SPONSOR SHOUTOUT & NOTES: - TY to Boot.dev for supporting the creation of this video! Click this link sponsr.is/bootdev_ziggydgaming and use my code ZIGGYDGAMING to get 25% off your first payment for boot.dev. - Small note on my off the cuff math for stun on flash grenade + overpower. I assumed the 400% more and 50% more multipliers would be thrown in a bucket together additively to then multiply any value scaled by "increased" mods. I should've noted this was guesswork and I really don't know how they process it here! Some are suggesting the support will be multiplicative with the gem, obv a lot stronger if so. Im still unsure but either way the gem is probably worth using!
at 4:30 i was amazed for a moment that we finally get some "weakauras" to put spell CD's somewhere else on the screen and then I figured it was your editor -_- 😒
What strikes me is Gemling allows you to use any gem even if you go into INT completely, since Adaptive Capability ascendency makes attribute requirements be satisfied by your highest stat. This means Gemling can use all gems in the game at the highest level. Also, do we know if the 14% quality to gems ascendency works on top of the 20% you can upgrade to? If so, this is another BIG potential buff. Im having a hard time to choose though, since Withchunter have Decemating Strike (5-30% of HP of bosses taken on first hit) and also Culling Strike (insta kill if mob has 10% or less HP). Thats 15-40% of the HP of bosses just gone...
This IS the best merc. showcase. I checked out so many videos of merc related, and this is the only one that shows actual skill explanation with chain and combo with its animation. Actual Skill point nodes shown, actual gear with runes. Ammo loading part was the biggest question i asked to myself while checking merc. videos, and there it is. I can see how much time & thought it took to make the video. Appreciate the Video!
This is the first time I have heard anyone explain the loading "skills" or ammo types and how its all fired with the same button. That sounds so cool and interesting. Its such an important feature and so many creators skipped over explaining it.
I am under the impression that is due to how little playtime most people have. My understanding is many of the top players have either not played at all or played less then 24 hours. I believe in the EA presentation reloading is only mentioned maybe twice. A lot going on and some of these mechanics are only referenced maybe a handful of times.
@@crazy-tommy Ziggy says in the video that the crossbow manually reloads when its empty, the only button pressing you have to do is to change the ammo type or fire. Maybe changed since Big Ducks playthrough
That’s because a lot of content creators are approaching this game like they expect it to play 1:1 to PoE1 and when a class deviates from that they seem to convince themselves it’s bad.
I would like to say as a new POE player in general. You making this "a taste" instead of a full guide, I'm incredibly thankful for. I look forward to being both invested and overwhelmed by the skill trees and gems!!
13:55 you damage an area of the target, essentially chipping the armor from a fist sized portion of the body, then put a devastating shot into that spot. All the vital parts of that specific spot are hit and useless now and so you need to make another weakspot in a previously undamaged section of armor. That's the best I can come up with at 1 30 am. Can't wait till the 2nd. Unable to play on the 1st. Work work.
Thank you so much for the review! I love the breakdown, all the details and the gameplay. Still not sure what to start with (monk vs sorc vs merc), but this is defnitely +1 for the merc jar! Something I'm a bit worried about. I would probably want to play a mix of grenadier and bolts. Do you think this is viable (from your limited testing)
If both bolts and grenades scale damage as proyectiles and benefit from similar passive points, I dont see why not. The passives associated with both skills are on the same side of the tree. With the weapon swap technology and points it should be able to cover any "differences" they may have. And as shown in the video: they already have synergies integrated between the skills . Also, the Witchunter ascendancy gives pretty generic stuff. So it sounds like a safe bet for most build archetypes. Later on I am pretty sure that we will mix and match ascendancies outside of their archetypes (Pathfinder/Deadeye both sounds fun for Crossbows for an easy example).
I think there's a few angles where that works: - bolt focused with grenades for debuffs - synergistic aoe scaling setups (explosive bolt for example) - and if projectile scaling works for both like I think/hope then that opens things up a lot more. Plus with weapon swapping a lot more is possible
@@ZiggyDGaming I think the closest skill in PoE1 to all the grenades is Explosive Concoction. Like the grenades it has a projectile and aoe tag AND is an attack. Path of Building says Explosive Concoction does get benefit from projectile damage. I realise there's the potential it'd be different, but I'd be placing my money on it scaling on projectile damage.
Let’s goooo, can’t wait! Merc Grenadier looks amazing. Thanks for the footage and commentary ZiggyD, been spending a lot of energy theory crafting for this one.
@@OLApplin Yeah I read it the same way you did the first time, but they did change to wording to clarify. Definitely sad, but should still be pretty sick
@@Nerdonis Sounds like a cool ascendancy node, wonder how well having a bow in your weapon swap would work with the extra passive points. Invest all of it into maximising the bow only snipe ability (+ crit and bleed) then when bossing you use your crossbow to break armour and electrocute/freeze before hitting a massive snipe for bleed damage
YT really compressed this video unfortunately, the footage and render were so crisp but the upload shredded it a bit - probably because of all the explosions no joke lol.
Man the Mercenary looks cool. Sounds like he is a class that will take getting used to because of the load ammo feature. The flexibility is so cool and I can think of somehow using the poison bow from the Bow skills (Ranger class) and somehow combining that with gas/Poison grenade. I'm so windblown from the amount of build customization already. It's what I loved about POE. Endgame can wait. Building a character is what I enjoy.
Man I might play this on Deadeye for EVEN MORE GRENADES, plus more speed. Crossbows in general are probably my favourite medieval weapon, so I'm so excited haha
I’m another viewer who has been searching everywhere for a video that clearly explains mercenary skills, rather than just offering vague or subjective opinions. I finally found it here-thank you!
It's funny a guy on Reddit said "everyone says Mercenary is extremely bad", so I came here to check if the video was uploaded. And there it was, 27 seconds ago...
There's a lot of bullshit on Reddit. I would never think of using Reddit to form an opinion about which class is good. But it's too early for that anyway.
Ziggy, I remember all your very first videos during closed beta of PoE. The good ol' LA Ranger or the EK Shadow... Such great nostalgia. Can't wait for us all to start a brand new experience together.
Okay, so hear me out: crossbow skills work by spending a bunch of mana upfront, then you shooty shoot while it regens. Feels like that might combo nicely with the Infernalist's Pyromantic Pact passive (where instead of spending mana on skills, you instead build Infernal Flames, and then there's another passive you can take for ignite chance and magnitude with all damage while above a certain threshold) for a sick flaming crossbow witch.
I didnt check any details regarding class mechanics prior to this video, the moment I heard 'reloading' I immediately thought gunslinger from LA, a class many people hate for being overly complicated, but I personally love.
This steps by steps aproach that looks more like a walktrought than a build guide is what i needed. Most other videos kind of scare me off but this reasures me i can take the game step by step, and figure things out. Thanks!
Great video! My explanation attempt for the "consumes armor break": Your shot heats up the monster's armor fragments, which welds them back together but also burns the enemy in the process. :D
Amazing showcase Ziggy! DarthMicrotransaction put me on to you and I love your content. Also loving the effort you put into Merc. I’ve wanted to play this class for awhile and was gettin worried until your showcase!
awesome video man great content and can’t wait to get in there and play some poe2 was learning and breaking down your content over on twitch thanks to barricade learned a lot!!
Explosive Grenade + Explosive Shot 💥💥💥 Settled on the same build during the November 8th Playtest! The question now is: Witchhunter or Gemling Legionnaire
Witch Hunter has a lot of its power baked in. Gemling legionnaire will require more thinking and probably more than a few wasted uncut gems. Gemling transiently will likely be more expensive for similar results earlier on.
Gemling if you want to do more builds or respect say to axe merc or summoner merc an so on, you get to test way more setups this way vs starting a new hero an going ok I dont like this part way in to save you a lot of time on skills. But If you aim to kill bosses an such a lot easier witch hunter does help in that area with its added passives, as where Gemling does give a lot more defense such as higher Max res by the gems you wear which I find to be more helpful in prolong fights which at end game there's many, also the +12% to gems quality an added gem slots is pretty big, since the way to level gems % will take a min to do an if the max quality is the same as poe 1 the 20% which means you can over cap them at late game by gemling to 32% which can be huge depending on the scale or what it does on the skills. There's trades of to both but I feel like Gemling is better over all then the witchhunter as I listed aboved the pros an cons to the two they both good no matter what path you take. Thats my line of thought.
Gemling legionaire. It is a wild card right now, but I already took it. I'm sure it's what I will play first. At worst it won't ad anything to the basic mercenary for a while.
Thank you for this!! I was torn between big bonks and this, and I think you helped me decide on merc. Looks fun and tactical, planning out your approach, making sure you reload etc. Very good overview!
Ziggy has been my favorite PoE content creator since Apr 9, 2013 (I checked my old TH-cam account to find this just now :D ) and I love when you post content. You're the man, Ziggy.
Cool video Ziggy thanks for the sneak peak and i can imagine that the reload will feel clunky for like 5 mins and then changing between ammo types will become like pianoing flasks in the sense of remembering what button is which ammo but hopefully it doesnt become like flask pianoing in the sense of too many different buttons to press for "optimal" gameplay Im sure it wont cause it just depends on you on what you want to use but we will have to see i mean they've been cooking this for 5 years at this point im sure this topic has been talked to death by the devs and now its time for the community to talk it to death.
the graphics always impress me in this game. just the ground visuals alone are incredible. the shimmering ice patches, the craters, rolling dust that kicks up while light passes through it... its looks just like an actual soulslike game ramped up and the camera pulled back. this is the game ive been dreaming of for years.
i have no clue about anything and have very little poe 1 experience, but that fast fire skill with the big mag makes me think i might go for a piercing freeze shotgun to freeze enemies, then use the channel skill and really build up that heat and mow down enemies combined with some other support gem, idk, but i am so hyped for this and CANNOT wait to login in a few days!
In tanks, penetration can lead to spalling which may increase damage to vehicle crews, maybe this is similar to the logic behind the 'High Velocity Rounds'.
What I will say is that comparing "lucky" to "rolling with advantage" in BG3/DnD, could resonate with people really really well. I feel like I haven't seen that comparisson made very much, not sure why, but I just wanted to mention it.
So.. I guess people got stuck on the gunslinger roleplay, but I have more broad questions. Can the rapidfire ammo type chain ? How does multiple projectiles work on the sniper one? Can grenades fork ? Are there ballistas..? Pretty sure I remember one of the very first reveals of PoE2 gameplay had the shrapnel ballista very early on but it looks like it totally disappeared.
I love this preview format that gives enough explanation to get a good taste of whether the playstyle is for you without trying to be a full guide based on limited info. Did you get to try any other classes?
Just Mercenary on that trip! Lot of time spent preparing for that mega Q&A we did haha. I did Monk a few months back and put a video out on it - it was amazing.
Finally someone clarified how the ammo works. I've been trying to figure out this entire time if the ammo is the skill itself and you just press it like any other, it just has a ammo attached to it, or if it works like shown here where your regular attack button is just "fire" and you select which ammo to load into that button.
Hmm, the ammo thing and grenades with big delay doesn't look good at first, but the Witchhunter's explode node is really tempting. Also 11:31, what do you mean emerging from this beta? We are only getting really started once the beta is over. "We have to go deeper!"
I wonder, if I put corrosion on gas grenade and armour explosion will they ignite the gas when their armour is broken. 🤔 And Cluster bombs notable's 50% more duration works well with gas grenade. Increases fuze but also the gas lingers longer. 2:15 It also implies that single bolt ammo doesn't scale with attack speed but with reload speed.
After looking into every Skill Gem info that has been revealed so far as well as Skill Tree Nodes, I've decided to go for Mercenary. I think I found a build that is absolutely fucking broken for map clear while also being pretty strong for Bosses, so really looking forward to playing this class.
Hey Ziggy, not sure if you'll see this but I have a question. Why don't we add support skills to the crossbow shot itself and only to the grenades/explosive shot ammo?
So weapon set skill points come out of your passive point pool and aren't in addition to it? I have to assume that's how it works because otherwise that ascendancy would be 20 extra passives which is completely insane.
Looks pretty fun! Also, 20 extra weapon set skill points ascendancy? In poe1 everyone was going crazy about scion because she had like 2-3 extra passive points. This guy gets 20??? Seems pretty good. (Although I assume it's 20 total, or 10 per weapon set. Obviously a lot more value if you do go for weapon swap). With this, both merc ascendancies seem very scion-like. One gets a bunch of bonuses to gems, the other just gets a lot of passives and quality of life with explosions and culling strike. In the future I feel like people will be going merc for any build, including melee and spellcasters (although spellcasters will probably prefer gemling)
Mercenary's playstyle reminds me a lot of Demolitionist from Grim Dawn. Huge explosions and ranged damage. The reload mechanic is just different enough I'm hesitant to try it before the classic ranger, but I will definitely make a build eventually.
It seems like, with the spiders and etc, they might have actually made it so that size isn't the only determinative factor but also number of legs. It would be much harder to "roll through" something with 4 legs compared to 2, let alone 8 legs. Realistically it is probably an on/off toggle for each monster that is determined on an individual basis based on factors like size, number of legs, etc.
Hey Ziggy, the way you phrased the overpower support not being ideal with flash grenade was confusing as a long time PoE player- could you clarify? When you said 50% more on top of the already 400% more, my PoE brain hears more and sees 5.0 x 1.5 = 7.5x more (a delta of 250% base stun buildup than without the support). I'm assuming they are not changing what more and increased mean in PoE 2, but am I missing something?
I was originally planning to be a grenade merc, as in grenade launcher only. This might not work out as I expected. Also this whole double-button setup for reloading is worrying me a lot.
Amazing video, would love to see one of these for each class in the Early Access. Goodluck on launch!Amazing video, would love to see one of these for each class in the Early Access. Goodluck on launch!
I´m allrdy stiching some full freeze, Hammer of gods one hit build together in my head for the last days, combo with freeze Crossbow and "giants blood" dual wield 2H Mace hammer of god tuned to max one punch man damage. I´m so exited to start playing the merc!!! Can´t wait
Still cant decide if i wanna play merc or sorc as first char. But the idea to have an hacknslash arpg that plays like a twinstick shooter is like a dream. I also love the smoke that goes up after the explosios, really gives you that "something happened" feeling
Don't worry Ziggy I'm going to be playing the sorceress and I'm definitely going to throw out some build guides when I'm done. I love my caster classes and the time based ascendancy is just chef's kiss. PoE has never had a time-based skill and that just won me over immediately. I will say though, watching your mercenary gameplay definitely built hype for this class. But as somebody who doesn't have a controller and probably needs to do a lot of experimentation with WASD movement, I want to play something a bit more traditional out of the gate. I think the reason why witch is so popular is likely because of the passive minion gameplay but I need to resist the urge to try minions as my first entry into PoE 2.
frost wall + fortress support = cage of ice crystals (i'm not trapped in here with you, you are trapped in here with ME) > shoot grenades > watch fireworks > profit. would be a hybrid setup of mostly attack mixed with a bit of spell damage. could also utilize the many (cast on X) abilities and trigger spell casts from grenade hits. seems like there will be plenty of ways to go about it. i'm gonna be a grenade enjoyer but i'ma be playing either chaos monk or chronomancer. kinda hope we get more info on those two ascendancies because i'm so torn between the two. thanks for showing all of witch hunters ascendancy nodes, the class looks pretty strong.
I'm definitely going to be running my first character as a poison mercenary with a focus on gas grenade. I just hope it can scale poison decently and is more than just a catalyst for exploding.
2:30 make this a toggleable UI feature and the game will be 50% better for a lot of players. We don't have to level gems anymore so there's merit in using that side of the screen for something QoL-related in general. Thanks Ziggy for the fantastic narration and editing! I won't thank you for the footage though as all it reminds me of is the remaining time before EA launch..
Have you tried click to move on the merc? From the footage it looks like WASD or controller is pretty much required. I'd rather start with a different class if this is going to be an issue.
Mercenary in my opinion is sort of a tactician that has all the tools you need for any situation. The grenadier archetype takes it a step further and seems rewarding, even more so with a possible damage buff to grenades.
Regarding Flash Grenade and Overpower's stun building, they're both more multipliers. Shouldn't they stack multiplicatively with each other, rather than additively, as per normal PoE math with "more" multipliers? At 19:35, you say that Overpower is only multiplying the effective stun buildup by 1.125x (which is wrong even if it's additive, since Flash Grenade's 400% more would be multiplying the base 100% to 500%, and +50% from an additive Overpower would bring it to 550% of base, or 1.1x what Flash Grenade alone does). With multiplicative effects, as their wording indicates, Overpower's 50% more stun buildup would be fixed 1.5x multiplier, bringing the total to a whopping 7.5x multiplier to stun buildup.
At 19:37 you mention that Overpower's "50% more stun" only provides 12.5% improvement because Flash grenade already has 400% more. But since it's worded as "more", it should be multiplicative anyways, no? Am I misunderstanding something here or did they change the way similarly worded "more" multipliers interact?
I'm unsure now! I was speculating at the time and it was a bit off the cuff but a few other commenters are saying it should be fully multiplicative so the support should be a good choice!
SPONSOR SHOUTOUT & NOTES:
- TY to Boot.dev for supporting the creation of this video! Click this link sponsr.is/bootdev_ziggydgaming and use my code ZIGGYDGAMING to get 25% off your first payment for boot.dev.
- Small note on my off the cuff math for stun on flash grenade + overpower. I assumed the 400% more and 50% more multipliers would be thrown in a bucket together additively to then multiply any value scaled by "increased" mods. I should've noted this was guesswork and I really don't know how they process it here! Some are suggesting the support will be multiplicative with the gem, obv a lot stronger if so. Im still unsure but either way the gem is probably worth using!
at 4:30 i was amazed for a moment that we finally get some "weakauras" to put spell CD's somewhere else on the screen and then I figured it was your editor -_- 😒
The early game with the Permafrost bolt and Fragmentation rounds is what I also thought to be best after looking at some gameplay.
What strikes me is Gemling allows you to use any gem even if you go into INT completely, since Adaptive Capability ascendency makes attribute requirements be satisfied by your highest stat. This means Gemling can use all gems in the game at the highest level. Also, do we know if the 14% quality to gems ascendency works on top of the 20% you can upgrade to? If so, this is another BIG potential buff. Im having a hard time to choose though, since Withchunter have Decemating Strike (5-30% of HP of bosses taken on first hit) and also Culling Strike (insta kill if mob has 10% or less HP). Thats 15-40% of the HP of bosses just gone...
thanks for the showcase man
This IS the best merc. showcase. I checked out so many videos of merc related, and this is the only one that shows actual skill explanation with chain and combo with its animation. Actual Skill point nodes shown, actual gear with runes. Ammo loading part was the biggest question i asked to myself while checking merc. videos, and there it is. I can see how much time & thought it took to make the video. Appreciate the Video!
Who let this man free from Scavving streets
Psych! It is ZiggyD standard!
WOH Awesome seeing you here! Hope you enjoy poe2
Hey, I know this guy from forever winter
nice glaze
This is the first time I have heard anyone explain the loading "skills" or ammo types and how its all fired with the same button. That sounds so cool and interesting. Its such an important feature and so many creators skipped over explaining it.
I am under the impression that is due to how little playtime most people have. My understanding is many of the top players have either not played at all or played less then 24 hours. I believe in the EA presentation reloading is only mentioned maybe twice. A lot going on and some of these mechanics are only referenced maybe a handful of times.
The youtuber Big Ducks mentioned that and that it made mercenary to feel clunky in early game as you had to manually reload all the time.
@@crazy-tommy Ziggy says in the video that the crossbow manually reloads when its empty, the only button pressing you have to do is to change the ammo type or fire. Maybe changed since Big Ducks playthrough
That’s because a lot of content creators are approaching this game like they expect it to play 1:1 to PoE1 and when a class deviates from that they seem to convince themselves it’s bad.
can someone guide me to similiar good guides for the other ascendencies?
I would like to say as a new POE player in general.
You making this "a taste" instead of a full guide, I'm incredibly thankful for. I look forward to being both invested and overwhelmed by the skill trees and gems!!
How could he make a full guide anyways ?
Welcome to Wraeclast, exile! Hope you have fun.
Ziggy doesn't really make build guides. Tbh with how complex the og game is, only a handful actually make original guides everyone else copies.
@@DuckGoat-mr9tu Who are some of these gods that make the OG builds?
@MarioSesana Ill just name one, Ruetoo, guy is a rat but he is very good at builds.
13:55 you damage an area of the target, essentially chipping the armor from a fist sized portion of the body, then put a devastating shot into that spot. All the vital parts of that specific spot are hit and useless now and so you need to make another weakspot in a previously undamaged section of armor.
That's the best I can come up with at 1 30 am. Can't wait till the 2nd. Unable to play on the 1st. Work work.
Pretty legit effort at coming up with an immersive answer to be honest!
how can you play on the 1st when early access is on the 6th?
@@bradjenkins2861 how did I get the dates wrong I was so ready for tomorrow D:
That’s a rip my guy.
@@bradjenkins2861 its a new timeline. 1st day of Early Access. we are currently at 5 days before EA.
Feels like every video I watch I change my mind on what to play.
change this ./l.
you have at least half a year try all of them. there no point to rush. just have fun. its EA =)
That's how it works, then 1 hr before launch you'll change it again and pick something bad... thats just how it goes
SO TRUE XDDDD CANT WAIT!!
just don't burn yourself out
Thank you so much for the review! I love the breakdown, all the details and the gameplay. Still not sure what to start with (monk vs sorc vs merc), but this is defnitely +1 for the merc jar!
Something I'm a bit worried about. I would probably want to play a mix of grenadier and bolts. Do you think this is viable (from your limited testing)
If both bolts and grenades scale damage as proyectiles and benefit from similar passive points, I dont see why not.
The passives associated with both skills are on the same side of the tree. With the weapon swap technology and points it should be able to cover any "differences" they may have. And as shown in the video: they already have synergies integrated between the skills .
Also, the Witchunter ascendancy gives pretty generic stuff. So it sounds like a safe bet for most build archetypes.
Later on I am pretty sure that we will mix and match ascendancies outside of their archetypes (Pathfinder/Deadeye both sounds fun for Crossbows for an easy example).
I think there's a few angles where that works:
- bolt focused with grenades for debuffs
- synergistic aoe scaling setups (explosive bolt for example)
- and if projectile scaling works for both like I think/hope then that opens things up a lot more.
Plus with weapon swapping a lot more is possible
@@ZiggyDGaming I think the closest skill in PoE1 to all the grenades is Explosive Concoction. Like the grenades it has a projectile and aoe tag AND is an attack. Path of Building says Explosive Concoction does get benefit from projectile damage.
I realise there's the potential it'd be different, but I'd be placing my money on it scaling on projectile damage.
@@ricodevega109 I think and hope so too!
Let’s goooo, can’t wait! Merc Grenadier looks amazing. Thanks for the footage and commentary ZiggyD, been spending a lot of energy theory crafting for this one.
Culling strike and Decimating Strikes for bosses, monster explosion for mapping, and extra passives points, the Witchhunter seems really powerful!
To be clear, it's not extra passive points, you just are able to allocate more of your existing points separately between your weapon sets.
@@Nerdonis oooh I see, thanks for the explanation, I didn't understand it that way. Not as powerful then, but the rest is still pretty strong
@@OLApplin Yeah I read it the same way you did the first time, but they did change to wording to clarify. Definitely sad, but should still be pretty sick
@@Nerdonis Sounds like a cool ascendancy node, wonder how well having a bow in your weapon swap would work with the extra passive points. Invest all of it into maximising the bow only snipe ability (+ crit and bleed) then when bossing you use your crossbow to break armour and electrocute/freeze before hitting a massive snipe for bleed damage
The visual fidelity man
I love it so much
YT really compressed this video unfortunately, the footage and render were so crisp but the upload shredded it a bit - probably because of all the explosions no joke lol.
@@ZiggyDGamingthat might be because you upload in 1080p. YT compressed 1080p vids hard, you want to upscale to 1440p or upload native.
Man the Mercenary looks cool. Sounds like he is a class that will take getting used to because of the load ammo feature. The flexibility is so cool and I can think of somehow using the poison bow from the Bow skills (Ranger class) and somehow combining that with gas/Poison grenade. I'm so windblown from the amount of build customization already. It's what I loved about POE. Endgame can wait. Building a character is what I enjoy.
ZiggyD is popping off. You love to see it.
I really appreciate the button/tool tip highlight you did
28:53 closer to early access. Thank you!
That timestamp is the moment I stopped watching, personally.
Pro-tip: Rewatch and be closer to EA.
@@drumpunk100 Genius!
Man I might play this on Deadeye for EVEN MORE GRENADES, plus more speed. Crossbows in general are probably my favourite medieval weapon, so I'm so excited haha
pathfinder with reduced movement penalty while attacking would be sick
I’m another viewer who has been searching everywhere for a video that clearly explains mercenary skills, rather than just offering vague or subjective opinions. I finally found it here-thank you!
It's funny a guy on Reddit said "everyone says Mercenary is extremely bad", so I came here to check if the video was uploaded. And there it was, 27 seconds ago...
haha I saw that one too
same
There's a lot of bullshit on Reddit. I would never think of using Reddit to form an opinion about which class is good. But it's too early for that anyway.
the day i realized that reddit is a cesspool of misinformation and negativity, was a fantastic day. deleted my account and never looked back.
You never play POE while reading PoE reddit
particle graphics are insane
Ziggy, I remember all your very first videos during closed beta of PoE. The good ol' LA Ranger or the EK Shadow... Such great nostalgia. Can't wait for us all to start a brand new experience together.
those ad build ups are wonderful - keep ramping!
Passive name: Volatile Catalysts
ZiggyD name: Volatile Crystals
Probably will only ever be searched in Path of Building as "Volatile C" either way so w/e
Okay, so hear me out: crossbow skills work by spending a bunch of mana upfront, then you shooty shoot while it regens. Feels like that might combo nicely with the Infernalist's Pyromantic Pact passive (where instead of spending mana on skills, you instead build Infernal Flames, and then there's another passive you can take for ignite chance and magnitude with all damage while above a certain threshold) for a sick flaming crossbow witch.
The Merc gives me vibes from a few games I played, mainly Warhammer 40K Inquisitor Martyr, DFO and Lost Ark😂
Check out grim dawn.
I didnt check any details regarding class mechanics prior to this video, the moment I heard 'reloading' I immediately thought gunslinger from LA, a class many people hate for being overly complicated, but I personally love.
@ that was my main class in LA😂 went with the big cannon spec for the nukes.
You were the channel I followed when I got into PoE for a few hundred hours, nine years ago. Hello again lol
This steps by steps aproach that looks more like a walktrought than a build guide is what i needed. Most other videos kind of scare me off but this reasures me i can take the game step by step, and figure things out. Thanks!
Great video! My explanation attempt for the "consumes armor break": Your shot heats up the monster's armor fragments, which welds them back together but also burns the enemy in the process. :D
Why is friday so far... Thanks for the content ziggy
I love how distinct the armor sets look from only two acts.
omg i love those grenadier explode ascendancy visual effects, a nice change fom every poe 1 explode effect is a pop
Amazing showcase Ziggy! DarthMicrotransaction put me on to you and I love your content. Also loving the effort you put into Merc. I’ve wanted to play this class for awhile and was gettin worried until your showcase!
awesome video man great content and can’t wait to get in there and play some poe2 was learning and breaking down your content over on twitch thanks to barricade learned a lot!!
Explosive Grenade + Explosive Shot 💥💥💥
Settled on the same build during the November 8th Playtest! The question now is: Witchhunter or Gemling Legionnaire
Witch Hunter has a lot of its power baked in. Gemling legionnaire will require more thinking and probably more than a few wasted uncut gems. Gemling transiently will likely be more expensive for similar results earlier on.
Gemling if you want to do more builds or respect say to axe merc or summoner merc an so on, you get to test way more setups this way vs starting a new hero an going ok I dont like this part way in to save you a lot of time on skills.
But If you aim to kill bosses an such a lot easier witch hunter does help in that area with its added passives, as where Gemling does give a lot more defense such as higher Max res by the gems you wear which I find to be more helpful in prolong fights which at end game there's many, also the +12% to gems quality an added gem slots is pretty big, since the way to level gems % will take a min to do an if the max quality is the same as poe 1 the 20% which means you can over cap them at late game by gemling to 32% which can be huge depending on the scale or what it does on the skills.
There's trades of to both but I feel like Gemling is better over all then the witchhunter as I listed aboved the pros an cons to the two they both good no matter what path you take.
Thats my line of thought.
Gemling legionaire. It is a wild card right now, but I already took it. I'm sure it's what I will play first.
At worst it won't ad anything to the basic mercenary for a while.
Thank you for this!! I was torn between big bonks and this, and I think you helped me decide on merc. Looks fun and tactical, planning out your approach, making sure you reload etc. Very good overview!
Really really great stuff! Well done.
Ziggy has been my favorite PoE content creator since Apr 9, 2013 (I checked my old TH-cam account to find this just now :D ) and I love when you post content. You're the man, Ziggy.
Cool video Ziggy thanks for the sneak peak and i can imagine that the reload will feel clunky for like 5 mins and then changing between ammo types will become like pianoing flasks in the sense of remembering what button is which ammo but hopefully it doesnt become like flask pianoing in the sense of too many different buttons to press for "optimal" gameplay
Im sure it wont cause it just depends on you on what you want to use but we will have to see i mean they've been cooking this for 5 years at this point im sure this topic has been talked to death by the devs and now its time for the community to talk it to death.
the graphics always impress me in this game. just the ground visuals alone are incredible. the shimmering ice patches, the craters, rolling dust that kicks up while light passes through it... its looks just like an actual soulslike game ramped up and the camera pulled back. this is the game ive been dreaming of for years.
very useful info ziggy
i like the flow of this vid
i have no clue about anything and have very little poe 1 experience, but that fast fire skill with the big mag makes me think i might go for a piercing freeze shotgun to freeze enemies, then use the channel skill and really build up that heat and mow down enemies combined with some other support gem, idk, but i am so hyped for this and CANNOT wait to login in a few days!
Freeze looks so much better with the build-up. Small improvements like this just make me want to play even more.
nice explaining the Mercenary class, it really needed some love
Hell yeah Ziggy lookforward to the upcoming streams and content mate gonna be so good
In tanks, penetration can lead to spalling which may increase damage to vehicle crews, maybe this is similar to the logic behind the 'High Velocity Rounds'.
What I will say is that comparing "lucky" to "rolling with advantage" in BG3/DnD, could resonate with people really really well. I feel like I haven't seen that comparisson made very much, not sure why, but I just wanted to mention it.
this might be the video to push me over the edge, I've been on the fence between acolyte monk and witchunter merc, appreciate the info mate. cant wait
hey man awesome and informative vidja! subbed and liked!
amazing video, i was thinking about a build like that but i didnt see it anywhere
I'm sold, best explanation I have seen . Thanks so much for the video and I would definately like to see a beginner build video for it.
thx for the guide, gonna use this build on launch
i wanna know if after you reload the armor piercing rounds, each shot counts as an "skill use" or if only the reloads count as one
well played on the ad sir, well played. not even mad, watched the whole thing
So.. I guess people got stuck on the gunslinger roleplay, but I have more broad questions. Can the rapidfire ammo type chain ? How does multiple projectiles work on the sniper one? Can grenades fork ? Are there ballistas..? Pretty sure I remember one of the very first reveals of PoE2 gameplay had the shrapnel ballista very early on but it looks like it totally disappeared.
I love this preview format that gives enough explanation to get a good taste of whether the playstyle is for you without trying to be a full guide based on limited info.
Did you get to try any other classes?
Just Mercenary on that trip! Lot of time spent preparing for that mega Q&A we did haha. I did Monk a few months back and put a video out on it - it was amazing.
@ZiggyDGaming I must be blind cause I missed that one- can you share a link or the title of the video?
I am planning a full Grenadier styled Deadeye. Cant wait holyyyy
Finally someone clarified how the ammo works.
I've been trying to figure out this entire time if the ammo is the skill itself and you just press it like any other, it just has a ammo attached to it,
or if it works like shown here where your regular attack button is just "fire" and you select which ammo to load into that button.
Lovely breakdown of the class! can't wait to get my hands on it on friday
Hmm, the ammo thing and grenades with big delay doesn't look good at first, but the Witchhunter's explode node is really tempting.
Also 11:31, what do you mean emerging from this beta? We are only getting really started once the beta is over. "We have to go deeper!"
I wonder, if I put corrosion on gas grenade and armour explosion will they ignite the gas when their armour is broken. 🤔
And Cluster bombs notable's 50% more duration works well with gas grenade. Increases fuze but also the gas lingers longer.
2:15 It also implies that single bolt ammo doesn't scale with attack speed but with reload speed.
That was the most seamless ad I've ever seen lol well done
Good stuff my dood! Thanks for the insight as always! Looking forward to all the guides and tidbits of info you’re known for. 😊
After looking into every Skill Gem info that has been revealed so far as well as Skill Tree Nodes, I've decided to go for Mercenary. I think I found a build that is absolutely fucking broken for map clear while also being pretty strong for Bosses, so really looking forward to playing this class.
Can you share the build?
Share
any info
Hey Ziggy, not sure if you'll see this but I have a question. Why don't we add support skills to the crossbow shot itself and only to the grenades/explosive shot ammo?
Was planning going merc, after this vid not so much 😂 sorc is back on the menu boys!
EPIC video. Was on the fence with mercenary & nor 10000% starting it.
So weapon set skill points come out of your passive point pool and aren't in addition to it? I have to assume that's how it works because otherwise that ascendancy would be 20 extra passives which is completely insane.
Looks pretty fun!
Also, 20 extra weapon set skill points ascendancy? In poe1 everyone was going crazy about scion because she had like 2-3 extra passive points. This guy gets 20??? Seems pretty good. (Although I assume it's 20 total, or 10 per weapon set. Obviously a lot more value if you do go for weapon swap). With this, both merc ascendancies seem very scion-like. One gets a bunch of bonuses to gems, the other just gets a lot of passives and quality of life with explosions and culling strike. In the future I feel like people will be going merc for any build, including melee and spellcasters (although spellcasters will probably prefer gemling)
I was gonna skip the sponsor but then saw the name on that section of the video and pity kicked in and I listened to it. 😳
Regarding the gas grenade, does only the initial hit apply poison or would a mob entering an existing cloud become poisoned?
Ugh - I was going for a monk build to start, but blowing things up with the merc looks so satisfying.
Mercenary's playstyle reminds me a lot of Demolitionist from Grim Dawn. Huge explosions and ranged damage. The reload mechanic is just different enough I'm hesitant to try it before the classic ranger, but I will definitely make a build eventually.
Thanks for the guide!
Amazing showcase!
Great information, the build looks fantastic!
It seems like, with the spiders and etc, they might have actually made it so that size isn't the only determinative factor but also number of legs. It would be much harder to "roll through" something with 4 legs compared to 2, let alone 8 legs. Realistically it is probably an on/off toggle for each monster that is determined on an individual basis based on factors like size, number of legs, etc.
Hey Ziggy, the way you phrased the overpower support not being ideal with flash grenade was confusing as a long time PoE player- could you clarify? When you said 50% more on top of the already 400% more, my PoE brain hears more and sees 5.0 x 1.5 = 7.5x more (a delta of 250% base stun buildup than without the support). I'm assuming they are not changing what more and increased mean in PoE 2, but am I missing something?
that's the best video I've seen so far for the mercenary. thank you for this amazing explaining. I will start mercenary so thank you for this
How does reload work with grenades? Do you have to press a separate reload skill for each type of grenade and then another button to shoot it?
Great Guide! Thanks Ziggy.
Excellent video thank you for putting it together!!!
I was originally planning to be a grenade merc, as in grenade launcher only. This might not work out as I expected.
Also this whole double-button setup for reloading is worrying me a lot.
Amazing video, would love to see one of these for each class in the Early Access. Goodluck on launch!Amazing video, would love to see one of these for each class in the Early Access. Goodluck on launch!
I´m allrdy stiching some full freeze, Hammer of gods one hit build together in my head for the last days, combo with freeze Crossbow and "giants blood" dual wield 2H Mace hammer of god tuned to max one punch man damage. I´m so exited to start playing the merc!!! Can´t wait
Nice one Ziggy-notaguide-D!
Still cant decide if i wanna play merc or sorc as first char. But the idea to have an hacknslash arpg that plays like a twinstick shooter is like a dream. I also love the smoke that goes up after the explosios, really gives you that "something happened" feeling
so long years i see u end off lig explaing but first time watch your youtube video, its so clean and good guide ty.
Don't worry Ziggy I'm going to be playing the sorceress and I'm definitely going to throw out some build guides when I'm done. I love my caster classes and the time based ascendancy is just chef's kiss. PoE has never had a time-based skill and that just won me over immediately. I will say though, watching your mercenary gameplay definitely built hype for this class. But as somebody who doesn't have a controller and probably needs to do a lot of experimentation with WASD movement, I want to play something a bit more traditional out of the gate.
I think the reason why witch is so popular is likely because of the passive minion gameplay but I need to resist the urge to try minions as my first entry into PoE 2.
frost wall + fortress support = cage of ice crystals (i'm not trapped in here with you, you are trapped in here with ME) > shoot grenades > watch fireworks > profit.
would be a hybrid setup of mostly attack mixed with a bit of spell damage. could also utilize the many (cast on X) abilities and trigger spell casts from grenade hits. seems like there will be plenty of ways to go about it.
i'm gonna be a grenade enjoyer but i'ma be playing either chaos monk or chronomancer. kinda hope we get more info on those two ascendancies because i'm so torn between the two. thanks for showing all of witch hunters ascendancy nodes, the class looks pretty strong.
Oh neat, didn't know about the upfront mana costs. That might open up some neat stuff
Great video, superb explanation.
I'm definitely going to be running my first character as a poison mercenary with a focus on gas grenade. I just hope it can scale poison decently and is more than just a catalyst for exploding.
Gonna play witch necromancer first to get my bearings, Im coming back for this one for my second character. Thank you !
On 22:48 you can see Hale Heart which provides 15% increased life recovery rate.
2:30 make this a toggleable UI feature and the game will be 50% better for a lot of players. We don't have to level gems anymore so there's merit in using that side of the screen for something QoL-related in general.
Thanks Ziggy for the fantastic narration and editing! I won't thank you for the footage though as all it reminds me of is the remaining time before EA launch..
Have you tried click to move on the merc? From the footage it looks like WASD or controller is pretty much required. I'd rather start with a different class if this is going to be an issue.
Mercenary in my opinion is sort of a tactician that has all the tools you need for any situation. The grenadier archetype takes it a step further and seems rewarding, even more so with a possible damage buff to grenades.
This will be the most played class in poe2 early acess almost entirely because of explosive grenade
I watched a couple of votes, seems witch and sorceress take the most played class with warrior
@@KrigHammar Monk seems pretty populat too. I know I'll be start with Witch. Then Warrior, Sorceress, Merc, Monk, and finally, Ranger.
@@Fighterfan69 I will start with Merc, I know it's kinda a Popular take. But merc with crossbow is really a unique thing in aprgs.
Let's blast on dec6
If there is enough aoe nodes in the tree the mercenary will be really strong with low aoe it kinda feels unreliable
@@MrRafagigapr did you actually watch the reveal? They showed plenty scenes with screen-wide aoe by nades
Regarding Flash Grenade and Overpower's stun building, they're both more multipliers. Shouldn't they stack multiplicatively with each other, rather than additively, as per normal PoE math with "more" multipliers? At 19:35, you say that Overpower is only multiplying the effective stun buildup by 1.125x (which is wrong even if it's additive, since Flash Grenade's 400% more would be multiplying the base 100% to 500%, and +50% from an additive Overpower would bring it to 550% of base, or 1.1x what Flash Grenade alone does). With multiplicative effects, as their wording indicates, Overpower's 50% more stun buildup would be fixed 1.5x multiplier, bringing the total to a whopping 7.5x multiplier to stun buildup.
There is also one support that makes every 5th attack deal 500% more stun.
At 19:37 you mention that Overpower's "50% more stun" only provides 12.5% improvement because Flash grenade already has 400% more. But since it's worded as "more", it should be multiplicative anyways, no?
Am I misunderstanding something here or did they change the way similarly worded "more" multipliers interact?
I'm unsure now! I was speculating at the time and it was a bit off the cuff but a few other commenters are saying it should be fully multiplicative so the support should be a good choice!
are there going to be more of these during this week for other classes, or is this the only one he played this in depth do we know?