How frequently/reliable is Act 1 Merc Inner Sight?

Hi

On paper, Act 1 Merc

Inner Sight is, in many cases, better than Act 2 Merc

Blessed Aim to increase hit chance.

Blessed Aim however is always up, while

Inner Sight depends on Merc will to cast it... and while I sometimes see monsters affected by

Inner Sight, I have no ideia if we can force/encourage Merc to cast it in some way or it is completely random ... (and we can't count on it...)

It's admittedly been a while since I bothered really working with an A1 merc (since they generally just kind of suck by comparison ^^) but from what I recall, their IS frequency was nearly 1/3 and equally felt like it was up quite reliably.

Mind you, that is only the case if/when said merc actually "attacks". Not when she's busy randomly running in semi-star-shaped circles again because her AI blows. Depending on your build and the degree of telestomping you force her into, she may very well spend so much of her time just running that she won't be doing anything useful whatsoever for you.

I used to use it with necromancer and occasionally druid, these days though I don't even bother. The skeletons aren't there for damage anyway. I always found it somewhat inconsistent even on normal difficulty.

Though I have had a little bit of luck with act 3 fire Merc for enchanting my skeletons, they don't have access to

Fire Mastery to do pretty much the same shtick.

Mind you, with the

Fanaticism (Faith) bow, Harmony, Edge, etc. the act 1 Merc isn't exactly a terrible option (

Vigor or

Thorns aura).

They do have a habit of suffering critical existence failure at the worst possible times compared to the other mercenaries.

In the end though there's no way to force her to use it, however I find she does cast it almost continuously, as long as she doesn't have something right in her face.

Anyway. Without having access to a spare Faith bow, Bramble armour, Delirium/Dream/Flickering Flame

Helm I usually don't bother with her.

In my humble opinion, a Harmony Merc can be a very solid option for some classes (Poisonmancer/Strafezon without Enigma or summon classes come to mind).

The speed bonus is very convenient to me and my party and can be more impactful than a pure damage aura.

I consider

Inner Sight a small bonus, not the main reason to choose an A1 merc.