What to socket into Andariel's visage?

I have an ethereal

Andariel's Visage which my rogue mercs share.. they normally go with Ice, Faith or Insight, and ethereal Chains of Honor

what would be universal option to improve their performance?

my chars are a fire sorc or different zons

apart from dying to hydras sometimes, I don't really have much to complain about the mercs

Budget option is

Ral, best option is probably either 40/15 dmg/ias jewel or fire resist/ias jewel

Patching up that fire resist sounds like a good idea for the time being.

hmm thanks but fire res is maxed with Chains of Honor..
and attack speed breakpoints won't change much i feel with a 15% gem

Mal also prly won't bring much?

ganseng wrote: 12 hours ago

and attack speed breakpoints won't change much i feel with a 15% gem

You feel it won't change much?

What merc are you using and what is their weapon (including the base if it's a rune word)?

Have you done the math?

Knappogue wrote: 12 hours ago

ganseng wrote: 12 hours ago

and attack speed breakpoints won't change much i feel with a 15% gem

You feel it won't change much?

What merc are you using and what is their weapon (including the base if it's a rune word)?

Have you done the math?

I did as a matter of fact! rogue with

Matriarchal Bow

no effect on Ice, 1 frame on either Faith or Insight

not worth it imo, especially with Insight - she is there only for mana anyways

One frame actually makes a noticeable difference. A plain 15ias jewel is cheap. I may even have one you can have for free from my crafting jewel pile.
But if you really can't think of anything to socket "nothing" is always a viable option. Save yourself the socket quest for a different item?

Hmm to improve the performance of the mercenary?

What do you need to get out of them? That's the question.

They aren't damage dealers by any means, none of the mercs are.

You've already ensured they are likely to survive with Chains of Honor, next look for a weapon and

Helm that benefit you the most. Helms are a bit limited for this, but there's Flickering Flame and Cure at the least. That almost negates needing fire or poison resists.

CoH has lifeleech so you don't need survivability from them. If they aren't proc'ing some effect on strike, they don't need a lot of IAS, though it may help them stay alive through life leech.

You may also consider, if you need a lot of crowd control, using a Delirium. It's not always the best option, but if you don't need

Fanaticism Aura or

Holy Freeze Aura or something like that, maybe spring for extra resists or crowd control? You can always swap to an A5 merc and spend a

Jah on a poorly rolled Last Wish. Get Plague and Last Wish on an A5 merc with CoH and Flickering Flame, makes life easier in general.

It all depends on your build, your gear, and what areas you can improve on with the merc. They're there to help you, so let them help. You're there to slay demons. Don't rely on them for anything but a minor hand - treating them any other way is a waste of time at present.

ganseng wrote: 12 hours ago

hmm thanks but fire res is maxed with Chains of Honor..

You might want to use it on anther merc or switch CoH or trade at some point.
In addition, overstacking makes sense, e.g. for when the coucil has

Conviction aura.
So I'd still try to fill that fr gap.

ganseng wrote: 11 hours ago

Knappogue wrote: 12 hours ago

ganseng wrote: 12 hours ago

and attack speed breakpoints won't change much i feel with a 15% gem

You feel it won't change much?

What merc are you using and what is their weapon (including the base if it's a rune word)?

Have you done the math?

I did as a matter of fact! rogue with

Matriarchal Bow

no effect on Ice, 1 frame on either Faith or Insight

not worth it imo, especially with Insight - she is there only for mana anyways

IAS means more damage means more leech means more def. 1 frame is huge! It also allows her to run away quicker since the attack animation will be over 1 frame sooner.

ganseng wrote: 20 hours ago

I have an ethereal

Andariel's Visage which my rogue mercs share.. they normally go with Ice, Faith or Insight, and ethereal Chains of Honor

what would be universal option to improve their performance?

my chars are a fire sorc or different zons

apart from dying to hydras sometimes, I don't really have much to complain about the mercs

If it's a good andy, the best option is 15 ias 30 fr. But those are expensive.
If it's a low roll, any self found fire res + adds will do.

You can honestly find a 15 IAS / 30 Fire Res Jewel for pretty cheap if you look in the right "places".

But alternatively, a 15 IAS / 27-29 Fire Res is MUCH cheaper. Or just run the ole' trusty

Ral Rune!

itsLegit wrote: 3 hours ago

You can honestly find a 15 IAS / 30 Fire Res Jewel for pretty cheap if you look in the right "places".

But alternatively, a 15 IAS / 27-29 Fire Res is MUCH cheaper. Or just run the ole' trusty

Ral Rune!

15ias / 30fr is 2

Jah (non-ladder). You can call that expensive or cheap, depending on where you pocket is.

If you are looking for price-performance.
ias/10-15 will do the job.

That you can use 10 fr or 10 all resist.

You only need to make sure your merc is not 2 shot kill by fire.

In the case of enemy

Conviction , even if you socket 30fr , it doesnt help.

To survive

Conviction, you need 110 fr. That will need 30 fr in

Helm, 3 jewel combine 80 fr.

--Trav

Conviction for example--

Or you might find a rare jewel with fire rez and magic find, life or raw stats

With Chains of Honor, which in my view is resist "overkill" I would go with a 15 IAS Jewel. A better armor choice would be a Fortitude which alone is enough to erase the -30 fire resist penalty while increasing damage. A Treachery is also a good budget choice if you can find a 15 IAS Jewel with fire resists. I've been using a 15 IAS Jewel with 17% fire resist with my strafezon, who is also my primary

Travincal council farmer. More specific gearing information would be helpful.