Overview
The Mercenary Class in Path of Exile 2 epitomizes weapon mastery, standing out as one of the game’s most versatile characters. With exceptional skill, they wield an impressive range of weaponry, including bows, crossbows, and numerous melee options. Focusing on Dexterity and Strength as their core attributes, the Mercenary is an ideal choice for diverse build strategies centered around various weapon types. Additionally, they thrive in multi-weapon setups, showcasing their unmatched adaptability and strategic intricacy.
Mercenary Passive Skills
The Mercenaries in Path of Exile 2 excel with remarkable enhancements to projectile damage, armor, and evasion, making them a formidable force on the battlefield. Their skill set is primarily centered around physical damage, featuring carefully designed abilities that significantly boost overall damage output and inflict bleeding effects for sustained damage over time. With a diverse skill tree that encompasses bows, crossbows, and both one-handed and two-handed weapon techniques, players are equipped to adopt a variety of strategic combat styles. Additionally, the Merc skill line is particularly adept at enhancing dual wielding capabilities, establishing it as the optimal choice for players looking to maximize their effectiveness in a dual wielding build.
Mercenary Weapon & Armour
Path of Exile 2 Mercenaries should focus on acquiring armor that harmoniously combines both evasion and armor attributes, ensuring a strong synergy with passive skills that bolster these traits. The array of weaponry accessible to Mercenaries is broad, enabling passive skills to effectively complement various weapon types. In the end, choose a weapon and modify your passive skills to enhance its effectiveness.
Persistent Buff Skills
Mercenary Buff Skills greatly enhance your character’s abilities by increasing Fire Damage, Lightning Damage, Valor, and boosting crossbow reload speed while also providing more effective stun effects and higher hit damage. Activating each Buff Skill requires a cost of 30 spirit, which can be obtained in act 1. However, acquiring additional spirit for the Mercenary can be challenging and may come from certain armor attributes.
Mercenary Prefered Gear & Skill Set Focus Summary
Weapons
Armour
Passive Skills
Persistant Buffs
1-handed / 2-handed Melee / Dual Wielding
Armour & Evasion Gear, Shields
Melee Damge, Projectile Damge, Physical Damge, Bleed Damage, Block & Shield Defence, 2-handed Damge, Dual Wielding Damge, Life Regeneration, Knock Back
Crossbow Reload, Increaed Hit Damge, Fire Dmage, Lightning Damge, valor
** All skills and gems can be combined with other Character set focuses to create a distinctive build.
Final Thoughts
The Mercenary Class in Path of Exile 2 exemplifies exceptional skill in mastering a wide range of weaponry, from formidable melee instruments to bows and crossbows. This class excels in both ranged and melee engagements, allowing players to refine their dual-wielding capabilities alongside their proficiency with armor and shields. With such adaptability, players can thoughtfully design a character build that seamlessly fits their individual gameplay preferences.