Submitted by brunettetravis (7 years 4 months ago)
A Mercy Long Guide
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  • ABILITY
  • LORE
Mercy
Mercy’s Valkyrie Suit helps keep her close to teammates like a guardian angel; healing, resurrecting or strengthening them with the beams emanating from her Caduceus Staff.
As a usual Mercy main there is a lot of things that so many people do and don't do while in games that can be overly frustrating, sometimes extremely helpful and other times just completely oblivious to the fact that i am squishy and rely on them to protect me.

As a Mercy there is only so much that i can do to save my teammates, and the bottom line is my existence is deeply controlled by your existence. Without you, I cannot survive and without me you cannot survive. Sure the survivability numbers are greatly in your favor but the end result is the same, if I die you will die too. So this guide is meant for two purposes, to help teammates play better along side a Mercy and to help fellow Mercys be better at their job.

Constantly I get a lot of praise for my clutch heals, clutch resurrects and an overall 5+ votes at the end of matches. It's as even gone as far as people asking me how I play her so well and so effectively in quick play and comp. I've also been asked to teach people, but the sad fact is as good as I am with her it has also led to some very frustrating games where as Mercy people just focusing me down because I am a bigger threat then that of my teammates. This is how you can tell a good player from a bad one. Sure my DPS is nothing for them to worry about but it's not the DPS they are concerned about, its the healing and damage boost that become more of a threat then that of my dinky water gun.

Lets face it, a smart player will focus down the healer before they worry about the other team, without a healer the enemy team is left to worry about just killing their opponents off. Your team on the other hand without a healer is left to worry about their health, play more defensively then offensively and also to rely on med packs which takes them off their primary concern which is defending or attacking. All the time I see enemy teammates just not even attack me and just worry about my damage dealers, which is how i can usually judge a game from the start as to if were gonna win or were gonna lose. There are a lot of clues at the start of a match that will tell you if your gonna win or gonna lose but keep in mind, this is never accurate it is only a pre-assumption of how the match will turn out. So don't rely on your first judgement of the enemy, they can be incredibly deceiving and if you get over confident it can easily be a lose. How i can tell a good player/team from a bad one is very simple. If they focus down the healer, they know how to play and you as Mercy should tred lightly on where you use your Guardian Angel. If they just let you bounce from target to target without as much as a single shot fired towards you then they either aren't that good, or just simply dont care and think they can kill your ally faster then you can heal them. It's usually the first that is true.

So let's jump into it shall we!

1The "Guardian Angel" In You

As Mercy you will be tempted in many situations to boost to your ally that has run off into enemy lines, I implore you NOT to do this. There is a lot of times you will be tempted to do this and i mean A LOT OF TIMES. If you yourself are a support in usually any game or your spirit itself is a support character young one then this will be your natural instinct to jump in and save your teammate. Do not do this, please for the love of god do not do this! When I'm not playing Mercy I always see this! DO NOT DO THIS.

When you jump in to save your teammate this usually means your death and as Mercy is extremely easy to die, your not a tank so you cant take a beating, and your not a dps or defense hero so you cant really defend yourself! Lets do a use case scenario.

The Map Is Hollywood. Your team is attacking. This map is great for Mercy both on defense and on attack but only for the first part of the attack. Once the payload starts moving if you do not like myself have over 500 hours spent on Mercy or at least over 100 I would recommend you might want to swap to a Lucio/Zenyatta combo. I will explain why later on this guide.

So your Reinhardt approaches the car as your team starts to push up to the objective. Your Reinhardt then charges off into the objective, if he's lucky he will get a kill but then you see his health drop to critical. Your instinct as Mercy will be to boost in and start healing him, but this is not the answer. You will almost certainly die while doing so and usually always your main goal of saving him will fail as well because he will die shortly right after you. This is thee worst case scenario. If you die that shaves off what can be precious time to capture the objective. While your dead your team has to rely on health packs to keep themselves alive and on Hollywood there are only 4 places where your team can usually safely get too to grab them. Which in turn means they have to backtrack to grab health shaving more time off of your capture time.

When you jumped in to save your Reinhardt you left your team to heal themselves, not only that but you left your team without a tank. Sure there are times where you can survive this scenario but it's not often. So if your playing with a PUG please dont attempt to save this dumbass Reinhardt who charged in without a full team push. I can't say I havent done this myself because sometimes I catch myself doing this, but as I have said I know how to quickly dart out without getting myself killed. So dont leave your team hanging. Don't save one when you can save 4 others.

The main benefit for Mercy which is why I use her throughout the whole level is because her ultimate can allow you to get those final pushes to checkpoints and i just prefer her over Lucio. Sure the numbers don't match up, but its not the numbers that concern me and usually i get higher numbers with Mercy then Lucio and that's because I understand every tiny mechanic that there is to Mercy. I have learned every characters health/shield/armor numbers the min and max for each applied, who drops armor vs who gives shields. The healing rate vs the healing boost. The main reason why Lucio will/can see higher healing numbers is because Lucios healing/speed boost is an AoE where as Mercys is a single target. In a good team comp, Mercy can be an incredibly high threat to the enemies, not because her damage is amazing but the abilities she carries.

Guardian Angel is Mercy's main weapon not only in healing your teammates but saving yourself. She can literally be a non stop moving target which makes her harder to hit and more mobile throughout the battlefield. Guardian Angel can also be your life saver but it also relies on your team to be aware of your position all the time just as well as its your job to be aware of their position.

Guardian Angel is what makes Mercy, Mercy. But a lot of people don't understand this. I always see people spam "I need healing", of course there's a huge difference between a bad Mercy and a good Mercy but this fact remains true. If I can't see you I can't heal you and this applies to every support character. Guardian Angel only has a range of 30 meters, if you are beyond that then don't expect to get healed, your survivability is solely reliant on your on ability as the hero you chose. A lot of people don't understand that Mercy is a very mobile hero, so stay in her range so she can get to you, but for the love of god, unless your at like 1 health peek out so your Mercy can boost to you. Otherwise dont expect Mercy to come run for you because your death is perfectly ok as long as the rest of the team stays alive.

As a Mercy you should generally never be running target to target, you should always be using your Guardian Angel, it has a cooldown of 2 seconds but you never really notice this as by the time you get to your target and heal them up you can easily jump back to the other heroes.

Another aspect of her Guardian Angel is you can look around while your flying to your target. So keep your eyes pealed for your next target to boost to. Utilize this. Utilize her ability to do 360's while healing your target this allows you to preplan your next target. Pre planning and reacting are two very different things that go hand in hand with Mercy. You have to get used to changing your preplanned movement to whoever requires it the most which also means that you will have to make choices.

As with any support there usually are times that you will have to choose who to let live and who to let die. This doesnt mean just healing your friend because he's your friend this means, choosing to let your reinhardt die or choosing to let your reaper die. This is very situational, and usually requires a split second reaction time to quickly choose and sometimes your going to make mistakes. With Mercy you can sometimes keep both targets alive by flipping back and forth between the two but there will be situations that will require you to choose. For example your Reinhardts shield is about to break, he is critical health. Your reaper just got to critical health, who do you save? In my experience, unless your reaper is within your range do not leave your tanks side. Reinhardts shield will charge back up in a few seconds and then you can go to heal whoever needs it. This is entirely situational. Especially for instance if your on lets say King's Row and your attacking, it takes nothing for any hero to quickly get back to the action. So save who you see is fit.

This one is for teammates essentially. Always be conscious of your Mercy's whereabouts there are times where your Mercy will need your help and Guardian Angel allows you to help in more ways then you think. This allows Mercy to quickly jump out of the way of danger and not only that but it literally can save her life in more then one way. If Mercys gets pushed off an edge she can quickly escape death by boosting back up to you, this will save her life and trust me it will save yours in the long run.

2Quick Tips

  • With Mercy this is entirely up to you, but in the settings>controls you may want to turn on "toggle guardian angel" this will allow you to just tap shift to boost to your targets rather then holding it allowing you to quickly do 360's and watch and plan your next target to boost to. You can just hit shift again to cancel the boost
  • Always be conscious of your teams whereabouts
  • Always be aware of your Mercys whereabouts
  • Constantly be looking out for places to boost to
  • Dont jump in to save a dumb teammate if it's going to result in your death
  • Be aware that this ability can allow you to get to safety

3Caduceus Blaster

This is almost always obvious. Simply put, this generally should never be out unless your like me and are extremely good with Mercy. As a new Mercy it will be your instinct to try and pick off some kills with her. No, no, no and x100 no! I cannot stress this enough, Mercy is not a damage dealer nor is she supposed to be getting kills. In a general game this is usually what i end up getting - 5-20 Eliminations (normal & objective), 7000 + healing, 00:30 - 3:00 minutes objective time and 1-8 deaths. This may sound good in all but this is basing it off a not so good game.

As a Mercy I have keybound my skills in a way that allow me to react extremely quick, so quickly flipping between my Blaster and my Staff is extremely easy and fast. If your curious on how i get so many kills this is how i get them. I will quickly pull out my blaster hit a target and flip back to my staff, this allows me to quickly hit a target and still heal. If the enemy gets killed then i will also get the elimination point and that is essentially the only way you as a Mercy should be getting kills. You should never ever be pulling out your blaster to solely get kills. The only time you will want to pull out your pistol is in a defensive manner, and if your alone defending yourself.

There really isn't alot to explain about your blaster, it should generally only ever be used in a defensive posture, and never your primary concern. Your a healer not a damage dealer, don't ever forget that!

4Angelic Decent

Again there really isn't alot to explain about this one, but its very simple. This ability allows you to gracefully "float" downwards towards the ground, slowing your drop by a fair bit. This ability can also save your life and everyone should be aware that she has this ability.

How can this ability save your life? Well simple. For example, if you get pushed off an edge this can allow to you slow your decent giving your team time to quickly run over to the edge and allowing your to boost back up. If your team is conscious of your whereabouts like they should be and they see you falling off an edge a good player will run over and allow you to boost up to them. So EVERYONE be a good player and be aware of your Mercy at all times and for all your Mercy's out there if you get pushed off an edge dont just give up! Use your decent to slow your drop and potentially allowing for someone else to save you!

This ability can also be combo'd by allowing you to be above your enemies with the elements of surprise so you dont get focused down by enemies. Of course good players not only watch their surroundings but they also watch the skies so be conscious of where to use it and when to drop back down because when your slowly descending towards the ground you are an extremely easy target to pick off since you are moving slowly.

5Caduceus Staff: Healing & Damage

Healing

This is obvious. With Mercy's recent increase to healing speed (not live) this will make her healing more viable in team comps, hopefully making her the main healer in the game (at least i hope so). To be frank its not overly that noticeable of a difference but the math adds up. Her healing per target is 50/second, sounds like a lot right? Well it is statistically, but it may not feel like a lot in game. Trust me when i say this, it is and pays off. The downside to her healing is that for characters like Reinhardt for example takes a bit longer then other heroes to heal, requiring you to be locked on for a bit longer and requiring more focus healing then others. Reinhardt has 300 health and 200 armor, essentially requiring you to be locked on to him for 10 seconds to give him a full health again versus a tracer who has 150 health, 0 armor to heal her fully it's only 3 seconds. You can quickly see the difference in healing time between different heroes.

I would recommend memorizing these numbers. This will visually and also vocally allow you to communicate with your teammates and let them know how long you are going to be locked onto a target. I have memorized every characters health, armor and shield numbers. By memorizing these numbers it can not only benefit your Mercy gameplay it can also help your teammates out by letting them know how long you need to be locked onto them for a full a heal. Overall her healing per target is the best in the game, but that is also where one of her downfalls are. Since she can only lock onto a single target per heal, it requires you as the mercy to be more diverse and mobile when playing her.

Another aspect that you may want to do, is in your ""options>controls** switch her toggle beam target - On. This option is entirely your preference, but i feel it is a huge benefactor while playing her. This allows you to not constantly be forced to just holding left-click to heal your target but just allows you to click it to heal which allows you to free look around and be wary of your surroundings.

Damage Boost

Mercy can also boost an allies attack by 30%. Overall it can really depict the winner of a fight when she is locked onto you. She can actually be the deciding factor between a offense hero vs a tank or vice versa. The biggest issue with this is the fact of knowing when to use damage boost and when to heal your ally. What you will want to keep in your brain is there health bar at all times, the extra damage is nice and all but if you let your teammate die then it's pointless.

Im not really going to go in depth about this because its very straight forward the key thing to remember here is when to use it and when to not.

I have thrown together a quick chart to show you the rough estimations of each hero when a Mercy is healing you, the damage boost numbers and also the healing time required for each hero. This chart shows you all of the damage abilities on each hero and their base numbers and also the numbers for each hero while Mercy is boosting you. The information from this guide (the base numbers) were taken from the wiki.

Overwatch Wiki

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/XjeDn16.jpg)



In no way is this chart supposed to be an absolute fool proof number system but it does give you a visual representation of each hero heal time and damage boost numbers. If you memorize each heroes base numbers like I have (mainly there health & left clicks) then it can and will greatly impact the way you play Mercy allowing you to prioritize your healing and boost and also allow you to effectively communicate when your using each.

A quick tip, the target your locked onto has there name displayed in the center of your screen as well as their health bar so you dont need to visually be looking at your teammate when healing or boosting them, keep aware of your surroundings so you can see the heal bars of all your teammates around you.

6Resurrect

There isn't a lot of know how to this ultimate. The biggest thing is just knowing when to use it and when to save it. The main factor you want to keep in mind with Mercy's ultimate is the position that you are at on the map. Why would that matter? This matters because if your team is nowhere near the checkpoint then it stands to reason that your team can easily get back to the payload within a short amount of time. This ultimate solely depends on your judgement when you use it.

Sure Mercys ultimate charges really quick, but if you use it a moment that isn't crucial to your victory, and then you need it at that clutch moment...well "oops". Mercys ultimate is and can be a game changer. A few tips for when to use it are:

  • If 3 or more allies have died. This resurrect will bring back all your allies which can be a game changer and greatly shift the tide of battle because now not only are your allies back with full health but also leaves your enemies scrambling to get healed up themselves. Provided that they did take damage and weren't just ulti'd by someone. A lot of the times a 3-4 man rez will get you potg as well and if your lucky enough to get a 5 man rez your guaranteed play of the game (as long as noonw got a quintuple or higher kill).
  • Knowing when to let your teammates die and when to heal them (while you have your ultimate). Wait what?! yeah it sounds crazy right? Why would you let your teammates die and not just heal them to prevent it. There are times where you can't heal everyone and bouncing from target to target will likely just get you killed. Yeah it sounds dumb to let teammates die but the fact is if you cannot heal 3-4 allies simultaneously and they are all critical letting them die might be the best option for you. This only applies if you have your ult. By letting them die, you can resurrect them to bring them all back with full health. Bottom line is you should almost always never ever let them die because as a healer thats your only job, so dont screw it up and let it get to that. On the other hand certain situations do call for it, if you know how to Mercy like i do then it solely falls to your judgement as her just dont fuck it up and use your rez at the wrong time.
  • Mercy's ultimate charges at a fairly fast rate and generally as a rule of thumb, if i have my ultimate i will use it to bring back our tanks if 1 or more allies have fallen at the same time our Reinhardt has died. So rule of thumb save use your ult if your main tank has died and another ally in the same range. You are notified as Mercy when you have your ultimate of how many teammates will be rezzed right in the center of your screen.
  • Don't be afraid to kill yourself. If you died before your teammates and are on your way back, and you notice that 2-3 allies are dead right need the payload, dont be afraid to kill yourself to bring them back. Many times as Mercy I will die and be on my way back to the point when i see that some of my team has died. I can boost to their death point and then i will rez them, almost always does this result in my death immediately but it does what its supposed to. It gives your team the time they need to start pushing again. Most of the time your teammates will stay alive for that 7 seconds that it takes for you to respawn and then the 4-6 seconds for you to get back to them. So dont be afraid to boost in and kill yourself to bring them back.
  • Notify your team. I cannot stress this enough, notify your team that your ult is ready. This keeps them aware that you can bring them back if they want to go ham. It's as easy as a split second to use your notify wheel and say its ready. Generally any really good player that i have come across already knows how to check on ult status and for those of you that dont know, all you do is hold tab, and you can visually see a check mark underneath your allies name. This tells you that their ultimate is ready. So be aware of your Mercys ultimate.


Mercys resurrect can be a game changer, and its fairly straight forward just be wise when using it, be wise and conscious to the current checkpoint, objective time and or your allies around you. Her ultimate can be a game changer and allow you to get those final pushes that your team needs. The biggest tip i can give here is use your best judgement on when to use her ultimate. Dont just use it because your friend died, its not about friendship with this game it is about being a team player, even if your friend says "rez me" a one man rez is usually a wasted rez.

7To Those Who Aren't Mercy

Honestly I have come across numerous players that couldn't give two shits about what is happening to their healer, this is the biggest issue i have with PUG's. If you are not the Mercy (this applies to anyone who is not a support) be wary and conscious of your supports guys and gals. Without them you will almost always die. We are your foundation, we hold you up when you desperately need us but we rely on you to protect us. You need to protect us. As a Mercy main i can get very frustrated when I am forced to watch my own back and my team leaves me hanging.

Mercy has vocal ques to notify her team that she is taking damage. Be aware of these, be aware that she is under attack. Some of Mercys vocal lines are "im under attack", "I could use some assistance". I cannot stress this enough pay attention to these. This can be the deciding factor that your healer is about to die. A good player is always conscious of their healers whereabouts and presence and also protects them. Your Mercy can be your savior so protect her with your life and she will protect you!

Don't spam "I need healing" when your nowhere near her. As a healer it's not my job to follow you behind enemy lines if your darting off without the team, I always see this happening. Dont expect (or at least i hope) that your mercy will boost off to you while your flanking the enemies. This will almost always result in Mercy dying.

If i cant see you i cant heal you. This point is so obvious it needs not much explaining. Mercy has a range of 30 meters to her Guardian Angel. She cannot get you beyond that, so a general rule of thumb, be aware that if she cannot see you she cannot heal you. This applies if your behind a wall, inside a building or out of her LoS. Dont be spamming "I need healing" if she cant get to you.

Protect me. Simply put protect your healers. They need you as much as you need them. With 200hp I die very easy, and it's very easy for me to get picked off. So when you see me taking damage jump in and shoot what is attacking me. This will make the enemy back off (usually) and start attacking you but that's exactly what needs to happen. They will attack you but it wont matter because i will keep you alive, so long as you keep me alive! It is a hand in hand, two way street relationship. Mercy is not any of the other Supports, she has no offense abilities and she generally cannot defend herself. She isn't like Ana, Lucio, Symmetra or Zenyatta and she cannot defend herself. She has to first swap weapons and then start to shoot, and most of the time she will die before she even has the chance to react or switch weapons. So dont forget that she has ultimately no offensive ability and her survivability is extremely low.

The biggest tip that i shouldnt have to give is just be conscious of your supports whereabouts especially Mercy, they need you and you need them! You can also save Mercy if she falls off the edge by simply walking over to the edge, trust me we will be forever in your debt and respect you for doing so!

8To The Mercys Out There

Playing Mercy isn't for everyone she can be a very frustrating hero to play if you dont have the patience for her. She can also be a very mobile and very deadly opponent. She is not a damage dealer no of course not but she can be the deciding factor to your win or your lose. So when playing her dont be expecting to get many gold medals, the only gold you should be focused on is healing. That is it, never focus on anything else as thats not your job. Your job is to support so just focus on that.

Almost always should never have your Blaster out, this will never be the answer for you. Mercys pistol is only as a defense weapon should you ever find yourself alone, which should be never. With a base damage of 20 she is incredibly weak and cant really dish out any damage at all so dont be trying to get those kills when you shouldnt be. If you have mastered Mercy as I consider myself to have and you are looking to get kills as well as healing then you can do the following but only do this if you have mastered her, and I mean MASTERED and only if it can be done. What I will do is quickly flip to my Blaster to just hit a target quickly not fully emptying the clip just simply to tag an opponent and letting someone else finish them off. You are still rewarded with an elimination as long as you hit the opponent. You should never be focused on getting kills as this is not your role, so dont focus on it.

Dont boost into enemy territory. I cant really stress this enough, if you've read the guide so far at the start I talked about the idiot Reinhardt who charged without his team and you boosted in to heal him. Do not do this. Do not boost into someone who is behind enemy lines or like the idiot Reinhardt who charged off. This will almost always get you killed and a dead Mercy is a useless Mercy. Having one idiot die isn't worth you dying and not being able to help the rest of your team. Boosting into enemy lines without your team is never a good idea and you should tred lightely when doing so. Usually this will almost always end up in your death and the person you boosted to in the first place.

Be wary of your surroundings. You dont need to be looking at the hero you are healing or boosting when your locked onto them, you will still heal/boost them even if your not looking at them so dont be afraid to turn around and watch your back.

Be wary of your teammates health bars. At the moment we dont have a classic MOBA style health bar display system although I really wish we did but the fact remains. Always be looking at your teammates and their health. You can see their current health status in 3 options. The first being green, if it is green they are ok and still at optimal health, if they are yellow it means they are low health and if you see a "critical" with a plus symbol it means they are about to die and you need to get to them ASAP. Be conscious of your teammates, you can save them at critical moments and thats your job! Your job is to keep them alive, and its their job to keep you alive. It's a two way street and without them your going to die. Simple as that. Just keep looking around and be conscious of your allies.

Pharah, Pharah, Pharah. She is by far thee best combo for your Mercy, when a teammate picks her my heart leaps a little bit. Why? If you dont know pharah's jump jet allows you to boost up into the air and see the battlefield from the skies. This combo is by far the best and you need to always watch her so you can get the chance you need to get up to her. Since Pharah's Jump Jet only shoots her up 20m vertically you can get up to her and then also jump right back to another teammate who needs healing. The biggest thing is you will want to use your Angelic Descent to slow yourself from just dropping back down to the ground. This gives you the time you need to find your next target. I cannot stress thing enough though be extremely wary of who your enemies have as chosen heroes. You can easily be picked off by enemies, especially enemies such as Widowmaker or Hanzo, these enemies can easily one shot you as you are an extremely easy target to pick off since you are slowly descending. Pharah's 20m jump and your 30m boost it is an incredible team comp to have her with you.

Dont be afraid to kill yourself. Sometimes and it happens more then often, you see your team has been whipped but you have your ult! As a very squishy hero it might be your reaction to just wait for your team to respawn so you can move with them back to the point. If you can get to your teams death location before they rez and theres more then 1 ally dead and i mean more then one ally dead if it's one teammate dead then do not run in to rez them, it is absolutely pointless. But on the chance that its 2-5 teammates dead and your the only one left, just boost in hit your ult and rez them. Sure you might end up dead but it will shave the time off that your team wouldve needed to get back to the point. Always always always be looking out for the skulls. The skulls will give you a visual on whether or not it's worth it for you to boost in. The skull image has a progress bar that gradually starts to wrap around the skull it is like a progress bar, if it is almost full then your ally is about to respawn. If you see that most of the progress bars are about to be full then just wait for your team to respawn because by the time you boosted it your rez will be pointless and then...well....your just dead.

Dont be afraid to let people die. I say this as I have mentioned earlier, if you cannot simultaneously heal multiple people who are at critical health it might be wiser to just let them die to save one. This situation only applies if you have your ult ready, if not try to heal as best as you possibly can. If you have your ult on the other hand it might be wiser to fall back a bit and let them die. Why? Thats just dumb! How stupid can you be! BLAH BLAH BLAH GRRRR! Well it actually makes logical sense to do so. Since when you rez someone they gain full health again, all skills are off cooldown and they are immune for a few seconds giving them the time they need to react and move forward. This goes hand in hand by letting your team know what your doing. Do not just drop back without giving them the notification of what you are doing, pinging that your ultimate is ready. A good player will know what this means and I have been congratulated many times on my choice of actions in doing so. Do not use this ability to just rez one person, resurrecting one person is almost always a waste that is plain and simple.

Be smart and use your judgement. Your tank is and should be your primary focus of healing/boosting, keeping them alive also hand in hand keeps your team alive. Tanks such as D.Va or Reinhardt have no healing ability on their own but in turn have a very important defensively ability, they can shield incoming damage for not only you but your team as a whole. Other heroes, with the exception of D.Va and Winston have alot more mobility then the other tanks, which means they cannot get to health packs as quickly as other heroes can. As long as you have your tanks alive they can greatly impact the victory chance. Sure other heroes can kill off enemies but a tank sitting on the payload ultimately pushes you to victory. As with in any MMO, your tanks are your foundation and you solidify that foundation by keeping them alive. Dont forget that. Heal as best as you can whenever you can but always keep your tanks alive.

Heal as best as you can. This is very simple but when im not playing Mercy i also see alot of people give other Mercys shit for not healing. While sometimes people are just bad with Mercy, you cannot forget that maybe they are practicing with her or maybe they are trying their best but the enemy keeps focusing down the healer. Many times I get focused down, and that my friends is how you can tell a good player vs a bad player. Sure there are times where people just dont care and focus the other teammates, but the point is true. Everyone should know that a healer is a game shifting weapon. With a great healer a team can stay alive the whole game, without a healer a team will usually always lose or die. Another point is maybe your not protecting your Mercy, when im not Mercy I always keep an eye on our Mercy, keep an eye on her, protect her. So as a Mercy heal as much and as best as you can, always bouncing from target to target keeping everyone alive!

Know when to damage boost and when to heal. Generally if your teammate is engaging a 1v1 you should be damage boosting them to give them the upper hand but always be watching their health bar, if it is starting to get close to half way immediately swap over to healing them. Why? Because if there health drops below half especially as a tank they can be easily picked off by another opponent. So use your best judgement on when to boost and when to heal, Your primary concern should always be their health not their damage output.

Guardian Angel EVERYWHERE. As Mercy you should never ever be stationary, you should never stay in one spot or stop moving. This applies to every hero but even more so as Mercy, a good player will always be focusing Mercy so the more you move the harder you are to kill. This goes hand in hand with her Guardian Angel. Always use this to bounce between allies to make you an even more harder target to hit. This ability can also save your life allowing you to dart out of a hostile area extremely quick. This always works great for when an enemy zarya uses her ult. You should always be looking for places to jump to, this increases your survivability immensely.

Ultimately, playing Mercy takes a lot of split second thinking and quick reaction time as well more so as judgement. You need to have good judgement on when to use her and where to use her. Mercy does not do well in close quarters with enemies that is plain and simple, so dont be trying to get in your enemies faces you will always lose in that situation. Mercy takes a bit to get used to and learning to utilize her extremely well takes a bit of practice.

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I created this guide to hopefully help those out who seem to not understand her or how to play her best. Obviously this is just my opinion and just how i play her. You can play her however you see fit, but this is from over 500 hours as her and everything that ive learned so far. Hopefully this guide will help some people out who get frustrated playing her or dont see her as a good team comp participant.

In no way do i considered myself the best Mercy in the world, because fact is there is always someone who's better and that's just life. I was drawn to Mercy the first time I played the game because I prefer supports vs other classes. Mercy has always and always be my "goto" for healing and now with her incoming boost to healing speed she will hopefully become the new pick for healing for everyone.

This guide is just hopefully to help some people become better with her and to hopefully help other players be more conscious about her while she is in your team. Hopefully some who play her and others who have her in your team will become more wary of her and how to utilize her and protect her!

Hopefully you all enjoyed this extremely long rant read. By the way I apologize for all my spelling mistakes, grammar and punctuation!

9Heroes Never Die!

Here is some more great tips from a fellow Mercy main which comes from /reddit/LeSygneNoir thank you! :)

  • Don't overpocket. This is one of the main mistakes I see with high-level new Mercys (Mercies?), because a lot of them draw inspiration from supreme-level players. At the pro level, Mercy has been used almost exclusively as a pocket healer for a Pharah or Genji. This is not viable for us peasants. You will almost never have the required communication and coordination so that Pharah will be performing her job well, insuring you're in position for team heals AND keeping you alive at the same time.
  • Threats: The ninja and the pig. When you pick up Mercy for the first time, they will say that Genji and Tracer are your worst enemy. I do not agree. This is an artefact from mid-level plays where flanking goes completely unnoticed. With Guardian Angel, you are actually more mobile than flankers when communicating with your team. Sure, sometimes, a competent Genji is reason enough for a switch, but it grows rarer with level and nerfs. Your worst nightmare at higher level is the pig. A 600 hp Roadhog often has the time to pierce your line, hook you, and go back to meet his own Mercy. A hook on you is a death sentence. So learn to hear the sound when it goes off on someone else (they'll need help and you're safe to be more agressive for 6 seconds).
  • Throw dat rez. This is actually one of the only points where I disagree with the main poster. Don't be overly cautious with your rezzes. Most importantly: You CAN rez that single Genji who got hooked at the start of the fight. If he has his ult. Many, many players will value a rez by the hp raised. I value it by the issue of the teamfight. If you won, it was a good rez. If you lost, it was a bad one. Of course, a 4 man rez is almost always valuable, but sometimes, an earlier one man rez with great damage potential is better.
  • Subsequently: Information is power. This is both for Mercy and non-Mercy players. Mercy is a character uniquely suited for shot calling. She's a lock-on, requiring little mechanical skill, that she balances with higher awareness. A good Mercy separates from a bad one not with mechanical skill, but with judgment and game sense. Mercy sees health bars, she looks around 360, she knows more than you. But always give her more, inform her of EVERYTHING. As Mercy, cultivate ult management and ult awareness. As a Mercied, update her on your ults and enemy positions.


Also, when a good Mercy calls out something, she's usually right. Listen. And if you're a Mercy: Buy a microphone and talk.