Blizzard is bringing mercenaries back with Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred and one of them is a literal demon

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred will continue a Diablo tradition of letting you recruit a team of mercenaries to help you slash through hell. A shieldbearer, scoundrel, berserker, and a literal demon are teased in the latest trailer that debuted during the Gamescom Opening Night Live stream.

Details on the mercenaries are still fairly sparse, but each of them neatly fits into an archetype that synergizes with Diablo 4's existing classes. The shieldbearer, for example, holds up a magical barrier over a necromancer as they're surrounded by monsters. Some of the mercenary's skills mirror ones players have been using in the game already, like the berserker lady's ability to yank monsters toward her with ropes that look very similar to the barbarians' steel grasp.

I can already see a dozen ways the mercenaries will supplement existing builds. Sorcerers who frequently freeze packs of demons would surely love to have a demon child who can launch a wave of fire toward them as a follow up. And as someone who never plays barbarian, I'll gladly hire a buddy to taunt and whirlwind through enemies for me.

The trailer is too brief to get into what kind of ways we'll be able to customize our mercenaries. In Diablo 3, you could toss them hand-me-down armor and mini skill trees—both features I would hope return in Diablo 4.

Blizzard plans to go into more detail during Gamescom this week, and then we'll have to wait until October 8 to meet them in Vessel of Hatred's campaign.