Hi
I have been growing a Dagger-wielding Amazon of late. She uses a Barbarian mercenary who wields a Lawbringer (Amn/Lem/Ko) Champion Sword.
20% Chance To Cast Level 15 Decrepify On Striking
Level 18 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
-50% Target Defense
Adds 150-210 Fire Damage
Adds 130-180 Cold Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
+200-250 Defense Vs. Missile (varies)
+10 To Dexterity
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
I have been impressed by how well he fares and how useful the mods on this sword are for a melee character, especially one (in this specific case) who does not have any other minions.
The Decrepify goes off regularly, and removes Physical Immunity from most monsters encountered, including, for example, a threesome of PI bosses who were protecting Mephisto (all three of Bremm Sparkfist, Wyand Voidbringer and Maffer Dragonhand spawned PI for her). Even when they spawn Stone Skin and the physical immunity stays, they do get slowed down, and that is a Good Thing⢠for crowd control.
The Sanctuary aura also aides immensely with crowd control for undead. The knockback allows you to whack the monsters individually and they cannot surround you to have a group whacking on your sorry butt. It does not increase your damage, but it certainly does increase the mercenary's damage against these monsters (most of whom he cannot leech from anyway, so that the increased damage per monster dispatches them fast enough that he needs fewer potions). I cannot swear to this, but I believe that there is also a benefit here when facing Oblivion Knights. It *seems* that the Sanctuary damage to undead makes them less likely to cast Iron Maiden and more likely to cast Weaken/Decrepify/Lower Resist.
-50 Target Defence is not really stellar, but it sure can add up when he is facing monsters higher than himself.
Adds 150-210 Fire Damage and Adds 130-180 Cold Damage are another boon against PI's and physically resistant monsters.
7% Life Stolen Per Hit is a really nice mercenary mod, although I will grant that is a low amount, considering that there is no enhanced physical damage on the sword. I made up for this by giving him hats with life steal - currently the ever-popular Tal's Mask. On the other hand, having lower physical damage is a bonus when facing Oblivion Knights, as it allows him to survive a few whacks and still deal out the elemental damage. (Doom Knights being FI and Oblivion Knights being CI - he still gives out some damage to either.)
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace is a blessing for characters who do not use bodies. A friend who uses this sword on his Trapper's mercenary finds it incredibly annoying to lose the ability to have Death Sentries go off. A Corpse Exploding Necromancer or a Summoner Necromance would be similarly affected, as might a Druid who uses Carrion Vine or Solar Creeper. A case could be made that it would adversely affect a Paladin who relies on Redemption too. However, for most melee characters, that is a non-issue. The benefit is robbing the Shamen and Revivers of their ability to resurect those pesky minions behind you as you advance.
+200-250 Defense Vs. Missile (varies) - any defence improvement is a good thing.
+10 To Dexterity never hurts any character.
75% Extra Gold From Monsters is also never a negative.
I offer this summary to anyone who is considering a straight melee character and has not yet considered using a Barbarian mercenary, thinking that the aura's from those Desert mercenaries offset the increased hardiness of a Barbarian.
Halgaunt has proved his worth over and over to my Daggerzon and her companions.
Edited to finally fix that error on monster names. :)
I have been growing a Dagger-wielding Amazon of late. She uses a Barbarian mercenary who wields a Lawbringer (Amn/Lem/Ko) Champion Sword.
20% Chance To Cast Level 15 Decrepify On Striking
Level 18 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
-50% Target Defense
Adds 150-210 Fire Damage
Adds 130-180 Cold Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
+200-250 Defense Vs. Missile (varies)
+10 To Dexterity
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
I have been impressed by how well he fares and how useful the mods on this sword are for a melee character, especially one (in this specific case) who does not have any other minions.
The Decrepify goes off regularly, and removes Physical Immunity from most monsters encountered, including, for example, a threesome of PI bosses who were protecting Mephisto (all three of Bremm Sparkfist, Wyand Voidbringer and Maffer Dragonhand spawned PI for her). Even when they spawn Stone Skin and the physical immunity stays, they do get slowed down, and that is a Good Thing⢠for crowd control.
The Sanctuary aura also aides immensely with crowd control for undead. The knockback allows you to whack the monsters individually and they cannot surround you to have a group whacking on your sorry butt. It does not increase your damage, but it certainly does increase the mercenary's damage against these monsters (most of whom he cannot leech from anyway, so that the increased damage per monster dispatches them fast enough that he needs fewer potions). I cannot swear to this, but I believe that there is also a benefit here when facing Oblivion Knights. It *seems* that the Sanctuary damage to undead makes them less likely to cast Iron Maiden and more likely to cast Weaken/Decrepify/Lower Resist.
-50 Target Defence is not really stellar, but it sure can add up when he is facing monsters higher than himself.
Adds 150-210 Fire Damage and Adds 130-180 Cold Damage are another boon against PI's and physically resistant monsters.
7% Life Stolen Per Hit is a really nice mercenary mod, although I will grant that is a low amount, considering that there is no enhanced physical damage on the sword. I made up for this by giving him hats with life steal - currently the ever-popular Tal's Mask. On the other hand, having lower physical damage is a bonus when facing Oblivion Knights, as it allows him to survive a few whacks and still deal out the elemental damage. (Doom Knights being FI and Oblivion Knights being CI - he still gives out some damage to either.)
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace is a blessing for characters who do not use bodies. A friend who uses this sword on his Trapper's mercenary finds it incredibly annoying to lose the ability to have Death Sentries go off. A Corpse Exploding Necromancer or a Summoner Necromance would be similarly affected, as might a Druid who uses Carrion Vine or Solar Creeper. A case could be made that it would adversely affect a Paladin who relies on Redemption too. However, for most melee characters, that is a non-issue. The benefit is robbing the Shamen and Revivers of their ability to resurect those pesky minions behind you as you advance.
+200-250 Defense Vs. Missile (varies) - any defence improvement is a good thing.
+10 To Dexterity never hurts any character.
75% Extra Gold From Monsters is also never a negative.
I offer this summary to anyone who is considering a straight melee character and has not yet considered using a Barbarian mercenary, thinking that the aura's from those Desert mercenaries offset the increased hardiness of a Barbarian.
Halgaunt has proved his worth over and over to my Daggerzon and her companions.
Edited to finally fix that error on monster names. :)
And you may call it righteousness
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake