Welcome to the Complete Mercenary Guide. In this guide I will be teaching how to play mercenary and how to obliterate with him on monsoon to get his skin, as well as unlock all his alternate skills.
Note that the guide to obliterate will be using my personal playstyle and this is by no means the "right" way to play mercenary, play him however you like, it is simply meant to add to your playstyle or so you can learn from it.

Mercenary currently only has 2 alternate skills in game, I will update this guide as more get added. Now let's see how to unlock each one of them.

Rising Thunder (ALT-RMB)
As Mercenary, don't touch the ground for 30 seconds.

To unlock this one simply get a Milky Chrysalis when playing on Artifact of Command ( if you don't know what artifacts are check out this wiki page https://riskofrain2.gamepedia.com/Artifacts ) and add one fuel cell to it. (Or you can use lots of backup magazines, but the chrysalis is your best option.)

Slicing Winds (ALT-R)
As Mercenary, complete a Prismatic Trial without falling below 100% health.

This skills is a pain to unlock. I would recommend waiting for an easy to complete prismatic trial and just memorize the enemy spawns. The best prismatic trial to do this challenge in would be with the artifacts of Glass and Command. Just pick up a ton of Tougher Times and hope that incoming damage gets blocked. (Topaz brooches work as well)
Overall I wouldn't recommend wasting the effort to get this skill right now because it just doesn't compare to Eviscerate, the main R skill. It will be getting a buff in the next update so maybe it will be worth it then.

ALT-SHIFT (WIP)

Finding the Teleporter should be your #1 priority on stages 1-3. You can grab chests next to the teleporter and along the way to the teleporter but going farther out will waste a lot of time and time is key in monsoon.
(If you want to know how to find the teleporter insanely fast check out this guide https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2153753622 )


Skills to use.

The particular playstyle that I use and I found works really well revolves around i-frames (invincibility frames) and constant damage.
To achieve this you need to get capped crit and a couple harvesters scythes as well as other damage boosting items and just use your R when you're in a pinch or if you want insane proc chains and use SHIFT to get out of a pinch, since it also gives i-frames.

As for the skills to use, I would use
Primary
Alt-Secondary
Utility
Main-Special

Items you should be looking out for.
These items will be listed from highest priority to lowest

Common items

Lens-Maker's Glasses - self explanatory, each one you get equals to 10% more damage (stop at 9 glasses)

Paul's Goat Hoof - mobility is KEY, I would prioritize getting these over Energy Drinks since these give the movement speed all the time and you don't have to be sprinting constantly.

Soldier's Syringe - higher attack speed scales with Eviscerate (R skill) which provides more healing within your i-frames

Medkit - these are quite good in the early game but past stage 3-4 definitely grab Tougher Times instead of these.

Tougher Times - self explanatory, damage negation is good, but killing enemies before they kill you is even better.

Backup Magazine - I would get 2 of these just because it gives some extra mobility and it can come in quite handy sometimes.

Sticky Bomb - Once your crit chance reaches 100% you can grab these for some extra damage.

All other items are good too, but these are the ones you should prioritize.
(Note that this guide for obliteration is meant for playing without Artifact of Command)

Uncommon Items
Ukulele - get one or two of these asap, since merc really struggles with AoE these will come in handy
Harvester's Scythe - best item to use with capped crit and Eviscerate
Predatory Instincts - attack speed = more procs = more damage
AtG Missile Mk. 1 - best uncommon damage item
Old Guilotine - helps a lot with strong elites
Hopoo Feather/Wax Quail - mobility is good
Rose Buckler - merc can attack while sprinting so you'll get the damage reduction most of the time
Bandolier - getting a cooldown reset in a pinch can help a TON

As mentioned before with the commons other items help too but these are especially good to have

Legendary Items
57 Leaf Clover - best item in the game, you basically get 2 times as much procs on every item except tougher times.
Sentient Meat Hook - good for proc chains
Ceremonial Daggers - the daggers combined with other on kill effects can wipe your entire screen at times
Hardlight Afterburner - This causes you to essentially have 9 dashes which means a ton more i-frames
Unstable Tesla Coil - the tesla is nice to have as an extra but other items are definitely better
(Soulbound Catalyst can be really good depending on your equipment)

Boss Items
Boss items are extras but always print a queen's gland into something else if you can

Equipment
Volcanic Egg, Royal Capacitor, Preon Accumulator, Jade Elephant, Foreign Fruit and Disposable Missile Launcher are all good options.

Lunar Items
Shaped glass and Gesture Of The Drowned are always good and only take Spinel Tonic if you can have it active all the time.

Stages 1-3 should take about 5 mins each and after that farm for any good items

Use shift and R to get around the map.

Always keep moving.

Time is key.

With Rising Thunder (alt-RMB skill) you can do certain combo's, like hitting an enemy up in the air and using Eviscerate or jumping and hitting them with your primary or dashing into them.

Always hold LMB because your combo (3rd attack deals more damage) doesnt get interrupted by your skills.

I hope this guide helped you get that sweet samurai skin for mercenary and let me know in the comments if i missed anything!
Thank you for reading