The new mercenary class for PoE2 promises to be a small revolution in many respects
As if Path of Exile 2 wasn’t already exciting enough: Now the developers from Grinding Gear Games have shown a new class in the livestream that will radically change the combat experience. Instead of an action role-playing game à la Diablo, the game with the Mercenary will play like a top-down shooter
The Mercenary promises a small revolution
As you can probably guess from the introduction: The Mercenary is fundamentally different from the previous classes in Path of Exile
His main weapon, the crossbow, brings a real shooter feel
to the action RPG, as PoE2 game director Jonathan Rodgers says.
With Path of Exile 2, it will not only be possible to move your character in the classic way using the mouse, but also with the WASD keys . This is particularly useful for the Mercenary, as it allows him to run in one direction and shoot in another.
To further enhance the shooter feel, all attacks and skills of this class are also triggered immediately and without casting times, so you can really keep moving without interruption – other classes are known to pause briefly when striking or casting spells.
Rodgers also confirmed to us on request that the WASD controls will actually have advantages over the classic mouse-click movement: You can move to a certain point and then shoot in a different direction while your character is running. With the keyboard, however, the movement should be much more direct and you can concentrate on aiming with the mouse
Sniper, shotgun and grenade launcher
Of course, a good shooter also needs a large arsenal of weapons: A special feature of Mercenary is the ability to customize your crossbows with different types of ammunition and attachments
Each ammunition and each attachment has its own strategic advantages – here are some examples:
- Armor Piercing Ammunition: Ideal for groups of enemies as it pierces through multiple targets.
- Incendiary Ammunition: Causes heavy damage to individual targets and ignites them.
- Permafrost Burst Shot: Slows down enemies and can even freeze them.
- Grenade Launcher attachment: Adds explosive abilities to the crossbow, perfect for area damage.
- Flash Grenade: Deals little damage but stuns enemies, making it an effective opening move.
- Oil Grenade: Slows down opponents and prepares them for subsequent attacks.
In addition, there will be different types of crossbows, which will function like snipers, shotguns and assault rifles in shooters.
The true strength of the Mercenary should lie in the combination of different weapons and types of ammunition: If you install the Armor Piercing ammunition in a assault rifle
they reduce the armor of monsters hit. So weaken them with a few shots and switch to the Burst Shot Crossbow, i.e. the shotgun, to finish off the whole group with one shot.
However, it will be a while before you can try out the Mercenary in Path of Exile 2 for yourself: The closed beta of the role-playing game starts on June 7, 2024.
What do you think of the concept of the Mercenary in Path of Exile 2? Does it still fit into a classic action RPG or are the developers going a step too far with the new WASD controls, without which the Mercenary is much less playable? Scroll down and let us know what you think in the comments!
