Finally Rogues have a bias for elemental attacks. They are also strong enough to wear heavy armour and can survive in the middle of a melee for some time. The main GOOD thing is that the mercenary stops firing and actually moves back to follow you. The sole exception would be the barb merc. This aura is often a "must-have" for characters aiming to have a huge defence stat i.e. In v.1.09 and 1.10, Mercs do not lose experience when they are killed in Nightmare and Hell diff. The Barbarian is a minor exception to this rule in that as long as he isn't poisoned he will fully regenerate his life in 12.7 seconds compared to the others mercs who take 47 seconds to fully heal. While other mods (extra resists, faster attack, enhanced damage, damage reduction) are important, life steal and (to a lesser extent) life replenish will stop your merc requiring a rejuvenation every 5 minutes. also when facing Lightning Immune/Lightning Enchanted bosses, I found the following tactic useful - turn on Fanatism/Salvation for Lightning Immune/Enchanted bosses respectively and shoot arrows at the boss with him and knock back (thus requiring Knock back equipment) into a wall. With players 8 active, the merc will level up pretty quickly. The disadvantage of the barb merc is their enthusiasm for getting into a fight. Simply returning to town and then letting your merc kill more monsters should normally solve such problems. This has the added bonus of thinning out packs of monsters that you might run into later. merc isn't tremendous and there are only a few levels of difference in their skills. As a merc grows in experience and does more damage, the life steal will keep a merc near max health during most fights. Thorns: found on 'Bramble' rune word for armours. As a result life leech is not a practical mod to have on their equipment. So if your character kills everything before the merc gets a look in, the aura won't activate. Be very careful with melee attacks at this time. When a merc is wearing MF gear, the value of that MF is added to the value of the MF your character is equipped with, but only when the merc makes a kill. Mephisto's melee attack is just too powerful for mercs to stand up to very long and Diablo's attacks (especially fire and lightning) are lethal. If you're not a keen MF-er of have not been playing the game long, then you're not likely to have a huge list of unique, rare and set equipment, and with the rarity of higher runes, rune words. The only other choice besides defiance for hardcore player, this aura, at high levels, will bring many enemies to a near stop. As the tentacles attack when you character and merc are a distance away from Baal, ranged mercs will often fall victim to them. alvl = 18), Offensive Blessed Aim (hlvl 9 = alvl 3, max. An alternative would be to equip them with swords that has a chance to cast amp damage which would remove the immunity. Something to note is that ranged mercs tend to move away from monsters if they are too close. Items with -% to elemental resistance would be excellent. The rule of the closest character applies here if the monster is going to melee attack you. They attack using the Amazon "Jab" attack which under 1.09 no longer ignores weapon speed. Combat Prayer (hlvl 9 = alvl 3, max. Alternatively, running places with many boss packs near a WP such as the temples in Act III or Shenk/Eldritch in Act V may speed up the leveling process. Sanctuary: found on Azurewrath, unique phase blade. A Might aura merc can do a phenomenal amount of damage with such a weapon and can quite happily cut down any monster that crosses his path. In 1.10 now, if you're facing an act boss for the first time, then odds are your Merc is going to get killed in fairly short order thanks to the x2 damage done by the bosses, including normal boss monsters (such as Griswold). You can find the data here . (act III/VI mercs only). They will not get the most benefit from their life steal as the monsters will get more hits in on them, than they will on the monsters. Thus a shield will only help with their defence and also their resists if you give them a good unique/rare shield. It only applies when the merc kills something. An interesting point is that when the Boss focuses an attack on you, if you run away before the attack is executed, the Boss would often pursue your char, completely ignoring your mercenary. Ideally a sword with +1 to all skills or faster cast would be of most benefit to them. casters). The defense shown is the base defense WITHOUT the dexterity bonus. Shaftstop (and the Leviathan Kraken Shell) obviously comes to mind here. Odds are he's already decided where you're going and has shot off after the nearest monster. After all, if you've used them all up on your merc, what're you going to drink? Even high level Act II mercs have less of a lemming tendency than the other mercs and will retreat quite quickly if your character decides to leg it. The obvious disadvantage of the act II mercs is that when they die, outside of losing your support you also lose the aura effects a few seconds later. Thus he can actually serve as a limited tank compared to the other two. In act 4, Tyrael performs this role. Ranged characters have an easier time by simply diverting their fire in the mercs direction for a few seconds, thinning the herd and allowing the Rogue to give them covering fire in return. Desert Warriors use Pole arms, Javelins (but with no throwing ability) or Spears (no Amazon-specific spears) and can therefore do a lot of damage. You have +100% damage from WW. Give them a caster type weapon (e.g.. Culwen's Point, unique War Sword) instead or a 6-socketed sword having jewels with useful mods (+life/res), or if you're the richer type, Rainbow Facet jewels. A nightmare rogue merc would have 1256 and 194 dexterity. Charges of enchant, zeal etc) in 1.10 though, the actual usefulness of such mercs has been somewhat diminished. So, not only do the normal difficulty mercs have higher skills than their counterparts at high levels, but they have lower experience requirements to level too. Where both the character and merc are melee based I've noticed that the boss concentrates on the character that hits hardest. It can be a little more complicated than what is stated above and there do seem to be instances where a hired mercs aura will simply not turn on, or at least take a very long time to do so. Conversely monsters with stun attacks are bad news for mercs because stun effect leaves the merc unable to keep the monsters off balance and is liable to get swarmed. Their AI is more focused on staying within aura effecting distance of the player, but as they level up and the range of their aura grows the distance they are inclined to wander for a fight grows. The same applies to rune words/rares and any cruel weapons that might be appropriate. So if you're out MFing with your merc, make sure he/she gets the last hit in on whatever Boss or Unique you're attempting to MF from. However with a decent bow (good damage + high speed) you could probably leave your Rouge to cut those monsters down by herself. Fast attack on the swords is of great use to these mercs. Note: In 1.10, general bow skills such as fire, explosive and magical arrow are now dependent on attack rating to hit. Sadly, this feature has been removed in 1.10. With ranged attacks, the Rogue makes good back up for a melee character freezing the incoming monsters, or thinning out the herd to ease the pressure on a Necro's minions, while at the same time staying out of trouble herself. Use rejuvenation potions wherever possible to heal your merc. When you enter Tal Rasha's chamber in Act II, Duriel will invariably charge at your merc rather than you, thus you avoid the hideous amount of damage that the initial charge attack can do to you (note that in 1.10, Duriel no longer has his nasty charge attack). The Merc auras all have level restrictions with the exception of the Might Merc aura. If you are playing version 1.07/1.08 and your merc dies in act 4 either a) get back to town ASAP a resurrect them or b) kill all the corpse spitters in the vicinity. The Iron Wolves are all sorcerers who come in 3 flavours, fire, ice or lightning with the following spells. This is especially useful for when fighting through a doorway. If you can back your merc up though, his Bash attack will keep the monsters at bay and give you room to kill monsters at a more leisurely pace. This can turn the tide of battle against your character very quickly. These would noticeably improve her survivability. Life leech is less of an issue here, due to the infrequency of melee attacks that these mercs make. Don't all hire the same merc in a MP game if you're all using Act 2 mercs. A number of unique bows spawn with mods like "fires explosive arrows" (e.g.. Kuko) or fires "magic arrows" (e.g.. Witchwild String). Taking your merc to Act V of normal or nightmare diff (depending where you character is in the game) works almost just as well. Although they can use a shield, they cannot block. The only answer is to keep a close watch & run as soon as conversion ends - this gets very boring very quickly though. So do not rely on your merc to slow these monsters down. The type of damage you are inflicting also makes a difference - cold damage generates more sparks than fire. You don't really need the godly items, to be honest, and a merc can be perfectly viable with items that you can buy from shops, take from monster corpses or from crafting/gambling. A few revived Frenzytaurs or raised skeletal warriors with a might aura on them can easily sway the tide of battle in the favour of the Necromancer. In this instance, where the player character is melee and the merc is ranged, simply go toe to toe with your boss monster and this should keep your merc out of harms way. One thing to be aware of using Might Merc with an Assassin is that your Shadow Master companion becomes a bit of a liability. Hephasto the Armourer, Duriel and the Ancients. Mercs will run off and attack monsters that your character cannot currently see on screen, which can bring a whole load of trouble down on your head as well. If the Cruel Colossus Blade you just made doesn't have the 40% IAS and 300% ED that you were hoping for, socket it with an Amn rune and give it your barb merc (or your low 300% Breath of the Dying Colossus Blade:rolleyes: ). In short, it won't make a tremendous difference to your PvM (player vs. monster) game if you hire a merc in hell diff. Lets say your weapon does 100 points of average damage. Mercs cannot be a higher level than your character and when a merc reaches the same level as the player character they cease to gain any experience until the player character levels up again. who has reached the same level of experience. Werewolf Druids. This is especially true if Korlic, the leaper, decides to leap attack your merc. In short, treat equipping a merc like you would your character. Demon Imps stop teleporting all of the place, flayers slow right down and explody-headed Slayers are easily avoided. This aura has a pronounced effect on the longevity of a Necro's minions, even when the Merc is of a low level. They can equip shields and swords, but, only use the sword in rare circumstances (such as when they are being mobbed) so it is worthwhile equipping them with a decent weapon. alvl = 16)*, Offensive Blessed Aim (hlvl 55 = alvl 18, max. The sole exception is Guided Arrow (provided by Widowmaker). Thus the boss will focus on you. Mercs can also make use of faster run/walk items which can provide your merc with much greater mobility, allowing them to get into and out of trouble faster. While merc skills do improve with each level, it isn't in the same way as that of player characters, so + to skills can really benefit mercs. On Hell diff, cold immune monsters will still be slowed by this aura. The Necromancer Overlord is the character build that can make best use of this aura. moron) who, for reading purposes, will be referred to as a merc throughout this document. (1.09 and before). The formula for calculating the level of an aura is: The level caps for the aura's are dependant on the difficulty from which you hire them and can be seen below: The figures for hell diff show that where the same merc hired from normal diff, they would have an aura level (alvl) of 18 when they reached hlvl 55 but the max aura a Hell diff merc can have is 16. The levels seem to follow a trend as you progress through the acts and the difficulty settings. Diablo is a big hurty thing and its not always advisable to go to toe to toe with him, especially on Hell diff, some running around is usually called for and a stray Pink Lightning Bolt from him, or his fire attacks, will waste your merc in next to no time. These monsters are very likely to take your merc apart quite quickly. This also applies to any bow that fires magical or explosive arrows (which currently only do fire damage in 1.09) and equipping a merc with such a weapon will also effect her leeching. Because he's targeting a monster a distance away, he will fire at it regardless of what's in his way. Magic Finding. Of all the mercs they have the greatest tendency to run off at speed to kill a nearby monster, irrespective of how many there may be. Add in a Shaftstop and a vampire gaze (or crown of ages if you have one), and your mercenary will probably be able to last up to a whole minute. This can mean that you can find your retreat blocked by frozen, or chilled monsters, or him surrounded by a crowd of frozen enemies from which he cannot retreat. Note: The actual difference in the physical stats of a normal diff. alvl = 16)*, Defensive Defiance (hlvl 55 = alvl 18, max. Here is a list of possible auras that can be found on items used on mercs. If you wish to have those particular auras then you are going to have to settle for slightly lower stats. A complete list of merc names can be seen on the mercenaries page. It is merely an example and obviously in many situations, might not be the best item for your merc. For three of the character classes, the Barbarian, Sorceress and Paladin, the only support they're going to see throughout an SP game is that of a mercenary (a.k.a. This happens a lot and if the rogue does get surrounded she will be cut down in short order if she can't shoot her way free and your character is engaged in melee elsewhere. In 1.10, the minions actually heal by themselves. The Necromancer Overlord (or a Corpse Explosion Necro) is the class most disadvantaged by this aura, as the increased number of bodies that shatter upon death greatly reduces the Necro's potential revive, summon or corpse explosion fodder. This merc can also be very helpful to Werebears who also suffer from AR problems. Invariably the player character is better suited to surviving a boss encounter at melee range and if the primary reason for having a merc is to take advantage of their aura effects it can be worth your while substituting their current weapon for something that does slightly less damage then your character does. alvl = 15)*, (100 * (100 [base] + 200 [strength] + 100 [ww] + 100 [might]))/100 = 500 average damage, Level up: +1.5 Strength, +1.5 Dexterity, +4.5 Defense, +1.5 Resistances, +6 Life, Cold: Glacial Spike or Ice Blast with Frozen Armour, Level up: +2 Strength, +1.5 Dexterity, +7.5 Defense, +1.5 Resistances, +12 Life. The cost of resurrection increases as your merc levels off, but peaks at the princely sum of 50,000 gold when your merc reaches around level 80. In the case of the Ancients, it is highly likely that your merc will be mobbed by them in the opening seconds of the fight while your character is going to range. Outside of life steal on weapons, try to give your mercs the fastest attack weapons you can that won't sacrifice their damage too much. Inner Sight also has the ability to reduce a monster's defense by a fixed amount, hence being of some use to melee characters. Who would actually use an act III merc and why? For example, hitting hell difficulty Baal with a Kelpie Snare (slow) will make sure that he doesn't make any powerful attacks. I'd like to thank Jude for this idea. The cold sorc has an advantage here in that he also casts frozen armour which confers a defense bonus. The "brother" mod of Life Leech is "Increased Attack Speed". However, in cases where you don't exactly need the aura anyway, notably sorceresses and barbarians, a barb merc can be a fine companion. If you want a particular name for your merc, say you want an Act 2 offensive merc on Nightmare diff called Azrael, just keep revisiting town until the merc with the name you are after appears. Adapted from the original as written by Darkness on the DiabloII.Net Single Player Forums (and - in his own words - 'pretty much everyone else on earth I've been able to pump for information'). Here's a list of boss monsters in 1.10: A basic rule of thumb I've noticed in boss fights is that the boss monster will go for the nearest character. However for variant builds such as the Melee Sorc, Ranger (bow/crossbow Paladin) and Meleemancer (melee Necro) where AR is of critical importance, the blessed aim merc can be very useful. Note: in 1.09, any +% gold find equip that a merc is carrying apparently does add to any increased% gold drop that the player character is carrying. alvl = 18), Combat Thorns (hlvl 31 = alvl 9, max. Assist your merc by lowering monster HP for and backing off, or using spells/skills that effect whole groups of monsters to weaken them and allow your merc to finish them off. Against the Ancients they can help distract one or two of them and allow you to lead the third away to a corner for a private pummeling. The Viperfork is also useful if you're in an undead-infested area and want to get rid of all the corpses before they get reanimated. The required experience for each level is given by the equation: In essence, Barbarians are the hardest to level as they have the highest EXP required to level, also, the mercs you pick up from later difficulties have larger level requirements. In addition they get a fair few hit points to boot. It seems that not all monsters are affected by this aura. If you're into gambling in a big way, load down your merc with extra gold items. If you're a melee-based character, stepping closer seems to attract the boss's attention and focus his/her attack on your character instead, leaving the mercenary in one piece. It is nice to have around but not entirely useful. But when you go back and restart fighting it stops where it is, usually half a screen behind you, safely placed. Hire from: Kashya upon reaching clvl 8 or receive as a quest reward after Blood Raven is defeated. Mercs can be useful against an act boss though as they can buy precious seconds worth of distraction before they die, allowing you to get the first few hits in on the boss and develop a bit of momentum. This is even quicker and requires no mouse movement! In short, leveling up your normal diff. The chance of activating his aura decreases every level up, to around 2.5% at lvl90+. Use the Horadric cube to create rejuvenation potions via the following recipes: Also, when healing your merc, hold down "shift" and right click on a potion in your belt rather than dragging the potion over to your merc. Then there's the resurrection costs. Items that come with auras were introduced in 1.10 and in some cases, render the Act II merc redundant.. Unlike the other mercs, barb mercs can wear class specific items which can greatly increase their strength. Again the cold mercs attacks will help against crowds of monsters but freezing them solid or slowing the monsters down. This page was last edited on 14 August 2021, at 09:22. Try to pick monsters that are unlikely to hit your merc hard and often, e.g.. Frenzytaurs in the Ancients way. The Corpse Spitters in Act 4 will devour your mercs corpse rendering them unressurectable. The advantages of this are straightforward to any character, you'll get hit less often, therefore be less likely to die. Another feature in 1.10 is the introduction of unique items with the mod "-% to enemy resistance" (Griffon's Eye) and "+% to elemental skill" (Ormus Robes). The formula below from Nikodemous from the Paladin forum explains how your might mercs aura factors into your damage. This is particularly useful for those character classes that do not have a strong attack for dealing with PIs i.e. In such an instance a melee character will have to break off from the monster they are fighting to assist the Rogue. She won't be wearing high def armour anytime real soon and if she is attacked, is likely to be hit and downed quite quickly as she doesn't have a great deal of health either. These guys really are tanks. While the radius of effect may be huge (6 might mercs supporting 6 Zookeeper Necros would be a frightening sight) its not the best use of the abilities available. Places like the Arcane Sanctuary, where your merc can take on monsters without being swamped are ideal. Whenever possible, I would try to list an example of an equipment that is often used for the modifications described (e.g.. Shaftstop for physical damage resistance). Under 1.08 they did. You have to run a long way to get her to move. Naturally any spare uniques you have lying around that could be used by your merc are probably best placed on your merc. The Frenzytaurs are immune to freezing. Thus he is a possible candidate for running Andariel. Crushing blow and open wounds have changed dramatically in 1.10, especially crushing blow, which is now one of the ultimate boss killers. The Shadow Master seems to spam Mind Blast all the time & converts some monsters, these then pickup the Might aura from your Merc. If you've just hired a new merc and want to level them to the same level as your character, compare their level to that of monsters in different parts of the game and fight in that area. barbarian merc This lack of damage can be compensated for if the Merc is accompanying a Paladin that uses the conviction aura. In 1.09, Necro minions can only be healed via wells or a priest in town. This is all very nice until they go hostile again and KEEP the Might aura for a while (5 secs-ish). There is no point in equipping a merc with magical gear from Larzuk when you have spare Shaftstops and Vampire Gazes on a mule somewhere. When you first get the rogue merc she will be heavily biased towards using her regular attack over her fire or cold arrow attack.
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