perfect equipment for mercs

[ShadowHM]

That would be nice, aye. I forgot to mention that I'm the sort of purist that doesn't even transfer items between his characters.........So, what easily attainable items +cold spells items are there, if any?

Hi

I don't know of any plus to cold skills items for the mercenary. However, in the ranks of the 'easy to attain':

There is the ever popular Lore Rune Word Hat, which all of my mercenaries seem to sport at some point in their lives, as in: as soon as I find a Sol rune.

And if any of the other plus to all skills hats/swords/armour/shields drop, that would be gravy. Culwyn's Point is a nice sword for them, if it should drop.

I tend to grab a sword with sockets and drop in those 'single element resist' jewels that drop with distressing regularity into it. And then I can gamble circlets for one with nice life replenish on it to help keep him alive.

[Caaroid]

Well, about circlets and shield: try to get with fast cast. In case of the shields it needs one of the two bone shields (but that's what ethereal lidless is for after all), but on the circlets you can get really good other mods as well (not that I'm suggesting that a +2 sorc skills prism resist +fast cast + fast walk +life +mana circlet should be on a merc mind you ;)

This pretty much means that skin is the best choice for merc armor, now you only need to find one.

And yes, act3 merces are the hardest to dress and the least useful for most builds, but they look the coolest (IMHO). If only they re-skilled them along the lines of

FIRE: fireball, hydra (or fireball/enchant-player)
LIGHTNING: chain lighing, energy shield (yes I know they have no mana, but come on, chain lighing cannot kill anyway, at least let them stay alive longer)
COLD: back to the old always-glacial-spike, cold armor setup thank you

and make them able to block... ah well, someone would even decide to use them?

[arrunique]

My level 91 Holy Freeze merc is so kick butt that sometimes it seems like my sorc is the merc and he is the main. He has the ultimate of ultimates merc pointy sticks:

The Reaper's Toll

Two-Hand Damage: (34-40) To (408-479) (221-259.5 Avg)
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 89
Durability: 65
Base Weapon Speed: [-10]
+190-240% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4-44 Cold Damage
11-15% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance To Cast Level 1 Decrepify On Striking
Requirements -25%

Between that and his freeze aura enemies are almost paralyzed

One time I literally went and got a sandwitch while he fought Lister and buddies. When I came back it was merc 4:Lister 0.

My boy can tank cow crowds because they get about 2 frames of attack a second and between Shaft and Decrep those that do hit barely do any damage. I cannot imagine a more effective merc than that. He does still die to iron maiden but that is about it. For amusement I had him solo hell baal, all I did was teleport in whenever baal blasted him back with this cold plow.

[Raziel]

A HF merc with reaper's toll should bascially win the battle vs Baal as soon as he triggers decrep. Something about Baal's AI screws up when he's slowed dramatically, and HF + decrepify will certainly do that.

Oh, and, for laughs you should give him Blackthorn's Face as well. Just so that he can slow, decrep, HF aura AND cold damage from HF = mega slowdown.

[Nightwind]

I've taken up semi permantly with the blood raven quest reward merc.
I find the cold arrows and RUN AWAY ai to be rather useful for my zooie.
but i have a hard time picking out new bows for her to use.

Lately she's been getting my castoffs, as i prefer lifeleach % to cast curse bows, and dislike dispoing of the old ones.

[arrunique]

1. What is the best sword for such a mercenary?

Culwen's point has +1 all skills, so does an "Honor" runeword sword. Anything else?

2. Do sets function properly on mercenaries?

I'm pretty sure they do, act 3 mercs can wear full Isenhart's set...yippee?

[adeyke]

Culwen's point has +1 all skills, so does an "Honor" runeword sword. Anything else?

Silence has +2, Call to Arms has +1, Azurewrath has +1.

[DukeTrout]

Culwen's Point and some of the other low-end unique swords have +1 to all skills. You could throw some magic find on him, but A3 mercs don't do much killing.

Edit: Ugh, too little, too late.

[DukeTrout]

I tried to find that set for my merc in 1.09, and couldn't find the sword for the life of me. The 40% faster run was actually useful and noticeable as a partial set mod, but I was really drooling for the 27% increased life. 27% increased life >> 27% damage reduction, since it applies to elemental damage as well and also helps reduce the frequency of going into hit recovery.

In the end, I ran him in magic find gear some of the time, since barb mercs do get a decent amount of kills in (especially with a Cruel Collossus Blade), and in safety gear some of the time (Tal's mask, Duriel's shell, Crainte Vomir (10% DR)).