Ofthe six classes currently availableinPath of Exile 2, Mercenary leveling is one of the easiest. While some classes struggle with hordes and can get overwhelmed, or have to stay in melee range to remain effective, Mercenaries have tools available to deal with just about every combat situation.

But if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be hard toplay a Mercenary effectively– and some builds are just more effective for leveling Mercenary characters than others. This Mercenary leveling guide forPath of Exile 2explains recommended skills and support gems to pick up and equip on your way to endgame, what items and modifiers you should look out for, and which Passive Skill Tree nodes you should prioritize as a Mercenary.

Path of Exile 2 Mercenary Leveling Guide Skill Gem Support Gem Skills

Best Mercenary Leveling Skills & Support Gems

While leveling a Mercenary,Path of Exile 2players may find it takes a while for the class to come online, so to speak. That’s because many players fall into the trap ofrelying purely on their Crossbow boltsand ammo types rather than building into a Grenade-oriented playstyle.

Crossbows come with the inherent downside of a reload time, but as soon as you unlock Grenades to fill in that downtime, Mercenaries begin to feel very strong.

Path of Exile 2 Mercenary Leveling Guide Passive Skill Tree Grenade Skills

Later in the game, after unlocking your most powerful Grenades and the Explosive Shot ability, the playstyle vastly changes.

The Support Gems listed above are all either Level 1 or 2 Support GemsPath of Exile 2players should be able to get before getting too far into Act 3. The interactions of the base skills are what makes this Mercenary leveling build so powerful, though, so use whichever Support Gems you have available until you get these recommendations.

Path of Exile 2 Mercenary Leveling Guide Weapons Items Modifiers Attributes

Use a Lesser Jeweller’s Orb to add a Support Gem socket to your Explosive Grenade, Explosive Shot, and Gas Grenade skills to get all three recommended Support Gems slotted.

Best Mercenary Passive Skills For Leveling

There are three main Passive Skills that you should keep an eye out for while progressing downward through the Mercenary Passive Skill Tree: Cluster Bombs, Repeating Explosives, and Iron Reflexes.

In the popular Witchhunter Ascendancy tree, which is also thebest Mercenary Ascendancy choicewhile leveling, theSorcery Wardskill will grant a fantastic barrier against all non-Physical damage in exchange for halved Armor and Evasion stats.

Path of Exile II Tag Page Cover Art

This downside is severely dampened by converting all of your Evasion into Armor, and having high Armor will help ward off the Physical attacks that Sorcery Ward does not catch.

Iron Reflexes should not be your first priority, but when you reach the edge of the Mercenary Passive Skill Tree, make a detour slightly to the left to pick this up next to an Attribute node.

Path of Exile 2 Cover

Other skills you should pick up while leveling a Mercenary includeCooldown Reduction, Projectile & Grenade Damage, and Area of Effectto boost the power of your Grenades.

Crossbow Reload Time, Crossbow Damage, and the Armor & Evasionduo nodes are all worth going out of your way for, but not prioritizing until you feel they are necessary. If your Grenades are doing just fine,skip Crossbow Passive skillsuntil you need to add some variety to the build. If you aren’t dying to enemies, skip Armor & Evasion until you need them.

The Player Facing An Optional Boss

Recommended Items & Mercenary Stat Priority

While leveling Mercenary players must continue to upgrade their equipment and only equip gear that comes with powerful enough modifiers to be worth replacing what’s currently in that slot. Not everything is an upgrade, so you have to keep a keen eye out for useful items and modifiers that are worth picking up.

Themost important part of your kit is your Crossbow, the primary Mercenary weapon, which allows access to the Mercenary Skill Gems for use. When going for upgrades, you should always aim to replace the lowest-level piece of gear you currently have equipped. But in general, you willfeel your character’s power increase the most from a strong Crossbow upgrade.

The Player Standing By Una’s Lute Box

Mercenaries use bothDexterityandStrengthin almost equal amounts as well as a fusion ofArmorandEvasionfor gear types. Look for gear that grants these stats to get a strong defensive foundation andmeet Attribute requirementsfor powerful Skills and Weapons.

But these modifiers aren’t the only ones you should look out for –Physical and Elemental Damage,Mana on Hit, andResistancesare all incredibly important and become quite necessary as you continue to level and reach more dangerous areas.Rarity of Items,Movement Speed, andAttack Speedare useful while leveling and can greatly enhance your experience, but aren’t exactly required to get to the endgame ofPoE 2as a Mercenary.

Mighty Silverfist map boss in Path of Exile 2

In addition to the recommended Item Modifiers and Stat bonuses listed above,Path of Exile 2Mercenary leveling is made significantly easier with aBombard Crossbow. This base Crossbow type willadd another extra Grenade projectileto Grenade Skills, raising our minimum from 2 to 3 for each skill without factoring in Skill Gems like Scattershot.

Pick up every Bombard Crossbow you can for the chance to craft something powerful with one of the manyPoE 2upgrade currencies.

The Player Getting The Book Of Specialisation From Una

Sorceress with Act 3 gear in PoE 2