Mercy is one of the most recognizable faces on the Overwatch Hero roster, and she is a valuable asset on most teams. Mercy is fairly easy to play, but she does require a lot of knowledge and game sense. Here’s how to use her abilities to get the most out of her kit.
Before we look at Mercy’s abilities, it’s important to understand what “pocket healing” or “pocketing” means in Overwatch. This means Mercy primarily heals and damage boosts one ally instead of trying to heal everyone on the team. Combinations like Mercy and Pharah or Mercy and Widowmaker are extremely hard to deal with when they are played correctly.
Guardian Angel
This is Mercy’s signature ability and the one that makes her such a great pocket healer. Guardian Angel allows Mercy to fly to an ally. It only has a 1.5-second cooldown, and Mercy can use it on dead allies as well. This gives Mercy both survivability and the ability to reach allies in need of her assistance.
You should primarily use this ability to reposition and escape from dangerous situations. Since this move has almost no cooldown, you can use it frequently. Don’t hesitate to use it if you think you need to survive or help an ally survive. You can also use it to jump to a dead target you want to resurrect.
Caduceus Staff
Mercy’s weapon has two functions: healing and damage boosting. Her primary fire locks onto a single ally and heals them for 55 health per second. Her alternate fire also locks onto a single ally but instead boosts their damage by 30%.
This is where pocket healing really comes in. You want to choose an ally (preferably a damage Hero) that is doing well and provide them your damage boost and healing to help them deal with enemies. Make sure not to completely abandon your team, however, and always be on the lookout for allies that need healing.
Resurrect
This move is very straightforward. Mercy channels for 1.75 seconds, then she resurrects a nearby dead ally. This ability can be interrupted by stuns and knockbacks, so be careful how you use it. Make sure that the ally you wish to resurrect is in a safe place where you won’t get killed as well.
Valkyrie
Mercy’s ultimate allows her to fly and grants her Caduceus Staff additional power. Her healing is increased to 60 health per second and her beam chains to other allies near her target. Her damage boost also chains to nearby allies. In addition to these, she heals herself for 20 per second, her blaster has unlimited ammo, and bullets travel faster.
You should use Mercy’s ultimate defensively. It provides an extreme boost to healing and damage and makes you very hard to kill. This can easily sway the tide of a team fight in your team’s favor. Remember to keep pocketing your best allies and stay smart with your positioning.
The key to being an effective healer as Mercy is to identify which players are doing well so you can help them by providing damage boosts and heals. You must also stay safe while doing this. Of course, resurrecting allies always helps as well.
