What armor for my godly merc?

[burner2k]

Hi there, my merc isn´t really godly but he´s better than I could ever imagine right now.. I just need a better armor (I use the runeword Stone right now).

Im using Infinity made out of a eth Tresher & a perfect Gaze.

I got the runes to make Fortitude

20% Chance To Cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when Struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+300% Enhanced Damage
+9 To Minimum Damage (Weapon Only)
+50 To Attack Rating (Weapon Only)
20% Deadly Strike (Weapon Only)
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25% (Weapon Only)
+15 Defense (Body Armor Only)
Replenish Life +7 (Body Armor Only)
+5% To Maximum Lightning Resist (Body Armor Only)
Damage Reduced By 7 (Body Armor Only)
+200% Enhanced Defense
+1-148.5 to Life, based on a multiplier from 1-1.5 times Character Level (varies)
All Resistances +25-30 (varies)
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 To Light Radius

the 300% e damage seems really sweet!
What armor should I use ? A 4so eth archon plate ??

Kind regards, burner2k

[redground]

a 4os Archon will have the best trade value, and it is a light armor.

The best defense will also come with a high strg req.

[droid]

Archon Plate or Kraken Shell are the highest def armors your merc will have enough str to wear at L90 without help from gear, which nothing he has will provide. AP also is more tradeable, being a light armor.

[GoDSamurai]

How about indestructible ghost light armor which has 500 defence and plus strenght?

[redground]

You can give him a CoH, it will give him LL and you will be able to change his helmet.

[Tarvold]

Yea a bugged eth ap would be my 1st choice.

[guface]

I think you're all missing the point. At level 90+, the merc has around 200 str. Even WITHOUT any + str equi, the merc can wear lacquered and hellforge. Both of these can get higher base defense. Why would anyone care about low str req archon when he's already got the necessary str.

AP max - 524 normal
HF plate - 530
Lacquered - 541. (208 str req, but -10 for being ehtereal)

Eth bugging doubles the difference. The DEFENSE rating is in issue, not whether its a low str req or not.

Also, a perfect archon plate eth bugged is so goddamn rare as its a very high TC item. Its far more likely to drop HF plate with higher defense.

[ampdmg]

Would Treachery be better for the merc or duress or fortitude?

[TheBigClown]

I think you're all missing the point. At level 90+, the merc has around 200 str.

I got a lvl 92 merc with 194 str. You gotta be really high lvl to have a merc with 200 base str.

An eth Lacquered Plate needs 198 str.

Edit: I wouldn't use Treachery. The ias is nice and it looks damn cool with an "invisible" merc, but lvl 15 venom only provides 305-325 poison damage and there's only 5% ctc lvl 15 Fade (when stuck!). I would rather have Fortitude than 45% ias along 305-325 poison damage. Another thing: Treachey totally lacks good defence, which is crucial.

[mephiztophelez]

i like Gladiators Bane on my mercs.

cbf so they don't get frozen and oodles of iDR and mDR to turn them into tanks.

[Rancors]

most merc use either andy helm or guillmeum face so i dont think str is really an issue for merc, just use scared armor if u want def as high as possible.

[Dinall]

most merc use either andy helm or guillmeum face so i dont think str is really an issue for merc, just use scared armor if u want def as high as possible.

Some ppl don't like Sacred because it slows their merc down.

[Panix]

Rancors pretty much said what I was gonna say. Andy's has IAS, Life Leech and +STR. The +2 skills works towards the aura he uses as well. The DR is nice but I can't really tell a difference in the survivability. The added cold damage is nice to shatter corpses though.

But hell, I'm using a eth Duriel shell with a random Andy's and Infinity on my lightning sorc and it works fine for me. I could put my Dusk Shroud fort on him but I got tired of switching it from my smiter to my lightning sorc's merc every time I wanted to mf. :\

[guface]

I got a lvl 92 merc with 194 str. You gotta be really high lvl to have a merc with 200 base str.

An eth Lacquered Plate needs 198 str.

Edit: I wouldn't use Treachery. The ias is nice and it looks damn cool with an "invisible" merc, but lvl 15 venom only provides 305-325 poison damage and there's only 5% ctc lvl 15 Fade (when stuck!). I would rather have Fortitude than 45% ias along 305-325 poison damage. Another thing: Treachey totally lacks good defence, which is crucial.

At level 88 on my merc, he has 195 base str. At 90 he will be on 198, enough for lacquered.

I think you probably have an a2 nightmare merc, whilst I have normal defiance merc. NM mercs suffer a little on the stats iirc.

Fortitude is amazing for defense once the cold armor procs.


As for resistance, around that level, you only need a small amount of resist all to max it. Fade is a bit overkill and only procs at 5%