Manic Pixie Dreamgirl: An Alternative Endgame Hireling

rikus wrote: 2 years ago

louner wrote: 2 years ago

on merc

merc sounds act2?
or is that a rogue act1?

Faith + Vamp Gaze +

Shaftstop on Act 1 merc (so she can have some life leech and survivability - she is there just for the aura) and Delirium + BOTD on player character. This works surprisingly well on bowazon, because damage is not that much lower than with Faith and amazon has

Dodge, Avoid,

Evade and stays back which makes enemies very rarely hit her, so chance to proc Delirium is reaaly low.

She is just spamming confusion like crazy and triggers

Poison Nova pretty much constantly. You don't even need knockback, because monsters are busy with themselves. So many things come together in synergy and it just works. I really think this deserves to be a standalone bowazon build.

Technically it should be enough to use Beast instead of Faith on Act 5 merc (with Beast you need 105 IAS for max breakpoint and with Faith you need 92 IAS), again with BOTD and

Nosferatu's Coil I have 110 IAS no problem (you don't need knockback that much because monsters fight with themselves).

And how an A5 merc is gonna equip Beast?

Tetra wrote: 2 years ago

And how an A5 merc is gonna equip Beast?

I thought they can wear axes, didn't think this through and got myself hyped. Then the only option is Faith.

It would be nice to be able to use Beast on merc though, because it would still allow to have max IAS easily

so anyone here actually got BOTD ? sounds like a very nasty PvM combo with Delirium

rikus wrote: 2 years ago

so anyone here actually got BOTD ? sounds like a very nasty PvM combo with Delirium

Yeah, I got BOTD + Delirium on amazon + Faith on merc and yeah it works great.

I’ve been playing through the game using this Merc to support my (future) Wolfbarb and it’s been a blast! She got me out of plenty of situations that I don’t think an Act 2 Merc would’ve been able to handle.

I’m about halfway through Act 3 He’ll and now she’s fully decked out with Delirium, Treachery and Ice.

Not sure if this can count as MPD, but the A1 rogue actually pairs extremely well with my WW Barb with running Harmony in a

Shadow Bow, Treachery armor, and andarial's visage or talrasha

Mask or

Vampire Gaze. I get insane run speed with the

Vigor aura and the

Increased Speed mastery, and the bow does a nice mix of elemental dmg to help chip away at physical immunes, and whatever she shoots at, she is guaranteed to do some dmg, plus the Treachery with

Fade allows her to survive extremely well. I'll probably make a Delirium for her eventually just for the lulz.

thanks. very intrigued to try this. I already have had splendid experiences with my act1 shooter for my dreamer who has a Faith rw in a sup

Blade Bow to provide speed.
the funny thing here is that my dreamer now hits as fast with a Last Wish (no ias) as with a Grief because of the fana aura.
with Grief I am at 73% ias (72% needed for the breakpoint) and with my Faith shooter and the fana aura I am at 73% as well, which is great for ubers

I have it on my trapsin with Ice / Delirium / Treachery, she is just a wonder of crowd control and safety.

Is running MPD with Mist viable to go with Physical Bowazon with Faith?

The lack of life leech on Mist would be annoying for survivability.

Edge seems a better suited option to me if you cannot buy Ice.

Necrarch wrote: 2 years ago

The lack of life leech on Mist would be annoying for survivability.

Edge seems a better suited option to me.

I see, thanks for your suggestion

This got me pumped up for new mercs and I was thinking... why not just give Delirium to act2 merc(blasphamy) ? Just give him skin of the flayed ones/CoH for life leech. Then you'd still benefit from his might and/or Infinity.
Reaper's not an option- curse erase each other. Maybe Pride, or some other hard hitting thing with LL like hone sudan(

Amn it). Of course infi if you need.
I think I am going to try this on my fire bowa.

The problem with Delirium on other mercs is that they stop attacking and using abilities while Morphed, while a1 is unaffected. See the runeword description for more details.

I'm running a rather unpopular Summoner Druid Build, and the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl (cold variant) proved to be the best merc for this hero. I gave her a Mist GMB, Delirium and Treachery, this setup brings her to the second highest IAS-Breakpoint when using my Beast

Double Axe. If you want a maximum of CC, pick a MB instead for the 8 fpa. The often overlooked runeword Mist excels in the combination with Delirium, the 100%

Pierce offers a guaranteed

Confuse proc after the second or third shot into the lot. And you get a nice damage boost to your minions and a whopping +6 to merc skills as well.

I tried the A2 Merc (Reapers, Andy, Forti and a Pride-Variant) and the A5 Merc (Last Wish, Plague, Arreats, Treachery and a variant with 2x Lawbringer).

Both suck in comparison, A1 Merc reigns supreme! She nearly never dies, offers a tremendous amount of crowd control and AoE-Damage and is often faster in killing mobs than the other two Mercs, because she isn't interfered by my minions or other obstacles. While the A5 Merc is running to the enemy and building up his

Frenzy, the A2 Merc is either admiring that special distant tree in the wilderness or walking into his own deathtrap, my Dreamgirl kills, freezes and confuses the enemy mob at once so my pack can clear up the remains. And due to the fact she is staying close to the player, you get your personal bodyguard as well! The missing LL on her gear is countered by the

Carrion Vine. Only real disadvantage is a lack of crushing blow, so

Baal can be a pain. Any other content (except ubers, I didn't try those) is a blast to do. This build actually plays itself, but you can use Enigma to vastly improve the Rogues' killing potential by teleporting to the optimal spot (of course, you can do this with other mercs too, but the real strength lies in the AoE-capabilities of the rogue. Go into CS, WST or cowlevel and you'll see). Additionally, you can use

Werebear-form and

Shock Wave to raise crowd control to crazy heights: Blind,

Confuse, Freeze and

Stun. All-in-one-build.

Also, Lore-wise it is a fine combination, Rogue and Druid are both children of the woods.

I just run Insight in my A1 merc. She isn't there for dps. LL? Who cares just give her pots on rare occasions she takes damage.

Insight is absolutely nice on A1 merc too indeed ! But do you use Delirium with it ?

Hello people,

I love my Manic Pixie Dreamgirl on my more or less trap assassin (well, traps + full

Natalya + Chaos to

Whirlwind ), with Delirium / Treachery / Ice.

And someone said "Hustle armor is cool for a1 merc, you should try it." And our dear Schnorki gave me one at the end of this ladder season (thanks again buddy !).

I have just tried, and I think it's indeed actually better !

- The IAS of 40 instead of 45 on a Mat Bow does not change the breakpoint.

- The res is better : 10 all is better than cold only

- The only drawback is to lose

Fade, but as MPD is not hit that often I tended to not have it activated often... and not when I needed it sometimes !

- However you gain

Evade (no hit, no issue), Dex (all the better for an archer!) and probably most important, huge frw. And as with her AI she spends her time repositioning, she does that much faster, allowing to avoid more hits and hit herself more often.

Great stuff, love it !

Necrarch wrote: 7 months ago

[..]
And someone said "Hustle armor is cool for a1 merc, you should try it."
[..]

That was also me, albeit not verbatim.

Glad to hear it's working out for ya.

Too good for me