I wonder how 1.10 will effect mercs.

[LavCat]

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.

I thought berserk was non-physical damage, and that might affected only physical damage -- am I wrong?

At present I am shopping for a new merc for my amazon. This hero is about as old as DII and was converted to the expansion, but until not many hours ago she was but a rune mule. Wellgunde went from looking for the scroll of Inifus (the quest with which I have most familiarity) in a normal game to Blood Raven in nightmare. Only one quest was skipped and all waypoints were found. Almost all of this was in one game, with sometimes as many as eight players.

Now after about ten hours' sleep I am wondering about a mercenary? Should I wait for the patch to see how they are changed? Annor has just not kept up, even though she has no problem staying alive or killing monsters. As a further complication I don't know what kind of Amazon I have: she has 115 stat points to expend and 32 skill points. Along the way she found a Bonesnap and she has been wielding that. I don't think she wants to be a macezon, though, since she has low AR. Maybe I should put some points in dex? I am holding off on assigning skill points until the patch. A bowazon would be easiest for me, but I have never done a ranger (I also have a lancer and an harpoonist, who does not thow the harpoons, since superior harpoons do not drop all that often in classic). I might make a combination ranger/bowazon. Advice welcome.

Does anyone have experience with holy freeze used with knockback or "to flee"? Wellgunde just found an arcadian war javelin of the bear.

I am thinking of ditching Annor for a might merc. Or maybe someone with holy freeze? My experience is more with girls. (I have a 96 level cold rogue who began at level 3.) Maybe I should send this to Dear Abby?

[kier]

Okie dokes :P ,

Flee is a good tactic if you want to take out a sub boss (shenk, for example) as you scare the monsters and they run away from him, or for staying alive. I made a bow for when I lagged with my ama. A 6 soc gothic bow, with dol dol dol dol nef hel. Knock back is really important, as is pierce for Bowazons. Javazons dont need it as much.

The valk may have poor damage, but with 3000 life, she is a god send of a shield :lol: . I agree giving her better items would be good. Couldnt they have some formula? such as:

char level - valk skill level = aproximate item level

Im not sure about better skills, as this would make her a new pop skill, like ts is now.

Oh, 1 more thing :) . Act 1 mercs may not have the best damage, but as for AI, they are like comparing a butter knife to a 2 handed barsted sword. If you have trouble staying alive, just give them a 4 dol bow, and they'll stop alot of things getting close, good for ranged attackers.

[LavCat]

Thanks. I am used to knockback, but I'm wondering specifically how it works when using a holy freeze merc (also flee with the same merc). Does holy freeze reduce the usefulness of knockback and flee?

Last night I got to nightmare Lut, so I suppose I could hire one and find out for myself, although I am afraid the effect could be different at higher levels of freeze. I am really curious, so I guess hiring a freeze merc is the thing to do!

We don't yet have a valkyrie -- Annor might be jealous and I am not assigning skill or stat points, hopefully until the patch.

[kier]

The holy freeze slows them down, but this doesn't effect knock back, but it does effect flee, but flee isn't very usefull unless you lag, like me <_< .

Good luck with your ama, i've got a bowazon to level 98, hopefully to 99 soon :lol:

[whereagles]

LavCat, berserk is magic damage only, so it doesn't leech life back, which is a MAJOR annoyance.

The prayer merc regenerates your life, so it softens this annoyance a bit. Berserk eats monsters pretty quick anywayz :)

[Wrathraven]

I've always had a thing for Prayer Mercs, at higher levels they just make life easier for non mega-leech characters. As well, I don't have to constantly baby the merc with potions, as they can do fine with Prayer/some sort of life leech weapon. I used to mix one in with my Necro, and my revives/FG simply never died. I'm sure something like Thorns might've been better in that situation, but it just worked for me.



As for other mercs, I'd like to see the rogues get something like Slow Missiles instead of Inner Sight, and maybe the occasional Multishot or Strafe instead of Ice Arrow. The Iron Wolves would be great with Thunderstorm or a high-level Frost Nova, and the barbs just need a random war cry and I'd be in heaven. The Act 2 mercs just get the most use because they can help everyone, AND kill things good.

[LavCat]

Thanks, people. I have an 83 bowazon, which why I think I'd like to make something of a combination with Wellgunde. I have a 98 sorceress, by the way, who also hopes to make 99!

Of the act 2 mercs, I have prayer with a level 40 something sorceress, defiance for my 83 bowazon, thorns with my 90 something necromancer, blessed aim with my melee sorceress. I have not tried might or holy freeze. I'm thinking of might for my summoning druid. That leaves holy freeze. I did try holy freeze briefly with a low level melee necromancer, but that was not the best choice in that case.

I'll try holy freeze with Wellgunde and report back...knowing that 1.10 will probably change it all. One thing I would like to see is for the druid's pets to do elemental damage. Maybe give that ability to the spirit wolves. If they give multiple abilities to the various merceneries, I hope they give them the AI to know when to use the appropriate skills!

[kier]

As for other mercs, I'd like to see the rogues get something like Slow Missiles instead of Inner Sight, and maybe the occasional Multishot or Strafe instead of Ice Arrow.

:D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol: :D

Please please please please. My ama has a level 98 merc, who she got off the 3rd quest in act 1 norm. An absoloute wicked merc, hardly ever dies. Wish she gets improved.

[CelticHound]

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.

It depends on what game you're playing. For example this thread talks about that very subject. (But you just can't predict what KoP will do, and people like Warblade are known for cheese. ;) )

-- CH

[Albion Child]

Hopefully the synergy system does something for valks... Decoy adds life, inner site adds AR, Slow missles INCREASES SPEED.

I think golems are fun. Tell me that a mud guy or tin man are supposed to be smart.... the point is for the most part they work.

Shadow master rocks also. Perhaps the synergies will improve her individual skills??

As druids already sort of have this system, I wonder what will change in their summoning tree? I hope the full Arreat Summit is released a day or so before the patch so I/we have a small chance to plan...


Disclaimer: No rumors here, just speculation.

[Wrathraven]

Hopefully the synergy system does something for valks...&nbsp; Decoy adds life, inner site adds AR, Slow missles INCREASES SPEED.

the only problem with Valks is that they can't kill Quill Rats. HPs are fine with difficulty/player multiplier, but they can't scratch the paint on a Doom Knight's armor. They're worse than Clay Golems when it comes to dishing damage

[LavCat]

Preliminary report on holy freeze:

Tonight we hired Razan at level 35. Gave him Goldskin for the resistances, Woestave for the extra slow target by 50%, and Howltusk for the knockback. We decided to do a baal run as a test, in a two player normal game.

Immediately Wellgunde ran into one of the frenzied ice spawn things and died. It was nice having 120 stat points, but I figured that a no vitality amazon was probably not viable, at least the way I play. And while I did not want to assign skill points, I further concluded it would be nice to have a decoy and a valkyrie. Also swapped out Razan's Howltusk for Rockstopper.

Frozen things were fairly fun to deal with, but Razan's range is not that great. I trust that it will improve with time. I could not tell if the slowing effect from Woestave was really doing anything. For items like Woestave that slow target by some percentage, does anyone know when the slowing is applied? Does a creature have to be hit in order to be slowed?

At least Wellgunde did not have much difficulty targeting things (remember that she has no skills assigned but passive).

[Magicbag]

Slow target from every source I have seen is bugged. It causes some client to server misrepresentation of the monsters, causing them to warp around badly.
-MB