so from;
https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=75547107&f=21

the formula for 1 handed damage on an act 5 merc is glitched to be 2x the weapon damage and 3x the +min/max damage, making 1 handed weapons (other than grief) deal pretty extraordinary damage:

final_max_damage = [(base_weapon_max_damage * Eth * (1 + weapon_ED%)* 2 + base_merc_max_damage + max_damage*3 + normal_damage) * (1 + non-weapon_ED% + str/100 + skill_ED%) * DS + Bash_bonus + elemental_damage_max] * CS
final_min_damage = [(base_weapon_min_damage * Eth * (1 + weapon_ED%)* 2 + base_merc_min_damage + min_damage*3 + normal_damage) * (1 + non-weapon_ED% + str/100 + skill_ED%) * DS + Bash_bonus + elemental_damage_min] * CS

so I thought I'd try to figure out what the highest possible 1-player damage I could achieve with this is
now I'm assuming the rotating auraslave build I've seen from scripting town chars in pub games still works, though it might have been patched or cause you to drop now, but that lets a pally have many auras up at once
so heres what I figured could be the absurdly impossible rare maximum possible damage:


act 5 merc with:
eth upped headstriker (30% ed, 10-18 damage rare jewel)
jewelers armor of the titan +20 strength (4x +18min / +18 max rare jewels)
jewelers diadem of performance +13 min (3x +18min / +18 max rare jewels)
(has 79-83 base damage, 268 strength with headstriker and armor, +245% bash with +1 skills)

paladin with:
+2 pally skills / +3 concentration / +3 fanat scepter
enigma
+3 offensive aura shield, circlet & amulet
1x soj, arachs, 9x offensive skillers, torch, anni, cta
1x wisp projector
for 50 might, 53 conc, 53 fanat, 6 wolverine aura (level 5, +1 battle command)

plugging in the numbers, that gives us a min/max base weapon range before global %ed of:
min = 37*1.5*(1+1.8)*2+79+(13+10+18*4+18*3)*3+0 = 836.8
max = 53*1.5*(1+1.8)*2+83+(99+18+18*4+18*3)*3+0 = 1257.2

for %ed, we have 268 strength, 245 bash, 530 might 840 conc 467 fanat 55 wolverine for +2405%, then bash adds another +22 damage at the end, no elemental
giving us a total damage of 20983-31514 with 100% chance of deadly strike and 5% chance of moncrit, so its actually 41966-63028 damage with 5% chance of doubling again, dealing a maximum 126056 damage in 1 hit and an average 55121 damage per hit

anyway act 5 mercs without all that ridiculous, just a regular ol 40/15 eth up headstriker, fort and 2x 40/15 giant skull slapped on any old char can hit like a truck

This post was edited by Goomshill on Mar 12 2018 11:41am

Ulf is the worst act 5 merc name.

Hire Bill or don't bother.

>be bill
>can't use bill

Lol

vouch this, Bill #1.

maybe a noobish question but.... how is this dmg compare with a2 merc?

can you or anyone compare it, lets say with best infy set up or R toll set up.

This post was edited by MULTIQ on Mar 12 2018 03:28pm

well to keep it simple lets say you had a 450% ed +20 max eth war pike with 2x Lo, fortitude and 40/9 str gillhat
now keep in mind I'm ignoring attack rate here, because even with 40% ias and level 53 fanat that war pike is still missing 1 fpa off max

under the same conditions, and we're assuming a normal difficulty act 2 merc since the might would be redundant with pally auraslave, that merc would have 955 base damage, +2507% ed, 55% chance of deadly strike, 0% moncrit, for an average 38590 per hit

what merc will do fastest boss kill

your a5 merc or regular a2 infy/r toll?

they'd both be terrible, mercs deal 25% damage to bosses
a balanced crushing blow act 2 build would probably do it faster due to faster hits on average, crushing blow doesn't have the penalty

in all the cases you'd want to assume amp damage casted by the player if you're going so all-in, but reapers toll is more practical for real builds
hence a Ber'd eth reapers toll act 2 merc is probably the choice for bosses

This post was edited by Goomshill on Mar 12 2018 04:42pm

thx