Do Mercenaries do anything better than the other pet types?

[malleable1]

I know their health is lower.  I guess they are pretty much range only - which is fine to me.  I was hoping they would do range better than some of the other pet classes.  I tried them out and was really disappointed with their damage (as well as their health).

 

Thanks,

Mal

[Drenivian]

Yeah, the biggest upside to Mercs is the Range.  In Theory, as you increase in levels and get the pet upgrades the Medic should be able to heal/status prot your minions some and the Spec Ops should be able to throw out some status effects.  This is all In Theory sadly because the Spec Ops status effects have long cooldown times and the Medic's heal is pretty wimpy.

 

Unslotted the heal maybe does 150 hp to one of your guys on a 20 second cooldown, which is really nothing since the only Resistances the Mercs have is their paltry 25% res to S/L.  The status protection power has a decent duration (45 seconds) but it only hits 1 guy.  The medic does use it fairly often so you usually have 1-2 minions unaffected by status.

The Medic starts with the Heal and gets the Status Prot with the 2nd upgrade.

 

While the Spec Ops Hold and Stun are ok the time/cost is atrocious.  Its a Mag 2 Stun for 9 seconds (Un-slotted) at lvl 50 on a 2 minute cooldown.  The Hold is a Mag 3 for 9 seconds (Un-slotted) on a 3 minute cooldown.  So everything is In Theory.  Ops do have a Web Grenade for an Immobilize but half the time i miss them using it.  Its a Mag 3 for 30(ish) seconds with a 30 second recharge.  I never notice it since most fights are over in less than 30 seconds.

They start with the Web Grenade, get the Stun with the 1st upgrade, and get the Hold on the 2nd upgrade.

 

This is not adding the fact that all they do is Lethal Damage, with the exception of the Commando with his LRM Launcher and Flamethrower

 

[KC4800]

They die better. Especially the Medic, with that target on his back and low, low hit points.

[Haijinx]

52 minutes ago, KC4800 said:

They die better. Especially the Medic, with that target on his back and low, low hit points.

Wait.  Ninjas die goodly too!

[Bionic_Flea]

Mercenaries shoot rifles better than any other MM. 

 

I was going to say "shoot firearms" but then I remembered Thugs.

[malleable1]

Thanks guys.  I'm trying to try out all the henchmen types. Robots, Thugs and Demons all seemed fantastic.  Necro and Beast, seemed ok too.  So when I got to Mercs I was disappointed with the damage immediately, and then they started dropping.  Figured they should have some kind of niche that I could focus on.

Well maybe improvements are coming?

 

Mal

[Mack008]

The one thing they do is that most of their attacks have a Defense Debuff, so against tough targets they can bring it's defense down so that everyone can hit it.  But that doesn't make up for their other shortcomings.

[Aeroprism]

Dem uniforms.

[Dakota Whitemane]

Littering! They are such villainous litterbugs. Leaving all that spent brass everywhere for someone to slip and fall on.

[ZorkNemesis]

On 5/13/2021 at 10:07 AM, Mack008 said:

The one thing they do is that most of their attacks have a Defense Debuff, so against tough targets they can bring it's defense down so that everyone can hit it.  But that doesn't make up for their other shortcomings.

 

It's not significant, but it is probably one of the only upsides of Mercs is that they can induce a cascade defense failure on your enemies.  If you count your own version of Burst, you have twelve attacks with -Def going off almost all the time.

 

It's a shame they're junk at everything else or that debuff might actually be handy.

[Hedgefund]

My for real answer is - they're probably the most "well behaved" without micromanaging.  I paired them with Electric Affinity and they tended to stay in Faraday Cage without being told to.  Kind of makes sense, assuming they're all ex military and have that kind of discipline.  EA is so good, I was able to keep them alive fairly well.  Took down a few AVs along the way but it was slooooooow.  

 

Otherwise, they're the best at being worst.

[TheSpiritFox]

6 hours ago, Dakota Whitemane said:

Littering! They are such villainous litterbugs. Leaving all that spent brass everywhere for someone to slip and fall on.

This is the only factually correct answer to this post. 

[SmalltalkJava]

I've been gone for a long time.  But back when I did pylon testing with different pet types the mercs were way behind other pet types in damage.  Even when proc'd out.   How ever they were one of the easiest overall to manage due to their range. So my suggestion is to

squeeze some damage procs on them and you will have fun with them.   I thought that I had posted some test logs showing their procy goodness, but it's been so long, all I could find was this general findings post.   I wasn't impressed but it was a fun test overall.   But with mercs go procs on them or regret it.   Procs GREATLY amplify their damage. From what I remember.

[tjknight]

On 5/14/2021 at 5:30 PM, Hedgefund said:

My for real answer is - they're probably the most "well behaved" without micromanaging.  I paired them with Electric Affinity and they tended to stay in Faraday Cage without being told to.  Kind of makes sense, assuming they're all ex military and have that kind of discipline.  EA is so good, I was able to keep them alive fairly well.  Took down a few AVs along the way but it was slooooooow.  

 

Otherwise, they're the best at being worst.

 

I really enjoyed pairing Mercs with /Nature for this very reason. Nature does a very good job of shoring up Mercs weaknesses, they like staying at range. 

 

On 5/15/2021 at 12:31 PM, SmalltalkJava said:

I've been gone for a long time.  But back when I did pylon testing with different pet types the mercs were way behind other pet types in damage.  Even when proc'd out.   How ever they were one of the easiest overall to manage due to their range. So my suggestion is to

squeeze some damage procs on them and you will have fun with them.   I thought that I had posted some test logs showing their procy goodness, but it's been so long, all I could find was this general findings post.   I wasn't impressed but it was a fun test overall.   But with mercs go procs on them or regret it.   Procs GREATLY amplify their damage. From what I remember.

 

Someone gave me this slotting suggestion a while back: 

Soldiers: Achilles Heel & Touch of Lady Grey 

Spec Ops: Touch of Lady Grey

Commando: Explosive Strike

 

[SmalltalkJava]

Yep that seems about right.   Mercs looks like it received a buff at least with the full auto buff.   So their probably better than when I last played them.   So if you have a good concept and like leaving shell cases all over then go for it. 

[JayboH]

I always forget who mentioned it, but someone said if Merc's damage was actually doubled, it would still put them only in the middle-of-the-pack.

[StrikerFox]

On 5/17/2021 at 11:29 PM, tjknight said:

Someone gave me this slotting suggestion a while back: 

Soldiers: Achilles Heel & Touch of Lady Grey 

Spec Ops: Touch of Lady Grey

Commando: Explosive Strike

 

Add Shield Breaker to Soldiers and Spec Ops.

[Dakota Whitemane]

2 hours ago, StrikerFox said:

 

Add Shield Breaker to Soldiers and Spec Ops.

 

Another that can be slotted is the Overwhelming force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown one. I used this along side Achilles' Heel and Touch of Lady Grey on my Merc/storm in soldiers. Gives the soldiers the ability to knock enemies down for some semi-migration.

 

 

[KC4800]

My Mercs' slottings on my lvl 50 Merc/Poison:

 

Soldiers: AHeel DefDbf, Edict of the MM Defense Aura, 4 Superior M of Supr (including the Resist and Regen Aura one)

Spec OPS: 1 50 Acc IO, Call to Arms Def Aura, Cloud Senses NE Damage, 3 Sup Comm of MM (including AOE Defense Aura)

Commando: 50 Acc IO, Expedient Reinforcement  Resist Aura, 4 Soulbound Alleg (including Chance for BU)

 

I do have some damage procs in my poison attacks, however. Weaken and Neurotoxic Breath both have them.

 

Am I doing it wrong?

[StrikerFox]

10 hours ago, KC4800 said:

Cloud Senses NE Damage

 

Cloud Senses proc is pretty horrible on Spec Ops. Their only power that can activate it is Flash Bang, and that has a 2 minute CD. Achilles' or Lady Grey procs will provide more dps since Burst and Heavy Burst are used so often.

 

[MTeague]

I like Mercs/Rad as a combo.  Aura Heal helps at low levels, Rad Infection gives you a high degree of safety for your mercs, and debuffing enemy resistanes so strongly helps offset their lower damage. The Merc pets DO have some pretty decent smashing/lethal resists, it's just.... not really enough.... to make them super-durable on their own. 

 

Tankerminding though, where *I* take the threat against kittenized mobs, is working pretty well. 

My Ninja/Cold MM does kill stuff a LOT faster but, the Mercs/Rad still gets the job done.

[SinergyX]

They never were the big guys, but it was my first MM, and it will be my last :P Though i feel 1 part that could help, the animations. Majority of their attacks are basicly 3-4 hits with a considerable longer cast time then say thugs or maybe even robots. The idea behind a medic is nice, execution always failed on him. The whole idea about the CC stuff (and flametrower/sniper/stealth/LRM) is cool, but execution just doesnt fit in the gameplay.