Hey guys , I will put this guide here maybe it will be helpful. I will start saying that i honestly tried all of them and i liked using something new and original as the world had enough act 2 mercs with Botd , forti and gaze already I hope you will try this becouse they're fun and underrated 1 . The Smiter's Friend The idea behind this merc is to have lifetap going off often and he works great with melee bulds like the Smiter Pali, Frenzy Barbarians, and Wolf Druids. Not only will this merc support your ability but he also has the advantage of being able to solo things on his own. Type: Act 5 Barbarian Merc Gear: Weapon: Lastwish Ethereal Colossus Blade Helm: Ethereal Andarial's Visage or Ethereal Arreat's Face (Cham works great in either so he doesn't get frozen, also 40/15 jewels are a good choice too) Armor: Ethereal Fortitude (because it nearly doubles his damage and adds life/resists too) This guy now runs around lifetapping everything, dealing 6k+ damage per hit with high resists and life leach. He's got a free chance to cast lots of self-buffs like frozen armor and fade too so he lives well even in 8 player games. He's a friendly addition to any group that relies heavily on melee damage since everyone gets buffed by lifetap. 2. The Aura Archer The idea here is to have an act one bow merc hanging out in the background providing big hits and giving aura buffs to everyone in the group. The act one merc is great because their AI keeps them behind you so they stay alive longer and don't die to curses like melee mercs do. Did I mention you get level 15 might aura from Lastwish too? They're fun to use with almost any build too. Type: Act 1 Bow Merc Gear: Weapon: Faith Bow (Shadow bows are my preference because of the high base IAS and the spread of min-max damage) Helm: Dream or Andarial's Visage (Dream is nice because of the extra direct lightening damage and the little "pulse" damage, otherwise use whatever you want) Armor: Fortitude or Dragon (Again, the extra damage of Fortitude makes her bow damage great considering you already get Fanaticism from Faith) This merc will stand in the background giving everyone in the group Fanaticism, hit for about 5-8k, and hardly ever dies. You can have her hit bosses like Meph from across the moat and go afk while she does some killing if you stand at the right spot. For chaos runs she's the preferred build since she doesn't die to curses. Pick the cold arrow version because she will slow enemies she hits too. 3. The Dreamer This merc has the most utility out of any merc. Get an act 2 nightmare defensive merc and give him some godly rune words are you can go AFK and come back to a screen full of dead monsters. This guy works great with most builds and is especially fun with a dream paladin(you can find builds online if you've never made one). Type: Act 2 Holyfreeze Merc Gear: Weapon: Ethreal Infinity or Ethereal Cryptic Axe Hand of Justice Helm: Dream Bone Visage Armor: Dragon Archon Plate With this build you get level 20+ holy freeze from the merc, level 15 conviction because of your weapon, level 15 lightening aura from your helm and level 14 holy fire from your armor. Any enemy near this guy loses big resists and is taking 3 type of elemental damage without you pressing any buttons. His dream helm also has a high chance to curse the enemies with confuse which makes them kill themselves while his auras hit them every 2 seconds. It's kind of funny going to get a soda and coming back to a screen of bodies and a floor full of loot. Pair this guy with a character using dreams and it gets even better. 4. The Dream Mage This is kind of a twist on the last two builds combine the benefits of being ranged with the pulse damage of good runewords. He works great with amazons and other builds find him useful too. Type: Act 3 Cold Mage Weapon: Hand of Justice Sword Helm: Dream Armor: Dragon Archon Plate Shield: Dream or Dragon (I prefer dream but both are great) So, you want a mage freezing your enemies while dealing level 30 lightening aura and level 30 holy fire every 2 seconds do you? The act 3 merc has a few advantages over the act 2. First, he can use a shield thus adding more elemental damage per hit. Second, his freeze stops enemies in their tracks preventing them from fighting or casting curses and spells. His cold stops lost souls for example giving you time to take them out. Zon's work great with him running around behind slowing everything and weakening everyone while you hit them with multishot or lightening fury. 5.The Boss Killer This merc is a personal favorite of mine. He can live through ubers about 50% of the time and makes taking down powerful monsters a breeze. The goal is to get him incredible crushing blow percentage and lots of survivability. His gear seams even more unique than most but he's worth trying before you write him off. Type: Act 2 Holyfreeze Merc Weapon: Ethereal Up'd 3socket Hone Sudan Yari(2x Ber and 1x 40%enhanced damage / 15 IAS Jewel) Helm: Ethereal Andarial's Visage with a 40%enhanced damage / 15 IAS Jewel Armor: Ethereal Chains of Honor (for the damage reduction, life leach, and +65 resists) So with this weapon you get 80% chance of crushing blow with fast attack speed and about 6k damage per hit from a merc! He get's 16% lifeleach, lots of resists, and some damage reduction too. Team him up with a smiter who's giving lifetap and a few auras and you're good to solo pretty much every boss in the game including the ubers. Use salvation to fight meph and sometimes he dies but I've seen him get the last hit more than once. Uber Diablo and Baal can't kill him. I hope you've enjoyed reading this guide because all of these mercs are unique and fun to play with. It's some free advice and I've liked using all of these builds with many different classes in D2:Lod. Thanks for Looking! Credits: whiteholeinc
You should have atleast changed the font to match the forum content and make it look more organized instead of a direct copy-pasting from http://www.ebay.com/gds/Five-Great-Merc-Builds-in-PvM-because-theyre-godly-/10000000006394743/g.html EDIT: There, corrected some typos (not all), removed that large-size font, bolded important subtitles used to describe the builds and added an extra space to separate them. Looks significantly better now and also added author's credits since 99% of the thread content belongs to him.
Honestly i saw your No1 (melee physical champs) merc and i can tell you DO NOT need life tap on them. What those champs need in merc is eth Toll & his chance to cast decrepify on enemy. Draculs life tap is bad for it cuz u need your merc to break psy imm and it removes decrepify
good guide... but i have a sugestion. for ama ever act2 merc... - Bow ama need act 2 nightmare offensive merc whit pride weapon on CV eth +ed for might+concentrate and the faith on the bowa... i think this is the best merc for a bowa whit 3 powerfulll auras how increse bow damage... thats fanatic, concentrate and might... thats around 9k guided damage for bowa and a good melee tank merc (act1 merc is for palas hammer or smiters i guess... no need tank ) - The other sugestion are a defensive act2 nightmare merc whit frozen aura and infinity for jave amas... jave amas ever need conviction man for down light rez and remove a loot of inmunitys and whit frozen and a powerfull light damage not need to cold stun monsters (they are even frozen), we can replace a act2 merc for act1 on javezon for extra ias whit merc faith but losing convi... thats sucks i guess . And now i can recommended my act 2 merc build (standar and best merc ever or nearly) Helm: Andy visage 30 str eth bug + jwl ias/ed > delirium on bone visage eth bug+ed (better andy visage) Neck: Highlord > Mara 30 ( Mara is great for low mercs who need rez) Armor: Forty eth bug Glooves: Draculs 15 10 LL > Draculs random > Draculs lowest... anyways if are u using a phyquical damage char can use atma scarab neck for remove phyquical inmunity and a great crafted 20 ias +cb+str+life glooves (nef+perf rubie red glooves) Belt: Thundergod belt or verdungo belt, better eth... i prefer Tg for extra light rez and absorbtion light damage and more str=extra dmg (really mercs no need Dr) Boot: Gorerider eth 200 > gorerider eth > gorerider no eth (cb, open wounds for kill easy Dc and help in ubers gorerider and draculs are the core for this) Ring: Ravenlord... AR, dex for more AR/Df, Cant be frozen (100% needly cant be frozen) Weapon: We here have a loots of options but generally is recommended to use Pride for physical chars and infinity for magic chars, except sorc cold who no need infi, u can use insight for more mana (more mana for...?) or better "Obedience" (Hel Ko Thul Eth Fal) how gives to merc enchant lvl 21... thats cold damage + fire damage on merc... nice combo. Generally auras of dream shield, dracon armor and frozen aura or merc only have a respectable damage on normal mode... sucking on hell... whit this setup and a eth weapon for merc (specially botd, infi or obedience) u have a merc how hit 1,x to 7,x k phyquical damage whiout buffs on town... more of 10k for sure agreging auras... and that nots a merc... IS "THE MERC". Anyways good info... thanks you for the guide and GL HF .
you just copy-pasted a guide like Gix said and didn't even bother to adjust it for our server-add a ring,gloves,boots,amulet and a belt. That completely changes everything and this guide is not applicable here. I do not appreciate this crap.
I wanted to share my "secret" GF Barbarian merc build (I'm addicted to gambling). Eth BOTD Giant Thresher. Steelshade socket with Ral Gladiator's Bane (socket with Sol) Nosferatu's coil Highlord's Wrath Crafted Blood gloves with 20% IAS Gore Riders Rings - whatever you feel like makes sense. This build makes an andying act 2 Merc (use might aura) with the 44ias bp reached, 50% deadly strike and 25% cb. He will slaughter bosses too. This build is specically for travincal on hell. Could also give him a dwarf star ring and use guillaume.
