Barbarian

Which version of the mercenary is on offer depends on the difficulty you hire in. A mercenary you already employ keeps the version it was hired with, so the only way to change it is to hire a new one.

A mercenary spends skill points on its own, so the tables below are the only levels it will ever reach. Gear that grants +X to All Skills, or +X to the class the mercenary counts as, is added on top of these.

Two-Handed Barbarian

Two-Handed Barbarian skill levels

Level	Bash	Stun	Battle Cry
28	8	6	5
30	8	6	5
35	10	7	6
40	11	9	8
45	13	10	9
50	14	11	10
55	16	12	11
58	18	14	13
60	18	14	13
65	20	15	14
70	21	17	16
75	23	18	17
80	25	20	19
85	26	21	20
90	28	22	21
95	29	23	22
98	30	24	23

Dual Wielding Barbarian

Dual Wielding Barbarian skill levels

Level	Frenzy	Iron Skin	Taunt
28	2	2	7
30	2	2	7
35	3	3	8
40	4	4	9
45	5	5	10
50	6	6	11
55	7	7	12
58	9	8	13
60	9	8	13
65	10	9	14
70	11	10	15
75	12	11	16
80	13	12	17
85	14	12	17
90	15	13	18
95	16	14	19
98	16	15	20

Every version of the Barbarian shares the same attributes, so only its skills set the versions apart. Since Resurrected the difficulty a mercenary was hired in no longer affects its stats, and a mercenary can reach level 98.

• Resistances are listed before the difficulty penalty. Nightmare takes off 40 and Hell takes off 100, exactly as it does for your character, and the total is capped at 75.
• The damage column is the mercenary's own damage. It is added to the damage of the weapon it holds, which is where nearly all of its killing power comes from.
• Reviving a mercenary costs its level squared, halved, times 15 gold. That reaches the 50,000 gold cap at level 82.

A mercenary has no inventory and no charm slots. It can only wear what fits the slots below, and the requirements of an item have to be met by the mercenary's own Strength and Dexterity.

The mercenary runewords list covers the runewords that are worth building for one.

• He counts as a Barbarian in Resurrected, so +X to Barbarian Skill Levels raises his skills and he can wear a Primal Helm.
• The Dual Wielding version cannot hold a two handed sword at all.
• His skills give each other synergy bonuses the same way player skills do.
• A mercenary has Strength and Dexterity but no Energy or Vitality, and no mana at all. +Life works on one, +Mana does not, and a mana potion cannot be fed to one.
• Prevent Monster Heal does nothing in the hands of a mercenary.
• An ethereal item loses no durability when a mercenary wears it, so ethereal gear never breaks on one.
• Magic Find and Gold Find on the mercenary are added to yours whenever the mercenary lands the killing blow, not when you do.
• −X% to Enemy Resistance on the mercenary's gear only helps the mercenary's own damage. It does nothing for yours.

• Rogue Scout, the Act 1 mercenary
• Desert Mercenary, the Act 2 mercenary
• Iron Wolf, the Act 3 mercenary