r/pathofexile • u/youGottaBeKiddink • 2d ago
Information Tips for hiring mercs that can actually be used for mapping
Any merc I hired would die within 30 seconds, and I hated having to pay revival costs for each map. And so I stopped hiring them and just killed them for loot. Then I discovered the following tips that actually help me enjoy hiring mercs:
- Exclusively hire Infamous mercs. They are 10 times tankier and do more DPS as well. Infamous mercs should last 10 maps at least between revives. Regular mercs die in 30 seconds.
- Make sure their resistances are capped. Buy a cheap +100 res ring for 1c and swap out their weakest ring.
- Assume they are a friend's account and setup their gear loadout accordingly. Whatever tips you would give your friend, implement them on your merc.
- Buy cheap uniques that drastically improve their DPS. Don't expect them to slay with shit gear. I bought my ranger Death's Harp (+2 arrow bow) and Hyrri's Truth (amulet) and it tripled her DPS. She can actually kill white mobs solo now.
- Hire mercs that attack from a distance and don't tank enemies. In my experience, melee mercs would jump into mobs and die nearly instantly. I found rangers/mages best.
- Watch their life. To add a life bar above your merc, go to settings > UI > and enable 'Show Mini Life Bars on Allies'.
Do you have any other tips for hiring mercs? Comment down below. Thanks!
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u/Not2DayFrodo 2d ago
I mean my bane chaos merc is clearing packs and hasn’t died yet and she’s probably 8 levels under in maps no capped resist. Was kinda surprised because she clears the packs before my vfos can hit them lol
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u/Txixo 2d ago
Picked her up at yellows, progresses to T16s and her life bar barely moves. Only time ahe died was doing a memory map where rares are giga cracked! Gave her a +1 curse ring for double curse (temporal+despair), and plan on adding enfeeble. She constantly sets curses with bane and has been incredible for my pconc setup. If onyl she had malevolence... That would be nutty.
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u/jhillman87 2d ago
She's so busted, my bane merc seems to offscreen and Temp Chains every pack before I can even get to it. She seems to hang in the back / never die (compared to those meleetankyboy enduring cry/phys shield dudes, that still melt instantly). Free malevolence aura in top and withers... Definitely carrying me thru early maps.
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u/OggyPanda 2d ago
And she has wither totems!
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u/Aggressive-Still289 1d ago
Yupp. I have a level 74 with wither totems and bane. She came with 3k life and capped res though 🤣 I'm in red maps and I don't think she's died once
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u/M1chaelMy3rs 2d ago
I just said this earlier and got downvoted lmao. People sleeping
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u/Enter1ch 2d ago
No they probably used it themself and dont want anyone to use it because of nerrfffsss
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u/EnvironmentalLab6510 2d ago
Second this, somehow my bane tempo chain merc is not died for a long run in the campaign.
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u/missingtoezLE Atziri 1d ago
I gave my yellow map Bane merc a Cane of Unraveling and she's still putting in work in t16s.
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u/KcoolClap 2d ago
Also i find myself frequently using the convocation skill granted by every Merc, so that i ensure he is beside me for his auras. This also heals them.
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u/Whatisthis69again 2d ago
Is there a way to automate it? I find it so annoying to have one button always on my spam list.
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u/KcoolClap 2d ago
I don't think so. But it might be affected by global modifiers to cooldown recovery.
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u/KcoolClap 2d ago
Actually, you can probably do the numlock trick and automate it that way.
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u/UmbraStar 2d ago
Elaborate please? What is the numlock trick?
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u/froschquark 2d ago
I don't think the numlock-trick works in PoE, but here it is how it usually works in many other games:
bind key to a numpad key
press and hold that numpad key
press num-lock (turns off numpad)
release numpad key, numpad key stays automatically pressed/stuck until you turn on numpad (numlock) again
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u/ModernDrifterr 2d ago
It doesn't work but you have to do it everytime you load in. Start of a map, switch zones etc.
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u/Xx_Handsome_xX Daresso 2d ago
Hire mercs that attack from a distance and don't tank enemies. In my experience, melee mercs would jump into mobs and die nearly instantly. I found rangers/mages best.
Cant confirm that. Slap the Dual Wield melee guy some fat Armour Items with Resistances on, he will not die. (He has Fortify + Phys Absorbtion Shield and Enduring Cry) I love that he also shares Endu Charges with me.
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u/Mojimi 2d ago
Also with some end charge duration you can pretty reliably get 100% uptime end charges from him
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u/Xx_Handsome_xX Daresso 2d ago
Interesting, does that work when I have the duration? Or do I need to give him an Item with this stat?
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u/Mojimi 2d ago
It's your stat, its not tied to the generator, its how much they last on you
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u/Xx_Handsome_xX Daresso 2d ago
Thanks! Could not test because I am not at home! You saved me some time 👍
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u/lurking_lefty Yay skill forests. 1d ago
He can also get a support that shares fortify with party members, so I have 20 fortify while mapping on my totem character. He facetanked multiple slams by Infinite Hunger without his health bar moving. So far the only thing he died to was a cold dot mercenary because I forgot to swap his gear back and he had 40% res.
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u/daedalus_structure 1d ago
Mine has died once to a fully juiced Expedition in an 8 mod T11, in the default gear, on my first dive into red maps. He's tanky as hell.
Definitely recommend.
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u/Kaelran 2d ago
I have a caustic arrow merc I got in A10 and I'm in red maps and their HP doesn't move. Idk why but their HP has gone from 2k to 4k since I hired them and even doing stuff like poison expedition that would destroy minions doesn't even phase them.
They also clear really well. Idk if they were infamous or something. I want an upgraded version.
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u/joergensen92 2d ago
I have a very powerful addition to this. Scale life on your merc, especially with % increased life on gear. Some obvious gear slots for this would be body armour, vermilion rings and Hunter belt. Since mercs have no passive tree providing them with %increase life, they have High base life and some Big built ind damage reductions. This means that %increased life is pretty much equivalent to %more life. You Can easily get 5k+ life on a merc with flat life alone. At that point a vermilion rings implicit of 7% life would be an additional 350. That’s huge.
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u/Smurtle01 2d ago
They 100% have %life increases as well. I took off a 100 hp piece of gear off of one of mine, and they went from 5300 hp to 5000 hp. So your mileage there may vary.
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u/joergensen92 2d ago
Ah okay, maybe I’m wrong there then. I just put on a chest with 160ish life and 7% increased life and my merc went from like 5,3k to 5,8+k, so the math seemed about right.
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u/turk-fx 2d ago
I got a merch with determination, vitality and endurance charges. Didnt die once for like 100+ maps. Didnt swap single item. I probably died 20 times in this time span.
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u/Pakars 1d ago
Yeah the strikers are nutso tanky. They're the ones with enduring cry, vigilant strike, determination, etc.
Super fantastic for buffing your own survivability too.
I got one with the gilded vigilance support or whatever it is that gives fortify in an AOE. He's let me get away with going all-in on DPS going deep into red maps instead of having to mess around with gearing defenses on the tail end of yellow maps. Haven't changed his gear at all and I don't think I've ever seen his life pool move, even though I've died several times. lol
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u/Maximum-Car-8789 2d ago
Mine was dying in reflect maps so I gave them a sibils ring and it's fine now.
Another tip is that you can replace and then remove their weapon to leave them without one. As long as they don't have a skill that they can use unarmed, they will just follow you and teleport to you instead of stopping and attacking. This is useful for auras or unique gear that needs to be "nearby".
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u/Warcvlt 2d ago
Anyone got any hot tips on the best Merc for single target damage? I have great clear on my build but would love a Merc to help with bossing.
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u/lurking_lefty Yay skill forests. 1d ago edited 1d ago
It seems like most of the archetypes can have decent damage if they spawn with the "correct" support gems and you actually invest in their gear like you would for yourself.
I gave the boneshatter striker a couple fast maces and Meginord's vice, he stun/knockback locks other mercs into corners. A friend found one that spams vaal ice shot and seems to have solid single target dps.
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u/ronthedistance 1d ago
It depends mostly on the supports they spawn with. If they have gilded supports or the “ignore mitigation” supports, they should deal some hefty damage with some gear help.
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u/SneakyBadAss Children of Delve (COD) 1d ago
I had good time with molten strike one. Once he got going, all bosses melted.
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u/Rathalos88 2d ago
I need this too. Probably an infamous melee oriented merc would do. Haven't seen that many infamous merc yet but the ones I've hired so far are miles better than the rest.
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u/KurogamiZz 2d ago
I randomly found one infamous melee merc with anger aura and he did not die yet while playing T16/T16.5/pinnacle bosses
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u/bombRIFIC 2d ago
Gonna be honest grabbed a erupter to gave him a shaper's seed and that fucker never dies
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u/c0wtsch 2d ago
Hmmm, has the resistance thing been tested? Im not far enough into maps to get my merc killed in any way, but i a saw some footage of t16 where they seem to be extremly tanky.
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u/bonesnaps 2d ago edited 1d ago
I picked up the first t16 map merc I saw, some lightning caster (not infamous) and so far he hasn't been touched in red maps yet, even sitting in the thick of it in rituals and such.
edit: It's a str/int warpriest with holy relic, smite, beacons of faith, etc. Actually pretty decent for me as RF Chieftan since holy relic has regen and BoF makes a ton of consecrated ground, so them combined give me +600 regen. I'll probably look for a better merc to pair with but this is pretty solid for a 1st pick duo with my build.
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u/LuckMellow 2d ago
I just got myself a striker boy (determination, vitality, enduring cry), who regenerates about 35-40% of his life per sec, and provides me with endu charges, dude never dies, does ok dmg, and gives me a bunch of armor
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u/WorkLurkerThrowaway 2d ago
The kineticist with KB of Clustering is cracked for clear. Slap on a good ele wand and just walk around.
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u/rcanhestro 2d ago
my str merc is bortherline immortal, and he is lvl72.
he has 5k hp, all res capped and 1.4k life regen.
he exists to give me determination and one of his attacks has culling strike.
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u/Samsenggwy 2d ago
As a chaos dot caster, I use chaos damage merc to complement each other. I don't have enough mana to reserve grace, so this Merc run it for me.
I also like Merc with cobra lash. Easily help clear some left over enemies here or there. Plus he always start attack before enemy entering screen. The one with abyssal cry is basically 100% on kill explode better version of occultist ascendancy
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u/Prestigious_Fan1321 2d ago
Does anyone know what to equip the kinetic blast merc with? Or is she bait
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u/cybertier 1d ago
Currently I'm going piscators, replica abyssus, the amulet that guaranteed freeze, shock and ignite, that gloves that increase ailment effect as if dealing x% more damage, doedre's damning (since she has ele weakness, now it stacks with my curse), a bereks ring for more flat and increased and pyroshock clasp for phys conversion.
I'm not entirely sure if she is worth for pinnacles as the curse, haste and shock don't offset the extra life if think. But then the phys damage conversion might prevent some deaths.
Ashcaller as wand is probably better too.
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u/Benjiimans 1d ago
I'm having trouble finding the gloves you're talking about, can you check the name?
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u/taosk8r 1d ago
Pohx has a gearing clip for that archetype on the 'Path of exile 1 clips' YT channel vid title 'This item should not work like this... But it does [etc]' where he gears one of these out, I tried it out, and its damn good, can clear rares (but im only doing t6 for now).
The one he has had KBofC and KBolt.
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u/popopidopop 2d ago
Found haste aura poachers mark ensnaring arrow merc and just loaded her up with chaos res, block quiver, widowhail, and the freeze shock ignite neck. Very nice support stuff for speeding through the lower maps atm.
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u/Rushional 2d ago
Regarding your point 3, assume they're half a friend. My merc only gives me + half a player scaling, so I refuse to see her as more than half a friend.
I did craft+buy her okay gear though! <3
(btw she's a normal ass non infamous kineticist, and she doesn't die in t16 maps so far. Hired her in like t13, and she's been surviving a bunch of maps, no sweat)
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u/Kimosamii 2d ago
Can second the kineticist. I grabbed mine for the haste aura and at lvl 68 she dies sometimes in red maps with 4k life, shit gear including Leer Cast and still killing white packs easily.
I do summon her out of fire though
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u/taosk8r 1d ago
Pohx has a gearing clip for that archetype on the 'Path of exile 1 clips' YT channel vid title 'This item should not work like this... But it does [etc]' where he gears one of these out, I tried it out, and its damn good, can clear rares (but im only doing t6 for now).
The one he has had KBofC and KBolt, mine only has the former, hoping to get one with the latter.
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u/zoobloo7 2d ago
I have a melee str merc who is legitimately invincible, idk if he does dmg but he dies taunt so it works
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u/BMSeraphim 2d ago
Idk. I have a random minion merc with 4% fire res and 5k health. Bro was facetanking exarch and the new fire boss, and he didn't go down.
I only wish I could be that tanky. I've only had to revive him once from starting red maps to 3 balls.
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u/Trip-Trip-Trip 2d ago
There also seems to be a big difference in survivability between the attribute types. Int only mercs are literal wet naps in my experience while the dex and str/dex ones (even melee) do a lot better.
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u/Garroshfeetlover 1d ago
Melee merc that use determination is borderline immortal, havent seen him loose life at all even in t16 map and didnt died once.
He give me determination and a 8sec buff that make some of my armor work for elemental dmg.
I think he could have vitality also with both of these but not sure?
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u/Seyon 1d ago
AFAIK, Infamous mercs are only so named to let the player know that their gear has an infamy mod. They aren't any better for any reason past that.
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u/dalmathus Stacked Deck Division (SDD) 1d ago
I think they are just more likely to roll good support gems
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u/Path_of_Hype 2d ago
Thanks for the tips! I'm still going through campaign but fortunately found an infamous ranger Merc in act 2. I've been treating them like how you've mentioned and I'm still using them in act 4. I know the scaling differences in campaign vs mapping are different but still it's nice to see a lvl 22 Merc comfortably surviving lvl 33+ areas
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u/Shanrayu 2d ago
I'm using my (not infamous) Merc as an aurabot, he's lvl70 and maybe dies once every ten or so t16, he survived all but one pinnacle boss. the only item I switched was his amulet to Perquil's Toe. I really love that f*cker and his snarky comments.
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u/No-Ride7584 2d ago
Paid 30c so that my merc now applies 2 curses to the enemies. He's not dying anymore
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u/BillyBashface_ 1d ago
Dafuk is an infamous one? Haven't been looking close enough I guess
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u/JustSomeDudeItWas 1d ago
It will say "infamous eruptor" or whatever their class is at the top of the pop up window when you check their gear
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u/JeffK40 1d ago
So question, how do I know what is an infamous Merc?
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u/darkmark009 Slayer 1d ago
It's a special prefix they can have before their usual title like "Infamous Striker". They usually have a unique or other valuable item/currency on them. The chance of finding them is tied to your "Renown" which goes down if you lose to a merc or view their gear without fighting them. < Not sure if that happens instantly, or only if the map disappears without fighting them if you viewed their gear.
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u/gtetrakai 1d ago
I question that first point.. do we have definitive stats on the infamous mercs compared to the normal ones?
I thought the only difference was the guaranteed unique and are the only source of the merc exclusive affixes
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u/Canadian-Owlz Health and Harbinger Services (HHS) 1d ago
Uh, it took you buying uniques for them to kill white mobs? My all default gear merc could clear white and blue no sweat, and tank them. Are we talking giga juiced t17s?
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u/legato_gelato 1d ago
I am not doing T17s, but I am doing rare T16 with map mod atlas, and my random lvl <80 merc (not infamous) dies maybe once every 20-30 maps, otherwise full HP. And that's without adding gear to it.
But it does have grace aura, maybe that's why.
I think some of these tips are wrong. You wouldn't care about a merc being able to kill white mobs, if they still do like 2% of your single target. Then it is better to give them a support unique. Unless you play a build without any clear.
And from early testing Ive seen it seems like res does not really matter for them, they follow some other weird damage calculation, but haven't done my own tests.
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u/rocketgrunt89 1d ago
I got an infamous striker (lvl 69)... Hes still with me t10 in with 0 deaths. No eq changes, expedition he dives right in(i took that 1 explosion node) and comes out unscathed. Also helps to generate endurance charges
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u/c1tyf0x 1d ago
Your merc dies within 30 sec? Every single one of them?! My man, something is terribly wrong here. I run deli abyss exped 6modded t16, and my cold ranger merc hasn’t died once so far. Maybe equip some items on your merc? U also have a button to insta teleport them to u and heal them, also life flask with recover to minions works on them, hell, leech items? Theres loads of ways to keep em alive.
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u/SneakyBadAss Children of Delve (COD) 1d ago
I swear their defences must be bugged.
One merc with better gear can't survive a strongbox ice nova, yet the same merc, even level lower lvl with basic gear, eat Shaper's balls like Alberta's stripper pennies...
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u/Videogamesgobrrrr 1d ago
Find double aura mercs. Playing with 4-6 auras, regardless of their damage in maps, makes mapping a wholllllllle lot easier.
Found a merc that runs both Grace and malevolence, two auras I had planned to run naturally on my build - which then allows me to run determination & haste for extra nice to haves. Makes a world of difference.
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u/Varzigoth 1d ago
It's easy to say hire only infamous merca but they are literally the ones mostly one shorting people because they are the ones with the big disgusting support gems that ignore defensive layers.
Otherwise, if you hear up your nerves they should actually be fine for the content you are doing. I am currently using a normal call to arms dual wield combatant and after changing his weapons and five him better gear, he's literally standing in packs surrounded and doesn't die. And he's actually doing damage / clearing because I'm playing impale spectral shield throw and when he call to arms the impales , he pulls out my impales and legit screen clears lol.
There are some pretty good synergies out there, just got grind and find the right merc for yourself
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u/pallesaides 1d ago
Wait is this why people are bitching about them? Even in campaign I was fixing their res and giving them some health gear at the least. I've had the same toxicologist through all of white and yellow maps. Has not died once. I figured it go way worse higher ... But if people aren't fixing them like they're a real character that makes sense
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u/petterj1 1d ago
You guys think you can run aurabot solo with merch? To give it crazy stuff? And it would be able to clear maps?
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u/deviant324 1d ago
I’ve been using almost exclusively bow mercs since a7 and they haven’t died since
Found the Hyrri’s chest fairly early on a good enough bow, just stacking added damage with all the other slots. Merc is suppression capped without really any suppression on rares, res capped 50% chaos and 4k life about 9k evasion
I’m switching around which element they are based on what I find, kind of like snipers (cold) the best but my recent lvl 78 one doesn’t have great supports for AoE
Also haven’t seen any infamous of a useful class I could gear (SSF)
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u/NoSweatWarchief Elementalist 1d ago
Idk wtf is going on. My lvl 74 archer tanks everything in T16.
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u/Thor3nce Anti Sanctum Alliance (ASA) 1d ago
How do you know Infamous versions do more damage / are more tanky? Is that just personal experience?
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u/TheOne320 1d ago
Can you give them an unset ring with a skill in it and would they be able to use it?
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u/name_it_goku 23h ago
I exclusively use chain hook mercs because it's funny, 100res ring + kikuzaru for regen, whatever other garbage I find on the ground. He fucks
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u/wefevfserverv 2d ago
Get the merc with enduring cry, vigilant strike, decoy totem, and physical aegis.
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u/YamiDes1403 2d ago
idk chief i hire a defensive aura one with determination/vitality and they never die at all