Merc.'s in general questions

[Whiplashfourever]

Okay, I know it's personal choice to an extent, but, which ones seem to work best with which characters?

For instance, I have a barb, paly, sin, sorc, and zon... which merc's go best with each one individually? Or does it even matter? I always figured, if you're a hand to hand type, you go for the paly or rogue and if you're a magic user you go with the Lut merc or the barb. Am I off track here? Also, how do you build them so they don't die so easily :/ I came across a guy who wanted me to duel his rogue merc who was nearly a ninety and here I am at 76 with basic IK gear and she's teleporting all over the place. Unfortunately, she... and the sorc that employed here, tele'd right in front of me as I hit WW and killed them both. It was a stroke of luck, but still, one pass and they were both down. Any way to build them so that kind of crap doesn't happen?

[Myrakh-2]

Well, I can only give you the reasons for *my* mercs.

My Skelemancer uses a Might merc --- the reason should be obvious, as it gives a huge damage boost to the skeleton warriors. This is also the merc with +skills gear --- he has +7 in total, out of +8 possible (I only have a +1 armor).

My Bowazon uses a Might merc as well, to improve both his and her damage.

There is no merc to actually help my Bonemancer --- I always planned to give him Insight, but for what merc? The decision was pretty much between Defiance and Holy Freeze, and I settled for Defiance. Of course, I'm still not sure whether this was the right thing... :-)

[IceWeazel]

i always use act 2 nm holy freeze aura, it really comes in handy, only char id ont use it with is necro which i choose might aura

[Firvagor]

For MF characters I tend to go with Might mercs for faster runs, every other character a Holy Freeze merc. I've never really found uses for the others; Act 1s I just never use, Act 3s always die on me, Act 5s don't really have any useful qualities other than good damage and Stun.

[helvete]

There is no merc to actually help my Bonemancer --- I always planned to give him Insight, but for what merc? The decision was pretty much between Defiance and Holy Freeze, and I settled for Defiance. Of course, I'm still not sure whether this was the right thing... :-)
Prayer! Prayer prayer prayer!!

Nothing like having him double heal from the synergy. My next sorc will be a non ES one, and she'll LOVE that healing.

Edit: How come I can have 10 private messages now, where I could only have 5 a couple weeks ago? I didn't do anything to deserve this honor...

[Superhal]

defiance doesn't seem to do jack other than increase the dr score.

might helps them leech, so they tend to survive the best.

hf is a close second. however, there are many monsters that are unaffected by hf, and those are generally the ones that kill him the fastest.

i haven't tried prayer, but i doubt it's even close to the effectiveness of meditation.

for a1 mercs, they're a lot better than i thought. they use a fire/cold arrow, but they also use magic arrow and inner sight. imho, they're far better vs pi's than a2 mercs.

if you need help in combat, for say a single tree sorc, than a2 hf/might is the best. but, if you just want one to hang around and not be a bother, a1 is better.

[RTB]

Edit: How come I can have 10 private messages now, where I could only have 5 a couple weeks ago? I didn't do anything to deserve this honor...
A gift from the admins.

hf is a close second. however, there are many monsters that are unaffected by hf, and those are generally the ones that kill him the fastest.
There aren't that many monsters immune to it, but they're indeed the most dangerous (Gloams, Frenzytaurs, Ghosts).

for a1 mercs, they're a lot better than i thought. they use a fire/cold arrow, but they also use magic arrow and inner sight. imho, they're far better vs pi's than a2 mercs.
Magic Arrow only when equipped with a bow that fires Magic Arrows. With a strong bow they can do quite a bit of dmg to PIs, because of the dmg conversion of Fire/Cold Arrow.

[sangfagel]

... which ones seem to work best with which characters? I have a barb, paly, sin, sorc, and zon... which merc's go best with each one individually? Or does it even matter?
Of course it does but... Imo it doesn´t depend on main characters´ class but on what function(s) mercenery is supposed to have. This functions use to vary insight the classes - if you play hammerdin - zealot, summoner - artilerist, trapsin - melee sin etc...
A2 mercs are very popular since they have auras of their own AND can swing many good weapons in poearm class, giving them a 2nd aura or a curse (Insight or Reapper´s Toll for instance).

I always figured, if you're a hand to hand type, you go for the paly or rogue and if you're a magic user you go with the Lut merc or the barb. Am I off track here?
Yes, you are ;). Not every magic user needs a tank or a killer for immunes. Necro summoner is absolutely "a magic user" but he can need the same support as ... say... boazon (Might or fanaticism aura). A2 merc can give you Might but only A1 - Fanaticism afaik. Once again - think about the function: What your char needs mostly? - Crowd controll?, Tank?, ED? Mana/Life regeneration? MF?, etc, etc...

Also, how do you build them so they don't die so easily :/ .... Any way to build them so that kind of crap doesn't happen?
Thre´s no immortal chars and no immortal mercs. LoD = statistics = (sometimes) impossible odds. You can like it or not but you can´t change it.
Of course some mercs are tougher than some others ;). Most common way to keep them alive is to give them DR gear and alot of LL. Most important is though to have a right merc. A1 rouge will be (almost) immortal with a summoner but she will die very easy in company of a ww barb. My sorc have a VERY hard dying merc with no LL, no DR and with def of 300 or something like this. To tele in right moment makes the trick - that´s all. Function - again.

[helvete]

defiance doesn't seem to do jack other than increase the dr score.
Defense started working the way it was supposed to in 1.10. In 1.09 defense didn't matter (unless you had abnormal amounts, from hacked items and so on) because monsters had so much AR. High defense works wonders these days, but of course, a lot of attacks always hit anyway...

i haven't tried prayer, but i doubt it's even close to the effectiveness of meditation.
Did you understand what I was saying? What I was trying to say was that prayer is better for Insight mercs. Not that prayer was better than meditation. It is the two in tandem that gives the cool effect of double healing, and believe me... for low HP characters (necros and sorceresses) who also use a lot of mana, a "pocket cleric" is wonderful.

[Whiplashfourever]

Okay, let me get more specific. I have a




Hammerdin, In your opinion, the best Merc for him would be __________________?

a WW Barb, In your opinion, the best Merc for him would be __________________?

a Bowazon, In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

Frozen Orb Sorc (I don't know the combined shortened name for her - LOL) In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

and a Trapsin. In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?




None of them are set up for anything other than me against the game. I don't have any magic finders or duelers.

All suggestions are welcome. Most common answer will be the winner - lol

[Ax2Grind]

Hammerdin, In your opinion, the best Merc for him would be __________________?

a WW Barb, In your opinion, the best Merc for him would be __________________?

a Bowazon, In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

Frozen Orb Sorc (I don't know the combined shortened name for her - LOL) In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

and a Trapsin. In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

Holy Freeze/Defiance is the most popular for Sludgehammer. The character does whopping amounts of damage (all magic) and needs someone to get monsters off his back or deal with those that are pains to the style of play. Add to it an aura that either helps prevent you from getting hit or slows the enemies down so you can cast Blessed Hammer and there you have it.

Act one and three mercs are bad choices here as they run around too much while you're whirlwinding all over the place. Only act two and five are worth anything, and since I have no other regular Barbarians with a Barb merc, I chose him (I like to split up the choices, as there are twelve throughout the game).

Depends which bow-wielding Amazon build you speak of. Which skills are you using and how high?

By frozen Orb do you mean single tree (all cold) or a Meteorb build or similar tree mix?

This, too, depends on which traps. Let us know so we can get a clearer picture.

[Whiplashfourever]

Holy Freeze/Defiance is the most popular for Sludgehammer. The character does whopping amounts of damage (all magic) and needs someone to get monsters off his back or deal with those that are pains to the style of play. Add to it an aura that either helps prevent you from getting hit or slows the enemies down so you can cast Blessed Hammer and there you have it.

Act one and three mercs are bad choices here as they run around too much while you're whirlwinding all over the place. Only act two and five are worth anything, and since I have no other regular Barbarians with a Barb merc, I chose him (I like to split up the choices, as there are twelve throughout the game).

Depends which bow-wielding Amazon build you speak of. Which skills are you using and how high?

By frozen Orb do you mean single tree (all cold) or a Meteorb build or similar tree mix?

This, too, depends on which traps. Let us know so we can get a clearer picture.


Okay, let me get more specific. I have a




Hammerdin, In your opinion, the best Merc for him would be __________________?

a level 78 WW Barb, In your opinion, the best Merc for him would be __________________?

a Bowazon (still to wet behind the ears to know which way she's going to go - Give me my options, I'm all ears), In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

So far, a level 50 single tree sorc, but willing to listen to any suggestions to make her a bad *** Frozen Orb Sorc (I don't know the combined shortened name for her - LOL) In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?

and a level 88 Lighning Trapsin. In your opinion, the best Merc for her would be __________________?




None of them are set up for anything other than me against the game. I don't have any magic finders or duelers.

All suggestions are welcome. Most common answer will be the winner - lol

Better? Or need more? I'm pretty much a novice at this so a lot of the things I hear you folks talking about are over my head.

[Superhal]

depends on eq. if you have just uniques, probably an a2 merc is best. imho, if i could afford it, i would probably go with an a1 merc with amn wf/fortitude/dream for most builds. if you are using an ES build, any a2 merc with an insight wep. for a high damage sorc build, a2 with infinity.

generally, if i have a high damage, slow spear/polearm, i make an a2. if i have extra wf's lying around (and who doesn't!) make a1.

[helvete]

Hammerdin: Prayer merc (hire in act 2 at lvl 13 and keep throughout) with Insight. You'll love the mana and life regen, makes my hammerdin able to have only full rejuvs and scrolls in his belt.

WW barbs can do well without mercs.... However, with a big damage weapon, what you want is a might merc with that concentration granting polearm. Added damage = more leech, which would probably be much more effective than any regen.

Bowazons will have great benefit from might mercs, BUT if you can afford a rogue merc with "faith" bow, it would probably be the best. Invest points in valkyrie for tanking purposes.

Trapsins should try Holy Freeze mercs, to slow stuff and thus making traps hit more often. Give him an "Infinity" polearm to gain conviction as well. If you can't afford Infinity (like me) give him a eth "Obedience" for great damage and crushing blow, resists and more. ...Unless you have mana problems, which would make "Insight" a much better option.


Hope that helps.

[bruthor]

Act 2 is nearly always best. If you rely on physical damage or your other damage sources are effected by might (think zerk is effected), you always use act 2 NM offensive, unless you do not need more damage.
In all cases where you have good gear and not rely on damage effected by might, you use defience. If you are a poor player, only then a HF can be a good choice.

Mercenary survival is so easy.Act 2 NM deffensive.
Upgraded Guardian Angel with useful socket (Um), DELIRIUM (trust me on this one), and a decent damage/life steal/aura/curse/crushing blow weapon socketed with AMN. Doom, Infinity, concentration polearm and reapers toll are commonly chosen.

Works excellent. Delirium is THE choise for crowd control and defence and so on. People will argue off course, but at least for PvM, it is a decent choise. :thumbsup:

Guess delirium could make a PvP summoner necro really angry if confuse works :lol:

[g00tch]

What if you don't play ladder and don't have the option for Insight?

[Darnoc]

What would be a good choice for a fanatcism zealot for a merc? Just stick with a2 hf?

[sirmessbu]

For a zealot, just like brithor just said use a might merc will improve your damage, or you can use a defiance merc for better def.

[Darnoc]

Defiance sounds good, since I might be using a last wish which has might. Which one is defiance? I can never remember when I goto hire them, the whole off/def thing throws me off..

[sirmessbu]

Normal defensif are defiance, hell defensif also get defiance.

A normal merc will have a higher aura for same level tho and a little more str,dex and resist.