Mercenary Class Guide and Ascendancies

The Mercenary in Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) is known for his ability to utilize crossbows and multiple ammo types. Read on for an overview of the Mercenary, including information on the Mercenary's skills, their recommended passives, a guide on their skill tree progression, ascendancies, the best stats to increase, builds, and how to play the Mercenary!

Mercenary Class Overview

Overview

The Mercenary
Attribute	Dexterity/Strength
Weapon	Crossbows

The Mercenary can utilize multiple crossbows and ammo types to deal with any situation from range. It can destroy enemy shields or armor with rapid fire, block paths will a wall of ice, or shotgun bosses to burst them down.

Strengths

Excellent AoE Damage Extremely Versatile Good at All Range

Excellent AoE Damage

The Mercenary features the use of Grenade ammos which create large area-of-effects that can take on plenty of mobs. The Explosive Grenade is your standard grenade ammo and can slow your enemies on hit. Flash Grenades deal little damage but have high chances of stunning your opponents, while the Oil Grenade can also slow down your enemies but covers them in oil to set them on fire once Fire damage has been dealt.

Extremely Versatile

With the Mercenary's multiple ammo types, he is capable of dealing both Fire and Cold damage with Incendiary and Permafrost Rounds. The Incendiary Rounds are perfect for dealing high damage to both single targets and mobs, while the Permafrost Rounds are great for crowd control.

Good at All Ranges

The range of Crossbows is very flexible as they can be used as either a shotgun with Burst Shot, a rifle with Rapid Shot, or a grenade launcher with the Power Shot.

Weaknesses

High Cooldowns Low Mobility

High Cooldowns

Many of the Mercenary skills deal great AoE damage at the cost of high cooldowns so try to manage them as much as possible.

Low Mobility

Mercenaries do not have a lot of options for mobility as many of their skills focus on using the crossbow. Make full use of your range and try to position yourself safely as much as possible.

Mercenary Skills

All Confirmed Mercenary Skills

The Crossbow has a total of 22 skills that Mercenaries can use. Listed below are skills that were mentioned and showcased in the Mercenary Gameplay Walkthrough:

1. Armor Piercing Rounds
2. Inciendary Rounds
3. Permafrost Rounds
4. Explosive Grenade
5. Flash Grenade
6. Oil Grenade

Armor Piercing Rounds

Armor Piercing Rounds focus on removing or disregarding enemy armor fast. This ammo skill for the Burst Shot crossbow allows Mercenaries to pierce through enemies, making it great against enemy hordes.

Incendiary Rounds

Incendiary Rounds can set enemies on fire or create explosions. For the Rapid Shot crossbow, this ammo skill creates a special interaction that increases your damage as you continue shooting.

Permafrost Rounds

Permafrost Rounds focus on crowd control, allowing you to chill or freeze enemies in place. The Power Shot interaction of this ammo skill allows you to isolate targets, giving you more control of combat areas.

Explosive Grenade

Explosive grenades deal direct damage to enemies after a short time. This is best used with Permafrost rounds to slow enemies down and keep them in the grenade's blast radius.

Flash Grenade

Flash grenades do barely any damage but can deal huge amounts of stun. This is a great opener for any combat situation, as you'll have more time to set up your biggest damage combos.

Oil Grenade

Oil grenades cover the ground and enemies in oil, slowing down their approach. Enemies and areas covered in oil can also be set on fire.

This grenade attachment is best used with a Rapid Shot Crossbow with Incendiary Rounds, as it can instantly catch fire when launched.

Mercenary Ascendancies

The Mercenary will have two available Ascendancy classes for the Early Access, with another Ascendancy coming soon. Below is a list of the confirmed ascendancy classes for the Mercenary:

Witchhunter

Witchhunters can increase their defense against magic in exchange for lesser defense against physical attacks. They can also disrupt spell casters, slowing the cast interval of enemies for their survivability.

Witchhunters can have a chance to make their enemies explode, the chance percentage for this doubles against demons and undead enemies. They also have a chance to deal up to 30% of an enemy's total health as damage with their initial attack.

Witchhunter Ascendancy Overview and Skills

Gemling Legionnaire

Gemling Legionnaires can enhance their abilities by embedding gems in their flesh. Gemling Legionnaires can gain extra skill slots, increase elemental resistances, and use any gem without meeting the attribute requirement.

Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy and Skills

Mercenary Stat Priority

Dexterity and Strength Focus

The Mercenary is a Dexterity and Strength-based class, focusing on applying high AoE damage while having good versatility during combat. The Mercenary is a ranged fighter that specializes in using crossbows with multiple ammo types.

Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) Related Guides

List of Classes

List of Early Access Classes

List of Upcoming Classes