merc with death's oath chest piece

Question for anyone in the know. The wiki states Death's Oath aura is beneficially helped by support gems, void manipulation, efficacy support, increased area of effect support etc. now my question is, although merc's don't use slotted skill gems on gear due to being presetup with their own, what about support gems in deaths oath that boost the death aura? as the wiki does say that is doable for general players would it still work for merc's as its auto cast on equip and permanently there?. And if yes, would it make any difference if the sockets were linked or not, as they wouldn't be supporting a skill gem but an active aura from the chest piece itself?

Trigger effects don’t apply to Mercs

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. It is not possible to give your Mercs additional skills for them to use. Mercs cannot use skills from items that “Grant” or “Trigger” skills – these effects on equipment simply do nothing.

Oh well, thank you for the info. Much appreciated.