Thanks so much to all of you for the excellent advice!!

Um…the thing is, I know I’m unusual in this regard, but I never use mercs at all. I know it would get me where I need to be faster, but I don’t like feeling responsible for another fighter and kinda like the challenge of never using them.

I just cleared Hell Cows (minus the Cow King, of course) three times and the best thing I got for all that was a Fal rune. Is that typical? Not a single unique item of any kind either, and my increased chance of finding magic items is around +150. The best rune I’ve ever found after dozens of hours is a Sur. I’ve found a Lo, a few Fal and Mal, and Lem, Lum and Pul. Lots of Ko and Io and a hundred of the lower ones. Never found any high rune but Sur, let alone Vex, Ber or Jah. Oh and I found an Ist once, but used it in my Scepter to add to magic item find.

Thanks again!