Overwatch healer Mercy has received her promised rework on the game’s public test region.
Blizzard is changing Mercy because the developer found a “weird” behavior that’s encouraged by her kit. When Resurrect is up, Mercy players often stop healing and go hide in a corner, telling their teammates to just die on the point or the payload, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said in a Developer Update.
“We think it’s wrong to tell a main healing character to go off and hide somewhere and stop healing for some period of time,” Kaplan said. “We felt like her Resurrect was something we needed to address.”
That’s why big changes are incoming. Her ultimate is no longer Resurrect. Instead, it’s her secondary ability. Resurrect is single-target only, and on a 30-second cooldown. “It becomes a really cool strategic moment in deciding who to Resurrect and when,” Kaplan said. Her new ultimate is called Valkyrie, and it does a lot: First, it allows Mercy to fly. Like, totally fly. No boosters, she just flies. Everything else about Mercy is just better when it’s activated, too. Her beams have further distances and chain to multiple targets. She can Guardian Angel further, and she does more damage from her gun.
Flying is the best part, though, Kaplan said. Battle Mercy, your time has come.
Here’s the patch notes, straight from Blizzard.
- Resurrect (formerly Mercy’s Ultimate ability)
- Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius
- Radius reduced to 5 meters
- Ability cooldown is 30 seconds
- Mercy is no longer granted invulnerability while Resurrect is active
- Valkyrie (New Ultimate Ability)
- Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie Suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds:
- Caduceus Staff: Mercy’s healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staff’s effective range has been extended
- Caduceus Blaster: Granted infinite ammo, while simultaneously increasing damage and fire rate
- Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed
- Resurrect: Cooldown is instantly reset when Valkyrie is activated and reduced to 10s after the initial cast
- Hover: Mercy gains the ability to fly freely, at increased movement speed
- Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage
Mercy will be a lot more engaging to play, he added. She’s a character that is played “second to none,” according to Kaplan. A lot of feedback is expected, and nothing is final just yet. We’re expecting this one to stay on the Overwatch PTR for a bit, so console players will have to wait to experience the changes.
