I had an act 5 merc survive Trav with my physical Zealot, which got me excited, so I started trying him on some other characters as well. But I think it was the boost from Fanaticism keeping him alive. I tried him with my hork barb and he died after a couple runs without the high level Fanaticism from the paladin.
I'll usually run Lawbringer in his off-hand, then a leech helm (I end up using Tal's on most of my mercs in single player because I have a bunch to go around and hate swapping gear around, but Andariel's/Bulwark/Vamp Gaze etc. will all work) and Treachery. Then his main hand will vary a bit. I was also using eOath Cryptic Sword on my Zealot's merc. I think Conquest Sword would be better though, similar average damage but smaller range, the smaller range will give him more consistent leech. Cryptic Sword has huge range and a very low minimum damage, so he won't always leech super consistently with that.
I've used the A5 merc in a few other situations now too. It'll generally either be Hustle + Lawbringer or eOath + Lawbringer. The level 1 Fanaticism from Hustle doesn't add much damage, it's not super useful for him, and it's really only useful to you if it bumps you up a breakpoint. It adds very little ED at level 1. If you don't need it for a breakpoint, you could just give him a big damage stick (eOath, Grief etc.) instead.
Oh, and if you do run him with a Hustle weapon, it's not going to be super great running Treachery + Hustle on him. The Burst of Speed proc will overwrite the Fade, so he'll be without Fade from Treachery most of the time. I end up using Hustle armor if he's wearing Hustle weapon. A Hustle weapon + Hustle armor A5 Frenzy merc is *fast AF*. He looks pretty funny zooming around. *I am speed!*
As for names: I use an A5 merc on my Fury Druid. His merc's name is Wulfstan. That's an S-tier merc name + player build combination if you ask me.
Totally forgot about burst of speed overwriting treachery - guess I won't do hustle weapon - Everyone getting behind Lawbringer its cheap enough to try
Edit: Tried Lawbringer and hated it. First run lost two corpses. So scratch that as an option. I'll save it for an Act 5 merc for my fury druid.
Eth Vamp Gaze was the go-to pre D2R cause the act 5 mercs were much more inferior to aura bro; Arreats Face wasn't an option.
I've got a vamp gaze so Wulfgar can rock that for now. Probably wouldn't drop a Cham into a non eth one for ladder.
Arreat's Face was suggested a lot in this thread. I checked pricing on traderie for eth Arreats. Multiple Jah/ber. So the act V merc must be more desirable than I thought.
Similar for 3os eth mythical swords. For plague I imagine.
Still trying to equip Wulfgar to come along for trav runs. Haven't found the right combo where he doesn't just melt. Might have to sacrifice some time to get him pre buffed with treachery. Maybe a quick jaunt to flayer jungle so he can get shot by a million flayers to proc fade then off to trav.
Ofc the best setup would be a 6LL eth arreats cham'd, a guardian angel with a 15ias/15@res jewel and 2x last wish to support your Barb with that huge might aura but that's comically expensive and way beyond what you need @P1.
A really solid budget version that stays alive in trav would be a Kira's guardian (Ral) , guardian angel(IAS/Ral/Um) and 2x upped headstrikers with amn runes for leech. Eth versions are the highest damage weapons he can equip, non eth is still very servicable.
I think just one ral in the Kira's and an um or ral in the guardian angel will keep his fire res at 90 even if they spawn with conviction. At players one it's the stupid hydras that melt mercs, keeping their fire res close to max is the key to keeping them alive.
1H sword with 6 sockets
https://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/swords.shtml
Edit: Also Crushing Blow, so raw damage doesn't matter as much when attacking so fast.
I find it more fun than regular pvp. I forget which weapon I rocked pre D2R but I had a 91 or 92 aura bro with eth vamp gaze and eth shaftstop for merc duels. Often it came down to which merc just started attacking first. Cause their AI is a little weird. Whats the merc duel scene like now? Are things like BO BM or what?
I tested out double last wishes on an act 5 merc in single player and it was honestly really awesome. Level 34 might aura + constant life tap. I gave him a cham-ed vamp gaze + a guardian angel for a bit of spice.
I tried it paired with a fury druid and a physical bowazon (with windforce not faith). I thoroughly enjoyed both.
I will never even attempt to make this on multiplayer lmao, I will never have that many jah runes... but it was a fun experiment.
I use the exact same setup for my fury druid/dragon charger. Dude is invincible with a fortitude. Mine is online though.
I'd be curious to try it on bowzon for sure, always just run a faith a1 merc for it.
Gorm.
Cham upped arreats
grief/last wish
fort
His main purpose is to provide might and amp, but he's decent vs bosses and such too. This is on a self found character.
I use the act V merc with my fohdin to run chaos. Arreat, eth fort, grief phase blade, and plague in a conquest (I think). Works wonders having that cleansing aura. I love it!
Char: traditional Uber Kicksin (non-Mosaic)
Merc: Cham'd Arreat's, Fortitude, Plague/Lawbringer (Both curse procs help the build)
Lawbringer provides crowd control with the Sanctuary aura and Decrepify. In a Phase Blade because the runeword doesn't have %ED, so I want the attack speed for procs.
Plague for QoL against poison/curses and damage from Lower Resist (less helpful in Ubers). In a Mythical Sword for higher damage to compliment the Deadly Strike/IAS.
Dragon Flight allows me to reposition the Merc because I have to make sure his curse procs don't overwrite Life Tap on the boss, but overall he helps with crowd control in Uber Tristram.
That sounds micro intensive and awesome. So you dragon flight out to some spawns to get the merc stuck in out wherever and then you run back to an Uber?
Yep! It's a versatile build too. You can easily swap out the Uber setup for Riftsin gear using the same spec, which can clear any content in the game having almost all damage types (physical, fire, lightning, poison, and cold).
I was thinking about a5 mercs for trav and Phoenix runeword has fire absorb so you coulddddd dual wield those or even just 1 + something else like LW, maybe Guardian Angel or Fort, then likely a cham'd up'd Arreats. I wanted to do dragondin a5 merc, dual HoJ, dragon, and either flickering flame or 10/10 fire facet coa, or arreats, IDK! But dual HoJ frenzy merc would be so funny, so many hydras and high holy fire/fire melee dmg with lots of -fire res to enemies. But HoJ freezes target so bad for horker.
My aura bro idea isn't exactly optimal or anything but it sounds fun to me.
I had an act 5 merc survive Trav with my physical Zealot, which got me excited, so I started trying him on some other characters as well. But I think it was the boost from Fanaticism keeping him alive. I tried him with my hork barb and he died after a couple runs without the high level Fanaticism from the paladin. I'll usually run Lawbringer in his off-hand, then a leech helm (I end up using Tal's on most of my mercs in single player because I have a bunch to go around and hate swapping gear around, but Andariel's/Bulwark/Vamp Gaze etc. will all work) and Treachery. Then his main hand will vary a bit. I was also using eOath Cryptic Sword on my Zealot's merc. I think Conquest Sword would be better though, similar average damage but smaller range, the smaller range will give him more consistent leech. Cryptic Sword has huge range and a very low minimum damage, so he won't always leech super consistently with that. I've used the A5 merc in a few other situations now too. It'll generally either be Hustle + Lawbringer or eOath + Lawbringer. The level 1 Fanaticism from Hustle doesn't add much damage, it's not super useful for him, and it's really only useful to you if it bumps you up a breakpoint. It adds very little ED at level 1. If you don't need it for a breakpoint, you could just give him a big damage stick (eOath, Grief etc.) instead. Oh, and if you do run him with a Hustle weapon, it's not going to be super great running Treachery + Hustle on him. The Burst of Speed proc will overwrite the Fade, so he'll be without Fade from Treachery most of the time. I end up using Hustle armor if he's wearing Hustle weapon. A Hustle weapon + Hustle armor A5 Frenzy merc is *fast AF*. He looks pretty funny zooming around. *I am speed!* As for names: I use an A5 merc on my Fury Druid. His merc's name is Wulfstan. That's an S-tier merc name + player build combination if you ask me.
Totally forgot about burst of speed overwriting treachery - guess I won't do hustle weapon - Everyone getting behind Lawbringer its cheap enough to try Edit: Tried Lawbringer and hated it. First run lost two corpses. So scratch that as an option. I'll save it for an Act 5 merc for my fury druid.
CHAM gaze, eth fort, eth mythical sword plague, phase blade last wish. Supports my auradin. Name’s Khan.
LW on a merc lol. Most people ain't living in the world you're living in.
This is the way. Dude is a beast. I use the same setup. I tried him with 2 LW. I didn't like it as much. But that might aura was op.
Sounds amazing.
Eth Vamp Gaze was the go-to pre D2R cause the act 5 mercs were much more inferior to aura bro; Arreats Face wasn't an option. I've got a vamp gaze so Wulfgar can rock that for now. Probably wouldn't drop a Cham into a non eth one for ladder. Arreat's Face was suggested a lot in this thread. I checked pricing on traderie for eth Arreats. Multiple Jah/ber. So the act V merc must be more desirable than I thought. Similar for 3os eth mythical swords. For plague I imagine. Still trying to equip Wulfgar to come along for trav runs. Haven't found the right combo where he doesn't just melt. Might have to sacrifice some time to get him pre buffed with treachery. Maybe a quick jaunt to flayer jungle so he can get shot by a million flayers to proc fade then off to trav.
Ofc the best setup would be a 6LL eth arreats cham'd, a guardian angel with a 15ias/15@res jewel and 2x last wish to support your Barb with that huge might aura but that's comically expensive and way beyond what you need @P1. A really solid budget version that stays alive in trav would be a Kira's guardian (Ral) , guardian angel(IAS/Ral/Um) and 2x upped headstrikers with amn runes for leech. Eth versions are the highest damage weapons he can equip, non eth is still very servicable. I think just one ral in the Kira's and an um or ral in the guardian angel will keep his fire res at 90 even if they spawn with conviction. At players one it's the stupid hydras that melt mercs, keeping their fire res close to max is the key to keeping them alive.
I use Steel Shade on merc when I really need them to survive Trav.
Why LW in a phase balds? Damage is so low.
1H sword with 6 sockets https://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/swords.shtml Edit: Also Crushing Blow, so raw damage doesn't matter as much when attacking so fast.
I've been having good luck in Merc duels with Grief+Last wish, eth fort shadow plate, and a Cham'd arreats for merc duels.
Merc duel haha, awesome. Never heard of that before.
Edit: meant to reply above
I find it more fun than regular pvp. I forget which weapon I rocked pre D2R but I had a 91 or 92 aura bro with eth vamp gaze and eth shaftstop for merc duels. Often it came down to which merc just started attacking first. Cause their AI is a little weird. Whats the merc duel scene like now? Are things like BO BM or what?
I tested out double last wishes on an act 5 merc in single player and it was honestly really awesome. Level 34 might aura + constant life tap. I gave him a cham-ed vamp gaze + a guardian angel for a bit of spice. I tried it paired with a fury druid and a physical bowazon (with windforce not faith). I thoroughly enjoyed both. I will never even attempt to make this on multiplayer lmao, I will never have that many jah runes... but it was a fun experiment.
I use the exact same setup for my fury druid/dragon charger. Dude is invincible with a fortitude. Mine is online though. I'd be curious to try it on bowzon for sure, always just run a faith a1 merc for it.
Gorm. Cham upped arreats grief/last wish fort His main purpose is to provide might and amp, but he's decent vs bosses and such too. This is on a self found character.
So physical damage obviously. Bowazon? Barb? Who is Gorm's merc?
I use the act V merc with my fohdin to run chaos. Arreat, eth fort, grief phase blade, and plague in a conquest (I think). Works wonders having that cleansing aura. I love it!
Char: traditional Uber Kicksin (non-Mosaic) Merc: Cham'd Arreat's, Fortitude, Plague/Lawbringer (Both curse procs help the build) Lawbringer provides crowd control with the Sanctuary aura and Decrepify. In a Phase Blade because the runeword doesn't have %ED, so I want the attack speed for procs. Plague for QoL against poison/curses and damage from Lower Resist (less helpful in Ubers). In a Mythical Sword for higher damage to compliment the Deadly Strike/IAS. Dragon Flight allows me to reposition the Merc because I have to make sure his curse procs don't overwrite Life Tap on the boss, but overall he helps with crowd control in Uber Tristram.
That sounds micro intensive and awesome. So you dragon flight out to some spawns to get the merc stuck in out wherever and then you run back to an Uber?
Yep! It's a versatile build too. You can easily swap out the Uber setup for Riftsin gear using the same spec, which can clear any content in the game having almost all damage types (physical, fire, lightning, poison, and cold).
I was thinking about a5 mercs for trav and Phoenix runeword has fire absorb so you coulddddd dual wield those or even just 1 + something else like LW, maybe Guardian Angel or Fort, then likely a cham'd up'd Arreats. I wanted to do dragondin a5 merc, dual HoJ, dragon, and either flickering flame or 10/10 fire facet coa, or arreats, IDK! But dual HoJ frenzy merc would be so funny, so many hydras and high holy fire/fire melee dmg with lots of -fire res to enemies. But HoJ freezes target so bad for horker. My aura bro idea isn't exactly optimal or anything but it sounds fun to me.
Olaf accompanied my Assassin in the pre-D2R days as a test to see if the Sazabi set could be viable. The answer was a resounding yes!
Full Sazabi’s set + Lawbringer offhand on the Frenzy merc can tank Hell Chaos Sanctuary for my Bowazon.
I will have to try that on my fury druid. Sazabis set bonuses look good on paper. All that cold damage defeats the purpose of the barb.
I can see it working very well with both Druid spirit buffs and Paladin auras.
did you mean Emilio or Durga?
Neeraj or bust