...some form of Amplify Damage?

Originally I was going to use either Witchwild String or a Wrath runeword to cover Amplify Damage for PI's and give my merc Faith for the Fanaticism aura. I still plan to give her Faith, but I've heard now that CTA, though Battle Orders has been nerfed significantly, Battle Cry actually reduces physical resistance, albeit by a small amount.

If I forego any form of Amplify Damage, would CTA/Battle Cry be enough to break through PI's?

My choice for a first character is a Summoner Druid, or a Clay/Fire Golemancer with 1 point in Amplify, Curse Mastery, and Lower Resist, and 20 in Golem Mastery and all Golems to max out their damage and other stats. I don't want to make it a Curse/Golem hybrid, 1 point in the two curse I need with +skills and swap their usage as needed.

Summon Druid are pretty strong right now. I'm running one with Full Aldur Set, Gerke's Sanctuary, Chancy and rest are MF crafted items. I run whole Hell without any difficulty and they melt down bosses.

I do have an Act 1 Merc using Witchwild String unique Bow for the AMP on striking. But most of the time, they die before the curse even trigger.

I think you need a tons of +skill to make War Cry from CTA able to break Phys Immune.


Anyway, AMP on striking in PD2 for merc is everywhere. If your poor or you do a SSF, Lawbringer RW would be your best choice on an Act 5 Merc.

Also, someone on PD2 reddit did the calculation and Faith with lvl15 Fana will not provide enough IAS for the next AS BP of the wolf nor the Grizzly. Which make the RW kind of useless for a Druid summon.

Then what should I use? An Act 2 Merc with Pride and Templar's Might? I want a combo that gets at least 2 damage auras. I would prefer all three but I doubt that's possible unless I run Faith or Beast myself.

I suppose I could use a Thorns Merc so enemies kill themselves on my minions. I'm definitely running Spirit Keeper as my helmet so I can have a maxed HoW and a weak Oak Sage with +skills.

Looking at something like:

HotO/Spirit
CTA/Spirit
Rain or Chains of Honor (no Enigma for any character with their own Teleport)
Spirit Keeper
Maras
Wisp x2
Dungos or Arachnids

Something like that, so I'll have somewhere around 12-15 +skills for Battle Cry. It'll probably end up being around 20%.

Well anyway, I'm not liking the constant raven resummoning, they expire too quick. Think I'll try my tried and true Zealot build. Shouldn't be too hard to make that work if I'm diligent about farming runes from Norm/Night Countess.

Summon Druid end game gear:
Helm: Aldur helm (+4 skills and you dont need two Spirits)
Amy: Mara
Weapon: Hoto
Armor: Rain (+3 skill)
Shield: Lidless (+2 skills or 3 if slammed)
Ring1: SoJ or BK
Belt: Arach
Ring2: SoJ or BK
Boots: Aldur Boots or Waterwalk (CBF slam)

Swap:
Utility RW (Harmony/CTA/Edge)
OR
Breast RW + Stormshield (You give some extra damage with aura and you can boost your HP in Werebear for extra tankyness on top of SS %PDR)


I personally prefer running this Merc setup for end game:
Act 1 Vigor Aura
Wrath RW in a Demon Crossbow
Andariel's Visage
Templar's Might
Magnus' Skin
Razortail
Treads of Cthon

/e
The raven with full end game gear does around 6k(maybe even higher) damage each and you have 12 of them. 3k Phys and 3k cold damages.

This post was edited by RenTed on Sep 5 2021 01:14pm

Nvm

This post was edited by IgoSoHard on Sep 6 2021 11:27am