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Act 5 Mercs
http://forum.arimyth.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1209		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:12 am ]
Post subject:  Act 5 Mercs
Hi, just some questions about act 5 mercs. They can use maces, mauls, swords. Are the only 2 hand maces --> mauls?
Also, decrepify amplifies physical damage by 33%, does that mean it boosts a elemental druid's tornado damage?
I'm intending to make a lawbringer in a maul and put it on a A5 merc, will that work?

Lastly, which of the 3 types would u consider the best tank against bosses? Werewolf because feral rage leeches back life?
Author:  Brevan [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
1) When in doubt, just buy a base item from a store and try it on your merc to see if he can wear it. A5 mercs can wear just about any weapon except clubs, wands, daggers, spears, and polearms.
2) Yes, the 33% lower physical resistance of monsters will increase your Tornado damage by 50%.
3) Lawbringer can be made in Hammers (Mauls) so you can use that if you want. I'd recommend a flail so that the merc could use a shield with dr% like "Knights Vigil", or Absorbs. The damage on Lawbringer is low, so he won't leach a huge amount.
4) Sure, I suppose Feral/Wolf merc is best A5 merc for bosses. Just cap his dr% and absorbs, and get him a decent defence (Saphire crafted armor helps). Try to get him plenty of Diamonds in his gear for trash, and he should be fine for most things. If you really want him to tank bosses, then get him Ondal's hat for Weaken. You'll lose out on Decrep, so you'll kill a bit slower, but your merc's chances of survival are much better.
Author:  WolfStar [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Brevan I thought decrep weakened by 33% anyways? I thought decrep was 33% amp, 33% slow, 33% weaken? If so then weaken itself is only 17% more, which wouldn't really be worth it since decrep also slows, no?
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
so u'd recommend flail for fast attack speed to proc decrep, together with a knights vigil runeword for 20% dr? any other possible runeword combos that could help a A5 merc tank?

also, why do A5 mercs keep switching back and forth from the werewolf form? rather than staying permanently in that form? its rather unreliable to have a morph skill when they are only in the werewolf state 1/3 of the time.
Author:  Brevan [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
WolfStar wrote:
If so then weaken itself is only 17% more, which wouldn't really be worth it since decrep also slows, no?

1) Weaken curse also reduces elemental damage by 25%.
2) That 17% you mentioned is a big difference. Using Effective Life for comparison, a 33%Weak curse gives you a +50% Life, while a 50% Weak curse gives you a +100% Life. After that, toss in your 50%dr for another +100% Life (now you have +300% bonus since the doublings stack). I recently supplied a table of how the Effective Life stuff works at difference %, and for Phys resistance +100%Life was the cap. Weakness is the best way to improve your resistance to phys, and it's a big difference over Decrep. The only better way is BattleCry or Taunt (Taunt's stronger, but only works on trash).

Decrep's slowness is decent, no doubt, but I'm bored of seeing people using just Amp/Decrep/LRes. I want to see more variety.
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
why do A5 mercs keep switching back and forth from the werewolf form? rather than staying permanently in that form? its rather unreliable to have a morph skill when they are only in the werewolf state 1/3 of the time.

Also, what would increase overall damage better for a elemental druid? conviction aura or amplify damage? is the bulk of the druids damage going to come from hurricane or tornado?
Author:  Angel [ Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
The bulk of their damage comes from tornado, it more than quadruples your hurricane damage, so naturally the decrep is going to be useful.

An eth reaper's toll might be a better way to get the decrep, by the way.
Author:  Utter [ Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Angel wrote:
The bulk of their damage comes from tornado, it more than quadruples your hurricane damage, so naturally the decrep is going to be useful.

An eth reaper's toll might be a better way to get the decrep, by the way.

Or a executioners justice which a a5 merc can use.
Author:  Sugarbean [ Wed Feb 24, 2010 4:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Act 5 Merc's take a lot of good gear to be effective tanks. I find that Act 2 merc's make much better tanks. I used this setup on my A5 Merc before remaking into Act 2 merc:

Dhorn
Eth Tyreals Um'd
Eth Wsg
Eth upped Gores
Eth Rends
2x 10%ish life leech 30+ str 100+ life crafted rings
Metalgrid
Eth Windhammer with uber amethyst (too slow..)
then Eth Colossus Blade Beast (better)

but he doesn't do half as good as my Act 2 Prayer merc with this setup:

CoA Ber Ber Um
War
Maras
Immortal Flesh
SM Boots
SM Gloves
Con Ring
BK Ring
Eth Hatred Giant Thresher (The ultimate amp casting machine)

He casts amp on nearly every single jab and his jab is so fast with the Giant Thresher that it looks like 1 poke) I use him on a cold sorc for killing cold immune bosses and he does amazing.
Author:  Steel [ Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
whats the point of using A2 merc with 2h lower ctc amp wpn over 1h brand rw and spirit ward/monarch with more red%/no conc ring/etc. ah, wealth
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
hmmm. act2 mercs tank better then act5 mercs?? faster attack speed = more leech? high lvl pole arms better than high lvl swords/maces?
Author:  Angel [ Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Act 5 mercs lack aura, that's why they suck. They don't actually gain anything else other than the useless shift every once in a while.
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
hmmm i would think prayer aura heal is pretty minimal?
while a5 mercs have feral rage which is quite a large amount of leech?

i just started a holyfire ranger paladin using explosive arrows. finished A1 in 15 minutes lol. Pretty fun I have to say.
Author:  x3n0x1d3 [ Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Sugarbean wrote:
but he doesn't do half as good as my Act 2 Prayer merc with this setup:

Immortal Flesh

do prayer mercs actually benefit from +prayer oskill on immortal flesh? a friend of mine tried testing it and he wasn't able to see any difference

no clue myself, as i havent had the chance to see yet (blue's site only talks about a3 mercs benefiting from +skills that i've noticed)
Author:  Angel [ Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Might adds a ridiculous amount of additional damage which translates into leech.

Prayer is best when you use it with a meditation aura from insight, doubling the actual heal, which helps to moderate poison damage on yourself and minions.
Author:  PureRage-DoD [ Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
yes immortal flesh gives +10 prayer to prayer mercs. If you use levi on that merc with insight then the medi aura carries over the reduce curse/poison duration effect to meditation too so you get all 3 skills working together on the 1 merc.
Author:  drrod [ Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
Best thing about A5 mercs is their godly FHR. Otherwise I'd say A2 is superior. More curse/aura choices in weaponry(brand jav anyone?), free aura, and conversion. Once you get around to end game gear on melee mercs they're pretty similar in tanking ability. Neither can really tank the harder act bosses/side quest bosses reliably, and both will tank trash/sub bosses just fine. So I say go for the extra aura.

Another thing no one seemed to mention is IM. If we're talking endgame high damage isn't even that desirable. A 1h/shield setup with some DR and absorbs is where it's at if you're looking for tanking.
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
side question about mercs. Mercs hired in Normal have better stats than Nightmare and Hell? Of cuz they dont have the NM/Hell skill. But i don't think conversion is that great.
Author:  PureRage-DoD [ Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
converts can be godly, just 1 convert can tank sub bosses like sarina/sszak.

You can also get converted healers to provide you with a good 3-4k heal prayer in nm/hell. You can have converted amp witches in act 5 to provide mp damage for you, converted moon lords for life tap, etc. etc. Conversion is extremely under rated IMO. Only place it is annoying is in maggot lair.
Author:  tonykantos [ Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
PureRage-DoD wrote:
Only place it is annoying is in maggot lair.


...easily solved with some teleport charges/oskill :P
Author:  patrick_pkl [ Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Act 5 Mercs
hmmm... but NM merc stats >> Hell merc stats right?

Also, which would tank better? Prayer merc or Might merc?

or no difference since both cant tank main bosses very well?
what about against sub-bosses?
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