Jump to content

How are the new mercenaries? Also, recommended secondaries?


Aisynia

Recommended Posts

I have always loved mercenaries but stopped playing them a couple years ago. I would like to know how they are now and if its worth it to start in on them again. The update notes said their entire power repertoire was updated, but doesn't explain how. Do we have any idea?

 

Also, what are secondaries that pair well with it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The beta Focused Feedback thread has a lot of good info: 

Someone there also went through the changes to the specific pets and their new skills. I haven't played them personally yet (doing a ninja MM now) but plan to next, the general sentiment is that they are a gigantic step up from the prior iteration.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1

The Alphabet Bunnies
Currently Building: Dark/Fire Tanker, Merc/Time MM


50 Bunnies: Alpha Bunny (Il/Rad Controller) Beta-Bunny (FF/BR Defender) Gamma-Bunny (Seismic/Stone Sent) Epsilon Bunny (Spines/Invul Scrapper) Theta Bunny (Willpower/Axe Tanker) Zeta Bunny (DB/EnA Stalker) Lambda Bunny (Bio/SvgM Tanker) Xi Bunny (Stone/Stone Stalker) Sigma Bunny (SR/KM Tanker) Upsilon Bunny (Shield/DM Tanker) Chi Bunny (Fire Farmer Brute) Omega Bunny (Claws/Ninja Scrapper) F - araday Bunny (Elec/Elec Defender)
50 Non-Bunnies: Darboux (Crab Spider) Invisible Icicle (Ice/Bio Stalker) Cooling-Tower (Rad/Ice Tanker) Ferrouscious Feline (Invul/WM Tanker) Bill the Yeti (SavM/Ice Stalker) Sally Salamander (Fire/MA Tanker) Blade Azure (Kat/EnA Scrapper) 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hopped on the Beta server and luckily my old Mercs test build is still there. So I didn't have to change anything, just login and straight into pylon destruction mode. I used to do a lot of MM pet dps tests and Mercs was always close to the bottom.

 

Merc pets annihilated the pylon in 106 secs/490 dps. T4 Musculature Radial Alpha and T4 Reactive Radial Interface active. Previous kill time with the same build, almost 2 years ago, was 211 secs/310 dps with the same incarnates. It's crazy impressive. Serum was not used. The MM attacks or secondary powers were not used either. The pets are proc'd pretty hard. The dps is actually higher than my old Ninja testing, 119 secs/450 dps. 

 

I have Mercs paired with Storm in game and love the combo. A lot of mitigation with KD, extra damage with Storm powers. I'm using Mercs/Dark on test which would be a great combo as well. 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Mercs/Nature is super strong after the update. No numbers but clear night and day difference in damage and survivability. In my mid 30s, I'm now inspired to max them out after they languished the past couple years.

 

I think they'd also pair well with Dark, Time, FF, Traps, or Trick Arrow. 

@Force Redux on Everlasting

----- (read my guide) -----

Gather the Shadows: A Dark Miasma Primer for Masterminds

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Aisynia said:

I have always loved mercenaries but stopped playing them a couple years ago. I would like to know how they are now and if its worth it to start in on them again. The update notes said their entire power repertoire was updated, but doesn't explain how. Do we have any idea?

 

Also, what are secondaries that pair well with it?

 

I have really started to love Electrical Affinity (https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Electrical_Affinity)

It has heals, buffs, and shields.

The heals and buffs chain. If you use them on a henchman that is near you, there is a good chance it will chain to you and to all your henchmen if you keeping them near you (running them in Defense mode). 

If you are running in defense mode, you can drop the shield wherever you are, and your henchmen will be unlikely to run outside of its protection.

 

So I generally target through the highest damage dealing pet so I can keep them healed and buffed which in turn heals and buffs my character and a good number of the other henchmen. The SFX might take a bit to get used to, but it seems to work great to me.

 

Since Mercenaries tend to stay close, I would suggest looking into the IO sets that give pets +Res and +Def when they are within a short distance of your character.

  • Like 2

If someone posts a reply quoting me and I don't reply, they may be on ignore.

(It seems I'm involved with so much at this point that I may not be able to easily retrieve access to all the notifications)

Some players know that I have them on ignore and are likely to make posts knowing that is the case.

But the fact that I have them on ignore won't stop some of them from bullying and harassing people, because some of them love to do it. There is a group that have banded together to target forum posters they don't like. They think that this behavior is acceptable.

Ignore (in the forums) and /ignore (in-game) are tools to improve your gaming experience. Don't feel bad about using them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you loved Mercs before, then you'll be enamored with them now. Take Serum and slot it, Equip takes Resistance IOs now, and Upgrade takes Defense.

 

 I have respecced my Mercs/FF and /Pain. It's amazing how much better they are. I also have Mercs/Nature, /Storm, /TA, /Nature, and /EA. I haven't respecced those yet. Perhaps in the future.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, StrikerFox said:

Tested again, this time with Tar Patch and Serum. 74 secs/645 dps. Mercs are amazing damage-wise.

 

https://youtu.be/CN_2jKEkOJw

That’s excellent! Improved mercs is almost as surprising as the game coming back in the first place.

The Splintered Soul Project: (Nyght****) 21 and counting (18 max). 

 

DSorrow: “Give a man a build export and you feed him for a day, teach him to build and he's fed for a lifetime.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wanted to add something more specific about the updates to Mercs: They're a lot more focused on Resistances, and a lot more rounded to that effect than they were before. Pairing them with a defensive support set can yield a lot of advantages over just another Resistance set.

 

As an example, I rolled a Merc/Cold and pushed up Resistances as far as I could with the uniques and such, this is where my Commando sits:

image.png.cd536ac36ec4bd813171cbfad8df7888.pngimage.png.f493bdad431aae26d33f315a0373e658.png

Figured this was the best method to really demonstrate since Mid's can't really properly reflect all this actively. And if I activate Serum on the group:

image.png.a90f20ad7a20e32edf4b60e7e0a4bf89.png

Now this is a decaying point from cap, but that's a huge point to hit on a pet, and then it just slowly scales over the next 30/s down to base, and Serum is up every minute baring any other global boosting (FF+Rech in M30). And a fun trick I utilize with Cold since it lacks a reasonable heal is to use Spirit Ward on the Medic to help give it extra shielding and it tends to be just enough continual support to keep it alive in order to sustain the rest of the team, and then drop Enflame and Frostwork on the Commando making him an ireful target for aggro.

 

Commando HP on Frostwork:

image.png.844b0ba9e95197f76f5c8f9974790638.png

 

 

Edited by Sir Myshkin
  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a Merc/Traps MM who I created to replicate my old one from live like as soon as I discovered HC.  I played her up and remembered the pain.  Stopped at around 30.  Then the change and wowzers, so much difference.  Respec and took Serum and altered slotting, double wowzers.  Plus Proc-ville.  Drove her hard to 50 and had fun with it which is not how the memories were from Live.

Edited by High_Beam
  • Thumbs Up 1

Girls of Nukem High - Excelsior - Tempus Fabulous, Flattery, Jennifer Chilly, Betty Beatdown, Two Gun Trixie

Babes of War - Excelsior - Di Di Guns, Runeslinger, Munitions Mistress, Tideway, Hard Melody, Blue Aria

 

Several alts and of course my original from live on Freedom, OG High Beam (someone else has her non OG name)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/27/2022 at 12:04 PM, Aisynia said:

I have always loved mercenaries but stopped playing them a couple years ago. I would like to know how they are now and if its worth it to start in on them again. The update notes said their entire power repertoire was updated, but doesn't explain how. Do we have any idea?

 

Also, what are secondaries that pair well with it?

 

They are much better than they were.

They are still probably the worse set MMs have? But, that doesnt mean they're awful. That just means theyre weaker than Robots. Theyre VERY reliant on their secondary.

For secondaries, I would HIGHLY recommend Force Field, which got a slight change to it as well in the same patch. Cold is also a good choice, but I feel FF has more things that synergize with mercs specifically.

You could also play Mercs/Emp if you really want to feel like nothing's changed

Resident certified baby

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Redletter said:

They are still probably the worse set MMs have?

I’m not certain I’d put a bet on this. The in-game dynamic/opinion has been showing a lot of folks showing the Mercs some love, and from a play stand point I’d currently look at one or two other sets  being a lower margin (Beasts and Zombies). I know the Zombie squad got a little love as well, but it doesn’t quite measure up to what changes Mercs and Robotics got to balance them out.

 

For me personally I’m not even definitive on where Mercs stand compared to Robotics. Serum is a really good kicker in a higher recharge build and it gets to just stack on top of whatever other goodness is coming along. The faster it gets, the better the Mercs become.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Sir Myshkin said:

I’m not certain I’d put a bet on this. The in-game dynamic/opinion has been showing a lot of folks showing the Mercs some love, and from a play stand point I’d currently look at one or two other sets  being a lower margin (Beasts and Zombies). I know the Zombie squad got a little love as well, but it doesn’t quite measure up to what changes Mercs and Robotics got to balance them out.

 

For me personally I’m not even definitive on where Mercs stand compared to Robotics. Serum is a really good kicker in a higher recharge build and it gets to just stack on top of whatever other goodness is coming along. The faster it gets, the better the Mercs become.

 

Yep.  Beasts are now the worst Mastermind power set, with Thugs on top.  The rest are in the middle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...