In-game description
When a mercenary crosses your path, there's only one thing that can save your life: offer him more money than he can get by killing you. If you gain the favor of the mercenaries, you will be able to combine the power of all races at once.
Alignment: Any
Unlock Requirements: R3 - See below
Available in all alignments, The Mercenaries can combine the power of the existing factions by letting you choose 2 spells and 3x4 faction upgrades in A0 and A1 (4x4 in A3). This enables you to create a custom cross-faction build.
Unlocking the Mercenaries Requires 3 reincarnations and can be done in different game plays.
Mercenary Tribute
Cost: At least: 1 Nod (1e60) Coins
Cost: At least: 100,000 of each Faction Coin
(Price rises with time and is reset at Abdications.)
Coin Formula: (1e60 * (ceil((1 + x)/60)) ^ 3.5), x is playtime in seconds
Faction Coin Formula: (100000 * (ceil((1 + x)/60)) ^ 0.5), x is playtime in seconds
In Game description
Pay the mercenaries tribute to unlock their powers. Be quick through, the price increases over time!
Oath of the Mercenaries
Cost: 1 Tvg (1e72) Coins.
In Game description
By reciting the Oath of the Mercenaries you will be able to join mercenaries for the rest of your existence. Not even Reincarnations will strip you of this right. You will be able to take any alignment and become a Good, Neutral or Evil mercenary, therefore determining your building set, and from there on you will be able to take any spell or ability from any other faction.
Note: In A1, Only 1 Dragon Upgrade per Mercenary tier.
Note: Mercenaries in A3 can buy Dragon Upgrades with any Mercenary Upgrade with increased price.
Note: Elite Faction Upgrades can only be purchased with Mercenary Upgrade 4, 8, 12 and 16.
Note: Elite spells can only be bought from the Sorcery contract.
Mercenary Tier Upgrades
Tier 1 Upgrades
The price of the tier upgrades cost Faction Coins of the upgrade's Faction. e.g.: For a Fairy spell or upgrade, it will cost Fairy Faction Coins. For a Druid spell or upgrade, it will cost Elven and Demon Faction Coins.
Mercenary First Contract
Cost: 50 Spd (5e55)
Effect: Unlocks Tier 1 Upgrades.
Mercenary Magic Contract
Cost: 50 Ocd (5e58), 1,000 Faction Coins
Pick an available Spell from any faction.
The available choices will depend on the alignment you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 1
Cost: 1,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 1 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 2
Cost: 3,000 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 1 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 3
Cost: 4,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 1 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 4
Cost: 6,000 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 1 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Tier 2 Upgrades
Mercenary Second Contract
Cost: 25 Vg (2.5e64)
Effect: Unlocks Tier 2 Upgrades.
Holy Crusaders (For Good Alignments)
Cost: 25 Uvg (2.5e67)
Effect: Gain additional Crusader Assistants based on the amount of spells cast in this game.
Formula: (0.5 * ((1 + 0.8 * x) ^ (0.5 + 0.05 * A) - 1)), where x is amount of spells cast in this game and A is how many times you have ascended.
Effect: Increase clicking reward by 100% per active spell.
Formula: ((x * 100) ^ (A + 1))%, where x is the amount of active spells you have and A is how many times you have ascended.
Heresiarchs (For Evil Alignments)
Cost: 25 Uvg (2.5e67)
Effect: Increase the production of Evil buildings based on your most built Evil building.
Formula: (1.2 * x ^ 0.8), where x is the number of your most-built evil building you own. (A-Nerfed)
Trade Lords (For Neutral Alignments)
Cost: 25 Uvg (2.5e67)
Effect: When assistants finds a faction coin, they also find a Faction Coin for every other faction. Also increases Mana Regeneration based on Faction Coins gained in this game.
Formula: (floor(10 * log10(1 + x ^ 1.5)) / 10), where x is the amount of Faction Coins gained this game.
Mercenary Upgrade 5
Cost: 3,000 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 2 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 6
Cost: 6,000 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 2 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 7
Cost: 10,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 2 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 8
Cost: 13,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 2 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Tier 3 Upgrades
Mercenary Third Contract
Cost: 5 Tvg (5e72)
Effect: Unlocks Tier 3 Upgrades.
Mercenary Sorcery Contract
Cost: 5 Qavg (5e75), 25,000 Faction Coins
Pick an available Spell from any faction.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 9
Cost: 4,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 3 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 10
Cost: 10,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 3 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 11
Cost: 16,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 3 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Mercenary Upgrade 12
Cost: 22,500 Faction Coins
Pick an available Tier 3 Upgrade from existing factions.
The available choices will depend on the alignment and spells you have chosen.
Other Upgrades
Following are upgrades rewarded from Secret Trophies.
Mercenary Spirit
Requirement: Reincarnate while playing as a Mercenary
Cost: 1 Ocd (1e57)
Effect: Increase the production of all buildings by 15% per reincarnation.
Harlequin
Requirement: As a mercenary, purchase one upgrade for 11 different factions.
Note: You can use Harlequin R3+ and KYE R12+ build to get Harlequin.
Cost: 5 Qivg (5e78)
Effect: Increase the production of all buildings based on the amount of different factions involved in your mercenary upgrades.
Formula: (x ^ 3)%, where x is the number of different factions you've bought upgrades from.
Lucifer
Requirement: As a Good Mercenary, purchase only Evil mercenary faction upgrades or vice versa.
Note: You can use Lucifer R3+ build to get Lucifer.
Cost: 50 Vg (5e64)
Effect: Increase the production of all non-neutral mercenary buildings by 300%
No Recruiting
Requirement: Reach 1 NoVg (1e90) gems in a Reincarnation without ever affiliating with the Mercenaries
Cost: 1 Tg (1e93)
Effect: Increase Mercenary production by 1% per Reincarnation. (Not A-Nerfed)
Know Your Enemy, Part I
Requirement: Find Know Your Enemy, Part I Artifact - which requires R12, to play as Mercenaries, and have upgrades from 11 different factions. (Excavation chance: 10%)
Note: You can use Harlequin R3+ and KYE R12+ build to get Know Your Enemy, Part I.
Cost: 100 Vg (1e65)
Effect: Increases the production of all buildings based on time spent as Non-Mercenary. ("Time allied with..." in the stats)
Formula: (0.75 * x ^ 0.6)%, where x is amount of time spent as non-mercenary factions.
Mercenary Research Requirements
Upon reaching R75, the game advisor tells us that the Mercenary Lord himself has come to speak with you. He is a man of uncomparable strength and influence... From what I heard, he wishes to task you with the retrieval of an Obsidian Shard, the legendary material of which Mercenary Blades are made.
Mercenary Encampment Quest
We salute you, commander. Your strategical skills had not gone unnoticed within our ranks. We have decided to offer you a chance to establish a formal encampment within your boundaries... Build more structures to strengthen our city.
Cost: 10 Notg (1e121), 125K buildings
Note: Only needs bought once.
Unlocks: Mercenary Unique Buildings
Good
Mercenary Camp
Requirement: Mercenary Encampment Quest
Cost: 100 Qag (1e125)
Effect 1: Allows access to Research Facilities
Effect 2: Upgrade Knights Jousts to Mercenary Camps, boosting their production based on the amount of Non-Unique buildings you own and unlocking more unique perks for the building.
Formula: (1.25 * (1 + x) ^ 1.05), where X is number of Non-Unique Buildings.
Effect 3: Unlocks Round Table
Round Table (Spell Upgrade)
Cost: 1 Qaqag (1e135)
Note: Share Benefits upgrade.
Effect 1: Gives 1 additional upgrade from any of the Good factions.
Effect 2: Upgrades Tax Collection spell to Share Benefits, increases the production of all buildings and Faction Coin find chance based on this spell tier level for 20 seconds.
Effect 3: Also produce Tax Collection casts per second based on your Maximum Mana.
Evil
Tyrant Garrison
Requirement: Mercenary Encampment Quest
Cost: 100 Qag (1e125)
Effect 1: Allows access to Research Facilities
Effect 2: Upgrade Evil Fortresses to Tyrant Garrisons, boosting their production based on Offline Production Bonus and unlocking more unique perks for the building.
Formula: ((log10(1 + x) ^ 3)%, where x is your Offline Production Bonus.
Effect 3: Unlocks Dark Covenant
Dark Covenant (Spell Upgrade)
Cost: 1 Qaqag (1e135)
Note: Reap Interests upgrade.
Effect 1: Gives 1 additional upgrade from any of the Evil factions.
Effect 2: Upgrades Tax Collection spell to Reap Interests, additional casts of Reap Interests increase its seconds worth of production.
Neutral
Freemason's Hall
Requirement: Mercenary Encampment Quest
Cost: 100 Qag (1e125)
Effect 1: Allows access to Research Facilities
Effect 2: Upgrade Inns to Freemason's Hall, boosting their production based on the highest amount of assistants you had in a single game in this Reincarnation and unlocking more unique perks for the building.
Formula: (20 + 20 * x ^ 0.8)%, where x is the highest assistants you had in a single game in this Reincarnation.
Effect 3: Unlocks Secret Exchange
Secret Exchange (Spell Upgrade)
Cost: 1 Qaqag (1e135)
Note: Appraisal Vantage upgrade.
Effect: Upgrades Tax Collection spell to Appraisal Vantage, generates additional Faction Coins based on the amount of assistants you own.
Obsidian Shard
Requirement: 8000th Excavation as any Faction, R75+
Description: Extremely hard and black as darkness itself, this material cannot apparently be carved or melted. It is a mystery how you can make this thing into a sword.
Effect: Unlocks Secrets of the Warriors
Secrets of the Warriors
Requirement: Obsidian Shard
Cost: 100 Qiqag (1e140) and 10 Qa (1e16) of every Faction Coin.
Effect: Unlocks Researches for Mercenaries and increases their production by 1000%.
Note: Allows 3 Researches per branch.
Unique Buildings
Good
Mercenary Camp
Upgraded from Knights Jousts
Upgrade Knights Jousts to Mercenary Camps, boosting their production based on the amount of Non-Unique buildings you own and unlocking more unique perks for the building.
Formula: (1.5 * (1 + x)) where X is number of Non-Unique Buildings.
Evil
Tyrant Garrison Upgrade
Upgraded from Evil Fortresses
Upgrade Evil Fortresses to Tyrant Garrisons, boosting their production based on Offline Production Bonus and unlocking more unique perks for the building.
Formula: ((log10(1 + x) ^ 3)%, where x is your offline production.
Neutral
Freemason's Hall
Upgraded from Inns
Upgrade Inns to Freemason's Hall, Boosting their production based on the highest amount of assistants you had in a single game in this Reincarnation and unlocking more unique perks for the building.
Formula: (20 + 20 * x ^ 0.8)%, where x is the highest amount of assistants you had in a single game in this Reincarnation.
Faction Spell: Modified Tax Collection
Good
Cost: 200 Mana - Duration: Fixed to 20 seconds
Requirement: Round Table
Effect: Alters Tax Collection with new name and effect (still counts as Tax Collection for all purposes).
Effect: Increases the production of all buildings and Faction Coin find chance based on this spell tier level.
Effect: Also produce Tax Collection casts per second based on your Maximum Mana.
Formula (Production bonus): ((((1 + 0.01 * (120 + 1.25 * ln(1 + 90 + x) ^ 1.25)) ^ T) - 1) * 100)%, where x is Tax Collection worth in seconds and T the Share Benefits tier.
Formula (Faction Coin find chance multiplier): 120 ^ (0.25 * T)%, where T is Share Benefits.
Formula (Additional Tax Collection): +(0.01 * x * T), where x is Maximum Mana and T Share Benefits tier.
Note: Can be cast up to 36 tiers (Ascension 1) / 99 tiers (Ascension 3).
Note: Each tier costs x2/1.5 (with S1275) more mana than the previous one until Tier 40 - above x4/x2.25 than the previous one.
Note: Drains every second Mana equal to its current cost.
Note: Upgrades that cast free Tax Collection are disabled.
Evil
Cost: 200 Mana - Duration: 0 seconds
Requirement: Dark Covenant
Effect: Additional casts of Reap Interests increase its seconds worth of production.
Formula: *(50000 * log10(8 + 0.1 * x)), where x is amount of Reap Interests casts.
Note: Upgrades that cast free Tax Collection are treated as Reap Interests casts.
Neutral
Cost: 200 Mana - Duration: 0 seconds
Requirement: Secret Exchange
Effect: Generates additional Faction Coins based on the amount of assistants you own.
Formula: (x * y ^ 1.275), where x is assistants owned, y is Faction coin chance.
Note: Upgrades that cast free Tax Collection are treated as Appraisal Vantage casts.
Extras
Know Your Enemy, Part II
Clue: Even an expert Mercenary should learn by all other cultures.
Description: Much more knowledge than you need, stored in a handy book.
Requirement: R75+, Mercenary Unique Building, Upgrade from all 12 Factions
Chance: 5%
Effect: Awards an upgrade of the same name.
Upgrade Effect: Increase the production of all buildings based on time spent as Non-Mercenaries.
Note: Only available to Mercenaries
Formula: (0.065 * x ^ 0.65) where x is amount of time spent as non-mercenary factions.
Cost: 100 Noqag (1e152)
Note: You can use Mercenomicon (Know Your Enemy Part II) (R75) build to get this artifact.
13th Upgrade Good and Evil only
Good Mercenary Upgrade 13
You can purchase any upgrade from any Good Faction for an increased price
Requirement: Round Table (Good Spell Upgrade)
Note: Not available in A3 (R160+)
Evil Mercenary Upgrade 13
You can purchase any upgrade from any Evil Faction for an increased price.
Requirement: Dark Covenant (Evil Spell Upgrade)
Note: Not available in A3 (R160+)
Ascension 3 (R160+)
Mercenary Duel
In-game description: The Mercenary Lord has challenged you to a duel of skills. Complete the following tasks in a single Reincarnation to show your ability as a ruler.
Requirements: R160+, 1 Qi (1e18) Spells cast, 10 M (1e7) Clicks, 10 Vg (1e64) Faction Coins, 350000 Buildings (MAX), 100 Qa (1e17) Assistants (MAX)
Note: 1 time purchase
Effect: Unlocks Mercenary in Ascension 3
Note: Elite Faction Upgrades can only be purchased with Mercenary Upgrade 4, 8, 12 and 16
Mercenary Fourth Contract
Requirements: R160+, Mercenary Duel purchased
Cost: 100 Qid 1e50
Effect: Unlocks Tier 4 Upgrades
Mercenary Upgrade 13
You can purchase a tier 4 upgrade from any faction for an increased price.
Cost: 7500 Faction Coins
Mercenary Upgrade 14
You can purchase a tier 4 upgrade from any faction for an increased price.
Cost: 16500 Faction Coins
Mercenary Upgrade 15
You can purchase a tier 4 upgrade from any faction for an increased price.
Cost: 24000 Faction Coins
Mercenary Upgrade 16
You can purchase a tier 4 upgrade from any faction for an increased price.
Cost: 33000 Faction Coins
Mercenary Building Contract
Requirements: R165+, Aligned with Mercs
You can purchase one Ascension 2 Unique Building from any faction, provided you meet the requisites. You will not be able to change it during the current run.
Cost: Free
Obsidian Crown
Requirements: R170+, Aligned with Mercs, 10 excavation resets (This game)
Chance: ((x - 10) / 1000)%, x is the number of free and ruby excavation resets (This game)
Effect: Unlocks Mercenary Union Contract
Mercenary Union Contract
Requirements: Obsidian Crown
You can purchase one Union Power from any faction, provided you meet the requisites. You will not be able to change it during the current run.
Cost: Free