Desert Mercenary

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.

Desert Mercenary availability per difficulty

Aura	Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Prayer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Defiance	Yes	Yes	Yes
Blessed Aim	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thorns	–	Yes	Yes
Holy Freeze	–	Yes	Yes
Might	–	Yes	Yes

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.

Prayer Desert Mercenary

Prayer Desert Mercenary skill levels

Level	Jab	Prayer
9	3	3
10	3	3
15	4	4
20	6	5
25	8	6
30	9	7
35	11	8
40	12	9
43	14	11
45	14	11
50	16	12
55	17	13
60	19	14
65	20	15
70	22	16
75	24	18
80	25	18
85	27	18
90	28	18
95	30	18
98	31	18

Defiance Desert Mercenary

Defiance Desert Mercenary skill levels

Level	Jab	Defiance
9	3	3
10	3	3
15	4	4
20	6	5
25	8	6
30	9	7
35	11	8
40	12	9
43	14	11
45	14	11
50	16	12
55	17	13
60	19	14
65	20	15
70	22	16
75	24	18
80	24	18
85	24	18
90	24	18
95	24	18
98	24	18

Blessed Aim Desert Mercenary

Blessed Aim Desert Mercenary skill levels

Level	Jab	Blessed Aim
9	3	3
10	3	3
15	4	4
20	6	5
25	8	6
30	9	7
35	11	8
40	12	9
43	14	11
45	14	11
50	16	12
55	17	13
60	19	14
65	20	15
70	22	16
75	24	18
80	24	18
85	24	18
90	24	18
95	24	18
98	24	18

Thorns Desert Mercenary

Thorns Desert Mercenary skill levels

Level	Jab	Thorns
43	13	11
45	13	11
50	15	13
55	16	14
60	18	16
65	19	17
70	21	19
75	23	21
80	24	22
85	26	24
90	27	25
95	29	27
98	30	28

Holy Freeze Desert Mercenary

Holy Freeze Desert Mercenary skill levels

Level	Jab	Holy Freeze
43	13	6
45	13	6
50	15	8
55	16	9
60	18	11
65	19	12
70	21	14
75	23	16
80	23	16
85	23	16
90	23	16
95	23	16
98	23	16

Might Desert Mercenary

Might Desert Mercenary skill levels

Level	Jab	Might
43	13	7
45	13	7
50	15	8
55	16	10
60	18	11
65	19	12
70	21	13
75	23	15
80	23	16
85	23	17
90	23	18
95	23	20
98	23	20

Every version of the Desert Mercenary 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.

• His aura applies to you and to your party, so the aura is usually the reason to pick him over another mercenary.
• He never throws a javelin, so only the one handed damage of a javelin counts.
• His Jab lands two hits per sequence rather than the three an Amazon gets.
• 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
• Iron Wolf, the Act 3 mercenary
• Barbarian, the Act 5 mercenary