Thanks for doing this. I do feel that he’s a bit too strong in his current state. Heck - he might kill more minions than a summon druid on a play through (seriously).
I think that ultimately, he’ll be VERY VERY strong with like B-C tier equipment and almost kill things as fast as the player! I don’t want the mercs to outshine the players (more like supplement them).
Sadly, I’m not sure HOW they should “nerf” this mercenary. Fundamentally, the movement/attack speed from frenzy is everything. Without it, they suck, with it they are OP.
It kind of depends. I am still unsure on how they function, since it seems his damage for both weapons is based on the stronger of the two . Not sure if this is a glitch, intentional, or the merc stat screen is lying. Does anyone know? My point being, do both weapons given to him provide their benefits? Could you put Grief and Doom on him and have both matter?
Not too strong, yes with a lot of investment they can do great damage. But for many builds Act 2 merc is still the best.
Act 1 has a few niche uses, could probably see a little more love. But at least not terrible now. For starters, increase the use of Inner Sight when fighting champs, elites, bosses would go a long way.
Act 3 is fun in concept and better than it was, but still bad. Elemental Masteries would allow for some good scaling.
His frenzy stats (skill lvl 13) at lvl 84:
+286% dmg (150 dmg% from frenzy, 136% from taunt synergy)
+184% AR
+7-37 IAS
+47-155 FWR
unpopular opinion: maybe switch to double swing? dont really know how the IAS calulation functions there, but it would get rid of the 155 FWR. havent thought this on through though.
Lvl 35 Double swing:
AR +185%
no clue how ias works here. read it is faster in forums though
Nope, it is not OC skill which can be used by any char (like BO from CtA), but Barb only, so he uses full bonus of 5 skill Frenzy lvls per one “Fury” weapon.
I did tests with the most damaging setups on hell mephisto because his hp value is fixed. 2x eth upped headstriker wins outright. To measure the real dps only, I didn’t give him any crushing blow in the form of guilli. You can check different setups in my channel:
To your info, as soon as I gave him guilli instead of arreat’s, he soloed hell mephisto in p1 in 21 seconds
This is very interesting actually, it looks like +Sword Mastery works for this Merc (from Bloodletter) , what is Your total Sword Mastery level from both swords (as it can have 2-4) ?
BloodletterGladius One-Hand Damage:
31 To 97 (64 Avg)
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 25
Durability: 54
Base Weapon Speed: [0]
+140% Enhanced Damage
Adds 12-45 Damage
+90 To Attack Rating
20% Increased Attack Speed
10% Slower Stamina Drain
8% Life Stolen Per Hit
+1-3 To Whirlwind (Barbarian Only) (varies)
+2-4 To Sword Mastery (Barbarian Only) (varies)
are you sure? i gave mine a barb helmet with + 1 blade mastery and nadir, the damage increased by 1 or 2 points, but i think it was because of the +5 str.
I don’t think he is too strong. He is well built for what he needs to do. I still think that all mercs will suffer without access to auras as they provide too much value for end game builds. If anything the act 5 merc should have more access to different weapons for even more versatility!
MacroBioBoi from Maxroll made a video on youtube about quite alot of the Frenzy mercs mechanics. Really informative, I definitely recommend that people look it up. The damage sheet that the merc has, lies quite alot, don’t trust it. 2 different weapons does benefit the merc, but depending on what affix it is, it’ll only be applied when he hits with that particular one. I’ll just say some examples: If weapon1 has 100-200 fire damage, the fire damage is only applied when he hits with weapon1, not weapon2. Another example which is slightly more in-depth, if you put Last Wish with 70% CB on mainhand and Kingslayer with 33% CB in offhand, the chance for CB with swings will go 70 → 33 → 70 → 33 → 70 etc since he alternates which weapon he attacks with, just like Frenzy on a barb. Out of 26 different affixes that I tested, the majority is “on corresponding weapon hit” while 3 was “on corresponding weapon kill” and 2 that was either inconclusive or hard to determine.
Switching to double swing would actually tune down his insane speed buffs and would be a reasonable way to "nerf’ him. Still on the fence how/if it needs to be nerfed. I DO want him to be a viable option and deal more damage than the act 2 merc.
me too. havent spend enough time to analyse him properly with numbers, etc. but thats a thing you can keep in the back of your head.
I DO want him to be a viable option
yeah me too. i just get an iffy feeling when i think of damage, ias (so super high life leech), super high defence (20k), dmg reduction from taunt (33% or so), super high fwr (155%). i would like to see him more in the region of offensive barb compared to the defensive version with knockback/bash/battle cry. but that would probably lead to him insta dying
Just tested 2xgrief and 2x eth upped headstriker setup with demonlimb charges. There was no difference probably because of my lvl 30 battle cry (-108%def, -54% dmg). 2x headstriker still wins.
For a class different from a barb or sorc demon limb charges might be more useful.
He is good not overpowered. But what about second barb merc? he feels incredibly weak when u compare him to new barb merc. Shouldnt he be buffed also or deleted? People will always take frenzy barb merc there is like no competition between those two.
well maxrol lupdate the planner and the new A5 Merc Barb can be simulated there…best results in planner
Baba Vs Mobs
No 1: Grief(MH for attack speed) + Eth Upped headstrike(Off hand)…(13.3k dmg)
No 2: 2X Eth Upper Headstriker + an expensive 30% ias 80% ED jeweled armor
to reach best ias bp(2 rare jewels to finish up the armor)(12k dmg)
Baba Vs Bosses
Grief + Lawbringer(Decripy Proc is a must)(15.7k dmg while boss is afflict by Decripy)
strangely Last Wish doesn’t deliver a good merc performance…nyway it cant be made in an Ethereal Axe so not even surprise
d2 maxroll gg/d2planner-ptr/wb0106ak
Hem wise there 2 options
Diadem as seen at the link(which is about 20% more dps than Arreat Face and 10% more chance to hit the enemies)
or Eth Arreat Face for highter resists and reach the 48% FHR bp(less time spent not hitting)
Merc can be lock in fhr animation at low % of fhr…idk if 24% from the armor would be enough to cover that
Armor ED for ppl that dunno how some stats work(1 Str = 1% ED for Barbs)
316% dmg to demons
156% dmg to other mobs type
note: Fortitude is a great go to Armor if cant afford rich man jewels XD
edit: actually scrap the armor i showcased…ar to demon dont seem to work on the merc(putting on and off the armor)…amusingly the 98% ar from Diadem does work lol…base on maxroll calculations
Arreat’s face is a very subpar choice damage wise as is last wish for a frenzy barb. Always problematic when some streamers try to claim a last wish pb would be a good choice or arreat’s face, for it looks nice.
None of the combinations you mentioned are the strongest. I found out which one is the best in real life but will disclose when I have all the items myself first
I can only tell any combination with arreat is bellow par, same with last wish.
