After nearly a month in testing on the Overwatch PTR, Mercy has a new kit on the game’s live servers.
Players on all platforms—Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC—can now try out the revamped hero. And the changes are massive: Not only does she have a new ultimate, Valkyrie, but her other abilities have been tweaked, too.
Related: Don’t have Mercy’s Huge Rez achievement yet? Here’s how you can get it after her rework
Here are the patch notes, straight from Blizzard.
- Resurrect (formerly Mercy’s Ultimate ability)
- Ability now targets a single player, instead of every player within a radius
- Radius reduced to five meters
- Ability cooldown is 30 seconds
- Mercy is no longer granted invulnerability while Resurrect is active
- Valkyrie (New Ultimate Ability)
- Valkyrie unleashes the full power of Mercy’s Valkyrie Suit, enhancing her weapons and abilities for 20 seconds:
- Caduceus Staff: Mercy’s healing and damage boost beams now affect all allies near the targeted teammate, and the staff’s effective range has been extended
- Caduceus Blaster: Granted infinite ammo and increased projectile speed
- Guardian Angel: Increased range and movement speed
- Resurrect: Cooldown is instantly reset when Valkyrie is activated and reduced to 10 seconds after the initial cast
- Hover: Mercy gains the ability to fly freely, at increased movement speed
- Regeneration (Passive): No longer interrupted when Mercy takes damage
Resurrect, Mercy’s old ultimate, was a big reason for Blizzard to make adjustments to the Overwatch healer. The developer found that play became stagnant when Mercy had her ultimate, with the healer hiding off in the corner shouting at her allies to die on the point. Resurrect forced a style of play that many found boring, which played a massive role in her rework.
Resurrect is now a secondary ability—Mercy can only target one ally at a time, with a 30-second cooldown. More strategy goes into deciding who to Resurrect and when. And with Valkyrie, the new ultimate, Mercy can Resurrect allies in quick succession. The ultimate reduces the Resurrect cooldown to 10 seconds after instantly resetting on activation. Likewise, she can fly—and that’s a game changer. Everything about her kit is simply better, too.
Players on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 can try these changes for themselves immediately in Overwatch.
