Tanky Hammer Mercenary (Solo + Trio) Build Guide - Mistfall Hunter

Mercenary is one of the strongest and most durable melee classes in Mistfall Hunter. This Mercenary (Hammer) build combines extremely high Defense and Physical Resistance with powerful charged attacks, allowing you to survive heavy pressure while still dealing excellent damage.

By charging your Hammer as you move around, you can build Indomitable Will before the fight has even started. This allows you to enter combat with increased Physical Resistance before using your Super Armor, crowd control and charged attacks to overwhelm the enemy.

The build is effective at every gear level and can perform incredibly well even when using the cheaper Blue setup.

Made in collaboration with KhalidTheGiant. Check out his video for more information and demonstrations of this build!

There are four versions of this build depending on your available gear:

• Green Loadout Code: 3bT9qHL1HIHOaTxAS0hQ8WNzCKGocY5Fw
• Blue Loadout Code: 4e5UeZUZL3nh1sLzOdXW06CKdhuZFWYN79OslLDJg
• Purple Loadout Code: 4e5Ud0Hdqy6vrUtugYPhnOAxcfYtnloLjzkc1CsTo
• Gold Loadout Code: S58hh8VA39t6f2ivWBJFokrMvwaP8QatPFInpTCrFXM3EGugI4RlEu

These codes allow you to copy the items and gems needed for each version of the build. To import a code, simply do the following:

• Open the Prepare tab in the character screen when in base.
• Select Manage/Import at the bottom left.
• Navigate to Import Loadout and paste the code.

Purple Loadout

• Aegis 7 – Provides a massive increase to your Defense alongside additional Physical Resistance. This is one of the main reasons the build can absorb so much damage and remain aggressive during fights.

• Brotherhood 5 – Increases Defense while also providing additional Attack to you and your allies. Brotherhood is especially powerful in trios because its bonuses affect your entire team. It also improves a Seer's healing and shield strength by increasing their Attack.

• Valor 6 – Increases your overall Attack while also providing Defense Penetration. This ensures that the build remains threatening despite investing heavily into defensive affixes.

• Strife 5 – Increases your melee damage and provides another damage bonus while enemies are nearby. Since Mercenary (Hammer) always wants to fight at close range, Strife is active during the moments that matter most.

• Focused 5 – Reduces the time required to charge your attacks and increases your Movement Speed while charging. This makes it much easier to chase enemies, land charged attacks and maintain Indomitable Will.

• Resilience 4 – Reduces the duration of incoming debuffs. When you are stunned, frozen or immobilized, it also temporarily increases your Physical and Magic Resistance.

Victory Wine:

Aegis +2Brotherhood +2 Strife +2 Focused +2

Before drinking Victory Wine, the equipment provides Aegis 5, Brotherhood 3, Strife 3 and Focused 3. The additional points complete the important breakpoints for all four affixes.

Blue Loadout

Aim for Aegis 5 Brotherhood 5 Valor 5 Focused 5 and Resilience 4 after using Victory Wine.

Victory Wine:

Aegis +2 Brotherhood +2 Focused +2 Resilience +2

This activates the main breakpoint of every affix, giving the Blue setup an excellent mixture of damage, durability, charging mobility and protection against crowd control.

Green Loadout

Aim for Aegis 4 and Valor 4. These are the two most important affixes for a cheaper Hammer build, giving you enough Defense to survive while maintaining respectable damage.

Despite using Green gear, this setup is still capable of fighting stronger players and absorbing plenty of damage from elite PvE enemies.

Gold Loadout

Aim for Aegis 5, Brotherhood 7, Valor 6, Strife 6, Focused 5, Resilience 4 and Elusive 3 after using Victory Wine.

Victory Wine:

Brotherhood +2 Strife+2 Focused +2 Resilience +1 Elusive +1

Unlike the Purple setup, the Gold build does not need the additional two points in Aegis. These points are placed into Resilience and Elusive instead, activating Resilience's resistance bonus and reducing the Energy required to dodge.

Mercenary (Hammer) provides powerful charged attacks, crowd control and Super Armor. This build uses two active skills that allow you to control groups of enemies while heavily punishing anyone you catch.

Hammer

• Earthshaker
• Skullcrusher

Earthshaker is the build’s most reliable active skill. It provides strong area of effect damage and crowd control, making it excellent against grouped enemies or opponents fighting in confined spaces.

Earthshaker can also be released at its first charge level and repeatedly used for quick attacks. These strikes deal less damage than a fully charged Earthshaker, but they provide another option when you do not have time to complete the full charge.

Skullcrusher can be difficult to land, but it deals an enormous amount of damage when it connects. The skill has two different attacks depending on how long it is charged, allowing you to vary your timing and catch opponents by surprise.

Hammer Dash is a strong alternative to Skullcrusher and may be the more optimal choice for players who value additional mobility. However, Skullcrusher works particularly well with this setup because its Level 1 version can be woven into normal attack combinations, providing quick Super Armor and catching opponents with an unexpected attack.

These talents greatly increase Mercenary's survivability, improve its mobility while charging and provide additional Super Armor:

• Hammer of Convergence – Greatly increases your Physical and Magic Resistance after a charged skill grants Super Armor. This makes you significantly harder to kill simply by using your attacks.
• Unstoppable (Mercenary) – Prevents your Energy from being reduced during a Super Armor Clash and stuns the enemy involved in the clash.
• Relentless Advance – Allows you to move and dodge while charging Power Hammer and Punishing Hammer. This provides much needed mobility and makes it easier to chase opponents with your charged attacks.
• Dynamic Charge – Allows you to move and dodge while charging Skullcrusher, making the skill considerably easier to position and land.
• Iron-Clad Body – Grants Super Armor while casting a Level 1 Skullcrusher. This turns the skill’s quicker attack into a useful pressure tool.
• Leap Step – Allows you to move, jump and dodge while charging Earthshaker. Without this talent, landing the skill against mobile opponents is much more difficult.
• Indomitable Will– Grants stacks of increased Physical Resistance when you are attacked. It can stack up to 10 times, giving Mercenary a huge defensive advantage.
• Resilient Body – Grants two stacks of Indomitable Will whenever a charge type skill reaches its next phase. This allows you to build your defensive stacks without needing to take damage first.

• Build Indomitable Will before entering a fight. Hold a charged attack until it reaches its next phase to gain two stacks through Resilient Body. Repeat this while moving around until you reach 10 stacks.
• Mix normal and charged Hammer attacks together. You can begin with a normal swing before transitioning into a heavy attack, then use Relentless Advance to move and chase while charging.
• Stay close to your target and remain aggressive. Mercenary (Hammer) becomes less effective when it allows ranged classes to create space and freely attack from a distance.
• Use the Level 1 version of Skullcrusher when you need a quicker attack. Iron-Clad Body grants it Super Armor, and the different timing can catch opponents expecting the fully charged version.
• Tap Earthshaker for quick attacks when a full charge would be too slow. The damage is lower, but the faster version can help finish weakened enemies or apply pressure in crowded areas.