Diablo 4 Season 6 Best Mercenary Tier List (Vessel of Hatred)

The new mercenary system is introduced in Diablo 4 Season 6, Vessel of Hatred. With the release just around the corner, we've gathered all the essential information about the mercenaries. With this Diablo 4 Mercenary Tier List, let's break down how good these mercenaries are based on their abilities, potential synergies, and why they deserve their respective tiers.

Diablo 4 Season 6 Best Mercenary Skills & Build Tier List (Vessel of Hatred)

Diablo 4 introduces a diverse range of mercenaries, each with specialized skill trees and unique abilities. These mercenaries can be customized to complement your playstyle, whether you're soloing dungeons or teaming up for raids. Their skills can be modified with runes, offering various enhancements and strategic options.

1. Raheir, the Shieldbearer (S Tier)

Skills:

• Bastion: Redirects 90% of the damage dealt to allies to himself for 5 seconds.

• Inspiration Rune: Allies within the protective bubble deal 25% more damage.

• Shield Charge: Fortifies the player and grants up to 15% armor.

• Provoke: Taunts enemies, reducing their damage by 20%.

• Crater: Pulls enemies in and grants a 25% damage boost to core skills.

Raheir, the Shieldbearer, is a top-tier choice in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred due to his exceptional defensive capabilities and strategic flexibility. His signature ability, Bastion, which redirects 90% of the damage meant for allies to himself, combined with the Inspiration rune that boosts allies' damage by 25%, makes him indispensable in group play. This unique blend of high damage mitigation and offensive enhancement allows teams to withstand tough battles while maximizing their damage output. The potential for near-continuous uptime on these effects further solidifies his S-Tier status, making him a cornerstone for any team looking to excel in high-difficulty content.

2. Varyana, the Berserker Crone (S Tier)

Skills:

• Cleave: Deals 460% weapon damage, with an 8-second cooldown.

• Whirlwind: Spins rapidly, dealing damage and applying bleed.

• Blood Thirst: Grants 30% attack speed and 200% movement speed.

• Shockwave: Deals knockback and knockdown effects.

• Rampage: Provides a 15% damage boost to crowd-controlled enemies.

Varana, the Berserker Crone mercenary, offers two distinct paths with her skill trees: the Cleave and the Shock Wave. The Cleave path is particularly potent, allowing Varana to deliver up to 460% weapon damage, enhanced further by runes that boost attack speed or inflict vulnerability, reaching an impressive 37% attack speed increase. This path also features the Whirlwind skill, which, when combined with the No Escape rune, pulls enemies in for effective AoE damage, making it ideal for clearing large groups and synergizing well with crowd control builds. This capability earns Varana an A-Tier ranking due to her high DPS output and excellent synergy with bleed-focused builds. On the other hand, the Shock Wave path focuses on knockbacks and crowd control, providing solid support but lacking the raw damage output and speed of the Cleave/Whirlwind combination. With longer cooldowns and a more supportive role, the Shockwave Barbarian variant falls into the B-Tier, as it doesn't offer the same level of versatility or consistent high damage as the top-tier mercenary choices.

3. Aldkin, the Cursed Child (A Tier)

Skills:

• Haunt: Spreads shadow damage when enemies die.

• Condemn: Instantly executes enemies.

• Flame Surge: Deals burning damage and transforms the child into a fire demon.

• Flame Surge: Deals burning damage and transforms the mercenary into a demon.

• Resource Regeneration: Restores primary resources while in demon form.

The Cursed Child mercenary is a versatile choice in Diablo 4, capable of transforming into a demon with two distinct skill trees: Haunt and Flame Surge. The Haunt tree draws parallels to the Witch Doctor from Diablo 3, emphasizing crowd control and shadow damage over time effects, ideal for players who favor shadow-based tactics. Conversely, the Flame Surge path excels in inflicting burning damage, making it highly effective for builds that capitalize on fire damage, such as those used by Fire Sorcerers. This path not only enhances overall damage output but also boosts critical strike chances against burning enemies. Positioned in the A-Tier, the Cursed Child offers significant flexibility with its ability to deal both shadow and fire damage. However, while this mercenary provides a robust range of tactical options, it doesn't quite reach the consistent high damage output and utility seen in S-Tier mercenaries. Nonetheless, the Cursed Child remains a good choice for players seeking adaptability in their mercenary's combat style.

4. Subo, the Drunken Archer (B Tier)

Skills:

• Opening Fire: Grants 25% multiplicative Critical Strike damage to slowed enemies.

• Trip Mines: Places explosive traps.

• Molotov Cocktail: Deals damage over time with burning arrows.

Subo is a ranged DPS specialist, excelling in crowd control and damage-over-time effects. Opening Fire is particularly strong, offering a 25% critical damage boost to slowed enemies. Additionally, Subo's trap skills provide good area control, and the Molotov Cocktail complements damage-over-time builds. Subu earns her A-Tier spot because of her ability to control the battlefield and offer powerful critical damage boosts, especially for DoT builds. While not quite as universally powerful as the S-Tier mercenaries, she’s a solid choice for those who prefer ranged combat and trap-based strategies.