How To Make The Most Of Mercenaries In Diablo 2: Resurrected, you can play with a companion other than the Summon Necromancer or the Beastmaster Druid. Following the completion of the game, players will be given four mercenary choices to fight alongside them. They’ll always be present and active, even if all they do is follow the character around and fire a few shots.
However, if players must pay for a mercenary, they should make the most of it. Leaving extra damage, tanking, and support on the table in Diablo 2: Resurrected is a common mistake that will be exposed during boss fights and on harder difficulties. Don’t make these errors; instead, learn how to make the mercenary a true companion.
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Maintain Their Equipment
Weapons, body armour, and helmet slots are available to mercenaries. Examine the extensive list of Runewords and provide them with the best equipment available. If players equip them with elite gear, their damage could be higher than the main character’s.
When it comes to mercenary equipment, there are a few key principles to keep in mind. For starters, they will not abandon their equipment when they die. Second, use Ethereal equipment, which is 50% better than mercenary equipment and does not degrade in durability. Third, hiring a new companion or dismissing a mercenary will permanently delete any equipment they use, so make sure to unequip them first.
Best Weapons
- Infinity
- Insight
- The Reaper’s Toll
In general, the best weapon comes down to three options: the Infinity, the Insight, and The Reaper’s Toll. Infinity bestows the Conviction Aura, which reduces enemies’ elemental resistance. Insight grants the player a Meditation Aura, which increases mana regeneration. The Reaper’s Toll also applies the Decrepify debuff to enemies it hits, slowing them down and reducing their damage and physical resistance.
Best Armor
- Fortitude
While it isn’t exciting, most players consider Fortitude to be the best mercenary armour for any build, regardless of build. It paralyses enemies, and the increased damage is ideal for the hireling as a frontline combatant. There’s plenty of tankiness on it.
Best Helm
- Andariel’s Visage
- Anything with lifesteal
While it’s important to master any professional techniques offered, it all starts with a solid foundation. The mercenary’s primary means of survival is lifesteal, and the source of this comes from the helm. In terms of mercenaries, the Vandariel’s Visage is statistically the best helm, but the most important thing is the lifesteal.
Passives Over Actives
Mercenaries are effective, but humanity hasn’t yet reached the point where AI outperforms human intelligence. As a result, even if they have a piece of gear that grants them active skills, mercenaries are unable to use them effectively. However, this does not imply that all skills are useless.
Load them up with passive abilities that give them and the player bonuses and auras. Longer missions, such as figuring out how the Cairn Stones work, are made much faster with the help of a mercenary who boosts the team’s abilities.
Play Through All Three Difficulties
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Activating legacy mode is purely a matter of personal preference, but selecting a difficulty level has more consequences than simply making the game easier or harder. By completing the game on all three difficulties, players gain access to various variations of the same mercenary.
Aside from level, players will notice distinct differences in the companions they hire after several runs through the game. The Rogue can use fire or cold arrows, the Desert Mercenary has one of six auras (Prayer, Defiance, Blessed Aim, Thorns, Holy Freeze, and Might), and the Iron Wolf can use fire, cold, or lightning battlemages. Act 5’s Barbarian Warrior has no different variations.
Best Mercenary?
While there is some debate, it is generally accepted that most builds will benefit the most from the Desert Mercenary due to their auras. The other three mercenaries appear to be more focused on damage, but due to item limitations, their damage should probably be secondary.
Of course, there are exceptions: for tank players, the additional damage from the Rogue or the Iron Wolf just barely edges out the Desert Mercenary. However, all S-tier guides use the Desert Mercenary, which is widely regarded as the best of the bunch.
Teleporting With Them
Teleporting is probably part of the character’s build, whether you choose a Sorceress or use the Enigma Runeword. It’s probably easier to name the builds that don’t make use of teleportation. Whatever the case may be, players should be aware of what happens when they teleport with a mercenary follower.
The Mercenary will immediately vanish from their current location and reappear in the centre of the player’s chosen location.
Heal Them With Potions
Mercenaries, like all summoned characters, are subject to death. Aside from the Rogue, they’ll generally be up close and personal with bosses and elites, which means they’ll likely die before the main character.
Their utility as a tank is already underappreciated, but keep in mind that they also assist the player with auras and items. Players will notice a drop in their overall output when they die. Players can heal their companion by dragging a healing potion over the portrait in the top-left corner.
