What Is Best loot drop from a Merc?

Path of Exile’s mercenary system, introduced in version 3.26 “Secrets of the Atlas,” offers players a unique way to obtain powerful loot by facing and recruiting mercenaries—AI-controlled allies with their gear, skills, and attributes. The best loot drops from these mercenaries can significantly enhance your gameplay, especially early in the league or when optimizing your character’s build. Understanding what constitutes the best loot from a mercenary involves knowing about their unique gear, rare items, and special rewards exclusive to them PoE 1 Currency.

Mercenaries come equipped with various items, including weapons, armor, jewelry, and miscellaneous gear, many of which are rarer or better rolled than typical drops on the ground. Among the prized items are certain unique weapons like Kingmaker, which grants a powerful item rarity aura and critical strike enhancements, or Obliteration, which causes on-kill explosions dealing chaos damage—both highly sought after for boosting your mercenary’s damage and magic find potential. Additionally, rare gear with high item rarity and item quantity modifiers can be looted from mercenaries, making them excellent sources for magic find farming.

Besides gear, mercenaries can drop special skill gems known as Trarthus Skill Gems, similar to Transfigured Skill Gems, which can only be obtained from mercenaries. These gems can offer new or enhanced skill effects, making them valuable for build customization or trading. Furthermore, defeating mercenaries raises your Renown rank, increasing the chance to encounter Infamous Mercenaries, a rarer subset that carries unique “Infamous” modifiers on their gear and always sports at least one unique item, along with more valuable loot such as currency and scarabs.

One strategy for maximizing loot involves building a Magic Find (MF) Mercenary. Equipping your mercenary with items like Kingmaker for item rarity aura, Gravebind gloves to transfer kill credit to you (thus activating your own MF bonuses), and survivability gear to keep them alive ensures they contribute effectively to your farming runs. Other gear choices may include Perquil’s Toe amulets that increase lucky hits for better drops or accessories with increased item rarity (IIR) and items found rarity (IIF) rolls, further enhancing loot quality.

In addition to raw loot drops, mercenaries add strategic depth by enabling you to select items directly from their gear after winning duels, allowing targeted farming for specific bases or affixes. You also have the option to take the mercenary’s pouch containing currency, scarabs, or crafting materials if the gear isn’t desirable, thereby diversifying your loot acquisition methods. Exiling certain mercenaries can tailor future encounters by preventing those mercenary types from appearing, effectively controlling the loot pool you wish to pursue.

Overall, the best loot drops from mercenaries in Path of Exile revolve around unique weapons like Kingmaker and Obliteration, rare high-IIR/IIF gear, special Trarthus Skill Gems, and currency from their pouches buy PoE Currency. By incorporating mercenaries into farming strategies—particularly those designed for magic find—and carefully managing Renown for Infamous Mercenary encounters, players can greatly enhance their gear progression and build optimization in the Secrets of the Atlas league and beyond.