Iron Wolves and weapons

[Rohar]

Heya,

Excuse me if this has been covered before ... or point me to an earlier topic, but - I just hired an act III Iron Wolf for the first time in forever, for a change with a Sorceress (I usually go with Act II mercs as my choice of merc) and I was wanting advice on what to equip them with re: swords (I plan to pair a Paladin of mine with an Act III wolf too,) so I figured getting advice would be good for the future

I suppose my main question is - does the damage of the sword somehow figure into their spell damage ? or is the spell damage independent, and not the value reported on the hireling character screen ? - I want to know so I can figure out whether it's worth equipping them with a high damage sword. I suspect not, since the Arreat Summit says that you should find them a good caster sword, but I thought I'd confirm here - and also, in that case - what would a good caster sword be - with examples of sets/uniques or other swords ? Advice would be much appreciated.

[CowInvader]

Culwen's Point, Lidless Wall, Skin of the Vipermagi, Shako

Thats what I'd do ;) If I had a Culwen's and a lidless that is.

BTW, a high damage sword does increase their attack damage, but they don't swing it much...

[Yogi_Baar]

I asked this same question around 2 months ago. You can check out the replies to my post (even though CowInvader already gave you an answer).

Clicky

[Professor Frink]

Related questions:

Does % Faster Cast Rate help act3 mercs? If so, what are the breakpoints?

Does the +2 fire skills on Hellplague (unique Long Sword) benefit a fire mercenary?

[adeyke]

Yes to both questions. Breakpoints can be found with this calculator.

[Zyr]

The question was also discussed in JustAGuy's thought-provoking Inferno Barb discussion.

Zyrynyala, my level 59 BF/Trapassin, is accompanied by Barani, a Cold Iron Wolf (Death Sentry is not a major part of her strategy). I equipped him with an ethereal Culwen's Point, a Lore hat, and Sigon's shield for +3 all skills, and have been very pleased with his performance up to this point (Act V Nightmare).

My Holy Fire/Holy Shock Zealot ZyrChipFinder's faithful and fiery follower, Ajheed, wields a Hellplague (+2 fire skills) until I can find a Hexfire for him. He also wears Lore and bears Sigon's shield. They're only level 40, in early NM, so I don't yet have enough evidence to form an opinion about Ajheed's effectiveness.

I only recently became aware that Iron Wolves can benefit from Faster Cast Rate, and that mercs in general benefit from Faster Hit Recovery and Faster Run/Walk-- all of which are available from the Stealth rune word. I haven't tried this armor on an Iron Wolf yet, but I intend to do so very soon.

One observation about Iron Wolves: They're a pain to level, comparable to a Cold Arrow Rogue. The quickest way I've found is simply to repeat the Act III jungles until they reach 25. At that point, they'll level quickly in NM-- as long as they're alive. But they tend to die a lot... Since my Wolves caught up with their characters' levels, they've been fine.

EDIT: I hadn't played ZyrChipFinder for several weeks when I wrote the above; turns out that Ajheed is only level 33, so he hasn't yet caught up to ZCF.

[Professor Frink]

My summons-only druid is in late normal now, and has a fire iron wolf wearing a 'Stealth' Breast Plate, circlet of the Magus (+20 FCR), Hellplague, and Milabrega's Orb (I have no good caster shields at all right now). He doesn't seem to die too much yet--just to Diablo.

OT: It is amusing to watch a bright green lord of terror get pecked to death while you hide behind a wall and get repeatedly bone-prisoned and firewalled (85% resistant, found a Nozokan Relic in the Act 3 sewers)

-- frink

edit: grammar.

[ryan4nayr]

I kinda like more accessible items for my Iron Wolves.

Sigon's set tower shield is pretty much the same as Lidless Wall, as the merc doesn't use the +mana & doesn't spam spells enough to make the FCR useful. The only useful change is the triple digit def.

Spirit Shroud isn't too bad either, but eventually Vipermagi's resists are too useful to pass up. Would be pretty hilarious to get an Ormus Robes with +3 to the right spell!

The runeword Crescent Moon is pretty nice for the ltng spells, though I haven't tried this myself.

It's really too bad these buggers don't block, & even try to swing their swords. Coupled with lackluster spell dmg, it's no wonder they don't kill as fast as the others.

[Zyr]

It's really too bad these buggers don't block, & even try to swing their swords. Coupled with lackluster spell dmg, it's no wonder they don't kill as fast as the others.

I agree it's a shame that the chance to block of, say, a Sigon's Guard is wasted on an Iron Wolf. :(

They do swing their swords, though not often, and not with any great effect that I can see. I don't recall seeing my Cold Wolf swing his at all. However, I made several Normal Cow runs last night with ZyrChipFinder, and on several occasions was amused to see Ajheed the Fire Wolf charge into the herd and swing his Hellplague. :blink:

Zath's Complete v1.10 Hireling/Merc Stats (Warning: Bandwidth Hog) shows, for Normal - Act 3 Fire Wolves: Atk Freq 10, Inf Freq 60, FB Freq 30. For Normal - Act 3 Lightning mercs, the table shows Atk Freq 10, CB Freq 60, LN Freq 30. One would infer that these are percentages, and that Iron Wolves can be expected to swing their swords 10% of the time. The numbers for the Cold Wolves raise doubts in my mind, however: Atk Freq 10, GS Freq 60, FA Freq 1000, IB Freq 240. One would infer that Frozen Armor is "always on," but the Ice Blast figure doesn't fit with the percentage model.

[Ruvanal]

Zath's Complete v1.10 Hireling/Merc Stats (Warning: Bandwidth Hog) shows, for Normal - Act 3 Fire Wolves: Atk Freq 10, Inf Freq 60, FB Freq 30.  For Normal - Act 3 Lightning mercs, the table shows Atk Freq 10, CB Freq 60, LN Freq 30.  One would infer that these are percentages, and that Iron Wolves can be expected to swing their swords 10% of the time.  The numbers for the Cold Wolves raise doubts in my mind, however:  Atk Freq 10, GS Freq 60, FA Freq 1000, IB Freq 240.  One would infer that Frozen Armor is "always on," but the Ice Blast figure doesn't fit with the percentage model.

They are not percentages. They are relative frequency values. The standard form of this throughout the game is frequency/(sum of possible frequencies)

Example 1
Act 3 Fire Wolves:
Atk Freq 10, 10/(10+60+30)=10%
Inf Freq 60, 60/(10+60+30)=60%
FB Freq 30, 30/(10+60+30)=30%

Example 2a
Cold Iron Wolf (does not have Frozen armor active)
Atk Freq 10, 10/(10+60+1000+240)= 0.76%
GS Freq 60, 60/1310= 4.58%
FA Freq 1000, 1000/1310= 76.34%
IB Freq 240, 240/1310= 18.32%

Example 2b
Cold Iron Wolf (Frozen armor active)
Atk Freq 10, 10/(10+60+240)= 3.23%
GS Freq 60, 60/310= 19.35%
FA Freq null
IB Freq 240, 240/310= 77.42%
There is a setting in skills.txt (aitype) that is used to make the game aware that some skills should not be activated if they are already running.

[Assur]

Hi

From my experience, not being rich, I would say that a good set for your Ironwolf is:

Culwens Point

Sigons shield/or towershield socketed with 3 perfect diamonds

Helmet with runeword "Lore" or Tarnhelm

and, if you want to afford it

armour runeword "Smoke"= 50% all resists

hope this was helpful :rolleyes:

good hunting

[Zyr]

They are not percentages.  They are relative frequency values.  The standard form of this throughout the game is frequency/(sum of possible frequencies)

Thank you very much, Ruvenal. :) That certainly explains why I see the Fire Wolf swing his sword much more often than the Cold Wolf.