Skip to content
Mercenaries
Diablo II: Resurrected

Mercenaries

Equip your diablo ii resurrected mercenary with the best gear for survivability, including runeword weapons like Faith, Infinity, and Chains of Honor.

By ···10 min read·Multi-source verified
1 reading this guide  

Equip your diablo ii resurrected mercenary with the best gear for survivability, including runeword weapons like Faith, Infinity, and Chains of Honor.

A mercenary is only of any value if they’re alive, and there are two properties that keep mercenaries alive more than any other: leech, and resistances. A mercenary’s resistances will increase as they level up, but they’ll always benefit from gear boosts. Even when they’re Lv90+, their native resistances will struggle to break 60~ in Hell difficulty. Leech is another obvious source of survivability - the more damage they deal, the more health they’ll have. Obviously this will not be a major factor with Act 3 mercenaries, who spend most of their time casting spells, and it should be noted that some enemies are immune or resistant to leech, which you’ll have to be especially careful around. Other factors, like Attack Speed, damage, and Damage Reduction play secondary roles.

Mercenaries can equip several items, varying depending on what type of mercenary you have: they can all equip armor, a helmet, and a weapon of some description. You’ll need to make do with these limited inventory slots. Gear equipped on mercenaries do not lose durability, making them a good destination for ethereal gear you otherwise wouldn’t use on your characters. In some cases, ethereal gear is specifically sought out, especially in the case of runeword weapons created for mercenaries to use.

Helmets: Andariel’s Visage, Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest, Vampire Gaze, Stealskull

Armor: [Chains of Honor], [Fortitude], [Treachery], Duriel’s Shell, Shaftstop

Walkthrough
  1. 1
    The Rogue will contribute in combat with ranged attacks, possibly including Fire Arrows or Cold Arrows, varying depending on the individual mercenary hired.
  2. 2
    They can also use Inner Sight (reduces enemy Defense).
  3. 3
    Their elemental arrows, regardless of variety, will not significantly contribute to damage.
  4. 4
    The Rogue is relatively fragile, and should not be relied upon to tank.
  5. 5
    She can contribute appreciably from afar provided she’s properly equipped.
Tips
  • The Act 1 mercenary is best paired with physical-damage dealing characters who don’t need a tank, or who will benefit from the Fanaticism aura.
  • In the case of needing the Fanaticism aura, provide the mercenary with the [Faith] runeword bow, which is arguably the best use you can make of such a companion… if you can afford it.
Walkthrough
  1. 1
    Combat Auras: Prayer (Normal), Thorns (Nightmare), Prayer (Hell).
  2. 2
    Defensive Auras: Defiance (Normal), Holy Freeze (Nightmare), Defiance (Hell).
  3. 3
    Offensive Auras: Blessed Aim (Normal), Might (Nightmare), Blessed Aim (Hell).
  4. 4
    The Might aura provides a substantial bonus to physical damage dealt, making it ideal for a variety of builds.
  5. 5
    Physical damage-dealers will appreciate the direct boost in damage.
  6. 6
    Necromancers will benefit from another minion standing between them and sources of damage (especially one who makes their other minions stronger).
  7. 7
    Elemental damage dealers will gain a tank who can deal damage to foes who may otherwise be immune to their attacks.
  8. 8
    The Holy Freeze aura is mainly useful for characters like the Hammerdin who stand to benefit more from slowing enemies than gaining an alternate source of damage.
  9. 9
    Act 2 mercenaries can deal out great damage if properly equipped; they wield spears and polearms, and there are numerous useful runewords for the latter.
  10. 10
    Even without a runeword, an ethereal elite polearm has high damage potential.
  11. 11
    The most commonly-used weapons for these mercenaries are Insight for mana regeneration (thanks to its Meditation aura) and [Infinity], which debuffs foes with its built-in Conviction aura.
  12. 12
    Insight is more of a midtier weapon, being useful enough for most characters with its aforementioned Meditation aura and the runeword’s enhanced damage and incredibly cheap.
  13. 13
    [Infinity] is much more expensive, but will provide an invaluable boon to any character who primarily deals fire, cold or lightning damage.
  14. 14
    Act 2 mercenaries are fairly sturdy, making good tanks.
  15. 15
    They all have access to the Jab ability, which increases their damage output somewhat.
Tips
  • Equip as much Leech, Attack Speed and Resistances, as well as the best polearm you can muster and you’ll have quite a companion accompanying you.
  • Might is the most popular aura for Act 2 mercenaries.
  • Holy Freeze is a distant second when it comes to auras.
  • Because two auras is naturally better than just one, [Infinity] is often preferred over Insight.
Walkthrough
  1. 1
    The Iron Wolves resemble the Sorcerer from Diablo 1.
  2. 2
    They come in three varieties: fire, cold and lightning, using a variety of spells of the chosen element depending on the type of mercenary hired.
  3. 3
    Fire: Fireball, Inferno.
  4. 4
    Cold: Frozen Armor, Glacial Spike, Ice Blast.
  5. 5
    Lightning: Charged Bolt, Lightning Bolt.
  6. 6
    As is the case with all mercenaries, you have virtually no control over them in combat, so they’ll cast whatever spell pleases them at the moment, not necessarily what you need them to be casting.
  7. 7
    Cold mercenaries are highly favored, as their spells can freeze enemies.
  8. 8
    The damage output of all these mercenaries is relatively low.
Tips
  • Cold mercenaries are highly favored due to their ability to freeze enemies.

100% Human-Written. AI Fact-Checked. Community Verified. Learn how AntMag verifies content