The new changes to mercenary are intresting but act 2 mercenaries are still the way to go for the majority of build, since they have auras and they can provide Conviction thanks to Infinity Runeword.
Some suggestion to solve the problem:
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allow Infinity Runeword to be made in bow and sword, so that all the mercenaries can provide endgame conviction aura (which is almost mandatory for all elemental build to reach the highest dps configuration and break immunities). They have done something similar with Insight Runeword with bow and crossbow.
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create some other Runewords with conviction aura for other mercenaries
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give other intresting auras to act1, act3 and act5 mercenaries or buff them even more
11 Likes
giving everyone the same aura is just boring. its like DoS 2, where everything is so balanced that magic just becomes a different color/animation. barb got a new way to break immunities, plague. and its working well. you can break 111% light immunities with it. id agree thought that the a3 merc could use a bit more skill level buffs for his attack spells.
That works for you? You have test it?
First, it only procks on hitā¦ yeah slow kill speed if you have to wait for that.
Then the new shout from the barb override it.
Act 2 > all
i did. he only had a thieves crown on. and a bo. 3.5 k life and he would barely die. the shout is annoying, but right now the ai is scripted that he only shouts after the 50 seconds time has passed. i suggested taking battle cry and taunt out of the curses type, sothat they do not anymore override curses. that would be a good solution. kill speed will be slower, but you also only pay a cham for it, not double ber. and my merc cast it within the first 3 hits of the enemy, during the whole encounter with that mob he casted it like 5 times.
I wonder if this āAuraā issue can be solved in a different way ā¦ for example, since Developers want to buff Set items, why not add as a bonus for full set of certain class also certain Aura , not the highest level, but middle, so the people are motivated to complete Sets designed for their chars ? After all, when You now complete set, there is Aura-glowing effect. So that would be something like this :
- For Mavina Zon complete Set, You also get lvl 10 Holy Freeze Aura , it is meant for FrostMaiden, so You can go different route then Ice Bow
- For Sorc Tal Rasha Set, You Get Redemption or Mediation, for Mana issues
- For Barb full IK, You get Might or Concentration
etc
- For Pala, since he has Auras at disposal, for Griswold set he gets +1 Teleport , so no need for Enigma
Dont know if this would give sense, but just an idea, to motivate people for the complete class Setsā¦
4 Likes
You see the problem right. All the good stuff is a2 merc only. Adding Innersight to bows was a great move, shouldāve done that for Infinity too. Also Plague is pretty pointless on A5 merc because he always cancels out LR. They could allow it in shields, and you can pop it on an A3 merc.
1 Like
make the runeword on on striking the barb shout to Battle Command (that not to op) and im fine with it
1 Like
A good chance to cast āLower Resistā on striking (33% or more) can be an intresting solution, altought less effective than Infinity Runeword. It shoud eventually be put in an helm, so that even act1 rouge mercenary can take advantage from it.
Anyway, i really hope devs think of something effective to solve the problem or iām afraid we will see, as always, act2 mercenary for almost all the build.
A good chance to cast āLower Resistā on striking (33% or more)
i think that is way to op. on strike would mean you just have to click 3 times instead of 1 time to cast lower res. absolutely op considering cost of the runeword. a smiter only has like 5% chance to proc life tap, yet it is still on CONSTANTLY. these suggestions are just op.
I donĀ“t say 33%, it is still 20% ā¦ every 5 hit.
Infinityworks instant.
And damn, cham is the second highest rune out there. You need 4 ber to cube it 
Ber is only that expensiv, because of Eni and Infinityā¦ make chams great again.
With that change you can use it on the act 3 merc too.
Endgame still Infinity.
1 Like
Milox, You have to realize that, with infinity, the debuff is stronger than lower res and always UP. So no, 33% on striking in a mercenary weapon itās not OP, itās still worse than infinity.
You have to make serious comparison with infinity runeword: if itās not a viable alternative to infinity, no serious player will use it on mercenary because itās simply not smart.
Thatās the important thing to understand, thatās what dev shoud consider. Take that in consideration for future feedback
This would allow us to use this rw on our sorce without losing the shield
I always wanted to stack med and convic on my sorce
1 Like
and you should realize that some people lack self awareness and just want what they like to have an advantage. its human nature. that impulse leeds to power creeps. they just rationalize/self deceive their way into why the changes would be good/not overrpowered. hence those āargumentsā usually fall apart after a few counterarguments. plague isnt meant to be on the same level as infinity. you have infinity for that. it is meant to be a budget version. less reliable, less strong, but cheaper. bers are much more worth than cham and you cant cube cham down so it doesnt matter if you need 4 bers to make it. try finding a player that would trade your 1 cham for 2 bers.
With that change you can use it on the act 3 merc too.
no you cant, it is on strike, not on cast. a3 dont hit with his sword except for very rare instances.
I dont want power creep too.
Infinity is still endgame, even with that changes.
But i think i dont use the act 5 merc with plague, i will save the āmoneyā for more usefull power upgrades und skip the immunties.
And that ber > cham is only a stupid game/item desgin ;).
actions speak louder than words. especially with self deception. there is a reason why self deceptions has established itself from an evolutionary biologist view. it is effective.
Infinity is still endgame, even with that changes.
but it moves plague dangerously close in terms of effectiveness (cast rate vs mobs would be significantly lower).
and considering the price is lower that would put the cost efficiency way above infinity. and that is why you want that change.
And that ber > cham is only a stupid game/item desgin ;).
its a law of economics.
As mentioned before, either is an alternative to infinity (or close to that) or no serious player will consider it for endgame. Period.
We donāt ask for a better infinity, we ask for a viable infinity alternative that allows serious player to use other mercenaries and still be competitive.
If they donāt do so, act2 mercenary will remain the obvious option, which is bad in my opinion and against the intention of provide diversity with this patch.
and as i mentioned, homogenizing the mercs would lead to the same problem DoS2 suffers. every magic school is the same with a different color. act 2 holy freeze basically offers a damage reduction (through holy freeze). act 5 merc offers damage reduction and -defense reduction through battle cry. they use the same gear. they like the same women, eat 3 eggs and bacon for breakfast and hate sports. just one has muscle optics and the other one chain male.
there is a reason why they only offered insight to a ranged character (the rogue) and not to the barb, who would have similar function (melee, tanking) and stats as the act 2
Plague / Lower Resist:
Resist All ā% 57
Infinity / Conviction:
Resist All ā% 85
On top of that you get a second merc aura who deals a lot of more damage with Infintiy then your Act 5 merc.
And every curse / shout overrides it.
Its not close, its only viableā¦ cham gets more value and that sounds good for me.
law of economicsā¦ and economics still can change
EDIT: Damn you even can cast lower res with a wand and its faster then that supid merc with plague.
1 Like
I agree with DIS.
Milox, i respect your opinion, itās clear that you care about the game. But either is viable or no one will use it, thatās the simple truth, donāt you think? Why use a worse alternative if there is a clearly superior one? It makes no sense.
If you are afraid that, with the same aura, merc will be too similar than propose a different alternative to solve the problem, like Adventurer did. But it must solve the mention problem or go near to the solution to be constructive feedback
Resist All ā% 57
Infinity / Conviction:
Resist All ā% 85
it deals less damage and is less reliable to cast, but its also available much faster ingame due to cost. that is a good tradeoff. you want to take 1 part of the equasion (less reliable) out. but that wold not add up to justifying the faster availability. breaking immunities is too good of an attribute to just weight it again 28% more damage.
law of economicsā¦ and economics still can change
better endgame gear will always be worth more than midgame. a ferrari will always be worth more than a toyota, eventhouhgh the toyota has a better price efficiency. the new runewords that use cham are below overall strength compared to their alternatives. 1 cham will never be tradable for 2 bers, even for 1.
EDIT: Damn you even can cast lower res with a wand and its faster then that supid merc with plague.
try breaking lightning immunities in hell with a lvl 2 lower res wand. id like to see that. please also do that on hardcore.