Blizzard has been on a roll lately, introducing various tweaks and updates in “Overwatch.” The most interesting one, though, is the update on Mercy. From being able to resurrect five dead teammates, she is now able to resurrect only one comrade.
According to Forbes, the controversial nerf to the “Overwatch” hero boosted her pick rate instead. More players are now choosing her compared to before. Here is everything you need to know about it.
Mercy’s pick rate
The studio decided to nerf Mercy, as they believed that her former abilities were just too essential.
With her skill kit, players were more likely to pick her over other support characters. Presumably, the developers wanted to balance her pick rate within the support department. The studio took the unusual step of giving the character a dramatic rework. Her ultimate now lets her fly and shoot bullets infinitely and increases her boosting capabilities (both healing and damaging). While she is still able to resurrect teammates, she can only do so with one player.
At first, most “Overwatch” players took the rework as a nerf. They believed that it would somehow affect Mercy’s significance in the game. From their point of view, nothing can beat her ability to resurrect five players all at once. Apparently, though, this is not the case.
As soon as the update arrived, more players started picking Mercy than before. Players now see the nerf as a buff. It appears that being able to resurrect even one teammate (every 30 seconds) is quite a big change. It enables a team to be more resilient when it comes to attacking or defending. To put it simply, Mercy has become more valuable in matches.
The stats speak for themselves
Forbes adds that the numbers indicate the popularity of the new Mercy in “Overwatch.” Her resurrect numbers, in particular, have doubled across all tier levels since the new ability came in. Her healing has also remained well above other support characters, especially when using her ultimate called Valkyrie.
Of course, the most important of all is the fact that her pick rate boosted to almost 100 percent. Remember: Before the rework, the percentage was between 65 and 70 percent.
Nonetheless, there is still a catch in Mercy’s new structure in “Overwatch.” Her win rate has dropped tremendously across all tiers, though for the most part, it is evenly balanced. Interestingly, some players said that whenever they have no Mercy, their chances of winning is close to zero. So, in a sense, she is still a valuable pick.
