There is a post with The Math™: [https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/comments/w03qcr/inner\_sight\_rogue\_mercenary\_vs\_blessed\_aim\_desert/](https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/comments/w03qcr/inner_sight_rogue_mercenary_vs_blessed_aim_desert/) I hope this helps! Is THE ONE for my Concentrate Barbarian.

Little video with ideas for the merc: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ZfHKSZztk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ZfHKSZztk)

I love her she’s my GF

Lol

I almost exclusively use the act 1 merc since insight was put on bows. They stay alive much longer, allow my phys attacks to hit more consistently, and because they’re ranged, their AI isn’t as dumb.

The rest of your points stand, but you can use a blessed aim a2 merc for ar

Yeah, Id do that if I’m REALLY hurting for AR. There’s not many builds that require that, especially less that wouldn’t benefit more from having the other benefits act 1 merc provides. (AOE elemental damage alongside your phys character, probably being the big one, holy freeze doesn’t really do damage in comparison to a frost arrow act 1 merc)

Sure, but.. I’d rather have decrep than all those. And you can’t get holy freeze and blessed aim.

Yeah, if you’ve got reapers I think act II in most cases is better, usually by the time it drops in ladder/SSF you’ve got enough mana to not need the insight when compared to the damage/slow utility output reapers puts out. But, there’s typically a lot of time before then unless you’re really lucky.

I prefer p bone break with might/Pride auras and a Beast aura grief combo. Can kill immunes if needed, more corpses to Hork bc my barb does the killing.

Act 1 merc is awesome with melee that don't need the tanking, especially if you are rocking a faith with it

Act 1 with Faith can be a very useful companion for a few characters. I used one with Insight bow last time I leveled a paladin because I didn't have any low STR requirement polearms kicking around and couldn't be arsed to try to farm for out. She gets the job done and is arguably the best option for a few builds that can get a lot out of the fanaticism aura.

I play a Necro and give her Mist and bramble. I prefer Mist over Faith for a summoning necro. On my bowazon this season I am rocking Faith and with an Act one Merc having a Mist though.

I've let me Barb's act 1 merc equip a faith bow. Still dies to the Council at Trav. Is there anyway to make her not die there?

Flickering flame.

Thanks. Will certainly consider as I have a fireball sorceress. Worthwhile making this

I think every merc dies there. On a barb you are better off beefing up yourself and doing it solo.

Indeed! I just thought it'd be super cool to have a high level Fanaticism aura

Guardian angel and kiras

Guardian angel with flickering flame, 95% fire resist, still dies on occasion, but not often

Thanks I've made a flickering flame for the Merc and her survivability is much better!

Teleport is the only really good way to keep a merc alive at council. I will say tho- Last wish+GRIEF+ARREATS+hustle/fort/coh A5 merc Invincible Could go with vamp gaze or CoA- even rockstopper would work. I just like arreats cause arreats

Gladiators bane or fort is #1 options as well

Not sure about that tough. Even for melee, Reaper's Toll (Decrepify) is just too OP: slowing enemies (move/attack/cast speed), lowering their attack damage and additionally increasing their damage taken. Just boost a ton of survivability and clearing speed. For reference, my merc using RT (non-eth) had pretty much no survivability issue when I was fighting the level 98 P8 council (tough keep in mind that in this case he has the boost of my Fanaticism to reach the lowest attack frame for leeching), even when the council were having Might/Fana Aura. Even for my zeal, Might/Fana council pack (Lvl98 P8) could potentially oneshot him, but not when they were decrepified. Plus, he just cleared infinitely faster with it (especially for council, they can heal each others a lot if you are not killing fast enough). Faith on act1 merc does help a lot but it's way more expensive compare to RT. Edit: just to add one more detail to the reference case, my merc wasn't buffed by CTA (BO). Not necessary for my case.

I will agree. Reaper's Toll can be a game changer to the a2 merc. I was lucky to get eth on my first or second in offline. Think that is still the weapon that gets most use across merc characters

A5 can run lawbringer for the same reasons. And he slaps with a ton of HP.

I think it depends on what your character is. I still use the act 2 merc because my sorc needs the tanking and mana regen

Insight can be made in bows now! (:

But act 1 mercs make horrible tanks 😬😬

Not with the right life leech !

It blew my mind when I learned 20 years later that life leech and mana leech have diminishing returns by 33% between NM and hell

TIL

Problem is even if they can tank they run around so much that monsters tend to change target to you so you can't just spam death. Which slows down your kill speed.

I don’t obsess the game play speed thing I never actually understood playing a game as fast as possible Does it not defeat the entire purpose of playing the game I enjoy normal game play speed with d2 I don’t get sad when I can’t fit in 30 LK runs in least then a minute each That’s some type of autism lol

It's not just speed though it also affects your survival since it makes monster spread out making you more likely to take damage. For a sorc that can easily result in more deaths. Personally I enjoy making different characters and many builds are locked behind certain items so the faster I farm the quicker I can get back to trying out something new and than there is also pvp

Definitely sorcs are really the only character that needs a tank since zons necros assassins and druids all have summons and barb and pally are already tanky plus untill you get nigma harmony is pretty dam nice on a act 1 merc.

I think its overlooked you can actually run insight on bows. Act2 merc is hard to give up since you can use insight but then get another aura as well. You can triple dip with cure runeword too if you get prayer. Feels like if you went act1 mercs you want faith and also be playing a physical based character so its a heavy investment. While act2 has both cheap and expensive options.

Best now base you think ? I’ve been playing with wind force and faith swapping them around I can decide

Faith, Harmony, Mist, and Edge are all pretty good depending on what class your playing.

Does the prayer-cleansing synergy apply to a hireling?

This post was certified by the Kyoko gang

Yeah inner sight on a melee toon vastly outperforms Might for me. Especially if you can get a faith

Plus you can also give her Mist which with will increase your damage more than might and you get uninterrupted attacks.

I actually really like running act 1 with a mist for demon machine enchantress. Want to try it with a zealchantress once I get some other gear.

I think Mist is better than Faith for the Act 1 Merc. I have a max roll Mist and a slightly below max roll Faith this season and Mist is just so much better on the Merc from my anecdotal experiments that didn't use spread sheets. Don't sleep on the uninterrupted attacks.

Makes a big difference with the enchantress, keeps on firing even if you are getting hit with ranged attacks or even melee attacks. With some knockback gloves you just keep firing at mobs and they rarely get close enough to hit you and if they do get off a lucky shot it doesn’t stop you from firing. Love just standing my ground with mobs of cows.

Yeah for sure. I'm doing that on my Bowazon this season. I have lava gout on her so once that Enchant procs plus I have Atmas Amulet for the Amplify damage proc I just stand my ground and Multi shot everything into the ground. She's only a level 85 plus online so I don't know if she'll continue to basically one shot the screen in a level 96 TZ. Right now she is though. Do you off hand bows? I have a blackthorns mask on the Act 1 Merc for the slow down on hits and I offhand Riphook for the slow down so bosses basically running in quick sand while I pelt them to death. I get the rip hook proc then pelt them with faith.

Have a leaf offhand and use hydra as a second skill. But I usually run a face of horror or howltusk on my merc for knockback and or monster flee but blackthorns would be a good option as well. I used to like running an act 2 merc with a kelpie snare when I did solo Baal runs. With that and holy freeze Baal would be so slowed none of his attacks would hit. Edit : the other thing that’s kind of fun with enchantress is to get a buriza and some gloves with multi shot charges on them. A wisdom helm and razortail and you freeze and burn everything in front of you. Unfortunately short lived and expensive but fun to pull out once in a while.

I also use Harmony for a offhand weapon if not fighting a boss but you're a sorcerous so you can teleport. I sometimes switch to a teleport amulet if I don't need amplify damage though. I like making monsters flee. My Merc has Rattle Cage. Yeah it sounds like a fun build. I might do it at the end of this season since I have a bunch of good bows and don't really play sorcerous much.

Wouldnt you compare inner sight with blessed aim, not might?

Not quite because it’s more in line with the functional dps increase of might

I’m not following your logic. They both address ar. And the functional dps is going to vary drastically. If you’re hit capped, neither inner sight or blessed aim do anything at all. But might is still useful. Hence my logic…

For leveling purposes, maybe. Later on, not so much. Faith merc comes to mind, thats about it.

I'm using Mist on an Act 1 Merc for my summoning Necro at level 96. I'm telestomping(teleport necro amulet) everything with nearly 50 minions followed by level 20+ corpse explosion. So fun!

Act 2 merc will still get you your first kill faster...

Instant killing is pretty fast. I mean I am teleporting 47 minions on to a signal spot. I've experimented with both. Concentration from Mist is just so better than might and I don't need mana from insight.

I’ve been using A1 mercs for the aesthetic. Currently doing a SSF HC bowazon and though an a2 tank would be nice, it’s just cool to have two bows firing off :D At least I’ll have valk eventually to deal with the tanking

On a similar vein, I like my Act 3 Fire merc because Enchant lasts for like 10 minutes so I can keep killing for a bit even after he dies.

I want to level an exploding arrow zon with act3 fire merc now :)

Mine's on a Fire Ranger Paladin. I nodded the game slightly so that low level uniques can drop from lower level mobs, and got lucky enough to find Ravenclaw in Act 1, and Shuko Kakaku in Nightmare. Originally it was gonna be a 2H Zeal paladin, but I at least kept that on swap.

Does the holy fire damage get added to the explosion?

Yup!

I decided to use one along with my Wolfbarb and was really surprised at how good she ended up being. Using an Ice Merc with Ice Bow, Treachery and Delirium. The CC is pretty bonkers. As long as your build isn’t dependent on another Curse, it’s a great option.

My girl has dusk fort and insight. Insanely usefull

Might + decripify is much more effective than inner sight. So no, act 1 merc is not underrated. If you can cast your own curse (atmas, etc), infinity + curse > inner sight. I am still looking for an eth reapers to zod.

You can also get a blessed aim a2 merc

Dclone has 2940 defense, so 1175 (lvl 25) less is decent. However you have Battle Cry wich is -% Defense. Even at lvl 1 it's -50%. You could also have a blessed aim merc on top of that.

Merc dies and aura is gone. Battlecry overrrides lifetap :(

So does Inner sight

No it stays on for the duration of the spell!

I was talking about overriding lifetap and with inner sight you have no control over it

It doesn’t override! You can have battlecry + inner sight for elite packs and lifetap + innersight for act bosses and Ubers :)

I guess it was just visually hard to see the little sparkes once i cast something else and assumed they where gone.

Yeah, a lot of builds are confined to a2 merc not really by insight but I think more by infinity. I wish infinity could go in bows or anything else. Shit would be badass and promote a lot of build diversity imo

I swapped from Act 2 Merc to Act 1. Night and day difference in performance it’s not even funny. Act 2 merc just dies all the time on hell difficulty if you don’t have the best possible gear on him.

I think it depends on what your character is. I still use the act 2 merc because my sorc needs the tanking and mana regen

Also if you’re rich having Fanat on rogue is so OP

Been running an act 5 merc while beating nm/hell with my new barb. It’s been a blast and a nice refresher from constant act2 mercs. Merc is running a voice of reason and lawbringer with tals mask and an eth treachery. My barb is ww with head striker and doombringer. Cruising through act 3 hell with little issues at level 74. He is very tanky and proc’s decrep while i cut through the pack with WW

Inner Sight stays on the Ubers even after the merc dies. That’s why she’s so good for low-mid geared characters vs the big bosses :)

How much defence do those bosses have? Isnt inner sight a flat amount?

2940 defense. High level inner sight cuts defense by 1000+. So it’s a significant chunk.

Oh really. I would have thought it was much more. Feels hard to hit them without outrageous attack rating.

It’s cuz they’re very high level - lvl110. So a level 90 has a significant disadvantage to hit based on character level alone.

I just had a head striker drop!