What merc do you "use"?

[leihotikan]

Just wondering, what type of merc you use? I am making now blizz sorcie for andy/meph runs, and I can't decide if defiance merc is better than HF merc? I always used HF but I had good gear (=good killing power) so then I didnt need anyone to tank hits a lot, I was just killing very fast. Now with new ladder I am almost naked so maybe good tanking babe will serve me better? I would appreciate answers from ppl that made high lvl defiance merc, coz I dont know the difference - how much longer will def merc last against Meph/Andy instead of HF merc?

[kurg]

I'm rather partial to the barb merc for my sorceress. He always engages in a hurry, which is what I want him for. I want the bad guys to target HIM, not ME.

I think hell andy will pretty much take out any merc in a hurry, until you get to really high lvls (85+). Hell meph actually doesn't take out my merc nearly as fast or as often.

I always run with BO from my 2nd cdkey though. So its not really a fair analysis of the act2 mercs. I think the HF merc won't hold up so well for surviving in hell as the main tank, although he is great in NM. He's good in hell if you have some other minions to take the heat off (like druids/zons/assasins/necros have).

I've always made either a rogue, barb, HF or even a Prayer merc once, so I can't tell you about defiance other than defiance merc is supposed to work fairly well in hell by what I've read.

[STINGER]

i tend to select simply accoring to the builds. If Aruras really dont do me much good like say a Bonemancer or Trapper I go Barb, if i use a Cold sorc I go Defiance and if I have Fire or Light I go HF. Hammerdins since they have a damage arura I go HF also.

Now wiht no gear the Barb does tend to be a better liver since he does a lot of stunning and high life.

Even with that said, if you snag up any speedy weapon wiht sockets and use a bunch of skull in it, then botht he Barb or Pally can live very well in most situations.

Reasonable Merc Polearms will fall and fall a lot in due time so dont be to worried abotu not having a weapon for your merc as it will come. Good swords just dont drop as frequently normally.

[Pain]

For a blizzard-sorc I would recommend the HF merc. slowing down the monsters so your blizzard can come to the ground and hit them is a good thing. I find that HF is best for a lot of Sorc builds as it is nice to give your spells an extra second or two to get working.

[Baboon]

I choose HF most of the time, for casters and trapsins. My current amazon has a might merc. I don't melee much, I guess a Defiance merc would be smart for those chars.

I always want a merc with an aura btw ;)

[PhatTrumpet]

Defiance is awful for untwinked, as without high base defense it just doesn't do much of anything for you. Holy Freeze works the same independent of gear, so I'd definitely go with HF.

[Tal Rasja]

I used to take the ACT3 cold hireling a lot, but since i'm playing online I either use the ACT2 nightmare hireling with the holy freeze (HF) aura, or the ACT2 hireling with the defensive aura when I'm playing a melee character.

A bit OT:
I can imagine that a melee playerkiller would benefit the most from the ACT2 hireling with the might aura, but I never got around to playerkilling yet. I tried to find some decent gear for this (ethereal pike) at the end of the ladder season (to help people get rid of their expiring characters), but the pike proved to be extremely elusive.

[leihotikan]

Yeah, thats the point guys - I used HF coz its very versatile for sorc. Never tried high lvl defiance merc, and now I see my buddy uses one - gosh - he can tank pack of Moonlords+souls for hours. But he is lvl 89 with uber gear, and I am naked biatch :) I'll stick with HF for now in Nm and later maybe I change for defiance if I get better gear for him.

[HCTwinJava]

A defiance merc you hire at norm act2 will be very tough against phyical dmg foes after he has reached a reasonably high lvl. he will also tend to live much longer than all other mercs, even when surrounded, and even in crappy gear.

A HF merc is best if you want his aura and have the ability to help him survive (say, you can teleport, or have one or more minions). With the same gear/lvl, he is not nearly as useful as a defiance merc when you do act boss quests. It can be argued that his aura can help him survive longer than a defiance merc. But against unique bosses, particularly against Hell act bosses, his aura is obviously almost useless to help him survive.

A defiance merc, managed by a cold sorc, can tank Hell Lister and his minions, can tank Hell ancients. It would be much harder for any other merc to do that type of tanking.

A barb merc is best against a single foe, and is fast (very sensitive to your char's movement). Many sorcs are built for Meph runs, so a barb may be a best choice. He likes to get himself killed in regular game play more often than most other mercs. Unlike Meph, Diablo, Baal and some other bosses can do high physical dmg. Your barb is nearly useless (and may be extremely frustrating if you want to keep him by your side) when you do Hell Diablo quest.

A might merc is best if you just need high physical dmg. He is not as fast as a barb, but can deliver much higher dmg than any other merc can. He can also help you and your minions to do higher physical dmg. If he were faster, he would have replaced all barb mercs.



I choose different mercs based on builds, and have used all mercs. One of my sorcs in 1.09 even used a cold merc from norm act3. After 1.10 patch came out, I was surprised to see that the cold merc (somewhere between lvl 30 and lvl 80) could survive Diablo Clone very well, though he eventually died because I mistakenly spawned my first DC out of hell eldrith and there were at least 2 random boss packs there. My friend (werebear) tanked DC for my sorc, and his act2 merc didn't survive for more than a short moment.

[leihotikan]

Well, my merc didnt need to last more than 10 seconds agains DC coz it was whole time I needed to kill DC :)
Unfortunately now I have no comfort of 100 % CB and Draculs on my smiter's hands hehe....

[baalos]

Defiance is awful for untwinked, as without high base defense it just doesn't do much of anything for you. Holy Freeze works the same independent of gear, so I'd definitely go with HF.

Except HF isnt an option in normal. He said he is building a cold sorc, so unless he is in NM, defiance is the way to go, imo.

[CreLuSioN]

i use a hf merc for 98% of all my chars

[PhatTrumpet]

Except HF isnt an option in normal. He said he is building a cold sorc, so unless he is in NM, defiance is the way to go, imo.
My untwinked single player Blizzard Sorc is now lvl 61 in NM Act 5. She pumped Ice Blast to about 12 and started maxing Blizzard as soon as she got it. Throughout normal difficulty her health never dropped below half, and even then it was because of poison. Her Prayer Merc only died once, to Diablo. Blizzard is just ridiculously powerful from the beginning, and pumping Ice Blast from lvl 6 to 24 allowed me to kill on my own easily

Prayer is a lot better than most people think at low lvls, especially for a character with so little life such as a Sorc. Defiance would not have helped me out at all, as my defense was only around 120 (Stealth Chain Mail, BSoD, etc.). The only reason I might use Defiance over Prayer on my way to a Holy Freeze merc would be if the merc was doing all of the killing, in which case more tanking is necessary. Orb Sorcs don't have a damage skill aside from Static until lvl 30, so Defiance might be the way to go for them. But for all others I would much prefer Prayer.

[HCTwinJava]

Prayer is a lot better than most people think at low lvls, especially for a character with so little life such as a Sorc.... But for all others I would much prefer Prayer.

1- the primary reason for using a definance merc is not that he can raise anyone else' defense. It's enough help, as long as he raises his own defense rating when wearing crappy gear.

2- prayer aura can only heal chars over time. If a char's life orb is not big enough to take hits, she'll die before getting healed.

3- all of the benefits from a prayer aura can be obtained by using 1) red potions; 2) life replenish items. +3-5 life replenish belts are sold in Norm act1, as well as in every other town. +2-12 life replenish amulets are dropped starting from Norm blood moor. It's not difficult at all to get +5-10 or even more life replenish from belt, ring, amulet, etc, which can heal a starting char very fast when her life orb is tiny. But once she gets more than a couple hundred hit pts, the healing speed of this aura becomes too slow to be of any practical value.


almost every pally can turn on a prayer aura, but almost no pally actually uses it (even in norm act1).

[ZounceHC]

For a pure blizz sorc if your merc has crappy gear go for defiance but if it has a good dmg weapon I find might useful for dealing with cold immunes. This is probably only true at higher levels though (50+) as the bonus from might at low lvls is kinda crap.