Lord Valkiss Ssi'sh vs Vittia Direshadow mercs, any difference?

Hey all, back after a few years absence. Are the two vet reward mercs any better then the normal mercs?Comparing these two's skills they seem to be identical though I didn't carefully compare all their stats.

Sister has both, she's played longer than I have and Valk is really good. She used Vittia for lower levels (under seventy maybe? Can't recall) and did fine. I think Valkiss has been better for later levels. She's at work now but I'll ask her later to be sure.

Vittia is good for lower levels but really stops being useful at around 70-80ish. After that point she can't keep aggro and can't take any hits. The 10 year mercs are much, much better. I use the paladin one (whatever her name is) on my illusionist in current-tier ToT fighting and she can take a hit and keeps aggro. If you have access to the 10 year I'd recommend using those from the start. (Can only be hired in Qeynos or Freeport.)

Here is what I found I had both of them and used both of them
Until up to level 80 - veteran rewards merc is mildly say not useful and Vittia is way to go. From 81 to 99 I was running with Kenny (mystic-guardian hybrid) veteran merc still not good enough and Vittia already not good enough in this range but for general purpose Vittia will do a trick but I'd rather at level 85 go to the Zeks solo and do all land Disco that net warpriest merc that is really good. Now if for what ever reason at level 100 you prefer tank merc and not priest - then Lord is way to go. Once you move in ToT you will notice huge boost in Lord's HP while Vittia falls far behind

Thanks guys, My DE necro is only 92. I like Vittia from a RP perspective but it sounds like Lord is the way to go.

Ditto, I like Vittia from a RP view and used her as such. I don't have the 10 year merc yet, but I got lucky sometime ago and picked up Zelbie Whackya who does pretty good as a tank for me (yes, I'm a SK but I don't tank) and she does well up to ToT solo (sometimes dies on bosses). With a real healer, she does decently well.

Just finished the 92 Drinal sig line with Vittia. No problems with the advanced solo or anything in the world. I suspect this will radically change at 95. She's worked for me far past 80, but I do solo content.

I am currently working my way through the Cobalt Scar timeline with Lord Valkiss and other than a few close call with dots on him I have been going ok. Completed the Drinal Sig line as well with him.

Level 96 Necro using DPS pet and Lord Valkiss as tank. I have found that he hold threat much better than my tank pet.

Once you get to lvl 100 you'll be far better off switching from Lord Valkiss to Lady Liae Croae. At that point you should be doing so much DPS that you'll pull agro off Valkiss every time, so he's essentially useless. Lady Croae has amends though, so if you send her in first she's the best at holding agro unless you can get your hands on Zelbie.

So Zelbie is better? I have Zelbie as a tank for me, but I don't have the 10 year mercs... yet.

Actually, from the short experience I had with the tank mercs, while I have Krivix (CoE Collector's Edition, Paladin) available, I also tried the merc Werner Thunderleg (Monk, got Amends-similar ability) - the one you get as an uncommon drop from AoM, Rum Cellar Advanced Solo zone, and had rather good results with him - provided you get a first hit before the mercenary does, and he casts Amends on you because of that. And if you leave a zone / fly + land - you have to re-hire the merc to actually have him cast Amends again, because he never does that again unless re-hired, which can be rather annoying.
And if he casts Amends on your pet because he got the first hit, and the pet dies - only a merc re-hire gets him Amends again.
But then, as a Necromancer I rely more on my Scout / Tank pet wherever necessary, to keep the aggro, and rather use the Lorr'kejut Inquisitor mercenary from AoM, as he's the best healer Merc I've had so far - and that tends to work out really great, too.

Ladies/Gents,

Here is some info from both of them. I took these numbers from a level 40 Coercer. The Hate Mod and Ability Mod differences are likely the reason for the threat difference between high levels and low levels on Vittia. I switched back to Vittia after being destroyed too often in Runnyeye with larger pulls (difference in Mitigation and HP are the reason for Valkiss instagib'ing on large blue-con pulls).

Code:

Name        Valkiss        Vittia
---Attributes---
HP            15,584      30,236
STR          650            670
AGI          637            662
STA          888            898
INT            635            665
WIS          639            669
---Defense---
Elemental    1741      1741
Noxious      3021      3021
Arcane        1741      1741
Mitigation    624        1912
Avoidance    3084        3582
---Offense---
Crit Cha.      37            35
Crit Bonus    71            65
Potency        315            240
Ability Mod    656            164
Hate Mod    100            0
---Autoattack---
DPS            53            49
Haste        7            7
Multi Atk    37            35

-Hate


EDIT: apologies on formatting of number comparisons, but I'm not patient enough to perfectly align numbers.