Support heroes will continue to play a crucial role in Overwatch 2. These characters provide healing to teammates, as well as other buffs or perks, with some even able to debuff the enemy team. Each support character has a unique role when it comes to how they provide for their team, but there is one hero who has become the pillar of the Support role: Mercy.
Mercy is probably the most basic character in terms of functionality and abilities. She is either able to heal her teammate or increase their attack power and is only equipped with a pistol for self-defense. However, Mercy’s mobility and simple take on healing make her an exceptional medic who can truly make or break a match. Overwatch 2 should attempt to recreate Mercy’s simplistic and useful style for future Support heroes, as more heroes fully focused on healing would be ideal.
What Makes Mercy Stand Out
Introduced as one of the original Overwatch heroes, Mercy has become an icon in the community and the poster child for the Support role. Though other characters in the role are able to use unique abilities such as Lucio’s Speed Boost or Ana’s Sleep Dart, none of them are able to keep up with Mercy’s consistent healing output. And since other heroes either heal passively or require a certain amount of skill or aim to execute effective heals, Mercy’s ability to quickly move between teammates and lock onto a single player and focus her healing is unmatched.
The issue that often comes with other Support characters is that players will not always make an active effort to heal and support their team. Moira and Brigitte, for example, are often played aggressively because their weapons and abilities encourage that type of playstyle, while Mercy essentially has no other choice but to stay with her team and provide support.
Part of the reason Mercy is able to be such an effective healer is that her kit is so simple yet practical. It does not feature any substantial abilities or bells and whistles, and it is a perfect choice for players who want to play Support and focus solely on taking care of their own team. That being said, if a player is skilled enough, the combination of Mercy’s pistol and her flight ability in Valkyrie mode can make her deadly.
How Overwatch 2 Can Recreate Mercy’s Essence
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While Overwatch 2 is reworking many heroes kits and abilities to go with the new playstyle of the sequel, it is important for Blizzard to recognize Mercy's current abilities and see how it could further expand upon them with different Support heroes. The unfortunate truth is that Mercy, more specifically her ultimate, has received many reworks that have greatly altered her flow as a character.
Mercy’s original ultimate ability was a resurrection that could revive multiple teammates in proximity. Successfully pulling off this ability was a huge game changer and could sway any battle. However, developers noticed how substantial this ultimate was and eventually got rid of it entirely before bringing it back as a single-use ability with a long recharge time. Even though players were upset with this rework, it made sense to limit such a useful ability.
That being said, Mercy remains a useful member of any team, but often finds herself the only main healer. Even though all the other Support heroes bring something unique to the table, many players find themselves healing in the background and focusing on offensive abilities. Many recently added Support characters have their primary fire as a weapon, while only abilities or secondary fire is used to heal.
Overwatch 2 is requiring players to think and play differently and could definitely benefit from adding more simple yet effective healers to the mix. With the sequel being much more fast-paced and having smaller teams, keeping teammates alive should be of the utmost importance. Adding new healing-focused Support characters could take the pressure off of players who always feel the need to choose Mercy if playing with an off-healer, or could potentially turn the tides of battle for aggressive matches that require heavy healing from both Support heroes.
Overwatch 2 is scheduled to release on October 4 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.