ULTIMATE MERC GUIDE (3.0)

This guide is intended to be the ultimate one stop Merc Resource, some of you would of seen the previous version, this one is specifically for 1.10 with the newest runewords.

This posts consists of 6 separate posts these are :

(1) Intro / Credits ( This Post)
(2) Act 1 Rogue
(3) Act 2 Town Guards
(4) Act 3 Sorc
(5) Act 5 Barbarians
(6) Which Merc to use.


*** Whats new since 1.10 ***

(1) Credits updated – Sorry for missing you last time Platypus!
(2) Merc Levelling up guide added under fact 20
(3) Facts mostly updated
(4) Incorporated more information under each section
(5) Updated all Merc Levelling up Data from Amazon Basin.



*** The TOP 23 General Mercenary Facts***

(1) The mod: Prevent Monster Heal does not work on mercenaries. It has no effect at all.

(2) Most other mods (Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, Chance to Cast on Striking, Faster Cast Rate, Faster Hit Recovery, Increased Attack Speed, etc.) do work for mercs.

(3) Mercs hired in normal difficulty have better final stats than those hired in Nightmare or Hell, and NM Mercs are better than those hired in Hell.

The exception is the Nightmare Act 2 mercs, which cannot be hired in Normal (or Hell). The actual "character" level that you hire the merc at is irrelevant, only the difficulty you hire them in matters.

(4) The highest level a merc can be is 98. Mercs skills have been downgraded slightly in 1.10 compared to 1.09 , with the exception of the Act 1 Rogue which will no do more damage.

(5) Act 5 mercs regenerate their health fully in 16.4 seconds, whereas all other mercs require 41 seconds.

(6) Poison can kill your merc, even if you are in town.

(7) Mercs benefit from +all skills items. They do not benefit from +class skills or +skill tabs. This was a feature in 1.08 and 1.09 – Sadly in 1.10 this feature has been removed.

Mercs will benefit from:

+fire skills (when applicable)
+specific skills (if they already have the skills (e.g. an act 3 merc will benefit from an Ormus Robes' skill if he posseses that skill already, even though it says (Sorceress)
+ skills to Bash or Stun for the Barbarian as found on some items.


(8) Synergies. Some mercs skills synergize – An example of this is the Barbarians Stun and Bash skills which synergize. Act3 Mercs skills also synergize. ( i.e. Glacial spike with Ice Blast for the cold sorc)

(9) Related to the above, mercs are NOT affected by the charge synergy bug ("Marrowwalk bug").

(10) When mercs levels up, their current life is set to their new base maximum life. So, if a merc is under life bonuses from Battle Orders, Oak Sage, or equipment, you will see thier life drop. Don't be alarmed when this happens, your merc isn't about to bite the dust.

(11) You can use healing potions or rejuvination potions on your mercenary by selecting a potion and dropping it on their portrait in the top left corner of the screen. Another way to do this is to hold Shift and press 1,2,3, or 4 - which correspond to your belt slots. Yet another way is holding Shift and right-clicking on a potion in your belt.

(12) Similar to giving a merc a potion using the portrait: you can give your mercenary equipment via the portrait. If they can use the item, it will work. If they are already wearing this type of item, it will be exchanged for the new one.

(13) Mercenaries do not have a mana pool, so mana potions do not work on them. If you try to shift + 1 method to feed your merc a mana pot, he/she will thank you, although you yourself will drink the potion. They are simply granted "infinite" mana to cast spells. So, mana burn monsters will also not affect them.

(14) If your merc is wearing either Gold Find or Magic Find gear, you will receive those respective bonuses to your drops when the merc makes a kill. Example, 100% MF on char, 125% MF on merc. If you make the kill, 100% MF is in effect. If the merc makes the kill, 225% MF is in effect.

(15) Ethereal items will not lose durability when equipped on a mercenary.

(16) The price of resurrecting your merc is capped 50000 gold.

(17) Their damage is penalized versus certain things:

Attacking Penalty
-----------------------
Players 17%
Hirelings 25%
Golems 100%
Monsters 100%
Minions 100%
Norm Act Boss 50%
NM Act Boss 35%
Hell Act Boss 25%

So they only do their full damage versus normal monsters, minions ( like a necromancers skeletons ) and Golems.

They do half damage versus all Normal Act Bosses.

35% Damage to NM Act Bosses

25% Damage to other players hirelings , and to Hell Act Bosses

And only 17% Damage versus other players in PvP.

They receive 100% damage from everything , except other players hirelings which will only do 25% of the listed damage to your Merc.

They receive 200% damage for Bosses – that is why they can die fairly quickly.

Bosses include the following :

Blood Raven Griswold
Andy Radament
Summoner Duriel
Mephisto Izual
Diablo Nihlathak
Defilers Baal
Baal Clone
Diablo Clone

(18) Mercs cannot leach of Hell Bosses such as Mephi and Baal, and there is a bug when facing the council in Act III, Hydra’s will do a lot more damage than they should, there is no real way to negate this except to take your mercs resistances up above 75% with Guardian Angel.

(19) Mercs donot receive any life from + to vitality items, this is another minor bug, so only equip your merc with items that give actual + to life.

(20) Levelling – Mercs only get experience in 2 ways – firstly if YOU make the kill they get normal experience, if they make the kill they get normal experience plus bonus experience – calculated at roughly 2x. They receive no experience if you are in a party with other players and the other players make the kill.

They receive the most experience in an 8 player game, when you are not partied and they make the kill. As a quick reference the following table maybe of some assistance for levelling.

1-11-------A1
12-18------- A2
19-23------- A3
24-31------- A4
32-36------- A5
37-43------- Ni1
44-48------- Ni2
49-52------- Ni3
53-62------- Ni4
63-73------- He1
74-80------- He2
81-83------- He3
83-94------- He4
95-99------- He5

(21) Mercs are all hired at different Levels , their ranges very from:



(22) Mercs Naturally have very high resistances , so therefore equip them with damage reduction gear instead of resistance gear.

(23) Mercs can now equip the following auras

Holy Freeze: found on 'Doom' runeword for polearms (Act II mercs only)
Holy Fire: found on 'Hand of Justice' runeword for all weapons.
Thorns: found on 'Bramble' runeword for armours.
Sanctuary: found on Azurewrath, unique phase blade. (act III/VI mercs only)

That’s the top 23 facts, what follows now is a more in depth look at each mercenary:

*** Act 1 Rogue ***
(Two Types – Cold and Fire)

Note, they are Rogues, not Amazons. As such, +Amazon skill items will not work. Also, they cannot wield (Amazon-Only) bows.


- > They can only equip bows. Crossbows are not allowed.
- > Cast either Fire Arrow or Cold Arrow
- > Cast Inner Sight

Note : The mods Fires Explosive Arrows or Bolts and Fires Magic Arrow are quirky.

- > The Explosive arrows do not work. There is a graphical bug so that you see the explosion, but no damage is dealt and the Rogue does not get the Attack Rating bonus associated with the Exploding Arrow skill.

Note : Fires Magic Arrow does deliver magic damage, but the Rogue's still do not receive an AR bonus.

- > Act1 Mercs can now give you a Vigor aura via Harmony, Thorns via Edge, and Fanatacism via Faith.

***Rogue Equipment:***

They tend to stay out of harm's way reasonably well, so life leech isn't mandotory, but a little bit certainly helps.

Increased Attack Speed can help (check speed calculator). These mercs are good at activating Chance to Cast mods without being in the thick of the battle. Blinding, fleeing, amplify damage, etc.

Hit Recovery Speeds

CODE

Frames- FHR%
11----- 0
10----- 6
9------ 13
8------ 20
7------ 32
6------ 52
5------ 86
4------ 174
3------ 600

STATS :

Fire / Cold Arrow (If hired from Normal – Note that these stats will all be lower in NM and HELL if hired from there. With the exception of attack frequency which increases at 2% per difficulty.




Comparisons

Comparisons

Fire Arrow---Fire Damage --- AR Bonus
10----------21-24----------91%
15----------36 -39 ---------136%
20----------63 -70 ---------181%
25----------111-126---------226%
30---------195-222----------227%
35----------315-357---------316%

Cold Arrow---Cold Dam --- AR Bonus
10----------22-23----------91%
15----------34 -35 ---------136%
20----------53-56 ---------181%
25----------85-90---------226%
30---------151-160----------227%
35----------256-270---------316%

Cold Arrow does a fraction less damage, however at level 35 ( Level 98 Merc with +6 All skills ) You could freeze a monster in Hell for almost 10 seconds, that’s impressive.

This post was edited by Dixa on Jan 17 2010 04:35am

*** A2 Town Guard Mercs ***
( 6 Types - 3 Available in Normal and Hell, and 3 Avaialable in NM )

->A2 Town Guards are the most popular as they share an aura with not only your Character but with the entire Party. Sometimes the aura will not activate, if this happens then simply return to town then go back out.

-> Same Auras donot stack – For example if you are a Paladin using might and your Merc is using might these will not add up, the game will simply cycle between the two.

- > Can use Spear, Javelin, and Polearm class weapons, except not the Amazon-only spears. They won't ever throw the Javelins.
***Town Guard Equipment***

Get him a big damage polearm. Mods to look for are: Crushing Blow, life leech, +life, resistances, Faster Hit Recovery, Chance to Cast amp damage or decrepify, Slows Target (especially on Holy Freeze merc).

For Armor always go for Ethereal with useful mods , the Runeword Stone is very useful and popular as well. Any Armor with plus skills is also very useful as these will boost their skills.

Helms – Tal Rashas mask is good at the start with its 10% Life Leach, when you find one upgrade to an Ethereal Crown of Theives. An Ethereal Shako wouldn’t go amiss either although you will need to socket this with some form of Life leach.

Keep in mind that you cant leach off all monsters – for example the undead.

*** Available Auras ***

Normal:
Combat = Prayer
Defensive = Defiance
Offensive = Blessed Aim

Nightmare:
Combat = Thorns
Defensive = Holy Freeze
Offensive = Might

Hell:
Combat = Prayer
Defensive = Defiance
Offensive = Blessed Aim

Prayer – regens life , Defiance – Increases Armor Class, Blessed Aim – Increases AR , Thorns – deals damage back to attacker , Holy Freeze – Slows Monsters , Might – Increases Melee Damage.


***Skill Levels ***

PRAYER



This post was edited by Dixa on Jan 17 2010 04:42am

Blessed Aim, and Defiance



Thorns



Might

Holy Freeze



Comparisons:

MERC SPECIAL SKILLS

Level-----Skill-----Effect

10-------Might-----130% damage
20-------Might-----230% damage
30-------Might-----330% damage

10-------Thorns----610% damage returned
17-------Thorns----890% damage returned
20-------Thorns----1010% dam. returned

10-------H/Freeze—slow 48%
17-------H/Freeze—slow 53%
20-------H/Freeze—slow 54%

11-------Prayer----Heals 12+
18-------Prayer----Heals 21+
21-------Prayer----Heals 27+

11-------Defiance—170% def
18-------Defiance—240% def
21-------Defiance—270% def

11------B/Aim----225% to AR
18------B/Aim----330% to AR
21------B/Aim----375% to AR

ALL A2 MERCS :

11------Jab-----AR +100% Dam+15%
16------Jab-----AR +145% Dam+30%
17------Jab-----AR +154% Dam+34%
20------Jab-----AR +181% Dam+42%


Hit Recovery Speeds

Frames-- FHR%

15----- 0
14----- 5
13----- 9
12----- 14
11----- 20
10----- 30
9----- 42
8----- 60
7----- 86
6----- 142
5----- 280


This is an excellent narration from Alter Ego and I have placed it here for your reference :

Offensive - Blessed Aim

Not the most popular aura for many characters, as most of the melee characters have sufficient skills to raise their AR and the Sorceress doesn't really need much AR as she hits with her magicical attacks. However for variant builds such as the Melee Sorc, Ranger (bow/crossbow Paladin) and Meleemancer (melee Necro) where AR is of critical importance, the blessed aim merc can be very useful. This merc can also be very helpful to Werebears who also suffer from AR problems. With the introduction of several new uniques items which grant AR (eh. Charges of enchant, zeal etc) in 1.10 though, the actual usefulness of such mercs has been somewhat diminished.

Defensive - Defiance

A high level Merc with this aura, and good equip, is very hard to hit, even in Hell diff. So a character who has hired such a merc is equally difficult to hit. The advantages of this are straightforward to any character, you'll get hit less often, therefore be less likely to die. This aura has a pronounced effect on the longevity of a Necro's minions, even when the Merc is of a low level. This aura is often a "must-have" for characters aiming to have a huge defence stat i.e. Ironman barbarians or for hardcore players. Just bear in mind that several of the monsters in 1.10 now have attacks that completely ignore defense.

Combat - Prayer

The life regeneration that this aura provides is probably only of use to most characters as a way to ignore the effects of poison or of life draining items (Malice runeword for example). However to characters with life steal and high resists, this aura is going to prove to be of little use, and if the merc himself has a life stealing weapon, then the aura won't be of too much use to him. It is probably best used for characters with no form of life leech(ie. casters). Still, it is probably better to just drink a potion.

This aura is of some limited use to the Necromancer and his minions as the continual life replenish will help keep them alive for much longer. In 1.10, the minions actually heal by themselves. I

Offensive - Might

A very popular aura for almost any character, as additional damage is always useful. The Merc himself will be doing a godly amount of damage at higher levels and quite happily tank for himself and for those who think that "the best defense is a good offense" this is the way to go.

This aura is probably of least use to a Sorceress as it does not add any benefit to her magical attacks, but should she run low of mana and be caught in a corner with only a melee weapon then, this aura will give her a chance of fighting her way free.

The effect of this aura on a Necro's minions can create a virtual wall of death to descend upon the ranks of diablo minions. A few revived Frenzytaurs or raised skeletal warriors with a might aura on them can easily sway the tide of battle in the favour of the Necromancer.

A point to note is that even if you have a might merc whose lvl is sufficient to provide 100% extra damage this won't automatically double the damage of your character. The formula below from Nikodemous from the Paladin forum explains how your might mercs aura factors into your damage.

Lets say your weapon does 100 points of average damage. (that being the average of the minimum and maximum shown directly on the weapon). You have +100% damage from WW

200 str = +200% damage

and the might merc has lvl 7 might, which gives (40+6*10) 100% bonus.

Total damage is:

(100 * (100 [base] + 200 [str] + 100 [ww] + 100 [might]))/100 = 500 average damage

All elemental damage is added to the total, with no % bonuses on top.

Combat - Thorns

The essential problem with Thorns is that you have to be hit for it to take effect, though admittedly the effect at high levels can kill many normal monsters outright. In 1.10, with the high ratio of monster HP as compared to the damage they do, thorns is more or less reduced to a novelty aura. It is nice to have around but not entirely useful.

The Necromancer Overlord is the character build that can make best use of this aura. With many minions running around the map all effected by thorns and with the possibility of an Amp Damage curse as well, this can create havoc for boss monsters that use phycial attacks i.e Hephasto the Armourer, Duriel and the Ancients. By wading through the thorns-aura'd minions to get to the player character, these boss monsters will take an awful lot of damage.

Defensive - Holy Freeze

Another very useful for aura for any player character, more so for the slowing effect on monsters than any damage done. The only other choice besides defiance for hardcore player, this aura, at high levels, will bring many enemies to a near stop. Demon Imps stop teleporting all of the place, flayers slow right down and explody-headed Slayers are easily avoided. For characters using thrown weapons, bows or magic, the slowed monsters make ideal targets.

The Necromancer Overlord (or a Corpse Explosion Necro) is the class most disadvantaged by this aura, as the increased number of bodies that shatter upon death greatly reduces the Necro's potential revive, summon or corpse explosion fodder.

On Hell diff, cold immune monsters will still be slowed by this aura.

Important Note on Holy Freeze:

It seems that not all monsters are affected by this aura. Blood Lords, Moon Lords and Death Lords of act 5 seem resistant to its slowing effects. The Frenzytaurs are immune to freezing. So do not rely on your merc to slow these monsters down. Also its good to take into account the relatively small range of holy freeze eg. archers shooting.

*** A3 Iron Wolves ***
( Casters, Fire, Cold , Lightning )


Lightning is damage bugged, so only choose Fire or Cold Mercs.

These Mercs can be equiped with the most MF gear, around 300%.

Do not have blocking animations. "This means they do not getting blocking check at all. The Shield will just be there for the non-blocking attributes such as defense and any other magical properties that it has such as resisitances, fast cast, skills, etc."

They have 3 types of attacks – Their primary low level spell , their secondary high level spell, and using their sword.

They will only use their sword in melee when they get swarmed. (sometimes)

The damage listed in their character info screen is only for their sword damage, and has no impact at all on their magic damage – their character info screen does not display their actual magic damage anywhere.

+Glacial Spike, +FireBall, etc. will help these mercs. The only places to get these are from Ormus' Robes or two pieces of the Trang's set. Note that the +Fireball bonus from Trang's will be capped at +3.

Anything that is +sorceress skills, for example: +2 Fire Skills (Sorceress Only) will not work, but the +3 Fire Skills of Hexfire would.

Items that lower enemy resistance (such as the Crescent Moon runeword, facets, etc.) will benefit these mercs.

Can complete the Isenhart set (for whatever that's worth)

***Iron Wolf Equipment***

*** SETUPS ***
Ladder SETUP

Spirit = Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn ( 4 Socket Shield or Sword)

-Spirit Shield ( Ladder Only)
-Spirit Sword ( Ladder Only )
-Ormus Robes with + 3 to Fireball or Glacial Spike
-Shako

With This Setup
70%-80% Fast Cast ( 18 frames to 13 frames)
+6 All Skills
+3 To FB or GS

Non Ladder SETUP ( or poorer version of build )

-Lidless Wall Shield – ( 20% Fast Cast , +1 All Skills)
-Peasant Crown - ( +1 Skills )
-Skin of Vipermagi ( 30% FC, resys, +1 Skills)
-Hexfire sword for Fire ( +3 Skills )
-Azurewrath for cold ( +1 Skills ) High Dex requirement

Your Merc would then have:

For Fire
50% FC ( 18 to 14 frames )
+6 All Skills

For Cold
50% FC
+4 All Skills

You want +skills and Faster Cast Rate. Everything else is secondary because they tend to survive fairly well on their own unless you let them get swarmed. The new Spirit runeword is good for their weapon. You would need +strength on your helm/armor to let them use a Spirit shield since it can only be made in a Monarch, which requires 156 strength (146 if ethereal). They top out at 153 str at level 98 and have 137 str at level 85, just to give you an idea. You'll need some +strength stuff to equip this shield at an earlier level.

Spells

Fire: Inferno and FireBall
Cold: Glacial Spike, Ice Blast, and Frozen Armor
Lightning: Charged Bolt and Lightning

Skill Progression Table :
Note this is from 1.09 – There have been a few changes since then, use these tables as a guide only.

Fire Merc

Cold Merc


Lightning Merc


The following commentary from Zath is accurate as of 1.10.

Let's take a look at the spells for A3 mercs in detail:

Fire:

- Level 32 Inferno: 356 damage/second. 60% chance to cast this spell
- Level 30 Fireball: 383 damage/shot. 30% chance to cast this spell.

Cold:

- Level 28 Frozen Armor: +165% defense, lasts 444 seconds, freezes enemy upon being hit for 111 frames in normal (4.44 seconds).
- Level 14 Glacial Spike: 150 damage/shot, freezes for 89 frames in normal (3.56 seconds). 19% chance to cast this spell after Frozen Armor is active (60/310).
- Level 32 Ice Blast: 613 damage/shot, freezes for 230 frames in normal (9.2 seconds). 77% chance to cast this spell after Frozen Armor is active (240/310).

Lightning:

- Level 17 Charged Bolt: 11.5 damage/bolt, 19 bolts total for 218.5 potential damage/cast. 60% chance to cast this spell.
- Level 29 Lightning: 258 damage/shot. 30% chance to cast this spell.

The lightning mercs are clearly lacking in damage output. Fire and cold mercs will deal significantly more damage, although the fire merc will have to hit multiple targets with each spell to reach his full potential. Overall, the cold merc may be the best choice with his Frozen Armor and Ice Blast.


Faster Cast Rate Breakpoints

Frames FCR%
18----- 0
17----- 10
16----- 15
15----- 30
14----- 40
13----- 60
12----- 90
11-----140


Iron Wolf Hit Recovery Speeds

Frames FHR%
17----- 0
16----- 5
15----- 8
14----- 13
13----- 18
12----- 24
11----- 32
10----- 46
9----- 63
8----- 86
7----- 133
6----- 232
5----- 600

*** A5 Barbarian Mercenaries ***
( One Type Only)

These mercs possess the skills Stun and Bash.

 These are the only mercs who can use class-specific items (the barb helms)

->"The act 5 mercanaries have a 5% chance of doing critical hits, the other mercanaries do not." – Ruvanal

-> These mercs can complete the Sazabi Set.

-> They do not have or benefit from +sword mastery such as on Bloodletter

- > Act 5 mercs receive a 70% bonus to their poison resistance in all difficulties." – Zath

- > "The Act 5 merc's normal attack has 2 hits." - Zath

*** Barb Merc Equipment ***

Get a big 2-handed sword. They do the listed damage for both 1 hand and 2 hand swords, so the 2 handers will almost always win out. Life leech, FHR, resistances, etc are also good. They're about the same as A2 mercs except for the weapon differences.

For Armor always go for Ethereal with useful mods , the Runeword Stone is very useful and popular as well.

Helms – Tal Rashas mask is good at the start with its 10% Life Leach, when you find one upgrade to an Ethereal Crown of Theives. An Ethereal Shako wouldn’t go amiss either although you will need to socket this with some form of leach.

These Mercs should really have a minimum of 11-15% Life Leach to ensure they stay alive, as they are very zealous and tend to run off the screen to engage everything in sight.

Keep in mind that you cant leach off all monsters – for example the undead.

Skill Levels

Keep in Mind that Stun and Bash synergieze each other.



Damage Comparison (synergies)

Stun – the 1.2s = stunned for 1.2 seconds



Act 5 Barbarian Mercenary Hit Recovery Breakpoints

Frames FHR%
9----- 0
8----- 7
7----- 15
6----- 27
5----- 48
4----- 86
3----- 200

*** Which Merc Should I Use? ***


I wil attempt to go through most popular builds in some Detail.

The only Merc you should never use is an Act 3 Lightning Merc as they are bugged.


I will note a few options for each build , as remember Merc choice largely depends upon your playing style. There is no one perfect Merc for each build, ( well except for a summon necro perhaps )

***Amazon – Bow Elemental Damage***
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control ( best for fire Amazon)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you that much )
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.

Poor Choices :

Merc with same elemental damage as you. Act 1 Merc, you really need a tank here, unless you have a Valkrie, and use Decoy a lot.

***Amazon – Physical Ranged Damage (Strafers etc )***
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( plus aura is beneficial to your damage)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* An elemental Merc – although only if u use Valkrie and Decoy.

Poor Choices :

No real poor choices, however you probably are more inclined to go with a tank. If you don’t use Valkrie then don’t use a single element Merc as they can get swarmed easily. You may have problems with physical immune, so it is beneficial to have a back up skill that can deal some elemental damage.

***Amazon – Javazons ( Lightning Fury Etc)
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( plus aura is partially beneficial to your damage)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* An elemental Merc – although don’t use same element as you.

Poor Choices :

Javazons are usually able to tank monsters if they invest into the magic skills tab, if so then you could use a cold element attack, if you havnet invested into the magic skill tab then its defiantely a good option to have a tank.

***Assassin - Trapisin
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
*

Poor Choices :

Same element attack as yourself. Would be more inclined to go for a tank so as you can lay traps.

***Assassin – Martial Arts
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.

Poor Choices :

Same element attack as yourself. Would be more inclined to go for a tank so as you can lay traps. If your attack is purely physical then an elemental attack could be a definate advantage. Generally most Martial Arts assassins use one or more elements in their attack.

***Barbarian - Singer
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast , extremely beneficial once you use Shout and Battle Orders on him.
* Elemental ACT1 or ACT3 Merc

Poor Choices :

No real poor choices here, the Singer Barb is more of a party character, you can give any merc heaps of life and defence, so really any Merc is viable as with all that extra life they will live almost twice as long, You can make Might Mercs very powerful and with a Defiance Merc you will have an insane defence level , but perhaps not enough attack.

***Barbarian – Physical Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – To greatly enhance your own damage
* Elemental ACT1 or ACT3 Merc to deal with PI’s

Poor Choices :

If you constantly play in a party and no one is using a Might Merc that would be your best choice. If you play a lot of solo then an elemental merc will be more useful to deal with Physical Immunes.

The only poor choice would probably be a barbarian – they just wouldn’t offer you something different that you need.


***Barbarian – Magic Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – To kill Magic Immunes and Kill in general.
* Barbarian, especially if you have Shout to get his defence up.

Poor Choices :

An elemental attack would not really benefit you as you already mostly do elemental damage. Perhaps a cold one could work but its not the most optimal choice.

***Druid – Fire Druid
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – To kill Magic Immunes and Kill in general.
* Barbarian to use as a tank.

Poor Choices :

Any Fire Elemental attack.

***Druid – Bear / Physical Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – To kill Magic Immunes , increase your damage.

Poor Choices :

Probably don’t really need Blessed Aim, or Defiance as you should have good AR and defence, Aura more useful to you, although its possible to use a single element like cold to help slow down enemies.

***Druid – Summoner
Choices :
* ACT 2 Might – To kill Magic Immunes , increase your damage.

Poor Choices :

Only one real choice – As a note though Blessed Aim is good early on, Thorns can be good when you are of a lower level than your enemies, however in the end there is only one choice, Might.

***Druid , Wind
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( his aura will benefit you somewhat as your main attack uses 50% physical 50% cold damage.
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.

Poor Choices :

Cold Element Mercs as you already do cold damage, you could possible use a fire element Merc, although these don’t offer you anything else very exciting.


***Necromancer - Summoner
Choices :
* Act 2 Might Merc – To increase damge of all skeletons.

Poor Choices

Everything else. Your skellies will be able to hit as you level up as they use your characters level for their AR bonus. Blessed Aim can be ok at low level, as can Thorns , but ultimately you will want a Might Merc.

***Necromancer - Bone
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian – although Act2 is more beneficial

Poor Choices :

Elemental Mercs – With Bone Spear and Spirit you can target enemies plus no one can resist primary attack so there is no need to introduce an elemental attack. Cold Element attacks could be worthwhile early level, but a defiance merc does this so much better

***Paladin - Hammerdin
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you) ( Plus your blessed aim Aura will benefit him)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* Any Element Merc – i.e Cold Act 1 Rogue, Fire Act3 Sorc etc)

Poor Choices :

Barbarian : You don’t need a tank, and these guys don’t provide you with that something extra.

***Paladin - Tesladin
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.

Poor Choices :

A single element attack – particualy as its not uncommon to run into monsters with both lightning and one other immunity. A strong preference to a physical damge merc.

***Paladin – Physical Damage ( i.e Zealot)
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( and to increase your attack damage)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* Any Element Merc as a backup for PI.

Poor Choices :

No real poor choices.


***Sorceress Single Tree
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control (best for non cold sorc)
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast (good for cold sorc)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian – As most other auras don’t benefit you – plus fast life regen )


Poor Choices :

Element attack that’s the same as yours. You could work with a different element than your primary one, but in the long run you will require a Merc that can take some damage for you since in Hell you will be fairly week. Act 2 Defiance less useful if u have invested in cold armors heavily.

***Sorceress Dual Tree
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian – As most other auras don’t benefit you – plus fast life regen )


Poor Choices :

Elemental attacks are rendered useless, you simply need a tank that can take a pounding, since your 2 main skills wont be as strong as a single tree sorc.

***Sorceress Tri-Elementalist
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian – As most other auras don’t benefit you – plus fast life regen )


Poor Choices :

Depends very much on your style of play, A tank would be preferable though, probably either Might or HF. HF to slow down enemies, and Might to be a fast killer.

***Sorceress Enchantress
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze – For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might – For a Merc that will kill fast ( and make you kill a fraction faster)
* ACT 2 Defiance – to give you more protection if required. (not required though if you invested heavily in Cold Armor or Energy shield.

Poor Choices :

Act 1 Fire Arrow Mercs, Act 3 Fire Mercs. Cold Mercs can work ok.



Ranger Merc Tip from Wassup

The Blessed Aim merc is especially useful to the Shock Ranger should you fail to find a weapon that shoots fire, explosive, or magical arrows (these special arrows have the side effect of always hitting) since you'll be using Holy Shock as your main aura and use Normal Attack to shoot arrows, you'll suffer from serious Attack Rating problems rather quickly. also when facing Lightning Immune/Lightning Enchanted bosses, I found the following tactic useful - turn on Fanatism/Salvation for Lightning Immune/Enchanted bosses respectively and shoot arrows at the boss with him and knockback (thus requiring Knockback equipment) into a wall. with the boss in constant stunlock, you merc can then do the actual damage to the boss (given he's not Physical Immune as well, in which case you should just leg it)

Note: In 1.10, general bow skills such as fire, explosive and magical arrow are now dependent on attack rating to hit. The sole exception is Guided Arrow (provided by Widowmaker)

Assassin & Might Merc Tip from bablyon_f

One thing to be aware of using Might Merc with an Assassin is that your Shadow Master companion becomes a bit of a liability.

The Shadow Master seems to spam Mind Blast all the time & converts some monsters, these then pickup the Might aura from your Merc. This is all very nice until they go hostile again and KEEP the Might aura for a while (5 secs-ish). This is normally more than enough time to completely annihilate your Merc who isnt clever enough to get out of the way & can even be nasty for yourself if your not watching closely!! The only answer is to keep a close watch & run as soon as conversion ends - this gets very boring very quickly though.