Among the courses available in Path of Exile 2one of the most unique is the Mercenary. This crossbow user has more than a few special arrows under his sleeve.
In Path of Exile 2, classes were designed to be different, regardless of any similarities they might have to each other. For example, playing a witch has nothing to do with being a witch, even though both are spellcasters.
If you're looking for a fun and complex long-range class, the Mercenary is for you. To help you literally fight your way through the game, we've rounded up the best mercenary build. In this guide you not only learn how to play mercenarybut the best skills and equipment for them too.
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How to play mercenary in Path of Exile 2
Mercenary is a long-range fighter who uses his signature weapon, the crossbow, to fire different types of ammunition to stun, freeze, poison and explode his enemies. This class is capable of inflicting a lot of damage at the cost of correct positioning and management of your ammo. With the idea of taking advantage of the raw power of his kit and making it easier to play, we prepared this build focusing solely on pomegranates.
When using this version, you want to use Explosive Grenadewhich you can unlock significantly early in the game. This ability creates an explosion that deals a huge amount of AoE damage. In the early levels, your main skill rotation for this build involves spreading toxic gases with Gas grenade and continue with the explosive. Once the grenade explodes amidst the gas, it triggers a massive explosion. Later you will want to cause this effect using Explosive shot.
There are two main rules for playing this class. First of all, don't stop shooting. And secondly, movement is life and for the Mercenary, a class that has no ability to escapeit's even more important. Practice walking around the map and shooting your grenades. You can search for skills such as Permafrost Bolts for crowd control. Freezing enemies is the best scenario for using Frag Cartridges. We always want to have a long-range skill to use when boss fights force us to stay out of the way to escape the mechanics.
Path of Exile 2 Best Mercenary Skills
This build is based on exploding packs of enemies or huge bosses using the Explosive Grenade skill. Unlocking and improving this ability is your main priority. To make it hit even harder, we want to use this skill with two support abilities, like Fire Brew And Scattered fire. Along with this, from the early stages of this release, you still want to upgrade the Fragmentation Roundsyour ammo similar to that of a shotgun.
While grenades are the bread and butter of this build, you still need to have tools to finish off enemies around you or survive explosions. Since Frag Shells deal more damage the closer you get to the target, this is the perfect skill in an emergency.
Once you start getting level 5 uncut skill gems, you want to unlock the Gas grenade. This ability is quite strong early in the game since you can cover a large area with toxic gas, which deals cumulative damage over time to enemies, and will trigger the explosions we are looking for. To speed up the process, you can use the Explosive Shot skill – you can unlock it with a level 7 gem – and shoot the grenades to make them explode.
One of the best skills to have is Permafrost Bolts, as it inflicts frost buildup and slows enemies. During the first few dungeons, this will be one of the most powerful skills you will have. Later you may want to unblock Artillery ballista to give you some support.
Path of Exile 2 Best Mercenary Passive Skills
Considering our plan is to blow up enemies as quickly as possible, there's not much to say about the passive skills needed. First of all: damage the nodes. You want to start by unlocking the first nodes that increase projectile damage and Ricochet. Then opt for the Dual-wielding damage fairly close nodes.
From this point you want to focus on finding nodes that are increasing grenade damage. One of the most powerful nodes in this version is the Heavy ammunitionwhich reduces your attack speed but gives you 40% damage and stun when using projectiles.
Invest a few points on armor And attack speed is a good idea. As for attribute nodes, it depends on what equipment you have, but in general you want to put Strength so you can wear stronger armor and have more life.
Path of Exile 2 Best Mercenary Weapon
All the fun of playing Mercenary comes from using a crossbow and blasting demons all around you. Having a solid crossbow is extremely important for any mercenary build, so make sure to always use the one with the highest attributes and physical damage value. This will make your life much easier during the campaign.
With that out of the way, it's time to look for strong scrolls for the weapon. You can still benefit from a crossbow with percentage of additional physical damage Or flat physical damage. You rarely – almost never! – have both, but at least one is already enough to increase the numbers on your crossbow.
Some crossbows have a fixed bonus that increases the number of grenades you throw, which is also a great attribute. But if you have a crossbow that increases your attack speedit's also a solid option.
Path of Exile 2 Best Mercenary Armor
Although the Mercenary is a more robust class than the Ranger or Witch, you can easily die if surrounded by too many enemies. To increase your chances of surviving long enough to detonate your grenades, we want to wear gear that increase your armor and evasion rate. These are the most basic attributes, but if they are not balanced with the current area you are in in the game, you can easily get killed by a regular enemy.
It is possible to find equipment, such as gloves, delivered with rollers that add physical damage to attacks. In other words, this attribute increases the damage you can do, making your bombs reach a higher number. Coins that increase fire damage are also very useful for this build, directly affecting the damage of the Explosive Grenade.
Finally, this may seem obvious, but you definitely want to have at least a few pieces in your gear that increase maximum lifespan And elementary resistances. These two attributes will not make you invisible. However, they will save you from death more times than you think. So don't underestimate a large life pool and elemental damage reduction.
Path of Exile 2 Best Mercenary Accessories
When it comes to accessory choices, we basically want to improve on everything we've worked on with the rest of this release. First, it is possible to find rings that add physical damage to attackswhich is perfect for you. To give yourself a little more sustain, you may want to run one that recovers health when you kill an enemy.
Accessories that increase your Maximum lifespan are quite common, making them the perfect generic option. Rings and amulets can help defend against certain types of elemental damage, making it a good practice to have multiple copies. You want to have options when preparing for a new boss in Path of Exile 2.
With your belt, in addition to having all the bonuses we have already talked about, you certainly want to invest in making your Life recovery bottle more solid. From increase in fees has increased life recoveryyou want belts that can keep you safe from harm.
Good luck playing as a mercenary in Path of Exile 2!
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