Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Best Mercenaries Guide
The Mercenaries are about to become your friends in Diablo 4, assuming you mostly play solo. Here's how to unlock them, and who to pick.
The Mercenaries is a new feature introduced to Diablo 4 with the Vessel of Hatred expansion. Mercenaries work similarly to how they did in Diablo 2, and the concept should even be familiar to Diablo 3 players, as it’s basically a new iteration of that game’s Followers.
The idea is the same: an NPC gets to accompany you in combat to help address any shortcomings your current character/build may have. This is mainly designed for solo players, but the specifics of how Mercenaries work in Diablo 4 are actually more involved than you might expect.
In this guide, we’ll go through everything you need to know about each Mercenary you can hire, where to find them, and the best one to choose.
How to unlock The Mercenaries and find The Den in Diablo 4
The Mercenaries is a feature exclusive to owners of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, meaning those who only own the base game will not be able to take advantage of anything we’re about to discuss. Unlocking the ability to hire them comes fairly early on in the expansion’s campaign, as it’s tied to its narrative content.
Raheir is one of the first new characters you’re going to meet early on in your journey in Nahantu. After completing The Hand Remembers quest, Raheir will introduce you to the concept of hiring Mercenaries, and take you to The Den - a hideout where you’ll go when you want to manage your company.
Your first encounter with Raheir also serves as a brief demonstration of what it feels like to have a Mercenary by your side, as he’s going to make a noticeable impact on the action when he shows up.
Once you reach The Den, Raheir will be unlocked as your first Mercenary, and he’s going to be assigned to your character by default.
How many Mercenaries can you unlock in Diablo 4?
Vessel of Hatred currently lets you hire one of four Mercenaries. Everyone starts with Raheir, as we just mentioned, but three others await. The order in which you gain their allegiance is entirely up to you, but you should know that unlocking each one requires finishing a multi-step quest - sort of like a Mass Effect 2 Loyalty Mission.
These quests are unique to each of them, and they offer a glimpse into their backstory and character. The four Mercenaries are a colourful bunch, and you’re going to enjoy playing each of their missions before they can become part of the squad.
It’s possible more Mercenaries will be added to the game with future Diablo 4 seasons or expansions - there’s certainly room for more in The Den! For now, you get access to four.
How to unlock all remaining Mercenaries
Now that you know where The Den is, it’s time to go after all remaining Mercenaries so you can recruit them and bring them back to your hideout. Once you reach The Den, you’ll notice three items you can interact with scattered around the place: Archive of Kuo Chosah, Brutal Note, and Muddy Letter. Interacting with each triggers a quest for their associated Mercenary, which will stay in your Journal under the Feature Unlock Quests tab.
You definitely should interact with all of them to pick up all three quests. Even if you don’t intend on doing any of them at this moment, simply adding them to your Journal means you can start them at any point. Two of the quests take place in the new region of Nahantu, while the other will take you back to the Dry Steppes.
The quests are:
- A Nameless Mystery - to recruit Aldkin.
- A Feather on the Scale - to recruit Subo.
- Slayer’s Retribution - to recruit Varyana.
Once all three are done, you’ll find all four Mercenaries at The Den (and available to recruit from the Mercenaries tab in the character page).
How Mercenaries work in Diablo 4
There are two main ways a Mercenary can aid you in battle in Diablo 4. The first and most straightforward is hiring them. Hiring a Mercenary allows them to accompany you everywhere you go, though keep in mind that this is only possible when playing solo.
The more often you bring them along, the more your bond grows. This is represented by the Rapport system, which not only makes them more powerful and versatile, it also unlocks new skills and skill trees for you to customise to fit your need.
The other way to use them is setting any of them, except the one you currently have hired, as a Reinforcement. Reinforcements are modifiers to your existing skills, meaning anytime you use that skill, the Mercenary you have assigned as Reinforcement will pop out to assist. Think of it like calling in an assist in a fighting game (a Kameo in Mortal Kombat 1, for example). Simply go to your Mercenary screen (or at the Den), and pick which of your skills you want to reinforce.
Now, all that’s left to do is pick the action you want them to perform when you use said skill. You can also set it so their assist is triggered when certain conditions are met, such as losing a certain percentage of HP, getting crowd-controlled and so on.
Because the Mercenary simply jumps in and quickly disappears, Reinforcements work even when you’re playing with others. It’s worth noting, however, that a hired Mercenary can only have two active abilities and one passive at a time. You get to choose which path down their skill tree you want to go down, so read each skill description carefully to decide which suits you best.
To recap, you can hire one Mercenary to accompany you, and assign a different one as a Reinforcement.
Which Mercenary in Diablo 4 should you pick?
As we discussed, you’re going to want to flip between Mercenaries as you play Diablo 4, so that you can eventually max out each of their Rapport levels. That said, while they’re all useful, each Mercenary sort of slots into an archetype. A good rule of thumb is to hire a Mercenary that offers something your current class does not.
For instance, Raheir is very defensive, so he’s good to have around when you’re playing as a Rogue, Sorcerer or even as a glass cannon-style Spiritborn. Being a bit of a tank with taunt abilities, Raheir is also good at keeping enemies off you, which is great when playing Hardcore, as it lowers your chance of getting ganked.
Varyana is perfect for areas with dense mobs. You should also bring her with you if you’re looking for some good ol’ fashioned destruction, as she gets stronger the more enemies you kill in quick succession. You’ll even see a counter on the screen that’s similar to the one in Diablo 3.
Aldkin is the most magic-coded member of the squad, so they make for a perfect pairing with a Barbarian or Necromancer. This is one agile character, and can be used as an on-demand damage-dealer.
Last but not least, Subo, the archer. As their profession might suggest, Subo works very well with slow classes, and any build with limited range. Subo is the most complex out of all of them, because he can be set to offer bonuses under certain conditions, which means you’re going to have to keep those in the back of your head as you play, whereas the other three work without too much interference. Subo is also the only Mercenary with the ability to reveal nearby ore veins and other collectables, which is great when you want to farm some materials.
Pale Marks, what they are and how to earn them
Pale Marks is a new type of currency in Vessel of Hatred, and it’s exclusively part of the Mercenaries progression loop. The more your Rapport with each Mercenary grows, the more Marks you’re going to accrue.
Pale Marks are simply used to buy weapons and gear sold at The Den, in the same way you use Gold to buy items from various vendors in the rest of Diablo 4’s world. Once all four Mercenaries are recruited, Raheir’s daughter, Fayira, will set up shop at The Den.
Pale Marks can also be used to refresh her stock. The greater your Rapport with all Mercenaries, the more (and better) options will be available. Your first restock each day is free, but subsequent restocks will cost 50 Marks.
A few last Mercenaries tips
Now that we’ve covered the Mercenaries system, we should point out that it’s worth rotating your hired and Reinforcement Mercenary often. Having either of them assigned will continue growing your Rapport with your chosen Mercenary, which means unlocking more options for them to play with.
The Mercenaries screen in your Character page (or at The Den) will show you how much Rapport you have built up with each of them, and your next reward for reaching another level. It all happens in the background as you play, so there’s no harm in having both assigned. Rapport is account-wide, too, so much like Paragon levels, you only need to do that grind once.
If you found this guide helpful, you’re going to love our Diablo 4 guide for the fastest, most Efficient way to level up in Season 6/Vessel of Hatred. If you’re enjoying the new expansion and new class, you should definitely consider messing around with these overpowered Spiritborn builds. All classes now have new skills, too, so we’ve updated our Diablo 4 class tier list.