Is this guy as worthless as he seems? I was excited to finally score him since he's a Celestial level companion but... In my short time using him, he's dropped more times than a drunk cheerleader's prom dress. Being an Inquisitor, I expected him to have a bit better protection. He hits like a screaming little school girl, doesn't seem to want to heal, and the one time I died with him in the group, he didn't res me. All the way around, the 10 year veteran reward mercenaries seem to perform better. Is it just a question of leveling and gearing him up, or is he really that useless?
Speaking as a Tank who only ever needs to keep a healer merc in passive, I have to ask what are you assigning him to do where he doesn't just focus on healing you while set to passive? This seems to be the eternal issue I see with players using mercenaries: They never seem to heal when you expect them to, but as someone who only ever plays a monk, I get healed always exactly when I want to be.
I've got him set to protect himself and protect me. With that setting, the 10 year veteran mercenaries will still throw minimal healing my way and have certainly resurrected me the couple of times it was needed. This guy can't heal, res, attack or defend.
He is great. He heals and he will rez but like all mercs, it takes time. None are super great before they have had some training and the more they get, the better their gear, the better they are. The ONLY merc that was top of the line from day 1 was Bhoo. Ugly as sin but could fight, heal and rez all as needed. I keep this one on passive or else he will pick a fight with everything it passes that it can fight with. I would suggest you put him on passive. He will then be able to concentrate on you and your needs and not want to fight all the time.
I haven't used Dakshesh yet but I did find Kenny in neriak and found him to be an excellent healer and rezzer.
Update: So, Cusashorn and AOE1 were largely correct here. I tried Dakshesh the Dimwitted again late yesterday and he does perform better as a healer when set on passive. The only thing I'll give them a *slight* miss on is that passive did nothing to decrease the amount of aggro he pulls. It's like he'll deliberately walk within attack range of anything that's potentially aggro (has the red aura around their name), then get attacked. He DOES fight back also, even with being put on total passive. Funny, I remember this being a problem with Mercs in general before I left the game years ago. When I came back, my 10 year mercenaries seemed to have impeccable AI, so I stuck with them since returning. After noticing that the Swordmaiden of Bayle in particular seemed to be getting aggro happy lately, I decided to try Dakshesh. AI quirks aside, he's turning out to be a decent healer when on passive. I just wish the Merc AI was more consistent overall. Both the 10 year ones will fight and heal at the same time.
I usually keep my healing mercs on passive and Dakshesh does a pretty good job. I did not find yet a good fighting merc for my healer characters
All healer mercs heal better when on passive. The downside is those with Virdict won't cast it if they aren't attacking, ever. Workaround is to use the merc attack button when you want them to cast verdict but leave them constantly in passive. Also keeping in mind any healer merc with cures will seemingly always cure even if you are lowlowlow health. As to getting better dps and use out of a merc regardless of their behavior setting, their stats are based on your own, get yourself better gear. Gear them up also, plop on those adorns and accolades too. Get them as high level as you can, 20 is awesome sauce. Once they are maxed, grab another merc in that season and start leveling it, as there is a small bonus for having contribution (summed across all mercs of the same season). Beyond that, grab one of the merc battalion buff infusion buffs. I think the current one on Thadamposs is what, 23% bonus? Celesital mercs are best, but you can make due with Fabled, the others are really only good for appearance and working on that Contribution bonus.
Well, merc's are like pets. They like to cut the corners. You turn to head in a different direction and they cut the corner. lol
