Mercenary

The Mercenary is a combat physical class that debuted in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

History in the Series

The Mercenary is an infantry class that recurrently appears across the Fire Emblem series. Historically, this class wields Swords as its sole weapon of choice. In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the class is also capable of using Lances, Axes, Bows, and Gauntlets, but does not have proficiency with those weapon types.

The mercenary class is not to be confused with the mercenary profession. Numerous characters that are mercenaries by trade, such as the Greil Mercenaries of Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, work as mercenaries but in gameplay terms are a variety of different classes.

In their original inception in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, the Mercenary class is the primary sword-wielding foot unit class and promotes into the Hero class when the necessary requirements are made.

Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga debuted the first female member of the Mercenary class in Malice.

The Mercenary class is replaced by the Sword Fighter class as the primary sword-using foot soldier in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, though certain Sword Fighters promote to a Hero-inspired equivalent instead of the usual Swordmaster.

The class reappears The Binding Blade, where it is split from the Sword Fighter/Myrmidon class and coexists with it. From this point onward in the series, Mercenaries strictly promote directly into Heroes, while Myrmidons promote into Swordmasters.

In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Mercenaries are further given the option to promote into the mounted Ranger class alongside the Hero class.

In Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, remakes of the classic Archanea Series, a number of characters who were first introduced to the series as Mercenaries are remodeled to assume the Myrmidon class instead, including the likes of Navarre, Radd, and Malice.

In Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates, Mercenaries are given the option to promote into the Bow Knight class alongside the Hero class, mirroring the Ranger option from Sacred Stones.

In Fire Emblem Fates, the Mercenary class is treated as a Nohrian class and is considered to be the counterpart of the Hoshidan Samurai.

In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the class is promoted from the Villager class and is male exclusive.

In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Mercenary class is an optional promoted class of the Commoner or Noble class if the unit passes the Certification Exam at Lv. 10 with a Sword Skill Level of C or higher and an Intermediate Seal. The other option with these requirements is the Thief class. The Mercenary is also a type of Battalion. The Mercenary class has a primary skill experience class bonus to Swords (+2) and a secondary to Axes (+1).

In Fire Emblem Warriors, the Mercenary class is the personal base class of Navarre. It acts as a clone of Lyndis's version of the Lord class. There is also an enemy-only version which acts as the Nohrian counterpart of the Myrmidon.

Other Games

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, the class is enemy-only, but mirrors the playable Fighter class. Statistically, the Fighter class is identical to the Mercenary class, but has slightly higher stat bases.

In TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga, the Mercenary class is again presented as a class entirely separate from the Sword Fighter. The sole playable Mercenary is Kramer, who promotes into Bastard when he meets the requirements. A variant known as the Rogue Guard appears among bandit groups; it differentiates itself by having the Blade skill as a class skill.

In Vestaria Saga I, the Mercenary is an enemy-only class. There are two variants of the Mercenary. One that wield swords and greatswords and one that wields axes. While no mercenaries are playable, the Gladiator, their promotion, is playable.

In Vestaria Saga: The Holy Sword of Silvanister, the class became playable. In this iteration of the class, its stats lean towards Strength, Speed, and Skill while having low Defense and Resistance.

Uniform

Across all games, the Mercenary class's uniforms have consistently comprised of simple clothing and light-to-medium armor of varying styles. In artwork for the Fire Emblem TCG, generic Mercenaries wear light breastplates, a helmet, shin-guards, and wrist braces. Many of these elements have appeared as Mercenary class garb in later games, along with clothing such as leather vests or heavier coats.

Overview

Combat

Mercenaries tend to possess balanced stats, replete with high HP, Strength, and Skill, alongside decent Speed and Defense. When compared to the Myrmidon class, a class that similarly wields swords exclusively, Mercenaries are generally better in terms of HP, Strength, and Defense, although their counterparts are usually superior in the Speed and Skill department.

Mercenaries are versatile in both offense and defense. In most cases, mercenaries are capable of dealing good damage while being durable enough to sustain quite a number of attacks. The only problem that Mercenaries potentially face is their average Movement, which may prove detrimental to their survival in situations where they are completely overwhelmed by enemies. However, high-level Mercenaries can dispatch hordes of axe-users with ease, and can even stand a chance of avoiding lance and sword attacks. They will more often than not strike their target with precision, and score a few Critical Hits due to their high Skill.

In Awakening, Mercenaries learn Armsthrift, one of the most useful skills available in the game. Because this skill can reduce or completely negate weapon durability loss, it is thus highly sought-after by players seeking to maximize the potential of their characters.

In Fates, weapon durability is no longer present, and mercenaries instead gain Good Fortune and Strong Riposte, which further increase their durability and ability to defend themselves, respectively.

In-Game

Base Stats

Maximum Stats

Growth Rates

Class Modifiers

Class Skills

Promotions

Notable Mercenaries

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

• Ogma - A once slave gladiator turned mercenary who serves Princess Caeda.
• Navarre - A skilled fighter known as the Scarlet Sword who prefers his blade to do the talking.
• Radd - A citizen of Port Warren who joins the Archanean League with Caesar.
• Caesar - A mercenary hired to protect Port Warren.

Note: Navarre and Radd are Myrmidons in the remake.

Fire Emblem Gaiden

• Saber - A mercenary who will take on any job if he's paid enough.
• Kamui - A mercenary hired by Valbar
• Jesse - A mercenary who tries, but fails, to save Est from Grieth.
• Promotion for: Gray, Tobin, Kliff, Atlas

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

• Samuel - An impersonator of Navarre.

Note: Samuel is a Myrmidon in the remake.

Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga

• Malice - Daughter of Dice and is constantly in pursuit of gaining riches.

Note: Malice is a Myrmidon in the remake.

TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga

• Xeno - A former slave.
• Attrom - The younger half brother of Renee and the half brother of Holmes

TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga

• Kramer - A farmborn sellsword that dreams of being a legendary hero.

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

• Dieck - Leader of a small mercenary company hired by Eliwood
• Ogier - A mercenary from Ilia hired by Ostia

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

• Raven - A noble heir who works as a mercenary to enact revenge.
• Glass - A Sacaen swordsman who tries to steal the Mani Katti.
• Puzon - A mercenary hired by a group of bandits plaguing Caelin.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

• Gerik - The leader of Gerik's Mercenaries; known as the Desert Tiger.
• Zonta - A mercenary hired by Tirado as bait to lure Ephraim into a trap laid out by Orson.

Fire Emblem Awakening

• Gregor - The wandering "Swell Sword" whose refreshing personality is a result of his age and his unique speaking style.
• Severa - Cordelia's daughter from the future. A snarky girl with an inferiority complex who aspires to be like her mother.
• Inigo - Olivia's son from the future. A shy dancer like his mother, but has the habit of hitting on nearly every woman he meets.

Fire Emblem Fates

• Selena - A familiar snarky girl from a distant land and one of Camilla's retainers who's devoted to service.
• Laslow - A familiar philanderer from a distant land and one of Xander's retainers who has a flair for dancing.
• Soleil - Laslow's cheerful and not even slightly shy daughter who looks up to cool women.
• Zhara - A swordsman formerly renowned for his skill, now reduced to a common sellsword. (encountered as a boss; must be captured)

Vestaria Saga: The Holy Sword of Silvanister

• Baymonk - A mercenary honing his sword skills. Wishes to become the world's greatest Swordfighter.

Etymology

Traditionally, mercenaries are soldiers who are hired to fight for a certain cause, as opposed to fighting out of loyalty or duty.

Gallery