Some thoughts on merc equipment: whats your preferrence?

[Osteomata]

I've been playing with different merc set-ups in an effort to reduce the annoying death thing. I am curious as to what the collected wisdom of this forum's esteemed body has to say on the subject. I distill my thoughts down to this basic philosphy for melee oriented mercs:
Max Resists plus High Damage plus fast attack plus life leech plus DR% + FHR = survivability.
Problem is getting all those out of 3 pieces of equipment. Lets say that any unique, set, or mid level runewords (but no goldly rune-duped engimas for instance) are available. What's your preferred set up for the following mercs, provide justification/explanation if you like.
- Holy Freeze: my latest thought: GA, Tomb (Amn/Amn/FR Jewel), Andarial's. This gives 90 resist all except fire (compensate with FR jewel in Tomb), solid damage, 20 IAS (from Andarials), 24-26 Life Steal, with some added niceties like MF (supports my MF char), +2 skills for a wider HF radius, and a counter to monster heal from the Poison Nova when hit thing. Main problem is that he has slow Hit Recovery and no DR%. Andarials was a choice of convenience, and I am considering switching it out for a good LS/DR Vamp, and I would then go Amn/Amn/Shael in the Tomb since I would lose the IAS from Andarials, but also loose the FR penalty from same.
- Might: Plus skills a bit more useful here than on HF.
- Defiance: Ditto, with obvious additional emphasis on defense rating of the armor.
- Barb
- Rogue
- That other merc.

Thoughts?
*Osteomata

[det]

Depends a bit on the character you play as well (a necro doesnt need a merc with Reapers Toll, a sorc doesnt need a merc with Hwanis pike)

That said:
HF merc on Windy uses Guillaumes, Shaftstop and Reapers Toll. Both are lv 91 and need to survive tricky areas all over the game...they do :D

HF merc on my sorc uses Gaze, Kelpie, Griz armour (but would also give him a Shaft if I had)

Why? Reapers Toll to remove PI. Guillaumes for CB. Kelpie because Baal doesn't attack anymore when slowed enough....and because those are about the only god-ish items I have to distribute between my mercs.

Read an interesting news (was news to me anyhow) concerning act 3 Fire mercs: apparently if you give him 2 TO items, the +18 to Fireball works for him...which could be fun :D

[mestre]

I've found Delirium to be the most efficient way for my merc to survive when surrounded by many monsters. Altough it is kind of annoying when you are playing with a necromancer, it does make your mecrnary take few hits.

Most of the time the monsters will have confuse curse on them, and will attack each other. Usualy, you have time enough to send them back to the burning hells without much trouble.

Also, with that helm he only needed resistances and life leech. He didn't have any damage reduce items.

[eurymone]

My holyfreezer, who's accompanying my mf assa, uses duriels shell+reapers+gaze. The leech is so high, he doesn't die from any normal monsters. Bosses sometimes finish him, especially Andy. The other setup I'll try soon is reapers+shaft+tal's mask - gives more dr, more leech, but a bit less resists. I find reapers to be excellent weapon - it casts decrepify all the time, and combined with holy freeze it slows monsters enormously. I didn't socket anything for merc, as I simply don't have enough socket quests.

[Full_Circle]

a couple different set-ups:

Bowazon Setup: +4 Arioc's, Andariel's Visage, Eth Viper (eventually to be up'd) = +7 Might :surprise: (and he casts spells real fast :lol: )

Hammerdin Setup: Flamebellow, Arreats, Sazabi Armor (needs to be replaced some day)... (high council runner).

I've tried Act 1, 2, and 5 mercs with a hammerdin, and didn't really like any of them. Eventually I settled on a barb. Even with 75% FR, though, he was dying to hydras with an Eth Cromtin Vomir (not up'd), so I switched to Flamebellow... seems to work well.

I've never been a big fan of Tomb Reaver (maybe because the only 2 I've had were both 1 socket). About the only characters I could see using them on would be a Javazon, Sorc, or Trapsin with an LR Wand on switch, or a necro... otherwise Reapers & Decrep for me, plz.

[Osteomata]

I didnt even think of using Guiliames, that does look like an option to consider for any melee merc.
The char I am most concerned with right now is my Necros HF merc, thus I avoid the equipment that yields curses since the can screw up my intended cursing. With this in mind, I excluded Reapers and the near auto decrip, though I have used that weapon to some satisfaction on my non-necro mercs.

[viamede]

My necro might merc has plus 4 ariocs, guillames and eth courpsemourn. Kills most any monster in one hit and skellies kill faster than when he was was using the bonehew due to the plus 4 skills to might aura. Ariocs is faster too.

[jbshifter]

I have yet to try it but both of these set ups sound good, for a sorc merc, either def, or hf.

Rockstopper/shaft/reapers
tiara/shaft/reapers

max res with both, dr, and ll

[stevethatsmyname]

a couple different set-ups:

Bowazon Setup: +4 Arioc's, Andariel's Visage, Eth Viper (eventually to be up'd) = +7 Might :surprise: (and he casts spells real fast :lol: )

Hammerdin Setup: Flamebellow, Arreats, Sazabi Armor (needs to be replaced some day)... (high council runner).

I've tried Act 1, 2, and 5 mercs with a hammerdin, and didn't really like any of them. Eventually I settled on a barb. Even with 75% FR, though, he was dying to hydras with an Eth Cromtin Vomir (not up'd), so I switched to Flamebellow... seems to work well.

I've never been a big fan of Tomb Reaver (maybe because the only 2 I've had were both 1 socket). About the only characters I could see using them on would be a Javazon, Sorc, or Trapsin with an LR Wand on switch, or a necro... otherwise Reapers & Decrep for me, plz.


Dont upgrade the eth viper... it will yield the same defense as non-eth viper!!

[annr]

my favorite a2 merc armor is the duress runeword (shael um thul)

+40% Faster Hit Recovery
+10-20% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 37-133 Cold Damage
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
33% Chance of Open Wounds
+150-200% Enchanced Defense (varies)
-20% Slower Stamina Drain
Cold Resist +45%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%

[killerxbabe]

These setups sound pretty similar to mine, especially the switching to Kelpie snare for bosses. Haven't seen anyone mention the "Mercs Tgod" BlackHorn's Face. Added slow and lightning absorb. Godly Merc Baal run helmet IMO. At present my Meteorbs merc is using Blackhorn, Kelipie and Glad bane. The CBF and Magic damage reduce on GladBane make it a pretty top choice for a Baal runnin merc I think since Souls and Snakes seem to be what kill them the most often. The low damage on kelpie gives me a chance to do a "tele recall" with IM, red pot him and continue the fight.

Depends a lot on your build and where you are going in the game I think, but all the suggestions in this post seem pretty spot on.

A baba merc with Blackhorn and Lightsabre would have around 45 light absorb I think (have to check stats). I may have to try that on my MA sin's merc just to see what happens. Seems like he would be an uber gloam taker with that setup. My nec last season had LS on switch and with Tgods and 90% light resist i would run into soul crossfire to let them heal me... ya gotta go try this on my merc :lol:

[viamede]

Ooops forgot I put the glad bane on might merc too and the courpsemourn on the windy's hf merc, with reapers and tals.

[rachil0]

I didnt even think of using Guiliames, that does look like an option to consider for any melee merc.
The char I am most concerned with right now is my Necros HF merc, thus I avoid the equipment that yields curses since the can screw up my intended cursing. With this in mind, I excluded Reapers and the near auto decrip, though I have used that weapon to some satisfaction on my non-necro mercs.

I use hone+guillames on my boner merc. It does the one thing boners can't do well on their own: pound bosses quick. Armor can be any old thing, I use duriels for the extra smidge of resists and to grant CBF. You don't need much (if any) lifeleech on him, you can use lifetap pretty liberally with a boner as you don't need a curse to boost your damage. Lifetap/dim vision until a guy or two dies then cast amp and CE away.

[det]

Ok..I was talking crap up there...and have to take some of it back, because I mistyped.

Indee my sorc merc uses a Kelpie and Gaze, wearing Hwanis armour. It casts a lot of static (as his defence is quite low he gets hit a lot, but the DR helps)

The sorc is a Meteorb build, no points in static - thats why I use the armour...

CB builds on a merc are very nice to kill those HP monsters..like Hell Baal or DC (in theory..never met him for real :) )

[Full_Circle]

Dont upgrade the eth viper... it will yield the same defense as non-eth viper!!

oh yeah, I knew that... :grrr:

thanks for the reminder.

[Nerf-Herder]

get yourself a rogue merc and outfit her with the finest dominatrix gear

hubba hubba!!

sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me!

[Will]

My merc uses eth Reaper's Toll, eth Andy's Visage and 49/23 Levi. I put Um in the Visage/Levi and an Amn rune in the Toll.

[PhatTrumpet]

A baba merc with Blackhorn and Lightsabre would have around 45 light absorb I think (have to check stats). I may have to try that on my MA sin's merc just to see what happens. Seems like he would be an uber gloam taker with that setup. My nec last season had LS on switch and with Tgods and 90% light resist i would run into soul crossfire to let them heal me... ya gotta go try this on my merc :lol:
The Lightsabre would initially give 25% (note: percent) absorb and the Blackthorn's would add an additional 20 points of absorb (note: not percent).


I think people value %DR way too much on Mercs. Maxed resists, CBF, and FHR are way more important IMO. After that you have to gauge what would support your character build best. Probably the best setup for the price is Glad's Bane, Tal's Mask, and Shaeled Reaper's. If you do a lot of boss runs and aren't a Sorc, you'll want to incorporate some combination of Hone, 'Duress', and/or Guillaume's. With a might merc you'll want to get as many +skills as you can on him. 'Stone' is another great armor.


... so basically what everyone else said, minus %DR, plus CBF.

[mestre]

A baba merc with Blackhorn and Lightsabre would have around 45 light absorb I think (have to check stats). I may have to try that on my MA sin's merc just to see what happens. Seems like he would be an uber gloam taker with that setup. My nec last season had LS on switch and with Tgods and 90% light resist i would run into soul crossfire to let them heal me... ya gotta go try this on my merc :lol:A single blackhorn is enough for the merc to take b souls in hell with no problem. Most of the time, last season, my merc used one. Finaly I got a delirium, wich I liked more for the confuse curse and + skills.

I wish I could make one this season, but i got no Ists or Lems so far.

[0takuPryd3]

BotD war pike
Ethereal Guardian Angel with Um
Ber + Ber in a perfect CoA
Your merc will have 90 to all resists, 46% damage reduction, and mad cool damage! Awesome! I never actually tested this out to see if it made for a good merc, but who knows... it at least seems cool.

[blu3l1ghtn1ng]

get yourself a rogue merc and outfit her with the finest dominatrix gear

hubba hubba!!

sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me!

I believe he said nothing duped :uhhuh:

[mestre]

BotD war pike
Ethereal Guardian Angel with Um
Ber + Ber in a perfect CoA
Your merc will have 90 to all resists, 46% damage reduction, and mad cool damage! Awesome! I never actually tested this out to see if it made for a good merc, but who knows... it at least seems cool.Let me know who gave a BOTD to his merc in hardcore. I don't really PKs, but I'll be tempted to become one when I see this abomination.

But well, I guess that much dmg with that much ll must work.

[Zavior]

Remove that Ber for Cham.

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

I like this set-up on act 2 mercs:
- Kira's Guardian (CBF, FHR, mega res)
- Shafstop (DR, life, ok defense)
- Reaper's Toll (fast, leech, decrepify)

I found out that with that set-up my merc survives against Hell Mephisto the best.

[det]

BotD war pike
Ethereal Guardian Angel with Um
Ber + Ber in a perfect CoA
Your merc will have 90 to all resists, 46% damage reduction, and mad cool damage! Awesome! I never actually tested this out to see if it made for a good merc, but who knows... it at least seems cool.

I believe in the initial post s.th like this was stated:

"...Lets say that any unique, set, or mid level runewords (but no goldly rune-duped engimas for instance)..."

That pretty much rules a few suggestions out that were made her :innocent:

[0takuPryd3]

Well, I don't read stuff because it takes too long. That's not my actual setup I had anyway... I had Reaper's Toll (non-eth because I was still finding gear for myself), Shaftstop and probably Guillame's or something, I don't really remember. I don't imagine that's a very unique setup at all, so I posted something I thought might be a cool one.

[Sip]

My necro's might merc is a beast.

He is level 88 and uses :
Ethereal Ariots needle +4 skills with 38%ed/7mf jewel in it
Andy's visage 10% with a 27%ed/29%fire resist rare jewel in it (to counter -fire res)
Skullders ire topaz'd

He does about 4.8k max damage with his might...and also does 50% deadly strike which means max 9.6k damage 50% of the time. He also has +8 skills with my battle command and also has nice mf for killing bosses.

[cyradis2003]

My necro's might merc is a beast.

He is level 88 and uses :
Ethereal Ariots needle +4 skills with 38%ed/7mf jewel in it
Andy's visage 10% with a 27%ed/29%fire resist rare jewel in it (to counter -fire res)
Skullders ire topaz'd

He does about 4.8k max damage with his might...and also does 50% deadly strike which means max 9.6k damage 50% of the time. He also has +8 skills with my battle command and also has nice mf for killing bosses.


Still like the bonehew ... poke poke spear spear!!!!

Funnest merc weapon EVER!!!!

[NEURO_CKY]

as far as final merc gear is concerned, i usually go with this set-up:

2 or 3 sock tombreaver (etheral,3 sock is teh secksie!!)
upped shaftstop sock /w um rune
near perfect gaze

had this setup on a few mf sorcs and they hardly ever died. i do have to say reapers is arguably better, but on a sorc or nec i say no. nec for obvious reasons. why sorc too u ask? decrep overrides my lower resist wand!
ive heard alot of good discussion on equip tho in this thread and it all sounds very effective....it all comes down to preference!!!! :thumbsup:


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