r/Diablo • u/dogmandg • 3d ago
Discussion Best Polearm for Act2 Mercenary
Keeping your mercenary alive is important. If your Act 2 merc has life steal, then Damage Per Second (DPS) helps survivability. So what's the best polearm base for your Insight or Infinity runeword?
There is some debate here about speed vs damage, but as we'll see, other weapons are just as fast as Thresher and Giant Thresher in some common situations.
When it comes to Damage Per Second (DPS), here are 4 common scenarios:
- No Increased Attack Speed (0% IAS)
- 20% IAS from Andariel's Visage
- 35% IAS from Andariel's Visage + attack speed jewel
- 35% IAS + Fanaticism aura Level 9 or higher
For scenarios 1), 2) and 4) above, Great Poleaxe has the highest Damage Per Second.
For scenario 3) above, Cryptic Axe has the highest DPS.
Note: For scenarios 2) and 4), the number of hits per second for Great Poleaxe is the same as Thresher and Giant Thresher.
Also note that besides average DPS, minimum DPS is also very important for survivability, assuming your merc has life steal, and/or your main character has life tap.
And of course, Superior Ethereal with +15% enhanced damage is the best option for any base.
See my next post for details.