How to Play Mercy, Overwatch’s Guardian Angel

Mercy has been one of the most consistently picked Overwatch heroes over the span of her life, and for good reason: Her kit is simple enough for beginners to feel comfortable trying her out, and veterans can use her abilities in ways that alter the course of a match.

The difference between casually playing Mercy and making game-changing plays is in understanding when to use each of her abilities, positioning correctly, and how to stay alive.

Via: Blizzard

Abilities

Guardian Angel allows Mercy to fly to the location of any of her teammates within range, getting her out of sticky situations. Use Guardian Angel religiously to keep yourself safe, flying from teammate to teammate and being impossible to pin down. Alternate between high-ground and low-ground, and practice pressing the jump button at the end of the animation – it gives you an extra boost of momentum!

Via: Youtube/PlayOverwatch

Mercy’s primary fire is her heal beam, and her alternate fire is her damage boost. Using Mercy to heal your teammates is a given, but her damage boost is what really makes her shine. The simplest tip to apply to your Mercy play is to use her damage boost more than her heal, and you can really make a difference for your team. Always damage boost a teammate who is doing an offensive ultimate!

Via: Youtube/PlayOverwatch

Valkyrie is Mercy’s ultimate, buffing all her abilities and allowing her to fly freely around the map. Use Valkyrie offensively to damage boost your team to secure a fight, or defensively to heal your team through the enemy’s push.

Mercy’s biggest contribution to her team is the ability to resurrect dead teammates. Resurrect is a powerful ability that has a long cooldown and activation time, making it a high-risk, high-reward play. It is important to only use resurrect when it is safe to do so – when both you and the teammate you revive can get out safely. If the rez is out in the open or surrounded by enemies, it’s probably not safe. Learn when it’s safe to resurrect and restrain yourself when it’s not.

Via: Youtube/PlayOverwatch

Mercy also has a pistol, but it should only be utilized when being pressured by a flanker. Mercy’s biggest asset is her ability to keep her team alive – don’t waste valuable time DPSing when you could be keeping your Reinhardt up or damage boosting your Soldier!

Via: Youtube/PlayOverwatch

Positioning

Playing Mercy, no matter your rank, always means one thing: you have a target on your back. The enemy wants to eliminate Mercy at all costs because of the value she brings her team. The most valuable positioning tip is to never maintain line of sight with any enemy. Always be behind cover or behind a friendly shield. One wrong step can result in being one-shot by a Widowmaker. Try to always be sneaky and hidden, never revealing to the enemy team where you are and being impossible to pin down when hiding isn’t an option. Correct positioning is the most important thing to practice as Mercy, which leads this guide into the next tip:

Stay Alive!

It goes without saying that if Mercy can’t keep herself alive, she can’t keep her team alive. This and positioning go hand in hand because bad positioning leads to dying over and over again. Keep your other healer up, and they will keep you up. Stay next to your tanks and DPS so they can protect you from flankers. Always, always, always be behind, or close to, cover. Mercy can’t do her job if she’s constantly walking back from spawn!

Via: Dot Esports

Final Tips

Always know where every single member of your team is, not only to keep them alive, but to fly to them for safety. Play with game sound on and up – enemy footsteps are loud, and we guarantee sound will keep you from ever being surprised by a Reaper flank! Don’t chase down teammates who are in too deep and spamming the ‘I need healing’ button – you’ll just end up dying with them and your team will be down two players, one of whom isn’t being part of the team anyway.

More than anything: practice! Ease of movement, knowing where to stand, and feeling confident in Mercy’s abilities all comes with time invested in practicing. Watching other skilled players and streamers is also beneficial. Go into Quick Play and queue up as Mercy with the intention of executing these tips and you could improve tremendously!