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 Post subject: A1 Mercs
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:28 pm 
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Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:48 pm
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Since the new ladder I haven't seen much discussion about A1 mercs and how everyone is currently running them- I couldn't find any thread dedicated to them, so here we go!

I got a fire a1 merc (lvl 86):
eth buriza with ms ruby socket
ele rings and amu
lava gout gloves
infernostride boots
crafted safety belt with good res

she does upwards of 9k dmg, with maybe 30 pierce? Her explosive arrows are real nice, especially since hit freezes target. However, she is having a problem with resistances... Her fire is maxed obviously (75/20/0/0 iirc) so maybe I need to ignore the fact that she uses immolation arrow and just build her with crafted/unique items that will make her more solid all around instead of trying to give her a boost of fire?

I have practically zero experience with Immolation Arrow, and I also don't even know what skill lvl she'll hit - hence I have no idea if it's worth it to gear her with fire buffs. I'm considering swapping out the rings/amu for rare +dex/res/dr/mdr rings and maybe a highlords. Then giving her some blood crafted gloves and boots.. depends on what you guys say about the immolation arrow on them.

What do you guys think?

EDIT: By the way, I'm using her with my PnB Necro. He has +1 each summon so she has a nice little meat shield and she barely dies even with her low res.. still though I'm thinking that since the physical a1 mercs are no longer here that the a1 mercs maybe completely outclassed as far as killing shit is concerned by the a3 mercs... Since the only reason I need a merc is to kill trash and bosses faster, obviously the one that deals the better dmg is the winner.

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 Post subject: Re: A1 Mercs
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:25 pm 
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Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:55 pm
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You can still build A1 Fire or Ice mercenaries for physical damage, and they still get pretty beastly.

My buddy's Necromancer hits for ~15-30k physical and I don't see Immolation Arrow being able to outclass that. Of course, you can also double that display damage for most instances as A1 Mercenaries get a free 70-80% critical strike.
This is of course, with pretty awesome gear.

It doesn't clear trash nearly as fast as physical A1 Mercenaries used to, but it's still a great farming character. He can solo the majority of areas in the game and can solo a lot of Hell sub-bosses.


As far as a mercenary for your specific build I'd roll A3, simply because you likely won't be maxing Amplify Damage. A Blizz merc (even with crappy gear) will be able to kill any PI monsters that stand in your way. My Paladin's A3 Blizz mercenary has pretty sub-par gear, but will still melt any mob in Hell Tundra when he casts Blizzard.
On bosses however, don't expect A3 or A1 mercenaries to be a driving killing force without teleport. At least in my experience, I've rarely ever seen (or accomplished) killing bosses without the ability to immediately reposition my mercenary.

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 Post subject: Re: A1 Mercs
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:20 pm 

Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2011 9:22 pm
Posts: 116
Since i'm guessing you have maxed lr. If you go for immo a1 merc i'd go for mostly all skills/-res/+skill dmg. It should be pretty nice along with the lr for dmg. As far as gear go's imo:

Faith Rw bow (eth hydra) - 3 all skill, 20 all res, lvl 10 fanat
Griffs or topaz craft helm or diamond craft helm if you want additional defense on summons.
Templars
lava gouts - 20 ias -10% res
highlords - 20 ias -5 res% 25% ds etc.
ele set rings would be nice but you will probably need the res from nice rares or emerald crafts
(high cold/light/poison res emerald craft w/ ll would be ideal)
inferno strides - -10 res

40 ias w/ lvl 10 fanat on a hydra bow for a1 merc gives you a 10 frame attack, 9 is max, so a speedy attack. plenty of all skills, Along with your necro's lr she gets around -100 enemy fire res. And you have 7-8 sockets to sort out your resistances and perhaps add more dmg/hp/def whatever suites your style of play.

For bosses i think she'll die very quickly though. Lack of life leech due to no physical dmg is going to get her killed nice and fast from counters/spells And for trash i'm guessing an a3 light merc would be better. If you want something to speed up boss kills a fire a3 is probably better as well. The upside to a1 immo merc imo is you would now have a poison, fire, and physical means of killing things that get in your way. So if you run into a poison/fire immune trash boss you don't have to avoid him compared to having an a3 fire merc.

EDIT: Wait pnb necro = poison or bone necro? heh, I assumed a poison necro.


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 Post subject: Re: A1 Mercs
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:40 pm 
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dont forget a1 mercs are classed as monsters so crit effects them the same as it does monsters Ie. monsters with critical also double elemental damage (pretty gg with chant + explosive arrows)

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