So I finished Mercenary Mode... Here are some tips, tricks, and important info | Forums

[evan5338]

For a bit of background, I call myself a PVE player. I'm in a MilSim and I play without a hud 99% of the time (with the exception of turning it on for doing one particular solo challenge, but I digress). In 6 or so hours I got my first 16 wins, the next day (the day after the release) I spent another 5 hours and won another 10 games.

I'm not a super good XX_SuperPVPPlayer_XX in the slightest, but I managed to complete it with some tips & tactics:

1. This isn't a fashion show, it's a game of hiding, stalking, and striking.
YOU DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT want to make your player the most badass looking guy to strike fear into the hearts of others. Instead, a well camouflaged uniform is the best choice.
Clothing that I run:
Tops: Fleece w/ camp Kryptek Mandrake (16/36)
Vests: IBA Woodland (15/36(
Pants: Crye Precision Combat PenCott GZ (this is an exlucusive challenge only camo, otherwise, use Multicam Tropic (18/36))
Footwear: Hiking Shoes Olive Drab
Ghille Suits: Woodland Forest Green (2/5)
Eyewear: Oakley SL Ballistic M Frame
Facewear: Shemagh or Artillery Balaclava Black (1/36)
Headwear: Multicam 5.11 Cap
Headset: Earpiece or Headset C in black
Gloves: Oakley Pilot Neutral
Backpack: Sapperpack or 5.11 Rush24 CADPAT TW (27/36) If you have PenCott GZ on your pants, then use the Multicam Tropic
Body Details: Screaming Eagles (I use Charlie)

This outfit is extremely overpowered and, honest to god, it has saved my life so many times because peoples' eyes just look right past me and it blends into any bushes. If you are going to use this outfit, I'd highly recommend to use every single piece of equipment that I suggest. FYI this is my original outfit, I didn't take it from anyone.

2. B-line straight for the nearest Point of Interest (POI) and select transmitter (the yellow choice at the top)
You never want to select anything else because A. vehicles are plentiful and you will learn their spawns over time and B. Knowing where you are headed is the most important thing.
So Make sure you mark three transmitters before doing anything else.
When you are done with marking transmitters, always select the ability to see other mercenaries.

3. Motorcycles are the best vehicles, but always hold back on the left thumbstick when you are driving one, this ensure that if you ever hit a bump or go over a rock, you land and don't get launched off of your bike. An additional Tip is to hold X to dismount instead of slowing down, Warning: don't do this on a step slope or mid air since there is a chance you may die (it has only happened to me once and I still won)

4. Here is my weapon ranking list so far (I know it isn't complete, but here are the best and worst weapons, the worst starting at the M4A1 and are not really in order)

1. MK 14 (use 3 burst in close quarters combined with over the shoulder aim to melt enemies)
2. Scorpian EVO
3. Mk-17
4. G28 (make sure to spam fire and use in 3rd person when in close quaters)
5. Ak-47
6. Spas 12
7. Melee attack
8. MP5
9. MSR
10. MG12
11. SRSA1
12. Sasg-12
13. M4A1
14. L11A5
15. Super shorty (this can be very powerful for sneaking up on players, shooting them twice, and then melee-ing them)
16. Stoner LMG
17. All pistols

5. Don't enter large gunfights early game, you have better things to do. Just run away and find another transmitter

6. Keep engagements to a minimum when locating transmitters, but it definitely helps to kill other players, take their supplies, therefore setingt them back

7. AI can be deadly, so kill them the first chance you have with what ever you have no matter how much noise it makes

8. Always carry flash bangs and meds above all else

9. If you find a proxy mine, pick it up, and then drop it on good loot or on a car

10. If you come across two or more players fighting, wait them out, then kill the winner

11. Learn the map , find out where the POIs are and learn where the closest ones are when you spawn, and the ones with the most amount of intel

12. Every extraction is different, some are good to aggressively defend when you arrive, some are best to stay back and let the dust settle, and some are best to just hide in a bush somewhere inside (if you use my suggested outfit, you will find this very effective when combined with good placement in the bush)

13. NEVER EVER LAY DOWN... Unless completely necessary to escape gunfire, laying down will make your character frozen while reloading. Increase the recover time to get up. Make you more vulnerable and, in most cases, more visible (don't ever lie down in bushes). Cut your third person viewing capabilities in half.

14. Don't stop to look at your map: You should only have to look at your map when you are trying to locate a nearby POI, intel, or are looking for the positions of other players when you activate the intel. Should you access your map, make sure to be in a bush, driving, or safe inside a building that you know has no-one in it or around.

15. Wear a headset: 3-d sound is a big deal

16. Don't take too long to loot - early game isn't the best time to loot, just the best time to get meds and the transmitter locations

17. Never give up, even if the helicopter bar is at 90% and going up, another player could highjack it and stop the process, giving you time to catch up

18. When getting to an extraction zone, don't drive right into the middle of it unless you are positive that you are the first person there, or you are running someone over for the memes

19. Headshots, they are good

20. Heal when ever you get the chance, even if that means tossing a flash bang at someone in order to get a heal off

21. Cash doesn't really matter if you are going for the win

22. If I didn't say it already, Melee is OP and not a last ditch effort

23. Try to knife out windows to a building and jump in through them instead of breaking down the door because it's more quiet and makes other player think the room in unlooted.

That's all that I can think of for the tips, be sure to leave your own at the bottom

Why you should play Mercenary Mode

I can not believe how many prestige crates and spec op crates I got from this mode. In your road to 25 wins you will get more than 40 crates, and if you are lucky and get a lot of duplicates, you could potentially get thousands of blue credits. I got more than 3,000 ghost credits in two days, which is 100X more than I get for doing all of the solo challenges over the course of an entire week.

I don't really know why people are hating on this mode to be honest. Games last around 13-25mins, are really intense, and I don't really get many games without any action or stealth gameplay at all. I can't say that I have experienced any bugs or glitches so far, so that is fantastic, and people complaining about having a bad RNG spawn don't know what they are talking about since not once (except my first match) have I ever not made it to the helicopter extraction point at all and gotten a chance to win.

The only downsides are that the guns are probably never going to be changed and things will get stale, but for the most part, I don't have many negative things to say. As long as you use tactics, it doesn't really matter how good of a PVP or PVE player you are, just that you play it smart.

Thank you soo much for reading, if you just skimmed all of the tips, I highly recommend that you read them all - If you have any tips or tricks to help you win the match, just put them down below. Also, what did you think of my tips, were they any good, did they help you reach that 25 mark?

If you are curious as to what the mercenary gear all looks like, here are some pics of the full set on my character: The vest, shirt, pants, patch, and backpack





Edit: I finished mercenary mode at ~8:30 on Friday July 19, 2019 - Am I the first?

[SmoovejAGs]

Awesome Evan & congratulations bud.

jAG

[MichaelS1211]

so i finished it to and i didnt get anything it is still locked

[evan5338]

MichaelS1211 to clarify, I got 25 wins and got all of the rewards...

[MichaelS1211]

same here

[fastastoast]

Great write up, but didn't know u could 'finish' a PvP game. Lol.

Don't worry I get it, you mean u won 25 times. From where I'm sitting it's not worth the time tho.

[Virtual-Chris]

I played about the same amount as you over the first two days and I only got three wins out of a ton of matches. Like you, in the course of all that play, I came to similar conclusions about strategy. Where I suck, is at killing other players. Combat in this game is RADICALLY different from PvE in two key ways: First the armor and HP players have means it takes a mag dump to kill someone, and second, everyone is running erratically at full speed like chickens with their heads cut off. This means players are near impossible to hit reliably, and it takes many many shots to kill them, so the TTK is ridiculous. If you get caught in a reload, which happens regularly due to these conditions, you’re dead. And another aspect of these mechanics is that combat in this game is only possible at point blank range where your just in a spastic shoot out. Even if you come up behind someone who’s unaware, and you start dumping a mag into them, they’ll just peel off and start spastically running around, making it insanely difficult to finish them off. The combat in this mode simply requires a whole new set of player skills and control mastery that is completely different from PvE. I’m happy you were able to adapt, but after two days, I still suck and have no real interest in mastering this unrealistic combat. So I’m out.

Here’s a few alternate thoughts on strategy...
the load out you want for the final battle is some syringes (med kits are too slow), grenades, and mines. If you get to the LZ first, mine the perimeter then grab anything else on site to fill that slot that might be useful. Spam grenades at people coming for you or who are already at the LZ when you arrive. Run around spastically so you are impossible to shoot. And I can’t offer any advice on gun choice as they all suck... especially the shotguns... even at point blank range they are ineffective. A hand gun is better than a shot gun.

After you play a dozen rounds, you know most of the possible LZ locations, so rather than race to the transmitters, just gear up, get a vehicle and wait near the center of the yellow circle on the map for some other fool to activate the transmitters and then descend on the LZ as the chopper flies in. You may not always get to the LZ on time, but it does work fairly well most of the time.

[CrockfordCK]

That's awesome Evan. I got my 25 wins completed last night. And I am done with this game mode unless they patch it to prevent this the following strategy.

Here's how I did it: (If you're going to do this, understand this is not fun gameplay, it's just going for the win.)

Outfit: The idea here is just to go unnoticed, so minimizing character profile. And unless you're planning on camping in a bush, don't put on a ghili suit. They add so much extra mass to your character it's nearly impossible NOT to see you.
Everything in Kryptek Highlander
No exposed skin.
No headwear(Except artillery Balaclva)
No vest
Camel Back

As soon as I spawned I would run straight for the nearest intel (Flat out sprint for the intel, ignore everything else)
First intel, select transmitter.
Sprint for the next nearest intel, select the transmitter.
Take a vehicle to the nearest of the two marked transmitters, activate it, and access the intel that's nearby, (there is always intel nearby) select the spotting, if available, if not select a third transmitter.
Take a vehicle to the next transmitter, activate it, find intel nearby, select spotting.(Use the spotting to AVOID other players because at this point you haven't stopped to pick up anything, so no weapons)
Take a vehicle to the third transmitter, activate it, find intel nearby, select spotting.
Take a vehicle to the extraction point. At this point you've got around 4 minutes on the extraction timer, spend that time grabbing weapons and armor that are in the area, then camp the intel that's near by. When the extraction timer hits less than 1 minute activate the intel and select spotting.
Wait out the timer and then extract.

It seemed there was a 50/50 chance another player would make it to me before extract arrived, and then a 50/50 chance I would kill that other player. I was nearly consistently getting three wins for each loss. I'd occasionally run into a lone Unidad while gathering transmitters, just sprint for a building if this happens and grab a weapon along the way, or just run around them to get to your current objective. Games would last around 10 minutes and I'd end most of them without any confrontation. (I would love these games to be 25 minutes like Evan has experienced, but they just aren't.)

And the prestige rewards are great and all, but this was a "Thank you" for a "dedicated community", I've been a dedicated player in Wildlands since it came out... I haven't had need for the thousands of credits I have stock piled on my account for the last several months prior to this game mode, and I know I'm not the only one these credits are wasted on.

[Virtual-Chris]

The good news here is that all the good players have already hit their wins and are tapping out leaving more of a level playing field for sh!tty players. LOL.

I wanted to like this game mode as fighting real players is so much more challenging than AI but the bullet sponge aspect totally ruins it.

[CrockfordCK]

The good news here is that all the good players have already hit their wins and are tapping out leaving more of a level playing field for sh!tty players. LOL.

I wanted to like this game mode as fighting real players is so much more challenging than AI but the bullet sponge aspect totally kills it.

I agree...And I hope you didn't preorder Breakpoint...