Mercenaries/Dark

[Slithershot]

So I broke down and did it. I made a merc/dark. It's just as terrible as I thought it would be... but I'm gonna stick with it cause I'm sadistic like that lmao.

 

Problem is... I've never played a merc mm beyond level 20. And I've never played /dark beyond level 20. But... I know the sets complement each other well with the massive debuff stacking. 

 

I know I put -res proc in the soldiers and spec ops. But beyond that... I have absolutely no idea how I should slot and build this thing. 

 

Is merc/dark tankermind a possibility? I was considering rolling into cold mastery for the armor, and then grabbing provoke and just trying to facetank everything while my soldiers chip away. Is that viable? Is there another path I'm missing entirely?

[Xandyr]

Try and get the +defense, +resist, and the +regen MM ATOs. You'll probably have to do some frankenslotting. Definitely add the -resist to Soldiers. Off the top of my head, I can't remember how I slotted my pets (merc/thermal here).

  I have a necro/dark MM, and on him i slotted dark Servant with cloud senses (accurate to hit debuff). I'd say be sure to slot darkest night with as much to hit debuff as you can, since you'll need it. Also, slot out shadow fall as it will help also. Maneuvers will pair nicely with your to hit debuffs.

  I will say, since the patch, it's quite satisfying seeing your Soldiers, Spec Ops, and Cammando all lay waste to your enemies and see all those empty shell casings flying and piling up at your feet.

[StrikerFox]

Mercs are hard to build when wanting all the damage procs and pet buff IOs. There's just not enough slots to accommodate everything. Dark should be one of the secondaries that can make Mercs viable. Two big -tohit debuffs. Slotting Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare aggressively will debuff enemies to around -30% tohit. If you do the incarnates, T4 Musculature/Intuition Radial Alpha will bump it up to around -35% tohit. Power Boost would probably kick them up to -50%. 

 

Add in Maneuvers +4% def, Shadow Fall +6% def. Edict/Call to Arms +10% def, SCotMM +15% AoE def. Mercs have inherent +25% S/L resistance. Sovereign/Expedient/SMoS +35% resistances to all damage types. The pets should be pretty solid within IO buff range.

 

Provoke would help but probably isn't needed. Build your MM to 33% def. Set pets to passive/stay nearby a group. MM stealth in (Shadow Fall + Celerity unique) and applies Darkest Knight to take the alpha. Then set pets to defensive/follow so they rush in. Fire off a Fearsome Stare, drop a Tar Patch, launch a heal. If stuff goes sideways, Howling Twilight to stun the enemies. Or grab Web Grenade to immobilize the group to keep them out of melee. Or a lot of players swear by Bonfire though I haven't tried it myself.

 

This is probably how I would slot Merc pets for survivability:

 

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Edited February 10, 2020 by StrikerFox

[Slithershot]

On 2/10/2020 at 12:39 AM, StrikerFox said:

Mercs are hard to build when wanting all the damage procs and pet buff IOs. There's just not enough slots to accommodate everything. Dark should be one of the secondaries that can make Mercs viable. Two big -tohit debuffs. Slotting Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare aggressively will debuff enemies to around -30% tohit. If you do the incarnates, T4 Musculature/Intuition Radial Alpha will bump it up to around -35% tohit. Power Boost would probably kick them up to -50%. 

 

Add in Maneuvers +4% def, Shadow Fall +6% def. Edict/Call to Arms +10% def, SCotMM +15% AoE def. Mercs have inherent +25% S/L resistance. Sovereign/Expedient/SMoS +35% resistances to all damage types. The pets should be pretty solid within IO buff range.

 

Provoke would help but probably isn't needed. Build your MM to 33% def. Set pets to passive/stay nearby a group. MM stealth in (Shadow Fall + Celerity unique) and applies Darkest Knight to take the alpha. Then set pets to defensive/follow so they rush in. Fire off a Fearsome Stare, drop a Tar Patch, launch a heal. If stuff goes sideways, Howling Twilight to stun the enemies. Or grab Web Grenade to immobilize the group to keep them out of melee. Or a lot of players swear by Bonfire though I haven't tried it myself.

 

This is probably how I would slot Merc pets for survivability:

 

Awesome 🙂 Thank you very much. 

 

So, to clarify... would you suggest that I be taking the damage that does slip through, or that I try to let my pets tank the damage instead?

[StrikerFox]

18 hours ago, Pizzamurai said:

So, to clarify... would you suggest that I be taking the damage that does slip through, or that I try to let my pets tank the damage instead?

You take the initial alpha attack. Having 33% def and applying Darkest Knight for -15% tohit debuff is equivalent to having softcap defense. You will likely survive it and have mitigation powers to heal/prevent more incoming attacks. 

 

Pets taking the alpha isn't that great. T1 pets would have a tough time surviving especially if they're spotted before you can apply the -tohit debuffs.