For Season 6, I urge the developers to consider a few buffs to our trusted companions. The most attention should be given to Iron Wolves as these elemental sorcerers are still underperforming…
All Mercenaries
Poison will no longer kill your merc while in town (lowers to 1 HP)
Prevent Monster Heal will now work on your merc, just like Open Wounds
Mercenaries will have improved AI. Few examples include the following:
Rogue Scout will have better attack frequency and melee avoidance
Desert Mercenary will immediately activate aura
Iron Wolf will cast Enchant when no enemies are around and cast Static Field more often when monsters with high life are around
Act 1 Rogue Scouts
Can now equip Crossbows
New Physical Rogue variant w/ skills:
Magic Arrow, Guided Arrow, Slow Missiles
Act 2 Desert Mercenaries
No changes
Act 3 Iron Wolves
Gains +sorceress skills from gear
Can now block with equipped Shield
Baseline Strength increased by 35
Can now equip Monarch at Lvl 75
Gains Mastery at level 30 (base skill):
Fire: +1 to Fire Mastery
Cold: +1 to Cold Mastery
Lightning: +1 to Lightning Mastery
Act 5 Barbarian Warriors
New Frenzy Barb variant dual-wields 1H Axes (axes thematic for frenzy)
There is a model that already exists for dual axe barb fighting outside of the Bloody Foothills
Those all sound like nice ideas, especially for the A3 Mercs.
One additional thing that would be nice for them is if they could also equip Sorc Orbs. This would be logical since A1 and A5 Mercs can equip class gear, and would also give a good use for all those rare Orbs that nobody ever uses.
Currently A3 Merc don’t block with Shield?
It just help for the Def but the Chance to Block is useless?
Is the Def on the shield considered for the frost armor for the cold one?
Charles… I did some additional testing in single player with hero edited items, and it seemes VV did some changes to a3 merc. they now do benefit somehow with block chance.
I have no idea if it’s turned into DR or is it simply a chance of not getting damaged, however, when they have a significant amount of block chance ( based on maxroll.gg d2 calculator, as it seemes a3 merc is dex-block dependant, and base shield block chance is heavily nerfed). they do get some form of physical toughness other than AC.
literally I tested this:
maxroll gg/d2/d2planner/ft010or5
based on char sheet a3 merc has 70% chance to block, and the only thing that takes him down is magic damage (a.k.a. succubi bolts and mummified horadrim bolts). his damage is still meh with such a build, however this prooves my point that in D2R they do utilize the blockchance somehow.
just put a dot instead of space in that link, sorry It looks like i’m in bad terms with the devs, and they don’t trust me enaught to put links
TL:DR
long story short a3 merc needs 60+ buff to dex in order to utilize rainbow facet sword.
I could be wrong, but from my understanding is a3 merc doesn’t have a blocking animation, so they can’t block even wearing a shield and block chance is hardcoded for players only.
Charles? have you ever looked inside D2R monstats.txt and the internet file explaining it?
and i do mean the D2R version… It differs slightly. now every critter in the game can be set either to:
Ignore block,
Block with shield,
Block regardless of having shield…
A merc despite of being set to ignore block, somehow… benefits from high block chance…
natively a3 merer has a ~ -20% penalty to block chance so despite giving him a shield his block chace in char sheet would be terribly low. I gave him Spirit Ward which naturally has +% block chance also guardian angel armor with +% block chance and uped his dex to 200 by other items, so that his char sheet shows 70% block chance ( out of 74% maximum possible by worn items in maxroll’s d2 char calculator for a3 merc).
the thing is i already made a setup where the a3 merc is overcapped at 90% @rez, but the merc had issues surviving physical, magic, and poison.
this time i decided to bump a3 merc’s block chance and buff him with higher BO, so now only massive magic damage like from a cluster of succubi spamming their magic bolts all at once at a3 merc can get him killed. poison and physical damage, can only tickle him now on p1, although for some reason listner pack munches him down pretty fast, so it is nessecary to feed him some potions.
To be honest, I haven’t looked at D2R monstats.txt, but thanks for sharing. I just want these elemental sorcerers to be more viable, especially in Hell. I really like the fantasy around these mercs.
After these changes, no more Act 2 Might merc being best merc for physical builds.
Beast rw + Lastwish/Lawbringer rw Act 5 barb,
and
Lacerator (x2) throwbarb Act 5 barb would be top mercs for melee.
Just my opinion, but that seems ok to me. Act 2 merc has been dominant for decades and its time for Act 5 merc to shine in the limelight for best physical builds. Plus, throw barb merc sounds really fun to me.
i encourage you to make this build in hero editor for d2lod and try it in D2R single player.
the merc won’t die easily.
damage is still meh, however you can try for yourself High Block chance does make a difference for a3 merc’s survivability. i usually go for a eldrige test and he’s barely scratched. BO matters too as high life pool equals high regen rate for him. 4,5k life is ~115 hp regen
and yeah i’m hooked on them too, hopefully a3 mercs will get a slot for sunder charm and an ability to get mastery.
as for getting the mastery i’m torn wether a3 mecrc should gain it pasively or if all mercenaries benefited from their class passives (I made a thread about this earlier as well,) since mercs can’t use +class skill for a skill they don’t have ( hard to code) than at least give them ability to benefit from class passives from + class skill.
this could work for barb weapon masteries (sword and the proposed axe) Iron Skin and natural resistance for all barb mercs, and a3 merc could benefit from elemental masteries from ormus robes ( and the ormus robes could freaking roll those masteries too, instead of how it’s now).
Honestly, the real thing mercenaries need is an AI rework.
Have rogues progressively stop using normal arrows as they level up.
Have desert mercenaries activate their auras as soon as they appear.
Have fire Iron Wolves cast enchant any time it’s down on any ally they see.
Have lightning Iron Wolves cast Static Field any time a special monster is within range with more than half its hit points left.
Have Iron Wolves ignore monsters immune to their spells when it comes to choosing a target.
Have Iron Wolves progressively stop using Fire Bolt/Charged Bolt as they become obsolete.
Have ranged mercs try to move so that the player is between them and the monster when they try to move away from a monster (exception : if it’s a lightning Iron Wolf and the monster is a unique with more than half its HP it should simply continue casting Static Field).
When mercs don’t have any monster within their range of sight, they should take into account the player’s so that they don’t stand idle while there’s clearly a monster close by.
i never know what to believe with the things you say tbh. how about you base your testing on a more objective form. since your proficient with modding, set the merc defense to 0, regen to 0, make a item that gives res to 95% (though not really needed when you go to monster with pure physical damage) a item blockrate to 75% and +dex and life (sothat he doesnt die immediately) merc level must be 1. that way defense and level should equate to a 95% hitrate. go to bloodmore on hell (edit their level to be 95 or so) and let an enemy attack him 100 times. should be around 75 hits without damage, if the blockchance really functions like you said.
Agreed, as Iron Wolves are akin to Sorcerers, they should be able to equip Sorceress Orbs and would be supported by lore. This has the added benefit of adding more value to The Oculus, Eschuta’s Temper and Death’s Fathom. I guess we could add the following to the list…
