Diablo 4 mercenaries returning in Vessel of Hatred DLC according to leak

Dataminers have revealed that mercenaries may be returning in Diablo 4, letting players hire followers to help them in battle.

Mercanceries were a huge part of Diablo 2, with each region letting players hire an ally to assist them in fighting the demonic hordes. Players were able to arm their mercenaries and strategize their build and playstyle around them. For example, a melee class would often benefit from a ranged mercenary or a sorcerer to add some elemental damage. A caster would often make the best use of a tank to keep demons busy while they blasted enemies with spells from a distance.

This was replaced in Diablo 3 by the follower system. This time, players could recruit one of three named characters (all of different classes) that could journey alongside them, switching them out for another when the situation required it, employing the same tactics as above. Diablo 4 however features no such system, while story missions often see the player accompanied by a follower, these characters leave at a certain point and cannot be tailored in any way. They also can’t be used in side quests or endgame content.

Now, this new leak from dataminers that was shared to Reddit features the word mercenary in a wide variety of filetypes, suggesting that mercenaries will be included in the first Diablo 4 expansion, Vessel of Hatred. While this could mean that hirable mercenaries are returning with the DLC, they could be an enemy type or something else altogether. The leak has also not been verified by Blizzard as of yet, so take these file names with a pinch of salt.

However, the leak also suggests that the expansion will be set in the city of Kurast, which was home to both the Witch Doctors and a mercenary group known as the Iron Wolves in Diablo 2. The Iron Wolves could be hired by the player and used to battle the Prime Evils. The trailer also lends weight to this theory, as the location looks a lot like Kurast.

Kurast was also a region that was terrorized by Mephisto before he was defeated. This is interesting as Mephisto is believed to be the main villain of the Vessel of Hatred DLC – as the name implies. This means it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Iron Wolves, or some other mercenary group, could be hired in the expansion, finally adding a proper follower system to Diablo 4.