Merc help

So I am wanting to make Merc MM but I have no idea what secondary to choose. So I am curious as to how /Pain pairs and how /Poison pairs. I team and solo a lot so I would like a secondary that is supportive in team situation but also helps in solo. Main thing I am worried about is EB in story arcs if I solo =(

Pros and cons and other helpful tips, thank you all!

I don't know about pain, but given /Poison's tier 9 power I'd think it wouldn't be the best fit for Mercs/. I have /Poison on my Thugs/ and that works out well with the Bruiser being a melee pet.

My Mercs/ are /Storm, and so far I'm really enjoying the pairing.

Mercs are the oddballs of the MM primaries because, in truth, they're gimped compared to their brethren Primaries. A few good things about Mercs would be that they are very strong post 32 with the second upgrade mitigation wise, because Spec Ops get Tear Gas...well, I should say they are strong in the opening when the Spec Ops fire off Tear Gas nades.

Honestly if you want Henchmen to be disposable little bags of meat/metal then take Poison. It's got Debuffs that will make EBs mush and AVs cry. Solo either one is great. Poison has on dysfunctional draw back with Mercs, and that is the fact that Noxious Gas is a PBAoE power, which hurts the effectiveness of it on Mercs. Otherwise the combo is a really good solo/PvP mix.

Mercs/Pain is definitely a popular combo for some reason. Why? No idea. Anyways, Pain brings a good mix of heals, buffs, and a debuff along. Mostly with this set you won't have that "High Damage" feel because it's mostly meant for survivability. Against EBs you should perform adaquately if not superbly. Definitely something to consider as a Commando with Painbringer and Serum is an unstoppable machine.


If I might suggest something else! You should look up Mercs/Dark and Mercs/Traps. Both are great picks for soloers and teamers alike!

I have a lvl 50 Merc/Poison. He is ok when he solos or on a small team. /Poison has good single debuffs and that's about it. Everything else seems pretty lacking for MM.

If you are new to MM, I will not recommend Merc/Poison.


Go with Merc/Storm. It's the best Merc combo I've tried so far.


/Pain has a good single buff that fits well with a boss pet that does most of the damage so Merc/Pain should be decent.

Pain should pair with mercs fairly well - mercs are fully ranged (like bots) and resistance based so having them stay around you will maximize your AE heal and AE regen field plus mercs have decent resists which will stack with the resist in world of pain. The only real drawback to the set is that Anguishing cry requires you to get in melee range of mobs, which is not the best way to play mercs. Second drawback is that neither set has a place you can slot the recharge intensive pet sets, so you can only slot one of the +res pet aura IO's and for a set that is relying on resists + heals it really helps to slot that second resistance aura IO. If you want to be able to stack resists up you will need to go with thugs/pain, necro/pain or */storm as thugs, necro and storm all offer you a place to slot the RIP sets.

Another psuedo-drawback I have found is that mercs play best if you can keep the enemy at range and pain has no tools for that. My current merc is a /storm and that works well - steamy mist fills in the gaps in the mercs resists by giving them fire, cold and energy resist (they get smashing and lethal), gale + freezing rain keeps enemies at range and on their back and snowstorm slows down thier attack rate so even ranged attacks are not coming all that fast and o2 boost fills in the gaps (although it is not really a hugely better heal than aid other, it just saves a pool selection). My merc/storm is still only 22 so I haven't gotten much else from the secondary yet but I am looking forward to the rest of the set.

I love my Merks/Traps I think Traps is a good set for merks because of the massive amount of utility it has when pared with merks with your secent upgrade you get enough KB that they hold there own well enough but when you add in caltrops, acid morter, and trip mine it keeps the badys away from me and mine for a long time! Hea i maid it rime!

If not theirs always M30 grenade

Mercs/Traps, without doubt. Traps meshes really well with a ranged primary set, and with that resistance debuff in Acid Mortar it won't matter that your pets do Lethal damage. Not to mention the PBAoE mez protection in the FFG, the reliable hold of Poison Gas Trap and the alpha-soaking Seeker Drones.

Traps is definitely a nice secondary that works well with ranged primaries, however I find it works best with thugs or robots because the main defense (FFG) stacks with the inherent defenses in the set - enforcers maneuvers and protector bots force fields. FFG does not synergize quite so well with mercs or any of the other resistance based pet sets simply because there is nothing to stack it with and stacking defenses (whether def or resists) is usually the best way to go with pets. Oh, you can try for the multi-layer defense like a willpower character does but most of the resistance pets have to many holes in thier resistances to do this.

Thats why my preferred secondaries for mercs are dark or storm as you get a resist based AE field that fills in various gaps - dark's shadowfall gives them energy, negative energy and psionic resist, storm's steamy mist gives fire, cold and energy. Stack that with at least one of the +resist aura IO's (2 if you go storm as you can put the RIP sets in tornado) and you get the most bang for your buck, as it where.

As for -resist powers like acid mortar - both dark and storm have thier own versions (tar patch and freezing rain), both of which actually do MORE debuff than acid mortar (acid mortar does a 20% resistance debuff where tar patch and freezing rain do a 30% resistance debuff). Both dark and storm also have plenty of control and/or alpha blunting powers as well - I would say more than traps as they all work at range where most of the traps powers require you either set a trap in the center of a group of mobs (poison trap, trip mine, etc) or figure out how to drag the mobs over a pre-set trap.

Ultimately I think the best secondary for mercs will depend on style and concept. I have played all three of the above mentioned secondaries with mercs - traps up to the high 20's before I decided to switch to thugs/traps, dark up to L32, currently semi-retired while I work on my merc/storm who is sitting at 22 right now. I enjoyed all of them and probably would have stuck with any one if I didn't have a nearly terminal case of alt-itis.

I know this wasnt on your list, but I really love Merc/Storm. Controls, debuffs, mercs. Yum! It can be as controlled or as wild a ride as you want to make it!

Lewis

Another vote for Mercs/Traps. That was my first 50 villain, and I burned through things solo.

...Of course, in those days I could teleport my acid mortar, and Pain was not an option...

So thus far its been narrowed down to /storm or /traps

Kind of reluctant to take traps due to having a Corruptor already with /Traps but wouldnt i be in melee range more? I know my corruptor was

My first 50 was a Mercs/Dark and I still have a blst playing him (Namesake actually). There is nothing better than leading with your Spec Ops snipping your target, waiting until they get about halfway, drom a Tar Patch then light 'em up with a full assault. Very satisfying. If you ever get in a pinch the Dark Servant can be an instant de-aggroer (real term, look it up). As for keeping them alive i just make sure they stay near me and spam twilight grasp. Healer/Tanker/Controller all in one.