Path of Exile 2has six different classes to choose from, each with their own playstyle and skills to set them apart. The Mercenary is a crossbow-wielding freelancer that will take on any job, as long as the pay is right.

Unique to the crossbow is the ability to switch between several different ammo types, giving the Mercenary a tool for every situation. Below, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about the Mercenary class, including how it plays, what skills they excel in, and what their Ascendancy Classes are.

The Mercenary class selected on the character creation screen.

Initial Skills

Ammunition, Grenades

The Mercenary is aStrength and Dexterityhybrid class that uses a crossbow to keep at range from enemies. Cycling through a variety of different ammo types, the Mercenary can adapt to any situation or type of enemy on the fly. The Mercenary’s crossbow ammo is what sets it apart from the ranger, at least in terms of long-range projectile users.

The Mercenary also has access to several types of Grenades, which follow a similar philosophy as ammo types. TheExplosive Grenadedeals fire damage, theFlash Grenadeblinds enemies, theVoltaic Grenadedeals lightning damage, and so on.

The Mercenary firing Galvanic Shards from his crossbow at approaching enemies.

Overall, if you’re looking to play amobile, jack-of-all-trades, ranged damage-dealer, the Mercenary is your man.

Mercenary Ascendancy Classes

Where things really get interesting are with the Mercenary’s two Ascendancy Classes,Witch HunterandGemling Legionnaire. These subclasses each over a completely different playstyle for the Mercenary.

If you’re trying to decidewhich Ascendancy to choosefor your Mercenary, here’s what you need to know.

An overview of the Mercenary’s Witch Hunter Ascendancy Class, including descriptions of its skills.

Pitiless Killer

GrantsCulling Strike.

Culling Strike: Normal enemies are instantly killed when their life reaches 30%, Magic enemies are instantly killed at 20%, and Rare and Unique enemies at 5%.

Judge, Jury, and Executioner

An overview of the Mercenary’s Gemling Legionnaire Ascendancy Class, including descriptions of its skills.

Grants Decimating Strike.

Decimating Strike: Hits against enemies at full health remove 5-30% of their life.

Witchbane

Enemies have Maximum Concentration equal to 40% of their maximum life. Each hit against an enemy breaks their Concentration. ENemies regain 10% of their Concentration per second if they haven’t lost Concentration in the last 5 seconds.

Concentration: enemies have less Cooldown Recovery Rate the lower their Concentration is, scaling down to 50% less Cooldown Recovery Rate while Concentration is 0%.

No Mercy

You deal 30% more damage to enemies based on their missing Concentration.

Obsessive Rituals

Grants Sorcery Ward. You have 50% less Armour and Evasion Rating.

Sorcerery Ward: passively grants a barrier that takes elemental damage from hits for you until it breaks. The barrier instantly recharges a few seconds after it stops taking damage or is fully depleted.

Ceremonial Ablution

Increases the effectiveness of Sorcery Ward by 50%. Sorcery Ward recovers 50% faster.

Zealous Inquisition

Gain a 10% chance for enemies to explode on death, dealing 100% of their maximum life as physical damage. This chance is doubled against Undead and Demon enemies.

The Witch Hunter combines some powerfuloffensive, defensive, and utility skillsto turn the Mercenary into the ultimate killing machine.Culling StrikeandDecimating Strikecombined represent amassive DPS increase, as you can effectivelydelete the first and last 30 percent of a normal enemy’s health bar.

Concentration is an effect unique to the Witch Hunter. This statreduces the Cooldown Recovery Rate of enemies, which essentiallyreduces the amount of actions they can take. This is especially strong against bosses, as it will mean the bosswon’t be able to use its strong attacks as frequently.

Plus, theNo MercyNotableincreases your damage against low-Concentration enemiesby up to 30.

For defensive utility, Witch Hunter gains theSorcery Ward Barrier, which grants arecharging elemental barrierat the cost of50 percent less Armour and Evasion Rating. Interestingly, Sorcery Ward’s strengthscales based on your Armour and Evasion Rating, so you’ll still need to keep these stats up.

Because Sorcery Ward protects you from Elemental damage, you can insteadfocus on increasing your Armour and Evasion Ratingrather than your Elemental resistances.

Zealous Inquisitionis an amazing passive forclearing enemies, giving them a chance to explode on death. While the innate chance is fairly low, if you take a group of ten enemies, it’s pretty likely that at least one of them will explode. With the increased monster density in Maps, this skill will be very helpful for clearing.

Overall, the Witch Hunter is a very strong subclass that adds quite a bit to the Mercenary’s already massive toolkit. Compared to the Gemling Legionnaire,the Witch Hunter requires much less knowledge of the game and build planning, providing some free and easy damage bonuses and damage reduction with Sorcery Ward.

All Skills gain +1 level.

Advanced Thaumaturgy

All Skills cost 30% less. Skill Gems have 30% increased Attribute Requirements.

Gain +3 Gem Slots.

Gem Studded

You can use two copies of the same Support Gem in different Skills.

Thaumaturgical Infusion

+1% to Max Cold Resistance per 4 Blue Support Gems equipped.

+1% Max Lightning Resistance per 4 Green Support Gems equipped.

Adaptive Capability

The Attribute Requirements of your Gems can be satisfied with your highest Attribute.

Enhanced Effectiveness

The inherent bonuses from Intelligence, Strength, and Dexterity are doubled.

The Gemling Legionnaire subclass provides a variety of bonuses to your Skill Gems. While maybe not as exciting as the Witch Hunter, this Ascendancy Class provides some interesting effects.

AdaptiveCapability lets you satisfy the Attribute Requirements of your Gems usingwhichever of your Attributes is the highest. This means you cango all-in on one Attribute, most likely either Strength or Dexterity, butstill retain the ability to use any type of Skill Gems.

Enhanced Effectivenessdoubles the bonuses provided by these Attributes, so stacking them as high as possible is the main goal of the Gemling Legionnaire.

This strategysynergizes with the Advanced Thaumaturgy Notable, whichreduces the cost of all your Skills by 30 percent, butincreases their Attribute Requirements. If you increase your stats high enough, you won’t need to worry about these increased requirements, and can enjoy afree 30 percent Skill cost reduction.

Gem Studdedalso gives a ton of build flexibility, allowing you touse the same Support Gem up to two timesacross each of your Skills.

Overall, the Gemling Legionnaire is a strong subclass, butrequires some in-depth knowledge of the games many systemsto take full advantage of. Most builds won’t need to take advantage of three additional Skill Slots, and the emphasis on using all three colors of Support Gems to increase your Resistances can be restricting.

Compared to the Witch Hunter, the Gemling Legionnaire willtest your ability to put together a build, soonly choose this subclass if you know exactly what you’re doing.