How to Unlock Bartering in Diablo 4

In Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred, players can recruit mercenary companions to assist them in activities. While having a group of mercenary companions makes solo content much easier, there are other ways to take advantage of their assistance. Your mercenary band will also engage in Bartering, a trading system meant to offer you more ways to earn gear. You won’t have immediate access to bartering, but it’s in your best interest to unlock it as soon as possible. Here’s how to unlock bartering in Diablo 4.

How to Unlock Bartering in Diablo 4

In order to unlock Bartering in Diablo 4, you need to raise any mercenary’s rapport to at least five. Each mercenary companion has their own skill progression, with more skills unlocking as you build rapport with them. A mercenary’s rapport is essentially their experience. Mercenary skills cap out at four rapport, with bartering unlocked at five. Bartering unlocks with level one, but by raising other mercenaries to rapport five, you’ll earn bartering upgrades. Bartering upgrades increase the number of legendary items available in the bartering menu, and will increase the odds of gear caches appearing in the menu as well.

How to Use Bartering in Diablo 4

After raising your rapport with a mercenary to level five, head back to The Den. There will be a new NPC standing in the center of all your mercenaries. Interacting with this NPC will open the bartering menu. To purchase items from here, you need to spend Pale Marks. Pale Marks are earned by completing events with mercenaries in tow, or by raising their rapport to specific levels. You can see what levels of rapport offer what by navigating to your mercenaries menu, clicking on the mercenary you have recruited, and checking the “rapport” tab.

Bartering becomes incredibly useful when you’re trying to farm for specific gear aspects. The further you upgrade the bartering system, the more slots the shop will have for purchasable items. If you don’t like what’s on offer, you can refresh the store by clicking “Restock Supply.” The first time you restock is free, but afterwards it’ll cost you to pay 50 Pale Marks to restock again.

Earning enough rapport to unlock bartering is as simple as bringing mercenaries along on your adventure. You can keep two mercenaries active at the same time, with one serving as a reinforcement. Reinforcements earn rapport at 50% the usual rate. For more information on the Best Diablo 4 Mercenary Companion Combinations, click here. If you’d like to know which mercenary works best in your main slot, check out our guide on who the Best Diablo 4 Mercenary Companion is.

Diablo 4 and its expansion, Vessel of Hatred, are available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.