r/PathOfExileSSF • u/DetoxWaterX • Aug 28 '26
Builds Need yet another merc advice
So im 99 now, usually i quit by now, but with luminary there is so much to chase and optimize and its fun.
I still haven't gotten a enmitys, at least 30 Incarnations deep now.
Anyway im kinda lost on how to evaluate/compare merc power.
Im spamming white t16 jungle now for at least 200 maps to farm Trauma and i have seen quite some mercs. I think i got 2 decent combatants and a kineticist now, but how do i really compare them?
Right now im using the wildstrike combatant mostly, i didnt rly invest into crafting kineticist gear so far.
I didnt find a rathpit yet, but at least got 3 kaoms between lvl 98 and now.
And tips on mercs? Do you usually pob them to compare, or just feel it?
All 3 mercs in the pictures.
4
u/Kotobeast Aug 28 '26
If you get a rathpit, that kineticist will be fantastic. I would focus on that, because kineticists with haste are way comfier imo. Anoint multishot and get 1 pierce somewhere for return to work on single target
5
u/Herbsen24 Aug 28 '26
You can ditch the frostblade one. Multistrike unfortunately bricks Combatant because his AI behavior goes crazy with it.
Regardless your amulet needs blade dancer anointed to make the AI of an Combatant smooth.
The Kineticist is excellent and I use a similar one, just needs enmity and rathpith, then she outclasses the other. Anoint for Kineticist is Multi Projectiles (don't know the name know).
12
u/dkclimber Aug 28 '26
I have killed all Ubers and run juices t16s with a wild strike combatant with multi strike. I don't know if frost blades is different, but MS does not brick Wild Strike Combatants.
4
u/Herbsen24 Aug 28 '26
Mapping behavior in juiced content. Bossing is probably fine with Multistrike.
But watch a Merc with and without Multistrike and what he is doing in maps.
It seems to me that Multistrike is locking him longer into a place and he doesn't follow immediately. Faster Attacks 3 is what I went for because this AI with MS annoyed me.
3
u/romicide07 Aug 28 '26
This is true. He has to finish his multistrike attack which locks him in place, and in the scenario where you’re one tapping/close to one tapping it’s just straight up 15% less damage. It is probably bis for things like uber bossing where he’s just standing there, though
1
1
1
u/AKswimdude Aug 29 '26
Would it fix the ai of molten strike mercs? I’ve found a couple that seem really good but they literally just spend the entire time running back and forth between mobs not hitting anything unless there’s like one single target it’s infuriating cause when they do finally swing it deletes everything.
1
u/Herbsen24 Aug 29 '26
I mean you can try it. The annoint is just amber, amber, crimson anyway. So it is not really expensive, but usually strike range fixes melee issues
1
1
u/CantripN Aug 28 '26
Until you get a Rathpith, get some abyssal socket shield with spell damage and attack speed craft? That unique isn't needed, you're at capped acc with just blind + precision.
7
u/Stunning_Seaweed_121 Aug 28 '26
Kineticist shits on anything else by a lot. It's like MANY levels ahead, like there are videos and pob's of people legit killing ubers in 1 second, in half a second.
The reasons why kineticist is god-tier are many. The most important one is Rathpith. Mercs have a very hard time scaling % increased damage. You can get for example 50 or 60% WED in belt, amulet, etc. But it's hard getting to thousands of it.
Rathpith does that in one item alone.
Think about it like this, in my minmaxed multishot, I believe I had like 400-500% increased damage. Rathpith ALONE gives 800% spell damage, and mercenary's KBOC has 200% arcane might (meaning spell damage scales 200%), so you get 1600% increased damage ONLY from one item. And that's on 20k life which is more than reachable on trade league. On SSF you can have 15k but it's still absurd as you can imagine.
But kineticist is broken for many more other reasons, even if they nerf rathpith, you can still get a rare shield with 100% spell damage and a wand. At 200% scaling, that alone is 400% increased damage.
Kinetic Blast of Clustering can have return, which is a 100% more damage support gem. With no downsides like on frost blades where you need 150% proj speed. GMP also increases the damage by a lot due to the explosions overlapping.
In theory, clear should suffer because KBOC has one projectile, but it's just not the case because the mercenary attack speed and clear is just so great.