A Merc Group example
Merc Groups are a Mechanic in 异度神剑 2. They consist of dispatching mercenary groups of Blades on timed tasks called Merc 任务. After some in-game time passes, the 任务 are completed in the background and the Blades return with a certain amount of Gold, EXP, Merc Points and 秘宝 containing useful items. Sending Merc Groups to 任务 allows a Driver to improve the 牵绊 Chart of participating Blades and obtain Key 牵绊 Rewards that unlock new skill levels.
Up to six Blades can join a squad for a mission, and up to three of these can be dispatched at once depending on the current Mercenary Level. Each team dispatched on a mission will have a unique name depending on the Blade selected as the group 领导.
Legendary Blades tied to the story cannot normally participate in Merc 任务, however in New Game+ this restriction is lifted. When Poppi is out on a Merc Mission, 虎 cannot participate in battles.
Merc 任务 generally do not appear for a nation until the player increases its Development Level to at least 1 star. In addition, with the exception of First Mission, they will not appear until the Main Story Quest 凡达姆's Last Wish is completed.
Contents
Merc 任务 by Nation
Merc 任务 are split into two main types: regular 任务 with a blue icon are repeatable and can be performed 复数部位 times, while event 任务 with a pink icon can only be completed once, usually providing progress related to quests and unique key items such as store contracts. Event 任务 conclude with a text remark on the outcome of the mission, while regular 任务 only display the rewards without remark.
| Nation | Total | Regular | Event | DLC | Missable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentum Merc 任务 | 58 | 36 | 22 | 1 | 10 |
| Gormott Merc 任务 | 38 | 22 | 16 | 0 | 1 |
| Uraya Merc 任务 | 55 | 27 | 28 | 11 | 1 |
| Mor Ardain Merc 任务 | 51 | 22 | 29 | 2 | 1 |
| Leftheria Merc 任务 | 34 | 20 | 14 | 9 | 2 |
| Indol Merc 任务 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Tantal Merc 任务 | 31 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 274 | 154 | 120 | 26 | 16 |
Mission Requirements and Duration
Each Merc Mission has a unique set of mission requirements related to the participating Blades' attributes, requiring them to possess either a specific level of Field Skill, Blade Strength, Race, Gender, Element or 武器 class. Some also need certain Rare Blades to act as the 领导 of the group. These are mandatory in order to dispatch the squad and complete the mission.
Beyond these requirements, each mission also has a set of suggested Field Skills that are useful to the mission's tasks. They are optional, but dispatching a group with these skills will greatly improve their performance in the mission, lowering its duration.
For each level of a suggested skill in the group, the mission duration will be lowered by 6%, up to a maximum time reduction of 75% (rounded down to the minute). Unlike what the interface might suggest, the number of Blades carrying these skills does not impact the mission, but rather the sum of skill levels across the 复数部位 participating Blades. The lowest possible mission duration can be reached with 12 or 13 combined skill levels, depending on the mission.
Mission Rewards
Completing Merc 任务 will award Merc Points required to increase the rank of Garfont Mercenaries and Development Points for the nation where they are obtained, contributing towards unlocking new 任务. Each of these 任务 will also grant useful rewards to the party like gold, experience points, items such as Accessories and Aux Cores, and increase the Trust points of all the Blades that participate in them. Gold and experience rewards increase with higher Merc Levels.
In the case of repeatable 任务, subsequent runs will generally reward half the original amount of gold and experience, and with some rare exceptions they will not yield any additional items. However, they will still grant the same amount of Trust, Dev Points and Merc Points.
Non-repeatable 任务 usually have unique rewards such as key items. With the exception of the Indoline Praetorium, each nation has five special event 任务 that unlock at each Development Level and grant store contracts that expand the wares of 复数部位 shops around Alrest.
Benefits to 牵绊 Charts
Merc 任务 can serve as a beneficial training tool for standby Blades, given their unique ability to passively increase the progress of 牵绊 Charts for 复数部位 Blades concurrently. Besides awarding some Trust points that contribute towards most Blades' Key 牵绊 conditions, each mission completed by a Blade will fulfill the conditional requirements of three random nodes of their 牵绊 Chart by a percentage of their requested amount, rounded up.
| Merc Level | Amount completed per mission (%) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 30% |
| 2 | 35% |
| 3 | 40% |
| 4 | 45% |
| 5 | 50% |
The lowest level nodes are always prioritized in the randomized selection. All 任务 provide the same benefits, their type and duration does not affect the process, making shorter 任务 such as Ursula's lessons valuable for the purpose of developing a Blade's 牵绊 Chart. This process allows most available nodes to be unlocked by simply clearing any two to three Merc 任务. There are some exceptions though, as a mission fails to contribute to a node whose requirements cannot be partially cleared or halved.
The following types of 牵绊 Chart conditions are not progressed by Merc Missions:
- "???" conditions.
- Visiting a location.
- Viewing a 牵绊.
- Completing a Quest or Mission.
- Reaching a certain amount of Trust.
- Special conditions related to a Blade Quest.
- Defeating a single specific Unique Monster.
- Dealing a certain amount of damage in a single attack.
- Using a single special to heal a certain amount of damage.
- Conditions that account for previous instances.
- Conditions with requirements of 1 quantity.
