Mercenary leader (Dungeoneering)

Beta

The Mercenary leader is a monster in Daemonheim released in the third major Dungeoneering update. It is often found dressed in full celestial robes. It can be found in an empty room, and attacks with a style similar to that of a Forgotten mage of about the same level. The Mercenary leader also summons Forgotten mages, warriors, and rangers, each somewhat less powerful than the Mercenary leader. Depending on what tier the Leader is, the summoned enemies used to be of equal tier. For example: if the Leader is tier 5 (which is level 81) it will summon only Forgotten Warriors/Rangers/Mages from tier 5, nothing else. This has been changed to half its tier. After the Mercenary leader is killed, the summoned mercenaries will teleport away.

One can choose to kill the summoned mercenaries, but this is only recommended when the Leader is Level 9 or 26 since the summoned enemies will not deal over 100 damage (tier 3 mages can deal that high), and especially not on anything above tier 9 (tier 9 mages hit over 200 very commonly, rangers are extremely accurate, and warriors deal high amounts of damage). Your team could also do this on Mercenary Leaders between tier 1- tier 7 (Level 9-134) if you are ready to do so and everyone jump on the summoned enemies as soon as they appear.

Strategy
Since the Mercenary leader attacks only with magic and summons Forgotten mages more frequently than warriors or rangers, players should use Protect from magic, wear melee armour, and attack the Mercenary leader first. Once the Mercenary leader is dead, the other summoned mages, warriors and rangers will eventually teleport out and disappear, so it is suggested to wait outside the room for this to happen, unless the leader is of a very low level.

The most effective strategy to kill the mercenary is to rush. As the Mercenary leader will only summon new Forgotten mages, rangers and warriors when the player is in the room directly outside the Mercenary room, it is an effective maneuver to make Gatestones and drop them two squares from the Mercenary room. Then, just use Protect from magic, rush the Mercenary, and teleport out if too many of its summoned warriors and rangers appear. Do not worry about the mages, as you'll be praying against their attacks anyway. Wait until all the summoned minions disappear, then repeat the process. It is possible to complete this puzzle without dying once with this strategy. It could also be a good idea to drop a personal gatestone next to the mercenary and teleport in after the room is cleared. Using this strategy will save you a lot more prayer points. However, if you are soloing and do not have any laws, and if the leader is of a high level, you will most possibly be killed from the leader's mages, warriors, and rangers.

Alternatively, soloing players can wait outside of the room until there are only rangers and/or mages summoned. This is a notably effective tactic and saves food in the long run, because summoned rangers hit much lower for their level than the warriors, and the mages' attacks will be negated by Protect from Magic. If a warrior appears, teleport out and wait for it to disappear or be replaced by a ranger or a mage. The downsides of this method are that it can dramatically increase the amount of time spent on one dungeon, and consumes large amounts of prayer points, which can be a problem if an altar has not been revealed or constructed. If you can make regular or strong rejuvenation potions, along with making the herbs and getting materials, feel free to do this method. However, if you end up with a leader summoning tier 8-11 Forgotten Rangers, this can still be dangerous as the rangers can hit more often, and deal very high damage (from 150-209).

Another way for teams to take down the leader is to wait for one type (preferably mages) to be summoned. Then, send one player in with Protect from Magic, high level melee armour, and a shield with a Tank class ring to tank the hits. Have the rest follow in and pile the leader. This will reduce the damage caused to those who are attacking the leader, and subsequently reduce their chance of death. This takes even longer than the soloing strategy, and may still be ineffective, as the tanker will have a very high risk of death if he/she is tanking the hits from multiple combat styles, particularly if there are warriors attacking him/her.

Remember that the warriors will be using various weapons; the leader does not summon one type of warrior. Players will need to be on their feet; as warriors using Argonite mauls can hit well into the 200s.

100% drops

 * }

Trivia

 * The Mercenary Leader has been completely rewritten as of 15 March 2011 to reflect the level of the Dungeoneering party, which means his combat level isn't always 203 anymore.
 * In addition to the above, the mercenary leader may occasionally summon mages, rangers, and warriors wearing lower tier equipment than his. It is not uncommon to see a tier 4 mercenary leader summon tier 3 or lower backup.
 * It used to be possible for small F2P teams with high combat levels or a large F2P team with only one player with a high combat level to get the level 203 (Tier 11) version of this monster. It was also possible for a player as low as combat level 30, possibly even less, to get the level 203 mercenary leader in even a small solo dungeon. Players have reported this to be frustratingly hard fight as they have to fight alone against very accurate and high hitting tier 11 warriors, mages and rangers. This has fortunately been fixed as of 15 March 2011.
 * Some players complain over the difficulty of this room as it often requires most or all members of the team to successfully complete. Others complain that it is also very hard to solo without very high level tier weapons and armour, making it virtually impossible for F2P dungeoneers. In response to the complaints, Jagex completely rewrote the Mercenary leader challenge room, making the highest level only possible for dungeoneers with very high (115+) combat levels.
 * Sometimes a glitch may appear when the Mercenary Leader goes to a corner it may become invisible and the examine option will appear blank in the chat box.
 * Unlike other mages, Mercenary Leaders only drop bones.
 * Using a binding spell such as Entangle to immobilise the Mercenary leader will not prevent him from moving away after he binds a player in melee range. This also seems to apply to Forgotten mages and Astea Frostweb, and is most likely a glitch.
 * Before 15 March 2011, players could tell what tier the Mercenary Leader would send because their armour they would wear. Now, most Mercenary Leaders will be wearing Celestial robes, regardless if the tier they send is 6 or above.
 * Even though the Mercenary Leader wears their tier's robes depending on their combat level, the Blightleaf version is missing. Also, any Mercenary Leader above tier 6 would be wearing Celestial, even though they are level 203, the level used to send tier 11 units.
 * The Wildercress Hood glitch was known to affect tier 2 Mercenary leaders (level 26). This has been fixed.