Breath of the dying for Sorc Merc?

I am a cold sorceress. I have this

Eth

Giant Thresher, 6 socketed and I want to make BOTD. I look at the stats for this and it seems perfect for a merc, however I'd have to make Insight in armor because I really need the

Meditation aura.

From what I read it seems like an inferior build and with such an expensive runeword and this

Thresher, I don't want it to be a waste.

I'm hoping someone with more experience, that has used this runeword on a merc, can give me their opinion or point me in the right direction.

Insight can only go in Polearms (and staves) so that might help you make a decision!

What do you mean by "have to make Insight in armor"? Insight is for polearms and staves only. I dont think that you need BOTD on your Merc then, if you claim that you need the

Meditation aura.

You could try giving your Merc another Runeword first, such as Obedience, and see how you manage without the Insight on him? I find that for short,

Teleport-driven runs such as Countess or

Key of Hate runs, Insight barely provides any value for me. However,

Ancient Tunnels runs would be very annoying without Insight, in my opinion.

Ah thanks, for some reason I thought Insight could go in armor, that kills that idea. I have a good Fortitude I'd rather not give up anyway.

I went without Insight for a while on another build, I can make the adjustments if needed. I mean BOTD looks amazing to me on paper but from what I read, maybe it's not worth it.

There is an even cheaper option: try armin your merc with good (probably ethereal) Reaper's Toll - he gets leech, adds

Decrepify, cuts down cold-immunies - and you get more control, esp if merc got

Holy Freeze. My sorc (fire+cold) still goes with such setup despite havin an Infinity. For mana concerns, make sure you have at least 1 hard point in

Warmth.

botd is kinda meh for the price.

if you just want dmg you go with Obedience. Reapers is also an option.

even

Eth Insight is okish for dmg, just bad against bosses, but since sorc has no issues with bosses that wont matter.
ultimately you run Infinity of course

Honestly does merc damage even matter for AoE characters? Their single target

Spear attack is kind of sad.

The merc has two jobs, tank and give the aura buff. I once tried to deck the merc out with MF gear like tals armor and

Shako and whatnot, but their damage is so poor that even after I get a boss low, I lose patience waiting for the merc to try and kill it.

sonnytai331 wrote: 3 years ago

Honestly does merc damage even matter for AoE characters? Their single target

Spear attack is kind of sad.

The merc has two jobs, tank and give the aura buff. I once tried to deck the merc out with MF gear like tals armor and

Shako and whatnot, but their damage is so poor that even after I get a boss low, I lose patience waiting for the merc to try and kill it.

Merc attack is great for immunities your character can't handle itself. Act 2 might merc with good weapon works well. Even better if you equip with an elite ethereal weapon with good +damage.

Cold sorc too here.
I wasn't satisfied with

Fireball damage against cold immunes so around L91 I went full Blizzard, dumped my remaining points in

Warmth and slapped an Obedience

Eth

Thresher instead of Insight on my merc.
I never looked back. No mana problems whatsoever and watching

Oblivion Knight die in a single

Jab is the most satisfying feeling ever.

Zelym wrote: 3 years ago

Cold sorc too here.
I wasn't satisfied with

Fireball damage against cold immunes so around L91 I went full Blizzard, dumped my remaining points in

Warmth and slapped an Obedience

Eth

Thresher instead of Insight on my merc.
I never looked back. No mana problems whatsoever and watching

Oblivion Knight die in a single

Jab is the most satisfying feeling ever.

This is the way.

100% cold sorc with decent merc can farm any area without issue. Spec'ing into fire feels like a waste of time.

I still use an Insight - with pretty good rolls, granted - and rarely get stalled dealing with cold immunes. Instead of putting points into

Warmth I'm adding last few points (up to level 94) into

Frozen Orb for yet more

Ice Blast synergy, having maxed the others.