Act 2 Merc Weapon

[Moravich]

For my meteorb sorc, i find that holy freeze, keeping them constantly slowed is very useful, however, my nm act 2 merc dies ALOT.

so my question being, will a act 2 nm merc survive better, even with top notch gear. because i was hoping to either get a nm merc with holy freeze and give him insight, or hell defensive merc for defiance, and give him doom, for holy freeze. i'm not sure which tho.

Sincerely,
Chadouski**

[sirpoopsalot]

First, without a doubt: If you get the defensive merc, do it in Normal, never in Hell.

Normal-difficulty mercs will have slightly better stats, resists, damage, life, etc. than their Hell counterparts. Always. It's not a huge difference, but it's still a difference.



Now for which merc: this is more subjective...

Personally, I find HF merc a little fragile sometimes (and, of course, 'sometimes' happens to be when I really want him to be solid - like when a pack of cursed Frenzytaurs swarms him). I prefer Defiance these days, and that's the one I'd choose.

Also, instead of Doom, you can equip a Reaper's Toll (quite a bit cheaper), and the Decrepify curse will provide almost the same effect as the HF aura (you can also use Reapers on a HF merc to make some really slow-arse monsters).


By the way
1. Does your merc have any life leech on his equipment?
2. Is he a really low level compared to the monsters he's facing? (read: level ~70 merc against level ~80+ monster = dead merc)

Those are the two most common reasons why mercs die "A LOT", and unless they're addressed, it won't matter what aura he has. :wink3:

[Moravich]

thx for the info.
Yes, he is slightly low for what im running (hes 75) and im doing countess.
and i have vampires gaze for him, and a 1k def armor with osme resist, he does have maxed resist, his weapon is nothing special just a rare with ok dmg and 7% life leech.

[Moravich]

also, a normal act 2 merc will have the same defiance aura as a hell merc at lvl 80+??

if so, i think ill take that advice and get a defiance
thx : )

[sirpoopsalot]

fyi, double-posts are discouraged - you can edit your post within an hour, and that's preferred. no biggie though. :wink3:


according to this (http://www.diabloii.net/townsfolk/warrior-defensive.shtml), which I think is still accurate, the normal mercs have better skill levels too. Basically any useful stat is better on early-hired mercs.

As for his gear, is there any chance you can get a Shaftstop for his armor? Physical damage is more dangerous on Countess runs (those archers hurt), so you can neglect the resistances a little bit, and a Shaftstop is a great armour in this case. If you start Baal runs then the resistances are more important though. (and yes, I like to tailor my mercs equipment to where I'm running).

Level75 isn't great, but it should be decent for Countess runs. From my experience on Countess, he'll periodically have a hard time all the way until about level 85-86 (and so will your sorc). Once your levels get up around that point though, you'll both be more sturdy.

[Moravich]

alright, so a reaper's toll, shaftstop, and a vampire gaze on a normal def merc should work fine.

Thx a ton!