GBux Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 So i am coming back to the game after about 8 months, and im trying to decide between my assassin, juggernaut, and merc to take to 55. I played a lot of jugg and assassin before i quit so i would like to try merc out in pvp. first can i play a non healer merc and be any good? from what i remember, you had to play pyro, and even if you did, you might as well me a pyrotech, because they did everything our shared tree did but better. Second, is merc a strictly ranged caster type class? (from what i remember, arsenal was) or can i play it in melee/mid range with little to no cast times? third, which i guess is an extension of my first question, will i be poo poo'ed on for being a merc in rateds, or will i be good enough to hold me own. thank you in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oRubicon Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Honestly you shouldn't have any problems in Ranked PVP, the only thing that you may have to concern yourself with is the fact that you may be focused since you have the ability to off heal. To answer your question about the best spec, It really boils down to how you want to play, run and gun and throw dots on people or turret down and basically have a steady stream of dps. In most cases however you tend to just be running around and trying to not get killed. Overall I would say that the mercenary is a very fun class to play, all it really needs is some practice and you shouldn't have any issues with it. It is a ranged class after all so do try to keep people at a distance if you can help it . I would get into rotations and what not but I feel like that is where personal preference would take control, so just get out there and experiment man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaidensareno Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I heal and run the Arsenal tree on my Mercenary and do perfectly fine in PvP. Unless I'm stuck with a half premade group I usually am within the top 3 of DPS/Heals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szczypaczek Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 hehe merc aint good in 4v4 arenas, is one of the worst choices for a dps right now In 8v8 he is very strong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discoteck Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 hehe merc aint good in 4v4 arenas, is one of the worst choices for a dps right now In 8v8 he is very strong Wrong. I've had 3x more wins then i have had losses in solo arenas. And I'm just over 2/3 in group ranked. Mercs i believe are super strong aside from when they come up against double smash or double assassin. Your net is possibly one of the most game changing moves in arenas especially when there is no tank on their side. However arsenal is you only option as Pyro lacks burst and heals lacks survivability and is difficult to keep the rest of your team up when your being focused. The worst dps choice for arenas would be the other dot specs and operatives, Sorcs are much squishier than Mercs aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szczypaczek Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 (edited) mercs are really strong when not focused, when enemy melees realize this they will sit on you all the time interrupting everything u cast. And every one knows that mercs do little dmg when forced to kite all the time. Edited October 8, 2013 by szczypaczek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylvane Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 hehe merc aint good in 4v4 arenas, is one of the worst choices for a dps right now In 8v8 he is very strong Merc dps is strong in 4v4 at the moment, the only thing that counters us is a good PT. If they stick 2 dps on you, your healer is free casting and your tank is harassing/cc'ing one of the dps. It may have to do with what kind of team you are running to be honest, I'm 43-3 in 4v4 when i pair up with a shadow dps so you may just want to change your team around. Solo queues you pretty much are depending on your team to be hallway decent since you will be kiting most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDumbViking Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 As stated earlier, electronet is huge in Arenas. With Power surge it's possible to get through nearly a full arsenal rotation on the run, and if there is a sorc in the group it's an autokill since they can't bubble through net. All in all, aresenal is very viable, bodyguard is viable only if you have a VERY good tank with you to help mitigate burst. Pyro merc from what I can tell still isn't up to par. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choffware Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I have to echo that for solo ranked I'm also doing very well. I have over 2x as many wins as losses. If you are focused with no healer you are toast but so is almost every other class. I disagree about the low damage on kiting. You do less damage of course but it's still packs a punch. Plus if you kite properly they are doing none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
szczypaczek Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 while kiting u do very low dmg. U can use only HSM, RS and Sticky Dart and rocket punch in melee range + basic attack that's far away from huge dmg. I don't know vs which team u guys play, but any decent melees wont let u cast anything making ur dmg less then medicore. Again sorc can break ur en and bubble anyway. Merc is good when left alone, when focused u wont be dealign enough dmg to put a pressure on the target you are trying to kill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylvane Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Utilize your knock back and stun to get a tracer cast off, dont forget we have a 8 second daze as well. Every team I've played solo or team I get a dedicated kicker. Fake casting abilities can work on less experienced teams that are jumpy but even without that we have a lot of tools to use and they can't kick all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthBloodloss Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 (edited) Mercs are good in Arenas if you know the class. Hydraulic Override, Kolto Missile, LOS, heal. Why not pick on a class that doesn't run away, LOS, and heal. Such as Sniper, Powertech, Jugg, etc. The Merc is going to be in the back of the group, so you are basically saying that you'll run past my teammates and ignore them, just to chase me with my Hydraulic Overrides going. That's not too bad of a situation for my team. You need to kill someone ASAP, so why not go for the guy that has to just sit there and take it, while he *hopes* that he gets healed. Not to mention the old Electro Net and LOS combo. Are you still going to chase me...or just switch and attack someone a little closer... I'm not saying Mercs are best or anything like that. I'm just saying they are not the weak link as previously suggested. Edited October 8, 2013 by DarthBloodloss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NathanielStarr Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Mercs are great if the enemy ignores you, they sometimes do. Otherwise it can be very frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macroecon Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 bodyguard is viable only if you have a VERY good tank with you to help mitigate burst. Pyro merc from what I can tell still isn't up to par. I've seen Bodyguards do well in ranked. The key thing is you can not play them with a healing only focused mindset. Healing centric? Yes. Healing only? No. The idea is for the Bodyguard to delay initially. Ideally all enemy dps come to you. You want that. AoE mezz and move away. When they pursue, use HO. What you are doing is buying time for your team's dps to get an enemy player vulnerable. When that happens, you Electro Net them. Then pop your bubble and start healing. This is the critical point in the match for a Bodyguard team. At this point you are pumping out heals and the enemy team is severely pressed. Your team needs to convert this into the match's first kill. If it doesn't happen your team is in trouble. But it usually does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashogy_reborn Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Merc is fun, and Arsenal is very viable for 4v4s. The learning curve is a bit steep tho; dont get discouraged if you dont have immediate success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckeyduckey Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 You'll still get rolled by PT teams. My team runs with a geared Merc, but that merc hated it. They'd get focused every match, and we'd get rolled because he'd run off and try to LoS, and they'd focus the merc and the healer, and screw our tank over. LoS sucks, because they can just CC the healer, and chase you into a corner and rip your innards out. So that merc is rolling a PT now. Still ,it's a decent class, but kind of lackluster compared to PTs or Marauders. Not bad though. Pyro, IMO, is better though. Arsenal relies too much on a lucky crit from HSM or Unload to deal enough damage fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthBloodloss Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I like Mercs more than Powertechs in solo queue (this is just preference, not "fact"). The reason for this is because Powertechs and Snipers are sometimes at the mercy of their team to stay alive. If the other team focuses a PT and his team doesn't recognize this right away, the PT is going down. If there is no heal spec on the PT team (which happens 2/3 times), there is a risk that the PT (or even Sniper) may not last as long as they should. But a Merc has some good defensive tools that allow them to adapt when they are the focus target. They don't need to rely on a dedicated healer to stay alive. Of course this all goes out the window for team ranked queue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cashogy_reborn Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Op Heals + Arsenal Merc + AP/Tank hybrid Powertech + Carnage Mara = awesome sauce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDumbViking Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Op Heals + Arsenal Merc + AP/Tank hybrid Powertech + Carnage Mara = awesome sauce I've had some success with double merc, PT, Op. 3x electronet is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macroeconomics Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I've had some success with double merc, PT, Op. 3x electronet is ridiculous. That team would not have 3 Electronets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choffware Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 (edited) In solo pvp I'm loving my merc. I also play a carnage marauder and I love the merc more. I think the merc is better at solo play. My solo rwz rank is better on my merc. I think I'm close to 1500 on the merc and only 1200-1300 on the marauder. The marauder can also be awesome sauce BUT I think he relies on support more than the merc. The merc can adapt better to random class make ups on both sides. For solo play I'm almost forced to play rage on the marauder because that spec is better in more situations and I'm seeing my rank improve. It could simply be that I'm personally better at the merc play style than the marauder... I'm only reporting what I'm personally observing. The biggest difference I found in solo play is that I have a very hard time on the marauder when I need to solo kill an OP healer. With the merc it is still difficult but because I can dps while he's stunned I have a much higher (it seems) success rate on the merc. That alone makes me like the merc more. I think there is no question that the arsenal merc is balanced now. Given the right team and strategies they can succeed. But they are not going to succeed in every situation. If you go up against a melee heavy team and neither side has a healer... well that's going to very difficult... at least for me it is. Edited October 17, 2013 by Choffware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMGitsCHARLIE Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 (edited) Screw it, run (or Commandos in this case) in ranked and blow people up. Edited October 17, 2013 by OMGitsCHARLIE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KhalDrogoe Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Reroll to ANYTHING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corben Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Playing Merc in PvP is as fun as fun can be But as Always, it realy comes down to how you want to play and what you can put up with that desides if its fun or not. And yeah, Mercs in 4v4 can realy pack a punch and tip the game over to a win, if not then L2P i guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helig Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Merc is fun, and Arsenal is very viable for 4v4s. The learning curve is a bit steep tho; dont get discouraged if you dont have immediate success. Pretty much this. I absolutely love to PvP on my Commando. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts