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Overwatch Mercy Buffs Teased in Developer Update

By Noam Radcliffe

Overwatch Mercy buffs will hit the Experimental card this week.
Overwatch Mercy buffs will hit the Experimental card this week. / Courtesy of Blizzard

Overwatch Mercy buffs might be on the way to Blizzard's shooter, according to a developer update released Monday featuring game director Jeff Kaplan.

An Experimental card set to arrive this week will bring plenty of balance changes to the game, focusing especially on Overwatch's support heroes and Bastion.

Overwatch Mercy Buffs Teased in Developer Update

Mercy will receive a bonus to her healing throughput that Kaplan described as "just purely a buff." Kaplan did not describe what exact form the buff will take.

Ana will receive a nerf to her healing and Zenyatta's Discord Orb will be bumped back up to 30% from 25%. Several other unnamed heroes will receive changes, with Moira set to see many of her own.

"I know many of you are just dying to see more Bastion in your matches," Kaplan joked when discussing the hero, referring cheekily to the robot's ability to provoke complaints from the community. He did not share what the buffs would look like.

All these changes will be relegated to the Experimental card, meaning they may never make it to the rest of Overwatch's game modes.

UPDATE: The Experimental update Kaplan discussed hit servers Tuesday afternoon. See the patch notes below.

Ana

Biotic Rifle

  • Healing reduced from 75 to 70

Bastion

Configuration: Sentry

  • Spread decreased 10%
  • Shots until max spread reduction lowered from 60 to 40

Self-Repair

  • Resource drain rate increased 20%
  • Healing per second increased from 75 to 90

Junkrat

Frag Launcher

  • Projectiles maintains slightly more velocity on ricochet

Concussion Mine

  • Projectile speed increased from 20 to 25
  • Ricochet distance off of enemy players greatly reduced

Total Mayhem

  • Bomb detonation time reduced from 1 sec to 0.7
  • Bombs spread increased 50%

Mercy

Caduceus Staff

  • Healing per second increased from 50 to 55

Moira

Biotic Orb

  • Damage radius reduced from 5 to 4 meters
  • Projectile speed increased from 16 to 20
  • Projectile duration reduced from 10 to 7 seconds

Zenyatta

Orb of Discord

  • Damage amplification increased from 25% to 30%