defiance, HF, or might merc?

[teddyastuffed]

hello everyone. im building a meteorb sorc and just began to think about the merc situation. what does everyone think is better and why?: defiance, holy freeze, or might.

also im wondering, is it that much worse to get a defiance merc from hell instead of getting one in normal and lvling it up? if possible, id love to have numbers (factual stats).

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I got a defiance merc from hell and he does well for my meteor-orb. Have duriels shell, bonehew and vamp gaze on him. I like defiance for her because it helps my sorc tank a bit too.

[melianor]

Matter of playstyle. Here the advantages of each:

Defiance: Great def, hard to kill by melee monsters. Also great Def-bonus for your Sorc, making her better at tanking.

Holy Freeze: The Merc with the slowing power! With a Reapers Toll this would not be necessary though

Might: The bosskiller. These Mercs can deliver some serious damage.

With the right equipment though it does not really matter which one you choose, since they will all be able to survive. So its a matter of your own preference. Give all of the a try for a while and see :D

[Superhal]

imho, might > defiance > hf. other people differ. but i find that might leeches the best so they stay alive the longest.

norm gets about 5 more in each stat, probably from rounding. there are no factual stats, just various people reporting.

for me, it's a matter of time. it takes an extra hour or two to level a norm one up.

[melianor]

norm gets about 5 more in each stat, probably from rounding. there are no factual stats, just various people reporting.


There are factual stats!!!
http://www.diabloii.net/townsfolk/warrior-defensive.shtml
http://www.diabloii.net/townsfolk/warrior-offensive.shtml
http://www.diabloii.net/townsfolk/warrior-combat.shtml

Those from Normal get slightly higher stats and life. There skills are usually +2 ahead. I have seen higher stats to be useful since its easier to equip weapons with higher req, withou adding items with +str.
Otherwise the normal ones compared to those from Hell from teh same category seem pretty equal.

[Soepgroente]

Might if you're rich or going 1 tree, holy freeze if you don't use cold spells and defiance if you only need a tank that doesn't need to kill anything.


Rich Wealthy Poor
Might HF Defiance


Imo :)

[Superhal]

it looks like just one person's report. as you can see, the three pages are identical, leading me to believe they just did it once and assumed it would be the same across the board.

i do like however that they made sure the hire was lvl 1 each time.

the stats do support my statement that it's rounding. the difference between each merc's hp's is 40. 40 / 98 levels = .41, which is within the error rates for rounding, +/- 1 per level.

[melianor]

it looks like just one person's report. as you can see, the three pages are identical, leading me to believe they just did it once and assumed it would be the same across the board.

i do like however that they made sure the hire was lvl 1 each time.

the stats do support my statement that it's rounding. the difference between each merc's hp's is 40. 40 / 98 levels = .41, which is within the error rates for rounding, +/- 1 per level.
Checked on the 2 mercs i have. str, dex are correct from the links i posted, life is alot higher than posted there. ofcourse with all items stripped.

[Superhal]

Checked on the 2 mercs i have. str, dex are correct from the links i posted, life is alot higher than posted there. ofcourse with all items stripped.

yep, everybody reports different. i find around +/- 5% on life is the norm.

but, shouldn't your stats be different? the starting str should be a factor.

[Superhal]

checked my mercs just now:

lvl 88, nm a2, might:
life: 1887
str: 191
dex: 154

lvl 88, nm a2, might:
life: 1887
str: 191
dex: 154

strange, they shouldn't be identical like that.

lvl 91, nm a2, might:
life: 2007
str: 197
dex: 159

[Soepgroente]

Maybe those were the old .09 stats. Any case, it doesn't matter what level you hire the mercenary, difficulty does matter. Type doesn't matter for stats, it does for certain skill levels.

[ChimpFarmer]

I'd go with defiance simply because with his high defence, it is hard to hit him, so Monsters just stand around attacking him aimlessly... this works well with Meteor's small area of effect.

I use defiance with Ariocs Needle, Duirel's Shell, and Steelskull (for now). He kills very well, even though he's not a might merc. And he holds em still for Frozen Orb's area attack... gotta love it.

[ioupain]

I'd go with defiance simply because with his high defence, it is hard to hit him, so Monsters just stand around attacking him aimlessly... this works well with Meteor's small area of effect.

I use defiance with Ariocs Needle, Duirel's Shell, and Steelskull (for now). He kills very well, even though he's not a might merc. And he holds em still for Frozen Orb's area attack... gotta love it.

I think that holy freeze works well with meteor as it slows down all the monsters on the screen so that they can stay in your meteor for longer and it also slows down cold immunes so that you work on them with meteor more easily. Defiance may help you to tank but holy freeze stops the monsters from reaching you - thus removing the need to tank, except for ranged attackers who will be slow enough for you to pick off easily.

[melianor]

I think that holy freeze works well with meteor as it slows down all the monsters on the screen so that they can stay in your meteor for longer and it also slows down cold immunes so that you work on them with meteor more easily. Defiance may help you to tank but holy freeze stops the monsters from reaching you - thus removing the need to tank, except for ranged attackers who will be slow enough for you to pick off easily.

How about getting both? Slowing and Defiance? Just give your Merc a Reapers Toll :) With good equipment either of the 3 will do fine. I prefer Might Merc with Reapers Toll. Merc gets slowing, slower attack speed, less damage from monsters and physical resistance reduction by 50% in a radius of 4, for 4 secs.
Chance it will be cast, 33%. Triggers quite often from what i have experienced.

[melianor]

checked my mercs just now:

lvl 88, nm a2, might:
life: 1887
str: 191
dex: 154

lvl 88, nm a2, might:
life: 1887
str: 191
dex: 154

strange, they shouldn't be identical like that.

lvl 91, nm a2, might:
life: 2007
str: 197
dex: 159

Why should they not?
Increase in Str and Dex is practially almost the same.
Just from which Act you choose them matters for their final stats.
Fact is the stats differ from Normal and Hell for the same Mercs, where those from Normal will have higher stats in the end then those from Hell.

Between your lvl91 Superhal is the same as my lvl91 Might Merc.