I would like to use Act5 with one of my build. I made some research and reading and I could not find any good post.

The only thing I found is "use dual frenzy barb with Plague and LW" but nothing more explicit.

Any tought guys? Is Act2 always better?

This post was edited by Xshoot on Jan 27 2026 07:05am

Ummm some physical build with act 5 merc using lawbringer (or azurewrath) and last wish ?

For chaos?

Dual cmoon on a pure FoH
He procs static, you sustain with redemption or medi

Dual LW on a trav barb using berserk
Lvl 34 might, he survives with fade and lifetap, no shatter, you don’t need reaper with berserk

2x Hoj + Dragon + FF on a dragondin
~12.5% bonus pulse dmg on top of yours

Those are the only 3 use cases I can think about.

I made a dual crescent moon a5 mercenary just for the ctc static on striking. It was aight but you could only see it doing work on venom lords, lister or other high HP enemies.

I think it would be cool to build a frenzy a5 merc and hit em with cham’d guillaumes or ethereal cham’d Arreats, eFort and 2x grief phase blades. They would be putting down some decent physical damage while providing a, hard-to-kill, body to take half the aggro.

It just sucks not getting might, holy freeze, blessed aim, decrepify, cleansing or any auras/curses whatsoever.

Good call on these ones

I'm glad to see those interesting combinations. Honestly, I wasn't expecting these kinds of "off-meta" character builds to fit with Act5 Merc.

I usually see people running Act 5 Frenzy Merc with Plague and/or Lawbringer. Do you know which builds actually benefit from that setup, and why?

None.

A2 might reaper has more dps, procs more decrep, provides higher might lvl that an a5 merc using lawbringer + lastwish

A2 infinity is just so much better than a5 plague in every aspect, more -res, always active instead of unreliable ctc, comes with sn extra aura and more dps.

A5 plague could be something for a rabies druid, but psn nova has bad interactions with rabies, so even there it’s bad.

Nahhh, I don’t think there are any other good ways to use an a5 merc than the 3 I already listed. And by that I mean, where you benefit more from an a5 merc than a2 or a1…

A5 merc with plague (for low res procs) is good for
*Plague javelin amazon
*Dragondin

A5 merc with lawbringer (for decrep procs) is good for
*Summoner druid
In my practice Zoo often kill target faster then A2 merc proc decrepify, therefore faster frenzy A5 merc is more useful.
*Wolf barb

i use 2x plague on my ac5 merc on dragondin

he wears 2x eth plague , treachery on lowest defense bp and a non eth lowest defense arreat

he had only 1job , charge in packs, get hit and proc lower res. And of course cleansing aura on dragondin is nice

What about Azurewrath + LW for Smither?

I know Smither can solo everything but just for the fun of getting someone else helping you doing it?

"Sanctuary : The primary "defensive" mechanic is a persistent pulse that knocks back undead enemies, keeping them away from the player." Might help for little minions.

Azurewrath because you dont overwrite lifetap like LawB.