Pharmercy guide: Rule the skies

It’s time to look into a guide that will help you rule the skies in Overwatch. That’s right, today we are going to be looking at the Pharmercy strategy.

The Pharmercy strategy, as the name suggests, consists of Pharah and Mercy. The purpose of this strategy is to give your team complete control of the skies. If your team controls the skies you can dictate engagements on your terms. As a result, you are able to blast the enemy into itty-bitty pieces.

However, before I break down this strategy, let me share one thing you should keep in mind.

Pharmercy is A team Decision

Always keep in mind that running a Pharmercy is a team decision. The Pharmercy strategy has Mercy focusing on pocketing Pharah. Which is good for Pharah because it provides her with a floating healer that can damage boost her. But it is also bad for the team because Mercy is farther away from them pocketing a roaming Pharah. So decide with your team at the start to run Pharmercy so that they can expect less healing. Otherwise, you risk tilting your team because they would expect Mercy to be near them and not pocketing Pharah. Speaking of pocketing Pharah, let’s shift to Mercy’s responsibilities. Much as it takes two to tango, it takes two to run a Pharmercy.

Mercy’s Job

Mercy’s job in the Pharmercy is to provide Pharah with healing and damage boosting her rockets. Seems like a simple concept. But in practice, it’s more complex. Especially when you factor in following a constantly moving Pharah.

Pharmercy Gameplay: Mercy

A good way to tie yourself to Pharah is to make sure that you have the correct Mercy settings on. One setting you need to have on is Guardian Angel Prefers Beam Target. This setting makes Mercy fly to whoever her beam is on instead of who she is aiming at. And since in a Pharmercy your beam is almost always on Pharah and you will always fly to her.

Another thing to be aware of, as Mercy, is that you are pretty vulnerable in the air. Therefore you have to constantly be on the lookout for threats, in addition to healing and damage boosting Pharah. Also remember that Mercy’s damage beam applies damage when damage is dealt. Which means that Mercy can heal her Pharah and then switch to damage boost as the rocket is mid-flight.

Next, to the second part of our Pharmercy: Pharah.

Pharah’s Job

Pharah’s job is to get kills, just every other DPS character. And with a Mercy pocket, it makes her job even easier. So play Pharah like every other DPS with a focus on high priority targets like supports and other DPS.

Pharmercy Gameplay: Pharah

But keep in mind that having a Mercy pocket does not make her invincible. Pharah can still die to a tremendous amount of burst damage. So don’t give the enemy a better chance by hovering a few feet above them. Always think about your positioning because it effects your Mercy’s positioning as well. At the same time be aware that Mercy does have five other teammates to heal, so don’t roam too far away.

By and large, Pharmercy can be a devastating combo to play against, but it can be stopped.

Pharmercy’s weakness

The Pharmercy’s weakness is hit scans. Heroes like Soldier 76, McCree and Widowmaker are what counters a Pharmercy. Even so, this does not mean that the people playing those heroes can actually hit Pharah or Mercy. Just be aware that the enemy hit scans will focus you, and if they frag you more than you frag them, then consider abandoning the Pharmercy strategy.

That’s it for the Pharmercy strategy. Hopefully this guide helps you control the skies. Let us know what you think in the comments below. The next article in this series will be looking at some of the new updates from the latest patch.

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