What merc for Blizz MFer running Mephisto??

[RetroStar]

What merc for Blizz MFer running Mephisto??

I'm stuck between the Defiance/Might/Holy Freeze merc.. though I'm mainly considering HF/Might. My planned equip for him will be:

Helm: Guillaume's Face (Crushing Blow)/Vamp Gaze (DR)
Armour: Shafstop/Eth Glad Band
Weapon: Reaper's Toll (Decripify)/Bonehew

I'm leaning towards the Holy Freeze merc as the merc won't be used to deal dmg, rather to tank mephisto and slow him down while I blizz him. I'll be using Reaper's Toll to cast decripify on mephisto so it slows him even more.

Does decripify work on these bosses? Also I may switch my helm to Blackhorn Face and armour to Ice Blink just to make mephisto really slow. Does Freeze Target on Ice Blink work on bosses? Thanks for any opinions.

 

[lonnie913]

there isnt really much need to get a holy freeze merc since your cold spells will almost always slow monsters down. but being a single element sorceress, the might will help your mercenary take down cold immunes.

decrepify does work on bosses. pretty well too. definitely go with shaftstop not iceblink. 30% dr helps a bunch.

 

[eLight]

I would recommend Duress armor since the crushingblow is wonderful vs bosses. And plus the Guillaumes it will be very powerful.

 

[cotton]

I have never had much use for a merc when running mephy. He isn't really needed, and he will die. So my advice would be to get whatever merc you want for the rest of the game and when he dies don't resurrect him; tp to meph, moat trick him, and repeat. The only reason I can think of to have a merc in the durance is for the extra magic find you can strap on him, but you don't have him loaded down with skulders and shakos. I just don't think the trouble of trying to keep him alive is worth the benefits.

 

[Chimaira]

I would pick a holy freeze guy, because he'll slow monsters even more down...but for pure Mephisto running a defiance would probably be your best bet, because holy freeze doesn't work on act bosses..And get crushing blow as eLight said, unless he can't stay alive, then get Blackhorns face..or maybe even a Kelpie Snare (75% slow). Don't get Iceblink as that won't work on bosses...

 

[k/t]

Holy Freeze doesn't work on act bosses??? Are you sure? I never paid attention to that, I always assumed it did... I'll look more carefully next time. I run Meph with a Meteorb and her merc is HF... I always fire a Frozen Orb at Meph in the beginning to slow him down some more...and now you're saying that it's the only thing that slows him down...great...
My merc uses Crown of Thieves, a rare polearm, and an upgraded Goldskin, and he only stays alive cause i feed him potions or tank Meph myself. I don't think it matters what equipment your merc has - if you leave him alone with a boss, he has about 20 seconds to live, MAX!
I think HF is still the best because it slows down the monsters that you encounter while teleporting to Meph.
Defiance won't do much unless you already have high defence.

 

[eLight]

Holy Freeze doesn't work on act bosses??? Are you sure? I never paid attention to that, I always assumed it did... I'll look more carefully next time. I run Meph with a Meteorb and her merc is HF... I always fire a Frozen Orb at Meph in the beginning to slow him down some more...and now you're saying that it's the only thing that slows him down...great...
My merc uses Crown of Thieves, a rare polearm, and an upgraded Goldskin, and he only stays alive cause i feed him potions or tank Meph myself. I don't think it matters what equipment your merc has - if you leave him alone with a boss, he has about 20 seconds to live, MAX!
I think HF is still the best because it slows down the monsters that you encounter while teleporting to Meph.
Defiance won't do much unless you already have high defence.

'

It depends. Huge phys dmg and huge leech + crushing blow. Then your merc will be able to tank most things except iron maiden. Its all about the right gear.

 

[k/t]

I don't think most people would be able to get this "right gear" of yours.

 

[Decebal]

IMO for a blizz zorc the best merc is an act 2 defiance merc! For Mephisto and pindle he is great! ANd the gear you have for him is good te keep him alive!

Gaze + Shaft + Reapers Toll should be enough!

Another possibility is when he is a bove lev 80 try to equip him with the following gear: Ptopaz Shako (eth if possible) + P topaz Skullders + Tombreaver (3 socks if possible). The purposse is to increase your total mf and to let him deliever the killing hit on Mephisto! Killing hit by merc = higher chance of better drop! Give him potions (rejuvs) when he needs it to keep him alive!

/Dec

 

[bluedragoon]

i use a prayer merc, cuz i don't need the extra defence, and it gives back 30 or so life, his gear is : upped shaftstop, gaze and eth bonehew with 900 max dmg, and he still dies quite a lot against meffie , but if u want to pick one out of the 3 above i should go for defiance, cuz he lives longer to die another day

 

[sorcees]

Might merc + gaze + shaft, together with blizzard, he will not die that fast, mephi will die in 4 blizzards.

Works for me, problem always is to find mephi.
Tele around with 70 FCR, 75 block, 60 FHR, no deeds (yes HC).

 

[sasja]

The only thing that makes sense against Mephisto is Defiance. It'll let your guy last longer, so less revives and less risk for your sorc. Might won't take him down a milisecond quicker and as Hell Mephi is no leech it won't keep the merc alive longer, either. HF is useless. So for a pure Meph runner, go Defiance.

 

[StefChri]

For Mephi MF Runs you don´t need a merc at all.
Mephi is my main MF target. I´m playing a Lvl 88 MF Sorc with full Tal Rasha
Magefist, waterwalks, nagelrings

Attack spells are Orb and Firewall.

Mephisto doesn´t move a lot usually he stays in the middle of my firewalls and dies after about 10-15sec. My orbs give him additional damage in between the FW castings.

I never needed a merc for him.

Oh by the way - I´m talking about hells mephi.

 

[sorcees]

For Mephi MF Runs you don´t need a merc at all.
Mephi is my main MF target. I´m playing a Lvl 88 MF Sorc with full Tal Rasha
Magefist, waterwalks, nagelrings

Attack spells are Orb and Firewall.

Mephisto doesn´t move a lot usually he stays in the middle of my firewalls and dies after about 10-15sec. My orbs give him additional damage in between the FW castings.

I never needed a merc for him.

Oh by the way - I´m talking about hells mephi.

For mephi only, use the moattrick, fast and safe, you even can do hell mephi with lvl 60.

 

[themosquitogod]

For mephi only, use the moattrick, fast and safe, you even can do hell mephi with lvl 60.

yeah i agree with this. a merc for a blizzard sorc is actually a hassle. if you use the moat trick and have a merc, the merc will try to run up to meph causing him to do his charged bolt, which will hit you also, totally negating the purpose of the moat trick. i can easily do a meph run in 35 seconds like this (although i wait longer to avoid getting a realm down). the only reason i could think of that you should use a merc is if you use orb on him, which you pointed out your a blizz sorc, so dont.

 

[sasja]

Nobody suggests that you should do the moat trick with a merc.

At the right level with the right equipment, your merc can tank Mephi while you kill him. That's a little quicker than the moat trick (no need to lead him to the edge) and also a little more satisfying - gives the guy a chance to fight back

Lastly, it enables you to switch between Mephi and other runs which require a merc, e.g. Pindle, without paying resurrections for your merc.

Anyway, as I said before, the Defiance merc is the one to go for if you want a merc on your Mephi runs.