Support players are one of the most essential components of any Overwatch team composition, and Mercy is highly regarded as the best healer within the game.
Overwatch is now over five years old, and the 6v6 team-based FPS has been thriving within the gaming community more as the years have progressed. This is largely due to the characters they have added into the game and the playstyles they warrant.
Roles within Overwatch are separated into three different categories; Tank, Damage, and Support, with the latter, arguably being the most vital to any team. Mercy is one of these Support characters, and her kit can enable your team to thrive in every fight.
Here’s the ultimate guide to playing Mercy within Overwatch!
Contents
- Overwatch Mercy lore
- Mercy’s weapon
- Mercy’s abilities
- How to play Mercy: tips
- Mercy’s skins
- Changes for Mercy in Overwatch 2
Overwatch Mercy lore
Dr. Angela Ziegler or better known as Mercy is regarded as one of the best doctors in the world and has been a figurehead for peace in the days before the Omnic Crisis and the formation of Overwatch.
Ziegler is a world-renowned surgeon who has received her MD and Ph.D. from a College in Switzerland, and was the breakthrough scientist in the field of nanobiology which, in turn, leapfrogged the progress in healing serious illnesses and diseases. This technology was innovative enough for Ziegler to experiment on her own body with it, and this has helped her heal herself from serious injuries as well.
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Angela’s findings in the nanobiology field warranted contact by Jack Morrison (Soldier 76), and he wanted to recruit Ziegler to lead the Overwatch medical research team in their fight against the Omnic forces.
At first, Mercy was hesitant on joining the Overwatch team, as she did not want to conduct research if it led to more soldiers endangering their lives in battle, but Soldier 76 promised her that she would be able to aid citizens and she would have unlimited resources to conduct her studies.
With these promises, Mercy happily accepted, and since she has become a core component of Overwatch, as her medical expertise has saved countless amount of lives in battle.
Mercy Overwatch weapons
Since Mercy is a healer by nature, her main weaponry lies within her Caduceus Healing Staff that can either damage boost or straight up heal her allies. But, every soldier needs a weapon, and Mercy has a Caduceus Blaster in case she is ever in danger.
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But, more often than not, you are going to be using one of the two functions on her staff, as your team is going to rely on healing in order to succeed in battle.
Caduceus Staff
- Damage: +30% damage amplified
- Healing: 55 per second
- Max range: 15 meters
NOTE: Mercy engages one of two beams that connect to an ally. By maintaining the beams, she can either restore that ally’s health or increase the amount of damage they deal.
Primary fire creates a healing beam and secondary fire creates a damage amplifying beam that lock on to a nearby ally. They ignore barriers and will linger for 1.3 seconds if the target breaks line of sight or moves out of range. Mercy does not need to look at her target to maintain connection.
Caduceus Blaster
- Damage: 20
- Spread angle: Pinpoint
- Projectile speed: 0 meters per second
- Rate of fire: 5 rounds per second
- Ammo: 20
- Reload time: 1.4 seconds
NOTE: Mercy shoots a round from her sidearm. It’s best reserved for emergency personal defense.
Mercy Overwatch abilities
Besides her Caduceus Staff Mercy has some of the best abilities when it comes to Support characters in Overwatch. Because of the research, she has conducted within the medical field, she is able to receive her allies when they are eliminated in battle.
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As well, the bionic wings she dawns allows her to float within the sky so that she can come to the aid of her allies faster. Mercy’s ultimate ability is Mercy’s special move that uses her wings to amplify the spread of her Caduceus Staff to more than one teammate.
- Passive: Regeneration
- Healing: 20 health per second after not taking damage for 1 second
NOTE: Mercy automatically heals over time.
- Angelic Descent
-
- Move speed: Vertical: 2 m/s (down)
- Duration: Until cancelled
NOTE: Propelled by her Valkyrie suit, Mercy slows the speed of her descent from great heights.
- Guardian Angel
-
- Move speed: 17 meters per second
- Max range: 30 meters
- Cooldown: 1.5 seconds
NOTE: Mercy flies towards a targeted ally, allowing her to reach them quickly and provide assistance in crucial moments.
- Resurrect
- Healing: Restores full health to a fallen ally
- Move. speed: -75% penalty
- Max. range: 5 meters
- Casting time: 1.75 seconds
- Cooldown: 30 seconds
- Ult. charge gain: None
NOTE: Mercy brings a dead ally back into the fight with full health.
- Overwatch Mercy Ultimate: Valkyrie
- Damage: Chain-damage boost (30% per target)
- Healing: 20 HP/s (Mercy)
- 60 HP/s per target (Allies)
- Move. speed: 9 m/s (omni-directional flight)
- 25 m/s (Guardian Angel)
- Projectile speed: 100 m/s (Blaster)
- Max. range: 10 meters (chain healing)
- +100% range (Guardian Angel, Caduceus Staff)
- Ammo: Infinite (Blaster)
- Casting time: 0.5 seconds
- Duration: 15 seconds
- Ultimate cost: 1820 points
NOTE: Gain the ability to fly. Mercy’s abilities are enhanced.
How to play Mercy: tips
Playing Support characters in Overwatch is all about putting your team above yourself, and Mercy’s kit allows her to maneuver around the battlefield and aid allies in need of HP. Knowing who to heal at certain times is perhaps one of the best strategies to use when going into team fights. But, you should prioritize Tanks for the most part, as they are usually the ones on the front lines in team fights and will need HP fast.
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As well, at the beginning of each round, it is usually a good shout to damage boost one of your Damage characters. As off the get-go, they will be in a good position to get some early headshots in, and if they are boosted, then it may result in an easy elimination.
Besides that, it is vital that you stay alive as much as possible when playing Mercy, no team wants to go into a team fight without a healer. So, taking advantage of your Guardian Angel ability to get out of dodge when in danger can be useful in certain scenarios.
Last but not least, Mercy’s Resurrect ability is one that you should save for certain situations. Knowing when to use it is vital, and a good tip is to use it when most of your allies are still in battle, and if you are able to use it on a Tank player, then you are golden!
Overwatch Mercy skins
| Name | Tier | Cost | Skin |
| Celestial | Rare | 75 | |
| Mist | Rare | 75 | |
| Orchid | Rare | 75 | |
| Verdant | Rare | 75 | |
| Amber | Epic | 250 | |
| Cobalt | Epic | 250 | |
| Sigrun | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Valkyrie | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Devil | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Imp | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Winged Victory | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Sugar Plum Fairy | Legendary | 3000 | |
| Dragoon | Legendary | 3000 | |
| 2019 Atlantic All-Stars | All-Stars Weekend 2019 | 200 OWL Credits |
Overwatch 2 Mercy changes
As of now, we know a few details surrounding how her Mercy is going to work within the next installment of Overwatch 2. She will be getting a rework within the game, as well, when you are healing an ally, an indicator will pop up on your screen with an image of the character you are healing/damage boosting.
Besides this, we will have to wait and see if Mercy receives any new abilities or changes to her kit within the second Overwatch title. But, she is still going to be the core of many teams when the game eventually releases.
Fancy trying your hand at other epic heroes from Overwatch? We’ve got a whole host of guides to help you master their unique playstyles right here: Ana | D.Va | Genji | Lucio | Mei | Moira | Reaper | Reinhardt | Sombra | Tracer | Widowmaker