No you won't, shut up, I'm not stupid. Now go tank shots from The Cold One till you die four times so I can range him like we both know you're going to.
Ok, hear me out. What I discovered when I play HC key hunting sorcesres that might be very valuable to mention in some videos. Lawbringer runeword sword - Amn+Lem+Ko It will get you 20% decrepify, sanctuary aura pushing away undead, monster rests in peace. It lacks dmg but baba merc is still able to kill countess in seconds or nihltak or whoever comes who is fire/cold immune for my soso. But the fact that I wont die to corpse explosion or dolls or those undead that drag sword.. its huge. Its the safest merc for keys hunting I had and I just came to possesion of all runes for infinity but I dunno if I even want to switch to infinity and respec to lighting or not. I really am comfortable with the dmg and the safety. There is also delirium helmet for additional crowd control and chance for confuse and terror, but I like decrep more
@@oguzcanoguz5977 they are undead and sanctuary aura pushes them away every 2 seconds. Sure I could die, but its far far far less likely than without sanctuarly. Also the dmg of the sword I have is kinda pathethic, so not one jab kill like with eth elite infinity merc
I used to watch your content back when I was heavy into broodwar years ago. I'm so glad to see that you're a diablo 2 God and you made a bunch of stuff for it
Few things he missed --- All mercenaries except Iron Wolves (Act 3 merc) will do double the amount of damage depending on an equipped weapon. Desert Mercenaries (Act 2 merc) will do double dmg if they're equipped with javelins. One handed damage applies, NOT the throwing dmg. Barbarians (Act 5 merc) will do double dmg if they're equipped with one handed sword. Therefore, making Lawbringer on one handed sword is recommended. Rogue Scout (Act 1 merc) will do double dmg if they're equipped with bows. Yes, they can only equip bows, and that makes them always do double the amount of dmg. It's a bit oblivious about which dmg mod will be doubled or not. +damage mod from Grief certainly won't. Mercenaries from lower difficulty has better stats than those from higher difficulty. It's best to hire them in normal if possible. All mercenaries have 2 range for melee attack. Equipping a longer ranged melee weapons on your merc will not increase their attack range. Act 2 merc's Jab hits 2 times, not 3. Giving either thawing or antidote potions on your merc will not increase their cold/poison res and their maximum res, but will unfreeze/cure them.
Just a warning, if you're making an Insight for a merc, remember the str req on the weapon. I made one with a Collossus Voulge and it's 210 str requirement! Even at 85 he can't wear that without +30 Str from armor/helm.
Hey llama, I gotta say this channel is probably one of the most informative and open to feedback of basically any video game related channel on youtube. Your knowledge of the game inside and out and willingness to explain things from the ground up are great. I’m sure your numbers are exploding right now and you deserve every bit of it.
Pro Tip: Tl Dr: Feed mercenary on console is left trigger held down while using from belt. On computer hold shift down before using them to feed your mercenary. Console players hold left trigger to activate alternative use abilities, which include alternative use potions (feeding your mercenary potions) Side note: You can give an act 5 Merc 2 different runeword weapons aswell.
Thank you so much for your guides Llama, I'm quite new to Diablo 2 and just recently built a wind druid that you suggested and having loads of fun! I'm even trying to help/teach my other friend how to play their amazon based on your guides and they are really enjoying the game now also! :D
Sending my love and respect for your work and effort. You are the reason I actually improved my knowledge and gameplay experience. Along the way, I have a new found love for Diablo 2. Thank you.
Man, if I had a single magic wish for this game, it would be to make all (or at least most) of the mercs badass in different ways. That way, you could hire different mercs based on what your character needs to overcome in a particular encounter, instead of just taking the obligatory Act 2 NM Merc
Reaper's Toll + Guillaume's Face is also a decent combo. Since you already have good life tap from the weapon, and decrepify for additional safety, you don't need even more life tap from the helm, so instead you can equip him Guillaume's Face, which gives 35% crushing blow and 15% deadly strike (and the weapon already has 33% deadly strike, so 48% in total). Guillaume's Face also has 30% faster hit recovery.
ya his reviews are a must if youre deciding to play this game a lot...diablo 2 isnt a weekend game...you have to commit to years and years to this game to get all the characters and items...it is a feat mrllama is a blessing to our community for sure and helping this games life go infinite...d2 never dies man...it didnt even need a remake..it would have survived another 20 years but now for sure 50 years lol btw...im not sure about this remake but in the og d2:lod your mercs mf stacks with yours...so their kills have the same mf as you...meaning if they carried a shako and other mf gear...ya its nice :P
@@joemsaberon yeah but I have to think about it and look for it. I prefer how he names it and that the topic, even if it’s small tip vids. To accompany his larger vids. Like his character build guides. He could have “addendums” , I guess.
@@kickassandchewbubblegum639 idk man i loved this game when I was younger when it came out, but coming back to it in D2R I realize the game is pretty outdated. Everything is clunky, you can beat the whole game in a couple hours, and there is literally nothing to do except repeatedly farm the same stuff that you beat within those first couple hours, except slightly faster. There's just no content in comparison to today's games
I would like to say my boy Gulzar with Prayer has been really nice on my Windy Druid. Was doing Chaos runs in Nightmare with him and I could often go through an entire run without healing at all.
You autistically infiltrated my algorithm by me just simply just looking up two videos on necromancy . You’ve literally dedicated your life to this video game. Impressive .
6:50, remember back in the days when the merc levels was fixed, and you had to level them up afterwards? -All those long days with "just 5 levels more on my merc than he can use x/y/z".
Some great advice. Rune words really make a massive difference to your mercs I have found. In Hell difficulty they are still very fragile though and serve better as a distraction instead of killing a lot on their own.
I basically just gave up on my merc. I have the runes ready for an insight, got a tal rasha's helm, all I need is an armor piece with sockets. I'll try again when I can make a fortitude.
Iv been enjoying your videos the past few weeks while I’m reliving my childhood. Thank you for all the great knowledge. I’m 100x better at reading maps and I lvl super fast now with all the sweet rune words I learned to make. Thank you sir
Dude dropped an Enigma on the GROUND! If I did that (only in my dreams), I'm 99.99% sure that would've been the exact time that AT&T would send me a middle finger.
they need to buff other merc like allowing act5 barb to dualwield or have him be able to do a barb yell thing. or like give act 1+3 merc more damage/cast/attack rate.
Favorite merc setup for me would have to be act5 barb merc with a lawbringer sword made in something like an eth legend sword. Then a treachery armor and cannot be frozen mod on helm. Yeah a reapers toll act2 merc does the same job but better. It's much more fun though with the barb merc. Also early on when you don't have gear (I play single player self found) a lawbringer is much easier to make rather than finding reapers toll. Also a very underrated easy to get armor for a merc is the spirit shroud. Exceptional unique lvl 28 item. Gives cannot be frozen and +1 skill. Cannot be frozen is very important and will help with the merc leeching life and doing damage.
I'm a L74 Necromancer. I've got my original Rogue sister. I didn't want to replace her. Silly attachment and all. So I improved her instead. Gave her brand new Runeword _"Harmony"_ Bow. She now does 314-830 dmg and has level 10 Vigor aura. Which makes my 31 minions move ridiculously fast. Skeletons can move from one side of the screen to the other in just over a second.
As a noob, i like to get Act3 merc with cold spells for crowd control untill nightmare. But you explain things really well so i might actually learn something so thanks :)
Thanks for this, I knew very little about mercs and not 3 hours after watching this I did a Hell Countess and thought ah might as well do Andy. On the way there a boss pack drops CoT 11ll - probably the best item I have now and I wouldn't have even known it was good before this vid.
sorry you didn't get an answer sooner - Ethereal items are slightly buffed but can't be repaired and Merc items don't lose durability when used! so if you get a good ethereal you want to give it to your merc
Remember building a summon necro and wanting to do something different. So I went with an act1 merc with Harmony, while it's not optimal for damage, it was a lot of fun watching my skelies run around really fast.
Has anyone else noticed the act 2 merc seems to be bugged? I bought a nightmare might one but when in hell his aura turns to blessed aim. It never changed like that in legacy. It kept whatever skill you bought depending on what difficulty you bought him on. Very annoying.....
Same for me on ps5 i wanted the might one so bought him switched back to hell and it was a different one can you only use the merc you want for that difficulty?
One thing is for sure.. No matter how many times you repeat this kind of content especially the tutorials I will definitely watch and support it... Hopefully the true successor of Diablo 2 is in the making. (Sorry but I'm not really hopeful with Diablo 4)..
As a casual player, I like act 1 mercs as they help out a lot with those annoying monsters that fly around, those annoying flayers and those crawling sand beast.
My Diablo 2 Resurrected merc guide: 1: pick act 2 defensive merc on nightmare 2: ??? 3: profit jokes aside though, I'm one of the ones who wants to see minimal changes from the original, but I definitely wouldn't mind a buff to some of the other acts' mercs. Just give them auras or something to bring them up to par and make them even viable. Act 2 mercs would still dominate because of strong runewords etc etc but at least it would make some other fun options. Also act 1 mercs should be able to equip crossbows.
Ive seen in the remaster mercs displaying the wrong info on there character screen ( like for example a act2 normal merc being listed as having might aura instead of blessed aim )
Also a holy freeze merc caps at lvl 17 holy freeze at level 55 but mine is capped at level 8. I actually swapped my previous merc who capped at level 6 for my current level 8. Weird. I hope this is just a bug because level 8 holy freeze radius is poo's.
@@hardryv3719 lol wtf, diablo 2 forgive a lot, it's a super easy game with the possibility of respects and limited monsters roll. You don't have a lot of surprises in D2, compare to PoE. But anyway, when you have good stuff on the merc, it's generally because it's your 'real' one, you don't gonna change...
OR how bout they just switch the items over automatically... OR if they can't use everything they get put in your inventory OR if you don't have room a message appears telling you that hiring a new merc is not possible (remove your items from your merc!).
Lvl 61 here in last chapter of Nightmare, still travelling with the first companion I was given as reward, and wouldn't have it any other way! Long live Eliza! ♥
I wish you would have some very simple things for the merc up to the point that the player is farming baal nightmare. What I found great about the guided playthroughs is the early and easy equip with two sockets on everything and just use early rune words and you're good. Like here equip merc with any armor with sockets and put rubies or skulls in it or something. Only real decent suggestion is Honor, which is nightmare countess runes and might have included something like Malice for non-melee characters. This merc guide has kind of meaning to me like:"If you don't have all the good stuff, maybe consider (trash) like griswold's (not until Nightmare Baal) with p.rubies, stone (character level 66, ShaelUmPulLum), Duriel's shell (1:~4000 from Nightmare Duriel)." This guide makes it seem to me like merc is nothing worth using/caring about until hell and might as well have included a short:"until hell, don't bother" in it to cover everything before treading into hell difficulty. Probably more a critique of the game than the guide, but still, any mention would have been nice.
It takes a bit to learn what your merc can take and what not. Having an Insight Merc that doesn't last on the boss requires you to position him/ yourself in a way that he gets the least amount of dmg to him as possible. Teleporting gives here a huge advantage as it is instant re-placing. For Andariel, just cast Blizzard and teleport back and forth, Merc shouldn't get any dmg except maybe poison. For Mephisto, you can teleport into a save distant that the Merc will ignore Mephisto however you need to clear at least one side of the entrance or he will pull other groups. It'd be great if you could put him in passive mode. If you don't have insight, keep looking for weapons with Lifesteal and over a few days you'll get something. It's night and day especially in Normal/ Alp.
Wow i learned smth new, Thanks Llama! I play D2 (not Resurrected) on a different server (not Battle.net) and they are running patch 1.11. And on this patch all of the mercenaries give auras, and only the barbs from act 5 have a chance to proc battle orders and battle cry.. Act 1 mercs give Fanatism aura, and act 3 Conviciton.. Damn i was gonna be in a surprise waiting for conviction aura from my Act 3 merc :D
"As for the suit... I think, you have earned it." A citation from the epilog of Halflife. My sentiment, too, when swapping mercenaries in Diablo II. Greetings, a casual gamer.
Don't underestimate the inner sight the act 1 mercs use. Its great if you're a tanky melee char to drop enemy defense and you'll chop through them quicker.
That's something all the guides seem to miss, at lvl 78 with a skill lvl of 22 -935 to defense is nice. I only wish they would fix her pathing, so she stays behind you and not walk right in to a mob.
After a year of playing and trading I managed to get two perfect Last Wish phase blades (which both had +15% ED and +1 attack rating on the bases) which I put on my act 5 merc. I forgot to take them off when hiring a new merc. It was about 70% of all my wealth. Owie
Does the Merc bug only work with the one named Azrael? My Merc is named Emelio. I mean, he can be a pretty bad boy sometimes...wait, serious question: Did they fix the Merc bug? I just tried it and went to the cows lvl and they immediately killed him.
I'm rolling with lawbringer, treachery 807 eth, and none eth Andy helm on a5 merc till I find a eth insight or reaper tolls. It works great on my hdin for player 8 chaos runs.
I don’t know if it worked like this in normal D2, but going from normal to nightmare will make your act 2 normal merc upgrade to an act 2 nightmare merc. Keep winding up with a thorns merc when I go into nightmare.
Listening to guys like you always makes me feel like one can just walk up to Charsi, shower her in gold and order the "incredible edge of royal awesomeness with runes" for your hireling. Usually I just make do with some socketed item and pack into it whatever is available and seems useful at the time (towards the requirements you do in fact mention).
Act 2 merc's tend to be more suited for sorcs. Insight is a great utility weapon for the aura (basically unlimited mana), and can go in polearms or staves. Infinity is another great weapon for sorc merc's cuz of the Conviction aura (this makes lightning sorcs pwn as long as they keep their merc up, even against most Light Immunes) Depending on which difficulty & type of merc you get they have a variety of "preset" aura's. Normal & Hell Defensive = Defiance Aura (increases defense) Normal & Hell Combat = Prayer Aura (some minor HP regen) Normal & Hell Offensive = Blessed Aim (boosts AR) NM Defensive = Holy Freeze (chills enemies around your merc, adds cold damage to his attack) NM Combat = Thorns (returns % physical damage to attacker) NM Offensive = Might (increases physical damage dealt) So of those, there are only really 2 options, with a distant 3rd for Sorcs. Holy Freeze is situationally the best, if you don't have any Cold spells to do some chilling, or just want instant-chilling without casting Blizz//Orb, it's the way to go. Defiance is a pretty close 2nd, despite how until you get some decent gear, your Defense overall will be lacking. Prayer would be the distant 3rd, for one reason only - if you give your Merc an Insight polearm, his Meditation from Insight will synergize with his Prayer, both will be active at the same time, allowing double the HP regen. All the other Aura options for these merc's aren't too swell for Sorc's, as they work better with physical//melee//summoner classes much better.
Sorceress doesn't need defense, as a caster you always kite around enemies and never let them touch you. Prayer and Meditation is interesting though, I never thought of it.
I really love all your guides im new to diablo 2 just got my stealth and leaf playing thru the acts now. Having some issues with mana always gotta go back too town
Watch his playthrough videos, fill almost your entire inventory with potions and ignore 99% of items that drop. You won't have to go back nearly as often that way
Check out the insight rune word. Its a manareg aura on for your merc. Both auras apply to you and your party. Farm norm cows and use a socket quest in act5. Lama did a video about it: th-cam.com/video/Ta-myS6mME4/w-d-xo.html
I would like an update on Mercs, more like Eastern Sun - with Gloves/Belts/Boots 2x rings and Amulet and thne ability to have full sets, and again only +1 to all skills to work. On top, Act 3 need conviction aura, Barberians need Shouts or Battle
Barbs doing bo sounds nice but I think it’d need some AI to not be annoying (shouldn’t ever overwrite a higher bo, but what if the merc has a high bo but you didn’t get it (eg if you were out of range))
What rune would you recommend socketing into a Reaper’s Toll? Ohm, Lo, Ber,? I’m trying to figure out what would be best to increase dps. My goal is ideally to put a 30 fire res/15ias jewel in my andy helm so not sure what rune would be best to maximize dps.
So I'm having an issue with my merc. It doesn't matter which difficulty I hire them from, the aura automatically changes whatever auras the mercs from whatever difficulty ur on uses. (i.e my nightmare merc changes from holy freeze to defiance in hell.
can you give an update or explain in more detail how some of the gear the merc has helps you out as well? like does giving him gold find gear buff your gold find as well? does anything transition like that?
Some days ago I entered hell difficulty for the first time. Looking at my mercenary, he had changed his offensive aura to the attack rating one. Back in nightmare - might aura :-/
Ultimately Mercs need some serious balancing cause everything is act 2 mercs, and it shouldn't be. That's just bad balancing, just like melee build are bad comparison to magic casting builds eg: sorc/ bliz sorc and hammer pal.
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"I'll put that to good use"
I can't use that.
No you won't, shut up, I'm not stupid. Now go tank shots from The Cold One till you die four times so I can range him like we both know you're going to.
I'll put that to mediocre use for 2 seconds before getting deleted by some random rare spawn. Have fun spending 50k gold to res me again :P
“Thanks”
@@KageNoTenshi The amount of times I’ve been seeing this daily.
Without Fort or some high def armor he just dies on every champion mob.
The amount of gold I’ve blown on reviving mercenaries makes me cry 😭
you can give them potions
if on pc hold shift and the potion number
my sorc literally went broke in the middle of act 5
@@blackoutgstar9949 any idea how to do this on the Switch?
if i get 10k everytime i had to rez a merc, id still have less gold than if i never got a merc... XD
@@sugondesenuts69 zl and arrows i think
Ok, hear me out. What I discovered when I play HC key hunting sorcesres that might be very valuable to mention in some videos.
Lawbringer runeword sword - Amn+Lem+Ko
It will get you 20% decrepify, sanctuary aura pushing away undead, monster rests in peace.
It lacks dmg but baba merc is still able to kill countess in seconds or nihltak or whoever comes who is fire/cold immune for my soso.
But the fact that I wont die to corpse explosion or dolls or those undead that drag sword.. its huge. Its the safest merc for keys hunting I had and I just came to possesion of all runes for infinity but I dunno if I even want to switch to infinity and respec to lighting or not. I really am comfortable with the dmg and the safety.
There is also delirium helmet for additional crowd control and chance for confuse and terror, but I like decrep more
He did mention lawbringer in the vid
I get the undead and corpse explosion, but why do you not die to dolls?
@@oguzcanoguz5977 they are undead and sanctuary aura pushes them away every 2 seconds. Sure I could die, but its far far far less likely than without sanctuarly. Also the dmg of the sword I have is kinda pathethic, so not one jab kill like with eth elite infinity merc
Ölö5ö58ööö
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I used to watch your content back when I was heavy into broodwar years ago. I'm so glad to see that you're a diablo 2 God and you made a bunch of stuff for it
Few things he missed ---
All mercenaries except Iron Wolves (Act 3 merc) will do double the amount of damage depending on an equipped weapon.
Desert Mercenaries (Act 2 merc) will do double dmg if they're equipped with javelins. One handed damage applies, NOT the throwing dmg.
Barbarians (Act 5 merc) will do double dmg if they're equipped with one handed sword. Therefore, making Lawbringer on one handed sword is recommended.
Rogue Scout (Act 1 merc) will do double dmg if they're equipped with bows. Yes, they can only equip bows, and that makes them always do double the amount of dmg.
It's a bit oblivious about which dmg mod will be doubled or not. +damage mod from Grief certainly won't.
Mercenaries from lower difficulty has better stats than those from higher difficulty. It's best to hire them in normal if possible.
All mercenaries have 2 range for melee attack. Equipping a longer ranged melee weapons on your merc will not increase their attack range.
Act 2 merc's Jab hits 2 times, not 3.
Giving either thawing or antidote potions on your merc will not increase their cold/poison res and their maximum res, but will unfreeze/cure them.
I didnt know that. Thank you!
Wow i had no idea giving me those potions would increase my res. Mind blown!
Nice addition thanks
Just a warning, if you're making an Insight for a merc, remember the str req on the weapon. I made one with a Collossus Voulge and it's 210 str requirement! Even at 85 he can't wear that without +30 Str from armor/helm.
Yeah did the same.. had to use +25 str og chest or helm :(
Did it even tho for past half year was practicing like mad.... Now 87, used a tals mask with fal socketed to get it working... :)))
Valid point for sure!
kinda like when I had a superior archon plate enigma, those repairs were insane
An Eth one? Don't bother if it is not Eth, but ya, generally I use a Cryptic Axe
Why everytime i think about something i need i open my cellphone and see a new llama video about it ? You're sick bro keep it up
He could be a University professor of Diablo 2. What a fun class that would be.
Hey MrLlama, just wanted to say thanks for all your hard work. Your content is 10/10.
for real! I wish 14 year old me would have had a MrLlama to guide my path. But now I'm ready!
Hey llama, I gotta say this channel is probably one of the most informative and open to feedback of basically any video game related channel on youtube.
Your knowledge of the game inside and out and willingness to explain things from the ground up are great. I’m sure your numbers are exploding right now and you deserve every bit of it.
I kinda liked the "I raised him pokemon buff".
Made it feel like an extra little buff that I had worked for.
Pro Tip:
Tl Dr: Feed mercenary on console is left trigger held down while using from belt. On computer hold shift down before using them to feed your mercenary.
Console players hold left trigger to activate alternative use abilities, which include alternative use potions (feeding your mercenary potions)
Side note:
You can give an act 5 Merc 2 different runeword weapons aswell.
Thank you so much for your guides Llama, I'm quite new to Diablo 2 and just recently built a wind druid that you suggested and having loads of fun! I'm even trying to help/teach my other friend how to play their amazon based on your guides and they are really enjoying the game now also! :D
Great guide overall. Two things i missed were the increased dmg mercs take from bosses and how the aura of the act 2 merc scales with lvls though.
Sending my love and respect for your work and effort. You are the reason I actually improved my knowledge and gameplay experience. Along the way, I have a new found love for Diablo 2.
Thank you.
"There's no 'I raised him Pokemon buff'" I actually lold. thank you.
Man, if I had a single magic wish for this game, it would be to make all (or at least most) of the mercs badass in different ways. That way, you could hire different mercs based on what your character needs to overcome in a particular encounter, instead of just taking the obligatory Act 2 NM Merc
Amen brother. Everybody carrying act 2 merc bores the shit outta me
New to D2 and you’re my go to for learning this game. Thank you for all your work
Reaper's Toll + Guillaume's Face is also a decent combo. Since you already have good life tap from the weapon, and decrepify for additional safety, you don't need even more life tap from the helm, so instead you can equip him Guillaume's Face, which gives 35% crushing blow and 15% deadly strike (and the weapon already has 33% deadly strike, so 48% in total). Guillaume's Face also has 30% faster hit recovery.
I think it would be nice if they added shouts/warcries to the Act 5 Barbs. That might make things a little more interesting
Dev's must have read this comment ;-)
@@TaurusGaming717 😁
Is it possible to get a sockets guide as it’s own info vid?
Ty for all the guides, constantly reviewing them for answers. Making life so much easier.
I think sockets have been covered in the runeword bases vid? th-cam.com/video/1lEGVoR3yc8/w-d-xo.html
ya his reviews are a must if youre deciding to play this game a lot...diablo 2 isnt a weekend game...you have to commit to years and years to this game to get all the characters and items...it is a feat
mrllama is a blessing to our community for sure and helping this games life go infinite...d2 never dies man...it didnt even need a remake..it would have survived another 20 years but now for sure 50 years lol
btw...im not sure about this remake but in the og d2:lod your mercs mf stacks with yours...so their kills have the same mf as you...meaning if they carried a shako and other mf gear...ya its nice :P
@@joemsaberon yeah but I have to think about it and look for it. I prefer how he names it and that the topic, even if it’s small tip vids. To accompany his larger vids. Like his character build guides. He could have “addendums” , I guess.
@@kickassandchewbubblegum639 idk man i loved this game when I was younger when it came out, but coming back to it in D2R I realize the game is pretty outdated. Everything is clunky, you can beat the whole game in a couple hours, and there is literally nothing to do except repeatedly farm the same stuff that you beat within those first couple hours, except slightly faster. There's just no content in comparison to today's games
@@craigferge4702 whose to say they wont add an act or 2? or a whole thing for pvp added?
On a PS controller, holding L2 then using the directional buttons can also give your mercenary a potion.
I would like to say my boy Gulzar with Prayer has been really nice on my Windy Druid. Was doing Chaos runs in Nightmare with him and I could often go through an entire run without healing at all.
who?
My act 2 normal prayer merc is named Gulzar.
My prayer merc sucked and never would run it when I was hurt. Or he would stand so far away from me that I wouldn't get the benefit
YMMV. Since I don't have a lot of FRW yet he was keeping up with me pretty well.
You autistically infiltrated my algorithm by me just simply just looking up two videos on necromancy . You’ve literally dedicated your life to this video game. Impressive .
I appreciate this guide. Hope to see some of your D2R farming highlights.
That casual "I have Tyrael's Might right now" knowing how long it took to get it on the Holy Grail Sorc just kills me.
6:50, remember back in the days when the merc levels was fixed, and you had to level them up afterwards? -All those long days with "just 5 levels more on my merc than he can use x/y/z".
I was shocked the other day when I went to get an act2 hell merc finally, and he was matching my level. Pretty dope.
Lol yes
That bug is amazing for melee main characters to avoid him dying quite much!
Some great advice. Rune words really make a massive difference to your mercs I have found. In Hell difficulty they are still very fragile though and serve better as a distraction instead of killing a lot on their own.
I basically just gave up on my merc. I have the runes ready for an insight, got a tal rasha's helm, all I need is an armor piece with sockets. I'll try again when I can make a fortitude.
Iv been enjoying your videos the past few weeks while I’m reliving my childhood. Thank you for all the great knowledge. I’m 100x better at reading maps and I lvl super fast now with all the sweet rune words I learned to make. Thank you sir
Dude dropped an Enigma on the GROUND! If I did that (only in my dreams), I'm 99.99% sure that would've been the exact time that AT&T would send me a middle finger.
This happened to me back in 2010 and I put the game down for a decade
Lol. Servers are fixed now. I have yet to be dropped once. I thought it was my 1 gig fiber that was costing it
happy birthday? been binging your content lately, thank you for all the work you've been putting in. :)
they need to buff other merc like allowing act5 barb to dualwield or have him be able to do a barb yell thing. or like give act 1+3 merc more damage/cast/attack rate.
Yeah. It would be sweet if they all had some kind of buff skills.
Favorite merc setup for me would have to be act5 barb merc with a lawbringer sword made in something like an eth legend sword. Then a treachery armor and cannot be frozen mod on helm.
Yeah a reapers toll act2 merc does the same job but better. It's much more fun though with the barb merc. Also early on when you don't have gear (I play single player self found) a lawbringer is much easier to make rather than finding reapers toll.
Also a very underrated easy to get armor for a merc is the spirit shroud. Exceptional unique lvl 28 item. Gives cannot be frozen and +1 skill. Cannot be frozen is very important and will help with the merc leeching life and doing damage.
Holy shit you are pumping out content like an absolute mad lad these days!
Supply and demand and demand is high and he's making bank while we appreciate him. That's the beauty of capitalism
One of the best things about D2R release is the amount of content coming from your channel. Hope your channel really takes off!!
I'm a L74 Necromancer. I've got my original Rogue sister. I didn't want to replace her. Silly attachment and all. So I improved her instead. Gave her brand new Runeword _"Harmony"_ Bow. She now does 314-830 dmg and has level 10 Vigor aura. Which makes my 31 minions move ridiculously fast. Skeletons can move from one side of the screen to the other in just over a second.
As a noob, i like to get Act3 merc with cold spells for crowd control untill nightmare. But you explain things really well so i might actually learn something so thanks :)
act 3 merc can drop u pul mc rune only in hell meffisto
@@simodelafrog3690 I’ve never heard about that, is that really a thing??
Thanks for this, I knew very little about mercs and not 3 hours after watching this I did a Hell Countess and thought ah might as well do Andy. On the way there a boss pack drops CoT 11ll - probably the best item I have now and I wouldn't have even known it was good before this vid.
Been enjoying your streaming of D2R whilst I am playing. Your guides are always top tier and easy to understand :)
Llama with the non stop. Keep up the hard work
Saw this video today, tried to make a insight in a spear yesterday...
You've been crushing it with the videos lately
I'm so tired of having the act 2 Merc with me. This time around I'm taking the barb Merc with me.
Why ethereal? Do the runewords make them not lose durability ?
sorry you didn't get an answer sooner - Ethereal items are slightly buffed but can't be repaired and Merc items don't lose durability when used! so if you get a good ethereal you want to give it to your merc
Remember building a summon necro and wanting to do something different. So I went with an act1 merc with Harmony, while it's not optimal for damage, it was a lot of fun watching my skelies run around really fast.
Has anyone else noticed the act 2 merc seems to be bugged? I bought a nightmare might one but when in hell his aura turns to blessed aim. It never changed like that in legacy. It kept whatever skill you bought depending on what difficulty you bought him on. Very annoying.....
Same for me on ps5 i wanted the might one so bought him switched back to hell and it was a different one can you only use the merc you want for that difficulty?
One thing is for sure.. No matter how many times you repeat this kind of content especially the tutorials I will definitely watch and support it...
Hopefully the true successor of Diablo 2 is in the making. (Sorry but I'm not really hopeful with Diablo 4)..
As a casual player, I like act 1 mercs as they help out a lot with those annoying monsters that fly around, those annoying flayers and those crawling sand beast.
What am I missing? Didn't he just lose his Fortitude, Bonehew, and Andy's when he bought the new rogue, but he doesn't care?
Probably has a 100 different enigmas anyway
My Diablo 2 Resurrected merc guide:
1: pick act 2 defensive merc on nightmare
2: ???
3: profit
jokes aside though, I'm one of the ones who wants to see minimal changes from the original, but I definitely wouldn't mind a buff to some of the other acts' mercs. Just give them auras or something to bring them up to par and make them even viable. Act 2 mercs would still dominate because of strong runewords etc etc but at least it would make some other fun options. Also act 1 mercs should be able to equip crossbows.
I've played this game for 20 years and I didn't know about that merc bug.
Great stuff for my fishymancer!
Thank you!!! Thank you!! for breaking this game down into detail.
Ive seen in the remaster mercs displaying the wrong info on there character screen ( like for example a act2 normal merc being listed as having might aura instead of blessed aim )
Also a holy freeze merc caps at lvl 17 holy freeze at level 55 but mine is capped at level 8. I actually swapped my previous merc who capped at level 6 for my current level 8. Weird. I hope this is just a bug because level 8 holy freeze radius is poo's.
I also noticed that.
I guess they patched that merc bug? I just tried and and he's still getting targeted.
They should update the game so that when you change your mercenary with another one, it's items drop on the ground in case you forgot to remove them.
You just sometimes have to play this game for yourself - this is not pokemon
Diablo 2 was never forgiving like that, truly a game of choice-consequence.
@@hardryv3719 lol wtf, diablo 2 forgive a lot, it's a super easy game with the possibility of respects and limited monsters roll. You don't have a lot of surprises in D2, compare to PoE.
But anyway, when you have good stuff on the merc, it's generally because it's your 'real' one, you don't gonna change...
OR how bout they just switch the items over automatically... OR if they can't use everything they get put in your inventory OR if you don't have room a message appears telling you that hiring a new merc is not possible (remove your items from your merc!).
So, when your Boss fires you, you strip before leaving?
Lvl 61 here in last chapter of Nightmare, still travelling with the first companion I was given as reward, and wouldn't have it any other way! Long live Eliza! ♥
True love lasts
I wish you would have some very simple things for the merc up to the point that the player is farming baal nightmare.
What I found great about the guided playthroughs is the early and easy equip with two sockets on everything and just use early rune words and you're good.
Like here equip merc with any armor with sockets and put rubies or skulls in it or something.
Only real decent suggestion is Honor, which is nightmare countess runes and might have included something like Malice for non-melee characters.
This merc guide has kind of meaning to me like:"If you don't have all the good stuff, maybe consider (trash) like griswold's (not until Nightmare Baal) with p.rubies, stone (character level 66, ShaelUmPulLum), Duriel's shell (1:~4000 from Nightmare Duriel)."
This guide makes it seem to me like merc is nothing worth using/caring about until hell and might as well have included a short:"until hell, don't bother" in it to cover everything before treading into hell difficulty.
Probably more a critique of the game than the guide, but still, any mention would have been nice.
i hope a lot of new players see your videos you do a amazing job teaching them :)
It takes a bit to learn what your merc can take and what not.
Having an Insight Merc that doesn't last on the boss requires you to position him/ yourself in a way that he gets the least amount of dmg to him as possible. Teleporting gives here a huge advantage as it is instant re-placing.
For Andariel, just cast Blizzard and teleport back and forth, Merc shouldn't get any dmg except maybe poison.
For Mephisto, you can teleport into a save distant that the Merc will ignore Mephisto however you need to clear at least one side of the entrance or he will pull other groups. It'd be great if you could put him in passive mode.
If you don't have insight, keep looking for weapons with Lifesteal and over a few days you'll get something. It's night and day especially in Normal/ Alp.
Wow i learned smth new, Thanks Llama! I play D2 (not Resurrected) on a different server (not Battle.net) and they are running patch 1.11. And on this patch all of the mercenaries give auras, and only the barbs from act 5 have a chance to proc battle orders and battle cry.. Act 1 mercs give Fanatism aura, and act 3 Conviciton.. Damn i was gonna be in a surprise waiting for conviction aura from my Act 3 merc :D
Really glad to know about the fact as to why melee enemies target you and not the mercenary, so "I'll put that to good use!"
So what is the best weapon base to make Insight for my act 2 mercenaries? I didn't find this information.
Best is a thrasher
"As for the suit... I think, you have earned it." A citation from the epilog of Halflife. My sentiment, too, when swapping mercenaries in Diablo II.
Greetings, a casual gamer.
Does ANYONE use Act III mercs? Wouldn't they be a good option to have another element for mobs immune to your primary?
Thumbs up for the pokemon buff reference, was my exact thought when you brought the subject up. 😂😂
lol you got me there with drooping your mercs items so quickly! :D
Don't underestimate the inner sight the act 1 mercs use. Its great if you're a tanky melee char to drop enemy defense and you'll chop through them quicker.
That's something all the guides seem to miss, at lvl 78 with a skill lvl of 22 -935 to defense is nice. I only wish they would fix her pathing, so she stays behind you and not walk right in to a mob.
After a year of playing and trading I managed to get two perfect Last Wish phase blades (which both had +15% ED and +1 attack rating on the bases) which I put on my act 5 merc.
I forgot to take them off when hiring a new merc. It was about 70% of all my wealth.
Owie
I think I'm quitting the game tbh.
@@BrinkMira incredibly valid response after that :(
the pop filter you are using still picks up pops pretty good, might be too close to the mic
Does the Merc bug only work with the one named Azrael? My Merc is named Emelio. I mean, he can be a pretty bad boy sometimes...wait, serious question: Did they fix the Merc bug? I just tried it and went to the cows lvl and they immediately killed him.
I'm rolling with lawbringer, treachery 807 eth, and none eth Andy helm on a5 merc till I find a eth insight or reaper tolls. It works great on my hdin for player 8 chaos runs.
for your reference , here's a list for each job which merc is suitable for you guys :
Barbarian - act 2 merc
Assassin - act 2 merc
Sorcerer - act 2 merc
Druid - act 2 merc
Necromancer - act 2 merc
Paladin - act 2 merc
Amazon - act 2 merc
You should mention the savage polearm cube recipe. Getting 80% ed poleaxe or partizan is great for normal/ nm until you get insight.
You had the chance to mention it properly, but now ppl still have to Google for it.
@@lemboshauser4700 kris+belt+staff+any diamond
I don’t know if it worked like this in normal D2, but going from normal to nightmare will make your act 2 normal merc upgrade to an act 2 nightmare merc. Keep winding up with a thorns merc when I go into nightmare.
That's a known bug but I believe it's just a visual bug.
Same here, my normal merc with blessed aim gets might automaticaly in nightmare. When going back into normal it switches back.
I love the mercenary bug part. Thanks for the info.
Llama has been prepping this release of massive video library for 20 years
Another excellent video MrLSC.
Listening to guys like you always makes me feel like one can just walk up to Charsi, shower her in gold and order the "incredible edge of royal awesomeness with runes" for your hireling. Usually I just make do with some socketed item and pack into it whatever is available and seems useful at the time (towards the requirements you do in fact mention).
Act 2 merc's tend to be more suited for sorcs.
Insight is a great utility weapon for the aura (basically unlimited mana), and can go in polearms or staves.
Infinity is another great weapon for sorc merc's cuz of the Conviction aura (this makes lightning sorcs pwn as long as they keep their merc up, even against most Light Immunes)
Depending on which difficulty & type of merc you get they have a variety of "preset" aura's.
Normal & Hell Defensive = Defiance Aura (increases defense)
Normal & Hell Combat = Prayer Aura (some minor HP regen)
Normal & Hell Offensive = Blessed Aim (boosts AR)
NM Defensive = Holy Freeze (chills enemies around your merc, adds cold damage to his attack)
NM Combat = Thorns (returns % physical damage to attacker)
NM Offensive = Might (increases physical damage dealt)
So of those, there are only really 2 options, with a distant 3rd for Sorcs.
Holy Freeze is situationally the best, if you don't have any Cold spells to do some chilling, or just want instant-chilling without casting Blizz//Orb, it's the way to go.
Defiance is a pretty close 2nd, despite how until you get some decent gear, your Defense overall will be lacking.
Prayer would be the distant 3rd, for one reason only - if you give your Merc an Insight polearm, his Meditation from Insight will synergize with his Prayer, both will be active at the same time, allowing double the HP regen.
All the other Aura options for these merc's aren't too swell for Sorc's, as they work better with physical//melee//summoner classes much better.
Sorceress doesn't need defense, as a caster you always kite around enemies and never let them touch you. Prayer and Meditation is interesting though, I never thought of it.
Hello llama, will like to know if you are going to make a video about mercenaries after the new patch
I miss the days of act 1 merc. with +3 to bow and crossbow gear -- lightning hose OP attack!!
I really love all your guides im new to diablo 2 just got my stealth and leaf playing thru the acts now.
Having some issues with mana always gotta go back too town
Watch his playthrough videos, fill almost your entire inventory with potions and ignore 99% of items that drop. You won't have to go back nearly as often that way
Check out the insight rune word. Its a manareg aura on for your merc. Both auras apply to you and your party. Farm norm cows and use a socket quest in act5. Lama did a video about it: th-cam.com/video/Ta-myS6mME4/w-d-xo.html
I had no idea about the inner cloister bug. I'll definitely do it as I'm farming cows. ty
I would like an update on Mercs, more like Eastern Sun - with Gloves/Belts/Boots 2x rings and Amulet and thne ability to have full sets, and again only +1 to all skills to work.
On top, Act 3 need conviction aura, Barberians need Shouts or Battle
But my CTA...
I do think all mercs that aren’t act 2 need to be improved to make more of them viable.
Barbs doing bo sounds nice but I think it’d need some AI to not be annoying (shouldn’t ever overwrite a higher bo, but what if the merc has a high bo but you didn’t get it (eg if you were out of range))
@@Steph1 The Barb constantly do the BO every 15-30 seconds
@@goshu7009 that would absolutely suck if you or a party member have a higher bo level..
best d2 youtuber for sure
Epic fake out with the merc replacement! Got me good lmao
you are an awesome content creator for D2 really
Barb: I am overburdened.
Gulzar: Thanks!
Rakanishu: Rakanishu!
6:54 Incorrect! I've just replaced my 36 lvl merc from normal to 36 lvl merc in nightmare and he has 100 life and 100 def less!
Yup normal mercs are stronger
Str also changes
What rune would you recommend socketing into a Reaper’s Toll? Ohm, Lo, Ber,? I’m trying to figure out what would be best to increase dps. My goal is ideally to put a 30 fire res/15ias jewel in my andy helm so not sure what rune would be best to maximize dps.
I'm playing on console and would like to get the trophy for reaching 99 Do you have a leveling guide? Currently lv 73 Barb .
So I'm having an issue with my merc. It doesn't matter which difficulty I hire them from, the aura automatically changes whatever auras the mercs from whatever difficulty ur on uses. (i.e my nightmare merc changes from holy freeze to defiance in hell.
Visual only bug.
Yupp, same here!
can you give an update or explain in more detail how some of the gear the merc has helps you out as well? like does giving him gold find gear buff your gold find as well? does anything transition like that?
I heard that if the merc kills the mob with the last hit, then his mf gets added to your mf for the drop. I assume it’s the same for gold
Was the whole reason I watched this video, for this question here
Some days ago I entered hell difficulty for the first time. Looking at my mercenary, he had changed his offensive aura to the attack rating one. Back in nightmare - might aura :-/
yeah i have the same problem but i find no infos on this online
would you want a fast attack polearm for the act 2 merc's? Does Magic find on Mercs stack with yours or is it a useless stat on them?
If I put magic find on a mercenary or fast/walk run does that count for me? I'm new to the game and this channel has helped a lot. Thanks!
Ultimately Mercs need some serious balancing cause everything is act 2 mercs, and it shouldn't be. That's just bad balancing, just like melee build are bad comparison to magic casting builds eg: sorc/ bliz sorc and hammer pal.
Which act2 prayer merc is better? Normal or hell? Whats the difference?
why haven't you mention Chains of Honor and Breath of The Dying for the mercenaries?