A GM’s Guide to Stadium Mercy

(Now Updated for Season 3)

Quick word from A_Lords_Rose:

My latest update for season three, like season two, has also been removed from the Mercy Subreddit. If updates are needed, I will change the docs here or use the stadium site instead.

To those of you who see this guide, I hope it serves you well.

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CHANGELOG:

8/31/2025 (Season 3 Update)

*Added in Main Mercy Builds Section

*Updated Round 1 Items and Powers

*Added Full Support Mercy Playstyle Section

*Added Glass Extra Full to “I do not recommend” Round 2

*Edited the Mid-Tier Item List

*Added “My go-to” Infographics for each round

*Added A Possible Contender Section

*Removed “I do Not Recommend” section for Round 1

*Removed Out-of-Date General Tips

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Archived Updates

If you would like to access the old Healbae guide - here is a link.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CQO1KBC4YdLZEaU6BLi96WaU-z7Oy12tUe7KPIdhR1w/edit?usp=sharing

6/26/2025 (Season 2 Update)
*Updated Item Prices

*Added General Tip 8

*Added Serenity to Round 7

*Added New Infographics and Quick Reference Images

*Added New Playstyle Guides

*Help - I’m Getting Wrecked!

*Average Mercy

*Glass Cannon Mercy

*Edited “I Do Not Recommend” Sections

*Removed Battle Medic from Round 2

*Removed Glass Extra Full from Round 7

*Removed Blessed Boosters from Core Build

4/27/2025 (Season 1 Adjustments)
*Added Battle Medic Power for Round Seven
*Added Mercy’s Stadium Stats Explanation

*Added New General Tips

*Added Several New Infographics/Quick Reference Images

*Added New “I Do Not Recommend” Sections

*Added New Mid-Game and End-Game Item Lists

*Removed Niche Information Section

*Removed Glass Half Full from Round Three/Four

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General Tips for Mercy in the Stadium

Always spend your cash. Do not hang onto it.
Just like in regular competitive, you are the most important person on the team. You cannot heal, damage boost, or rez, if you are dead. Don’t die.
Most of the time, you cannot hard pocket a dps and ignore the rest of the team, there is too much damage in this game mode and your second support needs you.
Be VERY CAREFUL going for risky rezzes, your survivability comes from mobility and good positioning, if you go for unsafe rezzes you’ll probably faceplant due to the damage in this game mode.
Always keep your Threads of Fate secondary target in mind, if you are going to heal someone else, don’t heal your original target to full, let the second beam finish them off. Always be swapping your beam target every three seconds. It just needs to be a quick flick.
Do your math. There is no way for me to know how much cash you have on hand after the first round, so please judge what you can buy each round for yourself. Sometimes this can mean taking more, lower quality items, rather than a singular big one.

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Mercy Stats Breakdown

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What are the Main Mercy Builds?

Please note that these are just some examples with quick explanations. There can be a lot more variety than what has just been listed.

Main Healer

You don’t even know what damage boost is and you’re okay with that. All you want to do is drag out the fights for as long as possible because you like to see big number on scoreboard. If you’re healing more than anyone else, it means you’re the best!

Powers: Threads of Fate -> Triage Unit -> Serenity -> Protective Beam

Items: Weapon Power/Attack Speed

Rez Farmer

Rez is the most broken ability in the entire game, so doing rez as often as possible must be the way to go. Who cares about healing if I can just bring back my fallen teammates whenever they faceplant!

Powers: Threads of Fate -> Renaissance -> First Responder -> Serenity

Items: Cooldown Reduction and Resurrection Rangefinder is a MUST.

Tankcy

I’m really bad at positioning and terrified of death. I go for rezzes in the middle of the teamfight and no one can kill me, but they don’t care about me either because I’m not really doing anything else.

Powers: Serenity -> First Responder -> Renaissance -> Threads of Fate

Items: Anything in the Survival tab

Battle Mercy

They took away Crep Circle? - Sounds like it’s a problem for my teammates. You are dps Mercy who doesn’t give a fuck. You heal when there’s no enemies around (or maybe when someone is critical…if you’re feeling generous). You bring the damage and that is all you care about. Fight me.

Powers: Battle Medic -> Tethered Tourniquet -> Serenity -> Renaissance

Items: Weapon Power/Attack Speed, Commander’s Clip is a must-have.

AP Mercy (also known as GA Mercy, Whambulance, or Slambulance)

A fun build where Mercy goes zoom zoom all over the place. This build offers Mercy burst healing in exchange for a new gimmick where your GA heals your target. You will be really difficult to catch in low ranks but constantly out of position and in line-of-sight because your GA. Oops!

Powers: Threads of Fate -> Whambulance -> Triage Unit -> Serenity

Items: Ability Power/GA Items

Hard Pocket

You have your duo and you will shove your staff up their butt the entire match. This build is fully dedicated to them, and as far as you’re concerned, you and your partner are the entire team. 2v5 let’s go!

Powers: Supply Surge -> Distortion -> Triage Unit -> Protective Beam

Items: Weapon Power/Attack Speed items (or survivability) but you will always rush Chain Evoker for that extra 5% Damage Boost ASAP.

Okay these are nice, but what do I recommend…?

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Full Support Mercy Guide

For those of you who prefer to look at things on stadiumbuilds I made a stadiumbuilds guide for you all here. https://stadiumbuilds.io/build/948bc822-895f-4c64-833f-dca852b1d3a8

Playstyle

This build plays very similarly to regular, role queue competitive Mercy.

It is a very high impact build, but that impact is not often felt through your own gameplay. You cannot do insane Battle Medic plays or GA shenanigans. That being said, this is a build with a very high skill ceiling - you constantly need to be aware of your own teammates to a degree unlike ever before.

This is not a Tankcy build, you have very little protection. Heal and boost from a safe position, stay out of line of sight at all times, and utilize Threads of Fate to get around tricky corners whilst still staying safe.

Damage Boost to Healing ratio will vary depending on your second support, but you will always want to be pushing 60-70% damage boost. General rule of thumb is to always be damage boosting first, and only healing when someone is critical health or when the fight is over.

Always keep Supply Surge in mind. Use it as often as possible whilst giving the cooldown to the teammates who need it most with Threads of Fate. Whenever you have your ultimate, wait to use it until you have Supply Surge ready to go so you can use it on your entire team TWICE during your Valkyrie.

Quickreference Image

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Round One:

This is what I start with every stadium match. It has additional 7 HPS and a little bit of survivability.

Threads of Fate

In my opinion, if you don’t start with Threads of Fate, you start off wrong. This power is the best one hands down. You are immediately 35% more effective with both damage boost and healing for the first two rounds and that is more than ANY other power or item can give you.

(Yes it is still worth it, even after the nerf.)

Compensator

5% Weapon Power, this is the best 1k item you can get.

Weapon Grease

5% Attack Speed, this is the second best 1k item you can get.

Armored Vest

Mercy usually heals herself with Sympathetic Recovery, dodging line of sight and regenerating, or getting to your second support/health pack. Armored Vest allows you more time to get to safety by giving you 25 additional armor (armor reduces your damage taken by 50%) and is the best survival choice for Mercy.

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Round Two:

After so many people asking me for this because people hate my priority sheet… here you go.

My Go-To Round 2:

Do not take this as gospel, do your math.

You’re not always going to be going into Round 2 with this loadout so please adapt and do what’s best for you.

Use my Mid-Game Item List to figure out the best greens/blues for your amount of cash! DO NOT rush for a purple item. You’ll get more value by stacking cheaper items at this point in the game.

I DO NOT Recommend:
X Icy Coolant (5,500) - 10% Weapon Power + 10% CD Reduction (This is a 10% Power item for far too much cash. It’s not worth it.)

X Mid-Air Mobilizer (4,000) - 5% Weapon Power + 10% Attack Speed while airborn. (You’re not always getting value from this item, it encourages wasting GA and bad positioning.

X Glass Extra Full (4,500) - 25 Health + 5% Attack Speed + 25 Overhealth on Overhealing. (You do not need the additional survivability and the overhealth isn’t worth it. You’re better off buying more impactful items for this price.

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Round Three:

My Go-To Round 3:

Your goal in Round 2 is to make 11,000 cash so you can keep your current build and pick up Amari’s Antidote.

Supply Surge

Supply Surge is an amazing power that you will never truly feel. Combine it with Threads of Fate to have its effect doubled, or during Valkyrie to grant its powers to your entire team. It’s not the most fun power, but it's STRONG.

Tip: Always make sure you have off cooldown before using Valkyrie so you can use it TWICE per Valk on your entire team.

Tip #2: Keep track of your teammates’ cooldowns so you can use Supply Surge to its greatest impact.

Amari’s Antidote

This is the first purple I usually buy and is always present in my builds. It’s an amazing item to keep your team alive as the enemy begins spiking in damage.

Caduceus Ex (Alternative)

As we get a lot more melee-focused characters, if my team loves to charge into the fight and I have no wish to follow them, I grab this item instead of Amari’s Antidote for its range.

If you fail to gather 11,000 in Round 2, get Amari’s Antidote anyways and use the rest of your cash on the Mid-Game Item List.

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Round Four:

My Go-To Round 4:

Like Round 2, your goal in Round 3 should be amassing 11,000 cash to keep your current build and to buy Booster Jets.

Booster Jets

This is the next purple I always try to rush. It’s easy to stack up Weapon Power with blue quality items, but Attack Speed is a little harder to come by. At this stage, it is a better choice than other items like Hardlight Accelerator.

If you fail to gather 11,000 cash in Round 3, do your math and figure out the best way to stack up on equal Weapon Power and Attack Speed with the Mid-Game Item List.

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Round Five:

My Go-To Round 5:

My Goal is to now start really raking in the cash. I try to get Eye of the Spider here for the huge boost in Weapon Power or Chain Evoker, and I also take either Triage Unit or Protective Beam depending on the game.

Triage Unit

I will usually default to Triage Unit just to get a bit of extra safety in as it can easily save a life.

Protective Beam (High Elo)

If my second support however is going a heavy healing build or our team is just generally not in need of a lot of healing, I will instead go Protective Beam for its damage mitigation.

Renaissance (Low Elo)

Lower elo players can get away with a lot of stuff let’s be real here. Low-elo Mercies are not usually as punished going for risky rezzes and are in less danger of people getting 1-shot, so for them I would advise taking Renaissance over Protective Beam.

Eye of the Spider

Eye of the Spider is the best Weapon Power item in the game. It’s costly, but vital. I will always recommend taking it before Hardlight Accelerator as you will generally get a higher HPS with Eye of the Spider/Booster Jets/Amari’s Antidote rather than Hardlight Accelerator/Booster Jets/Amari’s Antidote.

Chain Evoker

If your team does not need your healing very much, rush to get Chain Evoker over Eye of the Spider instead. This item is a must have for the Full Support build as it gives you a lot of charge towards Valkyrie and is the only item that impacts Damage Boost.

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Round Six:

My Go-To Round 6:

Grab Eye of the Spider if you were short on cash last round, and also nab either Hardlight Accelerator or Chain Evoker depending on your match.

Hardlight Accelerator

With the amount of healing our staff does with our current loadout, stacking a 15% modifier on top of it all is ENORMOUS. Get this if your team needs the heals.

Chain Evoker

If I didn’t get it last round, I will consider taking it here a second time after evaluating how much my team needs my healing.

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Round Seven:

My Go-To Round 7:

The finished build!

I’ll admit I was fearful for Mercy’s cash farming potential with the new season, but running an expensive, all purple build is still easily achievable with the way things currently are in game.

With this loadout you can achieve 414 HPS on two targets with Threads of Fate (yes, I did my math wrong on the previous guide). Along with a high damage boost and Supply Surge, this is an extremely powerful build and I encourage you all to give it a try.

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Build Variations:

Protective Beam vs Renaissance

I’ve already stated my feelings on how each power is useful at its own respective elo. If you are at the rank where you will be punished for risky rezzes and dps are beginning to really freaking hurt, go Protective Beam. If the enemy is not at that level yet, then take advantage of Renaissance while you can.

Melee Builds

Whenever I see a Brigitte on my team, I know unless they are an absolute tank they’re going to get melted and need help. I always grab a Caduceus Ex whenever I have dive/ melee characters who like to force me out of position to be with them. This helps.

Defensive Options

Serenity (even while nerfed) is still very useful especially with an extremely high healing output. If you are getting dove, consider grabbing this. A secondary option would be to get Nebula Conduit. It gives additional health, Weapon Power, and 15% mitigation against one-shots. The extra time it gives you in taking that damage over time instead can be combatted with Sympathetic Recovery or help from your teammates.

Team Can’t Kill Anyone

Let’s be honest, if your team can’t get a kill, you’re probably screwed. That’s why I recommend enjoying yourself and taking whatever wacky build your heart desires, move past it, and just go next. That being said, if you need revenge for your fallen teammates… Battle Medic + Full Attack Speed build is absolutely HILARIOUS and can definitely net kills. It’s so fast it’s like a laserbeam. 10/10 for the memes.

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A Possible Contender:

This is still week one for Stadium season 3. Things may change, new ideas may sprout up, but for the time I’ve spent in the game so far…this is what I would put my money on.

That being said… the only build I think may dethrone the Full Support Mercy, is the insane DPS Mercy.

You can do SO MUCH damage with this girl it’s absolutely ridiculous…provided your aim is on point.

Powers:

Battle Medic -> Tethered Tourniquet -> Serenity -> Threads of Fate

Battle Medic

You take this and go brrrr with your pistol. Charge it up when you can’t see an enemy and unleash.

Tethered Tourniquet

This is a power not so much to heal your teammates, but to ensure you constantly have Serenity going while you have your pistol out. You will be exposed, in line of sight, with no Sympathetic Recovery coming in without this power.

Serenity

Holy crap are you going to need this.

Threads of Fate

Allows your Sympathetic Recovery to work twice as hard when you need to escape.

Items:

Eye of the Spider - 25% Weapon Power + Increased Damage to Low HP Targets

The Closer - 20% Weapon Power + Wallhacks

Volskaya Ordinance - The Tank Destroyer

Commander’s Clip - I don’t like reloading. :)

Hardlight Accelerator - 15% Damage multiplier if you GA

Depending on the Enemy Team pick one:

Aerial Distresser - Kill the Pharah/Mercy

Codebreaker - Murder the Armored Tank

Salvaged Slugs - Obliterate Zarya

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A Closing Word

This is an alternative to the popular GA build, because while it’s fun, I don’t think it's the best build for our girl as it utilizes a very dangerous playstyle, especially at high ranks. If you feel the same, I hope this build serves you well.

A lot of this math was figured out with the use of the Advanced Stadium Workshop as it supplies hps and dps numbers. (Code F4728) Big thanks to Luciomain for making it.

Give it a try and see what suits your playstyle best. I made this build in the first week of Season 3 for Stadium so please understand that the meta may change as new things are discovered in the future, and this is just my take on things.

I look forward to seeing you in the stadium!

A_Lords_Rose