Overwatch Hero Guide – How to Play Mercy

Few people want to play support classes in games like Overwatch, but hopefully this Mercy hero guide will give you the necessary tips to not only play her, but play her well. Every team benefits from a support hero to keep them up in battle and Mercy is the support hero most people have been interested in starting with. She has burst heals that can keep her team alive against a barrage of attacks, but she also has a bit of utility as well.

Caduceus Staff

Mercy’s Caduceus Staff serves two purposes. It’s primary function is to heal your target, while the secondary function increases their damage output. Switching between the two is relatively quick, so you should get in the habit of paying close attention to your teammate’s health. When they’re low, use the healing beam to replenish their health, but once it’s at an acceptable level, quickly switch over to the damage boosting beam.

It’s especially important to switch to the damage beam when your target is in the midst of attacking the opposing team. That damage boost can mean the difference between a kill and being forced to retreat. Just remember that your target doesn’t need to be at full health to survive a confrontation with the opposing team. Sometimes it’s better to leave your target at 50 percent health and switch to the damage boost so they can finish off an opponent.

Caduceus Blaster

You probably won’t be using this weapon very often, but if you get cornered and you’re alone, use the Caduceus Blaster to defend yourself. It doesn’t inflict very much damage, but it should be enough to scare off opponents that don’t have a lot of health. While it’s nice to have an offensive option for a support class, you really shouldn’t be alone when playing as Mercy, and if your teammates are dying, leaving you alone, you’re probably not playing the character very well. Still, at least you have the Caduceus Blaster to defend yourself if such a situation should arise.

Guardian Angel

Mercy’s ability to quickly fly to any teammate within range is one of the big reasons she’s one of the better support classes in the game. The cooldown on Guardian Angel is relatively low, which means you can move around between teammates often to ensure everyone has full health or gets their damage boosted. The movement of the ability can be a little awkward at first, but try to use it frequently so you can get the hang of it. Once you’ve got it down it can really give you the extra mobility Mercy needs to save a teammate or give them a damage boost to finish off a fleeing opponent.

Angelic Descent

You can use Angelic Descent while Mercy is in the air and it allows her to slowly float down to the ground. There aren’t a lot of uses for this, but if you’re trying to heal a sniper perched high above, or one of the heroes that tends to stay airborne quite often, this can be very useful. You can use Guardian Angel to reach the hero in question, then apply the Caduceus Staff while you’re floating back down to the ground to heal or increase their damage for a longer period of time.

Resurrect

Mercy’s duties as a support character don’t end when a teammate falls. Resurrect allows Mercy to bring any recently killed teammate back to life with full health. The range isn’t huge, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on your teammates to know when you’ll need to get close enough to bring them back to life. However, this ultimate ability can easily turn the tide of a team battle. Mercy can’t heal everyone at every moment, but with Resurrect you can prioritize your healing targets and then use Resurrect if a secondary target falls in battle.

Most players like more offensive options in support classes, but Mercy is one of the best support heroes in Overwatch. She won’t be for everyone, especially with a lot of heroes having a very offensive set of abilities, but every team needs a support and Mercy is one of the best.