Dagger merc question

[Galinho]

Dagger merc question

Hi all
I have a lvl 72 Daggermancer
Very satisfied with his work. above 18k dagger dmg and above 31k CE dmg make this guy pretty tough.
Only prob with this build that I've been giving thought to for a long time now is that it is way to vulnerable even with Bone armor, And that is caused by the low max def u can get with this build if u want him to have useful equipment for the poison sks(which u do ofc), and especially because of the fact hat u have to invest so many points into str and dex for this build to work, that even at high lvls u don't have many points to vit, so his life gauge is low(That is if u choose to go for max block rather than max vita,which is what I did).
Using a powerful merc can be a smart and useful solution to this problem. That's why I chose to use the defiance merc, which will pump up my def to a high amount. high def+75% block=Very hard to hit me.
Now the only prob is that the merc itself is having a hard time trying to survive at hell, even at act1. And I figured I really don't know which equipment would be the most suitable for this merc with this kind of build.
So...Dagger experts...Help me out? Is dmg reduction and ll equipment the way to go? I mean the regular common merc equipment, such as high gaze and upped eth shaftstop? or is there something else that could make it perfect? Thanks guys! Appreciate it ^ ^ :thumbsup:

 

[tigercan]

31k CE dmg? You sure that's not supposed to be PE?

Not sure why you figure you need to invest lots of points into strength...enough to wear your gear (max of 156 if you want spirit shield) is plenty.

Which parts of hell is your merc dying in?
IIRC hell critters start at mlvl 69 and go up quickly from there, so if you're past the first couple of quests then you're probably at a fairly high level disadvantage. Level him up to 80 or so & he'll live much longer.

What gear does your merc use right now? Got any life leech on him? That's one of the most important mods to get on him.

Two main paths I choose to use for my mercs are:

1) High dmg, high leech. Gear such as vamp gaze, hone sundan (shael, shael amn) to leech back the damage he takes.

2) Damage mitigation. Whether it be through use of "hit slows target" mods (kelpie snare rocks) and/or holy freeze, or dmg reduced gear (either %DR such as shaftstop or straight PDR gear (4xSol armour)
They hit less frequently and do less damage when they do, reducing the need for high leech.

Either path works well for me.

Remember to use your curses to help him out too!
Life Tap can save him more often than not, and if he gets mobbed don't be afraid to throw Decrepify, Attract, Confuse or one of the other AI curses on the mob that's beating him down.

Always remember that you can feed him potions too...

 

[Galinho]

Well ty for the reply m8
So I guess defiance merc with doom, shaftstop,gaze/Crown of thieves is the ideal thing to have?:shocked:

 

[HCKull]

As you need to get into melee with the bad guys you will need max block and should have a shield that combines enhanced blocking and resists without a huge strength requirement. I recommend homonuculos with 1 pdiamond or mossers with 2 perfect diamonds.

 

[Doppel]

I would use a holy freeze merc instead, reason why is that defiance depends on defense you have, thus having a low defense will make the aura less usefull.
Holy freeze though will slow everything around you down, wich means that monsters will be able to hit you much less then what defiance could ever accomplish with a fairly low base defense.
So, get an act 2 nightmare defensive merc instead.

Mods to look for on merc:
- Lifeleech (COT for example)
- dr% (gaze for example)
- fhr (stone for example)
- high defense (eth)
- high damage (ebotd for example)
- ctc or aura (infinity for example)
- possibly poison length reduction
- some IAS if wielding a slow weapon (like reaper)