Merc polearm advice

[stymie]

Any summoners out there that like infinity on your merc to bring down def as opposed to using pride? I have a might merc and it just doesn't seem that the pride pole makes a whole lot of difference. Also, anyone using dream helms or
dragon armor with infinity for damage?

[handofnaz]

I don't have any personal experience with Infinity myself, but according to what I've read around here, it works great for summoners. Less defense means your minions and merc hit more often, and Conviction helps out mages (if you use them) and more importantly, CE, by lowering resistance to fire. As if CE wasn't overpowered enough, but whatever. I say go for it.

[NumtyDoo]

Infinity is way better than pride, but is kind of expensive. Obedience is more reasonably priced than infinity and is also better than pride, but not quite as good as infinity.

[cynicalcat1]

infinity ftw.this runeword just kicks butt for a summoner.i use one every chance i can get my paws on one.

[shijo]

Pride isn't even close to Infinity. I've used them both and there's no comparison. Infinity in an ethereal CV or CA is usually what I run with, but a fair argument can be made for a thresher (speed) as well.

[rizzlan]

Cheap option always Insight

I feel no need to go Infinity with my fishymancer, the build is very much dependant on CE's.
As with Insight you will get almost infinite mana if you reroll until 16-17 meditation aura.

Merc hits for 6k aswell so no problem there

[Dirkw]

Infinity also dramatically increases the power of CE.

Not to mention mages become (way more) effective.

From my experience, infinity for a summoner is a must in 8p games (at least if you want to lead flawless rushes) but maybe a bit overkill if you just want to finish the game.

[i am war]

bah i would reccomend using insight in an eth cv/ca.. as there is no need for infinity, corpse explosion along with amp damage is usualy a one hit kill for most monsters, also your merc is not as important on a summoner as you have around 30 skeles and revives alltogether, and for those who are going to say you need a strong merc for the first kill.. DONT because any good necro knows to raise their army in the pindleskin portal.

also with a good insight, an act2 might merc will still hit high and survive act bosses such as diablo and baal easily

my merc setup is as follows:
head-andys/40 ed jewell with other usefull mods
body- stone runeword in eth balrog skin (2k+defense and cheap)
weapon-insight colossus volgue/cryptic axe/thresher

also on bosses such as baal you might think about swapping his helm to a guiliames face for crushing blow as it cuts killing time alot.

theres my 2 cents :p

[NumtyDoo]

and for those who are going to say you need a strong merc for the first kill.. DONT because any good necro knows to raise their army in the pindleskin portal.
I think what other people are talking about here isn't getting the "1st kill" to start an army, any merc can kill an act 1 "pee-on" baddie, what they are refering to is getting a "1st quick kill" to start the CE chain, and a strong merc is the best and fastest way to get the CE chain started.

Insight is a good polearm, especially for the price, but it doesn't hold a candle to infinity. Infinity not only helps mages and CE, it makes merc able to kill everything in 1 jab because of high damage, high CB, and higher chance to hit. You will really notice the chance to hit difference on bosses, lowered defense means more hits, more hits means more CB application.

your merc is not as important on a summoner as you have around 30 skeles and revives alltogether Your right, merc isn't essential, but only if you like clearing areas and killing bosses at 1/5 of the speed that you could with a good merc.

[shijo]

Against ubers, and Act bosses, the merc becomes even more important, with Infinity. My speed in killing Baal or D-Clone is reduced tenfold without him. You can forget about Lilith, Uber Duriel or Uber Izual in any reasonable time frame. You might as well get someone else to do Chaos Tristram for you.

Your merc is non-negotiable if you want to kill things effectively and efficiently.

[bruticus]

just to throw my opinion in there .. i can't believe obedience has only been mentioned once in this thread =)

Obedience is so cheap to make, and for the price of those runes, you get 370%ED, 20-30@res, and a HUGE 40%CB (without any Ber runes!).

if you can't afford Infinity, go Obedience.

[shijo]

That's probably because the original poster wanted tips on a comparison between Pride and Infinity :D

Great point on Obedience though, I used one back in the day before I got an Infinity.

[Dirkw]

DONT because any good necro knows to raise their army in the pindleskin portal.


I like to run nihla, so there's no such thing as a pindleskin portal :)

[Alecz]

infinity ftw.this runeword just kicks butt for a summoner.i use one every chance i can get my paws on one.

Hmm I wonder what class/build would not make good use of infinity?:rolleyes:
Edit: I just seem to have trouble finfing lots of ber's:scratch:

[Barbarrister Voldamus]

Does anyone have any opinions on the other part of his original question - Has anyone used Dragon Armor or a Dream Helm in conjunction with the Infinity and if so was there any noticible help from the pulse auras. Dragon in particular intrigues me with the possibility of Hydras popping up all over the place in Uber Tristram and the Venom to help prevent regeneration.

[NumtyDoo]

I muled a dream helm on my nec's merc once, he was using infinity, and for reasons that I have yet to understand...he raped phys immune monsters. The pulse damage from the aura would be useless, it is the added attack damage that helps. But even then the damage seemed to be too low to explain the ownage that I was seeing, he was killing phys immunes in one jab (3hits). I have looked at other posts and heard others with the same testimony, doesn't add up on paper, but seems to work.

[Dirkw]

I think it's part of the wonder that is conviction... For instance, you expect mages to kill faster with infinity, but the increase of damage it gives them is really incredibly dramatic.