Been running a cold a1 merc on my foh. Insight mat bow. Conviction makes her clap whole packs, medi aura, and the ai keeps her alive. The cc she provides is insane.
@@peterpetrov7073 That's the thing isn't it. Cold immunity rarely breaks, fire immunity breaks sometimes, lightning immunity breaks almost always. Conviction is a good solution to amplify damage on non immunes, but here should be another solution in place to deal with Cold/Fire immunes.
I wish the necromancer Poison Dagger skill was replaced with a poison version of the sorceresses enchant. That being said, I want to try this build out before ladder ends.
I've got a similar set up on my enchantress that runs Enlightenment and Demon Machine. But I'm using a Mist on my act1 merc with Treachery and Nightwing. I maxed Firebolt for the Fireball/Meteor proc synergies.
Necro with max bone wall, prison. Max skel+mastery. Bone chest piece. -60ish damage per hit with Sol runes everywhere. Using a Grief. Melee necro with basic stuff, did players8 start to finish. Ended up with monarch dumb-socketed with 4 sol runes, 3 in helm and another -7 on the bone chest armor. DR on the amulet was -20 amazingly enough. Blues/rares. I forced the concept of a non-bear self find/farmed Dark Knight necro that started with a poison bow (Tal runes).
I've always had a crush on Wendy 🤭. I mean .... look at her, on players 8 off screening Pvp style. All she ever needed was someone to cheer her on (and can teleport too) . Beautiful video ! 😉
I decided to start farming for this build since I have an enchantress already in hardcore ladder that I've been doing exploding arrows on using Ravenclaw for fun. Did 1 nightmare andariel run: Kuko Shakaku drops. Did 1 nightmare terror zone cows: Pul rune drops and I complete Wisdom.
You can also run through all of norm with a Raven Claw before you equip the Kuko, if you're running a Holy Fire paladin. The Holy Fire + Exploding arrow has a very nice small AoE. I keep Raven Claw for each Paladin playthrough. Nothing like being able to farm a public players 8 game with ease.
Loving this build, thank you for the video MBB !! I've increased my Glacial Spike skill distribution with good success! Questions though (for anyone) - while I like the IAS on the Shael (in Kuko), wouldn't a CHAM or JAH be more effective? -- CHAM - would the freeze target be negated/nullified with the exploding arrow? If not, I think slowing monsters packs might be more helpful ? Plus, if I'm getting cold help from my merc, this would free my sorc to switch from cold (G.S.) to some lightning skills. -- JAH - not sure how the ignore defense would work with this setup - would it help?
I think my criticism of this as a farming build is probably mainly the very low MF. I think one could drop some damage potential from other sources and put either COA or Fortitude on the merc while adding MF on your own gear. Loosing a small amount of speed in exchange for hitting 300-400 % mf is easily worth it.
Absolutely. Id also say you should really max out at P5 on the build. At that point you almost don't have time to fully static before she years apart the mobs. 400 MF is reachable for sure.
Enigma + Chance Guards + War Travelers + Gheeds + 6x 7% MF SCs will get you ~270% Magic Find. I think the build will be fine. Plus, when you're this geared you aren't looking for Uniques, you are looking for runes and rares.
Wait the life per character level from BK is boostable by BO? Or am i hearing things? Other than that, this is a really fun build. Definitely going to try this!
I just did one with Frozen Orb, Cold Mastery (maxxed), warmth/enchant (maxxed), rest into fire mastery. My merc uses faith great bow, treachery and cham andariels. She does 4k but I also have the ability to use frozen orb. I am considering using infinity on swap and keeping CTA in cube. Only use infinity where needed. sunder charm (cold/fire) also makes infinity less relevant and my version more viable. The key to my build is the merc has max IAS frames. It shoots much faster as opposed to slower but stronger enchant. I feel the exploding arrow skill is utilized most frequently so the kuku is not 100% needed
7:08 Bul Kathos + to life based on char level doesn’t get increased from BO. Only hard points into Vitality and + to life items do. Edit: nvm, you acknowledged that in another comment.
Are you sure bul-kathos life gets boosted by BO? I think only flat life is boosted, and not variable life. I just tested. I BO and take off a "20 to life" ring, which removes almost 40 life. And when i take off the bk ring, it removes the exact amount of variable life bk is giving me.
Your character enters the Non-Ladder realm which is every Ladder character goes to. Your gear exists over there. You would have to make a new Ladder character at the beginning of the next ladder to participate in the Ladder season.
I've been playing a build very similar, but with changes I find enjoyable. I put a demon machine on my sorceress, and plan to put an infinity on my merc when I get enough to build one. My gear is not nearly as good as yours, but she is still blowing things up. She doe best in groups where I can buff everyone else. I have lots of extra skill points, and considering where to spend them. Candidates are energy shield, frozen orb, and thunderstorm.
Finally see this! I also found this buid, but I use the Mist and flicking falme for my merc!! better!! And my sorc hold a Infinity scythe for the decrease enermies resist. And my sorc wearing a Dream helm and maximum the lighting mastery. My sorc become a holy shot and exploding arrow laucher!
life per lvl isnt boosted by battle orders... Only FLAT LIFE, FLAT MANA are increased by battle orders no mana per lvl / life per lvl / increased max mana / increased max life / vitality / energy none of those are affected by battle orders If you want more bonus from battle orders it is either flat life and mana Or sub stats so u can add hard points into vita / energy
First off very cool and unique build. Love this kind of content. Earned a sub. One question. You said the life on BK ring gets boosted by battle orders. Did that get changed in a patch for D2R? I thought it didn't count for BO so I've always went for SOJs. Or have I just always been wrong about that?
hey man ,i saw your videos i got a question ,why you not using Blood Raven's Charge" its got lvl 13fire explosive the kuko got only lvl 7.. ,or the 180 fire dmg deals to much dmg?
The fires explosive bolts proc actually doesn't work on the mercenary it turns out. I cover this in the next video. But the important part on Kuko is that it has 50% Pierce
She does elemental damage so the amp doesn't do anything for us. It doesn't have pierce or increased attack speed so it doesn't help pump out exploding arrows either. Brand's a meme bow for bad Druid builds, sadly.
Instead of going thunderstorm, Isnt it just easier to go max mana energy shield? We are tanking for the merc anyway, and enchanted infinity is a great source of secondary damage. That way we can reconsider putting points in the cold tree.
Other than better AI, that's what you're basically looking at here. Your Merc is very similar to that zon build, minus a bit of extra pierce and chance to hit.
I have my second account join game and enchant my A1 Merc for my enigma pally with conviction. My enchantress is 53 because I still haven't found a 6 enchant orb
I do the same thing on hardcore, I bought 3 copies on Xbox and then game share each one so I can have 6 accounts active, enchant sorceress, BO barbarian that is decked out to retrieve my gear if I screw up and die, and the rest I add for the MF/Exp and hellforge.
The last time i checked their reg shots which “proc explosive arrow” does not actually trigger splash damage. Has this been fixed? Been waiting for the fix, hope it is fixed or maybe in next ladder!
If firewall were to ever get a buff i could see this being a solid base for a FW/Orb with Enchant merc support; then you would also have wall for bosses and wouldnt have to worry about swinging. Separate but related point: Skelly Necro with A3 Fire Merc? LR + a pack of fire enchanted chihuahuas seems like a good time.
100% if u use the kuko bow on a cold act1 merc and she shoots fire arrows. Plus you never see her shoot regular arrows if she's fire. Works with magic arrows ect
Hi @MacroBioBoi, I have been running this for a while and I don't think explosive arrows from Kuko actually work. If I am correct, then Mist and Flickering flame would make her hit like a truck. If you have the means, could you please test this? I only play non-ladder so I don't have Mist or FF yet. Thanks.
@@MacroBioBoi So I have just tried it in cows and I confirm the explosive arrows do not go off 100% of the time. This takes Kuko out of the picture, considering Mist MB gives 100% pierce as opposed to Kuko's 50, and also fires faster and adds another 3 to skills. With Treachery, she will shoot at 9FPA and FF will add another +3 to explosive arrow and -fire res. Let us know how it works. ;)
@@Srga4pb so there shouldn't be 100% explosive arrows. Only normal attack gets replaced with exploding, she should still do her fire arrow attack as well.
Another fun thing with this build is to use an "exploding bolt" weapon on the sorc too! You don't get the fire arrow phys damage synergy that the merc does but that just means you can use ANY explosive arrow item and don't get value from upping it. Hellcast or Demon Machine can both work but since the damage from the sorc is about the same, might as well use hellcast for the lower dex req
No, you definitely want demon machine or kuko...pierce is definitely a must if ur using it on a sorc. And each weapon shoots a different "level" of exploding arrow so you should look up the level of the exploding arrow too, that equates to even more damage. Especially when maxing Fire Mastery on a sorc using this sort of build another 100 fire dmg multiplied by the 200% from FM is definitely something that shouldn't be ignored. Super fun build the bow enchantress.
@@marc-etiennemercier6584 I die constantly because I stand in one spot and don't kite monsters. I teleport into unsafe spots and just don't avoid anything or play smart at all...lmfao sarcasm aside it's definitely a bit different getting used to but yeah ur pretty squishy. Can't block anything but I believe demon machine does give defense haha. Soloed act 2, and 3 in hell needed help with chaos and Ancients but other than that it wasn't bad at all. Positioning is key, a lot harder to play than a brain dead summon necro or something lol. If you end up finding the gear, try a playthrough with it. I've got 3 lvl 80 sorcs now 🤣
Your helm choice for A1 merc is surprising. No life leech? Does that cause trouble? It would be possible to Amn the bow for life leech. Nice enchant build! EDIT: also, what do you prefer for more DPS? The 11 frames breakpoint of the A1 merc with that weapon at 32 ias with 83% percing (wisdom runeword helm) or the 10 frames breakpoint at 54 ias (requires either a shael rune or andariel's visage) with 50% piercing? Reaching the next breakpoint (86 ias) is sadly impossible with this setup (even if you had shael kuko, treachery and andariel's visage, that's 85 ias, which is 1 ias short).
So I ended up with Flickering Flame, Mist and Treachery as the best set up after properly testing the "Fires explosive arrows" and determining that it doesn't work.
Maybe instead of pure damage setup you can put mf gear and become just teleporting fire shooting tower? P3 would be enough 😀 Why not flickering flame on merc?
That's really the ideal scenario, but people don't think anything is good unless you show it on P8. I honestly hate farming P8, and legitimately only for XP. Wisdom's pierce seems to be more important than the added damage from FF since we have the infinity.
@@MacroBioBoi Lets call me average player - I tested this build today on my Single player SSF - NO infinity! 43 LVL (i have only 2 skillers) of enchant buff than swiched to MF gear (~550 with no FCR or ~480 with 63 FCR or 390 with 105 FCR) On p3 clears quite fast non fire immu 85 areas. In 18 minutes you can easily do Mausoleum, Stony Tombs, Sewers and Icy Cellar. I just tele around and static (maxed it becouse it brings monsters to you from outside of the screen and shows you where are monsters in dark places such Mausoleum or Sewers) Did not check cows becouse my fire soso not finished act 5 yet :( P.S During tests I found Andy Face and Eschutas for ma Holy grail :)
Alternate build name: Female Act 3 Merc Build. This is bonkers, but god damn does it look fun. Nice way of making the A1 merc shine for a change instead of A2 mercs stealing the spotlight. I imagine the A1 merc was chosen for the sheer aoe damage potential with all the Exploding Arrows she will be firing off.
what's above S-tier in your ranking? this is hardly in the strongest tier, is it. sure it's nice but with the gear you are showing a nova sorc would be 5x faster ... so they cant be in the same tier dont you think?
Nova Sorc is actually A Tier. S tier bump imo comes from damage source variability and farming strat variability. She Elite sniper on P1 at the same speed as any other build, and you could drop more damage at that point for the 105 breakpoint. Access to farming multiple alvl 85 areas at the speed of any A Tier enigma melee build, boss kill speed is actually wild at any reasonable player setting that isn't 8. The build has so much going for it. And gear cost cannot be a factor in an end game viability discussion because some of the best builds in the game can never compare to one another on that criteria. (E.g. Javazon vs Poison Necro)
Looks fun for sure, but S-Tier? That is not „shredding“ or „demolishing“ P8. Sure it’s okay and definitely cool for the novelty, but a whole bunch of builds are way more efficient and stronger.
