I wonder how 1.10 will effect mercs.

[Guest]

I wonder how they will do in Hell with faster tougher monters. I wonder if they are boosted along with the mobs.

I dont have any idea my self, Im just curious. I hope they can stay alive at aleast :)

[Wyrm]

Knowing Blizzard, mercs will wind up taking an added 100% damage from all attacks, since some of them seem to be able to survive for more than 5 minutes as things stand now.

[TaiDaishar]

A nicely equiqed mercenery can stand almost anything except bosses, the only place I see merceneries have a real problem in is the cow level and taken that it is the cow level, it is not a problem.

Simply out a little life leech gear on your mercenery and with a half decent weapon and he'll survive easily (although an occasional health potion will be needed at times when he's swarmed)

[Kharohz]

Being a merc fan myself. My greatest fear is they'll actually do something about ethereal items.

What I cannot fathom... But we shall see.

[TaiDaishar]

Being a merc fan myself.  My greatest fear is they'll actually do something about ethereal items.

What I cannot fathom... But we shall see.

I doubt it...

I don't see any reason to change how merceneries use items, hell, even that lightning hose rogue don't need to be changed as it seems the range is low and it's not being used, not to mention the rogue dies pretty quickly.

[mageofthesands]

Replace Lightning with Chain Lightning for the Bolty Merc? Please? Add Whirlwind for the barb merc? Please? A rogue that Strafes? Please? Bah. I could only wish.

[NuurAbSaal]

Brains!

Merc AI has to be one of the saddest things in the game.
If it's not improved, 1.1 will be completely useless :P

Greetings
Nuur

[Magicbag]

For my sorceress, I want a merc who is like a steel drum... you can bang on him all day and he won't get hurt. I accomplish this with % physical damage reduce, and life leech to some extent. I fear that they will up monster damage, speed, and hits, making it impossible for mercs.. but we'll see.
-MB

[TaiDaishar]

For my sorceress, I want a merc who is like a steel drum... you can bang on him all day and he won't get hurt.  I accomplish this with % physical damage reduce, and life leech to some extent.  I fear that they will up monster damage, speed, and hits, making it impossible for mercs.. but we'll see.
-MB

Merceneries are supposed to be as a slight boost to your survivability/killing speed, having to actually rely on a mercenery to tank/do damage/etc' is down right wrong.

Oh and the merc's AI is like einstein compared to the Valkyre's (or to a lesser extent, the golem's) AI.

Replace Lightning with Chain Lightning for the Bolty Merc? Please? Add Whirlwind for the barb merc? Please? A rogue that Strafes? Please? Bah. I could only wish.

I would wish that, except for WW on the barb merc, that thing is already an incredible tank and has stun/bash which can really help especially against bosses, no need for more.

And a little add on to that list: Desert mercs with Fend/Impale/Lightning strike, Rogues with immolation/Freeze arrow, barbs with very limited War Cries (very low levels), fire sorcs with enchant/meteor/firewall, cold sorcs with blizzard/FO, lightning sorcs with TS.

Of course all these above mentioned skills will only be available from a certein level/ difficulty mode.

[NuurAbSaal]

Oh and the merc's AI is like einstein compared to the Valkyre's (or to a lesser extent, the golem's) AI.

I hope Albert won't rise from his grave to get you :P

Valk would be a lot better with about 739% increased walking speed (she never runs!! :angry: ) and Golems aren't THAT bad, well, maybe (Revives anyone?)

Still, Merc behaviour is the single most annoying aspect in my playing experience. Never mind one-hit-killing Frenzytaur bosses or dying 8 player doll champions.

DA MERK IZ DA PAIHN IN DEE AZZ!
/end TRO SPEK
Sorry about that (MythII, where art thou...)

Greetings
Nuur

[Refrigerator]

Why is your greetings at the end?
Anyone who puts their greetings at the end obviously is a 1337 haxor/troll!!! ;)


Greetings

Refrigerator

[Walkiry]

Valk would be a lot better with about 739% increased walking speed (she never runs!!  ) and Golems aren't THAT bad, well, maybe (Revives anyone?)

Valky would be a lot better if she could randomly get weapons able to KILL something other than normal quill rats.

[Brother Laz]

Ie. no 3-15 damage spears. *sigh*

How about exceps in NM and elites in Hell? Nope. :unsure:

[Archon_Wing]

I wish for all my mercs to have at least graduated from middle school. That is all. :)

[NuurAbSaal]

Well, you may have a point there, but consider the following:

The greatness and uberness (not to mention l337age) of my posts springs from the fact that I am NuurAbSaal. So everything before my name is just, hmm, Bonus-material and at the REAL beginning (before the divine revelation of my name) I greet you humble beings.

Yeah, that's it!

Looks like you adapted the style...
pff, those crazy fanbois


:P :P :P


Actually I thought you could use it as a good bye :unsure:
So I'm Austrian, shoot me

:lol:

Auf Wiedersehen
Nuur

[Refrigerator]

Cool. I like it!

Greetings,
Refrigerator

[mageofthesands]

Valky would be a lot better if she could randomly get weapons able to KILL something other than normal quill rats.

Or turning her into a Shadow Master like creature. I can see her now, Fending and Lightning Striking the forces of evil, with a Decoy or Slow Missiles thrown in to boot.

[whereagles]

I hope they do something about A1 and A3 mercs. They're a complete waste of time.

The A5 merc is ok for necs and sorcies, although as things stand now, they can tank perhaps too well, so that firewall is all the sorcie needs. If in 1.10 the monsters' AI targets the player more often, even with a good tank merc, she would have to rely on non-positional spells like hydra. I think this is a good thing because it requires the player to study the situation and decide whether to cast firewall or hydra or whatever. (I.e. he must develop some skill.)

The A2 merc is at the moment simply the best BY FAR. No matter what your build is, there's a merc for you. Wanna see?

Babo:
WW sword - might
WW mace - blessed aim
Frenzy - defiance
Throw - freeze
Berserk - prayer

Sorcie:
Firewall - defiance
Nova - freeze

Ama:
Bow - might
Java - freeze

Nec:
Revives - might
Golem - thorns
Mage - prayer
Melee - blessed aim (though he'll get 80% of the kills lol)

Pala:
Zeal/Elemental zeal - defiance
Defiance - might

Asn & druid I never played :)

So... there is really no reason to use a merc other than the A2 guy. I hope they change this.

[Guest]

I agree act 2 mercs rule - but I would put a prayer merc with a bezerker. Its logical but probably not to practical., but youll still be gulping pots fast. Id go with freeze or might.

[Deadlyman]

I agree that of all the mercs, that I have played with (only the Act 5 merc being the exception), that the Act II merc is the best

I am playing a Barb right now. I am in Act 4 ready to face Diablo thanx to my Act 2 thorns merc.

I had a Act 3 cold merc, but the guy would never lvl up. He kept dying. I was like lvl 38 and he would still be lvl 23. I would lvl up and he would never. I said screw this and go a act 2 merc, even though I was the one tanking things. My act 2 merc has a unique partizan that kicks major booty. However, the guy is completely dumb.

I die in the Chaos Sanctuary to a unique OM :angry: (Another post in itself) and his minions. They are guarding my corpse, and I need my merc to help with the thorns. I waited five mins before just getting a weapon and start going in there myself. <_<

The perfect example of the AI of the mercs is in the Flayer dungeon, where I accidently activated one of the traps that spew out a poison cloud. I walk far away from it, hoping that he would follow me. What does he do, he walks right into the cloud and is now poisoned. :unsure: