Secondary for Mercs

[Mack008]

I've got a level 47 Mercs / Electric that's reasonably enjoyable, but was wondering if there's a better secondary to use.   Any suggestions?

 

(And yes, I recognize that Mercs are lackluster to start with.)

[pblue]

Traps, probably, especially if solo.  Ranged henchmen benefit the most from the static nature of traps, the FFG plugs their weak defences and the debuffs help with damage.

 

I found, to me surprise, Mercs/Force Field very enjoyable. You an your men are well protected, Repulsion Field keeps everyone away and because you aren't using much Endurance for anything else, you take the primary attacks and just join in the dakakakakakaka!  Yeah, OK, its neither efficient or subtle, but it's oddly satisfying.

 

 

[The_Warpact]

Second for /Traps.

[Meknomancer]

I run with /traps /ff /nature /dark. The /nature and /dark are the most fun.

[Colder]

I like time, they stay close for farsight and healing and such

[Mack008]

Hmm... I already have some MMs with /Dark, /FF, /Time, and the aforementioned /Elec.  May have to give /Traps a try.

[StrikerFox]

I find Mercs/Storm to be a solid combo. With all the KD (With the use of the Sudden Acceleration IO), the build is very survivable. It's overpowered vs anything with little to no KB protection which seems like 90% of the enemies. Keep Gale on auto and go to town.

 

Storm also really helps Merc's low dps. Arguably moreso than other MM primaries. Gale, Freezing Rain and Tornado can slot -resist debuff procs. This in turn helps Mercs and all the damage procs they can equip.

[SmalltalkJava]

/Nature is good for them.    It has pbaoe hold to minimize incoming damage.  Entangling Aura is almost cheating.    It has a cone heal and also a hp absorb and resists.  It offers +damage for them also.      Nature is easy mode.  

 

/Time is nice also.  

Edited October 8, 2021 by SmalltalkJava

[JJDrakken]

5 hours ago, Mack008 said:

I've got a level 47 Mercs / Electric that's reasonably enjoyable, but was wondering if there's a better secondary to use.   Any suggestions?

 

(And yes, I recognize that Mercs are lackluster to start with.)

 

Mercs/Thermal or Mercs/Dark

[Force Redux]

My first ever MM back on Live was Mercs/Traps.  It was solid and had the performance we expect on any traps build. 

 

For Mercs, I like sets that boost defense. Go Traps, FF, Cold or Time. 

 

If not those, Nature. Such a solid toolkit.

[Xandyr]

I love my mercs/pain and mercs/storm.

[kelika2]

Tried merc/ff, merc/thermal and merc/sonic

 

merc/ff was just guns and bullets.. and medkits(aidother).  with pet aura IOs, maneuvers and everything else my pets were in the 40% def all range after level 22 and before [power boost].  Way into the 50%s after power boost.

merc/thermal was more hands on juggling [forge] while still getting some shots in, rather tough after pet buff IOs.  like 70% s/l resist, 45%~ most everything else

merc/sonic was just a mess.  tough, but a damn mess.  solo i didnt have a good toggle target minus the medic and everyone else was so speedy and fast it kept detoggling

[plainguy]

Traps for sure.. Very thematic..

 

Trick Arrow is good as well.  I am discovering everything trick arrow for my Petless and semi petless mastermind builds and regular builds as well. You jump into the fight let loose with AOE attacks and debuffs. Ignite the Oil Slick and watch them melt as you send your pets against the purple con mobs.

I have a Thug Storm which I initially bitched about..  But I take it back.. It works very well.  I think mercs would be better because you don't have anything like the arsonist running around into melee range and getting killed all the time..  

[JnEricsonx]

On 10/20/2021 at 8:32 PM, Xandyr said:

I love my mercs/pain and mercs/storm.

How is Mercs/Pain?   I was thinking of that for a concept I came up.

[Xandyr]

17 hours ago, JnEricsonx said:

How is Mercs/Pain?   I was thinking of that for a concept I came up.

 

I personally like it. All your pets stay at range, which means they're all within your healing aura,heals,buffs.  Obviously with Mercs, it's gonna take longer to "arrest" baddies, but it's fun, and that's about all I care about. Side note....if you slot the Panacea : Chance for HP/End in Suppress Pain, ANY AND ALL ALLIES (including your pets) within its range, will benefit from it.

[Nyghtmaire]

On 11/4/2021 at 11:36 PM, JnEricsonx said:

How is Mercs/Pain?   I was thinking of that for a concept I came up.

Had one on Live. Was fun but slow. Never made it to level cap, but the 30s were quite the joy.

[roleki]

Necromancy!  But, anyone done Mercs/Emp?  I realize it's suboptimal, but I had a name stuck in my head that pretty much demanded guns and healing.  

[Redletter]

On 1/13/2022 at 6:07 AM, roleki said:

Necromancy!  But, anyone done Mercs/Emp? I realize it's suboptimal, but I had a name stuck in my head that pretty much demanded guns and healing.

 

I play Mercs/Emp!

 

 It is phenominally suboptimal. Almost abysmal, even! The suffering is eternal, everlasting, and equisite. Emp is, quite oddly, STUPIDLY expensive for stamina. I was shocked to discover, on a mastermind where much of your stamina is used for nill, I bottom out the blue bar FREQUENTLY. Literally two to three times every fight. If you need guns and healing, please consider sparing yourself this pain, and playing an assault rifle or duel pisols character - perhaps a defender! Anything but this...

 

But... if you seek suffering, if you seek... pain... You'll want to max the effectiveness of your healing, then, take Experimentation, and Leadership. You'll be taking just about everything in both of them so don't get too attached to silly ideas like flight or having fun. The reason why you take experimentation is because the booster shot in it is helpful in bridging the gap between your trained soldier's inability to fight common thugs (not to be confused with the thugs Thug MMs use, those are rare, holofoil thugs) and the common thugs your trained soldiers should be capable of handling. You'll be using these horse stimulants on the Commando, because everyone else dies so fast you may as well consider him the only pet you have. You may also want concealment, so you can hide from the dangers of the world (you may also consider avoid the trouble alltogether, by playing a better character, but if you've come this far you are already cursed -- there is no turning back).

 

Your soldiers put in a good effort to not be useless. They usually fail. They get a LOT of gunfire, it does an ok amount of damage, but they get dont get enough of either of them to impress once you hit 30 or above. Keep in mind, there's some exaggeration here. Soldiers arent... dead on arrival. And since you'll likely be in a group, you can rely on the team to pick up your G.I Joes and carry them to victory. But please understand, your medic is not a medic. YOU are the medic. YOUR medic will give a booboo soft kisses, just in time for your soldier to die. He gets a baby horse stimulant later, it's useless, but dont worry, he'll still waste everyone's time and resources applying it as often as he can. I would like to say they get some nice AoE, but they dont, because instead they get a      FIVE DEGREE CONE

 

Spec Ops are honestly where the set "shines". Spec opps get a snipe, they get stealth, they get flashbangs, they get tear gas. Theyre really nice debuffers! Or... they would be... if these things didnt take nearly three times as long as player equivalents... but! They do get stealth. Stealth helps.

The Commando is probably what you'd want from your tier ones, not what you'd want from a tier 3 summon. But! You only get one of him, which means you can easily keep up with him, and you can juice him up with every buff you have.

 

As for YOUR gun, the Grenade is the best power. You may want to cut a deal with the P2W lady, buy grenades from her too. Maybe cut a deal with her to get better soldiers too... while youre cutting deals, you can stack whatever you want into slug since that's the good one. You can also take Burst if you find your soldiers miserable damage output needs to be supplemented with mediocre damage. It's not even that much of a proc monster...

 

So. That's the basics. That is, in short, my hell. Welcome to it, welcome friend, you'll be here forever mostly because you can't kill aynthing in any amount of time...

[roleki]

@Redletter Ha!  That is a great recap of what I've experienced so far and, unfortunately, what lies ahead for Ballistic Medicine.  

 

Thank you for that!

[kiramon]

2 hours ago, roleki said:

@Redletter Ha!  That is a great recap of what I've experienced so far and, unfortunately, what lies ahead for Ballistic Medicine.  

 

Thank you for that!

Shoulda gone thermal T__________T

[tjknight]

I really enjoyed Mercs/Nature.... the heal, absorb, and + damage helps mercs a lot. And because they are ranged they stay in your healing patch. I find having some simple binds to keep them from running off is also helpful. 

[Botzoman]

Trick Arrow! I'll admit that the way I play it is chaotic and even a bit self centered as a lot of it is me running in Rambo (which kinda makes it bad for some more coordinated efforts) and just replacing pets when they flop. A lot of what you and the pets bring is control ( which is kinda ironic for how much they make stuff fly about with their knockback but that's what makes it magic) It's not a secondary I'd recommend with out some prefunding for procs though someone out there probably plays it just fine without it. This is my altered build for it based off another's build ( I'd give them credit but it's been too long for my memory) where I went with entangling arrow vs flash arrow. Flash is likely better with it's -tohit but entangling is nice for it's -resist.

 

TLDR: Trick Arrow! Procs for damage/Nice amount of control via Trick arrow and pets. Substitute Entangling arrow with Flash Arrow if you want to be a more responsible adult. Nice for a more active playstyle.

longbowrejects.mxd

[Xandyr]

2 hours ago, tjknight said:

I really enjoyed Mercs/Nature.... the heal, absorb, and + damage helps mercs a lot. And because they are ranged they stay in your healing patch. I find having some simple binds to keep them from running off is also helpful. 

I second this. Mercs/Nature is very fun, and even better on a team.

[KC4800]

Since it's not been brought up. I have a 50 Merc/Poison. The debuffs are exquisite. Spitting them is silly. But if can get over that, it's a player.

[Intermipants]

I have a mercs/ff with group fly - it’s great fun, you just hover about like a gunship mowing stuff down.