Andy´s, Tal Rasha's or Vampire gaze?

Andy´s, Tal Rasha's or Vampire gaze?

My lvl 89 merc has been using Crown of thieves for the 12% LL sofar, but now he dies quite frequently. I'm just getting careless I guess.....

Then I went through my stash to see what alternatives I had, I've cut em down to three now:

Andariel's Visage
Demonhead
Defense: 328
Durability: 17 of 20
Required Strength: 102
Required Level: 83
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x17a9def
+30 to Strength
+112% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist -30%
Poison Resist +70%
+10% to Maximum Poison Resist
8% Life stolen per hit
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to All Skill Levels
15% Chance to cast Level 15 Poison Nova when struck
Level 3 Venom (10/20 Charges)

or

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 121
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xd8cdadaa
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

or

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x3006a99
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
Damage Reduced by 16%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain

His other gear is an etheral Ariocs and duriels, none LL on them

Bottom line, I need some advice. (other) suggestions anyone?

 

I would choose vamp gaze, thats what I give my mercs when I can

the LL and DR really helps the survivability

 

The problem isn't your helm, rather the weapon.

 

Try to get LL on your weapon. I'd use Rockstopper for it's great resists + DR and Shaftstop or Leviathan for even more DR. That works too great for me, just needs LL on the weapon. But the less damage he takes, the less he has to leech back (or somehow like that)!

 

Pff.

The obvious choice is CoA.

Dur.




(Honestly between the three of them, I've never went wrong with Tal's helm)

 

Yeah, I'd use that, if I had it. Rockstopper is basically the same, except for +1 to all skills, 5% DR and 2 sockets. And it's MUCH more common.

 

Tal Rashas helm is an awesome mercenary helm. Very godly and very easy to find, no mercenary is complete without it

 

I have all those and i've been using Andy's Visage. Primarily because of the 20% IAS if it helps reach the next breakpoint. The breakpoint tables are around.

Faster hitting means more leech from more damage. More hitting means more hit recovery on the monster and not for your merc.

An eth Ariocs (how many +skills?) is a decent merc weapon .. but if you have access to a Reaper's/Tomb Reaver/upped eth Hone Sundan/eth Bonehew etc then you should try those out.

 

All that helms are very good.
I think if you reach 25% ll with an very fast attack speed weapon, your problem is solved.
Example: Bonehew with 2 amn's, Reaper's toll win an amn etc etc...

 

For me, it's Gaze for a Act 2 merc too. Like what skoolbus said, LL and PDR come in handy. For me, the cold damage is also somewhat useful.

However, as the others said, your merc would probably benefit more from a weapon with LL rather than relying on your armor and headgear. Reaper's Toll is very useful, even a non-eth one. Having LL on the weapon also allows you some flexibility with the armor -- you can switch from Gaze to Blackhorn's in cases where Gloams abound.

 

That and about 150 defense...

When you get right down to it, that 5% DR, +1 Skills, and 2 sockets makes one helluva difference.

 

I found a ribcracker last week, now i'm just waiting for that final rune to complete the upgrade. My Ariocs is this one:

Arioc's Needle
Hyperion Spear
Two-Hand Damage: 170 to 583
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Dexterity: 120
Required Strength: 155
Required Level: 81
Spear Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x20f754b2
+228% Enhanced Damage
+393 poison damage over 10 seconds
30% Increased Attack Speed
Ignore Target Defense
+4 to All Skill Levels
50% Deadly Strike
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

And

Bonehew
Ogre Axe
Two-Hand Damage: 112 to 584
Durability: 48 of 50
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 195
Required Level: 64
Polearm Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1c0f5f26
+303% Enhanced Damage
30% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
50% Chance to cast Level 16 Bone Spear on striking
Level 14 Corpse Explosion (4/30 Charges)
Socketed (2: 0 used)

 

That Arioc's is a nice one. Good damage and the +4 skills will help out for sure.

I'd keep it. Have you tried the Bonehew out yet though? Two open sockets means a Shael/IAS jewel with mods and an Amn rune for leech. The potential of making the next breakpoint will help make up for the lack of 50% Deadly Strike of the Arioc's and the Amn will keep your merc alive much longer and will allow you to tailor your helm more closely to your merc's needs.