The Mercenaries have been among my top comps ever since their debut. I just loved them as they are kind of Mutants with a lucky number.
Introduction
These are amusing to play and could be extremely powerful when combined with Snipers. These two compositions are extremely well-matched, and they’re in great harmony with each other. Miss Fortune is the primary champion of both compositions. She is not the strongest advocate for snipers, nor for mercenaries, but she is the only one that shares both traits. She is like a glue that holds everything in place and makes these two compositions harmonious.
Mercenaries are the best composition that you should use most of the time, because its champions aren’t used much for other comps apart from Quin, which is very beneficial in Challenger comp.
The Mercenaries composition is very powerful. It’s all about how many mercenaries your have. Three Mercs are not enough to have a significant impact However, five Mercs can do the trick. If you can put together all seven Mercs, every game will be yours!
The Mercenaries trait
Mercenaries: Gain a treasure chest that opens when you win combat against a player. At the start of each planning phase vs a player, dice rolls add loot to the chest. The longer you’ve gone without opening the chest, the luckier the dice.
- 3
- Roll 2 dice
- 5
- The dice are even luckier!
- 7
- Upon winning, roll a 3rd die that grants bonus loot.
Loot chances for Mercenaries
Zero losses
- X/X: Boot low-roll at one percent
- Fish/X: One gold at 78 percent
- Coin/X: Two gold at 10 percent
- Bag/X: Three gold at 10 percent
- Fish/Fish: High-roll of four gold at one percent
One loss
- Coin/X: Low-roll of two gold at 30 percent
- Bag/X: Three gold at 10 percent
- Fish/Coin: Three gold at 5 percent
- Soldier/Coin: One three-cost champion at 15 percent
- Soldier/Fish: A total of two 2-cost champions at 10 percent
- Chest/X: Five gold at 10 percent
- Bag/Bag: High-roll of an item component at 10 percent
Two losses
- Bag/X: Low-roll of three gold at 15 percent
- Bag/Soldier: Low-roll of three-cost champion at 15 percent
- Bag/Fish: Five gold at 15 percent
- Chest/X: Five gold at 15 percent
- Soldier/Fish: A total of two 2-cost champions at 20 percent
- Bag/Bag: High-roll of an item component at 20 percent
Three losses
- Soldier/X: Low-roll of four gold at 30 percent
- Sword/Fish: Offensive component at 10 percent
- Shell/Fish: Defensive component at 10 percent
- Book/Fish: Utility component at 10 percent
- Kraken/Fish: Neeko at 10 percent
- Bag/Coin: Six gold at 10 percent
- Soldier/Bag: A total of two three-cost champions at 10 percent
- Sword/Sword: High-roll Thieves Gloves at 10 percent
Four losses
- Soldier/X: Low-roll of four gold at 25 percent
- Ship/Coin: One four-cost champion plus three gold at 30 percent
- Kraken/Coin: One Neeko plus two gold at 10 percent
- Chest/Fish: Eight gold at 10 percent
- Sword/X: Eight gold at 10 percent
- Sword/Sword: High-roll Thieves Gloves at 15 percent
Five losses
- Chest/X: Low-roll of five gold at 10 percent
- Bag/Fish: Low-roll of five gold at 20 percent
- Bag/Coin: Six gold at 20 percent
- Kraken/Chest: Loaded Dice at 10 percent
- Soldier/Chest: A total of three 3-cost champions at 10 percent
- Chest/Fish: Eight gold at 20 percent
- Book/Book: High-roll of Tome of Traits
Six losses
- Chest/X: Low-roll of five gold at 21 percent
- Kraken/Fish: Neeko at 10 percent
- Bag/Bag: Item component at 10 percent
- Sword/Fish: Offensive component at eight percent
- Shell/Fish: Defensive component at eight percent
- Book/Fish: Utility component at eight percent
- Kraken/Coin: Neeko plus two gold at 10 percent
- Chest/Fish: Eight gold at five percent
- Spatula/Fish: Spatula at 10 percent
- Book/Book: High-roll of Tome of Traits at 10 percent
- Soldier/Soldier: High-roll of two four-cost champions at five percent
Seven losses
- Book/X: Low-roll of six gold at 10 percent
- Soldier/Bag: A total of two three-cost champions at 20 percent
- Kraken/Soldier: Loaded Dice plus five gold at five percent
- Soldier/Chest: A total of three 3-cost champions at 30 percent
- Soldier/Soldier: A total of two four-cost champions at 20 percent
- Kraken/X: 10 gold at five percent
- Monster/Monster: High-roll of one item and one Neeko at 10 percent
Eight losses
- Sword/X: Low-roll of eight gold at 15 percent
- Soldier/Sword: A total of two four-cost champions at five percent
- Sword/Coin: Offensive component plus two gold at 12 percent
- Book/Coin: Utility component plus two gold at 12 percent
- Shell/Coin: Defensive component plus two gold at 12 percent
- Kraken/Bag: Neeko plus five gold at 19 percent
- Monster/X: 10 gold at 10 percent
- Monster/Monster: High-roll of one item and one Neeko at 10 percent
- Ship/Ship: High-roll of a total of two five-cost champions at five percent
Nine losses
- Ship/X: Low-roll of 10 gold at 10 percent
- Soldier/Ship: A total of three four-cost champions at 10 percent
- Sword/Monster: Offensive component plus a Neeko at five percent
- Book/Monster: Utility component plus a Neeko at five percent
- Shell/Monster: Defensive component plus a Neeko at five percent
- Ship/Chest: One four-cost champion plus 10 gold at 20 percent
- Ship/Sword: One five-cost champion plus 10 gold at 11 percent
- Book/Book: High-roll of Tome of Traits at four percent
- Chest/Chest: High-roll of two item components at 15 percent
- Spatula/Spatula: High-roll of Force of Nature at 15 percent
10 losses
- Spatula/Coin: 25 gold at 10 percent
- Soldier/Ship: A total of three four-cost champions at 10 percent
- Sword/Monster: One offensive component and Neeko at 10 percent
- Book/Monster: One utility component and Neeko at 10 percent
- Shell/Monster: One defensive component and Neeko at 10 percent
- Ship/Ship: A total of two five-cost champions at 10 percent
- Book/Book: One Tome of Traits at four percent
- Chest/Chest: Two item components at 20 percent
- Spatula/Spatula: High-roll of a Force of Nature at 15 percent
11 losses
- Spatula/Bag: 50 gold at 10 percent
- Spatula/Book: One Chalice of Power, one Zeke’s Herald, and 10 gold at 12 percent
- Spatula/Shell: One Dragon’s Claw, one Bramble Vest, and 10 gold at 11 percent
- Spatula/Sword: Two Thieves Gloves and 10 gold at 11 percent
- Spatula/Soldier: Two Loaded Dice and two four-cost champions at 10 percent
- Book/Book: One Tome of Traits at 15 percent
- Chest/Chest: Two item components at 11 percent
- Kraken/Kraken: One item and one Neeko at 10 percent
- Spatula/Spatula: One Force of Nature at 10 percent
12 losses
- Spatula/Gold: 50 gold at one percent
- Spatula/Book: One Chalice of Power, one Zeke’s Herald, and 10 gold at 12 percent
- Spatula/Shell: One Dragon’s Claw, one Bramble Vest, and 10 gold at 11 percent
- Spatula/Sword: Two Thieves Gloves and 10 gold at 11 percent
- Spatula/Soldier: Two Loaded Dice and two four-cost champions at 10 percent
- Spatula/Ship: A total of two five-cost champions at 10 percent
- Spatula/Kraken: One full item and two Neeko’s at 15 percent
- Spatula/Chest: One random full item and two components at 15 percent
- Spatula/Spatula: One Force of Nature at 15 percent
Mercenary seven table
- One item and four gold at 50 percent
- One Spatula at eight percent
- One five-cost and six gold at 15 percent
- One Thieves Gloves at three percent
- Two five-cost champions at 10 percent
- Three items at one percent
- One Neeko and six gold at 10 percent
- One Force of Nature at three percent
Champions
- Illaoi
- Quinn
- Miss Fortune
- Gankplank
- Tahm Kench
Illaoi
Illaoi is a must-have in every composition, whether it’s snipers or mercenaries you are going to favor in that particular game. Low-cost, high damage, even higher healing, and immense sustain, Illaoi benefits from any kind of sustain and tanky items that you equip her with. But she is important the most since she is cheap and can be quite strong when leveled up.
Bear in mind that she may look weak, but trust me, she is not. Compared to the five cost champions with high levels, she is quite a decent opponent. And because a lot of people don’t know this, she isn’t used that much, so you have a pretty high chance of maxing her level as early as level four of the game.
Do a couple of rerolls, and you sure won’t regret it!
The items she benefits the most from are Bramble’s vest, Warmog’s armor, Dragon’s claw, Titan’s resolve, Zz’Rot Portal, Sunfire Cape, Redemption, and any kind of similar item. You get the pattern. I had even won some games when I had her equipped with Morello’s. Don’t ask, just don’t.
Ability: Harsh Lesson
Illaoi slams her target, linking her soul to it for 5 seconds and dealing magic damage. While linked, Illaoi is healed for a percentage of the damage taken by her target.
Quinn
This girl was so underrated through the entire Set 6. I agree with you. Quinn is not considered a damage champion. She does deal damage but that is not what you should be focusing on. Quinn is a utility champion whose primary purpose is to disable and disarm her enemies using her ult. This is why the name “Disarming Assault” was chosen.
If you use her correctly, she can be a real charm. She can be useful in any composition if you add an enhance. These benefits are huge. She not only disarms her foes but also reduces Attack damage to nearby enemies for a full four seconds.
She is very important both to the Mercenaries and Challenger compositions. Relatively low cost, starting at just two gold, this champion is the one you can max with levels, and you won’t even feel it since she is so underused and played just to fill a spot for the trait.
As for positioning, she is quite versatile. She can go in the lower end of the board, along with some Snipers, or she can go in the middle, standing behind strong tanks, while giving them her massive support!
Ability: Disarming Assault
Quinn sends Valor out at her target, dealing magic damage to the target and nearby enemies. The main target is disarmed for 3 seconds and all nearby enemies have their Attack Damage reduced by for 4 seconds.
Miss Fortune
This champion is the core of this build. She is the bread and butter, the link, the chosen one since she is the only champion that holds both mercenary and sniper trait. She is the glue holding it all together. Without Miss Fortune the combination of Snipers and Mercenaries wouldn’t be possible.
Whatever composition you choose, she is an inevitable part of it, whether it’s 5-7 mercs or 4-6 snipers. At the cost of three gold, MF is an excellent mid-game pick, and if you manage to score her in the first couple of rounds out of fighting minions, there is a good chance you are going to win that game.
MF (shorth of Miss Fortune, and not the Samuel L. Jackson thing) is a overall great champion and one of the most universal ones in the game)
Because of the Blitz, she is best placed at the bottom of the board.
Miss Fortune is an excellent pick since she combines AD and AP so well like old Akali or Jax used to do in League of Legends. She benefits both from AD items such are The Bloodthirster or Infinity Edge, Attack speed items like Guinsso, or she can just go full mental with a Blue Buff, Rabbadon’s Deathcap, and Jeweled Gauntlet.
It doesn’t matter what items you put on her, it will work. Perhaps I am just a little confused, but I would save sustain products for Cait and Jhin and use all of the AP stuff to make MF work.
I have found out she is pretty quickly maxed to level three, so if you see her in your shop, go for it! With maxed items and at the maximum level, she can do some severe damage.
Trust me. I know what I am talking about.
Ability:Make it Rain
Miss Fortune rains 4 waves of bullets down around a random enemy, dealing magic damage to enemies in the area and reducing their incoming healing by 50% for 6 seconds.
Gangplank
Gangplank is a champion who doesn’t really take the spotlight, but does well behind the scenes of others. It’s almost like Gangplank is a tutor for the math genius. He doesn’t get any credit, but he does give one (pun intended) since he gives gold for his kills.
My guy GP was more useful in the old patch than he was there. Kog Maw was a Twinshot and a Sniper. GP was Merc and Twinshot so they would work together.
I’ve played many games of this patch, but I’ve never seen anyone use the four twinshot trait. It will be possible, I swear.
GP is mainly used to fill in the role of lacking Merc, since his utility has been cut in half by the departure of Kog Mw. He is still useful, but it doesn’t mean that he is ineffective. If you don’t have two spatulas or an extra spot for GP and you don’t have enough, you should replace him immediately after the late game begins. TheTwinshot bonus is no longer available to you because Kog Maw has been removed. Tahm is a better choice.
You can still do some damage with him and get some gold coins for each enemy he shoots using his pistol.
Because he is quick to die, he should be placed just behind the front line.
Ability: Parrrley
Gangplank shoots his target, dealing a percentage of his Attack Damage and bonus damage. If this kills a champion, Gangplank plunders 1 gold.
Tahm Kench
By far one of the most powerful champions in the current set, since he can devour even the strongest of the enemy champions!
His mechanics and looks on regular Summoner’s Rift, to his use in the magical world TFT. Tahm Kench, who is hot at the price of five golds, is a game-changer. He is an integral component of Merc – Snipers and Sniper – Mercs compositions. You can’t win without him. This is how the game works.
He is a much better choice from Gangplank and you should have this in mind, even if your Gangplank is level three, Tahm Kench is a better solution, in the long run, so you should always replace GP with Tahm Kench.
While still at level one, I will admit he won’t do much, in case of doing the actual work around the field, but rather annoy you with his damage-less ability. But once he hits level two, god forbid level three, that’s where the fun begins.
Tahm Kench’s magic begins to shine once he starts eating his foes like he did in his lore. If you run Merc – Sniper composition, it is likely that you will have five Mercs by the time Tahm hits your board. And if you’re lucky, maybe even seven. It happened once to me, happy times. However, if you return to Tahm and you have five mercenaries, then you can buy Tahm if you have done well in the game. This is the final game. Since you have five Mercs, you will probably have some crazy items. There are a lot. You are expected to have three to four more items than your opponents at level eight.
You can use it to your advantage. No, abuse it. Tahm will benefit from whatever you give him. When it comes to food, he is similar to me. But I would rather not indulge in that.
The best items for Tahm come from the tank, or a section of items. My recommendations are Titan’s resolve and Warmog’s armor, as well as the Jeweled Gauntlet. You can also choose to go for Blue Buff or Rabbadon’s and Redemption. It is up to you. It’s actually up to him, since once he reaches level 2, you won’t be much of an influence on the board. Sett, you’re done. It’s The Boss, the mighty Tahm Kennech!
Ability: Devour
Tahm Kench devours his target, storing them in his belly for 3 seconds and dealing magic damage over the duration. During this time, they are invulnerable to other sources of damage and Tahm Kench takes 40% reduced damage. If they die while inside, Tahm Kench spits out a random item component they were holding or the cost of the unit in gold. Otherwise, he spits them towards the farthest enemy, briefly stunning targets they impact.
Supporting Champions
The composition that has the best synergy and harmony with Mercenaries are, of course, Snipers!
- Caitlyn
- Ashe
- Jhin
- Zeri
Caitlyn
Cait is one gold-priced champion who has a great range like all of the snipers do. The thing that put’s her apart from others, in my opinion, is her ultimate spell. Her ultimate spell is capable of erasing even five cost champions with full items, even if she is just a fable one gold champion.
Comparing Caitlyn with other one gold costing champions, she is miles ahead since she is among the rare ones that stay relevant in the later points of the game too. This is why I like her so much, as she is so cost-effective, and she is a great investment to any player with some basic knowledge of items and positioning.
The power of Cait’s ability scales with her level, but when I say scales, I mean it quintuples. The power spike you get once you reach level three is mesmerizing. Does the enemy have a full items level 3 Viktor that threatens to erase everything on the field with his lasers? No sweat, Cait can simply one-shot that guy, and he is trouble no more!
For the placing of our dearest Sniper-Enforcer Cait, it really depends on your items and do you want her to be your carry through the game.
If she is your carry, I would suggest placing her in the corners on the lower part of your board, BUT, and this is a BIG BUT (again, no pun intended), if you do not have a Quicksilver on her, never place her at the actual corner itself, since if the enemy is playing Blitz, she is going to be grabbed and deleted in seconds, since all of the champions (enemy’s in this case) are going to focus the champion which Blitz grabbed! If she has quicksilver, the actual corner is your best choice since she is safe for the first five seconds, and Blitz will waste his Rocket grab, and later on, it is becoming less relevant since Blitz tends to die quickly. Also, if you ARE running QS, the corner is also a good hideout since she won’t be the first target for enemy assassins.
Speaking itemwise, the go-to item without which things are not good is The Guinsoo’s Rageblade. Others can be swapped, but he is essential for dealing base attack damage and for Cait to load her ult quickly. Other items can be The Bloodthirster, The QSS, The Infiniti Edge, The Edge of The Night, and The Last Whisper.
Caitlyn takes aim at the farthest enemy, firing a deadly bullet towards them that deals magic damage to the first enemy it hits.
Ability: Ace in the Hole
Caitlyn takes aim at the farthest enemy, firing a deadly bullet towards them that deals magic damage to the first enemy it hits.
Ashe
Ashe is part of set 6.5’s newest additions, alongside Zeri. Ashe, along with the Sniper trait has found her place among Syndicates. But she also benefits from the trait of snipers, which gives her far greater damage-wise.
A great new champion that replaced Kog Maw and Tristana, which were pretty damn terrible both as a sniper and their origin traits. Ashe is a well-placed replacement.
She’s quite affordable, so I recommend maxing her immediately regardless of whether she is your primary carrie. She is not part of many of the most popular compositions so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
We expected Ashe’s ability from the Summoners Rift to be her ult, but Riot guys have made it their Q. She scaled well with heavy ad items because the scaling of the spell is 100% of her attack damages.
Ashe should have Infinity Edge and Deathblade. If Ashe is your carry, you will need some sustain via Quicksilver, or The Edge of the Night. Last Whisper is a good choice if you don’t have a carry and just need a backup damage deal that can slash enemies far away. Ashe is not the greatest sniper, so I wouldn’t recommend using the items on her unless you get her at level three.
Ashe, if she is your carry is ideal placed in the corners of the field with quicksilver or on the inside of your backline if you don’t have one.
Ability: Volley
Ashe fires a volley of arrows centered on her target, dealing 100% of her Attack Damage as physical damage per arrow and slowing their Attack Speed by 15% for 3 seconds.
Jhin
Jhin is a sniper ,a four gold costing champion and he does a lot of damage!
The Khada Jhin, as his stage name sounds was with us from the start of Gizmos and Gadgets and he has always been one of the top 5 champions when it come to price-quality ratio. The level three Jhin is a game-ender. If you manage that, the enemies leave the game without the fight.
Jhin is a dangerous man . But the thing is,h e doesn’t have any sustain and will likely get blasted with any assassin who crosses his path. It is your job to decide if you want to play him offensively, or if your goal is to play safe and give him a Quicksilver or some other defensive item.
He is blessed with The Sniper and The Clockwork traits!
As far as positioning goes, Jhin should never touch the edge of the board unless he has Quicksilver.
Items should always be Infinity Edge and Last Whisper no matter what, but for the last item, you have many options and combinations. You can go Blue Buff which is the highest damage output combination, since he will ult immediately as the fight starts, or you can go for Quicksilver and take some necessary precautions. If you happen to have The Rabbadon’s Deathcap to spare, you can equip that one on Jhin too.
It is very difficult to get Jhin at level one. If you can, try to make it to level two. Jhin’s, like most Snipers isn’t very good against burst formations such as arcanists and assassins.
Ability: Curtain Call
Jhin transforms his weapon into a powerful sniper rifle for his next 4 shots. Each shot deals a percentage of his Attack Damage as physical damage, reduced by 33% for each target it pierces through. The 4th shot is guaranteed to critically strike, and deals 44% more damage based on his target’s missing Health. Passive: Jhin always attacks .9/.9/1.4 times per second. He converts each 1% of bonus Attack Speed into .8 Attack Damage.
Zeri
Along with Ashe, the newest addition to our TFT universe is Zeri!
Like Ashe, Zeri came to replace Kog Maw and Tristana and fill the missing spot in the Sniper trait with the addition of the new Debonair class. I think she works great in both of them and you can definetly find a place for her in your team!
Zeri is high damage, high-cost unit, which basically tells you, you get what you pay for! In my opinion, she is too strong at the moment, and some nerfs are heading her way on Summoner’s Rift and TFT arenas as well. She has an insane burst potential, and if you manage to get her up to level, God knows how many seconds will pass before your enemies beg for mercy!
Zeri is powerful at level one as a person would expect a five cost champion to be, but she shines even brighter, nope, scrap that, but she buzzes even stronger when she is at level two, and I am afraid to tell you that one-second delete you get if she somehow reaches level three.
Positioning at the back, like most of her friends, of the sniper trait, you should always try to shield your 5 cost unit with some of your other, lower-cost units.
You should go Guinsoo’s Rageblade to get the bonus attack speed, Titan’s Resolve to sustain and Last Whisper to do some armor penetration shredding.
Ability: Lightning Crash
Zeri charges herself up with electricity for 6 seconds. While electrified, she aims at the farthest enemy, her attacks pierce, and she dashes after every shot. Passive: Zeri’s attacks fire bullets, each dealing 18% of her Attack Damage as physical damage plus bonus magic damage to the first unit hit. VIP Bonus: Zeri’s Lightning Nova’s radius is doubled.
The In-game guide
Early game
The early game for Mercenaries is pretty Sniper dependant, since you early game champions are Illaoi, Caitlyn, Ashe and Quinn. The early game is pretty weak since if you don’t score MF or GP you will only have 2 Sniper traits active.
Mid game
The mid game of Mercenaries composition is the place where you assemble at least 4 snipers and 3- mercenaries via purchasing Miss Fortune, Gangplank and Jhin. Now it all depends on the Augments you will get in game. For this composition you will need 2 mercenaries emblems if you are going to accomplish 7 Mercenaries.
Late game
At this point you should stand pretty strong in game. You will have a lot od damage from Snipers and a nice sustain from your front line, as well with some sweet items from The Loot. But it is time to bring the game to an end and you are going to accomplish that with Tahm Kench and Zeri. Once you assemble them with your team, the game is pretty much over!
The Mercenaries composition
Conclusion
This composition is one of the most fun compositions to play I can promise you that! The thing that really stands apart from any other composition is The seven Mercenaries trait. If you manage to achieve it you will end up with 15 items, compared with other players who will at max have 7 or 8. This is a very augment dependent game. You can’t create The Mercenaries’ emblem with Spatula therefore it is unlikely to be something that you be able to pull off. But, even if you aren’t performing well and you keep losing fights, if after a while, you are victorious, your loot will be more fortunate!