Thank you! I’d been avoiding talking specific numbers, since some people would look at those instead of the ability itself. But if you’d like more specifics, I do have some in mind!
Valkyrie summary
Valkyrie (E ability): Mercy gains free flight for a few seconds, and her beams become empowered. Healing during Valkyrie reduces enemy debuff timers, while damage boost enhances move speed.
Cooldown details
Duration: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Cooldown does not start until ability is finished
Note: the low uptime is to balance out how powerfully versatile Valkyrie is - only matched by Ana’s grenade. It can be used both proactively and reactively, either to sustain the momentum of the mid-fight or to sustain Mercy’s own life. She’ll only be able to use it on average up to three times per fight, so she must choose how she uses it wisely.
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Beam empowerment
Healing: reduces debuff timers by 50%
Damage boost: increases movement speed by 15%
Notes: Because the uptime is so low, Mercy’s window of opportunity with Valkyire is narrow - she’ll need a keen eye and good judgement not to miss it. Mercy can choose to either:
- neutralize cc (which is on the rise in this game, and zarya alone can’t hard counter it), or
- empower her teammate’s movement speed (which has both defensive and offensive applications).
The duration isn’t long enough to use both at once effectively, so if Mercy is using valk for the buffs she must choose one and commit to it.
The general theory behind this version of Valkyrie is to give Mercy the independence she needs, and bring the strategy and risk/reward planning that people loved so much about mass rez into Mercy’s base kit.
Let’s make Mercy’s theme “a highly mobile hero who buffs and heals her teammates”!