Mercenaries or Followers in Diablo 2 are special NPCs that join forces with the player to fight against the forces of evil on Sanctuary. There are different types of Mercenaries which can be hired during the various Acts of the game. Players can customize a hired Mercenary equipment as well as giving them Consumables to heal.
Important Note: With the release of Patch 2.4 the Mercenaries have suffered some changes:
- Hiring a Mercenary in Expansion mode will now always offer mercenaries that match your character's Level, instead of having a randomized Level difference from your character's Level.
Below you can find a list with All Mercenaries and their distinctive abilities.
All Mercenaries in Diablo 2
Rogue Scouts
Ranged Mercenaries that use Bows
Can be hired from Kashya at the Rogue Encampment
Desert Mercenaries
Melee Mercenaries that use Spears and Javelins
Can be hired from Greiz at Lut Gholein
Iron Wolves
Magic-oriented Mercenaries
Can be hired from Asheara at Kurast Docks
How to obtain Mercenaries?
Mercenaries are unlocked after completing the Sisters' Burial Grounds Quest or reaching level 8. Mercenaries can be hired by talking to certain NPCs, except during Act IV when you can only resurrect them.
Act I: Talk to Kashya at the Rogue Encampment to hire Rogue Scouts Mercenaries.
Act II: Talk to Greiz at Lut Gholein to hire Desert Mercenaries.
Act III: Talk to Asheara at the Kurast Docks to hire Iron Wolves Mercenaries.
Act IV: Talk to Tyrael to resurrect dead Mercenaries from other acts. There are no new available Mercenaries to hire.
Act V: Talk to Qual-Kehk at Harrogath to hire Barbarians Mercenaries.
Please keep in mind that only one follower can be used at a time. If players hire a new one, the current Mercenary and his/her equipment will be lost. So first remove Mercenary's gear before hiring a new one.
You can only hire Mercenaries who are equal to or lower than your level.
How to level up Mercenaries?
Mercenaries gain experience from both your kills and theirs, but they will level up faster from experience obtained from their own kills. You can help your Mercenary gain experience faster by weakening Enemies and letting the Mercenary defeat them.
They obtain the most experience by defeating Enemies with their similar level.
Mercenaries can not feature a higher level than your hero. If the Mercenary level equals your character's level, then your follower will not gain experience until the hero levels up.
The top level Mercenaries can reach is level 98.
Magic and Gold Find Equipment
Players benefit from both the Magic Find Equipment Mercenaries use along with the Hero's Magic Find Equipment as both Magic Find Rate add up increases Magic Items drop chances, but only when the Mercenary kills the Enemy. It does apply when the Hero defeats the enemy.
On the other hand, both your character and the Mercenary benefit from the sum of Gold Find % from the equipment they both use. Extremely useful for farming Gold and for Gambling.
Mercenaries Resurrection
Mercenaries can be resurrected at any time by visiting Mercenary Leader NPCs in each town. Followers can be resurrected as many times as you need for a fee that increases as your Mercenary levels off.
Resurrection Fee is capped to 50,000 of Gold when the Mercenary is level 80 or more.
I think there is a mistake because the last sentence of the Magic and Gold Find section says " It does apply when the Hero defeats the enemy." which contradicts the previous sentence.
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