D2R Merc Guide - Act 2 Desert (Might, Prayer, Blessed Aim, Thorns, Holy Freeze, Defiance)

[@GGMentor]

One Solid Act2 Merc Weapon Option I Left out is a nice Fast Crescent Moon Polearm. Though I think if you are going to go this route for static field spam you are likely better off with a Barb merc with two Crescent moons, or the Act 3 lightning merc that spams it. I also left out Andriel's visage Rather deliberately because I feel like most other options are just plain better these days, however I would be remiss not to mention that if your going strictly for IAS Breakpoints Andys is the fastest helmet option at 35% IAS. I do feel however that it's outclassed by a good Gface + 15% IAS Jewel because you also get 35% CB and some Deadly strike

[@Agent_HSmith]

I was curious how a Dream/Crescent Moon combo act 2 merc would do with a conviction Paladin. Now I’m curious how a dual Crescent Moon/Dream A5 Merc would do!

[@Barnewallian]

Don't forget Andariels 10% life steal. So yeah, Guillaume will always deal more damage, but he will also die much more often. It really depends on your character. As a rule of thumb, Guillaume for melee builds, especially if they use reapers, and Andariels for casters that use insight or infinity.

[@GGMentor]

I feel like bulwark has almost completely surpassed Andariels visage for survivability. Andy's only has speed at this point, (35% IAS)

[@GGMentor]

Dream doesn't do well on characters that can't enhance the damage via synergies or lightning mastery. I don't recommend it agent_hsmith

[@tev984]

I just got finished watching the act 1 merc guide and I see this pop up. Time to binge GGM

[@frankenstein3163]

>_

[@DeldiRe]

This is the way

[@DE47H]

Omg i was just looking for this. This channel is amazing thank you all

[@yazzze]

Informative and intresting video, want the rest of the mercs as well and don't forget act 4 Ever since i first tried Delirium on a merc yes i tried on 1 / 2 / 5 and it works great with all of them. Even for doing travincal, all mosters are nearly constantly confused and just hit each other or are stunned and doing nothing. And on bosses where you might need other cursers not be overwriten i switch to a simple Bulwark that i usaly had before i got my Delirium.

[@chadinnocenti4906]

Skin of the flared one has life leech

[@hydroflux1616]

So does Greyform and crafted blood armors.

[@GGMentor]

I don't mention skin of the flayed one because it's a far inferior choice to Boneflesh. As for greyform it has no defense and is mainly a low level armor meant for early normal difficulty. It's amazing for normal don't get me wrong but it's outclassed quickly by nightmare.

[@hydroflux1616]

​@GGMentor I figured you had your reasons. :) Greyform comes in handy for Act 5 mercs that need a little extra dexterity to use a phase blade. Crafted blood armors can roll with two sockets but that one to three percent life leach is kind of weak.

[@nnovotny7201]

Thank you for showing Shael, Ko, Eld. It is working for my mercenary, and I’d forgotten about it, until watching your video.

[@xingjian79]

thank you for producing new content for this game!

[@jankowalski1501]

omg it is actually the topic I try to dig into, perfect timing :)

[@brandonwynes5886]

I use ethereal skin of the flayed upped to a scarab husk and that has life leech on it. Chains and boneflesh aren’t only body armor choices for leech

[@GGMentor]

Skin of the flayed one is a mediocre choice, because most of the stats on it are stats that don't work on the Merc. Replenish life doesn't work on Mercs it's a dead stat for them, and the repairs durability is wasted on Mercs as well. So when looking at LL chest options Boneflesh is superior as it offers open wounds at least. Which is a key effect needed for optimal damage output, and the prevention of regeneration. Open wounds also helps kill physical immunes as it burns through physical immunity. Also, Boneflesh is cheap and easy to come by.

[@samuelpeterson9485]

Prayer merc with cure helm is so good for energy shield sorc. I ran a nova sorc in season 3 with this setup with her wielding infinity. Haven’t felt that godly with any other build I’ve made.

[@ellerylandry1734]

Yeah Andriel's visage has been meta for so long I never thought to question it, but I'm realizing I'm better off with one of the new runeword helms/Gface in most situations.

[@GGMentor]

Aye, it's just not as good as other options. The only thing it really has over other options is more attack speed.

[@StalfosGamer]

Did my obedience in an eth tresher. Works wonders tbh

[@GGMentor]

@@StalfosGamer amazing weapon thresher is second fastest base great choice. The only base faster is Mancatcher

[@StalfosGamer]

@GGMentor thats what I was wondering in the video. It came back often as an option. Now I understand way better the why its an appealing option. Now cause of your recommendations, I was able to get pass maggot lair on my self found necro. Had to kill the minions for the merc to put in the work tho. So TL;DR thanks for that

[@GGMentor]

Yes I talk about that often with the necromancer in maggot lair, he can do it for sure but you have to make sure his strongest hitters are at the front of the pack. Conversely you need to make sure your weakest hitters are not at the front of the pack. I.e. Clay golem which has the worst damage of basically all your minions. One Skeleton unbuffed is stronger than the clay golem lol. of course your merc with this weapon is way stronger then a Skeleton. So it seems you understood well how to get the most out of your army in tight places. your merc often becomes the lynchpin of your army allowing you to finish off targets, get those sorely needed corpses and more. So having a well geared and powerful merc is a big part of the Necromancer. This is also why I don't recommend Pride as a weapon choice for necro because it gimps the merc.

[@yofyo]

thank you! this is HUGE

[@nanolathe1193]

i gotta say you have the best intro music! its funny cuz youre this viking looking dude and you got such a gentle intro. lol love your vids but may i suggest just increasing your volume a bit? ive noticed it in pretty much all of your vids that i gotta turn the volume up a bit compared to most other videos. youre also fairly soft spoken so that doesnt help the situation. otherwise i love your content!

[@GGMentor]

Been fighting with volume since forever. It doesn't help that KZbin automatically does what's called normalization. Which is where is softens high spots and in turn makes the low spots even lower. I try to get the balance right but it's not always possible. Thanks for the heads up though and I am glad your enjoying the content

[@nanolathe1193]

@@GGMentor Anytime! Could just be a mic quality issue as others have entire audio setups with a boom and all that and you usually just use a headset.

[@anilkocman9062]

Please make experiment with mavinas diadem with a damage jewel or rune, crow caw armor with 15 ias jewel, stealskull with socket eith ias jewel

[@edwinjusto5739]

I kind of wish they would let some rwords be put in other bases, like they did with insight on a bow, like I would like to use obedience on a firetrapssin but shes either only using that or not at all, but if they would just allow it on swords or 1h axes then i could definitely use that as a budget HOJ for her and the same applies to any fire build

[@cvasirocket1401]

Eng game farming combo for my war cry item find barb merc : eth reapers toll with an Eth rune, eth gladiator bane with a Shael rune and a eth Rockstoper with 7fh+mid high 20s poison res jewel. Totali g an FHR of 87 , 1 point above the 86 breakpoint. Now war cry can down stone skin monsters and phys imunes. Before, merc had insight, templar coat and cure helm.

[@sandrock605]

Can you do time stamps in your videos? A little step that would go along way! Thanks for considering!

[@stephenphelan626]

The triple heal merc is very good for trap assasins. Your only way to heal. Insight is also awesom to throwing multiple traps everywhere.

[@yodatrucker420]

Tbh with the 3 auras merc his regen keeps my merc alive without issue running treachery

[@louisc2568]

Emilio!!!!!!!

[@frankenstein3163]

8:34 holy....crap. I cant wait to see what this does with 4 x sets of merc's O_o Would the prayer from other merc's regen my merc ?

[@Barnewallian]

Try this setup on a fanaticism Paladins merc, it's absolutely insane. Might, eth reapers shael, Guillaume 15%IAS, fortitude (eth sacred armor for style :D). Hits 8fpa jab at lv 37 fanaticism and basically breaks the game. It's amazing even with hustle, regular reapers, lower level fana. And so cheap for what he can do.

[@michaellui5108]

GGM Rocks 🪨!

[@silva_579]

I’ll put that to good use!

[@PhredsArmy]

Right on! Keep 'em comiin'!

[@faycal799]

Are you going to try no rest for the wicked ? Heard early access launch today

[@GGMentor]

on the 18th I believe at 12 pm est

[@faycal799]

@@GGMentor Nice ill tune in . Looks like a good game

[@nosbleed]

Merci !

[@giovannicatamo6348]

Prayer merc doesnt heal itself with prayer ?

[@GGMentor]

Nope lol, he heals you though and everyone else

[@glittersh4rt162]

Not that its great but skin of the flayed one also has life leech

[@GGMentor]

It's more rare than Boneflesh, and boneflesh is just superior due to the Open Wounds it offers. There is also Greyform Quilted Armor, but again same sort of issue, it's rare and also useless passed normal due to it's low defense.

[@glittersh4rt162]

@@GGMentor ah. I like it on my single player prayer/insight/cure merc. Just to give him 15 more hp/second plus life leech. He doesnt need to deal dmg so i like the added survivablity

GM why are you talking about mercenaries. Aren't we limited to only one?

[@FrozenOreo]

Emilio is ♥️

[@tapoemt3995]

Made me feel bad for all the work I put in getting an Infinity. I loved it until now...

[@GGMentor]

Lol why wouldn't you love your infinity? It's one of the best Merc options for sure. When I talked about obedience I also talked about infinity being a direct upgrade to it.

[@CM86x]

Why would you use boneflesh and not coh for prayer merc, that's just dumb. The merc isn't meant to do damage, just heal and survive. Coh will add more skill lvl to prayer ergo raising the replenish life. Your recommendation for this particular merc is not good.

[@GGMentor]

Boneflesh is about stopping regeneration with open wounds not damage output. If damage output was the concern, then CoH is way better anyways. Casters often have 0 ways to stop regeneration so having the Merc do it is very beneficial

[@CM86x]

I see your point but either way that merc is meant to maximize healing life, mana, and poison. My intent is not to be hostile but I still believe that is a bad recommendation.

[@GGMentor]

Lol boneflesh is a bad recommendation over CoH do you hear yourself? Boneflesh can be obtained in NORMAL DIFFICULTY, and is available to everyone from normal to hell. It's easy to obtain, functional, upgradable, has Life Leech, and provides casters with open wounds which they struggle to obtain and can be socketed with a 15% IAS jewel, Um Rune or other pertinent effects. CoH requires a Ber rune, and is an end game option only, can't be used at low levels or mid levels, and most people don't have one on hand. If anything CoH is the bad recommendation. CoH < Boneflesh Open wounds Trump's everything CoH offers for any class struggling to obtain open wounds. Sorceress, Caster Druid, Necromancer, caster paladin, ect.

[@Satoriga]

27:37 gg rofl

[@mightyfp]

Durga!!

[@nikolaykatsarov4084]

Nobody uses infinity for the negative defense, people use it for the negative resistances for caster classes

[@tehnodevil]

No botd warpike, no Andy helm, no treachery benefits, no infinity or pride, not even Cresent moon damage output. Just 48 minutes of crap. I like you but this video was like made from a rookie.

[@GGMentor]

Botd, and Pride are terrible merc weapon choices I talk about pride briefly and why I don't think it's a good choice for gear. I personally think anyone using Pride on their merc is an idiot, as it completely gimps your merc for basically no real gain. Infinity is a superior choice to Pride by miles and it has been proven mathematically. For the Price of Pride you would be better off going a bit further for the infinity. If it was cheaper, and didn't cost a Sur, Cham and a Lo Rune I might say it would make a decent budget item until you get an infinity. But it's not cheap, it has no Enhanced Damage on the weapon which makes it hit like a wet noodle, and it's main redeeming value "Concentration" is outclassed by Conviction. Because More damage is not better than a higher To Hit Rate, this has been proven. As For Botd it lacks crushing blow, like some of it's competitors Obedience, Infinity, or even a Rare polearm with two bers in it. It has Raw damage and speed but that's it. No CB, No DS, No OW, No Enchant, No Aura, Nothing to make it a better option that most other choices. I would take a Eth Obedience Mancatcher over a Eth BoTD any day. BoTD's main issues are that it lacks most of the redeeming qualities needed for a good merc weapon, and most of the stats on BoTD don't apply to mercs at all. On a Player you can account for the lack of important stats with gear, but mercs have extremely limited gear choices. As well a lot of those useless stats on BoTD are great for players, Mana leech works on players not mercs, Prevent Monster heal works on players not mercs, +30 All stats doesn't work on mercs as mercs only have STR and DEX, so the Vitality, and Energy is wasted, The Indestructible Stat is likewise wasted on mercs. BoTD is a weapon designed for players, with high damage and speed meant to be offset with other equipment. As well as stats only players can take advantage of. I will say this though, that if you happen to have one it makes a decent placeholder. But I wouldn't go out of my way to make one just for the merc. I did leave out Crescent moon, it is a solid option for static field but it's been my experience if you want Static field your better off with two crescent moon's on a barb merc as the negative resistance is higher and the static field is more effective in general as you get -70% Total -ELR. Infinity was talked about it is a superior option to a lot of choices but it's also rare and rather hard to come by for most people. I admit not having one prepared for the video was an oversight but I did not leave it out. I talked about it in detail, and even compared it to pride. As for Andriel's helm, compared to other options the only thing andys helm has is attack speed. Gface offers deadly strike and Crushing blow, Bulwark offers life leech and Physical Damage Reduction, Cure Helmet Offers Cleansing Aura, and the chance to double Regeneration from prayer. I feel like Andariel's helm is still a decent option, but with all the better options out there now, as well as all the existing competition like Gface, Vamp Gaze, ect it's not looking as shiny as it once was. I find myself Gravitating away from Andy's visage in general these days, which is why it was omitted from the video. I admit that as a "Speed" Option it is one of the best if that is your only concern, but since speed also usually means High CB, and armor is the lowest CB option, The helm is often left for Gface, with a 15% ias jewel. The +2 skills on andys comes in handy, but the act 2 merc gets very little from plus skills. 15% extra off weapon ED on might aura and 50 Extra attack rating on jab... In General when it comes to the Act 2 merc you are usually setting him up as either A, a boss killer, B, a Tank, or C, Utility. Andy's isn't the best option for any of those things.

[@tehnodevil]

@@GGMentor good

[@bsallre]

Skin of the flayed one is an armor that had LS too. Boneflesh is a much better choice out of the 2 though.

[@GGMentor]

Aye, and Boneflesh is also cheaper, and easier to come by