With the release of the warlock expansion getting or simply having a Conviction/Fanatic aura running around is amazing. It’s no secret that Infinity is beyond expensive and Insight looses its utility (for some builds or if there isn’t 5 Insights already in a group) once a character is better geared but there is a cheaper alternative that isn’t wasted when a Infinity or Fire Warlock is in the party.

Get an A5 Frenzy Merc and give him.
20% DR Vamp Gaze
2 Plagues (not cheap but much cheaper than an infiniy)
Make a Treachery in a 45ish Defense Ring Mail (farm NA2 Fara for one & Runes are dirt cheap compared to a Eth Fortitude)

The goal is to keep is defense low (below 6k) so he will be hit much more often, procing both Fade and Low Res constantly. With Vamp Gaze and Fade he will have 35% DR (more than shaftstop) 6-8% LL with capped Res. Even if he himself isn’t being hit often the high level Cleansing aura removes negative curses and poison from the game. He does way more damage than an A2 Merc and survives situations that an A2 Merc just won’t.

The majority of the time when a Merc dies its because he’s either poisoned, Cursed or both. This setup is ridiculous on a Fire Warlock with a Bound Demon with Conviction.

This post was edited by EDaRichard on Mar 6 2026 02:29am

My A2 merc with Andy Forti Insight dies when :
He cant leech
I go to Trav and there is conviction

Thats pretty much it.

That’s because fire warlock needs neither infinity nor insight on a merc, yeah.

vouched on the low def treachery , i made mine on breast plate , 2 eth plague and lowest def arreats , use him on a fire dragondin

he just basically a lower res proc machine and charged into packs like crazy

esp when i toggle aura to switch between vigor and conv

This post was edited by Onyxdian on Mar 6 2026 02:14am

Depends on gear and charms. Mang Song with 5/5 Fire facet, FF, Phenix, Sunder, Consumed Tainted can drop a Fire Immune to -18 with perfect gear. Add a Conviction Demon and Low Res and it goes down an additional 27 to -45%.

It’s overkill but overkill is under rated.

This post was edited by EDaRichard on Mar 6 2026 02:21am

Unsure… Where are we disagreeing here?

not to mention , dual stacked cleansing aura basically removed all curse in less than 1-2s

ggs

Idts more like comparing notes…?

This post was edited by EDaRichard on Mar 6 2026 02:18am

I’ve never understood why people focus on how powerful a perfect PvM build is. What matters is how powerful budget options of the builds are.

You can make them early ladder and hope to farm back more than what you had to spend. That’s never the case with - so called - endgame builds.

Warlock is so powerful because budget options are so powerful. That’s not the case with most builds of other classes.

Ladder Sunders are very very few and far between this ladder, Blizzard will most likely increase the drop rates at some point.

The best budget build isn’t available this ladder either since Mosaic is on vacation or something right now.

But building up to a ridiculous level/powered character is the main goal for a lot of players, for them it doesn’t get boring until you can’t progress unless you find better versions of the same gear you already have.