Mercs.... do they ever get decent?

**buckman341** · 12-07-2012, 17:48

Obviously my gear isn't great having just started but the mercs seem really bad. Their damage is nearly meaningless in all encounters. Enchantress is what I'm working with at the moment but mostly for her buffs. I hear people use Templars in Inferno for the defensive abilities and I guess heals...

Any advice or links to threads on Merc advice?

**AnimeCraze** · 12-07-2012, 19:58

They tank, somewhat, but that's about it. You can equip them with CC items and hope it procs, I guess.

Oh, they also alerts you the presence of elites.

**buckman341** · 12-07-2012, 21:45

was hoping the little sorc would at least be able to pick off weak enemies that i don't want to bother targeting but she can't even manage that.

**aj2000** · 13-07-2012, 01:33

give her a 1k+ weapon with 200+ int, then stack int gear on her (with mf of course). prime stat is a huge modifier for mercs since their base prime is non-existent.

mine's at 4-5k or so and can take out trash mobs in inferno a1 pretty quickly, and that's only with a 1k weapon with 150 int / 150 vit. I recall merc has a dps cap based on your own dps though.

**AnimeCraze** · 13-07-2012, 09:09

That's more than I expected. Mine does ~200, though she does have freeze on her.

**krischan** · 13-07-2012, 14:29

Mercs aren't meant to do any kills. I use the templar because he's good at healing and he also binds opponents, so you don't have to fight them all at once. I think that's far better than killing a monster every now and then. When selecting gear. I only care about vit and protection. DPS and damage bonuses are irrelevant, as they won't sum up to anything of significance.

**Siege Valgore** · 13-07-2012, 14:49

I prefer to Enchantress for her Morphing ability to turn enemies into Chickens.

**krischan** · 13-07-2012, 15:35

Turning monsters into chickens every now and then is nice, but I prefer to get the life bulb being filled after it dropped to 10% from killing a dozen of them

**diablogemcalculator** · 17-07-2012, 01:48

I just load my enchantress up with either MF or GF gear depending on what I'm farming... she has a Sultan of Blinding Sands (GF) or Blade of Prophecy (MF), whatever relic I found that's got lots of vit, and GF/MF rings and ammy. I like using her because of her armor/AS% bonuses. I guess if you heavily invest in them they can be OK, but yeah, mine's just a MF/GF% mule.

**Nightfind** · 17-07-2012, 12:16

I was surprised to see my Enchantress one-shotting white mobs in act 1 inferno. Her DPS is 4K, but I guess her knockback area attack does more and was hitting mobs for over 20K.