Orb/meteor tank merc

[Thorgaard]

Hey guys, my orb/meteor sorc has a act 2 defensive merc who she is trying to hide behind and rely on to tank bossess while she kills. Currently we're at lvl 83 and even with a Vamp Gaze + ethereal Shaftstop and Amn'd Bonehew he still gets grossly beaten when we charge up on Meph.

His current resists are only 50% right now so my question to you pros' is should i max his resists first? Even if that means replacing one of the Dmg. reduction peices? In Hell which is more important for him to tank end game bossess and Baal's minions, the dmg reduction or resists?

Thanks guys for any and all help

[sirpoopsalot]

IMO, resists are significantly more important for Baal runs.


I really like a VampGaze, so that's the item I'd be most reluctant to change (my mercs has been socketed with a +10 resist all jewel, which is a nice little bonus). However, a Tal's mask is another very viable, cheap, and nice alternative.

For a weapon, Bonehew is pretty decent, but it's not necessarily the best choice in its price range. Two more you should consider are The Reaper's Toll and Kelpie Snare (preferrably ethereal, upgraded, and/or socketed with an Amn rune). Both of those might have a little less damage than a Bonehew, but they both add quite a bit more survivability to the merc against various targets (Reapers is better for minion, Kelpie is better for Baal). Of course, there are a lot of high-end runewords that can be made in polearms too (eBotD, Infinity, etc.), but those are a little/lot more expensive.

A good, reasonably cheap (I think), armor for the merc would be Duress (it adds some nice offense, as well as a medium boost to resists). Another one, especially useful to a Defiance merc, would be an ethereal Stone armor... it can get insane defense. Lionheart's probably a little cheaper, but it isn't bad either (and has the best resists of those three).

Another armour that's often overlooked, but it very nice for mercs, is Duriel's Shell. Resists, life, and Cannot Be Frozen... what's not to love?


The shaftstop would probably be the first thing I'd replace.

[AnimeCraze]

Meph > merc, period (even with good gear). It's better if you tank him yourself (at least for some hits), or dance around him. If all else fails, you can moat with meteor.

[AgentMarth]

One thing to mention, the whole not being able to leech of Mephy thing.

Personally, I'd definitely keep the Gaze, maybe switch out the shaft according to your budget. I would though, definitely get him a better weapon. Even an eth Insight would server you better IMO.

[Cast_Raider]

Put on a stormshield and tank him yourself.

[sirpoopsalot]

Meh, don't know how I read Baal in there. :duh: Meph is a little different than Baal, as far as what your merc needs to survive.


Meph is unleachable, so no amount of life-leech is going to help keep him alive. As AnimeCraze mentioned, the merc is probably going to get pwned by Meph no matter what gear he has. One method that works is to keep a wand with life-tap charges on your weapon switch, and then cast it at the start of the battle. In that case, I'd be tempted to go with a max-crushing-blow setup: Hone Sundan (3x Shael), Guillaume's Face, Rattlecage. If your merc can't survive longer, you might as well make him help kill faster, which is what CB provides. :tongue:

Or, you can always just let the merc die (and stay dead) and use the moat-trick.

[Borje]

just like ppl have mentioned: leech does nothing against meph. So the trick is to make meph deal as little damage to your merc as possible. The helm and armour you have listed is really great for a merc in general but it doesn't do you much at all since the LL and Phys res doesn't do you much - meph doesn't do any (?) physical damage!

The most effective equipment on your merc if only talking about being able to tank meph is using Kelpiers Snare + Blackhorn's Face. Together they give Slow Monsters by 95% so Meph will be moving so slow it's rediculus, put these on a Holy Freeze merc and meph will pretty much not be able to move at all! Blackhorns face does also give +15% lightning res and a good +20 lightning absorb so whenever meph gets away a lightning attack at your merc it will be absorbed, atleast to some extent. Socket the helm with an Um rune for +15% res all, and if that gets his res maxed, strap on Guardian Angel for a +15% to maximum res. If you have to, socket it too with an Um. If you manage to get 90% light and cold res he will not die! Unless your res is maxed you won't benefit from the +maximum res from Guardian Angel so instead perhaps Smoke, Lionheart or if you can afford it an Fort or CoH. If you are at maximum res without the armour and don't feel the need for the +max res from GA you could use Rattle Cage for 25% Crushing Blow since you won't have any. However the best armour if you don't benefit from/don't feel the need for GA is Duress, it provides CB, OW, +15% res all (plus another +30% cold res) and a nice damage add from the Cold damage and +10-20% ED.

[sirpoopsalot]

The most effective equipment on your merc if only talking about being able to tank meph is using Kelpiers Snare + Blackhorn's Face. Together they give Slow Monsters by 95% so Meph will be moving so slow it's rediculus, put these on a Holy Freeze merc and meph will pretty much not be able to move at all!

fyi, 'slow' is capped at 50%, so more is redundant (Holy Freeze doesn't count towards this, so it can slow a monster even further). Blackhorns & Kelpie are good items though, and can certainly be used together, but the extra slowing isn't going to add any real benefit.


and I think Meph does have some physical damage, but it's certainly a lot less than his cold and lightning attacks, so those are the two that are most important to protect against.

[stephan]

My SP merc has Kelpie's, Hawkmail and a Rockstopper (tal) and he never dies. If your merc dies against meph you are simply not killing him fast enough.

[Eilo Rytyj]

Put on a stormshield and tank him yourself.

Wrong. Either:

1) use the moat trick.
2) Teleport! You can keep your merc alive by teleporting around Meph. Teleporting means merc isn't getting hit, but he's still in front of you so any stray bolts will hit him and not you. Teleporting all over the screen around Meph is the best way to stop your merc dying. I know because one of my old Sorcs mercs had junk gear (low dmg Insight, Duriels Shell, VGaze iirc) and he never died because I used Teleport properly.