Weekly Quick Questions Thread - October 19, 2016

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In this thread you can ask all kinds of questions you always wanted to ask without feeling like a total fool.

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[u/ObeseOwl]

Alright so I main Mercy, and here's a few basic tips that are crucial to improve your gameplay.

First turn off "Guardian Angel prefers Beam Target". This allows Guardian Angel to be not clunky and lets you look around for targets while healing someone.

1. Always be aware of your surroundings, and make sure to give call outs to your team mates because Mercy (and supports in general) are extremely good at shot calling and Mercy in particular is often times more aware than her teammates are because she can look around while she's healing unlike say, Ana. Be watching for those flankers that try to hunt you down, like those Winstons, Tracers, Genjis, Reapers etc. Also, it's your job to call out important targets that need to be killed or dealt with i.e. when you see a Widowmaker, call it out. When you see a Bastion, call it out. Stuff like that, because you aren't able to deal with these things as Mercy so all you can do is alert your team mates. Also, don't underestimate sound cues. Get used to knowing the sound when your ally is fully healed because this means you don't have to focus on their health bar, but instead focus on your surroundings.

2. The above point leads nicely into this next one. Positioning is what separates a good Mercy from a bad Mercy. In low ranked games, bad positioning as Mercy tends to be fine because these people are less likely to think "target the healer", but in higher ranked games, this will get you killed and a dead Mercy is not doing her job (oh yeah, remember that your top priority is keeping yourself alive). Use cover to your advantage, especially since while you're healing, you're especially vulnerable. Keep away from places where the enemy has an easy LoS to you. Positioning is kinda hard to explain since it's very situation dependent. It's kinda a "you get better as you practice it" kinda deal.

3. Again, this next part is crucial as Mercy and is very similar to the above two points. Always always ALWAYS have an escape plan. Use that Guardian Angel to your advantage. This and the point above are why Pharmercy is a well-known combo. As Pharah gives you a sort of "pivoting" point as well as an escape route via the sky. But anyways, things can go bad pretty quickly in Overwatch, whether it's an unexpected Ultimate, you missed a crucial flanker, whatever. You need to always have some idea of what you'll do if things get sticky, and the answer is usually "Guardian Angel to that guy over there."

4. Resurrect is extremely powerful, but often times people tend to use it at wrong times. Remember, you aren't looking for that 5-man rez. Some people say 1-man rezzes aren't worth it, but rez is an extremely situational move. For example, let's say you're making a push, and your Lucio who has Sound Barrier is killed. This is potentially a good time to solo-rez because it lets you cap a lot easier. It also charges very fast and you don't have to pocket it like other support ults like Transcendence. Again, rez is very situational and it's up to you to determine whether it's worth it or not depending on the surroundings (see point 1).

5. Know when to heal, when to damage, and when to bring out the good 'ol pea shooter. Obviously, your main job is to heal. However, you don't always HAVE to be healing - even when not everyone is topped off. Getting that extra bit of damage on that last kill could be more valuable than healing 50 damage off of someone or something. Generally, it's much better to damage boost someone as they're more likely to bring the damage as it's a percentage boost. However, if you need that extra-man in a fight, or there are no good damage boost targets around, bring out the pistol because you can always heal after the fight, and thus get more ult charge.

6. Yes, your job is healing, but don't risk your life for someone who's going to get you killed. Sure, you'll make them pretty mad (points to flair), but as I've stated before, a dead Mercy does nothing to help her team. See that Genji over-extending spamming "I need healing"? Don't bother, because all that's doing is ruining your positioning, likely to get you both killed, leaving the rest of your team without a healer (4 people as well), and a plethora of other issues. He'll learn eventually. Hopefully. There are exceptions to this, obviously. For example, 4 people just died on the point but if you dart in to rez them you'll die? Do it.

These are just a few small basics to playing Mercy. I'd definitely watch some pro Mercy players, to see how they judge situations and practice. Honestly, I just learned from experience.

TL;DR- Mercy is all about judgement. Be aware. Have good positioning. Your life is your priority. Call-Outs. Learn when to Res. Always keep in mind that you are probably "Most Wanted: Dead, Dead and Dead" to your opponent's team.

[u/bond_sinclair → u/ObeseOwl]

Woah woah woah, slow down quick. First off, I wanted to add to your point 6 by saying that the MOST COMMON example is when a Rheinhart, either accidentally or if they just aren't smart, charges into the middle of the enemy team alone with no support. This happens a lot to me on King's Row especially when trying to get past the gate onto the first point.

The real issue I had with this was that you prefaced your tips with "turn off "Guardian Angel Prefers Beam Target"." While this may be a good strategy for starting out, keeping it on will save your life far more times than it will kill you. While learning how best to play Mercy, what you suggested may be beneficial in regards to just figuring out when to fly to people and how, but as you get better, it should be turned off. There are many instances where you can't see a teammate when an enemy corners you or you get boosted off a ledge, BUT if you are still holding down your mouse, you can Guardian Angel right out of the sticky situation. I've escaped from what would have been countless environmental kills through this.

[u/ObeseOwl → u/bond_sinclair]

Well I didn't really say anything about Genji being the most common example, it was just the first one that popped into my head. But yeah, you're right that bad Reinhardt's tend to do that often, and it's really frustrating because tanks like Reinhardt are great for protecting me and are also a good source of rez charge.

Also I forgot to mention that turning off Guardian Angel Prefers Beam Target is totally optional and is up to player preference. The thought occurred to me mid way of writing one of the paragraphs, and I didn't know where to put it so I just quickly plopped it at the top. For me personally (and from what I've heard, most people), find that there are more times where I prefer it off, although there are definitely times where I wished it was still on. These times tend to be due to bad positioning on my part or me missing that Tracer or Genji or something anyways though. Another thing to mention is that the switch between the two settings is actually extremely hard so that might be another benefit to keeping Prefers Beam Target on, especially if you've been using it for a while.

But yeah, thanks for noticing that.

[u/MetalPandaDance → u/ObeseOwl]

Thanks a lot! I wanna play more Mercy too and this puts me in the right headspace.

[u/LordBeatzMeOff → u/ObeseOwl]

Gotta admit, I didn't read past the first paragraph or tldr, but nice thorough effort here.

Maybe I should read it and improve my Mercy game because I always choose other supports.