What is the consensus on the best overall setup for a hamemrdin PvM (terror zones, mfing, etc) act 2 merc? I have been running HF with Andy/Treachery/Insight and he does pretty well but still dies sometimes to Hydra fire and occasionally curse + conviction type debuffs.

Defiance vs. Holy Freeze?
Eth Andy (cham/ral socket?) vs. Cure?
Fort vs. Treachery?
What polearm is best for Insight?

Other suggestions?

I like safety in hammer so i go with cold aura. Insight, coh and delirium. The 11% to cast lvl 18 confuse on striking is awesome. All the screen is fighting eachother without looking at me.

Prayer

On hdin your aura gives massive ed and might does almost nothing. Holy freeze sucks

Prayer on an insight/cure merc is like a permanent infinite health/mana pot plus effectively immunity to poison

And what armor are you using on your merc?

most people run COH with cure/prayer

Prayer, cure, greyform/flayed/coh, insight.

This isn’t even a debate.

Whats debated is armor.

Personally I use flayed one for the mass boost to life rep.

Fort



True but with insight cure prayer you heal so much that you dont really need life leech. Leveled multiple chars to 99 without a single merc death using fort + insight + cure (almost all my pvm chars use same merc)

I like
eth reapers with ber
Treachery
Cham guillame
With holy freeze aura

This post was edited by crosspawz on Mar 9 2026 01:38pm

Merc will often get popped from a stack of hydras or curse, even poison if you’re not paying attention.

Optimal dps:
(1 point redemption for sustain) might aura, eth reapers (sheal) eth fort, Andy(budget ral or 15/30 jewel)
No redemption - eth insight (ca/gpa/gt) same armor/helm


Or if you want cheaper/lazy defensive:
Holy Freeze is probably still the standard but since I love
Payer aura with cure and insight (help merc stay alive/aura stick) and I just run with treachery

Still need to pay attention if you get cursed wait for cleans to clear.