Aura on merc question

Azer-Archon wrote: 4 years ago

I have an auradin and I had an idea to run Doom, fort, Dream, Dream on myself with Conviction main. Then Hoj pb x2, Dragon, 3 5/5 fire faceted Helm on a5 merc... how effective would that be? the Frenzy barb would get some nice elemental dmg. Super expensive but dont really care since ladder will be starting soon and want to blow the runes anyway...

I participate in a discussion on Reddit that speak about the Mercadin to complement the dragondin or tesladin.

I made a wall of text on this topic. I will share it here as it can complete the ‘ultimate’ guide.

Hi, a very interesting topic that I have tested extensively so I’m happy to share my “conclusions” on the dual Dream (tesladin) OR Hand of Justice + dual Dragon (or Dragon + Dual HoJ) (Firedin). First part is about damage and second about utility and various.

I/ Elemental damage

a. General damage

In general a mercadin is a weaker version of the tesladin or the firedin as he doesn’t get the synergies. In termes of figures a mercadin :

is a tesladin with ±25% of the dmg (557 max dmg per tick), or,

is a firedin with ± 15% of the damage (625 max dmg per tick or 664 if dual HoJ)

For info, an hybrid (dual Dream + Dragon/Hoj) would deal 557 of light and 235 of fire. The added fire damage seems to be to weak in comparison of the two utility slots (Weapon and armor).

b. How elemental damage works

Mercadins will benefit from the max Conviction of the main paladin. As the resistances of monster are almost never above 50, the mercadin will always get a *2 damage on a non immune monster affected by Conviction.

keep in mind that merc can’t have access to sunder charm and will do almost no damage to immune monster. The max Conviction can break immunities but with a 1/5 efficiency, so only -30%. As the monsters have more than 100%, it leads to only ±5 to 20% of max damage (max 100 per tick… very weak).

remarks on fire damage: they are weaker because are more often resisted. However, they get a slight advantage as the HoJ has always a -20% (or -40% if double HoJ) of enemy fire resist that function totally if immunity is broken by Conviction. We can add that fire damage are a bit more ‘reliable’ as the spread between min-max damage is small. Finaly, the radius of the Holy Fire is really high (due to high level) and the distance bonus of damage will be more important (at a classic range, it will be± 20% more efficient than dual Dream).

remarks on lighting damage: They can be consider as more potent as there are less immune. The min-max dmg spread is higher with leads to less reliable damage even if it can ‘crit’. Finaly, the radius of the Holy Shock is lower than Holy Fire (due to lower level) and the distance bonus of damage will be less important (at a classic range, it will be ± 20% less efficient than Dragon/HoJ).

c. Mercadins usage

Base on those remarks, we can say that mercadins can potentially add significant AOE damage. There are no piece of equipment that can add 15-25% dmg. However if you play a firedin, the added fire damage of a firemercadin have little value on non-immune as they are one shotted anyway and have no real value on immune either as they don’t get the sunder effect and cant really stack useful - fire res. It’s the same with a Tesladin with a teslamercadin.
HOWEVER, if you bring another source of elemental damage, it can help as it will hybride the source of damage. Let’s take several examples (I dont take into account double immune that are killed with Zeal) :
-Tesladin with Crescent Moon & firemercadin A3 :

*Average tick damage vs non immune with Conviction : 4679 (pal) + 1250 (merc) => mercadin means +26,5% of total pal tick damage

*Average tick damage vs sundered light immune with Conviction : 1638 (pal) + 1250 (merc) =>mercadin means +76,5% of total pal tick damage !!!

Firedin with Flickering Flame (yeah I know, 3 fire facets are way stronger, but it’s another topic) & Teslamercadin A3 :
*Average tick damage vs non immune with Conviction : 9007 (pal) + 1114 (merc) => mercadin means +12,5% of total pal tick damage
*Average tick damage vs sundered fire immune with Conviction : 3153 (pal) + 1114 (merc) => mercadin means +35,5% of total pal tick damage

So, in terms of tick damage, its far for negligible as most of people imagine it especially vs the problematic foes that are immune.

II/ Type of mercadins and utility

a. Type or mercadin

First of all, a “mercadin” can be of 3 types (with some subtypes):

Firebabardin :
*can walk really fast and arrive rapidly on enemies and the average tick damage is then higher ;

*As a melee character, it will gain the melee bonus elemental damage of Holy Fire that is really huge. When in contact it then deals massive single target damage. Similarly as above, he will deal more tick damage in melee.

*With two HoJ, its tick damage is slightly higher due to Holy Fire level (46 v 44) and the great -40% enemy fire resist.*Good survivability.

*In terms of additional gear, it’s only limited to the Helm. No much utility to gain there.

*No possibility for additional utility in its build.

Wolfdin/mercadin :
*you can choose the tick damage type, fire or lighting. Each if them as its pro and cons (see above).

*Less survivability than the barbarian but stay away of combat.

*As not in melee, it wont benefit from the elemental bonus to melee damage from Holy Shock or Holy Fire. It should also suffer from the distance in its average tick damage.

*In terms of gear, a dualdream mercadin has two opens slots (Armor & sword). The Dragon/Hoj mercadin suffer from the gear limitation ( Helm only).

*You can choose wich merc you cant (fire/light/cold) with its owns utility and damage. The damage type is not necessary the same as the aura as they will benefit from Conviction anyway.

*A cold merc will add a great utility with the slow/freeze effects and another type of damage to deal with immunities and dual immunities.

*A fire merc will add some utility in terms of more AR with Enchant. Not that great. It can also give a good amount of fire damage if used with Flickering Flame and a HoJ (even if its overkill with Conviction against non immune).

*A lighting merc also give good light damage but will mostly be useful with its Static Field. Static Field can deal a great amount of aoe damage to soften the enemies. Its mostly effective in higher player counts because most of enemies will be at less than 50% after the first tick ( Static Field do no damage after this threshold). It is still in my opinion a great addition in terms of ‘afk damage’ to complement the aura tick.

b. Additional Gear & various remarks

*In general, the mercadin seems cant keep up with paladin velocity (if no Teleport) and will arrive when all mobs are already killed. On top of that, they are further away of the enemies and the tick damage is then lower. However, if you move fast, the foes behind you will take the full damage of your mercadin.

*The mercadin will deal more damage in higher player counts as he will be in combat during more time.

*In terms of gear, the open slots of the mercadin can be put to good use:

Helm slot: Flickering Flame is great for fire resist, especially if fire sunder charm for pal. It can add damage on a A3 fire merc. As said earlier, the -15% fire resist is a bit overkill in my opinion.

Armor slot: you can use the classic survival stuff like Fortitude, Chain of Honor, Treachery, etc… or add some utility/damage such as Bramble ( Thorns is a good complement for an afk build). A failed -poison resist roll can be a cheap trade. An Ormus robe with a facet can also increase the damage of the aura (and the offensive skills). It can also be socketed with a Cham for cannot be frozen (or another utility). Faster cast rate (Fortitude & Ormus robe) are also great to increase the dmg ( Static Field) or utility (cold merc).
-Sword slot: lots of utility possible here for A3 merc. The classic Spirit for +all skills and FCR (+FHR). Crescent Moon is a bit underwhelming in my opinion as it only offers -enemy light resistance for monster that already have -100% after Conviction or, if immune to light, are roasted by the paladin Holy Fire. Plague is great vale as it offers survivability with cleanse aura, damage with + all skills and a nice Lower Resist proc. It will mostly proc in higher player counts as the monster needs more tick to die. Once again, its overkill for non immune monster (-57%) but its a nice -11% vs immune monster that can greatly helps all forms of damage (and poison duration to prevent health regeneration). This proc is nice to have, not mandatory. Azurewrath or Lawbringer can also give a great utility against undead. Can be usefull in Chaos Sanctuary which is a harder zone due to massive fire immunities.

So, I hope I gave enough information. Feel free to correct me or add your opinion and comments.