Pro Tip Tested and Verified. ("Normal" Merc hirelings vs "Hell" Merc Hirelings have the same auras) BUT!!!! I just tested this theory on HC BNET LADDER. Hiring them in "Normal" difficulty is Far Superior than hiring them in "Hell" difficulty. See below. Naked act2 Normal Combat Merc hireling with prayer vs Naked act2 Hell Combat Merc hireling with prayer. L86 NORMAL hired COMBAT MERC stats. 1870 Health 192 Str 155 Dex 172-192 Damage 1373 Defense. 53 Resist all in hell when naked. L86 HELL hired COMBAT MERC stats. 1670 Health 184 Str 147 Dex 156-176 Damage 1231 Defense 47 Resist all in hell when naked.
I actually like the Prayer merc with Insight as a starter build for any casting character that can't leech. Prayer synergies with Meditation aura and gives you basically double the heal rate. If you have less than 1000 HP it's a solid heal rate.
Obviously there are many other items (besides the ones I listed in the video) that can be used on the act 2 merc like Duriels armor, Bonehew, and runewords like Duress to name a few. But I hope this covers a lot of the basics because I get a lot of questions about the act 2 merc. :)
At 7:00 you say nightmare instead of hell. Also you didn't cover what level are the merc's auras. If you are using armor like Eth Shaftstop what would you socket it with??
Sorry your correct. Normal Hell prayer nightmare thorns is what I meant. As far as eth shaft stop maybe res jewel? Or ias jewel depending on the rest of the gear
@@Dbrunski125 You skipped my favorite trav (and other places) defensive build: Glad Bane+ Gaze. The physical and magic reduction on GBane works really well with the %phys and magic reduction on Gaze. Basically every mod on GBane makes merc tankier. Combined with an Obedience, you hit max res and hit a decent hit recovery breakpoint.
I always wished that the other mercs would get some support skills. Something like curses for A3, and shouts for A5. Maybe give A1 nm cloak of shadows. It won't change the fact that the A2 merc gets all the good stuff, but at least the other ones might see some use as part of budget or solo builds
I recommend trying a prayer merc with Insight if you're playing an energy shield sorceress. The natural prayer levels synergize with meditation from the runeword, and the prayer aura itself stacks with it, doubling up the regen. I've made some incredibly tanky sorcs this way.
@@Trangul yeah I know, I stopped playing a long ass time ago lmao, I got into like 95% of my grail on PlugY and then my new notebook didn't run d2 all that well
I just started playing D2R after a 10 year break and am grinding gear for my single player HC blizz sorc to get through hell. I got a Lem rune from the nightmare hell forge and completely forgot about treachery for my merc. Best part about watching this video is I stumbled across an ethereal 3 socket boneweave during my struggle through the start of act 1 hell before I went back to nightmare to gear up more. My Merc is gonna get a massive upgrade once I jump back on the game!
sorry to be offtopic but does any of you know a tool to log back into an instagram account?? I was stupid forgot my login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me!
Props for putting this up, I recall back in the day I didn’t even know mercs could use equipment 🤦♂️ everyone has to start somewhere hahaha, great vids bro, & Merry Christmas!!! 🎄
Um isn’t the point of most runs to stack as much offense as possible, with a set of max socket, all ist runes in the secondary weapon+shield slot, & to swap back and fourth between the two just before you’re about to take down an elite pack/boss? I’ve always found that strategy + a decent amount of 7MF SC to be most efficient, gets you ~300+% MF depending on gear - which is where the diminishing returns start to take effect anyway...
@@RetroManDrik idk about plugy.. What if you find the best circlet, amulet, ring in the entire d2 univ but you cant even trade it or ameven show it off because youre on sp
@@JJ-iz5ql why Show it of to a bot on bn? Bn sucks theese times... Played since release (and so with D1..) but stopped with battlenet in about 2007 or so, when bots made games and buy this stuff sites spammed the Private chats. Love Pluggy 😎
@@JJ-iz5ql If you want to trade items or show off your stuff to other players then go bnet or ladder. But if you want to collect all unique and set items of the game, use ladder items or runewords on sp, have shared stash with all your characters, do char builds all self-found items. I suggest PlugY. :)
Act 2 Mercs can also wield Javelins btw Dbrunski! (not Zon only ones tho) Awesome video as always, I suggest you turn this into a series for the other Mercs :)
Would love to see videos of the other mercs! I've always wished the act 3 mercs were more useful, but I've never seen a build that makes them worth while. If there is one I would love to see it!
If you're running auradin you can throw 4 rune words on an act 3 merc to have 4 extra auras going. Since you're running conviction aura yourself you don't have to have an act 2 with infinity. Only issue is you're squishy and they're squishy BUT anything that gets near you falls over dead.
my favorite setup is a might act2 merc with eth reapers toll shael'd, andy's, and treachery. never dies and kills very quickly even on players 8. Switch the reaper's with a bonehew for ubers
Unless I need the Holy Freeze, Infinity or the Might aura that badly, I neglect picking act 2 mercs nowadays. My personal preference though. Other mercs need some love too. :D
Also if you are low level, thresher is better than a cv early because you dont have to be like lvl 80 to equip it due to not needing 200 strength for cv. Or a eth partizan/bill if you get lucky enough in nm/early hell.
Pride, Doom, and other Act 2 Mercenary polearms are viable too and sometimes better than the popular picks like Infinity. It depends on what kind of character you are using and the type of build you make.
Godly is nice to dream about but budget is what most of us need. Much appreciated info, will pause and make notes that are aimed at scrubs like me. Just went back to d2, played it when it was released and currently running a zealer paladin 78 lvl in hell to some success
I recall hearing that the lower level you are the better stats your merc will have through levelling up as oppose to hiring a merc at a higher level. Any truth to this?
@@Dbrunski125 OOoh. Actually, im stupid not to have thought about it. I always use Holy Freeze. I guess it matters more if you're using Might aura merc. Thanks for the response
Farming the Pit with a Summoner is pretty good with a MF merc. Obedience, and 3 Ptopaz helm and 4 Topaz armor are all you need on him. You can summon all your skeletons then equip MF on yourself afterwards. All your skeletons will still have the same stats, just you will lose a few. Then just let your Merc kill the bosses while you corpse explode the trash mobs. With amplify damage he is a monster, and he will never die as long as you use decripify/life tap when facing something really nasty.
I would rly like a guide for the other act Mercs. There is enough info on the act 2 merc, but barely any builds for the other ones^^ Would be cool to see. It fits the human bot theme too,u know use a merc than no1 else would use
hi! im just watching all these tutorial! i give it a shot and purchased resurrected im gaining knowledge so i start daiblo 2 after 10 years without playing ready to get my merc and characters ready
No breakpoint talk with weapons? I have made an a2 merc dmg calc that includes ias bps. How can I link it to you? I think it's one of the first things that should be checked for merc build. 2 examples come to mind: with 35 ias (fort+andy's with a 15 ias jewel) is in the only breakpoint that wsm 10 weapons are worth (in fact they are the best at that specific ias) botd on a war pike (wsm 20) is much worse than a gpa botd (wsm 0) since with treachery ias (60+45=105) mercs can reach 2nd highest bp for jab, while they cant reach that with comfortable enough gear on a war pike, and actually they have the same average dmg
@delosombres i have this exact thing on excel. I laso have it Up to 4.54 fpa. Wanted to post somewhere so i can help Im just wondering why db is half assing this "guides"
Great video dude, lots of info covered. Ive been thinking about Merc builds for my windy druid. Eth cham Vamp gaze, Ber eth reapers and eth treachery. Its kind of a do all and never have to swap anything. the Ber would simply be for boss killing. but i still have to find the vamp gaze and eth reapers haha
all mercs die in Hell level with /players8 modifier. I tried Rogue, Wolf, desert moro, and finally Barb merc from Act V. When come out a FEW monsters all its prety well, but when come out waves and waves of monsters, champions, fanatics or possesed etc +1 or 2 uniques with aura enchanted (fanaticism or holy fire) your merc dies, no matter if you give him potion or the best gear (read it Forti) that he/she use, dies. The only merc that endure more is Act V, its a HUGE tank, fight with many monsters and endures. only dies with Uniques with "enchanted auras" and Extra-Strong or Stone Skin. Second option for me merc Act II, correctly equipped; Rogues and Wolves in 30 seconds or less are died.
Ok but when your mercenary gets a kill and doesn't have any MF but you have 357 MF is that MF that you have on your character applied to all your mercenary kills?
Please don't forget "Obedience" runeword. Very cheap and perfect runeword. Every stat is for the merc. I love my iron golem :) "Doom" runeword Irongolem (holy freeze one) :) Still using and prayer aura Merc with "Insight" runeword very safe build (double heal with Meditation cos of skill synergy). Spamming corpse explosion. Easy setup. Every summon is at full health cos of prayer aura... CE does the rest.
Also Blessed Aim vs Might benefits are not straightforward. Now I use the IK set and blessed aim gives me 36% better hit chance (not nominally ofc) which is better than the might which would give 22% more damage. You have to try which fits better your gear selection.
Hey Dbrunski! What do you think about the runeword Stone in an eth bugged elite armor base? The Defense would be insane. Haven´t tried it yet, but heard some guys say their mercs just dont die
IAS calculator link doesn't work. What's best thing to socket an Eth reapers toll with if I'm running Andy's w/ IAS/Fire Res jewel, and Fortitude? 2ndly, Should I be running something different? Like Guills face instead of Andy's?
Question: I hired a Prayer aura act 2 merc so I could pair with Insight. On normal he uses prayer, but in nightmare he uses Thorns aura. Is this a bug? New to D2R? Supposed to happen? Get and use both?
Hmmm how would you suggest trying to improve it. I honestly only add 3 applied audio enhancements to it. Im open to suggestions. However almost nobody really complains about my audio either tbh lol
Is Pride a viable rune word to use with your merc? I don’t if it would stack with Might but if it does wouldn’t conc/might be a overpowering mix to help support a melee build character? I.e. a WW, smite or zealer?
With my Lite sorc i use Infinity+Fortitude+Delirium setup. Find it most effective to kill at all areas. I dont like running the same area over and over. Great video tho. :)
So if I'm level 69 in hell and I go to normal for a prayer merc will mercs scale to my level or do I need to somehow get to act 2 in hell? I'm having the darndest time with my merc getting wrecked and he needs that heal
I really dig the channel, and streamer. But generally feel excluded as a player since 99% of the material covered is geared towards Plug-y/high end characters that do little more than farm. I got back into the game, inspired by the host, and now find myself feeling totally abandoned and out there on my own as a vanilla SP LOD player. I watch multiple streamers run the game (plug-y), but I personally never get 1/10th of the drops they do in quantity or quality. Is plug-y bugged in players favor?
This video is quite old but with D2R, I can imagine people watching it again. Very informative, except for 1 critical piece of information. Runes like Spirit and insight are ladder only, and that should be clear. If i am playing a non ladder character, which a lot of people are, then the advice is useless. I've seen several videos on merc setup, and they all say use Insight, but they never make it clear that your char must be ladder, so you're not the only Op to leave out this rather important piece of info.
Sorry for having to explain this to me, but what does that actually mean? Can you explain the ladder. I'm not a new D2 player but I never understood the difference
@@honestlee9921 ladder play means you start a character fresh at the beginning of the season, then you play as normal. the big difference between ladder and non ladder is some items/events happen in ladder only. at the end of the season(approx 6 months usually), your character is transferred to non ladder(with all gear intact). The main issue, especially if you are looking for an endgame build, is that if you need certain key/rare ladder only items to complete your build, but you don;t do it before end of the season, you will never get them.
Blizzard should have made the other mercenaries viable choices it seems like they went out of their way to make the Act 2 the only choice from the point of view of effectiveness (if not aesthetics).
on unique items that are not identified when does the roll happen when you identify it or when it is looted? because if not i where thinking of identifying a wepaon i know is Reapers toll. Exit game if not etheral ( i know its a bit of kinda like cheating but at the same time who got time to farm 1000 reapers toll). I guess im more or less into the Semi legit way of playing.
I always wanted to try an act3 merc on a summoner necro. With an insight golem and act3 merc with a Last wish / Phoenix monarch and I’ll use a beast war axe.
No. Act 3 merc don’t swing the sword, so you’ll get none of those bonuses. The redemption aura on the shield will steal the corpses you want to summon, the ed% is wasted. The might will help your summons, but you can just use an A2 with Pride to get more damage, and still have might
Aint gonna lie. I didnt understand a word of what he said. I left with more questions than I came here with. Is there a newbie version? Hopefully with zero short hand speaking.
It would be good but Decrepify from Reaper's is just too good for those physical immunes, and it lowers enemies damage too. Pride sucks for damage on your merc making him much more fragile without being able to life steal sufficiently. Plus, it freezes enemies so you wont be able to use Find Item as much.
@@krunkcleanup2949 I use Lawbringer, so which is absolutely awesome with its Sanctuary Aura and Decrepify. Therefore, I don't need a second source of that curse. I kill and move way faster than my merc, so I would much rather see additional damage on my side rather than on his side. That's why my current and imo best choice is Obedience (made in a regular Thresher tho, would like an eth one), Tomb Reaver doesn't do much, whereas Obedience has 40% Crushing Blow. Reaper's Toll was only good for life leech. I would use it only for Travincal farming, then I will switch to double Oath, until I can get Grief.
Act 2 NM defensive. Infinity in any base ideally eth, any life leech helm, any armor you want. Does not need CB. Very few enemies that are lit immune cannot be broken. Exception is if cow farming with plugy, use an ebug fort and try to find cb, cow king lightning immunity does break to conviction. Reapers toll might be useful to have hanging around to give him for king, with a ber.
one my fav mf hdin merc setup is eth reaper (shael or 40/15ias), 160ed 60ias 100 lifer archon plate and gulliames helm w/ 15res 15 ias jewel. that setup JUST puts your merc right at the 75res spot in hell with that jeweled gully helm. Then he ready for max Dps with the might aura and maximum attack speed item support 😀😀😀. mass decrip curses everywhere
my merc doesnt need the fade for pvm lol. this set up gives your merc fatter sheet dam over treachery. some can argue going cham’d gully w/ treachery to counter act2 wave skeles which is only when you need to go treachery to make back the all res... but i mentioned the 15/15 jew in the gully helm on my setup to max out the mercs res WITOUT treachery. So now you gained 160 extra enhance dam and an extra 15 ias over a cheap treachery (160-60 ias armor versus 45ias and a lvl15 fade). You could remedy the need for cham vs act 2 wave by simply hammer spamming prior the wave spawn and nuke all the skele mages and redemption the corpses then there will no longer be any cold freezing your merc, hence thats the debate. I prefer the redemption method to no longer need to cham the helm. The whole point of pvm is just to stack as much dam as possible. Ist shako, 50 war travs, enigma and a gheed is all the mf you need, the rest of your focus should be maxing your dam output which includes your merc... now if i HAD to stay cheap or was playin single player then sure treachery.
@@Unko-Q Reapers is great, but sometimes I think it’s trying too hard. Just use eBotD if you’re solo MFing with a Hamdin. The first question, is what are you killing? And how many players in the game? If you’re solo MFing, Reapers isn’t necessarily the best. With all the teleporting with a Hamdin, you’re often not getting the mobs to really take advantage of the decrepify. Baal minions die so fast to your field of hammers, reapers isn’t saving time there. EBotD + Fort + guillames Is going to 1-hit so many things in a solo game that Reapers just can’t be faster. Especially when you get low dmg and it takes 2-3 hits to kill some monsters with reapers.
Just out of curiosity, do you know if acquiring a Mercenary at a Lower Level & leveling them up along side you increases their Stats more Vs. Hiring them at a higher level? Also, are the Auras always a set "Level" or can they also be influenced by what Level the Mercenary is when hired & if you raise their Level along with your own or not?
It use to matter but not anymore. Just make sure you hire from normal as much as possible, otherwise nightmare. Hiring from normal. Gives the best stats. As for aura, they get 1 level up on the aura and jab every 4 levels I think. You can check the merc calculator to know what level they get. +all skills item boost their skill levels which increases their aura level
Yaroslav Torov nope. Javazon w/ infinity merc clears any non lightning immune clumps the fastest. With a light sorc being on par too cause she can get to the mfing spots much faster with better fcr frames. dont waste your time making a shockadin unless you are just bored. if you had to make a shock pally then make it with double dreams + grief pb and just zeal everything
Yaroslav Torov thats why they use dreams and grief that allows you to jack up your physical dam and still have that shock aura from dream to give even more dam and also help vs physical immunes. Majority of light immunes get broken with conviction but when they arent, you have high physical dam from grief to take care of it. If its both light and physical immune... just skip it. Thats a really rare situation anyway... unless you went out of your way and kept an atma scarab amulet in your inventory to allow for a 5% chance to cast amp curse which will take away the physical immune.
but if you were determined to kill cows with a self holyshock aura pally (no dreams...) but you can afford infinity... eh it “will” work but fairly slow since you gotta zeal all the cows and you lose out on other aura supports due to not using dreams (cant have max fanta + infinity merc setup or a lvl25 conviction setup + reaper merc)... Id just put that infinity on a naked sorc or random crap geared zon and you’d still clear cow faster the that shock pally lol
@@Unko-Q I Hero Edited the char finally. He can kill cows in 3-4 holy shock pulses, that being players 1 though. I guess I will make him one day when Griffon's drops. Just for fun.
no it doesnt. first the game select the base item (maybe small charm), then mf affects if it is unique, set, rare, magic, common. As the charms are always magic, mf has no effect here.
Can you check this... if i buy very erly game merc act 2 nigchtmare lvl 1 if is posible and i would let him reach level witch me to 99 is this merc will chave more str,dex and live then buy one on lvl 99 or 90+ level?? Plis let me know.
Pawlikpl90 Pawlik nope. merc stats are PRE-SET. Based on difficulty. So only hire Norm diff mercs or nm diff mercs. Norm mercs have higher stats compared to their hell counter part (who share the same auras). Nm mercs may have lower max overall stats versus a Norm diff merc but the NM mercs have the better auras (holy freeze and might) which is simply the only reason people use NM mercs 95% of the time. So if you do need to use either a prayer, defiance or the rarely used blessed aim merc... hire them from NORMAL difficulty. You dont need to level them from lvl1, just hire the merc when you are at your highest level to maintain an easier high lvl’d merc since all mercs’ stats are pre-set based on difficulty. Prior in older patches, yea hireing the merc at a lower lvl would have yielded slightly higher overall stats but that was patched n updated on like 1.11 or 1.12 so dont worry on it 👌👌👌.
![[GUIDE] New Player Guide to MERCENARIES - Diablo 2 Resurrected](/img/n.gif)
Pro Tip Tested and Verified. ("Normal" Merc hirelings vs "Hell" Merc Hirelings have the same auras) BUT!!!!
I just tested this theory on HC BNET LADDER. Hiring them in "Normal" difficulty is Far Superior than hiring them in "Hell" difficulty.
See below.
Naked act2 Normal Combat Merc hireling with prayer vs Naked act2 Hell Combat Merc hireling with prayer.
L86 NORMAL hired COMBAT MERC stats.
1870 Health
192 Str
155 Dex
172-192 Damage
1373 Defense.
53 Resist all in hell when naked.
L86 HELL hired COMBAT MERC
stats.
1670 Health
184 Str
147 Dex
156-176 Damage
1231 Defense
47 Resist all in hell when naked.
didnt saw this comment hahahaha
@@fabianruch57 see*
@Mohammad Grey ya nobody cares about your existence if you didn't get the memo
I actually like the Prayer merc with Insight as a starter build for any casting character that can't leech. Prayer synergies with Meditation aura and gives you basically double the heal rate. If you have less than 1000 HP it's a solid heal rate.
Exactly. It nullifies the poison weakness on an es sorc. Plus never having to use a pot is pretty cool.
I do this every season on pala
My lightning sorc has that same merc. Solid set up
I use an Insight Prayer merc for my necro summoner…love the heal rate👍
Obviously there are many other items (besides the ones I listed in the video) that can be used on the act 2 merc like Duriels armor, Bonehew, and runewords like Duress to name a few. But I hope this covers a lot of the basics because I get a lot of questions about the act 2 merc. :)
At 7:00 you say nightmare instead of hell. Also you didn't cover what level are the merc's auras. If you are using armor like Eth Shaftstop what would you socket it with??
Sorry your correct. Normal Hell prayer nightmare thorns is what I meant. As far as eth shaft stop maybe res jewel? Or ias jewel depending on the rest of the gear
I have a Fire Druid, you recomend me a Holy Freeze, Might or Defense aura merc?
Man my Merc has NO luck with BoneHew idk. Added Shawl and Amn . Other gear is Duriel and Guillaume Face
@@Dbrunski125
You skipped my favorite trav (and other places) defensive build: Glad Bane+ Gaze.
The physical and magic reduction on GBane works really well with the %phys and magic reduction on Gaze.
Basically every mod on GBane makes merc tankier.
Combined with an Obedience, you hit max res and hit a decent hit recovery breakpoint.
I always wished that the other mercs would get some support skills. Something like curses for A3, and shouts for A5. Maybe give A1 nm cloak of shadows. It won't change the fact that the A2 merc gets all the good stuff, but at least the other ones might see some use as part of budget or solo builds
ya, like they did in project diablo 2
Yeah the other acts mercs are pointless
I recommend trying a prayer merc with Insight if you're playing an energy shield sorceress. The natural prayer levels synergize with meditation from the runeword, and the prayer aura itself stacks with it, doubling up the regen. I've made some incredibly tanky sorcs this way.
Yup its amazing. Negates poison on an es sorc
Just started playing. How the ass do I know which merc is the insight guy
@@The_Aleph_Null insight refers to a specific runeword weapon you give to your merc.
@@Trangul yeah I know, I stopped playing a long ass time ago lmao, I got into like 95% of my grail on PlugY and then my new notebook didn't run d2 all that well
I just started playing D2R after a 10 year break and am grinding gear for my single player HC blizz sorc to get through hell. I got a Lem rune from the nightmare hell forge and completely forgot about treachery for my merc. Best part about watching this video is I stumbled across an ethereal 3 socket boneweave during my struggle through the start of act 1 hell before I went back to nightmare to gear up more. My Merc is gonna get a massive upgrade once I jump back on the game!
Greetings from the future! the budget runewords are EXACTLY WHAT I NEED NOW! THANK YOU!!
Db gang!!!!! Wooot another amazing video! These edits keep getting better!
He seemed genuinely upset at the thought of using Thorns aura merc.
He got really mad. I think thats as mad as he gets.
sorry to be offtopic but does any of you know a tool to log back into an instagram account??
I was stupid forgot my login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me!
Props for putting this up, I recall back in the day I didn’t even know mercs could use equipment 🤦♂️ everyone has to start somewhere hahaha, great vids bro, & Merry Christmas!!! 🎄
I decided to farm Pits while watching the video. I think DB caused me to get the diadem troll... I didn't need Mav's lol
Um isn’t the point of most runs to stack as much offense as possible, with a set of max socket, all ist runes in the secondary weapon+shield slot, & to swap back and fourth between the two just before you’re about to take down an elite pack/boss?
I’ve always found that strategy + a decent amount of 7MF SC to be most efficient, gets you ~300+% MF depending on gear - which is where the diminishing returns start to take effect anyway...
Fine. I'll sub. I have watched a thousand of your videos. Just rebought Diablo 2 LOD 😎
I recommend installing PlugY Mod too, for the quality of life features. :)
What char u gonna run?
@@RetroManDrik idk about plugy.. What if you find the best circlet, amulet, ring in the entire d2 univ but you cant even trade it or ameven show it off because youre on sp
@@JJ-iz5ql why Show it of to a bot on bn? Bn sucks theese times... Played since release (and so with D1..) but stopped with battlenet in about 2007 or so, when bots made games and buy this stuff sites spammed the Private chats. Love Pluggy 😎
@@JJ-iz5ql If you want to trade items or show off your stuff to other players then go bnet or ladder. But if you want to collect all unique and set items of the game, use ladder items or runewords on sp, have shared stash with all your characters, do char builds all self-found items. I suggest PlugY. :)
I love you man! Cheers and I hope you get tons of subscribers for Ressurected..
Act 2 Mercs can also wield Javelins btw Dbrunski! (not Zon only ones tho)
Awesome video as always, I suggest you turn this into a series for the other Mercs :)
Big D gang represent! I always learn something new from these guide videos. Good stuff!
Would love to see videos of the other mercs! I've always wished the act 3 mercs were more useful, but I've never seen a build that makes them worth while. If there is one I would love to see it!
Dbrunski did one, other than some crown control with the cold one, they’re fairly useless. Even if you have a Pally with conviction
If you're running auradin you can throw 4 rune words on an act 3 merc to have 4 extra auras going. Since you're running conviction aura yourself you don't have to have an act 2 with infinity. Only issue is you're squishy and they're squishy BUT anything that gets near you falls over dead.
A phase blade lawbringer act 5 merc on a melee physical damage character. The decrepify proc is epic.
Been running my javazon’s merc with defiance and an infinity. Eth fortitude on him as well. Turns the zon into one hell of a tank after cta.
my favorite setup is a might act2 merc with eth reapers toll shael'd, andy's, and treachery. never dies and kills very quickly even on players 8. Switch the reaper's with a bonehew for ubers
Unless I need the Holy Freeze, Infinity or the Might aura that badly, I neglect picking act 2 mercs nowadays. My personal preference though. Other mercs need some love too. :D
@delosombres Although I'm not that excited on a D2 remake, I totally agree with that.
@delosombres try Path of Diablo mate.
Also if you are low level, thresher is better than a cv early because you dont have to be like lvl 80 to equip it due to not needing 200 strength for cv. Or a eth partizan/bill if you get lucky enough in nm/early hell.
There is an argument to be made for Blessed Aim over Might for a summon necro I hear, but I'm too lazy to do research on it.
Pride, Doom, and other Act 2 Mercenary polearms are viable too and sometimes better than the popular picks like Infinity. It depends on what kind of character you are using and the type of build you make.
Godly is nice to dream about but budget is what most of us need. Much appreciated info, will pause and make notes that are aimed at scrubs like me. Just went back to d2, played it when it was released and currently running a zealer paladin 78 lvl in hell to some success
I recall hearing that the lower level you are the better stats your merc will have through levelling up as oppose to hiring a merc at a higher level. Any truth to this?
False
@@OliverMichael7 care to explain rather than give a one word response?
13:35 "Commonly Andariel's is used because of the +skills". The +skills affects mercs? What kind of impact does it make on them? Can be good to know
it boost the merc auras levels like might or holy freeze
@@Dbrunski125 OOoh. Actually, im stupid not to have thought about it. I always use Holy Freeze. I guess it matters more if you're using Might aura merc. Thanks for the response
Farming the Pit with a Summoner is pretty good with a MF merc. Obedience, and 3 Ptopaz helm and 4 Topaz armor are all you need on him. You can summon all your skeletons then equip MF on yourself afterwards. All your skeletons will still have the same stats, just you will lose a few. Then just let your Merc kill the bosses while you corpse explode the trash mobs. With amplify damage he is a monster, and he will never die as long as you use decripify/life tap when facing something really nasty.
I would rly like a guide for the other act Mercs. There is enough info on the act 2 merc, but barely any builds for the other ones^^ Would be cool to see. It fits the human bot theme too,u know use a merc than no1 else would use
Brilliant and best guide i have seen. Well done DB
Diablo veteran here, and I DID learn something. I did not know that merc range was fixed!
hi! im just watching all these tutorial! i give it a shot and purchased resurrected im gaining knowledge so i start daiblo 2 after 10 years without playing ready to get my merc and characters ready
No breakpoint talk with weapons? I have made an a2 merc dmg calc that includes ias bps. How can I link it to you? I think it's one of the first things that should be checked for merc build.
2 examples come to mind:
with 35 ias (fort+andy's with a 15 ias jewel) is in the only breakpoint that wsm 10 weapons are worth (in fact they are the best at that specific ias)
botd on a war pike (wsm 20) is much worse than a gpa botd (wsm 0) since with treachery ias (60+45=105) mercs can reach 2nd highest bp for jab, while they cant reach that with comfortable enough gear on a war pike, and actually they have the same average dmg
@delosombres i have this exact thing on excel.
I laso have it Up to 4.54 fpa. Wanted to post somewhere so i can help
Im just wondering why db is half assing this "guides"
I'm playing on console and currently lv 73 WW barb, i prefer to use axe which has better damage two-handed axe or double one-handed axe?
Good video. I was hoping to find out about what lvl of auras the merc use's bass'd on what lvl merc are ate. But ill keep googoleing for it ;)
Can you tell me how to open the inventory of mercenery please
That little SoJ drop slipped in there.. very nice vid DB!
Great video dude, lots of info covered. Ive been thinking about Merc builds for my windy druid. Eth cham Vamp gaze, Ber eth reapers and eth treachery. Its kind of a do all and never have to swap anything. the Ber would simply be for boss killing. but i still have to find the vamp gaze and eth reapers haha
nice video, thanks for all the usefull infos =)
Great video. Would love to hear about more in depth and niche builds.
Obedience hands down best runeword in Diablo 2
Love your content and finesse, great work brother!
all mercs die in Hell level with /players8 modifier. I tried Rogue, Wolf, desert moro, and finally Barb merc from Act V. When come out a FEW monsters all its prety well, but when come out waves and waves of monsters, champions, fanatics or possesed etc +1 or 2 uniques with aura enchanted (fanaticism or holy fire) your merc dies, no matter if you give him potion or the best gear (read it Forti) that he/she use, dies. The only merc that endure more is Act V, its a HUGE tank, fight with many monsters and endures. only dies with Uniques with "enchanted auras" and Extra-Strong or Stone Skin. Second option for me merc Act II, correctly equipped; Rogues and Wolves in 30 seconds or less are died.
Definitely another awesome and very informative video 😁 keep the great content coming bro 😎
Ok but when your mercenary gets a kill and doesn't have any MF but you have 357 MF is that MF that you have on your character applied to all your mercenary kills?
Please don't forget "Obedience" runeword. Very cheap and perfect runeword. Every stat is for the merc. I love my iron golem :) "Doom" runeword Irongolem (holy freeze one) :) Still using and prayer aura Merc with "Insight" runeword very safe build (double heal with Meditation cos of skill synergy). Spamming corpse explosion. Easy setup. Every summon is at full health cos of prayer aura... CE does the rest.
Great info. Great video. Terrific knowledge. I know im annoying with grammar but it's hard not to lol. Other than that your videos are terrific.
Also Blessed Aim vs Might benefits are not straightforward. Now I use the IK set and blessed aim gives me 36% better hit chance (not nominally ofc) which is better than the might which would give 22% more damage. You have to try which fits better your gear selection.
Hey Dbrunski! What do you think about the runeword Stone in an eth bugged elite armor base? The Defense would be insane. Haven´t tried it yet, but heard some guys say their mercs just dont die
Elemental damage is what kills mercs.
With a smiter with Exile or a barb with shout, sure, stone merc will have massive defense.
So defensive from nightmare? Thank you!
Why all the hate for Thorns? I've had good results with a summoner and a rogue with an Edge runeword. I'm very curious about the downside.
What about pride?? Pride is awesome for a melee build if you dont rely on amp or decrip. Fx frenzy barb with points in berserk for magic damage.
IAS calculator link doesn't work.
What's best thing to socket an Eth reapers toll with if I'm running Andy's w/ IAS/Fire Res jewel, and Fortitude?
2ndly, Should I be running something different? Like Guills face instead of Andy's?
Question: I hired a Prayer aura act 2 merc so I could pair with Insight. On normal he uses prayer, but in nightmare he uses Thorns aura. Is this a bug? New to D2R? Supposed to happen? Get and use both?
Cool guide, there's a lot of post processing on your microphone, kinda gives a headache after a while.
Hmmm how would you suggest trying to improve it. I honestly only add 3 applied audio enhancements to it. Im open to suggestions. However almost nobody really complains about my audio either tbh lol
@@Dbrunski125 I dunno, it just creates a thick sound that kinda gets in the head.
Is Pride a viable rune word to use with your merc? I don’t if it would stack with Might but if it does wouldn’t conc/might be a overpowering mix to help support a melee build character? I.e. a WW, smite or zealer?
What armor base do you want for fortitude. A eth 15ed Balrog skin ?
Guillams works worse than Tal Rasha helmet imo. I got eth Reapers Toll with Shael, Treachery and Tal Rasha. I tried Guilliams, but he dies too much.
With my Lite sorc i use Infinity+Fortitude+Delirium setup. Find it most effective to kill at all areas. I dont like running the same area over and over.
Great video tho.
:)
So if I'm level 69 in hell and I go to normal for a prayer merc will mercs scale to my level or do I need to somehow get to act 2 in hell? I'm having the darndest time with my merc getting wrecked and he needs that heal
I hired Nightmare Act 2 Merc Holy Freeze and when I play in HELL, his aura changes automatically to Defiance… How is that!? Please I need some clarity
It's just the tooltip that's bugged, if you look at the merc in hell he is still using Holy Freeze :)
@@tomtube155 thanks man
I really dig the channel, and streamer. But generally feel excluded as a player since 99% of the material covered is geared towards Plug-y/high end characters that do little more than farm. I got back into the game, inspired by the host, and now find myself feeling totally abandoned and out there on my own as a vanilla SP LOD player. I watch multiple streamers run the game (plug-y), but I personally never get 1/10th of the drops they do in quantity or quality. Is plug-y bugged in players favor?
No, they just have very high Magic Find, and spend lots of time (they're streamers after all). Plugy doesn't change drop odds.
Mf doesn't effect rune drops
This video is quite old but with D2R, I can imagine people watching it again. Very informative, except for 1 critical piece of information. Runes like Spirit and insight are ladder only, and that should be clear. If i am playing a non ladder character, which a lot of people are, then the advice is useless. I've seen several videos on merc setup, and they all say use Insight, but they never make it clear that your char must be ladder, so you're not the only Op to leave out this rather important piece of info.
Sorry for having to explain this to me, but what does that actually mean? Can you explain the ladder. I'm not a new D2 player but I never understood the difference
@@honestlee9921 ladder play means you start a character fresh at the beginning of the season, then you play as normal. the big difference between ladder and non ladder is some items/events happen in ladder only. at the end of the season(approx 6 months usually), your character is transferred to non ladder(with all gear intact). The main issue, especially if you are looking for an endgame build, is that if you need certain key/rare ladder only items to complete your build, but you don;t do it before end of the season, you will never get them.
Blizzard should have made the other mercenaries viable choices it seems like they went out of their way to make the Act 2 the only choice from the point of view of effectiveness (if not aesthetics).
when did the changes to thorns go in place?
All of that assuming you are playing on ladder to get those nice non-existant runewords on solo :(
But nice vid.
I wish more youtubers would differentiate between ladder and non-ladder runewords.
The travincal merc setup can absolutely be the UT merc setup too, mine does survive really well with that exact gear
Is it me or the might aura merc was removed in project diablo 2?
on unique items that are not identified when does the roll happen when you identify it or when it is looted?
because if not i where thinking of identifying a wepaon i know is Reapers toll. Exit game if not etheral ( i know its a bit of kinda like cheating but at the same time who got time to farm 1000 reapers toll).
I guess im more or less into the Semi legit way of playing.
I always wanted to try an act3 merc on a summoner necro. With an insight golem and act3 merc with a Last wish / Phoenix monarch and I’ll use a beast war axe.
No.
Act 3 merc don’t swing the sword, so you’ll get none of those bonuses. The redemption aura on the shield will steal the corpses you want to summon, the ed% is wasted. The might will help your summons, but you can just use an A2 with Pride to get more damage, and still have might
Is there any good build with mercenaries from other acts?
Hello All! Can I ask where can I get socketed polearm class? I am playing Diablo 2: LOD eith 1.14 V
When I completed normal my merc automatically switched to having the nightmare ability instead, is this normal?
Aint gonna lie. I didnt understand a word of what he said. I left with more questions than I came here with. Is there a newbie version? Hopefully with zero short hand speaking.
Make reviews for the best assassin builds please
Unless well geared and higher level don't get NM act2 merc as a caster,slow down then is viable not starting out Hell
but for casters you still use might?
I really like Act 1 Faith mercenaries.
❤🤷♂️ still waiting for a Godly act 3 cold Merc build DB...
hi DBRUNSKI125 what is the best pair of the a merc.2 using an eth breath of the dying
Which one boost mana ?
When you gonna do act 5 helper for hdin builds
Blizzard announced they will rework act 1/3/5 merca to make them more viable post d2r launch so you'll have to revisit this video
why my merc from act 2 don't have aura?
if i get a lvl 45 merc and l lvl it myself to 98 has he more stats and ress then i buy it with lvl 98? thats woud be interesting
have you ever spawned a clone during a video?
what a bout how to lvl a act2 merc coy oft im like 70-80 hell and his like 50
What about Pride? Seems like a great choice for Frenzy barb, whereas Infi would be useless.
It would be good but Decrepify from Reaper's is just too good for those physical immunes, and it lowers enemies damage too. Pride sucks for damage on your merc making him much more fragile without being able to life steal sufficiently. Plus, it freezes enemies so you wont be able to use Find Item as much.
@@krunkcleanup2949 I use Lawbringer, so which is absolutely awesome with its Sanctuary Aura and Decrepify. Therefore, I don't need a second source of that curse. I kill and move way faster than my merc, so I would much rather see additional damage on my side rather than on his side. That's why my current and imo best choice is Obedience (made in a regular Thresher tho, would like an eth one), Tomb Reaver doesn't do much, whereas Obedience has 40% Crushing Blow. Reaper's Toll was only good for life leech. I would use it only for Travincal farming, then I will switch to double Oath, until I can get Grief.
Crushing blow merc...
top bosskilling necro merc, imo.
you forgot the ber socked coa
Anyone know when they get to 200 strength? I tried giving him (4) -15% runes to allow him to equip insight but it was no good.
Where and how do I hire one
Have you tried *Kelpie Snare* vs Baal? Best weapon against the Prime Evils....
Merc with a kelpie and decrepify basically turns baal into a rock lol
Act 2? Yaba-daba-dooo!!
haha >.
I don't get why you prepared the video as if everyone has access to ladder only runewords.
Is insight still ladder only? I'm doing a single player play through so I would like to craft insight for my merc.
Yes, still ladder only.
It’s not ladder on Diablo 2 Resurrected. Not at the moment anyway.
On d2r there is no ladder only runewords
What would you recommend for a Javazon ?
Act 2 NM defensive. Infinity in any base ideally eth, any life leech helm, any armor you want. Does not need CB. Very few enemies that are lit immune cannot be broken. Exception is if cow farming with plugy, use an ebug fort and try to find cb, cow king lightning immunity does break to conviction. Reapers toll might be useful to have hanging around to give him for king, with a ber.
one my fav mf hdin merc setup is eth reaper (shael or 40/15ias), 160ed 60ias 100 lifer archon plate and gulliames helm w/ 15res 15 ias jewel. that setup JUST puts your merc right at the 75res spot in hell with that jeweled gully helm. Then he ready for max Dps with the might aura and maximum attack speed item support 😀😀😀. mass decrip curses everywhere
Treachery bro
my merc doesnt need the fade for pvm lol. this set up gives your merc fatter sheet dam over treachery. some can argue going cham’d gully w/ treachery to counter act2 wave skeles which is only when you need to go treachery to make back the all res... but i mentioned the 15/15 jew in the gully helm on my setup to max out the mercs res WITOUT treachery. So now you gained 160 extra enhance dam and an extra 15 ias over a cheap treachery (160-60 ias armor versus 45ias and a lvl15 fade). You could remedy the need for cham vs act 2 wave by simply hammer spamming prior the wave spawn and nuke all the skele mages and redemption the corpses then there will no longer be any cold freezing your merc, hence thats the debate. I prefer the redemption method to no longer need to cham the helm.
The whole point of pvm is just to stack as much dam as possible. Ist shako, 50 war travs, enigma and a gheed is all the mf you need, the rest of your focus should be maxing your dam output which includes your merc...
now if i HAD to stay cheap or was playin single player then sure treachery.
@@Unko-Q
Reapers is great, but sometimes I think it’s trying too hard. Just use eBotD if you’re solo MFing with a Hamdin.
The first question, is what are you killing? And how many players in the game?
If you’re solo MFing, Reapers isn’t necessarily the best. With all the teleporting with a Hamdin, you’re often not getting the mobs to really take advantage of the decrepify. Baal minions die so fast to your field of hammers, reapers isn’t saving time there. EBotD + Fort + guillames Is going to 1-hit so many things in a solo game that Reapers just can’t be faster. Especially when you get low dmg and it takes 2-3 hits to kill some monsters with reapers.
Just out of curiosity, do you know if acquiring a Mercenary at a Lower Level & leveling them up along side you increases their Stats more Vs. Hiring them at a higher level? Also, are the Auras always a set "Level" or can they also be influenced by what Level the Mercenary is when hired & if you raise their Level along with your own or not?
It use to matter but not anymore. Just make sure you hire from normal as much as possible, otherwise nightmare. Hiring from normal. Gives the best stats.
As for aura, they get 1 level up on the aura and jab every 4 levels I think. You can check the merc calculator to know what level they get. +all skills item boost their skill levels which increases their aura level
Uhhh pretty sure it does matter. The lower the level you get them the better.
Just like pokemon, using rare candys is not good lol
Yo Dbrunski, are u joining new PoD ladder season ?
Hi. I was thinking of a build maxing holy shock. It can achieve lvl 48 with 6 facets resulting in 1-3681. Will that clear cows quicker then Javazon?
Yaroslav Torov nope. Javazon w/ infinity merc clears any non lightning immune clumps the fastest. With a light sorc being on par too cause she can get to the mfing spots much faster with better fcr frames. dont waste your time making a shockadin unless you are just bored. if you had to make a shock pally then make it with double dreams + grief pb and just zeal everything
@@Unko-Q Bored a bit. I am largely concerned about 1-3681dmg in Hell with Infinity merc
Yaroslav Torov thats why they use dreams and grief that allows you to jack up your physical dam and still have that shock aura from dream to give even more dam and also help vs physical immunes. Majority of light immunes get broken with conviction but when they arent, you have high physical dam from grief to take care of it. If its both light and physical immune... just skip it. Thats a really rare situation anyway... unless you went out of your way and kept an atma scarab amulet in your inventory to allow for a 5% chance to cast amp curse which will take away the physical immune.
but if you were determined to kill cows with a self holyshock aura pally (no dreams...) but you can afford infinity... eh it “will” work but fairly slow since you gotta zeal all the cows and you lose out on other aura supports due to not using dreams (cant have max fanta + infinity merc setup or a lvl25 conviction setup + reaper merc)... Id just put that infinity on a naked sorc or random crap geared zon and you’d still clear cow faster the that shock pally lol
@@Unko-Q I Hero Edited the char finally. He can kill cows in 3-4 holy shock pulses, that being players 1 though. I guess I will make him one day when Griffon's drops. Just for fun.
hey man do u know if mf helps finding charms?
no it doesnt. first the game select the base item (maybe small charm), then mf affects if it is unique, set, rare, magic, common. As the charms are always magic, mf has no effect here.
Can you check this... if i buy very erly game merc act 2 nigchtmare lvl 1 if is posible and i would let him reach level witch me to 99 is this merc will chave more str,dex and live then buy one on lvl 99 or 90+ level?? Plis let me know.
Pawlikpl90 Pawlik nope. merc stats are PRE-SET. Based on difficulty. So only hire Norm diff mercs or nm diff mercs. Norm mercs have higher stats compared to their hell counter part (who share the same auras). Nm mercs may have lower max overall stats versus a Norm diff merc but the NM mercs have the better auras (holy freeze and might) which is simply the only reason people use NM mercs 95% of the time. So if you do need to use either a prayer, defiance or the rarely used blessed aim merc... hire them from NORMAL difficulty. You dont need to level them from lvl1, just hire the merc when you are at your highest level to maintain an easier high lvl’d merc since all mercs’ stats are pre-set based on difficulty.
Prior in older patches, yea hireing the merc at a lower lvl would have yielded slightly higher overall stats but that was patched n updated on like 1.11 or 1.12 so dont worry on it 👌👌👌.