best way to lvl merc?

[ihuang]

I have a twinked lvl 50 meteorb sorc with a lvl 47sih holy freeze merc. Where are the best places to lvl my merc in nightmare and hell, since he won't level as fast as I do in baal runs? So far, I'm thinking of following the leveling guide in the Strategy Compendium. One place I definitle don't want to take him is the Chaos Sanctuary. IM=dead merc. I'm also thinking Act 5 would be a good place to lvl him (minus bad wsk maps), but I'm not sure.

Right now my sorc is using occy, smoke, splendor, magefists, sazabi's, nats, and random fcr/resist jewelry, and eventually I'm gonna put ful tals on her. My merc will be untwinked until I can put an insight colossus voulge, duriel's shell, and tal's mask on him (I could probably put dury's on him right now).

[mephiztophelez]

just strip the gear off your merc, create an NM game (assuming you want a holy freezer) and hire a new merc, that way he'll be within a few levels of you.

the days of needing to level up a merc are (thankfully) over.

[sunflowersmooth]

if you can't do hell games why not solo nm baal for the 1 or so level you want him to gain? but otherwise, hiring a new merc is always a good solution.

[sirpoopsalot]

the days of needing to level up a merc are (thankfully) over.

amen. :thumbsup:


Yes, strip him and buy a new one.

[FrozenCorpse]

I did well by killing shenk and the unique monster above the wp

There is no difference between leveling a mercenary and getting a mercenary at a high level?
Did that change?

[sirpoopsalot]

I did well by killing shenk and the unique monster above the wp

There is no difference between leveling a mercenary and getting a mercenary at a high level?
Did that change?

as long as you don't change the game difficulty when buying a merc, it has no effect on his abilities on whether he's purchased early or late in your progress.


(fyi, my point is that if you want slightly better stats, skills, damage, resists - and whatever other good thing you can think of for your merc - then you want to hire the merc in an earlier difficulty.

But it no longer really matters if you're level 12 or level 95 when hire that Desert Warrior from normal difficulty).

[Alc]

But it no longer really matters if you're level 12 or level 95 when hire that Desert Warrior from normal difficulty).I have yet to see any compelling evidence that it makes any difference at all.

[sirpoopsalot]

I have yet to see any compelling evidence that it makes any difference at all.

it mattered in version 1.10 (and earlier) when you had to level him from normal difficulty all the way to 95... the work of several hours. At that time it was just easier to accept the lower stats, resists, skills, <everything> and hire him in Hell.

[ihuang]

So there's little to no difference between a merc you leveled yourself and a merc that you bought? Great! In that case, I'll just wait until I get to level 71, buy a holy freeze merc in a nightmare game, and slap some gear onto him. I don't want to waste time leveling a merc.

However, if I buy a lvl 65-70 holy freeze merc, will it have 210 str needed for an insight colussus voulge?

[mephiztophelez]

However, if I buy a lvl 65-70 holy freeze merc, will it have 210 str needed for an insight colussus voulge?
i doubt it.

you'll probably need to give him some +str gear.

[AnimeCraze]

Even my norm prayer merc has trouble with str at like lvl 8x, and that's for an eth CV of 200.

[handofnaz]

Even my norm prayer merc has trouble with str at like lvl 8x, and that's for an eth CV of 200.

Mine is clvl 90 and still needs Andy's or Guillaume's to put on a non-eth CV.

[climed]

Mine is clvl 90 and still needs Andy's or Guillaume's to put on a non-eth CV.

Yeah, you definitely need some +strength gear for your merc to wear a CV. It requires 210 str. Andy's or Leviathan are both pretty good choices.

Or you can try making an insight on another polearm like thresher or gaint thresher which have lower requirements. They have faster attack speeds compared to the other elite polearms.

For some reason I find a quite a few 4 soc ones too. I've gotten two 4 soc threshers, 1 4 soc gaint thresher, and 1 eth 4 soc thresher.

[ihuang]

How much is Andy's Visage worth? I already got duriel's shell, which will give my merc 15 str.

Does attack speed and range of the weapon affect the merc's attack?

[SnickerSnack]

Yes. Look here:

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=306061