*Act 5 Merc is better - what do you guys think?* Discord: discord.gg/xy3EynP Twitch: www.twitch.tv/dbrunski125 Twitter: twitter.com/dbrunski125 Check out maxroll.gg/ for Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo 3 guides!!! Join my Arena GL club for community events arena.gl/clubs/ckmzh1f49196680vlb6ss2llzu
if you want a strong act5 merc in terms of damage output, you need to switch weapon to the meta. just for info.- for act5 mercs: 1h hand weapon damage is doubled. and according to some tests with modded weapons - it shows maxdamage is trippled. so the answer is : eth upped headstriker, with +max dmg juwel. since + dmg from grief is not doubled, you can forget that option. headstriker does about 3times the dmg your setup shows. worth mentioning is: act5 mercs have like some other creatures the ability to double all their dmg by 5% chance (inlcuding elemental dmg)- this is applied after all other things like deadly strike. he also can tank much more than a act2 merc
Does it matter when they nerf wb and ww attack speed? Find it hard to care about other changes until it's fixed so we can reach same frames (perhaps even easier with buffing off-weapon ias). I thought you were a fan of shifters.
TL;DR - I am fine with them adding unique auras to all of the different mercs. They should be thematic and make sense. That would be an adequate solution. A more INTERESTING solution would be to mix up the skills, weapon types, base stats, and etc. I am not nearly as knowledgeable as DB and I am just spit balling here so be gentle... What about giving the a5 merc Battle Orders? Somewhere on par or better than a HOTO version. Heck give them Grim Ward or Find Item with some RNG based logic for deciding when they hork. Changes like that are more interesting than just tacking on a few auras to every class of merc. Might be blowing past #SomeChanges into #TooManyChanges but... -I've even thought it might be cool if they allowed some mercs "cross class" abilities. E.G. Give Zeal to the a5 and give a2 Fend. -Have merc only versions of skills they can buff and nerf without affecting player power. *These are all things I think they should look at moving forward, this is NOT a wish list for THIS patch.*
the mercenary of the second act is unbeatable because his main attack is the Amazon's STASH, which allows him to hit 3 times when we see that he only attacks once, he has no comparison with anyone else, on the other hand he has the aura of damage that he does a lot your company more profitable. Also you are using FORTITUDE on the barbarian and only SHAEL THUL LEM on the 2nd act mercenary, if you put FORTITUDE on the mercenary, he would take down monsters much faster since his damage aura works with the FORTITUDE ED i like your videos, cheers from Argentina!
@@vladimir2260 a5 merc’s normal swing actually hits twice like the a2 merc’s jab (it doesn’t hit 3 times). You can’t tell because dbrunski geared the barb badly
@@erikmalmberg1295 good point, that would be cumbersome. As someone else mentioned, perhaps make it an aura for just your character and the merc. It could come in either magic find or gold find variations. Hey, I'm not a game developer or balancing expert. Just thinking of a different way to give value to a useless merc.
They could add Battle Orders to Act 5 Mercs. This way we could have a nice progression step before we have our CtA (matching their current stance on most of the new runewords) and the option to keep the BO and a different swap instead of the Act 2 merc. All this while keeping the fantasy side of things cohesive since it's a barbarian and it would be natural for him to have the BO.
Your battle order on the merc would be at a very high level compared to CTA. I’m for this because having every single build video have CTA on switch for the last 20 years is very meh
I agree. The battle orders doesn't have to be super high level because it would be OP. Just make it static like level 3-5 and the merc will be used a lot more.
I couldn't agree more. Keep within the Barb skill tree. BO would still fit the fantasy of the barbarians, it would free up an off hand on so many builds, and make it a strong competitor to the act 2 merc. The choice would then be between a stronger killing merc in Act 2 vs a better survival merc in Act 5.
I wouldn't agree with Auras but maybe give them war cry skills. Eg: Combat = Level 6-10BO. That would help immensely, as not everyone can afford CTA. Defensive = Shout, Offensive = War cry, Battle command Let them dualwield weapons, accompanied with new Highrune-Runewords with auras.
I totally agree. For me it seems very natural to give shouts to A5 merc and maybe curses (lower resist? amp? decrep?) to A3 merc to make them actually useful.
I think if all mercs get auras, it’ll feel like it should have always been that way. I doubt you’d be able to balance it better any other way. It’s an obvious and simple solution.
Act 2 mercs are Paladins. That's why they can use auras. I like that they added War Cry to the barb. They should add Slow Missiles to the Act 1 merc. I think adding auras to every merc would not be fun.
Yes, I 100% agree. The auras are strong, but this is not a reason to do everything with auras. There are many other AoE effects than can be used, or other bonuses added like MF, Phys. resistance, warcries etc. I think the way they went with Act 3 mercs is pretty good. I also like the Act 5 merc and WILL use it on ladder for my sorc instead of Act 2, because I don't need the auras so much. A problem are the many polearm weapon choices for Act 2 mercs which are S-tier (Infinity). Some S-tier merc sword(s) may need to be added to balance this.
Act 2 mercs are not paladins, common misconception. The paladins in D2 are from the western kingdoms, there are also paladins in the east but they were mostly corrupted. The A2 mercs are just guards from Lut Gholein - there is no reason in the lore that they specifically should have auras.
Yeah. Act 5 mercs are Barbarians could use other battle shouts, dual wield, frenzy or whirlwind and would fit perfectly while making them actually useful in their own way. Dual wield = 2 auras, whirlwind = solid physical aoe that no other merc have, frenzy = basically super fast with easily achievable higher ias breakpoints and mercs already have pretty high dps, other shouts = these are basically equivalent of auras and would not mind just a bit more options with battle command and howl variants in addition to battle cry.
I agree that auras to all mercs might not be fun because in the end of the day act 2 mercs are mostly used because of the items they can carry and less about their own aura. What we need is some viable support/crowd control skills plus a bit damage to the other mercs and they would be useful. This can be fixed with items as well.
Well, take out the runewords and you still have some very powerful unique polearms (reapers toll, tomb reaver) that proc curses that further aid their physical damage. I think they'd still stand above other mercs on auras alone. Holy freeze is excellent crowd control, might still strong. The runewords are more for the benefit of your character than the merc themself
A naked A2 merc is still more valuable then the best geared A1,3 or 5 merc. I’d take defiance aura or holy freeze over anything a act 1,3 or 5 merc could even offer damage wise.
So now insight can go into bows IMO there is enough change to start seeing a1 and a3 and a5 mercs. A2 will stay "the best" in most scenarios and it's okay. You don't have to have everything perfectly balanced. Like, people play various hero builds despite many of them being weaker than others, same will happen with mercs when they are not pathetic anymore
@@Ubeogesh did you not watch his video on the A3 mercy lmfao? Even in 100% bis faceted gear + a max conviction aura they still struggled to kill anything. Insight going in a bow is okay but like always why would you even build one in a bow when you could put it on a A2 merc and have it be 10X better. A5 mercs are the only one of the 3 you can justify using.
I would love to see them changed so that they can equip two one hand weapons, this would basically allow double aura and if the auras are still weaker than what a2 merc has then giving them more variation with find item/battle command/battle cry would even it.
@@jonnycatland1987 Duno if its easy have not seen the source code but they did add new skills for mercs, a3 has shield already and ancients are basically what we want so who knows :)
They already do this with 1 handed swords. They scale up the weapon damage twice with 1h swords. That’s why an eth uppd headstriker is crazy good for them. It’s stronger than a grief
if you want a strong act5 merc in terms of damage output, you need to switch weapon to the meta. just for info.- for act5 mercs: 1h hand weapon damage is doubled. and according to some tests with modded weapons - it shows maxdamage is trippled. so the answer is : eth upped headstriker, with +max dmg juwel. since + dmg from grief is not doubled, you can forget that option. headstriker does about 3times the dmg your setup shows. worth mentioning is: act5 mercs have like some other creatures the ability to double all their dmg by 5% chance (inlcuding elemental dmg)- this is applied after all other things like deadly strike. he also can tank much more than a act2 merc
I mentioned I didn't have an eth head striker. Yes its more dmg but I also could have ran a perfect optimized set up for act 2 which I didn't. They have improved mercs a lot I agree but even using head striker doesn't address issues like reapers decrep curse benefiting you more.
@@Dbrunski125 ok did not hear your voice - i only read the title and expected a video of showing performance, so i wanted to give some knowledge about that topic and also a bit offtopic: . yes i know using reapers toll as source for a curse which provides -phys res & slows/weakens enemies will sure help killing, especially when the enemie has some resistences. thats a nature of the reaperstoll which provides support for the player and the merc. - btw in my opinion reapers on merc only supports this-when you use enigma to teleport him there where you need him, and when there is enough time the merc can apply it. i run a frenzybarb or WW barb through CS and the merc is always far away and no help, i outrun him and kill faster then he can follow. tetssetup was players8 (
@@Dbrunski125 If you keep mentioning reapers on a2 then you need to remember about shout that massively reduces DMG taken for party and decreases monsters defense (if you don't run grief, or anything else that ignores defense then it's a nice boost too) For now it seems that both A3 and A5 merc don't use use enchant and shout very often, but it they change it than I think both are viable and still have option to get buffed more in the future.
@@Dbrunski125eth reapers, gface, and treachery is the best dps set up for A2. Well, you’re missing an ias jewel in the helm but that’s all. Not using an eth uppd hs is like reducing the a5’s dps potential by half. It’s that strong.
Whether the aura comes naturally to the merc act 5, or through a unique runeword made for barbs, I agree they need something else than their current 2.4 status.
Dude last wish exists and can be used on a barb merc. This test is bad and gives people a bad impression of what a5 mercs can do. It’s hard to compare a2 and a5 when dbrunski used bad gear on the barb merc and using a might a2 merc and not an a5 merc with last wish.
@@jprec5174 3 Jah, 1 Ber and Sur, that's more expensive than Infinity, only to give what, Might? Why not just get a Act 2 Might merc at this point? What does the act5 merc do better?
The developers said that they want to *maintain the "fantasy" behind each mercenary,* so introducing auras to a "Barbarian" mercenary doesn't make sense "fantasy-wise", although I can see them making more common runewords available to other act mercenaries through their equipment.
@@gaborod87 that would be a really annoying to develope. they would need to make different hirelings for the weaponslots they use. 1h and 2h swords, 1haxe & 1haxe, 1haxe & 1hsword, 1hsword & 1hsword and thats without hammers/maces, 2h swords, 2h axes, etc
Obedience is definitely the best a2 merc weapon I have ran. The enchant along with 40%cb and crazy high ed on every roll is unmatched for a the cost of a mid rune.
its absolutely insane when you're running a necro and amp damage enemies on demand with it I love it on my poison necro merc because I don't need insight it handles griswold with the quickness on the way to my wirts legs
they are heading in the right direction with giving act 5 mercs additional skills. i do agree with auras creating balance, but i think we should still approach buffs for act 5 mercs to revolve around barbarian skills. dual wielding would be nice, but possibly overpowered. however, we should consider allowing them to wield two hand axes and hammers. there are unique hammers and axes in the game that would rival reaper's toll and even offer decrepify in one or two cases. the different mercenaries would have mastery skills for different two hand weapons. act 5 mercs would see alot more use from characters without Call to Arms by granting them additional shouts, lie battle command or battle orders. remove one of the physical attack skills, bash or stun. in summary the mercenary would have 1 combat skill, 1 weapon mastery, 2 shouts (vary between mercenaries, also vary between difficulty levels). improve the AI, to understably recast shouts as needed. frequency increases per level...but somewhat constant. these changes would greatly rival an aura, and remain more consistent with lore.
DB, can you test out the new act 3 fire merc with a summon necro to see how viable the new enchant will be? It seems like it would be fun to play but no idea how quickly the merc will enchant your army.
I would like to see the act 5 merc have access to battle orders. Dps wouldn't be as high but the survivability it adds more than makes up for it especially HC. For act 3 mercs a low level conviction aura would help immensely. Currently even with the tweaks there is very little reason to stop using the act 2 merc!
@@Spongey1985 you have to remember the duration isn't great at lower levels and also you can't cast it yourself leaving it down to your merc to cast it. Certainly no more powerful than having 200% Ed from a might aura aswell as decrepify procs every 2 sec from reapers toll
Although adding aura WOULD balance the problem - I feel like its a bit heavy-fisted/inelegant. I'd much rather blizzard A) buff the mercs base stats (consider adding movement speed, health, life-leech, increased cast rate, damage reduction or other POWERFUL natural abilities). B) Providing merc runewords that effectively add auras, or C) Increasing the frequency of their powerful maneuvers.
Seconded. I'd take it a step farther with a suggestion I know will be unpopular (mostly because we like buffs more than we like nerfs). If auras are really so heavy a factor in making every other mercenary competitive with A2 and, as discussed in Joseph Coleman's thread, there's no real lore backing why A2 have auras in the first place, then I'd say remove their auras. If no merc class has an intrinsic aura, then the differences get leveled to the other ways they support/control/zone the fight as well as the gear (incl. any added auras) they get.
Yeah, I've tried it. It attacks slow, without damage. Yeah it procs decrepify and knockbacks all the undead when you teleport but thats everything you get from it. With the best merc sword base it still doesn't do more than 1k damage on hit with normal attack speed.
@@Dbrunski125 Yeah it's fine, he still performed pretty decently in the end, i just dropped my 2 cents for the sake of it, didn't mean to tell you what to do although it might have sounded like it :D
@@Dbrunski125 but with an eth uppd hs, treachery and gface he would have killed faster than the a2 merc. So this test is flawed. You used the a2’s best dps set up, why not do the same for a5? That’s a pretty glaring discrepancy in this test.
Act 1 could cast Burst of Speed on you? They would have to invent a new ability to buff FCR. Act 5 could use concentration aura for uninteruptable attacks.
@@JackOfHearts42 Yeah, at least these mercs can replace some type of gear. I dont have to use a a 10FCR ring to get some break point. I would def consider using these mercs if I no longer have to equip a raven frost or shove a cham rune in my helm.
If memory serves, the fact that the A5 merc has similar hp lvls to the A2 merc means they did actually buff it. A5 mercs I've used in the past always had much lower hp than A2 mercs in similar gear/lvl.
It's not that overpowered to add auras to the mercs, it's just that it doesn't fit with the class fantasy that those mercs have... I'd rather see completely new skills or abilities or maybe some curses
Well we don’t know unless someone tests an act5 merc with the proper equipment. Because he didn’t use an eth uppd headstriker the merc is doing almost 50% less damage.
I understand the sentiment to give support auras to all mercs from all acts, after all, the act II mercs have reigned supreme for like a decade now with their auras, and thus "merc" has become almost synonymous with "aura stick". I do agree that auras are extremely powerful support tool for a merc, act II are the best for a reason. However, I strongly feel that making all mercenaries essentially the same is not the right way to move forward. Every act has a unique flavor to it, and in my opinion there are other avenues to improve the utility of other mercs, without making them all feel like act II mercs. Otherwise, why not just remove all other mercs from the game and just have a choice between 12 different act II auras. Min/maxing is important, but there must be another way to achieve utility with the other mercs than to just slap on them whatever works from act II and delete their identity and flavor. We will be decreasing diversity in this way, not increasing it.
Agreed. I think it would be cool if the A5 mercs had BC/BO/Shout they would cast... essentially giving access to a CTA mid game before you got rich. Then when you for your HRs, you can switch to A2 merc for aura, etc. I think the shouts could be OP a bit though, but if done right, could be a nice change without sacrificing identity. Maybe norm A5 = shout. NM = BC. Hell = BO?
I like the current direction to use other utility type skills, such as enchant, frozen armor and static field for act III and battle cry for act V mercs. The real equalizing factor, in my opinion, would be the introduction of new runewords, as they have tried with plague and mist. What makes act II mercs really dominant is the combination of 2 auras. 95% of all currently used mercs have a combination of might or freeze with conviction, meditation or concentration from runewords. Now, imagine for example an act V merc with his current battle cry ability and an access to a new runeword in swords, which grants 33% chance to cast level 2 amplify damage on striking. I would say that this combination of -90% enemy defense and almost guaranteed doubling of physical damage or removal of immunity becomes quite competitive to the act II option of might + pride or reapers, while keeping the two mercs distinct. In this way, we could achieve similar results for physical damage builds through 2 different means.
@@UnderworldGrim Yeah, something like this could work and falls in line with the subdivision of other acts (like cold/fire act I, cold/fire/lighting act III and offensive/defensive/combat act II). Shouts (like curses for example) could be a strong potential alternative to auras for utility. Even consider war cry, not for the damage, but for the stun duration in an AOE. There are a lot of utility skills in the game that are different from auras.
Every one use Merc act II cuase you can use pole arms. they should do infinity and insight be able in other weapons. And dont forget the reaper unic pole arm.
I think giving act 3 mercs curses could be interesting. Something like the cold merc doing decrepify, the fire mercury doing amp damage and the light merc doing lower res, would give them a unique utility without the whole aura or bust mentality. Just an idea to toy with Also a currency stash tab would be really cool man I’d love to put my runes in stacks in a tab just for them. And a loot filter maybe with some personal customization would be nice.
Dual wield like everyone else is saying would be pretty cool, could stack an aura and damage. I think another thing that would make sense is giving a5 mercs like a comparable BO to CTA+skills or a high level shout for a huge def increase.
I've never liked the idea of just giving everybody auras. I'd much rather see other ways to buff the other mercs. I liked the idea of giving war cry to the barb and I think adding different war cries would be a more natural way to buff them than adding auras. Imagine barb mercs with BO or the new Grim Ward(although this probably still needs some work to be useful). Also, one way to make act 2 mercs less popular would be to make insight and infinity not available on polearms/spears. Insight was already changed so it can be made in bows, so why not remove the polearm altogether. Similarly, what if infinity was available on two handed swords and/or bows.
DB can you not get Concentration aura from an item?. I thought one of the new runewords has Concentration on it and that would be a viable weapon choice to have on a merc, Correct me if im wrong.
If they want to make it interesting, then give Act 5 Mercs Battle Orders, probably better than the average character would get with CTA. CTA is such a staple for not Barb characters and it would be nice to have an alternative way of getting BO. Act 3 mercs get lower resist curse.
bad suggestion, power creep. you can hire a merc for what, a few thousand gold? the requirement for cta is farming ohm. you woulldnt only make it available for low to mid level play, but you would also lower the cost immensively.
I am so pleased that they are actually making an effort to make other mercs viable especially on a players 8 test I’m just so used to only using a2 mercs at this point that no matter the difference in clear speed I think that them finally making some stuff evened out better is gonna help with the diversity of builds from here on out I’ll give the a5 merc a 9/10 and the a2 a perfect 10 they did it in a good fashion to make the a5 merc actually make a difference and it’s nice to see them actually have an ability that is true to Diablo 2. I’m glad they did it this way instead of buffing them another way
Problems for merc comparisons are auras and also weapon choices. Mercs get auras and highest dmg off their weeps as well as natively, that’s what makes them so great
I feel like I understand where you're coming from with adding aura's to the other mercenaries, but way if they add even more runewords with aura's that are item restricted so that they can't be stacked on act 2 mercs? Wouldn't that be a fair compromise?
Act 5 merc with lawbringer could be interesting for melee chars. That gives you decrepify too and sanctify aura for physical dmg against undead. Does not do a lot of dmg though. But at least for me, my merc doesn't have to do a lot of dmg he just has to survive and buff me :D
I was thinking same thing. You get decripfy like reapers toll but you get a defensive shout isntead of offensive might. I like being tanky myself and 46% damage reduction is really nice
you should try with a +sword mastery +natural resistance + increased speed delirium for crowd control, or wisdom, or just rare with visionary and these skills should add your actV merc masteries skills isn't it?
Not sure why it has to be an aura. Barbarians have their shouts, there's so much potential in that. Also a more powerful attack might be an idea. Imagine an act5 merc using whirlwind, leap attack, double swing, or concentrate. And like some other commenter said, let them use axes, too. Or have two specialized ones: 1. Using axes, double swing and battle cry 2. Using swords, concentrate and battle orders
Even if they didn’t have an aura specifically, they had some other group utility that was more competitive or runeword support like there is for pole arms. For example, let them use battle orders/shout/battle command so you can get access to those buffs without CTA or a barb player character. Or also let them use the new grim ward ability for damage boost. For runewords, let the new bow/concentrate aura runeword roll in 2h swords, or the same for existing a2 mercenary runewords. E.g infinity/meditation
I agree (positive) about adding auras. Even if damage or defense was increased for the other mercs, the true value of a mercenary is generally their utility buffs. Honestly is would be great to have an act 5 or act 3 merc with meditation. It would open up opportunities to use items like Plague and give players a reason to really consider their choices on mercenaries
The real change they need to make to mercs is to let you "keep" all 4 of them with equipment, and ability to leave him in town or swap for another merc of different act.
aura alright idea, but how far till you're reusing auras or giving crappy ones to them. I'm kind of liking the direction there going, but they could be doing more, barbs should have more shouts, rouge should drop curses (should have a check to hit the target with a curse if not cursed before firing arrows) and iron wolf could rock auras and/or curses.
Think ur right about this, sure its cool that the act1, act3 and act5 mercs are a bit better now but without any auras on them I dont see my self using them over a act2 merc.
low level auras on a5 merc would be cool, but another good approach is to massively buff his survivability. +1500 hp and +25 res at lvl 95 compared to a2 merc would give a good reason to use a5 merc if you are tired of your a2 merc dying, which i think is a cool change for midgame too
I would like to add auras to the other mercs, but I would like them to be more unexpected auras that may not even add damage. Like I would love it if you could pick up an act 5 merc with a Vigor aura or a Sanctuary Aura or maybe some of the resist auras.
I want to see Cast on Strike Lower Resist added somewhere that isn’t a Spear or Polearm honestly. Give me a budget Infinity. Also changing so all the absurd aura runewords don’t only appear on spears and polearms would be great.
I'm also not sure that Battle Cry is the answer; since it overrides curses it makes the limited applications A5 mercs had worse in some cases. Hoping you do an A1 Merc video too! Freezing arrow with Mist, Delirium, and Treachery provides outstanding utility and is something I would actually consider using over A2 Mercs provided my character didn't rely on other curses.
hey, you know what I'd like to see improved? Increase the stack sizes for javelins and arrows/bolts. hate having to always go back and repair and running out of arrows.
It’s fast but ACT 2 still seems to be the king, I was not a fan the first time I heard you talking about other support auras but the more I think about it the more I like it. You could argue it replaces Pally and complain it breaches on team builds and all that. They already did that with runewords though, Barb is basically dead due to Call to Arms in regards to group play.
I'm not going to lie, I had no intention of playing this game for a very long time because I felt like it was just going to be rehashed ass. I will say that your videos are getting me excited.
I actually like the current Barb merc for non-min-maxing setup, he is quite tanky and the cry and the stun are helpful. It's very workable for playthrough.
Hi DBrunski. I think that the idea of aura isn't bad, but not fair. Instead of having 3 striking skills, e.g., A3 merc could have lightning, static field, and a curse. Charged bolt, firebolt and the ice blast are crap. Replace with different curses. A5 barb let them have 2 warcries, a buffing one (bo, shout, battle command) and one for debuffing or damaging monsters
A5 singer merc or A5 leap merc, would be absolutely fucking amazing change to the A2 merc meta. It will bring crazy CC, especially A5 leap merc could replace a leap barb for the CC.
I was convinced that they will add battle orders to act5 mercs. Guess I was wrong. They would have a role for sure with BO, adding a 2nd weapon set instead of CTA would be useful for many builds. Also it wouldn't be just a desert merc reskin.
Rather than using auras as a blanket solution. The obvious choice for act 5 mercs (I've said this before), would be a custom shout, that has an Amplify Damage type effect - breaking physical immunity and increasing their damage done. Multiple problems solved in a single simple shot.
I definitely agree with the aura's, it is the single reason why a2 are always preferred over other mercs, yes the barb merc has the potential to be more tanky and hit harder but I feel with a5merc we can skip the auras and just have options of different warcries much like the a2 mercs with off/def/supp. Having a mobile HP/MP buff would be so much more helpful for more players until they can build or trade for call to arms. A3 Yes definitely auras, same principle just use auras the a2 mercs do not have but I agree with a lower level breakpoint Concentration/Conviction/sanctuary/cleansing/salvation with caps at level10 also limit conviction/salvation to hell difficulty. I'd say that would help level the playing. I believe this would make the a2 merc more of endgame option and more casual players will use the a3 and a5 to help with their farming until they can find items to help get those endgame items. I think the biggest thing would be a low level conviction, it'll help a3 mercs damage output making them more viable and also help elemental builds until they can afford the over expensive infinity. Without end game gear it is really difficult to clear hell with a dual spec sorc from the insanity that are immunes. I know the primary reason for many of the new runewords is for more useful mid-game rune items that can carry into end-game, a solid a3 aura or a5 warcry merc, capped at low levels, would be far more beneficial mid game to late game. I believe with this split you will see a variety of mercs being used in a variety of builds to help supplement casual players as they collect their endgame gear. This may also make other gear more useful for mercs as it can supplement the new variety of auras or warcries. And if not auras or various warcries can we at least get a basic AI command for them "Hold position, fall back, attack" would save people pockets of gold from their merc walking into a pack of souls lol.
I think they should just give the a5 mercs a low level battle orders. That would make them an option early on for players that can't yet afford a cta, or aren't relying on a2 mercs auras
Give the A5 merc the find item ability, but on a 30 second cooldown so you only get a few extra finds per run unless you're willing to severely limit your clear speed.
They should not add an aura. That is too similar to the Act 2 merc. They should just allow the Act 5 merc to dual weild weapons. That would allow him to potentially have 2 auras (with a high budget) but also allow him to have 2 auras from 2 x 1 handed weapon and maybe 1 curse on hit (decrepify on lawbringer lets say). That will be unique and not just another almost identical version of act 2 merc but with other weapons. Too OP? The Act 2 has been the meta for far too long. Let's get something new for everyone.
Although the suggestion is interesting, it might be too out-of-scope for what the team is aiming at, because I guess that more art has to be produced, rendered or whatever it is they have to do when changing animations (they'd need to create additional animations for the mercs for dual wield, test and debug). They might want to keep tweeking just skill values and such. I wonder what they had to do for battle cry.
Merc balance isn’t quite there yet, imo. It may come to giving them all auras with no variety as you scale difficulties. A1: Vigor, blessed aim, cleansing *Meditation/Conc/Fanat + Cleansing could compliment so many builds that don’t rely on lowering enemy resistances. A2: Holy fire, holy freeze, holy shock *Desert guards settle in as the Infinity specialist, and their auras are complimentary. Plus, casters like their holy freeze. A3: Resist fire, resist cold, resist lightning *Devs made Iron Wolves the highest resistance merc in the game. We could embrace this change and give them a niche. It could also potentially buff their aura pulse damage with dragon/dream. If it’s OP, scale down the max aura lvl. A5: Might, defiance, thorns *The other mercs have enough utility so these guys get the only shared damage aura, while having access to WC’s. I think thorns should deal a bit more damage too so it’s actually worth considering. They should all have similar clear speeds and provide aura buffs.
i would rather see new runewords made with mercs specifically in mind to provide auras. Like a barb helm only runeword, a shield only runeword, and a bow only aura providing runeword. Maybe lvl 5 fanat aura in barb helm, lvl 8 meditation aura in shield, and lvl 20+ might aura in bow (bows really need the dmg boost imo)
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*Act 5 Merc is better - what do you guys think?*
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if you want a strong act5 merc in terms of damage output, you need to switch weapon to the meta. just for info.- for act5 mercs: 1h hand weapon damage is doubled. and according to some tests with modded weapons - it shows maxdamage is trippled. so the answer is : eth upped headstriker, with +max dmg juwel. since + dmg from grief is not doubled, you can forget that option. headstriker does about 3times the dmg your setup shows. worth mentioning is: act5 mercs have like some other creatures the ability to double all their dmg by 5% chance (inlcuding elemental dmg)- this is applied after all other things like deadly strike. he also can tank much more than a act2 merc
Does it matter when they nerf wb and ww attack speed? Find it hard to care about other changes until it's fixed so we can reach same frames (perhaps even easier with buffing off-weapon ias). I thought you were a fan of shifters.
TL;DR - I am fine with them adding unique auras to all of the different mercs. They should be thematic and make sense. That would be an adequate solution.
A more INTERESTING solution would be to mix up the skills, weapon types, base stats, and etc. I am not nearly as knowledgeable as DB and I am just spit balling here so be gentle...
What about giving the a5 merc Battle Orders? Somewhere on par or better than a HOTO version. Heck give them Grim Ward or Find Item with some RNG based logic for deciding when they hork. Changes like that are more interesting than just tacking on a few auras to every class of merc.
Might be blowing past #SomeChanges into #TooManyChanges but...
-I've even thought it might be cool if they allowed some mercs "cross class" abilities. E.G. Give Zeal to the a5 and give a2 Fend.
-Have merc only versions of skills they can buff and nerf without affecting player power.
*These are all things I think they should look at moving forward, this is NOT a wish list for THIS patch.*
the mercenary of the second act is unbeatable because his main attack is the Amazon's STASH, which allows him to hit 3 times when we see that he only attacks once, he has no comparison with anyone else, on the other hand he has the aura of damage that he does a lot your company more profitable.
Also you are using FORTITUDE on the barbarian and only SHAEL THUL LEM on the 2nd act mercenary, if you put FORTITUDE on the mercenary, he would take down monsters much faster since his damage aura works with the FORTITUDE ED
i like your videos, cheers from Argentina!
@@vladimir2260 a5 merc’s normal swing actually hits twice like the a2 merc’s jab (it doesn’t hit 3 times).
You can’t tell because dbrunski geared the barb badly
I'd like to see a duel wield option for act 5 barb, that could add some interesting options.
I agree
Or 2 hand axe
Yeah time to let bulkathos swords shine
Beast and Last Wish Combination
Would be even more epic if they can add *gloves, boots, rings and amulet* as equipable items for the mercenaries too!
Why not add a magic find boost to act 3 mercs? Enough to be worthwhile. Make them viable in a completely different way.
Because they would need to do the killing blow to benefit of the MF, making it very inconsistent and slow
@@erikmalmberg1295 so, then do unic feature like mf aura for 3d act mercs for example. It is simple if u have intension.
@@erikmalmberg1295 good point, that would be cumbersome. As someone else mentioned, perhaps make it an aura for just your character and the merc. It could come in either magic find or gold find variations. Hey, I'm not a game developer or balancing expert. Just thinking of a different way to give value to a useless merc.
I would love A5 with dual wield and find item variant and then just some new aura runewords for A3.
I agree! If they actually manage to kill something, it ought to have 1000 MF boost on that kill. Jelani earned that shit for sure
They could add Battle Orders to Act 5 Mercs. This way we could have a nice progression step before we have our CtA (matching their current stance on most of the new runewords) and the option to keep the BO and a different swap instead of the Act 2 merc. All this while keeping the fantasy side of things cohesive since it's a barbarian and it would be natural for him to have the BO.
I agree. I think they only want to give the barbarian mercenary skills that he has. That's why Battle Orders would be perfect.
That would be too good. It will make the game trivial actually. And you'll have this merc more often than A2 merc nowdays.
Your battle order on the merc would be at a very high level compared to CTA.
I’m for this because having every single build video have CTA on switch for the last 20 years is very meh
I agree. The battle orders doesn't have to be super high level because it would be OP. Just make it static like level 3-5 and the merc will be used a lot more.
I couldn't agree more. Keep within the Barb skill tree. BO would still fit the fantasy of the barbarians, it would free up an off hand on so many builds, and make it a strong competitor to the act 2 merc. The choice would then be between a stronger killing merc in Act 2 vs a better survival merc in Act 5.
I wouldn't agree with Auras but maybe give them war cry skills. Eg:
Combat = Level 6-10BO. That would help immensely, as not everyone can afford CTA.
Defensive = Shout, Offensive = War cry, Battle command
Let them dualwield weapons, accompanied with new Highrune-Runewords with auras.
I totally agree. For me it seems very natural to give shouts to A5 merc and maybe curses (lower resist? amp? decrep?) to A3 merc to make them actually useful.
I think if all mercs get auras, it’ll feel like it should have always been that way. I doubt you’d be able to balance it better any other way. It’s an obvious and simple solution.
I don’t get it even with auras on a5 etc reapers and infinity is still better by a long shot for many builds.
@@Pharisaeus Those curses would be way too OP. There's a reason mercs don't have Fanaticism and Conviction aura...
@@manoqueenz I would say life tap is a good curse to give them, middle teir like might
Act 2 mercs are Paladins. That's why they can use auras. I like that they added War Cry to the barb. They should add Slow Missiles to the Act 1 merc. I think adding auras to every merc would not be fun.
Yes, I 100% agree. The auras are strong, but this is not a reason to do everything with auras. There are many other AoE effects than can be used, or other bonuses added like MF, Phys. resistance, warcries etc.
I think the way they went with Act 3 mercs is pretty good. I also like the Act 5 merc and WILL use it on ladder for my sorc instead of Act 2, because I don't need the auras so much.
A problem are the many polearm weapon choices for Act 2 mercs which are S-tier (Infinity). Some S-tier merc sword(s) may need to be added to balance this.
Paladins with jab skill from zon tree
Act 2 mercs are not paladins, common misconception. The paladins in D2 are from the western kingdoms, there are also paladins in the east but they were mostly corrupted. The A2 mercs are just guards from Lut Gholein - there is no reason in the lore that they specifically should have auras.
Yeah. Act 5 mercs are Barbarians could use other battle shouts, dual wield, frenzy or whirlwind and would fit perfectly while making them actually useful in their own way. Dual wield = 2 auras, whirlwind = solid physical aoe that no other merc have, frenzy = basically super fast with easily achievable higher ias breakpoints and mercs already have pretty high dps, other shouts = these are basically equivalent of auras and would not mind just a bit more options with battle command and howl variants in addition to battle cry.
I agree that auras to all mercs might not be fun because in the end of the day act 2 mercs are mostly used because of the items they can carry and less about their own aura. What we need is some viable support/crowd control skills plus a bit damage to the other mercs and they would be useful. This can be fixed with items as well.
I don't think the issue is with the act2 merc it's self. I think it's just all the OP pole arm rune wards
And free auras
Well, take out the runewords and you still have some very powerful unique polearms (reapers toll, tomb reaver) that proc curses that further aid their physical damage. I think they'd still stand above other mercs on auras alone. Holy freeze is excellent crowd control, might still strong. The runewords are more for the benefit of your character than the merc themself
A naked A2 merc is still more valuable then the best geared A1,3 or 5 merc. I’d take defiance aura or holy freeze over anything a act 1,3 or 5 merc could even offer damage wise.
So now insight can go into bows
IMO there is enough change to start seeing a1 and a3 and a5 mercs. A2 will stay "the best" in most scenarios and it's okay. You don't have to have everything perfectly balanced. Like, people play various hero builds despite many of them being weaker than others, same will happen with mercs when they are not pathetic anymore
@@Ubeogesh did you not watch his video on the A3 mercy lmfao? Even in 100% bis faceted gear + a max conviction aura they still struggled to kill anything. Insight going in a bow is okay but like always why would you even build one in a bow when you could put it on a A2 merc and have it be 10X better. A5 mercs are the only one of the 3 you can justify using.
I would love to see them changed so that they can equip two one hand weapons, this would basically allow double aura and if the auras are still weaker than what a2 merc has then giving them more variation with find item/battle command/battle cry would even it.
That's such an good idea and easy fix. I would also love to see them use frenzy and WW
@@jonnycatland1987 Duno if its easy have not seen the source code but they did add new skills for mercs, a3 has shield already and ancients are basically what we want so who knows :)
Double Last wish a5 merc Lets Go
They already do this with 1 handed swords. They scale up the weapon damage twice with 1h swords. That’s why an eth uppd headstriker is crazy good for them. It’s stronger than a grief
@@jprec5174 I believe dmg isn't the issue, a2 merc has more auras and 2 weapons should solve this.
if you want a strong act5 merc in terms of damage output, you need to switch weapon to the meta. just for info.- for act5 mercs: 1h hand weapon damage is doubled. and according to some tests with modded weapons - it shows maxdamage is trippled. so the answer is : eth upped headstriker, with +max dmg juwel. since + dmg from grief is not doubled, you can forget that option. headstriker does about 3times the dmg your setup shows. worth mentioning is: act5 mercs have like some other creatures the ability to double all their dmg by 5% chance (inlcuding elemental dmg)- this is applied after all other things like deadly strike. he also can tank much more than a act2 merc
The thing is why not show correct damage??? And in personal stats only main hand stats are shown not offhand ffs fix it
I mentioned I didn't have an eth head striker. Yes its more dmg but I also could have ran a perfect optimized set up for act 2 which I didn't. They have improved mercs a lot I agree but even using head striker doesn't address issues like reapers decrep curse benefiting you more.
@@Dbrunski125 ok did not hear your voice - i only read the title and expected a video of showing performance, so i wanted to give some knowledge about that topic and also a bit offtopic: . yes i know using reapers toll as source for a curse which provides -phys res & slows/weakens enemies will sure help killing, especially when the enemie has some resistences. thats a nature of the reaperstoll which provides support for the player and the merc. - btw in my opinion reapers on merc only supports this-when you use enigma to teleport him there where you need him, and when there is enough time the merc can apply it. i run a frenzybarb or WW barb through CS and the merc is always far away and no help, i outrun him and kill faster then he can follow. tetssetup was players8 (
@@Dbrunski125
If you keep mentioning reapers on a2 then you need to remember about shout that massively reduces DMG taken for party and decreases monsters defense (if you don't run grief, or anything else that ignores defense then it's a nice boost too)
For now it seems that both A3 and A5 merc don't use use enchant and shout very often, but it they change it than I think both are viable and still have option to get buffed more in the future.
@@Dbrunski125eth reapers, gface, and treachery is the best dps set up for A2. Well, you’re missing an ias jewel in the helm but that’s all.
Not using an eth uppd hs is like reducing the a5’s dps potential by half. It’s that strong.
Favourite phrase of DB: 'Add an aura.'
Sheesh, man...
Whether the aura comes naturally to the merc act 5, or through a unique runeword made for barbs, I agree they need something else than their current 2.4 status.
Dude last wish exists and can be used on a barb merc.
This test is bad and gives people a bad impression of what a5 mercs can do.
It’s hard to compare a2 and a5 when dbrunski used bad gear on the barb merc and using a might a2 merc and not an a5 merc with last wish.
@@jprec5174 yeah cause last wish is a realistic option....lmao gtfo mercs need auras for them to be viable. Simple as that.
@@TsibisIT YeA liEk InfeENiTY is a ReaLiStIC oPsHuN gtFoH!
They gave them battle cry. Maybe ask why dbrunski didn’t actually test it.
@@jprec5174 3 Jah, 1 Ber and Sur, that's more expensive than Infinity, only to give what, Might? Why not just get a Act 2 Might merc at this point? What does the act5 merc do better?
The developers said that they want to *maintain the "fantasy" behind each mercenary,* so introducing auras to a "Barbarian" mercenary doesn't make sense "fantasy-wise", although I can see them making more common runewords available to other act mercenaries through their equipment.
spot on
I agree with the devs
In this way they may consider barb dual weapond
@@gaborod87 that would be a really annoying to develope. they would need to make different hirelings for the weaponslots they use. 1h and 2h swords, 1haxe & 1haxe, 1haxe & 1hsword, 1hsword & 1hsword and thats without hammers/maces, 2h swords, 2h axes, etc
Dual weild and frenzy on them would make them so much better lol
Obedience is definitely the best a2 merc weapon I have ran. The enchant along with 40%cb and crazy high ed on every roll is unmatched for a the cost of a mid rune.
its absolutely insane when you're running a necro and amp damage enemies on demand with it I love it on my poison necro merc because I don't need insight it handles griswold with the quickness on the way to my wirts legs
they are heading in the right direction with giving act 5 mercs additional skills. i do agree with auras creating balance, but i think we should still approach buffs for act 5 mercs to revolve around barbarian skills. dual wielding would be nice, but possibly overpowered. however, we should consider allowing them to wield two hand axes and hammers. there are unique hammers and axes in the game that would rival reaper's toll and even offer decrepify in one or two cases. the different mercenaries would have mastery skills for different two hand weapons. act 5 mercs would see alot more use from characters without Call to Arms by granting them additional shouts, lie battle command or battle orders. remove one of the physical attack skills, bash or stun. in summary the mercenary would have 1 combat skill, 1 weapon mastery, 2 shouts (vary between mercenaries, also vary between difficulty levels). improve the AI, to understably recast shouts as needed. frequency increases per level...but somewhat constant. these changes would greatly rival an aura, and remain more consistent with lore.
DB, can you test out the new act 3 fire merc with a summon necro to see how viable the new enchant will be? It seems like it would be fun to play but no idea how quickly the merc will enchant your army.
I would like to see the act 5 merc have access to battle orders. Dps wouldn't be as high but the survivability it adds more than makes up for it especially HC. For act 3 mercs a low level conviction aura would help immensely. Currently even with the tweaks there is very little reason to stop using the act 2 merc!
and rule over your battleorders? nah man ill pass
Of course BO because it would solve "everybody needs CtA" problem..
Would be great for newer players who can't afford CTA, maybe just a really low BO like lvl 3.
nah, adding BO is way too much. Everyone would run act 5 mercs until they can get cta.
@@Spongey1985 you have to remember the duration isn't great at lower levels and also you can't cast it yourself leaving it down to your merc to cast it. Certainly no more powerful than having 200% Ed from a might aura aswell as decrepify procs every 2 sec from reapers toll
Although adding aura WOULD balance the problem - I feel like its a bit heavy-fisted/inelegant. I'd much rather blizzard A) buff the mercs base stats (consider adding movement speed, health, life-leech, increased cast rate, damage reduction or other POWERFUL natural abilities). B) Providing merc runewords that effectively add auras, or C) Increasing the frequency of their powerful maneuvers.
Seconded. I'd take it a step farther with a suggestion I know will be unpopular (mostly because we like buffs more than we like nerfs). If auras are really so heavy a factor in making every other mercenary competitive with A2 and, as discussed in Joseph Coleman's thread, there's no real lore backing why A2 have auras in the first place, then I'd say remove their auras. If no merc class has an intrinsic aura, then the differences get leveled to the other ways they support/control/zone the fight as well as the gear (incl. any added auras) they get.
DB have you thought about giving lawbringer to the Act 5 merc? I think that might be a really viable approach to make them good
Lawbringer could be cool. It has no enhanced dmg though and decrep would interfer and be over ride by battle cry
Yeah, I've tried it. It attacks slow, without damage. Yeah it procs decrepify and knockbacks all the undead when you teleport but thats everything you get from it. With the best merc sword base it still doesn't do more than 1k damage on hit with normal attack speed.
You should have gone with treachery imo, with death you need that attack speed, also the DR is great.
With treachery his dmg drops a lot thought. Wasn't designed to be a perfect test just showing that they have been improved
@@Dbrunski125 Yeah it's fine, he still performed pretty decently in the end, i just dropped my 2 cents for the sake of it, didn't mean to tell you what to do although it might have sounded like it :D
It would have been an option to try absolutely
@@Dbrunski125 but with an eth uppd hs, treachery and gface he would have killed faster than the a2 merc. So this test is flawed.
You used the a2’s best dps set up, why not do the same for a5? That’s a pretty glaring discrepancy in this test.
I think, giving a act 1/act3/act5 merc a buff they can give your character. Act 1 gives you IAS, Act 3 merc FCR and act 5 give cannot be frozen or FHR
Act 1 could cast Burst of Speed on you? They would have to invent a new ability to buff FCR. Act 5 could use concentration aura for uninteruptable attacks.
@@JackOfHearts42 Yeah, at least these mercs can replace some type of gear. I dont have to use a a 10FCR ring to get some break point. I would def consider using these mercs if I no longer have to equip a raven frost or shove a cham rune in my helm.
If memory serves, the fact that the A5 merc has similar hp lvls to the A2 merc means they did actually buff it. A5 mercs I've used in the past always had much lower hp than A2 mercs in similar gear/lvl.
yeah , but they said that they changed it to make it so the act 5 mercs actually had the most hp out of them all
It's not that overpowered to add auras to the mercs, it's just that it doesn't fit with the class fantasy that those mercs have... I'd rather see completely new skills or abilities or maybe some curses
Well we don’t know unless someone tests an act5 merc with the proper equipment.
Because he didn’t use an eth uppd headstriker the merc is doing almost 50% less damage.
I understand the sentiment to give support auras to all mercs from all acts, after all, the act II mercs have reigned supreme for like a decade now with their auras, and thus "merc" has become almost synonymous with "aura stick". I do agree that auras are extremely powerful support tool for a merc, act II are the best for a reason.
However, I strongly feel that making all mercenaries essentially the same is not the right way to move forward. Every act has a unique flavor to it, and in my opinion there are other avenues to improve the utility of other mercs, without making them all feel like act II mercs. Otherwise, why not just remove all other mercs from the game and just have a choice between 12 different act II auras.
Min/maxing is important, but there must be another way to achieve utility with the other mercs than to just slap on them whatever works from act II and delete their identity and flavor. We will be decreasing diversity in this way, not increasing it.
Agreed. I think it would be cool if the A5 mercs had BC/BO/Shout they would cast... essentially giving access to a CTA mid game before you got rich. Then when you for your HRs, you can switch to A2 merc for aura, etc. I think the shouts could be OP a bit though, but if done right, could be a nice change without sacrificing identity. Maybe norm A5 = shout. NM = BC. Hell = BO?
I like the current direction to use other utility type skills, such as enchant, frozen armor and static field for act III and battle cry for act V mercs. The real equalizing factor, in my opinion, would be the introduction of new runewords, as they have tried with plague and mist.
What makes act II mercs really dominant is the combination of 2 auras. 95% of all currently used mercs have a combination of might or freeze with conviction, meditation or concentration from runewords.
Now, imagine for example an act V merc with his current battle cry ability and an access to a new runeword in swords, which grants 33% chance to cast level 2 amplify damage on striking. I would say that this combination of -90% enemy defense and almost guaranteed doubling of physical damage or removal of immunity becomes quite competitive to the act II option of might + pride or reapers, while keeping the two mercs distinct. In this way, we could achieve similar results for physical damage builds through 2 different means.
@@UnderworldGrim Yeah, something like this could work and falls in line with the subdivision of other acts (like cold/fire act I, cold/fire/lighting act III and offensive/defensive/combat act II). Shouts (like curses for example) could be a strong potential alternative to auras for utility. Even consider war cry, not for the damage, but for the stun duration in an AOE. There are a lot of utility skills in the game that are different from auras.
Agree. Solution is more useful skills and RWs designed for these mercs. I think they are on the right track with the idea.
Every one use Merc act II cuase you can use pole arms. they should do infinity and insight be able in other weapons. And dont forget the reaper unic pole arm.
I think giving act 3 mercs curses could be interesting. Something like the cold merc doing decrepify, the fire mercury doing amp damage and the light merc doing lower res, would give them a unique utility without the whole aura or bust mentality. Just an idea to toy with
Also a currency stash tab would be really cool man I’d love to put my runes in stacks in a tab just for them. And a loot filter maybe with some personal customization would be nice.
Just enable loot filters in your head. I don't see bolts or arrows because our brains automatically filter out information we say isn't important.
Dual wield like everyone else is saying would be pretty cool, could stack an aura and damage. I think another thing that would make sense is giving a5 mercs like a comparable BO to CTA+skills or a high level shout for a huge def increase.
I've never liked the idea of just giving everybody auras. I'd much rather see other ways to buff the other mercs. I liked the idea of giving war cry to the barb and I think adding different war cries would be a more natural way to buff them than adding auras. Imagine barb mercs with BO or the new Grim Ward(although this probably still needs some work to be useful).
Also, one way to make act 2 mercs less popular would be to make insight and infinity not available on polearms/spears. Insight was already changed so it can be made in bows, so why not remove the polearm altogether. Similarly, what if infinity was available on two handed swords and/or bows.
I would like to see options for different shouts
Hey Dbrunski! Can you test if throwbarb is somewhat viable now?
DB can you not get Concentration aura from an item?. I thought one of the new runewords has Concentration on it and that would be a viable weapon choice to have on a merc, Correct me if im wrong.
Why are we limited to Paladin auras only? Can't we have merc only auras? Like oak sage of druid.
Is there any word when this patch is going to be fully implemented?
Could you try this with the gface on the act5?
how do we feel about nerfing/reworking the A2 merc so it's not so dominant @Dbrunski125 or is this too much of a change to the D2 experience
If they want to make it interesting, then give Act 5 Mercs Battle Orders, probably better than the average character would get with CTA. CTA is such a staple for not Barb characters and it would be nice to have an alternative way of getting BO. Act 3 mercs get lower resist curse.
bad suggestion, power creep. you can hire a merc for what, a few thousand gold? the requirement for cta is farming ohm. you woulldnt only make it available for low to mid level play, but you would also lower the cost immensively.
Yea I like ideas like adding stuff like war cry. Getting a free battle orders for gold im not sure about. Good idea tho!
Auras I think break the fantasy of barbs so suggest multi shout abilities plus highest tankiness
even though the comparisons aren't 100% perfect I think these videos are fantastic and appreciate you lining up the gear and testing!
For us casuals, do all the mercs survive longer with non end game gear now with the 2.4 changes?
You didn't check for mods on eldritch, he could have had stone skin in either of the tests (didn't look like it but possible)
I am so pleased that they are actually making an effort to make other mercs viable especially on a players 8 test I’m just so used to only using a2 mercs at this point that no matter the difference in clear speed I think that them finally making some stuff evened out better is gonna help with the diversity of builds from here on out I’ll give the a5 merc a 9/10 and the a2 a perfect 10 they did it in a good fashion to make the a5 merc actually make a difference and it’s nice to see them actually have an ability that is true to Diablo 2. I’m glad they did it this way instead of buffing them another way
i agree maybe like a self contained aura for every 10 levels he gets a point into concentrate. Sorta like Iron golems aura.
Can you please do the Act 1 Merc video next? Especially since they now have Mist or can have insight.
If you equip A2 merc and then hire A5 merc, will your items be wiped on A2 merc?
Problems for merc comparisons are auras and also weapon choices. Mercs get auras and highest dmg off their weeps as well as natively, that’s what makes them so great
I believe that the new runeword Unbending Will is created exactly for this act 5 merc. Maybe you can test with it ?
I feel like I understand where you're coming from with adding aura's to the other mercenaries, but way if they add even more runewords with aura's that are item restricted so that they can't be stacked on act 2 mercs? Wouldn't that be a fair compromise?
They need to have the new grim ward and one of the new rune words…
Act 5 merc with lawbringer could be interesting for melee chars. That gives you decrepify too and sanctify aura for physical dmg against undead. Does not do a lot of dmg though. But at least for me, my merc doesn't have to do a lot of dmg he just has to survive and buff me :D
I was thinking same thing. You get decripfy like reapers toll but you get a defensive shout isntead of offensive might. I like being tanky myself and 46% damage reduction is really nice
Would love to see some auras totally agree db
support auras like vigor or salvation would be cool on a1 or a5 mercs
a2>all because of auras,
You need to put more attack speed on act 5 merc lol. this not an ok test.....
Maybe because your buffs on the act 5 merc were before enigma and your buffs on the act 2 merc were with enigma?
I'd like to see something where they make it a little bit better for act 5 Barb's. Like a lawbreaker to make at five barbarians better
Auras would be really nice on all mercs. Like act 3 mercs would have the resist auras to which ever damage they do. I think that would be fun
Act 1 mercs (Rogue Scout) : Curses/Bowazon Skills.
- Variant 1 : Inner Sight/Multishot
- Variant 2 : Confuse/Strafe
- Variant 3 : Weaken/Freezing Arrow
Act III mercs (Iron Wolf) : Curses/elementary damage.
- Variant 1 : Amplify Damage/Fireball/Hydra.
- Variant 2 : Lower Resist/Lightning/Nova.
- Variant 3 : Life Tap/Ice Blast/Blizzard.
Act V mercs (Harrogath Barbarian) : Warcries/Barbarian Skills.
- Variant 1 : Battle Cry/War Cry/Whirlwind. (Dual wielding one handed swords)
- Variant 2 : Battle Cry/War Cry/Double Throw. (Dual wielding throwing axes, like Madawc)
- Variant 3 : Battle Cry/War Cry/Berzerk. (Using two handed sword)
And if we ever get them....
Act IV mercs (Forgotten Knight) : Warcries/Taunt. "Let's just say they would use a one handed mace (to make them more usable in the game) and a shield."
- Variant 1 : Taunt/Salvation Aura.
- Variant 2 : Taunt/Redemption Aura.
- Variant 3 : Taunt/Sanctuary Aura.
What do you guys think ?
you should try with a +sword mastery +natural resistance + increased speed delirium for crowd control, or wisdom, or just rare with visionary and these skills should add your actV merc masteries skills isn't it?
Not sure why it has to be an aura. Barbarians have their shouts, there's so much potential in that. Also a more powerful attack might be an idea. Imagine an act5 merc using whirlwind, leap attack, double swing, or concentrate.
And like some other commenter said, let them use axes, too. Or have two specialized ones:
1. Using axes, double swing and battle cry
2. Using swords, concentrate and battle orders
Even if they didn’t have an aura specifically, they had some other group utility that was more competitive or runeword support like there is for pole arms.
For example, let them use battle orders/shout/battle command so you can get access to those buffs without CTA or a barb player character. Or also let them use the new grim ward ability for damage boost.
For runewords, let the new bow/concentrate aura runeword roll in 2h swords, or the same for existing a2 mercenary runewords. E.g infinity/meditation
I agree (positive) about adding auras. Even if damage or defense was increased for the other mercs, the true value of a mercenary is generally their utility buffs. Honestly is would be great to have an act 5 or act 3 merc with meditation. It would open up opportunities to use items like Plague and give players a reason to really consider their choices on mercenaries
You know what else I think they could do in this, the resurrected version is add the 2 weapon style to the Act 5 Merc if they haven't already.
The real change they need to make to mercs is to let you "keep" all 4 of them with equipment, and ability to leave him in town or swap for another merc of different act.
I agree!
Ooh that'd give me way more storage space. All 4 seems a little much, I'd say two and make it a quest reward from Blood Raven in NM or Hell.
If it can cast bo, lower res, amp, decrep, or have conviction, that would help alot
aura alright idea, but how far till you're reusing auras or giving crappy ones to them. I'm kind of liking the direction there going, but they could be doing more, barbs should have more shouts, rouge should drop curses (should have a check to hit the target with a curse if not cursed before firing arrows) and iron wolf could rock auras and/or curses.
It'd be cool if you could make insight in a a5 merc weapon
Think ur right about this, sure its cool that the act1, act3 and act5 mercs are a bit better now but without any auras on them I dont see my self using them over a act2 merc.
low level auras on a5 merc would be cool, but another good approach is to massively buff his survivability. +1500 hp and +25 res at lvl 95 compared to a2 merc would give a good reason to use a5 merc if you are tired of your a2 merc dying, which i think is a cool change for midgame too
I would like to add auras to the other mercs, but I would like them to be more unexpected auras that may not even add damage. Like I would love it if you could pick up an act 5 merc with a Vigor aura or a Sanctuary Aura or maybe some of the resist auras.
Very good video and interesting take. Looks better than I thought it would perform. Think it would be fun to run with a different merc.
It's not that you have to add auras; it's that you have to add auras OR massively buff them, EG give Act5 BO and double its strength or something.
I want to see Cast on Strike Lower Resist added somewhere that isn’t a Spear or Polearm honestly. Give me a budget Infinity. Also changing so all the absurd aura runewords don’t only appear on spears and polearms would be great.
I'm also not sure that Battle Cry is the answer; since it overrides curses it makes the limited applications A5 mercs had worse in some cases.
Hoping you do an A1 Merc video too! Freezing arrow with Mist, Delirium, and Treachery provides outstanding utility and is something I would actually consider using over A2 Mercs provided my character didn't rely on other curses.
You should have done the act 5 Merc with g-face tbh. Has so many added stats that affect clear time.
I wanna see the Barbarian use battle orders, battle command, and shout once in a while
hey, you know what I'd like to see improved? Increase the stack sizes for javelins and arrows/bolts. hate having to always go back and repair and running out of arrows.
It’s fast but ACT 2 still seems to be the king, I was not a fan the first time I heard you talking about other support auras but the more I think about it the more I like it.
You could argue it replaces Pally and complain it breaches on team builds and all that. They already did that with runewords though, Barb is basically dead due to Call to Arms in regards to group play.
Treachery vs Fort???
I'm not going to lie, I had no intention of playing this game for a very long time because I felt like it was just going to be rehashed ass. I will say that your videos are getting me excited.
I actually like the current Barb merc for non-min-maxing setup, he is quite tanky and the cry and the stun are helpful. It's very workable for playthrough.
Hi DBrunski.
I think that the idea of aura isn't bad, but not fair. Instead of having 3 striking skills, e.g., A3 merc could have lightning, static field, and a curse. Charged bolt, firebolt and the ice blast are crap. Replace with different curses. A5 barb let them have 2 warcries, a buffing one (bo, shout, battle command) and one for debuffing or damaging monsters
A5 singer merc or A5 leap merc, would be absolutely fucking amazing change to the A2 merc meta. It will bring crazy CC, especially A5 leap merc could replace a leap barb for the CC.
Do you think, they will ever integrate an act 4 merc? :D
I was convinced that they will add battle orders to act5 mercs. Guess I was wrong. They would have a role for sure with BO, adding a 2nd weapon set instead of CTA would be useful for many builds. Also it wouldn't be just a desert merc reskin.
i'm excited for this one, always liked a5 mercs
Rather than using auras as a blanket solution. The obvious choice for act 5 mercs (I've said this before), would be a custom shout, that has an Amplify Damage type effect - breaking physical immunity and increasing their damage done. Multiple problems solved in a single simple shot.
I definitely agree with the aura's, it is the single reason why a2 are always preferred over other mercs, yes the barb merc has the potential to be more tanky and hit harder but I feel with a5merc we can skip the auras and just have options of different warcries much like the a2 mercs with off/def/supp. Having a mobile HP/MP buff would be so much more helpful for more players until they can build or trade for call to arms. A3 Yes definitely auras, same principle just use auras the a2 mercs do not have but I agree with a lower level breakpoint Concentration/Conviction/sanctuary/cleansing/salvation with caps at level10 also limit conviction/salvation to hell difficulty. I'd say that would help level the playing. I believe this would make the a2 merc more of endgame option and more casual players will use the a3 and a5 to help with their farming until they can find items to help get those endgame items. I think the biggest thing would be a low level conviction, it'll help a3 mercs damage output making them more viable and also help elemental builds until they can afford the over expensive infinity. Without end game gear it is really difficult to clear hell with a dual spec sorc from the insanity that are immunes. I know the primary reason for many of the new runewords is for more useful mid-game rune items that can carry into end-game, a solid a3 aura or a5 warcry merc, capped at low levels, would be far more beneficial mid game to late game. I believe with this split you will see a variety of mercs being used in a variety of builds to help supplement casual players as they collect their endgame gear. This may also make other gear more useful for mercs as it can supplement the new variety of auras or warcries. And if not auras or various warcries can we at least get a basic AI command for them "Hold position, fall back, attack" would save people pockets of gold from their merc walking into a pack of souls lol.
I think they should just give the a5 mercs a low level battle orders. That would make them an option early on for players that can't yet afford a cta, or aren't relying on a2 mercs auras
give the act5 merc the option to wear all kind of 2h weapons.
"Be nice about it, don't be a dick"
We can all learn from Dbrunksi.
Give the A5 merc the find item ability, but on a 30 second cooldown so you only get a few extra finds per run unless you're willing to severely limit your clear speed.
Just give A5 merc's a cleave
I wonder about giving the mercs BO and BC. That would make them appealing at least for people who don't have cta yet
They should give the barb all the shouts. Giving us the ability to use other secondary weapon options.
They are definitely being too cautious, but I think that’s a good thing as long as they work with the community to continue fine-tuning things.
They should not add an aura. That is too similar to the Act 2 merc. They should just allow the Act 5 merc to dual weild weapons. That would allow him to potentially have 2 auras (with a high budget) but also allow him to have 2 auras from 2 x 1 handed weapon and maybe 1 curse on hit (decrepify on lawbringer lets say). That will be unique and not just another almost identical version of act 2 merc but with other weapons. Too OP? The Act 2 has been the meta for far too long. Let's get something new for everyone.
Although the suggestion is interesting, it might be too out-of-scope for what the team is aiming at, because I guess that more art has to be produced, rendered or whatever it is they have to do when changing animations (they'd need to create additional animations for the mercs for dual wield, test and debug). They might want to keep tweeking just skill values and such.
I wonder what they had to do for battle cry.
I would use voice of reason. It is an amazing aoe crowd control weapon with - cold res and cannot be frozen leaving the helm open to a few options
Crescent moon + Dream helm
Merc balance isn’t quite there yet, imo. It may come to giving them all auras with no variety as you scale difficulties.
A1: Vigor, blessed aim, cleansing
*Meditation/Conc/Fanat + Cleansing could compliment so many builds that don’t rely on lowering enemy resistances.
A2: Holy fire, holy freeze, holy shock
*Desert guards settle in as the Infinity specialist, and their auras are complimentary. Plus, casters like their holy freeze.
A3: Resist fire, resist cold, resist lightning
*Devs made Iron Wolves the highest resistance merc in the game. We could embrace this change and give them a niche. It could also potentially buff their aura pulse damage with dragon/dream. If it’s OP, scale down the max aura lvl.
A5: Might, defiance, thorns
*The other mercs have enough utility so these guys get the only shared damage aura, while having access to WC’s. I think thorns should deal a bit more damage too so it’s actually worth considering.
They should all have similar clear speeds and provide aura buffs.
Give the barb merc a neutered version of find item. That would make them the BIS for MF characters.
Now this is a good ideia sir.
That was way faster. I bet you could even get it down as low as 10 seconds if you don't let the Merc get distracted on his hits.
i would rather see new runewords made with mercs specifically in mind to provide auras. Like a barb helm only runeword, a shield only runeword, and a bow only aura providing runeword. Maybe lvl 5 fanat aura in barb helm, lvl 8 meditation aura in shield, and lvl 20+ might aura in bow (bows really need the dmg boost imo)