[3.26] The dirty Scorpion-Tail|Herald of Agony| Chaos-Cyclone-Necro|The Arachnophobia Allstars 257M

In endgame the perfect developed merc grants 2 auras (or in a mageblood set-up also 3 auras), 1-5 curses, frenzy- and a few powercharges for HoA, permanent witherings and 2-4 other helpful skills.

When you are yourself Hybrid Life+Es search for a Frosthand (Int) - Mercenary Purity of Ice + Discipline.
When you selected yourself CI search for a Frosthand (Int) only Purity of Ice.

Wearing a mageblood you can specialize your permanent flasks and +max-resis to team up with in general all Mercenaries granting 2-3 auras (i.e. of Determination, Discipline, Grace, Purity of Ice / of Fire / of Lightning, Haste, Vitality, Clarity).


The Merc should wear the amulet Defiance of Destiny for best recovery in high poe-content. Without this high recovery-amulet the mercs are often too squishy.

75% ele-resis and 60% chaos-resis should be capped, i.e. on boots.


Mercs are hard to gear for immunity to refelected damage-map-mods and would need 1-2x the ring "Sibyl`s Lament" or "Replica Alberon's Warpath"-boots.
I recommend to reroll reflected damage-mods.


1.) Frosthand, Int, and Infamous Frosthand, Int: Purity of Ice, as Hybrid: + Discipline for most easy mana-management, 1-hand, to gear shield Victarious Charity for frenzy charges for HoA, and the sceptre Dark Seer's Malediction debuff, Chillings, Freezings





2.) Krale, the Depraved, Winter Deacon, Str+Int, Frostshield, Chillings / Arctic Armour, Freezes, Purity of Ice, 2-Hand Dying Breath


3.) Bladecaster, Dex+Int, Grace, Frost Shield, Aspect of the spider

4.) Frost Ambusher, Dex+Int, Frost Shield, Grace, Skitterbots

5.) Sniper, Dex (Bow), Poacher's Mark, Haste, Grace, slowings of enemies, Frenzy charges with support allies

6.) Poison / Chaos DD`s, take high spell- / crit- / attack- / cast-speed / additional damage-mods on their weapons: Withertouchs / Cruel Mistresses / Toxicologists / Bladecasters / Bladebitters: Withering step, Wither Totems, Malevolence, Despair, Temporal Chains, Aspect of the Spider, Clarity etc.

7.) Vysera, the Cyaxan, Reanimator: Enfeeble, Bone Offering also for Allies, and perhaps also Feeding Frenzy + Meat Shield.
Minions are good combinated with the weapon Severed in sleep for withers.

8.) Zarnok, the Detainer, Striker: Endurance Charges, Determination, Vitality for 190 es-reg with Zealot's Oath, Decoy Totems, rare with Gilded Fortification



All Mercenary-types:
https://poedb.tw/us/Mercenaries#Builds


Best granted auras, curses and buffs / Placement of Skills

Auras

Conservative in tankystyle I try to not place Grace and Determination on the Merc, because at some hard juiced content the Merc will be out of aura-area-of-effect or die and we ourself close following because of the downsides of our keystones Ghost Dance and Divine Shield. I keep these decisive auras up on myself.

Of course with Grace-Mercs regretting Ghost Dance and with Determination-Mercs taking no Divine Shield on Skin of the Lords enable to place these auras on the Mercs also.
Or wear instead mageblood with the relating jade+stibnite or granite+basalt-flasks.

As Hybrid

As Hybrid Discipline can be placed most safe on the Merc.


With mageblood variations:

With a mageblood the flexible placements of all auras on the Merc instead on yourself turn very interesting.

Determination can be switched to the mercenary too - when you geared a mageblood and a granite flask. Then Purity of Fire on the Merc with a Rubin flask fix your 90% resis beyond, the shield the Svalinn or a CIP unholy might implicit or trigger weapon are beared instead aegis aurora.

Also the same way with a mageblood and a Jade-flask, Grace can be located over to the merc.

Also Purity of lightning on a Merc and a topaz flask or Purity of Fire and a Rubin-flask are flexible useable.



Curses

In maps recommend to place Temporal Chains and Enfeeble on Asenath Gloves onto the Merc.
Punishment is perfect granted by Merc also.
Assasins Mark instead should better be selfcasted because of the gemquality Power Charges on hit.
Despair should probably been selfcasted also for high despair-gemlevels.


Ranking most wanted buffs, skills and gear of Mercenaries:

Purity of Ice
As Hybrid Life+Es: Discipline

Poacher's Mark
Punishment
Despair
Temporal chains
With mageblood: Determination, + Purity of Fire + Rubin flask, Purity of Lightning + Topaz flask
Frenzy Charges (the permament Merc-buff or by geared shield Victario`s Chastity)
Endurance cry, Enduring charges ("enduring" for the permanent charges-buff)
Clarity
Vitality (as Hybrid, Guardian or Jugg, as CI only with zealot oath or as hybrid life+es, good with Watcher's eye vitality-mod beyond)
Enfeeble
Frost Shield
Bone Offering for Allies
Battlemage's Cry (+2.5 % critbase for HoA)
Endurance / War Cries (taunts)
Stone Golem (taunts)
Haste (Haste is also optimal granted by Huck of Heist)
Malevolence
Aspect of the spider
Assassin's Mark
Skitterbots
Precision
Inspiring (mana-reg)
Herald of Purity, other minions (meatshields)


Other Mercenaries:

Purity of Lightning / of Fire for ele-resis
Sigil of Power for flat dr

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Mercenary


Most wanted Mercenaries' supportgems

culling strikes
phantasms support + feeding frenzy + meat shield (tauntings)
withering touchs
second wind
increased area of effect
more duration
knockback support
maim support
blind support
stun support

So we will have much less socket-pressure and a much more easy auras-skilling.

The at first listed variation is recommended first, the second at second, third @ third etc.


Mercenarie's gear

Mercs should cap 75% ele-resis further and 60% chaos-resis on their gear.


Amulet

The Merc's most decisive piece is the amulet Defiance of Destiny for best recovery in high poe-content. It`s a buff of survivability which probably nothing else offers.
Enchant it with 20 fertile catalysts for 20% more quality and effect of buff.



(Best amulet-implicits are additional curses, aura-effects and leech, in example:
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Mercenaries/Z6WvaXr0TQ)
(Useable alternatives of recovery are Stasis prison Body armour for Recoupings, Shaper ring or Cybil's paw life/es on spellhit.)


Amulet-variations:

When you have high recovery already on a shaper-ring, weapon like Cybil's Paw, es and ward-gear, in leech-implicits, or in the merc's skills you can use other amulets ainstead Defiance of Destiny.

Often the best amulet-implicit is "You can apply an additional curse", or "Increased effect of Aura / Discipline", and leech.


Shaper's Seed for 80% mana-reg and life-reg / 4% life-, with Zealot's Oath 4% es-reg
The Stranglegasp (4 anoints)
The Felbog Fang (if using Ylfeban's Trickery)
Perquil's Toe for HoA's lucky hits equal to 5% more HoA-dps
The Eternal Struggle for 10% + flat dr with eater's dominance

Anoint

Whispers of Doom (+1 curse)
Influence (Increased Aura effects)
Worship the Blightheart (reduced chaos-resis of enemies with consecrated ground)
Steeped into the Profane (Increased Curse effects)
Last Rites (Halved regs)
Alternatives...


Shield:

Because the Herald of Agony scales his damage extreme nice with frenzycharges and for HoA-crits also simultan with a few additional power charges, the most wanted item of all slots for our mercs is probably the Victarios Charity shield (for Int / or Str-Mercs).





Rings:

Best implicit is to combinate with Blackflame "Adds x to x Fire Damage to Spells and Attacks" on 1 ring and "Increased aura/discipline-effect" on the other ring


Blackflame is best for never ending withers. The merc needs to deal some firedamage, granted by 2x implicit "Adds x to x Fire Damage to Spells and Attacks" on the amulet-implicit, a ring, the prefix-benchcraft "+ x fire damage", the abyss-jewel's suffix in boots, etc.
The fire-dps-component should be 2 x t1 to be not rounded down by the ggg-engine to zero 0.
(Or otherwise you can eg combinate Blackflame for the frost-mercs with the ring "The Pyre" for the mandatory needed fire-damage-component or get the "igniting conflux" suffix on the Mercenary's rare helmet.)
Curse on hit ring
Anathema Moonstone for 3-4 curses limit
Squirming Terror - when the Int-Merc oneshots the worm in combination with the shield Victario's Charity and Gravebind-gloves in average around 1.5 Power Charges are generated for HoA (15 worms in 30 sec, 10% to grant Power Charge)
Shaper-ring Gain # Life per Enemy Hit with Spells for recovery, recommended only for fast hitting and shotgunning Mercs
Against bosses: Fated End, high increased curse effects, not effective in maps
Sibyl`s Lament: when you want to run/not to reroll reflected damage-map-mods
Call of the Void, some damagereduction with chilling mercenary
Doedres Damning, +1 curse, resis
Coiling Whisper (with Asenath Gentle Touch combinated, Merc as Soul Eater)


Belt:

Best belt-implicit increased aura/discipline-effect

Kaom's Binding, convert 25% enemy physical damage to fire, somewhat equal to 20% phys-dr in lategame, very effective because of the armour-formula
String of Servitude for increased Aura-Effects of the merc
Belt of the Deceiver for Intimidations
Darkness Enthroned for DD-Mercs to socket ghastly jewels

Bodyarmour:

Best implicit elemental resis etc.

Garb of the Ephemeral, Int: freeze / chill / petrify / slow -immunities, 100%crit-immuninites (attr requir are okay, can be used by merc)
(Tricksters and Juggs are already slow-immune in their ascendancies, so use different bodyarmours as Trckster or Jugg)
Sporeguard, 10% damage + anointment
Stasis Prison for tanky recoupings
Doppelgaenger tanky flat dr and good recovery
Cospri's Will +1 curse
Replica Shroud of the Lightless, for DD-Mercs to socket 6 ghastly jewels
Doryani's Prototype, combinated with 2 negative lightning-resistance-rings, to scale up a Lightning-Crit-HoA with 4B-sockets-Triad Grips
Saqawal's Nest: only b.i.s. when Mercenary is able to use aspect of avian: HoA 48% chance to deal Double Damage and Movementspeed for all of us /

1-Hand Weapon:

Best implicit: increased area of effect

The Dark Seer, Int: for Blindings and Malediction-debuff (10% flat dr, 10% more damage) and +some merc-tankyness
Cybil`s Paw for recovery
Death`s Hand sceptre (some withers, best with crit-implicit)
Obliteration (some aoe)
Replica Insbury edge, Iron Mass or for Merc-Summoners with minions Severed in Sleep for withers (not often fitting for int-mercs)
Sign of the Sin Eater, ailments redirected to merc


2-Hand Weapons


Kingmaker for fortify & culling strikes & 50% increased HoA-crit-damage-multiplier (but Kingmaker is often better geared in on Animate Guardian)
Dying Breath, increased aura- and curse-effects
For chaos-dd's Cane of Kulemak
Taryn`s Shiver, i.e. for Winter deacons, Freezings, + boost of ememies damage-taken

Bow:


Voltaxic Rift, Chaos-DD-shocks
Null's Inclination for triggering Minions skills possible?
The Crimson Storm for flasks-charges, maims, and bleedings for ensnaring arrow
Chin Sol knockbacks

Quiver:


Ahuana's Bite? (with chillings some damage and a bit recovery)

Helmet:

Best helmet-implicit is Malediction nearby, increased auras- or curse-effects


Ylfeban`s Trickery: hexes and shockings, can be empowered with the amulet Felbog Fang, best against fast hitters and fast bosses, then all hexes are fast applied, supports the ring Blackflame then also with hex "Flammability", awesome allrounder-helmet
Any rare with "Nearby Enemies have -#% Chaos Resistance" hunter suffix: while speedmapping faster damage-support as Ylfeban`s Trickery
Rare helmet gooooood also with "Igniting"-Conflux for the ring Blackflame for endless withers, or "Shocking - Conflux" for nice higher shockings (or when different than the recommended Cold-Mercs sides you also the "Freezing - Conflux" for freezes)
(This combination -9% chaos resis nearby enemies & igniting conflux can be at best delvecrafted probably or recombinatored)
(https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Mercenaries/7G6glbrf5)
Crown of the Tyrant 10% more HoA-damage (expensive, the rare helmet "Nearby Enemies have -#% Chaos Resistance" is more recommended because HoA has high base-damage)
Blood Price, equal to +8% damage
Any helmet corrupted for Nearby Enemies have Malediction
Galesight - unrecommended, for cold-hitting Mercs brittle-critbase for Crit-HoA, but Mercs does not hit hard enough to brittle bosses 6%, use only when you optimized a really hard hitting merc
Leer Cast (damage buff aura)

Gloves:

Best gloves-implicits are curses on hit and intimidations or extinguishations

Asenaths Gentle Touch or Vixen's for curses, Int
Best implicits are the curses temporal chains >> enfeeble >> despair on hit
(https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Mercenaries/D6J7w0P5T5)
Rare eldritch hunter-gloves for the intimidations-implicit
Rare gloves eldritch implicit "Extinguish on hit" to disable elemental ailments of enemies
Abyssal socket in the rare gloves
Hand of Heresy, Str: half of a CI-keystone for hybrids, for less chaos damage of enemies after melee hit - interesting synergizing also with the timeless keystone Corrupted Soul of a Glorious Vanity jewel, turn chaos-dd-bosses trivial also as hybrid
Gravebinds for close nearby on-kill-effects
Oskarm for triggered Assassin's mark lvl 10 on bosses
Abhorrent Interrogations for withers
Soul Ascension (for bossing, merc as soul eater)
Ceaseless Feast for lowered evasion of enemies
Breathstealers for a few random auras and anoint

Boots:

Best implicit life-reg (?)

Rare eldritch boots with implicits for saped ground 6% flat dr, brittle ground 2% HoA-crit-base, best with abyssal socket for abyss jewel i.e. added fire damage to spells / while holding a shield for Blackflame-ring for permament withers
Windscreams +1 curse
Replica Alberon Warpaths - when you want to run/not to reroll reflected damage-map-mods


Variation: Doryani`s Prototype Crit-HoA-Mercenary

Wear triad Grips 4 blue sockets to convert HoA into 100% Crit-Lightning-HoA.
This way the Herald deals in total 40% lightning and 60% chaos damage with his default tail-attack.
Switch Awakened Void Manipulation to Vile Toxins or other HoA-supports.
Switch Sin`s Rebirth-flask to Vessel of Vinktar o other flasks.

Use some lightning and elemental curses, conductivity and elemental weaknes, use elemental equilirium ee, use renewal on a cluster for biggest shockings also against Ubers on top further.
Best HoA-generator in the 4 links would be, when you want go more lightning-theme:

Storm burst (lvl1 - awakened cast while channeling lvl 4 - ball lightnings of static / of orbiting - storm orb / sigil of power / tornadoes of turbulences / frost shield / storm brand etc.



Then gear your Merc (int+ lightning skills/curses/auras) with rings and/or amulets to extreme negative lightning resis for Doryani's Prototype (-200 are easy possible).



But a good builded up Chaos-HoA reaches still 20% and more superiour damage.



Unuseable gear

○ The second companion, the new buffed Animate Guardian, not loosing it's gear on death, will be added for 8% more damage (rare hunter-helmet or crown of the tyrant), eg fortify & culling strikes & 50% increased HoA-crit-damage-multiplier (kingmaker), or as cursebot (18% increased effect of curses, temporal chains).

An AG-skillgem lvl 21, quality 20 is recommended for more survivability. Elemental resis and Chaos-resis should be capped beside some physical mitigation:
At base Animate Guardian has 40% elemental resistances and 20% chaos resistances. This means through his gear (helmet, boots, gloves) and our other buffs 35% elemental resistances (43 if you take the mastery) and 55% chaos resistances need to be provided.
Outside of this, his main layer of defense is Recovery and Regeneration.


Support your AG, Golem and Spectres beside with the fitting lifeflask for further more recovery.

Ascendancy notables such as Necromancer’s Commander of Darkness and Guardian’s Radiant Crusade applies to the AG too or Bone rings used by us. Pathing to Grave Intentions is the alternative on the passive tree.
In lategame the AG gets even more tanky with a +2 to socketed minion gems-implicit in Aegis Aurora and exchanging the +1 Ashes of Stars to a +4 / +8 rare amulet. This way Animate Guardian reaches tankyness of lvl 31 and beyond.
When you want AG immortal, socket him in a hungry loop (elemental army - empower - minion life - meat shield).

○ AG's gear looks like:





Weapon: Kingmaker for Fortification, Culling Strike, HoA -Crits
Helmet: Helmet corrupted for Nearby Enemies have Malediction, rare Hunter-helmet for 9% reduced chaos-resis of enemies nearby and high ele+chaos-resis, or Crown of the Tyrant 10% more HoA-damage, or Stitch of demon
Gloves: Rare Gloves with curse on hit, intimidations, high ele- and chaos-resis etc., or Asenaths Gentle Touch or Vixen's for curses / Oskarm gloves for triggered Assassin's mark lvl 10 on bosses, but qu 0: no chance for power charge on hit) / or Abhorrent Interrogations for withers
Bodyarmour: Chosen most tanky with recovery, order for buffs by our typical auras Grace, Determination, Discipline, Purity of Ice: Grutkhul's pelt >> Doppelganger Guise >> Garb of the Ephemeral
Boots: Rare Boots with Brittle / Sapped Ground Eldritch-Implicit, or Windscreams +1 curse


AG's remain outside the Necro-Ascendancy also squishy without socketing them into a hungry loop, so they remain more recommended in not high content.

○ Chaos golem now in [3.26] inflict 20% more effect of withers - that is a huge 17% more (++10-90M) dps buff to the whole build!


Support your AG, Golem and Spectres beside with the fitting lifeflask for further more recovery.

But Golems outside the Necro / Occu-Ascendancy remain also squishy without socketing them into a hungry loop, so they remain more recommended in not high content.


Golem-Variations


For 20% increased global defences (are, ev, es, ward), slam attack with chance to taunt for 10% flat dr, and for 105 life-regenerations: Stone Golem

For 20% increased aoe for ball lightning of orbiting for 20% more HoA-virulences: Flame Golem

For 18 mana-regeneration /sec: Lightning Golem

Only while leveling as damagebuff: Carrion golem - feeding frenzy

For tankyness 15% flat dr against melee, and slam attack with chance to taunt for 10% flat dr: Stone golem of Safeguard

Take always the perfect spectres (lvl 83)!


Support-spectres plug in up to 3 auras, many nice utility-skills and grant frenzy & power charges to HoA.

In lategame the Spectres can gets even more tanky with a +2 to socketed minion gems-implicit in Aegis Aurora and exchanging the +1 Ashes of Stars to a +4 / +8 rare amulet.

This way Spectres reaches tankyness of lvl 31 and beyond.
From tipping-skill-level 26 onwards you can summon 3 different spectres.


Support your AG, Golem and Spectres beside with the fitting lifeflask for further more recovery.

Against difficult content - U-Sirus, U-Maven, T-17 Ultimatums, Gigant Rogues etc. the Spectres and Golems will die.
When you want Spectres immortal, choose the Necro-Ascendancy and socket them in a hungry loop (elemental army - empower - minion life - meat shield for tankyness / feeding frenzy for damage).



Auras

Perfect Judgemental Spirit - Replaces your aura "Discipline": perfect as Hybrid, + some skeleton-meatshields, + some damage of chaos offering (1 div)

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Mercenaries/3B9QYoKh5

Perfect Frozen Cannibal - Purity of Ice, always perfect for 90% max-resis with melding of the flesh, + some knockbacks (10 chaos)

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Mercenaries/mX64RKZu6

Perfect Guardian Turtle Spectre - Replaces your aura "Determination", + temporary damage immunity buff

Perfect Forest Tiger - Frenzy charges for HoA, and aura "Haste" (Haste is also optimal granted by Huck of Heist)

Perfect Primal Thunderbird - Replaces your aura "Grace"

Perfect Warlord - Replaces your aura "Vitality", + Endurance charges

Perfect Primal Demiurge - Clarity for Mana-Reg, + some 10% flat dr of Sap



Frenzy Charges / Power Charges

Carnage Chieftains / Stygian Silverbacks / Aboriginal Chieftains - also Frenzy charges for HoA (found in the maps: The Old Fields Act 2, Untainted Paradies)

Host Chieftains - Power Charges (found in The Southern Forest Act 6)



Curses


Perfect Blasphemer - Temporal Chains, Enfeeble, Vulnerability, ignoring curse-limit



Others - Withers, Recovery, Onslaught, Culling Strike, Taunts


Perfect Forest Warrior - Onslaught, Culling strike

Gilded Arach - 20% increased Chaos Damage taken (in Hunter-maps)

Perfect Dark Marionette - does not die, does not need minionlife etc. - support

Perfect Spider Matriarch - 10% effect of withered

Perfect Serpent Warrior - some withers

Perfect Sanguimancer Demon - some Healing

Perfect Meatsack - Tauntings, equal to 10% flat dr




All spectres-corpses:

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Corpse_item



More support-spectres:

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Raise_Spectre


Outside the Necro-Ascendancy Spectres remain also squishy without socketing them into a hungry loop, so they remain more recommended in not high content.

○ HoA-Guardian: "The Unwavering Faith Ascendancy Passive Skill has been reworked. It now grants 50% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills."
That’s huge and makes the auras- and herald skilling much more easy. That’s equal to 2 additional auras (flesh and stone etc.) or 3 flexible small clusters or jewels. Aurastacking 2.0

So Guardian climbs upon rank 3 in [3.26]

○ Champ decreases because all other ascendancies get some basic fortification too with animate guardian's kingsmaker.

○ Elemancer with new herald-efficiencies, 200% buffed chaos-golem and shockings becomes interesting too.

+++++ Animate Guardian +++++

+ Weapon Kingmaker +

Nearby allies have +50% to Critical Strike Multiplier
Culling Strike
Fortify

+ Gloves Aseneath Gentle Touchs / Vixen`s +

Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit
You can apply an additional Curse

+ Crown of the Tyrant Helmet, white socket +

You and Nearby Allies have 47 to 61 added Chaos Damage
Nearby Enemies have -10% Chaos Resistance

+++++ Chaos Golem of the Maelstrom in 3.26 +++++

20% increased effect of Withered

+++++ Mercenaries of Trarthus +++++

+Haste+
--You and nearby allies gain 24% increased Attack speed

+ Eber's Unification Void Gaze Helmet +
Nearby Enemies have -20% to Chaos Resistance

+ Perqil`s Toe Amulet +
Nearby Allies' Damage with Hits is Lucky

+ Dark Seer Sceptre +
Enemies blinded by you have Malediction

+ Victario's Charity Shield +
5% chance to grant a Frenzy Charge to nearby Allies on Hit

+ Belt of the Deceiver or Gloves-implicit +
Nearby Enemies are intimidated

+ Average effect of Punishment +
You and nearby allies gain 15% more Damage


+++++ Runegraft of Fortress +++++

40% increased global defences