Jagged Alliance 3 Guide to Mercenaries (part 1) - Advanced (higher level) Mercenaries

[@zion5637]

Note-really important to see details on each merc for type etc and strategies.. S Tier Gus (?) 17:03 Ice S- 3:14 Magic 19:41 A+/S A Tier Magic A+/S 19:41 Thor A+ 1:43 Shadow A+ 22:12 Fidel 0:45 Raven 1:05 Victoria 9:08 Scully 20:12 Reaper 20:35 Blood A/A- 4:07 B Tier Wolf B+ 2:21 Raider 10:17 Nails 13:02 Dr Q 13:58 Sidney 21:18 Scope 23:01 Meltdown B/B- 5:09 Grunty B- 6:55 Red B- 14:43 C Tier Buns C+ 5:52 Tex 12:07 Fauda 23:53 Len 25:24 Hitman C/C- 15:52

[@SykenPlays]

Hi Zion, wanted to say thank you for doing that. Great job in summarizing it and really appreciate the work that went into it.

[@DMurphyApple]

im a bit late to the party here but i liked Hitman as an early game Leader, and honetly, Wolf is amazing. He can take on almost every role you need and is a capable mechanic

[@sxychtulhu2425]

Fauda's special ability is bonkers good actually. Just but a heavy machinegun and a heavy sniper rifle on her and load her up with heavy armor and she still moves around like a speedy bunny. Other than that I agree on most points.

[@SykenPlays]

Great input, thanks for sharing your thoughts

[@mrfreeman2911]

Questions. Not sure if any of this was patched. But doesn't Leadership massively improve map move speed? And there are only 3 ways to get a good leadership guy. Also with your tiers, you state Livewire is better than Vicki. But who would you take if you had the cash? And another tipp. At game start reduce contracts to 3 days. Better team from start and you easily get cash to renew contracts on first island. You also miss medical insurance in merc prices. Barry isn't actually the cheapest character. But yes, he is still superbly priced. Would you take him or Fidel? Similar to question 2.

[@mrfreeman2911]

and Dr Q is a boss killer. His ability (unless nerfed) can stun a boss. Makes him the best Dr in the game IMO.

[@SykenPlays]

Leadership still does that, so it is a good compromise. Your question about the money is valid, I am coming at it from the hardest difficulty, where cash at the beginning is tight. My personal preference are low level mercs, so that I can fully individualize the build (except if you get really good special abilities). The other determinating factor is typically the wisdom, because it determines the speed of learning (which at the current point in time is OP). In terms of high quality mercs, I go through them in Part2 for the higher level mercs.

[@mrfreeman2911]

​@@SykenPlays I'v seen your vids, thank you :) But it has been a few days. I am writing this for newer players (and for you, if you want to read my opinion). I play on the highest difficulty too. So that is why I advice to hire people for 3 days at first. You have more choice this way. Sure hiring Livewire, Barry, Fox, IMP and some other cheap guys is cool and a legit tactic. HOWEVER I prefer the "best" posible start team. I really believe that Raider and Raven are two amazing mercs and worth getting day 1. They synergise well and give eachother +1 morale. You can also easily use them as snipers, due to their high skills AND use them as an overwatch killing machine duo. I prefer Fidel over Barry. Fidel gives you psycho dialogue options and is just a better Barry. It is a hard choice though. You can't get a perfect team, but you can hire Livewire, however she doesn't like cops. So get Vicki when you have the cash, as she is stupidly broken imho. I don't use the IMP for the A team, as I like RP. You can use IMP as a clean up, for quests etc. As a medic I go Fox (for scoundrel if I dump Livewire) or Dr Q, for earlier mentioned reason. You like MD, but I feel the others just add more. Again, a hard choice. Last merc I pick Ivan, as he is just pure ridiculous. I didn't add any legendary mercs. Of course, as you stated, some are broken, but they require tons of cash. Now a question. Does it matter if you have all personalities? Ie, psycho, neg and scoundrel? You get conversation options, but no where do I read how important they are. It is why I pick Livewire/Fox. I love Fidel, but psycho makes him indespensible, right?

[@magni5648]

Livewire's unique perk is just so stupidly strong that I'd genuinely take her over Vicky, especially if I cna give her some training on top. And, well, Fidel is fun. But he's also a gigantic liability with his personality and habit of immediately quitting if he doesn't get to kill enough people. If I wanted a psycho character, I'd rather hire Meltdown. Barry is just realy way, way, waaaaaaaay too god for what he demands, and like Livewire he also grows enormously fast with that wisdom stat. Also his shaped charges are brutal as all hell even against late-game opponents.

[@zion5637]

What mercs do you like as militia trainers/mules etc to use as where needed?

[@SykenPlays]

Oftentimes, I am just using the free (no payment Mercs for that), simply because they are availalbe and you can move the other team already forward. That being said, I am also quite happy about getting multiple mercs into a training routing, farming some gem shipments on the way and simply spending a few weeks in getting up everyone's leadership. Once that is done, you have ample of trainers for the militia

[@edsherwook5196]

I’m drowning in money this game so thinking of booting off some of my starting guys. Who’s the absolute best marksman? I have fox, imp, live wire, berry, wolf, and kalyne. Going to replace kalyne with someone, who would you recommend money being no factor

[@SykenPlays]

There is no „simple“ answer to this, since it depends on whether you want to have a specific build. Higher level characters come with already pre-selected skills, which makes it less flexible if you want a very specific build. That being said, you might want to look for their special abilities and see what you like. Shadow for instance is a very good stealth sniper and has superior movement as an example. Others do have the option to give everyone temporary hit points for each kill or shoot up to 5 times with their special ability. It really depends on what you want to get out of the build.

[@meanmanturbo]

Wondering why Grunty was in veteran tier, the tiers are just straight up what level the mercs are, and Grunty is level 3. Nothing to do with how good the stats are.

[@SykenPlays]

Î have asked myself that as well. But you have to draw the line somewhere I suppose.

[@Idontknowinder]

You completely glossed over the fact that Nails and Igor cannot take off pieces of their equipment (head and armour slot respectively). This is potentially a lethal drawback.

[@SykenPlays]

Good point, I wouldn't say that either of them have a disadvantage with that equipment, but I see your point.

[@Idontknowinder]

It's weaker than light armour though. I d say that qualifies as a disadvantage.

[@rrperm]

Nails and Ivan

[@PyromaN93]

Nails and Ivan. And, Ivan anyway kills faster, than anything czn hurt him