Act I Mercenary: The Rogue
The Act I mercenary, the Rogue, can be hired by Kashya in the center of the Rogue Encampment. They fight with bows, and provide ranged support for your character. They cannot wield crossbows or Amazon bows, since they are not Amazons. They don't need arrows to use their bows, so don't worry about supplying a Rogue with them.
The Rogues list of skills is quite short. All Rogues can use the Amazon skill Inner sight, and then may use either Fire arrow or Ice arrow, depending one which you choose to hire. Ice Arrow is usually preferable for the ability to slow down nearby monsters.
Rogues make very useful companions early on in the game, but are not widely used later on. Suggested equipment is a fast bow with high damage and life steal (cold damage is an added bonus). An ideal helm would be something that offers more life steal, damage reduction, and possibly increased attack speed. Since the rogue has relatively low strength and attacks at a range, its probably better to have her wear body armor that adds resistances rather than high defense.
Suggested High Level Gear
- Weapon: Runeword - Faith in a Hydra Bow
- Helm: Unique Helm - Vampire gaze
- Armor: Runeword - Fortitude
Act 2 Mercenary: The Palace Guard
The Act 2 mercenary, the Palace Guard, can be hired by Griez in the northern part of Lut Gholein. They fight with spear and polearm class weapons, and make decent melee fighters. They cannot wield javelins or Amazon-only spears.
The Act 2 Hirelings have 2 skills. No matter which one you choose to hire, he will have the Amazon skill Jab. In addition to this, they will have any of 6 different Paladin auras. The available auras depend on what difficultly level you hire him in. The following is a list of what auras are available in what difficulties.
Normal Mode
- Combat - Prayer
- Offensive - Blessed aim
- Defensive - Defiance
Nightmare Mode
- Combat - Thorns
- Offensive - Might
- Defensive - Holy freeze
Hell Mode
- Combat - Prayer
- Offensive - Blessed aim
- Defensive - Defiance
Palace Guards are the most popular mercenaries in the game. Not only do they make powerful allies in combat, but also they provide a passive bonus to your character and anyone else in your party. High-level characters can really take advantage of the +% to stats that the Palace Guards aura's offer.
Suggested High Level Gear
- Weapon: Unique - Bonehew socketed with 2 Ohm Runes
- Helm: Unique Helm - Vampire gaze
- Armor: Runeword - Fortitude
Act 3 Mercenary: The Iron Wolf
The Act 3 mercenary, the Iron Wolf, can be hired by Asheara in the north-western corner of the Kurast Docks. They can only equip swords in their weapon slot, but very rarely swing them. More often they channel spells through them. Iron Wolves cannot wield daggers or staves, only swords. Remember that mercenaries don't require mana, so they can cast spells often with no need of + to mana items.
There are three different types of Iron Wolves, each specializing in a different element. There is one for each, Fire (Fireball and Inferno), Lighting (Charged bolt and Lightning) and Ice (Glacial spike, Ice blast, and Frozen armor).
Iron Wolves are the least used mercenaries in the game. This is largely due to the fact that the weapon damage on the sword you give them usually doesn't directly improve their damage. While Iron Wolves can be useful in normal mode, their effectiveness drops off dramatically in later difficulties. Suggested equipment is a sword that gives + to skills (like Hexfire or The Atlantean and Faster Cast Rate items. Mana bonuses and +% mana regeneration items are useless on mercenaries.
An Ice type Iron Wolf is preferred to the others, since the cold damage helps you get an edge in speed, and Iron Wolves specializing in Ice get Frozen Armor to increase their defence.
Suggested High Level Gear
- Weapon: Hexfire for Fire types, The Atlantean for anything else
- Helm: Unique Helm - Harlquin crest
- Armor: Runeword - Enigma in Breast Plate
- Shield: Runeword - Spirit in a Monarch