i have always preferred exile, altho eupped hoz is certainly more damage before shenanigans. after shenanigans i believe exile enables better gearing.
my reasoning is this. i believe 85% cb is enough, which is your max attainable cb when using duress , imo bis uber chest (assuming u run some decent crafted cb glove + grief). i dont think the extra 10% u get from using rattlecage outweighs the other upsides from duress.
ive done enough last wish setups i can say with confidence the extra flat damage from grief outweighs the missing 15% cb. obv last wish is gg but, considering my might merc is consistently surviving uber trist, it basically is lw vs. grief + might in which case grief/85cb setup wins imo because it just rips down the last 1/4 of their life.
another note, i run this setup without a torch in inventory for ez finish, and passing on coh for duress means you basically just need extra inventory management , i run basically all res charms, and always fade
all this said - eupped hoz is gg with lw (solves ur dracs doubts) but im still fully sold on grief/exile ^^
lastly, ive tried a number of high invest merc setup for this (ebotdgt, esa fort, eth andys whatever) and its always been sorta 75% chance to survive
this new budget merc feels like 90%+ survival rate XDeth hustle, eth bulwark, eth obedience mancatcher and hes a savage when ur lifetap everything and then u get to have grief damage + might . my next big brain test is to give him a pride and ill hit even harder
This post was edited by badpun on Mar 16 2024 10:30pm
D2:R