The Hireling Handbook - A Guide to Mercenaries

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Jitan, Come On
Pit Knight
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I tried Shapeshifter and Necrolyte. Shapeshifter kept dying all the time. Necrolyte seems to be doing alright, doesnt die in Fautz.
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aerial
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Merc is definitely useful in fauzt, a3 doesn't die, and can help with clearing, especially abjurer.

As for getting merc to survive in scos, I think first step would be to put 90 resist gear on it, and some way of rapid healing, either via leech, or ones that cast spells that heal (bloodmage), or rely on necrolyte "enemies deal less damage" via miasma/force blast and helping with chilling enemies, slowerd targets deal less dps.

There already are cases of mercs surving scos if you guys look at some showcase videos, but it is mostly done through just very good clear speed, so that merc doesn't have time to take any damage. Then you can argue merc isn't even needed. Key here is to get merc survive on a build that clears this place at more moderate pace.
youtube.com/ae1337
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Muilpeer
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aerial wrote:Merc is definitely useful in fauzt, a3 doesn't die, and can help with clearing, especially abjurer.

As for getting merc to survive in scos, I think first step would be to put 90 resist gear on it, and some way of rapid healing, either via leech, or ones that cast spells that heal (bloodmage), or rely on necrolyte "enemies deal less damage" via miasma/force blast and helping with chilling enemies, slowerd targets deal less dps.

There already are cases of mercs surving scos if you guys look at some showcase videos, but it is mostly done through just very good clear speed, so that merc doesn't have time to take any damage. Then you can argue merc isn't even needed. Key here is to get merc survive on a build that clears this place at more moderate pace.


What helped my merc survive in most areas, was to give him a
Locket of Dreams
Locket of Dreams
Amulet

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+100 to Vitality
+(150 to 200) Life when Struck by an Enemy
25% Gold Find
+10 to Light Radius
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aerial
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This could be placebo, because that life when struck only applies to melee hits, which makes it quite insignificant effect, for example in fauztinville.

In scos they get rekt by spells, so this will not change much.
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altoiddealer
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Hey Cube, for your Necrolyte Guide it currently states:
Sockets: Zod crafted jewels with FCR, FHR, cold spell damage


Pretty sure you mean Fal runes which are the new recipe for Spell Dmg jewels.
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NotCube
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Oops. Forgot about that. Thank you
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aerial wrote:This could be placebo, because that life when struck only applies to melee hits, which makes it quite insignificant effect, for example in fauztinville.

In scos they get rekt by spells, so this will not change much.


True, he only survives K3K and Dunc this way. Fauzt, Teganze and Scos are a whole other level of pain for the merc.
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Necrolyte might survive but he's not doing much. It stands miles away from any mobs, pointlessly spamming ice nova. Now and again the mobs go light green so I can tell that he's debuffed them, but it's a waste of space having a merc if they do nothing but die now and again.

Abjurer might be better but they lost supernova so the screen-wide damage doesn't seem to be there now.
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What is the best merc right now. Can some1 rank it for me? I tried Shapeshift and he was horrible. aCT 3 merc is doing ok.Rogue is the same. Havent tried barb yet.
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whitewolf wrote:What is the best merc right now. Can some1 rank it for me? I tried Shapeshift and he was horrible. aCT 3 merc is doing ok.Rogue is the same. Havent tried barb yet.


In Sigma 2.0 mercs seem dead. They are very useful in helping level up till around lvl 120 but after that it's just someone that dies a lot and costs gold to revive. Sadly, because I think mercs can be used really well to fill the gaps in areas where your specific build might have troubles. I wish they would buff them a bit to make mercs endgame viable as well. Not to make the game easier, but to at least add support, they are meant to be support, they are not meant to be wet parchment going down in 10 seconds.