Merc hard inting in Hell difficulty

General Discussion
1

I’m playing a Trapsin, so, woe is me. I need my merc to handle lightning immunes. (I did just manage to get through Maggot Lair, but holy shit was that not fun!)

He’s currently using a… Normal Insight (still need to find an Elite weapon for a new Insight), Griswald’s chest with Thul Ral Ort for resists, and a… Sazabi’s Mental Sheath.

I HAPPENED to find a Lo Rune, so I am capable of making Fortitude for him. Is this worth it?
I also want a helmet upgrade… But, what do I want? Vamp Gaze, perhaps?

On that note, what’s the trade scene looking like? What do people tend to want? Runes, of course, always. Anything else? What should I expect to pay for a Vamp Gaze? Etc…

And yes, I know I want an Infinity, but that’s so far down the road I have no reason to even look in that direction yet.

2

Look up the merc bug, you can make it so melee mobs cant target him, and then keeping him alive is alot easier.

3

yea Fortitude is a must… but you should wait for the best elite base to make the runeword. mercenary always die quick, you cant really help it. just make him some low tier runewords for now like smoke or stone.

4

I would recommend Treachery runeword. Crafted it myself a couple of days ago, and my merc became very tanky. I do not know the mechanics precisely, but I think that you also have to equip something life-leeching like Vampire’s Gaze, Tal’s headpiece or Andariel’s Visage (although the latter seems to be quite rare). You need a Lem for the Treachery though. I even stopped bugging him because now he tanks very nicely. :wink:
But Fortitude is also a recommended armour for a merc, so I would try it if you have a good base. Good luck because I also had similar problems on Hell with my cold sorc. :laughing: :v:

5

Thanks guys.
Not sure on how to do the bug, but dunno if I’d feel right doing it. (Even though it’s D2, and that kinda stuff has kinda become ingrained in its culture, lol. I’m aware.)

Man I’m REALLY not finding any bases at all. I only randomly found a Monarch on one of my Countess runs, so that was nice.
But still no Elite Polearm.
No 3 socketed armor at all. (For Treachery, whether for myself or my Merc.)
No 4 socket Elite armor, or even BASE Elite armor to socket quest.

Aaaaah! :frowning:

Yeah, I imagine Treachery is good because it procs Fade, which would cap out the Merc’s resistances. Also the IAS would be very useful, especially with life leech. And, frankly… lowering curse duration would be nice, with all the Amp Damage enemies there seems to be…

But that being said, I would like to know which IS better. Treachery, or Fortitude?

6

Imho treachery is the way to go. 45% ias and chance on fade procc is pretty strong. 45% ias is very good for dmg output AND lifeleech, therefore survivability.

7

if you can of course fortitude is better… because of the huge increase in damage and defenses. also Chilling Armor as a bonus on top… if you give me a choice, i would give my mercenary both fortitude for weapon and fortitude for armor. since that guy mentioned it, i was using treachery as an experiment before, and still using it now. the merc still die but not as often i guess lol… cool thing is your merc looks invisible when fade trigger

8

I got a 4 socketed 400 def Loricated Mail… which is very far from ideal. But I may get impatient and just Fortitude this.

Someone can laugh at me when I try to trade it off at a later point, maybe.

9

is all good man, you are not missing much. eth armors are around 700 defense anyway, you probably can upgrade your existing one in the future when you find more Lo rune (wish i have one lol)