Mercenaries: Difference between revisions

<noinclude>This page lists mercenary information in PD2. </noinclude>Changes from the vanilla game are shown in <span class="nmod">blue</span>.

 

== General ==

* <span class="nmod">Mercenaries now have the same stats regardless of which difficulty they're hired from, and their scaling has been improved to be more consistent throughout the game.</span>

* <span class="nmod">There are now two versions of Act 5 mercenaries. (see differences below)</span>

 

== Equipment ==

[[File:Mercenaries.png|right]]

All mercenaries can equip helms, chests, <span class="nmod">gloves, boots, & belts</span>.

 

Act 1 mercenaries (Rogue Scouts) can equip bows <span class="nmod">(including Amazon bows), crossbows, & quivers</span>. <span class="nmod">Rogue Scouts use the same animations for both bows and crossbows, making crossbows much stronger than they otherwise would be since crossbows normally have slower animations.</span>

 

Act 2 mercenaries (Desert Guards) can equip polearms, spears, & javelins.

 

Act 3 mercenaries (Iron Wolves) can equip shields, <span class="nmod">Paladin shields</span>, 1-handed swords, <span class="nmod">wands, scepters, tipped maces (not clubs/hammers), knives (daggers/throwing knives), & Sorceress orbs</span>. Iron Wolves don't have a blocking animation, so can't block even while wearing a shield.

 

Act 5 mercenaries (Barbarians) can equip swords, <span class="nmod">axes, tipped maces/hammers (all maces except clubs)</span>, & Barbarian helms. Barbarian mercenaries don't have a hit recovery animation, so cannot be put into hit recovery or be knocked back.

 

 

Mercenaries can get set bonuses when equipping multiple set items.

 

Ethereal items do not lose durability when mercenaries use them.

 

When Desert Guards or Barbarian mercenaries use 1-handed weapons, their weapon damage is doubled.

 

== Auras ==

* <span class="nmod">Mercenaries from all acts now have auras, rather than just Act 2 mercenaries.</span>

 

 

'''Act 1 Rogue Scout'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

</ul>

 

'''Act 2 Desert Guard'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

</li>

 

<li>

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

</ul>

 

'''Act 3 Iron Wolf'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

</li>

 

<li>

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

</ul>

 

'''Act 5 Barbarian'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

</ul>

 

== Skills ==

* <span class="nmod">Act 3 mercenaries (Iron Wolves) now have their own elemental masteries and use the following skills:</span>

**'''Whirlwind''': <span class="nmod">Whirlwind</span>, <span class="nmod">Battle Cry</span>, & <span class="nmod">Battle Orders</span> instead of <span class="omod">Bash</span> & <span class="omod">Stun</span>

 

'''Act 1 Rogue Scout'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

'''Fire: Merc Fire Arrow |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Cold: Merc Cold Arrow |'''

</ul>

 

'''Act 2 Desert Guard'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 3 Iron Wolf'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

'''Fire: Merc Meteor |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Fire: Merc Fire Ball |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Cold: Merc Cold Mastery |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Cold: Merc Blizzard |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Cold: Merc Ice Blast |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Lightning: Merc Lightning Mastery |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Lightning: Merc Lightning |'''

</li>

 

<li>

'''Lightning: Merc Static Field |'''

</ul>

 

'''Act 5 Barbarian'''

<ul>

</li>

 

<li>

'''Concentrate: [[Bash]] |'''

 

 

<li>

'''Whirlwind: Merc Whirlwind |'''

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Whirlwind&nbsp;Level

</li>

 

<li>

'''Whirlwind: [[Battle Cry]] |'''

</li>

 

</ul>

 

== Stats ==

<li>

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

</li>

 

<li>

'''Act 2 Desert Guard |'''

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

</li>

 

<li>

'''Act 3 Iron Wolf |'''

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

</li>

 

<li>

'''Act 5 Barbarian |'''

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

|}

 

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" | Merc Level

<br>

 

'''Notes:'''

* Attack Rating values do ''not'' take into account the extra AR given from dex

* Their stats ''may'' differ depending on their level and which difficulty they were hired in, but this is really only an issue for early game or in instances where a low level character is in a higher difficulty than expected (see below). Any merc that's level 80 or above will have the same stats regardless of what difficulty they were hired in.

 

<br>

 

There are various level "breakpoints" in the game files that affect how things are calculated. Normal has 3, NM has 2, Hell has 1 (Normal breakpoint #3 == NM breakpoint #2 == Hell breakpoint #1)

<br>

* Hell: HP: 900 Def: 744 Resist: 121

 

You can see that all of the stats match, so in this case it does not matter which difficulty you hire your Rogue in. But what happens if we hire a level 66 Rogue?

* NM: HP: 882 Def: 729 Resist: <span class="d2-red">118</span>

* Hell: HP: <span class="d2-red">870</span> Def: <span class="d2-red">722</span> Resist: 120

 

In this case sometimes the Hell Rogue ends up with slightly worse stats and sometimes slightly better. So what about a level 36 Rogue?

* NM: HP: 342 Def: 279 Resist: <span class="d2-red">66</span>

* Hell: HP: <span class="d2-red">40</span> Def: <span class="d2-red">18</span> Resist: 80

 

This is a pretty drastic difference. However, as soon as the Rogue levels up to 67 then the stats will match again -- regardless of which difficulty they were hired in.

 

 

== Skill Probabilities ==

Each mercenary has a certain probability of using a given skill. Below are the odds for each of the skills.

 

''(Auras, Battle Orders, and Mastery skills are not listed here as they are always "on")''

 

 

'''Act 1 Rogue Scout'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 2 Desert Guard'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 3 Iron Wolf (Fire)'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 3 Iron Wolf (Cold)'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 3 Iron Wolf (Light)'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 5 Barbarian (Concentrate)'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

'''Act 5 Barbarian (Whirlwind)'''

<ul>

</ul>

 

== Other Info ==

* <span class="nmod">Act 1 mercenaries (Rogue Scouts) now have a baseline 66% pierce chance

** +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)