Act 2 merc aura stick helm

I am making Infinity for an Act 2 merc that will provide Might to my Urdar superdemon and Conviction for my Tainted summons.

I don't depend on the merc for damage--at all. Just want him to live and not get in the way. I am making Treachery for him and have a 15% IAS jewel to hit the max breakpoint for the ethereal Mancatcher base. Helms I am considering (ethereal if I can find/afford them):

Vamp Gaze, high LL and DR
Andariel's
Kira
Maybe a Delirium runeword?

Any thoughts on BiS for this guy and his particular role?

Thanks!

Depends on your use case and how fast you kill things. For general use, I would go Cure. Cleansing aura gets rid of amp damage curse in 7 seconds vs 1 minute without. Greatly boosts your own survivability plus his, amp damage means you and merc take 2x physical damage.

For specialized boss fights like mini Ubers or Ubers, Guillames, v gaze, Crown of Ages, or Kira’s depending on other gear and what you are solving for.

varangium wrote: 2 months ago

Depends on your use case and how fast you kill things. For general use, I would go Cure. Cleansing aura gets rid of amp damage curse in 7 seconds vs 1 minute without. Greatly boosts your own survivability plus his, amp damage means you and merc take 2x physical damage.

For specialized boss fights like mini Ubers or Ubers, Guillames, v gaze, Crown of Ages, or Kira’s depending on other gear and what you are solving for.

Cure is ladder-only, correct? I'm non-ladder. I understand Gface is for maxing your merc damage to bosses and ubers. I just need my mercs staying alive to provide Auras. Perf CoA would probably be nice for Physical and elemental resists and two sockets, but that's very pricey. CoA+ Ber+ Ber would be nice. No life leach, though, and none on the chest/weapon either.

Demons kill everything and pretty quickly even in P8. Probably nothing that would save the merc from a Herald pack of archers though. Or Urdar. Still thinking Vamp Gaze for the life leach + %DR in the event that Treachery doesn't proc Fade.

Yeah if you are solving for heralds, I would go damage reduction, so Vampire Gaze 20 pdr or Ber’d CoA. If V Gaze, combining with Shaftstop might be best, with an Um on either to max resistance and get 50 pdr. CoA with Treachery Fade can get you 46 pdr.

All that said, the best defense against merc deaths is a strong fast offense.

I run Treachery and Cure on my fire warlock merc, he never dies to heralds, but I just lay down lethargy and set an apoc and flame wall to go off as they land, then spam with Ring of Fire and it pretty much wipes out the minions immediately.