Better merc build than andys/efort

**diabloplayer45** · 15-02-2012, 18:02

Maybe a chamed gaze, and either fortitude/coh as armor, I'm not sure which is best. Fort gives +life and 300% ED, whereas coh gives LL and DR.

**magicrectangle** · 15-02-2012, 20:40

Fort is better. With an 8% LL gaze your merc will leech more HP with fort than he will with CoH, simply because his damage will be so much better. Plus the point of the merc is to kill magic immunes for you, right? So you want him to do good damage.

**diabloplayer45** · 15-02-2012, 22:19

Originally Posted by magicrectangle

Fort is better. With an 8% LL gaze your merc will leech more HP with fort than he will with CoH, simply because his damage will be so much better. Plus the point of the merc is to kill magic immunes for you, right? So you want him to do good damage.

You are such a sweetheart, always giving good advises. I'll go with eFort/chamed'gaze.

**diabloplayer45** · 17-02-2012, 23:27

I'd just like to give some further details on Gaze Vs. Andy.

One if the big reasons for Andy's probably is (or was) the opportunity to wear eFort SA, which gives a huge 4k+ defense. However, I just got my hands on an eFort AP through a trade, and the defense on it is 3632, which is close to that of eFort SA.

So, one of the big reasons to wear Andy's is no longer there. This leaves Gaze as a better choice imo. I just wanted to give these details, so other people do not decide to go with Andy's over Gaze only for the defense bonus, which is not really that big between eFort AP and eFort SA.

Plus, your merc can start wearing eFort AP a lot earlier because of the lower strength requirements, which is helpful.

**magicrectangle** · 17-02-2012, 23:31

Andy's isn't just for SA, eth CVs require +strength unless the merc is level 93 or higher, but the biggest reason is actually the IAS. Fort+andy+infinity is a DPS merc setup, so that he can kill immunes for you. It is not a tank merc setup, although with ebug fort it is still plenty tanky.

**diabloplayer45** · 17-02-2012, 23:37

Well, I'm using a cryptic axe infinity on my merc, and a cryptic axe insight on the other. So for me, the extra strength does not make a difference. I'm not sure if a CV is a better choice since I have never owned one. But I wouldn't go with Andy's only because of the small amount of extra defense that eFort SA gives. It's only that I wanted to point out (no offense).

Originally Posted by magicrectangle

Fort+andy+infinity is a DPS merc setup, so that he can kill immunes for you

I'm having this exact same setup, (but with insight instead of infinity) on my Hammerdin, and the A2 magic immunities in the throne room is a major problem. They freeze my merc so he attacks extremely slow, and my only option is to spam holy bolts which is still time consuming. I know that I am not as experienced as you, but I found that putting a chamed gaze on him makes him kill the immunities much faster than with Andy's.

**magicrectangle** · 18-02-2012, 00:35

Originally Posted by diabloplayer45

I'm having this exact same setup, (but with insight instead of infinity) on my Hammerdin, and the A2 magic immunities in the throne room is a major problem. They freeze my merc so he attacks extremely slow, and my only option is to spam holy bolts which is still time consuming. I know that I am not as experienced as you, but I found that putting a chamed gaze on him makes him kill the immunities much faster than with Andy's.

I don't disagree. It is a general DPS merc setup, it is not an optimal throne wave 2 setup. A lot of hammerdins use reapers (ias/ed) + treachery + g's face (ias/ed) for wave 2. Cham helps with the cold, but not the decrepify. Stacked IAS (75 in total from that setup) helps with both.

Plus, your hammer field should keep the little cold skeletons under control. Your merc may get chilled, which can be annoying, but he'll keep stabby-stabbing the big guys.

**diabloplayer45** · 18-02-2012, 08:13

That reapers + treachery + guillaume's face setup sure looks way less expensive than my own insight + efort + gaze setup (I could be wrong though). So, if that's a better setup, or if you don't want to invest too much into your merc, then it's probably a better choice. I'm just not much of letting go on the mana regeneraiton aura from insight if you know what I mean

**tombo** · 21-02-2012, 07:27

Just to add my 2 cents.
To me it seems that the key to optimum merc survivability and effectiveness is the combination of LL and attack speed. The more LL and the more often it is applied - the better.
The best all-around set up for me is (if I'm rich) thresher/gthresher (reaper's or runeword in depending on wealth and needs) +treachery+andy (15ias/30fres jewel in), or (if I'm not that rich) GPA base +treachery+andy (ralled).
With that set up the folowing is achieved.
Pros:
1. Merc is faded almost all of the time, which means always max resists
2. Around 20% DR iirc (fade hidden bonus)
3. Hits as fast as possible=lots of life leached
4. Other weapon effects applied more often.
5. Venom is always cast, which means monster hp regeneration problems solved
6. Semi-decent FHR breakpoint reached

Cons:

1. Lacks CBF
2. Low defence
3. %DR does almost nothing against bosses (iirc boss damage is 10x agains mercs so DR is just 980% instead 1000%)

EDIT: As for Gaze. People often overlook its MDR, which works wonders on elemental attacks that work per frame, such as the Lightning from Gloams. Moreover MDR is applied after resists afaim.

**diabloplayer45** · 21-02-2012, 11:57

I haven't been testing this much when it comes to merc gear, but for me, the Andy+eFort suggestion didn't work optimally on my Hdin.

I found that giving him a chamed gaze will solve the problems in throne room, now he can quicky kill the unravelers while I take care of the skeletal mages. I also went ahead and changed that silly holy freeze aura with a prayer merc instead, since prayer receives syngeries from meditation. My mercs hitpoints rarely drops below 75%, I'm not worried for him anymore like I was when he had Andys+Holyfreeze.

The only problem with a high attack speed/DPS setup, is that, while it works while the merc is attacking, he is a bit vulnerable when not attacking, meaning that you will need to constantly pay attention to him. I'm not much for that to be honest.

I guess its a matter of preference and what works for each of us.