I am pondering about my options for my untwinked barbarian's mercenary setup.
The weapon is an eth, socketed Reaper's toll (Currently 15ias 13ed jewel in it)
The important breakpoints with thresher are 45, 55 and 75
The armor is a treachery. I don't think I want to change away from this to CoH/Fortitude
Pros of treachery
Fast IAS for more and faster Decrepify procs, which increases my Whirlwind damage by a lot
Fade for all res, 15% DR
Cons
Fade needs a proc, getting unlucky at the start of runs might make merc die.
Low armor
Pros of Fortitude
300ed, not sure how this compares to the 45ias of Treachery DPS wise
115% increased defence from chilling armor proc
Always capped resistances
Cons
Lower ias, lower Decrepify procs
Costs a Lo, which could be another grief roll
Pros of CoH
200% Demons Ed, 100% undead ed. Still decent damage, but lower than Fortitude, not sure how it compares to 45 ias.
+2 all skills, which increases the mercenary's might skill, which gives both me and him 20% ed.
Defensive just in general, although probably still worse than Fortitude.
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Pros of Andariel's visage
+2 all skills for merc might
20 ias. With fortitude and 15 ias socket, reaches 75ias bp without 15ias in weapon.
Cons
Almost has to be socketed with a 15ias / 30fr jewel. I have a 15ias 22fr from LK though.
Pros of Vampire gaze
High DR% and MDR
Cons
Will only reach 75 ias bp with ias socket in weapon with treachery.
Pros of Kiras guardian
Capped res
Cannot be frozen
Cons
Will only reach 75 ias bp with ias socket in weapon with treachery.
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Socket in Reaper's toll
15ias 13ed jewel
Frees up helmet slot if using andariel's visage. I don't have anything better than 15ias 22fr to socket in it though, which makes the following options better
Ohm (50% ed)
A lot of ed%, probably a waste
Lo (20% Deadly strike)
I suspect this might be the best option
Ber (20% crushing blow)
Probably another waste, but I have no clue how strong crushing blow is compared to the other possibilities. Probably something that I should calculate.
Jah (Ignore's target defense)
Probably not needed, I have no clue about how merc attack rating and chance to hit works though.
Cham (Cannot be frozen)
Swap the 15ias 22fr from the Andariel's visage into the weapon and put a Cham into the helmet. Still hits 75ias and gets cannot be frozen. I don't know about this one though, I haven't really followed how much my mercenary gets chilled. Also a pain to get.
Nice little sheet I made for the various combinations
I haven't done the merc DPS calculations of these various setups yet. I will also have to factor in the time to Decrepify on average, which impacts my Whirlwind damage a lot.
Initially I was leaning towards Reapers (Lo) and Andys (15ias 22fr), but after making this post I will consider the Cham option, even if it is behind dozens of hours of Travincal