This is a cheap gear set to get your Mercenary some easy damage and Static Field: When you are trapped in a corner by Cold Immune monsters, this skill will be your life saver to make life easier for your mercenary. Where to farm:I only suggest farming areas with non cold-immune monsters for maximum efficiency. speedruns, creates guides, completes crazy challenges, and more! Put 1 in this skill. I personally like this build because it offers me both PvM and PvP with the gear and stats. You might want to proof-read your comments before posting them. Ideally, you should reach the 105% breakpoint in endgame gear. To have high survivability, i suggest the following: This is our secondary attacking skill to freeze our targets. The Act 2 merc auras are as follows, note that in Diablo 2: Resurrected the mercenary types of Combat, Defence and Offence are no longer used from the original Diablo 2 and you can mouse over the skill icons next to their level to see what aura the mercenary has. For casting and of course, to power your Energy Shield. Last Updated on July 5, 2022 by Samuel Franklin. Teleport: A must for PvP and even for normal traveling. Mercenary: Use Normal Act2 Combat or Defensive Merc to for increased mana recovery via Prayer, or increased defense via the Defiance aura. wearing Guardian Angel Armor for 90% allresist is suggested, upgrade as many unique items as possible for higher defense, reaching the 30 or 42% FHR breakpoints are also suggested. Frozen Orb Sorcs can help a party by their fast teleport ability and decent area damage, but generally they really shine in single player magic find Boss farming. And everything besides A2 will not wear an Insight. Use Teleport to move about and reposition your mercenary. A2 merc will die as fast as an A5 when IM cursed. If you plan to do Baal and Chaos runs, its best to do it in a party with other players. Download the client and get started. I keep wanting to make an a3 and stack FCR and +skills gear on him. Cannot solo the game, cold immune monsters are problematic. A2 mercs are super common because they have a lot of strong options (and insight/infinity are obviously strong as fuck). Boots: War Traveler.

You could try Holy Freeze Merc with Reaper's Toll for ultimate crowd control. With the options laid out your decision for Diablo 2 AI partner quickly becomes limited to an Act 2 mercenary hired from Greiz in Lut Gholein.

Use Normal Act2 Combat or Defensive Merc to for increased mana recovery via Prayer, or increased defense via the Defiance aura. and safer pacec, or want your Mercenary to have added damage to help take care Useful items: Call to arms is the obvious secondary weapon of choice due to its Battle Orders and Battle Command skills, which can increase your life tremendously. March 6, 2022, 12:21 pm. Since Energy Shield will be your main form of defense, have a little bit less points than your vitality. If d2 would get a remake/remaster the mercenary utility would be my top 1 thing to address. Stay back and orb. In high-end gear you will very quickly clear bigger areas if monsters are not cold-immune. I used to PVP a lot and always went with an A1 Merc.. Is this a viable option for PVM? A5 mercs can dish out some serious damage and that's what I would suggest in your situation (if you really don't care for meditation aura from insight), other mercenaries are not underrated, it just sucks ass that a2 mercenaries are so much more powerful because of the auras they give and the auras you can have on polearms. Skill panel:You can spam any skills by holding down the shift button and clicking simultaneously. This will be one of our two main attack spells, and provides more crowd control. I started last Friday and am already lvl 65ish. Put 1 in this skill. Any ring with 10% FCR and other useful stats like allresist, life, magic find, etc. Immune Monsters in the game.

Thank you. Items that can help are Annihilus, Hellfire Torch,Shako with Um rune, Stormshield with Um rune, Chains of Honor Armor, Maras Kaleidoscope, 5 Allres Small Charms, 15 Allres Grand Charms. Teleport should be used for very quick movement. JavaScript is disabled. So, what are you waiting for?

The builds survivability isnt the best compared to other builds, you will need to pay attention and teleport out of mobs and away from attacks. i use an act 5 merc with eth upg shaft, gaze, and headstriker ( 124% deadly strike at lvl 80). Not only incredibly useful, but also a prerequisite to Energy Shield. Mana/Life: You will need good mana regeneration as Frozen Orbs mana cost is quite high. sweaty, if you use a holy freeze merc with a cold sorc it wont stack the slow from cold. Just wish the others were as viable. Check out this guide to learn everything you need to know about Blizz Sorcs. September 26, 2021, 5:24 am, I try use cold mercenary on hell but not let me chose, Games Finder Admin You will be able to deal with Uber Diablo if your gear is decent, but Uber Tristram will cause trouble.

Area damage, mob kill speed is decent aswell. For attacking purposes, use Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Glacial Spike and Blizzard, then switch to Frozen Orb. Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheeds Fortune, Magic +Cold Skills grand charms, life, mana, resist or FHR small charms. Does it affects bosses? If you want to make yourself almost immune to elemental damage, use. windforce? Magic Find: This build is great for magic find if you farm single Bosses or the Cow level. The Frozen Orb Sorceress is a very popular cold sorc build for both Player versus Monster (PVM) and Player versus Player (PVP). Simply type the URL of the video in the form below. Mercenary can actually now be useful for high Physical Damage against any Cold Check out the guide for infos on how to make the most out your WW Sin. can be utilized aswell. to increase your maximum resistances, and for elemental damage absorption, . Especially early when your Energy Shield is weak, this is essential, and also when you encounter mana drain enemies. Consider putting extra points on it if you aim for better survivability and Block Chance. For elemental/caster enthusiasts, this is a very fun build, but due to that its important to stay out of bigger mobs, as you can easily get killed unless you have top-tier gear. Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako (Or however you spell it): A must because of your plus 2 to all skills and the Mf. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I got sorc Orb/Ball and my merc got Andy Visage for LL and str, but you can also use crown of thieves, as it is a little cheaper. for shield can be used for increased block rate and physical damage reduction, alongside a, If you want to further improve your survivability, a. to gain redemption aura and heal constantly. my sorc had defiance merc,didint help that much,but she wasint too godly either,meh if that where my sorc,id go with act 5 merc,they are tanks(better then a2) and sorc needs a tank, There's nothing you can do that can't be done, act 5 mercs also stun and can wear arreats which is nice, try diafense a2 merc.. or holy freeze or maybe an a5 barb, why do you ppl keep saying holy freeze?

In Diablo 2 specifically each act offers different themed mercenaries that can be hired to fight for the player and come with their own strengths. Make sure to use walk instead of run, so you have better chances of avoiding being hit by monsters, and generally use teleport for movement. Additionally, the Act 5 Use town portals manually. Meteor / Frozen Orb Sorceress (Meteorb) Build Gear, Diablo 2: Resurrected Lobby Updates Coming Soon, Diablo Immortal Blizzard Store Update and Health Potion Collector's Box, World First Level 99 in Diablo 2: Resurrected Ladder Season 1, Arclight Rumble Will Not Have Loot Boxes or NFTs, Warcraft Arclight Rumble Minimum Specs, Possible 2022 Release, and No PC Port, Diablo 2: Resurrected New Ladder Builds and Tier List, Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4.1.2 Bug Fixes: April 25th, Ring 2: 10 Faster Cast Rate Ring for Breakpoint or, Charm 3: 9x Cold Skiller Grand Charms with Life or Faster Hit Recovery to What you really want here is to hit and run. The build can work effectively on a fairly tight budget, but if you want to maximize its performance it will be very expensive. The most popular of all Act 2 mercenary auras for the majority of Diablo 2 character builds (but not all) and the one that many consider the Diablo 2 best merc due to the crowd control that the Holy Freeze aura provides. Simply browse for your screenshot using the form below. With Hellfire Torch, Annihilus, Enigma and stats on other items you might not even have to put stat points on it. whatever) to get a good killing speed merc that won't die to IM. 30% FRW boots with additional resist/resists, Any charm with +skill, life, mana, resist or FHR will help, Cost-effective build to progress at a new ladder season. For armor, I use Stone (cheaper than infinity but also works well) or you can try using Treachery runeword - keeps merc alive very well). Max this one as well. Put a skill point on Warmth, and always have mana or rejuvenation potions ready in your belt so you never run out. But don't fuss too much about it. PLus 1 to all skills belt? At the end of this guide Ill also cover some of the best merc armour, best mercenary weapons and runewords for mercenaries to ensure your companion is appropriately equipped for battle. Mf and Enchanced Defense. With The min-max options here really only become required in Nightmare and Hell to ensure they survive long enough to be useful. You will need good mana regeneration as Frozen Orbs mana cost is quite high. This character type is built off of one skill only, which is Frozen Orb. Ive constantly used Prayer on my late game cold Sorceress builds as I find the other options lacking with this build once fully geared and I value the ability to completely disregard any small pieces of damage I pick up along the way when magic finding. roughly 30,000 hours in the game he is a D2 Master and has great I leveled an Ac2 Holy Freeze to 80 and it works prety well (except for bosses). Make sure to have 7% Magic Find SCs and a Gheeds Fortune in your inventory. Budget: The build can work effectively on a fairly tight budget, but if you want to maximize its performance it will be very expensive. Shield 1: This one is debatable, but I prefer a simple spirit because of the cheapness and effectiveness. By all means, experiment with merc builds. With this aura youll be able to easily run past enemies and slow them from attacking you passively that makes it useful in the vast majority of situations youll encounter. We'll mostly rely on other ways to regenerate mana, but especially with +skills gear this is well worth the one point investment. This does great damage and gives you an option against Cold Immunes. +Cold Skills grand charms, life, mana, resist or FHR small charms. The Diablo 2 wiki on mercenaries is also an invaluable source for those that want the granular details and numbers of the below recommendations that are explored below at a summary level in this D2 merc guide. Which mercenary would have the most physical damage-based killing power and with what setup? For the right skill panel, i suggest using Frozen Orb (F3), Teleport (F4), Shriver Armor (F5), Energy shield (F6), Battle Orders (F7) and Battle Command (F8). . You can always give Fort and Guillaume's to a Act1 merc with some good bow (faith? You can either choose a Defensive ( Holy Freeze) or Offensive The build is ideal for Boss runs such as Mephisto or Andariel runs, or the Cow level. Your breakpoints decide how many frames it will take until you can attack/cast a skill/recover from a hit/ block a new hit. For the right skill panel, i suggest using Frozen Orb (F3), Teleport (F4), Shriver Armor (F5), Energy shield (F6), Battle Orders (F7) and Battle Command (F8). Only enough to wear your gear. Act2 from What dificlty? For Chaos and Baalruns, you will be better off with a Hybrid Sorc build. Budget-friendly options are available, its a decent ladder starter, especially if you aim for MFing. Weapons 2: Call to Arms Runeword. Obviously. As for weapon, mine got Insight for infinite mana pretty much. The build is ideal for Boss runs such as Mephisto or Andariel runs, or the Cow level. For such instances you can use static field as an attacking skill, teleport on monsters and have your merc kill them via Physical damage, otherwise a Hybrid Sorc will be a better fit for you!

When Cold Mastery is available, start putting points on it aswell. Basically, most people use an a2 merc because they are tanky and provide useful auras. Energy Shield: This is your main form of defense when youre teleporting around the dueling field and when Mfing. Def ganna run defiance thank you. I believe that the holy freeze aura works on the generic slow spell/effect cap (decipify, slow on weapons), and that your freezing effect on your sorc is in a different category -- hence they should stack for a greater slowing effect. The WW Assa is one of the most versatile and fun builds in Diablo 2. In brief defence reduces the chance of your character being hit from physical attacks, does not impact the damage you take, has diminishing effectiveness and is severely reduced when running. Energy Shield Lightning Sorceress by Seth. For those that want a quick best to worst tier list of Diablo 2 Act 2 merc I would rate them as follows: Each of these D2 Act 2 merc auras is explored in further detail (in order) below. Also the effectiveness of slow from freezing with cold spells/effects is nerfed in hell difficulty while the the generic slow effects are not nerfed, making merc slow even more useful. Below, we detail which items and stats you should prioritise for your

Having 75 allres, 3k+ life, 1k+ mana and 50% block rate is doable on Hell. For the left skill panel, i suggest using Glacial Spike (F1), Static Field (F2), or your hybrid attacking skills such as Fire Wall or Chain Lightning. If you want to further improve your survivability, a Phoenix weapon can be used to gain redemption aura and heal constantly. Always keep Energy Shield and Chilling Armor up. Gloves: Magefist / Trang Ouls gloves / Frostburn, Boots: 30% FRW boots with additional resist/resists, Charms: Any charm with +skill, life, mana, resist or FHR will help, Mercenary Type: Normal Difficulty, From Act 2, Combat or Defensive (Prayer / Defiance Aura), Body Armor: Treachery (Eth bugged armor base preferred), Weapon: Insight in an elite two-handed ethereal Polearm, Cost-effective build to progress at a new ladder season, Rings: 2*Stone of Jordan / 10% FCR with other useful stats, Boots: War traveler / Waterwalk / Sandstorm trek / Rare 30% frw +multiple resists or FHR boots. The details below in regards to the Diablo 2 mercenary setup are applicable for both Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction (D2) and Diablo 2: Resurrected (D2R) as the core mechanics are unchanged between game versions. While this concept might sound good in practice its actually one of the less desirable auras due to the way the aura and defence in general works in Diablo 2. The Spirit Shield requires at least 156 if you use the lightest available four socketed shield, a Monarch. Have room for a torch and an anni. Might is also highly effective on well geared melee fighters that dont need the other available auras here and want to boost their own damage or looking to make their mercenary into a deadly killing machine in their own right with the correct gear. Ubers: You will be able to deal with Uber Diablo if your gear is decent, but Uber Tristram will cause trouble. But don't worry, because if you have a good Act 2 Mercenary, he can usually take care of everything. The Diablo 2 mercenaries from each act can be summarised as follows: Given the overwhelming power of the auras that the Act 2 mercenaries provide they are widely considered the Diablo 2 best merc option and made only more useful by the powerful rune words you can make with their weapon class. You just need enough that your mana regen can keep up. For life, rejuvenation potions can solve the issue. The holy freeze aura provides more aggro to your merc though, while defiance makes him more tanky. i like act 5, you dont have to babysit them like the act 2 mercs. Start MFing from day 1! Orbs don't need Dex, but some runeword bases do. Thanks. I understand the arguments in favor of holy freeze, but I love my barbarian's merc having around 25k defense after Shout. Cold Mastery: When you start to PvP and PvM, it might seem that no matter how big your damage is, you can't even lower their life a speck.

Holy freeze will slow them down, making it easier to dodge them. Put all the remaining stat points on Vitality. is the obvious secondary weapon of choice due to its Battle Orders and Battle Command skills, which can increase your life tremendously. Blizzard Orb Sorceress and Mercenary Options in Diablo 2. Having a paladin with Conviction aura or a necromancer with the Lower resist curse can increase your damage output a lot. With this in mind Id consider this one of the best merc for Sorceress (cold specialisation) when you reach your final build for magic find runs although Holy Freeze is generally a better option during your path there and most other class builds. Dexterity Just enough to wear your gear. If you want to solo such areas, i suggest using a Hybrid Sorceress build. Unfortunately there are many cold immune monsters, and an Infinity Runeword will not be enough to lower their resistance, so I suggest putting a skill point on Static Field to lower the life of cold immune monsters and teleporting on them, so your merc can kill them via physical damage. Pretty much god himself for sorceresses. Make sure to walk instead of running, and use teleport for movement. Armor: Chains of Honor Runeword. This is a prerequisite to the rest of the tree. Just make sure your mercenary is always in front of you. Press J to jump to the feed. Put the rest of your skills in here. IMO the other act mercs are highly underrated but can be class/build dependent. You should already have your gear before you start this build. At ladder starts you can go for it, just dont expect extraordinary performance. Single target damage output is decent.

Frozen Orb: This is how your sorceress will get her name, so max it. This is a variety of cheap gear sets to get you started. MrLlamaSC is a professional twitch broadcaster that has reach the 86% or 142% Faster Hit Recovery breakpoint, Charm 4: 10 Small Charms with Life, Resistances, Mana, Faster Hit Recovery Will still do damage and chill ranged attackers. I just geared up an act2 defiance merc with eth all overthe cunt is better than my sorc . Note that prior to the Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction expansion players could not equip their hirelings with items and with this game mechanic added players can now significantly boost the damage of their mercenary companions. Your only problem with this build is when you have to deal with "Cold Immunes". You'll want at least 85 points to wear Tal's Armor, 95 for War Travelers, or more depending on your runeword bases. Or if youre poor, an Occy. If you plan to do Baal and Chaos runs, its best to do it in a party with other players. Movement/Mobility: The character moves super fast with Teleport. try a delfience aura one.. hes really good with the + defence that the sorc lacks. JavaScript is disabled. For the player that likes to have their health regularly topped off with healing Prayer is actually quite effective when paired with an Insight runeword that doubles the healing effect due to the way that Prayer and Meditation auras interact. During leveling, our aim is to maximize damage output for quick progression, have decent survivability so you wont die frequently, and have decent movement speed. I am a returning player from the 1.09 Days.. Ring 1: Ring with 10% Faster Cast Rate and Life/Resistances/Stats. While fun to experiment with on a summon Necromancer build as you watch demons hurt themselves on your skeletons and golem of choice this aura has the least uses of all your options and best avoided unless you are looking to experiment for fun or variety and not recommended for use in this Diablo 2 mercenary guide. Rings: Any ring with 10% FCR and other useful stats like allresist, life, magic find, etc. Use Static Field on Cold Immunes, bosses / champions as needed. Your email address will not be published. Defiance is only going to help your merc, as the sorc defense is so low it doesn't matter. survivability. For such instances you can use static field as an attacking skill, teleport on monsters and have your merc kill them via Physical damage, otherwise a Hybrid Sorc will be a better fit for you! presonally I like act 5 mercs since they are the toughest, but on the contrary act 2's give you nice auras. Games Finder is the ultimate games like resource that allows gamers to easily find similar games. His favourite character in Diablo 2 is the Sorceress for her strong cold area of effect abilities and teleport. I'd use holy freeze act 2 or an act 5 merc. Not one of the best builds for survivability. Blizz Sorcs have the biggest area damage amongst any starter build. For attacking purposes, use Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Glacial Spike and Blizzard, then switch to Frozen Orb. If you want to solo such areas, i suggest using a Hybrid Sorceress build. it helps slow down dangerous group and you teleport him back to safety to nuke it down before he runs in to commit suicide. All of this can be useful on characters with mostly physical damage, need a reliable tank to provide some crowd control or regularly farm undead areas and is most often seen on wind Druid builds. Rock insight because it's so damn cheap and provides infinite mana. Check out this guide for all the useful informations about it! When Cold Mastery is available, start putting points on it aswell. The other option is to use hybrid attacking skills, like a maxed Fire Wall with a point on Fire Mastery, or Lightning/Chaing Lightning with a point on Lightning Mastery. Helm: Andys here for strength bonus and aura bonus. Bosses. How it works: Each second in the game consists of 24 frames or ticks. To quickly lower the life of cold immune monsters or bosses, i suggest using Static Field. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. In high-end gear you will very quickly clear bigger areas if monsters are not cold-immune. Strength Just enough to be able to wear your items. Damage output: Single target damage output is decent. WW barb is the ultimate Barbarian build for D2R and party members love them! Keep Energy Shield up at all times. You can re-stat your character by the quest reward of Akaras Act1 Den of Evil Quest, or by using Token of Absolution, Cost-effective build to start out at a new ladder season , Helm: Lore / Peasant Crown / Tal Rashas Horadric Crest, Amu: Any amulet with +skill ot + Faster Casting Rate, Belt: Tal Rashas Belt / Trang Ouls belt / Nightsmoke / Crafted Caster Belt. It doesnt have fast run speed, however it wont be necessary, since most of the navigation is done via Teleport.Reaching the 63% FCR or 105% FCR breakpoints are great for quick teleport re-casting. I did use an a5 merc for awhile. Our user driven voting system and vast database of games enable you to find new and unique alternatives to your favourite titles. Sam has been playing the Diablo franchise for over two decades and has beaten Diablo 2 with all characters over that time both alone or with friends. Skills: Put a skill point on Warmth, as this will help a lot with your mana recovery. There is no other solution for IM curse then teleporting away (or using and Act 1 Rogue merc, which won't kill fast enough IMO), i like the defience mecs for sorcs, just alittle added def but anything IM'ed is going to do as fast as it swings.. i would say either defince or even might merc with a nice 2hnder.

This is a standard high damage Blizzard Orb Sorceress build. Hm true. Since I havent played a sorc in a long, long time (before mercs were anything more than a novelty), I can only guess the greater slowing is useful to keep your merc safe. Have enough strength and dexterity to be able to wear useful gear. Survivability can be boosted by using normal/hell act2 merc with defiance aura, and a variety of items to help you survive difficult situations. Hi, I have a lvl 76 sourceress wich I'm building to be Frost Orb sorc (more fun). This combination of mechanics means that low defence characters like the Necromancer or Sorceress benefit little as they are likely to rarely be hit by physical attacks while characters with high defence values like the Paladin who fight in melee range already have sufficient defence that it is not a significant change in percentage chance to be hit especially when factoring the loss of a better aura option.