Mercenaries

This page lists mercenary information in PD2. Changes from the vanilla game are shown in blue.

General

 * Mercenaries inherit the player's Magic and Gold Find when they kill enemies (e.g. if the player has 200% MF and the merc has 100% MF, the merc's total MF will be 300%)
 * Mercenaries have improved AI
 * New mercenaries:
 * One additional version of Act 1 mercenaries
 * New Act 4 mercenaries (two versions) which are robed mages of the Horadrim
 * One additional version of Act 5 mercenaries
 * Mercenaries can no longer proc summon skills (this prevents crashes)

Equipment

 * All mercenaries can equip helms, chests, gloves, boots, & belts.
 * Act 1 mercenaries (Rogue Scouts) can equip bows (including Amazon bows), crossbows, & quivers.
 * Act 2 mercenaries (Desert Guards) can equip polearms, spears, & javelins.
 * Act 3 mercenaries (Iron Wolves) can equip shields, Paladin shields, 1-handed swords, wands, scepters, tipped maces (not clubs/hammers), knives (daggers/throwing knives), & Sorceress orbs.
 * Act 4 mercenaries (Ascendants) can equip staves.
 * Act 5 mercenaries (Barbarians) can equip swords, axes, tipped maces/hammers (all maces except clubs), & Barbarian helms.


 * Old mercenaries drop their equipped items when a new one is hired.
 * Ethereal items do not lose durability when mercenaries use them.
 * Mercenaries can get set bonuses when equipping multiple set items.
 * When Desert Guards or Barbarian mercenaries use 1-handed weapons, their weapon damage is doubled - this makes 1-handed and 2-handed weapons more comparable.

Skills

 * Mercenaries have "hard points" in their skills, so will gain effects from them that are limited to hard levels.

Auras

 * Mercenaries from each act now have auras, rather than just Act 2 mercenaries.
 * Auras are always active.
 * Desert Guards no longer have different auras when hired from different difficulties - these auras are no longer available from Act 2 mercenaries:
 * Prayer (was available from Normal/Hell)
 * Might (was available from Nightmare)
 * Holy Freeze (was available from Nightmare)

Act 1 Rogue Scout   

 

  

Act 2 Desert Guard   

 

  

Act 3 Iron Wolf   </li>

 </li>

 </li> </ul>

Act 4 Ascendant   </li>

  Dark: No Aura (uses Merc Amplify Damage) | </li> </ul>

Act 5 Barbarian   </li>

 </li> </ul>

Other Skills

 * Act 1 mercenaries (Rogue Scouts) now use the following skills:
 * Fire: Exploding Arrow instead of Inner Sight
 * Cold: Freezing Arrow instead of Inner Sight
 * Magic: Magic Arrow, Strafe , & Slow Movement instead of Fire Arrow / Cold Arrow & Inner Sight
 * Act 3 mercenaries (Iron Wolves) now have passive mastery skills which grant elemental bonuses and Life after each Kill, and they use the following skills:
 * Fire: Meteor instead of Inferno
 * Cold: Blizzard instead of Glacial Spike & Frozen Armor
 * Lightning: Static Field instead of Charged Bolt
 * Act 5 mercenaries (Barbarians) now use the following skills:
 * Combat: Concentrate instead of Stun
 * Warcries: Whirlwind, Battle Cry , & Battle Orders instead of Bash & Stun
 * Mercenaries use Merc-specific versions of some skills which are balanced separately from their counterparts

Act 1 Rogue Scout   Fire: Merc Fire Arrow, Exploding Arrow ...

</li>

 Cold: Merc Cold Arrow, Freezing Arrow ...

</li>

 Magic: Merc Magic Arrow, Strafe ...

</li> </ul>

Act 2 Desert Guard   Jab ... </li> </ul>

Act 3 Iron Wolf <ul> <li> Fire: Merc Fire Ball, Merc Meteor, Merc Fire Mastery ...

</li>

<li> Cold: Merc Ice Blast, Merc Blizzard, Merc Cold Mastery ...

</li>

<li> Lightning: Merc Lightning, Merc Static Field, Merc Lightning Mastery ...


 * Static Field Duration: 13 seconds (does not scale with levels)

</li> </ul>

Act 4 Ascendant <ul> <li> Light: Holy Bolt, Fist of the Heavens, Holy Nova ...

</li>

<li> Dark: Teeth, Bone Spear, Bone Armor, Merc Curse Mastery ...


 * Curse Mastery allows an extra curse to be applied to enemies cursed by the mercenary

</li> </ul>

Act 5 Barbarian <ul> <li> Combat: Concentrate, Bash ...

</li>

<li> Warcries: Merc Whirlwind, Battle Cry ...

</li> </ul>

Skill Probabilities
Each time mercenaries opt to use a skill, they choose which skill to use at random based on the probabilities below. Some skills (auras, masteries, Battle Orders, etc) are not listed here because they are always active.


 * Note: This table is compressed. Every level will boost the odds that the Desert Guard uses Jab by a small amount.


 * }

Stats

 * Mercenaries have the same stats regardless of which difficulty they're hired from
 * Mercenary stats have been adjusted:
 * Stat scaling has been improved to be more consistent throughout the game
 * Desert Guards and Barbarian mercenaries now gain slightly less damage per level

<li> Act 1 Rogue Scout |

</li>

<li> Act 2 Desert Guard |

</li>

<li> Act 3 Iron Wolf |

</li>

<li> Act 4 Ascendant |

</li>

<li> Act 5 Barbarian |

</li>

Notes:
 * The above Attack Rating values do not take into account the extra AR given from dex
 * Attack Rating always shows up on the advanced character stats page as 0. This is likely just an issue with the advanced stats page (all other stats show up correctly)
 * Mercenaries hired from different difficulties can have different stats at lower levels, as described in the example below. Any merc that's level 80 or above will have the same stats regardless of which difficulty they were hired in.

Other Info

 * Act 1 mercenaries (Rogue Scouts) now have a baseline 66% pierce chance
 * Open Wounds now deals ¼ damage to mercenaries and pets, and can be further reduced by Physical Damage Reduction
 * Mercenaries only have Strength and Dexterity, so items with Vitality or Energy will have no effect. They do have life (of course) but do not have mana - they ignore mana costs when using their skills.
 * Mercenaries don't have separate breakpoints for different weapon types. For example, Rogue Scouts will attack at the same speed with bows and crossbows whereas characters usually attack much slower with crossbows.
 * Iron Wolves don't have a blocking animation, so can't block even while wearing a shield.
 * Barbarian mercenaries don't have a hit recovery animation, so cannot be put into hit recovery or be knocked back.
 * Mercenaries will benefit from:
 * +X to All Skills
 * +X to Fire/Cold/Lightning Skills (when applicable)
 * +X to specific skills if they use the skill (e.g. a Barbarian helmet with +3 to Bash for Act 5 mercenaries, even though it says Barbarian Only)
 * Note: Many mercenary skills are now separate versions that are distinct from player skills, so specific skill bonuses from items (such as +3 to Blizzard on Ormus' Robes) won't apply to them.


 * Mercenaries will not benefit from:
 * +X to Class Skills (not even Barbarian mercs with +X to Barbarian Skill Levels)
 * +X to Class Skill Tabs (e.g. +X to Offensive Auras or +X to Combat Skills)