Hirelings

General
In LoD, hirelings hired in higher difficulties have less stats (life, def, etc.). In ES, the difficulty doesn't matter and hirelings of the same act always have the same stats.

In addition to that, you always hire them at your level. You can test multiple hirelings as many times as you want, or you may like to change the hireling from time to time, which refreshes your play and costs only 50000 gold.

In LoD, Act 2 mercenaries are much prefered. In ES, all hirelings are well balanced and have auras, so you are recommended to hire multiple mercs to see the difference for yourself. A full equipable hireling is strengthened wearing the 'Mercenary Set' combined with 'Waves of Ascension'.

Note: Hirelings are balanced to have average +2-3 to all skills to cap their core bonuses from auras and passives. Stacking +skills on them thus is useful only if you want pure damage from them.

Act 1 Hirelings - Glass cannon archers with innate dodge, low regen, low defense but high damage.

Act 1 Rogue Scout

 * Can't equip Amazon specific items.
 * +X To All Skill Levels works.
 * +X To Amazon Skills/Tabs does not work.
 * Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
 * Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item.

Physical/Offensive Rogue

 * Energy - 30 + 1 per merc level.
 * Arrow Pierce - 50%.
 * Level 1 Passive - Dodge. Mercenary has a chance to avoid any damage based on his dexterity, base is 10%, cap is 40%.
 * Aura - Ice Shock. Periodically freezes all enemies around for 4 seconds.
 * Level 1 Skill - Multiple Shot. 75% Weapon damage, small flat physical damage. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Needling. Plants a device that shoots multiple arrows in the closest targets. 25% Weapon damage per arrow. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Eviscerating. Releases some arrow novas in big AOE, 150% weapon damage, no flat damage, doesnt scale. Use rate - very rare.

Cold/Defensive Rogue

 * Energy - 30 + 1 per merc level.
 * Arrow Pierce - 50%.
 * Level 1 Passive - Dodge. Mercenary has a chance to avoid any damage based on his dexterity, base is 10%, cap is 40%. Formula: Chance to avoid damage = 10 + Dexterity/10.
 * Aura - Blessed Aim. Adds bonus attack rating to party and deadly strike (cap is 25%).
 * Level 1 Skill - Freezing Arrow. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Mercenary Baal Cold Missiles. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Shatters of Loathing. Plants a Ice Spike that bursts into one nova of cold missiles in big AOE, 100% weapon damage. Use rate - very rare.



Act 2 Hirelings - The best tanks that slow attacker and can heal on attack, have decent regen, high defense and average damage.

Act 2 Desert Mercenary

 * Can't equip Paladin specific items.
 * +X To All Skill Levels works.
 * +X To Paladin Skills/Tabs does not work.
 * Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
 * Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item. There are 3 types:

Offensive/Might:

 * Energy - 50 + 1 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Reflexes. Merc slows attacker by 33%, can heal on attack (cap is 120 life per hit) and has 150 FHR.
 * Aura - Might. Adds bonus to physical weapon damage.
 * Level 1 Skill - Fend. 75% Weapon damage. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Earthquake.  50% Weapon damage and 75% for aftershock with added magic damage. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Spike Storm. Releases multiple slow spike thorn novas in medium area, 25% weapon damage per hit. Use rate - very rare.

Defensive/Prayer:

 * Energy - 50 + 1 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Reflexes. Merc slows attacker by 33%, can heal on attack (cap is 120 life per hit) and has 150 FHR.
 * Aura - Prayer. Regenerates 100% party's life during 30-15 seconds. Level 20 Merc Prayer restores 100% life in 15 seconds. (cap)
 * Level 1 Skill - Wall Breaker. 100% Weapon damage. Berserk-type attack increasing merc's life and giving him immunity to freeze for 1.5 second. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Spectral Shield. Buffs party for a short period giving a cap of flat physical/magic reduction (511). Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Astonishment. Stuns enemies for 4 seconds in medium area, 100% weapon damage. Use rate - very rare.

Elemental/Conviction:

 * Energy - 50 + 1 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Reflexes. Merc slows attacker by 33%, can heal on attack (cap is 120 life per hit) and has 150 FHR.
 * Aura - Conviction. Reduces enemy's armor (cap is -75%) and elemental resistances (cap is -20%).
 * Level 1 Skill - Lightning Strike. 75% Weapon damage. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Incinerate. Releases multiple fire missiles on hit. 75% weapon damage. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Rainbow Hydra. Summons multielemental hydra that scales with spells damage and energy. Use rate - very rare.



Act 3 Hirelings - Pure elemental damage dealers with low life, low regen and decent defense.

Act 3 Eastern Sorcerer

 * Can't equip Sorceress specific items.
 * +X To All Skill Levels works.
 * +X To Sorceress Skills/Tabs does not work.
 * Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
 * Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item. There are 3 types:

Incinerator/Resist Fire:

 * Energy - 90 + 2 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Battle Mage. Merc has innate 75% FCR and F/C/L pierce, cap is 35%.
 * Aura - Resist Fire. Gives a party fire absorb (cap is 15%), fire resist, max fire resist (cap is 5%) and fire spell damage.
 * Level 1 Skill - Fire Ball. Fires multiple fire balls at high levels. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Meteor. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Charred Offering. Covers a targeted area with eruptions quickly dealing fire damage. Use rate - very rare.

Suppressor/Resist Cold:

 * Energy - 90 + 2 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Battle Mage. Merc has innate 75% FCR and F/C/L pierce, cap is 35%.
 * Aura - Resist Cold. Gives a party cold absorb (cap is 15%), cold resist, max cold resist (cap is 5%) and cold spell damage.
 * Level 1 Skill - Glacial Spike. Fires multiple spikes at high levels. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Ice Fall. Throws multiple icicles to nearby enemies. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Ice Clusters. Spawns an ice crystal under a feet of all nearby enemies dealing high cold damage. Use rate - very rare.

Storm Warrior/Resist Lightning:

 * Energy - 90 + 2 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Battle Mage. Merc has innate 75% FCR and F/C/L pierce, cap is 35%.
 * Aura - Resist Lightning. Gives a party lightning absorb (cap is 15%), lightning resist, max lightning resist (cap is 5%) and lightning spell damage.
 * Level 1 Skill - Chain Lightning. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Thundering. Drops multiple storms in medium area also increasing self lightning pierce for 25% during 3 seconds. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Breath of Tempest. A soul of tempest releases her rage to seek far enemies around. Use rate - very rare.

Act 5 Hirelings - Strong warriors fighting like berserks, they almost havent defense but insane regen and life pool keep them destroying everything.

Act 5 Barbarian

 * Can equip Barbarian specific items.
 * +X To All Skill Levels works.
 * +X To Barbarian Skills/Tabs does not work.
 * Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
 * Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item. There are 2 types:

Hitproof/Cleansing:

 * Energy - 30 + 1 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Temerity. Barbarians are heavily trained in battles and can absorb up to 15% physical damage taken meantime dealing strong attacks that can pierce enemy's physical resist. (30% cap)
 * Aura - Cleansing. Reduces curse (cap is 80%)/poison length on party members and physical/magic damage taken (cap is 50). Getting this mercenary with level 20 Cleansing and Hidden Treasure with perfect 20% Curse Resist roll will make you curse immune. It' s the only way to get it in patch 5.3.
 * Level 1 Skill - Revitalize. Attacks up to 6 foes with increased damage healing itself for 2% per second. 50% Weapon Damage. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - War Cry. Stuns enemies around dealing physical damage. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Rampant Run. Headless warriors run through enemies around dealing 12.5% weapon damage per hit+fire damage. Use rate - very rare.

Demolisher/Bear Growling

 * Energy - 30 + 1 per merc level.
 * Level 1 Passive - Temerity. Barbarians are heavily trained in battles and can absorb up to 15% physical damage taken meantime dealing strong attacks that can pierce enemy's physical resist. (30% cap)
 * Aura - Bear Growling. Deals 125% Weapon damage to nearby enemies once in 5 seconds. Doesnt scale.
 * Level 1 Skill - Spirits of Hatred. Attacks up to 6 foes with increased damage with added magic damage. 75% Weapon Damage. Added damage scales with strength. Use rate - often.
 * Level 18 Skill - Vortex of Souls. Spawns a vortex of homing souls on attack. 25% Weapon damage. Use rate - rare.
 * Level 45 Skill - Blade Shield. Places a blade shield around caster for a long duration. Blade shield deals 25% Weapon damage 3 times per second to the closest enemies. Use rate - very rare.