Tresher vs Cryptic axe

General Discussion
1

Hi folks,

I have put Insight into Tresher and equipped my merc. After couple of Pit runs I have found regular Cryptic Axe (CA) with one socket. I have runs to remove this socket and make it 4 sockets.

But I’m a bit lost regarding attack speed of tresher and cryptic axe.

Here https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Polearms it says that CA has 10 and Tresher -10

Would you suggest me doing Insight on CA instead of Tresher, given the fact I have lots of runes?

Thanks!

2

It doesn’t matter. Insight is not for the damage but for the aura it provides. And attack speed is not important unless your weapon has crushing blow.

3

Oh, I forgot to say I’m lvl 76 and with insight in Tresher I have finally managed to get rid of Countess on Hell with FO + FB sorc (no need to respec for now). So it has actually made a huge difference to me when I equipped merc with it.

I’m just curious what is better for Insight in terms of damage, attack speed etc delivered.

In game it says that Tresher is “Fast attack speed” and CA is “Normal attack speed”. Is this a bug or why in https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Polearms CA is faster, but in game it is lower :confused:

4

Weapon Speed (WS) is a relative quantity to other weapons of the same type. Because of that you cannot compare weapon speeds of different types.

WS is written down in increments of 10, with base speed being 0. One or more weapons of the same type will have a WS of 0. Those will be your base speed. Usually (always?) the quality of the weapon doesn’t matter and the same weapons in all three qualities will have the same WS. A negative value is faster than the base, a positive value is slower.

5

no
-10 is a faster attack than 10. I don’t know the details behind this, but the lower the better.

And attack speed does matter for mercs. Get those hits in, leech life and keep him healthy.
Same applies to faster hit recovery. Your merc loves it.

2 Likes
6

I think Insight has three great attributes:

  • Aura: No more mana problems,. You can sit in the middle of mana burners.
  • Enhanced Damage: It’s huge. If you pair it with life steal he becomes immortal. And if you cannot use steal life, you are doing it wrong.
  • MF: Of course!
7

You can’t remove sockets.

1 Like
8

People use thresher because of low str/dex requirement. CA has very high str requirement. Are you sure your mercenary has enough str?

9

Yes, my merc can equip CA.

10

Thresher with Treachery and head with life leech is godly. Higher attack speed = more your merc heals himself.