D2R Merc Guide - Act 5 Barbarian Merc (Two Handed & Dual Wield)

Hello Guys and Gals Today lets go over the Act 5 Barbarian Merc (Two Handed & Dual Wield)
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[@EskimoDruid]

Man your content is amazing. The amount of detail and explaining you do is exceptional. I feel I've learned more watching your videos than I have reading forum posts for the last 20 years to understand the nuances of this game lol

[@GGMentor]

glad I can help, My goal has always been to help people enjoy the games I had come to love Diablo is just one of them.

[@sebastianvega4576]

just discovered your channel. thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. i have learned soo much already and I only watched a couple of videos so far. really, really good stuff!

[@GGMentor]

Welcome aboard=} glad you are enjoying the content

[@vuetoob3983]

FINALLY I have been waiting for this episode

[@shimmeringhaze4240]

Thanks for making these videos, they are a great resource for the D2R community. I play hardcore mode and want to run an A5 merc with my Barbarian 😄

[@GGMentor]

Cleansing Aura FTW, No Curses, No Poisons Best for HC easily

[@oncetwice1225]

One thing to also mention is the AI of the mercs. My dumbass act 2 merc follows behind my caster paladin while my act 5 merc shoots around like a homing missile. I don’t know how many times I’ve been nearly killed because my act 2 wasn’t getting the aggro off me. The problem becomes smaller with the act 5.

[@GGMentor]

Yes, I do feel the act 5 Merc does a better job bouncing around like a pinball

[@gopooalreadyplease5842]

@@GGMentorspeaking of, Diablo would be a great theme for pinball

[@cgerman]

A little off topic, I made a comment about No Rest for the Wicked a while ago and wrote that it is different than D4, PoE and stuff and people thought I was hating on the game. I don't, I think it is a brilliant game and I am excited about it. Actually it is the game I am most interested in right now. That being said it is different than the Diablo clones out there, but that doesn't mean it is bad. Back to act 5 mercenaries now.

[@julienavonguitariste4102]

Great video! I am surprised shaftop and Vampire Gaze combo wasn't mentionned for te 50% physical DR it gives with the life leach, it would be the tankiest set up IMO.

[@GGMentor]

I mentioned shaftstop, I think bulwark is a bit better defensively but I talked about high physical DR builds for cows a such.

[@julienavonguitariste4102]

@@GGMentor yeah, that's when you talked about cows that I thought Vgaze would be very good. Thanks for the video, it was very instructive.

[@ischju]

I love this!!! So in depth. Love this game.

[@ducklama4710]

I used an Um rune in my Eth Headstriker and it worked well for that OW, a different option

[@TheSnoopyclone]

Sazabi set and plague. The cleanse aura is a big advantage against those damn succubus and mage skeletons placing curses. Poison is such a nuisance, plague will fix that. I actually prefer the act 5 now over the act 2 because he can tank and survive.

[@B0Besh]

Wow that was great! Let's try this. Class: Paladin Build: self cast holy shock/zeal Damage type: Elemental. Currently have standard setup with Act2 Merc. Struggling with life leech and lighting damage monsters.

[@GGMentor]

Well first off you should be using a lightning sunder, and your main weapon should be crescent moon on a phase blade. This gives you -35% ELR which will greatly help with immune monsters. Your Merc would be best off as an act 2 Merc with infinity. Or an act 5 DW Merc with Plauge/Grief or Plague/Headatriker(eth) As a paladin you don't really need ow or CB on the Merc so just set him up to be tanky. Don't use fortitude though because you want him to proc lower resistance curse. So most likely Treachery, with a bulwark helmet, or vamp gaze.

[@B0Besh]

@@GGMentor was testing this setup vs dual dream, seems like self cast deals more damage. Crescent moon is good but subjectively faceted PB with shaels feels better. I think I’ve put 3xfacet and 3xshael. I shopped artisan light plate with 17% fhr would that be good for act 5 plague merc? And what to put into sockets? Do you think act5 mercs need to improve ar. Also you haven’t mentioned rattlecage would that be good fit for act5 merc? Sorry too much questions. Hava nice day.

[@GGMentor]

@@B0Besh why would a faceted sword be better than Crescent moon? I am confused. A 6 Faceted sword has a lot of issues. #1 you don't need the shaels to hit the max IAS breakpoint. #2 you lose out on the massive damage of static field #3 A 6 Faceted sword has 0 physical damage so you lose all life leech. Which means you will have trouble staying alive. #4 with your setup you don't have enough negative Lightning resistance to be effective vs immune monsters. It's a pretty big issue. You need at least -35% ELR for decent kill speed and that's the minimum. Ideally you want -50% or higher The gain is minimal at best, a little extra lighting on hit damage, and a bit of lightning skill damage. But your trading off survivability and the ability to spam static field. It's not worth it. Rattlecage is bad for melee Mercs It makes the monsters flee and then the Merc chases and they become useless or dead by training mobs. As for the light plate I really dunno, seems like a very low defense plate for an end game Merc

[@B0Besh]

@@GGMentor thanks for your answer I’ll give a shot to crescent moon and yes I was using 6os pb with shaels to hit max ias breakpoint. I think it is 70. Light plate is to proc lower resist from plague. Thinking about it act3 fire merc with plague might not be a bad option as well if he won’t die a lot. What do you think?

[@GGMentor]

@@B0Besh the lower resistance proc requires the Merc be hit, Plauge on the act 3 Merc will give you cleansing which is nice but rarely lower res unfortunately because he stays back. Also defense isn't the only consideration for proccing when struck. Melee, Ranged, and even spells that bypass defense also trigger the effect.

[@Fabander]

Hey GGM!!! Absolutly insane content, "as always". Very complete. I think I would only add Vampire Gaze as a helm option, its pretty close to Bulwark, but it has the option of a socket. Does Bulwark with skills like Iron Skin, helps the merc?

[@GGMentor]

Lord I left out barb specific helms. Yes +Iron skin bulwark would be nice. It is important to note however that any skill he does not already possess is useless to him. So only +Frenzy, +Taunt, and +Iron skin do anything. So ideally a +3/+3/+3 frenzy/taunt/Iron Skin Bulwark would be ideal. Vamp gaze is similar to bulwark but not quite as good, it does however offer a socket that you can use for an ias jewel or a rune.

[@ghostpos]

Amazing how cheap Lawbringer is and how expensive Last Wish is...

[@brockrobson4295]

Love the breakdown of the end game setup. Looking for a some more mid game tips, to progress into the end game. I'm currently doing a SSF HC physical Multishot Bowazon play through - struggling in the transition between NM and Hell at level 71. Goal is to get my first ever HC lvl 99. Embracing the challenge, not wanting to respec into elemental skills (definitely making life harder for myself, I know). I'm struggling to find elite bases or HRs to produce any decent midgame, let alone end game runewords. What upgrades can I bring to my a5 frenzy barb who currently runs a bulwark helm, rare Dim blade w/ LL + IAS, ginthers rift and Hwanin chest? Currently running countess for a Lum looking to make Lionheart in my 3os eth Boneweave (606 def, also have an eth 4os 616 def Boneweave). Would also consider Duress if I could find an Um. Could also make a treachery, but then I risk finding my 3os PB and not having the Lem for Lawbringer (which I think will be a huge boost for me). Have runes for a Lawbringer, but cannot find a PB for the base (really need that Sanctuary aura to help with undead PIs like ghosts, wanting the PB for the attack frames to help proc Decrep on bosses for DPS boost). I'm debating running Countess to set up either Crescent Moon or Hustle if I can find elite bases. Moving forward, what immediate upgrades should I be looking for if different from my plan. What should I aiming for towards the end game? Ultimately, I'm hoping to get a Faith GMB - if I can ever find a Jah, the Fanatacism will help both my Merc and I. None of my current gear benefits my merc as it's keeping my res in the +30-60 range - except my -14 poison res.

[@SCARYonENDOR]

The 2h barb weapons that i enjoy are unbending will in an eth cb, and an upped ethereal crainte vomir... also an eth upped vile husk is awesome vs undead.

[@GGMentor]

Interesting Choices, Craint Vomir isn't the greatest damage but it's tanky, and vile husk does offer Amp!

[@glittersh4rt162]

🤣 i like how u mention my skin of the flayed one. Which is on my single player where i dont have much 😇😇

[@FatalEcIipse]

I’ve decided I’m going to level myself up an infinity spearzon, offline on my switch since I’m back on to fly-in-fly-out work and don’t have internet access at site/plane aside from phone. Going to be a pretty standard self wield infinity spearzon so lightning damage, Valkyrie and I mostly play on P8. What merc would you recommend for her? Torn between the act 5, or going for a full support act 2 prayer merc with cure, insight and CoH. Or setting up a variation of the act5 merc. Spare no expense.

[@GGMentor]

Honestly she doesn't need a Merc lol 🤣 Infinite lightning spear zon is OP as F. But if you want one I would recommend Plauge Act 5 dual wield barb merc. The cleansing aura is amazing and the Lower res proc will help your damage. Secondary weapon probably grief.

[@FatalEcIipse]

Excellent I’ll build him once I’m a high enough level for him to equip everything, I’ve already got a eth cryptic sword for plague and a 40/398 grief. I’ll keep a eye out for a good base for a Bulwark and maybe a better eth base for CoH or fort for him. Until then I’ll run the act 2 cure/insight/prayer merc for the QoL of not needing pots. Cheers for the reply.

[@Vladtepes1986]

necromancer with 2 builds: necro bomber for first corpses for corpse explosion party, and second build: poison nova build

[@GGMentor]

CE, and Poison Nova hmmm So you probably cast lower resistance yourself, plague is out. I am assuming you are using at least a golem for distraction purposes? Of course you are why wouldn't you it's minimal points. You are a corpse user so avoiding cold damage shatter is important. Which rules out holy freeze, Plauge, and VoR. Honestly as long as you're running a Golem The lightning Act 3 Merc might be your best bet. Static field spam, he's elemental to take advantage of your Lower res curse. He will soften up the entire battlefield for you so it takes less Poison Novas and less CE's You could also go with a double Crescent Moon Barb Same effect and set him up to tank alongside the golem. Speed is more important here than damage just use phase blades so he hits the max IAS breakpoint. I think the Act3 Merc would do better but both would work for static field spam. Also put a crescent moon on the act 3 Merc as well, eth gryphon eye diadem with a lightning facet. The more negative res he has the better the static field works. The general idea here is just to make it take less attacks to reach your goal as you probably already kill well without the Merc. So if it would have taken you 4 poison novas and 3 CE now it will only take you 1-2 novas and 1-2 CE

[@gopooalreadyplease5842]

I sometimes dont want to cast lower res while running around with a poison necro so I plan to try out plague and crescent moon. Just need a cham rune

[@Vladtepes1986]

Let me know how it feels with plague and crescent moon

[@Itz_KLONOPIN]

Is it well known that a frenzy merc's right side weapon slot is actually his main hand unlike our chars which have our left wep slot as our main hand?? Dual Lastwish OR Lastwish+ Hustle/fortitude/either Andy's or Arreats will make you and you're Merc not only unkillable but you get the might aura and if you're Merc dual wields might aura will stack..

[@nnl84]

Is there a reason to why you don't mention the Death runeword? Or did you just forget it? It has both crushing blow and deadly strike and it is not all that expensive. In my mind it would be a good option for the act 5 frenzy merc.

[@GGMentor]

#1 you can't make death in one handed swords, so for frenzy its out unless you want a really bad Death Dimensional blade, or a very low damage death phase blade. #2 it's really slow in a two hander and difficult to counter the lack of IAS. It's cheaper than a lot of the high end options sure, but I still don't feel it's better than some of the faster two handed options.

[@nnl84]

@@GGMentor Thank you for your answer. While it might be low damage in a phase blade, wouldn't it still proc cb and deadly strike relatively fast? I was thinking a combination of Lawbringer + Death + Gface + some kind of life steel armor to assist my Foh paladin with boss killing. I am using redemption instead of conviction, so I don't need an act 2 merc with insigt.

[@GGMentor]

@@nnl84 both of those weapons have no physical damage at all basically. They are what I usually refer to as Zero Damage Weapons. And while having lawbringer in combination with a high physical damage weapon like grief is great. If you pair it with a zero physical damage it's basically worthless.

[@Grimsaviour]

If your only purpose was to kill hell council as fast as possible with your gold find Barb, what would be your ultimate setup?

[@GGMentor]

Berserk, whirlwind, setup. Bob in the kinship has a pretty killer one if you wanna bug him for the setup.

[@Dvinyard69]

Great video, suggested barb merc build I would like to see is a Dream, 2x crescent moons, and fort/chains of honor.

[@TrU-td6ml]

The 1 Weapon Wielder should use BOTD on Colossus Blade + Arreats, or Pheonix Colossus Sword + Andy’s for max damage output best base weapon, +15% IAS 40% ED jeweled helm

[@GGMentor]

Lord Jesus neither of those swords are good, they are both expensive, and both bad options. there are cheaper more effective swords than both of those. And the redemption aura is terrible because it stops keeping the merc alive as soon as the corpses are gone.

[@TrU-td6ml]

@@GGMentor Please just test it out and make in hero editor, you can see it for yourself!

[@TrU-td6ml]

@@GGMentor If you test it out in hero editor, you can see for yourself.

[@mb824]

I like hustle on my barbs merc. Lvl 1 fanaticism skill ias plus 54 offweapon ias lets a colossus blade hit the 4fpa breakpoint for WW. yeah I lose 1 breakpoint without merc but when focusing a boss, he is always close. Lawbringer plus hustle is so much support for your physical dps when ias is a factor. Remember, skill ias is much stronger than gear ias.

[@amfitness5598]

OK GGM...see what you think about this character/merc set up and what I can do to improve it. My character in question is a Holy Freeze Zealot (using the 4 piece Griswold set) with the 5/5 facets. I run my own aura (so no conviction). Currently I'm using an Act 1 Merc with a LVL 15 Fanaticism on Faith (b/c I attack so daym slow it frustrates the hell out of me). I have her equipped with upgraded UM'ed boneflesh armor and a Delirium RW help (for the crowd control procs). I really wish to run an Act 5 Merc with Plague/VoR RW combination (for the lower res and cold character theme)...but when I do my character attacks slow and I don't like that. Any suggestions?

[@vuetoob3983]

Put Hustle sword or bow on paly swap to trigger needed speed or on A5 merc Hustle sword to have full time fanaticism

[@amfitness5598]

@@vuetoob3983 I run a tele staff on swap bc no enigma can’t do that

[@vuetoob3983]

@@amfitness5598 Hustle sword on merc then swap with plague and voice to see which setup works best for you

[@GGMentor]

If you are using Griswolds set you could easily sub some of the facets for shael runes. It would drop your damage a bit sure but IT would free you of the need of Fanat. Other options are using all your available slots for IAS. Nos Coil Belt, Highlords Amulet, 20% ias gloves, ect. 20+20+10 = 50 Or see how many shaels you need in the weapon to reach the ias breakpoints. Ran it up on a Calc real quick you would need 4 Shael runes in the Caddy, with 25% IAS from gear, to hit the Max IAS Frames. Or 3 Shaels and 45% ias from gear Or 2 Shaels and 65% Ias From gear I think hitting the 5 frame zeal breakpoint is worth dropping a few facets. looks like you can do it with 3 and good IAS Gear 20 Gloves + 10 Belt + 20 Highlords

[@amfitness5598]

@@vuetoob3983 I've tried that before, due the lvl1 only the distance your merc needs to be from you at all times to activate this isn't useful. I appreciate the reply regardless.

[@yodatrucker420]

Interesting combo never thought about cresent moon on an a5 merc lol Just curious in your opinion whats the best merc for a FOH pally

[@superstaples]

I'm working towards a dream paladin with crescent moon, utilizing lightning small charms as well. Thinking plague and grief? Or plague and lawbringer? With either chains of honor and gface or fortitude and arreats. Hard to decide Also, there's an elite barbarian helm that has life leech and attacker takes damage. Thinking of that with fortitude if im using him for auras/tankiness

[@GGMentor]

Plague Grief probably best for your setup. Since your going with a plague you want him to get hit but be tanky. So fortitude is bad. It will prevent him from getting hit and prevent the lower res proc. My advice is Treachery+Bulwark for lots of physical DR

[@superstaples]

@@GGMentor I see. Good points. One thing I thought of is cannot be frozen. Doesn't seem to be a good way to work that in, unless I put a cham in a gface and used coh for life leech? Maybe a non eth coh for lower defense and to use outside of the merc may be a good blend. From watching this video and for added boss damage I think some form of CB is great since having a grief on him for damage

[@sebastiannielsen4354]

Hello, great content! I was wondering if it would ever be worth considering BOTD, in any way or form, for the act 5 merc? Thanks

[@GGMentor]

For a two handed barb it could work yeah, for the dual wield no it's a terrible choice.

[@sebastiannielsen4354]

@@GGMentor allright thank you

[@Caydos]

Nothing beats grief in this game. +Damage coming before any enchance modifiers make it the all time king

[@GGMentor]

Tons of things beat grief, because grief doesn't work with all skill and it has its limitations. But on the act 5 Merc 1 grief is BiS for damage. 2 however is not, lawbringer beats a second grief lol.

[@EricDavidTippett]

What would the best merc build be for a Dragondin? Id use holy fire and zeal I was told act 5 frenzy merc with lawbringer, grief, treachery and gface? Is that the best for bosses?

[@ghostpos]

I use an eth vgaze w/cham on my a5 merc

[@attractivegd9531]

A5 frenzy with Leviathan armor + Dual Lawbringer + Andariel's Visage = gg, Smoke armor as utility is also nice.

[@GGMentor]

Don't do dual lawbringers they have zero damage output. Lawbringer + an actual weapon that outputs damage is way better. Lawbringer, Voice Of Reason, and a couple other weapons have zero enhanced damage. They are fine as secondary weapons but you never want to dual wield them due to their extremely low physical damage.

[@attractivegd9531]

@@GGMentor I thought dual lawbringer would proc Decrepify more. Does it not? If I have 1 lawbringer and grief does Decrep proc as much? Also does the LL on Lawbringer proc on the other weapon?

[@GGMentor]

@@attractivegd9531 The problem is Base Damage. 1000% bonus of 10 still only gives you 110 Where as a 1000% bonus of 1000 gives you 11,000 Lawbringer has no enhanced Damage, and is only the base damage of the weapon. It's damage is so low as to be laughable. So even 10,000% damage bonus wouldn't be enough. That's why you pair lawbringer up with a sword like grief that actually does damage. Also no the Life Leech of Lawbringer is only for lawbringer. As well because the base damage of Lawbringer is so low it again does nothing. 7% leech of 10 damage is .7 health return. It doesn't even form a whole number So to Recap, No physical damage means nothing to enhance. No physical Damage means no life leech. No life leech means a dead Merc.

[@attractivegd9531]

@@GGMentor Alright, can dual lawbringer proc Decrepify more tho? It seems like the A5 frenzy merc has a much harder time procing it even with dual lawbringer compared to an a2 holy freeze merc with a single repear's toll. Very weird.

[@GGMentor]

@@attractivegd9531 No Dual Lawbringer would not proc more decrepify. Because due to reduced damage output, he has no life leech. Due to no Life leech he will be dead. Ergo Two lawbringers won't proc more decrepify because he will be dead. So not only will dual lawbringers not proc more decrepify than One. They will actually proc less Decrepify than one because he will be dead lol. So 100% less Decrepify

[@vicariousgames8264]

Do you think a cresent moon and death would be good on the frenzy merc?

[@marc-antoinesarrasin5167]

How did you have a Lastwish eth cb Indestructible?

[@GGMentor]

bug from hero editor, sometimes it does that to bases

[@JeremysRants]

Unbending will and plague is the best combo. Poor mans infinity

[@flemmingstein]

Did you try with frenzy with duel wield Last Wish?? Duel wield them and you get 34 might auro

[@charlounais]

lvl34 might would give 370% ed for a very very high price and you can get concentration aura from pride that could be lvl20 and give 345% for much cheaper. If you are going to use lastwish on you and pride on the merc, you get over 500% ED. Unless you really want to put very high ED on a merc with low damage output from weapons, I don't see the point. I thought about it on my barbarian lol

[@GGMentor]

Problem with that is, last wish in a phase blade has rather low damage. So while he gets level 34 might his damage output goes way down. I guess as a support option it's interesting, but wouldn't a Might Merc with infinity be better?

[@GGMentor]

@charlounais I don't recommend pride, it gimps the Merc too much imo.

[@charlounais]

@@GGMentor my merc doesn't kill much i kill way faster than him, the only down side i found with pride on my barbarian is.. it freezes targets and that's less corpses to use find item on...

[@TheWilsonDiaz]

Hey GGM, how about dual VoR, duress and bulwark - will that generate enough cold damage? Thanks

[@GGMentor]

Dual VoR suffers from a severe lack of physical damage. Your Merc won't be able to life leech.

[@ricardohernandezvega8588]

26:50 is this clearance speed of the mercenary soloing baal's throne and baal himself or is it Chaos Sanctuary

[@GGMentor]

clear speed of soloing Uber Diablo on P1

[@ricardohernandezvega8588]

@@GGMentor thank you! I was going crazy, thought you had said something but couldn't find it

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Ginger do you have the newer version of notepad yet? It’s s’nice.

[@TrU-td6ml]

You forgot the best weapon of all: Phoenix Ethereal Cryptic Sword- auto heal Lvl 15 Redemption Aura + 20% Deadly Strike + Lvl 22 Firestorm proc & - 28% Fire Resist + 400% ED

[@TrU-td6ml]

Pair w/ Enchant Sorceress to benefit Fire Damage, off-hand Plague Sword. Wear a Wisp Projector for Heart of Wolverine charges to boost AR+ED % for merc too

[@GGMentor]

I didn't forget phoenix I deliberately left it out because it's terrible. It has No IAS, the damage is ok, it has no CB, no OW, and a tiny bit of DS. The Redemption aura is a tease which is useless as soon as the corpses dry up. Worse still it's Expensive as crap, for the same price you have grief in your hand which out dps's Phoenix sword easily. Let's not even pretend this is an option please, it's a terrible choice.

[@TrU-td6ml]

@@GGMentor Same 20% Deadly Strike as Grief, Redemp heals. Fort + Gullam over leech gear, ED/IAS Jewel in helm. Grief needs Leech, so it loses Fort or Gullam’s

[@GGMentor]

@@TrU-td6ml you still need leech gear with redemption. It only works if there are corpses and there is not always corpses

[@TrU-td6ml]

@@GGMentor Please test it for yourself in Hero Editor and see how powerful it actually is; 415% ED Phoenix Superior Etherial Cryptic Sword + Grief for onhand

[@jesseramirez1729]

I like eth conquest HoJ, Eth conquest Kingslayer, Boneflesh, and Andy's

[@GGMentor]

Eww HoJ on a Merc why?

[@jesseramirez1729]

@GGMentor high dmg output, ds, 33 ias, 7LL, ITD. It's actually really good option. Try it out 🤷‍♂️

[@kristopherleslie8343]

God tier tank? Yes please and two!

[@8888disturbed]

u forgot gaze 20 pdr and life steal

[@GGMentor]

gaze is nice, but I think bulwark beats it for mercs. They are both good, and you can socket gaze for an ias jewel, but bulwark has a little better stats for survivability. At the end of the day the merc use useless if he's dead.