Switch for PI bosses?

[curby]

I'm currently using a Reaper's Toll for the Decrep, but I'm seriously considering getting a Lacerator. I think the argument are something like this:

Reaper's Toll
+ Good Damage (and DS) and Leech
+ Reasonably Cheap
+ Light to hold
+ Decrep slows and weakens monsters
- Lvl 1 Decrep has horrible duration, annoying to switch back and forth every 4 seconds

Lacerator
+ Amp hits PIs harder
+ Amp lasts 14 seconds, can easily switch and kill (most things) on one proc
+ If you deshift, you've got a throwing option
- At 122 Dex (or 112 Eth), it's harder to hold than Reaper/Tomb Reaver/GPA
- Probably expensive, esp. an eth version (offtopic, but is this true?)
- Fleeing monsters require chasing

I probably wouldn't contemplate switching until I got an ethereal version, and I'm not sure that bosses even flee, so most of the downsides are inapplicable. How do the other pure Fury builds out there weigh these two weapons, or do you do something else entirely (Atma's?) for PIs?

Thanks!

[Verashiden]

Azure Wrath >.>

[curby]

Thanks for the suggestion, but are you sure? I'm always hesitant to go this route because last year I tried a Tiamat+Gimmershred on a Zealot for PIs, and it ended up taking forever to kill a PI. 375 average magic damage several times a second sounds good, but even non-boss monsters in Hell can have 20k life, and I imagine bosses have even more.

Proccing a curse would enable us to use our main strength (massive physical damage), which I imagine would enable much quicker kills, especially given magic resistances in some critters in hell. (I know there's also cold damage, but the magic is the main draw here.)

That, plus the fact that a phase blade is even harder to hold than a Lacerator, though a Heled pb is slightly better than an eth Lacerator.

I'll do some tests to see if the Azurewrath kills PIs faster than the Reaper's Toll, my current choice. If it can't beat the Reaper, there's no way it could do better than a Lacerator. Having established the relative effectiveness in combat, cost in stats and currency would be the only options to weigh.

Experiences/suggestions/counterarguments are most welcome. =)

[Verashiden]

Azure is Faster, grants a skill, gives stats, and has Sanctuary. Most phys immunes you'll be facing will be of the undead variety. Sanct bypasses the physical resistance of them, making Azure do its full damage on top of the elemental damage.

I dunno, that sounds better than decrep going off and breaking them down to 75 PDR.

[Netsua]

Gimmershred has the highest avergage elemental damge of any weapon (barring rares) and can be thrown. Not so good on the magic damage front though.

[Verashiden]

I still think Azure is better a majority of the time.

[Liquid_Evil]

Is equipping an eth (or even non-eth) reapers on your Act 2 merc out of the question? That has worked well for my past druids. I'm not a big fan of Azure...it's kind of neat, but I'd use a Lacerator switch before I used the Azure. It goes back to what you said...p8 monsters have such huge pools of hit points that the elemental dmg is somewhat negligable. Amp or Decrep breaks the immunity so you can use your hurty weapon and have crushing blow and leech apply.

[curby]

Yeah, forgot to mention leech. I tried going with Reapers on my bowazon's merc and was unimpressed... sometimes he'd just stand there and sometimes he'd attack the wrong monsters.

While it should be less of a problem on the pup, I want to try Pride on this merc to see what sort of damage I get. Also, since I don't need a poison switch and I'm not going CtA, I figure I might as well wield the PI-breaker myself.

Regarding combat effectiveness, the question is 4k-10k damage (before Pride) against -50 to 50 pdr (my GPA with amp), or 500-1k damage against 0-50 magic resist and 0-150 cold resist (azure with no curses)? Sanctuary seems like a fun thing to try, but I still kinda have my doubts. =)

[Verashiden]

Understandable. I always found myself having the phys immune problem in a pack of Ghosts though so I may be a little biased >.>

Edit- Does - PDR (Amp and Decrep) Break at the same effectiveness as Convict and Lower Res do on immunes? If so then Azure wins by far.

[MysticDragon]

How about switching to Atma's or a nice rare with ctc amp?

[soul killer]

Atmas doesnt have a very good ctc Amp.
Id go with Azurewrath, sexy weapon.