WHICH POLEARM TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR DESERT MERCENARY


Damage per second

Let's look at the Arreat Summit page (http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/polearms.shtml). This is a quick except with the useful information (we'll get to strength/dex requirements and range later):



Some things we can note right away: for pure dps purposes, Cryptic Axe will always beat Colossus Voulge, and Giant Thresher will always beat Thresher. This is simply because these polearms have the same base attack speed while having higher average damage.

Now let's look at the dps table below. In this table we can see the averge dps for each polearm on a merc with 0 attack speed and on a merc with 20 attack speed. This reflects the standard merc builds Infi/Dream/Forti and Insight/Andy Ral'd/Forti. We can see that the Great Poleaxe and Ogre Axe beat the other polearms by quite a large margin.




Range

Another variable on the polearms is their range. However, the rangeadder on the polearm you equip your mercenary with has absolutely no effect on his range (Source: http://wiki.theamazonbasin.com/index.php/Melee_range#Hirelings_and_pets. This means range is of no importance when deciding which polearm to equip your mercenary with.


Strength and dexterity requirements

Most of the polearms have strength and dexterity requirements such that your mercenary can wear them in his level 80s. However, the Colossus Voulge is an exception.

The Colossus Voulges has a high strength requirement of 210. There's a few ways to get around this problem. First of all, taking an ethereal Colossus Voulge lowers its strength requirement by 10 for a total 200 strength required. This amount of strength is reached by a mercenary hired on Nightmare (Holy Freeze / Might / Thorns) by level 93. A mercenary hired on normal (Blessed Aim, Prayer, Defiance) reaches this amount of strength by level 91.

If you don't feel like leveling to level 93 or 91, you can fix this problem by using an armor or helm that grants strength. Andariels Face is the prime example here, other possibilities would be the Chains of Honor runeword, Duriel's Shell, or Leviathan. These items ensure your merc can wear their (ethereal) Colossus Voulge in their level 80s.


Fast weapons versus slow weapons

Average damage per second isn't everything. There are some reasons to pick faster weapons over slow weapons, and vice versa. In the table above we can see that the Cryptic Axe is the best slow weapon, Great Poleaxe is the best normal speed weapon (together with Ogre Axe, but there are fewer runewords available for weapons with a maximum of 3 sockets), and Giant Thresher is the best fast weapon.

Fast weapons

One of the main reasons to pick a fast weapon is because of the Crushing Blow stat. More attacks per second means crushing blow will be applied more often. This results in higher effective dps.

Another reason to pick a fast weapon is because of the fast first hit. The mercenary will strike faster and this can send opponents into fast hit recovery animation before they can hit back.

The last argument in favor of the fast weapons is reliable life leech. Missing a few attacks back to back may be fatal to your mercenary. Using a fast weapon he has more chances to get a hit in and leech back life before he dies.

If you decide to pick a fast weapon for one of the above reasons, make sure you use the appropriate amount of attack speed. When running a standard 20 attack speed, Giant Threshers have the same speed as Great Poleaxes and all the above perks do not apply. If you run a Giant Thresher, either run it with no attack speed or 35 attack speed (see build below).

Slow weapons

The main reason to pick a slow weapon is because your merc will often only have time for one attack before the monster dies or you teleport away. For example, when teleporting, the mercenary has only time for one hit before the next teleport. In this case, slower weapons are better because of a highly damaging single hit.


Running with higher attack speed

Other than the standard builds I discussed above, some players use an attack speed jewel (often with additional fire resistance) in their Andariels Face helm. This brings the total attack speed to 35, which alters the dps tables significantly. The Cryptic Axe comes out ahead of the Great Poleaxe.




Sample mercenary builds

Here I will list some sample builds and which polearms go best with them.

Insight / Andariels Face 'Ral' / Fortitude
Great Poleaxe works best in this setup. Same speed as the fast weapons, and highest dps of all weapons.

Insight / Andariels Face 'IAS Jewel' / Fortitude
Either Cryptic Axe or Giant Thresher work best in this setup. Cryptic Axe for highest dps, Giant Thresher for the perks of a the fast weapon.

Infinity / Dream / Chains of Honor
Great Poleaxe offers the highest dps, but you might pick Giant Thresher or Cryptic Axe for the perks of fast/slow weapons.


Summary (TL;DR)

If you're running 0 or 20 attack speed on your merc, the Great Poleaxe will offer the best dps. Alternatively when running 0 attack speed you could run Giant Thresher for speed or Cryptic Axe for bigger hits.

If you're running 35 attack speed on your merc (Andariels Face with IAS jewel) Cryptic Axes offer the best dps, while Giant Threshers offer great attack speed (3.8 attacks per second).

Some nice info for the 2 most common merc setups, nice work. And, inb4 Synonym comes in a flames you for no reason

Probably useful to those who might struggle with basics.

Ogre Axe is essentially irrelevant when speaking of rune words (Crescent Moon, anyone?).
This is a mercenary thread, so just dispense with the rangeadder concept altogether. Keep the Basin Wiki reference and leave it at that.

Include Treachery.


Rest assured he will appreciate this warm invitation of yours.

Why don't you two just get a room?

This post was edited by Eywa on Aug 24 2010 07:14am

if this is so

if so.. why are there almost only insight/infinity Cv sold on non ladder?

nice one!

my merc use Great Poleaxe (GA+tal helm) 30 ias total!

I included Ogre Axe just to be thorough. You are right, I could probably state at the beginning that it's not relevant for most mercenary builds.

I kept the explanation of the rangeadder to a minimum already.

I might include Treachery in a possible future version, but what I wrote applies to the most common cases.



Exactly. That's why I wrote this guide.

Why don't you include Volgues?

I haven't left normal yet and all that is available to me are Volgues, mainly.


Could you compare them to see how much better my volgue is versus a war pike, or something?

I don't understand your logic here.
So you're saying a teleport takes how long?
That's very general to say, since each character has its own fcr breakpoints.

For a war pike, f.e, any character having 9 or below frames of cast speed will result in the merc not hitting anything during constant teleport.
That would apply to:
(cast rate)
174% sins
63% and above barbs
125% necs and paladins
63% and above sorcs

Seems to me the faster the weapon, in this case, the better. Not a slower one with a higher average, since it will simply not apply.

p.s None of your merc suggestions include Treachery. Bad, very bad.

This post was edited by Synonym on Aug 24 2010 02:50pm

U help me wit volgue?

It better than these right?

Wat halp you n wit volgues ?_?
oh, vs a wp, sec.

This post was edited by Synonym on Aug 24 2010 02:51pm