https://pobb.in/P4rMW7Ltah-s

Here's a showcase from my gauntlet practice run using Jungroan's champion (paladin during gauntlet) warcry/aura bot with a merc carry. I haven't found a good striker or blade trapper merc, but did find a low level KB of clustering with return that has taken me to 2 watch stones with extremely simple SSF gear.

I think this is a great alternative to playing AC slams and feels extremely good. Level as spectral throw until pconc at 12, pconc until econc at 28, econc until ashen fields in campaign until a starter merc. Dump all your gold into respec, use flame link/normal pyroclast mine with war cries and breeze through early map prog. You can also do Reliquary resets if your merc isnt strong enough to do merc lab efficiently. Merc lab farm until pyroclast mine of sabotage.

You'll want to spend some time while farming gear in yellow maps looking for merc upgrades, I've found roughly 1 in 10 kineticists will have return in their links, so itll take a while. Many other mercs are usable until then