Hirelings - Eastern Sun Wiki

General

• In LoD, hirelings hired in higher difficulties have less stats (life, def, etc.). In ES, the difficulty doesn't matter and hirelings of the same act always have the same stats.
• In addition to that, the level cap of hirelings in Hell is raised to level 85, so you don't have to hesitate to change your hireling. You can test multiple hirelings as many times as you want, or you may like to change the hireling from time to time, which refreshes your play and costs only 50000 gold. (The only exceptions are Act 2 mercenaries in normal and NM. If you need one of their aura, changing hirelings isn't a good idea.)
• In LoD, Act 2 mercenaries are much prefered. In ES, all hirelings are well balanced, so you are recommended to hire multiple mercs to see the difference for yourself. A full equipable hireling is strengthened wearing the 'Mercenary Set' combined with 'Waves of Ascension'.

Act 1 Rogue Scout

• Can't equip Amazon specific items.
• +X To All Skill Levels works.
• +X To Amazon Skills/Tabs does not work.
• +X To Each Skill (Magic Arrow, etc.) works.
• Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
• Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item.

Fire Rogue

• Uses Inner Sight, Magic Arrow, Slow Missiles, Exploding Arrow, Immolation Arrow, Poison Arrow and Strafe.
• No aura or warcries, but Inner Sight now reduces monster's Defense by percent, and also reduces monster's Physical Resist (works on top of the curse Amplify Damage, etc.).
• Slow Missile also helps a lot, especially in Act 5 and Andariel's Dressing Room.
• Strafe is also good for triggering CtC Skills.

Cold Rogue

• Uses Inner Sight, Magic Arrow, Slow Missiles, Ice Arrow, Freezing Arrow, Lightning Arrow and Legendary Arrow.
• No aura or warcries, but Inner Sight now reduces monster's Defense by percent, and also reduces monster's Physical Resist (works on top of the curse Amplify Damage, etc.).
• Slow Missile also helps a lot, especially in Act 5 and Andariel's Dressing Room.
• Ice Arrow chills and Freezing Arrow freezes non CI monsters.
• Once she got a good amount of Pierce, Lightning Arrow and Legendary Arrow exert an awesome effect.
• Legendary Arrow with a good amount of Pierce is also good for triggering CtC Skills.

Act 2 Desert Mercenary

• Can't equip Paladin specific items.
• +X To All Skill Levels works.
• +X To Paladin Skills/Tabs does not work.
• +X To Each Skill (Might, etc.) works.
• Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
• Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item.

All Mercenaries

• Uses Jab, Lightning Strike, Vengeance and an Aura.
• Vengence and Lightning Strike can kill some PIs and still can leech if the target isn't PI.
• Have less life regeneration than Barbarian hirelings. To make up for this, they need better equipment (more Max Life, Life Leech and DR%).

Auras

• Sometimes it takes some minutes that they activate the Aura.
• I'm not saying that Act 2 Mercenaries are weak, but their aura level is generally nerfed in ES. This is because the aura made them better than the other hirelings in LoD. Auras are not so strong when they are naked, but you can boost the aura level with +Skill items.
• Might and Fanaticism are good for physical attacking characters.
• Conviction is of course the best aura for the casters. Offensive Barbarian is another good option for casters, especially when you can use Conviction by an item.

• Normal – Combat: Defiance
• Normal – Defense: Prayer
• Normal – Offense: Holy Fire
• Nightmare – Combat: Might
• Nightmare – Defense: Meditation
• Nightmare – Offense: Thorns
• Hell – Combat: Conviction
• Hell – Defense: Concentration
• Hell – Offense: Fanaticism

Act 3 Eastern Sorcerer

• Can't equip Sorceress specific items.
• +X To All Skill Levels works.
• +X To Sorceress Skills/Tabs does not work.
• +X To Each Skill (Fire Ball, etc.) works.
• Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
• Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item.

Fire Sorcerer

• Uses Protection From Fire, Shock Wave, Fire Ball, Fissure, Immolation and Creeping Doom.
• Shock Wave and Creeping Doom stuns monsters.
• Perhaps the least characteristic one, but deals the largest damage of the three.

Cold Sorcerer

• Uses Protection From Cold, Tornado, Glacial Spike, Ice Nova, Winter Fury and Frozen Orb.
• Ice Nova, Winter Fury and Frozen Orb chills and Glacial Spike freezes non CI monsters.
• Cannot Be Frozen from Protection From Cold incredibly benefits summoners, even if some corpses are destroyed by Cold Spells.

Lightning Sorcerer

• Uses Protection From Lightning, Static Field, Lightning, Chain Lightning, Lightning Hydra, Bone Spirit and Time Stop.
• Protection From Lightning is the most popular protection aura because of the nasty Black Souls.
• They cast Time Stop only from time to time, but it reduces the threat of monsters like Holy Freeze.
• They don't cast Static Field frequently either, but it's nice gravy.

Act 5 Barbarian

• Can equip Barbarian specific items.
• +X To All Skill Levels works.
• +X To Barbarian Skills/Tabs does not work.
• +X To Each Skill (Shout, etc.) works.
• Oskill bonuses of their inherent skills are capped at +3 per character.
• Their inherent skills work as a synergy for an aura item.

Defensive Barbarian

• Uses Stun, Concentrate, Battle Orders, Shout and Battle Command
• Battle Orders and Shout combo is useful for all classes, especially melee characters.
• Not only BO and Shout but also Stun and Concentrate make them the toughest hirelings in the game. They can stay alive with relatively cheap gears.
• Battle Command gives not a single but a few skill boosts. This makes them also good for casters.

Offensive Barbarian

• Uses Bash, Concentrate, Waycry, Ancient's Call and Battle Command
• Has no life boost or def boost, but Warcry effectively stuns nearby monsters to attack safely.
• Ancient's Call works like a curse, but it amazingly reduces all kinds of resistance, including Poison and Magic.
• Bash has the highest damage bonus in the game.
• Battle Command gives not a single but a few skill boosts. This makes them also good for casters.

Hireling Skills