After a heated debate (open in new tab) about the role of support in "Overwatch 2," particularly the strength of Mercy's ability to damage DPS heroes, Blizzard has expressed its attitude in an upcoming balance patch.

When the third season of Overwatch 2 begins tomorrow, Mercy will lose its presence in the game's high-skill meta. This patch, more than anything else, will promote triage, effectively reducing the amount of time she can spend with her wand beam connected to a single target.

None of the nerfs directly target her ability to boost damage to allies, but according to developer comments in the patch notes, the changes "further empower Mercy as a triage healer, allowing her to save low-strength allies more often."

In a fast-paced game like Overwatch 2, where health can fluctuate widely, Mercy's change will encourage her to stay in the team's orbit rather than teaming up with a single DPS hero. This change doubles down on Mercy's primary role of healing, which will be important to keep herself alive with her new passive.

Other than a slight nerf to Ana's healing and anti-heal grenade durations, support is on the rise: Lucio, Zen, and Brigitte have received slight buffs; Lucio and Moira are standing ult faster to save allies more often; Zen is throwing enemies 5 more shots, and Brigitte's Repair Pack instantly heals allies' health by 25 in addition to the HoT component. Taken together, the other changes should make playing support a little easier than before (opens in new tab).

Season 3 continues to target heroes that can be killed almost instantly (opens in new tab). Junkrat's Concussion Mine damage has been lowered by 20, making one-shot combos with grenades harder to do; Reinhardt's Earthshatter ult now does less damage and has an increased stun duration. And Widowmaker's health was returned to 175 (from 200).

The amount of Ultimate charge held when switching heroes was reduced from 30% to 25%, and almost all tanks now take longer to charge their ult. This change is in response to high-level tank strategies that benefit from switching heroes early in the match, resulting in a complicated game of rock-paper-scissors. For most players, this change will result in more fights without Ultimate, the tank that wins the battle.

Ramattra, the newest tank in the game, no longer has unlimited ult. His huge AoE ult will last as long as the enemy is in its range, but will be capped at 20 seconds. Wrecking Ball may also finally be usable with the addition of a permanently regenerating shield in place of some of his strength, and a shorter cooldown for his pile driver to slam into enemies.

Overwatch 2 Season 3 launches on February 7 and will include an Asian mythology-themed battle pass, a dating sim (opens in new tab), and a bunch of quality of life changes.