Mercs Mercs Mercs

[Grandma]

Only 73 here, so tests were run in cod, but i thought i'd do some tests to see how the different mercs played while moloing.  I'm sure this will be different at higher level where mobs hit much harder, but here's my findings.  Note all mercs were J1

Tank Merc
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Very nice in cod.  Stick yourself as main assist and puller, slow the mob on pull (getting you aggro), the tank very nicely peel the mob off you leaving you and warder to chew away as best you can.  outputs fairly reasonable dps too.  Fantastic for big pulls in cod, as tank will start taunting anything you target, by virtue of you having the main assist role, so you just work through the aggro list slowing everything and the tank will grab anything taking an interest in you.  Tank merc does struggle however in DSH however, and takes alot of healing to even tank dark blues.

Healer Merc
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Great for buffs, and heals, so free's up some of those spell slots.  Only problem is you're then limited to damage done by you and the warder, so fights go much slower.  outside cod, handy for getting a group going, but often goes oom especially soloing tougher mobs, due to the length of fights. 

Melee DPS
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mixed results.  seemed to stand about alot not doing anything and only seemed to come alive when i had aggro, as soon as it got aggro, it seemed to go in static mode again (although this might be just the animation).  Not too great solo in my opinion.  In a group however the melee dps really shone, and really chewed through stuff.  Great addition to a group, especially with the gazillion hp mobs have at higher level.

Caster DPS
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Was very nice in cod, as didn't get one shotted.  I could quite easily keep up with heals here, although it was easier if i sic'd warder on adds and then used my main assist to focus merc on another mob.  On Burn it chewed through mobs in no time, great for fast kills.  I've not tried this one in a group yet, but certainly at high levels i think youd spend more time reviving than actually playing them.

Anyway that's my tuppance worth.  Thought i'd share and see if you had any gems you wanted to add to this.

[Brane]

Caster Merc:

Does not interrupt casting when a mob gets mezzed inbetwwen, great for waking mobs.

Uses AE nukes, see above.

Is too stupid to notice that he stands in his own AE area.....

[nedoirah]

I tested the melee (rogue) merc in FoS. It seemed to work fine in balanced mode. The merc did cause me to watch my agro a bit more closely though. Other than that, I don't have any real complaints about the rogue merc. Mobs did die a lot faster.

[bladepaw]

lvl 85 here with a J5 CLR merc.  I am not a fan of undead zones so I did not play in CoD.  I can normally handle 4-6 mobs in LP.  I usually split with me and warder (also use fabled weapon & the Katta pet) and bounce around so  then tend not be be hitting merc  but me.  If I rally get into a jam I hit group bestial alignment-- this reallly chops the HP.  If I have the PP I get lvl 75 spider's bite poison-- that does 5K HP per proc.  BTW if CA/CS is not at 33  plz get it there ASAP-- it really makes a big differance.