03-18-2003, 05:00 PM
Well, the Act 3 mercs, and especially the fire and lightning mages, are the least-used for a reason. They aren't bad, they just usually aren't as useful as their cold mage colleague or a merc purchased in another act.
However, they do have their uses and having one of these two mercs accompanying your character at least gives you the fun of being just a bit different than everyone else.
I have two Paladins who use maxed Conviction as their primary aura. One uses a fire mage, the other a lightning mage. The lightning mage and his "boss" are still in the early 30s somewhere and I think the mage is using the complete Isenhart set, which I just happened to have available. I'm still thinking about how to equip him properly for later. However, he is definitely helpful as the Charged Bolts tend to dispense with maggot young and other little spawned things quite nicely. I'm thinking of using as much fast cast equipment on him as I can without regard to skill bonuses - on the Act 3 mercs, even the lightning mage, fast cast speeds up all their spells, even Lightning (which is not the case for Sorcies, who need IAS to speed up Lightning and Chain Lightning).
The fire mage and his "boss" are both level 70. The mage is tricked out with an ethereal Viper Magi (+1 to skills and fast cast rate, both of which help), the unique sword with +3 to fire skills, a Sigon shield (+1 skills), and a Tarn (+1 skills). I'd like to trade in the Tarn and the Sigon for items with skill bonuses and fast cast, but I can only use what I have available, ey? He is very effective against all but fire immunes, which his Sacrifice-employing "boss" usually handles just fine on his own. His Inferno reaches from one end of the screen to the other in the longest dimension, although he tends to use it for only a second or two, then pause, then use it again which is, admittedly, not very effective use of Inferno. But his Fireball is awesome; he shoots them in rapid succession so over time he does much more damage with it than with Inferno. By positioning him at the right distance, a bit farther away from targets, I can get him to use Fireball more often than Inferno. His sword even does some decent damage when he makes the ocassional poke with it!
Now, both of these Paladins would be better off with Might, Holy Freeze, or even Defiance mercs based on a simple calculus of function. But the mercs I chose are fun to use and provide a different gaming experience than I'm getting with my other characters who made "wiser" choices.
Best wishes,
John H
D2Player69@aol.com
However, they do have their uses and having one of these two mercs accompanying your character at least gives you the fun of being just a bit different than everyone else.
I have two Paladins who use maxed Conviction as their primary aura. One uses a fire mage, the other a lightning mage. The lightning mage and his "boss" are still in the early 30s somewhere and I think the mage is using the complete Isenhart set, which I just happened to have available. I'm still thinking about how to equip him properly for later. However, he is definitely helpful as the Charged Bolts tend to dispense with maggot young and other little spawned things quite nicely. I'm thinking of using as much fast cast equipment on him as I can without regard to skill bonuses - on the Act 3 mercs, even the lightning mage, fast cast speeds up all their spells, even Lightning (which is not the case for Sorcies, who need IAS to speed up Lightning and Chain Lightning).
The fire mage and his "boss" are both level 70. The mage is tricked out with an ethereal Viper Magi (+1 to skills and fast cast rate, both of which help), the unique sword with +3 to fire skills, a Sigon shield (+1 skills), and a Tarn (+1 skills). I'd like to trade in the Tarn and the Sigon for items with skill bonuses and fast cast, but I can only use what I have available, ey? He is very effective against all but fire immunes, which his Sacrifice-employing "boss" usually handles just fine on his own. His Inferno reaches from one end of the screen to the other in the longest dimension, although he tends to use it for only a second or two, then pause, then use it again which is, admittedly, not very effective use of Inferno. But his Fireball is awesome; he shoots them in rapid succession so over time he does much more damage with it than with Inferno. By positioning him at the right distance, a bit farther away from targets, I can get him to use Fireball more often than Inferno. His sword even does some decent damage when he makes the ocassional poke with it!
Now, both of these Paladins would be better off with Might, Holy Freeze, or even Defiance mercs based on a simple calculus of function. But the mercs I chose are fun to use and provide a different gaming experience than I'm getting with my other characters who made "wiser" choices.
Best wishes,
John H
D2Player69@aol.com