Optimal Holy Freeze Merc Gear Question

[HaqZombie]

Optimal Holy Freeze Merc Gear Question

K right now my merc is a lvl 66 Holy Freeze (of course) merc which I am lvling right now so he can help me in hell. Right now he can decimate the baddies in Act 4 NM and we can both run NM Baal, sometimes he dies at Minions, but that's about it. But in Hell, specifically Act 1, he doesn't do crap. Takes about 45 seconds to kill a zombie right outside of Rogue Camp! Here's his specs:

Vampire Gaze Helm w/ 6mana 8life 20reduced dmg
Hwanins Bill w/ P Skull 4% life leech(don't know, it was in there already)
Eth Boneflesh Armor w/ 5% life leech

I need like 5 more levels to use Viperfork, and then I'm hoping he will kick ***, literally. But my question is this. What is the optimal gear for a merc of this type? My merc is for my MF sorc, which I mostly do Andy runs. I'm hopin I can get him built up so I can do Meph runs as well. In hell he can't tank worth crap. Any suggestions??

 

[WarHymn]

Seriously You want to get and eth(optional) Reapers toll or Bonehew(socket with amn and shael) as well as an Shaft and a Gaze or Tals Mask


Lvl 66 is still *really* low to go mf with him, I suggest you do mass NM senk/eld runs, really fast where he will lvl up while you might be able to get some decent items really easily. I got my merc (and myself) from lvl 50 to 70 there, then just proceed with NM Baals ( in pubs) until lvl 77 then go in Hell baals or Pits runs.

 

[HaqZombie]

Seriously You want to get and eth(optional) Reapers toll or Bonehew(socket with amn and shael) as well as an Shaft and a Gaze or Tals Mask


Lvl 66 is still *really* low to go mf with him, I suggest you do mass NM senk/eld runs, really fast where he will lvl up while you might be able to get some decent items really easily. I got my merc (and myself) from lvl 50 to 70 there, then just proceed with NM Baals ( in pubs) until lvl 77 then go in Hell baals or Pits runs.

Ok, I just did my hell Den quest and cleared the Blood Moor, and he is now to lvl 68, just 3 more levels till I can use the Viperfork. But you say I should use a Reapers Toll or Bonehew. Which is better? I have 2 Tals Mask as well as he's wearing a Gaze, should I keep it on him? What about armor? I know the one he's using right now isn't enough, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Nidlav]

My guess is his resistances are the problem atm. I agree with WarHymn about ultimate gear. Um'd Shaftstop, Um'd Vampire Gaze, Amn'd Reaper's Toll. Crescent Moon runeword polearm is also an option for a weapon. And....if you switched to a Defiance merc....a Doom runeword polearm would work as well.

nid

 

[Shanksie1337]

depending on your budget i'd use:

Helm: Tals Mask / Crown of Theives / V.Gaze / Shako / Blackhorns Face
Armour: Shaft / Duriels / Corpsemourn
Weapon: Reapers / Bonehew / Kelpie Snare

Depending on realm you can get: Tals mask / Duriels / Reapers-Bonehew-Kelpie all for pgems

Socketing merc gear is for endgame, when u have everything your main char needs, besides i'd need to be very rich gearwise to start whacking UM's in merc gear when for a max of 50k i could just ressurect him.

You want LL / res / +Life (not vit) / +dmg then other killing mods, such as CB/% to cast xxx etc. But note as your merc levels up he gets extra base natural res, so i'd worry about this towards endgame

 

[HaqZombie]

depending on your budget i'd use:

Helm: Tals Mask / Crown of Theives / V.Gaze / Shako / Blackhorns Face
Armour: Shaft / Duriels / Corpsemourn
Weapon: Reapers / Bonehew / Kelpie Snare

Well he already has V.Gaze on, (although my wife wanted me to trade it so I can get her a shako)...
I also gave my wife Duriels, but I don't think I'm going to get that back.
I'm going to try to get my hands on a bonehew or reapers, probably a bonehew, I already have enough runes to spare those two.

Thanks a lot everyone. I'll let ya know what I do later.

 

[Compman]

My Holy Freeze Merc uses: Perfect Vampire Gaze, Eth Bonehew (AmnAmn), Eth Shaftstop and he hardly ever dies.

 

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

My merc uses: Kira's Guardian (for resists) + Shaft (for damage reduction) + upgraded ethereal Kelpie Snare w/ Amn. It's the best set-up I've tried with my budget.

 

[WarHymn]

For my part, my merc uses Bonehew /w Amn & Shael, as well as a Tals Mask and CorpseMourn, he is level88 which allows him to have great ressists even in Hell

Back to Hac, Gaze is great, giving botht he leech necessary and the DR, The weapons arent very expensive, and do not forget to take IAS, for if you give him Shaft too, he will be more then able to survive.

and LVL him up alot, he should never be more then 3 lvls under you.

 

[Stiertje]

My guess is his resistances are the problem atm. I agree with WarHymn about ultimate gear. Um'd Shaftstop, Um'd Vampire Gaze, Amn'd Reaper's Toll. Crescent Moon runeword polearm is also an option for a weapon. And....if you switched to a Defiance merc....a Doom runeword polearm would work as well.

nid

Doom Runeword kicks more a$$ on a Might merc.

Reapers should have Shael, cause it's attack speed will be greater and you'll get more LL then with the Amn. And Gaze + Reapers already get you more then 20% LL at least.

Crescent Moon is much nicer on a non Sorc character for the % chance to cast Static.

 

[Harby]

My merc uses: Kira's Guardian (for resists) + Shaft (for damage reduction) + upgraded ethereal Kelpie Snare w/ Amn. It's the best set-up I've tried with my budget.

Ohhhh... gotta love polymorph

Btw my lvl90 defiance merc uses eth bonehew (amn-amn), duriels and crown of thieves (gave my gaze to a friend ..). Still without shaft/gaze my merc usually only dies in minions of destruction (if surrounded) and from lots of ranged attackers (like red skelies in shenk).

 

[wangboBW]

I have a defiance merc he is currently lvl87, and here is his items. I am kind of bias towards my own item BTW.
Reaper's Toll (should be a eth...)
Eth G-Bane (2k Defense, with Defiance, he has 14k)
Rockstopper (I am sure you are all asking, WHAT????. But Rockstopper is a great helm, resist, DR, +Vit, what more can you ask. No leech though =-(

 

[chinaman1472]

Before my sorc died, my merc had a ncie setup. HaqZombie had a good choices.
However, you all are forgetting probably one of the best piece. Leviathan armor. Add a -15 requirement jewel (if you can find a rare with good mods, execellent ) and he'll be able to use that armor around lvl 66. With good damage reduce (up to 25%), and a whopping +45 strength, he'll use Bonehew without Hel runes at lvl 66 .

Hone Sundain is another good choice since it's pretty good dmg +3 sockets as well.

 

[Jackson]

I consider myself rich, but even I don't use Ethereal Doom on my mercs, hehe.

*HaqZombie, tell me which realm (and also if ladder or softcore or not) you're on. I can get u some stuff for your Merc if you happen to be on my realm.

 

[Purri]

My defiance merc is lvl 90 (non ladder) and his gear is:
-Chains of Honor Wirefleece
-Bonehew (still need to trade for a ETH one )
-Shako (Andariels visage when the season is over)

 

[melianor]

Another Socketing suggestion for Bonehew:
2xSHAEL, this way you will reach the next IAS breakpoint for your merc and the way he wacks away then is simple incredible. Get x%ll from other sources...

 

[whitespot]

I was just wondering I have a 80 something lvl merc and I just traded to get (now know I didn't do this) an eth enigma. I was just wondering if I should sit this on my merc for mf and defense or is there something better than that when it comes to auras, damage, res, ll. Please do remember that I didn't put enigma into eth armor (who ever did it though should be smacked). Anyways thx. (oh ya and im usin crown of theives and reapers)

 

[Usufruct]

I had a low budget to spend on my merc. He wears a 14% Reapers Toll (non ethereal), Tal Rasha's Mask, and Smoke Armor. He steals 24% life, and casts decrepify every third hit. He is freaking awesome.

 

[Purri]

Another Socketing suggestion for Bonehew:
2xSHAEL, this way you will reach the next IAS breakpoint for your merc and the way he wacks away then is simple incredible. Get x%ll from other sources...

hmm read about it, but didnt try it yet
thanks for the tip tho i'll socket it later

 

[Jackson]

2 shaels aren't really needed. It can be a shael and an IAS jewel; which can have other mods such as ED, or some other +damage modifier.