The mercs are the playable classes/characters in Dirty Bomb. Currently, not all of them are available in-game. Each of them has their own health, run speed and abilities.
Mercenaries
Acquisition
Mercs can be acquired individually with in-game currency for 30,000 (Arty, Proxy, Sawbonez and Vassili) or 50,000 credits or by purchasing them at the cost of $5.99 USD (Arty, Proxy, Sawbonez and Vassili) or $9.99 USD. Proxy, Vassili, Sawbonez, Arty and Fragger come with the Ultimate Starter Pack purchasable on steam.
Alternatively mercs can be acquired in bundles, a bundle has 3 mercs and 2 elite cases and cost $19.95 USD.
- Bundle 1: BushWhacker, Proxy and Sawbonez.
- Bundle 2: Arty, Fragger, Vassili
- Bundle 3: Fletcher, Fragger, Nader
Leveling Up
Mercs themselves cannot earn exp or levels, the player has his overall level which will remain the same no matter which merc they are currently using. Exp earned through matches will go towards the player's level, regardless of which merc they were using.
Augments
- Main article: Augments
Augments are passive abilities that come with a loadout card. It is possible to have up to three augments on a card (Bronze and higher tiers). See the Augments page for more details.
Cosmetics
- Main article: Loadout Cards
There currently are no cosmetics available in the game, other than the different skins that come with loadout cards. Just like anything else on these cards, the skins are random and cannot be chosen.
Trivia
- Despite the huge amount of racial diversity in Dirty Bomb, American is still the most common nationality as it makes up for 20% of the total mercs in Dirty Bomb.
- Additionally, in an interview with the game's lead designer and lead writer in 2015 on The Mary Sue, they promised diversity despite almost half the playable cast being dark haired white men with stubble.
- Furthermore, concept art and old models revealed the game to be more diverse than it currently is: Arty, Turtle, Sparks, and Bushwhacker had darker skin, Fragger was chubbier and wore glasses, Phantom was blonde, Nader and Aura were noticeably buffer, and Phoenix had ginger hair.
- Moreover, Vassili, Sparks, and Thunder were assumed to be Russian: Vassili has a Russian name but isn't Russian; Sparks speaks Russian but isn't Russian (her Steam trading card says she's Russian but she's implied to be Bulgarian); Thunder concussed himself so hard he think he's Russian.
- All the currently playable Objective Specialists are known for having something in their mouth. Fletcher has a toothpick, Bushwhacker has a cigarette, and Proxy chews bubblegum. Although Turtle is yet to be released, it's speculated he may have a tongue piercing due to his punk fashion style.
- All the Objective Specialists have some kind of corporation design on their chest. Proxy has "proximity" (no, it isn't capitalized), Fletcher has "XInventer", Bushwhacker has "VENT", and Turtle has "I.E.P.P"
- All the Fire Support mercenaries have an antenna for calling in air support and other fire support stuff. Strangely, Stoker has one even though he doesn't call in air support or anything like that, unlike the other fire support mercs.
- Assault classes (Nader, Rhino, Fragger, Thunder) may most of the time be identified as "power" classes from most people, so don't let it confuse you!
- Currently all Objective Specialists wear the same kind of gloves. Proxy's glove have the tips cut off.
- Currently all Fire Support mercs wear the same kind of gloves (just different colors), with the exception of Arty who doesn't wear any gloves
- Currently all Medics wear the same kind of gloves, with the exception of Sparks who wears a different style
- Currently all Assault mercs wear the same kind of gloves, with the exception of Fragger who wears a different style
- The Recon class is the only class who does't have a certain style of glove, as all the currently playable Recon mercs wear a different style of gloves