What to socket in merc equipment??

[Voidtec]

My lvl 85 Act2 Defiance Merc is using the following equipment:

Tomb Reaver w/3x AMN
Shaftstop
Andariels

Im not sure what the max IAS for mercs are, but he has 80% IAS. He also has 30% life leech(is there a cap on this?). His resists are ~65-85+ on all in Hell. He seems able to stay alive pretty well, but still takes a beating sometimes when mobbed by large groups.

Are the 80% IAS & 30% life leech maxxed for a merc? He has an open socket in the Shaftstop & Andariels, so I'm trying to figure out what to put in them.

Also, if there's already an open socket in the Shaftstop & Andariels, am I still able to upp them? I dont remember what %ed they are, but he has alot of Str & Dex, so the upp req shouldnt hurt I would hope, if these can even be upped.

Any ideas what to put in the open sockets on the armor & helm? I was thinking about maybie FHR, dont remember what rune it is, and if it can be used in helm/armor.

P.S. - I also have an Arreats, and was thinking of Stone + Arreats for alot more FHR, but less resists & life leech. Dunno, need ideas heh.

P.P.S. - I'm not rich, rather poor actually. Best rune I have atm is an UM hehe.

Thanks in advance for any ideas. :)

Oh, 1 more question... Which is better? A good eth Stone or the 30% DR from shaftstop? Thanks again :)

[krischan]

I strongly suggest to put a Ral rune into Andy's, so the penalty to fire res is negated. Mercs happily go into fiery areas from hydras, meteors etc. and ignore missile fire, e.g. from fire skeleton archers in early act 5 nightmare and hell (which does not mean the missiles will ignore the merc :lol: except for javelin throwers at the same areas, which don't seem to hurt him, as a side note), no matter how severe.

There is no cap on IAS or leech (I heard in 1.09 leech was capped at 127% or 255%, but I'm not sure and it's irrelevant anyway, although a regular character has a theoretical chance to have more than 127% ML). However, IAS isn't applied proportionally, but subject to diminishing returns. For act 2 mercs wearing a cryptic axe and using the jab attack, the breakpoints are like these:


IAS/Fames per attack/Attacks per second
0 % 9 2.7
5 % 8.5 2.9
11 % 8 3.1
22 % 7.5 3.3
35 % 7 3.5
56 % 6.5 3.8
92 % 6 4.1
147 % 5.5 4.5
292 % 5 5

See here (http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english) for a weapon speed calculator.

[twelvebagger]

Good stuff as usual Kirshcan.

I'd never have thunk a ral rune :)

[Evrae Altana]

Since this is an Act 2 merc, he won't be able to use Arreats :) .

[jiansonz]

Socketed uniques can still be upgraded. The socket (and anything in it) will remain.

But isn´t Andariel´s already elite?

[Voidtec]

Bah i forgot Arreats was for act5 merc :/

Yeah, I think Andariels is elite, forgot to check lol.

So, is a 4k+ Stone better then the duriels 30% DR?

I need my coffee :(

[Evrae Altana]

For a Defiance merc, use the Stone so he can take the most advantage of the huge defense. For others, use Shaft for the DR, although Stone also has that 60% FHR that might tip the balance over in favor of Stone.

[Drakstyr]

Personally, I favor Stone, considering the huge defense bonus that it gets. However, Leviathan is also a nice choice, considering it gives a nice defense bonus and has DR on top of it. Shaftstop can be good if you can manage to get it up'd, although the runes are tough.

FHR is going to probably be your biggest concern.. you've got the life leech, and you have the IAS, so the only problem is when he's on the backlash of attacks. I'd suggest tossing that in your Shaftstop, or working on getting a Stone.