How Do Mercenary Reinforcements Work in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred?
Many players have called for Mercenaries to be added to Diablo 4, referencing the «golden days» of the Diablo 2 system — and Blizzard listened. New to Vessel of Hatred, Mercenaries make their debut once Diablo 4's first expansion releases, and they have fantastic interactions: flashy skills, buffs to the player, and a whole reputation track for each of them. That's not all though, because what's better than one Mercenary? That's right — two.
While players can choose a primary Mercenary to wander Sanctuary with them, Mercenaries can serve a secondary purpose as Reinforcements. This allows a Mercenary not traveling with the player to still lend their aid in battle — but how does it work? We took a deep dive into the system during the Vessel of Hatred playtest to bring you all the details on this new system.
Vessel of Hatred Playtest Review Diablo 4 Mercenaries Overview
Choosing your Reinforcements
Similar to choosing your Class Mechanic, Mercenaries can be chosen as your hired companion after a questline is completed to recruit them. Once you have a hired Mercenary, though, you can choose a different Mercenary to act as a Reinforcement. It's important to note that it has to be a different Mercenary — as much as you may like Aldkin, he can't be everywhere at once!
Your chosen Reinforcement will be able to generate some Rapport, their new reputation mechanic, however, it won't be the full amount a hired Mercenary would receive. Regardless, any little bit helps.
What is an Opportunity?
A Reinforcement functions by using a mechanic called an Opportunity. Opportunities determine how a Reinforcement reacts. For example, you can decide a Reinforcement should only react when you cast a specific skill such as Heartseeker or War Cry, or you can simply have them react whenever you cast any ability, cooldowns permitting. Other triggers such as health loss and becoming Crowd Controlled can also be selected, allowing you to have quite a bit of control over what your
