I'm leveling with my friend over and over> and we're trying to figure out a way to keep our mercs alive in the early levels like 10-30~ (and beyond*) using easy stuff preferrably that we find on a natural play trhough... Such as runes, skulls, etc any suggestions appreciated.

Honestly... just use Rogue (cold preferably) in the early levels. Use what ever Rare bow that drops especially with 3 types of elemental damage & Amp on striking. Or you can just go for a 3 soc bow and put 3x Perfect Rubies in it for the fire damage, personally I like Topaz for lightning damage.

They are more for Inner Sight (reducing monster damage / defense) and cold Rogue for slowing some down and shattering Devilkin (those that get revived).

If going for an Act 2 merc... think there is a low level runeword (3 socs I think) polearm type with 100% open wounds and -5 life ... so you need at least 1 LL item, the old necro helm (unique) has LL I believe... and you will have to Shift+click potion on occasions.

Hope this helps.

Combat a2 merc i always use for normal. Almost never dies. If he is close to i just give rev pots with the quick command.

Yep, prayer merc and try to put a strength on him asap

Or roll a savage polearm with decent ed/good base so that it does a ton of dmg

I also put a nadir and stealth on them if I can afford to

This post was edited by vert on May 6 2021 02:10am

Gamble Pike @ A2 and it will outdamage most savage polearm rolls

This post was edited by SylvesterStallone on May 6 2021 02:55am

Curios to ask what level your character and merc is when you get to Durial (Norm)... well character dependent also I suppose.

I am normally around 25 to 28, and gear sucks vs Durial and Act2 Merc vs Durial with Holy Freeze + KB. So I normally try to get the 100% OW polearm so that Durial bleeds to death...

This post was edited by izParagonzi on May 6 2021 06:16am

I usually gamble a pike and reroll it with chipped gems from a1 until I get an ed/2os one and put ith runes in it. Prayer merc for the heals. I usually use ctc frost nova armor and helm, but if I am really trying hard I will re-run countess until I have an ort/ral helm for him (still using frost nova armor)
This setup lasts all of normal but you’ll need some upgrades before nm.

We are both barbs atm, lvl 22 starting act 5.

We're playing just the 2 of us w/o public games> and I know we're supposed to Tomb run until 25... But it feels SO SLOW in a 2 player game!

Once you hit 24 and can use battle orders on merc that will help too.

Not sure, but any of you have 1 base point leap? This may sound crazy, but alternating leaps stun the monsters and the mercs kill...

What I do is rerun Act 1 main bosses... Inner Cloister for Bone Ash (fastest to get to from Waypoint) compared to the rest, yup, go to stony then enter red portal (where you get cain), even the Tree (forgot name of area), countess and Andy (hopefully you both glitched Andy for Q drops)

What I like to get from this are Hsarus set pieces : Shield / Belt & Boots... you may even come up with some Hotspurs if lucky (not a fan of Hots, but you guys might be). Anyway, not sure if you use Find Item skill either, could come in handy to use this vs Champions+ after you killed them.

wish you luck.