Look, up in the sky: It’s a gorilla. It’s a mech. It’s Mercy flying in for a Rez.
Today we are going to be breaking down Mercy’s abilities as well as giving some tips and strategies to maximize your Mercy play. Let’s look at her kit first.
Mercy’s kit consists of her Caduceus Staff and Blaster, along with her three abilities: Guardian Angel, Angelic Descent and Resurrect. The Caduceus Staff is her main weapon of choice which fires one of two beams that tethers her to an ally.
The first beam is her healing beam that heals an ally for 60 hp per second and the second beam boosts an ally’s damage by 30%. Each beam has a maximum range of 15 meters. The beams break past 15 meters, or when the target leaves Mercy’s line of sight. The beams have no cooldowns and last as long as she channels them.
Mercy Gameplay: Caduceus Staff
The Caduceus Staff’s healing beam is the second most powerful single target heal in the game, though that strength has a cost. When Mercy channels either beam she sacrifices mobility, making her vulnerable. But she is not entirely helpless.
Tip: Alternate between the healing and damage beams but always prioritize healing.
If Mercy is alone and in danger, she breaks out her Caduceus Blaster, a twenty round pistol that deals 20 damage per shot and is capable of headshots. Keep in mind that the pistol is slow and clunky and only effective at close ranges, so only use it as a last resort.
Mercy Gameplay: Caduceus Blaster
Tip: Use her pistol to take out stationary targets like Torbjörn Turret and Bastion in Sentry Mode.
Mercy’s main method of escape is her Guardian Angel Ability. This ability lets her fly to an ally, living or dead, that’s within 30 meters. Mercy uses Guardian Angel to juke enemies and quickly appear near low health allies.
Tip: Guardian Angel can be canceled mid-flight.
Guardian Angel adds verticality to the Winged Medic’s game. Guardian Angel allows her to fly to anyone as long as they are within 30 meters range. This means she can fly down to a Reinhardt on the ground or to a Pharah in the sky. Couple Guardian Angel with her Angelic Descent ability – an ability that allows her to slow her fall speed – and you have the ingredients for a healer with the most mobility.
Mercy Gameplay: Guardian Angel and Angelic Descent
Tip: Use Angelic Descent intermittently when getting shot at to throw off enemy aim.
Mercy needs that extra mobility to land her Ultimate: Resurrect. As the name suggests, her ultimate brings all dead allies within 15 meters back to life with full health. Resurrect, like all ultimates, can tremendously impact the outcome of a game and, like all ultimates, the effectiveness of Resurrect depends on the game sense of the player.
Mercy Gameplay: Resurrect
Tip: Mercy is invulnerable for 2.5 seconds when using Resurrect.
When using Rez, Mercy players have to constantly ask themselves these questions: what ultimates have they used? What ultimates do we have? Do I wait for one more to die? Am I resurrecting my team into a bad situation? Will this win us the fight? To improve as a Mercy player you have to be able to answer these questions at a drop of a hat.
The thing to keep in mind when playing Mercy is that she is a healer, not a damage dealer. The strategy for any good Mercy player is to constantly stay near your teammates, keep them at max health, damage boost them when they are at full health and always, always, be aware that when you play Mercy you automatically become Public Enemy Number One.
That’s it for the winged Medic. Hopefully this guide helps improve your Mercy play, let us know what you think in the comments below. The next guide will be dealing with Zenyatta, the Omnic Monk, so stay tuned.
From all of us at TGH, I’m Steven, and we wish you good luck in your future games.
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