Mercenary Mode Guide
for beginners and veterans

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This guide is made for the new game mode in Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends; Mercenary Mode

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Mercenary Mode is a totally new mode wich asembles the original Samurai Warrior 2 Survival mode. The player plays the role as a mercenary which aids in battles and fufills missions as the game mode goes by. There are mutiple things in Mercenary Mode which doesn't exist in regular Survival, Free or Story Mode. The mode can be played with any SW2 and SW2XL character and have Novice to Expert difficulties.
Mercenary mode is exelent for Orb and Money gathering
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The guide will help you with:

- Mercenary unit type
- Special Skills
- Character Guide
- Special Mission Guides
- 10 Swords
- Recommendations


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Mercenary unit type
All mercenaries belong to one of three unit types. Depending on the type, the different moves availeble differs

Spear - When moving forward in special stance a barrier will be created
Musket - When initiating special stance a volley of gunshots will appear
Cavalry - After moving a period of time character will get Attack boost and a boost which knock enemies over.


Special Skills
In mercenary mode each character have been given 4 sub-unique skills which will aid the character as well as the group (allies, bodyguards, player) This section will explain roughly what each skill does.

Stonewall - Damage received reduced
Leadership - Upon order unit strength increase
Willpower - Musou gauge refills over time
Extinguish - Nullfies enemy fire attack
Musou Wall - Press select with full musou to create barier
Charisma - Receive ectra gems upon mission completion
Lockpick - Unlock prison/garrison doors
Adulation - Receive one extra gem for every 50 enemy defeated
Sandbag - disable enemy quagmires
Healing - recovery items appear more frequently
Marksman - Cancels effect of battlefield rules
Rage - Attack strength increase when life is low
Tenecity - Defence strength increase when life is low
Poise - Nullfies enemy stun and blowback attacks
Reload - Shorten musket loading time
Inspiration - upon order, defence strength increase
Acceleration - Mobility is maximized ( Speed qudripled)
Antidote - Nullfies enemy poison attacks
Resilance - Life gauge refills over time
Thrust - increase strength of spear barrier
Bounty - Luck is maximized
Stimulus - Upon order musou gauge stays full for a period of time
Momentum - attack strength increase after storming enemy.

Character abilities:
in process

Nene - Horse
Lock Pick
Adulation
Sandbag
Momentum

Ranmaru Mori - Horse
Lockpick
Adulation
Sandbag
Momentum

Yukimura Sanada - Spear
Lockpick
Adulation
Sandbag
Thrust

Keiji Maeda - Horse
Lockpick
Adulation
Sandbag
Stimilus

Kojiro Sasaki - Spear
Stonewall
Leadership
Willpower
Acceleration

Musashi Miyamoto - Spear
Stonewall
Leadership
Willpower
Acceleration

Ginchiyo Tachibana - Horse
Healing
Antidote
Resilence
Rage

Okuni - Spear
Healing
Antidote
Resilence
Bounty

Yoshimoto Imagawa - Horse
Healing
Antidote
Resilence
Bounty

Ina - Musket
Healing
Antidote
Resilence
Musuo Wall

Noh
Healing
Antidote
Recilence
Estinguish

Motochika Chosokabe - horse
Charisma
Musou Wall
Estinguish
Lockpick

Sakon Shima - musket
charisma
musou wall
estinguish
antidote

Hideyoshi Hashiba - spear
Charisma
Musou Wall
Estinguish

10 swords
in process

name: Kanesada
found: Stage 21
how to get it: Simply buy in the events menu (about 30 jewels)

name: Ichimonji
found: Stage 27
how to get it: Given as reward for completing "Rescue the Princess 2"

name: Munechika
found: Stage 36
how to get it: Recieved after completing a special mission called "Kagemusha"

name: Murasame
found: Stage 41
how to get it: At events menu "Gift from a peasant" (30 jewels)

name: Yasutsuna
found: Stage 45
how to get it: Given as reward during "Treasure Hunt" mission

name: Sukesane
found: Stage 51
how to get it: Given as reward during "Swordsmen's Challenge" mission
(Thanx to SadXuHuang for the sword information above)

name: Koshino
found:Stage 71 and above
How to get it: Received after completing the special "horseman" mission on floor 71

name: Osamitsu
found:Stage 81 and above
How to get it: bought for 30 gems on floor 81

Recomendations
a smal guide of recommended players, allies and methods. Feel free to contribue.

* Kojiro Sasaki is a great Mercenary mode character. Both as a player and as an ally. His skills allow your musou gauge to constantly increase and allows you to run at super speed

* Okuni and Yoshimoto + Expert mode is a exellent combination if you're hunting for orbs. Okuni and Yoshimoto at rank 4 will maximize your luck and then double it (as they are two). This will allow you to get orbs at 50% of all levels on expert mode. Once you reach level 50 the chances of receiving orbs is raised to 80%. They also increase gold dropped and life.

* Nene is not the greatest character but her transformation special will allow you turn into your favourite character any time (if you have the character as a guard). Nene and Ranmaru have the same skills, so both of them is worth having as guards.

* Experience; Mercenary mode is great for character leveling and skill learning. ( SadXuHuang)


TRAPS:

quote

Fire --
[symptoms]
Area becomes engulfed in flames as player and allied soldiers become covered in flames. This trap will hit you hard, wiping out about 75% of your life and continue to drain you until you kill the crazed general that started the fire.
[remedy]
Extinguish - Nullfies enemy fire attack
[if you or guard doesn't have special skill]
Kill the guy holding the torching and laughing about how many years it took him to prepare "setting things on fire." Obviously he isn't too bright so he should fall easily, but if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Saddle up and ride out of range to escape the burning.

Poison Gas --
[symptoms]
I haven't really seen this one in action, always killed the perpetrator or defused it with Antidote skill. From what I could see, screen gets a little yellowish haze and life begins to drain? Lowered defense?
[remedy]
Antidote - Nullfies enemy poison attacks
[if you or guard doesn't have special skill]
Since you can't choose to hold your breath, focus on the evil mastermind that thought it was a good idea to release a massive cloud of poison gas onto enemy and ally alike. KO him before the gas hurts too much.

Tar --
[symptoms]
Player becomes slow and plodding. You know how you slow down time to do musou attacks? This is how it must feel to be on the receiving end as you move and fight in slooooow motion, like you are underwater.
[remedy]
Sandbag - disable enemy quagmires
[if you or guard doesn't have special skill]
Running away won't be easy as the tar will hinder retreat and turning your back will leave you vulnerable. Musou out of any jams and I think mounting a horse will cure the tar effects.

(SadXuHuang PLZ )

The guide isn't finished, but in the mean time feel free to give feedback, ask questions and give advices for the recommendations section. I'm currently working on a 10 swords guide and a character ability guide. Be patient

quote Sleva

Cavalry - After moving a period of time character becomes invisible and will get Attack boost and boost which knock enemy over.

quote Sleva

Mercenary mode is exelent for Orb and Money gathering

I know that it doesn't make the character invincible... I was just typing what the official page wrote... I've edited it...

I only miss four swords now... I'm on floor 71, there's a hard quest there... Expert difficulty, Nene... With Kojiro, Okuni, Yoshimoto, Ginchiyo, Noh and Ranmaru as bodyguards.
Chosokabe force.

The quest on floor 71 is a mission to take down a horseman. The level is crowded with cavalier unit.

• First a mission spawns to kill 6 officers within 7 minutes.

Okay... I'm sorry to rush this to you... but could people please help me/contribute to the guide... by putting up some Character Abilities and some swords (floor, name, method if needed)

I'm currently doing an Expert mode run with Nene... have 7 swords... Floor 79

My swords so far:

name: Kanesada
found: Stage 21
how to get it: Simply buy in the events menu (about 30 jewels)

name: Ichimonji
found: Stage 27
how to get it: Given as reward for completing "Rescue the Princess 2"

name: Munechika
found: Stage 36
how to get it: Recieved after completing a special mission called "Kagemusha"

My problem is I get tired as playing as one character for so long, I want to switch so I abandon Merc modes and start over from scratch.

Some character traits:

Lockpicks:
Keiji Maeda
Nene
Magoichi Saika
Kotaro Fuma

Charisma:
Nobunaga Oda
Hideyoshi Toyotomi
Mitsunari Ishida

As for guards and the abilities they gain, here's some that developed in my latest run as Gracia:

Gracia (cavalry) -- Healiing, Antidote, Resilience, Willpower
Magoichi Saika (musket)-- Lockpick, Adulation, Sandbag
Mitsuhide Akechi (musket)-- Charisma, Musou Wall, Extinguish, Sandbag
Tadakatsu Honda (spear)-- Stonewall, Leadership, Willpower
Mitsunari Ishida (cavalry)-- Charisma, Musou Wall
Kojiro Sasaki (spear)-- Stonewall
Oichi (spear)-- Healing

quote SadXuHuang

My problem is I get tired as playing as one character for so long, I want to switch so I abandon Merc modes and start over from scratch.

I bring more swords!

name: Murasame
found: Stage 41
how to get it: At events menu "Gift from a peasant" (30 jewels)

name: Yasutsuna
found: Stage 45
how to get it: Given as reward during "Treasure Hunt" mission


I joined the Date clan at Stage 44 for 50 gems. I want out. I want to see how Merc mode ends normally without all 10 swords (will have to get the Osamitsu and Koshino you describe in another go... as Nene!)

I'm going to go ahead and sticky this since I know how helpful these type of threads can be. Kudos to everyone putting in the work to help everyone out.

name: Sukesane
found: Stage 51
how to get it: Given as reward during "Swordsmen's Challenge" mission

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After wiping out the other clans with the Date, I finally unified Japan at Stage 60 as Gracia.

What made the final level unique was that when we set out to eliminate Motochika Chosokabe, everyone had hopeful speeches. Masamune was crowing about being the best, Mitsuhide Akechi was confiding his relief of this chaos and Magoichi was describing how he hoped to finally relax in the peace.

I also ran into Toshiie Maeda, Katsuie Shibata, and Yoshihiro Shimazu who all had something to say about "you have to get through me to achieve" and so on. A very talkative stage (talky as in silent word balloons, no sound of course).

So the stage ends and everything is totaled up as usual. However, instead of returning to the Merc screen it goes to an ending of sorts:

The background is a rosy vista of a cherry bossom orchid with a towering castle pagoda in the distance. The pink blooms crowd the scene like clouds as petals fall like snow. Up front is a still of Gracia, frozen in a pose looking head-on. A green text box to her right lists information. The text describes how Gracia, servant of the Date clan has survived 60 battles with her 5 loyal retainers. Essentially its a completion mad-lib. It fills in what I did with the specifics to its basic unification speech.

That is the normal ending. I can only guess what the 10 swords ending is like.

LoW of KW describes his completion with 10 swords:

Wow... collecting those swords and clearing 100 stages definitely isn't worth it. All you get is a new lame mission 'Battle for Supremacy' where you need to defeat 300 enemies and beat three strong officers (they were Tadakatsu, Kenshin and Oichi for me). But at least the stage was challenging. I was playing on Expert with Kotaro so basically almost everyone were able to OHKO me. There is Damage x2 rule in the battle as well.

But I wonder what the ending is like! Mayb Nene will see...

Floor 60? There's a sword on stage 61 TT_TT
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I'm on stage 87 now... XD
it's so hard with the One-Hit K:O <.<
Getting caught in a combo kills you after two hits... Oppurtunity level 3 is definatly worth having XD

I've altered Nene's blades so that they're thunder element, have 60+ in both ATK and DEF and 20+ Life and MuCH.

I've stopped transforming into Kojiro, because taking a hit in morphed form will do twice the regular damage. But Nene + Ice element + Musou + 60 + Kojiro Morph/Ice level 3 musou is such a deadly combination



EDIT: Homagosh! I wrote FLOORS XD
Thanx for mentioning Chosokabe

This message was edited by Sleva on Apr 28 2008.

wow this all seems very helpful but i haven't even got to what you guys refer to as floors, i usually just end up joining a dynasty and finishing mercenary mode at around stage 50, and by then I've only completed half of collecting the swords, and if i don't join a dynasty or just let the missions sit there nothing happens and i just go through stage after stage of no events, any help?

Okay. I had to start my Survival mode over again, as the mission on stage 86 got abit to much for Nene.

(supposed to kill Musashi and Kanetsugu in hyper-super mode, OHKO and no blocking/evasion... + a quite large cavalery army which appears as reinforcements after some time.
Both Kanetsugu, Musashi and all of their allies is heading for me so I always have to take down the close by officers before they reach me. I've managed to slay Kanetsugu before Musashi arrived, but ended up being stomped to death by 40 000 horse units... didn't have time to count them all... )

I'm now on floor 26 with mah numbah one fav Motochika and his unique altered sleva style weapon

by floor do you mean stage?

I think Sleva just has the infinite castle from challenge mode on the brain. Stage, floor, level... almost the same thing...

I've been experimenting with different guard combinations and noticed that some trap-thwarting skills may come in handy.

The Traps

Fire --
[symptoms]
Area becomes engulfed in flames as player and allied soldiers become covered in flames. This trap will hit you hard, wiping out about 75% of your life and continue to drain you until you kill the crazed general that started the fire.
[remedy]
Extinguish - Nullfies enemy fire attack
[if you or guard doesn't have special skill]
Kill the guy holding the torching and laughing about how many years it took him to prepare "setting things on fire." Obviously he isn't too bright so he should fall easily, but if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Saddle up and ride out of range to escape the burning.

Poison Gas --
[symptoms]
I haven't really seen this one in action, always killed the perpetrator or defused it with Antidote skill. From what I could see, screen gets a little yellowish haze and life begins to drain? Lowered defense?
[remedy]
Antidote - Nullfies enemy poison attacks
[if you or guard doesn't have special skill]
Since you can't choose to hold your breath, focus on the evil mastermind that thought it was a good idea to release a massive cloud of poison gas onto enemy and ally alike. KO him before the gas hurts too much.

Tar --
[symptoms]
Player becomes slow and plodding. You know how you slow down time to do musou attacks? This is how it must feel to be on the receiving end as you move and fight in slooooow motion, like you are underwater.
[remedy]
Sandbag - disable enemy quagmires
[if you or guard doesn't have special skill]
Running away won't be easy as the tar will hinder retreat and turning your back will leave you vulnerable. Musou out of any jams and I think mounting a horse will cure the tar effects.

quote SadXuHuang

I think Sleva just has the infinite castle from challenge mode on the brain. Stage, floor, level... almost the same thing...