How do I run Andy?

[lumpor]

I've just started MFing for the first time, and although it most often goes smoothly, I still mess up alot, too much to be able to Mf reguarly.

I have no major problems with meph. Merc dies at times, but it's no problem.

The problem is Andy. She herself is much weaker than meph, but her room is full of minions. The first two times I succeeded (one of them barely, one of them no problems). But the last two times I'm killed by the minions. Her room is swamring with them. I try to teleport to the back and quickly finish her off (succeeded once out of 4 times), but the minions are always so many. They quckly almost kill me and I have to teleport away, but they're everywhere and manage to get another attack in, and I die.

Should I kill the minions? My merc's equipment is a bit too weak for that.

My sorc is a pure fire sorc, level 74. Fire resist is 58%, lightning cold 63%, lightning 75%, poison 20%. No, the poison res is not the problem, since Andy doesn't kill me. It's all those fire immune dark ones.

Should I level up and get a torch? Problem is, sorc torches are expensive. I got a (harlequin crest) shako the first time I killed Andy, but I don't know if it's enough for a low sorc torch.

Shoul I try to kill the minions? Will I have to branch to an orb sorc (although it's probably too late for that)? Just max my resists? Although it's the dark one's physical attacks that kill me

[Zelator]

A pure fire sorc is usually powerful enough to tele half a screen from her and spam 5-10 FB's and she's down. I've never had problems with andy on a fire sorc before, but if you're having problems try luring the dark ones away then blast the b*tch. A HF merc might help also.

[lumpor]

Oh right, HF would be awesome. Problem is I like my prayer one (with insight), which eliminates the need for me to take pots.

Andy does go down in like 3 fireballs, but I can't even shoot that many before a crisis emerges

Edit: Just completed an Andy run. Strange this one, I was in the middle of the mobs but somehow my life was going down really slowly, and when I killed Andy, even my merc had almost half his Hp left. Strange...

Edit2: Seems like when I teleport right and land right next to her, there's no problem. When her minions act as shields, I die

[Stevieb]

Hirelings vs. Bosses
Hireling damage is 50% against Bosses in Normal, 35% in Nightmare, and 25% in Hell difficulties. Additionally, Hirelings takes 10 times more damage from End Act Bosses.

This is pretty comment knowledge i think. Everyone who doesnt know this just thinks thier merc suck.

Like Zelator said a Holy Freeze merc is what you need, while he might live long HF should give you the time you need. Since you a pure fire, the cold damage HF gives your merc will really help on the immunes.

[dafux]

Is HF really a viable option to get rid of fire immunes in Hell? I have never explored this route for a merc, though I did try making a HF pally once. While it was more than enough in Norm and NM, I felt like once I got to Hell the aura, and thus the whole build, was utterly weak...

[Zelator]

Is HF really a viable option to get rid of fire immunes in Hell? I have never explored this route for a merc, though I did try making a HF pally once. While it was more than enough in Norm and NM, I felt like once I got to Hell the aura, and thus the whole build, was utterly weak...

The dmg itself is low, what most people use it for is the slow. It can help against immunes though.

Anyways, Lumpor, if you can kill andy in like 3 Fireballs I don't understand how you're having problems running her

[Dusty]

I am assuming that you are running andy for unique rings and as such, nightmare andy is a faster, safer, and more profitable run.

Otherwise, hell mephisto drops just as well as hell andy, and is again faster and easier as you have already noted.

When running hell andy, remember that you can teleport back to the safe room rather easily. I would port in, kill andy, immediately port out before being overrune by those that are immune... cure the merc if needed, then port back in, quickly grabbing items, and exit.

[lumpor]

Zelator, I had problems when there were 5 fire immune dark ones taking the fire balls instead of Andy, so I couldn't get a single fireball hit in.

How can nm Andy be faster? The teleport breakpoints don't change, and killing her doesn't take long.

Right now I'm first running Meph, then run Andy, then start over.
There's no need to hide when Andy is dead. All her minions die when she dies (except a fallen shaman in the corner which I quickly teleport my merc to as soon as Andy dies).

I'm having no problems now though. First I figured out that when I was right next to Andy, no dark ones were in my way, and Andy was an easy kill. But sometimes when I teleported I teleported wrong, and appeared right in a monster pack. Now though, I discovered that I could just run to andy instead, cause when you run you have much more control.

Thanks for the help everyone. I still have my prayer merc though.

[Borje]

The maps of Catacombs lvl 2 and 3 are smaller in NM, IIRC..

[tallman]

hmm i never knew that. Also im just wondering guys if there is any way to find Durance lvl 3 fast or do you have to tele all around the edges of the map looking for the stairway. This can take forever since its a big map and its dangerous.

[Narthon the Bold]

I feel mephesto just isn't worth running any more. Too dangerous. I do better just running Diablo and Baal.