The Arms of God tutorial tells you that merging weapons transfers stats. What it doesn't tell you is that merging a level 1 weapon is a trap.
I lost my first save to this. Merged everything early, ended up with a roster of under-leveled weapons at the Act 3 boss, and got flattened.
What actually matters with merges:
- Level before you merge. Level 1 + level 1 gives roughly 60% of the stats of a level 5 + level 5 merge. Wait until both are 5+.
- Element match. Fire + fire = +25% fire damage and unlocks the tier-2 fire effect. Fire + ice = generic +10%. Always match.
- Rarity scales the transfer. Legendary donor is roughly 75% stat transfer. Common is about 60%. The gap widens with each merge.
The single biggest thing: get AoE or spread onto a rapid-fire weapon by level 15. If you haven't by the mid-boss, you're in trouble.
I mapped every merge combination and the synergy logic behind them here: Arms of God weapon merge combinations
The merge system is the real game. The weapons are just the pieces.
