After reading up on the latest PTR support nerfs and buffs, I came to a conclusion. First, while Mercy is not the most balanced character, a nerf to her healing will only handicap her (she is the only consistent healer). Blizzard should rework the rez mechanic that Mercy uses and balance that instead. Second, Ana’s Nano buff seems niche and does little to promote her overall presence on the battlefield. With Hammond soon to make his debut later in the competitive lineup, a third dive tank will very likely nullify Ana completely…unless we can invent new ways to utilize her.
We all know why Ana just SUCKS with all other main healers shadowing her. Her lack of mobility and self-sustainability allows enemies to easily overwhelm her, leaving allies starved of healing in the mid-fight. Adversely, Mercy–while she is getting nerfed to nurse levels–can still fly away to fellow players when she falls into a tight spot. Moira can “Fade” away if outnumbered by enemy tanks or DPS. Then there is Ana. She may unequivocally have the strongest base kit in the game with a biotic nade and sleep dart to ward off enemies and burst heal allies effectively. However, even the most experienced players that main her hours on end, fail to consistently optimize her kit in the heat of battle (environmental obstruction, high risk-low reward tradeoff, lack of opportunity, lag, mechanical error, etc.).
So, I am going to introduce some potential buffs that Ana would benefit from. I will put the buffs in a bullet point list below:
Ana
• Passive Ability
• Receives 6hp for every successive hit on allied targets (effects multiplied through multiple allies healed)
• Receives 12hp for every successive hit on enemy targets
Author comments: Ana is unique because she is a sniper-healer. Good Ana players should be rewarded for their marksmanship and team play, not just fragging ability. The changes above influences Ana players to coordinate and play around allies more often while enhancing her survivability against flanking or “diving” enemy targets. The passive ability can be magnified (50% from biotic nade) if Ana throws the nade at herself with allies/enemies caught in the radius of the blast. For example, Ana will receive 9hp from healing teammates–who are “naded” with every successive heal and 18hp for every successive shot on enemy targets who are also “naded.”
• Biotic Nade
• Blast radius increased from 4 to 5
• Full health allies will not interfere with the projectile
Author Comments: Ana’s nade cooldown seems currently balanced, yet her effective radius seems too slim considering her ability is a chemical grenade. With the range increased, Ana will benefit from her new passive ability more often and alleviate some stress on the player who accidentally “saved” the unintended target during gameplay.
• Sleep Dart
• Cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
Author Comments: The current sleep animation lasts 5.5 seconds with 0.5 seconds of awakening. Even with such potency, Ana’s sole escape mechanism falters from such a massive cooldown that allies who interrupt the sleeping process can unintentionally kill Ana. With a slight decrease in the time it takes Ana to utilize her sleep dart, she will benefit from more opportunities to turn the tides of the mid-fight and/or escape.
•Nano Boost
• Target range increased to 200m
Author Comments: Ana’s safest position resonates farther in the backline than other supports. At times, allies that present ultimate combo opportunities may be too far away for Ana, compromising her position. With the range increase, Ana can continue to heal consistently without interruption.
Why do I think that these changes will not make Ana OP? Disclaimer: I am an Ana main who revolves around 3800-3900 SR and forms this opinion based on the concerns of professional Ana players that I watch. Concerning Ana’s newly integrated passive ability, let’s take the highest health character in the game, D.Va, and shoot at her. D.Va has 600 mech hp and 150 hp out-of-mech=750 total hp; Ana must successfully hit her 11 times to kill D.Va to gain 132 hp. If naded (both Ana and D.Va are naded) with 0.8 seconds between shots, Ana can shoot five times for 18hp back (nade lasts 4 seconds) and the rest for 12 hp. Out of 11 shots and the nade Ana will heal for 100+90+72=262 hp.
In the meantime, D.Va or her dive partner will be shooting Ana reducing the maximum health that Ana can receive. While the health draw sounds like a lot, Ana still lacks the mobility to escape the rest of the enemy team making the fight fair. Also, why would Ana want to shoot or even have the opportunity to shoot D.Va 11 times in the first place? Bottom line, Ana is a mid-fighter, not an escape artist; while these buffs are insane, nothing in this post has DIRECTLY addressed an increase in mobility. Hence, with these changes, Ana is still dubbed as different compared to other healers.
P.S. Shoutout to Galeadelade, ML7, and Ryujehong for being my inspiration despite the grueling process of Ana nerfs and the Dive meta!
As a reminder, this post only suggests possible changes and I am open to ideas and improvements.