People rave about headstriker because they are tired of Grief and desperate to find alternatives to it. But even if the damage is similar (might actually be somewhat higher for headstriker), Grief has a *massive* speed advantage, itd, - target defense and lots of extra demon damage. Only crushing blow can compete. Cool that you tested crescent moon too, very interesting result! I'm pretty sure the definitive highest damage act v mer is just like the highest damage barbarian: griefx2, gface, fort.
Actually Lawbringer+Grief has higher dps once Decrepify proc. It also gives your merc cold damage, some life steal and RIP. Last Wish is also top dps vs Ubers and P8 Baal.
@@Jerome...Not to mention the amazing conviction aura that absolutely destroys undead physical res. I said highest dmg meaning raw, but my dual wield barbs use grief/azure and the mercs grief/lawb :D
Decrep proc with act V is pretty inconsistent compared with an act II reaper though due to curse overwrite and terrible attack rating. But that's a story for another day I guess.
Lawbringer is one of the best budget items ever. Sanctuary screws over, cc and pierce physical immunity on undead which form a very large amount of the monsters in the game. Decrepify gives even more cc and physical immunity piercing for everything. Lifesteal, some elemental damage, RIP mod, defense against missiles, more gold... Like practically every stat or ability is relevant.
I cant stress how important lawbringer is for Lilith and Terrorized Andy. Most people think its the poison but its actually the physical attack that usually kills your merc, and the decrep slows the attack so much that it basically negates it. Plus it boosts your main characters damage output making the fight overall faster. Fun test though.
I made a variation of your thor barb with 2 plague on pb i use for battle cry, immune to lighting enemies and proc of lower res then i switch to my 2 crescent moons with 2 wisp projectors, while my act 5 merc is rocking 2 voice of resson on pb. It's really fun proccing all those high lvl light and cold skills ❤
my fury barbs in general do best with one grief+1 lawbringer and utilize all available cc-warcries for different purposes. especially in areas wiht undeads the -100% phys res to them from the aura, and the slow helps alot. so that tets also showes whats best for player-characters
I would've liked to see the data from the combo of Greif + headstriker. Surprised you left that combo out, I would've figured it's the highest damage combo.
Before watching the video i will assume phaseblade grief wins... unless you're running fanaticism aura in which case headstriker will just barely win out. Double lastwish deserves a mention even if it's not exactly worth the price lol, crushing blow, might aura, lifetap and fade is nothing to scoff at even if the pure damage is lower. grief, gface and CoH would be my go to setup for most builds. CoH over fort because of the lifesteal imo.
Last wish wasn't tested because of it's extremely high Crushing Blow. It would have invalidated a Raw Damage output test. Crushing Blow could probably kill Uber Diablo in 60 seconds lol
Could you try Grief + Hustle? to see how does is compare to 2 Grief, Im currently using that on my goldfind barb act 5 merc and I I'm really surprised with the results, still looking for something to kill physical inmunes with no cold damage in it so it leaves corpses but still really good.
I think the reason why Grief was better in your tests, was because of the 185% increased damage vs demons. This is a lot if you don't wear Fortitude. With other enhanced damage items like Fortitude the 185% is no longer as impactful.
The Idea is to test them Raw against each other, applying gear of course would speed up the results. but it would also invalidate the test. Think about it like this, if you have a highly physical damage weapon vs a highly elemental damage weapon and include fortitude well obviously the Physical damage weapon is going to win. So only the inherent bonuses of the weapon are allowed. The only thing I wish I could do for these tests is to remove Open Wounds as a requirement to prevent regeneration. But it's very difficult to constantly reapply Prevent monster heal, the merc won't do it and that means I have to. Uber diablo keeps resetting his prevent monster heal status over these long tests which makes them worthless. So 100% OW it is. The unfortunate side effect is that weapons like Fury which have high OW percentage got done dirty I feel like. Because realisticly Grief and Headstriker would have had trouble maintaining OW, where as Fury would not have.
@@GGMentor You can also apply poison damage as an alternative to OW. This should also do the trick. You can hero edit low poison damage which lasts for a long time, so it doesn't run out.
FHR Shouldn't be a factor because he is taking basically 0 damage. I capped out all his resistances at 95%, Physical at 50%, and gave him nearly 200 Magic and Physical Damage Reduction on top. For FHR to trigger it requires an event that hits for in excess of 1/4 /1/8 or 1/16 of the mercs life. Which none of diablo's attacks can with the ridiculous defense I gave him. But to further that argument, Barb mercs have equivalent FHR breakpoints to a paladin. Which means that they already have very good FHR Recovery times anyway. Also Diablo is Not really affected by Decrepify as much as other monsters as many of his attacks are spells that bypass Decrepify. The only attacks he has that decrepify effects are Basic attack, and Cold Touch. While Fire Nova, Fire Storm, Fire/Lightning Inferno, Bone Prison, are all unaffected by Decrepify.
@@GGMentor True I forgot that you need to loose a specific amount of Life before FHR triggers. Too many hidden mechanics in d2 xD. Thx for clarification 👍
also it would be interesting to see what rares could work I seen Cooley did a video where in this weird type of PVP that grief got destroyed and and isn't the max chance to hit 95% so in theory couldn't you miss multiple times in a row even with a 95% chance to hit on top of uber diablos chance to block?
Godlike rares are definitely a thing just really hard to obtain. Theoretically a Godlike rare with amp proc, 40% ias, eth, fools, cruels would probably blow Grief out of the water.
@@andrzejx2139 Right but you said "any nearby mobs" which is misleading information, cuz they're right there and sometimes they CAN actually be right in the doorway that is next to the AS portal.
I don't believe that works anymore but I could certainly test it. I think it used to work like that when the barb mercs were first released though. I already had the game up so I will check it real quick =) *Edit* So The Results are in, No the secondary slot when left empty does not duplicate the weapon. Grief + Nothing = 17m 52s Grief + Grief = 10m 51s Grief + Crap Vendor Sword = 17m 40s So I think that officially debunks the idea that leaving the slot empty does anything for you at all.
![Itemization (Deep Dive) - D2R, Diablo 3, & Diablo 4 [2 Hour Rant]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-JpCc5W110M/mqdefault.jpg)
People rave about headstriker because they are tired of Grief and desperate to find alternatives to it. But even if the damage is similar (might actually be somewhat higher for headstriker), Grief has a *massive* speed advantage, itd, - target defense and lots of extra demon damage. Only crushing blow can compete.
Cool that you tested crescent moon too, very interesting result!
I'm pretty sure the definitive highest damage act v mer is just like the highest damage barbarian: griefx2, gface, fort.
Actually Lawbringer+Grief has higher dps once Decrepify proc. It also gives your merc cold damage, some life steal and RIP. Last Wish is also top dps vs Ubers and P8 Baal.
@@Jerome...Not to mention the amazing conviction aura that absolutely destroys undead physical res. I said highest dmg meaning raw, but my dual wield barbs use grief/azure and the mercs grief/lawb :D
Decrep proc with act V is pretty inconsistent compared with an act II reaper though due to curse overwrite and terrible attack rating. But that's a story for another day I guess.
Itd on merc doesn't work. I've been always told this but i don't know if it's true.
@@Barnewallianhave you tried double lawbringer on act 5 merc? It procs even more than act 2 merc, thanks to their fast attack (5 per second)
i love the vibe of your vids always have done and i watch stuff i dont even want to do ingame myself just for the vibe keep it up man
Lawbringer is one of the best budget items ever. Sanctuary screws over, cc and pierce physical immunity on undead which form a very large amount of the monsters in the game. Decrepify gives even more cc and physical immunity piercing for everything. Lifesteal, some elemental damage, RIP mod, defense against missiles, more gold... Like practically every stat or ability is relevant.
I use it on my druid with a holy freeze merc, monsters just stop while being slaughtered by the dozens
@@chiari4833 Lol RIP monsters.
I cant stress how important lawbringer is for Lilith and Terrorized Andy. Most people think its the poison but its actually the physical attack that usually kills your merc, and the decrep slows the attack so much that it basically negates it. Plus it boosts your main characters damage output making the fight overall faster. Fun test though.
Oh and death/kingslayer would be interesting to test too!
Grief plus cresent moon is my favorite combo
I made a variation of your thor barb with 2 plague on pb i use for battle cry, immune to lighting enemies and proc of lower res then i switch to my 2 crescent moons with 2 wisp projectors, while my act 5 merc is rocking 2 voice of resson on pb. It's really fun proccing all those high lvl light and cold skills ❤
my fury barbs in general do best with one grief+1 lawbringer and utilize all available cc-warcries for different purposes. especially in areas wiht undeads the -100% phys res to them from the aura, and the slow helps alot. so that tets also showes whats best for player-characters
Grief + Lawbringer was the fastest test, however there is the added issue of overwriting other friendly curses. So no amp, lifetap, lower res, ect.
@@GGMentor for solo runs i never wanted other curses i enjoyed it as it is mostly for act4 CS
I would've liked to see the data from the combo of Greif + headstriker. Surprised you left that combo out, I would've figured it's the highest damage combo.
Before watching the video i will assume phaseblade grief wins... unless you're running fanaticism aura in which case headstriker will just barely win out. Double lastwish deserves a mention even if it's not exactly worth the price lol, crushing blow, might aura, lifetap and fade is nothing to scoff at even if the pure damage is lower.
grief, gface and CoH would be my go to setup for most builds. CoH over fort because of the lifesteal imo.
isnt double lastwish the best because the auras are bugged? they add together and apply twice or something
Last wish wasn't tested because of it's extremely high Crushing Blow. It would have invalidated a Raw Damage output test.
Crushing Blow could probably kill Uber Diablo in 60 seconds lol
What’s the result for crescent moon and lawbringer?
You forgot to do Double Last Wish for the Ultra Rich.
Problem with last wish is the 70% CB skews the results tremendously
Could you try Grief + Hustle? to see how does is compare to 2 Grief, Im currently using that on my goldfind barb act 5 merc and I I'm really surprised with the results, still looking for something to kill physical inmunes with no cold damage in it so it leaves corpses but still really good.
I think the reason why Grief was better in your tests, was because of the 185% increased damage vs demons. This is a lot if you don't wear Fortitude. With other enhanced damage items like Fortitude the 185% is no longer as impactful.
The Idea is to test them Raw against each other, applying gear of course would speed up the results. but it would also invalidate the test.
Think about it like this, if you have a highly physical damage weapon vs a highly elemental damage weapon and include fortitude well obviously the Physical damage weapon is going to win.
So only the inherent bonuses of the weapon are allowed.
The only thing I wish I could do for these tests is to remove Open Wounds as a requirement to prevent regeneration. But it's very difficult to constantly reapply Prevent monster heal, the merc won't do it and that means I have to. Uber diablo keeps resetting his prevent monster heal status over these long tests which makes them worthless.
So 100% OW it is.
The unfortunate side effect is that weapons like Fury which have high OW percentage got done dirty I feel like. Because realisticly Grief and Headstriker would have had trouble maintaining OW, where as Fury would not have.
@@GGMentor You can also apply poison damage as an alternative to OW. This should also do the trick. You can hero edit low poison damage which lasts for a long time, so it doesn't run out.
Can you try bash barbarian merc with single eth headstriker
Headstriker wins by miles because of the doubling effect on the bash barb. It's already been tested before.
@@GGMentor Doesn't grief PB double too?
no it doesn't because the +400 damage comes after the doubling effect in the calculation.
Edit Looks Like Grief still wins I tested it.
@@Fakeslimshadylike ggm said, the doubling effect only happens to the min-max weapon damage you see at the top of the item.
Did you consider that Merc is getting hit more often without decrepify curse up and FHR could be a factor here?
FHR Shouldn't be a factor because he is taking basically 0 damage.
I capped out all his resistances at 95%, Physical at 50%, and gave him nearly 200 Magic and Physical Damage Reduction on top.
For FHR to trigger it requires an event that hits for in excess of 1/4 /1/8 or 1/16 of the mercs life. Which none of diablo's attacks can with the ridiculous defense I gave him.
But to further that argument, Barb mercs have equivalent FHR breakpoints to a paladin. Which means that they already have very good FHR Recovery times anyway.
Also Diablo is Not really affected by Decrepify as much as other monsters as many of his attacks are spells that bypass Decrepify. The only attacks he has that decrepify effects are Basic attack, and Cold Touch. While Fire Nova, Fire Storm, Fire/Lightning Inferno, Bone Prison, are all unaffected by Decrepify.
@@GGMentor True I forgot that you need to loose a specific amount of Life before FHR triggers. Too many hidden mechanics in d2 xD. Thx for clarification 👍
What is this plastic sound in the back ..
probably cody the monster messing with a candy wrapper the little douche.
I wonder how grief and crescent moon together would do. Crescent moon would reduce hp in half and grief would have the raw damage to finish them off.
Sounds like a solid combo
no dual last wish in eth berserker axe or dual beast in eth berserker axe?
Lol,. Merc cant use axes.. next question?
Doesnt the act 2 might merc kill uber diablo faster though?
also it would be interesting to see what rares could work I seen Cooley did a video where in this weird type of PVP that grief got destroyed and and isn't the max chance to hit 95% so in theory couldn't you miss multiple times in a row even with a 95% chance to hit on top of uber diablos chance to block?
Godlike rares are definitely a thing just really hard to obtain. Theoretically a Godlike rare with amp proc, 40% ias, eth, fools, cruels would probably blow Grief out of the water.
That's mainly for pvp. Fools mod rares are bis because in pvp players stack stupid amounts of defense.
Its faster to get to d clone in act 2, wp to arcane and take the nearby tp back to the cellars, clone will be there without any nearby mobs
you are wrong buddy, the monsters next room on the character right can aggro on you. Happened multiple times
ruclips.net/video/d3dIJ48kivo/видео.html 0:46
@@terhoranki6680 right but the room he spawns is empty
@@andrzejx2139 Right but you said "any nearby mobs" which is misleading information, cuz they're right there and sometimes they CAN actually be right in the doorway that is next to the AS portal.
Btw, you don't need two swords. If the second hand is empty, act5 barbs will just clone your first hand weapon.
Edit: I stand corrected.
I don't believe that works anymore but I could certainly test it. I think it used to work like that when the barb mercs were first released though.
I already had the game up so I will check it real quick =)
*Edit*
So The Results are in, No the secondary slot when left empty does not duplicate the weapon.
Grief + Nothing = 17m 52s
Grief + Grief = 10m 51s
Grief + Crap Vendor Sword = 17m 40s
So I think that officially debunks the idea that leaving the slot empty does anything for you at all.
This was an old bug with ww barbs too. Its fixed
Need to pay a reliable nephew to do 50 tests with each set up.
Lol, testing this stuff is so boring too I usually just set it up and start watching a TV Show.
ideal rare swords will give him the best dps
Surprised you didn't try dual LW - that's what I run on one of my mercs 😎
Can't even keep Nazeem alive through Nightmare Baal runs without my constant help.
Just curious, why can't you clear the area then sell the SOJ to the guy, it should remain cleared, yes?
No, Uber Diablo takes the place of a super unique spawn so if you pre spawn them it won't work
@@GGMentor Oh I see. Thank you.
This is not a merc guide vid like the other vids, feels misleading af
Cope
Oh no are you going to tell the youtube overlords on him 🤡