All hirable mercs tier list

[Trolleur_Durden]

After finally finishing the game on Mission Impossible and having seen most of the content, I know much better now what really works and what does not. Here's my tier list of all the hirable mercs in the game. I've made it using the following grading system for each merc, going from what matters the most to what matters the least:


-Unique perk

Unique perks vary greatly between utterly broken and almost useless, and they are the real mesure of a merc's true value. A merc providing a game-changing unique perk will be rated much better in this category than one having a low-impact unique perk.

-Allocated perks

Most mercs are Lvl 2+, which means they come with pre-allocated perks. And sadly, most of them have perk choices ranging from bad to terrible. The more botched a merc build is, perk-wise, the lower his rating will be in this category.

-Relationships

Most mercs have relationships with other mercs, and this can have a noticeable impact on their performance. A low AP merc like Steroid can end up unable to even fire a gun if he loses AP because of a low morale. So in this category, mercs are rated through their relationships with other mercs. Having bad relationships with other highly-tiered mercs is a clear downside which warrants a low rating in this category, while having bad relationships with low-tiered mercs which you wouldn't want to hire in the first place doesn't really matter. And of course, having good relationships with other high-tier mercs is a must.

-Starting perks

Most starting perks are pretty underwhelming, besides a couple solid choices like Heavy weapons. There are also mercs coming with some special starting perks that are actually pure downsides, like Claustrophobic. While starting perks don't matter as much as the categories above, they can nonetheless add or remove some value to some mercs, depending of their builds.

-Context

This category is mostly relevant for the specialists, the mercs focusing on Mec/Exp/Med, because some mercs can become more relevant only because there's actually no better alternative to them.

-Special items

Some mercs have special items giving them an edge, while others have important inventory slots clogged by bad unremovable items. When it's the case, it affects their rating accordingly.

-Stats

Stats are without a doubt a very important aspect of a merc, but I'm more and more convinced they actually don't matter as much as it seems for two reasons. The first one is because those stats can improve and be trained, allowing a merc to overcome their stats weaknesses. However, this is only true for mercs having a decent Wis stats. The second reason derives from the importance of the equipment, which can allow even an average merc to be quite efficient with the right tools.

Here's one example from my own playthrough: Barry ended up the game lvl 10 at 77 Marksmanship, having gained +7 through field experience only. I never trained him in this stats. He still managed to do 115 non-explosive kills with an average accuracy of 82%, because he used various rifles modded to improve aiming and accuracy.

Stats are also tied to perks, since you need to reach some thresholds to be able to take the best perks, making a low stats and low Wis combination an especially detrimental one for the relevance of a merc.

In summary, mercs are rated depending of either their starting stats or their Wis, while having neither of those is a serious flaw. The Old dog perk is also weighting down the stats rating, since having flawed stats and no other means to improve them except tomes car be an irredeemable flaw.

-Cost

Lastly, the cost of a merc is what settles the deal, because everything comes down to the final question: "Is this merc really worth it?". However, it's a pretty tough question to answer, since the real value of money will vary greatly depending of difficulty settings and overall strategic performance. From me, money wasn't really a limiting factor after the early game, since I finished the game in a bit less than 4 months with a bit more than a million in bank. However, I noticed that the salary of mercs ramp up with their level, so much that at the end of the game, recruits like Livewire, Barry and Fox asked each around 30k for 14 days. So while I wasn't nowhere near broke, I still ended the game with a negative burn rate due to mines depleting while salaries going up with time. I settled on taking a merc's salary into account for their final rating, but I fully acknowledge that a good management can lead to high funds and make some of the mercs better than the tier I put them in. It's also the reason I haven't rated the free mercs here, since there's literaly no downsides to having them with you.


Regarding the tiers, here's what each tier means for me:

-S tier mercs are not only the best mercs when it comes to either stats or potential, but they also provide something truly game-changing, which opens new strategic venues for the whole team.
-A tier mercs are solid good mercs with an overall high rating in the areas listed above, which makes them good recruits to have in almost any team.
-B tier mercs are decent mercs marred by some flaws. They can still be relevant for some niche roles or in special circumstances, but usually, there's better alternatives to them.
-C tier mercs are the worst mercs in the roster, those who have irredeemable flaws without outstanding qualities, and they should be avoided in most circumstances since there's almost always better alternatives to them.


S TIER
-Livewire
-Fox
-Raven
-Thor
-Barry
-Reaper

A TIER

-Ivan
-Wolf
-Ice
-Blood
-Vicki
-Dr. Q
-MD
-Buns
-Igor
-Len
-Sidney
-Shadow

B TIER
-Raider
-Meltdown
-Gus
-Magic
-Scully
-Scope
-Red
-Mouse
-Nails
-Grizzly

C TIER
-Kalyna
-Fauda
-Fidel
-Hitman
-Steroid
-Omryn
-Grunty
-Tex


If you want a detailed breakdown of the way I rated your favourite merc before insulting me for not putting them in S tier, feel free to ask!

EDIT LIST:

-Wolf downgraded from S to A tier.
-Ivan upgraded from B to A tier.
-Raven upgrade from A to S tier.

[mr_oluap]

Hitman can train anyone's aim to 90 in a few days, one of the best early pick for this reason (and for destroying first fights...).

Then you can keep him if you like him, or just retire him or use him for militia training.

And for the same reason Mouse is great because she'll have 90+ aim after a week of training while her other stats are already top tier and her passive very useful.

[Lightning]

I still consider Gus the best cause of unique Grit perks aside from anyone else really helps the team alot

[Mechanique]

That's extremely subjective, but I'll bite.

Why did you put Grunty, the cheapest merc on the roster @ lvl 10 while also being 6th most cost effective at start into C tier? And with his unique talent to instantly delete an enemy for free at combat start?

[Alpha]

You need to provide your reasoning behind your rating, otherwise thats just your opinion, based on what exactly? Did you use every merc for an entire campaign?

[Avataristche]

I'd say Livewire, Fox and Barry are S, all else are subjective.

[sandman25dcsss]

I agree with half list and disagree with another half. Was it generated randomly? ;)

[tuckus2003]

Controversial opinion incoming-
This is why i dont like perks. Rather than slight stat disparity (and traits like auto weps or night ops) there’s real, significant power level differences. You have to intentionally gimp yourself to do a run with mercs you like on a personal level

[kayfabe]

I'm a bigger fan of Hold Position than most but I'd pretty cleanly put Meltdown in a higher tier than Grizzly.

C-tier description is automatically too harsh if you're sticking cost effective Grunty and people with enough strength and explosives to huck grenades well in there. Barry doesn't automagically invalidate other explosives experts given that he creates enough shaped charges for his own use that you can you can spread the rest of the explosives between him and a second expert then leave a crater where tough fights used to be. Red in particular is way more than the sum of his personal stats.

She's a very good character but people dramatically overstate the quality of extra loot and scouting you end up with from Livewire relative to running anyone with some extra levels or the Stealthy talent. She's the best there is at something but that something isn't as important as people make it out to be.

[kayfabe]

Originally posted by tuckus2003:

Controversial opinion incoming-
This is why i dont like perks. Rather than slight stat disparity (and traits like auto weps or night ops) there’s real, significant power level differences. You have to intentionally gimp yourself to do a run with mercs you like on a personal level

I'm actually OK with this since people tend to overstate the power level differences and even when there are serious discrepancies running atypical teams is fun for challenge runs and can even end up upsetting your preconceptions. E.g., I wouldn't rate Grizz and Steroid super high but that's way different than those two being unplayable. They performed well enough that I now actually prefer to run a mix of stealthy and tanky guys rather than grabbing all the stealthy guys even though in a vacuum I'd say stealth is the strongest tactic.

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by kayfabe:

She's a very good character but people dramatically overstate the quality of extra loot and scouting you end up with from Livewire relative to running anyone with some extra levels or the Stealthy talent.

No? Have you been in "Good place"?

[kayfabe]

Originally posted by sandman25dcsss:

Originally posted by kayfabe:

She's a very good character but people dramatically overstate the quality of extra loot and scouting you end up with from Livewire relative to running anyone with some extra levels or the Stealthy talent.

No? Have you been in "Good place"?

Yeah, first playthrough without Livewire.

[[NcK]MasterShake|CM]

Originally posted by Mechanique:

That's extremely subjective, but I'll bite.

Why did you put Grunty, the cheapest merc on the roster @ lvl 10 while also being 6th most cost effective at start into C tier? And with his unique talent to instantly delete an enemy for free at combat start?

I'm a Gruny fan also, but his perks synergize poorly. If I were to guess, in an earlier build Grunty's unique perk worked with heavy weapons and you could get that free first shot with a machine gun or rocket launcher. It was probably determined to be OP [and given the other OP stuff in the game, you can only guess how bad it was]. I can't prove this in terms acceptable to science, it's just a strong hunch on my part. Unless things get significantly more expensive/difficult in the late game, the cost of low tier mercs, even as they level up and want more coin is negligible. He's an okay all 'rounder-- he just seems low because the list only goes to C instead of F.

Livewire is overrated at S, unless you really need the intel crutch. The recruit tier mercs are entirely too good, imo. Meltdown is definitely better than Grizzly unless you want his merc. perk to do a full Rambo flavor build. So, either he has to go down or she has to go up.

Is this taking cost into account? Because all you're really paying for are unique mercenary perks... the rest you can do with a bit of training, generally.

[Avataristche]

Livewire gives you maphack. She also has extremely high Wisdom, so she can get like +10, say, Marksmanship per session. Free Intel once in a while is just a topping.

[sandman25dcsss]

Originally posted by kayfabe:

Originally posted by sandman25dcsss:

No? Have you been in "Good place"?

Yeah, first playthrough without Livewire.

And of course didn't have any problems?

[Trolleur_Durden]

Originally posted by Mechanique:

That's extremely subjective, but I'll bite.

Why did you put Grunty, the cheapest merc on the roster @ lvl 10 while also being 6th most cost effective at start into C tier? And with his unique talent to instantly delete an enemy for free at combat start?

The main issue with Grunty is his unique perk, which is one of the very few unique perks which can be a downside in some circumstances, and is far from being an "instant delete of an enemy for free at combat start". Because it's an unaimed attack to the closest enemy at the beginning of combat, it will more often than not miss if the target is a bit far away, if it's night time, if the target is behind an obstacle or above Grunty, and so on. And a missed attack automatically removes stealth, which is a huge issue.

Beyond that, his perk doesn't work with heavy weapons, while the rest of his kit is geared towards heavy weapons, which makes Grunty's build all over the place. And since setting up an LMG zone on unsuspecting enemis can allow you to deal not one, but multiple attacks at combat start, it makes Grunty's ability at best useless most of the time.

Beyond that, he has below average stats and Wis, meaning that he will have issues reaching the threshold of gold tier perks without a fair amount of training, which kinda defeats his sole redeeming quality, which is being cheap. He's an average LMG user and that's pretty much it.