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Overwatch's Mercy Nerfed Yet Again On PTR

Blizzard isn't showing any mercy when it comes to these nerfs.

By Oscar Dayus on January 9, 2018 at 10:18AM PST

Overwatch's Mercy has been the subject of many changes over the past few months, and now developer Blizzard is changing her yet again. In the latest Public Test Realm update, the company has tweaked her Ultimate, Valkyrie, so it no longer makes her Resurrect ability instant, and it no longer gives a bonus Resurrect charge. In addition, Valkyrie's duration has been reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds, and the speed boost that the Ult grants to Guardian Angel has been cut in half.

Mercy has been subject to a number of changes recently, but Blizzard thought the hero's Valkyrie and Resurrect combination was still too strong. "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," the company said in a forum post. "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." The developer concluded by saying it will "likely be iterating on these changes in the coming weeks."

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Elsewhere in the new update, Junkrat's Concussion Mine will now deal less damage to enemies far away from the explosion's center. Blizzard argues it had become "a bit too easy to throw out huge bursts damage in a large area," and that this tweak will still allow players to use his mines effectively, but also force them to be more accurate.

These changes are live now on the PTR, which you can check out if you own Overwatch on PC. However, be aware that these latest changes have not yet come to the live game (and may never arrive there), as Blizzard wants to continue experimenting before implementing anything.

Outside of the PTR, Overwatch has a new map and event coming "very soon," while a new hero is already in testing. The game's esports event also starts next week, and you can read more about that in our primer for everything you need to know about the Overwatch League, as well as in our guide on how to watch Overwatch League.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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Edited By SpiderMan2018

It's about time they nerfed Junkrat. Now they need to give him selfdamage or remove Phara's selfdamage. It makes no sense how she always has to be in the open and is the most vulnerable character in the game but the hurts herself, but Junkrat can hold one button and kill anyone from anywhere without any fear. Even Soldier 76 has selfdamage.

4 • 7 years ago

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Edited By motopram

@spiderman2018: Junk did have self damage, they removed it. I agree with you though, needs to be there. That was part of the fun and skill of using junk.

3 • 7 years ago

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Edited By SpiderMan2018

@motopram: I remember that, but it was changed quickly very early in the game. Then they buffed him again after that with 2 mines (which are literally remote C4 at this point, no one uses it like a mine). Now he's on like every team because he's so unbalanced.

I'm not sure what they're thinking with all these balance changes. They seem to be picking favorites with a lot of characters.

2 • 7 years ago

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@spiderman2018: Picking favorites? As a junkrat main I can tell you that he was left untouched for the most part for the longest time while in a really really bad place. The character was one of the most countered in the game and still is. Anyone with half a brain can dodge his grenades. The double c4 is a little over the top right now though but it makes him for the first time since beta a competitive hero. For those who endured all this time while the same 5-6 other OP heroes reigned, I think its a worthy reward. I counter junkrat fairly well even today so hes far from broken.

3 • 7 years ago

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Edited By SpiderMan2018

@Kezzy123:

"Junkrat Main"

Your entire statement lost any credibility whatsoever. Junkrat is stupid easy to play and if played right is hard to counter. Unlike every other character in the game Junkrat requires no line of sight to kill his enemy and hold down positions. In the hands of a good player his direct hits can easily shred players on top of the fact that if he missed it will still do damage. The fact that players can onetrick him to reach diamond speaks volumes.

3 • 7 years ago

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Edited By Fartman7998

@spiderman2018: I'm sorry man but that is an incredible amount of bubble bias, and is in no way accurate. You're welcome to your opinion, though I think it's primarily just salt. As someone else who basically mains Junkrat, I don't think he really has much of a line of sight, I'm pretty much making an accurate guess every time I fire a grenade. I have to agree with Kezzy, he's effective against players who don't know how to counter him well.

You should do what I did with Widowmaker and other characters: if you hate them so much, play as them and become the ultimate.

4 • 7 years ago

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@Fartman7998: I'm sorry to tell you but the bias is on your part. Mechanics on him are game defying. He takes no selfdamage.

I'm not sure why you assume I haven't played him. I got diamond easy because of him. He has a line of sight like every other character. Due to his bullet travel time you have to compensate by targeting where enemies WILL be. The fact that so many of you now 'Main' him is proof enough of how easy it is.

Play a character like Pharah or Genji and get to Grandmaster before you say someone is balanced. Protip: Junkrat is played more in high-level for a reason.

3 • 7 years ago

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@spiderman2018: Whatever! You can't argue without being condescending anyway. Enjoy your saltiness.

Upvote • 7 years ago

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Edited By Kezzy123

@spiderman2018: Junkrat is the ultimate skill level gauge of overwatch. He is extremely effective against nubs and hes almost useless against pros.

You said yourself:" The fact that players can onetrick him to reach diamond speaks volumes." Why do you think?

if you are struggling so hard against him, guess what, i know your ranking and skill level.

PS: I was able to one trick junkrat to diamond back when he was doing damage to himself and had only one mine.

The only difference with his kit now is that he does not fall off as bad when he reaches diamond as he did before. another PS: most diamond players one trick someone. Tons of people used Dvas almost 100% of the time to reach grandmaster or roadhog or mccree or soldier or mercy or ana or zenn....should I keep going?

i should specify that although junkrat is my main as in "most played" I have almost equal hours on 2 other heroes and many hours on every other heroes except a handful. I play everything. Im no genji main with 170 hours on genji and 1 hour on the next most played (usually hanzo)

3 • 7 years ago

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@Kezzy123: Lol Junkrat and skill don't belong in the same sentence unless there is a 'takes no' in-between.

I have no problem dispatching Junkrats. That's because I'm a top tier player. Which is why when I play Junkrat the game is considerably easier. There is never a time where Junkrat can't sit well covered and press constant fire. All the maps are made in his favor, you can always ricoche a grenade onto the point from a corner.

I'm fine with all that though, the problem is he takes no self damage when literally everyone else does. It encourages spam, and reduces skill required to play him. Either he gets self damage or everyone loses theirs. There is no reason why he should be immune but Soldier, Pharah, and others have to always ensure spacing and positioning while targeting so they don't hurt or kill themselves. Junkrat abuse this against flankers and tanks.

2 • 7 years ago

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@spiderman2018: your comment is so contradictory its funny. You arent top tier or you wouldnt be complaining so hard about him. But I love the part where you state you have no issues playing against him because you are high tier but that the game is easier when you play as him. So what are you saying? You are the only high tier who can handle him? you arent high tier dont lie to yourself. its clear from your posts.

Just learn to counter him if he bothers you so much.

2 • 7 years ago

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@Kezzy123: The only thing that contradicts is your lack of ability to read/process information and your ability to type.

So in order to help you understand I have put this into short sentences.

Junkrat takes no skill.

Other characters take skill.

Junkrat take no damage from himself.

Other characters take damage from self.

When playing as another character you work more.

When playing Junkrat you work less.

Junkrat is not punished for misfire.

Every other character take damage for misfire.

Get out of silver before you talk to me. I don't have time to waste on scrubs.

3 • 7 years ago

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@spiderman2018: Everything you say reeks of low gold maybe silver player.

None of what you said is true at high skill cap. He takes a lot of skill, a lot of people would say that he takes more skill because he is easier to counter. A good juinkrat lands direct hits on moving targets by having to calculate more variants because his projectiles lob and are slow and then there is the moving target. You refer to low gold junkrat players who hide and spam but this isnt how higher rank junkrat players play. So your image is that of a low ranked player. Im sorry to say but you just cant paint the high tier image since you clearly dont know it. The self damage was removed because Junkrat is not pharah, he cant fly off and float away indefinitely. The odds of pharah hurting herself are minimal compared to junkrat who has an important short range role. Mind you, this could be removed and it wouldnt change a thing because nubs like you would still cry because your problem is a lack of situational awareness. You must suck at bullethell games because I do and I can still manage all the grenades from junkrat noproblems.

Keep lying to yourself though.....your inability to take accountability and admit your weaknesses is the reason you arent gonna improve

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Edited By Seven_Force

@Kezzy123: I'm in masters (~3700) and I somewhat agree with Spiderman. With his damage potential you cannot get close to him and he can stay out of sight lines of long range characters and stay close to his tanks for protection while spamming massive damage potential. He's got good mobility, fires/reloads quickly, and counters flankers pretty well. He can single-handedly shut down lanes/choke points and knock enemies off of maps.

All that said, the only thing that bothers me about this is his high floor/high ceiling. I play Soldier 76 but always had a problem with them buffing him to make a good soldier better than a good McCree who is a much harder character get value out of. I think they should make high skill characters have a higher ceiling. Junkrat is not a high skill character and not even very fun to play against (some deaths feel cheap, just as Roadhog's old hook used to).

I do think the concussion mines do too much damage, this is a fair nerf. The only other thing I would consider is making his grenades explode quicker, as their area of denial and trash damage while they're bouncing around (usually not even where they were intended to be shot) is obnoxious. This would also require better aiming and increase skill requirement.

3 • 7 years ago

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@Seven_Force: When they announced the second mine...I laughed out loud thinking it would be op and stupid. On the flip side, he now has a purpose in ranked unlike before and this, not just against trash players.

You nerf him odds are you revert him back to what he was. How often do you die to a mccree or soldier in a game and how often do you die to a junkrat? Chances are its the same or less against junkrat and this includes his "lucky" roaming grenade shots which are not all that common.

The issue with junkrat is mostly that people dont like how they die from him.

To me, I look at heroes like genji, tracer and pharah and they seem in a league of their own with little effective counters other than being a better shot....if everyone was in the top 10% of accuracy players, then it wouldnt be a top 10% anymore. The fact is 90% of people will struggle with killing these heroes so they hurt the lower tiers a lot more than junkrat does because junkrat can be countered by pharah, dva and genji with quite a reliable effectiveness....then there is zarya who can pretty much charge to 100 power in a breeze if junkrat spams.

Look at his pick rate in grand master, master, diamond, plat, gold, etc. He is barely 2% pick rate at grandmaster and slowly going up the lower the skill level is up to 7% in bronze.

I'd be a lot more concerned with Genji and Tracer who are in a league of their own, high pick rates at all skill level. High skill cap or low skill cap is irrelevant. All heroes in the right hands will perform better and better based on the skill of the player. Add to that that if they nerf junkrat, they nerf one of the possible counters to tracer and genji. That extra mine really helps stand a chance vs those 2.

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That's been like what.....6 nerfs in the span of 3 to 4 months or so for one hero ? Yea, they're killing the game one patch at a time with these over the top nerfs / buffs.

5 • 7 years ago

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@speed45823: mercy was op once her ult hit

Upvote • 7 years ago

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