Hi guys!
Looking for the best merc option. I play with a friend (me: strafezon, he: frenzybarb) so we mainly deal physical damage. He will go for A2 might merc, so we somehow have to deal with PIs.
I have decent gear for:
What would you recommend?
My last strafezon was 20 years ago, so I looked at the maxroll guide. They suggest an act 2 might merc or an act 1 cold merc.
The act 3 mercs are usually considered the weakest. But the fire one could offer your party enchant for a nice AR boost and some fire damage.
a3 lightning is usually shunned, instead an a5 merc with 1 or 2 Crescent Moons would be taken for the more reliable Static Field. But that wouldn’t fully help with your PI problem.
Lightning Ironwolf with the right gear is an amazing support: Plague, Griffons, Viperskin, eth Spirit Monarch nets you: Cleansing Aura (very useful for physical damage heroes!), Lower resist proc when in trouble, 1-3K lightning damage, frequent static field, 86 FCR (second highest breakpoint).
Fire Ironwolf wielding Spirit, Flickering Flame, Ench/FB Ormus or Viperskin, eth Spirit Monarch) nets you: approx. 250+ fire damage enchant, 86 FCR, 3k+ Fireball, fire resist aura.
Fire Rogue merc wielding Mist (GMB or MB), Hustle armor, Flickering Flame nets you: ~165-220% ED for the party, 1200+ fire damage with 100% pierce (shreds Wraiths and Wisps), fire resist aura, 11 fpa (GMB) or 9 fpa (MB, second highest breakpoint!) without Fanaticism, Inner Sight (circa -1800 defense to monsters).
Barb merc wielding any weapon for example: Grief, Plague, Hustle, Frostwind, Azurewrath, eth Death/Oath, Last Wish etc AND Lawbringer, Hustle armor + any life leech helm nets you: massive damage vs. undead, Decrepify proc and whatever the primary weapon has to offer, high attack speed and AMAZING run speed.
All of these are able to deal with PIs on their own in a two player game!
Side note 1: A single point into Berserk should deal with any PI that is not immune to magic damage!
Side note 2: Atma’s Scarab is BiS for a pure Strafezon!
Side note 3: The Barb merc with Grief+Lawbringer makes short work of all Wraiths, Wisps, Dolls and Oblivion Knights, which are among the most annoying and dangerous enemies in the game. Don’t forget: The Sanctuary aura affects BOTH weapons, so two Lawbringers are a waste in my opinion.
Good luck!
these are good points, i like all mercs
cold rogue is safest in crowds and can slow down even cold resisting enemies for a good while, but fire rogue has the longest firing distance. you sometimes see her arrows fly past you without seeing her on the screen. so you have to worry less about where she is positioned or if she gets stuck
all wolves are great. dont have to worry about their gear half as much as any other mercs for starter, and become very powerful with the right gear. and they are all teamplayers, directly helping in some way. question is just if you want more safety in crowds or more powerful hits on tough targets. lightning wolf can help chisel away an act boss health, but helps even more chiseling down strong rare monsters, especially if they have stone skin. fire wolf will help you, barb and his merc with landing hits against all enemies and give you all fire damage
and like above mentions, it isnt always about getting elemental mercs. strong elemental can be found on weapons too. switching mercs as you get new and better weapons for each of them is a good tactic until you find something that just works for your team and stick with it
not sure if merc bug is fixed on resurrected, otherwise be sure to hire on normal diff only
what is the merc bug?
where nightmare and hell mercs have lower stats and resistances than their normal version
This bug is fixed in D2R. 
I didn’t think that was a bug.
But as DasNarf said, it has been changed.