Oct 6, 2026

Ashes and Ascension - Available Now

The Star League Will Rise! 

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries – Ashes & Ascension

Now available for purchase on your favorite platform!

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XBOX / MICROSOFT PC

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GOG

 

Hey Mercenaries, Ashes & Ascension is here!

Take on our longest campaign yet, featuring 18 missions, new cinematics, new 'Mechs, new variants, new weapons, new Career starts, and more.

Will you rise to the challenge?

LAUNCH TRAILER

WATCH THE LAUNCH TRAILER ON YOUTUBE >>

 

PATCH NOTES

New Content

New 'Mech Variants

  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Base Game
    • Archer ARC-5S
    • Crusader CRD-6T
    • Enforcer ENF-5D
    • Nightstar NSR-9FC
    • Warhammer WHM-7S
    • Zeus ZEU-9S2
    • Locust LCT-3M
    • Cicada CDA-3F
    • Vulcan VT-5M
    • Cataphract CTF-3D
    • Javelin JVN-11A
  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Heroes of the Inner Sphere - DLC1
    • Nightstar NSR-10P
    • Awesome AWS-9Q
    • Vulcan VT-5S
    • Cataphract CTF-3L
    • Javelin JVN-11B
  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Call to Arms - DLC3
    • Vindicator VND-5L
  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Chaos Reign - DLC8
    • Dervish DVR-7P

New Ground Vehicles

  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Base Game
    • Bulldog Medium Tank (+LRM and AC/2 variants)
    • Behemoth Heavy Tank (+Armor variant)
    • Ontos Heavy Tank (+LRM and 3053 variants)
    • Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun (+Laser and SRM variants)
    • Von Luckner Heavy Tank (+K70 variant)
  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Chaos Reign - DLC 8
    • Riverjack (Clan Heavy Machine Gun variant)

 

New Pilot Traits

  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Base Game
    • New Hero Trait: PPC Master
      • +10% damage and range
      • +5% velocity
    • New Trait: PPC Expert
      • -5% cooldown
      • -5% heat generated
    • New Trait: Gunslinger Graduate
      • +5% damage (all weapons)
      • +10% damage (additional, vs Clan opponents)
      • +10% lethality & accuracy
      • -10% injury/death chance
    • New Hero Trait: Sharpshooter
      • +5% accuracy
      • +15% lethality
  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries - Chaos Reign - DLC 8
    • New Hero Trait: Oblique Artilleryman
      • Increases artillery range and and velocity
      • Reduces artillery spread
    • New Trait: Artillery Weapon Expert
      • Increases artillery range
      • Reduces artillery cooldown

Improvements and Bug Fixes

UI Improvements:

  • Revamped the New Career Screen
    • Career starts are shown in chronological order along a timeline
    • Priority Transmissions show when they occur on that timeline and what DLC they require
  • Starmap territory changes updated till 3060, adding new conflict zones and factions
  • Updated the UI of the Transmissions Screen
    • Transmissions are now sorted by date, with newest items on top
    • Added a new icon for transmissions with rewards to claim
    • New Careers no longer receive the “Career now Available” Transmissions as that information is available on the updated Career screen
    • Updated DLC icons on base Career Mode content
  • Added the ability to hover over pilots on the Drop Preparation Screen allowing you to see their pilots traits
  • Updated Commander Mason’s portrait
  • Fixed a memory leak that would occur in the mechlab or market when mousing over weapons/equipment
  • Fixed a tooltip 'memory leak' that could occur while editing 'Mech loadouts
  • Fixed an issue where Clans weren’t able to be selected as Team Combat teams in Instant Action
  • Fixed an issue where the “Invalid 'Mech Loadout” popup could not be dismissed
  • Fixed a gamepad issue in the Barracks where the Pilot Roster and Pilot Hire inputs were swapped
  • Fixed an issue where the Response Required prompt can stay on screen if you switched tabs
  • Fixed various UI and dialogue typos
  • Localization Improvements
    • Japanese Loc update
    • Fixed some areas where text appears too small due to length in various languages

Gameplay:

  • Adding a 'Mech to Cold Storage no longer removes Upgrades
  • Added Aim Stabilization to Gameplay Settings
    • Adjusts the amount of reticle bobbing in first person view mode
    • A value of 1.0 disables all reticle bobbing
  • Fixed an issue where occasionally Hero 'Mechs would spawn at lower rates
  • Adjusted logic for how Clan mech designations appear to be scrambled
    • Before 3054 Clan mech's will gradually lose the scramble as you encounter each variant
    • After 3054 all Clan mechs will be unscrambled
  • Smoothed the Center Torso to Legs command, especially for lower frame rates.
  • Improved how aim assist area scales when zooming in
  • Added Leisure Industries and Core Systems conflict zones to campaign mode
  • Underground Turrets no longer shoot until fully deployed
  • New career starts that begin after the events of Solaris Showdown now unlock Solaris Arenas and Duncan Fisher as an announcer on Solaris VII
  • Updated the Cantina system to sometimes pull targets and rewards from other owned DLCs and modded content
    • Odds of rolling targets/rewards outside of the normal Cantina tables increases with progress in the career path
  • Fixed an issue where Clan factions would show up as operating markets
    • Markets on Clan-owned systems are operated by Independents

Missions:

  • Fixed an issue in Infiltration missions where you would be spotted at the mission start
  • Adjusted logic for random loot crates to allow them a chance to roll items not normally in their loot table
    • Odds of rolling items not in the normal loot table increase with mission difficulty
    • Items can be rolled from various owned DLCs and modded content
  • Improved scaling of random loot crate C-bill bonuses to scale with mission difficulty
  • Fixed an issue where random loot crates weren’t spawning in Guerrilla Warfare missions
  • Fixed an issue where Wolf's Dragoons could show up as rival mercs opposed to Wolf's Dragoons as an employer/opfor
  • Adjusted how Rival merc zones are removed during Clan Invasion
    • Now will only be removed if all systems in their influence are Clan-controlled
  • Added new Rival Merc Influence zones representing Clan forces that have joined the Inner Sphere
    • Clan Nova Cat fighting on behalf of the Draconis Combine starting in 3060
    • Clan Wolf-in-Exile fighting on behalf of the Arc Royal Defense Cordon starting in 3059
    • Unlike other Clan interdictions, these operate like Rival Merc encounters and will choose an appropriate side to support
  • Fixed a bug where Arena AI would be given an invalid move location that was causing them to stand still or run towards the corner of the map
  • Fixed instances of small floating rocks that would spawn on Infill Terrain tiles
  • Fixed an Instant Action issue where some low difficulty missions with clan opponents could not generate properly
  • Ideals of War Pt.3 - Fixed a floating asset issue at the primary garrison
  • The Conspirators Pt.4 - Fixed an issue where 'Mechs would drop into the canyon instead of holding their position at range
  • Crimson Crusade Pt.4 - Fixed an issue where allied 'Mechs would frequently drop down into the ambush zone
  • Out of the Fire - Adjusted enemies so they properly engage the player at the intended locations
  • Improved performance on Liao Jungle map

 Academies:

  • Added chance to gain 'Mech affinity traits to Advanced Sim Pod Training
  • Reduced weighting on 'Mech affinity traits in all graduate level programs
  • Adjusted graduate programs at NAIS, Nagelring, Princefield, and Sun Zhang
    • Added chance to gain corresponding faction patriot trait
    • Increased chances of weapon traits related to the graduate trait bonuses
    • Increased odds that a 'Mech affinity trait gained corresponds to a faction-related 'Mech
    • Adjusted weighting on skill increases and multipliers on XP gain to flavor them towards the faction and graduate trait theme
      • Example: NAIS graduate program is weighted more towards giving skill increases and XP for Ballistic rather than Energy
  • Added Gunslinger Program to Tukayyid starting in 3062
    • Includes a unique graduate trait
  • Added descriptions to academies that were missing them
  • Fixed a bug where graduate traits could be awarded if a pilot withdrew from training before it was 100% complete
  • Fixed a bug where a pilot could be enrolled in an academy for free if the player didn’t have enough funds to enroll them

Pilot Traits:

  • Added button in the barracks screen to show expanded descriptions for pilot traits
    • Updated pilot trait descriptions to add detailed information about bonuses applied by the trait when details are shown
  • Updated 'Mech affinity traits
    • Affinity traits that support multiple chassis (IIC, II, -B versions of the base mech) now have an additional note to show they support multiple chassis
    • New OmniMech variants (Perseus, Black Hawk-Ku, Blackjack Omni) added to base chassis affinity trait
    • Added support for Atlas II and Marauder II to their base chassis affinity traits
    • Added affinity traits for Nightstar (available as of 3057) and new chassis added in Ashes & Ascension
    • Diversified bonuses given by chassis affinity traits to make them feel more distinct, especially for chassis with in-universe design quirks or unique features
  • Fixed an issue where some ‘Mech affinity traits were showing up when players didn’t have access to the mech chassis
  • Increased bonus structure percentage provided by Bitter End (from 15% to 50%)
    • Design Note: this is to make the actual value in structure points be more meaningful, since it only applies to CT and Head
  • Increased bonus non-line-of-sight range of Eagle Eyes (from 100m to 150m)
  • Renamed Freeman’s unique Jenner Affinity trait to Jenner Mastery and flagged it as a hero trait
  • Added accuracy bonus to Hates {Faction} traits
  • Fixed a typo in Nagelring graduate trait and text

 

'Mechs:

  • Updated salvage share cost of 'Mechs to scale better with weight class and within a chassis
  • Fixed Duncan Fisher’s Warhammer not showing up in the 'Mech database
    • Added hero 'Mech description for WHM-DNC
  • Hellbringer: HBR-A arm weapon loadout is no longer mirrored
  • Vixen: INC-SA now has Clan Heavy Machine Guns on the default loadout
  • King Crab: KCG-001 missile pods now update to better reflect equipped weapons
  • Atlas II: AS7-D-H fixed various geo gaps
  • Uller: KFX-P adjusted default weapon groups
  • Flea: FLE-17 now shows proper geo when CT is equipped with a C-ER Small Laser
  • Flipped the Bushwacker Paperdoll
  • Added missile bay doors on the Longbow and Archer
  • Fixed an issue where the Bullshark targeting box was too large
  • Updated the descriptions of various 'Mechs that had information out of the current games timeline

 

Weapons and Equipment:

  • Adjusted Gauss Rifle VFX to detach projectile launch effects/sparks from the weapon
  • Removed the incorrect tonnage bracket requirements on the descriptions of C-MASC equipment
  • Clan Active Probes now appear properly under “Valid Only” when editing loadouts
  • Active Probes now detect underground turrets
  • Fixed Clan weapons and equipment incorrectly requiring Shadow Of Kerensky. Clan weapons and equipment are now available to anyone who owns a Clan-era DLC
  • Added a small Lethality and Accuracy bonus to Targeting Computers (scales by size)

 

Vehicles:

  • Adjusted settings for vehicle navigation and hovercraft mobility to reduce cases where some vehicles would drive in circles
  • Added weapon tier scaling for enemy vehicles
  • Vehicles and turrets equipped with custom weapons now can drop the normal 'Mech version for salvage purposes
    • Example: MRM carrier uses a custom version with different spread, it can drop a normal MRM30 for player use in salvage
    • Previously, these items would be ineligible for salvage

 

Platform Specific:

  • Microsoft Store: Fixed an issue where dialogue would cut off and not play on missions
  • Xbox One: Fixed an audio issue where Machine Gun firing would not stop

 

Modding:

  • Adjusted the timing of when mod pak files are loaded to be earlier in the game launch
    • This allows for additional assets to be overridden correctly
  • Fixed bug where pilot training was always using the default trait reward curve instead of using the one provided by the training asset
    • This only impacted modded content that was trying to use a custom curve
  • Fixed an issue where custom mod mechs have their own, duplicate entry in the Instant Action 'Mech Select list
    • This now groups 'Mechs by ChassisName in the MechDataAsset.
  • Updated the underlying system for C-Bills to use MWBigInt instead of mixed uses of Int and Float
    • Mobile HPG can now exist at full price
    • Note: this means a number of assets now have an updated field for the new data type.
      • The old c-bill cost was left as deprecated in these cases so modders can migrate their data to the new field/format
      • Scripted actions for various assets are in the editor for batch migration
        • Select assets->Right-click->Scripted Actions->Migrate Cbill Value
  • Fixed all Mechs to include Lower Arm & Hand actuators for all mechs that require them
  • Added an accessor to trace emitter to set a different ray class.
    • Also added an optimization, MWRays are only spawned initially or if the RayClass ever differs from the Spawn MWRay. Otherwise, they are reused.
  • Added support to mech affinity traits to better handle multiple 'Mech type tags
    • Deprecated the MechType tag field and migrated this data to MechTypes tag container field
    • Underlying logic continues to support the deprecated field
  • Added new ApplyUnitCardTraits function for pilot traits to implement to allow access to various settings on the unit card.
  • Fixed an issue where primary asset IDs would be missing while cooking a mod with custom hardpoint assets or other assets that interact with the Asset Manager on pre-save.
  • Added new function library to store logic for getting a timeline start date and updated a variety of hard-coded 3015 dates to use this function instead.
  • Fixed an issue where the derived 'Mech crashes the editor on boot after setting a loadout and saving

 

Tagged:  Availablenow,  Dlc9,  Patchnotes