My hireling is a wimp? [Archive] - Diablo 3 & Diablo 2 Forums

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Frail

19-05-2004, 23:36

I picked up an act 2 holy freeze merc because I read they had good survivability, I packed on some 450+ armor bp and a 200 armor helm so his defense is around 1250-1300 now I think. Anyways he's about level 60 and in hell he gets killed in the blood moor :hanky: at 25000+ gold to rez him everytime, I'm starting to dislike having him around now. I've heard stories of people using their hirelings well into hell for tanking purposes, what do I do to help keep mine alive?

Gorny

19-05-2004, 23:49

Get him some better gear. He also needs Life Leach.At level 89, my HF merc tanks quite well in the Pit and during Baals Minion battles. He wears Tals Mask or Crown of theives, An upped GA, and an Eth 2 x AMN Bonehew. giving him 34# LL and high damage, 1300+ defense and 70 % resists.

Edit : Make sure he is an Act 2 NM merc.

Frail

19-05-2004, 23:54

Ok I'm around level 75 and just started hell myself, so do I need to run NM mobs more to equip my hireling?

pedro11

19-05-2004, 23:59

I agree with Aragorn getting better gear specifically with life leach and resists, Duriels shell is a great mid cheap merc armor, resists and cannot be frozen, but you should also spend some time leveling him until his level matches yours since he is around level 60 that means that he will gain the most experiance the fastest in Nightmare Act 5 until he reaches level 70 and that point move to act one in Hell and start leveling him there.

Hope that helps
~Pedro

prophetsword

20-05-2004, 00:03

Ok I'm around level 75 and just started hell myself, so do I need to run NM mobs more to equip my hireling?

Yes. He is too low a level to be effective in hell. He will level very quickly in Act 5 nightmare. Don't give up as the guy gets stronger each level (the increased resists with each level really help the guy in hell. Also, as he levels he is more likely to hit and not be hit, more damage and life.) Also, it isn't a bad idea to level yourself first and then go back and level the merc. I recently hired a holy freeze merc for my level 93 paladin and was surprised at how quickly the merc went from the low forties to the current level 90. I did act five NM until he was in the low seventies and then leveled him in Act 1 hell, concentrating on the pit as he entered the 80's. He gained about a level a pit run until the high eighties.

Gorny

20-05-2004, 00:06

Do NM Baal runs You and your merc will benifit the most from the exp in large parties. Get him a Guardian Angel to wear and a Tals helm for now, that will help a little.As far as weapon, I have a few suggestions, use whatever the best weapon is for your merc as far that he meets the requirements for.

From lower end to higher

Tanner Gorerod
Husoldol Evo
Airoc's Needle
Stormspire
Spire of Honor
Reapers Toll*
Bonehew*

* For these, generally Eth is better.
And for the Bonehew, socket it with 2 x AMN for life leach

azn_gamer2003

20-05-2004, 00:55

DeathByDesign

20-05-2004, 01:08

upgraded duriels shell!!! mercs love it

Kargor

20-05-2004, 01:27

I picked up an act 2 holy freeze merc because I read they had good survivability ... hell for tanking purposes, what do I do to help keep mine alive?

Depends. If you have godly gear, give it to him --- I suppose that's the only way for a melee merc to survive. In particular, make sure he has life leech and a lot of damage. Resistances are also useful, just like for melee-players. And all this with just three possible items --- have fun :-)

If you don't have the gear... and this is the noob forum, after all, you'll probably make the same experience as I. An iron wolf tends to stay alive since he tries to keep his distance; my trap assa is using one. My bone necro wanted to use a holy freeze merc --- but with the equipment I have he does fine in nightmare (except when iron maiden is around....), but loves to die in hell ("There is a monster... and another one... and another one... I'm getting a heart attack! *Splat*"). No go.

My best char at the moment is a summoning necro, with a might hireling. He doesn't actually have better equipment than the holy freeze I mentioned (shaftstop, crown of thieves, Hwanin's Justice), but he still survives in hell --- most likely because I have 10 skeleton warriors, 10 magi and a golem, so the monsters don't all go for the hireling --- a bonus that no other buld can offer, except maybe for a summoning druid. It seems that the hireling is slower than the skeletons, which makes it even less likely that monsters decide to go for him. So, he shares his might aura and pretty much never dies.

I'm doing a lot of pit-clearing, and extra strong cursed something-enchanted archers on the 2nd level can be a challenge... esp since if I loose the hireling I also loose a lot of damage. I usually retreat when my skeletons start counting down, trying to get my guys into a more organized attack in the open, rather than being stuck on the stairs where they get finished off in no time. I don't know what kind of gear people use to make their hirelings survive things like that without a ton of skeletons drawing enemy fire away from him and dying like flies in the process, but it's probably the same stuff that keeps barbarians and other melee players alive and lets them do things like getting to and killing hell-mephisto in 2 minutes (2 minutes is probably the time I need to clear the first room after the wp... just to give you an idea of what kind of items D2 can offer :-))

As for iron maiden: in nightmare, I can confiscate his weapon, and he STILL survives. He does die to Diablo's breath weapon every now and then, though (even though I put life tap on Diablo/Baal, instead of amp damage to help my guys stay alive). Haven't met Hell-Diablo yet, but I expect that my hireling and skeletons will see him and drop dead. Bad equipment has it's limits :-(

The holy-freeze disappointment pretty much keeps me from making a sorc these days --- best choice for her would be an act2 hireling as well, but I still want to be able to do some hell :-) As for some other builds, iron wolves are a viable option: my trap assa likes her cold mage, and I'll probably give one to the bone-necro as well, or possibly a fire mage (I don't think the cold mage can actually kill something, and my bone necro still needs something to kill the occasional magic immune --- something I originally wanted the hireling to do). Don't know whether a fire mage actually does damage... but he should at least be able to use the fireskills +2 sword that I have :-) Or maybe a rogue --- unfortunately they need a bow to be effective :-( And, after all --- bonewalls are a great tank, so he doesn't really need a melee hireling (originally I thought that the only use of bonewalls is for synergies... boy, was I wrong :-))

So... it pretty much depends on the build AND the equipment that you have. Bad equipment = no melee hireling, unless your character "naturally" protects the hireling, like a summoner necro. If you can't equip the hireling... play a character that can make use of an iron wolf, until you have equipment for a melee hireling (which might very well never be the case --- I've been playing 1.10 since it came out, and don't have a lot of great stuff).

I still feel that hirelings are an extremely valueable asset --- never used them in 1.09 classic, but almost all my successful 1.10 LoD chars use one, except for the Javazon (don't really know what type to use for her --- a2 die to easily, the iron wolves aren't useful, and they'll die easily as well because she has to run around a lot to stay away from monsters, which confuses hirelings... and for monsters she has problems with (i.e. all lightning immunes, to start with...) the iron wolves just don't dish out enough damage anyway. Sigh...). I just wish I could change the AI for the hirelings (or even make my own script for them) --- make an a2 hireling behave like an iron wolf, staying away from monsters, just sharing the aura, prefereably staying just one step away from me all the time. Shouldn't be too difficult for a desert warrior to do, considering that my Javazon is a nice blonde and all the harem guilds are in the palace, mostly slaughtered...

Christian

dang79

20-05-2004, 06:24

Mercenaries do not gain exp from party kills, so its actually not so effective to join a baal run game unless you're the high level that kills everything.

What i usually do is go into duels or trades games which are usually full and do shenk and eldritch, after the merc hits 65 I solo baal runs in those games.
That pumps up the exp you gain without losing it to other party members killing.

As for equipment, you need life leech and damage reduction.
Shaftstop is popular because of 30% DR
Gaze has some DR AND some leech on it
Crown of thieves has a bunch of leech
Bonehew can be double amn-ed for 14 leech.

Lilly.m

20-05-2004, 06:42

My merc sucks too but I love him...he's named Scorch, yet happens to be an A3 cold. I <3 irony :clap:

krischan

20-05-2004, 15:20

Yes. He is too low a level to be effective in hell.

L75 is the level at which he actually starts to become effective in hell because that's the level req of Reaper's Toll, the ultimate act 2 merc weapon. That weapon together with Stealskull/Tals helm and a not too bad armor (I prefer 3 socket Black Hades, Nat's or Griswold's with IAS jewels in them) provides a superb setup.

Frail

20-05-2004, 23:58

Gorny

21-05-2004, 00:03

:grrr: Everyone keeps naming all these unique items, do I run Baal constantly till I get some of them? I play TCP/IP with friends so trading isn't an option for me. Which NM mobs are best to get unique items from?

Some of those uniques only drop in hell. You guys might want to run NM Council/Meph/Shenk/Eldritch/Diablo/Baal or some combination of that for a while. Then Hell Pits. If you were on the realms on East I could help.

Err...maybe I can help anyway :)

WE'll see.

I may have some SP items I can toos to you sometime :)

krischan

21-05-2004, 13:24

:grrr: Everyone keeps naming all these unique items, do I run Baal constantly till I get some of them? I play TCP/IP with friends so trading isn't an option for me. Which NM mobs are best to get unique items from?

No NM monster can drop Reaper's Toll, but the rest of the mentioned stuff can be found at NM Mephisto, for example. You don't have to use Reaper's Toll at all costs btw. There are some interesting exceptional polearms and spears (rare or unique) which will be quite good when upgrading them to elite (especially ethereal ones). Items like Bonehew, Arioc's Needle, Viperfork, Tomb Reaver and rare spears/polearms might be interesting, too.