--UNDER CONSTRUCTION FOR 2.0! SOME INFORMATION MAY NOT BE UP-TO-DATE!--
Quick warning: All mercs have been massively nerfed in patch 2.0. Don't expect the powerhouse they used to be.
PREFACE
Hirelings, or mercenaries, are helpful companions in your adventures throughout the world of Sanctuary. They have their moments in classic Diablo II, but in Median XL, hirelings have been elevated to a whole new level of usefulness like never before.
Even though I have invested a good chunk of time into tinkering over many seasons, this guide is not meant to be all-encompassing but more of a foundation on which newer players could build their understanding and in turn, their own versions of merc if they so choose. Therefore, if you have an idea (tested or otherwise) for another merc build that isn't covered in this guide, I encourage you to share your build in the replies so the community as a whole will benefit from it.
The information found in this guide is not entirely my own original ideas. This is a collection of various players' knowledge and experience put together in one written article. There's also the Ultimate Merc Guide by BoneSpirit (found here), from which I drew inspirations. He covered more builds for Barbarians and went a bit further in itemization so I recommend checking it out.
Throughout this article you'll find many instances of Comment scattered around. These are my own unsolicited opinions and are not meant to be taken as facts.
QUICK LINKS
1 - Mercenary Overview
2 - Useful Info about Mercenaries
3 - Survivability in Ubers
4 - Choosing a Mercenary
5 - Equipment
6 - Exhibition
Afterword
Credits
"Anyone desperate enough can put up a fight against the demons, but only the exceptionally strong and brave will follow plundering maniacs such as yourself into the pits of Hell."
1 - MERCENARY OVERVIEW
1.1 - Rogues
Members of the mysterious Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, a guild of skilled archers who bravely defended the Rogue Encampment against the relentless assaults of Andariel's armies. You can hire them after completing Kashya's quest Blood Raven. Rogues come in 2 variants: Ranger and Priestess.
Unique Passive Bonuses
- Slows attackers by 25%, +1% per 5 levels
- Gains 1% Physical Resist per 4 levels
- Gains 1% chance to avoid melee attacks per 40 dexterity (60% max) Removed in patch 2.0
- Can equip Amazon class helms and bows
Comment: They have the same passives and skills, except for their respective buffs so choosing one is mostly based on the buffs. Rogues spam Barrage a lot, which somewhat limits their ranged dps but at the same time, makes them savage blenders at close range. Best paired with summoners, wolf druid, pouncers. As you can read from their list of passives, dex is their main stat so get as much as you can.
Ranger

Effect: shoots arrows at all nearby enemies
This is the main reason to use rogues. They spam this skill like it's the last thing they could do, which isn't a bad thing mind you, because it deals a massive amount of damage, especially with a decent bow.
Also very good for triggering "On Striking" procs.

Effect: buff party with 10% crushing blow, 10-40% attack speed, 10-30% EWD, and a negligible amount of magic damage.
Useful for physical summoners, especially Summoner Paladin.
Can be improved by
Relic (Dark Power)
& 
Relic
Required Level: 75
Dark Power: Doubled Magic Damage
Adds 100-200 Magic Damage
+(6 to 11) to Dark Power
Required Level: 75
Dark Power: Doubled Magic Damage
Adds 100-200 Magic Damage
+(6 to 11) to Dark Power
Scroll of Enchantment: Helmet (6)

Scroll of Enchantment: Helmet
Cube Reagent
Cube with Helm to Add Bonus
+10 to Dark Power
Dark Power Adds 1% Innate Elemental Damage per Skill Level
Cube Reagent
Cube with Helm to Add Bonus
+10 to Dark Power
Dark Power Adds 1% Innate Elemental Damage per Skill Level

Effect: fires a massive stream of arrows at nearby enemies
This is a boss-killer move. It's a shame she doesn't use it that often, but it rocks when she does.
A high damage bow is recommended to make good use of this skill.

Effect: lobs a multi-elemental arrow
She barely uses this skill at all, and when she does it's underwhelming. Pretend this doesn't exist.
Priestess

Effect: shoots arrows at all nearby enemies
Same as ranger. She's your personal moving blender.

Effect: heals party and increases damage when victim dies
This is a better buff than Dark Power. Vindicate regenerates up to 15k life over roughly 30 seconds and gives a small EWD buff when whoever has the buff scores a kill. Overall this is a very good buff for all summoners except paladin.

Effect: mercenary shoots a flurry of arrows at a target
Same as ranger.

Effect: shoots a nova of fire arrows which then homes onto enemies
Like ranger, she barely uses this skill so don't expect too much from it.
However, unlike Ranger's Trinity Arrow, this skill actually has amazing damage.
Comment: Priestess is the superior choice because Vindicate is a better buff than Dark Power, and Heartseeker is a better damaging skill than Miss Arrow. I think the only exception is Summoner Paladin because he already has Vindicate, so his Scourge gets a lot more out of the IAS gain from Dank Power.
Comment: Act 1 mercs are amazing for all builds for leveling from 1-100. They do so much damage with pretty much any bow, when your build may still be weak. I strongly recommend rushing Blood Raven quest first thing on a new character and hire one to speed up the leveling process.
1.2 - Desert Mercenaries
Commonly mistaken to be town guards (denied by Greiz), they are a band of unaffiliated mercenaries led by Greiz, who was hired by Jerhyn to defend Lut Gholein. The desert mercenaries are hireable immediately upon arriving in act 2.
Unique Passive Bonuses
- Crushing blow 15%, +1% per 10 levels (Fighter Mage doesn't have this)
- Physical resist 25%, +1% per 5 levels (will naturally cap 50% at lvl 125)
- Energy: starts with 20 and gains 4 per level
- Can equip Paladin spears and helms
- Fighter Mage: gains 1% fire and cold spell damage per level
Comment: So these mercs are kinda odd. Their regen and EWD scales with STR, but they use spears, which scales with DEX (unless Paladin spears) so if you want to make Exemplar, I'd give them a Holy Lance so you only have to care about str.
Exemplar

Effect: knockback nova which deals good weapon damage
This skill is his bread and butter. Give him a good spear and watch him clear screens.

Effect: buff which increases his (not your) defense and weapon damage

Effect: heals himself

Effect: -100% enemy defense, -10% enemy physical resistance, -25% enemy move speed and damage
Tiny area of effect and low usage frequency makes this less useful than it seems.
Still, it's a very good debuff.
Comment: He has a good mix of physical dmg and crowd-control. You can focus on building him into a physical attacker or a slow bot. He doesn't have Chronofield like Fighter Mage but Retaliate is a more reliable slow spreader.
Shapeshifter

Effect: turn into a bear, increasing life and armour
Bear form increases his life.

Effect: melee attack that sends out tornadoes
Lower damage compared to other mercs' attacks but fast and has good coverage as well as stun.
It carries all wdm properties such as crushing blow and slow, making it a decent clearing tool.

Effect: increases all damage of the party
His Bloodlust is pretty weak compared to what you can get from various items, and it will override yours, so if you value your Bloodlust, do not use Shapeshifter. Amazon's innate Bloodlust is a different skill, and will stack with his Bloodlust, giving you both buffs at the same time.
Can be improved by items with % Bonus Damage to Bloodlust & relics

Effect: teleport onto an enemy, causing a powerful shockwave
Barely does any damage, but spreads Slow pretty nicely.

Effect: melee attack that summons a ripple of spiked thorns
Decent skill but he doesn't use it frequently enough.
Comment: Used to be a very popular tank merc to go with glass cannon builds. Was nerfed to hell in patch 2.0 so now he's fairly useless. A3 mercs are tankier than bear now.
Fighter Mage

Effect: melee attack that unleashes burning nails
This is the same skill that Unholy Melee Paladin uses. Deals ok fire damage in a small area.

Effect: cast a gigantic nova that completely freezes enemies
One of the 2 skills that makes Fighter Mage good. Screenwide freeze is almost never a bad thing.

Effect: spell which sends wraiths out from a point of impact
Another paladin skill. This deals cold damage. Between this and Bloodthorns, it's kinda hard to make him useful as a damage dealer since unlike paladin, he doesn't get free dual pierce.

Effect: -10-30% enemy move speed, -5-10% enemy physical resist depening on skill levels
This skill is amazing. It slows the whole screen down to a crawl. The slow effect of Chrono can stack with other sources of slow such as
Void
and 
Void
Weapons
'Sur'
Runeword Level: 75
Adds 7-13 Damage
+(58 to 72)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target 20%
Regenerate Mana +15%
Cold Resist +40%
Physical Damage Reduced by (11 to 15)
+(3 to 5) Mana on Striking
2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Weapons
'Sur'
Runeword Level: 75
Adds 7-13 Damage
+(58 to 72)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target 20%
Regenerate Mana +15%
Cold Resist +40%
Physical Damage Reduced by (11 to 15)
+(3 to 5) Mana on Striking
2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Snowsquall

, producing a hilarious effect in farming ubers. 

Snowsquall
Gloves
'GlaIu'
Runeword Level: 105
+1% Maximum Cold Resist per 80% Cold Resist
+1 to All Skills
20% Hit Recovery
Adds 100-200 Cold Damage
(3 to 5)% Innate Elemental Damage
-(7 to 10)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Slow Target 20%
+200% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
Cold Absorb (3 to 5)%
Gloves
'GlaIu'
Runeword Level: 105
+1% Maximum Cold Resist per 80% Cold Resist
+1 to All Skills
20% Hit Recovery
Adds 100-200 Cold Damage
(3 to 5)% Innate Elemental Damage
-(7 to 10)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Slow Target 20%
+200% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
Cold Absorb (3 to 5)%
Comment: Fighter Mage is a great slow bot for farming. He could potentially work well as a mini Unholy Melee Paladin, but I don't think it's worth the effort. You want some elemental dmg? Get an A3 merc.
1.3 - Iron Wolves
Powerful spellcasters from Kurast, the Iron Wolves are the last line of defense against Mephisto's armies. You can hire them at the beginning of act 3 by talking to Ashaera.
Unique Passive Bonuses
- Starts with 200 energy, +20 energy per level
- +250 Spell Focus to spell damage, +5 per level (950 SF at lv 140)
- Total defense +250%, +10% per level
- Can equip Sorceress class body armors
As you can see, they will almost reach the 1000 SF cap without any gear. Same for their naturally high energy. Therefore, these 2 stats are wasted on them. When you gear these mercs, focus on pierce, then combat speeds, then +skill and spell damage.
There are 3 types of a3 mages: Blood Mage (fire), Necrolyte (cold), Abjurer (lightning)
Bloodmage

Effect: sends multiple fireballs in a direction
I'm not sure if it's intended or a bug, but he doesn't use this as often as you'd think for a level 1 skill. When he does though, the damage is respectable.

Effect: instantly heals everyone around him to full
The radius of this skill is roughly half a screen away from his body. Really useful for farmers that rely on a constant teleport such as Wolf and Pouncezon.
He doesn't cast this a lot so it has very limited use as a healing skill.
But it's nice for teleporting farmers since teleporting around seems to trigger the heal more often.

Effect: giant fireball that explodes in a pool of flame
This is his main skill. It's seriously strong for something that gets spammed so much.

Effect: +20-40% spell damage, +30-75% physical damage within a radius
Very good buff but extremely unreliable due to infrequent casts and tiny AoE that doesn't move with you.
Comment: His heal will instantly heal everyone to full if they're within range when he casts it. Similarly, he casts Firedance on his feet, which has limited range. Therefore, builds that can make the most use of his support skills are ranged builds that frequently teleport (assassin, paladin), or pouncers (wolf, spearzon, shunpodin/sin), and Totemancer (placing totems in the ring).
Necrolyte

Effect: casts a sphere which deals damage in an area around point of impact
Pretty sad skill.

Effect: lowers enemy damage, attack rating and move speed by -33% (static) in a small area
This is one beautiful spell and is part of why Necrolyte is so good. Can be further boosted by:
Miasma Effect Duration: +X seconds
% Bonus to Miasma Haunt Duration

Effect: rains deadly cold on target enemy
Another great spell. The delay makes it inaccurate but when there are many enemies on screen, something will get hit.

Effect: -40% enemy damage, -10% enemy cast speed
Aaaannd... here we go. Remember that lv 115 Black Road skill that Sorceress has to beat an uber level to get? Yes this merc has it. Force Blast is an extremely fast nova that covers the whole screen in magic AIDS, lowering enemy damage by a whopping 40%.
Duration is boosted by % Bonus to Buff/Debuff/Cold Skill Duration
Comment: Delayed, inaccurate ice spells make him less effective as a damage dealer (this does not mean he's weak), but Miasma and Force Blast are wonderful debuffs that he casts a lot. Squishy builds will appreciate his company in dense ubers such as Cows, Tran Athulua, Teganze, Toraja and Fauztinville. Even if you don't have any cold gear for him, he still functions at ~90% capacity due to the two debuffs. He's no doubt my favorite merc.
Abjurer

Effect: cast multiple forked lightning bolts
Bread and butter skill. Good damage and decent coverage.

Effect: throws a stone which explodes into multiple bolts upon impact
Strong singlet target skill.

Effect: casts lightning in multiple directions
I wish he would cast this more often, but then he would be overpowered.

Effect: morph into a demon, gain spell damage and speed
Superbeast buffs both his spell damage can cast speed, resulting in even more damage. The duration is quite short so we want to buff this skill's duration.
Lasts approximately 10 seconds.
Boosted by % Bonus to Buff/Debuff/Cold Skill Duration
Comment: Straight damage. Abjurer is your answer if you're just looking for pure destruction. All 3 lightning spells in his rotation are great, and Superbeast just amplifies his power even more. The Abjurer is a beautiful light show of annihilation. What's not to like?
1.4 - Barbarians
Children of Bul-Kathos, Sons of Harrogath, Mountains of Meat, Smashers of Things, Mockery of Lightwells, Targets of Overhype, Definition of Overuse, Death of Originality, and Epitome of Practicality. These mercs have been overused to death by many players but to be fair, it's not without reasons.
Barb is boring yet effective. He's a decent tank, a heavy physical damage dealer, has a good debuff in Screaming Eagle, and a screenwide stun in Thunder Slam. Overall, he's a very solid merc for many builds.
Unique Passive Bonuses
- 20% to strength, gains +1% every 4 levels
- 20% to dexterity, gains +1% every 3 levels
- Hits twice with each attack (yes you read that right)

Effect: weakens enemies and strengthens elemental damage of the party
Reduces enemy damage and speed by 5-30% depending on his skill lvl.
Enemies take extra flat elemental/magic damage: roughly 12-300 depending on his skill lvl. This is basically Doom/Banish, but better.

Effect: damages and stuns enemies in a radius
Tslam is a wonderful get-off-me skill. Can't say no to a screenwide stun.
If his gear has Slow Target %, it will slow the whole screen.

Effect: melee strike that explodes into ghostly blade
His main skill. It does so much damage.

Effect: melee attack that unleashes a shockwave through the ground
This skill slays. It's a shame he doesn't use it more often.
Comment: Barb is a very well-rounded merc. He has good damage, speed, bulk, crow-control. He's your best combo of a physical damage dealer, tank and support in one beefy package.
Shapeshifter vs Barbarian: Shifter gains free physical resist per level and will naturally cap at lvl 125 while barb relies entirely on gear for physical resist. Patch 1.7 heavily nerfed barb's total life so his hp is now just barely higher than shifter (3-5% more), with zero physical resist. Barb's superior life regen makes him better in spell-based ubers such as Teganze, but the majority of farming areas are physical-based (Cows, Tran, Dunc, Fauzt, Toraja, Vizjun) and Shapeshifter can already survive high tiered Lab with good gear so it's not like that regen has any edge to lean on. As a result of this, I now rate Shapeshifter higher than Barb as a pure tank. Barb does a LOT more damage than Shapeshifter, however, and would be a better choice if you're looking for a tank that can actually kill.
2 - USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT MERCENARIES
2.1 - Difficulty Difference
Prior to patch 1.7, mercs had better stats if hired in Normal difficulty. This is no longer the case. So if you see this mentioned somewhere, know that this bug has been fixed in patch 1.7.
2.2 - Cost of Resurrection
The cost of reviving a hireling is only based on his/her level, not equipment. Therefore, it's strictly better to always give them the best items you have to spare. The cost of resurrecting a hireling is as follows:
- Hireling lvl 1-105:
Cost = lvl x 100
ie. a lvl 50 merc costs 5,000 gold to resurrect; lvl 105 merc costs 10,500 gold. - Hireling lvl 106-150:
Cost = (lvl-90)^1.5 x 250
ie. a lvl 106 merc costs 16,000 gold; lvl 140 merc costs 88,388 gold.
2.3 - Leveling and Stats
- Mercs have massively increased experience gain. Even in endgame, a low level merc can catch up with you in a matter of minutes.
- A merc's maximum level is equal to your level. You can only hire a merc of level =
your lvl - 1
, but after that they can gain 1 more lvl to match yours. - Each merc has fixed stat growth no matter which difficulty they were hired from, or the level they were hired at. This means you can freely change merc without any real penalty. It's only a matter of gold and gear.
- Mercs in MXL don't have vitality so it will not benefit them (+Life & +Maximum Life do though). They do have energy for the purpose of calculating spell damage. However, they do NOT have mana so anything that uses mana to calculate damage won't work. Example: Mana Sweep proc on Witchmoonwon't do anything, same for the maximum mana %.Witchmoon
Amulet
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 100
1% Chance to cast level 17 Mana Sweep on Death Blow
+(1 to 3) to All Skills
+(10 to 20) Spell Focus
+(10 to 20)% to Spell Damage
Maximum Mana +(30 to 40)% - All mercs have 70% all resists at baseline. In Hell, they take -70% to all resists, bringing them to 0%. Therefore, they need an extra 75% all resists to cap at 75% (or more if you bring them to Teganze and Dimensional Labyrinth).
2.4 - Items on Mercs
- Ethereal items do not lose durability on mercs.
- Set items: Mercs do get partial and full set bonuses even though the bonuses are not displayed when you hover the cursor on the set pieces.
- The orange modifier You may Only use Melee, Summon and Support Skills does NOT affect mercs. They can equip things like Shiverhood&Shiverhood
Full Helm (Sacred)
Defense: (3596 - 4141) to (4218 - 4803)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 300
Item Level: 105
You may Only use Melee, Summon and Support Skills
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
+(30 to 40)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(15 to 25)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(15 to 20) to Winter Avatar
+(120 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(600 to 1000) Defense
Maximum Mana +(10 to 20)%
Maximum Cold Resist +3%
+100 Life on Melee Attack
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)Rodeo's Tramplerswithout any drawbacks.Rodeo's Tramplers
Greaves (Sacred)
Defense: (1819 - 2315) to (2052 - 2612)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 650
Item Level: 105
You may Only use Melee, Summon and Support Skills
+1 to All Skills
(30 to 60)% Movement Speed
+(10 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
-(5 to 20)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(15 to 25) to Death Blossom
+(120 to 180)% Enhanced Defense
+(200 to 250) to Mana
Maximum Fire Resist +1%
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4) - -X to enemy Y resistance or "pierce" only helps the merc's own attacks, not yours, and vice versa.
- Magic Find (MF) works on hirelings, but this only goes one way. When you kill a monster, the game only counts the MF% on your character. When a merc kills, the game uses the combined MF% of the merc and you. The same principle also applies to Gold Find.
- Mercs benefit from +X to All Skills, but NOT +X to [Skill Name] (such as Hailstorm on rare amulets).
- Similarly, they don't benefit from Class Skills, such as +X to Sorceress Skills on act 3 mercs, even though they use Sorceress spells & can wear Sorceress armors.
- A1 mercs can equip Amazon Bows and Helms. A2 mercs can equip Paladin Spears and Helms. A3 mercs can equip Sorceress Body Armors (as well as Vaetia's Wallsince they can normally equip Tower Shield). A5 mercs can equip Barbarian Swords and Helms.Vaetia's Wall
Tower Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (4603 - 5157) to (5543 - 6210)
Chance to Block: -1% + Class%
(Sorceress Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 460
Required Dexterity: 471
Item Level: 105
-1% Base Block Chance
-(11 to 15)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(4 to 8) to Vengeful Power (Sorceress Only)
+(4 to 8) to Warp Armor (Sorceress Only)
+(4 to 8) to Snow Queen (Sorceress Only)
+(4 to 8) to Living Flame (Sorceress Only)
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
Maximum Mana +(11 to 25)%
Maximum Elemental Resists +(0 to 1)%
Requirements -20%
Socketed (4) - Each merc has their own default weapon (even when completely naked) that automatically scales with their lvl. This means giving a high level merc a bad weapon can be worse than not giving them any.
2.5 - Combat Speeds & Breakpoints
- Use Speed Calculator to see how much speed they need.
- Then use D2stats to check their current speeds. Sometimes it bugs out and reads zero for all values. Just restart MXL and try again.
- All hirelings should have at least 86% Hit Recovery. Attack Speed and Cast Speed requirements are all over the place so use the Speed Calc above to check it yourself. Generally, aim for the highest 2-digit breakpoints. Any faster than that is up to you.
- Shapeshifter: Bear form uses Weapon Attack Speed ie. only the speed on his weapon counts and pretty much nothing else (technically attack speed on other items can contribute but this is extremely negligible on merc and only meaningful in a few cases). This means if you want him to do damage, his spear better have a lot of IAS on it. Venom Stingis an example. This quirk also makes certain relics likeVenom Sting
Holy Lance (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (132 - 147) to (580 - 605)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 514
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
10% Chance to cast level 50 Punishers on Striking
+(2 to 3) to Paladin Skill Levels
60% Attack Speed
+350 to Maximum Damage
150% Bonus to Attack Rating
30% Life stolen per Hit
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+100% to Poison Spell Damage
-(50 to 70)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(50 to 100) to all Attributes
Socketed (6)Relic (Gorefest)&Relic
Required Level: 75
Gorefest: 66 Magic Damage per Level
40% Attack Speed
+(7 to 14) to GorefestRelic (Slicer Blade)really good on his spear. When checking his speed, select 'Shapeshifter' from the drop-down menu.- Fangspearcan reach 6 frames per animation (fpa) simply by getting 172% total attack speed on it (Fangspear
Spetum (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (15 - 18) to (37 - 48)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 42
Required Dexterity: 63
Item Level: 19
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
200% Bonus to Miasma Haunt Duration
10% Chance to cast level 5 Miasma on Melee Attack
15% Attack Speed
Adds (8 to 10)-(21 to 30) Damage
+75 to Attack Rating
+(30 to 46)% Enhanced Damage
+(0 to 100) to Life
+(11 to 15) Life after each Kill
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (33 - 40) to (78 - 92)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 70
Required Dexterity: 97
Item Level: 36
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
200% Bonus to Miasma Haunt Duration
15% Chance to cast level 11 Miasma on Melee Attack
30% Attack Speed
Adds (11 to 15)-(31 to 40) Damage
+100 to Attack Rating
+(64 to 80)% Enhanced Damage
+(0 to 150) to Life
+(21 to 25) Life after each Kill
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (63 - 71) to (143 - 161)
Required Level: 44
Required Strength: 144
Required Dexterity: 193
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
200% Bonus to Miasma Haunt Duration
20% Chance to cast level 18 Miasma on Melee Attack
45% Attack Speed
Adds (16 to 20)-(41 to 50) Damage
+125 to Attack Rating
+(98 to 114)% Enhanced Damage
+(0 to 200) to Life
+(31 to 35) Life after each Kill
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (83 - 97) to (184 - 203)
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 288
Required Dexterity: 382
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
200% Bonus to Miasma Haunt Duration
25% Chance to cast level 25 Miasma on Melee Attack
60% Attack Speed
Adds (21 to 30)-(51 to 60) Damage
+150 to Attack Rating
+(115 to 132)% Enhanced Damage
+(0 to 250) to Life
+(36 to 40) Life after each Kill
Socketed (6)60% base + 15%*6 Sha/jewel + 24% Mystic Orbs
) - Venom Stingcan reach 6 fpa. He needs 180 IAS on the spear (Venom Sting
Holy Lance (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (132 - 147) to (580 - 605)
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 514
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Amazing Grace
10% Chance to cast level 50 Punishers on Striking
+(2 to 3) to Paladin Skill Levels
60% Attack Speed
+350 to Maximum Damage
150% Bonus to Attack Rating
30% Life stolen per Hit
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+100% to Poison Spell Damage
-(50 to 70)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(50 to 100) to all Attributes
Socketed (6)60% base + 15%*6 Sha/jewel + 30% MOs
) PLUS 14% more IAS on another item to make it 194% total with the spear.
- Abjurer: Superbeast morph changes his speeds. Give him at least 86 Cast Rate and 105 Hit Recovery. When checking his breakpoints, select 'Superbeast' on the drop-down menu.
- Since mercs are so slow without combat speeds, you'll see The Endless Loopa lot.The Endless Loop
Light Belt (Sacred)
Defense: 1101 to 1143
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 105
40% Combat Speeds
+(10 to 19) to Charged Strike
Slow Target 10%
+50 to all Attributes
+75 Life Regenerated per Second
+(0 to 1) Mana on Striking
Socketed (2)
2.6 - Mercs vs Bosses
Hirelings take extra damage from bosses (anywhere from 8-10 times). They also do less damage to act bosses.
- Normal: 50% less damage
- Nightmare: 65% less damage
- Hell: 75% less damage
2.7 - Bugs and Quirks
- Sometimes a merc's AI bugs out and they stop following you. When this occurs, teleport or enter a portal/waypoint to refresh their AI.
"I need nothing from my companion. No money, no financial security, no emotional support, nothing. All I want is the freedom to be myself."
~ A clueless player.
3 - SURVIVABILITY IN UBERS
3.1 - In "Rifts"
In general, mercs can take a lot of punishment that can kill even semi-tanky player builds. As long as they are adequately geared, most "rifts" (Cows, Kurast 3000BA, Fauztinville etc.) are a walk in the park for them. However there are some caveats that need addressing:
- Island of the Sunless Sea: Enemies here, including the 6 bosses inflict Fear on hit. Ranged mercs like Rogues and Iron Wolves are useful here. Barb and A2 mercs will spend half of their time running around in fear.
- Fauztinville: With half-decent equipment, all mercs will pretty much never die in Fauztinville unless you die. Mercs have fast life regeneration (especially barb) so they will out-regenerate the constant stream of small hits in Fauzt. Key stats: defense, PR, PDR.
- Bremmtown: Risky place even for the toughest mercs. Exemplar & Rogue are great here thanks to their skills. Unlucky big packs can still kill any merc though. Key stats: AoE, splash damage, defense, PR, PDR.
- Silver City: Lightwells (totems that shoot Punishers in Library of Fate and Silver Spire) are deadly, but their poison duration isn't very long anymore so mercs can now survive with just max poison resist. Key stats: defense, PR, poison resist.
- Tran Athulua: Except for well-geared Iron Wolves, all mercs have a risk of dying in Tran Athulua at all levels, regardless of equipment. This is due to the infamous Arrowside that Amazon Defenders cast upon death. This massive stream of arrows is highly accurate and carry Crushing Blow (takes a % of current life), which means even Shapeshifter or Barb at max physical resist can still die from a direct hit. A3 mercs can shrug it off with their massive defense. Key stats: defense.
- Duncraig: Slain Souls' melee attacks hit extremely hard on top of being highly accurate. Mercs can tank small groups but they all can die to a large swarm. Another deadly attack here is exploding barrel that inflicts pure magic damage. Mercs can survive a few barrels but it's good practice to teleport away from multiple barrels. Key stats: Avoid, PR, poison resist.
- Toraja: Lilith may kill them but other than that, mercs never die here.
- Teganze: Pretty bad place for mercs unless you have summons. Defense does nothing here so barb merc's high regen has the best shot at staying alive but one careless teleport can make him go poof. Key stats: reists, max res, life.
- Triune: A half-decently geared merc will never die from normal mobs here. They can even tank Malic and Lucion. The only thing that hurts is Temple Spire's Meteor. With 75 fire res and ~20k life, they can take one meteor, but not more. Key stats: defense, pr, fire/cold resist
- Dimensional Labyrinth: Mercs can survive even red tiers (11-15) with the right gear. You want to give them Maximum Elemental Resists, Physical Resist, Maximum Life % and +X to Life. Basically if you want them to live, they're not gonna do much damage but they can still tank, buff, debuff. Note that with the exception of Fighter Mage's Chronofield, the rest (Colosseum, Miasma, etc) are all debuffs, so they work in high tiered labs.
3.2 - In "Dungeons"
There are too many to list so I will only touch on some notable fights. Generally speaking, mercs don't die if you gear them well except for the obvious one-shots in ubers like Quov Tsin & Kabraxis.
- 105-115: Squishy ranged builds without summons (basically just assassin) can make great use of Shapeshifter or Barb in early ubers. Instead of kiting Butcher for 5 minutes at the risk of dying to small mistakes, simply hire a merc to tank while you do damage. They can tank him naked.
- Legacy of Blood: Similarly, it's a lot easier for squishy builds to hire a merc. GIve a shifter/barb some fire resist, physical resist, jump on Bartuc upon entering and he will tank him for you.
- Veiled Prophet: A bear or barb is very useful early on when you're not strong enough to stand still without summons. At max res and some +life, they can do this.
- Judgement Day: Bear/barb tanks very well here. Rogue is a great source of burst damage for summoners and teleporters every time you jump on top of the bosses as long as she has a good bow (T4 Herald of Skartaraworks).Herald of Skartara
Reflex Bow (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (23 - 29) to (37 - 48)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 11
Required Dexterity: 103
Item Level: 29
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
1% Chance to cast level 3 Phalanx on Kill
1% Chance to cast level 6 Celerity on Kill
15% Attack Speed
Adds (11 to 15)-(21 to 30) Damage
+(35 to 57)% Enhanced Damage
10% Magic Find
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (63 - 77) to (93 - 108)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 30
Required Dexterity: 150
Item Level: 40
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
2% Chance to cast level 7 Phalanx on Kill
2% Chance to cast level 10 Celerity on Kill
25% Attack Speed
Adds (25 to 35)-(41 to 50) Damage
+(81 to 103)% Enhanced Damage
20% Magic Find
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (124 - 142) to (173 - 204)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 48
Required Dexterity: 290
Item Level: 67
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
3% Chance to cast level 11 Phalanx on Kill
3% Chance to cast level 14 Celerity on Kill
35% Attack Speed
Adds (36 to 45)-(51 to 70) Damage
+(126 to 149)% Enhanced Damage
30% Magic Find
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (168 - 187) to (230 - 263)
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 57
Required Dexterity: 570
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
4% Chance to cast level 13 Phalanx on Kill
4% Chance to cast level 20 Celerity on Kill
40% Attack Speed
Adds (51 to 60)-(71 to 90) Damage
+(149 to 171)% Enhanced Damage
40% Magic Find
Socketed (6) - Twin Seas: She checks defense and pr. A geared A3 mercs shouldnn't die here ever. Others can tank her attacks well with some gear but there's always a chance of dying.
- Other lvl 120-125 Ubers: Except for the two mentioned above, the rest are certain death for mercs (unless they are well-equipped and are high leveled). Don't even try a fresh merc of the same lvls as these ubers.
- The Void: Most mercs can survive through all stages except for Pride and Void. Bear/barb can tank Gluttony and Wrath. All mercs can solo Greed since they don't care about his mana curse. Demonstration.
- Nephalem's Sacrifice: Any decently geared merc can survive through Uldyssian stages most of the time, including Uldy fight. One-shot moves (Edyrem's Death Strike, Radament's Thunderstone, Dialon's Flamestrike, Uldyssian's Black Star etc.) can still kill them. A shifter can tank up to 3 edyrems indefinitely. More than that will eventually kill him without your help. Shifter/barb can also tank 2/3 of the barbarian trio simultaneously. For Uldy's Black Star, just teleport to a safe spot every time Uldy casts Black Star and they'll never die.
4 - CHOOSING A MERCENARY
Disclaimer: the choices in this section are meant to complement a build or cover a niche. They are not the only viable options. If you try something different and it works, please leave a comment to let other players know.
4.1 - Based on Your Build
"I am playing a..."
Melee, physical fighter
Vesseldin/Neutraldin also falls under this category.
- Priestess provides excellent AoE damage plus Vindicate for regen and extra EWD
- Fighter Mage, Necrolyte are good for applying slow and weak
- Abjurer covers physical resistant enemies
Melee, elemental fighter
Includes Unholy Melee even though he's a spellcaster.
- Rogues once again for a personal moving blender
- Exemplar and Barb help kill absorbs
- Any A3 merc for heal, weaken, slow and additional damage
Ranged, physical fighter
Includes Manasorc, Dreameater and other physical spellcasters.
- Shapeshifter for a tank
- Fighter Mage is a good off-tank, an elemental damage dealer and support with Chronofield
- Abjurer for even more damage vs physical resistant mobs
Ranged, non-physical fighter
Elemental bowzon, Fire Bowdruid, Maelsin and the likes.
- Shapeshifter for a tank
- Barb for tanking, killing absorbs, and debuffing with Screaming Eagle
Spellcaster
For fire/cold/light/poison/magic casters. Mana sorc and other physical spellcasters fall under "Ranged, physical fighter."
- Shapeshifter best tank
- Elemental casters will love Barb to kill absorbs as well as tank for them
- Sorceress generally don't want any of the A3 mercs since she can cast all of their spells herself
Summoner
Includes Unsummonzon and Totemnecro. Summoners usually have no need for a tank, only more damage and/or buffs.
- Rogues, mostly Priestess, are especially good with teleporters thanks to Barrage and their buffs
- Ranger is better than Priestess for Summoner Paladin due to synergizing Dark Power
- Blood Mage offers full party heals and Firedance for even more damage
Warpstriker
Includes (but not limited to) Wolf, Poucezon, Pouncesin, Shunpodin, Sky Siegers.
- Rogues or Abjurer for more crazy damage wherever you go
- Elemental Archer is good for poison and/or physical pouncers like Pouncezon
4.2 - Based on Your Needs
"I am looking for..."
...more physical damage → Priestess, Barbarian, Exemplar
...more elemental damage → Abjurer, Elemental Archer
...a tank → Shapeshifter
...a healer → Blood Mage
---a slow bot → Rogue, Exemplar, Fighter Mage
...someone to weaken enemies → Necrolyte, Necrobear, Barbarian
...someone to boost me → Blood Mage, Barbarian, Exemplar, Shapeshifter
...a Dimensional Labyrinth partner → Priestess, Bear, Necrotank
"I don't know what I want" →