A really nice perk of the barb merc is access to Arreat's Face. Can completely cap the mercs res with an um rune, can easily be upgraded, eth arreat's will probably way easier to obtain than eth andy's, and you can avoid that nasty -30% fire res. The only real downsides is switching % attack speed for % hit rating (still a good option) and that you probably want another source of lifesteal for more survivability
Something to consider is sazabis full set plus a strong hitting weapon.. sazabis set with Cham helm and shael armor allows you to get all kinds of nutty defensive stats and the 15 life leech is on the full set bonus and not the weapon.
I use grief + lawbringer on my CS barbarian so it works if the merc is agressive & ai works. Mostly it depends what class/build you are running, but if you run chaos sanctuary I think you are way better off with sanctuary aura.
Love the a5 merc but not with my necro.. half the time he would end up standing there behind my summons doing nothing.. obviously helpful during telestomps
I’m actually praying bro they allow Assassin Mentalist build with psychic hammer and mind blast like PD2. Also thank you for the extended outro the beat is dope!
Im gonna try Sazibi's set + My Ethereal Lawbringer Cryptic, If It dont work, Switch to Lawbringer / Fortitude / Arreats / Whatever I can get ahold of. DOnt think I can get another Grief made by patch day.
So, Lawbringer + Oath on Frenzy barb Merc is gonna give me all i need - i am making Paladin directly - banned myself items like: Enigma, Infiinity, and so on. I will start on HolyShock aura and more slowly to Fist of Heavens :P gonna use Act 5 merc and Conviction aura L:P
So I'm considering a lawbringer and/or Oath for my act 5 merc, idea is for him to be semi-survivable for ubers/mini-ubers. He's currently running an arreats and a fortitude for helm/armor. Any suggestions on what weapon bases I should use for each of those runewords?
I believe eth cryptic sword or mythical swords are the best option. Cryptic for oath, mythical for Lawbringer. I'd double check the D2Planner calc for IAS breakpoints on Maxroll.gg
I'm curious if there's a way to make a triple elemental aura build viable. A pally with dual dreams for the lightning aura, and a fire aura Merc and then build the rest of the pally for aura of frost and see how far it can get. Sound crazy?
I'm probably just going to go with a standard Frenzy barb setup of Grief and Lawbringer. I'm currently using that on my goldfind barb, and then switching to dual lem'd ali babas to hork. I don't have decent enough gear for my A2 merc to survive hell trav, so I've just had to do it solo for the time being. I'm really hoping I can get an A5 merc to do the killing, now, and then I can support / buff / and get more gold with Ali babas out the whole time.
I'd agree with you if it proc'd a ton, but it doesn't--I can still hork the vast majority of bodies each time, and the decrep curse breaks physical immunity that the one dude sometimes gets. That said, I intend to playtest with other options to see, particularly in combination with gavel of pain, which I won't want overridden.
Hi there, thanks for the video. You mentionned about the Plague RuneWord on 2 swords that the chances of casting lower resist should be 40% (20% per sword) I tried it on cow run, but I have to say the lower resist curse is almost never cast... sometimes it does and it is very good, but with that many cows and 40% chance of proc, it should have been cast way more often. It seems to me more like a bug or maye there the curses is limited to one weapon ?
I did not find that in my testing, 40% chance in all reality isn't actually that high. Think of it as a 60% of NOT happening and you'd assume that most of the time it wouldn't proc. Same concept.
you want your merc with as low defense as possible to get him struck. Shaftstop is prefered here with 30% DR .. give him a ruby for a life boost for example. Defense rating counterworks plague's lower resist procc
How about Azurewrath +lightsabre for budget option ? Voice of reason "-24% cold resist" works as an aura or something to nearby enemies or only 1 target? It would be nice for a cold sorc.
Checked that act 5 merc can only dual wield one handed swords. So no beast runeword :( But when the frenzy kicks in they are running around like crazy :D
So based on what we know right now, what would be some high end options for the A5 Frenzy merc to equip in support of a Lightning Fury Javazon. Thanks to all in advance.
@@MacroBioBoi Thanks, I just looked it up and I can see how it would be really strong. What other weapon would you pair it with? It doesn’t seem like wielding two of them provides much benefit other than stacking the Cleansing aura but that doesn’t seem useful. Maybe I’m missing something.
@@MacroBioBoi nice! Also I heard there is a bug right now where the main hand is counted twice or did I hear wrong? So let's say I only use 1 lawbringer does it double the sanctuary aura??
You’re underestimating phaseblades with no ias. Treachery will get merc to top speed. That being said, dual Voice of Reason Merc on a Tesladin is going to be top tier as far as non casters go. That much AoE dmg on a merc is going to be tough to beat. You could also equip Beast on the Pally to assure good attack speeds in places like Chaos and Worldstone that have decrepify. A couple orbs, a couple HShock pulses, Conviction, and some -cold res = clearing the screen of any trash mobs in seconds.
@@MacroBioBoi mainly chaos/trav/pit. just looking to up clear times. running double headstrikers atm with arreats + treachery. would u recommend anything else?
@@AjunqrisMCR well those are three distinctly different places, I'd consider an eth death over a Headstriker for Crushing Blow maybe, but that comes down to whether or not he really has time to get 4-5 attacks off on a target.
I like how you mentioned Hand of justice being expensive, and said nothing about that when talking about using dual Last Wish which would be 6 Jah, 2 Ber, 2 Sur and 2 Mal =) Also Aura stacking with hand of Justice seems like the best option for those that can afford it, as not having to use those items on your character will allow you to do more fun stuff...or if you have the runes you could play an auradin as well for the most stupid pulse damage ever.
@@shoc2177 turns out Ethereal Two Handed Swords are pretty fast and have good average damage. Again, they don't say why not, so it might just be a flavor thing. Just a thought.
@@MacroBioBoi yes but with treachery, Oath, andy face, can't you focus on attack speed and proccing only spike? Frenzy itself increase IAS. I try to imagining lawbringer + Death.
@@OptLab Death is a fantastic weapon, the Glacial Spike is definitely cool. I'd say Act 1 Cold Merc is better if you're looking for that specific CC option, but nothing stopping you from running Act 5.
Not yet, still need to test. I can confirm that their stat screen does not display it (it didn't previously) even though they supposedly fixed that screen to show proper damage calculation.
I put a head striker on my new frenzy barb but new to it so can’t compair, but I guess if he does not have double he is swinging twice as fast/ and getting from monster to monster faster soo… maybe the same..
Pretty arbitrary argument I'd say. It is a new Merc that serves a different function and applies a higher level decrepify, faster, than Act 2 Merc. The hype is well earned. Act 2 is a better options for elemental builds, and DPS on Merc. Not for melee builds.
@@MacroBioBoi haha did not expect anyone to know the reference. i heard the song the moment i wrote this comment. looking back at it, im not making a lot of sense
A really nice perk of the barb merc is access to Arreat's Face. Can completely cap the mercs res with an um rune, can easily be upgraded, eth arreat's will probably way easier to obtain than eth andy's, and you can avoid that nasty -30% fire res. The only real downsides is switching % attack speed for % hit rating (still a good option) and that you probably want another source of lifesteal for more survivability
I think kingslayer could be a good budget option too. The CB and OW is really great. Also the 20% AR bonus could help.
Something to consider is sazabis full set plus a strong hitting weapon.. sazabis set with Cham helm and shael armor allows you to get all kinds of nutty defensive stats and the 15 life leech is on the full set bonus and not the weapon.
Sazabi's Set + Voice of Reason for the cant be frozen and frozen orb's proc sounds fun and cheap enough for me
the damage is just ass
Great video as always! Do you think Grief and Lawbringer could be a great combo?
Grief + any utility sword will work wonders
I use grief + lawbringer on my CS barbarian so it works if the merc is agressive & ai works. Mostly it depends what class/build you are running, but if you run chaos sanctuary I think you are way better off with sanctuary aura.
I might use the barb as a fun way to adding procs on my proczon. Using voice of reason and lawbringer/last wish.
legit helped me find budget options, thanks for vid
Thank you for the analysis!
So hyped for 2.4!
My pleasure
If someone already test it to share:
- which option is better with bash or frenzy?
- which combination like top 3 is worth it?
Thank you.
Lol I came here to figure out a second weapon for my merc, already have eth arreats, fortitude, and grief :)
This and Insight on A1 merc are the coolest changes so far.
Dual Grief PB, G-face 40/15 & fortitude best setup - optional swap 1 grief for Plague in Eth Cryptic Sword for cleansing aura & %procs in baalruns.
What about life leech ?
@@KMFlivin Not needed everything dies instantly and u got cleansing but if you must slap on andy´s 15ias 30fr jewel or coh
@@BLAAZED I’m running the same setup leech is still preferred at least for me I use grief lawbringer half the time
You can make Flickering Flame in barbarian helms, and the a5 merc can wear those now
Love the a5 merc but not with my necro.. half the time he would end up standing there behind my summons doing nothing.. obviously helpful during telestomps
And I would love to build the dragon merc…. I literally just put together a dragon paly.. sooooo I need 1 more hoj ;)
I’m actually praying bro they allow Assassin Mentalist build with psychic hammer and mind blast like PD2.
Also thank you for the extended outro the beat is dope!
I got you booboo
Im gonna try Sazibi's set + My Ethereal Lawbringer Cryptic, If It dont work, Switch to Lawbringer / Fortitude / Arreats / Whatever I can get ahold of. DOnt think I can get another Grief made by patch day.
I love how you go so deep on the math and stats for all of us lazy asses!. thanks Mac.
I gotchu booboo
I am currently running mine with Grief and Plague... for ubers will switch grief for lawbringer for knockback
Use the fire aura barb merc with new foh pally running conviction ? 🤔
It's pretty good. Like a 1/4 Pally damage
on a zeal paladin a act 5 merc with lawbringer is gigachad
So, Lawbringer + Oath on Frenzy barb Merc is gonna give me all i need - i am making Paladin directly - banned myself items like: Enigma, Infiinity, and so on. I will start on HolyShock aura and more slowly to Fist of Heavens :P gonna use Act 5 merc and Conviction aura L:P
Great vid dude, well done on this!
Cheers!
Plague along with a dps runeword weapon like beast or something would be gg for a merc for any casters with the lower res procs on the plague.
Let's hope they allow other weapon bases!
Dual Voice of reason with Conviction + Foh pala.
I liked this video because of your amount of information.
Thanks!
So I'm considering a lawbringer and/or Oath for my act 5 merc, idea is for him to be semi-survivable for ubers/mini-ubers. He's currently running an arreats and a fortitude for helm/armor. Any suggestions on what weapon bases I should use for each of those runewords?
I believe eth cryptic sword or mythical swords are the best option. Cryptic for oath, mythical for Lawbringer. I'd double check the D2Planner calc for IAS breakpoints on Maxroll.gg
I'm curious if there's a way to make a triple elemental aura build viable. A pally with dual dreams for the lightning aura, and a fire aura Merc and then build the rest of the pally for aura of frost and see how far it can get. Sound crazy?
The only problem is fitting conviction aura in. That's where the strength of these builds comes from
I'm probably just going to go with a standard Frenzy barb setup of Grief and Lawbringer. I'm currently using that on my goldfind barb, and then switching to dual lem'd ali babas to hork. I don't have decent enough gear for my A2 merc to survive hell trav, so I've just had to do it solo for the time being.
I'm really hoping I can get an A5 merc to do the killing, now, and then I can support / buff / and get more gold with Ali babas out the whole time.
That might be one of the best options.
dont use lawbringer for gold finding, the monsters rest in peace mod makes corpses unhorkable.
I'd agree with you if it proc'd a ton, but it doesn't--I can still hork the vast majority of bodies each time, and the decrep curse breaks physical immunity that the one dude sometimes gets. That said, I intend to playtest with other options to see, particularly in combination with gavel of pain, which I won't want overridden.
@@NevvDad yeah, the Merc would have to kill the monster with lawbringer (which does almost no damage) to proc the SMRIP.
Hi there,
thanks for the video.
You mentionned about the Plague RuneWord on 2 swords that the chances of casting lower resist should be 40% (20% per sword)
I tried it on cow run, but I have to say the lower resist curse is almost never cast... sometimes it does and it is very good, but with that many cows and 40% chance of proc, it should have been cast way more often. It seems to me more like a bug or maye there the curses is limited to one weapon ?
I did not find that in my testing, 40% chance in all reality isn't actually that high. Think of it as a 60% of NOT happening and you'd assume that most of the time it wouldn't proc. Same concept.
you want your merc with as low defense as possible to get him struck. Shaftstop is prefered here with 30% DR .. give him a ruby for a life boost for example. Defense rating counterworks plague's lower resist procc
Really hope they don't limit to swords only, I want a dual beast A5 merc to replace my A1 faith merc
Dual Beast Merc would be BONKERS! I'm here for it.
How about Azurewrath +lightsabre for budget option ?
Voice of reason "-24% cold resist" works as an aura or something to nearby enemies or only 1 target?
It would be nice for a cold sorc.
Voice of reason on applies to the person holding the weapon. Azurewrath + lightsaber is fine but not really great on the Merc for his survivability
@@MacroBioBoi Τhen Lawbringer + Crescent Moon is the best budget option .
Checked that act 5 merc can only dual wield one handed swords. So no beast runeword :( But when the frenzy kicks in they are running around like crazy :D
It's wild to watch them run around
Have they revealed what weapons the new dual weilder uses? I know the npc ones you see in the opening act 5 had iirc 1Sword/1Axe
They can only use 1 handed swords.
So based on what we know right now, what would be some high end options for the A5 Frenzy merc to equip in support of a Lightning Fury Javazon. Thanks to all in advance.
Plague is by far the best option.
@@MacroBioBoi Thanks, I just looked it up and I can see how it would be really strong. What other weapon would you pair it with? It doesn’t seem like wielding two of them provides much benefit other than stacking the Cleansing aura but that doesn’t seem useful. Maybe I’m missing something.
@@MacroBioBoi Never mind, figured it out. Doubles the chance for the lower resist proc. Thanks for your videos, very helpful.
Is a 4 socketed eth conquest sword worth using for a act 5 merc. And if so what rune word would be best
You could make an Oath for them
tempted to try grief + plague
For running Chaos what is better 2 x Lawbringer or Lawbringer + Oath on budget setup?
Dual Lawbringer imo
5 sec video. “Heya guys act 5 merc can dual wield grief with frenzy. Thanks for watching”
xD That's definitely one of the build options if your setup needs more Physical Damage.
will azurewrath and lawbringer's sanctuary aura stack? also with lawbringer on the off hand will it still proc the decrip?
Yes and Wes when it is swung during the attack
@@MacroBioBoi nice! Also I heard there is a bug right now where the main hand is counted twice or did I hear wrong? So let's say I only use 1 lawbringer does it double the sanctuary aura??
do i need to kill hell baal to be able to get the act5 merc with frenzy? all i see are bash/stun in each difficulty
New barbarian isn't available yet until the patch goes live.
I feel like my a5 merc is missing a lot. Does he benefit from attack rating? Will Demon Limb Enchant work on him?
Yes and yes
@@MacroBioBoi great, I'll get one to boost his AR. I appreciate the response
Holy fire a5 merc with a nova necro. Could be decent
Noob Question: does the -resist on something like Crescent moon affect the player's lightning damage or only the mercenary's lightning damage?
Only the Merc
@@MacroBioBoi Thank you!
Summon Necro wants to use amp damage, but summon druid is free in that regard.
Can the new Barbarian Mercenary use Axes or Maces now...or still only swords?
They only use 1 handed swords
They should’ve did with PD2 and added the rest of items and some mals
Maps
You’re underestimating phaseblades with no ias. Treachery will get merc to top speed.
That being said, dual Voice of Reason Merc on a Tesladin is going to be top tier as far as non casters go. That much AoE dmg on a merc is going to be tough to beat. You could also equip Beast on the Pally to assure good attack speeds in places like Chaos and Worldstone that have decrepify.
A couple orbs, a couple HShock pulses, Conviction, and some -cold res = clearing the screen of any trash mobs in seconds.
How does the Merc survive with 0 damage on the weapon?
@@MacroBioBoi integer PDR & MDR (Gladiators bane + Gaze or life everlasting circlet)
@@deddo4385 I'd love to see it.
What weapon combo would you consider for clear speed for Hammerdin?
Hmm, depends on where you're farming. What spots are you in?
@@MacroBioBoi mainly chaos/trav/pit. just looking to up clear times. running double headstrikers atm with arreats + treachery. would u recommend anything else?
@@AjunqrisMCR well those are three distinctly different places, I'd consider an eth death over a Headstriker for Crushing Blow maybe, but that comes down to whether or not he really has time to get 4-5 attacks off on a target.
4:28 aren't those stack only when the auras are same level?
Auras stack, regardless of level.
Im tempted to hero edit the holy fire one just to see how strong he will be
Do it!
im an infinity spearzon do you recomend act5 or act1 merc?
Act five for Plague is great. Not sure if you need Fanaticism on it? Haven't tested.
@@MacroBioBoi I have an act 1 faith merc bht seems like it only adds attack speed for my damage
And this is all well and good but without new endgame time Contin what does it even matter
I like how you mentioned Hand of justice being expensive, and said nothing about that when talking about using dual Last Wish which would be 6 Jah, 2 Ber, 2 Sur and 2 Mal =)
Also Aura stacking with hand of Justice seems like the best option for those that can afford it, as not having to use those items on your character will allow you to do more fun stuff...or if you have the runes you could play an auradin as well for the most stupid pulse damage ever.
I'd argue that Last Wish has inherent value outside of a single niche build, Dual HoJ + Dragon for a Merc is pure excess.
@@MacroBioBoi Quite right, got nothing against Last wish, but it's very expensive
@@-42-47 ohh ridiculously so xD
HB + FoH hype!
Hype hype hype hype
As a barb, why would this merc not be able to wield a colossus blade in one hand?
Great question, I assume they thought it would be too strong
Why would it be strong? A2 merc is strong too
@@shoc2177 turns out Ethereal Two Handed Swords are pretty fast and have good average damage. Again, they don't say why not, so it might just be a flavor thing. Just a thought.
I dont understand why people dont talk about Runeword Death... is not glacial spike interesting?
It's a very good weapon but doesn't have any IAS so it gets used in certain builds but not others.
@@MacroBioBoi yes but with treachery, Oath, andy face, can't you focus on attack speed and proccing only spike? Frenzy itself increase IAS.
I try to imagining lawbringer + Death.
@@OptLab Death is a fantastic weapon, the Glacial Spike is definitely cool. I'd say Act 1 Cold Merc is better if you're looking for that specific CC option, but nothing stopping you from running Act 5.
Fire Golem barb Build is now Meta!
Strictly better than a Fire Golem xD
@@MacroBioBoi lol 😂 fire golem on the side like praying he get a buff too lol
so i i give him one plague only so it counts as 2x? and he will have like 40% of lover resist?
Do we know yet if the new merc has double damage?
Not yet, still need to test. I can confirm that their stat screen does not display it (it didn't previously) even though they supposedly fixed that screen to show proper damage calculation.
I put a head striker on my new frenzy barb but new to it so can’t compair, but I guess if he does not have double he is swinging twice as fast/ and getting from monster to monster faster soo… maybe the same..
MicroBio - First to report live from the scene!
What base weapons can frenzy merc use?
1 handed swords
Unless they are coming out with better aura sword runewords act 2 is still better...also act 5 did double damage before so idk why the hype🤷🏻♂️
Pretty arbitrary argument I'd say. It is a new Merc that serves a different function and applies a higher level decrepify, faster, than Act 2 Merc. The hype is well earned. Act 2 is a better options for elemental builds, and DPS on Merc. Not for melee builds.
this merc will be able to use axes too?
Not right now
@@MacroBioBoi what a shame. Only super Op merc could repoace act 2 Merc.
Dual plague barb merc infinity spearazon lol gg
Let's Go!
I just sold a headstriker ...to gheed. LMAO.
Gheed is pleased
AYYY What it doooooo
What it do tho
smoke that good shit
some of that blueberry YUM YUM
Ludacris the 🐐
@@MacroBioBoi haha did not expect anyone to know the reference. i heard the song the moment i wrote this comment. looking back at it, im not making a lot of sense
pretty sure auras dont stack on merc:P
They do 100%.
"life after death will help it stay alive" The answer is no, this doesnt do shit.
Wut
Grief and beast
Can't wear beast sadly.
i have so many lag
:(
Aura stacking doesn't work that way. Go educate yourself before making a video maybe ?
It literally does. Feel free to go retest the thing I already proved on stream. Thanks for the engagement.