Gear to Act 2 Merc?

[Brodholm]

Hello, I'm wondering what gear i should have on my merc.

Its a act 2 freezing aura, and i have one on my Lightning sorc and one on my hammerdin.

Weapons:
I'm thinking Insight runeword in a eth cryptic axe would be fine for both. But i don't know. I have 2 eth unique Bonehew to. they have like 170-790 dmg and are 2 socked. I'm thinking of socket them with +%dmg jewels to deal insane dmg but i don't know. I also have a defiance aura act 2 merc from normal on my blizz sorc. I'm thinking Crescent Moon could be a good idea. The ignore target defence etc -lightning res, static field.

Weapons i have right now:
Bonehew (2 normals and 2 etheral 170-790dmg)
Reaper's Toll (eth ~40-465dmg)
Arioc's Needle (eth, but does spear work on act 2 mercs?)

Armors:
Here im lost :D, Go for res or high defense or?! well i have no idea. One of them have a chaos armor and one Duriel's Shell, and one have Corpsemourn.

Armors that i have right now:
Duriel's Shell
Guardian Angel
Black Hades
Corpsemourn
Templar's Might
Gladiator's Bane
2 socked rare ~1200 armor

Helms:
I don't really know what to look for here. Lifesteal?, Res whatever... I have a eth sallet with 30 faster hit recovery 47~ fire-res, 48~cold-res 280defence. Or some other with life leach gaze? crown of thieves?

Helms that i have right now:
Andariel's Visage
Rockstopper
Blackhorn's Face
Crown of Thieves
Vampiregaze (only 6% life but 8%mana but thats useless on a merc)

I hope i didn't confuse all of you :D

And btw, I don't know all names of the items in my head, so "please" use the real names instead of writing "shortcuts" :D

Regards Brodholm

[Taurean]

For your sorc: Act 2 Normal Combat merc wearing Eth Insight polearm, Eth Fortitude and Eth Andariel`s mask. It works wonders, you`ll Never run out of mana

[BeaverusIV]

Seeing as this is SP, definitely not Fort. Use Stone if you have Um Pul. If not then go with Duriel's.
Gaze for helm or Andys.
Weapon is anything (I'd prefer Amn'd Bonehew if you don't need Insight).

[Brodholm]

I use RWM so i can make fort BUT, i don't have the runes (no Lo). But i do have some Um and pul. I guess i could make a stone in a eth armor. Just need to find a 4 socket eth then.

And my act 2 normal is defensive not combat. he was trained from lvl 17 and are now 91 so I'm not going to rehire some.

Because the do get better when you lvl them from lower levels right?

[BeaverusIV]

I don't think they get incredibly better, but yes. I don't reccommend using a Lo on fort, what a waste! Unless you're planning on making a zon for it.

[Brodholm]

Yeah Lo is a expensive rune. And i don't have that much runes. But I'm insight is sooooooooo nice when you have picked nothing in energy. But ill think i socket my bonehew with a amn and a +%dmg jewel

What is zon btw?

[DK_MelMan]

Bonehew have always been my favourite weapon for Act 2 Merc! I usually put Shael and Anm in it for IAS and life steal. And IAS and life steal is, as I see it, the most important things on an Act 2 merc! That is also why I only use Insight on a Sorc merc, 'cause Insight doesn't have IAS or Life Steal. The you must have helm or armor with IAS or Life Steal! IAS for many hits, and life steal to keep himself alive! Stealskull is a good and cheap helm, untill you find an Andys! 10 IAS and 5% life steal is very good! And armor - I usually use an eth Duriels. Cannot be frozen and good def and res is also nice. Or just use a rare with res!

[BeaverusIV]

zon = amazon = using a bow.

[Brodholm]

If I'm going to build a Zealot pally what merc is recommended?

And for a Frenzy barb whats to recommend there?

I'm going to make a frenzy barb or zealot or some other pally like smiter

[BeaverusIV]

Zealot is smiter, if you do pue smiter they are only for duels, useless at pvm.

Get a hf merc, or defiance merc, depends on whgat other people get.

One of you definitely need a prayer merc w/ insight, very effective at keeping those bulbs topped off!