About

Pharmercy is a portmanteau of the Overwatch hero names Pharah and Mercy, which is often used by fans who romantically pair the two characters in fanfiction and fanart. Additionally, the name describes Mercy and Pharah players who join together to combo their attacks in competitive Overwatch matches.

Origin

On December 2nd, 2015, DeviantArtist^[3] SplashBrush uploaded an illustration of Pharah and Mercy resembling a Girls Laughing photograph (shown below, left). On June 4th, Tumblr user supershrimpcakes^[4] uploaded a comic of Pharah and Mercy, in which the pair are named "The Pharmercy" in the bottom panel (shown below, right).

Spread

On June 9th, 2016, the /r/pharmercy^[5] subreddit was launched for discussions about the Overwatch pairing. On July 20th, the pop culture blog Inverse^[9] mentioned Pharmercy in a listicle titled "The 6 Best 'Overwatch' Fan Fictions." On January 16th, 2017, Blizzard Forums^[8] member not2human submitted a post titled "Pharmercy," which complained that a skilled Pharah and Mercy duo could "devastate" opposing teams in ranked matches below 2500. On April 3rd, YouTuber Unit Lost – Great British Gaming uploaded a video discussing Pharmercy combos in Overwatch matches (shown below ,left). On April 7th, YouTuber Overwatch Central uploaded a video explaining how to counter the Pharmercy combo in Overwatch (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References