Mercenary and Reinforcement Selection Guide
Separate the hired Mercenary who joins solo play from the Reinforcement tied to a skill trigger. Choose both by missing role and activation, not raw damage, in an expansion-first audit.
Match the hired slot to missing mitigation, control, support, or damage, and bind Reinforcement to a skill you reliably cast. Change one Mercenary node at a time, comparing survival, core uptime, and solo clear time.
Five Decisions before Starting
5Check Unlock State
Check the Vessel campaign and each Mercenary quest.
Choose the Missing Role
Choose defense, control, sustain, or damage.
Choose the Hired Slot
Use the solo companion for the persistent role.
Set Reinforcement Trigger
Bind Reinforcement to a reliably used skill.
Test One Node
Compare deaths and time in the same activity.
Decision Checks
5Unlocks and the Den
Unlock all four choices.
Check campaign and personal quests.
Progress from Raheir into the personal quests.
Stop when a locked ally is mistaken for a bug.
Proceed with Vessel ownership.
Base-game builds omit Mercenaries.
Hired Mercenary
Cover a persistent solo weakness.
Check role, skill choices, and uptime.
Hire for one missing role.
Stop when expecting presence everywhere.
Recheck overlap at finished gear.
Replace the role with gear and Aspects.
Reinforcement
Gain timely help from a reliable trigger.
Check the bound skill and cooldown.
Bind a normal rotation skill.
Stop when bound to an unused skill.
Choose a role distinct from the hired ally.
Keep the build self-contained.
Mercenary Skill Tree
Tune one role coherently.
Read branches, triggers, and overlap.
Retest after each node change.
Stop when many changes hide results.
Remove Talisman and Rune overlap.
Remove Paragon and Aspect overlap.
Solo and Party Boundary
Respect companion availability.
Check solo, party, and activity restrictions.
Count only effects shown active.
Stop when projecting solo results to parties.
Recheck each expansion activity.
Base game compares character-only power.
Decision Boundaries
6- Mercenaries require Vessel of Hatred.
- Hired and Reinforcement slots are distinct.
- Companion presence is not guaranteed in every activity.
- No permanent best Mercenary is promised.
- Do not mix Mercenary damage with character sheet values.
- Live skill text is authoritative.
Baseline as of Patch 3.1.1
4- Mercenaries unlock through the Vessel campaign.
- Uses Raheir, Aldkin, Varyana, and Subo.
- 3.0.1 fixed controller navigation in Mercenary trees.
- No fixed DPS ranking is used at 3.1.1.
Related Guides
9Runewords
Check overlap between Reinforcement triggers and Rune effects.
Current Builds
Match roles with finished builds.
Gear Upgrades
Review upgrade order and investment.
Combat Mechanics
Review damage and survival rules.
Build Diagnostics
Find the missing role from symptoms.
Progression
Return to the matching progression stage.
Activities
Choose a repeatable test activity.
Farming
Choose a route for the missing resource.
Patch 3.1.x
Review current changes and fixes.