I wish we shared our interesting or effective companion builds more, so here is one I’ve been really enjoying. This unusual jack-of-all-trades Mirri build…
- is a very good build for people who want a self-reliant companion that compliments most playstyles.
- illustrates some mechanics that you may want to consider for your own companion theory-crafting.
Build description
Using abilities that naturally have a 100% uptime countenances gear traits that boost max health, so skills that scale off of health work better, and for Mirri those skills grant invisibility, and INVISIBILITY IS IMMUNITY TO DAMAGE (except channelled damage over time). High health and damage immunity is powerful for a tank; yet invisibility drops aggro so the taunted boss will start to move to a new target... COMPANION TAUNTS RESTART AFTER INVISIBILITY ENDS, so most bosses don’t manage to attack anyone else before returning to Mirri! It’s not the best tank, healer, or damage dealer, but using the signature skills of all three roles synergises into a surprisingly strong all-round build that focusses a boss away from you, does 4k+ dps, heals you, and rarely dies because she disappears to heal herself when in trouble.
Gear
Ice staff, 5 medium Armour, 2 heavy. 8-10 vigorous traits, 2-4 prolific traits
5 medium armour is necessary to use the Vanish skill (see below for a heavy armour version). More medium armour is slightly more damage, light is slightly more healing, but I prefer 2 pieces of heavy armour for more damage mitigation.
Traits - vigorous helps take more damage, and makes Mirri’s self-heals heal more. Mirri’s ultimate is a powerful, controllable debuff, so prolific makes a noticeable difference. Feel free to experiment or just use what you have, but DO NOT USE QUICKENED OR AUGMENTED on this build, it won’t improve the uptime of damage or healing, and can upset the ability to hold a taunt on the priority enemy.
With an ice staff equipped companions taunt from range and stand their ground, they will roll dodge when below 25% health, which rarely happens because Mirri disappears at 50% health; so I call her a fair-weather friend.
Skill Order
1. Twilight Mantle – 3 seconds of invisibility and 25% heal, used at 50% health. Conditional skills should always be slotted first (so they are used as soon as needed) and this is slotted firstest because it has a shorter (16 second) cooldown than…
2. Vanish – 6 seconds of invisibility, restored to full health, used at 50% health, 36 second cooldown. (Alternatively run Ghostly Evasion and full heavy armour for more damage mitigation rather than damage immunity)
3. Destructive blast – 15 second taunt, with 16 second duration – this is the first non-conditional ability used, so it is the first skill used in a fight, and is reapplied as soon as it is available (the duration of the taunt needs to be slightly less than the cooldown to stop Mirri casting it on a new untaunted target, leaving her unable to maintain taunt on the priority target). Remember you can direct companions, if you want Mirri to taunt a specific boss.
4. Elemental Blockade – 8 second AoE DoT, with 8 second cooldown – perfect! This skill is cast at the primary target as soon as the enemy is in range, and as the primary target has been taunted the enemy is likely to run down the frosty corridor straight to Mirri, it just works.
5. Blood Transfusion – 8 second heal over time, with 8 second cooldown – perfect! Mirri cannot cast this on herself, but will keep it on an ally nearly 100%.
Impeccable Shot – An amazing ultimate – does great damage, and during it’s 3 second cast time the target takes an extra 20% damage from all sources. It’s so powerful I’ve increased the number of prolific traits; remember you can choose when companions use their ultimate, so use it when you are doing the most damage. Ultimate is generated by using light attacks.
Thanks for reading
This build began as an experiment in not using the quickened trait, but it has become my favourite build for solo play. She is so self-reliant compared to my pure tank or pure damage dealer builds as they need to be buffed and looked after, but this fair-weather friend is just with me…until she disappears.
#1 tip (Re)check your graphics settings periodically - especially resolution.