Mercenaries is a game mode available in Resident Evil 8 Village (RE8). You must get S Rank in all 8 Mercenaries stages for the Legendary Cowboy trophy or achievement. SSS is the highest achievable rank in Mercenaries but for the trophy you only need S. It’s going to be the most challenging part for the platinum trophy. Finishing each stage with an SS-rank will also unlock the LZ-Answerer melee weapon for purchase in the Bonus Content Shop, but this isn’t necessary for any trophies or achievements.
How to Unlock Mercenaries Mode
To unlock Mercenaries Mode you must first beat the story. Then you gain access to the Extra Content Shop (Main Menu > Bonuses > Bonus Content Shop). There you can unlock Mercenaries. After it’s unlocked you start Mercenaries Mode by going to Main Menu > Bonuses > The Mercenaries.
Initially you will only have the first stage “The Village” available. To unlock new stages you must get A-Rank on the previous Stage (on first 4 Stages) or B-Rank (in the last 4 Stages). The exact score requirement for the ranks in each stage can be seen on the paper document in the starting room where the merchant is.
How Does Mercenaries Mode Work
Let’s go over the general rules how Mercenaries Mode works:
- You start by purchasing any equipment or weapons you need from the shop. Then, when you go out into the field you need to defeat as many enemies as possible within the time limit. Get a good rhythm going and build up combos for extra points!
- Once you’ve defeated a certain number of enemies the goal will appear. Touch the goal to finish and to move on to the next area, Complete more areas to rack up even more points for each stage! You can also touch the yellow orbs for bonus time and keep the party going.
- Speaking of orbs, there are also blue orbs which give you special abilities. Each one has three random abilities to choose from. Check out all the cool moves that match your fighting style. You keep abilities between areas and there’s no limit to how many you can have, either. Also, if you equip the same ability multiple times it will become even more effective. So keep an eye out for all those orbs.
- Any money or time left over when you reach the goal will be counted towards your final score, along with enemies defeated and combos. Your final score determines your rank. The higher your rank at the end of the stage, the better the prize you’ll get!
The Mercenaries Mode in Resident Evil Village is more like the Raid mode from the Revelations titles than an actual Mercenaries mode you might remember from Resident Evil 4-6. You will have to finish between 2 and 5 separate areas instead of surviving for a certain amount of time in a single area like in older titles.
While there are 8 stages in total it’s actually 4 but each has 2 versions. The second version of each stage is a much harder version of it and will be the ultimate test of your skill and patience in this game. Everything can be summed up by using two strategies – one that applies for the first 4 stages and one that’s better suited for the last 4 stages. We’ll go over the strategies below.
Stages 1-4 SSS-Ranks Strategy (The Village, The Castle, The Factory, The Mad Village)
- What to Buy: The Sniper Rifle
- What to Sell: Shotgun Shells, a portion of Handgun Shells.
- Perks to Choose from Blue Bubbles: Everything damage enhancing like more damage from the initial hit, more damage when enemy health is low, enemies explode likely when dead etc.
First of all, you should try getting at least a B-rank of a level first before attempting the S-rank directly. Achieving a B-rank on a level will give you additional 5000 Lei at the start of the level, which is helpful. The Sniper Rifle is the way to go in the first half of the Mercenaries for multiple reasons: fantastic range, great damage, great synergy with many perks. Your tactic for the first few levels is simple in theory – try to memorize a good path of enemy spawns and keep the combo as high as possible, in a perfect case through the entire stage. The sniper rifle is the ideal weapon for that since it one-shots most of the enemies in this mode and it can do so from any range.
Between the Rounds spend your money on upgrading the Sniper Rifle further. Do NOT reload the sniper rifle at the end of a stage or at Duke’s before the next area, since upgrading the capacity will fill your magazine for free, this will grant you additional ammo for free, which can be very helpful for areas with high enemy numbers! The only stage I would recommend NOT selling the shotgun shells is Mad Village since you can buy a shotgun for the last area to get rid of the final boss there quickly (you will have over 100 shells that you didn’t use throughout the other areas).
Stage 1 – The Village
Stage 2 – The Castle
Stage 3 – The Factory
Stage 4 – The Mad Village
Stages 5-8 SSS-Ranks Strategy (The Village 2, The Castle 2, The Factory 2, The Mad Village 2)
Method #1 – Grenade Launcher, Flashbangs, Knife
- What to Buy: Grenade Launcher, Flashbangs, remaining cash goes into healing items and explosive grenade rounds
- What to Sell: Handgun, Handgun Bullets
- Perks to Choose from Blue Bubbles: Masamune, Blade Master, defensive skills, initial hit does more damage, more damage on low health enemy
Starting from Village 2 your old tactics will no longer work, at all. The inventory at Duke’ shop is different now. You can no longer buy a Shotgun or a Sniper Rifle so you have to think of something else. The only strategy that worked for me, while being a bit luck-dependent and situational to set up, was using my knife. Yes, the knife which under normal circumstances does laughable damage. The skill Masamune makes the knife the ultimate killing machine though. Masamune skill can be unlocked by getting an A-rank in Mad Village 1, so you should have it by this point.
Masamune skill will make your knife attack 10 times stronger but all the other weapons will do low damage afterwards. Why is good then? Well, the knife doesn’t need ammunition, so you will not run out. Additionally, it stacks with the Blade Master skill, so with some luck you get both skills from the blue bubbles and it will make you basically one hit everything in this mode. That only works in combination with the other weapon mentioned above – the Grenade Launcher. Flashbang grenades are super cheap (200 Lei a piece) and are the perfect synergy for the knife.
Flashbangs stun every enemy in the game instantly for long enough time to kill them with a knife, with only a few exceptions:
- The Lycans with metal cages on their head – you will have to shoot the metal cage twice with a regular grenade to destroy it, afterward you can stun them just like every other enemy.
- Bela, Daniela and Cassandra – you can stun them, but you will not have enough time to kill them while they are stunned with just one Flashbang. You will have to stun them a few times (watch out, they keep slicing even when blinded).
Now here comes the annoying part… you are not guaranteed to get the Masamune skill each time you start an attempt. By our calculations you have about 14% chance of getting the Masamune skill of a blue bubble. So your tactic will be to run to the closest bubble in each level and check for the skill (or in case of Village 2 you can check all 3 bubbles there) and if it is not in there, just restart. This method is a bit tedious because of the many restarts and having to go through the selling and buying process each time, but it is very effective once everything falls into place. At the start of a stage always sell your handgun and all your handgun ammo, then use that additional money to buy the grenade launcher and some flashbangs for it.
The following methods are not recommended for the listed reasons:
- Buying the Magnum – only low amount of ammunition available, not enough to finish a stage with a high combo.
- Using the Handgun – slow killing, combo breaks fast, horrible crowd control, extremely bad for stronger enemies.
- Using regular Grenades with the Grenade Launcher – expensive ammunition, not enough ammo to deal with the starting area of Factory 2 for example.
Method #2 – Upgraded Starting Pistol, Magnum, Mines
- What to Buy: Start by fully upgrading Pistol Damage & Rate of Fire, buy one of each fire rate and capacity upgrades. After first stage buy Magnum, health items, mines.
- What to Sell: Nothing
- Perks to Choose from Blue Bubbles: Anything that increases weapon damage, sprint speed, makes enemies combust on death
One alternative strategy that works for some players is a combination of Pistol + Magnum + Mines, this is worth a try if you are not having any luck with the knife method. With this method you’d start by fully upgrading the pistol’s damage + fire rate and buy the first reload speed and first capacity upgrade. Then do the first stage using the pistol only (the upgraded version does okay damage so it’s doable). After the first stage you buy the Magnum, but you only use it on the minibosses (witches, the big guys with axe in Mad Village, guys with big metal on their head and drill arms). Don’t use magnum on the regular drill-arm enemies with a red dot on their chest, those you can shoot in the legs and on their red weakpoint with the normal pistol. Save that ammo for their harder versions with the armor on their heads, those you can usually shoot in the legs with Magnum for an instant-kills (a few are fully armored though, so must first use a mine or pipe bomb to break the armor). After you got the Magnum the next thing to spend money on are Mines. They are cheaper than Pipe Bombs. Just place them ahead of tough enemies, like the ones with drillarms or the guys with claws, especially in areas where there are many enemies coming at you simultaneously. This deals good damage and stuns them for a moment so you can hit their weakpoint with the normal pistol. If you use your Magnum ammo and Mines wisely you can still keep up your combo counter and get through it with some practice. Luckily, the enemy spawns are the same as in the first version of each stage, so by now you should know where big groups and minibosses spawn. There are also lots of skills that increase weapon damage, the best one is the purple one that makes enemies explode on death, but also the yellow one that increases handgun damage, and the orange ones that increase short-range / long-range / first hit damage. Anything that increases your sprint speed is also fantastic, even the one that makes you take more damage but massively increases sprint speed is good to get, because you are always in the red after 1 hit anyway in this mode and the skill doesn’t make you take any more damage than that.
The biggest downside to this method is that you could run out of ammo. You can’t afford to miss a lot of shots. At times you may even have to skip a few enemies because they’d either consume too much ammo or break your combo (especially tougher enemies like the ones with claws). It’s important you pick up all Pistol Ammo in each stage, so on the first one or two tries explore carefully to know where the ammo spawns and where the skills spawn. If you don’t pick up ammo you will run out eventually. If you find all ammo spots and have decent aim, it’s quite doable.
Stage 5 – The Village 2
Stage 6 – The Castle 2
Stage 7 – The Factory 2
Stage 8 – The Mad Village 2
In closing; This sums up everything there is to know about getting all Mercenaries S-Ranks in Resident Evil Village (RE8). It’s the hardest challenge in the game, particularly the last 4 stages, and it takes some practice through repetition and a bit of luck with the skills from blue bubbles. After getting all 8 S-Ranks you will earn the Legendary Cowboy trophy or achievement.
Probably a dumb question, but do you actually have to clear the stage to unlock the all S-Rank trophy, or can you die upon achieving the required score?
For example, I just died in the last stage of Village 2, but still had enough score to get myself an S rank. The trophy doesn’t particularly specify, simplying saying to Achieve an S-Rank on all 8 stages, so it has me wondering
You can die, it’s fine. No need to complete the stage, just have the required score at the time of death.
I’m stuck on the castle , I’ve got only S rank
The problem is I used auto-pistol to speed run but the enemy sometimes its not spawn
And I’ve to go back to clear the area again , and its waste my time and combo score.
Thank for the guide , I’ll use sniper rifle as same as you.
This guide actually really helped me out, I wasn’t really going for the achievement I just wanted the weapon but this was really useful so thank you.
First half of mercs I found using the SYG is best, I tried the snipe method before looking at this. SYG destroys. Sell everything – upgrade SYG
100% agree SYG was way easier than the snipes
I third that, love the Syg. Once you get a bit more speed on the shots it’s devastating.
Do we have to finish the goal?? Or can we die and get the s rank??? Without going to the orange orb??? The finish one??
Yes, you can die. That’s why this mode is pretty easy. I’ve got S ranks in last 4 missions in like middle of them. So in Mad Village 2 using magnum before miranda is ok.
you can die and still get the s rank
First 4 stages, sell everything, upgrade the scorpion machine pistol. It absolutely destroys everything and they give you more than enough rounds
That’s how I did it.
This is so annoying and hard. It’s the last trophy I need to platinum and I’m already thinking of giving up.
Totally, I’m giving up now. Those hard levels are hands down the hardest thing Iv seen in a long time. Plat ruined
Completely stuck on the castle 2, this second visits are next to impossible. I don’t understand how anyone is doing them. Iv tried ever method I can. Knife with both power ups, maxed pistol and magnum. Nothing works, best I can get is 700000 and that’s a struggle, still 150000 off. This plat is completely blocked for me now. 9/10 for sure this game.
Finally I got the platinum trophy, took me several tries and needed to memorise the facts. Spent 24 hours in mercenaries. For the last 4 merc stages I just used pistol + magnum + pipes and mines with weapon upgrades, health, etc.
Dude, I’m right there with you. I just spent a week struggling on Castle 2 (collective time was probably 6-7 hours, minus all the restarts to get Masamune).
It gets easier with each run though, just stick to a path with your knife and flash nades and keep the combo going. Masamune and Blade Master combined is SUPER OP, but quite random to get together, Masamune should be enough though.
Keep at it dude! I’m on to Factory 2 now, this is gonna suck…
I’m stuck on factory 3 I tried with knife but always run out of flash grenades so can’t kill all enemies and tried with pistol but keep running out of ammo I can complete the stages but no where near the score for a rank
Just completed my Legendary Cowboy trophy for the platinum. One thing I’d like to point out–while the knife/launcher strat is certainly works, I personally found pistol/magnum to be the way to go. I completed Factory 2 Area 1 with a perfect 64/64 combo netting me enough points for the SSS rank without even stepping foot into Area 2. Prioritize combos above all else. If it comes down to the combo or a blue orb, skip the blue orb. You will have 10 magnum shots so use them as you see fit but only on ‘powerful’ enemies. That said, if you are close to losing a combo and a quick magnum shot on a weak enemy will keep the combo alive, do it. Your goal, especially in Factory 2, is to get enough points for the S rank in the first area. Area 2 is a complete shit show and you do not want to be in a situation where you need 100k+ points. Once you finish Factory 2, Mad Village 2 will feel like a cake walk. I one shot the S rank by the end of Area 2. Super easy.
Hey. Do you mind mentioning exactly what you did (bought/sold/upgrades) please?
Excellent advice, thank you. How big of a score factor is having Lei at the end of a round? Some enemies take a few seconds to croak after you kill them. Am wondering if it’s worth it to ignore Lei drops that take a few extra seconds to pick up
If you dont mind share playing I need these S ranks and I’m struggling. MrMetMrZep2087
I need help with getting ss rank on village 2 any comments or tips?
Im not gonna platinum this game unless someone is willing to shareplay with me and help because i suck at mercenaries. I definitely don’t suck at Resident evil’s story though ? but yeah unless someone helps me get Legendary Cowboy trophy im not even bothering with the rest of the trophies.
Come on dude, give it a go. You can do it, just keep trying.
What does the plat mean if someone else must help you get it?
It’s tough, I know! I just got SS on Castle 2 and that’s after a WEEK of trial and error (and LOTS of restarts to get Masamune!)
Hey does anyone have any specific strategy/load out to get through Factory II? I’ve managed to get an S on every other stage but I’m stuck on this one. 🙁 I’m mostly been using the upgraded handgun/magnum/mines option but I either die or run out of ammo and then die, so I was wondering if anyone has any helpful tips or suggestions? Thanks you’re all great 🙂
Hey, some tips for you:
1. Upgrade Pistol (Damage LV4, ROF LV2, Reload LV 3, Ammo No upgrades; and buy the magnum) This makes reloading a cinch and u dont notice your clip running out.
2. Dont kill all enemies, I only killed 54/64 and avoided the fully armored man and sturm at the end, just run past them as there are smaller enemies you can kill along the way that keep your combo going.
3. I dont remember what skills i used but the best part of factory 2 is that there are 4 blue bubbles so grab them all.
4. Most of the enemies can be killed with a pistol but to save time use the magnum on the robots with red weakspot, lycans with cages on their head, and against the 3 witches. Also, feel free to use the entire clip as we wont be needing it after area 1.
Factory 2 Area 2
If you still havent gotten s-rank here are some tips
1. Sell the magnum, buy the grenade launcher and use remaining funds to upgrade ur pistols DMG and ROF to full and use the leftover cash to buy grenades for the grenade launcher.
3. Use the same strategy as before, pistol for everything and grenade launcher for tougher enemies.
4. Good Luck dont stress and keep doing it, you will get there eventually!!!
Not liking 5-8! Totally ruining the fun of getting Plat with so much chance on getting skills needed!
Hahahaha I hear you mate, it’s tough as hell! You can do it with some patience and perseverance.
Get it in buddy!
I’m really struggling. I just barely miss the S ranks on the first 4. And I feel I have no chance on the last 4. Anyone willing to share play to get these for me. I’m really annoyed the platinum is locked behind this. It’s my last trophy. MrMetMrZep2087 if you are, please add 🙁
Getting SS on last four levels is completely anti-fun. I got SS on the all levels–frustrating but still a blast–thinking I could get my lightsaber then I find out they make you do it all over again except now everything two shots you and you’re weak as hell. Kind of a lame move by Capcom. Not worth my time or sanity lol. Done with Village until they have DLC I guess.
For those struggling with Factory 2, make it your priority to just get to Sturm whilst maintaining your combo. If it breaks before you get past the sisters, just restart. This isn’t difficult with practise of enemy layouts and routes. A high combo into the 50’s is by far the most important thing for this map. I got 62/64 enemies (ignoring Sturm and a Soldat) on my successful run, but because my combo was 58, I had over 100K more points than I needed for S-rank just for doing stage 1, and this was without the kill-all bonus I would usually prioritise on every other map and stage.
Once you’re with Sturm, take out all the standard enemies to the best of your ability and just ignore him, and indeed any other tanky enemies if you’re out of mines/magnums (I had to also leave a soldat). It is not worth trying to deal with Sturm and all the soldats in the final room below the exit goal for the time it takes and the little ammo you have! It will actually ruin your run 9 times out of 10.
The S-rank is very forgiving at 550K, and following this, you should prioritise doing Stage 1 very well up until Sturm then just surviving, missing enemies if you need to. Would have saved several hours had I known this, as I was trying to be too perfect.
More detail on Factory 2, if people need it – think it helped a couple on PSNProfiles.
– 1* on armoured lycan by flame archers (aim for chest; iff you only knock off 80% of health with a headshot finish them off with standard pistol, don’t waste another magnum shot).
– 2* on armoured lycans in room next to/behind ‘relief mould’ room in story (some use 1*, trying to line them up, but I never bothered).
– 2* on drill soldats after room where you place the cog in the story (I usually don’t use magnum on soldats, but its easier here because 1 comes after the other and you may not have any mines left).
– 3* on sisters
– 1* on armoured soldat before Sturm spawns (I would run out of my final magnum ammo just before Sturm, but reasoned that if I tried to conserve it I would die anyway).
In the final area where Sturm spawns, I would ignore him and run around and take out all the standard enemies instead, maintaining combo as much as possible. There is a mine around here if you really want to try, but low pistol ammo will start becoming a factor here too. Sturm isn’t worth it on Factory 2 if your ONLY objective is S-rank for the trophy. I had about 650K points after Stage 1.
Mercenaries has broke me, I have tried endlessly to get legendary cowboy, I have to give up
How has anyone been able to finish these Merc levels?!
I have worked soo hard to try and Platinum this game by my goddddd, I cant even get S rank on The Castle and The Factory, let alone even try the later levels.
Such a shame that this kind of trophy is blocking a Platinum 🙁
Every attempt I try, I am always short thousands of points. I have tried sniper strat, machine pistol strat, being faster and not killing everything, trying to get the best combo, but im always short.
For the people saying ‘this is easy’, how did you do it?!
Aaaaaaand it’s done. Got SSS rank first go at Mad Village 2, got Masamune and Blade Master and just absolutely obliterated everything in my path. Tough but pretty fun experience overall, great plat! Proud of this one.
Does getting above a B rank net you the 5000 Lei automatically or do I have to get a B rank then an S rank?
Nvm I ended up getting all S ranks and a double s rank on castle 2. Got my platinum.
If anyone can do a share play on the ps5, i would love them forever.
Psn: BrawlyWally
I must concur with several others here. They SYG is the way to go. It does just as much damage as the Sniper Rifle, if not more so. And if, like me, you’re not great with accuracy it allows a little more leeway. The strats are solid, though. Follow the vids, they are a great guide but I suggest the SYG over the Sniper.
100% – I almost never used the sniper rifle during the game, so trying to switch to it just for mercs didnt work for me…SYG crushes.
Another thing that really helped me was learning to aim for the legs on certain enemies…pretty much everything in the game is vulnerable in the legs, and most enemies fall/stagger with enough shots to the legs. All the trash vamps fall down with one shot. Obvious to some i’m sure, but I was always trying for the head, or the heart on soldats, but they fall as well with a few shots to the legs…sweep the leg Jonny
I really need help getting 2 more ss ranking. Got all ss or above on all mercenaries except factory 2 and castle 2. I can’t even get a in either one. Having real issues. Plus under my challenges under gun slinger it only show 5of 8 complete for A ranking. Which I got 6 boards 4ss and 2sss. My game is busted somehow, as I have never had problems doing my mercenaries. Challenging yes, but always have got them done. Could someone please seriously help me here.
Ps4 Blood-Slurpie
For those that have lower skill at these type of games (like me!) here is my advice for the last 4 stages to get bar minimum S rank for the platinum:
1. Pistol/Magnum is much easier than the knife. But you have to get all handgun ammo in each stage so you don’t run out.
2. Play like old school Doom. Ideal for those who aren’t great at headshots. For most enemies, don’t aim down sights, shoot at the hip. Strafe left and right. Turn off camera shake and adaptive trigger in settings.
Zombies: shoot legs, easier target.
Lycans: shoot chest, easier target. If you are 1 on 1 with one, be aggressive and charge them and shoot, closer you are, more damage.
Archer Lycans: If they are directly in front of you, you can still charge them and shoot their arrows. If they are far from you, strafe left and right while you are shooting to avoid arrows.
Vampires, Cyborgs, Giants or Armoured Lycans. Use magnum on them, but aim down sights, as bullets are very limited.
3. If you are only looking for the S Rank for platinum, here’s how you approach the final stages:
Most important, memorize everything for the 1st stage of each level. This is key. You need to get a perfect combo only on the first stage, this will setup you up to mess up lots on future stages and still get S rank. Memorize your path that has orbs, money and enemies so there isn’t too many detours to mess up your combo on the first stage. Restart stage 1 over and over until you get a perfect combo, then when you do, continue on. The exception is the Factory 2. If you get a perfect combo up to the 3 vampire ladies (2/3 of the 1st level), then as long as you kill all remaining enemies you will still be setup to get S rank on stage 2 as long as you kill mostly everything.
*** Again: ace the first stage and get a perfect combo, then coast to your S rank on future stages. It really works for those who aren’t as skilled ***