Mercy Synergies and Matchups

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Mercy (Angela Ziegler) Guide Overview
  • 2. Mercy's Strengths
  • 3. Mercy's Weaknesses
  • 4. Mercy Synergies
  • 5. Mercy Counters
  • 6. Mercy Is Strong Against
  • 7. Mercy TL;DR Tips
  • 8. Reading Further for Mercy
  • 9. Changelog
• +Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Mercy TL;DR Tips
  • 2. Mercy's Abilities
    • 2.1. Regeneration
    • 2.2. Angelic Descent
    • 2.3. Caduceus Staff
    • 2.4. Caduceus Blaster
    • 2.5. Guardian Angel
    • 2.6. Resurrect
    • 2.7. Valkyrie
• +Playstyle
  • 1. Mercy Playstyle Introduction
  • 2. Mercy's Positioning
  • 3. Mercy's Damage Boost vs Healing
  • 4. When to Use Mercy's Resurrect
  • 5. When Mercy Should Fight or Flee
  • 6. How Mercy Should Use Valkyrie
  • 7. When to Use Valkyrie
• ×Synergies and Matchups
  • 1. Mercy Synergies
    • 1.1. Pharah & Mercy
    • 1.2. Zenyatta & Mercy
    • 1.3. D.Va & Mercy
  • 2. Mercy Counters
    • 2.1. McCree & Mercy
    • 2.2. Hanzo & Mercy
    • 2.3. Roadhog & Mercy
  • 3. Mercy Is Strong Against
    • 3.1. Winston & Mercy
    • 3.2. Doomfist & Mercy
• +Maps
  • 1. Best Maps for Mercy
    • 1.1. Mercy on Numbani
    • 1.2. Mercy on Watchpoint: Gibraltar
  • 2. Worst Map for Mercy
    • 2.1. Mercy on Volskaya Industries

On this page, we list the good and bad matchups for Mercy. More specifically, we list the heroes that Mercy synergizes well with, the heroes that counter Mercy, and those that Mercy is strong against.

The other pages of our Mercy guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

Pharah and Mercy are a great pair for a number of reasons. First, Pharah can fly through the air thanks to Jump Jet and Hover Jets, which allows Mercy to use Guardian Angel and Angelic Descent to stay with Pharah in mid-air. Second, Mercy's Caduceus Staff helps Pharah in two ways: it increases Pharah's Rocket Launcher damage output, and it can heal Pharah, allowing her to stay in the air for longer periods of time. Third, Mercy gives enemies another hero to shoot at, which also helps Pharah stay alive. Only a handful of heroes can deal with this duo, which means this pair counters a variety of enemies.

Zenyatta is an off support, which means he and Mercy work well together because Mercy is a main support. However, these two work well together for additional reasons. Zenyatta's Orb of Discord allows allies to deal an additional 30% damage to an enemy. If Mercy is using her Caduceus Staff to damage boost an ally who is shooting and an enemy who is marked with Orb of Discord, the enemy will take an extra 69% damage, as the bonuses are multiplicative. Therefore, when Mercy and Zenyatta communicate and call out targets, allies can easily burst down enemies. Additionally, Valkyrie is a helpful ultimate, but it is technically not a defensive ultimate that keeps allies safe against ultimates like Dragonblade. However, Zenyatta's Transcendence is a defensive ultimate, which means the team can coordinate to defend against a strong enemy attack despite Valkyrie.

D.Va has abilities that allow her to go deep with little to worry about, but with a Mercy assisting her pushes, D.Va can seem indestructible. When D.Va splits from her allies with Boosters, Mercy can follow up her mobility with Guardian Angel. Once D.Va starts to fight enemies, Mercy can use her Caduceus Staff to heal incoming damage and damage boost D.Va when she uses Micro Missiles. Additionally, if D.Va dies, Mercy can Resurrect her, which gives D.Va full charge on her Call Mech ability. This means Mercy and D.Va can stall points for a long time as long as Mercy pulls off her Resurrect. It is also worth noting that Mercy can damage boost D.Va when her Self-Destruct goes off, which can help clean up enemy tanks who thought they could survive the blast.

McCree counters Mercy in a number of ways. First, he deals a ton of damage with his medium ranged weapon, Peacekeeper, which can be used to shoot Mercy out of the air or when her frontline is not protecting her. Second, McCree's Flashbang can interrupt Resurrect and Guardian Angel should McCree be close enough to land it. Third, McCree's Deadeye is a huge counter to Mercy's Valkyrie, as her self sustain from Regeneration is countered by instant-kill burst damage, and because flying high over the battlefield makes her an easy target for an instant-lock ability.

Hanzo is another hero with a long ranged weapon (in this case Storm Bow) that pick Mercy out of the air. Although Strom Bow can be hard to land shots with, a fully charged hit can be followed up with Storm Arrows for an easy kill on Mercy. Hanzo's Wall Climb ability allows him to get closer to Mercy should she be in the air, or to shoot down at Mercy should she be with her team. Lastly, Dragonstrike can be used to counter Mercy's team during her Valkyrie, causing them to slow down an attack on an objective, which wastes time on Mercy's Valkyrie.

Although few would think about Roadhog as a counter to Mercy, in reality, he is by far the best tank against her kit. Chain Hook can be used to pull Mercy out of her Guardian Angel or pluck her from mid-air if she is using Valkyrie. Additionally, Roadhog can wait near an enemy body to bait Mercy into trying to Resurrect an ally, using Chain Hook to interrupt the channel and secure the kill. If Roadhog uses Chain Hook to pull an enemy into his team, Mercy is forced to let her ally die since she cannot get in position to heal them with her Caduceus Staff, or Resurrect them once they are dead. If Mercy is using Valkyrie, Roadhog can hook Mercy, shoot her with his Scrap Gun and use his Whole Hog to finish her off.

Although Winston is neither the best protector nor the best attacker, he relies on his mobility to harass healers and other slow heroes. However, since Mercy can use Guardian Angel to easily fly away from Winston when he uses Jump Pack to engage, it can make him feel useless against Mercy's mobility. Additionally, since Mercy can use her Guardian Angel rather frequently, she can dodge Winston for a long time if she plays smart.

Doomfist has a lot of damage potential, but heroes with high mobility can easily slip past his combos. If Mercy spots Doomfist trying to gap close with Seismic Slam, she can outmaneuver him with Guardian Angel. Additionally, Doomfist feeds off of his ability to get picks due to strong finishing moves. However, since Mercy can Resurrect an ally after they are killed by Doomfist, Mercy can easily negate his effectiveness.

About our Author

Mournflakes is a flex Grandmaster Overwatch player who boasts a career high SR rating of 4433. His favorite heroes are Roadhog, Soldier: 76, and Ana. He has played Overwatch since its initial release, and has put over 700 hours into competitive play. When not writing guides, you can catch Mournflakes streaming on his Twitch channel.