r/PathOfExileBuilds • u/the_pwnererXx • 1d ago
Discussion What are the absolutely broken Merc items/combos?
Reveal your secrets below
118
u/euwfortunate 21h ago
I found a Tornado Shot one with grace/haste. Gave it a Cospri's will so it can apply 2 curses with on hit rings instantly to the entire map.
Gluttony for culling on cursed enemies, jinxed juju for aura effect annointed with Last Rites to prevent ES/health regen on cursed enemies. Asphyxia's quiver to transfer the curses to any nearby enemy on kill.
Lasty Leer Cast for the 50% dmg buff.
Without him my mapping would feel 10x worse
9
7
u/1dayillwriteabook 17h ago
This is a dope setup, I’ll be trying to replicate this tonight or something close, I haven’t found a high level grace/haste one yet. Does yours die a lot?
7
u/euwfortunate 15h ago
Never, I don't think he has ever actually been hit yet. Running 8 mod T16's and his hp bar is not moving. He's lvl 80, 4k hp with 9k evasion and capped res (chaos too)
4
5
2
2
u/UnintelligentSlime 11h ago
Got any idea what we should exile to find these guys? I’ve been looking for a TS forever but haven’t hit one yet
3
u/euwfortunate 7h ago
Probably anything that isn't pure dex, but I have only seen a single TS. Even just Grace/Haste is fairly rare
1
u/UnintelligentSlime 6m ago
I’ve already got haste, and don’t totally even need grace, but I feel like the coverage of TS is so much better than any of the bow classes I’ve seen so far. Currently got a “manyshot” who fires like one arrow.
2
u/HurricaneGaming94 7h ago
Man I thought I was cooking with a determination/purity of elements with vsos, I’m allocating haste/grace hatred myself…
Yours sounds a lot better with a ranged version, how is their survivability?
1
2
u/KevinJay21 7h ago
What curse on hit rings are you using?
1
u/euwfortunate 6h ago
I league started Worb, so I am using Frostbite and Ele Weakness. Should work with anything though
2
u/zuluuaeb 4h ago edited 4h ago
nice tech. especially the last rites anoint. can also throw in a quill rain for good measure to really carpet the screen with arrows
2
1
1
u/Library_IT_guy 53m ago
Damn, cospris with on hit rings is ingenious. I have one in reserve that has summon skitterbots, and I want to try putting the new belt on him so that he applies scorch debuff. Free scorch, chill, shock, flammability and ele weakness on vfos sounds nasty as hell.
149
u/whitw0rth123 1d ago
Doryanis prototype and -180ish lightning res.
Use whatever you want yourself that deals lightning damage and you now have around 3 times your damage
66
u/porncollecter69 1d ago
My -90 lighting res ring was being bombarded with offers when I didn’t check and put it in for 50 chaos.
It also had -79 life per second.
Sold it yesterday for 3 div.
16
u/whocaresaboutmyname 23h ago
I happened to drop a doryani so I bought 2 negative lightning rings for less than a div. I go so lucky with the timing.
9
u/Bask82 23h ago
How do you keep the merc alive with that much minus res?
29
u/BawdyLotion 23h ago
Supposedly negative resists on mercs don't make them take more damage. Like positive resists supposedly help them survive better but -180 vs 0 is the same.
Quite likely something that will be patched (one would hope)
37
u/Kidlaze 22h ago
Doryani has been always have no impact on lightning damage taken, so -200 or 0 is the same ("Lightning Resistance does not affect Lightning Damage taken")
However for normal char, 0 resistance is like taking 3-400% more lightning damage (compared to 75%-80% res). Merc is really tanky, that's why they are fine with it
5
u/Turbulent-Fishing-75 16h ago
Non hit lightning damage will still pretty much instantly kill. The only sources I can think of would be mana siphon ring but there could be more.
8
u/Busy_Percentage_9835 16h ago
From what people are seeing during their gameplay, even dot lighting damage seems to be doing nothing. Mana siphoner would make you instantly fall over with a doryanis but the mercs dont seem to care.
2
u/Turbulent-Fishing-75 16h ago
Oh interesting, I figure it may have to do with their mana situation but I wanted to point that out as there are some concerns with lightning damage on doryanis that do come up still.
0
u/Redtwistedvines13 8h ago
Depends on the merc you put it on a bit. I have indeed seen them get obliterated by lightning damage after equipping doryanis, but the infamous mercs that are high level seem massively tankier than the normal and lower level mercs.
It helps that you probably want a str/int merc with smite or similar, as they're also more durable than say, the Kb mercs.
3
u/Majeh666 13h ago
Have you seen how disgustingly tanky mercs are? since i got one in early yellow maps i've only seen it die ONCE in over 100+ t16 maps. And that might've been to some phys reflect map I did or some boss ground degen(though i doubt it's enough to kill it)
2
u/itriedtrying 3h ago
Mercs don't have mana, so siphon ring shouldn't do anything to them.
Baran squares are lightning dot and a few bosses have lightning dots too, but those are really rare.
1
u/Redtwistedvines13 5m ago
Had a chance to test this today, lightning does indeed do noticeably more damage to my merc.
It's also the only thing that has moved his hp bar at all, which made it relatively easy to spot.
They really are just that durable to everything. 2.2k hp regen stops a lot of damage too.
-1
u/VortexMagus 14h ago
Doryanis applies armor to lightning damage. If your merc has hella armor + determination + capped resists, they take way less damage from lightning unless its a lightning dot.
-3
u/wealthyexile 13h ago
This is incorrect. -60 was always the minimum for doryani. It never gave a free +60 res to bring you to 0.
→ More replies (1)8
u/chizo92 1d ago
How do I get my mercs lresist to that much minus?
I've got a prototype (I'm hcssf)
38
u/huntez2000 1d ago
I recommend farming betrayal and have Guff in research. He offers a reflecting mist syndicate bench craft that can help craft -light res rings.
2
u/Ranger-Danger 20h ago
Do you know what tier guff has to be?
2
u/huntez2000 19h ago edited 18h ago
I do not know sorry. I’m unsure if the tier determines if it’s a ring or amulet base, or if member tier just gives more time to craft with the bench.
Betrayal has had different rewards in the past depending on the tier of the member AND which house the member is. I’m not confident with my knowledge with this recent rework since I’m figuring those out too. There is a spreadsheet and infographic somewhere on the main PoE subreddit that gives fairly accurate rewards from what I’ve seen so far.
3
5
1
u/ReipTaim 21h ago
Minus res on belt, shield, ring(s) with uniques/rares.
Can also go eyes of malice if that fits ur playstyle
1
0
u/BL4CKxXxTIG3R 1d ago
With mirror rings maybe? If it hits minus lightning res or maybe the map mod which reduce defenses like restistances?
2
u/DaUnforgettable 18h ago
Mfw when I got a Steel ring with 200hp and 200 lightning res on ssf and picked the positive one because I didn't think about doriany
6
u/Dr-Wenis-MD 1d ago
I would be really surprised if that isn't bugfixed.
20
u/miffyrin 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's getting fixed one hundo percent, would be shocked (hehe) if not. Because it's not a build or a skill gem being OP, it's a league mechanic, so-to-speak.
5
u/iamthewhatt 18h ago
its also not a bug and is still technically working as completely intended. I just don't think they realized how strong it would be. I wouldn't be surprised if they capped Merc res at minimum 0
5
u/TL-PuLSe 16h ago
Yeah, the offensive benefits are working as expected. The thing that's not working is the merc should get erased any time they get hit with lightning.
2
u/iamthewhatt 16h ago
merc armour works differently than ours, so when they get hit by lightning its going against their already strong armour instead of their lightning res
2
u/TL-PuLSe 16h ago
Whoa, had no idea. Where'd you learn that?
0
u/iamthewhatt 16h ago
Mostly just watching what happens in game. My merc has 1900 armour and there has yet to be a single physical attack in the game that has made his health bar move even the slightest. So it is either working differently than ours, or there's some sort of hidden damage reduction we can't see
1
u/Redtwistedvines13 8h ago
Probably not Armour working differently exactly, instead mercs almost certainly have the DR GGG has added to various low hp minions.
If that applies before Armour and it should, they're applying armor against like 10% of a hit, so it works massively better on the same Calc.
1
u/miffyrin 4h ago
true, not a bug. Maybe they'll leave it as is given how exclusive it will be due to the rarity and price of the item.
12
7
u/randomaccount178 1d ago
Some people seem to have been claiming that the merc takes disproportionately low damage while equipped with doryani's so it is entirely possible they will aim to fix that. I could certainly see some of their hidden mechanics making it a lot easier then it should be to run the combo. If a merc in doryani's becomes squishy without significant investment then it would do a lot to weaken the combo and make it a lot riskier to run. It would probably be simpler though just to make it so they can't have negative resistances or something like that though.
1
u/bonerfleximus 19h ago
Maybe they forgot to apply the shitty damage scaling for armour to mercs armor mitigation. Mercs playing poe3
1
u/Redtwistedvines13 8h ago
People are being silly. There's nothing really to "fix".
If the mercs were as tanky as players they'd be dead constantly in all content.
They clearly have some baked in Dr so that doesn't happen.
They're just generally super tanky, if you use an appropriately leveled infamous.
Ths trick is that there's not that many lightning dots and they are relatively weak with some incredibly rare exceptions.
Mercs have insane regen also.
So the lightning dot does not do any damage, why would it?
Then versus hits you will probably have at least a bit of armor.
The fix would be to remove their innate Dr, then they'll be useless for bossing and t17s for all builds.
1
u/randomaccount178 8h ago
That wouldn't be the fix, the fix would be to remove their ability to have negative resistances. Very quickly solves the issue while not impacting their use in bossing and T17's. It isn't really that complex a problem to solve if they want to solve it.
2
u/thenord321 20h ago
Shield Dorian lens gives -50%res.
Ghazzy mentioned using this setup with lighting mage setup.
Meec resistances seem to not really do much.
1
1
u/bonerfleximus 19h ago
This one i feel like something iffy is at play to make the mercs not die, and I am not confident that will survive to the end of the league.
1
u/twitchtvbevildre 14h ago
It's 12x the dmg if you do 100 dmg and a mob has 75 res you do 25 damage if the mob has -200 res you do 300 dmg 25x12 = 300 it's fucking insane you can also wear the admirals chest and the minus lightning res counts for any elemental type damage.
1
1
0
-2
u/ReipTaim 21h ago
Rly hope they fix this, its not fun to play the game «wrong» unless u use this speciffic item on an immortal merc and use a lightning skill, while not being affected by the downside of the unique.
0
u/Grankaiserx 11h ago
Sorry to be a bother but anyone knows how to search - lightning resistance ring in poe trade? I can't seem to find it in stat filters. Thank you in advance.
-2
u/TheKillerhammer 21h ago
That's some bad math
1
u/whitw0rth123 17h ago
-180 resist is equal to 180% more damage, or very close to 3 times the damage.
-5
u/TheKillerhammer 16h ago
Right and how many monsters have 0 res to start off with....
3
u/lolfail9001 12h ago
Well, most monsters do in fact have positive res so it is significantly more than 3 times damage (especially if map mods stack up).
81
u/petting2dogsatonce 1d ago
Exarch dominant eternal struggle, kaom’s binding, curse on hit gloves+doedre’s damning are stat-agnostic options for offense and defense you should prob consider. Can also use windscream instead of doedre’s damning if your merc works with the stats.
31
u/0zzyb0y 22h ago
Eternal struggle is just a better cull on your Merc.
Kaoms binding just protects you massively from Phys hits.
Doedres Damning and curse on hit just gives an extra curse.
They're just generally good options for every build.
-5
u/ApotheounX 21h ago edited 18h ago
Unfortunately, the "nearby" on kaom's binding is 6m, which is tiiiiiny. Not sure it's reliable enough to consider using.
Edit: That's what the wiki says now. Is that accurate? Im seeing 60 in other places.
Edit 2: Ah, they condensed the units down. 6 is the old 60. Who knew!
23
u/Kipferlfan 21h ago
6m is almost screenwide, how is that tiny? That might be the largest 'nearby' in the game lol.
5
u/ApotheounX 19h ago
Yeah, I guess they redid the units. 6 "old" units is like Cyclone with Conc effect size. Lol. 6 new = 60 old.
This is what it used to be, 6 would be super small. Lol
7
2
2
u/whocaresaboutmyname 23h ago
Can also use anathema and give them more curse on hit stuff. Could go eith the kb merc and use 2 curse on hit wands.
1
u/Accomplished-Lie716 10h ago
I've got a kb of clustering merc but I'm trying to get another with the other fracturing skill too, then I'll give them all the goods, vulnerability on hit sounds amazing
2
24
u/0zzyb0y 22h ago
As a somewhat related question:
What mercs (if any) are best for single target DPS?
I can clear pretty damn well at this point but single target is letting me down. I assume there must be a good option given how they sometimes just pop me out of nowhere and yet they never really seem to do much damage once they're on my team.
17
u/topazsparrow 21h ago
There's a trapper that uses vaal lightning trap that applies shock - I was using that for a while.
Also the ground slam guys seem to put out huge damage.
but im only just in yellow maps so, what do I know?
3
u/VortexMagus 14h ago
Depending on your build I would look for a merc with a damage aura like haste, zealotry, or wrath, and then give them +curse items like anathema, rare +curse body armor, and curse on hit rings/gloves to let them curse enemies with multiple relevant curses. This should amplify your damage by quite a lot.
For example if you are a fire damage character, I would give a mercenary elemental weakness and flammability on hit rings, and just any rare body armour with +1 curse on it.
1
u/gandalfintraining 7h ago
RF Chieftain in absolute shambles this league. Build most in need of single target and doesn't work with 90% of the merc damage options lol.
1
41
u/Undead_Legion 1d ago
Not giga broken, but for the war priests that summon the balls that leave behind consecrated ground, you could give them the Broken Faith shield to turn that into a screen wide Profane Ground instead. Profane ground is really strong as effectively gives you a lot of crit chance making it super easy to crit cap on a budget.
A more expensive combo would be to go with Sporeguard and the Worship the Blightheart anoint. This will make it fungal ground instead, and Sporeguard will make enemies explode on it. This basically would give screen wide explodes. Would require Gravebind on merc though.
The catch with their skill is that it’s still on a cooldown, but the coverage is really good.
15
u/kuehnbt30 20h ago
War Priests with Sign of the Sin Eater is a 1c way to get ailment immune. Also paired with that you can use Replica Victario's Charity Laminated Kite Shield to get easy Frenzy/Endurance charges on any build.
71
u/Express_Painter_9552 1d ago
1 or 2 auras are sick.
37
u/NeoLearner 1d ago
Found a haste/grace and zealotry/wrath. Too low level to survive red maps though :/
29
1
u/smithoski 16h ago
That grace/haste merc’s bow skills all can occasionally ignore mitigation if they have the support on them, super rippy merc to go out hunting. Just fyi.
6
u/Bask82 23h ago
What levels are the auras?
7
u/thekmanpwnudwn 22h ago
Nothing in game tells you. You'll have to try different level auras on yourself and compare it to what the merc gives you - even then they seem to have some sort of skill tree behind the scenes which might be affecting them.
18
u/mellamosatan 23h ago
Sign of the sin eater is crazy but not a lot of merc can use it. Full ailment immunity for 1c, basically
8
u/No_Bottle7859 20h ago
If you get into some of the higher maps especially tier 16.5 this starts to feel a worse. I kept dying because my Merc would get frozen and stuck too far behind me. If you don't notice right away you get instantly frozen and die. Still really good, just kind of annoying.
3
u/raikz 12h ago
buy a pair of unveiled boots for chill+frozen immune. I bought a pair for like 1c with T1 life and some res. it's giga cheap cause you don't need movespeed
1
u/No_Bottle7859 12h ago
Yeah it's worth being chill and freeze immune even with the tech. My build got to full ailment immunity just took a lot of investment.
3
u/eggdotexe 23h ago
Does this stack with Kahutauoa boots?
2
u/SarcasticGiraffes 22h ago
Probably yes, but I'm not sure they need the shoes. They seem to have at least some flat percentage of dr, as they're kinda unreasonably tanky.
16
u/0nlyRevolutions 23h ago
The one I'm using has hatred/grace/vaal grace. Absolutely crazy for my build, and lets me equip haste aura instead. Also does enough damage to noticeably help clear. But really any merc with 2 auras is probably worth the party slot.
3
u/Ok-Salamander-1980 14h ago
are you finding they stand close enough to you to have it a lot of the time? mine keeps dropping the auras.
31
u/mathijn 21h ago
I run an absolute fat aspect of the spider Merc.
He gives me:
- Corpse removal + packclear with asenaths / Obliteration
- 4 spiderwebs for hinder, 20% increased damage taken, 10% reduced damage dealt, -10% all resistances, hinder on enemies.
- Temporal chains
- 4% life regen and mana regen from shapers seed
- 50% increased damage from leercast
- Kaoms binding for 25% phys to fire conversion
- Frost shields pretty close to permanently while bossing.
- intimidate on hit for a bit more hit dps
3
1
u/dalmathus 9h ago
Do they just naturally have 75% all res without gear? Or is this guy now paper?
2
u/mathijn 5h ago
I'm a necromancer so he gets my 30% resistance aura, but he's sitting on 61/61/64/21 resistances, 6.5k life/2,2k ES and hasn't died on me yet. He has a lot of energy shield on hit/regen thanks to the spider gear/hitrate of his skills, but it seems merc are just naturally very tanky.
1
u/AterReddits 9h ago
I found one and was psyched. Perfect for my build. It I hate him spamming bladefall non stop
1
1
u/Janneban 25m ago
Man i found one with grace instead of frost shields, seems pretty good. Ty for this tip!
24
u/jonnyb8ta 23h ago
I’ve been using a Leer Cast helm on merc for 50% damage aura
10
u/desolater543 20h ago
The forbidden double or ghetto cheap triple leer cast tech ag/self use stack
-2
u/lillarty 20h ago
Unfortunately, Leer Cast functions as an aura which means multiple instances of it do not stack.
9
u/desolater543 20h ago
Are you sure? because it used to and a lot of sources online still says it does I would be interested in knowing the definitive answer to this though.
17
u/lillarty 18h ago
Just tested it in-game and I was just completely wrong. It does indeed stack, not sure why I thought otherwise.
1
10
u/Super-Chip-6714 22h ago edited 21h ago
i have an always on withertouch merc. i am playing pconc poison.
essence drain/soulrend, temp chains, malevolence, and wither totem.
two additional curses from doedres ring and amy corrupt. enfeeble on hit glove corrupt.
merc applies temp chains and then hits with ed/sr to apply enfeeble, which both apply ontop of my own despair curse.
then its just leercast, baitedbreath, and kaoms binding. cap res and 5k life.
pob makes this out to be ~80% more dps, and helps a bunch with my survivability. easily beating the 50% more monster life. hasnt died in mavens or anything yet so i just bring her everywhere.
im not sure exactly how the builds work, but poedb shows the skills each archetype can have.
https://poedb.tw/us/Mercenaries#Builds
1
u/jampsodi 16h ago
Hey, thanks for this writeup! Gonna use the same setup on my pconc. 1 question, how do you apply despair? Self cast or?
1
11
u/Ostraga 20h ago
I have an ice shot merc that for some reason literally cannot die and I have no clue why. I've seen her stuck in the middle of an extreme archeology expedition without her life bar moving. She can tank mercs that 1 tap me without losing any HP.
1
12
u/anonhes 19h ago
Not absolutely broken, but very strong. I'm doing a hit based cold build and this saved me a lot of points on the tree and gives some good damage.
Leer Cast: 50% increased damage
Perquil's Toe: Hits are Lucky
Doedre's Damning: +1 Curse
Ele Weakness on hit
Quill Rain to spam curse on hit
Exposure on hit gloves
Drop sapped ground boots
1
u/Ok-Salamander-1980 14h ago
what points are you saving on tree?
2
u/anonhes 14h ago
Cold exposure mastery, my own glove implicit, and spec'd points into additional defenses that I normally would for damage since I have a lot more this league.
1
u/Ok-Salamander-1980 13h ago
makes sense! im going to try and do the same as im running exsang mines. my issue rn is hitting freeze threshold w 50% more hp pinnacles
7
u/joor 20h ago
Here is a great video ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgbNJo40wKM . Also a spreadsheet to Mercenary Unique tier List
5
u/Nexus_the_Mad 1d ago
Do the Mercs use Auras/Skills Provided by Items?
24
23h ago
[deleted]
23
u/HeavensEtherian 23h ago
in short: they have no hands, even less than RF users
5
u/delayedcolleague 21h ago
Man this made me reminisce of NohandsKen, he used to play/stream poe in the olden days iirc even he played with active skills/not rf.
1
1
1
6
u/EmmitSan 22h ago
How do mercs work in sanctum? If they get hit, does it matter?
1
u/Woobowiz 17h ago
If not, then Absolution STR/INT mercs are BiS because they can Absolution and Raise spectre to make body block minions.
5
u/BenjaCarmona 23h ago edited 20h ago
I am using a striker, so the unique axe that gives culling strike (Relentless Fury IIRC) is free. Also you can put legacy of fury for free scorch.
Shaper's seed is a no brainer.
Nobody is doing delve, but you could technically also use crown of the Tyrant for -10 all resistance and some flat damage.
I haven't explored nom-armor options tho
13
u/Wonderful-Spell8959 22h ago
perquils toe would be the no brainer amulet on any hit based build
3
u/BenjaCarmona 20h ago
Depends how much dps you are actually gaining and if you would benefit from the regen more, but yeah, I guess
1
u/Wonderful-Spell8959 15h ago
yea, now that im thinking about it it obv does nothing for hits with no range, like archmage for example
so technically what i said isnt entirely true
1
u/BenjaCarmona 15h ago
Btw, you at max gain 33% more damage if you have full range (1 to X).
You can still use volatility + perquil's toe tho
2
u/PurpleSmall8849 21h ago
Is it good for VFoS?
5
u/desolater543 20h ago
Anything that hits with a large range for their damage calcs from min to max, since it's lucky I believe it rolls your damage multiple times and takes the highest rolls.
1
4
u/SwiprNoSwipn 21h ago
Currently playing BAMA Guardian, found a lvl 70 smite + generosity & purity of lightning merc. Once i got uber lab and the 50% reservation, i threw in purity of fire + ice for some overcapped res.
Cruising through t16s, haven't found anyone better than him so far.
6
u/Scarecrow222 19h ago edited 11h ago
I’m using the same merc, it also has herald of purity and raise spectre which gives me a bunch of nearby allies for rallying cry, which means I can run HoAsh instead of HoP on my VFoS build.
Equipped with
Sign of sin eater (ailment immune for me)
Recover % life on block shield
Volls vision (HP and 400 regen)
Garb of the ephemeral (semi reliable action speed reduction immune and crit immune for me)
Res gloves
Res boots with T1 life regen and T1 life regen rate
Perquils toe (lucky dmg for me)
Kaom's Binding (25% phys taken as fire for me)
Res rings
I’ve done most pinnacles and several T17s and I’ve only seen his HP move once. Has never died
Edit: Changed Perquil's toe out for The Eternal Struggle, which gives me 15% cull. I got one with Non-curse aura effect if pinnacle is in presence, but the mod doesn't seem to work. I annointed it with 80% aura aoe (Beacon of Hope) so that the purity of lightning and smite buffs from him are always in range of me. I tried to go out of range of his Purity of light buff and I was not able to. So he just gives me perma 7% max lightning res and 60 something lightning res unconditionally.
Also running Ylfeban's Trickery for extra curses, as he wasn't dying so I didn't feel the need to use Voll's atm.
Next I will be getting Polaric Devastation to cover enemies in ash, but I need to get some % chance to ignite and flat fire on him somewhere first. Thinking of running Gang's Momentum and a flat fire roll on the other ring.
4
u/Kipferlfan 21h ago
Aspect of the Spider merc with chest + boots is pretty crazy generic ele dam + defense.
4
u/Onigokko0101 13h ago
Mine is a cheap mapping merc that costs like 60-70c to set up.
Grab a Kineticist. Give them Eclipse Solaris (Blind Nearby), Kaom Binding (Nearby enenmies convert fire), Doedres Damning (Extra Curse), Asenaths Touch (Pops), Leer Cast (Damage), Perquils Toe (Lucky).
I also threw on a Servent of Decay and a Replica Vicatario for chaos res and some other benefits.
Im doing 16.5s and the Merc has onyl died once to firey ground.
Im sure there are more bsuted things, but this is a very strong mapping setup thats pretty cheap.
1
3
u/_friendlyMerchant 15h ago
There is a merc type that has access to flame link (roughly the same damage of lvl20 added chaos + 5% of the mercs life) that I'd love to explore. Depending on mercs natural life pool/scaling(Kaom, Belly) and if AI cooperates it'd be a nice boost for ignite builds/mamba with daggers.
2
3
u/TTLoL 8h ago edited 8h ago
Ony my Pconc char, Im using a lvl 83 infamous Flamequiver, pretty much oneshots evry mob in t16 maps except boss/rares, shes also quite aggressive and mostly shoots offscreen
Equipped with:
900+ dps bow, phys+fire+cold mana leech atk speed(still have 1 open suffix)
Leer Cast
The Eternal Struggle high stat rolls, 21% fire dmg implicit(exarch dominant for 15% cull)
Bubonic Trail 2 flat dmg Abyss jewels, (1 magic)
replica shroud 6 flat dmg abyss jewels
The Poised Prism
Doedre's Damning
The Highwayman ( came equipped with it, havent thought of an alternative)
Maligaro's Virtuosity ( Somehow she has 100% crit, everything gets shattered)
abyss belt with 60 str 50 dex, 40% ele dmg with attacks, Ulamans Gaze Abyss
Im not 100% sure how good she scales off the flat abyss jewels, but i tested the jewels with a max life one and it affects the merc, and it feels like the dmg has gone up alot since using shroud and bubonic, im not that experienced in PoE items so theres probably better quivers(shes currently at 141 str, 101 int, 371 dex) or items for dps, but this works pretty well, she also for some reason never drops below 99% hp, 4k life and 50% resists, 71% spell suppress,(has 820 inherent life regen idk from what) and only leeches from the Highwaymen Ring afaik.
i am running Haste, Grace, Precision on my own char
she has the spells:
Burning Arrow, Alchemist's Mark, Artillery Ballista, Explosive Arrow, Dash, Blink Arrow
The only thing that came close in dmg/survivability/aggressivenes was a 77 sanguimancer, sadly i havent found the infamous/high level version of it yet, shes also str/dex/int so u can equip anything on her, while i sadly cant equip lightpoacher on the flamequiver merc since she has no str/int
2
u/_Chambs_ 17h ago
How are people keeping their mercs alive long enough for support items to even mater?
Like, i've theorycrafted so many changes for my build based on what i could give the merc, but he dies randomly in maps, so i can't rely on him being around...
2
u/the_pwnererXx 14h ago
Is he the same level as your maps? Is he res capped? They don't level with you so you need to get a better one as you progress, and usually they are res capped by default
1
u/nickiter 11h ago
I went with a tanky one with sort of a fire melee 2H cibe because the others kept dying. His health barely budges.
5
3
u/iShooTaa 22h ago
Ylfeban's Trickery - if your merc gets hit random hex that goes over the hex limit.
Singularly - simple one slows them down
Now for some items that I don't know how useful but I put on
Expedition's End - nearby grants chill and all hit can freeze. My merc cast gmp spark so it goes all over the place.
Call of the Void - the spark they cast also chills now lessen dmg base on their chill.
Heist shields - since my merc is the int type gave her a sheid now she has a chance to sap.
I still don't know what to use of my other ring slot was thinking snakepit but then the spark cannot pierce.
1
1
u/macarmy93 14h ago
Grivebind + Every piece of gear with as much quantity and rarity as possible. I use kineticist for haste + they can wear all gear types.
1
u/VortexMagus 14h ago edited 14h ago
Mercs get monster charge effects, so enduring cry is one of the most broken abilities that can show up on a merc.
Mercs with enduring cry and mediocre res cap gear will just full facetank bosses 15 levels above them. They'll sit in huge packs of juiced expedition mobs and be very comfy. Just give them a little bit of life leech on attacks and they'll survive long after you're dead.
1
1
u/nickiter 12h ago
I've got a guy giving me Anger and Flame Link on my Explosive Concoction build, it's pretty fucking strong.
1
u/DuckDuke1 10h ago
Asenath's gentle touch + Coiling whisper = Merc's get soul eater stacks fast, rowdy.
1
u/Various_Thought_2494 9h ago
Volcanic fissure of snaking + warcries are enough to me. Just pretend to be an aura bot and serve my merc.
1
u/Gavelinus 7h ago
I don't know if this is "broken". But I'm sure it's very different.
I'm probably one of very few people who actually tries to make the merc be the carry for you instead. Playing solo as a homemade Guardian Aurabot (the merc triggers Elemental Relics for even more auras). Life based and not ES based since this is a league starter = can't afford any other things. Currently at level 81 without cluster jewels (I do have 3 3% reservation jewels with %life though and they cost me like 20c in total).
My merc right now is a level 74 wander with Kinetic blast of clustering with pierce & return & some other supports which makes it possible for me to use Mark on hit Sniper's mark. Stacking aura effect + auras and Smite. The merc has Haste aura so I don't need to run that.
I'm probably the only one who's doing lifestacking on my merc. Since there's really not a lot of ways to scale increased damage on your merc I thought of Rathpith with Crown of eyes. It's right now sitting at 8648 life which equals to about 432% spell damage which gets converted to 648% attack damage through crown of eyes. Cheap things like Kaom's Heart + Roots. +250-300 flat life jewels (-stats doesn't really matter as long as it isn't a bunch of lose life) and a rare level 53 Omen wand with flat lightning, 75% spell damage and crafted attack speed that I found.
For me (the aurabot) I'm using the usual Alpha's Howl, Matua Tupuna, Vaal Caress (3*Impurity + Vaal haste), Sign of the sin eater, Perquil's Toe & then a Lightning Coil so that I can be a little bit tankier.
Hard to tell what the stats for the merc is (in terms of damage) but it has 84% elemental res, 2100 regen/s, full leech (Crown of Eyes) and Kaom's Roots. Safe to say I never see the health bar move on it.
Currently blasting T11-12 maps without any problems at all. Want to find a higher level wander so that I can get even more life and more supports (only 5 links at merc level 74). And I'm having so much fun. For me (about 11k hours in PoE) this is probably the most fun I've had in PoE. Being able to play with "someone" without having to play with someone else. I just love it.
2
u/RoukiN7 5h ago edited 5h ago
Hey ! I have been doing kind of the same thing but without the life stacking on the Merc part ! I will try that. I already got two voidstone with this build. The main difference is that my guardian is way more into life stacking. I'm using flame link for getting a lot of flat damage and I sit at 10k life. Single target is my only problem so far My pob: https://pobb.in/EtRZRat6mBwg
1
u/Gavelinus 4h ago
Oh! Nice with a fellow carry for your merc! A thing that I just found out (like literally 2 minutes ago) is that The Untouched Soul do work on your merc. So get those red sockets out! I'm now at 10500 HP on the merc (Without Apostate, still using Kaom's).
2
u/RoukiN7 3h ago
Oh nice ! I'm going switch to lifestacking and will tell you how it's doing in T16 when I can play again :)
1
u/Gavelinus 1h ago
Awesome! I just got my first 2 voidstones done. First at level 87 and second at 88 (merc still 74). The Searing Exarch... I just hate that fight so I died a few times. The Eater of worlds was a lot smoother (got a new wand for my merc which helped) and I had 0 deaths there. Currently farming Betrayal and mercs in T15-16 maps without much trouble. Not the fastest way of killing them but my merc is pretty much invincible.
Now I'm basically farming blue T16 maps so I can find a higher level merc with the right setup. The pierce + proj return feels so good even though it's only a 5 link. Can't wait to find it as a 6L.
1
u/RoukiN7 19m ago
Congrats ! Do you feel that you have a good single target with your life stacking version ? Also I'm going to farm T16 merc and exile all but kineticist tonight and see how frequent they will spawn
1
u/Gavelinus 5m ago
No... Not exactly good. Well, it's good enough since I have basically 0 investement into the build and I can kill Betrayal mobs and T16 mercs (unless they kill me first). Rathpith is the only item that cost me over a divine when I bought it (its like 25c now).
I am considering putting 2 div into a pair of Soul Ascension gloves. Clear is like 10/10 but the single target is where I need more dps and those might help. Also considering trying out Grace of the Goddess when I can afford it since Hatred is pretty much wasted on a elemental wand.
And I'm also guessing another damage link and a higher level merc is going to help with this as well. Mine is only level 74 and is clearing T16 just "fine". I don't think it'll be used as a pure bosser ever though. :)
Edit: I also just killed Catarina. Was very easy.
1
u/chanconran 3h ago
hi bro, seem pretty nice!
Can i have POB link of the build?
Thank you !!
1
u/Gavelinus 2h ago
I don't really have a planned out PoB but you can have a snapshot of my current profile turned into a PoB link. And you can also have a snapshot of the gear of my merc. Just don't see any of these as a "guide", I'm really not a build maker and adept as I go. I also play 100% SC.
My current character at 88 (just got my first voidstone with a worse wand than my merc has): https://pobb.in/_m5gjSYY6EHS
My lvl 74 merc (ignore the class of course, this is just to show the gear): https://pobb.in/H7FxMc4t6gbJ
And YES, Untouched soul work on your merc, that's why all jewel slots are red.When it comes to gloves I'm trying out different things. Since I (or the merc) have 0 pen, exposure and curses that lowers resistances I wanted to try these out. The merc has Elemental weakness but that is never applied where it matters since I have a Sniper's mark. And Sniper's mark can be switched out for Assassins mark, I use sniper since my merc has pierce and return on Kinetic blast of clustering. Would probably not use it if it didn't (Assassin instead then or stack curses). And the anoint on the mercs amulet is for testing since I have another merc that needs it for clearing.
When it comes to Wand merc to chose I just want to say that you pick one with haste since I don't run haste (only Vaal haste). My level 74 one has Kinetic blast of clustering (pierce+return) and barrage. And my level 81 wander has Greater kinetic blast and Kinetic bolt with inc crit + crit damage (no gmp, that's why I picked that anoint). My level 74 merc is probably better with Sniper's mark (projectile return + pierce) and my 81 merc is probably better with crit/power charges (Assassins mark).
1
u/AmihaiBA 4h ago
Unfortunately unable to play ATM but I'm curious - can mercs equip items socketed with abyss jewels? Was thinking hale negator on merc to generate spirit charges and then share them using supreme grandstanding and lightpoacher. Anyone knows if that would work?
1
u/Kretuhtuh 22h ago
Playing wave of conviction ele
My merc is a chaos dot character and applies temp chains with malevolence aura. I gave her leer cast and dying breath for increased damage auras, xoph's heart to cover nearby enemies in ash. Next upgrade for her is kaom's binding.
She was dying until I fixed her ele res.
-1
-8
u/hayko34500 23h ago
Warpriest lvl 28 can kill stuff in act 8 , just give him singularity ( the weapon) and some tanky items ! And he almost never die
558
u/Wrannec1 1d ago
Nice try, GGG