You’ll find all sorts of information here regarding the Mercenary Career (for Markus Kruber) in Vermintide 2. The Mercenary is typically a brawler subclass, specializing in “versus many” situations, which also provides a bit support in the form of CC and temporary HP to the team.

Mercenary Passive Ability 

  • Paced Strikes: Hitting 3 enemies in one swing grants 10% increased attack speed for 6 seconds.
  • Hitting the Sweet Spot: Attacks cleave through more enemies.
  • No More Laughin’ Now: Increased critical strike chance.

Mercenary Career Skill  

  • Morale Boost: Markus grants nearby allies temporary health and staggers nearby enemies.

Mercenary Talent Tree Summary

I placed the whole Mercenary talent tree in “one chunk” so it’s easy for you to VISUALLY spot/theorize synergies versus highlighting them in-game…

Mercenary L5 Talents
Ready for Action Increased stamina regeneration by 30%.
And Stay Down! Increases critical hit chance by 5%.
Battle Scars Increases healing effects by 30%.
Mercenary L10 Talents
The More the Merrier! Increases power by 3% for every nearby enemy and stacks up to 5 times.
Desperate Defiance Reduces damage taken by 25% when below 50% health.
Shrug it off Reduces the attack interruption time when taking damage by 35%.
Mercenary L15 Talents
Reikland Reaper Increases power by 10% when Paced Strikes is active.
Blade Barrier Reduces damage taken by 25% when Paced Strikes is active.
Strike Together Paced Strikes spreads to nearby allies.
Mercenary L20 Talents
For the Empire! Critical hits grant temporary health.
Soldier’s Spirit Kills grant temporary health.
The Harder They Fall When bosses die, gain health.
Mercenary L25 Talents
Gabbler Reduces the cooldown of Morale Boost by 30%.
Inspirational Increases the temporary health gained from Morale Boost.
On Yer Feet, Mates! Morale Boost also revives knocked down allies.

Mercenary Generic Build Template

This is meant to be a “General purpose” build for the mercenary which focuses on the early to midgame. I will be adding more specialized builds which require more heavy item support soon.

Mercenary “General Purpose” Build – Talent Summary

Level “Best” Optional
5 And Stay Down! Battle Scars
10 The More the Merrier! Desperate Defiance
15 Blade Barrier Reikland Reaper
20 Soldier’s Spirit For the Empire!
25 Gabbler On Yer Feet, Mates!

Mercenary “General Purpose” Build – Talent Choice Discussion

L5 Talent - And Stay Down! (5% Crit)

And Stay Down (5% Critical) is around as good as Battle Scars (30% Healing) depending on how good, or cocky, you are. Both talents are great, but Battle Scars needs a little bit of help to make it shine.

If you’re just getting 30% more healing from potions (which is, for the most of early game), it’s not worth it versus And Stay Down.

Ready for Action (30% stamina regen) is only good if you’re the type to block a lot, which can really depend on a player to player basis.

L10 Talent - The More the Merrier! (25% dmg)

The More the Merrier (3% damage up for each nearby enemy, up to 15%) is a strong choice for obvious reasons. It synergizes quite well with Paced Strikes.

Desperate Defiance (25% armor when below 50% HP) is not bad, but doesn’t do “much” unless you have some sort of self healing. Does it “compound” with the Grimoire HP reduction, I wonder? Shrug it off (35% less stagger) is “meh”. 35% damage ALMOST ALWAYS is better than this in a mob situation…

L15 Talent - Blade Barrier OR Strike Together

This is a tough one. Both of these talents are great.

Everyone loves damage so I’m kind of sad I have to recommend Blade Barrier (25% armor on Paced Strikes) in the early game, while Strike Together (Share Paced Strikes) becomes more viable as midgame approaches.

Reikland Reaper (10% dmg on Paced Strikes) seems STRICTLY WORSE than Strike Together when considering team dps.

L20 Talent - Soldier's Spirit

In the early game, you’re likely to get more kills than Crits so Soldier’s Spirit (Temp HP on Kill) gets the heads up for now. Make no mistake that if you get enough Crit on your gear For the Empire! (Temp HP on Crit) becomes really really good.

The Harder They Fall (HP gain on boss kill) Is a talent I REALLY DISLIKE, and would never recommend it or take it. It simply does nothing to help you “leading up to, and surviving” the boss encounter.

L25 Talent - Gabbler OR On Yer Feet, Mates!

BOTH OF THESE ARE EQUALLY GOOD.

On Yer Feet Mates! (Morale Boost revives downed allies) is a great “Oh shit” button. My only issue with this talent (while GREAT and makes runs a lot more FORGIVING), is that if you had Morale Boost up – you could have saved your teammates preemptively.

Gabbler (30% recharge on Morale Boost) is just “good”. Morale Boost more often is something I don’t need to explain to understand the merits. This talent is likely the presumptuous, impractical, but optimal choice (meh).

I would never take Inspirational (+Temp HP on Morale Boost). It’s generous already, and the CC is what’s gonna save you more often than not.

Remember the above recommendations are primarily suited to be good for “most people”, specifically for “early to midgame” when gear drops can’t easily be tailor fit to your needs.

MORE DISCUSSION TO COME AS THE DAYS PASS!

Well that’s about it (FOR NOW) regarding Markus Krubers’ Mercenary Career path in Vermintide 2. A lot of newer players deviate towards this hero and career (for good reason), and that’s a good thing. It’s pretty damn well rounded, and I’m never sad to see one.

More Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Guides?

Like us on Facebook for more gaming updates!
Watch our vids on Youtube!
Follow us on Twitch!

Help TeamBRG out! Go to Patreon to know more!

6 COMMENTS

  1. I just installed this game, and after the prologue I stayed with the Mercenary. I am only to level 3, but I was reviewing the talents in game, then found this guide online.
    It looks like the developers made some changes since your article was written.
    The talents I see in game are mostly different than what is described in this article. Some few are the same, but most listed here in this article are replaced with different talents.
    I have confirmed that the game has been changed since this article. You should update the article or remove it from this website, as it is not helpful and only confuses new readers.

    • crit chance, then attack speed, then damage. Markus has lots of base damage but since he has innate crit chance and AS buffs you should capitalize on this and go for a crit build. On defensive gear, get +% health and (personal pref on this one) +% Movement speed.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here