Mercenaries are non-playable characters (NPCs) that temporarily assist a player after being summoned by a consumable item and initially follow a default AI. This may be changed to a player AI, written in Lua, through the /merai command. Upon consuming a summon item, the Mercenary will assist the player until the contract expires (30 minutes), the player dismisses the Mercenary, the Mercenary's death, or the player's death, whichever comes first. Mercenaries are categorized in three types: Swordmen (offensive), Spearmen (defensive), and Bowmen (utility) which may be purchased in Prontera, Izlude, and Archer Village respectively. As Mercenaries are relatively weak, they tend to supplement players in simple maps and dungeons.

Players may assist their Mercenaries through consumable items and active skills. These items may increase their ASPD or restore their HP or SP. Unlike players, the HP and SP restored through these items is static and not modified by attributes or effects. Some skills have modified behavior when cast on Mercenaries, e.g. the HP restored by Heal and Sanctuary is reduced by 50%. Aid Potion cannot be cast on Mercenaries and Aid Condensed Potion has no effect. Elemental weapon enchantments, e.g. Aspersio and Endow Blaze, may be cast on Mercenaries but only by their owner.

Mercenaries are not subjected to skill prerequisites or catalysts. Although all Mercenary skills are exclusive, many Mecenary skills have player equivalents with identical functionality. Notable exceptions include Provoke and Mecenary traps (Freeze Trap, Land Mine, Sandman, and Skid Trap). The former may be cast on the owner and their homunculus. The latter do not require an unoccupied location during placement but are subject to a max instance limit.

Mercenary attributes sent to the client, which are derived from homunculi formulae, do not reflect their actual values. These values are modified with reference to a bounty counter, which is initialized and reset when a Mercenary is summoned. Whenever the Mercenary, or its owner, defeats a monster with a level greater than 1/2 the owner's base level the bounty counter increases by one. When the bounty counter reaches an increment of 50, the Mercenary receives a random attribute bonus. An attribute may be modified this way up to five times, with each subsequent application replacing the preceeding application. Should the bonus be applied to HP or SP, the Mercenary's respective HP or SP pool is replenished.

Bounty Bonuses

As players utilize Mercenaries, they accumulate loyalty points scoped per Mercenary type. Whenever a Mercenary receives a bounty bonus, or their contract naturally expires, the player receives one point. Whenever a Mercenary dies, the player loses one point. Loyalty points are required to purchase high level Mercenaries; level 80+, 90+, and 95+ Mercenaries are gated by 50, 100, and 300 points respectively. Level 99 Mercenaries are gated by 500 points and are purchased with 400 points instead of zeny.

Mercenary Requirements & Costs

Tier	Req.		Costs		Swordman	Spearman	Bowman
1	Lv 15	-	7k Ƶ	-	David Lv 20	Rodin Lv 22	Mina Lv 20
2	Lv 25	-	14k Ƶ	-	Ellen Lv 30	Lance Lv 34	Dororu Lv 30
3	Lv 35	-	21k Ƶ	-	Luise Lv 40	Nathan Lv 41	Nami Lv 40
4	Lv 45	-	28k Ƶ	-	Frank Lv 50	Roan Lv 55	Elfin Lv 50
5	Lv 55	-	35k Ƶ	-	Ryan Lv 60	Orizaro Lv 60	Clara Lv 60
6	Lv 65	-	42k Ƶ	-	Paolo Lv 70	Thyla Lv 72	Dali Lv 70
7	Lv 75	50 P	49k Ƶ	-	Jens Lv 80	Ben Lv 81	Karaya Lv 80
8	Lv 85	100 P	56k Ƶ	-	Thierry Lv 90	Pinaka Lv 90	Hiyori Lv 90
9	Lv 90	300 P	63k Ƶ	-	Steven Lv 95	Kuhlmann Lv 95	Kero Lv 95
10	-	500 P	-	400 P	Wayne Lv 99	Roux Lv 99	Suki Lv 99

To support their Mercenary, players may use consumable items. These items mirror player consumables, increasing the Mercenary's ASPD and recovering their HP & SP. However, unlike traditional recovery items, Mercenary HP & SP item recovery is not increased by their VIT and INT respectively.

Mercenary Consumables

Requirement	Costs	Consumable
M.Lv ≤ 40	800 Ƶ	Mercenary Concentration Potion
40 ≤ M.Lv < 80	1,500 Ƶ	Mercenary Awakening Potion
M.Lv ≥ 80	3,000 Ƶ	Mercenary Berserk Potion
-	2,500 Ƶ	Mercenary Red Potion
-	5,000 Ƶ	Mercenary Blue Potion