I’ve been trying to make a Fortitude for the past 2 weeks asking for tips to find a Lo rune and many people said it’s a waist and that Treachery is far superior.
Well just an hour ago I made a Treachery and I find my merc is dying more than when he had the Smoke I made so I’m wondering what the deal is.
you need to proc the fade.
its certainly better than smoke as long as the proc procs 
its 60 all res and 15 dr
downside is no %ED so you need to find a decent base for it
Fortitude is better IMO. Treachery is a budget option.
That enhanced damage from fort is great, because it ups the amount of life your merc is leaching with every hit, considerably.
When farming Meph in D2R, my merc that has Insight in an ethereal thresher, 20%dr vamp gaze, and a nice archon plate treachery still gets killed a lot more often than I’d like.
On the other hand, I could farm players 8 Meph on PlugY, and the only difference was my merc had Fortitude instead of Treachery, and it never came close to dying.
If your char is geared up how you want it for the most part, using a Lo rune in a really good base for a Merc Fortitude is not a waste.
For Act2 mercs who you want to “tank” mobs, physical resistance is more important where Treachery having just 15% DR isn’t ideal (and you only have a 5% chance to proc lvl 15 Fade).
If your using Act1/3 mercs, Treachery is probably a cheaper alternative, but if you want to use Act2 one, Fortitude is a better option (or something which has way more def like Eth Duriel shell that is upped).
These people don’t know what they are talking about. Treachery is the best option if you don’t have Fortitude.
Fortitude is the best armor you can equip to your mercenary. There is no better.
well yeah id prefer fort but OP cant make fort yet and is saying smoke feels better. just letting him know that treachery is much better than smoke
Which is a completely valid point. I was just more focused on dispelling the notion that using a Lo rune to make fortitude for a merc is a waste, and that Treachery is somehow better for a merc than Fortitude is.
The +45% increased attack speed
300% ED is OVERRATED
Level 15 Fade from Treachery gives 60 to all res, 15% damage reduction, 79% curse length reduction > up to 30 all res from Fort
45% IAS > 300% ED
it is very easy for Fade to proc. I have used Treachery on all my mercs ever since the runeword came out back in 1.11. Fort is such a waste of a Lo for a merc… The curse reduction alone is huge. A merc with Fort with decrepify casted on him by mage or baal vs a merc with Treachery, think about who will do more damage over time…
please look up “treachery vs fortitude” on google. There is unbelievable & wonderful thread on d2jsp created by Lightman. It uses math to show how overrated Fort is on A2 Merc.
Straight from the thread:
- What is all this topic telling me? ISO tl;dr version
Answer: Treachery is simply better than Fortitude. In ~80% of all cases when raw damage is applied, and better in ALL cases in which CB is applied. In the eventuality of killing a mob, Treachery kills faster. It also makes for a better shell for the mercenary to be a stronger tank.
Fortitude increases damage, which increases life leech. It’s life leech that keeps your merc alive, not damage reduction and resistances. Those are nice supplements to life leech for sure, but life leech is the #1 best thing for keeping your merc alive.
and you don’t think 45% increase attack speed does the same thing? More hits don’t net you more life leach? Come on dude Fort is overrated, plain and simple. If you don’t believe me, look up Lightman’s “treachery vs fortitude” thread. Treachery does more raw damage! Believe in math!
I’ll reiterate the quote:
- What is all this topic telling me? ISO tl;dr version
Answer: Treachery is simply better than Fortitude. In ~80% of all cases when raw damage is applied, and better in ALL cases in which CB is applied. In the eventuality of killing a mob, Treachery kills faster. It also makes for a better shell for the mercenary to be a stronger tank.
and like I mentioned in my previous comment, if your Merc gets decrep casted on it…Fade will resolve it nearly 80% more quickly and therefore means your Merc can attack normally more often than a merc with a Fort! That is a HUGE difference in being able to deal damage and life leach. Any way you cut it, Treachery is the better damage dealer and tank armor.
Really depends on his breakpoints. A smite din with fanaticism would disable the benefit of treachery aspd on merc. In that regard duriel, fortitide or max res armor(that always forget the name) are better choices.
If he doesn’t have nice aspd buffs or fast weapons you should aim about 20-30’s lifesteal, several all resists and then some ways to mitigate physical damage. Either by using defiance aura or damage reduction directly.
Most of time for his survivability defiance aura is the best choice. While other auras often are more aligned to help you.
Also keep in mind what kind of foe you’re dealing against. His armor is more about what kind of foe you’re dealing than actually something else.
huh, defense is also very overrated for a merc… Even for a Smiter or Zeal running around with an a2 merc, treachery is >>>>>>>> fort. Again, down time from curses alone is hugely beneficial. And who the heck gets 20-30% lifesteal on their A2 Merc? The trash cookie cutter build everyone does is Insight/Infinity + Andy + Fort so where are you getting 20-30% from…?
Treachery >>>>>>> Fort. Save your Los for plenty of other good runewords. If you don’t think so, then you may proceed and continue to waste your Los.
yes there is, seeing how what ever your merc is wearing cannot take damage, an eth fort is the better option. Semantics I know.
I think the only problem with this analysis is it assumes fade has a 100% uptime.
but it nearly does! Do I need to stream my MFing runs? Fade procs very easily and it will keep proc’ing even when it is already on!
45% ias with a merc who has crushing blow and life steal is a lot of dps + survivability. Then there is the fade proc. I wouldn’t say that it’s better than a Fortitude but it’s a very strong option that will cost nothing close to a high rune + worthy elite base.
yall are just theorycrafting. there is a legitimate guide out there that actually looks at MATH! You trust math to create your PC & smartphones but you won’t trust it for an a2 guide… Here I’ll spoonfeed it to yall some more… Treachery does MORE damage and provides MORE survivability!
**DPS Factor**
Strength: 209 + 30 (Andariel's V.) = 239
Aura: Might SLevel 20+2 = 250% ED.
IAS: 75(+5)% cumulative.
FPA: 4.5 FPA (4.54 Atk/s)
DS% / CS%: 46% (+6 Crit.)
CB%: 0%.
Special section: Hammerdin Concentration Aura SLevel 35 (PvM average- Calculations in regard will be coloured in blue from here on):+570% ED.
Damage: 1554-4429 (2991 Avg.)
Damage+CS%: 3108-8858 (5983 Avg.)
Damage: 3059-8715 (5887 Avg.)
Damage+CS%: 6118-17430 (11774 Avg.)
Total damage per 1 second: [(2991*54)+(5983*46)]/100 = 4367.32*4.54 = 19827.632
Total damage per 1 second: [(5887*54)+(11774*46)]/100 = 8595.02*4.54 = 39021.3908
**Environmental Speed Altering Variables:**
-Decrepify (50% Slow)  Jab FPA: 6.5 (3.33 Atk/s) = 4367.32*3.33 = 14,543.175
-Decrepify (50% Slow)  Jab FPA: 6.5 (3.33 Atk/s) = 8595.02*3.33 = 28,621.416
Decrepify length (3.4+(0.6*slvl)) @SLevel 12: 10.6 (Seconds) *0.21 (-79%) = 2.226. DPS output over 1 minute under:
1 full duration cast: [(14,543.175*2.2)+(19827.632*57.8)]= 1178032.1146/60 = 19,633.86 **856.75 less raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
2 full duration casts: [(14,543.175*4.4)+(19827.632*55.6)]= 1166406.3092/60 = 19,440.1 **157.42 less raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
3 full duration casts: [(14,543.175*6.6)+(19827.632*53.4)]= 1154780.5038/60 = 19,246.34 **1,171.58 more raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
4 full duration casts: [(14,543.175*8.8)+(19827.632*51.2)]= 1143154.6984/60 = 19,052.57 **2,185.73 more raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
1 full duration cast: [(28,621.416*2.2)+(39021.3908*57.8)]= 2318403.503/60 = 38,640.05 **5,079.48 more raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
2 full duration casts: [(28,621.416*4.4)+(39021.3908*55.6)]= 2295523.558/60 = 38,258.72 **6,676.55 more raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
3 full duration casts: [(28,621.416*6.6)+(39021.3908*53.4)]= 2272643.614/60 = 37,877.39 **8,273.62 more raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
4 full duration casts: [(28,621.416*8.8)+(39021.3908*51.2)]= 2249763.669/60 = 37,496.06 **9,870.69 more raw damage than Fortitude setup.**
vampire’s gaze/tal paired with reapers toll that could also an amn rune. He have between 20-30 easily.
If you want him to have survival he can have it. While folks focusing on him as stat stick he wouldn’t be able to survive anyways.
Zeal din, vengeance din and smite din. Can handle content fine with merc alive.
On trav focus using max res armor, about everything else duriel can be great by the amount of resist, life and cannot be frozen.
If you pair him with defiance aura and fanaticism from din. He has roughly less 20-40% odds of being hit, plus apply decrepify effectively reducing the foes damage and slowing them, with a great aspd and lifesteal.
Might aura often increases roughly 50% while having double lifesteal you increase his steal by double.
3k dmg with 10% steal means roughly 3-4% which means 90-120life per hit. While 20% of 2k would mean roughly 6-7% that would be 120-140 per hit.
On top of that less odds of being hit, that would means less odds of being locked on fhr animation. So would steal more life per hit, take less hits and self sustain better overall.
Folks got used to invest on offense on merc because the imediatism and MF runs being faster, not because they wanted better survivability on merc. If defense weren’t great on merc, folks wouldn’t use eth bug.
Defiance aura, reapers toll, lifesteal helm and duriel you can have merc managing travincal, halls(without vipers), cows with some perks and other contents. While if you leave him alone he most likely will die on cows, mine can go well on trav and halls. Trav he only are at risk if he stop attacking foes by the map layout.
While duriel isn’t the best for trav, the max resist armor is the most interesting choice in there.
Reapers toll 12 lifesteal, tal helm 10% lifesteal, amn on reapers toll 7% lifesteal. That means 29% lifesteal that would reflect almost 9-10% on hell. While with vampire’s gaze should be 25-27% meaning 8-9%
If you consider that merc often uses jab and does around 2-4 hits per sec those leech stacks really well. On top of that decrepify reducing 50% the physical resist, damage and speed the lifesteal gets even better.
If folks consider him less stat stick and more like a real hireling, they would be surprised how much they can survive.
Sorry but only noobs use reapers + vamp gaze… Reapers is to be paired with GFace + Treachery… I made a 10 year old video on YouTube with my A2 Merc with Treachery + Reapers + GFace, trav is not an issue. I didn’t even have Concen on for this video! And neither did I even help my merc fight…survivability is NOT an issue.
Theorycrafting vs proven math, who will win?