Act 1 merc survivability

Not sure how well it works for your pally, but on my sin, the combo Hustle armor + Delirium is absolutely fun and viable.

Do remember that Hustle adds Movement Speed (she'll be in place quicker to start shooting, as unless she spends most of her life repositioning) and

Evade and Res (great for survivability).

Delirium is the base of the famous Manic Pixie Dreamgirl - see the guide for it somewhere in the forum topics.

However, that combination does not provide leech, but A1 merc is probably the one merc needing it the least.

Finally as suggested, putting Insight in any Elite base should work way better than now.

I dont know why I havent seen any mention of Gladiators Bane. Its fairly inexpensive, high def with integer physical AND magic dmage reduction. Its no good for damage output, but hard to find any armour that is better for survivaility. Combine with Tals

Helm, and your merc ought to have max res. Tals gives the life steal.

But yeah, kinda depends on what you want your merc to achieve (walking aura vs actually doing damage)