Heya! What wep do u recommend for a Holy Freeze Merc for my WW? :D

[RetroStar]

hey thnx for any help btw.. I am gonna get a nm holy freeze merc from act 2 and I dunno wat I should use for him.. I am not rich so keep tat in mind :P I am plannin on:

Helm: Blackhorn for the slow enemy thing
Armour: Shaft most likely
Weapon: Bonehew with a Hel and Amn or a Lance of Honour

I am quite stuck so ANY better equip suggestions would be great! and would the bonehew be better or lance? :) Thnx!!

Retro*

[Crogon]

As Invader Zim used to say..

DOOM DOOM DOOM DE DOOM DE DOOM DOOM!!

use a might merc (melee) or defiance (elemental) till you can get one, then watch your holy freeze merc shred.

[RetroStar]

As Invader Zim used to say..

DOOM DOOM DOOM DE DOOM DE DOOM DOOM!!

use a might merc (melee) or defiance (elemental) till you can get one, then watch your holy freeze merc shred.

what should i use a doom on? an ethereal one rite? but wat 2 handed weapon..

Retro*

[junglejim]

Doom provides a Holy Freeze aura without using the HF Merc. So you don't need a Holy Freeze merc.

I'd give a Doom polearm to a Might (for melee Druids) or Defiance (for elemental Druids) Merc.

[Forcefeedback]

I suggest you look here (http://www.diabloii.net/items/weapons/polearms-elite.shtml) for your polearm. Keep in mind what stats your merc has now and what kind of stats he will have in the future. Remember that Doom has -20% reduced requirements.

[Crogon]

Superior ethereal if you can find one.

Here is a comparison of non-superior non-eth polearms:

Name | Range | FPA | APS | Base avg dmg | +370%ed | dmg/sec
cryptic axe | 3 | 7 | 3.5 | 91 | 427 | 1525
great poleaxe | 4 | 7 | 3.5 | 86 | 404 | 1443
giant thresher | 4 | 6 | 4.1 | 77 | 361 | 1504


Here are ethereal with 15%ed superior:

Name | Range | FPA | APS | Base avg dmg | +385%ed | dmg/sec
cryptic axe | 3 | 7 | 3.5 | 136 | 659 | 2354
great poleaxe | 4 | 7 | 3.5 | 129 | 625 | 2232
giant thresher | 4 | 6 | 4.1 | 115 | 557 | 2321


Holy shiznit!!!

the other big polearms don't have enough sockets. ;)

FYI, you got me on this one, I had to go look up all the figures and run it through an excel spreadsheet, lol.

[Crogon]

..and you use doom for the +2 skills and the -40-60% cold resistance. :P

This weapon makes holy freeze merc viable, any other and he'll be the snack of the day in hell difficulty.

edit: also note that -60% cold resistance will break the cold immunity on almost any critter in the game.

[junglejim]

...

This weapon makes holy freeze merc viable, any other and he'll be the snack of the day in hell difficulty.

edit: also note that -60% cold resistance will break the cold immunity on almost any critter in the game.

I use Reaper's Toll, Rock Stopper (was using Undead Crown, can't decide which was better), & eth Shaftstop on a HF merc and he does fine in Hell. The only thing that kills him regularly (but not every time) is Ande's poison.

He can take down most Unique & SU critters on his own (if I had the patience).

[Crogon]

reapers toll on a holy freeze merc?? well ok, it's a bit of a waste though, picture that weapon on a might merc. :D

with the high leech on reaper, i would go with the rockstopper to max the mercs resists. there are probably better options, but he shouldn't need the added life leech from the
.. wait a minute, undead crown?? don't you mean crown of thieves? i can't really fathom the undead crown, unless you're doing hell andy runs for some odd reason, but a tal rune would give him 30% poison resistance.

[junglejim]

You were correct, I meant Crown of Thieves. You're right about the resistances. When my merc dies, it's usually to elemental damage. His life is up to >3500 now and the DR from the Shaftstop really makes him tough.

I like Reaper's Toll on my HF merc for my wind Druid. The HF slows down critters & the Decrepify breaks the PI so my Tornado's can do damage. I usually don't rely on the HF merc to kill things, but he often still gets the assist.

I let my HF merc clean up the remnants of critter packs after my Tornado's have decimated them, rather than wasting time & mana on them. My Hurricane helps speed up the process too.

I plan on using a Might merc with Reaper's Toll for my summoner. This will solve my PI problems in Hell for that build too. However, the Might merc isn't quite high enough level for that yet.

[petri]

Hi,
Well Bonehew, Reaper's Toll and Doom are all nice weapons. While I think that Doom is a sweet weapon, and you get 2 aura's out of a merc by having him use doom, I would still highly recommend Reaper's Toll on your merc for a Werewolf over Doom. Why? Because you want to do the killing, right?

While the might aura helps your damage, it generally only does so by ~1K to 2K depending on your weapon, but the decrepify that the reaper's toll equipped merc casts (regularly) takes your total damage (minus elemental dmg) listed in your info screen and multiplies it by 1.5. Thus 6K max damage now becomes 9K max damage (at least against a 0 physical resist monster). Toss in the physically resistant and physically immune monsters (which decrepify breaks more often than not) and decrepify way outshines the might aura.

So, while I think Doom is nice on a merc, I think a Reaper's toll equipped merc (I'd go might merc over holy freeze merc for a werewolf) is a better option for a werewolf who may have problems with physical immune/resistant monsters without decrepify.

And Bonehew and spire of honor, I'm sad to say, dont' even begin to compare to either a Reaper's Toll or a Doom equipped merc from an overall benefit to your werewolf perspective.

As far as expense is concerned, Doom can be quite expensive (lots of high end runes), but Reaper's Toll isn't that expensive at all (unless you are a looking for an ethereal one). You might even be able to trade your Bonehew for one.