The Mercenary is one of the best classes or roles in Mistfall Hunter, and you can do plenty of things on the battlefield with it. For beginners, it’s an excellent choice since you get the perfect balance of damage, movement, and protection. For veterans, however, it remains quite effective, as you can do plenty of complex builds with it.
The greatest strength of the mercenary is its versatility. In this guide, I will go through the best possible build for the class.
Table of contents
Mistfall Hunter Mercenary overview
You can mould this class into pure damage dealer, or use it as a hybrid. There’s also a possible scenario for you to use it like a tank, but it’s not my recommendation.
Before I deep-dive into the class, let’s check out the main strengths and weaknesses.
Pros
- Extremely versatile so you can use it for different playstyles.
- Skills are easy to learn and master.
- Simple but effective combos.
- Fantastic at PvE, decent at PvP.
- Great choice if you prefer going solo.
Cons
- Mobility is on the slower side of things.
- Going too heavy on defense will reduce your offense.
- Overshadowed in PvP encounters by classes like Withered Knight.
Let’s check out all the available skills for the Mercenary class.
All Mercenary skills in Mistfall Hunter
The Mercenary class has seven skills each for the Sword/Shield and the Hammer.
Sword and Shield
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Block | Raise the shield to block attacks from the front. Hold to maintain the shield stance, allowing movement while the shield is raised. In trio mode, blocking PvP damage consumes less Energy. |
| Impalement | Hold to cast Impalement: Thrust forward with your sword, dealing damage and gaining 2 stacks of Sword Tip. While in the Blade Edge or Strong Edge state, your travel distance is increased. |
| Stacked Slash | When a basic attack hits, gain 1 stack of Sword Edge. After obtaining 6 stacks of Sword Edge, enter the Sharp Blade state. While in the Sharp Blade state, gaining another 6 stacks of Sword Edge will enter the Strong Blade state. While in the Sharp Blade state, press the left and right mouse buttons to release Stacked Blade Heavy Slash. After releasing it, exit the Sharp Blade state. When released in the Strong Blade state, Stacked Blade Heavy Slash is enhanced, increasing its movement distance and damage, while also granting super armor. After release, enter the Sharp Blade state. . |
| Shield Dash | Dash forward a certain distance with the shield, striking enemies in the path before stopping, dealing Physical Damage. Block attacks from the front while holding the shield. After casting a skill, Movement Speed will be briefly increased. This effect only works while wielding Sword and Shield. This skill can be cast while blocking. |
| Whirling Cut | Dash forward and perform 2 slashes, dealing Physical Damage. |
| Stone Breaker Slash | Raise the shield to protect the body while stabbing the ground with the sword to deal Physical Damage, then dash forward slightly and pull the sword out for an upward strike, scattering rocks and dealing Physical Damage. Block attacks from the front while holding the shield. Perfect Block can be triggered during the shield-raising period after Stonebreaker Slash’s wind-up animation. After a successful Perfect Block, your dash can slightly knock back enemies. Stonebreaker Slash has a shorter base cooldown in trio mode. |
| Shield Slam | Jump with your shield raised and smash it into the ground, dealing Physical Damage and reducing enemy Movement Speed for a period of time. While jumping with the shield, you can block frontal attacks and gain a period of Super Armor. |
Hammer
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Assault Hammer | Lift the hammer then smash the ground, dealing Physical Damage. Hold left mouse buttom to perform a Lv.1 charge. Lv.1 Charge: Gain Super Armor effect during casting and dash forward a considerable distance. |
| Power Hammer | Press left mouse button to unleash Light Strikes, chaining up to 3 hits for damage. You can hold left mouse buttom to charge during this period. |
| Punishing Hammer | After launching a Light Strike with left mouse button, press right mouse button to turn and dash forward slightly, slamming the hammer into the ground ahead. You can hold right mouse button to charge during this period. |
| Hammer Dash | Dash forward a certain distance with the hammer. Shoulder charge during the dash deals Physical Damage, followed by a sweeping hammer attack that deals Physical Damage. Hammer Dash has a shorter base cooldown in trio mode. |
| Hammer Spin | Spin the hammer, dealing Physical Damage. Can hold to consume Energy and maintain the spin. Gain Super Armor briefly when casting the skill. |
| Skullcrusher | Vigorously swing and smash the hammer forward, dealing Physical Damage. Hold to charge up to 2 times. Gain Super Armor during charging. Cooldown increases with charge level. Lv.1 Charge: Unleash an additional sweeping attack dealing Physical Damage. Lv.2 Charge: Leap forward and smash the ground, dealing Physical Damage. Gain Super Armor during casting. |
| Earthshaker | Lift the hammer and smash the ground, dealing Physical Damage. Hold the button to charge up to 2 times and gain Super Armor while charging. Enemies’ Movement Speed is reduced for a short duration upon taking damage from this skill, regardless of whether the skill is charged or not. Cooldown increases with charge level. Lv.1 Charge: Increases AoE and Damage Multiplier. Lv.2 Charge grants Super Armor during casting, with increased Impact, and generates an additional seismic wave dealing Physical Damage. This skill can be cast in the air but cannot be charged. Lv.1 Charge: Unleash an additional sweeping attack dealing Physical Damage. Lv.2 Charge: Leap forward and smash the ground, dealing Physical Damage. Gain Super Armor during casting. |
Best Mistfall Hunter Mercenary build
So far, I haven’t tested the PvP side of things much with the Mercenary. However, this build should still serve you well in all types of encounters. While using a hammer is viable, I have opted for the classic sword and shield with this build.
The key objective of this build is to gain stacks of Sword Tip as quickly as possible. Hold the left mouse button to cast Impalement. Not only does this move do damage, but you gain two stacks of Sword Tip.
Once you gain six stacks of Sword Tip, you’ll enter the Blade Edge Stage. Once you gain another six stacks of Sword Tip, you’ll enter the Blade Edge state. Press the LMB and then the RMB to unleash a Stacked Slash that deals a massive amount of damage.
For skills, here are my top two recommendations.
- Whirling Cut: Dash forward to perform two slashes that deal plenty of Physical Damage. This is a great choice against minions and bosses alike.
- Shield Slam: Once you unlock this move at Lv. 7, it will be an absolute game changer. Raise your shield and jump with it to smash the ground. This deals Physical Damage and reduces the enemy movement speed over a period of time. You will block all frontal attacks during the jump and gain a period of Super Armor.
Here are some key talents required for this build.
- Sword Edge: Get more Sword Tip from all forms of sword-based skill attacks.
- Blade Charge: Deal more damage when you’re in the Blade Edge stage.
- Stacking Blade: Reduce the requirement to enter Blade Edge and Strong Edge to four Sword Tips.
- Bounce: Once you equip Shield Slam, this is an essential talent to unlock.
Here are some key affixes to apply with this build.
- Stoic: Allows you to increase damage resistance when you’re below 50% health. You will heal automatically if health falls below 30% at any point.
- Fervid: When health is above 70%, it will reduce the skill cost and increase both Physical and Magic Damage.
I am also currently working on a hammer build that can work well with the Mercenary. While hammers do a lot more damage, their attacks can be hit or miss. I will be updating this guide with a secondary build that will be entirely focused on hammers.
Hammer build
The Mercenary class with the hammer is a different kind of entertainment. You drop your defense since you no longer have a shield. Instead, you have a big hammer and plenty of different moves to do plenty of damage. That said, it is not a button-spamming activity by any means. Just like the Withered Knight, you will need to rely on powerful combos and time your attacks.
The reason is simple. The hammer is slower than the sword and shield. If you mistime an attack, chances are that your enemy will break your attempted combo and do more damage to you. That’s why you have to properly concentrate on the skills you have before engaging an enemy.
Here are some key skills you will want to use with the hammer build.
- Skullcrusher: Use your hammer to swing and smash an enemy in front of you. You can gain up to two charges and get Super Armor while charging. At level 2 charge, you will leap forward and smash the ground, dealing a lot of physical damage. You will also gain Super Armor during casting so you are protected from incoming attacks.
- Hammer Spin: Since the hammer does not have speed on its side, you want to use a move like Hammer Spin to target multiple enemies at once. This is a perfect option for PvP when two or more players might try to stick together in trios. Either way, it’s a great move to do damage and stun the enemy.
If you go the hammer route, here are a bunch of talents to run with this build.
- Shield Break: With this talent, you do more damage to all enemies with normal attacks. The buff to your attack rises when you go up against someone with shields.
- Combo Energy Recovery: This talent allows you to recover energy upon consecutive hammer hits. Since the hammer is an energy-heavy build, having this talent is a must.
- Titan Hammer Strike: Whenever you hit an enemy with your normal attack, you will gain one stack of stun. Do the same with the right mouse with the heavy attack, and you will gain two. Once you gain six stun stacks, your next hit will stun the enemy for a brief period. This is an exceptionally strong ability to have in PvP situations.
- Endless Whirlwind: Adds a bit of mobility to your build, with increased movement speed for Hammer Spin.
- Dynamic Charge: Extra dodge in this meta is key, and that’s where the Dynamic Charge talent comes in. With this talent, you can dodge while charging the Skullcrusher, and you can dodge up to two times by consuming energy.
In terms of affixes, you can go with the same choices I have mentioned for the Sword and Shield.
Mistfall Hunter Mercenary gameplay tips
The Mercenary class is one of the easiest roles to master.
If you are going with the sword and shield route, you can practically spam your moves, and it should get the job done more often than not. With the hammer, you have to be much more precise with your blows. If you manage to do so, you will be doing way more damage than you can with the sword and shield,
Either way, the mercenary is a pretty strong class that suits plenty of different roles in team play. If you are going solo, this is also a great class to have as your main. If you want something that’s more systematic and has a heavier reliance on combos, you can also try the Withered Knight class.
