in your opinion the best merc setups?

http://www.medianxl.com/t2061-gearing-shapeshifter-merc

ill usually go for a cheap melee setup:

Toorc's Gift

Toorc's Gift
Chain Gloves (4)
Defense: (26 - 30) to (47 - 54)
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Item Level: 10
2% Chance to cast level 1 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
5% Attack Speed
Stun Attack
+(12 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (155 - 172) to (211 - 234)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 57
Item Level: 31
3% Chance to cast level 2 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
15% Attack Speed
Adds (11 to 15)-(16 to 25) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(47 to 63)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (434 - 472) to (573 - 624)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 201
Item Level: 51
4% Chance to cast level 3 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
25% Attack Speed
Adds (36 to 45)-(46 to 63) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(81 to 97)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (657 - 710) to (859 - 928)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 402
Item Level: 77
5% Chance to cast level 3 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
30% Attack Speed
Adds (81 to 100)-(101 to 125) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(98 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (4)

/ Stormblasat craft
Desintegrate Belt craft
Balefire Melee Craft

Cauldron RW

Craton

Craton
Boots
'UmLem'
Runeword Level: 58
1% Chance to cast level 7 Shower of Rocks on Melee Attack
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes
5% to Vitality
Elemental Resists +10%
Physical Damage Reduced by (16 to 20)
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
(1 to 10)% Gold Find
(1 to 10)% Magic Find
+(1 to 10) to Light Radius

I'm boring and do the Bloodmage w/honorific/crafted (fascinating shrine) gear and MO the crap out of them with + fire spell damage and - enemy fire spell resist.

It's lame but it works and it's fucking hilarious, especially when he pretty much fucking solo'd LC1

act 5 Miasmerc full rw'd on sacred bases ofc

yul crown/great helm
Rha flamberge (double mo'd before rw) stack miasma MOs on it
lai gauntlets
vith plated belt
ath greaves
nih armor

Lamen of the Archbishop

Lamen of the Archbishop
Amulet
Required Level: 110
Item Level: 120
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+4 to All Skills

with pretty decent poison stats+strength or

Klaatu Barada Nikto

Klaatu Barada Nikto
Amulet
Required Level: 110
Item Level: 105
30% Enhanced Damage vs. Necrobots
10% Chance to cast level 40 Nova Bomb on Melee Attack
+2 to All Skills
25% Attack Speed
Adds 1-188 Lightning Damage
+650 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
Stun Attack
+(11 to 16) to Hive
Lightning Resist +(40 to 50)%
Poison Resist +(40 to 50)%

if youre farming fauzt destruction, but honestly changing to klaatu doesnt matter much.

all sockets with ber crafted 2%life leech + 2% to strength or %all attributes jewels

Dude Love wrote:I'm boring and do the Bloodmage w/honorific/crafted (fascinating shrine) gear and MO the crap out of them with + fire spell damage and - enemy fire spell resist.

It's lame but it works and it's fucking hilarious, especially when he pretty much fucking solo'd LC1

is bloodmage's normal attack ranged? i was thinking about replacing my fightermage just for his heal. is it ok if i go with -100 enemy fire resist rather than getting +fire spell damage.

annoying cat wrote:
Dude Love wrote:I'm boring and do the Bloodmage w/honorific/crafted (fascinating shrine) gear and MO the crap out of them with + fire spell damage and - enemy fire spell resist.

It's lame but it works and it's fucking hilarious, especially when he pretty much fucking solo'd LC1

is bloodmage's normal attack ranged? i was thinking about replacing my fightermage just for his heal. is it ok if i go with -100 enemy fire resist rather than getting +fire spell damage.

He's an iron wolf, so all of his skills are ranged. -100 fire resist is fine for monsters with no fire resist whatsoever but you should probably go -200 (you easily can, the only limitation is money since you can make an honorific set of t1 gear at -30 resist an item) to ensure that no monsters whatsoever get fire resist against him. Spell damage is heavily recommended, for sure -- it's pretty hilarious and since he has such strong fire skills the damage can be INSANE

As a general rule, tanky chars should have a ranged merc like a bloodmage and squishy chars should have a shapeshifter/barb tank, so if you have the room to take a bloodmage in I heavily recommend it

thanks. i have glass cannon sin, so it'll be a fight between fightermage and shapeshifter when i get back.

fighter mage sucks, he spams titan strike

^Dude's right, shapeshifters are far better tanks and barbs kick the shit out of shapeshifters, so if you're in act V by now you should go with one of those

thanks guys! :thumb:

going back to shapeshifter later.