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Introduction
Most of the following information has been collected from the AB forums, as a reference for other Basiners. Credits are listed at the bottom of the page. You can discuss changes/corrections to this page in this topic.
Useful Links
1.09
Thoughts on mercenary types 1.09 thread, good general info.
1.10
Level Up Guide
Optimizing Merc Levelling by Crystalion
1.1x
Attack Speed Calculator - check breakpoints for merc weapons
Faster Cast Speed for A3 Mercs
Complete Hireling Stats
General
Arreat Summit Hireling Page - use at your own risk
List of possible mercenary names
Tankazon Resource - click Bonuses on the left. Then click the desired mod for equipment (FCR, FHR, etc) and it will list the items with that mod.
Delirium FAQ - all things Delirium, plus merc info
A3 Mercenary Full Power Guide by Red-Chaos(H)
1.11
The most important change 1.11 brought is this: You no longer have to level up your merc. When you hire a mercenary now, they will be within 5 levels of your character. They also keep up with your level much more easily now after you hire them.
When you hire mercs, their stats may appear incorrect on the hiring screen. However, once you actually hire them, their stats will get updated and will display correctly.
When 1.11 first came out, the ctc Valk on the 'Peace' runeword "worked" for mercs, but caused the game to crash. Blizzard disabled the mod for mercs afterwards.
General Mercenary Facts
Items/Mods
- The mod: Prevent Monster Heal does not work for mercenaries. It has no effect at all.
- Most other mods (Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, Chance to Cast on Striking, Faster Cast Rate, Faster Hit Recovery, Increased Attack Speed, etc.) do work for mercs. There are some other specific instances that I'll cover in later sections.
- Mercs can use Critical and Deadly Strike. Both effects will double only the physical damage of the attack.
- For questions about using the Delerium runeword on your merc, see the Delirium FAQ.
- Ethereal items will not lose durability when equipped on a mercenary.
- Equiping a mercenary with the mod "-x% to Enemy _____ Resistance" will help your merc's damage, but it will NOT help your character's damage.
- Medium and Heavy armors do slow down the movement speed of mercenaries.
Levels
- In vanilla D2 and LoD, mercs hired in normal difficulty have better stats than those hired in Nightmare, and those are both better than those hired in Hell. In 1.11, you should always hire your mercs in Normal, since they will always have better stats, the exception being the Nightmare Act 2 mercs, which have different auras than Normal A2 mercs. The level of your character when you hire them has no bearing on their stats, only the difficulty you hire them in matters.
- In D2R, mercenaries' stats are independent of the difficulty level they were hired in.
- The highest level a merc can be is 98.
- When mercs levels up, their current life is set to their new base maximum life. So, if a merc is under life bonuses from Battle Orders, Oak Sage, or equipment, you will see their life drop. Don't be alarmed when this happens, your merc isn't about to bite the dust.
Skills
- Mercs skills do synergize with each other when applicable. As an example, an Act 3 Iron Wolf's Ice Blast will synergize with its Glacial Spike.
- Related to the above, mercs are NOT affected by the charge synergy bug (bug removed in 1.11).
- Mercs will benefit from:
- +all skills
- +fire skills (when applicable - Fire Iron Wolf or Fire Arrow Rogue)
- +specific skills (if they already have the skills (e.g. an act 3 merc will benefit from an Ormus Robes' skill if he posseses that skill already, even though it says (Sorceress Only))).
- +class skills in D2R if they are considered that class (Rogue Scout as Amazon, Barbarian as Barbarian class).
- Mercs will not benefit from:
- +skilltabs
- +class skills in LoD (not even barbarian mercs with +all barbarian skills gear)
- In D2R, act 1 rogues can use amazon-only bows and they will benefit from + amazon skill levels. Act 5 barbarians finally benefit from + barbarian skill levels.
Misc
- Mercs only have Strength and Dexterity, so +Vitality and +Energy mods have no effect. They do have life (so +Life works), but not mana.
- Since mercs do not have mana, mana potions and Mana Burn will not work on them. If you try the shift + 1 method to feed your merc a mana pot, he/she will thank you, although you yourself will drink the potion. They are simply granted "infinite" mana to cast spells.
- "Act 5 mercs regenerate their health fully in 16.4 seconds, whereas all other mercs require 41 seconds." - Zath
- Poison can kill your merc, even if you are in town.
- You can use healing potions or rejuvination potions on your mercenary by selecting a potion and dropping it on their portrait in the top left corner of the screen. Another way to do this is to hold Shift and press 1,2,3, or 4 - which correspond to your belt slots. Yet another way is holding Shift and right-clicking on a potion in your belt.
- Similar to giving a merc a potion using the portrait: you can give your mercenary equipment via the portrait. If they are able to equip the item, it will work. If they are already wearing this type of item, it will be exchanged for the new one.
- If your merc is wearing either Gold Find or Magic Find gear, you will receive those respective bonuses to your drops when the merc makes a kill. Example, 100% MF on char, 125% MF on merc. If you make the kill, 100% MF is in effect. If the merc makes the kill, 225% MF is in effect.
- The price of resurrecting your merc is capped at 50000 gold.
Hiring levels (1.10)
This is a list of the merc levels you will have to pick from based on Act and Difficulty Level (Expansion Only). Note that you can't buy a merc whose level is higher than your own:
Possible levels at hiring
|
Normal |
Nightmare |
Hell
|
| Act 1
|
3-7 |
36-40 |
67-71
|
| Act 2
|
9-13 |
43-47 |
75-79
|
| Act 3
|
15-19 |
49-53 |
79-83
|
| Act 5
|
28-32 |
58-62 |
80-84
|
Damage Modifiers
From Tommi
| Attacking |
Modifier |
Notes
|
| Players |
17% |
(So, a mercenary attacking a player only does 17% of its normal damage)
|
| Hirelings |
25%
|
| Golems |
100% |
(no modification)
|
| Monsters |
100% |
(no modification)
|
| Minions* |
100% |
(no modification)
|
| Normal Act Boss |
50%
|
| Nightmare Act Boss |
35%
|
| Hell Act Boss |
25%
|
"*" A minion is any creature a player controls, except a hireling or a golem.
When defending, hirelings take 100% from all sources except other Hirelings, which is 25%.
Survival Tips
- You can use healing potions or rejuvination potions on your mercenary by selecting a potion and dropping it on their portrait in the top left corner of the screen. Another way to do this is to hold Shift and press 1,2,3, or 4 - which correspond to your belt slots. Yet another way is holding Shift and right-clicking on a potion in your belt.
- Put life leech on them! Give them a weapon with decent damage, coupled with life leech. Put Amn runes in their weapons. Use helms and armors with built in leech.
- Use a Wand of Life Tap on switch for really tough and/or unleechable monsters.
- Keep them close to your level and don't fight monsters that are too far above your level.
Act 1 Rogue
Equipment
They tend to stay out of harm's way reasonably well, so life leech isn't mandotory, but a little bit certainly helps. Increased Attack Speed can help (check speed calculator). These mercs are good at activating Chance to Cast mods without being in the thick of the battle. Blinding, fleeing, amplify damage, etc.
Hit Recovery
Hit Recovery Breakpoints
| Frames |
FHR %
|
| 11 |
0
|
| 10 |
6
|
| 9 |
13
|
| 8 |
20
|
| 7 |
32
|
| 6 |
52
|
| 5 |
86
|
| 4 |
174
|
| 3 |
600
|
Act 2 Town Guard
- Very popular because they share an aura with you and your party members.
- Also very popular because of the fact that Aura When Equipped sources of some desirable auras (Conviction, Meditation, Pride) were polearms in LoD.
Some of the runeword bases were later expanded in D2R to other item types.
- Can use Spear, Javelin, and Polearm class weapons, except not the Amazon-only spears. They won't ever throw the Javelins.
- Their Jab has 2 hits.
- Blessed Aim is mutually exclusive with the Amazon skill Penetrate in LoD. Fixed in D2R.
Equipment
Get him a big damage polearm or spear. Mods to look for are: Crushing Blow, life leech, +life, resistances, Faster Hit Recovery, Chance to Cast amp damage or decrepify, Slows Target (especially on Holy Freeze merc).
Available Auras
Normal/Hell difficulty (LoD) / all difficulties (D2R)
| Type |
Aura
|
| Combat |
Prayer
|
| Defensive |
Defiance
|
| Offensive |
Blessed Aim
|
Nightmare difficulty (LoD) / Nightmare/Hell difficulty (D2R)
| Type |
Aura
|
| Combat |
Thorns
|
| Defensive |
Holy Freeze
|
| Offensive |
Might
|
Hit Recovery
Hit Recovery Breakpoints
| Frames |
FHR %
|
| 15 |
0
|
| 14 |
5
|
| 13 |
9
|
| 12 |
14
|
| 11 |
20
|
| 10 |
30
|
| 9 |
42
|
| 8 |
60
|
| 7 |
86
|
| 6 |
142
|
| 5 |
280
|
Act 3 Iron Wolf
- Do not have blocking animations. "This means they do not getting blocking check at all. The Shield will just be there for the non-blocking attributes such as defense and any other magical properties that it has such as resisitances, fast cast, skills, etc." - Ruvanal
- +Glacial Spike, +FireBall, etc. will help these mercs. The only places to get these are from Ormus' Robes or two pieces of the Trang's set. Note that the +Fireball bonus from Trang's will be capped at +3.
- Anything that is +sorceress skills, for example: +2 Fire Skills (Sorceress Only) will not work, but the +3 Fire Skills of Hexfire (and the Flickering Flame in D2R) would.
- Items that lower enemy resistance (such as the Crescent Moon runeword, facets, etc.) will benefit these mercs.
- Can complete the Isenhart set (for whatever that's worth).
Equipment
You want +All Skills and Faster Cast Rate. Everything else is secondary because they tend to survive fairly well on their own unless you let them get swarmed. The Spirit rune word makes an excellent weapon for them (and actually is the only available weapon with +all skills and FCR bonuses). You would need +strength on your helm/armor to let them use a Spirit shield since the lowest strength requirement on a 4 socket shield is 156 on a Monarch (146 if ethereal). They top out at 153 str at level 98 and have 137 str at level 85, just to give you an idea.
See the Act 3 Mercenaries Full Power Guide for more ideas.
Spells
This chart assumes they were hired in Normal difficulty and have no +skills. The numbers reflect the synergy bonuses when applicable.
Iron Wolf Spell Damage
| Merc Level |
Fireball |
Inferno |
Ice Blast |
Glacial Spike |
Charged Bolt |
Lightning
|
| Level 30 |
35-40 |
58-75 |
85-93 |
45-58 |
6-9(8 bolts) |
1-130
|
| Level 60 |
195-224 |
73-79 |
253-266 |
130-153 |
14-18(13 bolts) |
1-398
|
| Level 85 |
334-372 |
108-115 |
463-480 |
280-312 |
22-27(17 bolts) |
1-871
|
| Level 98 |
415-457 |
128-136 |
651-672 |
371-408 |
27-32(19 bolts) |
1-1217
|
- Inferno is bugged to do half the listed damage.
Faster Cast Rate
Faster Cast Rate Breakpoints
| Frames |
FCR %
|
| 17 |
0
|
| 16 |
8
|
| 15 |
15
|
| 14 |
26
|
| 13 |
39
|
| 12 |
58
|
| 11 |
86
|
| 10 |
138
|
Hit Recovery
Hit Recovery Breakpoints
| Frames |
FHR %
|
| 17 |
0
|
| 16 |
5
|
| 15 |
8
|
| 14 |
13
|
| 13 |
18
|
| 12 |
24
|
| 11 |
32
|
| 10 |
46
|
| 9 |
63
|
| 8 |
86
|
| 7 |
133
|
| 6 |
232
|
| 5 |
600
|
Act 5 Barbarian
- These mercenaries possess the skills Stun and Bash.
In D2R they also use Battle Cry.
- D2R also introduced dual wielding Barbarian Mercenaries. They utilize Frenzy, Taunt, and Iron Skin.
- They can use primal helms.
- In D2R, they benefit from Barbarian Skill Levels and Barbarian skill tree levels.
- They have a 5% chance of doing critical hits, the other mercenaries do not.
- They regenerate their health fully in 16.4 seconds.
- These mercenaries can complete the Sazabi Set.
- They do not have or benefit from +sword mastery such as on Bloodletter.
- Act 5 mercenaries receive a 70% bonus to their poison resistance in all difficulties.
- The Act 5 mercenary normal attack has 2 hits, similar to the A2 mercenary's Jab.
- They will benefit from +Bash or +Stun on a barbarian helm. However, those helms shouldn't exist in 1.1x, but in very rare cases they can spawn.
Equipment
They can wield one-handed and two-handed swords but in LoD they cannot dual-wield two one-handed swords. Life leech, FHR, resistances, etc are good. They're about the same as A2 mercenaries except for the weapon differences. Lawbringer has become somewhat popular because of the chance to cast Decrepify.
Hit Recovery
Hit Recovery Breakpoints
| Frames |
FHR %
|
| 9 |
0
|
| 8 |
7
|
| 7 |
15
|
| 6 |
27
|
| 5 |
48
|
| 4 |
86
|
| 3 |
200
|
What Merc for Build X?
Well, there are far too many builds to list a merc for each one. In general, pick a mercenary that compliments you well. I'll make some general comments on mercs that might work well. Ultimately, it's usually a matter of personal preference. This list is based on my opinions/experiences and on what I've read here in the forums.
Physical damage, melee fighter
- You can pick a ranged merc that deals elemental damage (A1 or A3).
- A2 desert merc with an aura that helps you. Blessed Aim if you need AR, Might if you want more damage, Holy Freeze if you need some crowd control, Defiance if you want more defense.
- A2 desert merc with The Reaper's Toll or A5 barbarian with Lawbringer (to proc Decrepify).
- Don't forget A1 mercs can help your AR with Inner Sight. Alternatively, you can use A2 desert merc Infinity (for Conviction aura).
Elemental damage, melee fighter
- Pick a ranged merc that deals damage of a different element.
- Pick a physical damage merc. A2 Might or A5 Barb.
- A2 desert merc with Infinity (Conviction).
Caster characters
- These characters usually want a tank. Any A2 or A5 merc will work.
- Holy Freeze is popular since it slows the monsters down (even cold immunes) and keeps them from running up to you and smacking you around.
- Defiance if you want him to survive well. Might is also a good contender since more damage = more leech.
- Barb merc. More aggressive than A2 mercs, and most of the standard auras don't help a caster much (meaning Might, Blessed Aim, etc.).
- Prayer/Insight combo. "Unlimited" mana and double healing from Prayer. In D2R healing can be doubled by equipping Cure (or tripled with both Insight and Cure).
- For elemental damage builds: A2 desert merc with Infinity (Conviction aura).
- If you are a Sorceress or have Enigma, keep in mind that you can teleport to reposition your mercenary.
Summoners
- Necromancers and in D2R Druids.
- The Necromancer Room's consensus seems to be: Thorns is good in NM or when you are fighting monsters that are above your level. Blessed Aim also gets a nod in NM to help with Skeleton Attack Rating versus higher level monsters. Might is better in Hell and when your level is at or above those of the monsters you are fighting.
- Ranged merc since the melee is covered by minions. This isn't terribly popular, since if you have lots of minions, you want to have an aura to share with them.
- With runewords, an Act 1 Rogue can now provide the Vigor (to help minions keep up when you are running) Thorns, Fanaticism and in D2R also Concentration auras.
Act 2 desert merc can provide Concentration or Conviction this way, in addition to own aura.
- Druids: since most pets deal physical damage, consider using A2 desert merc with The Reaper's Toll or A5 barbarian with Lawbringer (to proc Decrepify).
Credits
BIG thanks go out to adeyke, Ruvunal, Zath, brianc84 and many others from the AB forums who did all the real work, and ThePlatypus for compiling it here. Also, thanks to Tommi for his excellent pages of information, found here. All the hit recovery information is from him, found here.
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