PoE Mercenaries Tier List (3.29): Best Merc Types, How to Spot a 'Brick' & Gearing

Mercenaries of Trarthus are the headline mechanic of Path of Exile 3.29 "Curse of the Allflame," and by now most players have hired one — but far fewer know how to tell a great mercenary from a wasted party slot. Because you cannot change a mercenary's skills after you hire it, picking the right one is the entire game: a good merc is a free second character carrying auras, damage, and defenses, while a bad one ("a brick") just eats your gold. This guide ranks mercenaries by the role they actually fill, shows you the exact tells for a strong vs. throwaway merc, and covers gearing once you go Luminary. This complete breakdown covers how mercenaries work, the archetype tier list, how to spot a brick, and the 3.29.1 buffs that changed the meta.

Quick answer (TLDR): The best mercenaries in 3.29 aren't specific named units — they're defined by their fixed skill set. Rank by role: aura carriers (auras like Determination buff you too) and Fortify/support mercs are S-tier utility, attack-DPS mercs got a direct buff in 3.29.1 and are strong for clearing, and any merc whose main skill is weak or off-meta is a "brick" you simply re-roll by hiring another. If you go Luminary you can hold up to 3 permanent mercs (1 active, 2 reserve) and re-gear them. Read on for the full role-by-role tier list and the exact tells for a good vs. bad merc.

How do mercenaries work in Path of Exile 3.29?

Starting in Act 3 you encounter veteran Mercenaries of Trarthus roaming your maps. You challenge one to a duel, and if you win you can hire it for gold. A hired mercenary fights alongside you — but critically, it does not count as a party member, so it never inflates monster life or item quantity/rarity the way a real co-op partner would. As the official 3.29.0 patch notes put it:

"Having a Mercenary does not count as a player party member, so having a Mercenary does not increase the Monster Life, or the Quantity or Rarity of Items dropped from Monsters." — Path of Exile 3.29.0 patch notes

Base (non-Luminary) mercenaries are temporary — they accompany you for a few areas, and outside of the Luminary ascendancy you can have 1 active mercenary at a time (you can pair one permanent and one temporary once you have the ascendancy). If you find a mercenary with a great skill combination and want it back later, you request a Warrant — a promise to duel that exact mercenary again in a future map. Per GGG, "A Warrant is a promise to return and duel again at a later date – a call to action which summons that specific Mercenary to a future Map, with the same set of Skills, but a new set of items." Warrants can only be granted once per mercenary, and they're tradeable — which is why a merc with a busted skill combo has real market value.

The single most important rule for this whole guide: you cannot replace a mercenary's skills. As Maxroll's mercenary guide states, "You cannot replace their Skills so once you find a Mercenary with a powerful combination of Skills consider requesting a Warrant." That is why "which merc is best" is really "which fixed skill set is best" — you're shopping for a package you can't edit.

What makes a mercenary good? (The tier list, by role)

Since you can't invent named mercs — the game doesn't rank them for you — the honest way to build a tier list is by the role a merc's skill set fills. Here's how the archetypes stack up in 3.29.

Role / archetype	Why it ranks here	Tier
Aura carrier (e.g. Determination)	Auras from your merc also affect you — a free defensive/offensive layer with zero opportunity cost.	S
Fortify / support merc	Skills like Vigilant Strike + Gilded Fortification Support can Fortify the merc and nearby allies including you for 8 seconds — a huge survivability bump.	S
Attack-DPS merc	Buffed in 3.29.1 to be relatively more effective than caster mercs at lower levels; strong, reliable clearer (e.g. the "Eruptor" type using Volcanic Fissure + Infernal Cry).	A
Caster / spell merc	Still useful, but comparatively weaker than attack mercs at low levels after the 3.29.1 rebalance; scales better later.	B
Movement-heavy / off-meta skill merc	If the merc's headline skill is weak, or it prioritizes travel over attacking, it contributes little — and you can't fix it.	Brick (F)

The key insight is that the S-tier here is utility, not raw DPS. An aura carrier is valuable no matter what build you play, because a Determination aura on your merc is a Determination aura on you. The same logic applies to a Fortify/support merc: as Maxroll notes, "Gilded Fortification Support makes hits with Vigilant Strike Fortify the Mercenary and his nearby allies (including you!) for 8 seconds." Effects that leak onto your own character are always worth more than a merc that just does its own damage in a corner. Maxroll's own advice is blunt: "Pay attention to their Auras like Determination which also affect your character!"

How do you spot a "brick" mercenary?

In the wider PoE community, a "brick" is any outcome you can't undo — a ruined craft, a wasted item. Applied to mercenaries, it means a merc whose fixed skill set is bad and can't be fixed. Because skills are locked at hire, you evaluate before you commit, and re-roll (hire someone else, or use a Warrant on a proven one) instead of trying to salvage a bad one. Here's how to read a merc at the duel/hire screen:

• Check the main skill. A merc leads with one primary attack or spell. If it's a weak, off-meta, or single-target-only skill and you're mapping, that merc will feel dead weight. You can't swap it, so this is your first filter.
• Look for support-gem conflicts. Mercenaries come with support gems on their skills, and in 3.29.1 they "on average, have slightly more supports on their skills in Maps." More supports is good — unless they fight each other. A support that adds an element to a hit while another blocks non-physical damage is a self-conflicting package. That's a brick.
• Prioritize auras over selfish damage. A merc whose kit includes an aura that also buffs you outvalues a higher-damage merc that gives you nothing. This is the community's most consistent "good merc" heuristic.
• Watch what it actually does in a pack. The clearest field test is behavior: a strong merc opens fire on the pack; a weak one wastes time not attacking. If a merc consistently isn't contributing to kills, it's a brick regardless of its stat sheet — and since you can't retrain it, you replace it.

The gold cost matters too: if a mercenary dies, "you have to spend gold to resurrect it," so a fragile brick is also a recurring gold drain. Re-rolling a bad merc early is almost always cheaper than babysitting one.

Going Luminary: gearing your mercenaries

If you want to keep and optimize mercenaries instead of renting them, the Scion's new Luminary ascendancy is built for exactly that. It "allows you to permanently Hire Mercenaries," and its "Noble Blood" node "allows you to permanently hire Mercenaries, and change their gear." A Luminary can hold up to 3 permanent mercenaries — 1 active in combat, 2 in reserve in towns and hideouts — so you can carry a specialist for different content.

Gearing is where the Luminary tier list changes. Unlike temporary mercs, you can swap a permanent merc's items — but there's a catch straight from the patch notes: "By default, Mercenaries can no longer equip Unique items, but for one point each, the Luminary allows you to unlock any slot you wish to use a Unique in." So each Unique you want on a merc costs an ascendancy point — spend them on the slots that matter most (a defining Unique weapon or chest), not everywhere. Funding that gear is a currency question; if you're weighing which orbs to save, our Divine Orb vs Exalted Orb breakdown covers what each does to merc gear, and any consistent Legion farming setup will bankroll it.

For the full node-by-node ascendancy path, see our PoE Luminary Ascendancy Guide (3.29); for the hiring mechanics and Warrant workflow in depth, read PoE Mercenaries Explained (3.29). And if you haven't unlocked your ascendancy points yet, our Labyrinth Guide (3.29) walks through all eight.

What changed for mercenaries in 3.29.1?

The 3.29.1 patch meaningfully buffed the mechanic — if you tried mercs at league start and bounced off, they're stronger now. Straight from the official 3.29.1 notes:

• Permanent mercs got a huge low-level buff. "The less Damage penalty permanent Mercenaries have compared to temporary Mercenaries now tapers in throughout the game, with no penalty before level 45, with the maximum penalty being reached at level 83." So through the entire campaign and early maps, a permanent merc has no damage penalty.
• Infamous mercs are far more common. "Infamous Mercenaries are now 50% more common in tier 1 Maps, scaling up to approximately twice as common in tier 16 Maps." Infamous mercs belong to one of the major Trarthus families and can equip special "Infamous" modifiers — the upgrade targets you should be hunting in high-tier maps.
• Attack mercs beat casters early. GGG "adjusted the damage scaling of attack damage dealing hired Mercenaries, so they are relatively more effective compared to spell caster Mercenaries at lower levels" — the reason attack-DPS mercs sit above casters in the tier list above.
• Golden Lanterns now buff your merc's drops. "Permanently hired Mercenaries accompanying players will now also gain quantity and rarity buffs from the collection of Golden Lanterns in Charts and Voyages" — a real reason to run mercs in the Allflame endgame.
• New Atlas notable for merc juicing. A new tree notable, "Contract Killers," grants "Allied Mercenaries in your Maps deal 100% more Damage against Mercenaries and Rogue Exiles."

FAQ

What is the best mercenary in PoE 3.29? There's no single "best" named mercenary — the game doesn't rank them, and every merc's skills are fixed at hire. The strongest picks are mercs whose kit includes an aura that also buffs you (like Determination) or a Fortify/support skill, because that value leaks onto your own character. For raw clearing, an attack-damage merc is your best bet after the 3.29.1 buff that made attack mercs more effective than casters at lower levels.

How do I know if a mercenary is a "brick"? A "brick" is a merc with a bad, fixed skill set you can't repair. Check its main skill (weak/off-meta = skip), watch for conflicting support gems, and see whether it actually attacks packs in combat. Since you can't change a merc's skills, you don't fix a brick — you hire a different mercenary or use a Warrant to bring back a proven one.

Can I change a mercenary's skills or gear? You can never change a mercenary's skills — they're locked at hire. You can change gear, but only if you're a Luminary Scion with the Noble Blood node; regular mercenaries keep the gear they had when you hired them. On a Luminary, equipping a Unique on a merc costs one ascendancy point per slot you unlock.

How many mercenaries can I have? Outside the Luminary ascendancy you have one active mercenary (you can also hold one permanent plus one temporary). As a Luminary you can permanently hire up to 3 — 1 active in combat and 2 in reserve in towns and hideouts.

Do mercenaries reduce my loot like a party member? No. Per GGG, a mercenary "does not count as a player party member," so it does not increase monster life or reduce your item quantity/rarity — you keep 100% of your drops. On a permanent merc, Golden Lanterns from Charts and Voyages even add quantity and rarity buffs.

Are permanent mercenaries weaker than temporary ones? Only at high level. After 3.29.1, permanent mercs have no damage penalty before level 45, and the penalty only tapers in gradually up to level 83 — so for the whole campaign and early mapping they're effectively identical to a temporary merc, with the upside that you can re-gear them as a Luminary.

Sources: Path of Exile 3.29.0 patch notes, Path of Exile 3.29.1 patch notes, and the Maxroll Mercenaries of Trarthus guide. Facts verified 2026-09-23. Always check current in-game values, as GGG may adjust the mechanic in later patches.

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