PoE 2 Mercenary Guide – Complete Class Overview

Introduction

This guide presents an in-depth view of the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2! You will learn everything about the Merc, such as how to level up fast, gearing, ascendancies, stats, passive skills, gems, and more. After reading this Mercenary guide, you will be ready to build a powerful character and complete the challenging activities in PoE 2.

Firstly, we'll check out the class particularities, learning which stats and passives we should prioritize, which ascendancy fits your style, and how to optimize your gear, easing your journey through the game.

Finally, we'll dive deep into the end-game, providing the best tips and tricks to ensure your Mercenary is ready for any challenge. By the end of the guide, you will become a master of the Mercenary class. Let's start!

Table of Contents

Here is a little breakdown of our Path of Exile 2 Mercenary class guide:

• Mercenary Class Overview
• Stats Priority
• Mercenary Ascendancies
• Passive Skill Tree
• Best Mercenary Gems
• Mercenary Leveling Tips
• Mercenary League Starter Build
• Pro Mercenary Endgame Tips & Tricks
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final thoughts

Mercenary Class Overview

The Mercenary is a Strength/Dexterity hybrid class in Path of Exile 2. It’s very appreciated by players for its versatility, mobility, and the deadly combination of crossbow mastery and an arsenal of grenades, making it a strong choice for both AoE (area-of-effect) and precise single-target elimination.

Merc is designed to accommodate players of all skill levels, offering strategic depth for experienced players while remaining accessible to beginners. Its flexibility allows seamless adaptation to various combat scenarios, ensuring it excels in crowd control and pinpoint damage. This innovative class, introduced for the first time in Path of Exile 2, was not part of the first PoE game. Its unique mechanics, including dynamic movement options, bring a fresh playstyle to the Path of Exile 2.

Now that we’ve introduced the Mercenary let’s study its archetype, resource, damage type, and weaponry to uncover what makes this class stand out.

Class Archetype (Ranged)

The Mercenary in Path of Exile 2 is a ranged class specializing in crossbows and grenades. Its mechanics revolve around different firing modes and ammunition types, making it adept at both crowd control and dealing high single-target damage. The class introduces tactical gameplay elements, requiring precise positioning and situational awareness, which distinguishes it from melee-oriented classes.

Class Resource

In PoE 2, the Mercenary's most critical resource is ammunition, which dictates the class's primary damage output and combat flexibility. The varied ammo types, such as explosive, freezing, and piercing rounds, allow the Mercenary to adapt to different situations, whether dealing with large groups of enemies or focusing on high-damage precision shots. In the list below, you can find the main ammo types for Mercenaries in Path of Exile 2:

• Piercing rounds (significant damage against armored targets, can pierce multiple enemies).
• Permafrost rounds (slows or freezes enemies, the best choice for crowd control).
• Incendiary rounds (designed for AoE damage, these bolts apply burn damage over time).

When using a crossbow, the Mercenary equips different ammo types on the hotbar. Your basic attack fires the equipped ammo, and the magazine reloads once empty. Each ammo type costs mana to reload, which is spent during the process. You can switch ammo types anytime, and the magazine stays loaded until reloaded again. The remaining shots are displayed on the ammo icon in the hotbar.

Mana is also important; it mainly powers the Mercenary’s active skills, such as elemental grenades and crossbow abilities. However, compared to ammunition, mana consumption is secondary, as the effectiveness of the Mercenary in combat relies more heavily on managing the right type of ammunition for each situation.

Damage Type

The Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 primarily focuses on physical damage. However, it also integrates elemental damage through various ammunition types. Additionally, the Mercenary has access to grenades, which can deal fire damage or cold damage depending on the skills equipped.

This mixture adds another layer of versatility, allowing Mercenaries to engage enemies with a mix of physical and elemental damage, depending on the situation. The combination of crossbow bolts and grenades ensures the Mercenary can adapt to various combat scenarios in PoE 2.

Mercenary Weapons

In Path of Exile 2, the Mercenary class uses crossbows as their primary weapon, offering versatility for both long- and close-range combat. You can equip two different crossbows simultaneously, each impacting your combat style and abilities. This dual-crossbow setup allows you to adapt to various combat situations, providing flexibility and power.

The crossbows have three distinct firing modes, each suited to different tactical needs:

• Rapid Shot: continuous quick shots that balance AoE and single-target damage. This mode is perfect for speed running through enemies, clearing groups while dealing decent damage to individual targets.
• Burst Shot: fires multiple rounds at once, ideal for AoE situations. It excels at hitting multiple enemies in a group, making it great for clearing packs quickly.
• Power Shot: delivers massive single-target damage, similar to a rocket launcher. This mode is perfect for taking down elite enemies or bosses.

The mercenary class can indeed equip two crossbows at once. Each crossbow offers a unique firing skill, allowing players to switch between different crossbow types during combat.

Note: you can combine a burst shot crossbow, perfect for clearing groups, with a power shot crossbow for dealing high single-target damage. This combination helps you adapt to any situation, whether you're facing hordes of enemies or bosses.

Now that we’ve covered the general overview of the PoE 2 Mercenary class and its key features, it’s time to dive deeper into the specifics. We will explore the Merc’s strengths and weaknesses, stat priorities, ascendancies, passive skills, gems, and unique items. This detailed breakdown will help you understand how to optimize your Mercenary for different playstyles and combat scenarios, making it easier to build a character that suits your preferences.

Strengths and Weaknesses

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2. Understanding these traits is key to mastering the Merc’s unique playstyle. Known for its flexibility, the class offers a range of powerful tools. However, this class has its challenges, requiring skill, resource management, and positioning to fully unlock its potential. Let’s break down what makes the Mercenary both a powerful and demanding class to play:

Note: while the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2 requires effort to master and has high complexity due to its diverse skills and ammo types, the payoff is worth it. Once you understand how to manage its mechanics, you can build a powerful and balanced character. If you're investing time to learn its tricks, the Merc will become one of the most satisfying classes.

Stats Priority

When building your Mercenary in Path of Exile 2, focusing on the correct stats is crucial to unlocking the class’s full potential. As a dexterity and strength class, the Merc is based on these two attributes as primary stats.

• Dexterity boosts damage, accuracy, and evasion, essential for ranged combat and ensuring your attacks hit reliably, especially with crossbows and various ammo types.
• Strength increases survivability by enhancing your life pool and physical damage, making you tougher and more resilient in battle.

While these two stats should be your primary focus, consider additional stats like critical strike chance and critical damage to improve your output further. Don't forget about life and resistances to ensure durability in longer encounters.

Balancing these stats across your gear and passives will ensure that your Mercenary can deal high AoE damage while remaining versatile and durable.

Understanding the Mercenary stat priorities is key to optimizing your gameplay. By focusing on dexterity and strength, you’ll enhance both damage output and survivability. Balancing these core stats with additional considerations will help you create a well-rounded Mercenary.

Mercenary Ascendancies

Now that we've covered the Mercenary’s stat priorities, it’s time to explore the ascendancies. Ascendancies provide powerful enhancements and unique playstyle options that can significantly refine your build. You unlock the ascendancy in Act 2 after you finish the Trial of the Sekhemas.

By choosing the right ascendancy, you can further optimize your damage, mobility, and survivability. In this section, we'll present the ascendancy choices, highlighting their strengths and how they can complement your Mercenary’s core abilities.

In Path of Exile 2, the Mercenary class has two distinct ascendancies: Witch Hunter and Gemling Legionnaire.

Witch Hunter

This ascendancy is centered around eliminating spellcasters by dealing explosive damage. It offers various tools to amplify damage against enemies through the concentration mechanic and has strong AoE capabilities. Witch Hunter Mercenary also makes use of corpse explosion mechanics and introduces a defensive element by slowing down enemy recovery, making it a solid choice for those who want to excel in boss fights and control the combat flow.

Below, you can find the key features that make the Witch Hunter an excellent choice:

• Explosive damage and AoE scaling
• Beginner-friendly gameplay
• Boss finisher with Culling Strike (instantly kills bosses at 5% health)
• Balanced offense and defense

The Witch Hunter ascendancy is ideal for beginners due to its straightforward gameplay and focus on explosive damage. This ascendancy excels in killing hordes of monsters and kills bosses instantly when their life is low.

Gemling Legionnaire

The Gemling Legionnaire ascendancy is a more advanced choice, less suited for beginners, but offers immense potential in the end-game. This ascendancy focuses on scaling skill and support gems, making it a powerhouse for players who plan to follow endgame-focused builds, such as Havoc's Gas Grenade.

Below, you can find the key features that make the Gemling Legionnaire a great choice:

• Skill gem scaling
• Boosted gem levels and quality
• Skill slot expansion
• Increased attribute efficiency
• Elemental resistance maximization
• Great resource management
• End-game synergy

While it requires patience to unlock its full potential, the Gemling Legionnaire Mercenary excels in end-game content, making it the best option for players aiming for long-term mastery, gem-centric builds, and support-focused strategies.

What is the best Mercenary Ascendancy?

There isn’t a definitive best ascendancy for the Mercenary class in Path of Exile 2. The ideal choice depends heavily on your experience, playstyle, and preferences. Witch Hunter is an excellent choice if you prioritize smoother early-game progression. With proper optimization, the Witch Hunter remains highly effective in the end-game, making it a balanced pick that minimizes frustration while leveling and still delivers solid performance in late-game content.

Gemling Legionnaire's ascendancy is more challenging to utilize early on, as its strengths lie in end-game scaling through skill and support gem optimization. Progression in the campaign can feel slower, but its potential skyrockets in the end-game.

Ultimately, the choice is about what fits your goals. If you value a blend of power and ease, the Witch Hunter might feel more rewarding. On the other hand, experienced players with a clear end-game plan might prefer the Gemling Legionnaire.

Note: in Path of Exile 2, once you choose an ascendancy class, it is a permanent decision for that character. You cannot switch between ascendancies, such as moving from Witch Hunter to Gemling Legionnaire later in the game. This choice locks in your specific ascendancy skill tree and its associated abilities, although you can respec individual skill points within the tree. To experiment with multiple ascendancies, you need to create separate characters and choose different ascendancy paths for each.

Mercenary Passive Skill Tree

The passive skill tree in Path of Exile 2 is a fundamental system for character development, offering various nodes that provide bonus attributes and unique abilities. For the Mercenary, this system emphasizes leveraging the class's strength in grenades, crossbow attacks, and adaptability.

There are four types of passive skills available on the tree:

• 1. Attribute nodes: these nodes grant strength, dexterity, or intelligence. For mercenaries, dexterity and strength are essential.
• 2. Small nodes: offer minor bonuses like increased attack damage, critical strike chance, or attack speed.
• 3. Notable nodes: provide impactful benefits and may alter skill behavior, such as boosting grenade power or enabling additional effects.
• 4. Keystone nodes: deliver unique and powerful effects with potential trade-offs, shaping the core mechanics of your build.

Starting Location on the Passive Tree

The Mercenary's starting location on the Passive Skill Tree is positioned near the bottom of the tree, strategically placed to provide easy access to nodes that enhance grenade effectiveness, crossbow attacks, and survivability. This starting point focuses on strength and dexterity, the primary attributes for Mercenaries, ensuring early boosts to damage, attack speed, and utility in combat.

To maximize the Mercenary’s potential, align your passive skill choices with your desired end-game strategy. Emphasize grenade power, survivability, and damage scaling through strength and dexterity nodes. Passive skills like Explosive Shot and Repeating Explosives synergize with grenade-heavy builds, ensuring devastating area damage and crowd control.

By carefully planning your passive skill progression, the Mercenary can transition from a versatile early-game powerhouse to an end-game beast.

Note: don’t worry if you make mistakes in the early game. You can refund passive points by speaking to The Hooded One and selecting “Refund Passives”.

Key Passive Nodes

Below, you can find some key passive nodes for the Mercenary in PoE 2, designed to enhance grenade usage, crossbow effectiveness, and overall damage output while maintaining survivability and utility:

• Grenadier (Volatile Catalyst and Cluster Bombs): these nodes significantly enhance the damage output and effectiveness of grenades, which is the core of the Mercenary’s early and mid-game damage. This is the main focus for building a powerful Mercenary with explosives, especially in Act 1 and beyond.
• Strength and dexterity attribute nodes: essential for increasing the Mercenary’s base stats. Str and dex are the primary attributes, and allocating points here is crucial for reaching the necessary thresholds for gear and passives.
• Polymathy: this passive allows the Mercenary to operate more efficiently with different attributes, reducing the dependency on intelligence for gear or support gems later in the game.
• Repeating explosives: this is a fun and powerful node that causes chain explosions, significantly improving the Mercenary's crowd control and clearing potential.
• Adrenaline rush: this node increases movement speed, which is excellent for clearing enemies quickly and boosting survivability during combat.
• Giantslayer and Cull the Hordes: these two nodes are great for improving damage against bosses and rare monsters, making them a solid choice for end-game content.

For Mercenaries, balancing between offensive and defensive passives is essential. While focusing on damage, don't forget to add passive points into defensive stats like evasion and armor to stay survivable, especially when you face more brutal bosses or larger groups of enemies.

With a solid understanding of the Mercenary's key passive skills, you’re now ready to delve deeper into optimizing your character. The right combination of passive nodes will ensure that your Mercenary performs well in combat, but the key to truly maximizing your Merc’s potential lies in choosing the best gems.

Best Mercenary Gems

Gems are essential to any Mercenary build, with their synergy playing a key role in making your character effective. Choosing the right skill, spirit, and support gems ensures your Mercenary performs well. In this section, we’ll break down the best Mercenary gem combinations to maximize your potential.

Best Mercenary Skill Gems

Skill gems define the core abilities of a Mercenary, allowing you to fire crossbows, throw grenades, and deploy specialized traps. Each skill gem introduces a tactical advantage, such as creating explosions, freezing enemies, or stunning targets. Mercenary skill gems are available from Act 1, where you start with basic abilities.

In the table below, you can find a breakdown of the best Mercenary skill gems throughout Acts 1, 2, and 3.

Now that we've covered the best skill gems for your Mercenary let's reveal the most efficient support gems. These gems will enhance your abilities to create the most effective build.

Best Mercenary Support Gems

Support gems amplify the power of skill gems, enabling unique combinations. They can increase damage, add elemental effects, or enhance utility. Support gems also start appearing in Act 1. These gems must be socketed in linked slots with the corresponding skill gems, enabling their effects to enhance the associated skills.

The following table highlights the top best Mercenary support gems, adding powerful effects to your skills.

As you progress through the game, you must link support gems to specific skill gems, strengthening your Mercenary build. With your Mercenary's skill and support gems set up, it's time to enhance your build further by incorporating the best spirit gems.

Best Mercenary Spirit Gems

Spirit gems provide powerful buffs and effects that consume spirit, the Mercenary's secondary resource. They grant utility options tailored for either damage or survivability. Spirit gems are unlocked in Act 1 after you defeat King in the Mists in Freythorn. At this point, you gain your first spirit gem and increased spirit capacity. The spirit bar is displayed as a small yellow border above your mana pool. By hovering over the mana pool, you can view detailed information.

Now that we've covered the best Mercenary gems, you're ready to enhance your Mercenary's potential even further by adding unique items. These items bring additional stats, bonuses, and synergies that can improve your build. Let’s take a look at the best unique items to make your Mercenary unstoppable.

Best Mercenary Unique Items

Path of Exile 2 Unique items are very rare pieces of equipment that can shape your Mercenary's build and improve your playstyle with exclusive modifiers. Some uniques are so impactful that they can enhance a build's effectiveness to a level that cannot be achieved with standard equipment. PoE 2 unique items can boost your damage, offer new abilities, or unlock synergies. They are often mandatory for optimal performance in the end-game.

Below, we showcase the best unique items for the Mercenary class in PoE 2:

• Radiant Grief (Helmet)
• Headhunter Heavy Belt (Belt)
• Death Rush (Ring)
• The Vile Knight (Helmet)
• Widowhail (Bow)
• Crown of the Victor (Helmet)
• Rampart Raptor Tense Crossbow (Crossbow)
• Bristleboar Leather Vest (Body Armor)
• Briarpatch Laced Boots (Boots)
• Jarngreipr Ringmail Gauntlets (Gloves)
• Meginord's Girdle Rawhide Belt (Belt)
• Blackheart Iron Ring (Ring)
• Revered Resin Amber Amulet (Amulet)

Based on your build and playstyle, integrating any of these unique items into your Mercenary setup will enhance your overall performance. Each item provides powerful bonuses that make a significant impact on your progress. With that in mind, let's move forward to the next section, where we'll cover essential Mercenary leveling tips to help you advance smoothly and effectively through the game.

Mercenary Leveling Tips

In this Path of Exile 2 Mercenary leveling section, we will provide expert advice and proven strategies to help you level up quickly and efficiently. Based on our extensive in-game experience, these tips are proven to optimize your Merc's progression, ensuring you overcome challenges while maximizing your build's potential. Whether you're an experienced PoE player or a beginner, these insights will set you on the way to the end-game.

1. Complete the campaign & complete all side objectives

Focusing on the campaign is essential for a smooth and rewarding leveling experience in Path of Exile 2. The campaign introduces you to game mechanics, zone layouts, and progression systems while acquiring valuable gear, gems, and currency.

Side objectives are also an excellent opportunity to gain bonus XP and additional rewards. By completing these objectives, you'll not only gain XP from defeating monsters but also earn rewards for objective completion, which can significantly speed up your leveling process.

Note: pay attention to bosses marked with a "+" symbol on the map. These encounters are important because they provide permanent bonuses that significantly boost your Mercenary's performance. Skipping these bonuses can leave your character at a disadvantage in the long run.

2. Always out-level the zone

Avoid rushing through the campaign and maps in Path of Exile 2. This can leave you under-leveled for the next area. This forces you to backtrack and grind XP, which can be time-consuming and frustrating. Instead, take your time to clear out zones while you're already there , ensuring you gain as much XP as possible and level up naturally as you progress through the story.

PoE 2 is known for its challenging gameplay, and being under-leveled with unoptimized gear and gems will leave you struggling. Higher-level monsters could overwhelm you, leading to repeated deaths. The best strategy is to out-level each area when you first access it. By staying ahead of the zone level, you’ll not only have an easier time defeating enemies but also ensure smoother progression.

3. Check the vendors on level up

Every time you level up, take a moment to visit the vendors and browse their refreshed stock. With each level, vendors restock their items, often offering valuable gear upgrades, such as weapons, armor, or accessories that can significantly boost your build. Regularly checking their stock ensures you don’t miss out on key upgrades that can make your progression smoother and more efficient.

4. Spend currency to craft on gear pieces

As you progress through the game, use your currency items to improve your gear. Transform normal (white) items into magic (blue) or rare (yellow) items, then use orbs to add or modify affixes that complement your build. By crafting strategically, you can create gear that offers strong synergy with your skills and passives , ensuring smoother progression and greater power as you advance.

Items come in different rarities that determine their power and the number of modifiers/affixes they can have. Below, you can find an overview of the item rarities:

In Path of Exile 2, orbs are currency items that play a critical role in crafting, upgrading, and modifying gear. Here is a list of orbs and their primary functions:

• 1. Orb of Transmutation - upgrades a normal item into a magic item.
• 2. Orb of Augmentation - adds a new modifier to a magic item with only one affix.
• 3. Regal Orb - upgrades a magic item into a rare item, adding an additional modifier.
• 4. Exalted Orb - adds a new random modifier to a rare item.
• 5. Orb of Alchemy - upgrades a normal item into a rare item with 4 modifiers.
• 6. Chaos Orb - removes a random modifier from a rare item then adds a new one.
• 7. Divine Orb - re-rolls the values of all existing modifiers on an item.
• 8. Orb of Annulment - removes a random modifier from a magic or rare item.
• 9. Orb of Fusing - reforges the links between sockets on an item.
• 10. Jeweller's Orb - adds additional sockets on skill gems.
• 11. Orb of Chance - upgrades a normal item to unique or destroys it.
• 12. Vaal Orb - has random effects like adding new modifiers, changing current modifiers, or changing the item rarity.

Note: spend your currency wisely, especially the rare and valuable ones like Divine Orbs, Exalted Orbs, and Chaos Orbs. They are rare and expensive, so use them carefully! On the other hand, I recommend using your Orbs of Transmutation, Orbs of Augmentation, Regal Orbs, and Orbs of Alchemy. They can really help while leveling up, especially when you're working with normal and magic gear. After a certain point, these orbs become less useful, so it's a good idea to make the most of them while you can.

5. Pick up all magic, rare, and unique gear pieces and identify them to check for upgrades

As you level up, make sure to pick up all the magic, rare, and unique gear pieces you find. Use your Scrolls of Wisdom to identify them so you can constantly check for potential gear upgrades. This will help you progress smoothly, ensuring your build stays strong and you don’t get stuck along the way.

6. Upgrade your skills and add supports using Uncut Gems you find

Prioritize seeking out Skill Gems to level up your skills as often as you can. Use Uncut Gems strategically to add supports and enhance your abilities, following your build’s guidelines.

Note: Skill Gems and Uncut Gems can be quite rare, so use them wisely. To avoid wasting valuable resources, find a tested build that suits your playstyle and preferences and follow it. This practice will ensure a smoother, more rewarding experience, allowing you to progress quickly and efficiently.

Keeping your skills upgraded helps you clear maps quickly and the boss fights are easier. This way you are safe from frustrating roadblocks and countless tries. Being more powerful than the monsters you face will speed up your XP gain and also allow you to save time and effort on challenging encounters.

With these leveling tips and tricks, you’ll have a great journey through the campaign, ensuring your Mercenary stays strong and ready for every challenge. Now that you’re prepared to take on the early game, we’ll showcase the best build to kick off the new league with your Mercenary.

Mercenary League Starter Build

After extensive testing and countless hours of gameplay, we’ve selected the best combination of skills, passives, and gear, allowing Mercenaries to progress quickly when a new league starts. This Mercenary League Starter build can be improved as you go and seamlessly transition into the end-game without having to make major changes too soon.

First, let's take a look at the skills, support, and spirit gems needed for the Mercenary League Starter build.

Skill rotation for Act 1: start by using Flash Grenades to stun enemies, then throw Gas Grenades to weaken them. Follow up with Explosive Grenades for massive damage, and keep using Flash Grenades to maintain control while explosions detonate.

Skill rotation for Act 2: start by using Flash Grenades until the target is staggered. Follow up with Voltaic Grenades and a Gas Grenade to weaken them. Next, throw an Explosive Grenade and an Oil Grenade, then detonate everything with Explosive Shot. Keep using Flash Grenades to maintain control while the explosions go off.

Skill rotation for Act 3: start with Flash Grenade to engage and stagger enemies. Use Oil Grenade to set up explosions. Deal damage with Explosive Grenade or Gas Grenade. Finish by detonating with Explosive Shot.

Now that we've covered the optimal skill combinations for each step in your progression, we can move on to the passive skill tree for our Mercenary League Starter build.

The next step in crafting the perfect Mercenary League Starter build is optimizing your gear with the most useful stats to ensure a strong synergy with your passives and skills.

Pro Mercenary End-game Tips & Tricks

In this section, we’ll share some helpful advice to get your Mercenary ready for the end-game. With these tips, you’ll know exactly what to do when the big challenges come your way!

1. Transitioning into an end-game build with useful stats and capped resistances

Once you complete Act 3 Cruel, you’ll enter the end-game and unlock the Atlas of Worlds, the core of Path of Exile 2’s end-game content. This map system presents encounters that get harder as you go, with powerful bosses that offer greater rewards but demand a complex build.

To handle these challenges, you must transition into a powerful end-game build. This may involve reconfiguring your skills and support gems, refunding passive points to refine your tree, and optimizing your gear with better affixes.

One of the most critical priorities is capping your resistances (fire, cold, lightning, and chaos). The closer you are to the resistance cap, the better your survivability. Chaos Resistance is crucial, as it becomes more important in end-game encounters. By focusing on these resistances and optimizing your stats, you’ll be well-prepared to tackle the most difficult fights and continue progressing smoothly.

2. Constantly use your currency to craft or buy upgrades for your gear

Constantly using your currency to upgrade your gear is an essential part of progressing through the PoE 2 end-game. As you advance, your gear needs to be optimized to keep up with increasing difficulty, and currency is the key to making those improvements.

Use orbs to add modifiers, re-roll affixes, or even change items' rarity. Don’t hesitate to use the currency to boost items, even if they don’t perfectly fit your build as they can always be sold through the trading system, which allows you to earn more currency that you can then reinvest into items that better suit your needs.

By strategically upgrading and selling items, you can not only improve your own gear but also fund the purchase of other valuable items from other players, ensuring your Mercenary end-game build remains strong as you progress.

3. Use the Path of Exile Trade website to look for possible upgrades using filters

Once you’ve earned some currency, it’s time to search for better gear on the official Path of Exile trade website. Do your research and take advantage of the filters to help you find the best deals for the items you need. Trading plays a crucial role in the PoE 2 economy, and learning how to use it effectively is key to progressing smoothly.

Without utilizing the trading system, you might find yourself spending excessive amounts of currency re-rolling gear without getting the ideal affixes. By mastering the trading system and using the website, you can secure high-quality upgrades that enhance your build and speed up your progress.

4. Use the in-game currency exchange feature for fast currency trading

If you find yourself lacking the specific currency needed to upgrade your gear, Path of Exile 2 offers an in-game currency exchange feature. This system allows you to trade the currency you don’t need for the type that’s required for your upgrades.

By using this tool, you can efficiently acquire the currency you need without depending on drops from monsters or waiting for the specific items to appear in the market. It’s a great way to keep your upgrades flowing and ensure your build stays on track.

5. Complete the 3rd and 4th Ascension Trials for additional Ascendancy Passive Points

Focus on completing the 3rd Ascension Trial to earn your 5th and 6th passive points, then prioritize the 4th Ascension Trial for the 7th and 8th passive points. By finishing both, you’ll fully unlock your Ascendancy tree, giving your build a significant power boost and allowing you to reach its full potential.

6. Progress through the Atlas avoiding difficult waystone modifiers

Strategically navigating the Atlas of Worlds is essential for efficient progression in Path of Exile 2. To avoid challenging waystone modifiers that can impede your advancement, consider the following strategies:

• Focus on Atlas passive nodes that enhance waystone drop rates and increase the chances of obtaining higher-tier waystones.
• Combine three waystones of the same tier using the reforging bench to create a single waystone of a higher tier. This method helps you manage your waystone inventory effectively and avoid using lower-tier waystones with challenging modifiers.
• Choose maps wisely, pay attention to modifiers, and select the ones that suit your build. Avoid the maps that may be too difficult.
• Activities like Breach or Ritual can be rewarding but challenging. Complete the main map objectives first and then decide whether to engage with these activities based on your build performance and the map's modifiers.

By implementing this strategy, you can navigate the Atlas more effectively, avoid difficult way stone modifiers, and maintain a constant progression.

7. Clear maps of an adequate tier based on your level

Avoid rushing through maps with a significant level gap. If the difference between your character level and the map’s tier is 5 levels or more, you will gain reduced XP, and if you die at any point during maps you'll suffer an XP penalty. Focus on clearing maps that match your current level for the best rewards and faster progression. Take your time, go step-by-step, and you'll make great progress without the penalties.

8. Play safe and avoid dying at any cost

In the end-game maps, dying will result in a 10% XP penalty, so it's crucial to stay focused on your skill rotation. Prioritize survival in every encounter, and aim to complete each map without dying to maximize your XP gains and prevent setbacks.

FAQs

Is Mercenary a good class in Path of Exile 2?

Yes, the Mercenary is a solid class, offering a great mix of damage, survivability, and crowd control, making it an excellent choice for both experienced players and beginners.

Is Mercenary easy to play?

The Mercenary class is beginner-friendly but requires some practice. The grenade-focused playstyle is fun but needs attention to positioning and skill timing. If you are ready to spend some time learning its skill rotation, you will enjoy rewarding gameplay.

What are the best stats for Mercenary in Path of Exile 2?

The best stats you should focus on as a Mercenary in Path of Exile 2 are: physical damage, chaos resistance, elemental resistances, life, and movement speed. Prioritizing the related affixes on your gear will get you a balanced build

What is the stats priority for Mercenary?

The Mercenary stats priority in PoE 2 is listed below:

• 1. Physical damage
• 2. Chaos resistance
• 3. Elemental resistances (fire, cold, lightning)
• 4. Life and life regen
• 5. Movement speed

Is Mercenary good for speedfarming maps?

Yes, the Mercenary excels at speed farming. Explosive skills, crowd control, and high mobility are significant advantages when you want to clear monster packs quickly and move through maps efficiently.

Is Mercenary good for pinnacle bosses?

The Mercenary performs well against pinnacle bosses. With good survivability and damage, they can handle long fights effectively, especially when the build is fully optimized.

Final Thoughts

This concludes our comprehensive PoE 2 Mercenary class guide. With this knowledge, you should now have a clear understanding of the Mercenary's strengths, playstyle, and performance across various scenarios, including end-game content. As one of the most versatile and exciting classes in the game, it’s definitely worth a try, so gear up, start exploring, and enjoy the gameplay!

Related Guides

If you’re curious about other Path of Exile 2 guides, check out the following list:

• Path of Exile 2 Leveling Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Currency Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Best Classes Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Gearing Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Beginner Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Trading Guide
• Path of Exile 2 Crafting Guide

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