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The Mercenary is one of the hardest Survivors to play in Risk of Rain 2. As one of the game's only melee Survivors, you'll need quick reflexes, deep game knowledge, and just the right items to excel at this fast-paced character.
If you're looking to learn as much as you can about the Mercenary, you've come to the right place. Below, we'll take a look at how to unlock the Mercenary, his abilities and best items, and some tips and tricks for mastering this Survivor.
Updated December 17, 2023: With the recent launch of the Survivors of the Void DLC on consoles, and the launch of Risk of Rain Returns, the RoR franchise is as popular as ever. We've taken this opportunity to update our complete guide to Mercenary in Risk of Rain 2, including everything you need to know about playing this character, the best items to get, and more.
How To Unlock Mercenary
To unlock Mercenary, you have to Obliterate yourself at the Obelisk.
This is one of the more difficult challenges to complete. To do it, you'll need to complete at least one loop around, then get back to the third stage, either Rallypoint Delta, Scorched Acres, or Sulfer Pools.
After completing the Teleporter event here, a Celestial Portal will appear. Go through to enter A Moment, Fractured, and continue down along the platforms until you reach the Obelisk. Interact with the Obelisk to Obliterate yourself, ending your run and unlocking Mercenary.
Mercenary's Abilities
The Mercenary has powerful close-range attacks, dashes to get around the battlefield, and invulnerability during his Special. Here are his default abilities.
|
Ability Type |
Ability |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Passive |
Cybernetic Enhancements |
The Mercenary can jump twice. |
|
Primary |
Laser Sword |
Agile. Slice in front for 130% damage. Every 3rd hit strikes in a greater area and Exposes enemies. |
|
Secondary |
Whirlwind |
Quickly slice horizontally twice, dealing 2x200% damage. If airborne, slice vertically instead. |
|
Utility |
Blinding Assault |
Stunning. Dash forward, dealing 300% damage. If you hit an enemy, you can dash again, up to 3 total. |
|
Special |
Eviscerate |
Target the nearest enemy, attacking them for 110% damage repeatedly. You cannot be hit for the duration. |
Alternate Abilities
Mercenary has three additional abilities to unlock, replacing his Secondary, Utility, and Special. These abilities require you to complete special challenges to unlock.
|
Ability Type |
Ability |
Description |
How To Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Secondary |
Rising Thunder |
Unleash a slicing uppercut, dealing 550% damage and sending you airborne. |
Complete the "Mercenary: Demon of the Skies" Challenge.
|
|
Utility |
Focused Assault |
Stunning. Dash forward, dealing 700% damage and Exposing enemies after 1 second. |
Complete the "Mercenary: Flash of Blades" Challenge.
|
|
Special |
Slicing Winds |
Fire a wind of blades that attack up to 3 enemies for 8x100% damage. The last hit Exposes enemies. |
Complete the "Mercenary: Ethereal" Challenge.
|
Best Items For Mercenary
Mercenary is a melee survivor with high damage but low survivability. Choosing items that play to his strengths and balance out his weaknesses will prove to be the best strategy for playing as this character.
Mercenary's Special ability Eviscerate scales its hits to your attack speed without increasing the duration of the ability. This means getting items that grant lots of attack speed will greatly increase the power of Eviscerate, as well as allow you to incorporate other on-hit effects like Sticky Bomb or Charged Perforator.
Stacking higher attack speed can also help increase Mercenary's survivability through items like Leeching Seed or Harvester's Scythe. Let's take a look at the best items for Mercenary.
|
Item Name |
Item Description |
Why It's Good |
|---|---|---|
|
Soldier's Syringe |
Increases the user's attack speed. |
This item will significantly increase the damage of Eviscerate because of this ability's unique trait of scaling the number of hits with higher attack speed. Additionally, you'll be able to Expose enemies more often with your Primary attack. |
|
Focus Crystal |
Increases damage dealt by user in a small radius around them. |
All of Mercenary’s abilities are melee attacks, meaning they will all benefit from Focus Crystal’s small area of effect. |
|
Backup Magazine |
Grants the user an additional use of their Secondary ability. |
Much of Mercenary’s mobility comes from his Secondary Ability, especially Whirlwind. Having more opportunities to use this ability will keep you safer while also providing a bit of extra damage. |
|
Hopoo Feather |
Grants the user an additional jump. |
More jumps means more mobility, which Mercenary can never get enough of. The essence of playing as Mercenary is being as mobile as possible, and a Hopoo Feather or two will only help that. |
|
Ukulele |
Grants the user a chance to fire a lightning chain that strikes up to three nearby enemies. |
Most of Mercenary's abilities only allow him to hit one enemy at a time, making situations with groups of enemies harder to handle. AoE items like the Ukulele will help even out your damage to groups of enemies. |
|
Leeching Seed |
Heals the user every time they deal damage. |
Leeching Seed and Harvester's Scythe will be your main method for healing as Mercenary. With these two items equipped, using Eviscerate will restore a significant portion of your health while also dealing damage. |
|
Harvester's Scythe |
Heals the user when they perform a critical strike. |
This item is good for the same reason as Leeching Seed; it will add some much-needed healing to your abilities. However, Harvester's Scythe will need support from items like Lens-Maker's Glasses to increase your critical strike chance. |
|
Rose Buckler |
Reduces damage taken while the user is sprinting |
Because Mercenary's Primary attack can be used while sprinting, this item's bonus will almost always be in effect, making it a great way to add extra survivability. |
|
Hardlight Afterburner |
Grants the user three additional uses of their Utility ability. |
When paired with Blinding Assault, you will be able to use this ability nine times in a row, granted you hit an enemy each time you use it. This will give you incredibly high mobility and make you harder to hit, increasing your survivability. |
|
Brainstalks |
Reduces ability cooldowns to 0.5 seconds for four seconds when killing an elite enemy. |
Mercenary's Utility and Special ability have longer cooldowns but provide essential survivability during longer battles. Being able to repeatedly use these abilities after killing an elite enemy will keep you mobile while constantly outputting high damage. |
|
Laser Scope |
Critical Strikes deal an additional 100% damage. |
Greatly increases the damage of Critical Strikes, which you will be dealing a lot of with enough Lens Maker's Glasses. |
|
Purity |
All skill cooldowns are reduced by 2 seconds. All random effects are rolled +1 times for an unfavorable outcome. |
This Lunar item allows you to quickly use your skills with almost no cooldowns, but makes on-hit effects trigger less often. However, this downside can be diminished by simply not relying on random on-hit effect items. |
|
Lysate Cell |
Add +1 charge of your Special skill. Reduces Special skill cooldown by 33%. Corrupts all Fuel Cells. |
Lets you use Eviscerate much more often, increasing your overall damage and survivability. |
Tips And Tricks For Mercenary
Mercenary is quite challenging to play as; his playstyle is very different from every other survivor. Having to constantly be in melee range means being exposed to more enemy attacks, making Mercenary die easily if you aren't careful. Let's go over a few tips and tricks that you can use to master Mercenary.
The third hit of Mercenary's Primary Ability will Expose enemies. This Mercenary-exclusive effect will apply a mark on enemies, which when struck will reduce cooldowns by 1 second, and deal an additional 350% damage. Keeping this in mind while fighting will help keep your cooldowns refreshed, letting you stay mobile and on the offensive.
Mercenary's Primary Ability can be animation canceled. After the third strike, there is a slight delay before you can attack again. This delay can effectively be canceled if you use Whirlwind immediately after, which will allow you to keep attacking with virtually no downtime.
More attack speed is good, but only up until a certain point. Because of the way Mercenary's abilities work, increasing attack speed also increases the range and speed of his abilities.
While this might seem like a good thing, it can be detrimental for his Secondary and Utility. Higher attack speed means Whirlwind will send you even further when used on the ground, making it hard to hit enemies. The same goes for Blinding Assault, which can be hard to aim when you are moving so fast.
Which Abilities Should You Choose?
While Mercenary's abilities may seem straightforward, there are some niche cases and intricacies when it comes to actually using them, especially when considering which ability to choose. Let's take an in-depth look at each of Mercenary's Alternate Abilities, and which ones you should choose.
Secondary
Whirlwind is better than Rising Thunder because it strikes twice instead of once. Although Rising Thunder is easier to use and provides a bit more safety by launching enemies away, Whirlwind has way more uses and provides much-needed AoE for Mercenary.
Utility
Overall, Blinding Assault is the safer pick because it provides more invulnerability than Focused Assault. While Focused Assault can inflict Exposed, which can lead to reduced cooldowns and more damage, Blinding Assault's safety can't be overlooked.
This can change, however, if you happen to get a Hardlight Afterburner. This item will make Focused Assault function similarly to an un-upgraded version of Blinding Assault, allowing you to dash three times in a row while inflicting Exposed.
Special
Choosing between Eviscerate and Slicing Winds ultimately comes down to preference. They are both very powerful abilities on short cooldowns, but they both function differently, depending on your playstyle.
Eviscerate plays to the strengths of Mercenary and synergizes better with the rest of his kit; that is, staying in melee range and dealing tons of damage. However, Slicing Winds is an arguably safer option, allowing you to deal some damage from range. Again, the choice comes down to personal preference and your preferred playstyle.
Which Survivors Pair Well With Mercenary?
As a damage-focused melee Survivor, there are plenty of options to choose from for a partner for Mercenary. Mainly, Mercenary pairs well with Survivors who don't want the same items as him. This means avoid using other melee Survivors like Acrid or Loader.
Huntress is a great pairing, allowing you to take on enemies from close or long range. Similarly, Rex is a great choice, as its Special ability Tangling Growth can root enemies in place, giving you an easier time of taking them out.