Mercy rework: No more hide and rez

It seems to be the week of rework announcements. First it was D.Va and now Mercy is getting one, though hers is more radical by far. The Mercy rework announced by Jeff Kaplan on Thursday will see changes made to resurrect as well as giving her a new ultimate. Here’s a basic rundown of the changes that are available for testing on the PTR.

Mercy rework: No more hide and resurrect

Genji and Tracers rejoice because playing hide and seek with Mercy is a thing of the past. Mercy’s resurrect is now a single target ability with a 30 second cooldown and a range of five meters. Also Mercy is no longer invulnerable while using it.

Blizzard made this change because the old resurrect “incentivized Mercy players to hide away from important battles, instead of taking part in them.” A play style that frustrated allies and enemies alike.

It frustrated allies because Mercy players would hide and tell their teammates to die on point so she could rez, instead of healing them. And it frustrated enemies because they would have to find her so she couldn’t reset the fight after they had used their ultimates. Thankfully with this change those times are behind us.

Now Mercy players are forced to be in the fight because of Resurrect’s shorter range. And because it’s a single target ability it forces Mercy players to be judicious with its use. Mercy players will now, more than ever, have to keep in mind who’s died and what ultimates their team has. They can’t hide anymore and wait for a monster rez.

Mercy rework: FLy like a Valkyrie

Yup, Mercy’s new ultimate Valkyrie allows her to fly, but that’s not all. Below is a list of all the effects of Valkyrie:

• Valkyrie: Unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds:
  • Caduceus Staff: Healing and damage boost beams have increased range and will chain to other allies in range of the targeted teammate
  • Caduceus Blaster: Infinite ammo with increased damage and fire rate
  • Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed
  • Resurrect: Cooldown reset upon activation and reduced to 10 seconds after cast.
  • Hover: Ability to fly freely at increased movement speed
  • Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage.

In short, Valkyrie makes her super Mercy for 20 seconds.

When Valkyrie is activated Mercy is able to heal and damage boost all her teammates, if they are close together. She’ll also be able to fly to them from further distances with Guardian Angel, though she might just fly to them regularly with Hover. Also the bottomless clip and increased damage and fire rate given to her gun will make her something to fear in team fights.

In fact we expect many highlights of Mercy activating Valkyrie to dog fight a Pharah. Though the combination of free movement through Hover and infinite ammo does worry us somewhat.

It’s worrisome because it might inspire some Mercy players to shift their priorities from healing to damage dealing. Hopefully this won’t happen, but the possibility is there.

Mercy rework: conclusion

Overall these changes force Mercy to take on a more active play style. Instead of finding Mercy hiding around the corner you’ll now find her on the front lines in the thick of it.

Featured Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

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