Act3 Ironwolve merc question

[Knarlfist]

Act3 Ironwolve merc question

Think I read somewhere about gearing up these mercs for insane +skills and fcr. One of the hard parts was trying to get a Spirit Shield on them, cuz the str req is so high.


Now I found an Eth Monarch today, with a str of 146. According to the merc tables I found, they are claiming that the merc will hit 146str at clvl92 if hired from Normal, which of course could be slightly lowered if you made some sacrifice like socketing some str into the body or helm (Vipermagi I assume? Helm would depend on what elemental Ironwolve maybe).


Does this lvl92 sound right? And to gain the benefit of better stats from hiring in Normal, do you have to hire them low lvl and babysit them, or can you buy one matching your high lvl from Normal and it will already have better stats? Some of these rules have changed since the old days I played, and I don't see why the game would let you lvl to 95, hire a merc at almost the same lvl, and then give him better stats solely dependant on which difficulty you chose. This is a huge sticking point, cuz there is little reason to assemble the gear and try it if you need to go much past clvl92, seeing as how hard it is to lvl up these days.

 

[NASE]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

The level at which you hire your merc doesn't matter. The difficulty does I think - though you agree so lets just assume this.

I don't really see why you want to get insane +skill and insane fcr on your merc. Act 3 don't have good damage. You might use them to counter dual imunes if you really want though that's all.
I see act 3 cold merc as the useful one because they can and will effectively freeze monsters, making monsters harmless even in places like chaos sanctuary. However, they won't do much damage so I don't really see the points of getting lots of +skillts.

As a cheap setup, I would use this:
spirit shield, viper magi, shako/Peasant Crown - there aren't cheap fcr helm - and Lidless Wall.


P.S. there has been a quite extensive thread in the newcomer forum where some people have given their setup to get the most damage. Perhaps you can check it out if you want some ideas.

 

[krischan]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

Andariel's Visage adds 25-30 to str and has +2 to skills as well, but its level req is 83...

 

[Knarlfist]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

Ok... I will look for the post.


I think the topic came up not in regard to the Cold merc, but maybe the Lightning Merc. Basically the merc goes from worthless to much better if you can gain enough fcr and +skills. Not too many people want to try it of course, but sometimes someone gets bored enough =p


Edit: found the post and some quotes regarding the theorycrafting:
"Somebody should try the lightning ironwolf on Avenger, with Griffon, lightning Ormus and double Spirits."
"Really well kitted up with top end gear like a lightning wolf can do a bit of damage, especially combiend with a necro using LR or a conviction Pally."

So there is an application for this... let's say a Necro summoner fairly safe behind his army, he could keep high +skills on one switch and Infinity polearm on the other switch. Merc uses Griffons, and just owns with his fcr. (or just screw Infinity and spam maxed Lower Resist!)



So it all comes down to my original question, if anyone happens to know for sure. Is the merc info still accurate enough, to predict clvl92 for use of this Spirit Shield? Hoping someone that has one of these mercs will pipe in, I KNOW I've seen one occasionally in hell Baal games =p

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

The [character] level at which you hire your merc doesn't matter. The difficulty does...

I can confirm that this is correct. It is possible to hire the merc at level ~95 and as long as you got him in normal difficulty, he'll have top str/stats/whatever.

As for the merc himself, I have used a ColdWolf on occasion. As NASE mentioned, their kill-power is pretty poor (virtually useless in much of Hell, but not bad through Nightmare), but the freezing from GS is a nice helper for crowd control. I used one of these mercs with a two-handed-axe meleesorc (without ES), so you can imagine that I had concerns about my sorc's fragility - but the ColdWolf merc (and teleport) really helped a lot; it was a fantastic choice for that build.


For equipment, dual-spirits are a given. Depending on the FCR rolls, you can pair these with Vipermagi or Ormus and still reach the highest possible FCR breakpoint (90 FCR). I went with Vipermagi for the boosted resists too, plus my Spirit sword was less than perfect.

Those 3 pieces should enable you to focus on +skills and +strength from your helm, and ignore additional FCR. And as krischan mentioned, Andy's Visage is a great choice at level83. Before that, I think I just used a rare circlet with a bunch of +str so I could stick the Spirit shield on him as early as possible. I'm not sure (offhand) if there are other good helms for the intermediate game.


I haven't tried a LightningWolf yet, but I intend to someday. I think the FireWolves are bugged though, and they never really interested me, so I haven't really explored them.

 

[Knarlfist]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

yea.. from what I've heard, FireWolves are out

The lightning idear mostly takes the best of best gear... Infinity, Griffons, Facets, etc. Other than a playground for the rich, I don't suppose many people would try it.. as you say, for the most part the dmg will be poor from an Act3 merc with the lesser gear.

 

[NASE]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

@ sirpoopsalot: fire merc aren't bugged, they simply have stupid and bad skills. The skills a merc uses can synergize each other - and even +skills synergize IIRC. If you look at the cold and lightning skills used, you will see that they synergize each other - and cold skill freeze of course. If you look at the fire skills, you will see they don't synergize. Count in the fact that inferno is a half melee skills that on top of all is bugged, and you see why fire merc are useless.


I always have the lvl 96 in mind when people talk about monarchs. However, I thinks that is for non ethereal. So somewhere around 92 should be the correct lvl for ethereal spirits.
P.S. the file you found is probably up to date, is there any date or patch information. That way we can see if it's from 1.10+ or for 1.09.

P.P.S. anyone knows the breakpoint for lightning merc - I assume they are different.

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

P.P.S. anyone knows the breakpoint for lightning merc - I assume they are different.

Not according to the link in the FAQ: http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551

 

[NASE]

Re: Act3 Ironwolve merc question

Not according to the link in the FAQ: http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551

Strange, but interesting. That means that if the slvl keep up with the other merc, lightning mercs should be stronger as the skills are more powerful per cast.

To bad I don't play paladins or necromancers.