Having remade my zealer paladin, I was thinking about what the best merc would be, other than an Act I physical, which had trouble dealing with physical immunes that occasionally appeared in late nightmare.

I was looking at Act III mercs, and was wondering which element would be the best (i.e. most versatile). I was heavily considering the Necro one, as not too many things are immune to non-elemental magic. However, if i recall correctly, conviction doesn't affect poison or magic resistances.

Too many things in late nightmare and all of hell are immune to fire, and many might be physical immune as well.

Cold seems like the best, but I was wondering if the nightmare and hell skills are automatically gained when you bring your merc hired in normal difficulty to the higher ones, or can only be used by mercs hired in higher difficulties. If they don't automatically gain them, then for normal, the Necro merc would be best, as I would have to get a new merc in NM and level him up again, right?

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It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley

hire nm light 1

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"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer",- Ali.

And what, may I ask, makes that merc superior to the other three for my build?

Perhaps I was not clear, but I was asking about the best Act III merc to get me through normal difficulty and by implication the first two acts of NM. If the lightning one is really superior in NM, then I'll hire one when I get to nm Act III.

_________________
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley

A3 mercs really aren't good until they get their nightmare skill set. Phys immunes should not be a problem for a zealadin - 1 pt vengeance and/or 1 pt sanctuary. I would use a normal a2 offensive merc for normal, nm, and hell.

Severus
Use a1 phys merc till y get a3 nm, then hire a3 light. give him as much +all skills as y can, fcr love (140% is enough), put topazes in his weapon if it got any os. 1pt conv (or even more,up to y) + merc`s Chain Lightning = kill trash in a good speed. Warpspear (tele oskill) on swith will help y a lot.

a2 off is a good choice too as it give y gg dmg buff.

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"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer",- Ali.

Thanks for the advice and explanation . I'll try out the act III nm light merc, as chain lightning can inflict a lot of damage when combined with conviction and holy shock.

I don't like the act II mercs though, simply because they die very easily to iron maiden. It's very annoying to have to constantly teleport (using teleport oskill on warpspear) or otherwise keep your merc away from mobs when he is cursed with IM, whilst trying to remove it with cleansing.

Ranged or caster mercs don't have that problem, which is why I'll gladly forgo the damage bonus from might in order to not have to micro-manage anything.

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It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley

im considering the move from act 2 off merc to act 1 physical, ive buffed him up and he still dies constantly if i dont save his ass every 5 minutes!

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Trolling LockDown since 14/01/2012.

A2 mercs need to be geared very well indeed to last on bosses. If you are playing a pally I would recomend an act 3 merc and run 1 pointed convic for trash and those unbreakable PI bosses

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Ima give that a try I think. Any faster ways to level a merc? The act 1 merc is levelling slow?

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Trolling LockDown since 14/01/2012.

mercs level slow until level 20ish. once she is 20 clear act 2 wps to city, then clear a3 from flayer to upper kurast, once she is around the 36 mark run from town to crystaline wp and she should be caught up.

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if i were to make a zealer, there would be no question as to what i would use. i would go with a multishot merc with sexytime fanat. if you are worried about phys immunes, there are far more elemental imunes and if you use a sanctuary craft armor on the merc, shell kill phys imuned undeads.

let the casters kill the phys imunes, or if you are soloing, skip them. if its a boss, well, 1 pt veng i guess >< but your merc probably wouldnt survive the boss anyway.

Cheers purerage,

Yea ive gone with the multishot merc :] should be good

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Trolling LockDown since 14/01/2012.

-edit-
I see your point, Alexius. I was considering an Act III merc to try something different, but it probably isn't the best idea, considering that my merc is the only backup I have in solo edition. Act I phys mercs are versatile enough, and they don't die very often to trash, except when surrounded.

Phys immunes are mostly undead, and those that are not aren't particularly strong. Besides, you're right about the elemental immunes. Pretty much everything in hell is immune to at least one element.

Thanks everyone for the advice on this matter nonetheless.