Overwatch 2 Season 3 is about to start, and the beginning of a new competitive season means a new set of balance changes to the game’s hefty roster. One of the biggest targets in Overwatch 2 Season 3 is the one and only Mercy, who’s getting a hefty nerf. Blizzard is clipping Mercy’s wings, dropping her mobility, and reworking the way she heals entirely. The start of Season 3 is also bringing us a brand new Control map, the Antarctic Peninsula, and touching up the Tank role with some additional minor reworks in other game modes.
One big neutral change to the game is a nerf in the maximum Ultimate charge retained when swapping heroes, from 30% to 25%. New to Overwatch 2 was the ability to gain some Ultimate chargeback when swapping heroes, intended to incentivize more hero swapping. This was a little too strong according to the team, so the ult charge you get for swapping will be lowered slightly. In addition, the HP for tanks in modes where you can have more than one tank is decreased across the board, as tanks are now stronger individually due to the 5v5 format.
Players don’t seem pleased with Overwatch 2 Season 3 Mercy nerf
Our guardian angel is on the struggle bus now with a big nerf that is in many ways a rework to her kit. Mercy has been a dominant support hero in Overwatch 2, hence the Season 3 nerf. This is due to her synergy with Sojourn, another strong Damage character. Instead of touching Sojourn, the devs have decided to take their aim at Mercy this time.
However, instead of touching her damage boost, the team has overhauled her kit. Her movement is now lower, increasing the cooldown for Guardian Angel from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds. Additionally, the healing from her Caduceus Staff was nerfed from 55 to 45. However it goes up to 50% for allies under half health.
However, Mercy now has a new passive that heals herself for 25% of her healing done, which is meant to replace the survivability from Guardian Angel. Some players are not too happy with this change, as the community was hoping Blizzard would touch her damage boost and not her movement abilities. Nevertheless, this should hopefully tune down the Sojourn domination a bit, as Mercy players will need to end the damage boost more often to self-heal. Other heroes with changes include most of the Support heroes, Torbjörn, Widowmaker, Symmetra, Sombra, and more. Check out the full patch notes here.
Overwatch 2 Season 3 brings a nerf to Mercy, a favored support hero. Image by Blizzard
