Mercenary

The **Mercenary** is one of the playable characters in Risk of Rain 2.

## How to Unlock

The Mercenary is unlocked upon completing the Challenge "True Respite". (*Obliterate yourself at the Obelisk.*)

## Skills

### Laser Sword

 Proc Coefficient
 Description
 * The base swing speed is 0.42s per swing, with a 0.64s recovery window after the third swing which artificially reduces the base swing speed.
* Any bonus attack speed will decrease the time spent in the recovery animation, but will not remove / negate it.
* is not interrupted by other animations.

### Whirlwind

 Cooldown
 Proc Coefficient
 Description
 * The animation speed is improved with attack speed, which also reduces the time taken to cast other skills.

#### Rising Thunder

 Cooldown
 Proc Coefficient
 Description
 * Unlocked via the "Mercenary: Demon of the Skies" Challenge. (As Mercenary, don't touch the ground for 30 seconds.)

### Blinding Assault

 Cooldown
 Proc Coefficient
 Description
 * The color of the icon will change depending on how many uses the skill has before going on cooldown; Blue for three, Yellow for two, Red for one.
* The animation speed and total distance travelled is improved by attack speed bonuses.
* The player has 2.66 seconds to use this ability again after striking an enemy (while a charge is available).

### Eviscerate

 Cooldown
 Proc Coefficient
 Description
 * Lasts for 1.3s after casting.
* Deals 7 damage ticks on cast, the amount of damage ticks is improved by attack speed without affecting its duration.
* Invincible for 0.6s after Eviscerate ends.
* Mecenary's position will remain at the point of cast for the duration.

#### Slicing Winds

 Cooldown
 Proc Coefficient
 Description
 * Unlocked via the "Mercenary: Ethereal" Challenge. (As Mercenary, complete a Prismatic Trial without falling below 100% health.)

## Tips

* You should always hold your Primary skill down. Laser Sword combos are not interrupted by your non-Primary skills, sprinting, or jumping, allowing you to slash while using Whirlwind, Blinding Assault, and Eviscerate. A Laser Sword combo will, however, only start when you are not in the middle of using another skill.
* Whirlwind Can be used on slanted edges / ramps that you can walk up to launch the player vertically.
* Whirlwind when used on the ground dashes you forward, when used in the air it acts like a double jump. Use it in the air to stay airborne, but use it on the ground to be evasive as it covers more distance faster.
* There is a short delay before attacking again after the third hit in the Laser Sword combo. Activating Whirlwind immediately after the hit connects can cancel this delay.
* When fighting bosses, Mercenary can stay safely in the air above their heads for a very long time by chaining together Whirlwind->Eviscerate->Whirlwind along with laser sword attacks and double jumps.
* Your Blinding Assault cooldown reset leaves just enough time to use Laser Sword twice or combo Whirlwind + Laser Sword before you need to dash again. You have just enough time to Eviscerate between Blinding Assaults, if you do it immediately without any delay between dashes.
* Your longest distance jump combo is Sprint-Jump-Whirlwind-Blinding Assault-Eviscerate-Double Jump-Whirlwind.[Verify]
* Prior to Build ID #3731106, Eviscerating directly into the ground when airborne would cause you to take heavy fall damage.
* Mercenary's health regeneration is noticeably higher than other survivors, allowing him to recover faster than the other survivors without the use of healing items.
* Some bosses have heads which act as solid platforms, which the Mercenary can stand on to resume attacking the boss without as much danger from the swarm of enemies below.
* Wax Quail's boost applies for Mercenary's first two jumps, whereas other survivors can only receive the boost on their first jump, even with the Hopoo Feather
* Using your Primary attack on enemies such as the Wandering Vagrant while airborne also noticeably reduces your rate of decent.
* If you use Blinding Assault very close to Wandering Vagrant, you can push it into a wall at high speeds causing massive damage. This can be easily achieved if you hit directly on top of its mantle.
* Blinding Assault can slam nearly any flying enemy into walls for massive damage including airborne bosses, but it cannot affect Alloy Vultures.
* The damage dealt when using Blinding Assault to slam enemies into walls can receive critical hits
* Slicing Winds  does **NOT** scale with attack speed, unlike Eviscerate
* It is advised to provide at least one or two Backup Magazines to the Mercenary if they have Rising Thunder because the added air time can allow them to dodge attacks even if Blinding Assault and Eviscerate  are on cooldown.
* Rising Thunder can still hit enemies directly below the Mercenary
* Slamming smaller enemies into a ceiling with Rising Thunder can deal extra damage to them

## Gallery

Mercenary in-game modelMercenary model with Oni skin equipped. Unlocked by completing the Mercenary Mastery challenge.
## Trivia

* **Mercenary** was one of the playable characters in the first Risk of Rain.