Fade's Guide to Becoming an Intergalactic Mercenary

Another Merc guide, but even more in depth - with math to boot. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

The goal here isn't really a playstyle guide, but rather an overview guide covering the skills, stats, tech and interactions, and some general tips. I know it's really wordy, but trust me, it's worth going through.

Will be updated with new stuff as time goes on, such as any possible new tech, number changes, etc.

Sections on Mithrix, Flying Enemies, and [REDACTED] coming soon

Character Overview

The Mercenary is a high-risk high-reward character in Risk of Rain 2, revolving around swift melee attacks and cooldown reduction with his unique debuff, Expose, as well as gracefully slipping in and out of combat using his superior combat mobility and iframes. While initially seeming weak and worth way more risk than reward, he is very intricate, requiring probably the most skill out of all the other characters, both in skill floor and skill ceiling. Despite his seemingly glass-cannon setup, he plays a little like a jack-of-all trades, possessing good mobility, damage output, and proc rates with fair HP and defense in the form of iframes.
Do remember that, despite all the tips, advice, and whatnot that you can try to follow, Mercenary is ultimately a character that scales with player skill, and thus relies on a player’s experience, intuition, and game sense

Playstyle

Mercenary, as stated previously, is a character that revolves around comboing and slipping in and out of combat. The general gameplay of Mercenary involves sticking to enemies a lot, applying Expose before slapping them with whatever other skill you have, or mixing together skills to form intricate combos, and utilizing his dashes to get away from the fight if needed - or extend his combos further. Mercenary possesses good damage, procs, and ample iframes (even without Eviscerate), and all should be taken advantage of. Mercenary’s kinda like Huntress in that he’s very zippy and can’t take too many hits, but way cooler since he actually has damage output and procs. (Disclaimer: While I am making fun of Huntress, I am in no way trying to insult those who play her. Every character is viable in their own right and you should enjoy the character you prefer)

Generally, Mercenary tends to not feel very good when getting started, and feels like you’re hitting your enemies with a wet noodle, which is warranted; Assuming you don’t have any unlocks, you’re usually stuck with a single, relatively low damage output loadout (Whirlwind - Blinding Assault - Eviscerate), which coupled with his high skill floor can turn most people away quickly. Mercenary starts coming online once you have all his skills and can now freely test out which loadout(s) suit you and what works, in addition to the time it takes to learn Mercenary. If you didn’t like Merc before, try getting his other unlocks if you don’t have them already and giving him another shot.

Example

Example 2

Stats and Stat Breakdown

Stats
HP: 110 (+33 per level)
HP Regen: 1/per second (+0.2 per level)
Base Damage: 12 (+2.4 per level)
Base Speed: 7 m/s
Base Armor: 20 (16.67% damage reduction)

Stat Breakdown
HP - Average
HP Regen - Lower than normal, especially for melee characters. Was nerfed in Update 1.0 in order to put greater emphasis on dodging and comboing to have as much on time on iframe skills as possible. A Cautious Slug fixes this lower regen.
Base Damage - Average
Base Speed - Identical to all other characters
Base Armor - Melee character level. Useful early on for lowering the damage you take slightly. Don’t rely on it, use your own skills to avoid damage and/or get better damage reduction items

Skill Breakdowns:

Cybernetic Enhancements

Mercenary’s only passive. Grants him an extra jump. Unlike extra jumps granted by Hopoo Feathers however, this extra jump is slightly lower, but can be boosted by Wax Quails. A very straightforward passive. Best used for extra early-game mobility and getting double value from Wax Quails.

Expose

A debuff unique to Mercenary that he can apply to enemies through certain skills, namely Laser Sword, Focused Assault, and Slicing Winds. The debuff itself is unaffected by proc coefficient, and as such can last for a theoretically infinite amount of time on an Exposed enemy. Upon hitting a target affected by Expose, the attack will also deal an additional 350% damage and reduce all of your current skill cooldowns by 1 second, then removing the debuff from the target. The additional 350% damage can be used to proc bands off of skills that normally don’t meet the damage requirement to do so (minimum damage for bands is 400%). The debuff can be reapplied as needed, though without a certain item, only 1 stack of Expose can be on a target at any given time.

Laser Sword

Mercenary’s only primary. Deals 130% damage per swing, swinging in a 3-hit combo if used rapidly or holding M1. The 3rd hit of this combo will always cause the sword to swing in an incredibly wide range in front of the player, with a hitbox so large it can even hit enemies behind the player. All enemies hit by this 3rd strike are inflicted with Expose. This 3rd strike also has end lag, which can’t be entirely removed no matter how much attack speed is stacked. The end lag, however, can be canceled if another skill is used right as the animation for the 3rd strike begins, and can lead to extending the hitbox of the 3rd strike into another skill, which will be covered later. The sword has a base attack rate of 0.42 seconds for each swing, and 0.64 seconds of end lag after the 3rd consecutive swing, adding up to approximately 195% DPS. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient. Is Agile (Agile tag = won’t break sprint if used while sprinting)

Whirlwind

Mercenary’s default secondary, commonly abbreviated as “WW”. On use, has Mercenary quickly spin in a certain way based on his position, spinning horizontally and making a short dash if on the ground, or a vertical spin and granting a short hop if in the air. WW can hit twice for 200% damage each strike, for 400% damage total. The animation is smooth and slick, coming out fairly quickly with little lag. Often preferred for consistent Primary-to-Secondary combos as its 2-hit system makes M1 extensions easier to perform. Hitting angled surfaces (such as the ramps in the Mithrix arena) in the right way with the grounded version of WW can allow Mercenary to perform a trimp, gaining great height. WW has a cooldown of 2.5 seconds. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient and an upwards of 160% (400/2.5) DPS, or effectively 500% (750/1.5) DPS with Expose at the start accounted for.

Rising Thunder

Mercenary’s alternative secondary, unlocked by staying airborne as Mercenary for 30 consecutive seconds. Commonly abbreviated as “RT”. On use, has a slight start-up animation, before flinging the player vertically in an uppercut, striking all enemies in its hitbox for 550% damage. Can be used as a slightly higher midair jump. Keep in mind it will cancel your horizontal movement when used. Can be used for Primary-to-Secondary combos, and though it’s not as smooth as WW, it does have greater total damage from the combo (900% total damage compared to WW’s 750%). RT has a cooldown of 2.5 seconds. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient and an upwards of 220% (550/2.5) DPS, or effectively 600% (900/1.5) DPS with Expose at the start accounted for.

Blinding Assault

Mercenary’s default utility, commonly abbreviated as “BA”. On use, it causes Mercenary to dash a medium distance forward in the direction you are currently facing, gaining invincibility for the full length of the dash. The dash can hit enemies along the way for 300% damage per hit. Hitting an enemy during the dash will “reset” the dash, granting a roughly 2.66 second window of time to use the dash again, “resetting” once more upon hitting an enemy. This can only be done up to 2 times, for a total of 3 dashes per full cooldown. If the next dash is not used within the 2.66 second window, the 3rd dash is used, or no enemy is hit during the dash, the full cooldown is forced. The skill icon will change color depending on how many dashes have been used, with blue indicating no dashes used (3 more dashes), orange for 1 dash used (2 more dashes), and red for 2 dashes used (1 more dash). Totals up to 900% damage on a single target without Expose (3*300%). Has a slight start up animation. During the length of each dash (0.3 seconds) and for 0.2 seconds afterwards, the player is granted iframes and therefore completely immune to all damage during those 0.5 seconds, for a total of 1.5 seconds of iframes provided all 3 dashes are made. The dash length can be canceled using either secondary during the dash, providing the benefit of being able to stay on top of enemies while gaining iframes. BA has a cooldown of 8 seconds. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient and an upwards of 112.5% DPS (assuming you use all 3 dashes), or effectively 178.5% (1250/7, 1 Expose proc), 266.6% (1600/6, 2 Expose procs), or even 390% (1950/5, 3 Expose procs) DPS, all assuming only 1 target is hit with all 3 dashes. Is Stunning and Agile (Stunning tag = briefly stuns the hit enemy)

Focused Assault

Mercenary’s alternate utility, unlocked by using Mercenary’s skills 20 times total in the span of 10 seconds. Commonly abbreviated as “FA”. On use, causes Mercenary to dash a longer distance than BA, gaining invincibility for the full length of the dash. The dash can hit enemies along the way. After a delay of ~1 second, it will deal 700% damage and inflicting Expose on all hit enemies, in that specific order. Best used as a combo tool, as following up on the resulting Expose from FA can result in high CDR. Possesses better multi-target capabilities than BA. Unlike BA, FA cannot be canceled, and as such can occasionally cause the player to overshoot their target or off an edge. Has a slight start up animation. During the length of the dash (~0.3 seconds), the player is granted iframes and therefore completely immune to all damage during those 0.3 seconds. FA has a cooldown of 8 seconds. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient and an upwards of 87.5% DPS, or effectively 150% (1050/7, 1 Expose proc) or 233.3% (1400/6, 2 Expose procs when using an M1 extension) DPS, assuming only 1 target is hit. Is Stunning and Agile.

Eviscerate

Mercenary’s default special, commonly abbreviated as “Evis”. On use, causes Mercenary to dash a medium distance forward. If an enemy is caught within its hitbox during this dash, Mercenary proceeds to rapidly strike the enemy 7 times, for 770% total damage (7*110%) or 1120% if hitting an enemy with Expose (770%+350%). This attack animation lasts for 1.3 seconds, and grants Mercenary iframes during this time and for 0.6 seconds afterwards, for a total of 1.9 seconds of iframes. The amount of attacks made during this animation scales with attack speed, with more attack speed equaling more hits, although this will not affect the animation time, and therefore does not affect the amount of iframes from the skill. During the animation, the player is unable to move, use other skills, and Evis cannot be canceled. Can hit multiple enemies, though the damage is split between the targets. If no enemies are hit during the length of the dash, then nothing happens and Evis simply acts as another mobility skill. Evis has a cooldown of 6 seconds. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient and an upwards of 128.3% (770/6) DPS, or effectively 224% (1120/5, 1 Expose proc) DPS. Is Agile.

Slicing Winds

Mercenary’s alternate special, unlocked by completing a Prismatic Trial as Mercenary without taking any hits. Commonly abbreviated as “SW”. On use, Mercenary throws a somewhat slow projectile with a sizable hitbox forward. Upon hitting an enemy, it proceeds to quickly hit the target(s) 8 times, for an upwards of 800% total damage (8*100%). SW also has a fairly large AoE (Area of Effect), being able to hit up to 2 additional targets within its hitbox after impact, for a total damage of 2400% (800%*3). After the last hit from SW, all enemies hit by SW are inflicted with Expose. Should following up on SW’s Expose be taken into account, SW effectively does 1150% total damage to a single target (800%+350%) and an upwards of 3450% on 3 targets (1150%*3), and if hitting already-Exposed enemies, can skyrocket even further to 1500% (800%+700%)) on 1 target or even 4500% (1500%*3) on 3. Unlike Evis, the amount of hits from SW do not scale with attack speed, though as SW has a very short animation at its start just to throw the projectile, other skills can be used during SW, and given enough CDR, such as from Brainstalks, SW can be used again while the previous SW is still active, while Evis cannot be used again until the skill’s animation ends. SW has a cooldown of 6 seconds. Possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient and an upwards of 133.3% (800/6) to 400% (2400/6) DPS or effectively 230% (1150/5) to 1150% (3450/3) DPS with Expose at the end accounted for, and effectively 375% (1500/4) to 4500% (Full reset since 3 targets with 2 Expose per target is a full 6 second CDR) DPS with Expose at the start and end accounted for.

Unlock Advice

Unlocking Mercenary
Obliterate in a run. Fairly simple and straightforward. Once you loop a run (can be done by entering the Lunar Bazaar or Artifact Portal on Stage 5 (Sky Meadows), or interacting with the teleporter prongs on the Primordial Teleporter before starting the tele event on Stage 5), every 3rd stage (Rallypoint Delta or Scorched Acres) in a loop (for example, Stage 8 in the first loop, then Stage 13, and so on and so forth) will have a Celestial Portal spawn after completing the teleporter event. Interacting with it will send you to A Moment, Fractured, where following the path will lead you to an obelisk that you can obliterate at, giving you 5 Lunar Coins (or with a specific item, a boss fight). Obliterating for the first time unlocks Mercenary.

Rising Thunder
Make great use of trimping with Whirlwind to get initial height. Use the dash(es) from BA or FA and Evis to stay further airborne. A Milky Chrysalis will help the most in staying in the air. Stack Fuel Cells if you wish to use Milky Chrysalis. H3AD-5T v2 (“Headstompers”) and Hopoo Feathers will also help in gaining initial height or maintaining it.

Focused Assault
Any CDR item such as Alien Head and/or Purity will be of great help. Run either secondary and stack Backup Magazines to quickly spam it. Stack attack speed as well as they will greatly speed up the animations. This challenge can also be completed with just Laser Sword (4 Soldier’s Syringes is enough) or Visions of Heresy (each individual shard counts as a skill, with Visions holding 12 shards).

Slicing Winds
Unfortunately for newer or less experienced players using Mercenary, this may be the most difficult one to complete, with great focus in both skill and luck. Watching Cabbage can greatly help one to determine good routes and runs for the current trial. WW and BA are preferred for completing the unlock for SW as the goal for Ethereal isn’t to kill stuff quickly, it’s to minimize the possibility of getting hit. Prioritize trials with the Artifact of Glass, since its downside of lowering your HP doesn’t matter in a challenge where you don’t even want to get hit. Trials with the Artifact of Command can also be helpful, though not as much as Glass. With skill you can simply avoid damage, but it may be wise to stack Topaz Brooches, as having barrier does not count as getting hit for the sake of this challenge.

Deciding Which Skills to Use

(Quick Note: All of Mercenary’s skills are reasonably well balanced and can be mixed and matched freely. Mercenary is pretty much a “choose whatever” character.)

Laser Sword vs Visions of Heresy
Laser Sword heavily preferred, at least for the before and during the first loop, as it plays a crucial role in Mercenary’s kit, serving as his main method of inflicting Expose onto enemies. Taking Visions would hinder his ability to deal good burst damage and reduce cooldowns significantly since it can’t inflict Expose, and would be an active detriment if you don’t have SW or FA in your loadout. Even then, you still lose a significant part of your combos. The only times where you would probably consider taking Visions is in deep loops of the game, where what you do kind of no longer matters as your proc chains will decimate everything anyways, or in Prismatic Trials when called for (Again, watching Cabbage is very helpful for determining this).

WW vs RT
WW lightly preferred due to how smoothly it can combo and cancel, and possesses extra utility with trimps, acting as a short dash, or a small hop. RT however possesses great burst damage and offers decent vertical mobility (A little higher than a second jump) without requiring a ramped surface, making it better at dealing with airborne targets without needing to use any of your utilities or specials. The quick vertical movement of RT makes juking attacks easier and more flexible.. The slight startup animation can throw off M1 extensions a little. For those who prefer utility, WW is the better choice, and for those who want raw damage and adaptable dodges, RT is the better choice.

WW and RT vs Hooks of Heresy
Dependant on player choice. While Mercenary doesn’t really need hooks, especially since both WW and RT’s are practically essential for combos, Hooks is an acceptable choice, trading reliable combos and endlag canceling for even greater damage output (~3.7k% potential DPS, actually) and rooting in return for a higher cooldown (8 seconds).

BA vs FA
Personal preference, though BA is preferred when running Slicing Winds as it can entirely cover the lack of iframes from SW, while FA is preferred when running Eviscerate as it can help make up for the lower damage output and grant Evis a nice Expose proc. Despite this, both utilities can be mixed and matched, such as BA + Evis for great iframes at the cost of damage output, or FA + SW for amazing amounts of Expose procs at the cost of the more reliable iframes from BA.

BA and FA vs Strides of Heresy
BA and FA preferred. Both BA and FA provide enough protection with their iframes as well as being able to also deal damage, and have unique interactions with Mercenary’s other skills. Strides can be taken should the player wish, but it will overall worsen comboing, Expose procs, and generally lower Mercenary’s damage output.

Evis vs SW
SW lightly preferred, especially for more experienced Mercenary players, as it has superior damage output, DPS, potential procs, AoE, range, and comboing potential at the cost of more reliable iframes, which is why BA is preferred for your utility slot when using SW. It also extends your effective combo range since it’s a ranged projectile, allowing you to chuck it while closing the distance to get some damage and an Expose proc right as you arrive at your target(s). Eviscerate is perfectly fine however, as it deals fair single-target damage and grants guaranteed iframes, and becomes a bit more effective with FA in your utility slot since it can help partially compensate for Evis’s lower damage compared to SW. Plus, Evis can be used to recover if you accidentally overshoot your target with FA. Ironically, Eviscerate can actually throw off combos; the scaling with attack speed means you increase its damage at the cost of completely throwing off timings from Laser Sword and related combos. Fun fact: It takes 6 Soldier’s Syringes for Evis to match SW in single-target DPS, and 53 Soldier’s Syringes for Evis to match SW at max value, without accounting for the fact that you can use other skills during an SW.

Evis and SW vs Essence of Heresy
Evis and SW heavily preferred. Both specials are incredibly valuable to Mercenary’s kit, especially as he does not have a reliable means of applying Ruin without replacing Laser Sword with Visions. If the player were to take Visions to help stack Ruin, they should consider transforming into the Heretic. Eviscerate provides reliable iframes and some extra mobility, while SW offers high damage output and comboing potential, both of which are entirely removed should Essence be taken, heavily lowering Mercenary’s damage output and combo potential.

Tech and Interactions

M1 Extensions
M1 extensions are, as the name implies, extending Laser Sword hitbox into another skill, namely extending the 3rd strike hitbox into another skill, generally either your secondary or utility. By activating either skill just as the animation for the 3rd strike starts, the hitbox can be “extended” into the next skill, allowing for quick combos and negating the end lag from the 3rd strike. M1 extensions are even more valuable on Mercenary’s utilities, as properly extending the 3rd slash into either dash will inflict Expose onto all enemies hit by the dash(es). With BA, this can allow for Exposing large amounts of enemies thanks to the three dashes BA has, while with FA it creates great burst damage (1050% per Exposed enemy) and then throws in yet another Expose proc for follow up (Examples in Combo section). A core part of playing Mercenary. There isn’t much advice for learning extensions other than practice. The Hitbox Viewer[thunderstore.io] mod may help.

Slams
A “slam” is performed by Mercenary by using either of his utilities to dash and end right inside of an enemy’s hitbox, causing the target to be pushed away quickly at a high velocity. While it has little effect on grounded enemies, it is mainly used on flying enemies, especially flying bosses such as Alloy Worship Unit or Wandering Vagrant, to quickly kill or severely damage them by “slamming” them into a wall or the skybox. Difficult to get down consistently, but worth practicing to save time. The Hitbox Viewer and Debug Toolkit[thunderstore.io] mods can help with practicing.

Video by Groove_Salad

Clipping
Though this is more of a bug than tech, it still has a place in Mercenary’s playstyle in specific situations. Hitting surfaces at the right angle with BA or FA will cause the player to clip through the object and into it. This can lead to some out-of-nowhere fall damage if clipping into the ground. However, when used to clip into objects or pieces of land (such as the pillars of the aqueduct in Abandoned Aqueduct), it can be used to hide from enemies, or clipping through the rock-based Void Cell in the Void in order to hide below it, as the cell borders extend into that area, keeping you completely safe for the charge time.

Eviscerate Hitbox Drag
Title says it all. The Evis hitbox drags a little behind the player, allowing for an M1 extension into Evis.

Dash Canceling
A tech specific to Blinding Assault. By using either secondary during the dash, the player can end the dash early. This is useful to avoid overshooting or staying on top of enemies, especially large ones, to maintain consistent DPS while also gaining some iframes. With good timing, one can cancel the dash after hitting an enemy with the dash, “resetting” the dash while also shortening it. Both secondaries (WW and RT) can cancel the dash.

Trimping
A tech specific to Whirlwind. By hitting a ramped surface at the right angle when using WW on the ground, one can be sent flying into the air at a great height, sometimes even hitting the skybox. Incredibly useful for reaching high areas or getting a bird’s eye view. Can be used to skip the pillars in Commencement with a bit of finesse.

Expose Stacking
An interaction with Brilliant Behemoth. For some odd reason, Behemoth inherits an attack’s damage type. As such, hitting an enemy with an attack that can Expose while carrying a Brilliant Behemoth, it will also apply a second Expose stack, allowing you to get more burst damage and CDR from the target. This is currently the only method for having more than 1 stack of Expose on an enemy. (Brilliant Behemoth can actually inflict Poison or Blight when playing Acrid, but since the explosion’s proc coefficient is 0, the debuffs last for 0 seconds. Kills from Behemoth can also reset cooldowns if procced off of Lights Out or give Desperado tokens if procced off of Desperado)

Comboing

When it comes to comboing, there’s not actually much to put; there are some basic combos every potential Merc main should know, though ultimately there are a variety of combos and chain attacks, too many to list here, especially as a Merc main grows and finds what works for them. Instead, I will put 2 general combos that you should always know.

Setting Up Combos
Setting up for combos may not immediately seem obvious, but the general gist of it is always be close to your target, or be able to close the gap quickly. This is primarily so you can get the combo off as quickly as possible, then get out or start chaining another combo. When using Laser Sword to start combos, it is wise to get a feel for time between swings, so you can land that third hit on the target the second you get close to it, or when extending the 3rd swing into other skills. All combos start out with the target being Exposed, keep in mind.

Primary -> Secondary Combo
A fairly straightforward combo, where when you see the animation for the 3rd Laser Sword swing, you use your secondary. This makes it so the Laser Sword hits first to Expose the target, before the secondary skill immediately makes a follow up hit for good burst damage. This combo is generally the most simple and versatile combo, and is the one you’ll use most, even when you have other skills, since the timing isn’t super tight and be done on a whim since the secondary skills have such low cooldowns. It is slightly harder to perform with RT due to RT’s startup animation, so delaying when you activate your secondary will help when trying to Primary -> Secondary combo with it.

Primary -> Utility Extension/Combo
As stated in the Tech section, you can extend your primary into your utility as well. By using either utility as soon as the animation for the 3rd Laser Sword swing starts, you “extend” the hitbox of the swing with the dash, allowing for hitting multiple targets with a single swing of your primary. Try to start the dash close to an enemy, as the animation for M1 can finish during the dash. Each utility has a different interaction for the Primary -> Utility combo; With BA, it’s used to inflict large amounts of Expose thanks to its 3 dashes, while with FA, it’s to get large burst damage on at least a single target. Try to be as close as possible to a target when starting a dash extension, since the hitlag from the initial hit will help extend the hitbox of the 3rd Laser Sword swing further.

On “Combo Potential”
You may have seen me toss around this phrase throughout the entire guide and wondering what it means. For the most part, it’s exactly as it sounds: How well does this skill or thing combo with Expose? There are a bunch of factors when it comes to combo potential, however. For example, how smooth is the animation of the skill? How many times does it hit? What’s the damage output? Does it apply Expose? Just a bunch of different things to consider.

Combo Example

Combo Example 2

Multitarget Comboing

Tips

• Always strafe around enemies and try to have their backs facing you. Very few enemies have attacks that hit directly behind them (those enemies being the bosses, sans Mithrix, Scavengers, and Twisted Scavengers, and for common enemies the ones that can hit behind themselves are Parents, Beetle Guards, Jellyfish, Exploders, Mini Mushrums, and Void Reavers. Technically Elder Lemurians can also hit behind them due to the shots sometimes going through their heads). In addition to this, not many enemies can keep up with the player constantly strafing around them.
  
• Prioritize killing Lesser Wisps early on. Being a character focused on melee, aerial targets will pose a greater problem early-game (About stages 1-2) than usual if left unchecked
  
• Understand enemy prioritization. This is especially important on Mercenary due to the nature of his gameplay.
  
• Pick targets you know will be an immediate threat to you (For example, while there is a Lesser Wisp you could take on, the golem right next to you poses a greater danger, even with the Lemurians around it)
  
• Don’t be afraid to run if things get hairy. While Mercenary’s HP is fair and possesses iframes, he is not like MUL-T, Loader, or Acrid, where he can facetank and/or outheal his enemies. Do not rely on your iframes to completely outtank damage unless you are confident enough in your skill to do so
  
• Save your iframes unless you know you can reset it fast enough, it will cool down before a big fight, or you can reset it during the fight. Your iframes could save you in a pinch, such as dodging a Vagrant explosion or a Mithrix hammer swing. Alternatively, try to have iframes up as long as possible, though this requires a greater degree of skill.
  
• To further conserve iframes, both of your secondaries can aid in dodging and avoiding damage. Makes use of them owing to their low cooldowns
  
• Make extensive use of Expose. The extra damage greatly enhances your DPS and the CDR is invaluable for continuing combos or resetting your iframe skills.
  
• Mercenary is one of few characters whose every skill, including alts, possesses a 1.0 proc coefficient. Make great use of this fact as it means you have a pretty good proc rate and work well with many items
  
• Both of your specials offer mobility in some capacity. Evis acts as an extra dash when not targeting an enemy, while SW gives a small vertical boost if airborne and can also stall vertical velocity, preventing fall damage
  
• Although SW is a ranged attack, its slow projectile speed makes it subpar at hitting targets from afar; it is instead best used at close to melee range instead, where following up on it is also easier
  
• Extending M1 into FA will increase the damage of FA’s delayed strike, and apply Expose once more, meaning you can get some insane CDR with this
  
• Certain bosses have hitboxes you can stand on. Generally applies to flying bosses. Make great use of this to (literally) stay on top of them.
  
• Mercenary benefits greatly from close-range items, so items such as Focus Crystal and Frost Relic are of great help
  
• Brilliant Behemoth is your friend, get it if you have the resources to do so and losing said items won’t be detrimental
  
• Stacking attack speed is actively detrimental to Mercenary, even if it does increase the amount of hits Evis makes, as speeding up the animation on Laser Sword can throw off timings for an extension, and can shorten the overall duration of WW or height gain from RT. It is possible to adapt to the changes in timing, but they get tighter and tighter with more attack speed
  
• Purity can be used to lower the cooldowns on RT and WW to the absolute minimum, allowing you to use them near-instantaneously, allowing for great height gain or dashing across the ground. Do remember the lower proc rate though from running Purity, unless you have a 57 Leaf Clover to offset it
  
• The stuns from BA and FA can be used to create some breathing room and set up for combos, make use of this
  
• The hitbox on the 3rd Laser Sword strike is large and honestly similar to a shotgun. Make use of this when performing combos, though remember that the hitboxes on other skills aren’t as large
  
• Due to the already very high starting mobility of Mercenary, damage and healing/defense items can be put first. Do still get a few mobility items though
  
• Practice makes perfect with Mercenary. Don’t be discouraged by failure
  
• Like attack speed, additional CDR from items such as Purity or Alien Head can throw off Mercenary’s skill rotation, though not as noticeably, and may even be welcomed
  
• Although Mercenary works well with really any item, do be careful with active effect items like ATGs or equipment like Sawmerang, which can proc Expose and potentially ruin an extension into a skill, though it will still give CDR, so it’s not a huge loss
  
• While this probably won’t matter too much, the hitbox for BA and FA lean a bit towards the right, so aim slightly to the left of enemies when using either skill if you want to ensure the dash hits
  
• Canceling Blinding Assault may not seem like an amazing idea - after all, why should cancel the full length of the dash? However, as previously stated, it allows you to stick to an enemy while also avoiding damage briefly, and hitting an enemy before canceling will “reset” the dash anyways. You can still M1 extend into BA too, so you can use it for quickly extending Expose and avoiding damage without going too far.
  
• Remember: RoR2 is a very flexible game, able to cater to anyone’s playstyle. If you don’t enjoy playing Mercenary, then don’t play him and don’t complain about it. Simple as that.

Helpful Mods

A list of mods that are helpful for practicing or testing. Great for general use or practicing Mercenary. Do remember Prismatic Trials are disabled while using mods.

• R2modman[thunderstore.io] by ebkr - A mod manager for RoR2. Use it for the love of god, it makes troubleshooting, installations, updating, and sharing mods so much easier.
  
• HitboxViewerMod[thunderstore.io] by TheTimesweeper - Useful mod for viewing hitboxes and/or hurtboxes. Good for practicing slams.
  
• DebugToolkit[thunderstore.io] by IHarbHD - A great all-purpose mod for testing and precise commands. Lacks the interface and some of the cheat functionality of RoRCheats/Aerolt, but is infinitely better for testing since it has a greater variety in commands. Use to access hidden stages or spawn enemies to practice on; just make sure to read the Thunderstore page for commands
  
• Aerolt[thunderstore.io] by Lodington - Another all-purpose mod for testing, this time with an actual interface. Has cheat functionality (Interactables ESP, Infinite Skills, etc.), but lacks the more precise commands of DebugToolkit (For example, DT allows you to immediately go to a stage of your choosing, or remove a specific item/equipment from your inventory).
  
• TurnAround[thunderstore.io] by NoWorms - Small QoL mod that allows the player to quickly do a 180. Since you’ll often be rotating your camera around a ton as Merc, this mod is useful so you don’t have to constantly twist or flick your hand to turn around.
  
• BetterUI[thunderstore.io] by XoXFaby - Highly configurable and customizable mod that makes the player HUD more intuitive and descriptive. Great for just general use and seeing your stats, pair with ItemStatsMod.
  
• ItemStatsMod[thunderstore.io] by ontrigger - Another QoL mod that makes item descriptions more in-depth, as well as showing you the proc chances for the items you have based on the proc coefficient of the skill, even accounting for Luck. Great for general use, pair with BetterUI.
  
• Mercenary Expose Fix[thunderstore.io] by Moffein - Amazing mod that stops allies or items from stealing Expose from you and making it easier to combo later in the run. I heavily recommend the mod to any Merc players. As of Survivors of the Void, this is no longer needed.
  
• Merc Regen Buff[thunderstore.io] by Moffein - More of a small mod for those just getting started out. Merc’s regen was reduced in 1.0 to promote a more dodgy playstyle, but some may find that hard-hitting. This mod is useful while trying to get the hang of Merc, but I recommend removing it once you think you have the basics down. Or not, it’s up to you.
  
• FasterPickupText[thunderstore.io] and HealthBarImmune[thunderstore.io] by DestroyedClone - Small UI tweaks that allows you to focus better on the game without having to stare at something for too long. FPT allows item descriptions to scroll by much faster, while HBI shows when you are invincible on your health bar, so you don’t always have to look for a tiny icon. Good for practicing timing with either dash or with Evis.
  
• ChangeFOVSettings[thunderstore.io] by KosmosisDire - A mod that does exactly as it says. Good for use in general, though especially on Merc since it gives you a greater FOV to react.
  
• FixedDescriptions[thunderstore.io] by Withor - General use mod that fixes the in-game descriptions to be more in line how the item or skill actually functions (For example, Leeching Seed doesn’t heal 1 HP per hit, it heals up to 1 HP per hit depending on your proc coeff).
  
• MercenaryTweaks[thunderstore.io] by Ya_boi_PHAT - Very nice mod that solves Mercenary’s high AS comboing issues by making the 3rd Laser Sword hit not be affected by attack speed. This means that the first two strikes will still be affected, but not the third, allowing you to still make full combos without having your timing thrown off or the hitbox going away faster. Also buffs Eviscerate to be on the same level as Slicing Winds and makes Cybernetic Enhancements more flavorful.

Closing Remarks and Personal Thoughts

As previously stated, Merc is a very intricate character. However, you kind of have to force yourself to play him that way. You could in theory just spam nothing but Eviscerate and eventually get through the entire game, but that’s no fun and honestly isn’t even the most effective method. Of course, I nor anybody should be able to change how you play the game, and if you find something you enjoy, then play that way. With all the math and logic that someone could do, it’s ultimately up to the player how they choose to play.

As for my own personal thoughts with Merc, I do believe he’s very close to one of the best characters in the game. He does have competition with REX, but has his own way of standing out against them. I find he’s only being held back by the existence of Loader and MUL-T (Especially with Power Mode). As you can tell though, I enjoy Merc way too much; the existence of this guide and the math is probably more than enough for that. Anyways, on terms of balance, Merc is honestly in an alright position. I think Eviscerate could use some small tweaks, mainly so it can actually come close to matching SW’s power. There are definitely possible changes to make Mercenary more immediately accessible, but it’s a very delicate process of making him easier to learn while also keeping his skill ceiling very high and combo-centric playstyle, with any significant change risking bringing him close to how he was pre-1.0. That’s really all I have to say on Merc.

Cheers!

Credits

FadeShock (FadeShock#9427) - Author
Charlie (Charlotte🌹#6936) - Recommended I put this knowledge into a guide. Also did the work with numbers
Groove_Salad (Groove_Salad#7700) - Fellow Merc player I cross-referenced some (a good amount) of the advice with and showcasing a bunch of tech in general
Stripey (Stripey#0444) and Heyimnoob (Heyimnoop#3887) - Helped with editing
Everyone else in the RoR2 Lab server - Just great people in general, and chill people to talk to
The RoR2 Wiki[riskofrain2.fandom.com] - Though it does sometimes have information issues, it still has decent information on it for cross-referencing

Link to the RoR2 Lab Discord[discord.gg]

[404]

MercenaryTweaks as far as I'm aware is not up to date. However, HIFU's Mercenary works perfectly as an alternative, with some other QoL changes

Glad this guide helped you though!

[PolishSlay3r]

I know this guide is very old but I thought it would be worth asking. Do you know if the MercenaryTweaks mod is up to date and works with the Seekers of the storm dlc? Looks like it was last updated 2 years ago. Is there any other mods that you know of?A

Also thanks for the visual videos it really helps me to learn all of this as reading it alone can be hard to figure out the timing.

[crangejo]

I had not checked the date AT ALL lol 😃

[404]

To be fair, this was made before it was moved over to wiki.gg

[crangejo]

blud uses the fandom wiki

[404]

Glad this helped you!
If you like characters with complexities, Merc is definitely a good way to test your skill out - {LINK REMOVED}Artificer is also a good mechanical character

[Niftyturnip]

tbh fairly undecided on my main but merc is a contender and this certainly helps his odds (i rlly like characters with a lotta tech/complicated shit)

[starkiller115]

/sticker Candle Light

[rojogames371]

really good guide tho.
very noice.

[rojogames371]

merc mid.
if you like it, understandable.
- this comment from the certified worst videogame player in all of history.