Mercenary or Swordmaster: Which Warrior is Better in Dragon Nest

In Dragon Nest, Warrior class has two job advancement: Mercenary and Swordmaster. Each job has its own strength and of course weakness which makes it tough for a player to decide which class first he will take.

Now to help you decide, I have put up a guide which list down some key points you might want to consider in choosing between a Mercenary and a Swordmaster. Take note that the things you will learn from this page are all based on my experience playing the two class and of course, with the help of various amount of research.

Now, let's take a look my thoughts about the Mercenaries and Swordmasters.

Damage Capabilities

Both Mercenary and Swordmaster has the ability to deal decent damage. The only difference is, Mercenary does more damage output while Swordmaster is more of a damage per seconds (DPS) class.

If we take a look at each skills of a Mercenary, we can notice that almost all of them are one hit destructive skills which inflicts WHOLE damage. We often see big percentage of damage per skill and in addition to that, almost every skills of a Mercenary will inflict damage in a large area (AOE damage). The only downside is that their skill tend to have longer cooldown that SMs.

On the other hand, when we take a look at the Swordmaster skill tree, most of his skills has the phrase "% damage per hit". This only means that most of his skill has multiple hits and tend to chip away the life of a target rather than inflict huge numbers in one big hit, making them a good DPS class. However, unlike Mercs, SM has a hybrid skill tree. They have both physical and magical attacks which can be good for versatility but the another fact is, it can be bad as you can't focus on just one side (but this can be fix with decent gears).

Overall, in terms of damage capabilities alone, if you love seeing huge numbers in just one hit, go for Mercs but if you prefer to combo your opponent and love to be a DPS class, then go for SM.

Special Features

Mercs are known for their high-superarmor. Their buff named Iron skill reduces the enemies damage and will give them a very high super armor. If you don't know yet, SA is the stat which avoids skill casting disruption. That is why Mercenaries are confident to rush into the heat of battle.

Iron Skin Buff

In addition to super-armor, they have buffs which increases his damage and party and lastly, their damage reduction debuff (HOWLS) is soo special that they are always needed in a party.

On the other hand, Swordmasters don't have any of the characteristics of Mers. What they have is their parrying skills and agility. Basically, parrying skills is more of a counter attack. If you have successfully blocked an attack, you will then cast a counter blow which will then damage the enemy. In addition to counter skills, they also have their swift movement which is unmatched in the world of Lagendia.

Parrying Skills

In PVP battles, a pro SM will always use his movement, combo strings and strategic casting of his range skills to kill an opponent. They are really hard to catch and that's the best asset a Swormaster have over all classes.

Job Advancement

Of course, one key to determine which Warrior advancement you would like to go with is by determining their next job advancement. Listed below are the next job and their skills of this class. Take time to read and digest each item below and then, use this to decide what class you would like.

Mercenary Class Advancement:

Barbarian Skills

Offend Hit- Put 1 SP on this skill. A passive skill which deals additional damage at the amount of the characters maximum physical attack power. At level 1, the trigger rate will be 10%. Not much of a reliable skill though as the trigger rate is very low but it can add significant amount of damage to your attacks when it's triggered.

Stomp Ex- Put 1 SP on this skill. With this passive skill, your Stomp will look awesome as it will send out one more wave of damage in the range of 2.5m to 5m after the initial range attack. In addition, it will add up 30% range damage to your stomp.

Bone Crash- Put 1 SP on this skill. The name itself tells what the skill do to the enemies. You jump to the air then deliver a crushing blow to the enemies in front to break their bones. It has a 35 seconds cooldown and has a 541.8% +2382 damage at level 1. The best part is, when this skill hits, your next skill will gain an additional 239 damage per hit within 10 seconds.

Destroyer Skills

Breaking Point- Get this skill. The rate to trigger this skill may be low as we can only allocate 1 SP at level 50 cap for this skill but, you should get this skill as its very useful. When it is activated, it will destroy the super armor of the enemy and you can land critical hits.

Flying Swing Ex- Put 1 SP on this skill. With this passive skill, you will inflict additional damage to your Flying Swing skill and also, it will increase the frontal range of your skill.

Maelstrom Howl- Put 1 SP on this skill. One of my favorite skill as a Destroyer. Not only that it has a very beneficial suction effect, but it also has a damage reduction effect while its on action. The damage is pretty decent also leaving me no choice but to get this skill.

Swordmaster Class Advancement:

Gladiator Skills

Evasion Slash- Max at level 2. It will allow you to rotate backwards to avoid enemy and launch an attack. The best part is, it can be triggered during any skill motion even if in air. For example, you're in the middle of using your Rage skill and then a Merc is very close at you. You can then cast the Evasion slash to cancel the skill and then counterattack. Another good thing about this skill is it has iframe which makes you invincible for any attack during the use of this skill.

Triple Slash EX- If you want the Enhanced version of triple slash, then go get this skill. If you do get this Ex version, you will have a new attack combo by using right clicking instead of left clicking. But if you think that the new attack combo is not worth in your skill tree, then you have the choice to not get it and spend the SP intended for this skill to your preferred skills.

Finishing Attack- Get this skill. Aside from it looks really amazing, it can knock down your enemy and deal a great amount of damage with its finishing blow. If target’s hp is below 40%, increase the skill dmg by 2% for each 1% of hp left which is a good fact by the way.

Moonlord Skills

Moon Blade Dance- Must get this skill to level 2. This is one of the fanciest skill in the game. In fact, I think it's the most fancy. Your character will jump in the air and deal quick 5 diagonal slashes. Single hit mag dmg 116.4%+202 amd cooldown is only 19 seconds at level 2 which makes it highly spammable. 

Moonlight Splitter Ex- Get this skill. It enhances your moonlight splitter, with additional 30% AOE damage.

Flash Stance- Get this skill. It allows you to do quick long tange attack for over 7 seconds. Single hit mag dmg 56%+602. Left click to throw sword slashes and right-click it to cast a heavy damage final blow and cancel the stance.

Role in a Party (PVE aspects)

The fact is this: Mercenary classes are favored in terms of nest raids than Swordmasters as they have more use in a party. Remember that Mercshas buffs that increases a party's damage and of course, they have their Howls which reduces the damage of a monster. While SM's are just "members in a party". They have no big role in a party and in most cases, they are just in a party to deal damage. However, this doesn't mean that SMs are weak in PVE aspect as they can do a lot of damage to enemies when they are decently geared. What I am just trying to imply here is that Mercs has more use on nest raids than SMs.

Additional Details: Even with SM's provoking slam which can allow the party to inflict more damage to a target still, Mercs are favored. Just think of this, Nest monsters and bosses deals huge damage and in fact, some of them can kill you in one hit. That is why it's very important to decrease the damage taken by the party for them to survive killer blows.

PVP Aspects

In terms of PVP (both party and 1v1), I can say that they are pretty even and it depends on what the players love to do. It's just like what I have told you on the damage capabilities: If you love to rush opponents and do heavy damage, go for Mercs. But if you prefer being swift and agile, and loves the idea of combo-ing the enemy to death, then go for SM.

Which is more FUN to play?

At first, I was enjoying my SM named Darkinglei but right after the Sea Dragon and Level 50 Cap patch, I wasn't enjoying the cruelty of other players (players who I don't know) :). Even with +9 Totem Set and knowledge on Nest raids, still I was rejected in the party as they prefer Mercenary classes. That is why I have decided to go with Mercenary as my main character for Nest Raids. But of course, I still use my Swordmaster and if I play it with my friends on Nest raids and I love its tenacity on PVP plays.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Mercenaries have an advantage over Swordmaster in PVE aspects. This is just the only thing I can consider to be the advantage of Mercs over SMs as in terms of PVP, it actually depends on the players ability and preferences. Anyway, you can create both Mercenary and Swordmaster, and switch character when you find the other one boring :D.

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