merc weapon

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hone sundan or bonehew? for act 2 merc?

 

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Hi,

The Shadow <a@b.com> wrote in news:J9Qrd.4425$pv1.4083@fe12.lga:

> hone sundan or bonehew? for act 2 merc?

easy answer: REAPER'S TOLL ! The 33% chance to cast Decrep really helps
break those PI/SS guys and all other bosses.
Throw in an armor with Crushing Blow and you have the perfect merc weapon.

OTOH, against Bosses, Hone is very good. An upgraded Hone (68-453 dam)
isn't too far away damage-wise from Bonehew (115-597) and already has lots
of CB.

Somewhat overlooked but really nice can be a Crescent Moon polearm with
chance to cast level 13 STATIC - reduce enemies to half life fast..

HtH,

Oliver

 

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In article <coothq$tr5$04$2@news.t-online.com>,
Oliver Wenzel <ouuch@t-online.de> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>The Shadow <a@b.com> wrote in news:J9Qrd.4425$pv1.4083@fe12.lga:
>
>> hone sundan or bonehew? for act 2 merc?
>
>easy answer: REAPER'S TOLL ! The 33% chance to cast Decrep really helps
>break those PI/SS guys and all other bosses.
>Throw in an armor with Crushing Blow and you have the perfect merc weapon.

Actually, the answer is a bit more complex than this, because it depends
on the type of character you play.

While Reaper's Toll (preferably ethereal) is quite wanted as an Act 2 Merc
weapon, I would want a merc weapon overriding my curses _if_ I were
playing a Necromancer.

>OTOH, against Bosses, Hone is very good. An upgraded Hone (68-453 dam)
>isn't too far away damage-wise from Bonehew (115-597) and already has lots
>of CB.

Of course, don't forget an upped Hone Sundan has rather crazy Dexterity
requirements, which will be quite hard to reach by your merc.

>Somewhat overlooked but really nice can be a Crescent Moon polearm with
>chance to cast level 13 STATIC - reduce enemies to half life fast..

.... after which static no longer works.

Indeed don't overlook the effects of the other equipment on the merc's
performance: I had a merc (from my Hammerdin) equipped with a Hone Sundan
(AmnAmnShael-ed), Rockstopper and a Duriels Shell, and he wasn't
performing too hot, though equipment-wise this is a rather nice setup. So
I finally bit the bullet, made a Duress Runeword in an ethereal Dusk
Shroud, and ended up with a 21xx def armour. Put it on the merc, and all
of a sudden he could hold his own again.

If I ever find another Guillaume's Face, I'd use that.

Bonehew is nice for larger amounts of normal monsters, since it deals a
lot of damage, and the merc using it can usually one-hit kill most of
them. Against bosses you want Crushing Blow, Crushing Blow and more
Crushing Blow.

Regards,

Patrick.

 

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Patrick Vervoorn schrieb:

<snip

> Indeed don't overlook the effects of the other equipment on the merc's
> performance: I had a merc (from my Hammerdin) equipped with a Hone Sundan
> (AmnAmnShael-ed), Rockstopper and a Duriels Shell, and he wasn't
> performing too hot, though equipment-wise this is a rather nice setup. So
> I finally bit the bullet, made a Duress Runeword in an ethereal Dusk
> Shroud, and ended up with a 21xx def armour. Put it on the merc, and all
> of a sudden he could hold his own again.

It's not only the high defence and CB. Hit Recovery is _very_ important
for an act 2 merc who has to fight on his own.

FHR breakpoints for act 2 mercs (according to
http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=551):

Frames FHR
15 0
14 5
13 9
12 14
11 20
10 30
9 42
8 60
7 86
6 142
5 280

Duress comes with 40%, ...

> If I ever find another Guillaume's Face, I'd use that.

and Guillaume's has another 30%. A lot less stunned in Hit Recovery.

---
Hannes