Duress vs. Gloom vs. Stone

[Cormallon]

For my current build, I'm thinking about a new armour for my merc. I want him to tank, he should have high defense as well as good resists, he's the defiance variant at level 68 now. Looking through the runewords (vanilla, no ladder only ones), these three look fine.

Duress has the lowest ED (150-200), but has 15% res all, 30% cold res, and 15% CB which is always useful. CBF and FHR also help a merc.

Gloom has better ED (200-260) and better res all (45%), but the other mods aren't that useful.

Stone has the highest ED (250-290), very high FHR, but only 15% res all. Charges are worthless on a merc.

Now, which one should I use, or is there something else I should do? And in what kind of armour? Runes up to IST are available.

[sirpoopsalot]

Uh, what build are you playing and what area will you be running (or is it just questing)? For me, that makes a difference.

[Darkoooo]

If I had runes for Stone atm, I would've make it immediatly. I just think that's an awesome armor for a merc...

[Darkflight]

If you have Shaftstop, that would be my top pick.
Leviathan works just as good since his defence will be better.
Duress, Gloom and Stone are all good, use the one that compliments the other gear you give him best.


My optimal outfit for a Defiance Mercenary would be eth upped Shaftstop, Crown of Ages and eth Reapes Toll or eth upped Hone Sundan if you want Crushing Blow.

For the best tanking merc, Holy Freeze is much better than Defiance. Holy Freeze and Decrepify from Reapers Toll will make monsters move at a crawl and attack once every 5 minutes or so.

[Cormallon]

Uh, what build are you playing and what area will you be running (or is it just questing)? For me, that makes a difference.

I'm playing a mageazon, wearing the disciple set. The idea is to have a merc that can stand inmidst the mob while I'm shooting from behind (with FA or Immolation Arrow, mixed with magic arrows when mana gets low, depending on the kind of foes). CB will help him to kill by himself. Right now, I'm questing, but later on maybe some runs in hell... we'll see how well she really does there.

[Jingizu]

I use upped "allres jeweled" Shaftstop on majority of my chars, and from my point of view, nothing is better. Together with "allres jeweled" Gaze you will get nice defense, full DR, resist (at a respectable levels, the merc will have 75 resist all) and nice life leech. After that you are not dependent on your weapon and could choose whatever you want.

I didn't find for example high end defense Stone better, the DR is just awesome.

[San]

Gloom has better ED (200-260) and better res all (45%), but the other mods aren't that useful.

I must disagree here. The chance to cast Dim Vision is very much useful especially against ranged monsters. I've made my Gloom in a non-eth armour, because it was in use on my Frenzy barb first, but it's on one of my sorcs merc now, and he has over 11 thousand defence with Defiance running. I'd imagine that the defence you could reach by eth bugging the base armour would be rather sufficient.

I was actually considering making another Gloom for myself, if I happen to find a suitable eth elite armour. And then perhaps a Delirium too Mass crowd control...

[AJK]

I've found that the best merc protection lies in his weapon.
In my experience, a Reaper's toll > a high def. armor, as suggested by Darkflight too. Your vanilla status at least saves you the trouble of deciding between that and 'Insight'.

You could even go with a might merc if you don't need the extra safety of a freezer merc. The might would also significantly boost (as in double) his damage and therefore his leech. If you use that Ist of yours on a 'Delirium' hat you'll find that a fast jabbing merc sets off that screen-filling curse of confuzelment quite often, providing more crowd control.

I've found that hitting 45% IAS with this setup really helps, as it heavily depends on CtC. If you go with a delirium hat, you sadly lose a head socket, but 'Treachery' is still a very viable option.

Edit: Disclaimer: I've never tried 'Gloom', but the CtC Dim Vision sounds like a suitable replacement for the CtC Delirium. I'd still go with something like 'Ral' Andy's + Shael in weapon to hit 45% IAS.

[Lompo]

Duress is more offensive oriented (and doesn't have CBF but OW + cold dmg/%dmg), and it cost less than the other 2 (save a Pul). if you are slow on killing take that (my concentrator and his might merc both use it).

for merc IMO Stone is better: higher def, higher FHR (both usefull), lower res (less useful because an high lev merc doesn't need 45 res all). The dim vision is nice, but if you have delirium the curses will override.

but as said before you can get good armour without spending the runes.

For your case I would suggest: HF merc + reaper + guardian angel (+res all jewl) + Rockstopper (+ias jewel) or Vamp (+ res all jewel) or if you are rich CoA (+ias jewel). he can tank real well melee monsters (HF+decrep -> blocked monster -> very low dmg + you have the dmg red.) plus his res will be 90% so he can tank elemental attacking monster (gloams).

[Cormallon]

Thanks for your comments. In fact, I have a lot of mercs running around with the reapers + shaftstop + Tals Mask / Rockstopper / Vampgaze combo or some variation of it. I am a bit tired of these. I even have a delirium, worn by my very first zon's merc. I don't need holy freeze, one arrow and most monsters are frozen anyways. My idea is to have the merc running towards the foes, drawing the attention, and assemble crowds around him. That way, I can shoot from behind and freeze / grill them all. Works fine, and the merc killing is just some icing (has Hone Sundan right now). Perhaps it is even time for an A5 merc, dunno about weapon, perhaps a crescent moon phase blade.