The fact that so many people like so many different combos of Mercs is great credit to the work the developers put into making them. There is no *best team* or must have picks.
It's more that the game is easy enough that you can beat it with crappy mercs and still believe that they are good. Which is also a good design decision. I've heard people talk about how good Steroid was.^^
But honestly at the same time. The mercs are such interesting individuals that I can't help but feel invested in keeping them in my team. The fact they also interact with each other and are tastefully stereotyped that I can't help but love and keep employing them over and over again.
As a veteran of the game by now, I'd agree with most of the points you make, apart from 2 things: 1. Heavy weapons are overrated, sniper rifles are underrated. Virtually every battle can be won by getting in a good position and having 3 snipers pick off all the enemies that pop on the screen in a single turn. You can very early on* outrange all enemies so they will only walk towards you while you finish them. It really only takes a single shotgun/explosive person to deal with other situations. In addition, everyone can equip grenades, making heavy weapons largely redundant. 2. Fidel is horrible. He is so much more expensive than Barry - and even if they would cost the same, I'd prefer Barry. The reason is with what you mentioned: Wisdom. Barry is one of the fastest learners in the game, so especially in a super cheap squad (Livewire, MD, Barry, Buns, IMP), those 4 can be trained up to 85 DEX/AGI/MMS within a week. Why so fast? 3. The IMP merc is crucial, because it's the only cheap character with high leadership (Raider will be the leader of your secondary squad). You can also put them on 85 for everything valuable (health, dex, agi, marksmanship, leadership) and train everyone else with them. Stat wise, your IMP character is about as good as a 12k merc - but so much cheaper over the course of a campaign. * My personal favorite strategy is to move to Diamond Red frist, then towards the Poacher Camp - you can buy a super modified Dragunov there once per day and you unlock Flay who is truly mediocre but free, so you can train him up cheaply.
Well, I don't see where Sniper Rifles are underrated (everybody I read keeps spamming the hell outta them) ^^ And Machine Guns are just the heaviest form of Overwatch you can pull off. Necessary? No. Satisfying? You bet. If you just wanna win the game, just pick up Snipers and walk through one-shot heaven most of the game. You can play the game with other chars and the same strategy again or you just try out the other toys. Sure, right now Snipers seem to be the optimal choice, but you don't need to go 100% optimal to have a good time with this game. Fidel isn't horrible. His ability to lob 2 grenades at once is devastating. Give this guy one turn to take cover and you are able to throw 2x 2 bombs in one turn. That form of AoE is not achievable with other chars. Apart from that it's more like Barry being way too cheap for what he does, rather than Fidel being bad imho. And I gotta say: After a while you REALLY want to hear somebody else than this crazy Hungarian Christian with his bombs. But yeah, Barry is right now the most efficient choice if you wanna have an Explosives Expert. I don't think the IMP is crucial. If you want to have optimal stats, sure it's a godsend to be able to fit it exactly into the numbers your team needs. But I always prefer another character with all his voice lines and banter in my team. If anything, I use the IMP merc as 2nd squad to train militias and other things in the backline. I'm really sad that the IMP merc has so little character comparatively. But that's just me I guess.
Idk I think machine guns are nasty as hell. In my first playthrough I ignored them in my second I have a dedicated gunner and it’s not so much the damage that I care about it’s how they function tactically that’s really working out for me. When you set up that cone the enemies usually try to avoid walking into it and it’s doing a great job of keeping enemies from rushing my squad down and clearing a path for them to move in. Not to mention that when an enemy gets within mid range of that cone a concentrated fully aimed burst just melts them.
sniper is never underrated. It is easier to build, and it shines from early even without perks. While heavy weapons like machine gun are good for late game once you unlock the killzone gold perk and damage reduction gold perks. The good things about machine guns are you can solo a path camping with overwatch. Sniper is good but it's advisable to have 1 machine gunner in team to cover your snipers.
A very good guide. On point, easy to listen to and very informative. I didn't know what type of team i should put together but your guide helped me immensely. 🙏🏻👍🏻
@@Ic0nGaming have to agree its a good guide, i like that you mention the importance of Wisdom. I also Like your starting-team, yeah i understand that you dont like the imp but, in most cases i like barry way more then fidel. One thing you forgot, but thats in nearly evry other guide...the insurance cost and the long-term discount. One thing i have to disagree, mds trait isnt generic, you could skill his wis-tree which will give some amazing bonuses... like the fear and 10% extra damage while his morale is high. So nearly all the time ;) One thing to add ... you probably will be stacking some guys bunched together like... Raven and Raider... Not only do they like each other... BUT their skills play nicle together... she uses her overwatch and he, becomes more accuracy, while the enemies are marked. he alone, yea a mediocre leader, okay raven could find places in other squads. How about a mercanary tier list, or a cluster-tier-list ;)
@@FunLion i agree, but i dont like hitman :/ He has way to less dex, for my taste, but yes he would complete the triple. (like Fox with Grizzly and Wolf (and optional Nails cause he likes Fox)
@@rodebertrotklang7594 Why do you think his DEX is a problem? In my experience he hits his shots very reliably. I struggled a bit more with his low agility/AP but rifles with lower AP requirements like the FAMAS can fix that!
I finished a run yesterday with my main (sharpshooter), Buns (sharpshooter), Blood (melee), Livewire, Barry, Dr. Q (incredible melee). In the beginning I thought bringing Livewire along would be a burden but in the endgame she just hit every shot. Go for the high wisdom mercs if you ask me. They do not stay cheap however. My second team I hired far too late and they could not hold a candle to the first team.
@@mrfreeman2911 Blood is my MVP. I just... gave up on guns with him, and he just slaughters 2-3 people per turn with his huge machete and a few thrown knives.
@@mrfreeman2911 he's just so mobile... I use his special to close in, doing a bit of damage on the way, and still have enough ap for a couple of chops and a throw. And he gets free move after every melee attack, if im not mistaken? And yeah, one swing with the thing is usually enough to kill. So just get him somewhat close when hidden, and then he's a whirlwind of death.
Getting Raven very early before Pierre's fort was the best decision I've made. Her overwatch is just nuts, especially combined with Fox. Add Hitman, Wolf and Raider for the banter as well. They are hilarious together.
Raven has the best ratio of cost to combat stats in the entire game. She also doesn't have an annoying over the top accent and is pretty cool in conversations, despite being a cop.
Also relative to cost I think Ice is an absolute monster if you give him the right gun. I gave him a FN FAL with a heavy stock and the recoil booster and whenever a target is within range he lands 5 easy headshots in one burst. In my campaign he’s got deadeye and total concentration and his crits are off the charts right now since he’s got the auto weapons trait I think that’s really helping him land these insane 5 shot bursts into enemy heads. He just deletes anyone on sight. I’m on my third playthrough and him and Ivan are just annihilating everything that stands before them.
Just give your IMP high leadership so he can go around and train militia, so you don't need to waste money to hire someone like Raider later. Instead replace your self with an Elite or Legendary merc later, like Ivan or Shadow.
Hire Raider and train at least Fox and Wolf high leadership. Then you can train anyone you want easily. Fox at 100 agi + dex + mrk, Wolf 100 hlt + str. Every cca 4 days you can buy magazines. 1 shop next to the church and 1 the big market. The best weapons you can get early is FAL in granny shop, SVD in hunter camp and Winchester 1894 i always found 1 in the ghost mansion on dead guy near the pool. The prison camp near capital city has the shotgun and The thing (melee) The best perks Killzone, Ironclad, and give 1 support char with at least 80 wis Inspiring Strike. Honorable mentions: Calm under Fire, Vanguard and Sharpshooter. Hardest difficulty ez win. Take the "free" 2 mines, Rush D10 square, park some free mercs there + militia. Save armor upgrades for your heavy helmets. Best mercs Fox and Livewire. Stealthy trait is useless - Livewire has wallhacks and Fox will stealth kill everything. Kalyna is a trap - she is expensive and not smart. Btw you can have Buns and Fox. Every time Buns asks for more money (i think 28 days) just kick Fox, extend Buns contract for normal price and then rehire Fox.
Hi there, the spreadsheet is awesome. But I came across something named Gasmaskenhelm not in it. (30% damage reduction, medium % protection, DR 10%, body parts-head, max ap lowered by 1, protects from gas grenades & gas mortar, can't be combined with weave or ceramics.
I usually start with 4 mercs only, imp with psycho, livewire, buns and barry. Thats cover everything you actually need to find, disarm and unlock everything. If you want add somoene I prefer Kalyna because of her gun, quickly scrap some things and add some mods to her gun and it makes game very easy even on highest difficulty
im not that deep into the game, just took second diamond mine and my squad is : blood (this guy owns), ice, fox, barry and kalyna. I plan on grabbing someone with high leadership and swapping kalyna (god shes annoying) for someone else. Custom merc is kinda gamey and i dont like using it. Thanks for tip about leadership and map movement - didnt know about that.
That sounds like a good squad. Blood is decent with melee and assault rifles and Ice gets godlike with assault rifles. They both have really good physical stats for their cost I had them also in one playthrough then later I added Ivan to the group and these guys just move insanely fast and hit so hard. I added dr. Q to that group and gave him the right perks and a machete and I was surprised at how good he was at it. His unique attack is amazing. Blood and Q just chew through enemies from an ambush and Ice and Ivan just mop up the survivors.
I went with omryn livewire MD barry and a custom IMP sharpshooter. Gotta say livewire and MD are dragging the squad down and are basically non combatants and can’t hit any shot farther than point blank range. After I got off the island I contracted another shooter it was getting tedious having only 2 guys that can shoot barry is an OK shot but he tends to miss whenever I really need him not to.
Do u think Bobby Weapon shop returns? When we get dlcs? More ingame storys and mercs? I want way longer main story and bigger map in satelit and bigger maps in foot 😊
I have the same team (other than Barry instead of Fidel - free shaped charges and over 90 wisdom are awesome) + IMP merc and Larry (M.E.R.C. stoned merc).
@@Ic0nGaming Are there many uses for Psychos ? I didn't like in JA2 they could change orders and just use full auto (often hitting allies) so I just hired Meltdown for 3 days for the 1 quest I found that needed psycho trait.
@@jankodes197 There's a handful of situations you can resolve differently with a psycho on team. So far I found only one quest and the Minefield on Ernie Island where my Psycho Trait actually changes sth. Might be more of a completionist thing though. The gameplay features of Psycho are not the reason why I pick them up ^^
Yeah, definitely will happen. I mean we all gotta respect the fact that JA2 wasn't as good as modded JA2 after release. And with the integrated modding workshop on JA3 I am quite positive about the future of the game. I bet we won't recognize the game from here in 3 years.
nice analysis...but i disagree with your starting merc team..barry is way better and cheaper then fidel..with his shape charges producing..and vicky is the best repairman in the game decent allrounder and saves you so much on parts..everything will be top notch...she should replace livewire soon..end of first island
I picked Fidel out of two reasons: 1) Barry wasn't available 2) Fidel combines Explosives and Psycho. Apart from that he's a costy costy dude :D All in all JA3 is made in a way that you can pick all manner of different teams. Once you know what you need, you can replace most people on that demonstrated starting team. And you even should, the voice actors did such a nice job, gotta play them all! :D
In my second playthrough I grabbed fidel. He’s a better dual purpose merc than barry was but yea that pricetag dough… I’m landing way more shots with him than with barry but Barry’s unique free charges are sorely missed.
Yeah, I personally don't value this that much. I'd either have to make an IMP merc (and I like the premade chars more) or hire some leadership merc for that little bit of extra traveling speed. Not my cup of tea. That's how it comes together like this. I feel like Leadership is something you easily neglect until you are deeper on the mainland. Hiring some people is easily done while I'm doing other stuff (repairing, healing, crafting) even with Leadership around 20-30. It's objectively spoken good though to focus on a high leadership merc early on, cause time is money. Sometimes I just like to enjoy my game less optimized and more about the characters I'm running around. You could easily fix in Hitman as a low cost Leadership merc btw if you don't wanna go IMP Custom Merc
@@Ic0nGaming High leadership is extremely powerful and an IMP is the perfect way to get a high Wisdom/Leadership character in there. Same as I always did in JA2.
I can unlock everything with Fox. And yet her mechanical is cra*. Mechanics on the right colums is a bonus applyed to Dex more mechanical tasks, it's not what is telling you if she can perform the task or not. Main skills, on the left column, have incremental multipliers to provide. Hence Fox hands down being the best medic in the game. Also pro-tip : Livewire dual-wields pretty well, even if she doesn't have the skill. Same goes for Night-Ops Grunty : the very best tear gas launcher on the roster, me Grunty. EDIT : WAT? Peacemakers are awesome. Please have 4 of these, extended and ready for Fox, for those overwatches. EDIT 2 : Also you can't afford to call Gewehr a sniper rifle. More like a rifle. like M1 Garand and Winchesters are rifles. That's the reason why even Barry's 'miracle shot' is so good with it: it's a rifle, not a sniper rifle. SVD Dragunov (point sniper), Steyr SSG-04 (tactical sharpshooter), these are sniper rifles you should be looking for... Which brings me to my next question : has anybody managed to loot any 7.62-54R in this game?
Nope. No versatility. Exploration/mechanic best: Livewire (satelite connection/godeyes) Explosiv/grenade best: Barry (made is own grenades, best ingame) Doctor/rifle best: Fox (in stealth, has 2 shots) Melée/rifle best: Iggor (help on ammo use) Plus your own guy, that is 5. Rest one merc of versatility.
@@Ic0nGamingoh that's weird I could have sworn I posted a comment here yesterday? maybe it's just RU-vid acting weird. so in like a few hours I'm going to delete this one and post my original
@@crazyman1184 I've had several of my own comments disappear due to random YT hiccups in the past. Sometimes my own connection was to blame (micro disconnect while submitting works perfectly fine to make your comments disappear, I tried it). Sometimes they get caught up in my blocked list, but I process these daily. And it doesn't happen too often either.
