Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Mercenaries Guide – How to Defeat, Mercenary Locations

In AC: Odyssey, there is a certain enemy type, an unforgiving one-man-army type foe, called Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Mercenaries. You’re bound to come across one sooner or later, so below we’ve got some simple tips to help you face them for a reward, or at other times, just to avoid getting killed.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Mercenaries

Mercenaries aren’t aggressive towards you unless you infiltrate an area which you shouldn’t be doing or steal an item which doesn’t belong to you.

All of this will contribute towards a bounty on your head after which you will be tracked down by the nearest Mercenary.

These are tough foes and are all different in the strengths and weaknesses they carry.

Moreover, once faced off against a Mercenary, you can either stay hidden for the meter to deplete and the Mercenary to give away the chase, or you could pay off the bounty.

You can also go for the third, riskier option of dealing with the Mercenary head-on. If you’re successful, you’ll be receiving rare Engravings and loot drops.

Our Mercenaries Guide will focus on the strengths and weaknesses that a Mercenary can potentially have and how you can exploit that fact to your advantage.

With weaknesses, you get the idea of what you should be carrying out more, and with the strengths of the Mercenaries, you get to know what you should refrain from using.

How To Level Up Mercenary Tier

The Mercenary rank doesn’t depend on how many Mercenaries you kill but, it depends on which Mercenary you kill.

To increase the Mercenary level, all you have to do is identify the Mercenary on the next Tier and kill him and you will take its rank on the list.

Meaning if you are at Tier 4 and you manage to kill the Tier 3 Mercenary then your Tier will automatically increase and if you kill all of the Tier 3 Mercenaries than your rank will move up to Tier 3.

However, for this to work, the Mercenary you kill has to be next to you in the rankings.

How To Find Mercenaries

Mercenaries will not be marked on your map for you to track and kill them. Players will have to get Mercenaries to follow them and then kill them.

To get them to follow you, just perform crimes in the game’s world and get a bounty on your head. The greater the bounty, the greater will be their numbers and level.

These high-level Mercenaries will be difficult to defeat but taking care of them will move your rank up. If you aren’t able to deal with the Mercenaries and have a bounty on your head then you can pay off the bounty or kill the person that has put a bounty on your head.

As the Mercenary will get close to your position a helmet icon will appear on your HUD radar and when you get close enough, you will discover them.

However, by this point, you aren’t engaged in combat so you can check their level and abilities and then decide if you want to engage.

Tier 9 Mercenaries

Mercenary Tiers start with Tier 9 and players have to make their way up from there. Here we will list all of the Tier 9 Mercenaries in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey along with their locations and the level required to take them on so that you can kill them easily.

Aside from getting incredible loot killing these Mercenaries will even result in new side quests opening up. Here is the list of Tier 9 Mercenaries along with their locations.

Talos The Stone Fist
This Mercenary will unlock as you progress through the story and this is a level 5 Mercenary and can be found on “Kephallonia Islands”. Players are required to have level 2 or above to kill this Mercenary.

Killing the Talos The Stone Fist will yield you Mercenary Breastplate, +4% Adrenaline Per Crit Engraving and an Arena letter that will open up “They Just Want Cruelty” side quest for you.

Astraia, Iron-Eater
To unlock this Mercenary you need to have a bounty on your head and you are required to have Bounty Level 2 in the Kithairon Foothills to unlock this Mercenary.

This Mercenary is level 8 and players are required to have at least level 5 to kill him. Players will find Astraia, Iron-Eater in Megaris and killing him will reward you Mercenary Clue and Epic Heavy Blade.

Phalaris The Fish
To unlock this Mercenary, players need to have bounty level 1 in Ruins of Plataia. Players will find this Mercenary in Boeotia and this particular Mercenary is weak to fire.

Phalaris The Fish is a level 6 Mercenary and players are required to have at least level to kill him. Killing this Mercenary will reward you Epic Spear and Mercenary Clue.

Astrapios The Exiled
This Mercenary is unlocked at Bounty level 1 in the area around Megaris. This is a level 6 Mercenary and players need to have level 4 when they decide to kill him.

Players will find this Mercenary in Megaris and killing him will reward you Rare Waist and Mercenary Clue.

Weaknesses

Owing to these facts, you should know which weapons you should be using more to maximize damage.

Soft Flesh: More Susceptible to Melee Attacks
Afflicted: More Susceptible to Poison Damage
Pyrophobia: More Susceptible to Fire Damage
Death From Above: More Susceptible to Ranged Attacks
Heart Condition: Will Be More Susceptible to Assassinations

Strengths

Owing to these facts, you should know which weapons are rather useless against the Mercenary you’re facing so you need to be looking for alternatives.

Furthermore, some carry predatory pets along with them too, so you need to plan your combat scenario beforehand accordingly.

Brawler: Less Susceptible to Melee Attacks
Fireproof: Less Susceptible to Fire Damage
Shell Skin: Less Susceptible to Ranged Attacks
Awareness: Less Susceptible to Assassinations
Night Hunter: Has a Wolf to Fight alongside Him
Fangs Chewer: Has a Lynx to Fight alongside Him
Canine Trainer: Has a Dog to Fight alongside Him
Mithridatism: Less Susceptible to Poison Damage
Plains Traveler: Has a Lion to Fight alongside Him
Unarmed Mercenary: Has a Bear to Fight alongside Him
Pyromania: Has a Mastery of Performing Fire Attacks and Causing Burn Damage
Relentless: The Enemy Won’t Get Staggered or Stunned, Not for a Moment, Even When He’s Receiving Blows Successively
Rage: When Extremely Low on Health (Near-Death), the Mercenary Gets Extra Damage to His Attacks and Mobility As Well, Thanks to Being in the State of Rage

This is so far everything we have in our Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Mercenaries Guide. If there is anything else that you would like to add, let us know in the comments section below!