Best Merc Amour, Stone or Duress??

[piggiz]

I chose stone before duress, becuase stone has some massive defence (around 3k in a eth armor). It also has a good fhr wich is important for a act2 merc.
I'm playing a orb/charged bolt sorceress, and I use my merc as a second tank. There's pretty much no monster in the game that I cant kill myself, so the merc doesn't need to be that offensive.
Also, the "lack" on resist on stone isn't really a problem (atleast not for me). I hired my merc in normal and me and my merc is lvl 93, so he has maxres in hell (with stone as the only item that gives him resist).

However, if you're a single-tree sorc you might want to consider duress for more killing power.

Runewords armor are always welcome to be used. But a good old uniques makes the day. Use a Shaftstop and slap on Gaze helm for your merc. You will be amazed how well your merc survived.

 

[virgop]

Best Merc Amour, Stone or Duress??

HI guys, need some suggestions on this issue. What is the best merc amour? My socer use Act2 NM merc and find some difficulty in some area such as cow game or baal run. I really want to know what is best amour for him. Rune words Stone or Duress? Though Stone has higher defence but lack resis and enhuance damage. Is 60% fast hit recovery really better compare to Duress' 40% fast hit recovery. I mean does it really make and difference when it only has 20% of margin?
Thanks guys, hope to hear some answers. Thanks.

 

[Qualto]

I chose stone before duress, becuase stone has some massive defence (around 3k in a eth armor). It also has a good fhr wich is important for a act2 merc.
I'm playing a orb/charged bolt sorceress, and I use my merc as a second tank. There's pretty much no monster in the game that I cant kill myself, so the merc doesn't need to be that offensive.
Also, the "lack" on resist on stone isn't really a problem (atleast not for me). I hired my merc in normal and me and my merc is lvl 93, so he has maxres in hell (with stone as the only item that gives him resist).

However, if you're a single-tree sorc you might want to consider duress for more killing power.

 

[malicioussmurf]

Question: What is a good weap for A2 merc?
I rune a Bonehew (non-eth) with some nice random IAS, ED, ETC jewels?
I am pure blizz Sorc, so I use my merc for killing those nasty immunes

 

[fhpchris]

ETH G-Bane is the best merc armor.

-Cheap
-2000+ defense
-30FHR
-CANNOT BE FROZEN
-Damage reduce
-Poison length reduction
-open socket

 

[Qualto]

Question: What is a good weap for A2 merc?
I rune a Bonehew (non-eth) with some nice random IAS, ED, ETC jewels?
I am pure blizz Sorc, so I use my merc for killing those nasty immunes

Best merc weapon in the game is an Ethereal Reapers with a shael rune in it.
It cast's decrep which slows monsters down, it has good base dmg and 33% deadly strike!!

A little table:
.......................Min dmg(aps)......Max dmg(aps)..........Avarage
Reapers Toll:......1222.................8022......................4622

BotD War Pike:...3122..................14315.....................8719

In thise case, Botd is superior to Reapers, but I haven't counted deadly strike+decrepify here. But if you add decrep+deadly strike (and a shael - 20% IAS) it'll look like this:

.......................Min dmg(aps)......Max dmg(aps)..........Avarage
Reapers Toll:......2442.................16040.....................9241

There you have the numbers, Reapers (eth) beats BotD War Pike (also eth) in dmg. But dont forget, there's other reasons why reapers is the best. Decrep slows monsters (already mentioned, yes I know) and it removes Physical Immunity from monsters!! It also has "Ignore targets defence" which is really great.
Only thing that reapers doesn't have is prevent monster heal, which is useful when fighting dclone...

 

[fhpchris]

The best Merc weapon in the game is an Eth Doom Thresher or Great Poleaxe, as they can hit a faster breakpoint than any BOTD can, and using a might merc makes them do much more damage.

Eth "Doom" Thresher
Eth "Doom" Great Poleaxe

Prevent monster heal does not work on mercs to my knowledge.

 

[malicioussmurf]

Thanks for info.
right now I have a eth 333% Eth reaper's toll in pack, and a Black Horn's face (for prevent monster) socketed with a 25ED jewel.
(YES, I hear prevent heal does work on mercs. I might be wrong.)

 

[eternalsunshine]

I chose stone before duress, becuase stone has some massive defence (around 3k in a eth armor). It also has a good fhr wich is important for a act2 merc.
I'm playing a orb/charged bolt sorceress, and I use my merc as a second tank. There's pretty much no monster in the game that I cant kill myself, so the merc doesn't need to be that offensive.
Also, the "lack" on resist on stone isn't really a problem (atleast not for me). I hired my merc in normal and me and my merc is lvl 93, so he has maxres in hell (with stone as the only item that gives him resist).

However, if you're a single-tree sorc you might want to consider duress for more killing power.

hmm rather off-topic, but what does a orb/c-bolt sorc look like? i've tried the search function, didnt really work. thanks.

 

[Qualto]

hmm rather off-topic, but what does a orb/c-bolt sorc look like? i've tried the search function, didnt really work. thanks.

My orb/c-bolt sorc look like this:

Str: 100 (base)
Dex: Enough for maxblock with sancuary (troll nest)
Vit: Everything else
Enrg: Base... No points spent here

Skills:
20 Charged Bolt
20 Lightning (synergy and secondary lightning attack - good for long range)
20 LM
20 Orb
1 Tele
1 Warmth
1 Frozen Armor
8+ CM (Everything you can spare here, I'm lvl 93 now, so you can calculate my CM lvl yourself)

That's pretty much how a orb/c-bolt sorc "look like"

 

[eternalsunshine]

hmm, ok, but even with +skills c-bolt does like 200 or maybe 250 max dmg, hows that gonna kill anything in hell? i mean, for example, if you JUST use c-bolt vs all the non-light immunes, can you kill them effeciently?

 

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

My CB/FO sorc doesn't have the best gear but she still does 600 dmg/bolt. Thats more than enough for hell. My skills are the same as Qualto's. Charged Bolt's damage ramps up nicely at higher levels.

 

[Qualto]

hmm, ok, but even with +skills c-bolt does like 200 or maybe 250 max dmg, hows that gonna kill anything in hell? i mean, for example, if you JUST use c-bolt vs all the non-light immunes, can you kill them effeciently?

I'm not sure where you got those numbers from. But I do 300-400 cb-dmg (can't remember exact number). And I moslty use orb, and finish all cold immunes with c-bolt. (just tele on them and spam c-bolt and they'll be toasted in a second :lol: )

 

[eternalsunshine]

oh, uhh i tested it on single player, max lightning, mastery, c-bolt and +7 all skills i think. ok, i might be mistaken, thx alot Qualto & Liessa Wyrmbane

 

[joer]

i find that the best merc gear is:
nm act2 def merc
andariel's visage, ral'd
shaftstop boneweave, um'd or 15 all res jewel
reaper's toll, shael'd

i use this merc on my hammerdin to do baalruns and i'm at like 600 runs without a death, turns any monster into a kitten.