Overwatch - How to Play Mercy

Mercy is the primary choice of healer for new players in Overwatch. She can attack, but her focus is in healing and buffing her allies. A great Mercy floats across the battlefield, bringing strength to her team.

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Mercy Move List

Primary: Caduceus Staff

Mercy 's staff shoots a sustained beam of healing on her current target. Very little aiming is required, as the weapon will choose the target closest to your crosshairs. You'll hold a heal on a target until you lose line of sight, so Mercy doesn't have to be facing in the direction of the target.

The default controls for the staff has you holding primary fire to heal and secondary fire to damage boost allies. You can change this in Options, by selecting Mercy in the pulldown menu and setting "Toggle Beam Connection" to "On." This changes the staff to a toggle, meaning you no longer have to hold down that button, clicking either fire button to turn the ability on.

If you're not healing, you should be boosting damage. Every bit helps and you can damage boost an ally's Ultimate.

Caduceus Blaster

This is actually Mercy second weapon, but this is only for those rare occasions when you're all alone. If you can't heal or damage boost anyone, you can pop this out for a little damage.

Guardian Angel

Mercy can fly directly to allies. This is very useful ability not just for healing an ally in a pinch, but also for getting around the battlefield. A spread out team means Mercy can float around the entire map with ease. On a contested point, Mercy can quickly move as the battle shifts. Guardian Angel has a short 1.5 second cooldown, so it'll be up when you need it most of the time. You can also use it as an escape tool if you see a teammate in a safer spot.

Warning: Don't Guardian Angel into a fight if you don't think you'll have support. That just leave you alone and dead.

Angelic Descent

This is a passive ability that causes Mercy to fall slowly to the ground. Just hold the jump button to activate it.

Mercy's Ultimate: Resurrect

Mercy radiates energy in the area around her, bringing any recently dead teammates back to life. This is the ultimate clutch move. If you whole team has died pushing into a point, Mercy can bring the entire team back to life, putting the enemy on their heels.

Resurrect only works within 10 seconds of an ally's death, so it's good to understand where your teammates died and how many died on that spot. You want to try to Resurrect multiple allies, but if one really good teammate just fell, bringing them back may be useful. Using Resurrect correctly is key to playing Mercy.

How to Play Mercy

Mercy is all about following the rest of your team, laying down heals and damage boosts as needed. She can get around the battlefield very easily and when pair with a tank like Reinhardt or Zarya, she's a huge help. In addition if you're always healing or damage boosting, your Resurrect should be available rather often. Use this to turn the tide of battle when your whole team has died or you've lost a key player.

You're not a fighter. Don't try to fight. If you're alone, it's better to run with Guardian Angel.

Playing Mercy requires a solid amount of battlefield awareness. It's something you'll learn over time.