Act 1 merc

[GraveCreeper]

Are the rouges in act 1 useful to have as mercenaries? I just feel bad about letting Aliza go...

[Leohappy]

IMO they aren't very good - they have bad stats, die often due to bad AI, and don't do much damage at later levels. You'll also need good gear for them to survive at higher difficulties. There are a few (ladder) character builds that can benefit from using Rogue merc however.

[kmk-soldier]

Are the rouges in act 1 useful to have as mercenaries? I just feel bad about letting Aliza go...

its handy for people who use their merc in duel, if you equip your merc with wf it gives knockback so when it hits your enemy he will react later and you have more time to attack him, he can't escape that quick.

[krischan]

IMO attacking from a distance needs more intelligence than the AI of mercs can provide, so act 1 and 3 ones are suffering too much from doing the wrong things (running into monster packs, happily attacking immunes etc.), which mercs do very often.

[Superhal]

i like them. imho, if you have a good tank, a1 mercs are as good if not better than a2 mercs. so, i would definitely use them with a zon/valk, but they also are good for necros and barbs.

the big advantage, imho, is that they cast inner sight and use magic/fire/cold arrows, and are immune to iron maiden. thier big weakness, imho, is resists.

overall, i'm very happy with my a1 merc, even though i have some very good eq on her (wf, andy's visage, etc.) as i was building her up, all she had was like widowmaker (a very underrated bow), witchwild string, and a stealskull. she did very well with weaker than average eq thanks to missiles.

i seldom have a problem with her getting swarmed either. usually it's because i'm too lazy to kill certain monsters and run past them, leaving her to get beat up.

[Omikron8]

A1 mercs are like a3 mercs, earth-shattering stupid AI that defies all logic
ie. there is a target in plain sight being tanked in melee by one of your summons/ally and the a1 merc will blindly RUN up in MELEE range to that target and the a1 merc will promptly have its face beat in. If a1 mercs had an aggressive ranged AI and constantly backed away from danger, maintaing a good distance and constantly firing then i would chose to put up with their crappy hitpoints, stats, etc. As it is now they are leaps and bounds stupider than a2 mercs who aren't that bright either.

[raffster]

Are the rouges in act 1 useful to have as mercenaries? I just feel bad about letting Aliza go...

I am quite happy with my Act 1 Cold Merc for my Auradin. Her EQ consists of ICE Grand Bow (the Holy Freeze aura in ICE makes her almost as powerful as the Act 2 HF merc), Eth 1900+Def Fortitude, Eth Tal's with 40 ED jewel. She finishes off everything that my Auradin weakens. Unless I do something really stupid she has died less than my other characters' Act 2 mercs.

[GameFellow]

I use an Act 1 Rogue merc with my Level 89 Zealot. I really got tired of using Act 2 mercs all the time and decided i wanted a change. She's currently the same level as my Pally and is a lot of fun. I have equiped her with upped Duriels armor, Windforce bow, and Delirium helm. With my Pally's Dracul's gloves casting life leech and my merc's Delirium helm casting confuse we hardly ever die. Like a I said...it's a nice change from the usual cookie cutter mercs.

[Rehsa]

also, some bows can give interesting stats early on with a thorns aura, or an act 1 merc using the vigor aura from bow runewords. i still perfer might mercs for my melee characters