Merc Not Getting Hit Q | Defiance or HF

[#1St.Jean]

Hey my merc will be using a 310/50 infinity, 2830 stone armor, 479 def eth andys, im gunna pul it. To get down to my question with this high def merc set up would holy freeze or defiance work out better. The monsters would be slowed down and he would have like 5k def i think? or if he used defiance would monsters not be able to hit him as much because of the much higher defence, ill be using orb/lighting so the monsters will be slowed down at a relatively decent ammount. I want my merc so stay alive and tank those pesky minion of destructions when soloing baal. If you have any input on this id appreciate it alot im stumped as of what to do. Thanks in advance,

[xeyloderixed]

i think the choices mean two very different things:

(1) if you really just want him to survive very long, then hf is the way to go. defiance doesn't really add up to a lot, even with your perf gear (i also had a very high defiance/stone merc, and he still gets hits very often. sadly i cant check the numbers because that sork is dead).

(2) defiance, though, is better for YOU when teleporting. this is the only reason to choose a defiance merc.

[sangfagel]

I wouldn´t call your merc "high def" one. You have a very good gear but def rate must be considered in realtion to monsters´ attack rating. Regular hell monsters have about 5k attack rating (not less anyway) and act bosses, big unique monsters have attack rating up to 25k. So, even if merc´s lvl ~monster´s lvl, it´s still at least 50% chance to be hit having 5k def. Really HIGH def is about 20 - 25k.

In practice I found defiance mercs and hf mercs preatty equal. I agree with xeyloderixed that teleporting sorc can have better use of defiance, since it takes a while before fh begins to work.

In general I think that it does not depend that much on gear if a sorc´s merc dies often or not. It depends much more on main build and player´s skills.
My merc (lvl 95, def ~400, no LL, no dr) dies ONLY if I fail to use tele correctly. He would be 100% immortal if I was a better player :D

[k/t]

Sangfagel, what does your merc use and what is his function?

[sangfagel]

Sangfagel, what does your merc use and what is his function?
Function 1: to kill monsters immune to fire and cold
Function 2: help with fast boss killing

He uses:
Obedience in eth superior tresher
Rattlecage
Guillaume's Face

He makes AVERAGE over 2k dmg after cb (100% chance for cb of course)

My favorite tactics is to tele direct on target (as Meph, Baal, Countess or an C/F-immune knight boss, etc).
My sorc has no probs with crowd controll and has defensive properities good enough to tank for her merc if needed.

[Dennis_KoreanGuy]

i think the choices mean two very different things:

(1) if you really just want him to survive very long, then hf is the way to go. defiance doesn't really add up to a lot, even with your perf gear (i also had a very high defiance/stone merc, and he still gets hits very often. sadly i cant check the numbers because that sork is dead).

(2) defiance, though, is better for YOU when teleporting. this is the only reason to choose a defiance merc.
Yes HF would help your merc survive longer than Defiance.

No Defiance is NOT better for you when teleporting, because HF will make monsters near you chilled + slow them greatly so it will take forever for one monster to hit + stun you, so provided you have enough FCR you will be able to get out of big mobs alive while teleporting into those annoying Death Lords or whatever they're called in hell. (Those cows with armor / red eyes / big swinging axes)

[k/t]

I also noticed that HF doesn't slow monsters immediately, there's a short period of time before it starts to work when teleporting near them.

Also, CB is capped at 95%.

Edit: This is making me reconsider using a Defiance merc for my hammerdin. He has ~6k defense alone and ~10k with merc. He's 83, but it's not too late to get a HF guy.

[xeyloderixed]

I also noticed that HF doesn't slow monsters immediately, there's a short period of time before it starts to work when teleporting near them.

exactly why defiance is better when teleporting. hf takes a few seconds to chill when the aura is on.

but if you plan on killing monsters along the way, then hf is slightly better (and safer)

[RTB]

Also, CB is capped at 95%.
The chance for CB is not capped at all.