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Mercenary Mechanics

Last Updated: March 1st 2024

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Mercenaries, sometimes referred to as "Hirelings", are a great source of utility for every Character in Diablo 2 Resurrected. It is very important to know the Mercenary Mechanics to make good use of them, as they add immense Quality of Life, and strong boosts to your Character. The developers took the liberty to implement names and aliases from Blizzard employees, important members of the Diablo 2 fan community, and as rumor has it, their significant others.

Mechanics

  • A Mercenary can only be hired from a special NPC in the Act it resides in.
  • The special NPCs of each Act can revive any fallen Mercenary for up to 50,000 Gold, depending on its Level.
  • The Stats of a Mercenary increase with each Level gained. Check out the individual Mercenaries below.
  • When you get too far away from your Mercenary, it teleports to you without any visual animation.
  • Using Teleport yourself teleports your Mercenary to the target location as well.
  • Mercenaries can provide your Character with up to 2 Auras.
  • Ethereal Items do not suffer from Durability loss when equipped on a Mercenary.
  • Healing Potions, Rejuvenation Potions and Wells can heal a Mercenary.
  • Hiring a new Mercenary while having one already causes items on the already existing Mercenary to disappear forever. Make sure to take off the items first before choosing a new Mercenary!

NPCs

The Mercenaries types can be hired at the special NPCs in their respective Acts. When you don't have a Mercenary when completing Quest 2 in Act 1, 3, or 5, the NPC gifts you their respective Mercenary base type. Any special NPC is capable of reviving any Mercenary type.

NPCMercenaryRequirementQuest Reward
Act 1KashyaRogue ScoutQuest 2 is completed
or
Character Level 8
Yes (Quest 2)
Act 2GreizDesert Mercenary-No
Act 3AshaeraIronwolves-Yes (Quest 2)
Act 4Tyrael--No
Act 5Qual-KehkBarbarianQuest 2 is completedYes (Quest 2)

Act 1 - Rogue Scout

This Mercenary can be hired at Kashya in the center of the Rogue Encampment, as a Cold or Fire variant. When completing Quest 2 in Act 1, Kashya gifts you a random Rogue Scout which fights by your side and hiring new ones becomes possible. If you don't complete this Quest, you can hire them starting at Character Level 8.

Equipment

  • Bows / Amazon Bows
  • Helmet
  • Body Armor
Cold Rogue

Skills

The Cold version of the Rogue Scout uses cold arrow, freezing arrow, and inner sight.
Note: The Rogue Scout uses her Attack Rate for casting Inner Sight. It is NOT affected by Faster Cast Rate!

Faith
Harmony

Setup

This Rogue uses Faith Matriarchal Bow to provide Physical Damage attack builds with fanaticism.

A Vampire Gaze and Shaftstop, both socketed with Um Runes provide much-needed Physical Damage Reduction and All Resistances.

Setup

This Rogue uses Harmony Matriarchal Bow to boost the Characters movement speed with vigor.

A Vampire Gaze and Shaftstop, both socketed with Um Runes provide much-needed Physical Damage Reduction and All Resistances.

Breakpoints

Similar to Characters, Mercenaries have Breakpoints to improve their animation speed. The Rogue Scout only benefits from +% Increased Attack Speed and +% Faster Hit Recovery. She uses her Attack Rate to cast Inner Sight and doesn't block. Check out the D2planner for the Attack Speed Breakpoints, as they change depending on the Weapon used.

Hit Recovery Rate

The Hit Recovery Rate determines how fast the Rogue Scout can recover from a heavy hit.

Faster Hit Recovery061320325286174
Hit Recovery Frames1110987654

Names

The names of Mercenaries are randomly generated and are independent of the variant you choose. As the amount of Rogue Scouts that Kashya can offer you is limited, not every Name from this list will be available every time:

Available Names

Act 2 - Desert Mercenary

They can be hired From Greiz in the northern corner of Lut Gholein. All versions of the Desert Mercenary use jab as their main attack. In Normal difficulty you only have access to 3 of the Auras. In Nightmare and Hell, all 6 Auras are available for hire.

Normal

Prayer
Defiance
Blessed Aim

Nightmare / Hell

Thorns
Holy Freeze
Might

Equipment

  • Spears, Polearms, and Javelins
  • Helmet
  • Body Armor
Holy Freeze Aura

The Holy Freeze Aura Mercenary is used on non-Physical Damage builds that don't have issues with Immunities and want to get some extra Crowd Control.

Insight
Infinity

Setup

The Desert Mercenary uses insight to provide your Character with a large amount of Mana Regeneration from meditation. Built in an Ethereal Elite Base like a thresher, or giant thresher allow him to deal decent Physical Damage.

An Andariel's Visage, socketed with a Ruby Jewel of Fervor and Fortitude Sacred Armor make him tanky and self-sufficient.

Setup

The Desert Mercenary uses infinity to provide elemental damage builds with conviction, which can break immunities or simply lowers a monsters Resistances.. Built in an Ethereal Elite Base like a thresher, giant thresher, or war pike allow him to deal massive Physical Damage.

An Andariel's Visage, socketed with a Ruby Jewel of Fervor and Fortitude Sacred Armor make him tanky and self-sufficient.

Breakpoints

Similar to Characters, Mercenaries have Breakpoints to improve their animations. The Desert Mercenary only benefits from +% Increased Attack Speed and +% Faster Hit Recovery. He doesn't cast any Skills and doesn't block. Check out the D2planner for the Attack Speed Breakpoints, as they change depending on the Weapon used.

Hit Recovery Rate

The Hit Recovery Rate determines how fast the Desert Mercenary can recover from a heavy hit.

Faster Hit Recovery059142030426086142280
Hit Recovery Frames15141312111098765

Names

The names of Mercenaries are randomly generated and are independent of the variant you choose. As the amount of Mercenaries that Greiz can offer you is limited, not every Name from this list will be available:

Available Names

Act 3 - Ironwolves

They can be hired from Ashaera in the northerwest corner of the Kurast Docks. Ironwolves can be hired as a Cold, Fire, or Lightning variant. Ashaera gifts you an Ironwolf if you have no other Mercenary in your employ when you complete Quest 2 in Act 3. Despite using a Shield, Ironwolves are not capable of blocking!

Equipment

  • One-handed Swords
  • Helmet
  • Body Armor
  • Shield

Setups

Lightning
Fire
Cold

The Lightning Ironwolve uses Charged bolt, lightning, and static field. It is a great alternative to other Mercenaries, if their impact is not too significant.

Setup

The Iron Wolve Mercenary uses Crescent Moon and Griffon's Eye, socketed with a Rainbow Facet to increase the effectiveness of his Static Field

A Shaftstop provides much-needed Physical Damage Reduction, and when socketed with a Fal Rune, he can use an Ethereal Spirit Monarch for additional Faster Cast Rate.

The Fire Ironwolve uses Fire bolt, Fire Ball, and Enchant. Builds that fight the Ubers benefit massively from enchant, which grants a massive boost in Attack Rating.

Setup

The setup goal of this Iron Wolve is to get as much +x to Skills and +x% Fire Skill Damage as possible. It uses a Flickering Flame Diadem, Hexfire, and an Ormus' Robes with +3 to enchant. An Ethereal Spirit Monarch can be equipped after putting a Fal Rune into the Armor.

The Cold Ironwolve unfortunately doesn't get any use. He only provides some Crowd Control and almost no damage, making him a terrible Mercenary.

Breakpoints

Similar to Characters, Mercenaries have Breakpoints to improve their animations. The Ironwolves only benefit from +% Faster Cast Rate and +% Faster Hit Recovery.

Cast Rate

Faster Cast Rate081526395886138
Cast Rate Frames1716151413121110

Hit Recovery Rate

The Hit Recovery Rate determines how fast the Ironwolf can recover from a heavy hit.

Faster Hit Recovery05813182432466386133232
Hit Recovery Frames17161514131211109876

Names

The names of Mercenaries are randomly generated and are independent of the variant you choose. As the amount of Mercenaries that the Ashaera can offer you is limited, not every Name from this list will be available:

Available Names

Act 5 - Barbarians

They can be hired From Qual-Kehk at the fountain in Harrogath. You have the option between a One- or Two-Weapon weilding Barbarian.

Equipment

  • A Sword (Bash) or two 1-handed Swords (Frenzy
  • Helmet
  • Body Armor
Frenzy

The Frenzy Barbarian uses Frenzy, Taunt and the passive Skill iron skin.

Dual Plague
Dual Lawbringer
Dual Crescent Moon
Crushing Blow

Setup

The frenzy Barbarian uses 2x Plague Cryptic Sword. This acts as a budget Mercenary to break Elemental Immunities. It is also the best option for some Poison Damage builds.

A Fortitude Sacred Armor, and a Vampire Gaze make him tanky and self-sufficient.

Setup

The frenzy Barbarian uses 2x Lawbringer Cryptic Sword. This setup is used to proc Decrepify on monsters to remove their Immunity to Physical Damage or just reduce their Physical Resistances.

A Fortitude Sacred Armor, and a Vampire Gaze make him tanky and self-sufficient.

Setup

The frenzy Barbarian uses 2x Crescent Moon Cryptic Sword. This setup is used to proc static field on builds that don't get much benefit from other Mercenary setups.

A Fortitude Sacred Armor, and a Vampire Gaze make him tanky and self-sufficient.

Setup

The frenzy Barbarian uses Lawbringer Cryptic Sword and Death Phase Blade. This setup is used to proc Crushing Blow in combination with decrepify on builds that otherwhise struggle with Act Bosses.

A Fortitude Sacred Armor, and a Vampire Gaze make him tanky and self-sufficient.

Breakpoints

Similar to Characters, Mercenaries have Breakpoints to improve their animations. The Barbarian only benefits from +% Increased Attack Speed and +% Faster Hit Recovery. He doesn't block. Check out the D2planner for the Attack Speed Breakpoints, as they change depending on the Weapon used.

Hit Recovery Rate

The Hit Recovery Rate determines how fast the Barbarian can recover from a heavy hit.

Faster Hit Recovery0715274886200
Hit Recovery Frames9876543

Names

The names of Mercenaries are randomly generated and are independent of the variant you choose. As the amount of Barbarians that Qual-Kehk can offer you is limited, not every Name from this list will be available every time:

Available Names

Revival Costs

Your Mercenary can die in combat, or if your Character dies. Reviving your Mercenary requires Gold. The amount depends on the Level of the Mercenary (hlvl) and is capped at 50,000. The formula for this is simpler than it looks:
x Gold = min(int(hlvl * hlvl/ 2) * 15, 50,000)

Examples

hlvl = 57:
x Gold = min(int(57 * 57/ 2) * 15, 50,000)
x Gold = min(int(1,624.5) * 15, 50,000)
x Gold = min(1,624* 15, 50,000)
x Gold = min(24,360, 50,000)
x Gold = 24,360

hlvl = 92:
x Gold = min(int(92 * 92/ 2) * 15, 50,000)
x Gold = min(int(4,232) * 15, 50,000)
x Gold = min(4,232 * 15, 50,000)
x Gold = min(63,480, 50,000)
x Gold = 50,000

Summary

  • The Act 2 Desert Mercenary is the most frequently used one because of their powerful Auras.
  • Mercenaries can be revived. This has an increasing Gold cost, capped at 50,000 Gold.
  • The Mercenary NPCs are Kashya (Act 1), Greiz (Act 2), Asheara (Act 3), Tyrael (Act 4), and Qual-Kehk (Act 5). They can all be used to revive Mercenaries. You can hire the respective Mercenary type from them (Except Tyrael - Act 4 has no Mercenary).
  • They can provide up to 2 Auras. Stacking more Auras leads to the deactivation of one of them.

Credits

Written by Teo1904
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi

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