Has anyone run a Hand of Justice and Double Dragon setup with an A3 merc alongside a Tesladin? Is this dope or just a waste of high priced items on a crappy merc?
Under the current build its worthless. You have stacked up a really nice holy fire aura going but that’s it. A3 mercs don’t swing their swords they just use them as a decoration while they cast spells. So all the added damage to the melee attack is wasted. They also do not have a mastery so there is no synergy from fire mastery that would help the aura.
The only thing that seems to help is the -20 fire resists from Hand of Justice. The bad news there is the +2 to all skills from Spirit outdoes it in damage.
They should be announcing the changes to A3 mercs shortly so I’d stay tuned. If add mastery the aura would get better but the underlying damage an A3 merc does spell based so +skills is the best option in gearing out your A3 Merc.
A3 merc Doesnt have enough Dex to run phase blade 
Basically, with the proposed changes to boost Holy Fire (which remains to be seen), I’m wondering if an A3 Merc running Hand of Justice, Dragon armor, Dragon shield, and some helm (Crown of Thieves works at level 91?) that allows for the equipping of these items, would compliment a Tesladin moreso than the standard Reaper’s Toll setup.
In and of itself, the level 46 Holy Fire from the Merc is probably underwhelming without the passive boost from Salvation and Resis Fire, but with the Conviction and Holy Shock from the Tesladin, is it enough of a boost to make you a walking one-shot pulser in P1?
I have the capability currently to run the Auradin and while this stronger than the Telsadin in terms of pulsing, it kills the ability to use Enigma, which is just too valuable in terms of navigating maps and resetting your Merc.
I did try running my HoJ and Dragon armor on the A3 Merc and it probably isn’t worth it. Just wondering if adding in the Dragon shield would change my mind.
The A3 Merc is a mage not a build that actually hits with it’s sword. It’s damage is Fireball, not an attack with it’s weapon. The additional damage from the Holy Fire will not increase the damage on the fireball it will add to the sword attack damage. As the Wolves don’t swing their swords all of that extra damage is worthless.
We do not know yet if they get a mastery, if they do it will help the fire damage. The only thing you get out of it is the Aura which does maybe 150 damage per ‘trigger.’
The normal gear you would want to put on an Iron Wolf is: Spirit Sword, Shako, Vipermage, Lidless. The only thing that benefits it is Faster Cast and + to skills. I would probably pair an A3 merc with a Conviction Pally or other Physical attacker that can use the AR from Enchant or CC of Ice Blast.