Out of🅠 every playable character in , Mercenary is one of the most engaging to play. His abilities all require a degree of planning and skill that keeps every run interesting. If you can master his abilities, he rewards you with powerful attacks and some of the most consistent runs possible.
To get 𓃲there, mastering his attacks and what items synergize with him is essential. Risk of Rain 2 excels at m🔴aking you feel overpowered, but getting there takes practice and some degree of luck. From itemization to gameplay strategies, here are 10 tips for making an overpowered Mercenary in Risk of Rain 2.
Updated May 13th, 2021 by Charles Burgar: Mercenary has seen quite a few changes since this list was originally written. His Laser Sword now applies Exposed, alternate skills have been added, and new items have made the Mercenary a much different character than he was pre-release. We've updated this list to give new tips, suggest certain items, and provide tips on maximizing the Mercenary to make him the most overpowered sword-wielding character in the game.
10 🅺 Never Stop Moving
Both movement speed and attack speed are cri⭕tical elements of Mercenary's kit. Without either, he cannot reliably dodge attacks and dish out damage.
Mercenary is also one of the few characters in Risk of Rain 2 that can attack on thℱe move, making Energy Drinks and Paul's Goat Hooves incredibly powerful on Mercenary. Movement is your lifeblood on this character, giving you a means of clearing maps faster and൲ avoiding telegraphed attacks when Eviscerate is on cooldown.
9 ✤ Stay Airborn༒e
It might sound counterintuitive, but saying in𓂃 the air as Mercenary is one of the best things you can do. The more ground effects you can avoid, the b🐓etter.
Fortunately, his entire kit revolves around maintaining air time. His Whirlwind attack will suspend him in the air while his main attack will slow the Mercenary's descent. Combined with his passive double jump, he thrives in the sky 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:more than most characters.
8 Animation Canceling ಞ
A core component of the Mercenary's kit involves♋ animation canceling. This is the process of ending an at🤪tack prematurely with another attack, reducing downtime between attacks to maximize your damage.
The best example of this is your default attack, Laser Sword. Each att♉ack has a short recovery period, the third attack having the most noticeable animation. Right when the sword slashes outward, use one of your abilities to cancel the animation, increasing your damage ou♈tput substantially. This technique will require some practice but is mandatory if you wish to complete Monsoon runs as Mercenary. Just be careful canceling your animations, as you can accidentally cancel attacks like Eviscerate prematurely.
7 Scale Attack Speed ASAP 🔜 ꦑ
Attack speed matters just as much, if not more, than movement speed does on Mercenary. Your attack speed directly correlates with how m🐻any attacks Eviscerate release🏅s and how fast you can release default attacks with your Laser Sword.
Every three attacks from your Laser Sword applies the "Expose" debuff, causing your next attack to deal 350% increased damage while reducing ඣall skill cooldowns by one second. It's a crucial mechanic to the Mercenary's kit, one that scales extremely well with attack speed. While scaling tons of attack speed can make landing Whirlwind strikes harder, the increased uptime of Expose and your abilities makes up for this in spades.
Keep your eyes out for Predatory Instincts, Soldier's Syringes (only in the early game), Berzerker's Pauldron, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and Spinel Tonic—only if your build can maintain this effect.
6 🎶 Keep An Eye Out For Wax Quails 𓂃
With a Wax Quail, your jumps will propel you 10 meters forward per stack. This Uncommon item is good early-game on most, but it is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a much stronger choice on Mercenary.
Not only is repositioning important for Mercenary, 🧔but his passive double jump is also affected by the Wax Quail. You effectively double the effectiveness of Wax Quail because of this, allowing you to traverse maps much faster than most in the early to mid-game.
5 🥂 Use Eviscerate As A Defensive Skill 🤪
Eviscerate is a must-have skill on Mercenary. It deals large amounts of d💦amage while making you invulnerable during its duration.
The damage of this ability is not to be underestimated, but its defensive properties make it much stronger than you'd think. While in Eviscerate, you cannot take damage. This sk🍸ill lasts for 1.3 seconds and gives you 0.6 seconds of invulnerability after the skill ends, giving you near two seconds of invincibility! Use this skill to avoid telegraphed attacks or dangerous degens that would otherwise end your run.
4 🌌 Obtaiꦗn Backup Mags
Mercenary's secondary skill is the bread and butter of his kit💯. Both Whirlwind and Rising Thunder keep him in the air and deal a tremendous amount of damage.
Since it's your alternate attack, Backup Mags will grant additional stacks of this attack. Obtain at least two in yourဣ run, and you can stay in the air indefinitely using solely Whirlwind.
3 🍬 🍎 Proc-Based Items Are Essential
Few characters can benefit from proc-based items as well as Mercenary. Every attack the Mercenary dishes out has a 1 proc coefficient, resulting in proc-based items activating more than 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:most characters. When you pair this with animation canceling and attack speed scaling, it's not uncommon for Mercenary to cꦚlear entire screens worth of enemies in mere seconds.
With a 1 proc coefficient, your chance of activating a percen༺tage effect is exactly what that item lists. Most characters have lower proc coefficients such as 0.8 or 0.6, giving items a much lower chance of activating. In conjunction with Mercenary's fast attack speed in longer runs, you can activate items much more frequently than most.
Some common items for startingꦺ proc-chains include AtG Missile Mk. 1, Ukelele, Will-o'-the-Wisp, and C💞eremonial Daggers.
2 Rotate Your Abilities🐽 ꦗ
The cooldown for each of Mercenary's abilities is rather short. If you use your abilities correctly, you can maintain a rotation with 🐽little downtime between attacks.
Use Blinding Assault successfully with all 3 dashes, then follow up with a Whirlwind. This should be enough time to put Eviscerate off coold🌼own. That ability will last for a little over a second. Then, use a default attack. Whirlwind will be back up at this point. The cycle repeats as long as you time everything correctly, letting you output more damage than m𓆏ost characters. Weave your Laser Sword attacks into this skill rotation to speed up your cooldowns further while increasing your damage.
1 Alwaysꦏ Use Your Laser Sword
We've mentioned it a few times already, but your Laser Sword is a fundamental part of the Mercenary's kit. If you want to become the s🦄trongest Mercenary possible, you must master the use of your default attack.
Laser Sword is your on൩ly means of applying Expose to enemies, causing them to take 350% increased damage while reducing all of your cooldowns by one second. It's also one of the few default attacks with a proc coefficient of one while still attacking at a reasonable rate. Weaving your sword into your attacks allows you to cancel downtime in your animations, maximize proc-related items, and lets your high-damage skills capitalize on your Exposures.
A few notes about your Laser Sword:
- The third swing has a recovery window of over half a second. Use another skill after the slash occurs to cancel this lengthy animation.
- Using Laser Sword during Eviscerate will prematurely cancel it. This is the only time you shouldn't be auto-attacking.
- Using Whirlwind or Rising Thunder after Laser Sword's third attack will apply Exposed if the enemy isn't Exposed already. This can set up devastating combos if you have a Backup Mag or the Focused Assault skill.