Best weapon for Merc Infinity?

[blinkyvxx]

so was there an answer found here, no one came to any conclusions except faster weapons are overlooked, and is the thresher the fastest elite polearm? for infinity?

[Viktri]

Forum conclusion: Best weapon is not CA/CV, mercs aren't efficient with them
However, Bnet conclusion: CA/CV are more common because the merc is just a walking aura, you often don't need him for damage, especially if you are a lightning sorc.

[Leohappy]

it depends on your mercs setup
i preffer either thrasher or cryptic axe

[AnimeCraze]

Forum conclusion: Best weapon is not CA/CV, mercs aren't efficient with them
However, Bnet conclusion: CA/CV are more common because the merc is just a walking aura, you often don't need him for damage, especially if you are a lightning sorc.

Now here's the question, what if you are not a sorceress and are running lvl 23 fanaticism, or that you have a pally ally running it for you?

[Lowgat]

Now here's the question, what if you are not a sorceress and are running lvl 23 fanaticism, or that you have a pally ally running it for you?

Well then you'd post it in the Pally forum.

You're going to try to hit your max merc bp. If you are able to supply enough IAS to allow your merc to hit his max bp with a CV/CA and your intent is to have the merc contribute offensively then you would be better off trying to get the CV/CA.

However if you're not supplying any IAS to your merc and he's going off his normal gear then you are probably better off with a giant thresher/thresher - keeping in mind that the GT has some pretty tough stat req., it's almost impossible to find an eth GT with 4os and an eth 4os Thresher is almost as tough, and most of the tradeable gear out there comes on CV/CTs. You're also going to want to compare the IAS breakpoints between the two for your optimal setup. It may be that your merc with his gear may hit the same BP with a CV or a Thresher (CV just barely while Thresher has plenty of IAS to spare) and since you're not going to add in additional IAS you don't need to waste the funds on an eth 4os thresher.

FWIW I run my melee sorc with an eth CV Infinity and if I can find a good eth Thresher Infinity I'd replace it immediatley but in terms of 'Gear Needed' that rates pretty low. 4os Eth Threshers and Giant Threshers cost as much as an eth or 4os eth CV and almost as much as an eth 4os CA so trading for one isn't really a grand idea. Heck I run my MF Tal sorc with a regular CV insight and my merc does good enough for me. Dies maybe 1 in 10 full game baal runs if I'm paying attention and 1/3 solo runs.

The key if you're using your merc as a killing machine (and not just a tank/mana pot/res reducer) is doing the legwork to make sure your merc setup gives him the optimum bp. If you don't wanna do the work then just grab a Thresher (or Giant if your merc has the stats) and trust in the guides.

[rata]

I did some testing with an eth CV infinity, eth CA infinity, eth Thresher infinity on my merc and also a hand held infinity sythe.

On the merc, i went on some solo/full game baal runs, nith, diablo, meph, and found the extra speed from the thresher didn't kill the mobs of critters any faster, with the eth CA being equally disappointing. The best killer (probably due to the higher damage) was the eth CV, especially when taking down uniques and bosses. The extra speed from the thresher doesn't make a difference because ur sorc kills them fast anyway. When there's a lite immune boss/unique that the merc needs to kill the eth CV is the way to go as it does more damage and has better leaches. The eth Thresher and CA took longer to kill than the CV.

Overall, the hand held infinity still beat the merc held infinities (i guess because of the extra 55% lite damage).

[blinkyvxx]

i ended up using a eth giant thresher! 270-700 something, whats dmg from a eth CV could someone post?

[psychocrabmeat]

my 273% ED eth colossal voulge: 93-921 dmg.

90 might merc with guillaume's and duress (33-137 colddmg), gets 1007-6363 on char tab after might and level 9 fanaticism aura.

even ignoring speed, i would prefer that GT you got over my CV as my current merc dmg is quite variable.

[Leohappy]

On the merc, i went on some solo/full game baal runs, nith, diablo, meph, and found the extra speed from the thresher didn't kill the mobs of critters any faster, with the eth CA being equally disappointing. The best killer (probably due to the higher damage) was the eth CV, especially when taking down uniques and bosses.

cv and ca have the same average damage, so it's kinda odd that your merc kills faster with cv

also, what about ethereal great poleaxe? this thing seems to be totally ignored by everyone, but has a good balance of speed and dmg

nevertheless, i prefer thresher and my merc has no problems at all

[lendial]

cv is the worst choice by far due to str, at 200 your merc wont be able to use it without a boost from likely an andies.

i recently aquired a CA and thought it was better than a cv but it seems they both suck :/