My A5 merc is now 91 and on his way to his way to 92 and I am getting rather fond of having him around during boss battles, so I am wondering how to gear him up on a (relatively) limited budget. What would be very cool is to make it so that he can survive the journey down to Nightmare Nihlathak so that I can get a few spiffy runes. My Rabies Druid can take down Nihla pretty straight forward, but clearing out the room around him can be very tedious and having my merc around would really help for that. Also would be neat if he could tank hell sub-bosses.
Here is what he is using now:
Helm varies between Steelshade, VampireGaze and Crown of Thieves.
Armor is Levithon (until my paladin steals it away
)
rings/amulet = full elemental set
belt/gloves = orphans call set items
shield = medusas (this one has to stay for %ctc LowerResist) with moonstone diamond in it.
weapon = eth Frostwind
I am rather sold on the eth Frostwind because it has 20% slow enemy which stacks with the 25% from Medusas and makes my merc really handy for boss battles, but I am up for changing anything else on him.
I would also like to hear what sort of things you do during boss fights to help keep your merc alive, I think this would make a great addition to the mercenaries page on blue.arimyth.com and am looking for good input.
Thanks!
*note* I got a combat merc rather than a shapeshifter merc to avoid rabies/rabies conflicts.