Act II mercs

[Premezilla]

Any feedback would be greatly apprecitaed...Also, which merc would be best for a barb that focuses on whirlwind, leap attack, double swing, and stun? I'm leaning toward a NM Act II, due to the fact that it has might, and that the mercs that have cold attacks will shatter the enemies. (Find item/potion) Thanks!

[Wein_C]

I voted defensive for the sole reason that this category has the Holy Freeze merc. I also found Defiance useful at times. (Of course, this may have something to do with me having an accountful of sorcs <_< )

[TheDragoon]

You're not going to likely want a non-defensive mercenary because of the way battles will play out for you:

You'll run up to the horde of monsters with your merc close behind. Then when you start whirlwinding the monsters will target you sometimes, but I find that they tend to latch onto the mercenary once you move out of their range. Thus, your mercenary is going to have to be able to take a beating from whatever you fight. Holy Freeze would probably be best for this. Also, Holy Freeze would likely make the monsters' attacks slow enough that they never actually hit you (since you move out of range before they would hit). :)

[Taem]

Holy Freeze is over-used. I prefer Defiance personally. Get some High Defense armor for you and especially your mercinary and if you get iron skin high enough, you'll only have a 5% chance of being struck, even in hell. This, IMO, is far better than Holy Freeze. Why slow down damaging attacks when you can avoid them all togeather?

Might is also a good choice if you have some good gear for your mercinary, however, as someone pointed out, he has the tendency to get stuck IN THE MIDDLE of a pack of monsters when your moving through which is usually determintal to his health. And in cows, forget it... But on the plus side, he'll make a great boss killer :D

[Vash]

Holy Freeze is over-used.&nbsp; I prefer Defiance personally.&nbsp; Get some High Defense armor for you and especially your mercinary and if you get iron skin high enough, you'll only have a 5% chance of being struck, even in hell.&nbsp; This, IMO, is far better than Holy Freeze.&nbsp; Why slow down damaging attacks when you can avoid them all togeather?

Might is also a good choice if you have some good gear for your mercinary, however, as someone pointed out, he has the tendency to get stuck IN THE MIDDLE of a pack of monsters when your moving through which is usually determintal to his health.&nbsp; And in cows, forget it...&nbsp; But on the plus side, he'll make a great boss killer&nbsp; :D

I like Holy Freeze better than Defiance because in order to make good use of Defiance, you'd have to go out of your way to find items with (at least slightly) higher defense. You don't need to do anything special to use Holy Freeze. Just use it =)

Another thing is that your defense goes splat when you run whereas it's beneficial to run with Holy Freeze on (run out of range before being attacked).

[TheDragoon]

But the point is that Holy Freeze + Whirlwind => You DON'T get hit. By the time the monster goes to attack, you're likely already out of range of the attack. That's the beauty of Whirlwind (and why it's so over-used in PvP play). :) Also note that while Defiance might make YOU invincible, your merc won't be... Sure, monsters will have harder time hitting him, but since they'll mostly target the merc, it'll still have to tank them all and will likely die more often than the Holy Freeze merc. If the merc is dead, then it's not of much use to you, is it? :lol:

[Taem]

When you put it that way, I can see where your comming from, however I have two points here:

1.) Im not just reffering to cows and I believe thats the only spot a defiance merc with good def will die ommiting bad resists.
2.) But then again I'm a bit jaded because of the gear my merc has on. He never dies anywhere except in chaos sanctuary or if we lag. I prefer him because I leveled a defiance merc from Normal just to get the level 18 defiance and it works expertly for my sorcie and paladin. I'd really rather not mention his gear because if I do, I'm sure I'll get flamed for being a twinkie, but rest assured, its NOT hacked (ith or bugged or other) or duped gear!

[Premezilla]

hey guys/gals/others, I'm confused. Do the Act II offensive mercs get holy freeze, or do the defence mercs get holy freeze? Also, I know they don't start out with it, no matter what kind, so I was wondering what level they have to be to get it. Because if it's the offensive merc that has it, then I'm definitely going to stick with it (I hired a offensive merc from normal act II) because of the Blessed Aim. My barbarian has an attack rating that is showing some sign of suffering (83% to hit w/2 rings and 1 amulet.) So the blessed aim really helps. Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

[Vamp.Goth]

In normal or hell, the deffensive mercanry has the defiance aura, but if you buy him in a nightmare game he will have holy freeze, this is true with the other 2, the offensive being blessed aim or might, and prayer or thorns.

Im not 100% positive, but i do believe that they gain the aura when they are the level a paladin would be to gain that aura.

Your blessed aim merc might be helping you now, but his use will begin to fade rather fast (i.e. the more points you put into your mastery. And i heard something of a bug where the skill ww hits a few times no mater what your ar is.)

[NERDmanWhippy]

Ive done a lot of research on the mercs....The only way Ive been able to have an a2 merc be able to survive a flock of cows surrounding him is as a High level Might merc (level 96 now) With a 6% ll/20% DR Etheral Vamp, Etheral Shaft, and a 25% ias CWP (of chain light, but that shouldnt matter unless you get quick or leech mod)..the pike has ed/ias & shael, totaling 35% ias on merc...with my pallys Fanat aura, it bumps his ias to 70%....this allows him to "Zeal" the cows ...... he still dies, but not as often...they need a lot of IAS and dmg to be able to live ....Im in the process of getting ed/ias jewels for the gaze/shaft..... he is not fast enough yet, nor will he ever be ;) (as testament, he has died 2x since level 93 that didnt involve me dying)

In summation...if you cant have a might merc with a decent % CWP, 50% DR, and at least 70% ias, Id scrap it and go with a HF merc for a WW barb....just my 2 cents from a melee point of view...If you cant be fast, make the enemies slow...

J