The Mercenary is a returning character in Risk of Rain 2.
The Mercenary is a high skill melee survivor that uses his many dodges to weave in and out of combat.
Abilities
Cybernetic Enhancements
 |
The Mercenary can jump twice. |
Laser Sword
 |
Slice in front for 130% damage. Every 3rd hit strikes in a greater area for 300% damage. |
Whirlwind
 |
Quickly slice horizontally twice, dealing 2x200% damage. If airborne, slice vertically instead. |
*āSecondary Skill: Rising Thunder |
Unleash a slicing uppercut, dealing 450% damage and sending you airborne.
(Unlocked Mercenary: Demon of the Skies) |
Blinding Assault
 |
Dash forward, stunning enemies for 300% damage. If you hit an enemy, you can dash again, up to 3 total. |
Eviscerate
 |
Target the nearest enemy, attacking them for 110% damage repeatedly. You cannot be hit for the duration. |
*āSecondary Skill: Slicing Winds |
Fire a wind of blades that attack up to 3 enemies for 8x100% damage. (Unlocked by Mercenary: Ethereal) |
Notes
- Laser Sword can be swung while sprinting and while using any of Mercenary's abilities without resetting the three-strike cycle. It pairs seamlessly with Whirlwind, but is impractical to attempt to use in any particular accordance with Blinding Assault or Eviscerate due to the restrictive timings.
- The cycle does reset if manually stopped, meaning that a third strike cannot be "stored" by only swinging twice, it can only be executed as a part of the three-strike combo. However, the two preceding swings need not hit anything in order to output the greater third strike, allowing for the two strikes to be cycled preemptively while approaching an enemy so that the greater third strike can be front-loaded upon engagement. This tactic is particularly useful in early game where there's a lot of running around with base movement speed, especially because using it doesn't slow the player down.
- It should be noted that while cycling Laser Sword doesn't interrupt sprinting, all of Mercenary's other abilities do, though sprinting can be manually resumed once the animations are complete.
- Laser Sword combos are not interrupted by non-Primary skills, sprinting, or jumping, allowing it to slash simultaneously while using Whirlwind, Blinding Assault, and Eviscerate. A Laser Sword combo will, however, only start when the player is not in the middle of using another skill.
- As before, Whirlwind has a short cooldown and can be used as another jump. Great for staying airborne whilst fighting larger bosses.
- Blinding Assault dashes in the exact direction the player aims, so it can be used to dash up to attack airborne targets. It's the Mercenary's most reliable way to engage flying opponents without using Eviscerate.
- The Mercenary can also use his second jump to cancel fall damage that he might otherwise incur from using Blinding Assault to get too high up.
- Some flying enemies are large enough to stand on, most notably the Wandering Vagrant. They allow the Mercenary to regain their jumps mid-air.
- As in classic Risk of Rain, Eviscerate's invulnerability whilst attacking is one of its greatest strengths. By managing all his abilities carefully, the Mercenary can be almost untouchable even when surrounded by swarms of enemies.
- Whirlwind can be used to rebound off of a slope to send the mercenary flying upwards at, depending on the slope, varying degrees of height/speed(May be patched in future updates).Useful to get a bird's eye view of the map, and potentially find things that would otherwise not be visible. Useful when paired with H3AD-5T v2, as, height=ground-pound damage, the increased height can allow for increased ground pound damage which will deal absurdly high amounts of damage to enemies, useful for large bosses that can be easily hit from high above them. However, it should be noted that doing this without H3AD-5T v2 will cause extreme fall damage upon contact with the ground.
- If Blinding Assault is used in combination with a lot of movement speed items, the player can slam flying enemies into walls dealing heavy damage. This applies to ALL flying enemies including airborne bosses
- Rising Thunder can slash enemies that are still a bit underneath the mercenary so he can still attack a foes that are directly below him.
- Rising Thunder can be used to knock smaller enemies into ceilings for extra damage.
Trivia
- The mercenary has multiple traits associated with samurai. Some are obvious, such as his katana-esque laser blade, some more subtle, such as the shoulder guards(sode) and the shoes(kogake). His alternate skin sports a head ornament(maedate).