Need help choosing the next merc to buy? Look here! [Old Thread]

#1

This is the old version. Please visit the new thread in the game guides.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed quite a few people not really knowing which merc to buy.
That’s why I thought on making a thread containing general information about the mercs.
Each post will contain mercs devided into the four groups: Medic, Assault, Fire Support & Recon.
I’ll have a deep look into the abilities of the mercs.
The list will be continued the more mercs I buy and thus get to play.
Info about all the main weapons are found at the last post, structured into several parts.
Second weapons are not included yet.
Please note that there will be a lot of changes. A lot of things will get moved and edited.

Let’s start, shall we? :wink:

Newest: Fletcher!
Next merc to be added: Arty

Medics:

SAWBONEZ

Sawbonez is a medic.
A combat medic, to be more accurate.
He has 110 HP and is 410 fast.
He has access to the following automatic weapons: Crotzni, SMG-9 and Blishlok.
Like every other medic, his abilities is to revive team-mates and heal them.
He can heal himself, too.
And that’s why most people would prefer him as a medic.

With his powerful weapons he is able to make damage and heal himself behind cover.
Sawbonez fights from short to medium range.
He is a great addition to the whole team, dealing out damage and reviving team-mates.
Great! Oh, and he only costs 30k credits…

Note: His medpacks heal his team-mates very fast, that isn’t the case for himself though.
Note2: Do not use a medpack when you are getting shot. The health regain gets canceled.

SPARKS

Sparks is a medic, too.
But she is different, she is based on long range. (Oh, and she costs 50k!)
Let’s first have a look at her medpacks.
She also has medpacks but they are quite different.
Obviously they are a lot smaller and thus they heal less.
But they heal instantly, you don’t have to wait a few seconds.
The same goes with Sparks herself, they heal her instantly, too.

The reason for Sparks being long ranged is her reviver.
She is able to revive team-mates from far ahead, without actually being close.
That gains her and her team a massive advantage as she can just sit back and literally “snipe” her team-mates.
Nevertheless there are downsides to this.
Firstly, she only has 80 HP and thus belonging to the fastest mercs ingame with a speed of 470.
Secondly, her main weapons are secondaries for other mercs.
That said Sparks is definitely not a combat Medic as Sawbonez is.

However, her reviver isn’t only used to revive team-mates, but also to damage enemies.
So she is not entirely useless for combat. She just has her weaknesses.
First we need to have a look at the reviver itself though.
It has two bars. The right one is the energy one and the left one is the charge bar.
If you charge it to its maximum it deals quite some damage on a headshot.
It can then kill a full health Vassili (100 HP) or mercs under that line.
The more you charge it, the more energy drains.
Obviously if you don’t charge it, the energy refills again.
Once you’ve used up all your energy the gun breaks and you have to wait for a few seconds until it’s refreshed again.
Because of that it makes timing your shots quite difficult at first.
You’ll need to learn when to start charging it.

Sparks is a great medic.
Having her can actually decide between win and lose.

#2

NADER

Her name says it all. She uses grenades. A lot of them. And costs 50k credits.
She has 120 HP and 430 speed.
She shares her weapons collection with Sawbonez almost identical, difference being the hochfir.
Now let’s look at her abilities.

The grenade launcher.
She is able to fire five grenades from her grenade launcher.
After they are all used, she needs to wait until the cooldown is done.
Their damage is fine, dealing some massive upon a direct hit (killing light mercs instantly).
When fired, it explodes after a short amount of time.
They can almost act like cooked grenades from Fragger when they fly the right amount of time.

The counter to aura stations and camping people.

Martyrdom.

You lost the fight and are lying on the ground, waiting to get finished or to press K.
Instead, you press F when you are about to get knifed.
This will drop a grenade killing everyone upon a direct hit (except rhino).
Players being not aware of it will fall to it, multiply times.
In almost all cases you won’t be able to use it against players who know about martyrdom.
They will just shoot you from distance.

Note: You can also long jump to get out of martyrdom’s death reach, you’ll most likely be damaged but alive.
Note2: The hochfir is not recommended on Nader.

FRAGGER

His name reveals him too. Just as Nader, he uses grenades. They are different though.
Let’s first look at himself.
A lot of people say Fragger is the best fighter aka Assault.
But why? Firstly, Fragger has 150 HP and 385 speed. That’s a lot of HP.
He also has access to the following powerful weapons: The M4A1, the BR-16 and the K-121.
And now comes the cream of all this: Two grenades.

These two grenades are what mark Fragger.
They do a huge amount of damage when hit and Fragger is able to cook them.
Now what does cooking mean?
Cooking is, when a Fragger holds the grenade in his hand ticking one, two…
This lets you time the grenades just so it hits people without letting them any time to react.
It requires a bit of practice but once you’ve got the hang of it it’s absolutely deadly.
Be careful though, as you only have two grenades and the cool down is rather big.

Fragger is a top killer.
If you still search for one, he is awesome.
Nader isn’t bad either though…

#3

Fire support:

KIRA

Kira is a fire support merc costing 50k credits.
With 90 HP and 450 speed, she is one of the second fastest mercs ingame but rather vulnerable too.
She has access to the following burst & semi auto rifles: Stark AR, BR-16, Dreiss.
Kira can be a powerful merc if you know how to use her.
You will need quite some practice as you have to hit these heads, otherwise you are outclassed by automatic weapons.
Kira reveals her main power outside, at medium to long range.
However, close combat isn’t forbidden as long as you hit the heads.
And here we come to her abilities.

Her ammo station is very helpful.
It will supply your whole team with ammo within seconds and nets you tons of support XP.
If you’re in a hurry, place it, wait a second and pick it up again to gain a fast round of ammo.
It can even be used to block an entrance or act like a bait for a very short amount of time.

Her laser is her identity.
Use it correctly and you’ll be able to wipe out an entire team.
Be aware though. It has its weaknessses.
Obviously it can’t be used indoors.
But the worst thing is that it can’t be moved freely.
For example, you want to move it forward. It won’t move if you just point it in the air.
You need to point it to the ground or to some sort of building to move it.
It can be tricky sometimes but it’s very rewarding.

Note: Enemies can supply ammo from your station too!
Be aware when you place it and pick it up in the right time.

(Yes) #4

Kira is so good you have her listed twice. :smile:

#5

Engineers:

PROXY

Proxy is an engineer. Like all engineers, she is able to repair, plant and defuse very fast.
With 90 HP and 450 speed, she belongs to the second fastest mercs ingame.
Proxy has the following shotguns to choose from: The Hollunds 880 and the Remburg 7.
Alternatively, you can also choose the Hochfir.
Shotguns are very powerful at close range.
Two well placed shots from a shotgun (varying from the shotgun itself) are enough to kill most mercs, sometimes even one shotting light mercs.
Now let’s see why Proxy is so good overall.

Her ability are two mines.
Uncareful people will net you many, many kills as they continue dying to your mines.
Players are normally in a hurry to defuse the C4 for example and don’t really look at the bomb. They only think about one thing: To defuse this.
And this is the moment your mines come in play.
Place one at the bomb and see people trying to run away once they noticed what’s going on.
The rather short defuse time will kill them and thus you have successfuly defended the bomb. You can also put them at side objectives, at ammo crates or behind a corner.
In these situations, the mines are used defensively.
However, they can also be used attacking.

Run into a group of enemies, start shooting and then randomly deploy a mine.
They most likely haven’t noticed it.
You have two options now.
You continue shooting at them and the mine will trigger after your death or, you shoot the just placed mine when they are somewhere near it.
A good numbers of mercs can’t survive a direct hit of a mine.
Just be careful when your mines get blown up as they damage you too.

Proxy is a wonderful addition to the team.
She easily does the objectives while defending them too.
Aaand… she only costs 30k credits.

FLETCHER

Welcome to Fletcher.
Like Proxy, Fletcher is an engineer. He is able to repair, plant and defuse very fast.
With 110 HP and 420 speed, he is good to go.
Flecher uses the Hollunds 880 and the Ahnuhld-12 as shotguns.
He can also choose the Blishlok if he likes.

While Proxy has mines, Fletcher has something else to contribute on the battlefield…
…sticky bombs.
He also has a second abilitiy, the detonator.
It’s being used to explode stickies.

Now as their names indicate, sticky bombs stick.
You can stick them on the ground, on walls and on the roof.
How about you stick them on players, too?
And here is how to be succesful with Fletcher.
Being accurate is the key here.
People have literally no chance to escape your stickies if they are on them.
It’s important that they are very near your enemies when they explode.
They are not done for random hits, do not treat them like Nader grenades.
Their splash damage is just too low.
A direct hit from a sticky bomb deals 90 damage though!

Don’t forget that they have no time limit when to explode.
You decide when they do.
Having this knowledge in mind, you could theoretically stick a bomb to someone, run away and explode it twenty seconds later.
Obviously that’s not a very efficient way of killing, but a fun joke.

Use all your three weapons.
With that I mean your primary, your sticky bombs and your secondary.
It happens quite a few times that your sticky bombs damage your enemy almost to death.
Almost. In this case your secondary comes to play.
They are fast firing weapons allowing you to definitely hit your enemy until his death.
I forgot that several times and died because I missed with my primary
When you are flanking your enemy, use your stickies first.
Then you can clean up the rest with your primary (or secondary).
All three are good in different situations, so use them!

Fletcher is a really fun and deadly merc to use.
He requires a bit of practice though and costs 50k credits.

Note: Various players have reported a bug with the stickies randomly disappearing.

#6

reserved

(LifeupOmega) #7

Just buy Fletcher, and all your problems will be solved.

(SteelMailbox) #8

Sawbonez is always a solid choice if you want to be combat capable, Sparks is more towards the guys that feel like staying behind a lot and revive people (Plus she sucks at healing people that are alive) Nader is a lot more suited now to take damage and kill people and she is really great for both attacking and defending, if you can aim those nades she is your choice. Kira is a great fire support but squishiness is something that keeps here a bit more behind than other fire supports. The ammo station is useful for keeping a nest alive with ammo but is a lot less useful to use on the fly, the laser however is a very good ability but on maps like trainyard can be easily restart the targeting if you looked at a train track (very annoying).

Personnaly out of all I prefer Sawbonez as a solid first merc.

#9

WEAPONS

Full automatic:

The Crotzni’s good damage and its fire speed makes it a viable weapon.
After the recent two fine tuning patches it got nerfed quite a bit.
The Crotzni & the SMG-9 seem to be on the same floor now.

The SMG-9 is after the nerf of the Crotzni a bit more accurate with less spray.
In terms of damage and fire speed it’s a little bit behind the crotzni.
Its recoil is lower though.

The Blishlok’s fire speed is rather slow but in comparison it has very good damage.
Its accuracy starts to fall after a few shots though.
You need to fire short bursts with it, otherwise you won’t be very successful with it.
Another problem is its scope being some sort of oversized blub.
It’s hard to master with this gun, that’s why most people dislike it.
(Has a cool reload animation though!)

The hochfir is a very fast shooting gun which damage is low.
You need to be close to your enemy, hitting heads otherwise the damage just won’t be enough.

The M4A1 is just a wonderful choice overall.
It has good damage, good accuracy and fine recoil.
Its range effectiveness got nerfed by 5% last fine tuning patch.
The K-121 is a machine gun.
Obviously it does a lot of damage but in comparison for that it’s accuracy is meh.
Still a wonderful gun though.
People prefer it over the M4A1 because of the better perks.

Burst & semi auto rifles:

The BR-16 and the Stark AR are compared to each other almost the exact guns.
The biggest difference are the three more shots on the BR-16 (27) lacking on the Stark (24).
In comparison for that the Stark has an ironsight scope most people seem to be disliking because it blocks your sight.
I personally have found it very helpful. (Burst guns)

The Dreiss’ skill floor is pretty high.
It’s a rather slow firing, massive damage dealing semi auto gun which accuracy is fine for such an damage output.

(Rjsto) #10

I don’t play proxy so i might seem like an idiot here, but i don’t think she has ahnuld, it’s remburg

#11

Whoops! Thanks for telling. Fixed.

(Backuplight) #12

I have an alternative method for you!

(Freelancer) #13

Great work, Kirays :slight_smile:

(TheOrangePhantome) #14

@Kirays I’ve texted you the all the info i know about Phantom so you can include it at any time.

(Eox) #15

I have to correct you about sticky bombs : a stuck sticky bomb deals up to 100 damage. Not 90.

#16

@Eox Thanks! I will fix it in the new thread.
@TheOrangePhantome Sorry, I still have to play him myself.
I will include you in the credits though.

(TheOrangePhantome) #17

[quote=“Kirays;73068”]@Eox Thanks! I will fix it in the new thread.
@TheOrangePhantome Sorry, I still have to play him myself.
I will include you in the credits though.[/quote]

Well it makes sense. KK man and have fun with him.