Mercenary discussion. which is the best?

General Discussion
1

Most popular mercenary has always been act 2 merc. and then now people start using act 5 merc too. Act 1 is next follow by least popular should be act 3 merc.
For act 2 and act 5 merc i did some comparison on the chart listed. Anyone can still advice which is the best merc or best set up?

Mercenary act 2
Items
Armor Weapon (infinity 325ED) Helm Attk Frame Jab dmg/sec Attack/sec
Fort (300ED) Infinity GT Andariel with 15 ias jewel 11 18337 7885
Fort (300ED) Infinity Thresher Andariel with 15 ias jewel 11 18201 7827
Fort (300ED) Great poleaxe Andariel with 15 ias jewel 12 18457 7933
Fort (300ED) Mancatcher Andariel with 15 ias jewel 10 18042 7764
Fort (300ED) Cryptic axe Andariel with 15 ias jewel 12F jab/13F atk 19344 7672
Treachery Infinity GT Andariel with 15 ias jewel 9F jab/10F atk 13466 4927
Treachery Infinity Thresher Andariel with 15 ias jewel 9F jab/10F atk 13371 4893
Treachery Great poleaxe Andariel with 15 ias jewel 10 13250 5378
Treachery Mancatcher Andariel with 15 ias jewel 9 12114 4936
Treachery Cryptic axe Andariel with 15 ias jewel 11 12598 5110
Fort (300ED) Infinity GT Andariel 12 16809 7228
Fort (300ED) Infinity Thresher Andariel 12 16684 7175
Fort (300ED) Great poleaxe Andariel 12F jab/13F atk 18457 7323
Fort (300ED) Mancatcher Andariel 11 16402 7058
Fort (300ED) Cryptic axe Andariel 14F jab/15F atk 16580 6649
Mercenary act 5
Items
Armor Weapon Helm Attk Frame Frenzy dmg/sec Attack/sec
Fort (300ED) last wish PB & plague PB Arreat wit 15/15 jewel 11F / 10.5 atk 24564 8177
Fort (300ED) last wish PB & plague PB Arreat wit 15/40 jewel 11F / 10.5 atk 23951 8082
Treachery last wish PB & plague PB Arreat wit 15/15 jewel 10F / 9.5 atk 20411 5983
Fort (300ED) 2x upped eth headstriker w 15/15 Arreat wit 15/15 jewel 13 35707 9152
Fort (300ED) 2 x grief Arreat wit 15/15 jewel 10 34104 11172
2

Act 2 mercenaries have auras.
Thus, there is no point in using the other mercs, because they don’t add 50% slow to all enemies, +250%-310% defense to both you and themselves, triple your attack rating, or add 260-300% to your or your summons damage fully equipped.

…

Like.
Why would you want any other mercenary?
Only as a paladin or sorceress would I consider an act 5 or act 1 mercenary.

But act 1’s AI is not good enough to survive anything, and act 5 mercenary doesn’t add any bonuses.

Defiance mercenary on a paladin makes him untouchable.
Holy freeze makes life extremely easy for any class, halving the pace at which things happen around you.

…

All mercenaries would have needed auras or actual bonuses to take them above the act 2 mercenary in damage output or defense to be viable.

3 Likes
3

This is due to your lack of imagination or understanding how to make A5 or even A1 merc usefull in any character build.

1 Like
4

Simply untrue.
I have 2 melee Pally’s (Zealot lvl97 and Tesla lvl95), and the Act 1 merc(s) pairs very well.

5

Even if it is useful, it’s not optimal. There are very few builds if I can even think of any, where it is the best choice to use something other than a2 merc. I won’t say there are none. Blessed aim/might/holy freeze/defiance and even prayer are too good. Most of the merc runewords are for polearms, and I’ll hold my breath for a 1 handed infinity sword + insight. I wouldn’t mind a plague cryptic axe though.

6

A2 merc doesn’t need more good gear. Other merc need more options to further close the gap. They need expensive stuff to realy shine, but i hope that changes in the future.

1 Like
7

Wow, the eth Headstrikers beat out Griefs. :exploding_head:

I saw some guides that said that for A5 dual-wielding merc, if you equip just one weap that it doubles it (as if equipped 2 of same). Is that still true?

8

Nah it was hotfixed.

9

A1 merc is incredible on summon druid thanks to inner sight. Infinity would be the only other way too boost ravens hit chance, the main damage source of druid summons.

And her budget bow gives her thorns aura and the BiS bow gives her concentration.

1 Like
10

A5 merc can use 2x Last Wish for lv34 might aura. Some melee class might use it. In most situations, A2 merc is the best overall due to the flexibility of their auras.

People already proved that A5 merc with 2x 15/40ed headstriker + diadem with 3x 15/40ed got the highest DPS in all merc, but such a A5 merc can barely kill anything fast enough on 8p Throne and Chaos. We can see that merc can only play a support role, not DPS.

11

This is like glass cannon build. Unless the merc have armor that have life leech if not this merc wont survive long in 8p if it had no leech. Arreats is still good i think because of the leech, +skills and bonus to attack rating. Act 5 frenzy merc need alot attack rating i guess.

12

There is something called Jewelers Diadem of Lamprey

1 Like
13

Like
I said myself:

Act 1 and 3 mercenaries need YOU to be their tank.

Act 5 mercenaries needs your aura or curses.

Act 2 mercenaries are the only ones that adds to your power or defense WHILE they are able to tank.

Act 5 mercenaries can probablt survive on their own pretty well – but they don’t slow enemies to 50% movement speed and attack speed.
Nor do they double your defense.
Or improve your chance to hit by orders of magnitude.
Or add bonuses to your summons.

1 Like
14

Yes A1 and A5 will not give your character direct benefits(unless you use expensive endgame items with auras). But once you learn to appreciate the CC and debuffs they can give, and learn how to play that way you’ll realise they are sometimes better than an A2 merc. For example: any poison build would use an A5 Plauge merc. I gave my summoner Druid a Faith bow and now, an A1 cold merc freezez whole screens for my zoo. A5 can not be out tanked by A2 merc even with Deffiance aura. If you have all day you can look at your A5 deal with Ubers on their own with the right setup. And that is key, equping them with the right items, and they can become beyond usefull, compared to an A2 merc. A1 could use a new set of options unlocked for them, and if A5 would gain access to axe type weapons, he could easily dethrone A2 merces. RN i always choose A5 over A2, just because of shear boredom of haveing yet another A2 merc instead of something else, and did not regret it.

1 Like
15

I really like Rogues. I prefer cold, but fire is useful too. The key to making them work is getting some tanks to protect them. For example a decoy + valkyrie. If you have that, your Rogue will never stop shooting. Then you give her Treachery + Rogue Bow, and watch the fireworks.

I played an Immolation zon and used a cold rogue to kill fire immunes. It was really effective. She turns Fallen into ice cubes, and as a fire build that’s really satisfying.

1 Like