It’s pretty clear from the nerf to Brigitte’s damage, despite the fact that she already was a low damage character and despite her low healing ability, that the Overwatch dev team do not want healers who are capable of killing. We should nerf healer damage across the board, then. It’s only fair.
Ana - Biotic Grenade reduced from 60 damage to 10 damage. Currently, this ability does too much. It heals, boosts healing on allies, and negates healing on enemies. It shouldn’t be doing the amount of damage that it does and enabling Ana to do one shot combos off of her sleep dart, with her burst actually being higher than Brigitte’s burst combo before the shield bash nerf. Brigitte’s shield bash was nerfed so that its primary function as a stun or mobility is more defined. We should nerf Biotic Grenade’s damage so that its utility function is more defined.
Moira - Biotic Grasp damage reduced from 50 damage per second to 15 damage per second. Moira already has a pure damage ability in her damage orb. She is a main healer, and Biotic Grasp serves the purpose of refilling her healing resource faster. It should have its damage reduced so that its function as a support ability for her healing is more defined, further defining Moira’s role as a main healer.
Zenyatta - Ability to headshot removed from Orb Volley. A full Orb Volley can already hit for 230 damage even without Discording the target. This already one shots squishies, and can one shot 250 health heroes who have been Discorded or leave a Discorded Zarya at one health. On headshot, this does a whopping 460 damage to non Discorded targets and 598 to a Discorded target. This is entirely too much burst damage to have on a healer, so Zenyatta should have his ability to headshot with Orb Volley removed. He would still be able to kill the flankers who jump on him, but would no longer be able to one shot a tank, something that even Hanzo and Widowmaker cannot do on headshot.
Lucio - Ability to headshot removed. Lucio’s primary fire has a large hitbox, and if he is hitting his headshots, he can do 160 in 0.5 seconds. This is 5 more damage than Brigitte’s burst combo pre shield-bash nerf in half of the time. Lucio is already a highly mobile healer who is able to passively heal himself and allies by merely existing, with a ton of utility in his speed boost. He is also able to get instant kills, even on tanks, by booping people off of the map. Lucio does not need headshot damage on top of that. He is able to do 80 damage in half of a second with just body shots, and that should be more than enough for a healer with his sort of utility and mobility, especially considering the forgivable hitbox of his projectiles.
Mercy - Ability to headshot removed. Even with just body shots, Mercy is able to do 100 damage per second with her pistol. If she is hitting her headshots, she is able to do 200 damage in a single second, which is 45 damage more than Brigitte is able to do in the same amount of time pre shield bash nerf. The 100 damage per second from body shots is only 10 less damage than Brigitte will be able to burst in the same amount of time after the shield bash nerf, and is far more than Brigitte’s sustained damage per second. Mercy should not be able to double this damage with headshots, and her primary focus should be healing her team, anyway. This nerf will further define her role as a main healer.