D2R 2.6 ACT 1/2/3/5 Merc Gear Build Guide (Best Runewords, Armor, Weapons) (2023)

FAQs

What is the best armor Runeword for Merc? ›

Forget about Fortitude, Treachery is the best Mercenary armor in the game.

Runewords for a mercenary are usually picked to improve survivability or to provide a supporting function to the player. The best runewords that improve survivability are Treachery, Fortitude, and Chains of Honor. The most popular runewords that support the player passively are Insight, Infinity, and Faith.

An Ebotd offers the highest damage in the game for a 2-handed weapon, with significant stat and life leech benefits. This is a fantastic option to create a high damage Bash Merc that can sustain himself and deal crushing damage.

Demonhide Armor is one of my top favorite armors of all times. It simply has everything a mercenary needs to survive. +150-190% Enhanced Defense (varies) - massive defense while ethereal.

Fortitude armor has good defense, a decent all resist boost and a juicy 300% enhanced DAMAGE mod which is multiplicative, and even more defense from the chilling armor. Plus you get a 20% average damage boost from critical strike. so enhanced damage on armor applies to the merc's weapon damage?

Fortitude is not only a nearly-ubiquitous recommendation for Mercenary armor, it's also found in many Best in Slot (BiS) armor recommendations for several melee DPS builds.

No effect on mercs.

Treachery, Duress, smoke, and lionheart are all fine choices IMO. Lionheart is nice and cheap, gives over 100 hp and 30% all res along with 25 str to get closer to an eth CV. I'd say Treachery or Duress are probably better though if you have the runes for them.

The most used polearm is the Thresher because it requires less. But depending on your level+ “Andariel Mask”, any polearm will be used by your mercenary. Your mercenary needs to attack with good frequency + life steal to have good survival. That, combined with good armor, until you build a great Et Fortitude.

Treachery is most often used as relatively inexpensive Mercenary armor, when you want the Mercenary to be more offense-focused rather than defensive (in which case, Fortitude is the usual recommendation).

What is the best weapon for infinity runeword? ›

Thresher and Giant Thresher have the fastest speed and are considered the best type of polearm for infinity.

no mercs aren't affected by movement speed penalties. neither medium or heavy armor and/or shields will apply their penalties. light armor has no penalty anyways.

Chains of Honor for Mercenaries

If you can afford a second set, by all means feel free to put Chains of Honor on your Mercenary. However, most people recommend the cheaper options of Fortitude or Treachery for that purpose.

Cold has Ice Bolt, Glacial Spike and Shiver Armor. Lightning has charge bolt, lightning and static field. Finally, Fire has firebolt, fire ball and enchant. Additionally, all 3 of them can use a sword, armor, helmet and a shield.

Answer: Treachery is simply better than Fortitude. In ~80% of all cases when raw damage is applied, and better in ALL cases in which CB is applied.

The best armor to make Fortitude in is a high-defense Archon Plate. For a mercenary, the best armor should be ethereal and ideally be superior. If you have a low level mercenary, it's best to also go for an Archon Plate.

It is equippable by Act 2 mercenaries, and is one of the best weapons available for them without needing to pay an arm and leg.

The short answer is yes, Enhanced Damage on Fortitude when put into your armor 100% boosts your Melee damage.

Fortitude is the rune word ' El Sol Dol Lo. ' for weapons or body armor in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. It can be made both in weapon and armor and in both cases it increases both damage and defense, with even more defense stacked on top of that thanks to the auto-cast Chilling Armor.

carcinogen: What's the big difference between archon plate and sacred armor? Archon plate is a “light” armor that has no speed penalty or stamina loss and defense varies between 410 and 524. Sacred Armor is “Medium” and has 50% stamina drain penalty and 5% speed loss and defense varies between 487 and 600.

Why is ethereal better for Merc? ›

Ethereal items can be highly sought after for a couple of reasons. First, ethereal items do not lose durability when equipped on a Mercenary. Therefore, it is possible for your Mercenary to reap the benefits of an ethereal item's increased power without worrying about it breaking.

Give him the armor. Note that if you do, he'll wake from his eternal (not so eternal now) slumber and murder Fia later in her quest. If you don't, he stays asleep and Fia remains alive through the end of the game.

Items equipped by Mercenaries, Summons, the Ancients and turned into Iron Golem do not lose Durability.

Byleth is by far the best choice for the Merc Whistle. You can use the Merc Whistle at any time after you obtain it, but make sure you use it before Chapter 15, as after that you won't have a chance to return to your base camp.

The best mercenary for Poison Nova Necromancers by far is the Act 2 Mercenary. Depending on your playstyle and build outside of the Poison Nova core, you might want to take the Nightmare Offense mercenary with you to increase your minion damage during leveling thanks to his Might aura.

Attributes (stats)

Each mercenary has three attributes: level, attack, and health. A mercenary can be leveled up by gaining experience by just playing, both in Travel Point and Fighting Pit. The max level of a mercenary is currently 30.

Your merc needs to be level 89 to use an eth sacred armor with a 29-30 rolled Andariel's visage, level 92 for min roll. I'd just use an eth Archon plate or similar unless you're already that high leveled.

Besides its very high defense and massive damage reduction, Leviathan is also known for its large boost to strength, perhaps one of the largest strength bonuses of a unique item. However, the armor requires 174 strength to equip, thus the primary reasons to use this armor becomes boosting melee damage.

1) Deathmatch

Travelers can only get this 4-star weapon by buying the Gnostic Hymn for the Battle Pass. Thus, it can never be obtained by true F2P players. Nonetheless, its stats and passive are good for gamers seeking reliable damage. This Polearm is a terrific option for Genshin Impact players who need CRIT Rate.

Polearm Master is a stellar feat for any character interested in melee combat. The most common builds looking for this feat are those that gain access to extra value from their attacks. Casters and ranged builds will want to look elsewhere as Polearm Master won't provide any value.

Are polearms better than spears? ›

There is no difference. A spear is a pole arm, but not all pole arms are spears. A pike, a poleaxe, a billhook, a halberd, and a spear are all pole arms. A spear is one type of pole arm.

“Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life.

Treachery has a 5% chance to cast a level 15 Fade when struck. Fade is a great way to increase survivability of any character, as it increases both elemental and physical resistances, and reduces curse duration.

A Lo rune is a high tier rune that can be socketed into armor and weapons in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction and Diablo 2 Resurrected. A Lo rune provides +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist when inserted in shields or off-hands, body armor and headgear, and 20% Deadly Strike in weapons.

Sources. The Act 3 ( H ) Good treasure class has a chance to drop a Ber rune, as do higher Good treasure classes. In single-player, open or ladder games only, the Horadric Cube can transmute two Sur runes and one flawless amethyst into one Ber rune.

The Conviction aura provided by Infinity maximizes the effects of the high-level Chain Lightning that the weapon produces. For nearly every character that deals elemental damage, this is the best mercenary weapon since it actively reduces resistances, vastly increasing the damage output of the character.

1 There Is No Weapon Stronger Than Heaven Asunder

Faint attacks are special attacks that defeat an enemy in one hit and with a 50% chance to inflict such an attack, Heaven Asunder will be killing enemies in one hit frequently, making it the most powerful weapon in all of Rune Factory 5.

If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can't cast spells.

The armor still counts as Medium or Heavy, regardless of STR requirement - same as if you wear Mithril Full Plate.

Mercenaries can provide your Character with up to 2 Auras. Ethereal Items do not suffer from Durability loss when equipped on a Mercenary. Healing Potions, Rejuvenation Potions and Wells can heal a Mercenary.

What is the best merc runewords armor? ›

Insight can achieve higher damage output, but Obedience does also boost your merc's resists and faster hit recovery.

Weapons: Spears, Javelins, or Polearms. They can't equip Amazon-specific spears or javelins.

Echoes Act 3 is super fast, able to create wind pressure just by moving. That is insane speed. Range: Downgrade from C to D. Unlike Acts 1 and 2, his range is only five meters which sadly brings it to D rank.

If you want to make it level-appropriate, either the Cuirass or Mage Plate will work nicely. For Mercenaries, if you can get a 3-socketed Ethereal armor, so much the better, since it will have better native Defense.

No effect on mercs.

Fortitude is often considered the best mercenary armour in this regard giving you some all resistance (+25) alongside a great boost to damage and defence. Similarly Treachery can be a budget armour option which again provides a balance of defence (through Fade) and damage boosting stats (attack speed and Venom).

Crucible Tree Armor

Probably the most effective way of protecting oneself against holy damage in Elden Ring is by equipping the Crucible Tree Armour. The entire set can be found in the Deeproot Depths, which can be accessed through the Siofra Aqueduct after defeating the Valiant Gargoyle and resting in a coffin.

Heavy armor will decrease a character's Run/Walk by -0.6 y/s (10% of walk speed) and Charge by -1.5 y/s.

For a healer merc, look to be certain that it has heals, cures, and rezzes (not all do!) The overall best-stats healer merc is the Golden Inquisitor. I got mine by purchasing the merc bauble from the broker.

Is duress good merc armor? ›

Duress is amazing Mercenary armor for the Act V Barbarian mercenaries, due to the boss-killing goodness of Crushing Blow and Open Wounds. The extra defense helps with their melee-fighting style. In Patch 2.4, they will also be able to dual wield, giving them twice the benefit on the offensive properties of this armor.

The best base for Fortitude is Archon Plate.

For many end-game builds, Spirit is often made in a Monarch and is rolled many times to get 35% Faster Cast Rate, which is designed to allow most characters to reach a new breakpoint when using standard caster items.