Hashbro, LEGO, Figma put PharMercy together, because it’s an iconic duo in gameplay since its release. Not just the pros run it in OWL, Blizzard even made a weekly brawl (Justice Rains From Above) where it’s basically No Limits but Pharah & Mercy are only playable characters with some tweaks on ability cooldowns.
I come across Mercy + Widowmaker much more in higher tiers as pro Widows are oppressive. With damage boost, they could abuse full charged body shots and then quick-finish with less-charged body shots on 200 hp heroes. In higher tiers, Pharah could be a troll pick without Mercy because teams are more coordinated and hitscans’ aim are more consistent.
|1| For shipping part, Pharah + Mercy are shipped not just because of their gameplay synergy or they could fly.
Both characters had a small history where they met when young. Fareeha grew up, surrounded by Overwatch members. She dreamt of joining Overwatch by following her mother’s path.
Both characters had strong intentions for making a world better place:
- Mercy is a pacifist doctor who saves lives.
- Pharah is a dedicated soldier who protects the innocent. She had a tattoo of the eye of Horus which means To protect.
Some said Justice & Mercy compliment well with each other.
- Serving Justice with no Mercy = Revenge
- Showing Mercy with no Justice = Enabling
Both Pharah & Mercy voice actresses love PharMercy based on their interviews. Jeff said his favourite ships were PharMercy & McHanzo in one of his interview clips.
|2| For Mercy & Genji, well Michael Chu is the lead writer and he ships Gency while he retweets a lot of Gency contents on Twitter. Thus, Valentine voicelines are added between Mercy & Genji, while leaving Pharah & Mercy interactions bugged.
I don’t see how both characters relate:
- Mercy chose to become a doctor to continue her parents’ legacy.
- Genji chose to live like a playboy during his youth. Instead of taking care of his family business, he spent a lot of time playing video games in Arcade.
Their history is mostly Genji’s life being saved by Overwatch medical team led by Doctor Ziegler.
There’s no lore explanation why Genji was transferred from Blackwatch to Overwatch as he’s part of the OW strike team in Storm Rising. Mccree was more sensible person unless Reyes wanted him to keep working for him.
There’s no lore explanation how Genji became calmer since Retribution. In Retribution, Genji was still naive, impatient who’s filled with rage & depression. He even agreed with Reyes’s decision on killing Antonio.
In gameplay, they are polar opposite to each other as Genji’s role is to target Supports, while friendly Genji spams for heals in the other side of the map.
|3| Lastly, I don’t understand about McHanzo ship, but I’m fine with it somehow. My friend thinks people shipped them because they both are hot guys, thus put them together. I find Hanzo was a serious person and he didn’t seem interest in dating. Based on the Valentine voicelines, although voicelines aren’t stricly cannon:
Genji: “Still no chocolates, brother?”
Hanzo: “Those are your amusements, not mine.”