what do *you* think is the best merc?

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i've done all three difficulty levels (including hell level twice)
with a bowazon with a rogue merc. i went with this because the zon
was my first character i ever played and stuck with the merc because
at the time, i didn't really know better. the merc is outfitted with
some kickass armour and the rune bow "silence".

(i'm noticing i tend to really like rune word weapons over uniques for
some baffling reason)

the amazon is level 89 and her rogue is level 88. they work well
together, although i found that my second time through hell
difficulty, i didn't have the merc for most of it. i did bring her in
as "bait" for many of the major bosses though (duriel, ancients, and
baal mainly)

i just started playing my paladin again, who's been sitting around for
at least a year, unplayed, at act 4 nightmare level. he has a rouge
merc as well, which i'm realizing isn't that great with him. i've
noticed this before when playing hand to hand characters. because the
character gets in really close, the merc follows, and usually the
rogue isn't built to be that close and dies pretty quickly. not very
amusing. i'm debating dumping her off in act 5 and grabbing a
barbarian, but the barb might be too low a level. i'm level 50 and i
think my merc is around level 44. i've never switched mercs after
finishing normal difficulty level.

the characters that i've played most often are my amazon and this
paladin. who both have rouge mercs. i know that i've tried other
mercs with my druid, assassin, and necro, but since they haven't been
played a lot, i'm not overly sure how good the mercs are.

so what do you guys think would best compliment each of the classes?
both rogues that i've used, i've made sure they have cold arrow... i
always found it better than fire arrow at least. i'm open to
suggestions for developing my characters better.

along those lines, is there a faq for the mercs? ie, what skills do
they have that you can choose from when hiring one? what types of
weapons they can use? (i'll hang onto a weapon for some time because
the merc doesn't have the stats, only to find out that when he gets
them, he can't use the darn thing anyways!) also, how about their
fighting techniques and which weapons would be best on them? i know i
hired one of the act III mercs, and was really surprised when he
didn't fight at all, but was shooting bolts of cold from his sword.
obviously then, a sword with high melee damage is useless, but
secondary abilities on the sword would be of great benefit.

cassandra
--

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In a parallel universe, Anti-forever darkness said exactly the opposite
of:

[snip]

You can get a lot of factual information from:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/basics/hirelings.shtml

As far as the 'best' merc for a char, it really depends on what you
expect or need from your merc. For example, I use a NM act 2 Defensive
merc on my Trapper assassin and his Holy Freeze aura slows down monsters
so they remain in my traps longer and die quicker, and the lightning
immune monsters have time to die to fireblasts before they make it to me
thanks to the mercs aura slowing them 50%.

On my paladins I like either act 2 Normal Defensive (Defiance) or act 2
Nightmare Offensive (Might). With my fanatical zealot with a high level
of holy shield I use a defiant and it gives him a very good defense. On
my holy shocker, I use might and it helps with the physical portion of
damage and thus helps leeching back life/mana.

Some people like act 5 barbarians as they're supposed to make excellent
tanks and to be able to kill pretty quickly but I myself have had more
success with various act 2 mercs.

I have heard of people using act 2 normal (or hell) combat (prayer) with
an Insight stick. The meditation aura from Insight is synergised by the
merc's own prayer aura and you end up with something like double healing.

There's also people that like to use the cold sorcerors from act 3 to
keep everything chilled/frozen on screen. I tried that once but was too
annoyed with the constant shwoosh shwooosh shwooosh of the merc's
spellcasting.

I'm certain someone with more experience with barb mercs will come and
give more information about them.

*-) K.os
--
"He imagined for a moment his itinerary connecting up all the dots in the
sky like a child's numbered dots puzzle. He hoped that from some vantage
point in the Universe it might be seen to spell a very, very rude word" -
D. N. Adams

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

K.os wrote::

> There's also people that like to use the cold sorcerors from act 3 to
> keep everything chilled/frozen on screen. I tried that once but was too
> annoyed with the constant shwoosh shwooosh shwooosh of the merc's
> spellcasting.

I'm one of them. I think it depends a lot of your playing style. I found
that they supplement my own style better than any of the other mercs,
and I don't mind the sound.

The only alternative for me seems to a rogue with cold arrow skills
(which basically leads to the same style of gameplay).

> *-) K.os

--
c.u. Hajo

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"forever darkness" <spirit@cyberbeach.netSpAmBoT> wrote in message
news:7ljf511q7qhkgkbliquujbk73rjhv9qkcb@4ax.com...
> i've done all three difficulty levels (including hell level twice)
> with a bowazon with a rogue merc. i went with this because the zon
> was my first character i ever played and stuck with the merc because
> at the time, i didn't really know better. the merc is outfitted with
> some kickass armour and the rune bow "silence".
>
> (i'm noticing i tend to really like rune word weapons over uniques for
> some baffling reason)
>
> the amazon is level 89 and her rogue is level 88. they work well
> together, although i found that my second time through hell
> difficulty, i didn't have the merc for most of it. i did bring her in
> as "bait" for many of the major bosses though (duriel, ancients, and
> baal mainly)
>
> i just started playing my paladin again, who's been sitting around for
> at least a year, unplayed, at act 4 nightmare level. he has a rouge
> merc as well, which i'm realizing isn't that great with him. i've
> noticed this before when playing hand to hand characters. because the
> character gets in really close, the merc follows, and usually the
> rogue isn't built to be that close and dies pretty quickly. not very
> amusing. i'm debating dumping her off in act 5 and grabbing a
> barbarian, but the barb might be too low a level. i'm level 50 and i
> think my merc is around level 44. i've never switched mercs after
> finishing normal difficulty level.
>
> the characters that i've played most often are my amazon and this
> paladin. who both have rouge mercs. i know that i've tried other
> mercs with my druid, assassin, and necro, but since they haven't been
> played a lot, i'm not overly sure how good the mercs are.
>
> so what do you guys think would best compliment each of the classes?
> both rogues that i've used, i've made sure they have cold arrow... i
> always found it better than fire arrow at least. i'm open to
> suggestions for developing my characters better.
>
> along those lines, is there a faq for the mercs? ie, what skills do
> they have that you can choose from when hiring one? what types of
> weapons they can use? (i'll hang onto a weapon for some time because
> the merc doesn't have the stats, only to find out that when he gets
> them, he can't use the darn thing anyways!) also, how about their
> fighting techniques and which weapons would be best on them? i know i
> hired one of the act III mercs, and was really surprised when he
> didn't fight at all, but was shooting bolts of cold from his sword.
> obviously then, a sword with high melee damage is useless, but
> secondary abilities on the sword would be of great benefit.
>
> cassandra
> --

I tend to use melee mercs if I'm ranged (bowazon, sorc) and ranged if I'm
melee (I think rogue mercs do well with fanat pallies, and I find some mercs
are smarter than others, so perhaps you just had a dumb rogue. Smart meaning
I rarely have to worry about her getting into a tight spot and less getting
stuck when I'm running around). I can use Act 2 and Act 5 mercs
interchangeably, because while Act 2 mercs give you an aura, Act 5 mercs are
more robust - more life, faster life regen (I think 16 seconds to fully
heal?), and I just plain like em for some reason. They have character, I
guess. Also I grow attached to my mercs so I'd prefer to get one in Norm and
keep em than hire an Act 2 NM merc. The lower level you hire a merc, the
more stronger they are later on. I'll only use Act 3 cold mercs in Norm if I
plan on getting a Barb in Act 5.

--
*Nietha on USWest SCL
http://games.nietha.net/