Fellow Mercy main here! Climbed to mid-Diamond playing Mercy and D.Va, dropped to mid/high plat during the slow but steady expansion of my hero pool. And that’s okay! u gotta b bad b4 u git gud.

This thread actually isn’t going to be about Mercy at all, but rather a list of heroes I’ve picked up over the past several months to help me flex better and reinvigorate my love for the game. The reason I’ve created this list is as a point of reference for anyone who might be afraid to branch out their hero pool because “Mercy doesn’t have any transferrable skills.” It’s wrong, and I’ll show you why.

Moira

The obvious first flex choice, no duh. As a support character, positioning with Moira will be reminiscent of a grounded Mercy–lots of backline/midline play.

You’re already off to a good start by knowing to prioritize healing over damage. Moira comes with the added bonus of being able to defend yourself against flankers, and the close-range of her healing means you’ll be able to play closer and more aggressively during team fights, which is just plain fun.

Learning Moira will also force you to pay much closer attention to resource and cooldown management, which is an extremely important skill that is transferrable to many other heroes.

Pharah

If you’re like me and have learned to GA/juke/bait/bunny-hop like your life depended on it (because hey, it usually does), don’t be afraid to give Pharah a try. Alongside Mercy, Pharah has one of the most versatile mobility-enabling kits in the game, once you learn to use her properly.

Study Pharahs while you’re with them, learn the difference between good and bad Pharahs with how they approach teamfights, how they maneuver and position, how and when they use their ults.

Good positioning as Mercy means playing walls/corners and avoiding being out in the open. A lot of the same rules apply to Pharah. Lots of heroes who try to pick off Mercy are the same heroes who focus Pharah (Soldier, McCree, Widowmaker, Hanzo), so whether you realize it or not, you’re already well-familiar with the positioning of these counters and how to avoid their LOS.

In my opinion, Pharah’s flight – awesome to play but difficult to master – is the most fun part of her entire kit. Learning proper positioning and movement as Pharah will turn your already-solid map awareness up to friggin’ eleven. Plus you get to fly. Like a badass.

Pharah’s projectile aim is a lot more forgiving when you’re first learning her as well, as not every shot has to be a direct hit / splash damage will still assist at least somewhat in your teamfights.

D.Va

Bad D.Vas play her like she’s never been nerfed. They move extremely aggressively and solo overextend into enemy territory, usually to get melted out of their mech and then sarcastically spam X when they die. You know the ones.

You know the ones, so you’re not going to make the same mistakes.

D.Va is one of the most effective peeling heroes, featuring a kit with high mobility and high burst damage. As a Mercy, you already know how some enemies hardcore dive/focus you down before engaging with the rest of your team. You already posses the gamesense to time/predict those enemy dives, but as D.Va, you have the power to PROTECC your supports with your kit.

Nothing feels better than saving one of your backline supports from certain death as a D.Va and having them spam “thank you” in return.

If you’re good with keeping tabs on enemy ults (something I learned early on as Mercy so as not to get caught in them), it’s an added bonus because D.Va’s Defense Matrix can eat half the damn roster.

Zarya

Zarya’s a little tricky to pick up because her kit is so unique and she takes some getting used to, but the main reason I suggest Zarya as a hero to flex to for Mercy mains is because a lot of her kit revolves around her timing.

If it’s not your default setting, you’ll wanna turn on Allied Health Bars for her, as well.

Mercys know how to prioritize targets. You have extremely strong, steady, solo-target healing that needs to be divided wisely–you need to make a lot of snap judgements as to who needs your healing/rez most in a teamfight.

Zarya’s bubble works in a similar manner. You use that gamesense, that snap judgement, and that sharp eye for the big red “CRITICAL” warning to prioritize who to bubble / who to protect with your own bubble.

Good bubbles = higher charge. Higher charge = everything just mcfreakin’ dies, my dude.

If you play Mercy like I do and you have a near-Pavlovian reaction to friendly ult lines (pocket pocket pocket keep them up keep them up keep them up), that also comes in handy with Zarya’s gamesense as well. A well-timed bubble can be the difference between a Pharah/Genji/Reaper ult teamkill, and your teammate getting shut down before they even finish their voice line.

Also, Grav is one of the strongest ultimates in the game. It combos with literally friggin’ everything. If you’ve got solid teamchat/communication skills, that will come in handy with coordinating your ultimates with your teammates.

Soldier 76

If you’re looking to improve your raw mechanical aim, Soldier is hands-down the easiest aim-based hero to pick up. His kit is extremely straightforward–no fancy bells or whistles, just straight up old man Call of Duty.

Unlike McCree, he’s not as reliant on headshots to perform well (though they help). Being able to consistently hit body shots and learning to manage the spread of your fire relative to the enemy’s distance is definitely something that takes practice, but you can focus on working on your mechanical skills without having to worry too much about your own cooldowns / abilities.

In my opinion, the hardest part about learning Soldier isn’t even his mechanical aim, but his positioning. I find good positioning as Soldier to be more consistently aggressive than Mercy’s or anyone else on this list, especially considering that you have the kit and self-sustain to bugger off on your own searching for frags, so that mindset takes a lot of practice and getting used to in order to get right.

Woah, this turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be.

Hope it helped someone, at least!