Question about my merc

A

aLee

New member
Question about my merc

I have a question, because my merc has some solid gear, yet andy or any boss at that can take him out with no sweat. Just wondering if im doing something wrong, or i gave my merc wrong gear. This is what hes wearing right now.

Eth Insight
Eth Stone (over 3k defense alone on that armor)
Eth Dream Helm

His defense total without his defiance aura is about 5.4k. With his defiance aura is 18k defense.

His attack without my concentration aura is about 4k. With my concentration aura, his damage is 8.3k.

If anyone could give me suggestions, or tell me anything about why my merc gets owned by bosses will be much appreciated. Thank You
 
No life leech. Can your melee characters survive without life leech?
Mercs get some huge damage penalty against bosses too, it's going to be hard keeping him alive with an insight even if you do get him life leech.
It sounds like you are using a hammerdin, how long does it take to kill bosses? If you can do it fast enough it won't matter what he wears. Also, if you have CtA the BO and shout will obviously help.
 
Your merc definitely needs leech, else he won't survive for long anywhere.

The aura of the Dream helm is useless, as it's too weak. I suggest to wear Andariel's Visage (with Ral), Tal's Mask, Crown of Thieves or Vampire Gaze instead.

Regardless of leech, hell act bosses are hard or impossible to leech from. You can leech from Andariel, but the #1 cause of death for mercs versus her is her poison which benefitts from the act boss damage bonus versus mercs as well. In addition, mercs will die when their life reaches 0 from poison (unlike characters), even in town.
 
My experiance with mercs. Is that in 80% (dont hold it against me) of the cases, when attaking a boss he stays alive.

Note i have to kill Diablo and Baal in Hell. But Mephi and andarial are no problem for my merc.

Use potions to heal (if needed) and my tactic is attack the boss from 1 site and let your merc attack from the other site. In most cases the act boss will attack you and leave your merc alone.

Give your merc tomb reaver and go.
 
my merc with eth fort, eth crown of thieves and reaper's troll (total 26% life stolen per hit) can survive any monster and chance for decrepify is awesome for physical imunes. With bosses i need sometimes to give him 1 or 2 life potions
 
I totally agree with krischan. I have a merc that is designed much better and he still gets his a*s kicked by the elemental bosses. This is quite normal and I ignore this. I thing Andy and Meph are the worst for the Mercenaries, since their attack is mainly elemental and the penalty is huge. Still my merc keeps up with baal quite ok and I can leave him all alone he will not die.

My equip suggestion for an act 2 merc:

* Eth Obedience
- 40% Faster Hit Recovery – very much important since mercenaries have a very low FHR and this mod will keep them alive for a long time. If you don’t any FHR your merc will be along time stunned with no chance of hitting back and leeching. If he gets in a crowd he his dead for sure.
-40% Chance of Crushing Blow – this mod is an extreme boss killer. Very noticeable when you compare this weapon and a weapon with a much higher physical damage. Obedience is the winner also here.
- All Resistances +20-30 – very important for bosses that have main elemental attacks. When wearing Eth Upgraded Guardian Angel this mod come very handy.
- Adds 3-14 Cold Damage 3 Second Duration – also a very good mod. Not because of it’s damage rather because 3 second freeze duration. In hell there is a 1/3 penalty for freeze duration so it works for 1 sec. Very noticeable when he gets in a crowd; great crowd controller. But if you don’t have FHR then this is not important because he won’t have a chance to retaliate.
- All other mods are also great from this Runeword.
* Eth Vamp Gaze – Life leech and Damage reduction. Very important.

*Eth Gladiator's Bane.
- Cannot Be Frozen – EXTREMELY important for melee characters. Many monsters have additional cold attacks so your merc will get chilled in most occasions while attacked. He will be slowed and his lich will not work, also he will die much often with out this mod.

- 30% Faster Hit Recovery – additional FHR is also handy.

My merc never dies since his defensive mods keep him alive. He is stabile because of his huge FHR and cannot be frozen. These 2 mods gives him a chance to strike back and leech.

link
 
Duriel's shell is also a decent source of CBF (another almost must-have on mercs), and it'll top up his resists if not already at max.
 
Yea LL is a must. There are ton's of variations for merc, it also depends on your build. My light sorc's merc has an eth cv infinity, eth fort, and an andyhead-good LL, def, life, dmg, and a sexy convict aura!
 
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