Which difficulty has the best mercs?

I'm a bit confused at which merc has the best stats. I remember from this one place that they said Hatred mercs have the best stats because as they level up, they gain a lot of bonus stats that isn't there by hiring a high level Hatred merc. I also notice that Terror mercs have the highest HP and def out of all the difficulty. I'm confused as to what difficulty gives to highest stats.

leveling a merc from hatred to destruction , as you advance into the game , will give the highest stats . it is also a matter of items/buffs and curses that might apply in some arreas (act 4 as example - there you might get cursed to have decreased stats for a short while , in act 5 you often get cursed - your armour gets rusty - to have reduced armour for a few seconds ) . taking the path of leveling the merc while leveling your character will ensure it's highest stats , no doubt . Try to decide what merc you will use while you are in hatred , buy it and keep it untill he will no loger be usefull and you will be able to farm any spot without the help of a merc .

FYI Chuck, that's outdated info from the Amazon Basin that pertains to either non-mxl, or patch 1.10 and before, not sure which, but in any regards, I was told by several forumers that the mechanic to which you refer is defunct and it does not matter in what difficulty or act you purchase your merc any longer; the stats will be the same at the clvl they're at. Can someone confirm this please, because I don't have a link to the info from the old forums.

LFAQ wrote:Q: Do mercenaries hired at lower levels gain better stats?
A: No. No matter what you may have heard until now, the level at which the merc is hired is completely irrelevant. What does matter is the difficulty in which it was originally hired. A merc hired in Hatred has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Terror, and a merc hired in Terror has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Destruction.

TLDR: Difficulty matters (the lower, the better), level at which merc is hired doesn't.

Taem wrote:that's outdated

it isn't . i have fun with mercs all the time ( i tend to make them kamikaze-like with after death /when struck procs :lol:

since i don't use them as a help , i use them a source of entertainment rather than not using them at all

) , i leveled 4 mercs (and characters) in the latest patch this month for example then switched arround and bought new ones and there where differences in matter of HP / Stats/ Defence .

Taem wrote:Can someone confirm this please

Trang Oul wrote: A merc hired in Hatred has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Terror, and a merc hired in Terror has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Destruction.
TLDR: Difficulty matters (the lower, the better), level at which merc is hired doesn't.

actually leveling the merc doesn't make a difference, but the difficulty in which it is hired does.

tl;dr always hire mercs in hatred for best stats

Interesting, so I was half right anyway. I do wish the old mechanic remained, because in d2 classic, I did love leveling mercs from clvl1 to give them wicked stats. I remember you couldn't cow them because of the way they got exp, so you had to let them go into the field and kill for themselves to level up... if you took the time; and the result was a powerful merc. Maybe Marco can bring back this "feature " ?

also, iirc they lose some stats if they die, so you gotta rejoin the game.

Trang Oul wrote:
LFAQ wrote:Q: Do mercenaries hired at lower levels gain better stats?
A: No. No matter what you may have heard until now, the level at which the merc is hired is completely irrelevant. What does matter is the difficulty in which it was originally hired. A merc hired in Hatred has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Terror, and a merc hired in Terror has better stats than the same type of merc hired in Destruction.

TLDR: Difficulty matters (the lower, the better), level at which merc is hired doesn't.

Thanks for the info! I didn't noticed the LFAQ has that too.

Asked the following in the Short Questions Thread but didn't get a response.

nShaken wrote:What impact does the difficulty you hire a merc in have on its stats?

I've seen some posts recommending to hire your mercs on Hatred for best stats and wanted to verify.

For reference, I made a quick set of screenshots comparing the hire lists for Act 1 mercs across the three difficulties (Hatred, Terror, Destruction). The third row in each screenshot has a LVL 114 Ranger for easy comparison.

http://imgur.com/a/WcLXv

The Terror mercs actually seem good here for the increased life. Or would the higher def on the Hatred versions be better? The differences are a little more pronounced on the other Merc types with higher Life / DEF

I'm looking at hiring an A3 Abjurer (or Bloodmage) and see the following LVL 116 stats in the NPC's hire list:

Hatred: 7616 LIFE, 3850 DEF
Terror: 12128 LIFE, 2965 DEF

The Terror variant seems more appealing to me for the amount of life it gets compared to its loss in defense. I don't know what their other base stats are like, was hoping someone might be able to clarify the differences before I blow a bunch of money on buying and comparing.