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16 replies   1084 views
2

Description

TLDR: what to put in sockets in
Guardian Angel
and
Crown of Ages
for merc?

Full storyXD
Since I have finaly did some
Larzuk
rushes and can experiment with sockets, I would like to explore alternatives to standard setup for merc for sorc.
I already have recommended Infinity + Fortitude +
Andariel's Visage
(jewel) and I rotate it between different sorc builds (except ES
Nova
for which i run Insight + Cure + Chains of Honor and this won't change).
Anyway in all cases it has to be like 95+% time sorc does the killing, merc is mostly for crowd control and auras.

So now I'm thinking very specific anti-elemental setup. Lets say vs
Travincal
or P8 Chaos, maaaaybe Ubers.
With rather quick research I mostly found "Guardiang Angel + Kira go!" and "put
Um
in it somewhere". Let's go this path but dive deep.

I could change Kira for 2os
Crown of Ages
and socket
Guardian Angel
as well. What would be the best Rune/Jewel setup here?
With a little bit more levelling I could go without any additional all res in the sockets, at least for non ubers. Vs Ubers maaybe extra all res would be fine, but then again it all comes down to super short window vs
Mephisto
where he can die anyway no matter what I do, correct?

So is it
Cham
+
Ber
/
Ber
? Or maybe
Mal
is good enough (for Trav/Chaos).
I know I can add some 15ias jewel, but there's no Life Leech in this setup so wouldn't it be "useless"?

Any other thoughts? Even different gear?
5

Can be used to make Runewords:

7
TLDR: what to put in sockets in
Guardian Angel
and
Crown of Ages
for merc?

Full storyXD
Since I have finaly did some
Larzuk
rushes and can experiment with sockets, I would like to explore alternatives to standard setup for merc for sorc.
I already have recommended Infinity + Fortitude +
Andariel's Visage
(jewel) and I rotate it between different sorc builds (except ES
Nova
for which i run Insight + Cure + Chains of Honor and this won't change).
Anyway in all cases it has to be like 95+% time sorc does the killing, merc is mostly for crowd control and auras.

So now I'm thinking very specific anti-elemental setup. Lets say vs
Travincal
or P8 Chaos, maaaaybe Ubers.
With rather quick research I mostly found "Guardiang Angel + Kira go!" and "put
Um
in it somewhere". Let's go this path but dive deep.

I could change Kira for 2os
Crown of Ages
and socket
Guardian Angel
as well. What would be the best Rune/Jewel setup here?
With a little bit more levelling I could go without any additional all res in the sockets, at least for non ubers. Vs Ubers maaybe extra all res would be fine, but then again it all comes down to super short window vs
Mephisto
where he can die anyway no matter what I do, correct?

So is it
Cham
+
Ber
/
Ber
? Or maybe
Mal
is good enough (for Trav/Chaos).
I know I can add some 15ias jewel, but there's no Life Leech in this setup so wouldn't it be "useless"?

Any other thoughts? Even different gear?

In response..
Lightning Bolt
you to the face!
7
I think Kira is bit excessive when it comes to resistance. and not much else offered compare with
Crown of Ages
.

there will be 3 sockets available then. for me, as I remember, my merc would die from amplified physical damage and fire elemental damage the most, so

I would go for
Cham
/
Ber
,
Um
and
Vex
, hopefully it will get fire res to 95%.

sure, no life leach would be less comfortable, especially when this setup does not have much defense like what you would get from Fortitude. but in my case, merc would die anyway with or without life leach. he would die instantly in those senarios, not slowly.

also I think with enough cold res, I dont need cannot be frozen on merc,

Non-Ladder, Softcore. You may mix and match by rates below.
2
Hel
← 1
Festering Essence of Destruction

2
Hel
← 3
Perfect Amethyst

4
Hel
← 1
Ist
7
OP
Now i didn't think of
Vex
, thx for that:) I think I'll give it a try on armor.

As for defense I was lucky enough to find and upgrade
Eth
Guardian, so it's not that much less def than my Forti.

And i admitt I also had doubts about cannot be frozen, so nice to had them confirmed. In the end there's no CBF on Visage/Forti and it works

In response..
Lightning Bolt
you to the face!
7

Time Zone: GMT-3
Non-Ladder | Softcore | Expansion
7
HaveANiceDay wrote: 1 month ago

I know I can add some 15ias jewel, but there's no Life Leech in this setup so wouldn't it be "useless"?
I don't need Infinity so my merc uses Breath of the Dying and it helps him to survive because that solid Life Leech.
7
OP
Now you got me interested which sorc build doesn't need either Infinity or at least Insight on a merc:)
Hmm is it Blizzard?

And how about your setup for
Helm
and Armor?

In response..
Lightning Bolt
you to the face!
7
HaveANiceDay wrote: 1 month ago
Now you got me interested which sorc build doesn't need either Infinity or at least Insight on a merc:)
I have a MF one that hired act 5 barb merc, actually most of my mercs are barb. I figured that barb merc would have more customization options than desert merc.

My MF sorc barb merc, uses

1x Plague, to access a higher level
Cleansing
aura
1x
Azurewrath
, to access
Sanctuary Aura


Helm
is an eth
Crown of Thieves
, socketed with a
Vex
and 12% Life leach
body is an eth Fortitude, total defense is around 20,000 when
Chilling Armor
enacted

with this setup, both fire and lightning res will be 80%

My main skill is
Frozen Orb
which has casting delay, and mana re-generate pretty quickly in between casting, so Insight is nice but not a must.
And
Cold Mastery
is maxout, Infinity would not add much value compare to other skill trees and I can get rid of the annoying sound

Non-Ladder, Softcore. You may mix and match by rates below.
2
Hel
← 1
Festering Essence of Destruction

2
Hel
← 3
Perfect Amethyst

4
Hel
← 1
Ist
7
User avatar

Schnorki 3881Moderator

PC
HaveANiceDay wrote: 1 month ago
Now you got me interested which sorc build doesn't need either Infinity or at least Insight on a merc:)
Hmm is it Blizzard?
[..]
Blizzard and orb sorcs mainly.
The cast delay makes sure you're not using too much mana -> no need for Insight
And
Cold Mastery
takes care of what Infinity would otherwise have to do -> no real need for Infinity (still a slight boost vs. immunes but far from critical/essential)
7
seansixsixsix wrote: 1 month ago
My main skill is
Frozen Orb
which has casting delay, and mana re-generate pretty quickly in between casting, so Insight is nice but not a must.
And
Cold Mastery
is maxout, Infinity would not add much value compare to other skill trees and I can get rid of the annoying sound
Blizz Sorc here. I use
Glacial Spike
for Crowd Control or
Ice Blast
for Bosses. I constantly spam
Glacial Spike
(left mouse) when Blizz (right mouse) is on cooldown and therefore I need an Insight. Do you only use
Frozen Orb
?

After a 20 year break from D2 I started playing D2R in 2024 with my sons (9 and 10 years old)
Time Zone: UTC/GMT +1/+2 (Germany)
Online workdays: casually from 07:00-09:00 pm
Online weekends: casually midday to evening
Non-Ladder | Softcore | Expansion
7
oOKIWIOo wrote: 1 month ago
Do you only use
Frozen Orb
?
haha, yes, I am lazy. I only have F1-F4, at most an additional F5 would take a mental toll on me.

Frozen Orb
on F1,
Energy Shield
on F2,
Teleport
on F3

if I am super lazy, then F4 would be
Battle Orders
. if not, then F4
Battle Command
, and F5
Battle Orders
.

hahaha, I am such a noob. I dont even put a single point on
Static Field
. funny me.

Non-Ladder, Softcore. You may mix and match by rates below.
2
Hel
← 1
Festering Essence of Destruction

2
Hel
← 3
Perfect Amethyst

4
Hel
← 1
Ist
7
seansixsixsix wrote: 1 month ago
oOKIWIOo wrote: 1 month ago
Do you only use
Frozen Orb
?
haha, yes, I am lazy. I only have F1-F4, at most an additional F5 would take a mental toll on me.

Frozen Orb
on F1,
Energy Shield
on F2,
Teleport
on F3

if I am super lazy, then F4 would be
Battle Orders
. if not, then F4
Battle Command
, and F5
Battle Orders
.

hahaha, I am such a noob. I dont even put a single point on
Static Field
. funny me.
Well, admittedly I also never use
Static Field
or
Telekinesis
(despite having a point in it) 😁 My blizzard melts down everything - at least with p1.
But I noticed that safety (I do not use mana shield) and kill speed are significantly higher when I also use
Glacial Spike
😉

After a 20 year break from D2 I started playing D2R in 2024 with my sons (9 and 10 years old)
Time Zone: UTC/GMT +1/+2 (Germany)
Online workdays: casually from 07:00-09:00 pm
Online weekends: casually midday to evening
Non-Ladder | Softcore | Expansion
7
OP
huh.. I'm on the completely opposite side of spectrum then. I have twelve bindings "at the top of the keyboard" for fingers from Index to little not counting
Belt
potions and then ALSO 2+ spammables, cube, char and swap under thumb.
I guess "binding science" could be whole another thread on the forum;)

Back to merc gear. Did I/we overlooked anything on the main topic? Anything more to be said?
I'm still thinking on importance of life leech.
Vampire Gaze
could meet both LL and survival with damage reduction and even res if I put
Um
in it/armor. Then probably should go with ias jewel as well, correct?

Am I overthinking this stuff?;P I know it all comes down to TP + 50k gold after all. But im getting some joy from analyzing it.

In response..
Lightning Bolt
you to the face!
7
User avatar

Schnorki 3881Moderator

PC
Does your merc really die to elemental attacks that often?

I mean..hydras, ok. I give you that. They can burn down any merc if you leave him just sitting in the middle of them. But unless you run trav over and over you really don't see those too often. And other than that, I really can't think of much (if anything, short of ubers) that actually has the capacity to take down a merc during normal play, provided proper higher end gear (read: your preferred aura stick + fort + ll head).

Then again, I also don't bother with andy's..ever..and haven't in like 20 years..so my merc gets to keep his anti-freeze instead. Perhaps that alone is enough to go from risky to ezmode? ^^

Either way, lowering dmg output and actively avoiding life leech sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Even ignoring lack of CBF.
7
OP
Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago
Does your merc really die to elemental attacks that often?
No:)
I do that for fun of knowledge if there is anything beyond standard setup provided in most build guides and reassuering myself if there's possibility to be more effective in specific scenarios like those mentioned in OP and you.
Schnorki wrote: 1 month ago
Then again, I also don't bother with andy's..ever..and haven't in like 20 years..so my merc gets to keep his anti-freeze instead. Perhaps that alone is enough to go from risky to ezmode? ^^
Ok, so this is exactly what I wanted to read:), personal choices little bit different than standard setup. Would you mind sharing your
Helm
/Armor choices for Infinity merc? If I understand correctly you go with
Cham
in them?

In response..
Lightning Bolt
you to the face!
7
I tried for a time Delirium + Gloom to maximize crowd control (I was leveling my L94 sorceress and wanted to mitigate eventual deaths by ranged monster... I only needed Merc for Infinity anyway and he had no problem in survive with this new setup)
HaveANiceDay wrote: 1 month ago
Would you mind sharing your
Helm
/Armor choices for Infinity merc?

Time Zone: GMT-3
Non-Ladder | Softcore | Expansion
7
OP
Ok, I just tried Delirium out of curiosity vs TZ cows:)
It was bit fun, though sadly seems like there's never time for all those abilities to go off as I was killing them to fast.
Then again, maybe it would be different on P8..

In response..
Lightning Bolt
you to the face!
7
User avatar

Schnorki 3881Moderator

PC
HaveANiceDay wrote: 1 month ago
[..]
Ok, so this is exactly what I wanted to read:), personal choices little bit different than standard setup. Would you mind sharing your
Helm
/Armor choices for Infinity merc? If I understand correctly you go with
Cham
in them?
Unless the build overall specifically calls for a deviation from the norm (e.g. Cure for regen-stacking or Chains of Honor and such to avoid cold dmg on merc for horkers) it always boils down to build-dictated aura stick + Fortitude +
Cham
'd
Vampire Gaze
. All
Eth
+ elite of course but that should be a given.

"Aura stick" in this case is more of a generalization and may include things like reaper's toll. Whatever the build gets the most out of.

A1/A5 mercs would look a bit different but they're in and by themselves more of a gimmick anyways so..mweh. :)
A3....just no.
9

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