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How Pharah is outgrowing her Guardian Angel
Neither Pharah nor Mercy have been reworked, but recent changes to the Overwatch meta are set to finally send them on their separate ways.
Overwatch’s sky-soaring rocket queen, Pharah, went almost two whole years without being changed in the game. As one of the more balanced heroes, Pharah is seen in competition all the way from Bronze to professional level. However, the popular Pharah-Mercy combination has been the subject of much controversy for quite some time – especially on console, as analogue aiming is far less reliable than point-and-click shooting.
The Pharah-Mercy combo is something that’s difficult to tackle, as drastically changing the heroes in question would irreparably damage the niche imbued in their kits. However, Blizzard have managed to instigate a shift in the meta that will likely see the end of the combo duo, as the best way to resolve the issue of an overpowered composition is to make its constituents better on their own.
Raptora Systems Online!
Pharah’s missiles now deal extra damage for direct hits
© Blizzard
Firstly, it’s important to examine the minor changes that were made to Pharah’s kit. Her Missile Launcher was changed slightly, in that it received a buff to its fire rate to make it feel less sluggish. Her damage is also more directly tied to proximity now, with direct hits dealing more damage than before and spam damage being reduced to a minimum. Lastly, the cooldown for Concussive Blast was reduced from 12 seconds to nine seconds.
These may seem like minor changes at first, but they’re actually the cleverest ways in which Blizzard could have altered Pharah’s kit without having to entirely rework her. This is mostly down to the issue of Pharah being far more powerful on console than she is on PC. Pharah’s biggest counter is hitscan, which includes heroes such as Soldier: 76, McCree, and Widowmaker. On PC, point-and-click aim mechanics benefit hitscan heroes, making Pharah a much easier target to hit. In the same way, it’s far easier for Pharah herself to land direct hits on PC – and that’s what many Pharah players strive to do.
Console play is different, as Pharah’s viability is largely dependent on the difficulty enemies face when attempting to shoot her out of the sky. By having a Mercy tailing her, players need to focus on the Mercy first, as any damage to Pharah will be immediately healed. This means that Pharah can take advantage of the fact that she isn’t being focus-fired, allowing her to easily incapacitate enemies, which subsequently provides Mercy with the time necessary for her self-regeneration to kick in. Blizzard are focused on balancing the game equally across all of the platforms Overwatch is on, and not just on PC, where the competitive focus lies – there’s not much point in splitting the player base with specific, console- or PC-only changes.
Rocket Jump? That sounds dangerous
Pharah can use her abilities to gain an immediate advantage
© Blizzard
With spam damage being drastically decreased at the expense of more powerful direct hits, players are being enticed to play a craftier game with Pharah. The days of hovering below the skybox will soon be left in the past, as landing a direct hit with a projectile from that distance is almost impossible. Pharah mains will need to play a lower game, meaning that they’ll be more vulnerable. If a Pharah/Mercy is on the opposing team, this means that Mercy will also be low, making her incredibly vulnerable. Despite the fact that she can heal and damage boost Pharah, this vulnerability is detrimental to her team, as healers are supposed to focus on surviving above all else. She can’t heal her team if she’s the first pick in the fight.
In order to make Pharah capable of operating at lower distances without a Mercy, Blizzard had to make some changes to her mobility, too. That’s where the Concussive Blast buff kicks in. Although many people just see Pharah’s CB as an ability tied to booping players off the side of the map, it’s actually an incredibly powerful getaway mechanic.
Pharah can drop to the ground and immediately propel herself in the opposite direction to the one she is facing by using the momentum from a close-quarters Concussive Blast. By using her Jump Jet at the end of her backwards trajectory, Pharah will gain a verticality advantage in a matter of seconds. Although this is an ability that greatly benefits Pharah, it’s also one that leaves Mercy on her own, as it would be almost impossible to maintain the Guardian Angel stream.
With Pharah’s current kit, it’s best to get in close, deal damage with direct hits, and then escape using her aerial mobility. The sustainability provided by Mercy is no longer optimal, as there will rarely be an engagement in which Mercy won’t be traded for a member of the enemy team. Pharah may pick the Hanzo, but any team will trade their Hanzo for the enemy support in a team fight.
Like mother, like daughter
Justice rains from above!
© Blizzard
Other changes in the meta have also contributed to the phasing out of Pharah/Mercy. The buffs to hitscan heroes’ fall-off damage have made them devastating even in long-range fights, meaning that the verticality that used to be in Pharah’s favour is now perhaps the thing that makes her most vulnerable. On console, hitscan heroes will have a far easier time hitting an airborne Pharah than the Pharah will have landing a direct hit on them. With damage fall-off being massively buffed for Soldier: 76, McCree, and Widowmaker, Pharah no longer gains anything from being far away. Now, Pharah must engage quickly from above, raining devastation down upon her unsuspecting foes.
At this distance, the sheer size of her missiles combined with the large hitbox of nearby enemies makes it easy for her to deal hundreds of damage in a single clip, perhaps managing to land direct hits on two or three targets. As mentioned above, Pharah can opt to use her mobility to get out of there if the odds aren’t in her favour – something that would surely see the Mercy that had followed her into the fight dead in no time.
Ana, Pharah’s mother and sniper-healer, recently received some huge buffs, most notably to her Ultimate ability, Nano-Boost. As a result, the high-skill hero has become one of the most powerful support heroes in the game, after spending several seasons on the bench.
Ana’s Nano-Boost can massively buff Pharah
© Blizzard
Accurate Ana players will now be the best-suited to healing Pharah, as they will be able to do so at range. Also, the insta-300HP buff to Nano-Boost means that Pharah’s Barrage will no longer need to be a kamikaze Ultimate, as the Barrage animation makes Pharah incredibly vulnerable. With the shift in supports that synergise well with Pharah comes an opportunity for talented Mercy players to shine, making her niche valuable once more.
Clever use of Mercy’s ability to resurrect a fallen teammate has the potential to make the most tense team fights 7v6, hypothetically speaking. This is due to the fact that the first pick of the fight can be undone, if Mercy reacts quickly enough, meaning that the opposing team will need seven eliminations for a team kill instead of the usual six. In Overwatch, the advantage of having one extra person in a team fight should imply a guaranteed victory, especially in a game mode like Control, where there are often 6v6 team fights fought on the control point. Also, Valkyrie’s healing is still one of the most valuable support Ultimates in the game, even after its several nerfs.
With Pharah’s independence on the horizon, Mercy can now seek to establish herself as her own hero. Although the pair had their time in the sun at one stage, it seems that the time has finally come for them to carve their own path towards a spot in the ever-changing Overwatch meta. Will there be a new definitive combo on the rise?
