As the premier all-melee unit in Risk of Rain 2, the Mercenary has a "love him or hate him" reputation in the community. Some people love the damage, mobility, and temporary immunity that comes with him, but others just can't get over that he's forced to go toe-to-toe with all of his enemies.

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Those who can get over this limitation will find an experience like none other. After a few rounds of practice, they'll begin to realize that the melee range is actually a feature that hardly feels like a limitation. Don't rely on intuition alone to change your mind, here are some tips from the pros who played the Mercenary and won't go back.

10 Combo Between Your Double Jumps

There's no cooldown on the double jump, so feel free to use it frequently. Amateurs constantly disparage this move because there really isn't any terrain worth climbing onto with this jump, but that's not the point.

Aerial combos can be used once per jump. That means the Mercenary can jump, unleash a combo, then jump again, and unleash another. It's a ton of damage to be in the air with immunity, which will be crucial to beating bosses like Mithrix.

9 Build Around Expose

Every third attack will apply the exposed effect to the target, which increases the amount of damage it will take by 350%. Furthermore, each attack on an exposed target will reduce all of the cooldowns by one second. Mastering this technique is not only critical to understanding the Mercenary, but beating the game and unlocking the Captain.

Players will want to make sure expose is always applied when using combinations. Amplifying attacks by this amount is a boost that can't be ignored and the Mercenary will be able to get to the primary damage sources faster so long as the player has opened with three laser sword swings.

8 Attack On The Move

The laser sword is cool, but it's also the Mercenary's lowest damage ability. Yet he gets a damage buff against enemies that get hit with the third swing of the sword. So this a bit of a conundrum, but thankfully there is a simple solution.

By attacking while running, the first two attacks are actually faster, making it so the coveted third attack gets used immediately. What's more, players can cancel your attack animation, so as soon as the audio from the ability goes off, the effect of the third attack is applied even if it doesn't appear on the screen. This allows players to get back to the combos damage right away.

7 Combo Expose With Whirlwind Against Groups

The Mercenary has a significant advantage over ranged selections when getting surrounded. While other characters have to run or suck up the damage, this is right where targets will be at their most vulnerable. It's fun to pull off and certainly one of the reasons player counts are on the rise.

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The wide expose swing will hit everyone in front of the Mercenary, so they'll all be taking an extra 350% damage. After that, use Whirlwind which deals two swings for 200% damage each that stacks directly with expose. All but the strongest targets will be utterly wiped out.

6 Deleting A Unit With Rising Uppercut

Rising uppercut deals 550% damage (buffed from the patch) which, once again, stacks with the expose boost. This is instant death to little minions, but gamers are better served by taking Whirlwind instead if little adds are becoming a problem — this is for nuking the big boys like the newest boss.

It won't kill a boss outright, but it is an absolute bane for these high-health targets. Even aside from the damage taken, they'll go flying and the Mercenary will get a nice vertical leap as well. This allows players to reset for the next attack so they can safely deal with the mobs.

5 Prioritize Blinding Assault

Unlike Whirlwind or Rising Uppercut, Blinding Assault does not have a finishing animation. Therefore, there will not be a duration of vulnerability to attacks after using it. Aim this well and it'll grant immunity for all three dashes. Stadia players were anticipating the game and moves like this did not disappoint them.

This is not to say this move is superior, but it should be queued up immediately after the third attack. This ensures that the minimum amount of enemies will be left alive, granting the player more inclination to use Whirlwind or Rising Uppercut because fewer targets can take advantage of a moment of weakness.

4 Gaining Protection With Eviscerate

Aside from plain sword swings, Eviscerate is actually the least damaging move in the toolkit. That being said, it has a very important spot in the rotation. Without it, the Mercenary would be the weakest character by far due to his melee limitations. But the game was delayed so that balancing could be made perfect and the results worked out well for the Mercenary.

Being in the fray means being open to more damage. That's where this move comes in. Gamers are completely invincible to damage for 1.3 seconds while using it as the tooltip mentions. But the tooltip does not mention that they are also invincible for .6 seconds after using it. That's 1.9 seconds of immunity. Factor in the short 6-second cooldown being reduced by expose and that means that the Mercenary can effectively dodge any serious instance of damage without having to interrupt the flow of battle.

3 Nuke With Slicing Winds

Slicing Winds is a big nuke that can be difficult to aim with, but practice makes perfect. It's got a natural fit in the rotation because it also applies the exposed ability, so players will want to use it to reapply the debuff for every combo.

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Leadoff with three slices from your laser sword, then carry on by using other attacks. By the time these combos are resolved, the expose debuff will have faded. Use this to reapply expose on bosses. Against a boss, it'll be primed for another round of attacks. Anything less? It'll be dead and this will act as the finisher.

2 Triple Dash Escape

Other characters have a traditional "kite" mechanic thanks to their ranged attacks. But that doesn't mean the Mercenary drew the short straw. Rather, it's possible to high-tail it out to safety while still taking down some enemy critters in the process.

Look in the direction of weaker foes, away from the real danger. It's as simple as hitting Blinding Assault enough times to get out of trouble; just be sure to locate a new weak enemy every time so that the move stays off of cooldown.

1 Grab The Right Gear

There is a list of the best and the worst items, but for ones that are specifically great for the Mercenary, start with these:

• Soldier's Syringe - Increases attack speed by 15%.
• Wax Quail - The 10 meters propelled forward become 20 meters due to your Enhanced Cybernetics.
• Hardlight Afterburner - Float forever in conjunction with Enhanced Cybernetics.
• Focus Crystal - Deals and extra 15% damage to enemies within 13%. That is everyone for the Mercenary.
• Berzerker's Pauldron - Killing three enemies at once increases speed by 50% and attack speed by 100%. This means regularly killing three enemies at once without even trying.

Best of luck out there!

NEXT: Risk Of Rain 2: The Best Builds For Artificer (& Tips For Playing The Character)