Blizz Sorc Merc

[crb806]

Act2 Defiance merc
Act2 Prayer Merc with insight polearm
Act2 Might Merc
My sorc will use Full Tals, SS, TO Gloves, Sandtrek, and 2xsojs. She is a pure blizzard sorc. So which of the three listed above would work best with this sorc. Defiance is what i am thinking b/c i want a tank/cold immune killer. But i am not sure b/c Might might be a faster killer but with out the Defense bonus..... and dont forget prayer merc (with inisight polearm, for metitation arura) i believe prayer syngerizes with meditation skill so you get lots of healing and mana regene.

So, which Merc do you guys think would suit my sorc best?

i was thinking of using Fortitide armor or Shaft Stop,Insight or Reaper Toll,Vamp Gaze or Andy Mask. If you guys know any better suggestion for equip too i would appreciate your input on that matter also.

Ok i think thats all for now. any help is appreciated

[Gaza0469]

Act2 Defiance merc
Act2 Prayer Merc with insight polearm
Act2 Might Merc
My sorc will use Full Tals, SS, TO Gloves, Sandtrek, and 2xsojs. She is a pure blizzard sorc. So which of the three listed above would work best with this sorc. Defiance is what i am thinking b/c i want a tank/cold immune killer. But i am not sure b/c Might might be a faster killer but with out the Defense bonus..... and dont forget prayer merc (with inisight polearm, for metitation arura) i believe prayer syngerizes with meditation skill so you get lots of healing and mana regene.

So, which Merc do you guys think would suit my sorc best?

i was thinking of using Fortitide armor or Shaft Stop,Insight or Reaper Toll,Vamp Gaze or Andy Mask. If you guys know any better suggestion for equip too i would appreciate your input on that matter also.

Ok i think thats all for now. any help is appreciated


Might Merc would get my vote.
Being a single element sorc u really need a tank that can deal with cold immunes.

If you are doing lots of council / Mephi or Andy runs then feel free to go the Barbarian - as poison damage is the bane of act2 mercs, and barbs are more resistant to poison.

Defiance Mercs are ok, but I would only go this if you party a lot and somone already has a might merc, that way u can give everyone more AC.

But if u do a fair bit of solo work ( like MFing then go Might.)

u have all the good gear for him, so thats the best choice :)

U dont really need a prayer merc, I would only get the prayer/insight combo if I had energy shield, U have 2x SOJ, so mana shouldnt ever be a prob for u.

If u are a bit worried about your defence , throw a couple of points into a cold armor, u have tonnes of plus skills so u can make a decent armor pretty easily.

[crb806]

I just see defiance as more of a advantage b/c the defense aura would help me but the might aura would not. i dont know tho

[Gaza0469]

Thats a fair comment - the defence aura is a perfect compliment - which is what you should ultimately aim for.

Its just that since u r single tree u really need a merc that can deal with cold immunes.

Defiance mercs are not the fastest killers - Might Mercs kill about 50% faster due to the huge damge boost from might.


Personally my playing style is to hit hard and fast - dont give the monsters a chance to hit you :)

If you prefer a more defensive style then the defiance merc will serve that purpose.

Its just that u have so many plus skills, full tal set, SOJs , even 1-2 points in cold armor would be fine as u would have like a level 10+ cold armor.

Personal pref though - dont let anyone tell u what u should or shouldnt use, there rarely is a perfectly correct right answer - there are always a few different options available :)

clear as mud eh?
:)

[sorcees]

for pure blizzars, might merc + (eth) amned reapers toll, (eth) ed duriels shell, (eth) ed crown of thieves, and your merc can kill a lot, and fast.
use tele a lot to direct your merc, separate the pacs (CI) and kill them separately.

Go go mighty merc.

[crb806]

i always thought defaince was best wierd

[spartacvs]

Act2 Defiance merc
Act2 Prayer Merc with insight polearm
Act2 Might Merc
My sorc will use Full Tals, SS, TO Gloves, Sandtrek, and 2xsojs. She is a pure blizzard sorc. So which of the three listed above would work best with this sorc. Defiance is what i am thinking b/c i want a tank/cold immune killer. But i am not sure b/c Might might be a faster killer but with out the Defense bonus..... and dont forget prayer merc (with inisight polearm, for metitation arura) i believe prayer syngerizes with meditation skill so you get lots of healing and mana regene.

So, which Merc do you guys think would suit my sorc best?

i was thinking of using Fortitide armor or Shaft Stop,Insight or Reaper Toll,Vamp Gaze or Andy Mask. If you guys know any better suggestion for equip too i would appreciate your input on that matter also.

Ok i think thats all for now. any help is appreciated

I would say defiance. Remember, their AI is terrible so I prefer a defensive aura. And as someone said, you will benefit from it. For the equipment, you need to choose carefully so your merc have some essentials mods (resist, life leech, etc.) or he'll die all teh time. Best combo, imo, for a2 merc, and it's somewhat cheap is: obedience + crown of thieves + gbane. The combo have: ll, a lot of fhr, cannot be frozen and resist. (as a extra, teh damage is enormous). If you're unlucky with the obedience, you might need a bit of extra resist (very important). Just use a tal helm untill your merc lvl up and you can replace with more ll from crown of thieves. The only thing the combo lacks is, imo, a bit of ias. You can use some crappy ias jewels in the armor and helm. Personnally, i choose a weapon with a good base speed for my merc and socketed the helm with a ptopaz because it's going into my mf hammerdin merc's. In any case, choose youre weapon carefully. You can also get a low def eth gbane with good mods (dr and mdr). They are more expensive than a noneth one ( I traded my normal one with 1450 def 16dr and 18 mdr for 8 perf gems). There are many for trade (but peoples seems to think it's worth a lot :(). Same thing with crown. I strongly suggest a eth weapon.

[Kaptain_Insano]

Might merc gets my vote. Like stated above, u need a good killer since u r going with one tree. Use a reapers toll and shael it to reach the next bp.
Cheers K

[spartacvs]

Might merc gets my vote. Like stated above, u need a good killer since u r going with one tree. Use a reapers toll and shael it to reach the next bp.
Cheers K

Don't say you're choice is bad but my lvl 95 merc with a eth giant thresher kills about everything in 1-2 shots with a good weapon speed. And I haven't yet socketed the armor with a ias jewel. Obedience is a crazy killer. 370% dmg with 45% crushing blow! But it also have -25% enemy defense and 30% Chance To Cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill An Enemy so he hit like 100%. With a might merc it will kill faster but I found defiance being a good balance between killing power and survivability. A dead merc is useless.

You need your merc to kill immunes but also to serve as a meat shield.

As a sidenote, any eth elite polearm is good except maybe stormspire. Reaper's toll is a good weapon if you plan to do Ball because when decrepify, he won't teleport (I'm a summoexploder fan :)).

Remember, your merc equipment should fit alltogether so he have all the essentials mods: fhr, ll, resist, cannot be frozen and decent damage and defense.

[crb806]

so bascially my choice is between defiance and might. Defiance arura would help me as well as the merc. Might Merc wouldnt help me but would would help the merc kill faster.

[spartacvs]

so bascially my choice is between defiance and might. Defiance arura would help me as well as the merc. Might Merc wouldnt help me but would would help the merc kill faster.

Yes,

Go for a defiance one. You're better to hire him normal and, for some reason, below lvl 25, mercs take the eternity to lvl up. So if you are not happy with the defiance one, you can change for a might one that have to be hired in nightmare. Lvl 43 is the max he can be so it's not that bad to level him up.

Oh, and btw, I was wrong when I said my merc can kill most monsters in 1-2 hit. The weakest ones needs only 1 hit but somes requires 3-5 hits. So the average is more like 2-3. But that is on my hammerdin and my aura help him a lot. Nevertheless, obediance is still a great weapon.

[Wambat]

Before you spend an eternity leveling up an act2 normal merc, get yourself an act5 hell merc and see how you like it. From my experience, the most important function of your merc (for a bliz sorc) is to kill CIs before they get to you and the biggest problem with your merc is his propensity for dieing, a lot. Act5 merc will hit hard and fast, and will get right in the enemies face before they have time to run up on you. Act5 merc will also survive better than act2 merc because he has much better regenerative abilities, and naturally high poison resists. Try him, and if you find you want something more, then devote the time to an act2 merc.

[crb806]

ok well my merc would mainly be doing countress and pindle(if CI), what would be the best type to handle that?

[spartacvs]

Before you spend an eternity leveling up an act2 normal merc, get yourself an act5 hell merc and see how you like it. From my experience, the most important function of your merc (for a bliz sorc) is to kill CIs before they get to you and the biggest problem with your merc is his propensity for dieing, a lot. Act5 merc will hit hard and fast, and will get right in the enemies face before they have time to run up on you. Act5 merc will also survive better than act2 merc because he has much better regenerative abilities, and naturally high poison resists. Try him, and if you find you want something more, then devote the time to an act2 merc.

Normal merc are better than nightmare wich are better than hell. That is because they will get slightly more life, str, dex, damage...

That being said, act5 merc is a valuable option, forgot about them. But I found the mercs to die easily (in general). The one that survives the most are holy freeze and defiance and act3 cold. But holly freeze is not good for blizzard sorc because it slows the monsters and moving targers get hit many times if they moves under the blizzard.