Yes I still see no use for the other mercs if nothing is done to their weapon selection so why not add additional auras them.
Remove prayer/defiance/blessed aim from Act 2 merc
Add
Blessed aim to act1 merc
Meditation to act3 merc
Shout to act5 merc
I am forced to agree with you. Despite the improvements to the other mercs, they still pale in comparison to a2 mercs. While I feel that just simply giving the other mercs auras is a lazy solution, I don’t really see any other alternatives. The auras just make a2 mercs vastly superior to other mercs 99% of the time. Not to mention only they have access to Infinity runeword, which is undoubtedly by far best option for any elemental build.
This is a lazy solution and I think they should be forced to do better. Each merc should be able to stand on it’s own and have a good reason to use it aside from the aura. I prefer to see aura’s as an A2 only thing because that forces them to raise the bar on the other mercs and keep the theme of them.
from another Better Place suggestions
A1- Cold Arrow + Meditation Aura (because actully can with the Bow Insight Runeword)
A1- Fire Arrow + Vigor Aura
A2 - Defiance aura
A2 - Blessed Aim
A3 - Holy Freeze/Fire/Shock respectively
A5 - Might
this will increase the usage of any Merc for every Build needs, not just the classic OP A2 Merc.
You need to freeze the MOB with Holy Freeze ok you might add Infinity aura on A2 Merc, you need a Killing machine that regenrates mana ok use a A2 Might aura merc, or Slow down mob withHoly Freeze A2 Aura merc that also regenrates mana… ok well Just use an A2 merc for whatever you need…
agreed. stop washing down class identities/fantasies the mercs are supposed to represent. i think they did a good job on the a5 there. he is very similar to a2 holy freeze statwise, but on a barbarian way with battle cry. the only way auras should be implemented on them should be itemization.
Disagree, auras are way too powerful and it’s really hard to balance around it, plus act 2 merc is not a paladin so no real identity there, many monsters in the game also have auras, it’s a diablo 2 thing not specific to paladins.
heavily disagree. there is very little difference in power between battle cry and holy freeze. -49% damage and -90% defense vs 50% slow down (so basically 50% damage reduction). finding such neeches would mean not sacrificing their identities. Inner Sight = AR boost vs Act 2 blessed aim. blessed aim give a AR bonus of 500%, inner sight reduces enemy defense to almost 0 (so basically even stronger than blessed aim).
That vigor aura from PD2 A1 merc was a godsend. I still miss it.
except battlecry is dog%$it, It’s trash for players 1, the uptime is really low since he doesnt cast often and it takes the debuff slot.
the debuff thing is valid criticism. i say don’t put it in the curses category, similar like inner sight.
regarding uptime: atm the cast chances/attack chances for an act 5 merc at level 58 are:
50/165 normal attack
50/165 bash
50/165 stun
15/165 Battle cry
roughly 10% to cast battle cry, which lasts around 45-60 seconds. meaning he has to attack 10 times in that timeframe for it to be on constantly. i say that is easily achievable. think atm they modified act 5’s ai to only cast it after the duration is gone as a last minute fix for the curses problem. not an optimal solution. if it was moved out of the curses category, it would mean a significant increase in reliability.