How do I get my Merc to have 210 STR so he can use a polearm with the INSIGHT rune? He’s lvl 44 with only 118 STR. would love to equip that INSIGHT voulge on him.
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Threshers are the best bases because of low requirements and fastest speed.
Cryptic Axes are the next best thing.
Do not use Colossus Voulge, that base is junk.
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Andariel’s Visage is a popular helm for mercs because it grants 20-30 strength.
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Guillaume’s Face and Natalya’s both give str as well.
But first you need to take all the gear off your merc and rehire him to be at your level, then go get any additional levels required to reach that str.
andariels visage solves a lot of problems. maximum of 30 str plus 20 increased attack speed and max 9 life leech with great defense for a helm. this unlocks the ability to use colossus voulge if you don’t want to get robbed trying to find a cryptic axe
Or Duriells Shell armor for Merc. Eth +upgraded is quite nice and cheap.
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Another cheap option is to use a griswold’s armor since it comes with +str and 3 sockets, add 3 pamethyst to get total +50 to str. That frees up you helm to wear life leech like tal’s or crown of thieves
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Thats as wrong as it could be.
Eth GT > Eth Thresher > Eth CA > Eth CV >>>>> all non Eth Bases
CV is the easiest base to get 4 socket Eth cause it rolls 4 sockets max so you can just put a socket quest in the first Eth CV you find and roll your insight/infinity in it. After that follow the upgrade path i noted.
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Eth CV requires 200 Str to wear, safe to say that if you don’t have an Andareiel’s visage or an armor that gives a ton of STR your merc won’t be able to use it until lvl 94 or something.
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Once he hits 83 you’re good pretty much, until then use a lower base for insight. You need the regen not his killing speed imho.
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No. Level 85 + perfect amethyst in the helmet. When you cant afford a andariels visage you won´t have better gems for your merc anyway and a Eth Base is so much better than a non Eth base that i would give any helmet to my merc that boosts his strenght.
i gave my merc an Obedience in a eth thresher. combined with tal helm and eth duress scarabshell. he now kills things faster than my orb-fire sorc, and i use my old insight thresher as my weapon swap for when i’m teleporting around. i DO miss the regen, but he’s a stabby stabby monster now.
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Use a base for Insight that has lower strength requirements until you’re high enough level and have the items to give him additional strength. The point of Insight on a merc is typically the Meditation aura to grant mana regen, so his overall kill speed isn’t as critical, just as long as he does enough damage to leach effectively to keep himself alive.
As others have said helm and body armor can also be used to boost strength. Lionheart is a nice budget armor that gives a large strength boost, as well as big life and resistance bonuses, making it a good option until you can afford better.
I feel you. Outside of my hammerdin most of my mercs use fortitude/visage/reapers for decrep. Doesn’t hurt that he 1-2 shots most enemies. He can clear cows by himself 
At level 44 you shouldn’t be using an elite polearm to make the runeword Insight.
Use an exceptional base with lower strength requirements, the runeword can be made in lots of polearms.
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Umm you always must assume eth is better you dip ****… just because I said “thresher” didn’t mean I was discounting the fact that the base could be ethereal… 
jesus you people are so literal…asperger’s much?
Also, GT’s are garbage… Thresher all the way, all day… I’m not wrong at all… Use Threshers as your base… they are the best over all… if you find an eth one, even better.
You can’t use CV on merc until he’s like level 80+ and you generally need a str helm (andy’s visage, guillaume).
It’s better to make things in threshers and other bases if you can (but people use CV due to the guaranteed 4os).
If you’re desperate you could just get a cheap armor with sockets and load it with amethysts (e.g. get a dirt cheap black hades and put 3x amethysts in it, tons of str and some other bonuses).
the only benefit to CV is the guaranteed 4os. it’s got a way slower attack speed, and it’s worthless for anything with a proc effect because of that.
with a thresher his attack speed if extremely fast, so any runeword with an effect on striking is way better, even insight with it’s poison damage
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Thats just wrong. Lol.
CV iAS Table is : 5% iAS - 7,5frames, 11%iAS - 7 frames , 22%iAS - 6,5frames, 35% iAS - 6 frames, 56% iAS 5,5 frames , 89% iAS - 5 frames
Thresher iAS Table is : 8% iAS - 6,5 frames , 22% iAS - 5,5 frames, 42iAS - 5 frames , 75iAS - 4,5 frames, 142 iAS - 4 frames
A basic merc of someone who would use a CV has around 60 iAS (treachery + andariels) so Eth CV hitting the 5,5 frames breakpoint while the non Eth Thresher hitting the 5 frames breakpoint so the Thresher attacks 10% faster and doing half of the damage a Eth CV would do. Sorry but just shut up please. This topic was discussed like a million times in the last 15 years and it was always proven that a Eth CV is superior to a non Eth giant thresher/thresher.
Not junk, it is for lvl 90 characters.
Use a Voulge or like others above said a Thresher base w/ low str req for lower lvl characters.
There is much to learn in this game.