I recently found my first Lo and I’d like to make a Fortitude for my merc. I have yet to see a white or gray Archon Plate drop despite countless lvl 85 runs with low MF. I’ve found plenty of every other elite amror bases except the Archon Plate. I did, however, find a nice Eth Wire Fleece with 667 defense that I ran through the cube for 4 sockets. Initially I wanted to create a non-eth Fortitude in an Archon Plate to switch between my merc and barb, but now I’m wondering if I should just drop it into the eth Wire Fleece and call it a day. My merc currently has an eth Insight Thresher and a Crown of Thieves (still waiting for an Andariel’s Visage). Thanks!
What armor is your Merc wearing now? In any case if it were me I’d wait a bit keep farming and playing for the right base, just give your Merc any Treachery in the meantime, it’ll be essentially just as good
2 Likes
personally if you are not rich in game currency dont make eth armor , because you are able to share this armor to other character
2 Likes
Wear it on the barb. 300% ed and archers get slowed! If you do have better, make a grief!
In terms of eth armours for mercs, any will do that have high defense, reasonable requirements and don’t slow down movement.
Also, could make a doom for a might merc. Coooool
Don’t waste it on low def eth armor. Wait for the drop
2 Likes
I’d make Fortitude in a non eth Archon Plate to share with my bowazon for example or other chars.
However, I used my first (traded) Lo for Grief (and rolled a 400 
) in order to farm Council…
Gotta say, that RNG is still playing tricks on me, but at least doing Council is more tolerable than doing cows. I don’t think i’ll soon lose the urge to throw a long stick whenever i hear “mooooo!”
1 Like
As long as you don’t put it in something like sacred plate, I doubt it makes a lick of difference. The merc should have like 190 str around level 90 or so.
here is the options that i would go for:
- wait for non-eth archon plate IF you know you will be using this fortitude also for your own character at some point
- wait for eth sacred armor if its ONLY for your merc
- while you havent found the right base for fortitude → save your Lo Rune and build a treachery in any 3 soc armor, preferably also with high def of course but since you are not wasting a highrune here, it not that importnat, you can build a better treachery very easily. Treachery is almost as good as fortitude, only thing annoying, that it needs to proc Fade before it actually makes your merc tanky.
1 Like
I’d go for anything between Balrog Skin and Lacquered Plate, unless you want the merc to use Gface and wait till your merc hits level 97, or Andy’s helm and wait till your merc hits level 86-89 to use the Sacred Armour.
thats wrong, if merc uses andariels visage (which needs lvl 83 to wear) he gets 25-30 strength, eth sacred armor needs 222 str, so depending on andariel’s roll, the merc will need 192-197 str.
so worst case he needs level 89, best case he needs level 86.
here you can look up his str per lvl: Diablo 2 Resurrected Best Builds, Guides, and News - Diablo 2 Resurrected - Icy Veins
i would only go for eth sacred armor as it has highest defense and best for late game
You dont even know the basics
Yet in half the ptr buff requests you act like a pro and claim it is already good enough and no buff is needed
Personally one of my hobbies is saving up enough runes for a Fortitude, then making it a normal armour (as in, not exceptional or elite) and then posting screenshots of that just to trigger people.
1 Like
My bad. I meant to say gface instead but had just gone to bed so wasn’t going to check until waking up. With Andy’s helm yes you can wear it earlier. Edited my previous post.
It’s also probably worth mentioning that defense also varies unless you get a superior eth sacred armour dropped with +defense on it, so better to aim for a defense target like 750+ before ed because honestly… you could find 1, 2 or 3 more Lo runes by the time you find said superior eth sacred armour.
I had to troll through my activity history on this forum to find out who this person (you) is that needs to get their stick out of their ****
Good to know I was living in your head rent free for the last 2 weeks even though all I did was just being candid and honest, which then proceeded with YOU being rude to not just me but to others as well all because…
…you realised daddy Blizzard isn’t going to make you a new toy you can use before you go through blood, sweat and tears to make your first ever fortitude. Just wow…
The above was just a simple clerical error which I have corrected, so a couple of life advices:
- Don’t confuse a mistake with incompetence
- Build a bridge and get over it
Thanks for all of the input. I currently have a Treachery in a Dusk Shroud, and a Smoke in a Wymhide that I’ve been using on my mercs. Like I said, I would like a non-eth Archon Plate to put it in, but I can seem to get one to drop anywhere. Their survivability isn’t terrible, but I’d really like the enhanced damage and defense of Fortitude.
1 Like
honestly don’t bother making fortitude in an eth armor for merc unless you have a spare Lo.
I slapped my archon fortitude on my merc and he never dies either except to elemental dmg and armor doesn’t help that.
At least I can use my fortitude on my other chars as well
Im 99% sure putting it in Sacred Armour will make your merc (or you) walk at a snails pace. Heavy armours are prohibitive for run speed.
Just drop it into the wire fleece and call it a day.
Mercs perform at high levels with any Eth Fortitude.
Guarantee you the difference between his performance wearing Eth Wire Fleece vs. Eth Archon or even Sacred Armor, will be barely noticeable if noticeable at all.
What’s more important is the weapon he uses, his frames per attack, and his life leach.
Fun fact: Sacred armor is actually medium. Anyway, heavy armor is just a 10% penalty (sacred get 5).
1 Like
This is good advice. I’m personally doing this on an non-eth Arcob plate (traded for a Lem), switching it between my MF sorc and new Bowzon.