Mercenary Guide: A1 vs A2 vs A5 Compared
Every character needs a hired mercenary. Learn which Act offers the best options, what aura or damage type each provides, and how to choose the right hireling for your specific build.
Your hired mercenary is not optional—they carry your most valuable runeword, apply auras or damage types you cannot generate yourself, and tank hits so you stay alive. The game offers three acts of hirelings with radically different offerings. Understanding which one your build needs saves currency and solves problems you did not know you had.
Act 2 Mercenaries: The Core Choice
Act 2 mercenaries from desert cities stand at the center of the meta. They come in three flavors, each carrying a unique aura that affects both the merc and your entire party in multiplayer:
- Might Aura (Holy Freeze variant) — boosts physical damage and life steal. Favored by summoners, Hammerdins, and anyone stacking physical damage. High rune words like Infinity pair here to break lightning and cold immunities.
- Holy Freeze Aura (Cold variant) — slows and freezes enemies, negating kite. Preferred for safety and crowd control, especially in high-density zones and PvP scenarios. Pairs naturally with Faith runeword and Grief weapons.
- Prayer Aura (Fire variant) — regenerates life slowly. The weakest aura by far, rarely chosen in endgame.
Act 2 mercs scale well because their auras multiply team damage. In a Lightning Sorc party, an Infinity mercenary with Might does more for your overall DPS than your own spells often do. A summoner leaning Might aura turns their physical minions into actual threats. Even solo, the aura applies to every minion and the merc's own weapon.
Act 1 Rogues: Niche but Essential
Act 1 rogues fire ranged arrows and carry two skill variants:
- Cold Arrow — freezes targets in place. Invaluable for crowd control in immobile builds and against Fast enemies. Notably the only way to apply freeze to bosses without a freeze aura yourself.
- Fire Arrow — procs fireballs for AOE. Less essential but pairs nicely with fire builds and adds supplemental damage.
Rogues fall off in late endgame because arrows scale poorly and Act 1 hirelings do not land killing blows reliably. They shine during leveling and for builds that appreciate ranged support without needing an aura. Some Sorceress leveling routes use a Cold Arrow rogue up through Nightmare.
Act 5 Barbarians: Offensive Specialization
Act 5 barbarians (hirelings from the Worldstone Keep) wield two-handed weapons and carry two combat skills:
- Frenzy (Attack Speed variant) — attacks with fury and speeds up. Grants a visible attack speed buff that carries to nearby allies. Rarely chosen because Frenzy damage scales from weapon rolls and strength, which Act 5 hirelings lack investment in.
- Bash (Knockback variant) — stuns and knocks back targets. Underrated for crowd control but demands a strong two-handed runeword.
Act 5 mercs are typically specialist picks. A Frenzy barb with Lawbringer provides crowd control and sanctuary aura damage. Bash variants excel in situations demanding immediate stun—Chaos runs, boss kiting—but lack the scaling or aura support Act 2 provides.
Building Your Mercenary: Gear and Runewords
A mercenary's effectiveness lives and dies on its gear. Three slots matter:
- Weapon — carries your runeword and scales damage or aura strength.
- Armor — provides defense and defensive auras (Fortitude is the meta).
- Helm — adds skills and defensive stats.
For a Insight runeword mercenary, a polearm with decent base damage and an ethereal superior roll multiplies mana regen. For Act 2 Might auras, an Infinity runeword on a thresher breaks 95% of immunities solo. Treachery armor provides Fade on hit, turning even budget mercs into tanky walls.
Which Mercenary Fits Your Build?
Pick Act 2 unless you have a specific reason not to. If your build already has aura coverage—like a Paladin—consider Act 5 for pure damage scaling or Act 1 for Cold Arrow utility. Leveling characters benefit from Act 1 rogues until mid-Nightmare when Act 2 Might auras accelerate kill times dramatically.
A properly geared Act 2 Might mercenary using Infinity turns into your build's hardest-working component, often dealing more total damage than your own skills. The aura is not flavoring; it is a multiplier on your entire farming speed.