Path of Exile 3.29: the guide to Trarthus's Mercenaries and the Eminence (Luminary) ascendancy

Three weeks after the launch of Curse of the Allflame, the 3.29 update released on July 16, 2026, one system stands out as the real game-changer of this Path of Exile version: the return of the Mercenaries of Trarthus, now integrated into the base game, and the new Heiress ascendancy tailored for them, the Luminary. For the first time in PoE 1, you can recruit a permanent companion, choose their gear piece by piece, and build an entire character around them.

The system does have its pitfalls, though: gold-wagering duels, a level 68 cap, single-use Warrants, damage penalties for permanent mercenaries. Here's everything you need to know to make the most of it, whether you're playing Luminary or any other class in the league.

All the information below comes from the official 3.29.0 patch notes and from the French client strings noted on poedb; the French names are those displayed in-game.

Mercenary duels from Act 3 onward

Since 3.29, mercenaries from the lawless cities of Trarthus appear in zones starting from Act 3, both in the campaign and in maps. Each one offers you a duel: you wager an amount of gold on one of the items they carry. If you lose, the wagered gold is gone and the mercenary teleports out of the zone. If you win, you pocket the item and the mercenary fights alongside you for several zones — up to three during the campaign.

Four campaign zones guarantee an encounter: The Sceptre of God, The Grand Arena, The Ridge, and The Hidden Vaults. Handy for never crossing an act without an ally, with one caveat: the mercenaries in these guaranteed zones don't carry any bonus loot in their bag.

Two progression rules are worth understanding before investing:

• A hired mercenary scales with your progress: their passive stats and abilities level up to match the zone you're in, capped at level 68.
• Their gear, on the other hand, stays frozen in time: the item level you can equip on them is capped by the level of the zone where you found them. A mercenary found in Act 4 will never wear endgame gear — keep that in mind before permanently hiring the first one you meet.

One last major change compared to the original league (3.26): a mercenary no longer counts as a party member. Their presence doesn't increase monster life, nor the quantity or rarity of dropped items. It's a free ally, with no drawback on loot.

The Mercenary Warrant: guaranteed rematch and a black market

In maps, if nothing a mercenary offers appeals to you, you can ask for their Mercenary Warrant. This item, part of the Map Fragment class and limited to one per Map Device, is used alongside a map to bring back that specific mercenary and offer them a rematch: same abilities, but a brand new batch of items to wager on. The fragment also adds 5% increased item quantity to the zone.

Careful: a mercenary only hands out their Warrant once. So there's no way to endlessly recycle the same opponent. In exchange, Warrants can be freely traded between players, which in three weeks has given rise to a real black market: mercenaries with good ability combinations are being bought and sold, especially among Luminaries looking for their ideal recruit.

Luminary: the ascendancy that makes mercenaries permanent

3.29 adds a third ascendancy for the Heiress: the Eminence. Its foundational passive, Noble Blood, comes down to a single line: "You can permanently hire a Mercenary". In practical terms, an Eminence can maintain up to three permanent mercenaries — one active in combat, two in reserve in towns and hideouts, swappable at will.

The real revolution lies elsewhere: unlike temporary mercenaries, a permanent mercenary's equipment can be freely modified. You can gear it up from head to toe like a second character. Two trade-offs to keep in mind: permanent mercenaries and their minions deal less damage than temporary ones (client data puts this penalty at 30% as a final multiplier), and your ascendancy passives only affect permanent mercenaries, never temporary recruits.

The rest of the tree reads like a commander's toolkit:

• Oath of Allegiance: Link Skills cost 50% less, their attachment duration becomes infinite, and if your linked mercenary dies, you don't die with it. This is the full unlocking of the Link archetype, historically too punishing in solo play.
• Golden Glory: increases to Light Radius also apply to the effect of your Links on your mercenary. The most mocked stat in the game — light radius — suddenly becomes a power lever to stack on gear.
• Devoted Bodyguard: if your mercenary's life is higher than yours, 20% of hit damage aimed at you is drawn from its life before yours; if it's lower, 40% of damage it takes is returned to it as life recovery over four seconds.
• Conferred Knighthood: your mercenary taunts enemies on every hit and gains 50% increased effect of its auras (curses excluded).
• Legendary Weapons: your mercenary can equip unique weapons, shields, and quivers, and gains 8% increased damage (as a multiplier) with its minions for each unique item equipped.

Around these pillars, a series of small nodes — Legendary Gloves, Helmets, Boots, Rings, Amulets, and Belts — unlock, slot by slot, the right to equip uniques, while others add 15% life or damage to the mercenary, 10% cast speed to Links, and 5% Light Radius each time.

Two ways to build an Eminence

Three weeks of the league have brought two clear archetypes to light:

The support commander

You play the standard-bearer: auras, permanent Links via Oath of Allegiance, Golden Glory to convert every source of Light Radius into Link effect, and an over-geared mercenary that does all the offensive work. Legendary Weapons and the slot nodes turn the 30% penalty into a mere toll: with 8% increased damage per unique equipped, a mercenary decked out in six or seven uniques more than makes up for it. The choice of recruit is then decisive — hence the appeal of the Mandate market for finding the right combination of skills.

The escorted damage dealer

The reverse works too: you remain the damage source, and the mercenary becomes your shield. Devoted Bodyguard redirects 20% of hits to their life, Conferred Chivalry forces enemies to target them through taunt, and their amplified auras benefit you. You then gear the mercenary purely for defence — life, regeneration, resistances — without worrying about their damage, which makes the 30% penalty painless.

Hunting mercenaries in the endgame

To feed all this with maps, 3.29 delivers a dedicated arsenal:

• The Trarthan Scarab guarantees that a mercenary inhabits the zone. Its three variants go further: infamous mercenaries escorted by two wild mercenaries, gear entirely composed of uniques, or wandering Exiles accompanied by a wild mercenary half the time.
• Certain Searing Exarch altar modifiers can drop these scarabs, and the Atlas passive tree has its own set of passives dedicated to the Mercenaries of Trarthus.
• Six uniques become exclusive to mercenary encounters again and leave the general loot pool: Azadi Crest, Binds of Bloody Vengeance, The Ghastly Theatre, Hand of Heresy, Howlcrack, and Scornflux. Same logic for Trarthan gems, which are no longer obtained from Heist gem lockboxes.

Finally, note a welcome addition in this version: every hired mercenary now has an information sheet listing all their passive stats. Check it systematically before making a permanent hire — it's what separates an ordinary recruit from a build cornerstone.

Where to start, three weeks after launch

If you're already playing the league without being an Heiress, adopt at least two habits: accept duels as soon as your gold reserve allows — the free ally costs nothing in loot —, and hold on to Mercenary Mandates with sought-after abilities instead of consuming them, their trade value climbs as Eminence builds become more widespread.

If you're starting an Eminence character now, reverse the usual recruitment logic: don't hire anything permanent before reaching maps. The item level cap tied to the discovery zone dooms campaign recruits to remain undergeared, whereas a mercenary found in a red map — or obtained via a Mandate bought from another player — will be able to wear your endgame uniques. The campaign goes by perfectly well with successive temporary mercenaries; the real roster decision happens at the Atlas stage, passive stat sheet in hand.