I read an interview given by the LA Valiant’s Mercy player, Custa, this morning and I liked what he said about the kind of skill set Mercy requires. There are often threads discussing what kinds of skills are the most important or those talking about “high-skill” vs. “low-skill” heroes, so I wanted to share this with y’all.
Q: "‘I recently talked to neptuNo from the Philadelphia Fusion about Mercy in particular, and we were talking about her skillset as far as playing her at a professional level. What’s your opinion on the skill set required to play Mercy?’
A (Custa): ‘It’s very different to pretty much any other skill set in Overwatch. Because it’s not as mechanically intensive, but it’s all about decision making. Decisions are very punishing. If you make the right decision, no one notices. You’re doing what you’re supposed to do. If you don’t make the right decision, it’s very impactful to the game, and can easily lose you matches.
So I would say it’s harder because you always have to be on your toes. But that said, because it’s less mechanical, it’s all about providing as much help to the rest of your team as you can. Because you’re not having to focus on the game mechanics as much. It’s all about tracking ults, calling for the rest of the team and really helping everyone, pretty much enabling everyone else to be better.’"
I play a lot of Mercy and I’m one of those that believes that Mercy requires a pretty unique skill set and has a kind of burden nobody else has because of how mobile she is and her ability to do her job while still being able to look in any direction. I think a good Mercy goes overlooked often because, if she’s doing her job, you don’t really notice. Just wanted to share!
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Most of the OWL Mercy players (because you need to have a Mercy player still, and it has been like 9 months of this garbage) were the previous Lucio players. To my understanding, plenty of them have expressed their intense exhaustion and dislike at having to play Mercy at all, let alone every single game for 9 months.
That being said, it’s traditionally not a Mercy’s job to do callouts; that has usually been off healer’s role, so it used to be Lucio’s roles. So since most of the off healers signed on were Lucio mains, they’ve stuck with the callouts, as they were good at it; it was part of their skill-set. So it’s not a Mercy’s role to be good at callouts; specifically it’s more in par with Lucio -who has a very good mobile view of the map, and is able to ‘tag’ enemies- and Zen, who can literally now place orbs to see enemy HP bars. It’s only become something these Mercy players do, because they are Lucio mains who are stuck playing Mercy.
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So… Mercy has to do things that other heroes need to do, but without mechanical skill? Interesting…
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I’ve also heard that a few of them don’t love playing Mercy. I follow all the games pretty closely. Some of them really enjoy it, though, because of the opportunity it gives them to play quarterback.
I have to disagree with you on the second point, though. When most pro teams weren’t using Mercy, it was easier for Zen and Lucio to make callouts than the rest of their team, but Mercy is well-suited for it because she can look and be wherever she wants. Lucio has to position himself within a certain radius of his team to heal them and also needs to be shooting at the other team. Zen needs to stay in line of sight of both his discord and his harmony targets and very much needs to be pumping out damage, which limits where he can be looking. Mercy, though, can heal/damage boost without looking at her target and is free to look all around all the time and fly to her teammates’ positions, which gives her even more intel-gathering potential.
Custa definitely plays shot-caller for the Valiant. He did it while he was on Dallas Fuel, too. I do that, too, when I’m playing because I can see more than anyone else on my team. There are all different kinds, though.
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Its also not something you can easily practice either which is unfortunate.
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Lucio isn’t that mechanically intensive either. He doesn’t really try to hit every shot. More just some helpful spam. Most Lucio players also have jump set to a spam key, like scroll wheel. So you can just bounce around walls not having to keep a conscience decision on where you exactly need to be. Also pro teams are very coordinated. So getting healing on everyone isn’t that hard.
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Everybody does need to have some game sense, but they can’t realistically track everything while they’re doing their jobs. DPS pretty much need to be looking at the thing they’re trying to kill. Tanks pretty much have to position themselves in a way they can protect their team and such. Supports are most free to examine the battlefield and Mercy has the most freedom among those to look and be where she needs to be. It’s just a role that works well with her, so it gives her an extra burden to really keep up with all that.
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I agree that he fills the role well, too. I just think that, of the two of them, Mercy’s better suited for it. Lucio worked better as a shot-caller in the days before his rework where his healing radius was reduced significantly, so he has a little less freedom to be where he wants now. He doesn’t have to shoot as much as Zen does, so I agree about the helpful spam thing, too.
the problem with mercy is… nearly no one will see your decision making…
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Main tanks are also players who do a lot of calling most of the time. Because you are the one who sets up literally everything. Also main tank isn’t that mechanically intensive.
I do really wish Lucio was meta over Mercy. There is bias there but.
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Yeah. Everyone can contribute to it. I was especially glad when they added the ability for Rein to rotate his camera while keeping the shield up. That helped a lot with that.
I agree mercy isnt quite as no skill as people say, overall still one of the easiest heroes. Also he is talking about pro play, where mistakes will be punished almost every time. On ladder mercy can make many mistakes and not be punished due to lack of coordination, communication, awareness to notice them etc. Definitely agree that she has a unique skill set and doesnt play like other heroes, no other hero is constantly running away from every enemy they see.
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It does depend on where on the ladder you are. I don’t have to worry about my head getting popped by a Widow every time I walk around a corner in masters, so you’re right about that. It’s just an interesting perspective from a pro.
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Agreed, she looks much harder to play in the pro scene, it is noticeable when people are not as good on mercy there. Seoul stage one looked rough on mercy, when dhak had to play mercy on the shock he died a lot.
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I dont see how any of the points he mentioned are unique to Mercy. They apply just as much to Ana and Moira.
All i’m seeing is another player who likes to think their character is more difficult than she really is.
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To be fair he was known to be a zen player long before being pretty much mercy only now since she is required.
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It’s a little harder to look around and analyze with Ana and Moira because Ana has to be aiming at her team to heal them and Moria is very limited in her positioning when it comes to healing. When her orb isn’t up, she also has to be spraying in the direction she’s looking. Mercy’s also much more mobile. I think that’s what he means. I think it’s definitely hard to play Mercy on the pro scene, too, where dive is used so often and effectively. Mercy’s being shot at constantly.
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I dont think Mercy is harder to play in the pro scene than Zen, Ana or Lucio.
I think you’re trying to sugarcoat a turd here.
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No doubt tracking 6 enemy ults, organizing strats and shot calling are hard to do, that’s why I respect main healers in the OWL. 99.9% of Mercy mains in ranked don’t do these things, which is why I laugh at people in ladder saying Mercy is a hard hero to play.
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I do think that she’s hard to play correctly, but you’re right that most people don’t use her that way. She’s mostly used as a heal battery/rez bot, which isn’t hard to do.
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