Merc probs in Chaos Sanctuary

[Oliver Wenzel]

Hi,

my level 86 SP ThrowBarb has just reached Hell Chaos Sanctuary and it is
the first time his might merc is getting problems.

I guess due to Iron Maiden merc is dying a lot (he barely survives the
first minute). OTOH, clay golem (from STONE armor) usually still stands
after merc is down.

I think my throwbarb is safe from IM as long as he just keeps throwing and
doesn't go into melee combat?

So, any ideas for keeping the merc alive? With all the baddies around, I'm
missing the might aura a lot.

I thought about giving him Shaftstop instead of Duriel's (for the 30%DR)
and a low-damage weapon with CB (what would that be)?

Thanks,

Oliver

[Babe Bridou]

Post by Oliver Wenzel
Hi,
my level 86 SP ThrowBarb has just reached Hell Chaos Sanctuary and it is
the first time his might merc is getting problems.
I guess due to Iron Maiden merc is dying a lot (he barely survives the
first minute). OTOH, clay golem (from STONE armor) usually still stands
after merc is down.
I think my throwbarb is safe from IM as long as he just keeps throwing and
doesn't go into melee combat?
So, any ideas for keeping the merc alive? With all the baddies around, I'm
missing the might aura a lot.
I thought about giving him Shaftstop instead of Duriel's (for the 30%DR)
and a low-damage weapon with CB (what would that be)?
Thanks,
Oliver

I generally clear the CS without a mercenary, then revive it when it's
time to spawn the infector of souls (I really need a tank then). That's
what I do with any kind of character builds, any difficulty btw.

Why? Because I never sell stuff and I never have enough money to revive
the merc :)

The problem of the low damage weapon is that the merc no longer leech.
The Duriel is preferable to the shaftstop because of the cannot be
frozen mod. Besides, 30%DR isn't enough to resist the devastating effect
of iron maiden.

What I generally do with a barbarian is to rush all the OKs one by one
and warcry them. The 3 seconds stun is enough for the merc to kill stuff
without worrying of them casting iron maiden. But sometimes it just
doesn't work out well - mostly when there are champion OK's (those are
the worst, they come in packs and they are a pain).

Saving the merc in the chaos sanctuary is generally not worth the
trouble to me, so I just focus on the "kill kill kill" aspect :)

[Oliver Wenzel]

Hi,

Post by Babe Bridou

Post by Oliver Wenzel
Hi,
my level 86 SP ThrowBarb has just reached Hell Chaos Sanctuary and it
is the first time his might merc is getting problems.

I generally clear the CS without a mercenary, then revive it when it's
time to spawn the infector of souls (I really need a tank then).
That's what I do with any kind of character builds, any difficulty
btw.

well, I just did so, too. My clay golem from STONE armor helped a lot,
though - he dies fast, too, but is a good distraction when you need it.

Post by Babe Bridou
Why? Because I never sell stuff and I never have enough money to
revive the merc :)

My barb needs a town trip every few minutes to sell stuff and refill his
throwing axes. So no prob with the gold, but at 50K per pop it gets
expensive reviving the merc.

So, Diablo is dead now and, as expected, didn't drop anything decent. 3
minor rares and not even an unique.

Regards,

Oliver

[Jack Hollis]

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 12:52:27 +0200, Babe Bridou

Post by Babe Bridou
Saving the merc in the chaos sanctuary is generally not worth the
trouble to me, so I just focus on the "kill kill kill" aspect :)

That's good advice. When I do Chaos I try to keep my Merc alive as
long as I can, but when he dies he stays dead until all the OK are
dead and Lord de Sues is dead as well. The I revive him for the other
two seals.

[Ian Oversby]

Post by Oliver Wenzel
I think my throwbarb is safe from IM as long as he just keeps throwing and
doesn't go into melee combat?

Yep

Post by Oliver Wenzel
I thought about giving him Shaftstop instead of Duriel's (for the 30%DR)
and a low-damage weapon with CB (what would that be)?

Strength runeword in a scythe maybe?

Ian

[chainbreaker]

Post by Oliver Wenzel
I thought about giving him Shaftstop instead of Duriel's (for the
30%DR) and a low-damage weapon with CB (what would that be)?
Thanks,
Oliver

What I try to do for that is keep a socketed A1 normal-type weapon around
and load it up with elemental damage.

With the right tactics (see Babe's post for some ideas) and a weapon like
that, you'll almost never lose your merc.

Oh, and don't overlook those javelin-class weapons for your merc to use in
such situations. There can be some really nice low-PD/high ED weapons pop
up practically ready to go. :-)

[Vladesch]

Post by Oliver Wenzel
Hi,
my level 86 SP ThrowBarb has just reached Hell Chaos Sanctuary and it is
the first time his might merc is getting problems.
I guess due to Iron Maiden merc is dying a lot (he barely survives the
first minute). OTOH, clay golem (from STONE armor) usually still stands
after merc is down.
I think my throwbarb is safe from IM as long as he just keeps throwing and
doesn't go into melee combat?
So, any ideas for keeping the merc alive? With all the baddies around, I'm
missing the might aura a lot.
I thought about giving him Shaftstop instead of Duriel's (for the 30%DR)
and a low-damage weapon with CB (what would that be)?
Thanks,
Oliver

Best way for him to survive iron maiden is to take his weapon away.

[short]

Post by Vladesch

Post by Oliver Wenzel
Hi,
my level 86 SP ThrowBarb has just reached Hell Chaos Sanctuary and it is
the first time his might merc is getting problems.
I guess due to Iron Maiden merc is dying a lot (he barely survives the
first minute). OTOH, clay golem (from STONE armor) usually still stands
after merc is down.
I think my throwbarb is safe from IM as long as he just keeps throwing and
doesn't go into melee combat?
So, any ideas for keeping the merc alive? With all the baddies around, I'm
missing the might aura a lot.
I thought about giving him Shaftstop instead of Duriel's (for the 30%DR)
and a low-damage weapon with CB (what would that be)?
Thanks,
Oliver

Best way for him to survive iron maiden is to take his weapon away.

Yup, that way he can provide his aura for you, you can provide potions to
him, win-win situation.


short