Hello again, everyone.
As many of you know, Mercy received another nerf on the PTR. That nerf, or better said revert of a very old buff, reduces her HP/s to 50 down from 60. Now a lot of players think that this will bring her down on the same level as the other support heroes. Unfortunately, that nerf will presumably change nothing about her power and even the buffs to the other support heroes won’t effect her much. She still can remove all of her weaknesses and she still has E res which results in a amount of utility which no other support can keep up with.
So i thought, i will go ahead and explain once again the fundamental issues of Mercy’s current kit. I will say what will need to be changed and propose a rework idea which took a lot of time and thoughts to be worked out.
This topic is very important and many still seem to not understand/to underestimate why there are issues and why they already cause major problems for the game.
There are 3 major things with core design issues Valkyrie has, which are the reason why so many think that this Ult feels so boring, weak or unappealing and why she is so strong.
This is going to be long, still I made no TL;DR. But i made a small table of content, so that you find easily what might be interesting for you.
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Design issues
1.1. Transformation Ultimate’s and Burst Ultimate’s
1.2. Gamplay contradiction, the lack of strategic depth and misconception
1.3. The weakness issue -
How could Mercy be fixed properly?
2.1. E ability for Mercy
2.2. Mercy’s base kit
2.3. The big issue, Valkyrie
2.4. A quick recap -
My idea for a rework
3.1. Ultimate Ability
3.2. Base kit
3.3. New E ability: Pacify
- Design issues
1.1. Transformation Ultimate’s and Burst Ultimate’s
This is probebly one of the biggest issues Valkyrie has so i want to go through that first.
Mercy is currently in a spot which can only be described as weird. Arguably, she is decently balanced (too strong actually), but the balance in her kit is absolutely busted. Her most powerful ability is still her E res followed by her movement and healing/dmgB or better said her base kit. The weakest ability Mercy has is by far Valkyrie and that has many reasons.
Valkyrie is a Transformation Ultimate. Transformation Ultimate’s are generally Ultimate’s which empower a hero a lot and change the gameplay/strategy of said hero quite a bit, giving him/her the opportunity, in a short time frame,
to make a big play. Genji becomes a CQ beast with his Dragon Blade, Winston can knock around entire teams, Zenyatta can save many teammates at once and is immortal (almost) and so on.
But that does not apply to Valkyrie.
Why not?
First of all Valkyrie doesn’t empower Mercy’s kit, it only get’s extended. Her range is way longer than it used to be (That should not be Mercy’s thing, that’s Ana’s), but it’s not stronger. The only thing which is empowered is her self heal, which only controbiouts to her survivablity.
That already creates a problem which makes many say that Valkyrie is nothing but an easy mode. A Mercy player which knows how to play her well is capable of having the exact same impact without Valkyrie, than a player which is using Val. Followed by that fact Valkyrie is also not capable of making a big play. It’s just the very basic stuff she always can do, only with the fact that all of her weaknesses are removed and that she has theoretically no punishment for bad decision making.
Next is the fact that Valkyrie changes nothing about her gameplay. It’s 100% the same as within her base kit. No other strategy or way to play her.
Those exceptions make Valkyrie probably to the least innovative Transformation Ultimate in the entire game.
But why are they needed, those exceptions?
Very simple, because of her base kit.
Mercy’s base kit, even without E res, is so strong that it is impossible to empower it with an Transformation Ultimate. Hence, it needs limitations which make it as weak as possible while still giving it something which seems reasonable. But as we all know at this point, even that is far too strong.
That feels very awkward for an Ult and totally throws off the balance in her kit and overall of the game.
This is the point where Burst Ultimate’s come in.
Burst Ultimate’s cause a strong effect which can hit multiple targets at once and is only active for a short time. They require a strategy change from the player and very good timing to make big plays and to give the team a good opportunity to attack. Reinhardt can stun a whole team, Lúcio can save the team against burst Dmg, Doomfist can cause massive burst Dmg as well as Dva and Sombra can give a good opportunity by shutting down the abilities of the enemy and so on.
Generally the heroes which have Burst Ultimates, also have very strong base kit’s. Take Reinhart as an example. Remove Earthshatter and give him an Ult which empowers him.
It would not work, he would be to strong. He would deal way more Dmg, would be faster, the shield would block more and would be bigger and stuff like that. It would break him.
Mercy had an Burst Ultimate for the exact same reason and Valkyrie feels so weak and pointless now because there is no other way. Mass Res had some exceptions as well, but those were unneeded and could have been fixed.
This is why Mercy’s power balance is so off. Mercy has an Ult as a standard ability while her actual Ult is almost nonexistent and only useful for her own survivability. You just can’t empower a base kit which has more power than the Transformation Ultimate can bring, that would be the same case with all heroes which have burst Ult’s.
1.2. Gamplay contradiction, the lack of strategic depth and misconception
I would like to go into this point a bit more deeply, I already scratched it in the first part a bit. Another issue with Valkyrie and E res is the major lack of strategic depth. This is a bit controversial because many say that Mercy’s kit is now far more interactive than before with Valkyrie and E res, but it truly isn’t. I will try to be as detailed as possible with that.
I will start with Valkyrie.
Okay, let’s sum up what Valkyrie can do first. Valkyrie has the ability to fly 100% freely, has extended range on her Healing/DmgB beam and Guardian Angel, infinite ammo on her gun and a chain ability which is an Aoe around the main target + uninterruptible self healing.
Why is it contradicting gameplay?
Mercy is all about the right use of her movement and perfect Healing/Dmg management. Quick thinking and reacting to every situation is the daily bread of a good Mercy player. Fast movement and tracking every single player in a match is the core of Mercy’s design. But Valkyrie doesn’t support that. While many say that they highly enjoy the movement of Valkyrie, no one says that anything else is enjoyable of Valkyrie, but boring.
That has a clear reason.
Mercy’s core design, as i said, is based on very fast and precise, single target decision making, but Valkyrie takes all of that away. Healing/Dmg management is unimportant because of the chain ability, Res is completely left out of Val and the movement has no depth. It literally tells you that you don’t need to do anything to have max value. Compar that to her base kit, which is far more active, and you have an easy mode for her, but nothing special.
A completely overkill to demonstrate that is that you can use Valkyrie to it’s max potential, with the right settings, while being afk.
Why has it so little strategic depth and so many misconception?
The lack of strategic depth comes from the fact that it is so limited in it’s strength. Because it offers nothing special, the strategy, how you play Mercy to her max potential, is only easier to execute because many factors are no longer important as soon as you hit Q (Ult). Gun use, only easier. Healing, only easier. Movement, only easier. Everything Valkyrie can do, can be done by the base kit of other heroes as well all the time. That leads to the next point, the misconceptions. All the strategies for Valkyrie can be executed by other heroes far more effective, even by Mercy’s base kit itself. The only really good thing from Val is the DmgB (for which Orisa is a far better option) and the survivability/removal of weaknesses (the reason why Valkyrie is overall suppressing other supports).
Sure, Orisa’s Ult needs a bit more time, but it’s also way better. That leaves Valkyrie with nothing which is really worth using or interesting. A design issue which falls back to the very nature of Val again.
Now E res, i will try to keep it as short as possible because I think the issues are very well known.
Why is it contradicting gameplay?
It stops her entire gameplay for almost 2s. it is contradicting with her movement based and fast kit/gameplay. Also it works with nothing in her kit together and it’s more luck based than skill based.
Why has it lack of strategic depth?
It is so limited in it’s use that you only have to think about that, if it’s save to use or not. You never have to think more than that, which is disappointing for a hero which was based on such a heavy mindgame before. The res will succeed in almost all situations, especially if the team your in is playing very well.
Why has it misconceptions?
Many think E res is far more skill full than Ult res. That’s wrong. It’s harder to execute, but far easier to use… or not to use it. Because of the first two answers.
1.3. The weakness issue
First of all i recommend you to take a look at this thread which goes into detail, what Mercy’s weaknesses should be and what kind of strengthen she should have.
QuizzyBunny made a good job at listing Mercy’s weaknesses and strengthen, so check it out.
I won’t say much more to that, only that.
Mercy has currently a very small amount of weaknesses which she can just remove with Valykrie. No other support has a ability of that caliber and that alone makes her far more vieble than other sup heroes. You can change Valkyrie how you want, it will always remove weaknesses because that’s literally the only thing it can do with Mercy’s kit.
Many things are wrong with Val and E res which are not always obvious, but i hope that this gives you more insight in the fundamental design flaws of both in terms of gameplay.
- How could Mercy be fixed properly?
Now that we went through the fundamental issues of Valkyrie and E res, let’s take a look at, how we could fix these problems which make her so strong (And very boring for many).
2.1. E ability for Mercy
First of all, E res needs to go. The regularity, utility, ease to use, strength and impact of it is just to much for a basic ability. It carries way to much power and comes with a flexibility no other support ability can compete with. That’s a very big problem which needs to go, but what kind of E ability could Mercy get as a replacement? Thats a very difficult question to answer and i was thinking a lot about it.
Utility abilities for the team could make her already too strong as well as healing abilities.
Movement abilities would make her movement just far too good, it would be a movement overkill, so it’s a bad idea as well.0
That leaves us only with defensive, offensive and CC abilities.
CC abilities are out of question, we have to much of them already.
So we only have defensive and offensive. Offensivs abilities are no realy fit for Mercy so we need to give her a defensive ability with the limitation “Solo target only”.
A defensive, Solo target ability is more likely the best fit as an E ability for Mercy. Everything else has to much potantial to be overpowered.
This is how her basic ability could be changed for a balanced outcome.
2.2. Mercy’s base kit
Next on the list is her base kit. 50HP/s is not really a problem for her and i think it’s an okay revert, but only as long as she has a defensive E ability. 60HP/s is reasonable if she has no E, so overall the revert is no problem, but also no real fix.
DmgB (Damage boost) is no problem as well. It needs no changes, same as her general way of applying healing and the DmgB. The lock on beam is okay and has no unbalanced issues, same for her gun.
Guardian Angel and Angelic Descent are also in a good place, but i would still suggest a small change to both. The space jump, or better known as the bunny hop, should be swapped to Angelic Descent. That could allow her to do a double jump (the second jump could cause a speed increase) which would lead to a steeper learning curve for her movement, which is currently too easy to access.
But overall her base kit is generally okay and causes no problems, even with the 50HP/s. Only her base movement is, as i said, a bit too easy to access.
2.3. The big issue, Valkyrie
Now her Ultimate.
As i said earlier, the fundamental cause for all problems of Mercy’s kit is Valkyrie. Solely the nature of a Transformation Ultimate will never be fit for Mercy’s kit, no matter how much it get’s changed, it will never be fun and fair for everyone. It’s either too strong or just so weak that it’s pointless. So, Valkyrie, if you like it or not, needs to go completely and it should be replaced with a Burst Ultimate.
Now don’t get me wrong, i like the idea of Valkyrie as well and i would love to see it reintroduced on a new hero, but not on Mercy. It’s just no fit for her and never will be.
(And apparently, Mercy was not the only Valkyrie. Judging by the VAL01 on her gun from the combat medic skin. But that’s just speculation)
Now, I’m not saying that this Burst Ultimate should be Mass res, but it is the easiest and most balance solution, which also is more enjoyable for everyone with the right changes. for the start, adding a cast time of 0.75-1.25s with no movement penalties to it would already be more than enough to make it feel less cheesy and more fair for the enemy and the Mercy palyer. And it would also balance out a possible new E ability. On average, more than 50% of the community already thinks that Mass Res could be a far better Ult with the right changes anyway.
2.4. A quick recap
Just to quickly recap it.
The E ability should be a solo target, defensive ability (Not including shields), her base kit is more than okay, but a small change so that the bunny hop is now on Angelic Descent and can do a double jump with a speed increase (can be done after Guardian Angel as well) would be good and no Transformation Ultimate on Mercy’s kit, she needs a Burst Ultimate like her old Resurrect.
And yes, to fix Mercy… that means a lot has to be done to her Ult and E.
- My idea for a rework
So, now that all of that is done i want to show you my idea for a Mercy rework, which would, after my analysis, fix almost all of her current and old flaws.
Disclaimer: The suggested E ability is only designed by me. The numbers and the basic idea of that ability were created and discussed by many players from different ranks (S-T500), to balance it out properly.
3.1. Ultimate Ability
Ultimate ability: Resurrect
Effect: Resurrects teammates in it’s area of effect. Teammates which are damaged and in range of Resurrects will receive a healing burst as well as Mercy herself. She can use Resurrect without teammates in her range. Resurrected teammates receive invulnerability for 1.25s and can move after 1s again.
Healing Burst: 250HP (One time, instant 250HP)
Application: Area of effect with a radius of 15m in which teammates are resurrected and healed.
Cast time: 1s, no movement penalties, gun and staff are not useable during the cast.
Line of sight requirement: Yes, limited LOS to solid objects.
Charge requirement: 1625 points
This version of Resurrects has a cast time and is not restricted to dead allies, which makes decision making harder and overall more difficult. Good control of her movement and timing is now key for a successful Resurrect. The added healing burst also gives the Mercy player a big reason to not leave the fight and to keep her team alive. It also makes Resurrect to a midfight Ult and is fastening it’s place as a continuation support Ult. The healing Burst gives Mercy a bit more survivability but not to much and Ana can stop that healing burst with her Biotic Grenade. Overall, this version of Resurrect will be harder to use, more rewarding, more fair for the enemy and far less cheesy.
3.2. Base kit
Base kit, Including: Caduceus Staff, Caduceus Blaster, Guardian Angel, Angelic Descent, self heal
The only changes: Guardian Angel no longer has the double jump, Angelic Descent has that ability now and gives Mercy a slight speed boost in the direction she is moveing/watching.
50HP/s stays.
Self heal activates now after 2s.
Her bas kit is already in a perfect shape and needs not many changes. The change for the double jump from Guardian Angel to Angelic Descent is just a qol improvement and makes her movement more interesting. At the same time the Self heal activation is increased to 2s, to balance the better movement out. 50 HP/s is required to balance the new ability out.
3.3. New E ability: Pacify
And because I’m a man which is not doing half things, i made a ability concept card for that, to show how the visual of it could look like (very basic, just to give a raw idea), what Mercy could say and to show the stats of said ability.
https://orig00.deviantart.net/0eba/f/2018/204/5/0/ability_card_polished_by_brawl91-dci13hr.png
Too give you a raw idea how the animation for her left hand could look like in game.
https://img00.deviantart.net/2ebf/i/2018/190/6/e/untitled_6_by_brawl91-dcgr28i.png
The animation should have a duration of 0.75s. In that time, Mercy is not able to use her gun or staff.
I think that these changes would, not only be more balanced and fun, but also more interesting for some other players. Aiming is now important with her and her movement would be more engaging as well.
Thanks for reading. If you made it to the end and read all of it, i highly appreciate that!
If you have some questions (especially about the E ability), opinions or want to say something about that i’m open for discussion.
PS: I’m sorry if i made some spelling mistakes or so. English is not my main language.
I have to much time.
I’m getting flashbacks to one of Titanium’s threads! 
![:smiley:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=5" ":smiley:")