Want a tl;dr of the results? To to the “Comparison Table” section and skip the rest.
Introduction
Mercy is often looked at as the “primary healer” of this game, and often referenced as being the “most consistent” healer. Assuming this is even true, we’re forgetting key fundamentals of Overwatch. (This was debunked below for Moira directly, Bridgette and Lucio by inclusion of shields and armor. Math below.)
Have we forgotten that healing is only ONE aspect of this game? The same game where stuns, damage dealt and utility also is taken into account? The same game where we have DPS only heroes?
Death is the best CC. What achieves that? Eliminations, damage. When an enemy target is taken out they can no longer contribute to the fight. Meaning you need less healing because they aren’t actively pummeling your team into submission.
Let me say it clearly before I show the math behind this statement: By picking Mercy YOU ARE A LIABILITY TO YOUR TEAM. STATISTICALLY SPEAKING. You aren’t offering enough healing compared to other healers to justify having up to 21x less damage dealt, 14x fewer eliminations, 14x fewer objective eliminations. In trade off for “more healing”. (As stated very clearly in the math, Bridgette and Lucio clearly blur this line and Moira flat out has more healing. The only healer with provably less healing than Mercy to a significant margin is Zenyatta.)
Check my math below, those 21x less damage, 14x elims are real. Mercy isn’t okay. Not by a long shot.
What is analyzed in these statistics?
-Eliminations (Remember, death is the best CC)
-Objective Eliminations (Death is the best CC)
-Healing (Where Mercy is supposedly peerless?)
-Damage done (Death is the best CC)
PLEASE NOTE: This statistical analysis DIRECTLY FAVORS MERCY because this does not take into account the following:
-Stuns (Bridgette)
-AOE healing capacity (Moira, Lucio 48hp/s amp it up)
-Burst healing capacity (Transcendence, Ana)
-Shields (Bridgette)
-Or any other utility (anti-healing nade, nanoboost, speed boost, etc!)
So take that with a grain of salt and realize Mercy’s even worse off than indicated here.
References
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h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes
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h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes/ana
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h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes/brigitte
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h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes/brigitte/rankings
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h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes/mercy
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h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes/lucio
(Other support heroes pages like Ana and Moira.)
COMPARISON SUMMARY TABLE SECTION
COMPARISON SUMMARY TABLE
All percentages is showing HOW MUCH THE HERO TO THE LEFT (row) DOES COMPARED TO MERCY. Areas that the opposing hero does MORE than Mercy will be marked by a (+) and areas the opposing hero does LESS than Mercy will be marked by a (-).
Eg: Moira does 1395% MORE ELIMINATIONS THAN MERCY. (Yes, you read that right! ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE!)
HERO NAME------ ELIMS ----- OBJECTIVE ELIMS ----- DAMAGE% ----- HEALING%
Moira ---------------(+) 1395%----(+) 1406%---------------(+) 1455%-------(+) 5.5%
Zenyatta -----------(+) 1027%----(+) 871%-----------------(+) 2108%-------(-) 53%
Bridgette^1 -------(+) 1072%----(+) 931%-----------------(+) 1379%-------(-) 45%
Lucio^2 -------------(+) 940%------(+) 949%-----------------(+) 1438%-------(-) 19%
Ana -----------------(+) 717%------(+) 608%-----------------(+) 954%---------(-) 16.5%
^1 [If you look into the Bridgette vs. Mercy analysis below, you actually can see mathematical backing for the concept that Bridgette contributes more to “team sustain” than Mercy through her armor generation and healing.]
^2 [Lucio may offer “only” 19% less healing than Mercy. But this isn’t taking into account his shield barrier in any capacity. I couldn’t find average damage shielded by Lucio so I left this out because I wanted to keep this as mathematically relevant as possible. I’m quite sure it’s non-trivial.]
Note: Table does NOT account for armor, shield, healing increase or other utility
MATH SECTION
Mercy vs Moira
So let’s take Moira (reference: h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes)
(Note: Moira is probably the MOST FAIR comparison to Mercy here, as Moira doesn’t offer ADDITIONAL UTILITY in the way of stuns, sleeps, nanoboosts, antihealing grenades, speed boosts, etc. So this is probably the BEST comparison hero. Mercy is SIGNIFICANT WORSE than other heroes due to utility in their kits.)
Mercy stats:
1.73 elims
0.67 objective elims
442 damage
10,701 healing
Moira stats:
24.14 elims
12.24 objective elims
6,433 damage
11,283 healing
Again math:
Elims: 24.14 / 1.73 * 100 = 1395.37572254
Objective elims: 12.24 / 0.87* 100 = 1406.89655172
Damage: 6433 / 442 * 100 = 1455.42986425
Healing: 11,283 / 10,701* 100 = 105.438744043
Statistically speaking Moira does:
1395% more elims than Mercy.
1406% more objective elims than Mercy.
1455% more damage than Mercy.
~5.5% more healing than Mercy.
Moira CRUSHES Mercy across the board. Moira flat out brings immensely more to the table than Mercy does.
We’re not talking small differences. We’re talking THOUSANDS.
Mercy vs Zenyatta
Mercy stats:
1.73 elims
0.67 objective elims
442 damage
10,701 healing
Zenyatta stats:
17.77 elims
7.58 objective elims
9,321 damage
6,973 healing
Again math:
Elims: 17.77 / 1.73 * 100 = 1027.16763006
Objective elims: 7.58 / 0.87* 100 = 871.264367816
Damage: 9321 / 442 * 100 = 2108.82352941
Healing: 10701 / 6,973 * 100 = 153.463358669
Statistically speaking Zenyatta does:
1027% more elims than Mercy.
871% more objective elims than Mercy.
2108% more damage than Mercy.
On the flip side Mercy does 153% more healing then Zenyatta.
(But again, look at how much more damage and elims he does. Is that 53% more healing actually worth it? Death is the best CC in the game.)
We’re not talking small differences. We’re talking THOUSANDS.
Mercy vs Bridgette ("Bridgette doesn't over as much sustain" is a myth)
Mercy stats:
1.73 elims
0.67 objective elims
442 damage
10,701 healing
Bridgette stats:
18.56 elims
8.10 objective elims
6,098 damage
7,377 healing
Again math:
Elims: 18.56 / 1.73 * 100 = 1072.83236994
Objective elims: 8.10 / 0.87* 100 = 931.034482759
Damage: 6098/ 442 * 100 = 1379.63800905
Healing: 10701 / 7377 * 100 = 145.05896706
Statistically speaking Bridgette does:
1072% more elims than Mercy.
931% more objective elims than Mercy.
1379% more damage than Mercy.
On the flip side Mercy does 45% more healing when compared to Bridgette.
So 45% more healing in trade for doing SIGNIFICANTLY less damage, eliminations and objective eliminations than Bridgette.
WE AREN’T EVEN TALKING ABOUT THE SHIELD, THE STUNS OR THE ARMOR GIVEN!!
LETS INCLUDE BRIDGETTE’S ARMOR INTO THIS MATH
Citations: h ttps://www.overbuff.com/heroes/brigitte/rankings
Where Bridgette also averages like 3.4k armor to like ~5.5k armor.
“BOTTOM VALUE”: 3.4k armor contribution.
3,400 (armor) + 7377 (healing)
3400 + 7377 = 10777 effective team sustain
Mercy heals for 10701 during a teamfight for her sustain of the team contribution. So let’s do this…
10701 / 10777 * 100 = 99.2947944697
SO WHEN INCLUDING ARMOR AT THE LOWER THRESHOLD WE TOOK, BRIDGETTE PROVIDES APPROXIMATELY THE SAME AMOUNT OF SUSTAIN AS MERCY DOES IN A TEAMFIGHT.
“TOP VALUE”: 5.5k armor contribution.
5,500 (armor) + 7377 (healing)
5500 + 7377 = 12877 effective team sustain
Mercy heals for 10701 during a teamfight for her sustain of the team contribution… (Do I really need to do this since the last one already showed it? Yes? Fine…)
12877 / 10701 * 100 = 120.334548173
So Bridgette contributes ~20% more sustain than Mercy on the higher end.
So a pause here to state: Bridgette when including armor sustain pummels Mercy into the dirt and back.
We’re not even including utility here.
We’re not even including the fact armor reduces any damage taken by 5 damage regardless of source providing a small mitigation barrier. And yet Bridgette’s total cumulative sum contributions DESTROYS Mercy.
Mercy vs Lucio
Mercy stats:
1.73 elims
0.67 objective elims
442 damage
10,701 healing
Lucio stats:
16.26 elims
8.26 objective elims
6,357 damage
8,975 healing
Again math:
Elims: 16.26 / 1.73 * 100 = 939.884393064
Objective elims: 8.26 / 0.87* 100 = 949.425287356
Damage: 6,357/ 442 * 100 = 1438.23529412
Healing: 10701 / 8,975 * 100 = 119.231197772
Statistically speaking Lucio does:
~940% more elims than Mercy.
949% more objective elims than Mercy.
1438% more damage than Mercy.
On the flip side Mercy does ~19% more healing then Lucio.
But for 19% less healing you get ALL OF THE OTHER STATS. That are approximately 9-14.5x more than Mercy does.
We’re not talking small differences. We’re talking THOUSANDS.
But wait, with Lucio there’s more!
Lucio’s soundbarrier provides shields to the entire team.
Providing A LOT of sustain (thanks for not having the stats online…) to the team and can prevent a team wipe outright.
So is Lucio really 20% behind Mercy in team sustain contribution? Certainly not!
Mercy vs Ana
Mercy stats:
1.73 elims
0.67 objective elims
442 damage
10,701 healing
Ana stats:
12.41 elims
5.29 objective elims
4,220 damage
9,186 healing
Again math:
Elims: 12.41 / 1.73 * 100 = 717.341040462
Objective elims: 5.29 / 0.87* 100 = 608.045977011
Damage: 4,220 / 442 * 100 = 954.751131222
Healing: 10,701 / 9,186 * 100 = 116.49248857
Statistically speaking Ana does:
717% more elims than Mercy.
608% more objective elims than Mercy.
954% more damage than Mercy.
On the flip side Mercy does 16.5% more healing then Ana. BUT THIS IS NOT INCLUDING DAMAGE REDUCTION FROM NANOBOOST, AND OTHER HEALERS HEALING MORE FROM THE HEAL INCREASE OF HER ANTI-NADE.
(Nor any of her other utility.)
And yet Ana is only a touch below Mercy in healing and brutally destroying her everywhere else.
We’re not talking small differences. We’re talking THOUSANDS.
CONCLUSION
Mercy is not fine. Mercy is not even CLOSE to fine.
Mercy is statistically a throw pick even in pure stats as shown here. This does NOT include stuns, this does NOT include nanoboosts, this does NOT include sound barriers, this does NOT include shields this does NOT include sleep darts or boops or the rest.
Mercy is statistically, in a domain where utility is not clearly shown, ABYSMAL.
She is not fine in any capacity or regard. She needs help and she needs it BADLY.
Her healing that she is DEDICATED TO (she cannot damage at the same time or powerboost at the same time) is only:
- ~94.5 of Moira’s healing (MERCY IS LOWER BY ~5.5%)
- ~53% higher than Zenyatta’s
- ~19% more healing than Lucio NOT INCLUDING SOUND BARRIER.
- ~16% more healing than Ana. NOT including damage reductions from nanoboost or increased co-healer healing.
- On the LOWER end of bridgette’s armor contribution 99.2947944697 (basically the same) as bridgette. On the HIGHER end of bridgette’s armor contribution bridgette offers 20% more team sustain than Mercy. HIGHER THAN MERCY.
Only approx 45% more direct healing than Bridgette when NOT including armor in any capacity.
Where Mercy is completely dominated in damage.
We’re talking MASSIVE differences in damage dealt, eliminations and objective kills.
Let me say it clearly: By picking Mercy YOU ARE A LIABILITY TO YOUR TEAM. STATISTICALLY SPEAKING. You aren’t offering enough healing compared to other healers to justify having up to 21x less damage dealt, 14x fewer eliminations, 14x fewer objective eliminations. In trade off for “more healing” (as stated very clearly in the math, Bridgette and Lucio clearly blur this line and Moira flat out has more healing.)
![:man_facepalming:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/man_facepalming.png?v=5" ":man_facepalming:")