Mechanics: Find Item and Def Merc/Shout

[Tankslice]

Mechanics: Find Item and Def Merc/Shout

Hello,

I'm making a conc nihl runner, and I have two questions about the finer points of some Barb skills.


1) First off, I was wondering if it was worth it to get find item (although I probably will). It kind of hinges on this question:

Does Find Item yield a second chance to find DKeys? Or does it just yield a second generic drop-set at the item level of the mob?

I'm guessing it's the latter since I haven't heard it mentioned before.

2) I'm noticing some oddities about the aura from my defensive merc and my shout not stacking. Is this true, or is there some weird display error, or am I crazy?

Thanks!

 

[ColtFourFive]

Re: Mechanics: Find Item and Def Merc/Shout

I don't know the answer to that key drop question to be honest. That would make it interesting for sure


And if your shout problem is what I think it is, just remember that shout/defiance/iron skin add percentage defense of your base defense, not your current total. So in other words, the defense you read on the character screen is not the defense that shout is calculating from.

For example, if you have a merc with level 4 defiance, he will essentially double your defense by adding 100%. So if you had 300 defense initially, you now have 600. If you cast level 1 shout in addition to the defiance, which increases your defense by 100% again, your defense would go from 600 to 900, not doubling it from 600 to 1200. It would only add 300, calculating from your base defense

You can throw iron skin on top of that, a +50% iron skin adds only 150, half of your base defense, as opposed to 300 or 450, whatever your defense currently shows.

That may not be your question at all, but I hope it kinda helps anyways


EDIT: Also remember that defiance has a range, so your merc has to be alive and well, fighting by your side, in order for it to have an affect

 

[Tankslice]

Re: Mechanics: Find Item and Def Merc/Shout

Thanks Colt.

I think I'm going to end up spending the two points and finding out for myself; the only thing I'm sacrificing is 10% damage from Bash synergies the way I'm built, and it should at least annoy me less with potions. I'll post back here.

My issue was I had my merc out, and he had his aura going. I then shouted and the number didn't change.

I have no idea, but the whole merc defensive aura just seems really buggy and I'm almost always running around with less defense than I should be. I don't think I've pinned down the issue yet, other than that his aura sometimes doesn't kick off until he's hit or something. But now it's also looking like the auras don't stack sometime? I don't know.

The short of it is, it's confusing, but it doesn't seem to be working right.