If you are a mercenary then I hope that this guide might be of some help to you. Before anything else,
this guide is meant for DN SEA. This means that level cap and skill damage computations will all be based on the current SEA client as I will be updating this as frequently as I can.
Table of Contents
I.Introduction
II. Skill Build
III. Equipment Crafting and Accessories
IV. Skill Plate Enhancements
V. Videos (to be updated soon)
VI. Q&A
I. Introduction
What exactly is the role of a mercenary in PVE? They're basically there to help boost attack and defense parameters of the party while at the same time lowering the same thing for the enemy. If also geared well enough, the mercenary could prove to be an asset in the team's DPS as all the skills of the mercenary have high skill damage percentages. If you are a mercenary aiming for PVE play, never forget to use your howls at the right time.
II. Skill Build
This would be my suggested build if you are going for a PVE mercenary.
Warrior Tree:
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Mercenary Tree:
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Taunting Howl and Crisis Howl are pretty much useless in PVE so I opted not to get them to max the level 32 skills and of course, the howl buffs. If you have any questions about the distribution of other skills please post them here so I may answer them.
III. Equipment Crafting and Accessories
I cannot really advise you to get a specific upgrade on your weapons so I will make do with teaching what crafts are the best for a mercenary.
Armor Crafting:
At the moment, the HP craft is still not nerfed in DN SEA so it has, in my opinion, the best effect for doing your role as a mercenary in PVE nests especially the Sea Dragon Nest. For the helm, I would recommend you to get the Mana craft as it allows you to only sometimes run out of mana (if not at all).
Weapon Crafting:
At this point in the game, I have tested the common crafts for the mercenary class and I would have to say that in spite of those, Light for the main weapon and Fatal for the secondary weapon work best. Why is this so? The damage boost you get from using the Wind/Destruction craft is indeed higher than that of Light/Fatal but the effects of an elemental proc and the fatal proc prove to be the most useful for a mercenary. If you pay attention to your skills, you will notice that they do a very large amount of damage in single hits. If you would apply the Light craft (+45% Light Damage) to let's say 40,000 damage using Ring Bombs, you would end up with 58000 damage instead. If you opted to use a Wind crafted weapon in that case, you would only end up doing something less than 44000 damage after having factored in the bonuses the craft gives. The explanation for the Fatal craft is the same. The mercenary specializes in burst damage (meaning high amounts of damage in short periods of time) so anything boosting damage to such an amount is of great help.
Accessories:
While you may opt to go for full FD if you are rich, you may be wondering what else you could do if you don't have enough money for the Apoc Accessories. This is where the skill rings come in. It would be wise to make rings for your howl buffs and the level 32 skills for damage since the boost is very high and as stated by Koinzell in his own guide, you could recast Battle Howl when it is over because the cooldown can catch up to the duration.
In short, here are the crafts for the Armors, Weapons and Accessories that I would recommend getting:
Helm - MANA
Body, Gloves, Boots, Pants - HP
Main Weapon - LIGHT
Secondary Weapon - FATAL
Rings - BATTLE HOWL, HOWL CHARGING
Earring - ROLLING ATTACK
Necklace - WHIRLWIND
IV. Skill Plate Enhancements
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V. Videos
(to be updated)
VI. Questions and Answers
(to be added)
Credits to Koinzell for his insight on the cooldown of the skill Battle Howl.
