Now that 1.10 is out

[Crystalion]

...I'll definately give that a whirl.

Wow, give it a "whirl"?! I didn't know you have the Chaos claw runeword. Now you really need to be Enchanted, so you can fool Madawc into thinking you are Talic! B)

...even if I have to use a 4 eth weapon with blade sentry while huddling behind a pillar.

Because ITD worked for Blade Fury in beta I'm pretty sure Eths work for it. However the threads in which Ruvanal commented on Blade Sentry AR are still puzzling to me. If you indeed try this and aren't in danger, could you take off the Eths weapon for a few seconds and verify that there is a difference (for Blade Sentinel)? Actually, perhaps it is wiser to test this off bnet and thus not waste Eths if BS doesn't benefit (unless you want it for BF).

...my merc survive long enough to kill Madawc for me. He retreats much earlier than a shadow, so keeping a shadow up to destract them while my merc follows me around at the beginning of the fight might be reasonable.

Ah, clever idea. One might even coin a phrase and call it: "mongoesque"--or perhaps just "mongo man!" ala Bill & Ted's "excellent!" :D