If you are still encountering this problem, I had the same, but seemed to have fixed it by making a few changes.

1. Switched to A1 merc, fire , with a insight bow. Good a2 merc weapons are hard to get, but 4 socket elite bows, easy to get, plus ranged attack seems to work better vs self destructive A2 merc.

I want the monsters to come to me predictably , not the merc to go to the monsters, so A2 merc just doesn't work well.

2. Doing a skill reset, and just getting over level 87 or so. Do public baal runs. Your actual level makes a pretty big difference in a monsters chance to hit you as well as your damage.

3. Cold sunder charm. It's cheap. It's necessary.

Countess should be easy with the exception of her minions maybe.

I have a blizzard sorc and only place I avoid is certain parts of a5.

I did my solo hell Anya and it took like an hour but it is doable.

But countess is ez.

Did they fix the Rogue AI from walking around randomly and also still walking in front of you just like the Act2 Merc? Do you use teleport to bring back your tank and lure the monsters into you as your merc (a2) is walking forward and you place a Blizz in front of him, if they are cold immunes, don't you walk behind him and Static them, tele back a tiny bit to whittle them down?

Duress runeword is a cheap armor to make for an act to merc, it is not treachery, but simple... any leech helm and that old runeword that does 100% chance to OWs is damn good if you don't have gear... that is why you need a leech helm on merc

Somewhat.

She will end up tanking for a few secs before she will wander back.

The AI on her is much better than the A2 one and I just vastly prefer A1 mercs now because a simple teleport fixes it rather than the A2 merc where teleport won't fix anything because he will go right into it. Also A2 merc can't leech iirc from undead, which can cause issues.

But by that point it is time to either teleport or the monsters are already dead from two rounds of blizzard plus ice blast.

I have leech armor bone flesh and a junk helm and a insight crusader bow, previous had a insight razor bow. All self found mostly for this character.

I don't rely on her for killing power just as a distraction and to speed up immune monsters which I use ice blast on.


I do use myself and the A1 merc as a lure, but for me the A2 merc walks too much or too fast or just doesn't have the same philosophy as a sorc. I cast on screen edge or one quadrant of the screen and the monsters walk into it.

I just think it works better because my teleports now are very short. Before I had to do long teleports to create more distance for the A2 merc because he'd be attracting and pulling too much.

Tldr in-game "leash" on A1 merc is shorter than A2 and the rogue merc has the good sense to walk away from many direct attacks. I don't have to bail her out except for act bosses and the occasional "ranged" mob.

Ah, rogue is still the same, I use rogue a lot also, in fact I use them from Normal Act 1 to Hell difficulty (depending on what character I am using and gear I have self found) ... if I found a Witchwild bow, i use that over a runeword... sounds strange, but again, depends on my character and gear I found/made for merc.

I like the Holy Freeze act 2 merc... to be honest, with a Blizzard sorc, even cold immunes are slowed down in its' radius, giving time to tele in small distances as you have stated what you are doing.

I like your tactics, they work also. That is why I like the game, you can use different tactics and not rely on gear.

Yea I use those techniques. Static is just kinda useless though it only works to a certain extent and then my merc still cant kill them. Using a might act 2 merc with an insight scythe, he has full 75% immune 535-733 damage, 2,300 defense. Still cant kill a grotesque wyrm, the fact these enemies are cold immune is sooooo fucking stupid, I am trying to get my stupid helforge quest and theres literally thousands of wyrms, that give me 0 xp. This game is such a waste of time it's insane. Been farming TZs for 4 days straiight. Still no cold sunder, starting to question why I am even still playing this endgame is so annoying.

Yea I literally can't kill a single grotesque, they spawn babies faster than I can kill them, so I just end up wasting gold. This is unbelievably stupid, literally can't play act 1, 4, or 5, most of 3, and a huge chunk of 2. Whyyyyyy is this game so stupid?

Reminds me of when i played the game for the first year.. you have to farm bosses early in the game to get better gear and level. There is no way around it.

I dont think my gear is the problem. I have Wizardspike with a monarch spirit, tal rashas guardianship. this gives me a 105% FCR, and maxed out resistances. I literally just need a cold rupture, but can't farm 90% of TZs. THis is just a catch 22 design flaw, like why not make a 95% or even 99% resistant monsters. full immunities is just not very fun.

No, your gear is your problem. Or more accurately, your merc’s gear is your problem. I didn’t read everything but I read the part where your merc is doing ~500-700dmg. Lose the insight if you can’t, at least, make it in a non eth thresher. Make an ethereal obedience for him. Or find a good unique pole/spear. You’ve got other good items. Have you found a reapers toll for him? He will clear the entire game if you equip him with that.

Yes, eth reaper's toll, he'll become like a walking lawnmower. Seems like that would solve your problems. Fun story: Once, i was playing a hcl season and took a break. I was farming eldricht+shenk before that. 1 month later i came back, first run, shenk dropped perfect eth reaper's. Sick find. It truly is a merc's perfect weapon.