Act 1 Merc / Faith questions

[:1]Since the Council was nice enough to give me a Jah yesterday I'm contemplating making "Faith" to be able to replace that grumpy Act 2 moron once in a while. I'm glad I realized early enough that I can't use Amazon Bows but that doesn't make the decision which base to use any easier.

Here is my progress so far

Weapon Speed / Damage / Requirements:

The 3os Spider Bow aside, there are 3 "speed groups". Taking also average damage and requirements into account, these 3 bows seem to be top in their respective group (IAS means "IAS needed to hit last breakpoint if Fanaticism roll is 12/15"; Able to equip assumes nakedness):


Code:

Bow  IAS  Avg. Damage Requirements  Able to equip
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great Bow 34/30  32  Str 121 / Dex 107 L71

Shadow Bow 52/48  37  Str  52 / Dex 188 L75

Crusader Bow 75/70  39  Str  97 / Dex 121 L65

The requirements are all reasonable. Most of my playtime is with toons 90+ anyway.

The differences in damage and IAS are pretty huge on the other hand but depending on the gear (say Treachery + JoF Andy's Visage) even the Crusader Bow with L12 Fanaticism could hit the last breakpoint.

So: What do wise people with lotsa experience with Act 1 Mercs prefer?

Are Merc favorites like Treachery and AV even good for Act 1?

Does Fire/Cold Arrow narrow the damage difference down a lot?

Have I forgotten something entirely?

I'd appreciate all you input!|||This thread might be of interest.

--Greebo|||Seems like Greebo links mostly covers it...


Quote:








Have I forgotten something entirely?




Maybe that the A1 merc damage is fairly insignificant compared to the char you'll be using it with? Unless you really don't like bowas or see yourself making another Faith if you ever want to roll one, I would much rather at look the zon's MS breakpoints.|||@ Greebo

Thanks! And it's always good to know that a quick search could have saved me about an hour of researching.

@ Hubb

Mmh, that is actually a very good point. I would not want to compromise too much for that, but if the difference for the Merc is pretty insignificant it might as well tip the balance. I even have a sup Great Bow in my stash that Larzuk could socket.|||Greebo, in the thread you linked to you wrote: "I rolled a 14 Fana in a Diamond bow. Which is nice, since A1 Rogue needs just 20 IAS to hit the 9 fpa breakpoint."

That's either not correct or the weapon speed calculator I'm using is wrong. I'd say with 14 Fanaticism you need 20 IAS to hit 10fpa, 50 IAS to hit 9fpa.

That would make a big difference since the 50 IAS req seems to make Treachery mandatory for anything other than -10 bows.

In that vein: Is mandatory Treachery a real downside or is it the one and only armor for Act 1 Mercs anyway?|||No, I'm right. IAS table for lvl 14 Fanaticism A1 Rogue using Diamond Bow


Code:

IAS fpa attacks per second
0 11 1.92
5 10 2.08
20 9 2.27
48 8 2.5

|||The one I'm using:


Code:

IAS fpa attacks per second
0 % 12 2
5 % 11 2.2
20 % 10 2.5
48 % 9 2.7

Link



And isn't it 24 fps? That would make your 8fpa to 3 attacks per second no?|||Which calc are you using? V3 of Titanseal's calc gives me 20IAS for 9 fpa and 48 for 8. *edit: Here is the newer one.

Fort should roundabout double a rogue's off-weapon ED, so if you've got one of those then it certainly looks better than going from 9 to 8 fpa.

And it's 25 fps |||The attacks per seconds are still wrong in the calculator you are using. No matter if it's 24 or 25 fps. But at least the breakpoints are the same in both calculators so it doesn't really make a difference.

So you are certain yours is correct at least in regard to fpa?|||Let me put it this way: it is commonly accepted that the one that hubb linked to works and is the most accurate. There are known mistakes in the one you linked to, something about wareforms iirc.

As far as the Rogue breakpoints go, I think if you really want to know, you're gonna have to test it...

I would trust fpa more than aps from the calc.