Vortex Gaming

· The mercenary is a character that delivers overwhelming impact using a giant axe and gauntlets, inspired by the Mountain from the drama 'Game of Thrones'.
· One of the mercenary's core appealing points is the 'Shock' option. Shock increases the target's damage taken by 2% per stack, stacking up to 6 times.
· When Shock reaches maximum stacks, it transitions into the 'Destruction' state. In this state, for 8 seconds, attack speed increases by 5%, damage taken increases by 20%, and damage dealt increases by 30%. Therefore, it's crucial to quickly put enemies into the Destruction state to unleash powerful skills.

· Game of Thrones: King's Road features four cleave combos, each with its own skill mastery.
· The recommended cleave combo is 'Cleave Combo 1'. While not the highest damage, this combo quickly builds up 6 Shock stacks, allowing for explosive damage with skills.
· For skill mastery, we recommend 'Shock', 'Quick Attack', and 'Crush' to maximize the mercenary's passives. In the early stages of the game, it's difficult to obtain all skill masteries, so it's advisable to grow them evenly with 'Shock 1 point', 'Quick Attack 1 point', and 'Crush 1 point'.
· Skill masteries exist in low, medium, and high tiers, with high tiers obtainable through crafting. In the early game, developing the gauntlet cleave combo might be challenging.

· Due to limitations in equipment option settings, it's difficult to utilize all skills. Therefore, it's best to choose about two main skills and focus investment on them.
· This video will explain based on a setup using the axe as the main weapon and gauntlets as the sub-weapon.
· Recommended Axe Skills:
- Level 19 'Ferocious Charge': When set with the 'Brutality' engraving effect, attack speed significantly increases, making it easier to manage rage and Shock stacks.
- Level 24 'Merciless Strike': This is the mercenary's most crucial skill. When enhanced, it transforms into a short-charge skill that boasts immense damage. With the 'Face-Off' and 'Slaughter' engraving effects, you can one-shot most bosses, excluding raid bosses.
· 'Ferocious Charge' and 'Merciless Strike' lead into weapon specialization, so it's good to use them together.
· Recommended Gauntlet Skills:
- We recommend 'Raging Barrage Combo', which consumes less rage and is good for building stagger gauge.

· 'Weapon Specialization' is a new content not present in overseas servers. It has a total of 7 stages, and you can acquire growth points from various content. The content that yields the most points is 'Lost Letters'.
· Stage 1: Recommended to enhance weapon swap skills. Press Tab for weapon stance, V for weapon stance and additional attack.
· Stage 2: Master Weapon 1 combo.
· Stage 3: Master Weapon 1 skill, Master weapon swap skill 1.
· Stage 4: Collapse 1.
· Stage 5: Core is 'Destruction Instinct'. When 'Ferocious Charge' hits, 'Merciless Strike' enters Super Armor state and its damage significantly increases. This perfectly offsets 'Merciless Strike's critical drawback of being canceled when hit, completing the ultimate mercenary.
· Stage 6: Set up Critical Strike, Contempt.
· Stage 7: Invest 3 points in weapon swap skill mastery.

· Attack Talent Tree: In the early game, it's difficult to secure critical hit chance, so consider using critical hit chance points for increased attack power based on your equipment setup. The core points are 'Critical Hit Chance Master', 'Critical Hit Damage Master', 'Savage Blow Damage Increase 1 point', 'Controlled Rage 1 point', and 'Max Rage Increase 1 point'. Afterwards, invest in 'Basic Skill Mastery Master', 'Intense Rage 1 point', 'Max Rage Increase 1 point', 'Attack Power 1 point', 'Boss Damage Master', etc. For the official release, use the skill point distribution as a general guideline.
· Defense Talent Tree: Prioritize investing in 'Damage Taken Reduction Master', 'Rage Acquisition Master', 'Perfect Defense 1 point', 'Toughness 1 point', and 'Max Stamina Increase 1 point'. Afterwards, consider 'Defense Increase Master', 'Max Stamina Increase 1 point', 'Resilience 1 point', 'Max Rage Increase 1 point', 'Defense Increase Master', and 'Damage Taken Reduction 1 point'.
· Support Talent Tree: We recommend 'Arrow Crafting 1 point', 'Max Health Increase Master', 'Rage Acquisition Increase 4 points', 'Max Rage Increase 1 point', 'Counter Time 1 point', 'Max Stamina Increase 1 point', and 'Rage Cost Reduction Master'. Adjust skills like 'Gathering Master', 'Hunting Master', and 'Sharpshooter' flexibly depending on the content. Finally, invest 'Max Stamina Increase 1 point', 'Max Health Increase Master', and 'Share 1 point'.

· Among the currently available equipment sets, the 'Berserker Set' is the best fit for the mercenary.
· The Berserker Set limits usable health to 35% but provides powerful effects: a 20% increase in damage dealt and a 27.5% decrease in damage taken.
· Additionally, it has an option to recover 3% health upon defeating an enemy, making it optimized for a one-shot build. Since health can be significantly increased through various content, the health limitation is not a major issue.

· Active Artifact: We recommend the 'Twin Axes'. The active skill of the Twin Axes, increasing attack power and critical hit damage, shows perfect synergy with the mercenary.
· Passive Artifact: We recommend 'Antaltunic' or 'Green Hand's Shield'. These artifacts help actively utilize the mercenary's passive 'Destruction state'.
· However, since you need to acquire multiple copies of the same artifact for leveling and star-up, growth requires considerable luck and time.