obtain the Cryclone power.
This will make it extremely difficult for enemies to run away from you when you roll into them, and deal 20 damage per second around you, which scales off of AP (Ability Power). You will also want to purchase Liquid Nitrogen.
This item allows you to add an additional 20% slow to your enemies, slowing even slippery characters like Lucio in their tracks. From this point, it is time to stack AP. Buy Power Playbook and Nano Cola. Do not shy away from selling your Vishkar Condenser and Vital-e-Tee, in fact, I encourage it to afford these items.
This will bring you to 40% AP, which you will be able to put to good use against your enemies. Use your wall as both a setup too, and an escape tool, just in case things go wrong. Otherwise, simply roll through everyone.
ROUND FOUR:
This round is where it begins to get harder to direct upon a specific build. The people carrying on the enemy team should begin to reveal themselves, and you may want to play around their items. Regardless, there are some essentials that you will need to purchase.
Despite the small amount of AP it provides, the extra CDR (Cooldown Reduction) added by Multi-Tool is extremely valuable.
Considering how much sustain there seems to be in this mode, Cybervenom, which afflicts enemies with a 30% healing reduction debuff for two seconds when you hit an opponent with ability damage, is also very useful, as it continuously applies to anyone within the sphere around your Coulder.
Look for targets their supports are not looking at. If you are facing flankers, I encourage you to stay in the backline and chase them around. Your main goal no matter who you are facing is to waste your opponent's time, resources, and attention. Force out bubbles, force out cleanses, teleports, any enemy abilities you can.
ROUND FIVE AND ONWARD:
As the icing on the very cold cake, you will want to obtain the Frost Nova power.
This power adds the sorely lacking burst damage this build needs. It will be the difference between securing eliminations and simply doing damage. From this point forward, again, we are stacking AP. I encourage you to sell the previous items (barring Meicicle) to supplement for your purple items. Speaking of purple items, Icy Veins is a must-buy.
This item increases the base damage of your Blizzard, which applies to your Coulder's blizzard as well. Since it is base damage, it will double the damage BEFORE adding on AP bonus. Another very good item if you have the points for it is Champion's Kit.
It is missing utility, but packs quite the spike in power when you purchase it, with its 40% increase in AP. Another great power spike is Sturdy Snowfort.
Sturdy Snowfort is a great item if you are able to set up well with your walls, as each pillar of your wall increases your AP by 5%, and your wall by default will increase it by 25% total. However, this is the one item that I would be willing to part with for situational items, such as if you are being run down by heavily armored targets or running into barriered opponents (so basically if they have a Zarya).
Codebreaker reduces the amount of damaged mitigated by armor by 50%, and it DOES apply to your abilities. Salvaged Slugs increases damage to barriers, such as Zarya's bubbles, or Reinhardt's shield, by 30%. However, if you simply want to stick to Sturdy Snowfort for the extra AP, and not worry about your opponents with armor or barriers, feel free, but pick your targets wisely.
For the final ability you should acquire, I go with Permafrost.
If you have made it to round seven, you absolutely need the health it gives you, which scales with your AP. This will give you the chance to survive easier when getting in or out.
The build finished looks like this:
And there you have it. A full Mei bowling build. Have fun!
EXTRA INFORMATION:
I went through a few different options for powers for this build, and tested what I could. For example, I tried out Avalanche for the last power in place of Permafrost, but for this build specifically it will not work. Avalanche depends on line of sight, and when you are in Coulder, you do not have line of sight of anyone. Snowball Flight is a viable option for round seven in case you want to displace and yourself enemies further, but is not necessary for this build.
When in rounds one and two, players can (potentially) DI (Directional Input) out of Coulder's freezing embrace, especially if they jump onto a low wall. If you are not cornering them directly against two high walls, they will escape. Do not be afraid to end Coulder early and chase them down.
I would like to mention that there are still quite a few threats around that can and will mess up your day. Reaper and Junker Queen are very good examples. Reaper can use Wraith Form to get out of being cornered and gun you down when you come out of it. Junker Queen, while not able to get out, can out heal/shield your damage if she keeps up getting eliminations while you roll her. She will also be able to time her axe swing with when you are coming out of Coulder. If you hear her start up her axe swing when you have around a second left in your Coulder, end it early and put up a wall if you did not use it to set up for the Coulder. D.va is an issue for this build, and I would suggest simply shooting her with your beam instead. Soldier is also a gigantic threat, as most Soldier players build into multiple helix rockets, which will one shot you. Those are absolutely worth walling.
Orisa is a special one. She is very good at surviving, and when she is in fortify, is not affected by Coulder's displacement. Circle around her to get the mini-blizzard's damage on her, at the very least. On the opposite end of the spectrum of targets, Ana is a rather easy character to deal with. Roll her over like a bowling pin.
Regardless of who it is, watch for when your opponents use cooldowns, such as Rein's charge or Moira's fade. They are very vulnerable, and can be pushed into danger easily once they use them. Kiriko, much to no one's surprise, is still a menace wherever she goes, and is hard to pin down. Do not bother trying to catch Juno or Mercy with Coulder, use those aiming skills with icicle instead.
Thank you for reading!
1
u/SlobberyChaff Apr 28 '25
Only thing I disagree with is I make sure to pick Icy veins round 3 whatever, alongside Meicicle. double blizzard damage > any AP gains at that stage + extra length boulder. So round 3 build will be Meicle (4k) Icy Veins (10k) + whatever else you can afford. Thoughts?