C’mon devs, please consider some additional merc improvements for S6, especially A3 mercs as they are still underperforming.
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For the frenzy variant should that be able to dual wield axes and swords together? Or should that be one frenzy variant with swords only and one with axes only? If so, you gain acess to beast now on this one. But I think it could be wise to have not mixed frenzy variant. Either dual swords (even dual 2H) or you need to choose the other dude, the new “dual axes frenzy” merc?
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Good point. I think the Frenzy variant should come w/ two types as shown below…
Act 5 Barbarian Warriors
- Can now dual-wield 2H Swords
- Frenzy variant now has two types:
- Dual-wield Axes only
- Dual-wield Swords only
- New Throw Barb variant w/ skills:
- Double Throw, Throwing Mastery, Howl
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There are 3 thrown weapon types, plus thrown potions. Do you intend throw barb mercenaries to be able to use any of those (meaning all the relevant graphics added)? Or are they to make multiple variants of the same mercenary?
I think the new Throw Barb variant should be restricted to throwing axes only, just like Madawc. I’m thinking that would minimize development time to implement…
Act 5 Barbarian Warriors
- Can now dual-wield 2H Swords
- Frenzy variant now has two types:
- Dual-wields Axes only
- Dual-wields Swords only
- New Throw Barb variant dual-wields Throwing Axes only w/ skills:
- Double Throw, Throwing Mastery, Howl
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Absolutely unlikely, but you added some general changes which would need some work on top of simple balance changes.
How about introducing a 2-3 phases aproach as well (like in the Calling to Improve Itemization thread)?
Phase 1: Easy changes (like allowing orbs an Act 3 mercs) and a new physical A1 rogue (should not be to complicated if AI is untouched and those would use the current gfx model).
Phase 2: Improve exisiting mercs and maybe the AI issues
Phase 3: Introduce new Druid based mercs for Act 4 
How about the last one? Whould people like to see 3-4 new druid based mercs for Act 4, or is it a waste of time even thinking about it?
I could see some room for a raven centered mercs as well as for the two wolfes (grizzly might be to much)? The elemental skills will stumble over the AI as well as the Act 3 do today. So as cool as a armageddon or hurricane merc would be. Would not even consider that.
But the summons could work even with todays and then probably unchanged AI? Would not think about sorcs (that shoudl be covered by improved iron wolfes) and Sins have kind of mercs with the two warriors.
What do people think about that?
So Blizz blocked my account for a day :slight_smile due to this…
Can we elaborated this one a bit more in detail?
Obviously the act 3 mercs are too weak, needs a big portion of dmg boost and I understand the goal here to boost strength parameters. Mainly enable those dudes to wear a spirit monarch with 156 strength req. This would not be possible today even with lvl 99 and without any + strength equipment. Didn´t know if the base values are still different if hired in NM or hell (I guess so and if so, I would put that on the list, that they should have the same base values no matter where hired). Doesn´t make to much sense, that you need to switch difficulty to normal to get the “real” iron wolfes hired…
The fun with equiping iron wolves is, that you have to make some decissions and imagine something that works with the given limitation. I think that is part of the fun and you need to put special gear together to fully utilize the current mercs.
For example. I have a Barb with an act 3 cold merc on lvl 81. Hired in normal difficulty he has 132 base strength, 106 dex at that level without any gear. He runs now an eth Shako (+2 strength) and an eth upped Vipermagie with an +9 strength jewel (so +11 strength added in total). I still need to wait to lvl 83 to equip that eth Monarch I found and I´m super happy to utilize on it (until then he is happy with his eth Lidless right now). This will need 146 strength at lvl 83 for the eth version of the monarch with minus 10 strength requirements.
To be honest I think that it is fair, that you need to engineer something to equip those dudes. On the other hand you bareley need to think about res after a certain point (the lower strength is the tradeoff here). The question would be, when he should be able to wear that spirit shield? For weapons and amour that doesn´t make a difference as far as I would assume.
In the itemizations thread we worked out several good item buffs providing several new and interessting build options for those boys. Enable them to have blocking you could use our new version of Mosers (with this +1 skill buff). Tiamat’s Rebuke, Stormchaser, Visceratuant (if they shall benefit from +skills to sorcs, what would be awesome I guess?! - maybe that should on the list as well? New Enlightenment would be awesome then as well! At least for the fire version if fire mastery is added). And Splendor is a viable option already (not BIS but not really bad).
So bottom line. When should they get this monarch? And should that needs to be etheral at this lvl? That should determin the strength buff.
I personally would say, that they should reach lvl 80 at least to equip that eth Monarch (with at least 6-8 points needed on the gear - eg. your random +7 strength jewel with no really good other affixs would do the trick). So the current 130 strength would need to be at 139.
Increased base strength by 10 would do the trick here. Your normal Spirit monarch would be available at lvl 93 without any extra points on the gear. With that mentioned +7 jewel on your armor or head would result in lvl 88 and a FAL rune would help you take off at lvl 85.
So thats my suggestion. Instead of scaling, just add +10 strength at the base. Can´t think of any trouble early on and I would not change dex. A crystal sword is all you need and you can not just put your PB on it (tradeoff again).
What do people think about that?
That’s actually more likely to be one of the hard to do changes, as it probably requires new graphics for the Iron Wolves.
Not having mercs in Act IV is most likely intentional, not an oversight or a lack of resources to make one (plus, the new mercenary would need to be based on the non-expansion classes, which leaves only necromancer).
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I think not that it was intentionally. Said in many interviews, that they where short on time to finish the game (thats why conversions are missing - hello Hablu - and you have only 3 quests). But the point about the expansion is true. Haven´t thought that through…
Not sure if we should expect a new gfx. If they ask me I would be happy if they stick to the same gfx. I would “need” a new model more on the act 5 axe variant personally. But would be ok, if the iron wolfes would keep they model with the sword (tbh).
Respectfully disagree on the “no dex buff”
If iron wolf is to survive with meh gear he needs to benefit from his shield block, and unfortuneatly in his case this is double downed on his dex same way as the player is.
If blocking is ever going to be a thing for Iron wolf he needs a bump of about +60pts in dex on his final level in order to fully benefit from shield’s block chance ~200pts total is needed but the last 20 could be obtained from gear ( those rare jools).
Anyways Survivability wise it’s just a matter of enabling block chance+ getting it to 75% for him, this would cut off 75% melee damage and 75% physical ranged damage like normal arrows, eth upped guardian angel would solve his resist problems, 75%PLR 30%FRW in 2x sox a rar circlet would mostly solve his kiting issues ( if his AI is set to run not walk), plus the usual hell poison lenght issues.
his offense is quite good when equipped with 6x perfect rainbow facet sword + 2x perfect rainbow facets in 2sox circlet. the only thing i would like to give to iron wolf is the sunder charm ( yes he should have a slot for 1 grand charm).
it would create wonders for all mercs anyone thinking of eth reaper’s toll merc with bone breaker? or that new throwbarb merc with double eth lacerators and bone breaker? cold sunder would allow cold arrow a1 merc to finally freeze/slow cold immunes as well.
TL:DR
Iron wolf needs ~ +60dex boost if he ever gets to block with his shield, grand charm slot for sunder charm + rainbow facets in sword and circlet to improove damage to sundered enemies. his life tends to stay green most of the time if he is boosted with Battle Orders to ~4-5k life (~40lvl BO required) regen will outheal the damage most of the time, only thing that may still kill him is pure magic damage sucubbi bolts or unraveler unholy bolts can still wipe him out pretty quickly if one’s not carefull.
as for that 99lvl mercs, i think someone has been toying with hero editor too much, as that is the only place i know of to get merc to lvl 99 ( by boosting his exp tabel). This is not possible in Multiplayer nor in legit SP.
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Why? You cannot even buy D2R without the expansion.
I’m trying to keep thread as a list of simple changes to improve mercs. I’m thinking about actually removing suggestions that require any development time (e.g. new animations), such as removing Sorceress Orbs on Act 3 merc or Axes on Act 5 merc. For new throw barb variant, could they borrow animations from Madawc? Not sure. 
If Vicarious Visoins ported all Barbarian animations ( especially for those wandering barbarians in bloody foothils) than Barb merc alredy should have double 1handed axe animations. they would be coupled from two different models, as wandering barbarians tended to use sword in one hand and axe in the other ( at least in LoD), if setting monstats2.txt for a new barb merc, simply use settingaxe for left hand and axe for right hand, instead of the usual setting axe in one hand and sword in the other.
I already made one in LoD back in the day when i was moding LoD. the only problem back then was that usable item type was hardcoded, and we all know it is not the case with D2R. any weapon including class specific weaponry can be set to be used on a given merc. the oly problem are animantions. This is not the case for dual axe wielding barb however.
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That’s good to know and sounds like Frenzy merc dual-wielding Axes is atleast feasible. 
Act 1 merc equipping crossbows shouldn’t be an issue as they can use existing animation. This would be a slight buff to crossbows as the merc will attack at the same speed with bows and crossbows whereas characters attack much slower with crossbows.
The changes that don’t seem feasible is Act 3 merc equipping Sorceress Orbs (requires new animation) and blocking with equipped shield as they don’t have blocking animation. Maybe a better solution is to give Act 3 merc ability to use Teleport for added survivability.
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Act 3 not having Block animation isn’t as big of an issue given that Amazon’s can kind of Dodge/Avoid/Evade without showing it in animation frames. You can similarly do the same thing with Act 3 Iron Wolves with respect to Blocking. As for their Block Chance(and needing more Dexterity), an easy way to help with that would be to give them all Holy Shield as a base skill since they’re the only Mercenaries that can use Shields. They activate it and voila… +Block Chance and massive increase to their Defense. Since most Mercenary skills reach 18 by level 90 or so, that’s +34% Block Chance, with level 20 yielding 35% with a +2 Skill Spirit Sword/Shield(36% is achieved at level 23). Enable them to utilize Paladin Shields(which would be a boon given their much lower Strength and All Resistance auto-mods) and Act 3 Iron Wolves will suddenly be much more durable. They’d still probably need a Dexterity boost though if you wanted them to have 75% Block(not to mention a new runeword tailored just for them specifically like I proposed with “Devotion” elsewhere on this Forum).
I do agree with the lack of Sorceress Orb animations and how that kind of won’t work. However, it doesn’t stop them from benefiting from +Sorceress Skills like on Visceratuant, Ormus Robes(provided it rolls with +3 to a skill they use) and other Sorceress related gear. Act 3 would need to be given a Class Bonus for Blocking since I believe they currently lack one. Given that Sorceress’ get +20% from their Class Bonus, I feel Act 3 should similarly get that, hence they’d have the same base Block a Sorceress would have with a Spirit Monarch(42%).
Meaning at level 90, an Act 3 Fire Mercenary with a Spirit Sword, Phoenix Monarch, CoH Armor and Flickering Flame Helm would yield +4 to all Skills(+7 to Fire), yielding 22 Holy Shield for +35% Block Chance. At level 90 they have 115 Dexterity, yielding ~42% Block Chance. To hit 75%, they’d need like 191 or so(which is a lot). The need for Dexterity only grows as they level up too, hence Guardian Angel on Act 3 would probably be Best-in-Slot under the circumstances with that fat +20% Block Chance and Resistance Cap mods. +1 Paladin Skills from GA would benefit Holy Shield too.
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Sounds good. We can replace Orbs with Pally Shields (has the benefit of not requiring any new animations and adds survivability) and increase both STR and DEX scaling by 15%…
Act 3 Iron Wolves
- Can now equip Paladin Shields
- Gains +sorceress skills from gear
- Act 1 receives +amazon skills and Act 5 receives +barbarian skills
- Can now block with equipped Shield
- STR and DEX scaling increased by 15% (help w/ req. and block chance)
- Gains Mastery at level 30 (base skill):
- Fire: +1 to Fire Mastery
- Cold: +1 to Cold Mastery
- Lightning: +1 to Lightning Mastery
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I’m suggesting that to improve Iron Wolves that they also be granted the ability to equip Paladin shields.
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Updated OP with the following below:
Act 3 Iron Wolves
- Can now equip Paladin Shields
- Gains +sorceress skills from gear
- Can now block with equipped Shield
- STR and DEX scaling increased by 15% (help w/ req. and block chance)
- Gains Mastery at level 30 (base skill):
- Fire: +1 to Fire Mastery
- Cold: +1 to Cold Mastery
- Lightning: +1 to Lightning Mastery
Act 5 Barbarian Warriors
- Can now dual-wield 2H Swords
- New Frenzy variant dual-wields 1H Axes
- Use animations from Barbarians in Bloody Foothills
- New Throw Barb variant dual-wields Throwing Axes w/ skills: Double Throw, Throwing Mastery, Howl
- Use animations from Madawc in Arreat Summit
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for iron wolf:
- pala shields and + sorceress gear contradicts itself game mechanics wise, as of current there can be only one class equivalent given to a mercenary so either sorceress or paladin.
to equip pala shields merc must be pala equivalent, to equip sorc gear and benefit from +sorceress skills + class sorceress tab one mist be sorceress equivalent.
BTW Ormus robes already works for a3 in live version, it was patched some time ago, only +single sorceress skill works +sorceress skills and +tab sorceress skills require sorceress class equivalent set in hirelings.txt
masteries are fine, however without breaking immunities they still would suck, hence grand charm slot for sunder charms.
Act5 Merc.
dual wielding 2h swords requires heavy code edits, and cannot be done simply by setting txt files.
Wrong! Blody foothils animation has sword in 1 hand and axe in the other. As i said the model isn’t one thing set in stone, you can use different model bodyparts and merge them together, hence one model has axe in left hand sword right hand and other has axe in right hand and sword in left. setup monstats2.txt to use axes in both hands ( monstats2.txt is for visuals) and set monstat.txt for the axe merc to use 1handed axe for both hands ( physical item type limiting factor, as monstats.txt handles critter mechanics).
Madwac is a bad idea as it will have the ancients glow around him and totally different hairstyle, not all models are adjustible, and not everything can be mix matched together. Act 5 merc and wandering barbs just use the same model parts ( the same was in lod), they are incompatible with madwac, talic and korlic i think.
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Easiest solution for the developers is to increase Act 3 merc base strength and just takes editing a few numbers in the merc file. Also should remove Throw Barb variant as it seems too problematic to implement.
I wonder if it would be technically possible to give the hireling two one-handed melee axes, but retain his ability to throw them.
Hirelings are supposed to help, not to replace us! If the hireling encounters immune monster, it’s time for your character to take action. I hope you use a different element than the hireling for this reason…
And I wish my character had charm slots instead of cluttering the inventory!
Act 1 Rogue Scouts
Wouldn’t multi-hit skills (Multiple Shot, Strafe) be too OP, both power-wise and visually? Consider replacing them with Guided Arrow and Slow Missiles.
Act 5 Barbarian Warriors
Since you’ve proposed to use Madawc (which, as noted by Leslaw, looks distinct), consider adding 3 “elite” barbarian types, with Ancients models, hireable only on Hell.
Madawc:
Already covered in the main post. Consider the above suggestion with non-thrown axes.
Korlic
The model forces us to use a polearm, which is already “reserved” for the Desert Mercenary. Would such a hireling, but using Leap Attack, be distinct enough?
Maybe it would be possible to use a (one- or two-handed) axe, as it would visually match the model?
Talic
Again, the model forces us to use the “sword and board” setup, the same as by the Iron Wolves. However, Iron Wolves are casters and their gear is just stat sticks. This hireling would make proper use of them (Whirlwind).
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