In Teamfight Tactics Season 6, one of the most popular team compositions is Mercenary. The simple reason is that players want to test their luck and experience the thrill of a “jackpot” followed by a stunning comeback victory at the end of the match. Not to mention, among the Mercenary champions is Tahm Kench – a champion with one of the most “quirky” mechanics in Season 6 and the history of TFT: swallowing allied units to gain power.
But that’s all there is to say about Mercenary. Beyond that, this composition offers no benefits for players. Except for Tahm Kench and somewhat Quinn, both Miss Fortune and Illaoi have never been popular and will be immediately replaced when players find better units in the decisive phase. As for Gangplank, he is currently the weakest 3-cost champion in TFT Season 6. Even if the composition revolves around Snipers, Gangplank is still not favored. In fact, Kog’Maw, a 2-cost champion, has proven to be stronger than this pirate in a Sniper composition.
Another reason Mercenary is rated weak, from the champions to related factors, is that the Tech Augments of this trait have a very high out-top rate. According to statistics from MetaTft, 6of the highest out-top rate Tech Augments, five of them belong to Mercenary. Among them, three augments provide Mercenary thresholds or Mercenary emblem for the composition (Heart of the Mercenary, Soul of the Mercenary…). The Plunderer augment (Mercenary has a 50% chance to drop 1 gold when defeating an opponent) has the lowest win rate at only 14.1% and a mere 0.4% selection rate.
According to information revealed by Riot, in the upcoming Season 6.5, TFT has not removed the Mercenary trait but has added several buffs for this trait. However, with weak champions, the trait only serving to “hack” resources, and even the related Tech Augments being weak, it is likely that Mercenary will still only serve the purpose of providing gold and items for players to make a comeback easier towards the end of the game.