Blood Golem/Thorn Merc/amplify damage Combo

[Jippesaw]

Hi all. I was playing v1.09 and then i suddenly stopped a year plus ago because of my studies. So up to today, i still havent touch 1.10. But I want to get back now.

I have some queries on the blood golem/thorn merc/amplify curse combo.

1. Is it still effective as v1.09? (as in the time to fell enemies)

2. Is it viable to use this combo as the ONLY source of Physical Damage?(and a bit of help from the merc of course) I had a spell caster necro in 1.09 who relied on Bone spirit and Poison Nova. He was untwinked, so the damage was rather pitiful. Most of the mob were taken out by my blood golem. Against physical immune creatures, he is rendered useless. I had to slowly wear them down with my spells and tanked with the fire golem. Archers and spell casters were also a great in annoyance. However otherwise, i own all the other monsters.

Is this still true in 1.10? Can i still sit back and let my golem do all the work?

I have browse through some guides but I havent read much on a thorn merc. hope I can get pointers from anyone out there.

Thanks.

[Juntertial]

that might work if you use the build the way it was used in .09, killing tons and tons of cows. i haven't tried it, but it seems viable toss in corpse explosion and get a mullet. :lol:

[Jippesaw]

I did use corpse explosion, but it was for targetting physical immunes. I explode the corpses only because of its fire damage but it was still effective in dishing out damage. The main problem was getting the corpses.

[Mad Mantis]

1. Is it still effective as v1.09? (as in the time to fell enemies)

Welcome Newcomer to The Darkness. Grab a brew :drink: and feel free to raise some corpses.

No, it isn't. Blizz changed the monster damage/hp ratio. It now takes monsters, especially those in the later acts, a long time to kill themselves. It can take up to 48 strikes on something to get a Moonlord to kill himself.
Besides the change in monster damage/hp, Blizz also changed how BG works with IM. For all intents and purposes, BG is a useless Golem.




2. Is it viable to use this combo as the ONLY source of Physical Damage

Seeing as how IM isn’t really viable and BG is almost useless, this is definitely not viable to use as a source of physical damage. You can get some nice extra damage by giving a Bramble armor to the Merc of your choice and using him in combination with some summons, but it isn't viable as your main source of physical damage.

[leddan]

Blood Golem + Iron Maiden = 1 dead necro in 1.10 :(
Made my hardcore lvl 99 necro just a high lvl mule.

[Jippesaw]

No. You got me wrong here. There was no plan on using iron maiden. The curse here is amplify damage on top of the thorns aura.

[Mad Mantis]

No. You got me wrong here. There was no plan on using iron maiden. The curse here is amplify damage on top of the thorns aura.

The damage output from this combo and returned life won't be enough to sustain a Necro through Hell. A Moonlord still needs to hit something 6 times before he dies. This is assuming the best case scenario in terms of damage and life and a perfect Bramble. Don’t forget that a lot of monsters use ranged or elemental attacks.

In order for your Thorns do add a bit of extra damage you need a large force of minions to shield yourself and to make sure your Minion isn’t overwhelmed. Something like some Skellies or a few Revives will serve you well. But you need to find a way to actually do damage. Thorns is nothing more than a welcome amount of extra damage against melee attackers. On the bright side, Thorns can cause a monster to go into hit recovery.

BG is useless for all intents and purposes, because of his low life and the way IM and Thorns no longer work with BG.

[lextalionis]

What about a whisp Projector throwing out a Spirit of Barbs along with a Thorns Merc with Amp Damage?

[Mad Mantis]

What about a whisp Projector throwing out a Spirit of Barbs along with a Thorns Merc with Amp Damage?

The return damage would be better and things should die more easily to this combo. You can calculate the exact numbers.

However, you are still faced with ranged attackers and elemental attackers. This is the reason that any form of return damage is considered a helpful extra, but not a mainstay way of killing things.

And this still doesn't do anything for BG, he remains useless. :(