I have a fire sorc using phoenix. My mercenary uses defiance aura (to avoid shatter for phoenix), cure helm, and infinity. I'm trying to decide between CoH vs Fortitude for my mercenary's armor.

CoH: life leech
Fortitude: higher defense but no life leech and risk of shatter from chilling armor

What would you all recommend?

I can’t imagine how many bodies need to shatter to lose out on the effects of redemption to make a noticeable difference. Run whatever makes him die less. Your logic is reasonable to get a bit of leech. Then again you never need pots yourself so why not carry them for Waheed and run a fort.

Test it out and post your thoughts with these two armors. Hell, even try Shaftshop or something non meta to see