Hone or Obedience?

[JMJimmt]

Hone or Obedience?

Edit: Duh... sorry! For might merc on my fishymancer, non-specific areas/just for general use and boss runs

On a Hell Meph run a chest was nice enough to drop a Ko which finishes the runes needed for Obedience.

This leaves me with the question - go in search of an Eth Giant Threshers for Obedience (0.0008445 drop chance, 5% chance of Eth, 1/6 chance of adding correct amount of sockets) or stick with ShaelShaelAmn Hone?

Other gear: Guillaume's Face, Crow Caw

Currently lacking:
+resists
defence

Will be lacking if I do switch:
Life Leech

Alternate options:
Socket Guillaume's & Crow Caw with one of these:

Spoiler

Scintillating Jewel
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x50ed4558
All Resistances +14

Ruby Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x513066a
+35% Enhanced Damage
15% Increased Attack Speed

Emerald Jewel of Thunder
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0x22379f9a
Adds 1-83 lightning damage
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Bitter Eye
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x40948f39
+6 to Life
+17% Enhanced Damage
+16 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-64 lightning damage​

 

[DZJB]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

On a Hell Meph run a chest was nice enough to drop a Ko which finishes the runes needed for Obedience.

This leaves me with the question - go in search of an Eth Giant Threshers for Obedience (0.0008445 drop chance, 5% chance of Eth, 1/6 chance of adding correct amount of sockets) or stick with ShaelShaelAmn Hone?

Other gear: Guillaume's Face, Crow Caw

Currently lacking:
+resists
defence

Will be lacking if I do switch:
Life Leech

For what character/target? It's a very important thing to mention, there is no best setup for all areas/targets.

If it's for running Meph, you don't need leech (it doesn't work againt Meph). Hone + Guillaume's will take him down faster I think.

 

[Kugel]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

Why Giant tresher, isnt Tresher or Cryptic Axe, or Greate PoleAxe about the same?

 

[DZJB]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

Why Giant tresher, isnt Tresher or Cryptic Axe, or Greate PoleAxe about the same?

Depends on your other gear. It's a deal about WSM and avg dmg. Check the Arreat Summit for the numbers.

I think the most used base for Obedience is a Tresher. Fastest Polearm (together with the Giant Tresher), and decent damage. CA and GPA have higher damage, but it's easier to reach faster BPs with less ias in the case of Treshers. And Obedience doesn't have any ias at all.

So, in the end, it's about ias mostly.

 

[Swiller]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

I like Obedience, I really do. But it lacks what Act II mercs need the most: IAS and life leech.

Unless you can get those things from other gear, I find Obedience to be a poor choice.

You WILL want to keep the crushing blow, however. The reason I say this is because you're playing a Fishymancer. In Hell difficulty most of your kills come from Corpse Explosion. The faster your merc gets the first kill, the faster you can start the chain of explosions. CB will help out with that. Plus, if you plan on running Baal; a lot of CB will speed things up quite a bit.

For my Fishymancer I used this set-up. Most emphasis was on Crushing Blow, but still with a good bit of leech and IAS:

Duriel's Shell

Guillaume's Face

Hone Sundan
Ghost Spear
'ShaelAmnShael'
Two-Hand Damage: 73 to 498
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Dexterity: 163
Required Strength: 122
Required Level: 69
Spear Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xec892d87
+196% Enhanced Damage
+20 to Minimum Damage
+40 to Maximum Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Required Level +7
40% Increased Attack Speed
45% Chance of Crushing Blow
Repairs 1 durability in 10 seconds
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Another good alternative is this:

Crown of Thieves OR Vampire Gaze

Black Hades; socketed with 3 IAS and resist jewels. 

Obedience
Thresher
'HelKoThulEthFal'
Two-Hand Damage: 84 to 991
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 84
Required Strength: 112
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x8438a3c3
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+370% Enhanced Damage
+227 Defense
All Resistances +22
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
Requirements -20%
40% Faster Hit Recovery
-25% Target Defense
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (5: 5 used)

I realize my weapons might be pretty high-end, but the rest of the gear is pretty easy to obtain.

Best of luck!

 

[JMJimmt]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

Seeing it laid out like that... Hone + Duriel vs Obedience (Giant) Thresher + Crow Caw the main differences I see are:

Obedience/Crow Caw:
+500 damage
+~100 defence
1/4 Target Defense/Fire Resist reduction
+30% Chance of lvl21 Enchant
+55% FHR
+35% OW
-5% CB
-15% IAS (Hone's WAS is 0-40 IAS =-40, Thresher WAS is -10-15 IAS =-25)
-7% LL
-90 life
-20% Cold resist
-Cannot be frozen mod

The major ones on that list for me are -LL and -IAS. The IAS is easily overcome with the Ruby Jewel of Fervor (and it adds another 35% EDa) - but the LL is the hard one. Other than that I think Obedience+CC wins out.

I do have an average Vampire Gaze (7/7/17/14) but do I want to lose 15% DS and 30% CB? hrm... choices choices... my kingdom for LL on a jewel

 

[Pijus1]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

I wouldn't waste a Ruby Jewel of Fervor on a merc. Maybe a plain jewel of fervor would work?

I like Obedience, because it's cool, and does high damage. And has resists and FHR. You can get life leech on a helm and some armors, and defense isn't really important. If I didn't have Fortitude, I'd put a Treachery on the merc, along with a life leech helm.

 

[Thomh]

Re: Hone or Obedience?

Obedience is pretty much superior in every way other than Boss fights. The extra damage will be very noticeable when monsters are amped.

In addition I think you should lose the Guillame`s and put on the Vampire Gaze. The Crushing Blow is largely irrelevant when area running and questing (since monsters die in two hits either way), and the life leech is GG. Andy`s Visage is an even better choice if you can get hold of it. DS is very good on Guillame`s, but something has to be sacrificed