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Drow Mercenary Companion

flehstifferflehstiffer Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 167 Arc User
in PvE Discussion
Hey all, i've been looking at the drow merc companion and been wondering how good it would be to actually have. The active bonus isn't very good, but it seems like the 2s cooldown on sly flourish would be fantastic for procing bonding runestones. What do you all think? would it be comparable to the zhentarim warlock or the erinyes companion that i always see people using?

link to companion: http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Mercenary_(Companion)
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  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    Its better then the zhent lock, its essentially the same as the lightfoot thief which is in my books already better. Each hit of sly flourish has a chance to get a stack of bondings and it hits a lot faster then any other companion. I have often seen it multiproc more then 3, the highest I have recorded being 10. Also, as it is a melee companion, it does a lot which means the cooldown often gets reset. It is worse for add clearing then the blink dog, because its teleport has a longer cooldown however on boss clearing there is no better companion.
    Post edited by thefabricant on
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • niadanniadan Member Posts: 1,635 Arc User
    The merc and lightfoot are great because they proc bonding fast and die. Upon death you resurect through using the liras (spelling?) Bell which rests the cool down on bonding procs allowing you to gain more than 3 stacks.
  • lirithiellirithiel Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    So every strike of Sly Flourish has a chance to proc Bonding Runestone? Four attacks every 2 seconds is sweet indeed.
    Our pain is self chosen.

    The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
  • oldbaldyoneoldbaldyone Member Posts: 1,840 Arc User
    I've been using it since I got it from a forums giveaway. I upgraded to blue (because the fourth skin looks pretty cool). I can say that I have seen far more 4-5 stacks with him than any other companion. I have a Zhen warlock now too (thank you Winter Fest), so may give that a shot but I think the Merc is a keeper. Sort of sucks it doesnt have a better Active bonus though.
  • lirithiellirithiel Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    oldbaldyone said:

    I've been using it since I got it from a forums giveaway. I upgraded to blue (because the fourth skin looks pretty cool). I can say that I have seen far more 4-5 stacks with him than any other companion. I have a Zhen warlock now too (thank you Winter Fest), so may give that a shot but I think the Merc is a keeper. Sort of sucks it doesnt have a better Active bonus though.

    Which is why I want the Lightfoot Thief ;)
    Our pain is self chosen.

    The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User

    Here is a picture of the bonding procs I get from my lightfoot thief, which is the same companion as the mercenary. Bear in mind, I have not used the bell so in this picture I got 5 stacks WITHOUT the companion dying to reset the CD.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • adinosiiadinosii Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,294 Arc User
    Getting more than 3 stacks is really just using a bug...borderline exploit, and might get fixed soon, so I advice against relying on it.
    Hoping for improvements...
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    adinosii said:

    Getting more than 3 stacks is really just using a bug...borderline exploit, and might get fixed soon, so I advice against relying on it.

    *Shrugs* Even if I don't rely on it, the drow mercenary/Lightfoot thief is still the fastest companion for acquiring bonding procs and even if they only gave 65% as the tooltip suggests, the moment I enter combat I would have 195% of his stats from his stones. It is still far better then an augment, even if it worked exactly as intended and as a result even if it was fixed I would still use it.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • lirithiellirithiel Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    btw why are your Bonding procs showing up as three separate icons? Mine shows only one with a number for stacks in the bottom corner of the icon.
    Our pain is self chosen.

    The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    lirithiel said:

    btw why are your Bonding procs showing up as three separate icons? Mine shows only one with a number for stacks in the bottom corner of the icon.

    I have 3 different ranks of bonding atm as I am upgrading them 1 by 1 to r12. At the moment, they are 10, 11 and 12, when they are all upgraded, I will have only 1 stack showing. Seperate ranks of bondings show as seperate stacks though.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User
    I just wanted the companion to accompany my drow chars. All people care about are bonding stone stacks, zhentarim warlocks, power, damage...
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    ghoulz66 said:

    I just wanted the companion to accompany my drow chars. All people care about are bonding stone stacks, zhentarim warlocks, power, damage...

    Incorrect, it is accepted that there are 4 types of gamers in online games:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test
    Yes, wikipedia is not the best place to quote from, but I am not in the mood to dig up proper academic papers done on the subject, but if you want to view them, just ask and I can do so.

    Yes, the majority of us are people who fall into the catagory where we like to improve our characters, but I can respect that you like doing things for thematics, so please respect that what I enjoy in the game is the min/maxing.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • scathiasscathias Member Posts: 1,174 Arc User
    fabricant, don't you think your response is taking ghoulz's comment a bit personally? he directed nothing at you and yet you appear to be taking insult in that he doesn't care...
    Guild - The Imaginary Friends
    We are searching for slave labor, will pay with food from our farm!
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    scathias said:

    fabricant, don't you think your response is taking ghoulz's comment a bit personally? he directed nothing at you and yet you appear to be taking insult in that he doesn't care...

    I suppose I was to be honest, but, well, he did make a generalization (all people) and that kind of irritated me so... :p
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    Here is another screenshot, I tried to get it when there were 9 stacks up but instead I only got it when there were 7:

    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    That test is really interesting.. so I just took it and here is my own breakdowns, I think they may change slightly upon what moods strike me.

    Achiever 73%
    Explorer 13%
    Griefer 53%
    Socializer 60%.

    Based upon my own assessment and what I would care about I would say its marginally accurate. We all have ups and downs on our gaming moods.

    I dont care to be a min/maxer per se, but I sure the heck dont need to be weakest on the block either, people should know what it takes to complete something and get to that point to complete it. Dont enter edemo just at 2500 unless you know which 2500 is important to your class.

    My explorer rating is so low.. because this games exploration is marginalized to me.. in lotro, I know it wouldve been MUCH higher.. as I spent many , many hours learning and memorizing places like the old forest and goblin town.

    Both offered unique rewards for doing them though (+2 on permanent boons) so I could bring each new toon through and get it done.

    Apparently I like to spoil others enjoyment a little too much, but most of the questions I took that I could equate to those results were not like.. HEY you just got something, do you go out of your way to make your friends feel really bad about it.. it was more like.. HEY you just got a unique weapon, do you tell your friend first or see if they find out about it instead. I said I would tell them..

    Apprently those things are considered griefing.. =P .

    Maybe I should back off telling people I got anythingz.

    But those are my honest results. I do like to socialize as well, but not to the point thats all I care about either.


  • tranceformationtranceformation Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    I got a 8 stack with my merc yesterday images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/358400940623214712/782618EAF93B4D4906C76A672B96AD450C246C50/
  • kolatmasterkolatmaster Member Posts: 3,111 Arc User
    @tranceformation and that was with different ranks of Bonding attached, right?

    Speaking with the @thefabricant today we tested out my Drow Merc with different Ranks Bondings and his at the same time in the Trade of Blades. His was proc'ing higher then 3x times many times comparitively with mine doing it only twice over about 5 minutes.

    We tried Combat Advantage angling and such, and Fab had a solid idea... He thinks it might be Ping related, as the worse off you are the more likely it procs multiple times. My internet in the Northeastern US is really good, his in South Africa isn't so hot.

    It's a theory currently, but it seems logical as we couldn't really replicate it anywhere near as often on my Companion. Even running solo content, HEs, Dragons, etc... He rarely proc'd over 3 times (1x each of the different ranks).
    va8Ru.gif
  • lantern22lantern22 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,111 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    so its download {insert whatever your download fetish is} whilst playing ftw then?
  • tranceformationtranceformation Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    kolatmaster said:

    @tranceformation and that was with different ranks of Bonding attached, right?



    Speaking with the @thefabricant today we tested out my Drow Merc with different Ranks Bondings and his at the same time in the Trade of Blades. His was proc'ing higher then 3x times many times comparitively with mine doing it only twice over about 5 minutes.



    We tried Combat Advantage angling and such, and Fab had a solid idea... He thinks it might be Ping related, as the worse off you are the more likely it procs multiple times. My internet in the Northeastern US is really good, his in South Africa isn't so hot.



    It's a theory currently, but it seems logical as we couldn't really replicate it anywhere near as often on my Companion. Even running solo content, HEs, Dragons, etc... He rarely proc'd over 3 times (1x each of the different ranks).

    Yes dude i was using a rank 10,11,and 12 bonding stones and i am from the uk my internet is very good. I can not think what is making the bonding stones go that high in stacks when it just should be 1 stack each per bonding stone. but i have noticed that i am getting more stacks from my bonding stone than b4 when a was just using 3 rank 10s

    kolatmaster just had a 10 stack http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/358400940624516280/88E3436420CC543B2BE1A37C9027113E790699B1/

    and my ping is running at about 120-160
    Post edited by tranceformation on
  • kolatmasterkolatmaster Member Posts: 3,111 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    tranceformation said:


    and my ping is running at about 120-160

    That isn't really considered a 'good' ping score bud, I mean it's not terrible like over 200ish... But to be considered 'good' in online gaming terms, we are really talking less then 60 and even closer to 30ish if possible.


    va8Ru.gif
  • niadanniadan Member Posts: 1,635 Arc User
    Am I to understand that having multiple ranks of bonding is not the cause of such high stacks? I have three rank 12 bonding stones and have yet to notice over 4 on my lightfoot.
  • tranceformationtranceformation Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 18 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    niadan said:

    Am I to understand that having multiple ranks of bonding is not the cause of such high stacks? I have three rank 12 bonding stones and have yet to notice over 4 on my lightfoot.

    I am thinking that maybe a big cause coz i was with the guild leader on the dummys and he as got a lightfoot thief with 3 rank 12s init and he not getting that many stacks as i am getting with one rank of each.

  • zekethesinnerzekethesinner Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 805 Arc User
    There is many indicators, yes for some reason it may bug and u will get 4 stacks, i noticed my merc can get 2 bondings with 1 hit, for reasons. But thats all about dummies. In acctualy combat it looks a bit differently, when u have blue companion like sharp has he dies every 3s or so, so its obvious he will proc more since CD resets upon companion death, but when u have legend Merc like me, he rly rarely dies. And thats the main difference in dungs. Dragon runs... we all know that everything dies there as often as possible so there always will be more than 3 proc, until they fix it.

    But in dungs it will be rarely more than 4, simply coz, surprisly, legend companion can survive much more than 1 hit from mob.

    (Sin)cerely
    Kain


  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    zekethesinner said:

    There is many indicators, yes for some reason it may bug and u will get 4 stacks, i noticed my merc can get 2 bondings with 1 hit, for reasons. But thats all about dummies. In acctualy combat it looks a bit differently, when u have blue companion like sharp has he dies every 3s or so, so its obvious he will proc more since CD resets upon companion death, but when u have legend Merc like me, he rly rarely dies. And thats the main difference in dungs. Dragon runs... we all know that everything dies there as often as possible so there always will be more than 3 proc, until they fix it.

    But in dungs it will be rarely more than 4, simply coz, surprisly, legend companion can survive much more than 1 hit from mob.

    (Sin)cerely
    Kain

    Those screenshots above kain are multiple stacks without the companion dying, I made sure to monitor that.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • zekethesinnerzekethesinner Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 805 Arc User
    thefabricant said:



    Those screenshots above kain are multiple stacks without the companion dying, I made sure to monitor that.

    Ops, if that the case then i have rly nothing to say, never had more than 4 proc without dying. :/

    (Sin)cerely
    Kain


  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    Max Ive seen is 4 without dying as well.

    though I have neither the thief or the merc.

  • niadanniadan Member Posts: 1,635 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    Again I have all rank 12 bondings and rarely see more than 4. Makes me want to go get a rank 10 and 11, but if that is the reason, the devs will probably fix it right after I do it...lol

    If individual ranks can stack in this way, one could see 9 to 12 stacks quite easily. And probably consistent 3 to 6.
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User

    Here are 9 stacks of bonding in eGWD :p Really hard to screenshot the 10 stack moments, but I assure you, they exist.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • niadanniadan Member Posts: 1,635 Arc User
    Is it because you have different bonding stone ranks?
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