As far as I know, MDR doesn't work like Magic Absorb.

Mdr works exactly like I said above.


You have shown time and time again In this thread you don’t know what you are talking about.

This post was edited by Bui6Pays40Percent4Wins on May 8 2022 01:16pm

Hi Exokek,
I haven't tested the act2 merc killing setup in 2.4. Did anything change from before?
I'm planning to revive mine again.

Nope. 3os of 8LL circlet over Andy's, with proper jewels, if you have one.

Maybe use Beast on the Barb if you wanna speed things up I guess.

Ty then, I am in ladder. Beast can wait for now

What level should my merc be before I move to hell? Tals helm, wealth, botd. I played the merc build in non ladder, but my barb was 90 when I transitioned to it.

Also playing hardcore

This post was edited by treehead01 on May 9 2022 02:30pm

Is gladiators bane really the best budget merc armor? Any other good options w/o a HR?

Duriel's Shell, probably

This post was edited by Exokek on May 9 2022 06:46pm

guardian angel + steel shade negates hydras, gbane doesn't
hydras deal 120-147 for ismail and 135-164 for geleb, vs mercenaries who don't get the 17% pvp penalty as players. The 20 mdr on gbane will only stop 13-15% of their damage
whereas having 90% fire resist and 11 fire absorb makes them heal your merc


against players, hydras deal so little damage than the MDR on 2x dwarf star will completely negate them. The fire absorb and your fire resist don't matter, if a hydra only deals 20-25 or 23-28 damage, and you have 30 MDR, you fully negate the damage before it even reaches absorb / resists.
the difference is that hydras deal 6x as much to mercs

This post was edited by Goomshill on May 9 2022 06:51pm

yeah; was having that exact convo w/someone just yesterday, talking about budget setups for their own Barb in HC

if all you need from the merc is survivability that works out, if you have LL on the weap.
it's pretty shit for DPS, but it becomes a super nice aurabot.

I use a 3os LL circ + Guardian Angel + Infinity on a WW/Zerker for instance, works out well enough.

This post was edited by Exokek on May 9 2022 07:03pm