Difference between revisions of "Mercenary"
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** +all skills | ** +all skills | ||
** +fire skills (when applicable - Fire Iron Wolf or Fire Arrow Rogue) | ** +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))) | + | ** +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 (mercenary)|Barbarian]] as [[Barbarian (Diablo II)|Barbarian class]]). |
*Mercs will not benefit from: | *Mercs will not benefit from: | ||
− | |||
** +skilltabs | ** +skilltabs | ||
+ | ** +class skills in LoD (not even barbarian mercs with +all barbarian skills gear) | ||
===Misc=== | ===Misc=== | ||
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==Survival Tips== | ==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. | * 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 | + | * Put life leech on them! Give them a weapon with decent damage, coupled with life leech. Put Amn runes in their weapons. Use [[helm]]s and [[armor]]s with built in leech. |
− | * Use a Wand of | + | * 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. | * Keep them close to your level and don't fight monsters that are too far above your level. | ||
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==Act 2 Town Guard== | ==Act 2 Town Guard== | ||
* Very popular because they share an aura with you and your party members. | * 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.<br/>Some of the [[Rune Word|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. | * 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. | * Their Jab has 2 hits. | ||
− | * Blessed Aim is mutually exclusive with the Amazon skill Penetrate. | + | * Blessed Aim is mutually exclusive with the Amazon skill Penetrate in LoD. Fixed in D2R. |
===Equipment=== | ===Equipment=== |
Revision as of 16:32, 30 June 2024
IntroductionMost 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 Links1.09 1.11The 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 FactsItems/Mods
Levels
Skills
Misc
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:
Damage Modifiers
"*" 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
Act 1 Rogue
EquipmentThey 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
Act 2 Town Guard
EquipmentGet him a big damage polearm. 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
Hit Recovery
Act 3 Iron Wolf
EquipmentYou want +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 runeword makes an excellent weapon for them. 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.
Faster Cast Rate
Hit Recovery
Act 5 Barbarian
EquipmentThey can wield one-handed and two-handed swords but 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
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
Elemental damage, melee fighter
Caster characters
Summoners
CreditsBIG 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. |