Most of the mercenaries in Jagged Alliance 3 don’t come cheap, and for a good reason: they’re critical assets to your team. A lot of these mercs come with high stats and can be members of your squad that could make or break your team.
Given how less room there is for error, you will want to know how you can recruit every mercenary available to you, which is definitely not something you would know intuitively.
Lucky for you, we’re here to help you with that.
Mercenary Recruitment Guide: Jagged Alliance 3
How to recruit Pierre
Recruiting Pierre is a weird one since you actually meet him as an enemy early on. As the narrative progresses, you have to eventually beat him in the fort on Ernie Island. Here, you have the option to kill him or to spare him. Only if you spare Pierre at these crossroads, you would be able to recruit him down the line.
It is important that you make Pierre like you through your actions, such as doing things for the benefit of Grand Chien. That being said, as long as you help reform Bastien and help out Ernie village, you should be fine in that regard.
By helping Ernie village, we mean preventing lynchings (especially the one targeting Pierre’s father), giving the villagers a machine gun and also training militia.
To reform Bastien, you can start off by shaking him down the first time you meet him towards the beginning of the game. Then, the next time you meet him on Ernie Island, all you need to do is pass a speech check so that you can get him and his family to back off without needing to kill them. After this, you will end up meeting him in the Refugee Camp, which is where you need to have him smuggle goods for free.
After you have completed all of these objectives, you will need to head to an enemy outpost to the far right of the map—Camp Bien Chien—to find Bastien.
Once you have reached it, you will need to defeat a couple of enemies to encounter Pierre in the yard. After passing an influence check, all you need to do is talk to him and ask him to join you to have him as a new merc without any salary.
How to recruit Smiley
To recruit Smiley, you will need to head to Sector I9; getting there is a task, however, which will need you to first start the questline with Maman Liliane in Sector D7, a place that is located at the Brothel. The questline focuses on finding Smiley as he has run away while taking one of the Brothel’s girls along with him.
When you complete the various objectives that are part of Liliane’s story, you will eventually be led to Smiley at Boss Blaubert’s mansion. When picking dialogue options at this point, you will need to side with Smiley so that he joins you and fights alongside you against Blaubert and his men. Not only do you have to fight off Blaubert’s men, but you also need to keep Smiley from getting hurt.
This battle can be especially difficult, however, since you will be fighting Blaubert’s men in a very tight situation. Make sure you have enough heals for both your squad as well as Smiley since he will most probably get downed in this fight. Due to the close-quarters fight with packed enemies, you will be better off using Mercs that have high Explosive and Marksman Skills, or special Perks that allow you to get multi-kills and deal large amounts of damage in a larger radius than other Mercenaries.
Smiley will have joined your squad for battle against Blaubert at this point, and you will be able to add Smiley as a recruit whenever you need him, after defeating Blaubert.
How to recruit Larry
To recruit Larry, the most important task you need to tick off of your list first is obtaining Metaviron, a medicine that is essential to healing Larry. Yeah, Larry won’t be feeling too well when you meet him; we’ll get to that.
To acquire this miraculous amnesia-curing drug, we recommend heading straight to B10, E12, or H9.
If you head to B10, check the underground sector of the area to find the medicine. Otherwise, you should find Metaviron near the tree found in E12, although you should be aware of the hostile animals that roam here.
If you’ve decided to head to H9, however, you will need to buy at least 10 loot boxes through Lalee Leewaylender in the Flea Market with Small Diamonds. One of these boxes will offer the drug that you are looking for.
Once you have Metaviron in your possession, head into the F7 sector, into Camp Savane. There are a lot of enemies here, so you have to be on high alert. You can also complete side activities and decrease the number of defenders. Clearing the site here works best when using explosives, for which we recommend using an Explosives expert.
Once you have cleared the location, you can go ahead and talk to Larry. He’s not feeling too good, and you can pass a medical check to diagnose amnesia. Thankfully, you’ve farmed Metaviron for him earlier, and you can simply cure him by giving him the medicine. Doing this will make Larry your new recruit.
You can further increase Larry’s stats: his Agility, Dexterity, Marksmanship, and Wisdom by visiting the Sanatorium in H12. He will lose a bit of Health, but it’s worth the overall increase in other areas, especially if you are thinking of using Larry long-term.
How to recruit Flay
If you’d like to get Flay onto your roster, you will need to visit the Poacher Camp in sector C5 first. You will be able to speak with the group’s leader, “Hyena” Gilbert—after you kill the Legion enemies—who will tell you about his troubles with Flay.
From this point, you will need to find three poacher corpses with antlers in them. One of them is found in sector C6, to the right of the Poacher Camp. Search the area until you find a corpse to then examine it and register the clue.
The other two corpses can be found in sector B4, to the northwest of the camp. Repeat the same process that you followed the first time, examining the corpses with antlers in them.
The unfortunate part is that you will need a squad member with 90 or higher Wisdom to be able to recruit Flay. If you don’t have anyone with that amount of Wisdom, you can simply hire Barry for a few days, and for very cheap at that.
Make sure he lands at Ernie island to then send him to the port nearby at sector B2. It’s quite simple to sneak past the enemies there into sector B3 and then reach the rest of the squad who are at B4. You can also decide to liberate the port first and then go to search the final two antler corpses.
After you’ve found the last two Antler corpses, Flay will make his way to you from the bushes, triggering a dialogue with him. Avoid any sort of discussion around mental health and instead, choose options that promote building a healthy, positive relationship with him.
Specifically, make sure you steer clear of choosing the “Why not hunt the Legion instead?” option as it will cause him to hunt them down alone. Instead, the correct option to choose would be “Want to hunt for us?” as this will prompt the Wisdom check.
How to recruit Spike Scallion
To recruit Spike Scallion, you must first find him in sector A20, the top-right corner of the map. This is a fortified area guarded by elite Legion troops. Once you engage in battle, he will order his men to kill President LaFontaine, creating a difficult situation.
Since things will inevitably get hairy, you will need a specific plan to win the fight and recruit Spike onto your team.
To begin, divide your mercenaries into two groups: one to clear the Legion’s vanguard and the other to approach Spike’s tent from the east. Make sure your western team engages the Legion forces and wait for the Brutes and Sniper to clear out from the eastern side. If your eastern team gets spotted, include them in battle as well.
When Spike and his personal guard become visible, make sure they don’t target the President. Draw their attention towards your mercs and engage them from a safe distance. Focus on hitting Spike in the arms each turn to decrease his lethality.
Beat Spike and his guards in battle, but don’t kill him.
When you speak to Spike after the battle, prepare for an influence check. When asked why he attempted to kill the President, select the option “You were a merc like us, Spike.” Avoid suggesting that Biff is his friend, as it can lead to a loss of influence. Additionally, steer clear of the “You will answer for this” option, which could lead to his incarceration.
You should notice the option “What if WE hire you?” after passing the influence check. Select this option to finally recruit Spike Scallion.
