Strafe Zon: Inner Sight or Blessed Aim merc?

[JoeBruce]

So I'm building a sept. Seven characters that play along in the game together, one act at a time. The theme is physical damage, so my amazon is a strafer.

I know many people have maxed Penetrate to help with the AR issues inherent with strafers, but I have read that this doesn't completely solve the issue; Inner Sight might be a less-utilized option, and was apparently my original plan (it has 3 hard points in at clvl 42). Max Inner Sight drops defense by over 800. But at some point I also hit upon the idea of just using an act2 merc with Blessed Aim, because that's her mercenary at present.

Really, it's too early to tell. This whole sept plays self-found, so the seven characters all get together back at Atma's Tavern after every act and swap items; this Amazon's end-game gear is far from decided. But act2 mercs are slightly more powerful if chosen early, and despite respecs, I don't want to spend her development dumping 20 points into a skill I don't need/use in the end-game. But I'd like to have a 90%+ chance to hit, or at least 85%. All my years of D2 experience has taught me that damage comes tertiary to attack speed and chance to hit.

So what's your opinion (and reasoning, if you so desire)? Pump Inner Sight and ditch the damn desert merc for something more original? Keep Zalakai (or whatever his name is) despite his horrible path-finding and respec to get my 2 inner sight points back? Go with a third option (I hate dichotomies)?

 

[krischan]

That depends on your gear (in particular the bow) and how much you are going to pump into dex instead of vit. For example, if you have a Faith bow, you don't need any ar at all. That bow has ITD and those few tough bosses (ITD doesn't work on bosses) which are hard to kill with strafe (which are Baal, Diablo and a very few bosses, like physical immune frenzytaurs) are to be killed with GA and (PIs) magic arrow.

 

[Maltatai]

Inner sight:
Good:
Removes an impressive part of enemy defence in the case of all bu the toughest enemies.
Can be very good even without equipment (even though +skills is neat).

Bad:
Requires the time it takes to cast it.
Reqires you to get close to enemies to cast it.
Overwrites slow missiles.


Blessed aim Town guard
Good:
Always active (as long as the fool lives).
Allows for sniping from afar.

Bad:
Requires a big deal of integer attack rating as well.
Town guard behaviour....

Attack rating should be rather easy to come by if you really need it, there's always the partial set bonuses if nothing else is available. Untwinked town guards will die a lot in hell but if you can snipe most foes before they get in range it may even out. Inner sight and a sturdier or more discreet hireling is probably the way to go if you want to have the battles closer to you. More risk but also more damage. Personally I prefer to have only a decoy and valkyrie as tanks because a hireling requires too much attention. Rogues and mages are weaker but they have more sense as well, easier to protect. They also add another element which is nice. I think the most useful mercenary would be a freezing mage because he could stop some of the enemies that get close.

Third option:
Max penetrate and go with a rogue. Then you have a moderate chance to hit at sniper range (out of sight) so you can take down some enemies effectively that way and when they close she adds her half-decent inner sight. The rogue will add elemental damage and can assist with crowd control if she gets smothing with knockback or other effects.

 

[Cyrax]

@krischan: He says it's a selffound sept so chances of him getting faith are slim.

@Maltatai: You forgot to mention one bad thing for the blessed aim merc: This means you can't get a might merc. Considering you're going untwinked i think you may want every bit of damage you can get.

As far as general advice goes:
Personally i wouldn't go pure physical but use a backup like FA, but since that wouldn't go with the theme i'm guessing that's out.

I like having penetrate as it's a passive, so it helps without you having to do anything. Other then that i've heard good things about inner sight (haven't used it that much myself). Without the need for a backup skill it may even be possible to get both maxed.

As mentioned above i wouldn't go with the blessed aim merc since that means no might merc = less damage. And the AR can be gotten elsewhere (penetrate/inner sight/lots of dex).

 

[krischan]

Whoops, I overlooked that it's a self-found build.

In that case, I wouldn't put emphasis on AR beyond maximizing penetrate and putting stat points into dex. The important factor is damage per second which is proportional to damage per attack times chance to hit divided by frames per attack. In my opinion, the might merc would do the best job at that, as strafers have little off-weapon %ed, so bonuses will have a perticularly high effect. Versus tough enemies, you can use GA.

 

[Delsy]

Casting Inner Sight in each battle will get tedious. I would go for either max penetrate or BA merc. This is important, because bonuses from BA and penetrate cancel each other (only the one with higher AR bonus is applied IIRC).

 

[mir]

You can also use charms/jewels and eth runes to help with ar.

 

[NoisemakerArrow]

Here's a thread that discusses this exact question, with lots of numerical examples: http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/index.php?showtopic=63975

Yeah, there's a bug with those. "Do to a Bug (Technical Discussion, blue_myridnn, Chance to hit, #13) the BlA Merc or a Palla using BlA will cancel out the passive + AR % of Pene totally. This is no bug of the LCS. This bug is for real and the LCS shows the true AR values this time. Weather the BlA-Aura bug applies only for Pene or some other skills with passive AR% too, hasnt been tested jet. But no matter of the bug, a BlA Merc or BlA Palla as permanent party member makes investment in further AR% less desirable. If further improvement of the cth is needed Is is the way to go."

I don't think Slow Missiles and Inner Sight overwrite each other. I tested for that when I played a zon recently, and the skeleton archers' arrows travelled very slowly even after I cast IS. The Amazon Basin wiki confirms it: "Doesn't conflict with Inner Sight or Curses: all three can be applied at the same time."

I would go with a Might merc and max Penetrate, and, if necessary, max IS as well. Reducing enemy defense by 1/3 to 1/2 is pretty good, and it covers most of the screen.

 

[JoeBruce]

Important points I did not make clear in the original post: 1) The sept is geared toward physical, but I don't want to struggle with immunes, so everyone has a backup. Hers will be Frozen Arrow; 20 points, no synergies. 2) This is also a hardcore character, so a little (more) survivability is desirable.
~
@NoisemakerArrow: I also just read (on the Amazon Basin) that Inner Sight and Slow Missiles can be used together.
~
I have been concerned of the tediousness of casting the spell all of the time. I shudder every time I have to cast slow missiles. That's why most people like the passive ability of Penetrate. And when you have that, combined with the option of a mercenary which boosts your damage, it just seems to make so much sense to go that route. But I suppose I'm trying to inject a little more unconventionality into an otherwise standard build. Plus, with a physical damage sept, it's so easy to wind up with a bunch of might mercs, and I'm trying to have a little diversity in that department.

I just had an impulsive thought to go with the suggestion of a cold wolf mercenary, and respec her into pure physical, and go with all the passives and spell castings I can :evil2:.

Good discussion though; keep the ideas flowing. I'm going to go play my 'zon.

 

[thefranklin]

Hardcore (basically) untwinked physical bowzon and you are concerned about casting a spell being tedious? I say max it, it will be much less tedious than hitting air all through hell. Getting a lot of static attack rating will probably get in the way of life saving resistances and hitpoints.

If you are looking for diversity, an Act 1 merc that casts a nice inner sight for you would be perfect. You could have two relatively high hitpoint castables to aid the two of you. Plus, she can wear your eventual harmony (if RWM).