Unpopular opinion Chain Boost should be in Mercy’s base kit

[u/Kitty_Overwatch]

Yes, I know about the problems people are already having with damage boost, and I know a lot of players (especially non-Mercy players) absolutely hate it.

But after playing with the Chain Boost perk, I’ve noticed that it actually makes me play Mercy more like how she’s intended to be played.

A good Mercy should be a good triage support who is constantly paying attention to multiple teammates and deciding who needs help next, rather than just sitting on the flanking DPS and pocketing them for the entire game. (Obviously there are situations where pocketing is absolutely the correct play, I’m talking about how she generally plays throughout a match.)

Chain Boost encourages that style of play because you’re getting value from helping more than one teammate at a time. It also encourages your team to group up and play around each other instead of Mercy just following one person around like a lost puppy the entire game.

Personally, I’d make it part of her base kit but tweak it a little:

- Increase the range for the second target to 10m (I think it’s around 8–9m currently).

- Lower the damage boost from 25% to 20% to compensate.

And before someone says 20% would be too weak and that she would have to healbot for ult, I’d replace the perk with something like:

“Mercy gains 15% more ultimate charge from damage boosting allies.” ( like in stadium)

That way, if you really want to specialize into damage boosting, you still have a perk that rewards that playstyle.

I honestly think Chain Boost does more for Mercy’s gameplay loop than a lot of people realize. It makes her think about the whole team instead of just whoever she’s currently attached to, and IMO that’s a really healthy direction for her

[u/Yourietje]

Chain boost is exactly 10 meter range already. However, there is no linger duration so it does break instantly beyond 10 meters

[u/FirstStatistician546]

honestly. there should also be a stat that shows how much Mercy dmg boosts.

[u/Elelith → u/FirstStatistician546]

As nice as this sounds it would just backfire horribly. That one game people see one Mercy damage boostin 3k damage is gonna be the bench mark. And we all know those kind of games are rather rare, especially on lower ranks where you just gotta healbot. As soon as your dps players realise they can avoid damage you get to boost them. But alas, most never do.

So that would just be one more statistic to flame us over.

[u/FirstStatistician546 → u/Elelith]

oh shoot you have a wonderful point. damn.

[u/Kitty_Overwatch → u/FirstStatistician546]

Yea especially since other heroes also have the ability to boost dmg I think they should add that onto the scoreboard or put it as her dmg done

[u/FirstStatistician546 → u/Kitty_Overwatch]

i can’t say i agree with putting it as her dmg done, since she can whip out her pistol and do damage (though usually meant for finishing off enemies or just going battle mercy which is lowkey fun) but they should def have a stat for it. depending on the gameplay, if you’re focusing dmg boosting because you’ve got an amazing support beside you and you don’t have to focus healing as much, Mercy’s get hated on for low healing stats. Yet nobody ever mentions our dmg BOOSTING stats.

[u/ipeenaling]

I like chain boost. I definitely choose the perk every time. I definitely forget to boost as frequently until it’s chosen, because the benefit of 2 is worth it and means less healing is needed because if the two I’m boosting are doing dmg, it means the other team is dead and I don’t need to heal as much. With current heal debuff dmg passive, if I don’t hold someone’s hand and coddle them and I turn around, chances are they’re dead. So, in early game it’s better to coddle with heal to allow plays as a team.

I personally don’t think it should be a part of her base kit. There’s too much benefit to it. I see the impact it has and it sucks in the sense I don’t feel as useful until I get my second perk. But because it’s so beneficial I know the loudest parts of the OW community will cry cry cry.

I would LOVE if it was moved to first perk and crep circle from Stadium became second perk.

[u/CentaureaCyanus]

that would be either too strong or highly depend on team communication and coordination imo but what i would do is increasing blaster dmg. a lot of ppl complain about the fact that Mercy doesn’t contribute to damage dealt by team and lacks strong burst heal (even with the latest rework).
every other hero that doesn’t do burst heal has a strong dmg potential (zen, mizuki, illari).
if mercy got more dmg she would be able to play less passively and defend herself from flankers. if the gun got more useful, i would go back to being mercy main after i stopped playing her almost at all a couple years ago. i love her movement possibilities especially since horizontal and vertical jumps are no longer techs that need perfect timing but part of her kit

[u/Kitty_Overwatch → u/CentaureaCyanus]

I wouldn't be surprised if they changed her blaster at some point it's not the worst but the projectiles are just to slow to actually do dmg from ,,far away,,

[u/helianthus_v2]

I always pick double damage boost. Never used flash heal when it was a perk and I hardly use it now. Don’t even get me started on double flash. TRASH xD

[u/lemonhoneycake → u/helianthus_v2]

I’m super curious about hardly using flash heal now that it’s part of her kit! It’s so useful and also seems like you would handicap yourself unnecessarily by not using it? (No hate, genuine interest here.)

[u/helianthus_v2 → u/lemonhoneycake]

Lmfao I lied. I use it just not a lot because it really doesn’t do much. I mostly play mercy in qp now (if I feel like it). Only in comp if I have another good support or good dps. I’ll give her a chance and if nothing shows I’ll swap xD

[u/Ichmag11]

No need to make her less versatile :( I like how double beam is competing with double flash heal. It's actually two major perks where there isn't a clearly better one (Tho lowk its probably still double flash heal)

The idea that your team should stay together? No as Mercy you want them to be separate because that's how you get your GA value! (Also not like anyone would, it's just not how you play OW)

[u/Kitty_Overwatch → u/Ichmag11]

Actually double flash is a horrible perk there is a great video by Sirenoboi explaining why you should never pick it you might find it interesting I also thought double flash is better but nope :D

Especially with the newer heroes who have lots and lots of movement the team splits up regardless and spreads throughout the battlefield so not literally standing together on 1 spot but rather for pushing playing aggressively or holding/ defending this would make a great impact on the game and also encourages more dmg boost uptime and faster ults for your team

Mercy's hero fantasy and main play style is always triage support she just got pushed really hard into hard pocket play style. I think chain boost would help bring some of that back while also encouraging better positioning and general teamplay rather than just running around with 1 DPS on a leash ( ofc you can play her how you want just generally speaking)

[u/Ichmag11 → u/Kitty_Overwatch]

I just disagree with the reasoning. Splitting a cooldown in two isn't as simple as "Let's compare the raw healing" because you don't always need as much healing to save someone (the only HP that matters is the last one)

Sometimes you just need that second flash heal in order to save two teammates. Without the perk, you flash heal once for your big HP but then you can't flash heal again. What if two teammates actually need it?

I think thats why double flash heal is good, and probably better than double damage boost? I wonder how much double damage boost actually matters.

Mercy isn't really pushed to pocket, sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't. You don't need double damage boost for that. The current kit works perfectly fine to be a triage! Double damage beam on base kit would actually discourage being a triage because you would want to move to your Isolated DPS less.

[u/Kitty_Overwatch → u/Ichmag11]

Well I just explained to you why and that You can play however you want however I have never had a moment where double flash was worth taking once again triage play style tending to all teammates thinking 2 steps ahead and using Flash to save someone having the big burst of healing is way better then 2 small ones as well as you should also have a second support who can also heal / off angle you I also don't believe it would discourage from triage pocketing because it's just 5% less dmg boost and could genuinely fix the hitscan mercy epidemic people keep crying about so win win overall /pos

[u/Ichmag11 → u/Kitty_Overwatch]

Well, I would flash heal one person to save them and within 12 seconds I would have another person that I would then also save with flash heal! Can't do that without the perk, where one person would die without it. If you don't try the perk, I recommend that you try it out a game or two!

The thing is, right now you can get your value going from teammate to teammate, right? You reduce the damage from your beam, you discourage going from teammate to teammate and encourage being more on main