Meet Bors, the A5 merc I hired in hell difficulty at 91, and leveled to 92:


Now meet Frisian, the A5 merc I hired in normal difficulty at 91, then leveled to 92:


As you can see, their stats are 100% identical.

I'd read on various D2 merc guides that normal-hired mercs have slightly better stats, and higher level auras. I have no way of proving whether the Aura levels differ between norm/hell, but it would appear that the stats of A5 mercs, regardless of being hired in normal vs hell difficutly, are identical. I'm guessing the aura levels are identical as well.

Are all the guides below claiming "normal mercs better" just out of date? I assume they were correct in the past??

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/spirea/Hirelings/Stats.shtml
https://www.diabloii.net/forums/threads/ultimate-merc-guide-v3-0.306061/
https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Guide:Mercenary_Guide_v1.10

Thank you!

Normal mercs leveled by yourself used to have stats 15 years ago. Its been fixed

Now try with an a2 or a1 merc

I hired a lvl 95 a5 merc from norm and hell and they have different stats

k now get in out of normal games
check resistances on the merc yet in hell difficulty?

interesting that we are still seeing opposite claims about whether norm/hell diff for mercs is a thing or not.

@wupa claims it was fixed a long time ago.

@Hyperdimension claims it still exists. can you screenshot the stats of your lvl 95 a5 merc, in town, with all equipment dropped?

@mmx I checked in hell as well, and there was no difference.

if anybody can provide any screenshot evidence that there is a difference, i would be thrilled. i was actually disappointed that the normal merc was not better, as i was looking for some additional headroom for improvement.

do you realize that both your screenshots are in normal. If you want to know the stats of the norm and hell I hired see those tables http://www.mannm.org/d2library/faqtoids/hire_tabs.html

the thing wupa talks about is before you had better mercs if you leveled them yourself but now you can just hire them

This post was edited by Hyperdimension on Aug 16 2020 01:37pm

Hell merc
Screenshot in hell game


Norm merc
Screenshot in hell game as well:


Conclusion:
A2 mercs from norm have more stats than from hell

You however, failed somehow, to get mercs from different difficulties
Or:
i used 1.13c Plugy, then it would have been a 1.14 patch, which i doubt

This post was edited by Hell_of_Dammed on Aug 16 2020 01:51pm