Ebug Arkaine?

[Cleptic]

I've been pretty happy in the past with my results from runeword ebug stuff for my mercs, but the cube recipe only does "normal" eth items. Will the socket quest re-roll the eth mod in the same manner as cube on a unique item ? I've got a nice eth +2 arkaines I'd like to try it on, just don't want to spend time on a mule rush for socket quest just to have it add only a socket.

[HardyTarget]

The cube recipe is the only one where the 50% bonus to defense is applied.
The socket quest doesn't do anything to an item except add 1 socket to uniques/rares/sets and 1-2 to magic items.

As far as I can tell right now, you can't even cubesocket unique items.