A1 Merc for Xbow Sorc

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

BoringTitle wrote: 1 month ago

Guess I will list me build:
Flickering Flame

Duriel's Shell (debating on

Tal rashas with

Cham)

Demon Machine+

Shael

Metalgrid

Razortail

Aldur's Advance

Magefist

Nature's Peace

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Switch:
Call To Arms
Spirit

In Cube:

Hexfire and +3 fireskill talisman.

The merc is using Lawbringer (which I switch out for

Arcane Sanctuary farming) and Kingslayer, ethereal

Great Hauberk with 4

Perfect Topaz and

Tal rashas

Mask.

I had it using Plague, everything still dies just about as fast... (p1) so I gave them to my

Rabies Druid and necromancer.

Fire sunder makes a huge difference compared to lod where Plague x2 or Infinity would have basically been mandatory.

I like it. Might have to make some adjustments to mine if I can find the right pieces. (i.e.

Duriel's Shell)
Currently using:
Flickering Flame

Demon Machine + 37% ED 13-47 FD jewel

The Rising Sun

Skin of the Vipermagi (for resists)

Hellmouth with

Magefist in stash for prebuff

Razortail

Sandstorm Trek

Dwarf Star

Carrion Wind

Flame Rift
1x burning grand charm
torch & anni
resist and FD charms
Memory on switch for ES and static as required

Demon Machine.png

If you can get yout hands on a +5/-5 fre res Facet it'll take you a bit further.

I've just got a

Shael in it myself.

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

Skin of the Vipermagi (for resists)

Hm, when using ES, the only resist you need is poison.

I would personally say that more effective dmg output you could get if you were to swap out

Helm for Flickering Flame and armor for CoH if you want to stay with Kuko, which is completely viable, since you are using the Fire A1 Merc. Those could improve her dmg a lot and get her like all res and stuff on top of that... I'm always heavily into potting the Merc so I can't really be objective about that (in late game 85+ lvls 90% of my pots goes to Merc and just about 10% are reserved for myself).

P.S. You can always

Shael Kuko as well, if that affects her frames. If you are really into

Enchant, you should probably get yourself

Ormus' Robes with +3

Enchant as well...

P.P.S. I do wonder how bulky and devastating can Act 5

Frenzy Merc be in combo with Enchantress support Sorc (probably easiest to do 'Merc solo' runs).
Edit: Act 5 Mercs are really tanky by themselves anyway!

DasNarf wrote: 1 month ago

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

Skin of the Vipermagi (for resists)

Hm, when using ES, the only resist you need is poison.

That's what I've heard, but it hasn't been my experience at all. Without the resists ES still seems super squishy

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

BoringTitle wrote: 1 month ago

Guess I will list me build:
Flickering Flame

Duriel's Shell (debating on

Tal rashas with

Cham)

Demon Machine+

Shael

Metalgrid

Razortail

Aldur's Advance

Magefist

Nature's Peace

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Switch:
Call To Arms
Spirit

In Cube:

Hexfire and +3 fireskill talisman.

The merc is using Lawbringer (which I switch out for

Arcane Sanctuary farming) and Kingslayer, ethereal

Great Hauberk with 4

Perfect Topaz and

Tal rashas

Mask.

I had it using Plague, everything still dies just about as fast... (p1) so I gave them to my

Rabies Druid and necromancer.

Fire sunder makes a huge difference compared to lod where Plague x2 or Infinity would have basically been mandatory.

I like it. Might have to make some adjustments to mine if I can find the right pieces. (i.e.

Duriel's Shell)
Currently using:
Flickering Flame

Demon Machine + 37% ED 13-47 FD jewel

The Rising Sun

Skin of the Vipermagi (for resists)

Hellmouth with

Magefist in stash for prebuff

Razortail

Sandstorm Trek

Dwarf Star

Carrion Wind

Flame Rift
1x burning grand charm
torch & anni
resist and FD charms
Memory on switch for ES and static as required

Demon Machine.png

Oooh, before I forget, in the past I've used

Demon Limb Instead of putting points into

Enchant. Then maxed out

Lightning Mastery.

It really opened up some doors (Dream hybrid for instance), Dragon chest was fun too.

Only problem I've found with these builds is the lack of magic item find. Sure, clear speed is great. So runefarming is the way to go.

Couple ways around this we're chance guard's, talrashas chest and istrune in

Demon Machine. Magic item find on

Boots and jewelry as well.

Clear speed/comfort suffers though.

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

That's what I've heard, but it hasn't been my experience at all. Without the resists ES still seems super squishy

Did you max

Telekinesis? What's your mana count?

DasNarf wrote: 1 month ago

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

That's what I've heard, but it hasn't been my experience at all. Without the resists ES still seems super squishy

Did you max

Telekinesis? What's your mana count?

Not quite yet on this character. But yes on my ES

Nova sorc. Same issues there though even with

Frostburn and like 2k mana.

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

DasNarf wrote: 1 month ago

Azmenar3764 wrote: 1 month ago

That's what I've heard, but it hasn't been my experience at all. Without the resists ES still seems super squishy

Did you max

Telekinesis? What's your mana count?

Not quite yet on this character. But yes on my ES

Nova sorc. Same issues there though even with

Frostburn and like 2k mana.

Lol, honestly I just max my resists off of pure habit. (Maxed TK and

Energy Shield)

One advantage of Plague was that the time spent poisoned was massively reduced.

Also, I would say that lightning resist because gloams. Also

Energy Shield doesn't take resists Into account when draining mana.

+1 for Hustle- great for ranged ...
also Delirium for act 1 merc

Hey, OP, I just wanted to say kudos on going against the grain and doing your own thing. I only felt like sharing my own ideas. I think that an act 1 merc is a great choice for a bowazon.

I just don't think an act 2 merc is, even remotely....

Anyway, I hope we all get to hear stories about what you end up doing and what you come up with.

Happy hunting.

Well this has been a fun little experiment and I'm enjoying the difference in using the act one merc. But I think that I'll have to try out an act 5

Frenzy merc in the near future. See if that complimentary style works better.

In my experience

Fade will proc if she's taking damage, although it isn't always proced.
Upping your

Kuko Shakaku will help, but not nearly as much as having a higher level

Enchant. My Act 1 merc (with this exact gear) does 5200 - 6500 damage. She can deal with any non-fire immunes while I stand around sorting out my inventory or whatever.

She certainly doesn't tank very well, but I've only ever had a problem with her dying against DClone. I can keep her alive against ubers but it is often faster to let her die as she doesn't

Dodge as well as me unless we're using a lot of

Teleport.
She doesn't seem to get targeted very much, but if I'm facing groups of ranged monsters (especially

Stygian Fury's) then repositioning her between volleys of missiles can help a lot. Same for some extra fast packs. You'll also be wanting to

Dodge these anyway so this shouldn't be a big concern.

In short - I vote for potions, and a higher level

Enchant.

Also, I'm using lvl 40

Blaze unironically; perhaps me running around vs us both teleporting around makes a large difference to how much she gets targeted??? (I haven't spent enough time trying without

Blaze to have an opinion on this).

I see others have posted their Enchantress kits, so I'll offer my 2 gold: resists other than Poison are unimportant IF you have a good amount of flat DR/MDR. With that in mind, my setup is:

• Demon Machine (+3/-5 Facet)
• Eschuta's Temper & Spirit to Prebuff
• +9 ES Memory to Prebuff
• Flickering Flame
• Safety Amulet (+2 Sorc Skills, FCR, DR, MDR, Poison Res) / Volcanic Amulet to Prebuff
• The Gladiator's Bane (Jewel of Fervor) / Enlightenment to Prebuff
• Frostburn /
  Magefist to Prebuff
• Stone of Jordan
• Safety Ring (FCR, DR, MDR, Poison Res) /
  Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band to Prebuff
• String of Ears /
  Arachnid Mesh to Prebuff
• Safety Boots (Faster R/W, DR, MDR, Poison Res)

Merc is A2

Prayer / Insight / Cure /

The Gladiator's Bane

I end up with like 30 DR and 40 MDR, so after an 85% ES an attack would need to be dealing a LOT of damage to scratch the Life globe. Anything that does get through gets healed up very fast by triple

Prayer, and Cure clears out poison quite quickly. Full

Telekinesis + max

Warmth + slvl 17

Meditation make for a very efficient shield, too. My Merc serves no function beyond acting as a Life/Mana fountain.

Aelanwyr wrote: 1 month ago

I see others have posted their Enchantress kits, so I'll offer my 2 gold: resists other than Poison are unimportant IF you have a good amount of flat DR/MDR. With that in mind, my setup is:

• Demon Machine (+3/-5 Facet)
• Flickering Flame
• Safety Amulet (+2 Sorc Skills, DR, MDR, Poison Res) / Volcanic Amulet to Prebuff
• Eschuta's Temper & Spirit to Prebuff
• +9 ES Memory to Prebuff
• The Gladiator's Bane (Jewel of Fervor) / Enlightenment to Prebuff
• Frostburn /
  Magefist to Prebuff
• Stone of Jordan
• Safety Ring (FCR, DR, MDR, Poison Res) /
  Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band to Prebuff
• String of Ears /
  Arachnid Mesh to Prebuff
• Safety Boots (Faster R/W, DR, MDR, Poison Res)

Merc is A2

Prayer / Insight / Cure /

The Gladiator's Bane

I end up with like 30 DR and 40 MDR, so after an 85% ES an attack would need to be dealing a LOT of damage to scratch the Life globe. Anything that does get through gets healed up very fast by triple

Prayer, and Cure clears out poison quite quickly. My Merc serves no function beyond acting as a Life/Mana fountain.

I think I will probably follow your lead and grab up Enlightenment for the same reasons. It's not like the runes are doing me any good just sitting in the box anyway. (Maybe a Memory stick too, who knows knows)

Thought about the life fountain myself, but only in regards to buffing

Iron Golem and

Oak Sage so I don't have to wait around for them to heal up. (With Call To Arms they have better survivability than one might imagine. Though they are mere side effects of their respective equipment.)

BoringTitle wrote: 1 month ago

I think I will probably follow your lead and grab up Enlightenment for the same reasons. It's not like the runes are doing me any good just sitting in the box anyway.

IIRC, every +1 I manage to squeeze out of prebuffs adds almost 1k to

Enchant's damage in the field. It's definitely worth it IMO. Also, a slightly lower

Fire Mastery during gameplay has very little effect on damage output, I've found.

I will add: the hunt for a +3

Enchant / +3

Fire Mastery / +3

Energy Shield Obsession base is a...well, Obsession of mine. So much quality of life for a mere -2% ES...

Aelanwyr wrote: 1 month ago

I will add: the hunt for a +3

Enchant / +3

Fire Mastery / +3

Energy Shield Obsession base is a...well, Obsession of mine. So much quality of life for a mere -2% ES...

Ahh, for me it's 15%

Ormus robes that don't roll up bloody telkenesis +3 (oddly specific eh?)...

I like the

Demon Limb rout myself, in that instance

Fire Mastery is pretty much mandatory. It does manage to save you 20 points on

Enchant though.