When you purchase a merc, they come without any items equipped in their inventory. The game, however, always provides mercs with gear, even when naked. So a naked merc is not the same as a naked player.
You cannot change a merc's picture by giving it items to wear (or by taking off its items), so a naked merc looks the same as a merc dressed in full plate mail. This is an unfortunate blow to those who'd like to give their merc a unique look. :\
Resurrecting a merc usually costs considerably more than it does to hire one, so you'll want to keep yours alive. Older mercs can cost up to 50k (50,000 gold) to resurrect, but resurrecting a merc will never cost more than 50k.
They handle their own stat distribution. So, you don't have to worry about screwing up your merc's stats. Their only listed stats are Strength and Dexterity and they have pretty good stats for their clvl. Also, mercs gain resistance, hps, and defense rating when they level up.
They have unlimited mana, Rogues have an unlimited supply of arrows, and their items don't lose durability. You never have to repair the gear that your mercenary wears. This makes ethereal items (which cannot be repaired) especially useful to mercs.
Merc equipment is limited to the basic slots of Diablo 1 characters, minus the jewelry slots. (Head, Right/Left Hands, Head) They can use most anything that they have the statistics and/or clvl requirement for, though some equipment choices are limited. More on merc items can be found in the sections dealing with individual mercs.
Mercs are quite powerful, especially if you know how to use one. Building a powerful mercenary is like building a powerful character. Outfitting a merc in a suit of random gear and forgetting him will result in a dead merc. You wouldn't do that to a character, would you? So why do that to your merc?
The next step is keeping your merc alive while in combat. They can be fed potions: Antidote, Thawing, Rejuvenation, and Healing. This vastly improves their longevity. When he's near dead, feed him a red. When your merc is blue, give him some yellow to chew. Rejuv for those life-or-death situations, and antidotes to cure poison. Oh, and Poison is not to be taken lightly.
Did you notice what those potions all had in common? Well, yes, they can all save your favorite mercenary¹. But I mean other than that... Yes! Exactly, they all cost MUCH less than resurrecting your pal!
¹: Ok, so you're wondering about Thawing Potions? Well, I get a kick out of them thanking me when I feed them thawing potions.
Strangely enough, mercs have inherited the same vulnerablity that players suffer from. By that I mean a character can be going along smoothly and suddenly hit a brick wall. The same thing can happen to mercs. A LEB encounter, act bosses, and monsters with "Stun" ability are terribly deadly enemies that can floor a merc if you're not careful. Also, being cursed with Iron Maiden can easily kill your melee mercenary.
Teleporting puts both you and your mercenary at a new position. So if your merc gets in trouble you might be able to Teleport them out of danger.
Finally, know how your merc behaves. Mercs will flee if you run far enough away, so use this to your advantage if he's getting pummeled and needs a potion. Also know the ferocity of your merc. That is, how he attacks. Rogues and Sorcerers are not machine guns - they fire rather mechanically - but they can still be a liability at a LEB encounter. Legionnaires and Barbarians can fiercely engage the enemy, swinging fast and repeatedly. This ferocity is great in most situations, but when fighting a LEB it can invoke the dreaded "Charged Bolt Carpeting" which blankets the ground with so many Cbolts that there's almost nowhere on screen that's safe to stand! So it's a good thing to know how your merc behaves, and how to manipulate his behavior.
There is currently a bug in LoD v1.08 single player that causes a mercenary to be killed PERMANENTLY! You CANNOT resurrect it! (This bug may or may not exist on Realm LoD v1.08.)
If a Mercenary dies and is subsequently devoured by a monster that "Eats And Spits Corpses" (such as a Maw Fiend), it will impossible to resurrect. (This bug has existed since the beta, by the way.)
At present (LoD v1.08), mercenaries have a lousy (IMO) and quirky experience system. Not everything works logically, so here's what I know:
- Mercs get exp if you kill something (in most any manner, including via minion) or if they kill something.
- Mercs can get a maximum of 500 exp from a single kill.
- Mercs may get reduced exp if you get the killing blow on an enemy. I've noticed this occur only sometimes. (Still, when you want to level them it may be faster overall for you to do the killing.)
- Mercs do not get more exp from more players being in a game. Therefore, in leveling your mercenary you might consider a solo game because they get just as much exp there as they would in an 8 player game.
- Mercs get no exp if another player (i.e. not merc's owner) gets credit for the killing blow.
- Mercs seem to gain no exp if certain Assassin traps kill something. I've noticed this with Wake of Fire.
- Mercs gain no experience if they're older than their owner.
- Mercs gain lousy experience if they're in an area where monsters are 5 levels older/younger than them.
- Merc exp gain is substantially reduced when they come within 2 clvls of their owner. I've observed as much as an 82% experience reduction as a result of this, even when killing in areas that should give optimum experience.
- Mercs do not get experience from the Ancient's quest.
- Mercs do not lose exp when they die in higher difficulties.
| Skills | Inner Sight | Critical Strike | Cold Arrow | Fire Arrow |  |
| Equipment | Any Helm No Pelts No Primal Helms | Any Armor | Bow Weapon Class Only No Crossbows No Amazon-Only Bows | No Shields |
Kashya's Rogues make good companions early on. With bows being as common as they are, players that don't use bows should have a plentiful supply to give to their mercenary. Later on, Rogue's ranged physical damage can prove quite useful against enemies such as Fetish Dart-Shooters, Ghoul Lords, and Oblivion Knights.
| Skills: Offensive | Jab | Blessed Aim | (when older) Might |
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| Skills: Defensive | Jab | Defiance | (when older) Holy Freeze |
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| Skills: Combat | Jab | Prayer | (when older) Thorns |
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| Equipment | Any Helm No Pelts No Primal Helms |
Any Armor | Only Spear Class Weapons including Javelins¹ Polearm Class Weapons No Amazon-Only Spears/Javelins |
No Shields |  |
¹: They will not throw javelins.
Greiz's Legionnaires (or as Blizzard calls them, Town Guards) offer up some delicious flavors. Characters with pathetic Attack Ratings might hire an Offensive Legionnaire for the Blessed Aim bonus. Those interested in high defense ratings might enjoy a Defensive Legionnaire. And the Combat Legionnaire, probably most useful to those that don't need Attack Rating or Defense, is like wearing Life Regeneration items without having to wear Life Regeneration items. :) In a team setting the three combined auras can be very helpful.
Beyond that, these are very tough mercenaries. Using weapons with range allows them to attack from a few spaces away, and being out of a monster's range is always nice. Their weapon choice - the very damaging Spear and Polearm classes - adds quite a bit to their power.
| Skills: Fire | Fire Ball | Inferno | ||
| Skills: Cold | Glacial Spike | Frozen Armor | Ice Blast | |
| Skills: Lightning | Charged Bolt | Lightning | ||
| Equipment | Any Helm No Pelts No Primal Helms |
Any Armor | Sword Class Only One-Handed Swords Only |
Any Shield No Auric Shields No Voodoo Heads |
Like Kashya's Rogues, this ranged mercenary is apt to be more useful to characters that either are or already have tanks. Still, the power of Cold Mages is widely appreciated, almost so much that the power of Lightning and Fire Mages are largely ignored.
With the addition of monsters immune to different types of attacks, Iron Wolves may prove very useful. Each character only has so many different forms of damage, and perhaps one of these could prove useful in a battle against an enemy immune to one of your character's forms of attacks.
| Skills | Stun | Bash | Extreme Life Regeneration |
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| Equipment | Any Helm including Primal Helms No Pelts |
Any Armor | Sword Class Only No Dual-Wield | No Shields |
Brute strength sums up these mercenaries. They're powerful, beefy, and fierce. They have the fastest life regeneration of any mercenary. I myself have clocked a clvl 76 Barbarian regenerating at a rate of around 100 life per second. This is an awesome asset, especially to the Sorceress who can teleport herself and her Barbarian away for a few seconds so he can regenerate his life.
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To have a well dressed mercenary, you must know how you want him dressed. Simply buying one and dressing him on the spot won't help him as much as if you had a plan, or better yet, a prepared wardrobe. But what should a merc wear? First we must pin-point the needs of a mercenary. These are pretty similar to that of regular characters.
The damage part is pretty easy to take care of, especially if you're keeping your eyes open for weapons that your merc might use. Remember that Life Steal weapons could be quite nice. Although I've had conflicting reports on whether or not life is actually stolen. |
Elemental damage is something of the odd man out. Its usefulness isn't readily apparent until you run into a Stone Skin enemy or one immune to physical damage. If you and your merc are only doing physical damage, you're screwed. You could have a backup item with elemental damage to use on such enemies, or you could simply give your merc elemental damage. The advantage to giving your merc a weapon heavy on elemental damage is that it prevents your character from having to switch weapons, but the disadvantage is that you'll NEED your merc to take out bosses immune to physical damage. But either way, elemental damage, while useful, has its ups and downs.
Merc HPs are pretty decent, though it could always be higher. Resistances are a related issue because Life and Resistances generally come from the same sources: Armor, Helm, Shield. So how do you get a good Life/Resistance balance?
Rare Items
Ah, is your character one of those that never seems to find rares useful to its own character class? Well pout no longer! With a merc your odds are much better of finding a useful rare!
But, seriously, rares are a great source of merc protection, as well as merc offensive power. When you gamble, perhaps you should remember to gamble not only for yourself, but for your merc as well. :)
Finally, the Malus quest. Stumped on what to imbue? Can't figure out what to imbue for your Sorc or your Nec? Well, you've always got your merc! I'm sure he'd greatly appreciate an imbue. Afterall, what have you got to lose?
Socketed Items
Socketed items have been vastly improved, not to mention socketables. Gems have been improved, Runes have some great statistics, and then there are the strange "Jewels." Jewels aren't exceptionally powerful, but they can be useful. At any rate, here's a list of some sources of life and resistance as provided by gems and runes.
Life Bonuses
| Insertable | Clvl Req | Bonus | Host Items¹ |
| Perfect Ruby | 18 | 38 HPs | Armor Helm |
| Po Rune | 35 | 10 Vit | Weapon Armor Helm Shield |
| Jo Rune | 65 | 5% HP increase | Armor Helm |
| Jo Rune | 65 | 50 HPs | Shield |
¹: "Host Items" meaning the items you put the socketable into.
I'm not sure how +Vit (Po Rune) works with Mercs. Oh, and putting a Po Rune into a Merc's weapon isn't something I'd advise.
Resistances
Behold! Ye Ole Large Table o' Resistance Socketables!
| Ye Ole Large Table o' Resistance Socketables | ||||
| Resistance | Insertable | Clvl Req | Bonus | Host Items |
| Cold | Perfect Sapphire | 18 | 40% | Shield |
| Thul Rune | 23 | 30% | Armor Helm |
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| Thul Rune | 23 | 35% | Shield | |
| Fire | Perfect Ruby | 18 | 40% | Shield |
| Ral Rune | 19 | 30% | Armor Helm |
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| Ral Rune | 23 | 35% | Shield | |
| Lightning | Perfect Topaz | 18 | 40% | Shield |
| Ort Rune | 21 | 30% | Armor Helm |
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| Ort Rune | 23 | 35% | Shield | |
| Poison | Perfect Emerald | 18 | 40% | Shield |
| Tal Rune | 17 | 30% | Armor Helm |
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| Tal Rune | 23 | 35% | Shield | |
| All | Perfect Diamond | 18 | 19% | Shield |
| Um Rune | 47 | 15% | Armor Helm |
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| Um Rune | 47 | 22% | Shield | |
As you can see, your Merc can get some very nice Hp/Resistance combos. But you will, of course, require items to put them in!
Socketed Gear
Quickly, hero, you must learn of the maximum sockets that can be found on items, and which items to look for!
Gothic Plates, Full Plate Mails, and Ancient Armors can all have up to 4 sockets.
Masks, Crowns, and Great Helms can all have up to 3 sockets, which is the maximum number of sockets that any helm can have. Primal Helms can all come with 3 sockets as well, which is nice if your merc is a Barbarian.
The maximum number of sockets on shields that mercs can use is 3. Large Shields, Kite Shields, Tower Shields, and Gothic Shields can all have up to 3 sockets. This should provide some nice insulation for Asheara's Mages.
Finding socketed items is the hard part. Since the number of sockets can vary, getting the item you want can be difficult. I've heard that you generally get more sockets in items in higher difficulties, so that's probably the best place to look.
Larzuk's quest can add sockets to an item. You might use this reward to punch a few holes into an item for your mercenary. To the best of my knowledge...
- He will not add sockets to items that already have sockets.
- He adds only 1 socket to rares, sets, and uniques.
- In magical items, he adds 1 or 2 random sockets.
- He can add maximum sockets in non-magical items in any difficulty. However, game difficulty does make a difference in adding sockets to an item. Normal difficulty adds (randomly) 1 to maximum sockets. Nightmare and Hell add maximum.
Oh, and if you want to put sockets into a non-magical item for your merc, think Ethereal!
Gemming An Outfit
Ok, you've seen the Gems and Runes to look for, and you've seen the gear to look for, but what about actually making something from all of this?
You have 7 sockets to fill (10 on an Iron Wolf). You can do a lot with that. And remember that Ral, Ort, and Tal Runes are pretty easy to get if you free the Barbarians for Qual-Khek. :)
Crafting Items and Rune Words
Instead of using a rune for its given value, you can "craft" an item by using the rune in a Horadric Cube recipe. Or you could assemble a Rune Word. Be aware, however, the Rune Words do not work in items granted sockets magically. (In other words, you can't make a rune word out of an "Artisan's" item.)
I recommend visiting Spirea's Diablo II Resource or Blizzard's own Arreat Summit (links below) for lists of Rune Words and Horadric Cube recipes. I'm sure you can find some very nice things there to give to your merc.