Path of Exile 2 Mercenary Starter Guide: How to Build a Mercenary

The Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 is built around the unique mechanics of Crossbow Skills and Grenades. This starter guide will walk you through the basic features of the Mercenary, from ammo management and reloading to the passive skill tree and armor recommendations. Whether you are new to the class or struggling with some of the mechanics, this guide is designed to give you a solid understanding of how to make the most of your Mercenary and have fun along the way.

Key Mechanics of the Mercenary Class:

Ammunition Management:

The Mercenary's primary strength lies in the use of Crossbows and their specialized ammunition types. Here are the key points to understand about ammunition:

Multiple Ammunition Types: Crossbows in PoE 2 use various ammunitions, each with a unique effect. Some deal elemental damage and others have debuff effects or offer crowd-control abilities.

Combo Ammunition: Some ammunition types can be used in combination for increased effectiveness. Learning how to pair and time these ammunitions is crucial.

Crossbow Reload Speed: Different crossbows come with different reload speeds. Some can even load an extra bolt, effectively doubling the ammunition for certain skills. However, this usually comes with a slower reload, so choose carefully for your play style.

Double Barrel Gem: The Double Barrel support gem is a great choice for maximizing ammunition effectiveness. It adds an extra round to certain skills in exchange for a longer reload time, which is great for skills that shoot only one round.

Reloading and Interruptions:

Reloading is one of the key challenges of playing the Mercenary. If you interrupt your reload, whether by dodging or using another skill (e.g., throwing a grenade), you'll have to start reloading from scratch. It's critical to reload in a safe moment and avoid interruptions as much as possible. As you play, you'll get used to reloading before using other skills to prevent this frustration.

Grenades:

Grenades are another important aspect of the Mercenary's toolkit:

Grenade Types: Grenades come in several flavors—fire, poison, lightning, etc.—each with its own AOE effect. They have a cooldown and mana cost but can be used very effectively in combat.

Leaning Into Grenades or Ammunition: While you can combine grenades with crossbow skills, you'll want to focus on one or the other. If you lean into grenades, you'll be able to reduce grenade cooldowns significantly through passive skills. This makes it very effective to use them repeatedly. On the other hand, if you focus on crossbow ammunition, you'll want to ensure that you optimize for projectile damage and ammo efficiency.

Mercenary Armor and Stats:

Primary Stats:

Strength: Important for health and enabling you to use certain strength-based skill gems and gear.

Dexterity: Vital for crossbow skills, as most of them scale with dexterity. Dexterity also opens up access to a lot of support skills that complement crossbows.

Evasion and Armor: Mercenaries can focus on both evasion and armor stats, making them fairly tanky. You'll be able to wear armor gear that increases both stats, which is especially useful for getting close to enemies.

Passive Skill Tree:

Early on, projectile damage and armor/evasion are the best early choices. Prioritize projectile damage as it will impact both your crossbow skills and grenades.

As you progress, focus on paths that increase lightning damage (a key element in Mercenary builds) or grenade-related nodes if you lean into that play style. Keep in mind that volatile catalysts and grenade cooldown reduction are essential if you aim to use grenades heavily.

Grenades and Projectiles:

Focus on increasing projectile damage, especially for crossbow skills. Grenades also benefit from projectile damage passives, although the passive skill tree won't show their impact.

For a ranged Mercenary, head southeast on the skill tree to pick up more projectile damage, lightning damage, and grenade-related passives. These will directly complement your ranged and grenade-based abilities.

Mercenary Skill Overview:

Crossbow Shot:

This is the Mercenary's default skill and remains a staple of your arsenal well into the game.

High damage per shot and rapid firing rate make it versatile for both single-target and crowd-control situations. You'll use this skill for most of your ranged damage, especially early on.

Grenades:

Grenades are a great alternative or complement to crossbow shots. While crossbows have ammo, grenades are charge-based and recharge over time.

Use grenades to interrupt enemy spells, deal with large groups of enemies, or add elemental damage to your setup. Lean into one grenade type (fire, poison, or lightning) for more focused gameplay, or diversify your grenades based on the enemies you face.

Recommended Build Path:

Early Game:

Focus on projectile damage and armor/evasion for your initial passives. These will provide solid early-game defense and enhance the effectiveness of your crossbow shots.

Start experimenting with crossbow ammo types and combinations. Try to keep at least one crossbow with extra bolts for skills that shoot only one round. This makes them more effective.

Mid Game:

Start to specialize by choosing a path that suits your preferred playstyle: either crossbow-focused (increasing projectile, lightning, and evasion) or grenade-focused (taking passive skills that reduce cooldowns and increase grenade effectiveness).

Pick up Double Barrel support gem and Volatile Catalyst if focusing on grenades. This will make your grenades more efficient and allow you to spam them with minimal downtime.

Late Game:

Focus heavily on increasing lightning damage through your passive skill tree. This is the most common and effective element for the Mercenary.

Keep refining your crossbow selection and make sure you're reloading efficiently between dodges and other skills. Manage your grenade charges for maximum DPS.

Conclusion

The Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 offers a mix of crossbow ammunition and grenades that make it a fun and strategic class to play. It has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of managing your ammunition and grenade cooldowns, you can unleash devastating combos on your enemies. Whether you focus on grenades, crossbows, or a mix of both, the Mercenary offers a lot of versatility and potential for powerful builds.

If you're well on your way to mastering the Mercenary in Path of Exile 2! As you continue through the game, gathering the right Path of Exile 2 items and Path of Exile 2 currency will be key to optimizing your build and making the most out of the class's potential.