Diablo II Single Player Thread - 2

Most druids would agree with you. Most of the time, three dire wolves are superior to one grizzly. Plus, points in Dire Wolves, give a life synergy to the Grizzly. So a one point Grizzly with a bunch of points in Dire Wolves is one very tough grizzly. Like almost clay golem tough (not your clay golem, but most necros clay golem with around level 10 golem and mastery). So getting a 5000 life grizzly is certainly acheivable with just a one point investment. As for the Ancients, unless you get an unlucky spawn (like cursed, extra strong), the Grizzly should last long enough.

I'll check tonight to save you the trouble of ruining your good maps. The thing is, I've never been in a situation where I've waited until hell difficulty to use my first respec, and I cannot test the normal respec on my necro, because I've already used that one while in nightmare. Although it does seem like you like the Windy better than the Bear anyway, so it's unlikely you'd want to swtich back.

I would say those three options are the only things worth considering. Here's another thing worth mentioning - Hellrack does have 150 charges of Immolation Arrow on it, and the fire portion of that attack always hits. There is a hit roll, however, for the bolt itself, so you won't get the physical damage or bonus elemental damage on the bolt if it misses. Still, if the charges are cheap to repair (I have no idea what it costs to replace a charge), it may be worth setting it up with a normal attack on left click, and Immolation Arrow on right click.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer much advice on your prospects for hitting hell difficulty monsters. Your chance to hit screen will not factor in that the merc is casting Inner Sight, and so the displayed value will always be lower than your actual chance. You're just going to have to do it by feel. If it seems like you're missing a lot, you may try an eth. (Personally, I'd think splitting the difference is probably your best option. If I was undecided, I'd so Shael-Eth. You can always get rid of the runes at the cost of a Hel, and all of them are dirt cheap so it's not costing you much if you have to change them later on.)

---------- Added 20 hours, 42 minutes and 56 seconds later... ----------

I checked last night, and I can verify that my respec in Nightmare difficulty is still available to me. At the very least, you should still be able to respec there. Perhaps you only lose your respec when you start hell difficulty? Although I have to admit, I was under the impression that your respecs didn't expire.

 

Got to play a little last night - that's a growing trend, with the wife back at work and my son in preschool. By the time we're done with dinner, and getting stuff ready for the next day, it's bath time, story time, and bed time, and after that I work out, and after that, it's usually around 9:30, and I'm pretty much ready for bed.

Anyway, I found two fairly rare uniques last night - Atma's Wail and Rune Master.

Atma's Wail
Embossed Plate
Defense: (670-866) - (792-988)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 125
+120-160% Enhanced Defense
+ (2 Per Character Level) 2-198 Defense (Based On Character Level)
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Replenish Life +10
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
+15 To Dexterity
+20% Better Chance Of Getting

Rune Master
Ettin Axe
One-Hand Damage: (105-122) To (211-244)
Required Level: 72
Required Strength: 145
Required Dexterity: 45
Axe Class – Normal Attack Speed
+220-270% Enhanced Damage
+5% To Maximum Cold Resist
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (3-5)

Unfortunately, they are more rare than they are useful. Atma's Wail I guess could be a decent armor for a spell caster, but there are certainly better options. As for Rune Master, I did happen to land the 5 socket variety. The pre-set mods on it are rather thin, but I'm thinking that there has to be something I can do with 5 sockets to make this weapon useful for something. Although I'm trying to figure out exactly how. Runes don't offer that much.

I could go for Eld (damage to undead), Eth (-25% target defense), Amn (life leech), Shael (IAS), and Pul (damage to demons) - but that's not that great.

Some of the more useful mods on runes (deadly strike, +50% max damage, CB) require runes that are much too rare to be used for anything other than runewords.

 

I'd say a +35 resist all Skins is a lot more than just "decent". That's pretty uber - I'd say a high resist skins is one of the best all-around armors in the game for a character that cannot acheive high defense. On top of resists you get MDR and +1 to all skills.

I found my first Skulder's Ire since switching to SP last night, while questing my way to Hephasto. I doubt I will use it with this necro. I like my Bone runeword armor better, not only for the +2 skills, but it is also the only class-specific armor that offers good resist all (+30%). Besides, with Ali Baba, I'm already at over 200% mf.

My hellforge rune was only a Ko. Granted, you can get as low as a Hel, so it's not the worst possible drop, but it leaves a lot to be desired. IMO, you shouldn't even be able to get runes that low, as NM hellforge can drop up to Lem. It's a very real possibility that you get something better from your NM forge. I have horrible luck on the hellforge though - I have never received a rune higher than Um of all the times I've done it. Seeing as how Mal, Ist, and Gul are all higher than Um and are all possibilities, that kinda sucks.

I got tired of doing Meph runs. I'm thinking of moving to Diablo runs now that I got the River of Flame WP. The Diablo runs are certainly not as fast as a Meph run with a good map, but unlike Meph, Diablo can drop any item in the game.

I'm seriously considering an assassin as my next class. Definitely a hybrid of some type. I'm thinking a kicksin trapper with a high level shadow master (so at least one maxed skill in each tree).

My basic plan is this: In the martial arts tree, I'll max Dragon Talon. It's a level 1 skill, it will be my main attack throughout the game, and it will be the only skill in that tree I invest in. DT is a finsihing move, but it can be used as a standard attack (unlike the chargeup skills which require a finisher to unleash their charges). While a lot of the weapon mods on your main hand weapon apply to kicks (like crushing blow), the weapon you are wielding has nothing to do with how much damage you do. Kick damage has a fairly complicated calculation based on three factors: Your boots (heavier boots do more damage), your strength, and your dexterity.

So I may just walk around with something like Crushflange early on, until I get high enough in level to start equipping claws that give +2 to all assassin skills. Also, because dexterity affects damage as well as strength, there's no reason not to use a shield and go for max block here.

In the Shadow Disciplines, the only skill I'll max is Shadow Master. That one has five prerequisites however: Claw Mastery, Psychic Hammer, Weapon Block, Cloak of Shadows, and Shadow Warrior. A little unfortunate, because with the exception of Cloak of Shadows, they will all be useless to me. CoS functions similarly to the necro skill Dim Vision, except that it also lowers enemy defense in addition to them not being able to see you until you're on top of them.

I won't be using a claw for attack purposes, so Claw Mastery and Weapon Block won't help, Psychic Hammer looks pretty sucky, and you cannot have a Shadow Master and a Shadow Warrior out at the same time. (The only big difference between the SM and SW is that the SW will only use the two skills you have selected to your hotkeys, while the SM uses a wider assortment of a lot of different skills, even if you haven't invested a single point into those skills. So I will go with the SM for diversity and some (hopefully) additional damage types.)

There's also three one-point wonders that seem to be extremely useful to an assassin. Burst of Speed, Fade, and Mind Blast. BoS gives a large boost to IAS (which also affects kicks), AR, and R/W speed. Fade gives physical damage reduction, a decent boost to resists, and reduces curse duration. You cannot have BoS and Fade activated simultaneously. Finally there's Mind Blast, which works a lot like the paladin skill conversion. It stuns everything for 2 seconds, and has a chance of converting some of the affected monsters.

Those three skills will all be one-pointers (despite their obvious usefulness), because they all suffer some serious diminishing returns. About the only thing you gain with points beyond the first few (which I'll get with +skills) is duration.

Which leaves traps. My main trap will be Death Sentry. DS does two things: It fires lightning bolts, and it explodes corpses much like the necro's corpse explosion. If there are no corpses, it fires lightning bolts. The corpse explosion isn't quite as good as the necro's though. A necro's CE averages about 90% of the monster's life in damage, while DS does about 60%. But each casting of DS gives you 5 shots. More points here adds more lightning damage, and increases the radius of the explosion. DS has four prerequisites: Fire Blast, Shock Web, Charged Bolt Sentry, and Lightning Sentry.

Of those, Lightning Sentry is the most interesting. It only does lightning bolt damage, but it does more lightning damage than DS. LS and DS also co-synergize each other, so I'll likely max this skill as well, to make both traps more potent.

After that I'm not sure. That entire skill setup is just 90 points - and I'm sure to earn more than that. Dragon Talon and Shadow Master don't get synergies from anything, and I'm already making out the damage of my DS. About the only thing I can look into is Fire Blast, as every three hard points spent in that adds a shot to your other traps. I'm getting one anyway as a prerequisite, so I can up my traps to six shots with two more points, although that seems like a marginal improvement. Maybe go back to the Shadow Discipline skills and work on something there.

 

Well, yeah, CoH is much better. What is the level req on CoH anyway? A Ber must require around level 60 or so to use. The general rule for runewords is that the level requirement is either the level needed to use the highest rune, or the level required to use the base item, whichever is higher. Light elite armors also have level requirements around 60, so it sounds like it's around 60 either way. Skins has a level requirement of about 40, so Skins is still OK for a mid-level armor, as you stated.

The main reasons I have for trying an assassin are the items I have found thus far with my necro, a playing style I think I will like, and that I've never tried one before. The one thing I don't like is having to button mash constantly. I like having two main skills that I use a lot linked to my left and right mouse button, and one or two other skills that are situational in nature. With charge up skills, finishing moves, traps, and status affecting spells like BoS and Fade, I figured I'd spend more time switching skills than playing.

This build (I hope) will avoid that. My main weapon will be a claw/shield setup with +2 to all assassin skills on the rare claw. +3 to a specific skill tree are available on blue claws, but since my two main attacks will be Dragon Talon and Death Sentry (on different skill trees), my best bet is probably to use a general +2 all skills as my main weapon. I'll set DT on left click, DS on right click and have at it.

My plan for my weapon switch will be two +3 Shadow Discipline claws, and I'll use them much the same way that I use echoing weapons on a barbarian. I'll use the switch to prebuff my BoS/Fade skills (probably left and right click) and also for getting +6 to my Shadow Master. (If reports of the Shadow Master are true, they are better than high level valkyries, as they spam things like Mind Blast and pre-buff themselves (like a second before engaging) before heading in to combat with Venom, BoS, or Fade. They sound like very capable tanks.

Finally, I think this build will adequately combine the affects of spell casting and melee combat, which sounds quite appealing. Dragon Talon works a lot like Zeal or Feral Rage, in that it is a series of attacks. The number of kicks is 1 + skill level divided by 6, rounded down. I know I have at least +4 to all skills (and I know I don't have +10 to all skills), so it sounds like I'm going to have a 5-hit Dragon Talon cycle (1 + 24/6).

The weapon damage is completely irrelevant. Everything on the primary weapon is transferred to kicks except base weapon damage (elemental damage is transferred) and AR bonuses. Nothing on the secondary weapon is transferred over if you are dual wielding except leech and +skills (so no CB, OW, ctc effect on secondary weapons). AR isn't an issue with Dragon Talon anyway, as it linearly increases with +25% AR per level, so at level 20, you have +500% AR. I like that I can chose to go into offensive or defensive mode at will. If I'm in an area with a lot of high elemental or just heavy hitting monsters, Fade is the way to go, as it gives +all resistance, and physical damage resistance. Conversely, against easier opponents, I can cast Burst of Speed before comat and increase my damage output.

Finally the traps are there for additional damage types. Lightning Sentry deals all lightning damage, and Death Sentry does Fire Damage. The only real problem would be that a dual physical/lightning immune would be unkillable for me. DS does fire damage, but it would require a corpse, and since I'm only capable of dealing lightning and physical damage, there would be no means of me getting that first corpse.

So I got out a handy-dandy skills calculator (I didn't feel like calculating kick damage by hand), to see what I'm looking at for damage output. I conservatively estimated that with +skills, I'd have +5. That's just counting stuff I already have on hand - including an absolutely wonderful circlet that gives +2 to assassin skills, +19% resist all, +8% mf, +10 to dexterity, and +24 to strength. Woot!

I assumed a strength and dexterity score of 120 and Gore Riders as the boots - that's a conservatively low estimate given I'm going for max block, my circlet, that I'm probably going to be using Lionheart as my armor, and that I'll up Gore Riders once I meet the level requirements (which would also mean I'd need 158 strength). But it's a good first order estimate, as I want to see what I'll have in general, before equipping all of my endgame equipment. The damage output is 472-789 per kick, and I'll have a five-kick DT cycle. That's potentially a fricking ton o' damage.

Lightning Sentry gets a wonderful +12% damage synergy from Death Sentry, but it suffers the same draw back of all lightning based spells - a huge damage range. Skill level 25 with a maxed synergy does 1-1830 damage, and it shoots 5 times with a new damage roll each time.

Death Sentry deals somewhat less lightning damage if there are no corpses around (1-1588), and when there's corpses around it averages 60% of monster's life in damage.

This is a long winded means of saying... this character could work.

 

I did some guide searching to develop my strategy futher. While I was unable to find a guide that was exactly like the assassin I'm planning, I found several that were similar. The build I have in mind is most similar to k/t hybrid (k/t is kicker/trapper). There are basically two variants of this build. The first are called Fire Dancers which specialize in Dragon Talon, Death Sentry, and work on the Fire synergy traps, and the second are Lightning Dancer (or Flash Dancer for comedy's sake) with the same skills except that you work on Lightning synergy traps. My build is like a Flash Dancer.

Found out some interesting stuff on Dragon Talon. While it activates like Zeal and Fury, one very big difference is that it doesn't spread out the damage to all surrounding targets, but delivers all the strikes to a single traget. IMO, that's a plus. A monster with a sliver of life left hits for just as much damage as a monster with full health, and so it's better to concentrate on a single monster to kill it faster rather than spreading the damage over several foes.

The weapon damage (and any damage modifiers like %ed +min/max) does not get transferred to your kicks, but the weapon speed does. Therefore, if using a runeword, pick the fastest possible weapon, and use the normal version to minimize item requirements. For maces, pick a flail, for axes pick a military axe. Swords are the exception to that rule, because phase blades attack faster than their normal and exceptional counterparts.

Dragon Talon is also unique among the finishing moves, in that it is the only one that does not offer area of effect damage, and the only one that hits more than once. It is for this reason that it is considered the WORST finisher if you're using chargeup attacks. A martial artist who uses charge ups will want to deliver the charges to all the monsters in a circle around him, and thus will never chose Drgaon Talon as their finisher. However, if you are using it as a main attack without a chargeup, it is considered the BEST skill, because of it's speed and multiple strikes. This is why CB is critical to the build, and guides say to shoot for 50% CB at a minimum.

Also found out more about boots. All boots have a base damage. For example, regular leather boots have a damage range of 3-8, while War Boots (like Gore Rider) have a damage range of 39-80. The upped version of Gore Rider (Myrmidon Greaves) hit for 83-149. Dragon Talon gives a 7% damage bonus per point spent. Strength is much more important that dexterity. The strength damage bonus is the highest in the game at 1.2% per point. (Most weapons are 1%. Daggers are 0.5%, Maces are 1.1%, and amazon specific are 0.75% - for both strength and dexterity.) Dexterity also improves damage, but only gives a 0.5% per point. Dexterity should only be raised to the point where it gives you max block.

Next was equipment.

Boots: The consensus here is you want Myrmidon Greaves. That means either the unique Shadow Dancers or upped Gore Riders. I got the regular version of Gores, so I'm fine there. Bad point: Myrmidon Greaves require 208 strength!

Weapon: Ideally, you want Heart of the Oak in a flail, for the +3 to all skills. I cannot afford that. A good cheap choice is the "Black" runeword, also made in a flail, which is probably what I'll go with. It's very affordable: Thul-Io-Nef, and offers +15% IAS and +40% CB. Black + Gore Riders gives you 55% CB, and frees up other equipment slots.

Armor: Best choices are Enigma and Chains, depending on whether or not you plan on running areas in the shortest amount of time possible. Enigma's teleport is faster for any type of area running, Chains is better if you like to clear areas, and aren't going for speed. Both are out of my price range.

The cheaper options included Lionheart (which was my plan anyway) for the resists, big stat increases and life, or Duress for the resists and another 15% CB. Fortitude is considered a poor choice as the +300%ed won't transfer to your kicks.

Shield - Pick something with a good block rate and resistances. It's your standard fare here - SS, Rhyme, Mosers, etc. I have a 3-socket hyperion that Sanctuary would look nice in.

Helm: If you don't pick a weapon with a good amount of CB on it, Guillaume's Face is your only option here, as that gives you +35% CB. Otherwise in order of preference, +2 sin circlet, HQ, or Andariel's Visage. I already have 55% CB, and I have that lovely +2 assassin skills circlet.

Belts: Odd selections here, because there's no obvious choice for this build - just pick something based on what you need. If you need resists, he likes Credendum from the Disciple set (15 res all, +10 str, +10 Dex). He likes Verdungos if you have your resists covered for the huge life boost and damage reduction, with String being a lesser version if you don't have Verdungos. Finally, if you already have a good amount of life, damage reduction, and your resists covered, Arachnid Mesh is his pick. I think I have Credendum, and I know I have String.

Gloves: Only two choices here - Trang-Oul's Claws to greatly increase the damage from Venom (most guides include Venom as a one-point wonder - with +skills it's free damage for just one more skill point). Or a rare +2 martial arts skill gloves, preferably with 20% IAS speed on them. I have a +1 marital arts skill with 20% IAS, so not bad.

Ammy - consensus is ideally a +2 assassin skills with other good mods, with Mara's as an acceptable substitute. I have a rare +1 sin skills with so-so other mods.

Ring - Amazingly, you don't need to use a RF, especially if you have CBF from another source. Traps auto-hit, and Dragon Talon gives +25% AR per point spent, so hitting things is not a problem. Most likely, you'll have two rares, for life and mana leech, along with resistances.

Finally, my initial build only used 91 skill points (92 if I do Venom). And I did not know where to spend skill points past level 80, because Dragon Talon and Shadow Master don't have synergies, and I already synergized Death Sentry. Of course, I'm an idiot. I use two traps - Death Sentry and Lightning Sentry. While Death Sentry only gets a synergy from Lightning Sentry, Lightning Sentry gets a 12% damage synergy from a ton of stuff - Death Sentry, Charged Bolt Sentry, and Shock Web. So points beyond 80 go to one of the other synergies.

 

Well, I was fresh out of chipped gems I needed for rune upgrades, and so I decided to take out two different builds for a test drive this weekend. The first was what eventuallly will become my WWS amazon. For now, she's an Arctic Set amazon. Very powerful starter set. While the level requirements are just 2, you actually need to be level 9 to equip it, as the gloves require 45 strength, and the bow requires 55 dexterity (actually 45, as you get +10 dex as a partial set bonus). I set the players setting to p5, because that is the level at which I can still one-hit kill most things. Not that normal is a problem anyway. But it's nice to be running around one-hit killing monsters, sniper style on a higher player setting. I had so much fun and went so fast that I played until I hit the Outer Cloister.

Next was the k/t assassin. Kicks are extrmely powerful. Even with just a pair of rare heavy boots, and a low level Dragon Talon (not sure exactly what level but I still only have one kick so it's level 5 or less), it's hitting for around 80 - which one hit kills most stuff in normal. It way out-damages my claw already, although I cannot use it exclusively as I'm too low in level for mana leech equipment. Burst of Speed is also very nice, and that's definitely a one-point wonder. Even at just one point, it greatly increases your walk and attack speed, and it lasts a full two minutes with just one point - which is actually pretty long. You get a white swirling icon around your feet to let you know it's active - not that you wouldn't notice otherwise, as the speed increase is significant.

I still don't have all the equipment I'd like for these builds, so I then switched back to the necro. I'm still slogging my way through Hell Act V on p3 (did first two quests). I don't notice much of a time difference in p1 to p3, which is to say both are slower than I'd like. Overall, I do like the addition of mages. While they are stupid, they do provide additional damage, especially since there is typically a maximum number of skeletons that can engage enemy forces, especially if they are funneling through a doorway, or in a fairly narrow corridor. Mage don't have any problems with that.

 

Did you check to see if you restat was still available in Nightmare difficulty? (Hmmm... Perhaps not, I seem to remember you saying you had a really nice map that you didn't want to reroll.)

I have read on other forums that GoMule can handle to essences, and it works on SP. In fact, from what I hear, there is actually some enhanced utility with GoMule that many people like. Evidently, there are checkboxes where you can select for items with certain affixes. Like you can check +amazon skills, and all items in your stash with +amazon skills (regardless of item type) will show up on the list. There is also a mod you can download to ATMA that will allow you to use the essences as well.

I have not seen the need to use the essences. After years of playing Diablo where NO restats were available, getting three restats is mana from heaven. Granted, if you are using a character prior to 1.13 going live, you only got a single restat, but I cannot envision a scenario where I'd need more than two.

Oh, the other thing I wanted to mention is that the Arctic Set offers a substantial life bonus. My amazon is level 17, and has nearly 300 life already. I'm not gonig to get too comfy with that though, as I know the life total will plummet as soon as I switch to WWS. As soon as you unequip the bow, the set loses a lot of it's luster, so when I switch to WWS, there's going to be wholesale changing of equipment. In fact, even though I can equip WWS at level 39, I may wait until level 41 when my armor becomes available as well. Granted, this is still a ways off yet - I still haven't found a Razortail, and that's going to be essential for the build I have planned.

With the assassin, I already have a good chunk of the gear. I shopped the first (of hopefully two) +3 shadow discipline claws over the weekend.

 

I'm unsure. For starters, I cannot shop a +3 Shadow Discipline amulet. I either have to get a lucky drop, or get lucky on a gamble. So the first problem is I don't actually HAVE one to play test it. But I'm unsure if a +3 SD amulet is my best bet anyway. I want the +3 SD claws on switch to prebuff Burst of Speed, Fade, and Venom, and for casting the Shadow Master - stuff that I do while not in the middle of combat. For combat purposes, I may be better off using a +1 all skills amulet (which I think I have), that would improve both my kicks and my traps.

That said, if I happen to find a +3 SD amulet, I'd certainly keep it in the stash. If nothing else, I could use it to summon the Shadow Master in town, and then switch it for a more useful amulet prior to leaving town.

OK, but are you really going to run Andariel and Duriel repeatedly?

Windies have the potential to be very powerful and fun characters to play, but they are extremely equipment dependent. All characters benefit from +skill gear, but a windy moreso than others. Having a lot of +skills gear with a windy is the difference between a very powerful hell character, and one that struggles to get through that difficulty level.

 

I am gambling circlets and jewelry mainly, but not exclusively. (As a aside, my last gambling bonanza resulted in my very first +2 to all necro skills rare. The other mods on it were not fantastic - +life, +energy, one resistance that I already had maxed out, and a little gold find, but enough that I think I prefer it over my +3 summoning amulet. At a certain point, more +skills on your skeletons make very little difference.)

I'm also gambling gloves - both assassin and amazon skills can spawn on them, boots - for the assassin mainly but I'm not thrilled with my boot options for my amazon at the moment, and claws, obviously for the assassin. While I eventually want to land two +3 SD claws, it wouldn't be bad to have a set of +1 and +2 as well, to graduate into as I level. I don't know why claws are the only class-specific equipment that you can gamble.

If you already have the one from Duriel, you got the most annoying one out of the way already IMO. Getting a good Duriel map is almost impossible - you always have to traverse the Canyon of the Magi, and typically TR's burial chamber is no where near the entrance of the tomb. Andariel is a pushover, and with a good map can be run fairly quickly. Mephisto is potentially a very short run. Diablo and Baal have the potential to drop anything in the game, and the areas have great XPs to boot.

Definitely not. It's one of those builds that are for people who have some wealth already. Just about every character class has a build that requires higher end equipment to excel. Barbarians have the Frenzy build, paladins have the FoH build, assassins specializing in the MA tree need a ton of +skills. The only exception to that general rule is to sorceress. The only way a ton of +skills gear would be essential was if you were planning on making a tri-elementalist. (I think it is possible - a Chain Lightning/FO build with Fire Wall as your only fire attack.)

What are your overall impressions of your windy? While I'm assuming it's not as safe as your necro, is it faster? more fun?

I forgot about that. I knew that the might merc's aura wouldn't affect your wind skills, which is why I suggested going for an Act I merc. Forgot about the lack of CB. IMO, unless you have a Soul Reaver or something of the like, nothing beats a good ol' Hone Sudan as a weapon.

That's one of the rarest items in the game. It's also very highly sought after among duelers believe it or not. It's the highest defense armor you can get on a light body armor, and speed is important there. The CBF is nice, it offers significant FHR (30%) and up to 20 reduction in both physical and magical damage. Duelers typically seek out both types of damage reduciton as - the % damage reduced and damage reduced by X. While the % damage reduciton is easier to get, it's capped by the game at 50%. There is no cap on the amount of damage reduced by X you can get. The damage reduced by X is applied first, and then %damage reduction is applied.

 

My, my. You're up early. It's 6:00 west coast time. (Like I'm one to talk - I get up at 5:00 every week day.)

Anyway, a HF merc may make sense. Like you said, it slows everything except those Frenzytaur things - regardless of whether they are CI or not. Plus for the non-cold immunes, the slow effect of hurricane + holy freeze will have a cumulative effect.

I'm not sure about adding lightning damage to the HS though. I'd say 3XAmn is the only way to go there - full life mercenaries are alive mercenaries.