Don't be shy, give other mercs Auras

General Discussion
1

An easy, elegant fix to make the other mercs more viable and open up way more fun build combinations. These would all fit thematically very well, too.

Rogues
|Blessed Aim aura.|
-This naturally fits thematically, and opens up a great niche for physical fighters especially in the early game. Between inner sight and blessed aim, you’ll get a great bonus to your ability to land blows on enemies. Freezing arrow is a nice CC option, too.

Iron Wolves
|Holy Elements auras.| (Holy Shock, Fire, Freeze).
-Again, a very natural fit. This bumps up their AOE damage which is lacking, further solidifies them as the master of their element, and for the Ice merc, instantly makes him viable due to the excellent utility holy freeze brings. Static Field and Enchant were excellent first steps, these auras propel them into viable options.

Barbarians
|Vigor Aura.| Also, as a general change, let curses stack with other classes of debuff, such as Battle Cry.
-Between these two changes, you get unique utility from the Barbarian, and by letting curses stack with Battle Cry, there are no reservations about giving him a Lawbringer to use, for example.

With the above changes, you provide a ton of great utility to the other mercs and make them attractive options. The act 2 merc still remains extremely powerful with the Might, Defiance etc. auras and itemization potential (Infinity, Pride, Reaper’s Toll, etc.)

This is not a cop out nor a lazy idea - Act 2 Mercs are not Paladins and thus it doesn’t make more sense for them to specifically have auras and not the other mercs. Arguably, Blessed aim on a Rogue makes 100x more sense than it being on a Desert Mercenary.

13 Likes
2

sounds great and all

3

Omg no more auras to items or merc… We already have enough.

If we want to boost these merc, there is easy logical solution. Weapon masteries, elemental masteries for act 3 mercs. Hmm maybe also berserk to barbarians.

2 Likes
4

To be honest, you can use runewords to give them auras, but I would suggest letting the barb merc use battle orders and/or battle command, letting the act 3 mercs cast enchant on you, and letting the act 1 mercs be able to hit you with friendly fire.

5

? You can only use one merc. Everyone uses an Act 2 Merc already. This will let people use other mercs and we will have just as many auras as we already do.

Why are you against it?

1 Like
6

Because I dont like to have aura on everything. Just because we have auras on act 2 mercs doesnt mean we should add it to all others where there are other better and more logical way how to improve them.

For example:

Rogue - passive pierce, guided arrow
Act 3 mercs - cold mastery, Lightning mastery, Fire mastery,
Barbarians - berserk, allow them use axes and maces

1 Like
7

That’s still not going to ever be on par with the insane utility auras provide and people will continue to use Act 2 mercs 95% of the time. Those Rogue buffs will do nothing, Iron Wolf buffs will do little, and Barbarian Buffs will also do nothing.

They need a reason to be used over Act2 mercs in more than the most hyperniche scenarios.

I still don’t see WHY you are against auras other than “I don’t want em.” I’m not getting an actual reason.

8

So we need to have all mercs with insane utility? Thats bad solution.

Mercs are not supposed to be your boosters. They are additional fighting power to help you in certain places where your character have issues with immunities for example.

9

We need to have all Mercs be on par with Act 2 mercs. It’s not a bad solution because we literally already have insane power in Act 2 mercs - this just opens up diversity. You’re okay with everyone only ever using act 2 mercs?

Tell that to act 2 mercs.

2 Likes
10

Not true, it will make them more viable. It will improve them so they can actualy fight better and offer something unique.

11

And my suggestion i used as example will make them better.

No, thats why is blizz making other better and why i made suggestion how to make them better too. But more auras is just bad decision because auras affect whole group, not just your merc and you.

12

Look i am not fully against your ideas, if you want to remove blessed aim from act 2 merc and give it to rogue and remove holy freeze from act 2 merc and give it to a t 3 merc i would be fine with that.

But giving holy fire, holy shock and holy freeze to them doesnt make much sense from gameplay perspective because these 3 auras are design for fighters. For attacking with weapons. Act 3 mercs are casters.

Just letting act 5 merc to use axes and maces would be great boost to them you can give them more option. Berserk would give them new dmg type, which is very usefull for dealing with Physical immunities for certain builds.

Lets not have merc just for their aura. We should hire them to help us fight in certain ways, to hire than for what they represents, for their figh style and different ways of attacking. We should not hire mercs to get auras to boost our character because then group play is joke when auras are on everything. We would sooner not need paladin at all when we will have so many his skills on so much stuff.

13

I’m sorry, but guided arrow and pierce on a merc is not going to give anywhere near the value that might or holy freeze gives. Not even on the same planet.

Well I should have clarified, that’s exactly what I intend. With this A2 mercs only give defiance, prayer, thorns, and might. That way if you want the freeze you have to use an A3 merc.

The auras also do aoe damage, and of course holy freeze has the cc component which matches the cold a3 merc who generally deals less damage and focuses on freezing. Also as I understand it, they do occasionally swing their sword (could be wrong.) Honestly even just the holy freeze for the a3 merc, and just buffing the enchant / static field (and spell damage) on the others would be fine with me.

1 Like
14

It is anything but elegant in my opinion

it just devalues paladin and a whole bunch of items giving auras.

15

act 2 mercs are used because:

a) they have the highest DPS themselves due to might & jab and availability of high damage polearms

b) because they can wield infinity and reapers toll

Nobody uses defiance, thorns, prayer mercs. As for Blessed Aim merc, rogue and barb achieve the same if not better effect with reducing enemy defense (depends on how much +%AR you already have)

Only the might merc is used to “boost” some characters.

16

Excuse me sir :slight_smile: i use defiance and prayer :slight_smile:

17

Sounds great from a balance perspective, but it breaks the lore and diversity of each of the mercs.

18

Agreed, Need to spread the aura’s around and make all mercs viable for different builds and overall variety.

19

There’s no reason in the lore that act 2 mercs would have auras, and if anything this adds diversity, not takes it away

1 Like
20

Act 2 mercs are Paladin ish. It is reasonable they have auras. A1 and A3 are fine as they are, they jsut need a bit of balancing and AI tweaking. A5 warcries make me cry - the answer for them HAS to be wielding 2x swords.