Mercy, the popular Support hero of Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch, has been a subject of much debate. Ever since her rework several months ago which turned Resurrect into a regular ability and gave her a new Ultimate “Valkyrie”, she’s been constantly rebalanced. And by “rebalanced”, we mean nerfed again and again. The latest update on the Public Test Realm further adds to the nerfs.
Valkyrie has been changed to no longer grant instant casting for Resurrect. There’s only one charge for the revive as well and the speed boost offered to Guardian Angel has been decreased by 50 percent. If that weren’t enough, Valkyrie now lasts 15 seconds instead of 20 seconds.
Junkrat has also been nerfed. His Concussion Mine will now deal less damage to enemies that aren’t near the explosion’s centre. So if your target is on the periphery of the explosion, they won’t take as much damage compared to a direct hit. You can check out the full patch notes below with the developer’s thoughts on the changes. Keep in mind that these are strictly on the PTR and not yet live.
HERO UPDATES
Junkrat
Concussion Mine
Will now deal less damage to targets farther away from the explosion’s center
Developer Comments: Junkrat has been enjoying the flexibility his double-charge Concussion Mine provides, but it has now become a bit too easy to throw out huge bursts damage in a large area. With this change he can still dish out similar damage but he must now be more accurate with his tosses.
Mercy
Valkyrie
- No longer makes Resurrect instant
- No longer grants a bonus charge of Resurrect
- The speed boost that Guardian Angel receives has been decreased by 50%
- Duration reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds
Developer Comments: Mercy’s recent Resurrect changes have helped in allowing enemies to have more counter play in dealing with her, but she was able to use Resurrect through Valkyrie enough to largely mitigate the impact of the previous changes. Additionally, we’re toning back the amount of mobility Valkyrie provides through Guardian Angel and reducing its duration to overall reduce the power of this ability.
We will likely be iterating on these changes in the coming weeks.
