The Overwatch 2 community has pinpointed a hero problem they claim the developers have yet to spot. Mercy has always been the “enabler,” according to new claims from the community today, but all the heroes who benefit from her kit always seem to take the bullet (read: nerfs in OW2 patches) instead of the Valkyrie.
Players claim OW2’s staple healing hero has evaded nerfs for too long. Fans observed one pattern when dissecting pro player YZNSA’s hero history—and they all rely heavily on Mercy.
This realization then led players to explore previous nerfs and recent buffs for OW2’s wide cast of heroes in a Reddit thread on July 18.
Sojourn and Pharah have been the subject of multiple nerfs and buffs as Blizzard attempts to find the perfect DPS balance. But, according to the OW2 community, the main problem surrounding these two heroes (and more) is actually their Mercy pocket. Heroes like Sojourn, Echo, and Pharah all benefit considerably from a Mercy pocket, fans say. And, with recent tweaks to Soldier and Sojourn, we’ll likely see Mercy combos burn brighter than ever before.
The issue goes the other way too, players suggested. Some believe Soldier: 76’s buffs in mid-July were aimed to counter the Pharmercy combo. But, the community thinks it pushed him too far and into Mercy’s arms as another good duo.
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Some were even seeing the future too. They suspect Solider will be nerfed in next season’s updates, especially because he’s become the perfect candidate for Mercy’s damage boost. This, players suggested, is the perfect example of the “never-ending cycle” that avoiding the Mercy situation is actually creating.
The only solution, they said, is a change to Mercy’s “oppressive” damage boost ability.
Even worse, with Widowmaker falling out of the meta one of the Valkyrie’s direct counters has been stripped of her power. The lack of heroes capable of dealing damage to flying opponents makes it considerably difficult to take down a pesky Pharmercy combo.
Now, players have been left hoping for a Mercy “pocket counter” in the form of the new support coming next season. No one is quite sure how OW2’s newest hero will impact gameplay but most are begging for a huge shift in support meta.
Until then, maybe playing Mercy is actually your best option right now.
