Mercury - "Hey what's that from down th-" ZOOM!

PROS Excellent Mobility Insane damage (Able to get 1000+ crits) Snowballs easily if fed.

CONS CC is a no-no for him Really reliant on Golden Bow for clear Squishy as all hell.

Passive: Fastest God Alive

For every 1 ft traveled, Mercury gains a 0.1% physical power bonus on his next basic attack (max 50). Mercury also gains additional physical power equal to 25% of movement speed from items or abilities.

This passive rewards you for running around the map and travelling, it's why he's so good at jungle since he can roam and just one punch somebody through a wall. Also, more movement makes you more powerful

Ability 1: Made you look!

Mercury moves in the blink of an eye, dealing one melee attack to every enemy within the target area. Each hit may trigger item effects for basic attacks, and can critical hit.

Ability Type: Ground Target
Damage: 90 / 115 / 140 / 165 / 190 (+50% of your basic attack power)
Radius: 7.5 / 9 / 10.5 / 12 / 13.5
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 8s

Level this first always, it's his only form of ranged waveclear and it's the best. It also procs anything that goes off of a basic attack ( Frostbound Hammer. Golden Bow etc.) and also....IT CRITS! It can deal a **** ton of damage from range so use it as often as you can.

Ability 2: Maximum Velocity

Mercury passively gains movement speed. When this ability is activated, Mercury increases his attack speed.

Ability Type: Buff
Movement Speed: 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 10%
Attack Speed: 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70%
Duration: 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5s
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14s

Nice and simple, movement speed buff and an attack speed buff. Note that the active portion only gives you the attack speed, not movement. Apart from that, it allows merc to do insane fisticuffs.

Ability 3: Special delivery

Mercury dashes forward, knocking aside minions, grabbing the first enemy god he encounters and spinning them. The enemy god takes damage until the effect ends, and Mercury throws the god in the direction of his choice.

Ability Type: Dash
Minion Damage: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+60% of your physical power)
Damage per Tick: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+15% of your physical power) every 0.25s
Damage (Total): 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+60% of your physical power)
Duration: 1s
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 15s

This is probably your only decent initiation/escape to someone as it grabs them and throws them in the direction you're looking. Try to aim them at a wall if you can to limit movement choices and if possible follow with Made You Look to get extra damage onto them.

Ultimate: Sonic Boom!

Mercury gathers energy for a powerful dash, with the range extending as he does so. He travels the distance faster than the speed of sound, dealing damage to all enemies, stunning them and spinning them around in a random direction.

Ability Type: Dash
Damage: 200 / 275 / 350 / 425 / 500 (100% of your physical power)
Disorient Duration: 1.5s
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Cooldown: 90s

Probably one of the farthest reaching ground ultimates in the game, Sonic Boom allows mercury to essentially travel down the lane and probably past the towers. Use it to initiate but try and land just behind them to land the damage and the disorient which is a rather soft CC but enough.

Need I say why?

You NEED this item to do any good at clearing camps as mercury's early game suuuucks major balls and getting this second can really help you out with poke and clear.

Now building crits this early might not be great but if you are I recommend using this over DB mainly because you get more power out of it.

Picking this up fourth allows merc to still stay relevant for the mid-late game as it just allows him to punch through people's defences.

For any build involving Crit, this is probably a must have. 40% extra damage is a absolute wonder and can give you the 1000+ crit damage.

Soul eater is one of the many items you can build on mercury to give him some survivability due to attack speed and the lifesteal. Also, movement speed so it's obvious why you'd get it.

Attack speed, Penetration and Lifesteal. Pretty darn nifty if you ask me

Now since it's update in 3.8, I think this can help mercury probably more so then soul eater. It gives a shield and allows merc to move faster which gives more power which in turn gives more potential to punch more people to death or escape.

This is the only time I'll recommend this item at all. It gives attack speed and movement and allows you to stick to people. I hate the item but it is justified by giving more power to merc

Now before you get your knickers in a freakishly big twist, this can actually benefit the speed demon. Giving 40 power and 40 defence when under 50% health can really be useful for just reducing that tick damage you may have picked up from say a Ah Puch or a Vanish.

If you decide to do more split pushing rather than ganking then just get this, walk up to a tower and start punching it. If you use Maximum Velocity with this you'll easily reach 2.5 and the tower will gone in at least 3-7 seconds with a minion wave.

Wind Demon

If you feel like you don't move fast enough then sacrifice DB for this and you'll be moving faster than the speed of sound.

TIP #1: MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!MUDA!
Punch everything whenever you get a chance. Literally just walk up to someone and punch them if you reach late game. Early game however just use Made You Look to poke them down and then go in and give them the good ol' 1, 2.

TIP #2: TOWER DIVING AT IT'S FINEST!
When you've punched someone and they've barely escaped. Try to back off and make them lazy back under tower. Then proceed to use Sonic Boom and remind them to go behind the tower next time they decide to back by gently flinging them back to spawn.

TIP #3: SPEED IS SOMEWHAT NEEDED!
Now I know most people when they first pick up Mercury are like "BUILD ALL OF THE ****ING MOVEMENT SPEEEEED!" And then proceed to do so. Don't. Instead, think like a smart player and try to stay in a sensible range with the movement speed. I tend to go for the 500 range but experiment with what you find is a nice speed.

Mercury will always be one of those hyper-carries who can get a penta out of nowhere or feed the team. Play smart and you'll be running rings around your opponents.

Happy Hunting,
-Sods

As of late, Golden Bow has been removed completely. Many people are saying that Ritual Dagger will replace it but I highly doubt this. For now I'm thinking of considering Masamune or Stone Cutting Sword to be inserted into the core build. When 3.12 hits I'll experiment and see what works. The core build as of now - minus golden bow - is perfectly fine.