I don’t know why you’re struggling.
By lvl 75 your hammer, vigor, conc, should all be maxed, and blessed aim should be close. one point in the prereqs (don’t waste extra in holy shield yet), and one point in redemption (it’ll be level 5 with dual spirits) to heal after fights-- don’t underestimate the value of that.
Merc should be act 2 nightmare defensive, with holy freeze and insight (mine’s in a partizan). Forget prayer, defiance, might, etc. When you are doing 13K and have every piece of godly gear you can dream of, then maybe a different merc. But it’s muuuuuuch harder to solo Hell without HF merc.
Pretty standard fight sequence for me is: vigor to rush in and activate enemies, then fall back right behind my merc; switch to concentration and start spamming hammers; move as necessary to hit leftovers.
If the fight goes poorly, I stick vigor back on and GTFO. Merc usually comes with me pretty quickly.
After fight, redemption for the bodies and then recast holy shield. Sometimes I fall back and activate redemption and go back in, first. Just depends.
All my resistances are maxed except fire, which is admittedly garbage at around 44%. I used a four socketed base 25% resist all paladin shield to make Spirit; figured i’d remake with a higher base when I find it. My armor is Goldskin.
Act 2 was a PITA bc there are a lot of enclosed spaces, that’s where HF really made alll the difference. When you’re running around w/vigor and they’re slowed, they might as well be statues. Act 3 is a joke so far, but I do expect the Council to be tough.
