I. Always stick with your team

Although Mercy is arguably one of the best healers in the game, that does not mean that she does well on her own in most situations. This is why you should always try and surround yourself with beefy teammates. Always try and stick to your tanks. Not only do most tanks have the ability to provide some cover, but they give you the opportunity to charge your ultimate very quickly as when they get low, as there’s a lot of health for you to recover. Tanks such as Reinhardt also open up the opportunity for you to use your Resurrect ability. If a teammate dies, call for your tanks to provide some cover while you go for the Resurrection on your teammate. You should always have a line of sight on your tanks as they are some of the most important characters on your team.

II. Tanks should be your first priority

You should always have your tanks as healing priority. If your team is running a decent composition, then if your tanks fall the rest of your team should come tumbling down fairly quickly as your tanks take the brunt of the enemy damage. Without tanks, the damage meant to be absorbed by your tanks will be taken by yourself and your other non-tank teammates, making your entire team crumble. This is why your healers should have tanks as a priority as they’re the glue that keeps your team from crumbling against the enemy.

III. Healing priorities

To add on to this, many players have agreed on the healing priorities you should take not only as Mercy, but as a healer overall in a game. The top priority should be a tank below half health, because, as mentioned before, you charge your ultimate quickly as well as needing them to hold a team together. Next up on the list is topping off DPS players, as they are going to be your main damage output, and without them, it would take a very long time to take down the enemy team. After that, other players and tanks that are above half health should be that last thing that you worry about. Tanks above half health don’t have to really worry about dying as they still have a bunch of health left. The enemy team would have to do a lot more damage to those tanks for them to begin to worry about dying.

IV. Distributing your healing efficiently

There are a few points in your games where there are going to be more than one person that’s going to need healing. Although you would be able to heal more than one person if you had your ultimate, Valkyrie, there are going to times when you don’t have it. This is why if you’re in the situation where more than one person needs healing, then you should opt to heal whoever you’re focusing on to a health where they won’t die immediately, then move on to the next person. It is much better to have five teammates with half health in a fight rather than two full health teammates, as the higher number of teammates can cover each other and focus enemies while you heal up the rest of the team to full health.

V. Mercy can do some damage!

I’ve noticed that many Mercy players, in the lower ranks especially, don’t utilize Mercy’s blaster. The blaster has a surprising amount of damage output, and can be a very viable option if you manage to get up in an opponent's face. Mercy’s blaster does more damage than D.Va’s blaster, it does about 100 damage in one second if you land all you shots. So if you don’t need to attend to any teammates, whip out that blaster and lay down some damage! Go for targets that are strongly dependent on their aim such as Pharah and Widowmaker, Mercy is very swift which will make it hard for those types of opponents to land their shots. Get up in their face and take them out if the opportunity presents itself. One of the most well-known professional Mercy players, Alberto "neptuNo" González, player for the Philadelphia Fusion, showcases Mercy's power perfectly in this clip.

VI. Utilize your positioning and movement abilities

Use your Guardian Angel (follow) ability to position yourself in the air if the enemy team is lacking any hitscan. For example, if there is a Junkrat that uses his concussion mine to launch himself in the air, use your Guardian Angel to follow him and hold yourself in the air so you can have a bird's eye view of the rest of your team. This will draw the attention of the enemy team, as they’ll think that you’ll be an easy kill but this is where the rest of your team can capitalize. Most of the damage players on the enemy team will have their focus on you, opening a window to wipe their team and take them down.

VII. The 'L' Formation

Another tip about positioning, one thing that you want to do as a Mercy player if you want to keep your players alive is to remember the ‘T’ or the ‘L’ formation. As shown in the graphics, you should always be behind some sort of cover with your team almost always in view. You should be at the tips of the “T” and “L” and have your teammates be positioned at the angle. Have your enemies be positioned at the long end. Sure, some might consider it hiding, but your job isn’t picking up kills, it’s to sustain your team. You need to do that by any means necessary. If you’re experiencing some trouble with this tactic, just know this, always keep your team in sight and always stay out of sight of the enemy team. Using this, you can keep your team alive and not have to worry about dying. If the situation arises where a enemy has snuck into your backlines and is targeting you, just collapse in with the rest of your team and call the enemy out so they can take care of the straggler until you can fall back into position. Take a look at the photo below to get a better idea of the L formation.

VIII. Use your damage boost!

This is coming from my time as a Mercy player and playing with other Mercy players, although it is becoming much more common in games, the damage boost is simply not used enough. There have been so many times where I, and many other players, engage in a fight with an enemy player and end up leaving them with very little health. This is where the damage boost would come in to play. It gives the receiver a 30% damage boost and can most definitely give you the edge in a one on one fight. Not only can you get a damage boost, but if you’re losing the fight, the Mercy can just flip a switch and you can get heals. If you’re a Mercy and your team is fine but you see someone branched off in a 1v1, go ahead and give them a hand as that can be a huge pick and open up a teamfight with an advantage.

IX. Use your ultimate wisely.

The last thing I’ll tell you is to try to restrain yourself from using Valkyrie when you’re losing a teamfight. If you use your Valkyrie, you might keep your team alive for a little longer, sure, but in most cases, you’ll end up losing the teamfight anyways. The best time to use your Valkyrie is when your team gets a pick on the enemy team and engages in a teamfight or just engages in a teamfight. Using your ultimate at this time will give you and your team an advantage on the enemy team, as your team will get healing as long as they all stick together. This is especially effective when your team gets a pick on the enemy team. Not only will you have an advantage when it comes to healing, but you will also have the advantage in numbers.

That's all folks, hopefully you learned something new about everyone's favorite healer. Have a nice day everyone, see you out there on the battlefield.

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