Dr. Strangebuff - Summoner Nec

[Mason_Jar]

Thanks HechtHeftig! I have a spare Scales of the Serpent for her. I have a bunch of uniques, wasn't sure where to go with them. Thanks again for everything!

[fkfhnis]

What should the end game gear for the mercenary look like?

Either early game gear or anything that increases the merc's damage output and defense.

So for armor:

Scales of the Serpent

Scales of the Serpent
Gothic Plate (Sacred)
Defense: (7481 - 8308) to (9074 - 10078)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 675
Item Level: 105
15% Chance to cast level 40 Arachnomancy on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 12 Time Strike on Striking
(31 to 40)% Hit Recovery
+90% Damage to Undead
Adds 200-300 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-35% to Enemy Poison Resistance
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +(25 to 30)%
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
+100 to Strength
+50 Life on Melee Attack
Socketed (6)

is probably the best pick. (you need some more strength for her to equip it though)

For everything else I haven't made a plan yet. But any dex (abondened shrine) crafts are good. More chance to hit and more damage for her.

as for sockets: Jah runes for the weapon (if you can afford it... Shaad runes for even more damage or Taha runes for +120 max damage in total). everything else:

Farsight Globe

Farsight Globe
Jewel
Required Level: 40
Item Level: 80
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Poison Resistance

,

Zakarum Stoning Rock

Zakarum Stoning Rock
Jewel
Required Level: 60
Item Level: 60
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
1% Chance to cast level 4 Shockwave on Kill
+6% Damage to Demons
Weapon Physical Damage +6%

,

Inarius' Rock

Inarius' Rock
Jewel
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 115
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
1% Chance to cast level 13 Time Strike on Striking
10% Attack Speed
Adds 2-3 Damage
1% Life stolen per Hit

and/or Jah runes for more defense so she survives in TA easier.

The thing is: the priestress merc doesn't rely much on equipment. Only the weapon is important. But other than that she gets buffed a lot thanks to your totems. So the damage is good in any case. But other than that anything with a good on striking/on kill proc or EWD or nice defense is good. Thanks to your summons she should be rather safe in most ubers (there are some exceptions where you can't rely on merc like Quov Tsin. If your merc dies too much in TA you really have to watch out for the broadside arrows. Those are deadly.)

What's the best weapon for her? Still using crafted long war bow at end game?

[Mason_Jar]

I believe Crafted Long Battle Bow is the route to go. High damage for a bow and the attack speed doesn't matter.

[HechtHeftig]

What should the end game gear for the mercenary look like?

Either early game gear or anything that increases the merc's damage output and defense.

So for armor:

Scales of the Serpent

Scales of the Serpent
Gothic Plate (Sacred)
Defense: (7481 - 8308) to (9074 - 10078)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 675
Item Level: 105
15% Chance to cast level 40 Arachnomancy on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 12 Time Strike on Striking
(31 to 40)% Hit Recovery
+90% Damage to Undead
Adds 200-300 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-35% to Enemy Poison Resistance
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +(25 to 30)%
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
+100 to Strength
+50 Life on Melee Attack
Socketed (6)

is probably the best pick. (you need some more strength for her to equip it though)

For everything else I haven't made a plan yet. But any dex (abondened shrine) crafts are good. More chance to hit and more damage for her.

as for sockets: Jah runes for the weapon (if you can afford it... Shaad runes for even more damage or Taha runes for +120 max damage in total). everything else:

Farsight Globe

Farsight Globe
Jewel
Required Level: 40
Item Level: 80
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(2 to 3)% to Enemy Poison Resistance

,

Zakarum Stoning Rock

Zakarum Stoning Rock
Jewel
Required Level: 60
Item Level: 60
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
1% Chance to cast level 4 Shockwave on Kill
+6% Damage to Demons
Weapon Physical Damage +6%

,

Inarius' Rock

Inarius' Rock
Jewel
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 115
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
1% Chance to cast level 13 Time Strike on Striking
10% Attack Speed
Adds 2-3 Damage
1% Life stolen per Hit

and/or Jah runes for more defense so she survives in TA easier.

The thing is: the priestress merc doesn't rely much on equipment. Only the weapon is important. But other than that she gets buffed a lot thanks to your totems. So the damage is good in any case. But other than that anything with a good on striking/on kill proc or EWD or nice defense is good. Thanks to your summons she should be rather safe in most ubers (there are some exceptions where you can't rely on merc like Quov Tsin. If your merc dies too much in TA you really have to watch out for the broadside arrows. Those are deadly.)

What's the best weapon for her? Still using crafted long war bow at end game?

Yes. I've tried

Typhaon

on her, but it's a lot weaker than the best possible crafted bow. I came to the conclusion that it's no use trying to use a runeword bow or a SU bow except if you're really lucky.

There is actually only 1 option that is possibly better than a crafted bow:

Dear Esther

(good damage, awesome proc, more CB, DR and slow target.)
But this really depends on a really good roll with the max damage. So you might as well just use a crafted bow.

[Gain1]

So Long Battle Bow is better than Long War Bow for our purposes?

[HechtHeftig]

So Long Battle Bow is better than Long War Bow for our purposes?

Good thing you mentioned that. I have been using the wrong bow all the time because I confused those 2.

Long War Bow has a better damage, that's why it's much better.

[as69]

So Long Battle Bow is better than Long War Bow for our purposes?

Good thing you mentioned that. I have been using the wrong bow all the time because I confused those 2.

Long War Bow has a better damage, that's why it's much better.

Not 100% sure.
I was just about for getting gear for my A1 Merc (played with A5 Barb before) and did also some check with regards to required IAS.
A sacred Short War Bow has a weapon speed of 5 and base damage of 68 to 77. Sacred Long War Bow has weapon speed of 15 and 70 to 79 base damage.

Now when you use the Speed calculator you get the following break points for A1 merc:
Short War Bow: 65 IAS for 10 Frames / 102 for 9 Frames / 180 for 8 Frames per Attack
Long War Bow: 92 IAS for 10 Frames / 142 for 9 Frames / 259 for 8 Frames per Attack

Faster attack means more CB/Rainbow Damage/casts on strike. Considering the Short War bow has only "2-2" less base damage (68-77 vs 70-79), it might be the best option - the affixes from crafts (e.g. min/max damage) should be the same on both, making the small difference in its base damage even less important.

8 Frames Attack seems to be impossible even when using a fast bow, but 9 Frames attack with 102 IAS seems to be viable (e.g. 40 IAS on bow plus 62 IAS on other gear)

[Waffle1209]

http://imgur.com/a/ujIhF

Just got this bow like 10 minutes after reading your post.

What should I MO it with? ED or EWD?

[Crash]

[
8 Frames Attack seems to be impossible even when using a fast bow, but 9 Frames attack with 102 IAS seems to be viable (e.g. 40 IAS on bow plus 62 IAS on other gear)

You can craft 15% IAS per jewel. You can roll up to 50% IAS on any weapon, let alone another 60% from MO's if you want. In theory, your merc's bow can have 200% IAS on its own.

6 jewels x 15% = 90
50% on craft
60% MOs

Featherclaw

is a cheap glove. The IAS from that + another 60% from 4 jewels puts you at 200 + 90%. Already hit the breakpoint with two pieces of gear.

[HechtHeftig]

http://imgur.com/a/ujIhF

Just got this bow like 10 minutes after reading your post.

What should I MO it with? ED or EWD?

ED. You want to have a base damage as high as possible.

So Long Battle Bow is better than Long War Bow for our purposes?

Good thing you mentioned that. I have been using the wrong bow all the time because I confused those 2.

Long War Bow has a better damage, that's why it's much better.

Not 100% sure.
I was just about for getting gear for my A1 Merc (played with A5 Barb before) and did also some check with regards to required IAS.
A sacred Short War Bow has a weapon speed of 5 and base damage of 68 to 77. Sacred Long War Bow has weapon speed of 15 and 70 to 79 base damage.

Now when you use the Speed calculator you get the following break points for A1 merc:
Short War Bow: 65 IAS for 10 Frames / 102 for 9 Frames / 180 for 8 Frames per Attack
Long War Bow: 92 IAS for 10 Frames / 142 for 9 Frames / 259 for 8 Frames per Attack

Faster attack means more CB/Rainbow Damage/casts on strike. Considering the Short War bow has only "2-2" less base damage (68-77 vs 70-79), it might be the best option - the affixes from crafts (e.g. min/max damage) should be the same on both, making the small difference in its base damage even less important.

8 Frames Attack seems to be impossible even when using a fast bow, but 9 Frames attack with 102 IAS seems to be viable (e.g. 40 IAS on bow plus 62 IAS on other gear)

I think you're confusing the Long Battle Bow with the Short War Bow

Long Battle Bow has 66-74 damage while Long War Bow has 70-79. So if you're only comparing these 2, the Long War Bow is much better. The Short War Bow has 68-77 and a different speed. But as LH explained, you can always reach the Breakpoints with easily crafted and rare Jewels.

Comparing both of the long bows: If you add the ED the Long War Bow has 210-237 damage, while the Long Battle Bow only has 198-222 damage. That's actually a big difference. Mercs have a hidden buff to make them viable in MXL. And they gain lots of damage thanks to that buff. Every single point of damage may doesn't look like much, but when it all adds up there is a noticeable difference. After all the merc is affected by Howling totem as well.