Act 3 merc: Buff strength on act III merc, Allow insight to be on shields or allow them to wield 2h staves.
Was inspired to argue for this more from the points brought up by @CharlesJT in
Season 4 - Buff Low Level Melee Runewords about the use case of insight on a shield.
I think the Act III merc is slept on in terms of how good he is when looked at in isolation. The changes to the Act 3 merc in D2R were phenomenal. The Act 3 merc can provide utilities and skills that are greatly sought after in some of the best runewords and unique items in the game with the fire merc providing enchant, and the lightning providing static field; chilling armor is meh, but glacial spike and ice blast are arguably just as good if not better than act1’s frozen arrow, but provides better survivability for the merc than the act 1 has.
The lightning merc esp. has the ability to be able to backline packs of enemies, which is great for any melee character
- Act 1 merc without any piercing mechanic can’t hit a backline of enemies in front of your character. the lightning merc both with static field as well as with lightning can hit and kill these enemies.
- Act 2 can’t hit the back line at all with his attack, and doesnt do enough damage with Holy Freeze to actually kill the backline, the lightning sorc can.
Just to point out, these are all lvl 20 skills on a lvl 70 merc. A lvl 20 enchant? That’s almost a 200% boost to attack rating plus the fire dmg, can’t get that utility outside obedience or running as an enchantress yourself. A lvl 20 static field is more than 25% of the screen from the target the merc casts it on. 25% of life from every effected enemy on 25% of the screen for each cast.
So the question is, why aren’t people running the Act III merc if all these things are so good? The answer is, he doesn’t have access to anything that people are using mercs for. Useable auras to effect your build.
Act 1 can use:
- Edge for thorns.
- Harmony for vigor
- Insight for meditation
- Ice for Holy Freeze
- Faith for fanaticism
- Mist for concentration
Act 2 merc can use:
- Pride for concentration
- Infinity for conviction
- Insight for meditation
- Doom for holy freeze
All of these on top of what their base character provides.
the Act 3 merc has:
Sword:
- Plague for cleansing
- Last wish for might
- Lawbringer for sanctuary
Shield:
- Phoenix for redemption
- Dream for Holy Shock
- Dragon for holy fire.
The highest rune necessary for the accessible runewords to use on the act 1 merc with insight is is a sol rune, a lvl 27 req. Even less for edge with an amn. Also, a 4os bow or spear/polearm is very much accessible in comparison to a 4os monarch on an act 3 merc or the Lem rune required for Lawbringer, the only runeword that provides a somewhat tangible to attain, and even then, its not nearly as useful as any of the innate act 2 auras, the thorns from edge, or meditation from insight that an act 1 or Act 2 merc can utilize early and forever. All of the rest that an Act 3 merc can use require at least a Sur+multiple other high runes.
One problem with implementing this:
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The Act 3 merc can’t run any 4os shield because the Act 3 merc doesn’t attain enough strength per lvl to wield one. They start at 33 strength and gain ~1.2 strength per lvl. At lvl 98 they have 153 strength. This makes it impossible for an Act 3 merc to wield a 4os monarch (lowest str Req) innately without some significant buffs to strength from other gear.
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This is also the problem that the Act 3 merc has with running a spirit shield, which is crucial for them to get to FCR breakpoints that actually make them use their abilities, regardless of your take on insight on shields, bringing up the strength on the iron wolves would benefit them with more FCR/resistance options with spirit.
Providing insight on a shield might shift the meta a bit, but I think it’s negligible. if you choose to wear it on a shield yourself it would diversify all mercenaries more with weapon choice, by allowing them to not need to run insight and it would make the act 3 merc viable. The runes required are equatable in terms of accessibility between spirit and insight, and the point in which you can get a 4os shield just provides you with more than 1 option to use at the point you could make one, and it would allow for a different build of gear around the resistances you gain depending which you choose to use.
This all could be done as a solution to allow the act III merc to be viable, OR, you could change nothing except allow them to wield 2-handed staves, which is already available for insight. That’d be a simpler solution, but not as fun to present changes for 