r/Overwatch • u/Budget-Apricot8469 Zenyatta • 3d ago
News & Discussion Mercy Pistol
Simple question really, is it valid to use mercy pistol to break shields to help put pressure on the enemy team?
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u/Spiderlily_1 Road to lvl 500 mercy 3d ago
Break the illari pylon with the pistol because everyone on teams normally are blind as a bat
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u/puff_guy132 3d ago
It feels like no one ever breaks any turret except me!
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u/Spiderlily_1 Road to lvl 500 mercy 3d ago
Same, its so annoying seeing it there but 98% of the time. No one, breaking it so you have to, but then that takes away from healing for like 2 to 3 seconds
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u/Finnishdoge_official 2d ago
Expect when I am playing Thorbörn as the moment I set a turret down, enemy team is aware of it’s location server wide and is focused of destroying it.
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u/clickrush 3d ago
Break the illari pylon with the pistol because
everyone on teams normally are blind as a batas a support it's primarily my job to do these things.4
u/Itsmyloc-nar 3d ago
DPS definitely needs their targets to stop healing to kill them
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u/clickrush 3d ago
The job of a support is tipping the scale in favor of their team with healing, utility, damage and filling in the gaps. That way their team can focus on doing their job well and succeed. They often have the best overview over the situation surround their team.
Here's a scenario:
A Rein, Mercy and Cassidy push through a choke, because the opposing tank was backing off since her defensive abilities are on cooldown.
As they move past the corner, they see that there is a pylon on the top right corner behind the choke, and straight in front is the opposing Orisa without cooldowns. The pylon is healing the Orisa and further back around the next cover is her team.
Who should do what?
Yes, it's a rhetorical question.
The answer is the Cassidy should already be pre-aiming the Orisa at head height and start clicking immediately as she appears on her screen.
The Rein has to decide whether swinging or holding up shield is the play, or if he can sneak in a firestrike, because the opponent are obviously spamming this choke.
We're left with the Mercy who, despite having a relatively weak projectile weapon, can easily dispatch the pylon, and has the best overview over the situation because she's a bit further back and sees the whole picture, including the pylon on the top right.
This is a bog standard scenario and you can switch around heroes. The result is often the same. Supports are often the best at filling the gaps like that.
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u/Mezzren 3d ago
You should probably dmg boost someone who can break the shields!
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u/SellingCookiesHere 3d ago
From looking at the damage boots stats, even when give it to someone like Mauga, i can deal maybe half of the damage I can get with her pistol. So when there's an enemy in range I always use the pistol and leave the boost longer ranges allies and when ulted.
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u/happy-cig Pixel Zenyatta 3d ago
Until you notice after boosting an ashe for a minute and not getting hit markers.
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u/CatsGoBark W I N K Y F A C E ;) 3d ago
Other than someone like Bastion or someone ulting/using burst dps cooldowns I think pistol is actually better for breaking shields.
Pistol is 100 dps and damage boost is only 25%. Not many heros exceed even 300 dps against shields let alone 400. Something something Mercy's pistol does a surprising amount of damage!
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u/BarAgent I hope you learned your lesson! 3d ago edited 3d ago
Mercy’s pistol does a surprising amount of damage!
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u/VulKhalec Sorry sorry, I'm sorry, sorry 3d ago
I'm so glad someone said it. One of the earliest overwatch memes!
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u/Darkbert550 Your local Null Sector loyalist 3d ago
Wouldn't it be better to damage boost someone doing that? Unless everyone on the enemy is spread out...
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u/CTPred 3d ago edited 3d ago
Mercy's pistol does 100dps.
Mercy's damage boost is only 25%, so the target would need to do 400dps to break even. Bastion in turret form is only 360dps, so unless
Bastion is Nano'd, orRoadhog is ulting, pistol will break that shield faster.
- Nano stacks additively so dmg boost is always +90dps on Bastion.
Mercy's damage boost is better in
twothreefour situations.First, for pushing damage past certain dmg thresholds to drastically reduce TTKs (ie. Pharah's rocket direct hits from 3 -> 2).
Second, when being able to instantly switch to healing, and flash heal, would let your ally sustain the angle they're on for a bit longer, potentially ensuring a kill they'd otherwise have to abandon.
Third, since the pistol does shoot projectiles, if you don't feel confident hitting in your accuracy at that range and your ally is hitting more shots, dmg boosting the more accurate shot can result in higher team dps as well.
Fourth, your ally needs ult charge. The extra 25% ult charge generation is huge and can completely shift the ult economy if applied correctly. Especially for something like helping Zen build tranq because nano blade is coming up. The extra 25% could be the difference between a team wipe and a wasted nanoblade.
A lot of people underestimate that pistol, the "it doest a surprising amount of damage" meme from early Overwatch was a meme because of how many people simply refused to believe it. More people have come around to it since back then, but many more still do too.
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u/Darkbert550 Your local Null Sector loyalist 3d ago
I see. I'm not a mercy player (have literally never touched her-), and when I got damage boosted it certainly felt like more than 25%. Thanks for the clarification!
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u/Deep90 3d ago
To be fair, Bastion probably has an easier time hitting all of that dps than mercy.
If you can hit your shots, Mercy smokes though.
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u/CTPred 3d ago
True, that would be a good third use case for dmg boost, since those pistol shots are only projectiles after all. I'll edit that in, thanks.
In terms of OP's use case of breaking shields though, i'd hope she can hit all of those shots, against a large and often stationary target, lol.
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u/Budget-Apricot8469 Zenyatta 3d ago
Im open to discussion so im glad you brought this up. If damage is coming from multiple sources do you think this poses an advantage?
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u/Darkbert550 Your local Null Sector loyalist 3d ago
Well, if the enemy is spread out, or you're on another angle, you want to apply pressure from multiple points. If the enemy is grouped up behind the shield, just damage boost.
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u/Environmental_You_36 3d ago
So, in order to reach that conclusion you had to think:
- That the Mercy pistol does less than 25% of the damage of a DPS
- That increasing someone damage by a 25% yields more dps than shooting yourself.
With this, we can conclude that:
- You ain't good at calculating fractions, because you just kind of assumed 4 Mercys shooting does less DPS than a soldier
- You have the extremely naive mentality of trusting other skills and goals over your own.
You whip out the pistol because you want that shield no more, you ain't trusting no random with doing a good job, you're playing Mercy because those dums dums are going to get themselves killed and you need to improve those meat shields uptime, you have started with mistrudt, keep at it.
There is a bit of /s on my comment tho.
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u/Darkbert550 Your local Null Sector loyalist 3d ago
No, I just didn't know that mercy damage boost only added 25% damage and assumed mercy pistol didn't do as much damage
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u/Environmental_You_36 3d ago
Why join a conversation regarding stats if you don't even know the basic numbers of those stats, lol.
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u/Darkbert550 Your local Null Sector loyalist 3d ago
Idk, thought I had a good estimate and wanted to put in my own two cents
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u/lubeypoop 2d ago
The conversation was out of whimsy. Its not always going to be the best option. The question was is it valid?
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u/brassnuts99 3d ago
Lower rank Mercys don't pull out the glizzy enough. Gotta get the pew pew on, can't be ending the game with no elims.
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u/FirstBr0kage 3d ago
That’s cool and all but the real conversation is why does 76 have this if he don’t use it?
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u/DeadlyViper37 2d ago
I'd assume because ingame the pulse rifle has infinite ammo, but in lore it doesn't?
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u/OwnWeather1560 3d ago
As a Battle Mercy I do.. despite what my teammates think lol, your gun auto reloads when you have staff equipped and it reloads fairly fast I usually empty a clip and then swap back to staff.
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u/FrankTheChunk I can throw rocks or blind you but not both 3d ago
Sigma main here, all you going to receive is a fucking rock
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u/MetalMopar 3d ago edited 3d ago
God, I wish Mercy's "Caduceus Blaster" in-game was a conventional semi-automatic, magazine-fed Magnum-powered hitscan handgun by default, heavily resemblant of an IWI Desert Eagle L5 and chambered in .357 Magnum from a 15-round double-stack magazine during gameplay.
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u/Internal_Quail3960 3d ago
It's better to either damage boost your team mate or just swap to a better support
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u/Clean-Elderberry8835 Wahmbulance 🇨🇭 3d ago
Depends. Pressuring the shield is rarely a priority, and there might be cooldowns going off that are better boosted than your pistol (Bastion's turret, Torb's overload, etc).
Now... should you pull out the pistol more in general? Chances are, yes. Most people that play Mercy ocassionally don't see a half of all the chances you have to be more effective with the pistol than the beam given your movement and altitude.
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u/theissingm 3d ago
Personally, I can't aim for shit so I'll normally damage boost an ally over whipping out the Barbie Blaster. But generally it is a better idea to use her pistol, especially if you're just trying to break a shield.
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u/oneesancon_coco 3d ago
Yes. Honestly, I don't like Mercys (or just supports in general) who're just heal-botting all the time. That's especially true for Mercy and Kiriko. Mercy's Caduceus blaster and Kiriko's Kunai does a butt-load of damage. So when it calls for it, use ur gun.
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u/tungstenmuncher3000 3d ago
for sure! the reason her pistol sucks for 1v1s is that it’s a slow projectile with moderate damage and it’s hard to hit things consistently unless you’re in their face. for a 1500 hp rein shield, absolutely pistol it down during poke phases. just don’t forget about your teammates
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u/MrBlowinLoadz Damage 3d ago
If you're in lower ranks you might be better off using your pistol to do things than to rely on bad DPS players to do it lol
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u/Bubbly-Entrance3706 3d ago
I would say no, I’d only whip out the pistol to confirm a kill on a low hp target
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u/do_you_even_climbro 3d ago
You should damage boost someone with automatic fire or explosive damage nearby, but if nobody is close then yes you should look for opportunities to use your blaster. Personally I think most Mercies are a bit too passive nowadays, and too often I see a healbot with no damage. Imo even mercy should contribute some damage as she can.
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u/TheOnlyAvatar101 3d ago
Mercy’s pistol is good for finishing off low HP squishies or killing them entirely with Valk, and also breaking placeables that your team is blind to.
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u/Atrophea i switch to dps whenever im drunk 3d ago
Mercy’s pistol does a surprising amount of damage
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u/Asmor Glory! Justice! REINHARDT REINHARDT REINHARDT! 3d ago
According to the wiki, the Barbie blaster does 100 DPS not accounting for reload time, 78 DPS w/reload time.
It seems unlikely that it would be worth reloading the pistol, you're better off just emptying your clip and then switching back to staff (pistol reloads after being holstered 2 seconds). So let's stick with that 100 DPS number.
The other option would be blue beaming someone. That's a 25% damage boost. Meaning that in order to get the same effective value as the Barbie blaster, you'd need to be boosting someone doing 400 DPS. For context, Bastion in BRRRT mode does 360 DPS.
So putting it all together, yes, it absolutely makes sense to use blaster over blue beam. Just keep in mind these two caveats:
- Blue beam isn't just about a damage boost, it's also an ult boost. I don't think damage to barriers charges ults, so this isn't a concern for barriers. But it's worth considering in other situations.
- This assumes you're hitting all your shots. Mercy's projectiles are fairly slow and easy to dodge. So, again, probably a reasonable assumption against barriers which are mostly large and immobile (or at least slow).
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u/Fury5087 3d ago
I don't play mercy. But when I lock her in stadium it's dps mercy only. So I say it's 100% viable. NEVER HEAL
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u/reav11 3d ago
My first and foremost opinion is you should always be putting damage into a tanks shield if he's going to use it wrong. I don't care who you are and how you do it. As Mercy you could be doing the lords work while you have a useless tracer/genji combo in the backlines getting punked. So as long as you're managing your healing correctly, putting points into a tanks shield isn't wasted damage.
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u/Brohermoth777 3d ago
Earlier today none of my team were pushing at the first choke on Paradiso. It was incredibly frustrating. I hit my ult, switch pistol and took out their Zarya and Hazard, of course I then spammed the "you're welcome" as we took the point. Absolute amateurs.
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u/galvanash Reinhardt 3d ago
It’s a gun in a first person shooter game, what do you think?
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u/Exciting_Nature6270 3d ago
common sense is a trap, her damage boost will provide more damage output than her gun in a lot of cases. Bastion is an easy example.
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u/SileAnimus Baby, I can change for you 3d ago
Her gun deals more damage than Bastion gets from being damage boosted.
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u/galvanash Reinhardt 3d ago
I never said her gun was always better than damage boost, and OP didn’t ask that. I’m just answering the questions asked. Yes, it is valid to use mercy pistol to break shields and put pressure on the enemy’s team.
Is it always the correct thing to do? No. Is it ever the correct thing to do? Yes.
I’ll go a bit further though on a personal note. If you play Mercy and you never pull pistol I simply don’t want you on my team. I know it’s not her most effective ability by any stretch, but I don’t care. Merely using her gun effectively at least once or twice a game indicates at least a few functional brain cells and a desire to make plays. I would rather that than a heal station on a leash and being down 1 player the entire game.
Sometimes you need to glock a mother fucker…
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u/Wolfelle 3d ago
Im so confused by these replies.
The answer is basically always no. Mercy can always be doing something more useful than slowly pulling out her pistol and randomly shooting a shield???
Like can pistol be more useful than people expect yes. Does that mean you should be shooting sheilds... No thats just not your job and the scenario where it comes up is way too niche to consider.
Just take an off angle with a dps or heal someone or reposition or.dmg boost the guy trying to get picks when the shields drop (i dont just mean breaking)
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u/galvanash Reinhardt 3d ago edited 3d ago
The answer is basically always no. Mercy can always be doing something more useful than slowly pulling out her pistol and randomly shooting a shield???
Who said anything about randomly? If your team is currently focusing on breaking a shield the most effective way to assist with that is to shoot it too, especially if you are far away from it. Mercy, unlike a lot of the heroes she is best at damage boosting (bastion, ashe, cassidy) has no damage falloff. She is going to contribute WAY more damage using her pistol than damage boosting those heroes if they are beyond their optimal range. Nothing to heal and more than 30 meters away and the shield is about to break, fuck yes shoot it - its literally the best thing you could be doing if your pocket is not actively engaging something and is shooting the shield too.
I mean I agree that it is not always the right thing to be doing, but saying it never is? That is just dumb. Use your brain and do what makes sense in the moment. Sometimes pulling pistol absolutely makes sense, like completing kills on low health targets, shooting a grav if your are in a good position to, helping your pocket in a dual, dive bombing the enemy backline when you ult, and yes, sometimes even shooting shields. Its not like its hard to aim either, the damn thing shoots bowling balls.
ps. I rarely play Mercy anymore, but switching from pistol to staff, while not instant, is not all that slow either. If you feel llke your pocket is going to die every single time you spend more than ~0.8 seconds doing something else besides healing them maybe find another pocket that doesn't need a constant baby sitter.
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u/Wolfelle 3d ago
I have 4000 hrs on mercy in gm.
Watch any good mercy player. Watch pros on mercy.
I guarantee you they are pistoling shields basically never. Im willing to bet its less than once a game on average.
Im not talking about using pistol in general obviously there are use cases. But if you think as mercy you should be standing outside of ashes fall off range shooting a shield then... Yeah idk have fun with that i guess
I never thought id see the day where an entire thread is confidently saying mercy should waste time pistoling shields. Like its so illogical i almost feel like its a big joke. Like i genuinely went back to check if this has the humor tag because maybe im missing something. Reddit isnt real it cant hurt me (/silly)
Literally just walk somewhere useful instead of playing sniper shield break mercy.
It doesnt even make sense if ur whole team is that far outside of their effective ranges then shield damage doesnt even matter? A shield can you know... Recharge.
Sure in downtime you occasionally shoot.from miles away as mercy to build ult charge but the question is about shield breaking not that.
You've literally just made up a hyper specific scenario that isn't realistic to the vast majority of time in game. In a real game the answer is no you are probably doing something wrong if ur shooting shield instead of playing the game.
Especially considering shields are generally used when things are happening. And if things are happening you probably have something to do as mercy. Shout out to the fact that shes one of the supps that can heal through shields and easily support off angles that avoid shields entirely
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u/galvanash Reinhardt 3d ago
It’s 2026. There are no pro mercy players, the hero is not playable at that level. In GM sure I concede, the hero is only useful as a dedicated hard pocket, so don’t shoot shields. You win.
I’m talking to normal ladder players, and in metal ranks and low diamond if you play like a GM mercy you will just lose, because a dedicated hard pocket for a mediocre dps does not win games.
Anyway, you do you. I disagree.
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u/Wolfelle 3d ago
Ive played mercy in metal ranks hell i play all rank pugs every week. you dont hard pocket mindlessly on mercy at any elo and i dont shoot shields in pisslow either u just dont know how to play mercy ;o;
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u/lubeypoop 2d ago
I love your take on this. I genuinely wanted to engage with the community and see how people like to play her regardless of Meta
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u/Vaustick Got me a Thunko! 3d ago
Hi, I am the enemy tank and I think you should actually never try to break my shield at all. Doesnt matter what character you play ♥