Started this morning wanting to upgrade my barbarian’s mercenary gear because he kept dying in Hell difficulty. Remembered seeing YouTube videos about polearm runewords but never tried making one myself.
Getting the materials together
Dusted off my level 85 sorceress and ran Countess in Black Marsh like twenty times. Got lucky on rune drops – scored two Amn runes, a Shael, and finally that elusive Sol rune after three hours. Felt like hitting a mini lottery when the Sol dropped from a random mob in Tower Level 5!
Finding the right polearm base
Went nightmare cow level hunting white polearms. Stash was overflowing with junk:
- Trident (too slow)
- Voulge (low damage)
- Bill (decent but sockets wrong)
Finally dropped an ethereal Colossus Voulge with four sockets – perfect for Insight runeword! Eth item means more damage and merc doesn’t break it.
Crafting session
Hands shaking when inserting runes in exact order:
Ral + Tir + Tal + Sol
Held my breath clicking “transmute”… GOLD text flashed! Got Meditation aura plus Critical Strike. Felt like Christmas morning.
Testing in action
Took my hammerdin to Chaos Sanctuary. Immediately noticed:
1. Merc stopped dying every elite pack
2. My mana barely dropped during Blessed Hammer spam
3. That “shing!” critical sound kept triggering
Ran whole chaos run without potting once. Merc actually killed De Seis minions solo!
What I’d do different next time
- Farm nightmare cows earlier – wasted hours in normal difficulty
- Check vendors for socketed poles – Lazuk quest gives free sockets!
- Save every Ral rune – used all mine rolling garbage charms
Wish I’d made this months ago. Now grinding for Obedience runeword – need Fal rune somehow. Merc gear makes whole game smoother! Total cost was just time and sore mouse fingers.