The previous Overwatch update brought with it a major Mercy rework that attempted to make her a lot more proactive and enjoyable to play. While the changes have managed to do just that, they have also unfortunately created one of the most overpowered heroes Overwatch has ever seen. So overpowered in fact that Mercy's pickrate is currently nearing 100% across all ranks!
After a variety of changes and tweaks on the PTR Blizzard has now finally decided on a nerf for Mercy, which I have to admit is a lot gentler than I expected it would be. Oh, and its also worth mentioning that Lucio's insane wall-riding speed has now been restored! You'll find all of the details in the patch notes down below, have a look:
Lúcio
• Wall Ride
- The speed boost that Lúcio receives after completing a wall ride has been increased by 65%
Developer Comments: A recent bug fix slowed Lúcio’s Wall Ride. This change compensates for the reduced speed.
Mercy
• Guardian Angel
- Players can now glide past a targeted ally using the jump key
- Cooldown no longer resets when Resurrect is activated
• Valkyrie
- No longer resets or reduces Resurrection’s cooldown
- Now gives players a bonus resurrection charge
Developer Comments: Valkyrie no longer resets or reduces Resurrect’s cooldown. Instead, it now provides an extra 'charge,' allowing you to revive an ally even if it is still on cooldown. If the bonus charge hasn’t been spent when Valkyrie ends, it will be removed.
This method makes Resurrect more flexible when used with Valkyrie. For example, in the past if you wanted to resurrect two teammates, you had to revive the first target, then activate Valkyrie (causing the Resurrect’s cooldown to reset), and then revive the other target. With this change, you can now activate Valkyrie and fly in quickly to resurrect both targets instantly.
However, this still reduces the overall number of Resurrects that Mercy can provide, since Valkyrie no longer reduces its cooldown.
Zenyatta
• Added a number of additional voicelines for Cultist Zenyatta
While this is most definitely a nerf to Mercy's power level, I don't think its enough to make her any less of a must-pick. The ability to play the game 7v6 is simply far too powerful to ignore, so I hope you like hunting down Mercies because that's going to be the #1 strategy for the next couple of weeks, maybe even months. On the positive side, Zenyatta's best skin only keeps getting better and better!
