Frenzy Barb Merc

Hi All - hoping to get your opinions

I have been enjoying my first time running a

Frenzy Barb during this ladder. I recently came across a

Cham rune and really want to make one of the new 2.4 runewords for a Merc.
Should I go Plague (combo with Lawbringer) on an A5 Merc or a Mist on an A1 Merc??? I'm not looking for perfect run times, just enjoy trying out new builds and combos - can't decide which would be more fun.

Thanks!

Plague will seriously get on your nerves, calling that now.

The lower res proc will do you no real good as a

Frenzy barb so all it does is overwrite your Lawbringer's

Decrepify and hence annoy the hell out of you everytime it procs. If it weren't for that though, Plague is actually pretty good!
Except in your case, as a barb, if you have

Find Item it'll annoy you even more as the freeze means your merc blows up corpses and you won't be able to hork them anymore.

Mist is in itself not bad I suppose though personally I don't see a single constellation where one may want to use that over alternative merc setups. Though the

Pierce might give you some nice control if you use it on a cold merc.

So yeah, if your heart is set on making and using one, I would say Mist. But be aware that it will more likely than not make your performance worse than Lawbringer alone since the conc won't outweigh decrep.

just a quick question, doesn't "slain monsters rest in Peace" mean he can't hork those corpses anyway?

Seamus McNugget wrote: 2 years ago

just a quick question, doesn't "slain monsters rest in Peace" mean he can't hork those corpses anyway?

It does means he can't hork those corpses.

Seamus McNugget wrote: 2 years ago

just a quick question, doesn't "slain monsters rest in Peace" mean he can't hork those corpses anyway?

Yes and no.
Slain RIP applies on merc killing blow only if I'm not completely misremembering things whereas the freeze lasts for a bit and gives you yourself a chance to also blow them up.

I’m having this same dilemma, though I’m playing a Riftsin.

The plan was to make Plague for an Act V merc to proc

Lower Resist, but now that I’ve traded for the

Cham, it’s tempting to try out an Act I merc with Mist, just for the amount of control from all that piercing cold. Mist would probably be overkill on the cold though, with all the orbs flying about…

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Plague will seriously get on your nerves, calling that now.

The lower res proc will do you no real good as a

Frenzy barb so all it does is overwrite your Lawbringer's

Decrepify and hence annoy the hell out of you everytime it procs. If it weren't for that though, Plague is actually pretty good!
Except in your case, as a barb, if you have

Find Item it'll annoy you even more as the freeze means your merc blows up corpses and you won't be able to hork them anymore.

Mist is in itself not bad I suppose though personally I don't see a single constellation where one may want to use that over alternative merc setups. Though the

Pierce might give you some nice control if you use it on a cold merc.

So yeah, if your heart is set on making and using one, I would say Mist. But be aware that it will more likely than not make your performance worse than Lawbringer alone since the conc won't outweigh decrep.

You hit it right on the head there dude! I agree that realistically, A2 merc still reigns supreme when it comes to overall benefit. I've just become a bit jaded to only using the one merc and just try some new combos. I appreciate your response, I had not thought about the

Lower Resist canceling out the

Decrepify... which truly negates the main benefit I wanted from the A5 merc in having that combo; you're right that would be so annoying when trying to kill Physical immunes!

If you want something different, you should try A5 Frenzy merc with 2x

Eth Crescent Moon or

Eth Crescent Moon +

Eth Lawbringer.
And if you like this setup, you'll want to give your merc

Eth '

Cham'

Arreat's Face + Fortitude so... that's one possible use for your

Cham.

Zelym wrote: 2 years ago

If you want something different, you should try A5 Frenzy merc with 2x

Eth Crescent Moon or

Eth Crescent Moon +

Eth Lawbringer.
And if you like this setup, you'll want to give your merc

Eth '

Cham'

Arreat's Face + Fortitude so... that's one possible use for your

Cham.

Thank you for this - was considering the arreats face for the merc but had not considered the Crescent Moon. I will for sure look into this!

Zelym wrote: 2 years ago

If you want something different, you should try A5 Frenzy merc with 2x

Eth Crescent Moon or

Eth Crescent Moon +

Eth Lawbringer.
And if you like this setup, you'll want to give your merc

Eth '

Cham'

Arreat's Face + Fortitude so... that's one possible use for your

Cham.

If d2planner is correct you dont need 2x of the same weapon to get the damage. Not sure how it works with ctc.

I am using Act5 merc with Plague on my Java since I dont have an Infinity or Griffons. It is somewhat of a janky infinty replacement which speeds up my cow clear times in p5/p7. Also, he does not die that easily compared to Act2 merc with the same head and body armor.

Anonimas wrote: 2 years ago

If d2planner is correct you dont need 2x of the same weapon to get the damage. Not sure how it works with ctc.

I know that was true a while ago, but I thought Bliz fixed that recently.

Winterkill wrote: 2 years ago

Anonimas wrote: 2 years ago

If d2planner is correct you dont need 2x of the same weapon to get the damage. Not sure how it works with ctc.

I know that was true a while ago, but I thought Bliz fixed that recently.

Is there a specific patch that mentioned the fix?

On another subject it is possible to break

Über Mephisto lightning immunity with Plague, so you can do ubers with Java. Once I get 3x3 keys set I might try it.

Anonimas wrote: 2 years ago

Winterkill wrote: 2 years ago

Anonimas wrote: 2 years ago

If d2planner is correct you dont need 2x of the same weapon to get the damage. Not sure how it works with ctc.

I know that was true a while ago, but I thought Bliz fixed that recently.

Is there a specific patch that mentioned the fix?

On another subject it is possible to break

Über Mephisto lightning immunity with Plague, so you can do ubers with Java. Once I get 3x3 keys set I might try it.

It is not mentioned in the patch notes that I can see. I found what I remembered reading though. A YouTube video about the

Frenzy Merc by MacroBoiBoi talked about the 'only need 1 weapon' thing, then in an edited video description says, "DISCLAIMER: THEY FIXED THE ONE WEAPON BUG AND THE MERC NO LONGER USES 1 WEAPON IN BOTH HANDS!" So, I could totally be wrong, but that's what I was basing it on.

Also, ooo Jav vs Ubers could be really fun. I'm interested to know how it goes.