How are the new mercenaries? Also, recommended secondaries?

[Aisynia]

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?

[Oysterhead]

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.

[StrikerFox]

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. 

 

 

[Force Redux]

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. 

[UltraAlt]

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.

[Xandyr]

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.

[StrikerFox]

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

 

https://youtu.be/CN_2jKEkOJw

[Nyghtmaire]

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.

[Sir Myshkin]

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:

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:

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:

 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Sir Myshkin

[Force Redux]

Love how the new changes are breathing life and new permutations into these sets 🙂

[High_Beam]

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 December 29, 2022 by High_Beam

[Redletter]

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

[Sir Myshkin]

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.

[Astralock]

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.