Darkest Dungeon The Color of Madness: Mercenaries Darkest Dungeon Guide

Mercenaries are unlocked after killing The Sleeper, a boss that appears during the third mission on the Farmstead.

The mercenaries are one of the new features introduced by The Color of Madness. They are special versions of regular heroes and they can be hired after defeating The Sleeper, a boss that appears during the third mission in the Farmstead (The Endless Harvest). The differences between the mercenaries and the regular heroes are listed below.

What are the differences between the mercenaries and the regular heroes?

1. You can hire up to 4 mercenaries per week.
2. Mercenaries have all their skills at the maximum level, the same goes for their armor and weapons.
3. They have no trinkets.
4. Each mercenary is at the highest, sixth, level. They also have a set of Quirks, both positive and negative - think twice which mercenary you want to hire.
5. They have a special Quirk that makes them available only during the missions that take place in the Farmstead - you can't use them during the "regular" missions.
6. Each one of them takes 10% from collected Shards, a new resource added to the game. Don't send more than 1-2 mercenaries per mission because you will lose a lot of this precious resource.

Besides the features listed above, there aren't many differences between mercenaries and regular heroes. Use them at the beginning of the game when you don't have well-developed "regular" heroes - thanks to these mercenaries your party will be able to handle themselves in the Farmstead.