Zhen Warlock or Merc Comp

garlaanx

Zhentarim Warlock
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Zhentarim_Warlock
or
Mercenary
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Mercenary_(Companion)

As far as building a Comp with bonding stones...Which one is better for the Warlock on Xbox atm?
Zhen has 2Off 1Def Slots with Double Neck's n 1 Ring
Merc has 3Off Slots with Double Ring's n 1 Waist
Zhen has Power/Recovery while Merc has Power/Crit

I'm talking end game 3x max bonding stones / purple gear with max enchants
Which one you using and why?

Thanx in advance

Don't want to start sinking 10mil AD into a pet and then realize I picked the wrong one

mrshabok

I'd go Merc all the way on that one. It procs at least just as well and you don't need loyal avenger gear to get good stats onto it. You'll get much more mileage statwise from the merc.

garlaanx

mrshabok said:

I'd go Merc all the way on that one. It procs at least just as well and you don't need loyal avenger gear to get good stats onto it. You'll get much more mileage statwise from the merc.

care to elaborate more? or anyone else want to chime in please?

I would view the warlock as more DPS potential. But if the Merc is, then prove me wrong. Give me a good rundown on why.

ftryda

Just the one additional offensive slot giving significantly more power at rank 12 bonding makes an obvious huge difference, however I have not used the merc myself to comment on the bonding proc rate. The warlock has zero cooldown on its attack and is very aggresive which is great, but she's very squishy as well and dies often without good support. With the bell to resurrect companions instantly it does open more opportunity to multiproc bonding beyond 3 stacks if you want to abuse that. Alternatively, I chose to replace my legendary Zhentarim with the shadow demon which procs even faster imo and does much more damage itself.

For each of them you will want to figure out ahead of time what ideal gear you would equip them with and then go check to see if the cost of that gear is something you can afford. It makes a big difference.

Hope this helps.

garlaanx

ftryda said:

Just the one additional offensive slot giving significantly more power at rank 12 bonding makes an obvious huge difference, however I have not used the merc myself to comment on the bonding proc rate. The warlock has zero cooldown on its attack and is very aggresive which is great, but she's very squishy as well and dies often without good support. With the bell to resurrect companions instantly it does open more opportunity to multiproc bonding beyond 3 stacks if you want to abuse that. Alternatively, I chose to replace my legendary Zhentarim with the shadow demon which procs even faster imo and does much more damage itself.



For each of them you will want to figure out ahead of time what ideal gear you would equip them with and then go check to see if the cost of that gear is something you can afford. It makes a big difference.



Hope this helps.

Awesome input. So basically the Warlock > Merc in your opinion? Even without using the Merc, the 3rd Off Slot is better than the Def slot on the Merc.

Also, I'm looking into the Shadow Demon.. What gear are you using to make him worthwhile? I'm seeing 3Off Slots that are perfect.. but Waist/Neck/Sword Knot?

As far as the Warlock I was just gonna toss the Adorable Bites Gear on him for now with double slots. I had some other questions about gear as well.

The Rising Precision/Brut +4 double slotted rings? Worthwhile? Does the Comp actually proc the effects from those enough to stack 10x and give those stats to you? (I'm just asking as I just pulled back to back +4 Precision, and I have no use for them atm)

*Edit* Oh, sorry, didn't know there was an "Adorable Sword Knot" as well. So you're running Power/Recovery for the Comp gear? Adorable Rolls?

extremerugburn

I use the Mercenary.
1) It has 3 offensive slots, Warlock only has 2.
2) Ring/Ring/Waist preferable/more beneficial than Talisman/Talisman/Ring (haven't looked at adorable bites so this may not be the case anymore, however obtaining the bites items is significantly more expensive making Mercenary more preferable IMO).
3) It gives power/critical which is preferable/more beneficial than power/recovery.
4) I use a Legendary Yeti, which can give a 10% damage bonus on damage taken by you or companion. With the Mercenary he jumps into melee and gets hit a lot, which procs this damage bonus, A warlock is a ranged attacker and gets hit far less, thus less procs.
5) Survivability is kind of a draw. The Mercenary is tougher than the Warlock, but the Mercenary is in melee range and gets hit more, but regardless if your running a bonding stone companion you should have a Lira's Bell.

mrshabok

extremerugburn#9480 said:

I use the Mercenary.
1) It has 3 offensive slots, Warlock only has 2.
2) Ring/Ring/Waist preferable/more beneficial than Talisman/Talisman/Ring (haven't looked at adorable bites so this may not be the case anymore, however obtaining the bites items is significantly more expensive making Mercenary more preferable IMO).
3) It gives power/critical which is preferable/more beneficial than power/recovery.
4) I use a Legendary Yeti, which can give a 10% damage bonus on damage taken by you or companion. With the Mercenary he jumps into melee and gets hit a lot, which procs this damage bonus, A warlock is a ranged attacker and gets hit far less, thus less procs.
5) Survivability is kind of a draw. The Mercenary is tougher than the Warlock, but the Mercenary is in melee range and gets hit more, but regardless if your running a bonding stone companion you should have a Lira's Bell.

I agree with all these things. Also, if we had the loyal avenger gear this would be a different story. The Yeti is also great as an active for an SW because parting blasphemy damages yourself. Between the 3 offense and better gear slots (due to lack of loyal avenger), the merc is better. Shadow demon is great too, although it also suffers from having the sword knot. Until I get a companion's one I will not be using him over the merc.

d4rkh0rs3

The mercenary is superior to the zwarlock on XBONE for SWs for two primary reasons.
1: Two ring slots allow for sudden rings of power and crit. This allows for SWs to have 100%+ crit chance without bonding proc glitches in addition to a massive power stat boost.
2: Three offensive runestone slots.

ftryda

I finally got a mercenary myself to test. Swapped my Legendary Shadow Demon for Legendary Merc.. Initially putting the sudden precision and brutality rings in it were great. Instant death to mobs when entering combat.

Unfortunately as I tried it on longer fights and bosses the drawbacks became apparent. The companion gift refresh and sudden procs get out of sync quickly and performance is no longer stellar. Running stronghold dragons my damage output increased 25-50% when I switched back. Some variation can be attributed to the runs themselves, but the Demon definitely would be my choice in boss fights.

I'll definitely be testing more with ring variations and then will do the same with my Zhentarim Warlock once I can get my hands on better talismans, but that could be a while especially with changes coming to bonding mechanics.

garlaanx

ftryda said:

I finally got a mercenary myself to test. Swapped my Legendary Shadow Demon for Legendary Merc.. Initially putting the sudden precision and brutality rings in it were great. Instant death to mobs when entering combat.



Unfortunately as I tried it on longer fights and bosses the drawbacks became apparent. The companion gift refresh and sudden procs get out of sync quickly and performance is no longer stellar. Running stronghold dragons my damage output increased 25-50% when I switched back. Some variation can be attributed to the runs themselves, but the Demon definitely would be my choice in boss fights.



I'll definitely be testing more with ring variations and then will do the same with my Zhentarim Warlock once I can get my hands on better talismans, but that could be a while especially with changes coming to bonding mechanics.

I've been using the shadow demon ever since you suggested it. Have had zero problems thus far and have loved it. Most of my friends are using the Merc and they don't seem to mind it. I don't use Underdark rings on Comp's as you mentioned the downtime on boss fights is noticeable. There was a big reddit discussion about the rings on Comps. Everyone seems to shy away from them for the glitchyness they bring. Pretty sure the Adorable Gear is BiS at this time. Only down fall of the Demon is no Ring slots.