So i've just done some preliminary testing with a brand bow merc
I cannot say for certain that she is better or worse than the reapers merc, but

Advantages:
amp damage is a much larger radius to decrepify
amp damage lasts much longer than decrepify
ctc is not dependant on ability to attack
amp damage allows more damage to monsters than decrepify
rogue does not die to iron maiden
cold arrows slow enemies

Disadvantages:
monsters must attack her for the ctc
no might aura
she runs away from enemies
amp does not slow enemies
amp does not lower the attack power of enemies

i've been using enigma to get past the running away part
in some situations she is a lot more effective (ranged opponents and large groups of monsters)
in other situations she does not help at all (bosses and monsters who dont attack frequently)
frankly i dont really need any merc for my build, but the fact that she doesnt die in chaos or worldstone from im is a huge plus for me

up for discussion

Hi. I was wondering.. What about axes? Example, botd + beast or something? Is there any way that will work?

axes can work, and can work very well, but if you can afford the swords mentioned they will serve you better than those axes would
upgraded butchers pupil is an example of a cheap axe that will work, and you'll see people with these the first few weeks of ladder resets
there is a brief explaination as to why they are not prime choice at the very end of post 3

i'de sooner choose maces than axes personally
stormlash and sheaffers have some great mods, and stonecrusher is unbelieveable
the only reason i dont use them more often is because you run into range issues, which is spelled out a little more clearly in the notes near the end

swords are my favorite because
pb has base -30 speed, and is indestructible, to me the dex requirement is worth the speed
azurewrath is a pb, and imo the most underrated weapon in the game, you could put two of these on a barb and easily clear the whole game

pb offers you to have an extremely fast wsm
while having a just good enough wsm will work, if it is faster, you will be at max speed sooner, and less if effected at all by decrepify curse

good question, i hope this is the answer you were looking for

up for discussion

up for discussion

The higher Radius is negated again by the Low Chance to cast it...
Not the numbers u se on the items (33% / 35%), but look:
As u said, the Merc won't let her get hit that often... and that Dec is bound on Attacking is it's advantage, because it triggers much more often and sure than AD.
Imo, The usual boring A2 Merc > any A1 Merc, doesn't matter how u try to see it.

this tells me you haven't tried it
don't get me wrong, i would only use this on an enigma wearing character, you can put your merc in harms way and she will cast amp on the entire field
if you dont wear enigma and have the reapers mighter, you have no control over your merc either, he'll wander off and attack monsters that arent a priority and get killed by monsters who are a priority in the process

a1 mercs are immune to iron maiden, barbs using berserk are too
we can do baal/chaos runs together and neither of us die constantly

its not a matter of trying to see it one way or the other, the fact is that the a1 merc is completely viable and superior to the reapers merc in certain applications
some people don't like their merc dieing to IM constantly, this is an option

since the ctc is when struck, in large groups of enemies, she actually has a much higher chance of casting amp than a a2 merc who's getting knocked around (baals minions for example)

don't get me wrong, wearing fortitude and having a might merc can increase your overall damage by about 50%, if you do 10,000 damage with grief pb you will do about 15000 with might and fortitude (this is what my barb does anyway, critical strike is considered in my calculations)
we can consider a typical hell monster to have 50% dr (where decrepify doubles your damage and amp triples it)

fort might decrep = 1.5x*2 = 3x damage
enigma amp = 1x*3 = 3x damage

we can get comparable damage to a fort + might wearing barb and have the convenience of wearing enigma
you won't be rushing any of your friends with a frenzy barb wearing fortitude,
nor will you be teleporting to mephisto (i've never found anything worth keeping in durance lvl2, its huge and usually full of those anoying bone fetish,
or keeping your merc out of the "bugged" hydras in travincal, if they start taking too much damage you have to waste juvs on them or stand in between the hydra and your merc so they dont take damage

then we see that amp lasts almost a minute instead of 4 seconds, and it gets casted on far more monsters because the radius is the half the screen notthe length of the merc weapon

im not trying to argue that this is better than a reapers might merc, im just saying that it is a viable alternative
in the end it comes down to your style of play and what you want of your merc/character

up for discussion

I was just showering when thinking again about your idea with the amp merc

questions:

is that 0 FCR enough when working with it

how 50% - res versus ~ 10-20 prisma and 400% ed

but getting on..

if the player knows what he is doing, he can make an a2 merc immune to IM

you have leap, leap attack, berserk and howl

I mean
either stunning the whole screen or leap attck the mages, howl away any fighters and berserk them to oblivion is not that hard imho.

using war cry to stun baals minions is also an option

This post was edited by Ancalagon on Feb 23 2009 07:52am