Mercy nerfed and Ana buffed in latest Overwatch PTR
@AlexZiebart
The latest Overwatch PTR continues the long, storied saga of Mercy nerfs, as heralded by Jeff Kaplan late last week. Mercy’s Resurrect now has a cast time, reduces her movement speed while casting, and can be interrupted by stuns, knockbacks, and Sombra’s Hack. However, Resurrect does not have a cast time during Valkyrie. And, in other Support news, Ana has received a marginal damage buff.
HERO UPDATES
Ana
- Biotic Rifle
- Damage increased from 60 to 70
Developer Comment: Ana has been outshined by other support heroes lately. Boosting her damage will help her defend herself and make her more threatening to the enemy team.
Mercy
- Resurrect
- Cast time increased from 0 seconds to 1.75 seconds
- Mercy’s movement speed is now reduced by 75% while casting
- Can now be interrupted when Mercy is knocked back, stunned, or hacked
- Valkyrie
- When activated, Resurrection no longer has a cast time
Developer Comment: We feel that Mercy’s recent rework has been successful, but her Resurrect ability still feels too strong and frustrating to play against. Now that it has a cast time, there is more room for enemies to counter the ability. However, casting Resurrect happens instantly when Valkyrie is active. This should make her feel powerful when she transforms on the battlefield.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed several issues that prevented the announcer voice lines from playing correctly in Competitive, Elimination, and Capture the Flag game modes
- Fixed an issue causing Roadhog’s Chain Hook to latch on to enemy players for longer than intended
The continuous iterations on Mercy continue to be a divisive topic — you need only glance at the Overwatch forums to see as much. Some players are thrilled to see Mercy’s Resurrect scaled back, while others feel like the essence of the character has been lost. In either case, the developers aren’t backing down from the changes.
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