Skills on Merc's Helm

Hi all.

Do skills such as +2 Barbarian Skills or +2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian only) on a Helm worn by a merc increase the merc's damage? It appears that neither the in-game merc screen nor the Maxroll's D2Planner agrees so.

Is it true that skills on the merc's Helm don't add to the merc's damage? Do staffmods, such as +3 Frenzy on an Act 5 Frenzy merc, make any differences? What about skills on the body armor?

A source would be appreciated.

Thanks.

They addressed this in patch 2.4 (which was released late April 2022, i.e. last year).

Specifically:

Blizzard wrote:

...

Act 1 - Rogue Archer

• ...
• Can now gain + Amazon skill bonuses from gear

...

Act 5 - Barbarian Warrior

• Can now gain + Barbarian skill bonuses from gear
• ...

...

Source: https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo2 ... ercenaries

ShadowHeart wrote: 3 years ago

They addressed this in patch 2.4 (which was released late April 2022, i.e. last year).
...
Source: https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo2 ... ercenaries

Thank you! That's reassuring. But does it mean the in-game merc screen and Maxroll's D2Planner are buggy? Is there a planner that correctly calculates the skill bonus on gears?

bubix wrote: 3 years ago

Thank you! That's reassuring. But does it mean the in-game merc screen and Maxroll's D2Planner are buggy? Is there a planner that correctly calculates the skill bonus on gears?

Hmm, I'm not sure actually. The character screen lies for your own character in some cases, so I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it lied for mercenaries too. I haven't paid much attention to it, I've just assumed it works since patch 2.4. Maybe someone else here knows more...?

I just tested on the maxroll planner, and a +2 barb combat skill rare Helm slightly increases Frenzy dps. Not sure about the exact calculation, but at least it increases

Ignore the character build, but here is a link: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/2q010ymr

That calculator IS buggy and not updated for certain dual wielding skills, Whirlwind, and Fury, but it looks like it works for this

What about passive skills (say Cure) on any merc?

works or totally ignored?

Cure gives Cleansing aura, so is not a passive.

Skills that are not usable by the merc as far as I know (could be tested with a Zon passive)

Skaijuice wrote: 3 years ago

What about passive skills (say Cure) on any merc?

works or totally ignored?

The rule of thumb has traditionally been "merc +skill works the same as player +skill" with the caveat that the merc AI is solely built around their own skills and merc's aren't "what you'd think they are".

As a result, skills that would work for any player independent of class (e.g. the +2 all on a Chains of Honor) would also work for a merc.
Similarly, auto-active skills that work for anyone (e.g. Cure or Dream auras or passives) would also work.
What technically works but doesn't do anything is things like the Enigma Teleport because while the merc would get Teleport, their AI doesn't know how to use it.

The unintuitive bit was with skills that "should match the merc" because A2 mercs, despite their auras, aren't actually paladins. A1 mercs aren't actually amazons. A3 mercs aren't actually sorcs. And A5 mercs aren't actually considered barbs. So the class specific skills (e.g. "amazon only") never worked for any of them. That's the part that was supposedly changed at least for some with D2:R 2.4 but I can't recall if I ever actually tested that (probably not since it doesn't affect any of mine ^^).