'Overwatch' hero spotlight: How to suck less with Mercy
Want help with a different hero? Click here to check out our master Overwatch guide, where you'll find links to tips and strategies for each hero in the game.
Each Overwatch hero is a special snowflake.
Different guns, different abilities, different movement speeds, different quirks. Learning to excel with one hero doesn't mean you've mastered Overwatch.
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Playing a hero the "right" way only gets you so far, of course. Positioning, team formation (on both sides) and overall skill level are still important; you can play a hero perfectly and still lose. But you probably won't win until you learn to play whoever you're using right.
We've got you covered. Read on for tips, strategies and ideal maps/modes to help you suck less at using Overwatch's healing-and-damage boosting winged angel, Mercy
Ability breakdown
Primary weapon: Caduceus Staff. Fires a sustained beam of healing or damage boosting energy at medium range or closer. Healing tether restores 50 health per second and damage tether provides a 30% boost while it is active. Only targets allies and requires line of sight, but does not rely on ammo.
Secondary weapon: Caduceus Blaster. Rapid-fire sidearm that deals moderate damage at range. Must be swapped for the Staff; Staff and Blaster can't be used simultaneously. Very high rate of fire and reload speed. 20-round clip.
Guardian Angel: Mercy flies directly toward the targeted ally. Has a longer range than the Caduceus Staff tethers but still requires line of sight. Can be used in tandem with Caduceus Staff/Blaster. 2-second cooldown.
Angelic Descent: Holding the jump button while airborne slows descent. Mercy also self-heals after taking no damage for three seconds.
Ultimate ability: Resurrect. All downed allies within range are immediately restored to life with full health and brief invulnerability. Mercy cannot attack/heal/buff while casting Resurrect.
How to Mercy
Mercy is a powerful direct healer, able to target a single ally at a time and quickly restore their health or significantly boost their damage. She can also hit back when cornered thanks to a deceptively powerful sidearm.
Supporting the team should be your main focus with Mercy. It's always a one-or-the-other choice between the Staff's heals/buffs and the Blasters damage output, and the latter is really more of a last resort.
When you've got the Staff out stick behind the front lines and watch for telltale first aid icons that let you know when an ally is low on health. Flit around between teammates and top off their health as much as possible, using Guardian Angel as needed to close the distance more quickly.
Guardian Angel is also a handy escape tool. Mercy is best off when she's out of sight, but Guardian Angel lets you swoop in to give your team the edge in a distant firefight. Then, if things go poorly, you can always use Guardian Angel again (thanks to the inconsequential cooldown) to escape.
Just remember to use the Staff's damage boost when you're not healing. Try to give it to allies that are in the midst of attacking or preparing to attack.
There's little value, for example, in boosting the damage of a Reinhardt while his shield is active. Look to the Hanzo or the Widowmaker huddling behind him instead.
If you're communicating with teammates, coordinate around their Ultimates. If you can keep the damage tether up on a Pharah or Reaper as they're casting, they'll cut through the opposing team that much more quickly.
If you find yourself cornered by a flanker or some other threat, Mercy's Caduceus Blaster is a powerful tool. With skillful aim it can cut through medium-health foes like Reaper in a matter of seconds.
If you play Overwatch with a standard PlayStation or Xbox controller, here's an extra tip: By default, switching between Mercy's Staff and Blaster is mapped to the right D-pad button, but you can change that in the Settings menu.
Having Staff/Blaster-switching on the D-pad means you've got to take your thumb off the left thumbstick -- and stop moving -- to make the swap. Re-map that control to the left trigger instead (L2 on a PS4 controller). Mercy controls don't use that button by default, and putting the weapon swap there means you can keep moving as you pull your sidearm out.
Use Resurrect liberally, since even one death on your team can tilt the balance. If you see one ally fall, wait a few seconds to see if any others follow. You have a fair amount of time to revive fallen teammates before they respawn.
Keep in mind that Resurrect works even without line of sight. You could have five downed teammates on the other side of a wall; as long as the "Teammate Down" icon has a "x5" next to the skull, you'll get everyone up.
Best modes/maps: Mercy's utility as a powerful targeted healer makes her especially helpful on more open maps with objectives that spread the team out by design. Bench her in favor of Lúcio on most Control maps, but count on her in most any other attack scenario.
Topics Blizzard Entertainment Esports Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
