Hammerdin issue running Baal

**Cozmo** · 08-04-2012, 19:33

Hi guys,

How do you handle the 2nd round of Baal's minions? They are completely immune to hammers, right? I let my merc take them but it's a slow process. Is there a better way?

**hubb** · 08-04-2012, 19:56

Spare points into Holy Bolt work well, otherwise you can keep a Zeal or Smite switch. HB works fine in my experience.

Originally Posted by crawlingdeadman

i approach them like this:
1) set up hammer field before minions drop to kill all the skeletons
2) turn on redemption to get rid of skeletons' bodies
3) turn on cleansing (or back to concentration to help merc out) and spam holy bolt at the unravelers while the merc kills them. i usually try to focus on the one he's killing.

Some other threads on the matter:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...-Magic-Immunes
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...mune-solutions

**theonemephisto** · 09-04-2012, 20:06

At the gear level where you're soloing baal, there's no point in putting extra points in holy shield. You'll be getting ~20 or more with 1 hard point. So dump everything extra in holy bolt and use that to kill them.

With 5 skillers I'm doing ~7k damage per holy bolt. That combined with my merc's damage takes them out pretty fast. Setup the hammerfield before, but don't worry about switching to redemption to clear the bodies. Just keep on concentration and kill everything with bolt, then snipe the skeles with holy bolt or telebomb them.

**crawlingdeadman** · 09-04-2012, 22:47

i use redemption b/c otherwise the skeletons chill my merc and slow him down. i also stand next to baal to shoot the holy bolts so that he decreps me.

**theonemephisto** · 10-04-2012, 17:01

Originally Posted by crawlingdeadman

i use redemption b/c otherwise the skeletons chill my merc and slow him down. i also stand next to baal to shoot the holy bolts so that he decreps me.

Ah. I've been toying around with a couple CBF merc builds for that reason, as I hate my merc getting chilled. And I've never been a fan of fortitude on hammerdin mercs, as you run into the "sea of off-weapon %ed" problem. Currently using eth GPA Insight / Andy's with Ral / Eth Glad Bane with Um. That maxes out his res at lvl 96, and a nice eth Glad Bane is an underrated merc armor. The CBF, FHR, PDR, and MDR are all extremely good mods, while the PLR and decent defense are nice bonuses.

Though honestly, my holy bolt does most of the work. 7k damage per hit makes short work of them in solo games, and is pretty quick still through 4-5 players. I just position myself in the middle and my merc (if he cooperates) on the opposite side of the spawn area before they spawn. Then when they spawn, I have a clear alley to hit them all with bolts while my merc works on them from the other side.

**magicrectangle** · 10-04-2012, 17:42

Glad's bane is nice and all for tanking, but treachery is much better for killing. Since he doesn't really have trouble staying alive with treachery it is pretty clearly superior. Treachery + andy's will get him the 5 frame breakpoint with a GPA

**Kitteh** · 10-04-2012, 23:08

I've heard of people using the CE charges on Bonehew.

**crawlingdeadman** · 11-04-2012, 02:02

Originally Posted by theonemephisto

Ah. I've been toying around with a couple CBF merc builds for that reason, as I hate my merc getting chilled. And I've never been a fan of fortitude on hammerdin mercs, as you run into the "sea of off-weapon %ed" problem. Currently using eth GPA Insight / Andy's with Ral / Eth Glad Bane with Um. That maxes out his res at lvl 96, and a nice eth Glad Bane is an underrated merc armor. The CBF, FHR, PDR, and MDR are all extremely good mods, while the PLR and decent defense are nice bonuses.

Though honestly, my holy bolt does most of the work. 7k damage per hit makes short work of them in solo games, and is pretty quick still through 4-5 players. I just position myself in the middle and my merc (if he cooperates) on the opposite side of the spawn area before they spawn. Then when they spawn, I have a clear alley to hit them all with bolts which my merc works on them from the other side.

all true. i too love glad bane on a merc. i dont have one atm, however so i'm stuck.

**theonemephisto** · 11-04-2012, 03:46

Originally Posted by magicrectangle

Glad's bane is nice and all for tanking, but treachery is much better for killing. Since he doesn't really have trouble staying alive with treachery it is pretty clearly superior. Treachery + andy's will get him the 5 frame breakpoint with a GPA

I used a treachery merc for a while, but I got tired of how it limited me. It's great for longer runs like chaos and baal, but when you're that dependent on the fade proc to keep your merc alive (****ty res without the fade proc), you can't do shorter runs (like trav or nilh) as well. I also really wanted a source of CBF on my merc, and, when combined with the res issue, Andy's/Glad Bane seemed like a more effective way of doing it than Cham'd VGaze/Treachery.

Also, there's no real need for your merc to do that much damage. Treachery might give a bit more damage, but hammers/holy bolt make him pretty irrelevant most of the time, and concentration means that he's generally doing enough damage either way. All he needs to do is leech enough to stay alive, and not getting chilled does a lot to do that. His contribution on baal wave 2 is just a little bonus, and saves me the time it takes to fire 4-5 holy bolts.