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The Mercenary is a nimble warrior inRisk of Rain Returnsthat can dart around the battlefield at high speeds, delivering swift and decisive blows to groups of enemies. His playstyle revolves around risky melee encounters, using evasion to avoid enemies while attacking as much as possible.
The Mercenary can be difficult to play, but that’s where we come in. If you’re looking to master the Mercenary, you’ve come to the right place. Below, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about playing this Survivor, including details on all his skills, the best items to use, and some tips for success.
Description
Laser Sword
Slash in front of you, damaging up to 3 enemies for 130% damage.
Quickly slice twice, dealing 2x80% damage to all nearby enemies.
Blinding Assault
Dash forwards, stunning enemies for 120% damage. If you hit an enemy, you can dash again, up to 3 times.
Eviscerate
Target the nearest enemy, attacking them for 6x110% damage. You cannot be hit for the duration.
Unlockable Skills
The following skills can be unlocked by completing certain challenges. These can replace Mercenary’sWhirlwind,Blinding Assault, orEviscerate.
How To Unlock
Focused Strike(replaces Whirlwind)
Hold to sheath your weapon. Release before an incoming strike to parry enemy attacks for 500%-1000% damage to all nearby enemies.
Complete 25 stages as Mercenary.
Skyward Assault(replaces Blinding Assault)
Dash upwards, damaging enemies for 200% damage. Press again to slam down for 400% damage.
Collect 300 items as Mercenary.
After-Image(replaces Eviscerate)
Focus briefly, channeling energy into an after-image. All attacks are doubled for three seconds. Stacks twice.
Defeat 3000 enemies as Mercenary.
Best Items For Mercenary
The Mercenary has highinnate attack speed and good mobility, butlacks overall defenseswhen Eviscerate and Blinding Assault are on cooldown. Because of this, you’ll want to focus on increasing the Mercenary’s damage to kill enemies before they kill you, while also maintaining good defenses in situations where you can’t.
Why It’s Good
Lens Maker’s Glasses
Attacks have a 10% chance to Critically Strike, dealing double damage.
Increases overall damage and helps activate the effects of Harvester’s Scythe, Predatory Instincts, and Wicked Ring.
Increases movement speed by 7.5% and attack speed by 6%.
Increases damage and mobility.
Backup Magazine
Gain 1 extra charge for your Secondary Skill.
Grants an extra use of Whirlwind, allowing you to travel further or deal more damage quickly.
Stacks effective health over the duration of the run.
Predatory Instincts
Gain 5% Critical Strike chance. Critical Strikes increase attack speed by 10%, up to 30%.
Increases overall damage.
Harvester’s Scythe
Gain 5% Critical Strike chance. Critical Strikes heal you for 8 health.
Increases damage in melee-range.
Wicking Ring
Gain 5% Critical Strike chance. Critical Strikes reduce cooldowns by 1 second.
Increases the effectiveness of all Skills, allowing you to use them more frequently.
Alien Head
Decrease your skill cooldowns by 30%.
Allows you to use Blinding Assault and Eviscerate more frequently to avoid damage.
How To Play As Mercenary
The Mercenary is ahigh-risk, high-reward Survivorthat will force you to assess the factors of every situation. Whirlwind, Blinding Assault, and Eviscerate all have a movement element, which means you are incentivized toalways remain on the move while dealing damage.
Whirlwind can be used tojump over enemy attackswhile slicing them from above. Whirlwind has avery short cooldown, making it ideal for bouncing around the battlefield. Additionally, you canuse Whirlwind as a second jump, allowing you to get to ledges that are normally just out of reach.
Focused Strikehas the potential to deal much more damage than Whirlwind, but it’s alsoriskier to use. You’ll need totime the release of the skill just rightto parry enemy attacks, but doing so correctly will result in a huge attack that deals high damage.
Blinding Assaultwill have its cooldown reset up to 2 times if you hit an enemy with it, making it great forstunning groups of enemieswhile dealing some damage. This skill should mainly beused defensively, stunning an enemy just before an attack or moving out of the way of one.
Skyward Assaultcan be a good replacement for Blinding Assault that will have it work in a similar way to Whirlwind. With Skyward Assault, you’ll be able toavoid attacks by getting above them, dealing damage at the same time. However,Skyward Assault does not crowd control the enemyat all, meaning it has slightlyinferior mitigating abilitiesthan Blinding Assault.
After-Imageworks best whenpaired with Blinding Assaultandhigh attack speed items, as its short activation time means you need tomake the most out of every attack. However, if you can reduce your cooldowns throughAlien HeadorWicked Ring, you can stack the effect of After-Image, allowing you to have your clone up for even longer.
