What is the absolute BEST merc gear

Nerdxcore

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Dec 19, 2009
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What is the absolute BEST merc gear

hello, im a relative newcomer to this thread but have been using it as a reference for builds and gear for awhile, id like to know what is the absolute best merc gear for a FB/FO soso.

right now my merc is using:
Eth Cryptic Axe Insight
Duress
Crown Of Thieves

it works pretty good but i want better :evil:

budget isnt really an issue.
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

best merc gear in my eyes:

eth tresher insight / infi
eth g-bane ( dr + res + cbf ) with ber
eth gaze with ber
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

thanks, g-bane is gladiators bane right? and what does eth gaze's stats look like? cus i figured an eth crown of thieves has more LL and it would bring his survivability up.
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

the whole deference between eth and normal item, is base increased by 50% ( in case of armour, it hase 50% more defense )

may difference you ve noticed was bad and good roll?

yes, g-bane = gladiators bane
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

dunno exactly what you meant but when i was talking about crown of thieves having more LL i meant all in all it can have a higher percent i think gaze is 7-10% and CoT is 10-12%. gaze does have higher DR and CBF on it, but i thought LL was more important for survivability. i could always use a Perf CoT with a Ber in it to counter the less DR. but i guess ill try out an Eth gaze with a ber and see how that works and if i dont like it ill try the Eth CoT with a Ber. Thanks again for the advice.
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

There is no "absolute best." Sometimes SetupX beats SetupY, and other times it's reversed - it depends on what you want/need from your merc as well as the monsters he's facing.

That said, my preferred 'general' setup for my mercs is:

Might aura
eth Reaper's Toll
(eth) Fortitude
VampGaze

Great damage & leech, and decent resists & speed means he can tank quite well and provide some crowd control (job #1 for me 99% of the time).

However, sometimes I want the Meditation aura from Insight, which means less leech & damage. Or maybe I want extra resists, so I'll go with Kira's Guardian and/or Guardian Angel. etc. Or maybe I'm worried about the physical damage that he'll take, so I'll use Shaftstop on him... There are ~25 different "good" options, and none of them are clearly better than the others.
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

There is no "absolute best." Sometimes SetupX beats SetupY, and other times it's reversed - it depends on what you want/need from your merc as well as the monsters he's facing.

That said, my preferred 'general' setup for my mercs is:

Might aura
eth Reaper's Toll
(eth) Fortitude
VampGaze

Great damage & leech, and decent resists & speed means he can tank quite well and provide some crowd control (job #1 for me 99% of the time).

However, sometimes I want the Meditation aura from Insight, which means less leech & damage. Or maybe I want extra resists, so I'll go with Kira's Guardian and/or Guardian Angel. etc. Or maybe I'm worried about the physical damage that he'll take, so I'll use Shaftstop on him... There are ~25 different "good" options, and none of them are clearly better than the others.

not to mention a2 merc is not only merc choice :)

saying this, i love g-bane :p


 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

well i mainly use him to tank. and im pretty keen on using insight (i love infiticast what can i say) i just want him to not die when hes getting gang raped by to many enemies with mixed resist ( i.e. one large group has cold immune and another large group has fire immune so it takes a while long to kill them all ) im just generally looking for something thats deadly effective so i wont have to waste my gambling gold on reviving him all the time.

and i know theres more then act 2 mercs im actually thinking of using a diff kind of merc on a smiter im gonna build. any suggestions?
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

act 1 merc with ice rune word :D

or, your smiter with conc aura, and faith merc.

or, you using pb, and a5 LW merc.
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

act 1 merc with ice rune word :D

or, your smiter with conc aura, and faith merc.

or, you using pb, and a5 LW merc.

Never understood why smiters would use a faith merc.

Equiping a might merc with a pride runeword and maxing fanat yourself would result in having 3 aura's with concentration being slightly lower and fanat being much higher in level compared to using a fath merc and maxing concentration.


 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

Never understood why smiters would use a faith merc.

Equiping a might merc with a pride runeword and maxing fanat yourself would result in having 3 aura's with concentration being slightly lower and fanat being much higher in level compared to using a fath merc and maxing concentration.

style points mate :D


 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

Hmm....I'm leaning forwards a Act 2 Holy Freeze merc, with a Infinity Weapon for the Conviction Aura, and I guess the Fortitude armor would give my merc a bigger boost, for defense. Helm, I'm not sure. I'm a Frozen Orb/Meteor Sorc, so, any suggestions would be good. Bonehew, Reapers Toll, and Tomb Reaver are good options too. ::brain asplodes:::
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

Ya mean FO/Fireball, right? :p

Andy's visage is often used with Infy/Fort. Ral it if you can't find an IAS/Fire Res jewel.
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

Eth upped Shaftstop is also a great armor, combined with Vamp Gaze helm. :)
 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

My setup, as well as others:
'Infinity' Ethereal Thresher (322%/-55%(Hah!))
'Fortitide' Ethereal Sacred Armor (4056 D) (Bugged) (Base defense was 1 off from perfect, friend found!)

And I'm cycling through helms at the moment, I can't decide. Though for the "best" setup I'd image you would want; 'Infinity' Ethereal Giant Thresher (325%/-55%), 'Fortitude' Ethereal Sacred Armor (Bugged, 4060 or so defense), and I have no idea what helm would be "best".

This of course would be for an Act II Mercenary, with Might Aura for boss killing or Holy Freeze for general play.
 
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Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

nope. i am using him only for 2 reasons: aura grant and meat shield. thats all :)

more ias = more dps = more leech = meatier meatshield, though. I usually prefer the ebug fort+andy's route. Sometimes you need your merc to break the odd double-immune, too.


 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

There is no "absolute best." Sometimes SetupX beats SetupY, and other times it's reversed - it depends on what you want/need from your merc as well as the monsters he's facing.

+1 to that

If youre doing nithlak PDR is your friend so as others already had said Gladiators bane rocks not only is it a true beast tank wise you also wont have to use duped runes.

And while the numbers on Reapers toll might seem kinda low you have to consider the added damage from decreepify and deadly strike making it a very nice beatstick even tho you loose the aura but only weak toons need meditation anyway :jig:

Another advantage of using toll is that you can get its leech quite high (22 with an amn)thus freeing up helm slot for other options.

As i run D keys now and then i use CoA with sol/sol for a total of 34 PDR and thats usually enough for pit vipers.

A ias jewel will give him a 6 frame jab attack instead of a 6.5 one not too much it might seem but the big advantage of the jewel is when hes decreepified where a ias jewel will grant him a 10 frame attack instead of a 12 frame one.
In a normal attack you gain one frame and 4 frames when decreeped.

If youre not running pit vipers i guess a gaze would be a bit better overall choice tho with the nice PD and MD it grants


 
Re: What is the absolute BEST merc gear

My personal preference is act 2 nightmare holy freeze merc equipped with Eth Guardian Angel/Eth Kira's Guardian/Eth Reaper's toll. those are all items you can rely on finding early on the ladder season (pindleskin/meph runs ftw) and give you a kickass merc that can tank a lot, and leech a lot too, not to mention mindblowing crowd control. Who needs insight anyway, the first sorc I make every the season always commit a lot of points to teleport.

then as I get richer I tend to replace the armor with fortitude (Sol'd gladiator's if I plan on running nihlathak a lot), the helm with Vampire Gaze and the Weapon with infinity (depending on the sorc, ofc; Blizzard sorcs always keep their reaper's merc)
 
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