Mercenary
Strength / Dexterity · Crossbows
The Mercenary is PoE2's gunner, swapping ammo types on the fly — grenades, specialty bolts, and special rounds for different situations. It's a flexible, satisfying kit that stays consistently strong from leveling into endgame.
Ascendancies
Partway through the campaign you choose one ascendancy — a sub-class that sharpens the Mercenary into a specific identity. The Mercenary has 3:
Tactician
The Mercenary's newest path, leaning into tactical utility and squad-style buffs. Still settling in; check its current nodes in-game.
Witchhunter
An anti-caster specialist with powerful offence and defence — consecrating explosions and huge first-strike damage against bosses.
Gemling Legionnaire
Doubles down on gems and attributes, squeezing extra power out of your skill gems and stat-stacking.
Which should you pick?
Witchhunter is the strong, well-rounded damage-and-defence pick. Gemling Legionnaire suits gem- and attribute-stacking builds. Tactician is the freshest of the three.
PoE2 is in Early Access — ascendancy kits get tuned between patches, and the newest ones are still settling. Treat the descriptions above as identity and direction; check the in-game Ascension Trials or the wiki for the exact current nodes before you commit.
Following a Mercenary build? Paste its Path of Building code into Mirrorcheck and we'll price every piece against the live economy and point you to your cheapest next upgrade.