The *Official* Community Merc Tier list

(hawkeyeguy99) #1

I made a post a few months ago with my own merc tier list and it caused a bit of controversy (most of you didn’t agree with me). So I thought it would be better for new players to find what mercs are the most liked/thought of as the best in each category according to the community. Here’s how this will work: ranking is based purely on points.
Each person will get 1 vote for 1 merc in every category (medic, assault, fire support, engineer, and recon) and then 1 vote for 1 merc overall. This will create 6 different tier-lists on this thread, one for each class of merc and one for best overall.

In order to help me find votes in amongst discussion please copy and paste the following format and choose one of the mercs listed for each category:
Medic: [Guardian, Sparks, Aura, Phoenix, Sawbonez]
Assault: [Fragger, Thunder, Rhino, Nader]
Fire Support: [Skyhammer, Arty, Stoker, Kira, Javelin]
Engineer: [Proxy, Bushwhacker, Fletcher, Turtle]
Recon: [Aimee, Vassili, Phantom, Redeye]

Medics Tier List

  1. Sawbonez [6]
  2. Aura [5]
  3. Phoenix [5]
  4. Sparks [1]
  5. Guardian [0]

Assault Tier List

  1. Fragger [12]
  2. Nader [3]
  3. Rhino [2]
  4. Thunder [0]

Fire Support Tier List

  1. Arty [7]
  2. Stoker [5]
  3. Skyhammer [4]
  4. Javelin [1]
  5. Kira [0]

Engineer Tier List

  1. Fletcher [10]
  2. Bushwhacker [4]
  3. Proxy [2]
  4. Turtle [1]

Recon Tier List

  1. Redeye [6]
  2. Phantom [5]
  3. Vassili [4]
  4. Aimee [2]

All Mercs Tier List

  1. Aura [2]
  2. Rhino [1]
  3. Phantom [1]
  4. Phoenix [1]
  5. Javelin [1]
  6. Arty [1]
  7. Turtle [0]
  8. Fletcher [0]
  9. Javelin [0]
  10. Skyhammer [0]
  11. Bushwhacker [0]
  12. Stoker [0]
  13. Kira [0]
  14. Proxy [0]
  15. Fragger [0]
  16. Thunder [0]
  17. Vassili [0]
  18. Nader [0]
  19. Guardian [0]
  20. Sparks [0]
  21. Aimee [0]
  22. Redeye [0]
  23. Sawbonez [0]
(Artyrim) #2

Mah
If is about the strongest ones them
Saw/Nader/Arty/Flet/Vas

Med:Aura is good but can’t be really used in both atk/def (all situations )so is pheonix vs saw but saw wins here
Assault: Fragger is good but Nader wins because is too spammy,thunder is good however misses “boom boom”.Rhino? sure…
Fire support: Arty,no need to ask why
Engi: Flet wins even though I like Proxy more, Turtle can be useful in good teams but his cd is high,the turrent guy mah…btw JAVELIN as engi is good
Recon:Vas because of his ability, the other 2 snipers and Phantom can be called recon at all

This is something just for me
Assault : PROXY
Engi : PROXY
Recon: PROXY
FLANK : PROXY
MEDIC: Even when I have to do support xp mission with X merc I just use snipers/fire support/or Turtle

(imLegal) #3

@hawkeyeguy99 said:
So I thought it would be better for new players to find what mercs are the best in each category according to the community.

Kind of a pointless goal for the future since such community-based polls (for a lack of better word) won’t necessarily reflect which mercs are “the best” or which mercs the community thinks are the best simply because changes happen all the time (both objectively & subjectively). Don’t expect this thread to be a (appropriate) reference.

But imo:

Medic: Aura
Assault: Rhino
Fire Support: Stoker
Engineer: Fletcher
Recon: Phantom

As for best i’d go with Aura simply because having a medic on my squad is a necessary and my to-go-to is almost always Aura (Phoenix comes 2nd).

(henki000) #4

Medic: [Sawbonez]
Assault: [Fragger]
Fire Support: [Skyhammer]
Engineer: [Fletcher]
Recon: [Redeye]

And overall goes to Rhino.

(hawkeyeguy99) #5

@imLegal said:

@hawkeyeguy99 said:
So I thought it would be better for new players to find what mercs are the best in each category according to the community.

Kind of a pointless goal for the future since such community-based polls (for a lack of better word) won’t necessarily reflect which mercs are “the best” or which mercs the community thinks are the best simply because changes happen all the time (both objectively & subjectively). Don’t expect this thread to be a (appropriate) reference.

It’s meant to curb the “which merc should I buy next”/“which merc is the best” threads that we see all the time. This way new players can have something quick and aggregated to refer to to see what the community in general likes the best/thinks is good. Not meant to be an actual factual list.

Also don’t forget to give your overall vote when you vote for the final list.

(Muddy Muddy Mud Nade) #6

Medic: Phoenix (AoE instaheals, self-revive, better Primary weapons than Sawbonez)
Assault: Fragger (throwable nukes, decent healthpool, having to choose between the K-121 and M4A1 is a good problem to have)
Fire Support: Skyhammer (useful in all situations)
Engineers: Fletcher (sticky bombs are just so damn good)
Recon: Red Eye (honestly, it’s a tossup between him and Vassili, but Red Eye is just a bit more useful in most situations than Vassili, and the Smoke Grenade is incredibly powerful in a coordinated team)
Overall: Gotta go with Skyhammer. Team wipe potential, decent health and speed, great weapons, and pressing E always makes your team happy.

(Press E) #7

It really depends honestly. Like, there is no “best medic”, they all have their own uses, so trying to sort them in tiers is pointless.
Like, take sparks and aura. Both are great, but aura is better for healing, and sparks is better for reviving. But sparks is only most useful on certain maps, or certain areas of certain maps, whereas Aura is more versatile. However, sparks is also generally better in combat, but needs a higher skill level, etc. In general yeah, Aura is more versatile than sparks with a lower skill floor, but Sparks still has her own uses and can even outpreform aura in certain situations. You get the point, there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s not really accurate to place mercs in a general tier, but rather tiers for specific categories like skill level, versatility, combat effectiveness, etc.

But anyways, I’ll try my best with an overall assessment lol
Medic: [Aura] - Low skill requirement, most versatile, and can support a team more than any other merc
Assault: [Fragger] - Low skill requirement, good selection of guns and high HP, but not too slow like thunder or rhino
Fire Support: [Arty] - Low skill requirement, good guns even after the nerf. Best for taking out objectives out of all of them too
Engineer: [Proxy] - I’m torn between proxy or fletcher. Both are generally very versatile, but I’m gonna give it to proxy since she takes less aim and is a lot harder to hit
Recon: [Phantom] - I’m only giving this to phantom because his EMP ability can be a lot more useful than spotting in most situations, at least imo. He has decent weapons too, but if not him, probably red eye. Red eye has access to the dreiss and can be really hard to hit if he uses his smoke well.

#8

Really want to contribute more to this thread/post, but I’m not going to be home for a while so I’ll drop this real quick.

Medic: Sawbones, but Phoenix and Aura are runners up because Sparks has limited uses with a very high skill ceiling. None are bad, but Saw takes the cake for most effective frontline combat and healing.

Fire Support: Varies depending on the map. I’d say Arty if I had to choose one. Javelin for combat-focused support and destroying equipment or generators, Stoker for area denial and protecting plants, Kira for strong advances into spawn or final objectives, and Skyhammer for most EV maps. I’m placing Arty as the best overall for his versatility, but I don’t believe any of them outclass another by much after the recent hits Arty took past update. Arguments could be made for all of them.

Assault: Fragger

Engineer: Fletcher

Recon: Redeye

(frostyvampire) #9

Medic: Aura (pls nerf)
Assault: Fragger (I didn’t vote Nader because she is just broken)
Fire Support: Arty
Engie: Fletcher
Recon: Vaseline

All mercs: Aura (pls nerf x2)

(boerhae) #10

Medic: [Phoenix]
Assault: [Fragger]
Fire Support: [Arty]
Engineer: [Bushwhacker]
Recon: [Phantom]

just picked my favorite mercs out of each category, except recon. i don’t like any recon, i’m bad at them all

(Teflon Love) #11

The best mercs to have some mindless fun:

Sparks/Rhino/Javelin/Proxy/Aimee

(Smile.jpg) #12

I give all of my 6 votes to Phantom.

(LifeupOmega) #13

Medic: Sawbonez
Assault: Nader
Fire Support: Skyhammer
Engineer: Turtle
Recon: Phantom

(B_Montiel) #14

Community polls wont replace actual stats and high end playing habits. SD always admitted they were somehow balancing things around sawbonez and skyhammer, both they rarely change their cd and stats on abilities. And the same goes for bushwacker and proxy which both received minimal tweaks over the last months, not to say years. As far as I can see between high end ranked and what highlevel generally plays, phoenix is slightly more played than sawbonez in the all-rounder medic field.

And everything goes the same way. Nader has been untouched for quite some time now, so they definitely consider she’s on the right spot so far.

All this considered, in high-level/comporiented hands, every thing that get higher average playtime and stats could be regarded as the high tier mercs compared to the mentioned above. And that’s how they are balancing things in this game so far.

Tl;dr : There’s a big difference between perception and actual facts. Proper tier list should be based on facts.
With all the data they collect between updates, I’d love to see actual stats and analysis report to justify patch notes.
SD has plenty of tools to redirect balancing discussions, but sadly they dont communicate them to the community anymore.

(NexDroid) #15

Aura
Fragger
Arty
Fletcher
Vaseline

And of all mercs… hmm hard to say but I personally enjoy Jav the most.

(Da_Mummy) #16

Medic: [Phoenix]
Assault: [Nader]
Fire Support: [Stoker]
Engineer: [Bushwhacker]
Recon: [Redeye]
Overall Phoenix without a doubt (never surrender to the Sawbonez-mains)

(Your worst knifemare.) #17

Medic: Phoenix (Heals multiple allies at once and has self revive.)
Support: Skyhammer (more noob friendly yet still effective at skilled games)
Assault: Fragger (Spawncamping 101)
Engineer: Bushwacker (Has larger range than shotgun engineers and turret can be used as recon tool)
Recon: Aimee (Fast movement speed and Snitch is great support tool.)

(hawkeyeguy99) #18

@B_Montiel said:
Community polls wont replace actual stats and high end playing habits. SD always admitted they were somehow balancing things around sawbonez and skyhammer, both they rarely change their cd and stats on abilities. And the same goes for bushwacker and proxy which both received minimal tweaks over the last months, not to say years. As far as I can see between high end ranked and what highlevel generally plays, phoenix is slightly more played than sawbonez in the all-rounder medic field.

And everything goes the same way. Nader has been untouched for quite some time now, so they definitely consider she’s on the right spot so far.

All this considered, in high-level/comporiented hands, every thing that get higher average playtime and stats could be regarded as the high tier mercs compared to the mentioned above. And that’s how they are balancing things in this game so far.

Tl;dr : There’s a big difference between perception and actual facts. Proper tier list should be based on facts.
With all the data they collect between updates, I’d love to see actual stats and analysis report to justify patch notes.
SD has plenty of tools to redirect balancing discussions, but sadly they dont communicate them to the community anymore.

Good points here. I agree. This is meant to be an aggregated community feel on who is the best/most fun to play regardless of competitive viability. I mean look at how high phantom is on this list. Arguably not the best recon for competitive versatility but so damn fun to play that he ranks above everyone else so far. It’s more to satisfy my own curiosity and provide new players with a quick reference as to what the community likes.

(NinjaToast) #19

Medic: Aura
Assault: Fragger
Fire Support: Stoker
Engineer: Fletcher
Recon: Vassili

Overall: Stoker

#20

I forgot to vote for the best merc overall. This was hard, but my answer is Arty. I believe the current state of bursts will eventually be tweaked again and even without them he is still a viable merc.

Strong loadouts and versatility. Great ability with a short cooldown that can stop the EV, blow up generators from otherwise inaccessible areas, and kill enemies all day long. Sustained ammo, moderate health and speed, and effective at longer ranges. There are very few, if any, circumstances where an Arty on your team isn’t ideal for everyone. I can’t confidently say that about any other merc and thus he’ll get my vote.