Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s mercenaries don’t escalate on their own: they hunt you only while a bounty is on your head. Ubisoft’s own E3 2018 preview says that “without an active bounty, they’ll leave you alone,” and Steam’s global achievement percentages show what players do with that: 40.4% of owners have pushed their bounty to the maximum, 29.0% hold the top-of-the-ladder achievement, and about 32% have finished Episode 9 and the Epilogue. This guide is for a first playthrough. It explains the bounty-and-ladder loop, the two settings worth checking before you leave the first island (Guided or Exploration, and Enemy Scaling), and what your ship crew does with the mercenaries you beat.
It is a decision guide, not a walkthrough: no quest order and no collectible maps. Mechanics were checked against Ubisoft’s launch-era posts and its 1.1.2 patch notes of 9 January 2019, and the Steam figures were read on 1 November 2026. Nothing here was play-tested for this guide, and where sources disagree the text says so. The game is Windows-only on Steam, listed at $11.99 (80% off $59.99) on the day we checked (Steam store page). For the wider series, see our Assassin’s Creed games in order guide.
Quick Start: Your First Ten Hours in Eight Steps
Eight habits cover most of what a new player needs: pick a quest mode, set enemy scaling, learn what counts as a crime, know the three ways out of a bounty, and put your mercenary wins to work on the ship. Do them in this order.
- Pick Guided or Exploration. You can switch at any time from Options, on the Gameplay tab (GameRevolution). Guided gives waypoints; Exploration makes you scout with your eagle, Ikaros.
- Set Enemy Scaling. Patch 1.1.2 added Default, Heavy, Medium and Light. Default is the safe choice for a first run (details in the scaling section).
- Learn the four crimes. Stealing from marked containers, murdering innocents or non-aggressive enemies in public, trespassing in enemy territory while spotted, and sinking non-aggressive ships raise a bounty (Push Square). Bandits and pirate ships do not.
- Open the Mercenaries menu once. Ubisoft says a look at it “will give you an idea of your ranking.” Tier 9 is the bottom of the ladder, and you climb by beating higher-tier mercenaries.
- Know the three exits from a bounty. Pay on the world map, kill the Sponsor, or lie low. The table below compares them.
- Knock out mercenaries you want to keep. Knocking one out, rather than killing them, gives you a chance to recruit them as a lieutenant on your ship.
- Upgrade the Adrestia early. 63.2% of Steam owners have done the first upgrade, and 62.6% have recruited a Legendary NPC for the ship.
- Check your Mercenary tier after big fights. Most tiers pay a bonus (tiers 8 to 2 in the sources we found), and the ladder table lists them.
What the Mercenary System Is, and What Ubisoft Never Published
Ubisoft explained the loop in 2018; what it never published are the numbers. Its Game System post says “the mercenaries are divided into nine tiers,” that you climb by “killing them or recruiting them for your ship,” and that crimes raise a bounty so mercenaries “from all over the world will come after you.” The E3 preview adds the rule most guides skip: the bigger the bounty gets, the more other mercenaries will actively hunt you, and without one they leave you alone. So the system works like a thermostat, not a timer. Crime heats it, time and money cool it, and ignoring it only means the hunters stay until it decays.
Does it escalate if you ignore it? Not in anything we found. Game Informer writes that bounties slowly decrease if you stop committing crimes, although hunters keep coming while any bounty remains. Push Square adds that “the higher your bounty is, the longer it takes to fall.” What does escalate is the bounty level itself: level 1 sends one mercenary, level 2 up to two, and higher levels raise the chance of stronger ones. Game director Scott Phillips is quoted there saying a five-star bounty “takes a long time to store up.”
And the “nemesis loop”? Game Informer’s writer compares the mercenaries to Origins’ Phylakes “with a little bit of Shadow of War’s Nemesis system.” That is a reviewer’s comparison, not a developer claim, and we found no source saying a mercenary grows stronger by killing you. The structure we can source is a fixed ladder: beat a higher-tier mercenary, take their slot, and the game fills the gap with a replacement. Read “nemesis” as shorthand for the ladder, not as a promise that enemies remember you.
How Bounty Works: What Raises It, What Clears It
Push Square lists four crimes that raise a bounty (see Quick Start), and GameRevolution names a faster route: get spotted at a fort and let a soldier light a brazier, which it says can add “a couple of levels” at once. That may be why 40.4% of Steam owners have maxed their bounty. It is our inference, not a published figure.
Sources disagree on the size of the meter. Push Square and Phillips’s “five-star” quote point to five levels; GameRevolution describes three helmets. We go with five because two sources agree, but check the meter in your own game. Hunters don’t run straight at you: Phillips says they move into your area, and an alarm brings them in. Several at once feel, in his words, “like having three player characters all fighting you at the same time” (PCGamesN), and they follow you out to sea.
You have three ways out. Ubisoft’s Game System post lists paying all bounties from the world map, paying or killing each Sponsor, and keeping a low profile. Which is cheapest depends on your coin and your level, and no source we found publishes the actual drachmae cost or the decay time.
| Way out | Cost | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|
| Pay from the world map | Drachmae; the price rises with your bounty level | You carry spare coin and want the hunters gone now |
| Kill the Sponsor | Risk: Sponsors usually stand in fortified spots, and being seen killing one may raise the bounty | You can take a fort and would rather not pay the map price |
| Lie low | Time: the higher the bounty, the slower it falls | You can sail away or work in a calm region |
To avoid the map price, kill the Sponsor; to clear it fast, pay; to clear it with no effort, stop committing crimes and leave.
The Mercenary Ladder: Nine Tiers, Two Extras and What Each Pays
The ladder has nine tiers, tier 9 at the bottom and tier 1 at the top, and most tiers pay a bonus (none is listed for tier 9 or tier 1). To climb you beat or recruit mercenaries above you. Push Square’s tier list gives the rewards below; a 2020 guide from Republic World counts eight tiers, probably because it leaves out the tier-9 starting rank, which has no listed reward.
| Tier | Reward | Our take |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Starting rank, none listed | Where everyone begins |
| 8 | Blacksmith prices −20% | First saving you feel |
| 7 | Contract and bounty rewards +20% | Pays only if you take Message Board work |
| 6 | Engraving costs −20% | Useful once you engrave (60.8% have) |
| 5 | Bounty removal cost −20% | Helps the player who keeps paying off bounties |
| 4 | Ship upgrade costs −20% | Pairs with Adrestia upgrades |
| 3 | Equipment upgrade costs −20% | Our pick for best early saving |
| 2 | Better loot chance +10% | A chance, not a guarantee |
| 1 | No reward listed in the guides we checked | Top of the original ladder |
| S1 | War Contracts and Bounties pay 35% more | Unlocks after tier 1 |
| S2 | Hephaistos’s teaching costs −20% | Late-game only |
Tier 3 is our pick for best early saving because equipment upgrades are repeated purchases; that ranking is our judgement, not a sourced figure. The two extra tiers came with the 1.1.2 patch, and Ubisoft’s notes say S1 unlocks after reaching tier 1. GameRevolution reported in January 2019 that both tiers need level 70 and many tier-1 kills, and that the unlock failed for some players. We found no 2026 source saying whether that bug was fixed, so treat S1 and S2 as unverified.
What to Do When Hunters Show Up
When a hunter appears, decide in this order: can you win, do you want the fight, and do you want the mercenary alive. No source publishes a level threshold for “can you win,” so this table is our synthesis of the sourced mechanics, not a rule from Ubisoft.
| Situation | Do this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under-levelled and hunted | Leave the area, avoid alarms, or pay from the map | Hunters move into your area and an alarm brings them in |
| You want to climb | Raise your bounty on purpose and fight in the open | Hunters are how you meet higher tiers |
| You want a lieutenant | Knock the mercenary out | Knocking out gives you a chance to recruit |
| Bounty maxed by accident | Pay if you can, else kill the Sponsor, else sail off | It decays, but slowly at high levels |
The one source-backed tip for climbing is from GameRevolution’s January 2019 piece, which suggests raising your bounty so S1 and S2 mercenaries spawn. Ubisoft’s preview also says mercenaries sometimes arrive two or three at a time, so start that plan on open ground with an exit.
If You Maxed Your Bounty in Hour Two
You are not stuck, and the order matters. First, get out of sight: hunters move into your area, so leave the region, and remember they follow you to sea. Second, pay from the world map if you have the coin, since that clears everything at once. Third, if you are short, find the Sponsor’s red icon on the map, tag the Sponsor with Ikaros and kill them without being seen. Last, if neither works, do quests in a calm region and wait for it to decay. Expect it to take longer the higher it started, and expect no exact timer, because none is published.
Guided or Exploration, and the Enemy Scaling Setting
Pick Guided for a first run and leave Enemy Scaling on Default. You can swap Guided and Exploration at any time from the menu, so a wrong guess costs you little; Enemy Scaling is a menu option too.
| Setting | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Guided | Quests get waypoints and places of interest are marked | First runs, short sessions |
| Exploration | Markers are vague; you scout with Ikaros | Players who want to find things themselves |
| Scaling: Default | Content is set to the difficulty level | First runs |
| Scaling: Heavy | Content stays at your level | Players who want constant challenge |
| Scaling: Medium / Light | Content can be up to two / four levels below you | Players who want an easier route |
The scaling options come from Ubisoft’s patch notes, which also warn that changing Enemy Scaling affects loot level, “but not the Loot quality.” Kotaku explains the default: each region has two level numbers, and on normal difficulty, once you reach a region’s maximum level, quests keep scaling but eventually trail you by two levels. Guided and Exploration are described by GameRevolution’s Guided versus Exploration piece, which calls Exploration “the way the game is meant to be played,” an opinion, not a rule.
Your Ship, Your Lieutenants and Conquest Battles
The mercenary system feeds your ship. Ubisoft says recruited mercenaries boost your ship’s perks and help in boardings if you assign them as lieutenants. That is the practical payoff of knocking a mercenary out instead of killing them.
The Steam numbers show how far players take this: 63.2% have upgraded the Adrestia once, 62.6% have recruited a Legendary NPC for it, 53.5% have sunk an Epic Ship, and only 34.9% have fully crewed it with Legendary Lieutenants. Conquest battles are the other big system: you weaken a region’s Nation Power gauge, then a battle opens, and Steam’s own page advertises fights of 150 versus 150 soldiers. 51.7% have won a first land conquest battle. In our view, fill the lieutenant slots before chasing conquest.
Where Steam Players Stop
More owners have maxed their bounty than finished the story: 40.4% against about 32%. Steam’s “Top of the Food Chain” achievement reads “Become the first Mercenary”; we take that to mean tier 1 of the original ladder, not S1 or S2. At 29.0% it is nearly as common as finishing the game, while only 18.0% have completed 20 bounties, war contracts or naval quests from Message Boards. One reading is that most players climb by fighting hunters, not by taking board work, though the data cannot prove it.
Two cautions apply. Steam’s percentages are of all owners, including people who never started, and Steam publishes no denominator. Console and Ubisoft Connect players are not counted, and Steam’s figures move: a re-read can differ by a tenth of a point. Read the chart as a shape, not as a completion rate. The achievement names come from Steam’s stats page.
The Story Leak: Where Episodes Lose Players
The biggest leak is early: from the prologue to Episode 1 the rate falls 21 points, and by Episode 5 fewer than half of owners remain. After Episode 7 the story almost never loses anyone: more than 95% of those who finish Episode 7 go on to the end.
| Milestone | Steam owners | Drop (rounded) |
|---|---|---|
| Battle of 300 (prologue) | 91.6% | start |
| Episode 1 | 70.6% | −21 pts |
| Episode 3 | 59.0% | −12 pts |
| Episode 5 | 42.3% | −17 pts |
| Episode 7 | 33.5% | −9 pts |
| Episode 9 + Epilogue | 32.3% | −1 pt |
If you are past Episode 7, you are very likely to finish. This is arithmetic on Steam’s numbers, not a statement about why people stop.
Which Advice Fits Which Player
The same loop suits four kinds of player differently. New players should stay out of trouble; optimisers should invite it.
| Player type | Do this | Skip this |
|---|---|---|
| New player | Guided mode, Default scaling, no crimes until you can win a fight | Maxing your bounty at a fort |
| Casual player | Pay bounties from the map, upgrade the ship, recruit by knockout | Climbing past tier 3 |
| Optimiser | Exploration, Heavy scaling, raise bounty on purpose to farm high tiers | Light scaling |
| Completionist | Max bounty, tier 1, then S1 and S2 (level 70, and about ten tier-1 kills for S1, per GameRevolution; unverified) | Trusting the S1 and S2 unlock to work |
FAQ
Does your bounty in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey go down on its own?
Yes. Game Informer and Push Square both say it decays if you stop committing crimes, and Ubisoft says mercenaries leave you alone once it clears. No source publishes the timer, and higher bounties fall more slowly.
Should you pay off your bounty or kill the Sponsor?
Pay if you are saving time, kill the Sponsor if you are saving coin. Paying is the simplest route and its cost rises with the bounty; no source we found lists a coin cost for the Sponsor kill, but it sits in a fortified spot, and being seen may raise the bounty.
Is the mercenary ladder worth climbing?
Yes through tier 3, where the cost cuts are; tiers 2 and 1 are optional, in our judgement. Tiers 8, 6, 5, 4 and 3 each cut a cost by 20%, tier 7 adds 20% to contract and bounty rewards, and tier 2 adds a 10% better-loot chance, while no source we found lists a tier 1 reward. Only 29.0% of Steam owners hold the top-of-ladder achievement.
Guided or Exploration for a first playthrough?
Guided, unless you enjoy hunting for clues. Exploration hides exact quest locations, so a wrong guess costs you a little time, and you can switch at any time.
Is Assassin’s Creed Odyssey still worth playing in 2026?
At $11.99 on Steam (80% off) it is cheap for a long RPG, and 70.6% of owners have finished Episode 1. If you want more in the genre afterwards, see our list of the best action RPGs.
Where to Go Next
For the series order and which entries are worth playing, read our Assassin’s Creed games in order hub. When you finish Odyssey and want a similar loop, our 20 best action RPGs of 2026, ranked is the next stop, and if you also play the newer game, our Assassin’s Creed Mirage best PC settings guide covers its graphics options. We have no Odyssey spokes yet; this hub is where future Odyssey guides will link back.
Sources
- Ubisoft. The Game System of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. 26 October 2018 (https://ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/assassins-creed/odyssey/news-updates/2rmIJsZYbLUR8hAQwPzoKi/the-game-system-of-assassins-creed-odyssey)
- Ubisoft News. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: what you need to know about living a mercenary’s life in Ancient Greece. 11 June 2018 (https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/6hAuQPHGXRnvGnTQqJaz4n/assassins-creed-odyssey-what-you-need-to-know-about-living-a-mercenarys-life-in-ancient-greece-e3-2018)
- Ubisoft. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey 1.1.2 patch notes. 9 January 2019 (https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/assassins-creed/news/7wVZF02iqvTVXVQjQkwzDF/assassins-creed-odyssey-112-patch-notes)
- Game Informer. Mercenaries are the MVPs in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. 10 August 2018 (https://gameinformer.com/2018/08/10/mercenaries-are-the-mvps-in-assassins-creed-odyssey)
- Push Square. Guide: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey mercenaries, how to beat them, bounties, tiers and rewards. 5 October 2018 (https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2018/10/guide_assassins_creed_odyssey_mercenaries_-_how_to_beat_them_bounties_tiers_and_rewards)
- GameRevolution. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: how to gain or remove bounty. 1 October 2018 (https://www.gamerevolution.com/?p=438479)
- GameRevolution. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Guided Mode vs. Exploration Mode. 1 October 2018 (https://www.gamerevolution.com/guides/437727-assassins-creed-odyssey-exploration-mode-vs-guided-mode)
- GameRevolution. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Mercenary S1 and S2. 10 January 2019 (https://www.gamerevolution.com/?p=481121)
- Kotaku. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has new level scaling. 8 January 2019 (https://kotaku.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-has-new-level-scaling-1831593480)
- PCGamesN. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey wanted level. Updated 15 June 2018 (https://www.pcgamesn.com/assassins-creed-odyssey/assassins-creed-odyssey-wanted-level)
- Republic World. AC Odyssey guide: how many mercenaries are there in AC Odyssey? Updated 30 November 2020 (https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/gaming/ac-odyssey-guide-how-many-mercenaries-are-there-in-ac-odyssey.html)
- Steam Web API. Global achievement percentages for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (app 812140), read 1 November 2026 (https://api.steampowered.com/ISteamUserStats/GetGlobalAchievementPercentagesForApp/v0002/?gameid=812140&format=json)
- Steam Community. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey achievement names and descriptions (stats page), read 1 November 2026 (https://steamcommunity.com/stats/812140/achievements/?l=english)
- Steam. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey store page: price, platform, system requirements, read 1 November 2026 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/812140/Assassins_Creed_Odyssey/)
Steam achievement percentages and the price were read from Steam’s public pages and APIs on 1 November 2026 and will move. Ubisoft’s own bounty help article returned a 404 when we checked, so mechanics rest on Ubisoft’s 2018 posts, its 1.1.2 patch notes and 2018 to 2019 press guides; we did not play-test them. The chart is our own, drawn from Steam’s global achievement statistics.
Images on this page are AI-generated illustrations or our own chart, not game footage. Assassin’s Creed is a trademark of Ubisoft.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.