Shattered Kingdoms

So you want to roll a mercenary but are unsure how to effectively build one then you've come to the right place.

The mercenary class is easily the most powerful melee/warrior class, but it is also the easiest to
screw up as the game allows the player to make decisions. New players tend to make uninformed decisions
as they do not have the wealth of information that veteran players possess so this guide will attempt
to help along as much as possible.

Let's start off by asking what is a mercenary? The mercenary fills the role of dps, and tank in the game. And
there is no class better at doing these two things than the mercenary. Mercenaries get the use of all weapon
types in the game and can wear the heaviest armors.

So then the question is raised, how is it easy to ruin this class? And the answer is quite easy. Not all weapons
in the game are created equal. There are a lot of good weapons in the game, but there are also a lot of trash
weapons. The bread and butter of the mercenary's melee fighting is the specialize skill. However, specialize is
quite limited in that a mercenary can only specialize in 2 different weapons. How you specialize is far more
important than what you specialize in. If you specialize in 2 front row weapons then you are in essence limiting
the utility of your mercenary. The same goes if you specialize in 2 reach weapons, or 2 ranged weapons. The idea
will be to avoid doing that. If you have already specialized in a class of weaponry (there are 3 classes) then
you should absolutely avoid specializing in that class again, and pick up a weapon from one of the other 2 classes.

Some good specs for each class would be.

(tank)

no-dachi, khopesh, rapier, epee, kama, shuriken, sai, straight dagger

(reach)

battle spear, halberd, pike, bill, glaive, bec de corbin

(ranged)

crossbow, siege crossbow


Under no circumstance should you try to use a two-handed weapon for a tank build. Losing the defensive properties
of a shield. Most two-handed weapons were designed to do dps, and one-handed weapons to tank. Trying to do dps as
a tank will get you killed pretty quickly.

I'll just repeat it here, DON'T SPECIALIZE IN THE SAME CLASS OF WEAPONS TWICE, unless you really want to hamstring
your character's utility.

Just as an example here is what I specialized my mercenary in. (Note: a mercenary that hits the 1st age tick gets
one additional spec).

You are specialized in these weapons:
- bill
- crossbow
- rapier
You may specialize in 0 more weapons.

These 3 specs allowed me to tank with the rapier, put out dps with the bill, and fight and harass at range with
the crossbow. This is a far better approach than specs in two front row weapons, or two 2nd row weapons.

Now then, what sort of stats are good for a mercenary. There are 6 stats that you'll want to train your mercenary
in. STR, DEx, CON, CHA, HP, and MOVE. Why these six stats?

STR (strength) - This is the primary stat of the mercenary class. The chance to hit a target and bonus damage are
determined by this stat. Having a higher STR stat will make your mercenary do more damage with his or her weapon,
and will increase the amount of weight that the character can carry. It is also used in various skill checks.

DEX (dexterity) - This will help the to dodge stat which is one of those nefarious invisible stats in the game.
Developers make invisible stats because they hate life and the living. It'll also increase the number of items
that the mercenary can carry which is more important now since a long running bug was fixed. It is also used in
various skill checks of the class. Dexterity is also used to calculate a character's reflex saving throw. Reflex
saves are made against spells that do damage.

CON (constitution) - This will increase the hp pool of the character, the fortitude saving throw, and the movement
pool of the character. It doesn't matter when you train this stat.

CHA (charisma) - Probably one of the most overlooked stats for the mercenary class. Charisma will affect the speed
at which you can level and also affects rallying cry and retreat. The bonuses for rallying cry will get better with
a higher charisma stat and the amount of movement used up by retreat will decrease with a higher charisma stat.

HP (hit points) - This one is a no-brainer if you intend to tank. This stat will increase your hp pool and gives the
most bang for your buck when it comes to getting extra HPs. Training this stat will also increase how fast you regen
HPs.

MOVE (Movement points) - Iterative attacks on warriors consume movement as do the use of most of their skills. This
stat will increase your overall movement pool and increase the regeneration speed of your movement pool when not in
combat. Movement points do not regenerate in combat. This is a really good stat to train as a lot of the mercenary's
skills consume lots of movement points.



So with all of that stuff out of the way, what can your mercenary do? To be honest, there's not a lot that a mercenary
CAN'T do. Properly specs will lead to the class being a complete powerhouse, even a one-man army. A mercenary can tank
for a group, put out dps, buff his group with rallying cry, control an area with retreat, lock in kills with bash and
trip, debuff with dirt kicking, disarm and kick, and there is no archer better than the mercenary.



If there are any other questions concerning something more specific I'll try to answer the question below.

is longsword good to specialize in?

Ok what do you think about Blitz? Should a player even really think about that skill as a viable option for pk?

Is this a joke question?

No. Blitzkrieg really isn't a viable option. It's an extra melee attack with only slash damage. If you're not wielding a weapon that does slash damage it won't work. Also you need to be the focus of the attacker to be able to harm them.

The skill is bugged, however, you can use it, it will still consume PE, and you can still can improves if none of the conditions are met (other than wielding a slash weapon).

What weapon has the higher difficulty in being parried, flail category weapons or massives? Also is a flail, such as morningstar or nunchaku specifically,viable as a specialization due to it being difficult to parry?

No, blitz and headbutt need to be replaced. Using these skills in pk will generate a small bit of lag.

Blitz is useless for PK as It only hits those attacking you in melee combat.. So if your taking hits and can use it, you'll have a parrying blade up and the damage output will suck. If you have a 2h weapon up for damage mode, you shouldn't be tanking and blitz will fail entirely.

Better to focus on bash/trip/dirt kick/quaffing heals

Longsword is a great one -handed spec. It is fast enough at Gm to get 5 attacks with haste/ does good damage and is mildly accurate.

How about of bow-type weapons for specs...like longbow or archery bow?

The problem with bows on a mercenary is you lose accuracy for each piece of heavy armor you wear. You may be able to work around this, or you could cut that penalty in half if you use a crossbow instead.