D2R Hire a Desert Mercenary

Icon	Achievement Name	Description	Points
	Poke Poke	Hire a Desert Mercenary	10

List of D2R Achievements Guide.

This is possible as soon as you get to Lut Gholein at the very start of Act II. Find Greiz in the hub and hire one of his merceneries, which will permanently replace whatever companion you have.

To get this trophy you simply need to gain access to act 2 and speak with Greiz who is in the upper portion of Lut Gholein. He will allow you to hire desert mercenaries to use. These are the best mercenaries in the game and the only ones that supply you with a free paladin aura.
Update to Diablo 2 resurrected:
These Mercs skills now change depending on what difficulty you enter. The old consensus was to choose a nightmare mode defensive so you can have the holy freeze aura and you would always have that merc. Blizzard has changed the way they work and if you choose a merc from Normal mode with defiance aura, when the merc goes into nightmare mode with you it will change to holy freeze, once you reach hell mode the mercs aura will change to blessed aim. You are not able to keep the aura you want permanently anymore.
Notes about the Spear handler mercs’:

• These are the best mercs in the game because of the added bonus
• Due to the change Holy freeze is nightmare exclusive and cannot be used in hell mode
• Can use all armors (Stat permitted)
• Can use all helms (Stat permitted)
• Can ONLY use two-handed spears/polearms (Stat permitted)

Normal Mode:

• Jab
• Prayer (regenerates a small amount of health for you and the merc every second) (Poor)
• Blessed Aim (increases chance to hit the enemy target for you and merc) (Okay)
• Defiance (increases defense by a lot) (Best)

Nightmare Mode:

• Jab
• Thorns (reflects damage back at attacker) (Poor)
• Might (increase the damage of all melee attacks, including yours!) (Great!)
• Holy Freeze (freezing aura that freezes enemies in an AoE and does minimal damage, mainly used for CC) (Best)

Hell Mode:

• All skills and attacks are the same as normal mode mercs

As with any merc you want to deck them out in resists and damage reducing/magic reducing gear to help them survive.