best option for Infinity

Hello All,

Playing around here a bit, just curious, is it better to have sorc have Infinity or Merc? I have the runes, but just wondering if it is better to self vs merc cause i have good base for sorc for self use, but would have to go shopping for a base for the merc.

Thoughts and feedback please.

Level 89 just went to

Nova sorc and liking it used to be fire balling, but run out of mana quick, and pretty squishy. Right now have 3 piece

Tal set with HOTO, and Spirit and griff eye, and two SOJ and I have mage fist or Trangs gloves can use either. Have sandstorm treks on

Boots. FCR is 140 which is way bonkers, and MF is 285, so she is my MF character.

Act 2 merc with freeze, currently reapers toll with

Shael, Trech, and Deliurim

Helm. (just playing around with it, but can get Andy visage with a

Ral in there too).

Thoughts.

Thanks for the support.

mojoed1 wrote: 15 hours ago

is it better to have sorc have Infinity or Merc?

Thats depends if you build sorc using lighting tree skills or others, because despite of

Conviction aura you get -45-55% lightning resist reduce too and there is nothing more really usable for sorc to be honest.

You wrote that you planning change your build for fire, so you should looking for good etheral base for your merc then. Depends of your other gear for merc, preferable option are Threshers, because of -10 base speed, If you combine that with e.g. Treachery with +45% IAS you reach higher breakpoitn then with other bases.
Apart from that I think there are better combination for pure DPS, but faster attack for me equal consistency.

I am lighting tree now, and it is pretty fun been playing around TZ andy and been having fun will thanks for the feedback.

Self-wield Infinity and give your merc Insight.

Typical ES

Nova build with self-wield Infinity:

Griffon's Eye w/ Lightning Facet
Infinity

Skin of the Vipermagi w/ Lightning Facet

Sandstorm Trek

Magefist

Arachnid Mesh
2x

The Stone of Jordan

Caster Amulet with 2 sorc skills, 10FCR (this allows you to hit the 105FCR breakpoint), and ideally some PR or PLR

Act 2

Prayer Merc:
Cure
Insight
Fortitude

mojoed1 wrote: 13 hours ago

I am lighting tree now

I don't know what I was thinking, sure, If you going with

Nova then @Knappogue wrote everything, only

Boots can be change for rare option with some resistance on them.

ooMNri wrote: 12 hours ago

only

Boots can be change for rare option with some resistance on them.

If you go

Energy Shield then you don't want rare

Boots. Only poison res gets through

Energy Shield.

Sandstorm Trek is the BiS with its 70% poison res.

Knappogue wrote: 12 hours ago

ooMNri wrote: 12 hours ago

only

Boots can be change for rare option with some resistance on them.

If you go

Energy Shield then you don't want rare

Boots. Only poison res gets through

Energy Shield.

Sandstorm Trek is the BiS with its 70% poison res.

Oh god, after reading your comment I just google it, that resistances don't reduce damage going to mana pool from ES... maybe I shouldn't commented topics about strategies and stay only "hydepark" zone.

And I need reconsider my current

Nova build ( ‾ʖ̫‾)

ooMNri wrote: 12 hours ago

Oh god, after reading your comment I just google it, that resistances don't reduce damage going to mana pool from ES... maybe I shouldn't commented topics about strategies and stay only "hydepark" zone.

And I need reconsider my current

Nova build ( ‾ʖ̫‾)

I disagree! Keep commenting and please do not feel stupid. Because you brought it up, the correct information was provided. If you personally were unaware, there are probably more folks who were also unaware. You helped them too

And my fire, cold, and light res for my

Nova sorc are all around -10, only poison res is maxed out With this type of build you need to make sure ES and mana NEVER run out otherwise you are cooked. Also why the merc combo of

Prayer, Cure, and Insight is so gg. The mana regen is amazing

To be honest, I reckon you are not quite there yet - to wield the Infinity on your

Nova sorc?

If you want help with a budget build for your

Nova sorc that still kicks some monster a** - let me know.

As for the other comments on this topic - here is my take on the build in question:

BiS

Boots is ofcourse Tri-Res

Boots with 3 x 40 RES and FHR (or something like 3 x 35)

-

Sandstorm Trek is probably the best budget

Boots for this build.

The only "correct" merc build with Cure and

Prayer merc setup is the Chain of Honor armor - to maximize the merc

Prayer ability.

I have no idea why anyone would want to ruin that with Fortitude.

- 105 FCR is non negotiable
- 60 FHR is non negotiable (in my humble oppinion) - this is by far more important than +life
- 86 FHR will grant you "untouchable" ability in p8 games

I run 86 FHR (87 to be exact) - did I mention this is more important than +life?

My current

Nova has 59 fire res / 46 cold res / 75 light res / 55 poison res

A long story short, you dont need max. poison res - at any given time - not even in p8 games - Cure and coh (

Prayer merc) takes care of this.

EDIT: this is for the

Nova sorc with ES - there is no other option for a

Nova sorc than to use ES imo

retepnap wrote: 11 hours ago

To be honest, I reckon you are not quite there yet - to wield the Infinity on your

Nova sorc?

If you want help with a budget build for your

Nova sorc that still kicks some monster a** - let me know.

As for the other comments on this topic - here is my take on the build in question:

BiS

Boots is ofcourse Tri-Res

Boots with 3 x 40 RES and FHR (or something like 3 x 35)

-

Sandstorm Trek is probably the best budget

Boots for this build.

The only "correct" merc build with Cure and

Prayer merc setup is the Chain of Honor armor - to maximize the merc

Prayer ability.

I have no idea why anyone would want to ruin that with Fortitude.

- 105 FCR is non negotiable
- 60 FHR is non negotiable (in my humble oppinion) - this is by far more important than +life
- 86 FHR will grant you "untouchable" ability in p8 games

I run 86 FHR (87 to be exact) - did I mention this is more important than +life?

My current

Nova has 59 fire res / 46 cold res / 75 light res / 55 poison res

A long story short, you dont need max. poison res - at any given time - not even in p8 games - Cure and coh (

Prayer merc) takes care of this.

I'm assuming your build is for a non-ES build? That should be clarified since ES vs. Non-ES will have a different gear setup and not everyone will immediately understand that.

Knappogue wrote: 12 hours ago

And my fire, cold, and light res for my

Nova sorc are all around -10, only poison res is maxed out

That have sense, poison sneak out from ES and will kill really fast with so low life pool and without high poison resistant, keeping this in mind I'm no longer wonder why sandstorm are BIN in that scenario.

Knappogue wrote: 12 hours ago

I disagree! Keep commenting and please do not feel stupid. Because you brought it up, the correct information was provided. If you personally were unaware, there are probably more folks who were also unaware. You helped them too

I will, but we need consider that someone who don't think twice and are qucik in his choices, reading my folse asumpiton, can made wrong decision before someone correct me, e.g. If litttle John with ADHD are wondering what are better: self wearing Infinity or made it for merc, have both bases and runes ready in stash and only waiting for confirmation, then 10min delay beetwen coments are enough to direct him for making big mistake )

So, saying that, I will stay in areas where I'm more sure about

i was going to non ES but after playing i think i will go ES, and self wear Infinity. Thanks all for the support and feedback.

mojoed1 wrote: 9 hours ago

i was going to non ES but after playing i think i will go ES, and self wear Infinity. Thanks all for the support and feedback.

I done some fast trading and have made my own Infinity for self wear, just started testing that build; not gonna lie... that sorc are tanky as F and clears everything with ease
Insight on the mercenary replenishes your mana really quick, so you do not have to chug potion all the time (

Nova burn a lot), only problem is FCR, because good crafted amulets are worth a fortune, so for now I am using a rare ring with +10%. As for

Boots, I put

Silkweave on my sorc for the 10% increase maximum mana to compensate one less SoJ, and didn't notice any issues with poison damage despite only having 35% resistance, but I still need to test it in an 8-player game.

retepnap wrote: 11 hours ago

The only "correct" merc build with Cure and

Prayer merc setup is the Chain of Honor armor - to maximize the merc

Prayer ability.

I have no idea why anyone would want to ruin that with Fortitude.

That statement is HIGHLY subjective to one's play style. I personally find the healing rate of Cure/

Prayer/Insight to be sufficient. I don't need the extra +2 to

Prayer from CoH. I prefer the glass-cannon build with giving my merc Fortitude. It helps a lot with single-target (aka boss) kill speed.

But for a player who prefers a safer build, CoH is better suited.

https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/ae2910oe

My build that survives on TZ96-8ppl. He's not afraid of the dolls, and his

Cyclone Armor from Infinity will allow him to survive the fight against the souls.

Note the swap, I don't use Call To Arms, instead I carry Memory with

Chilling Armor and extra ES. I play with two windows and my GF/Mfinder gives me all the warcries.

retepnap wrote: 11 hours ago

-

Sandstorm Trek is probably the best budget

Boots for this build.

Eth Trek ARE the BIS

Boots. Grants you the only really needed res, high def (with upped magi and magefists. The difference between having 3K+ def and 1,6K def gives significantly less change to be hit /sg like 50% vs 70%/), and enough FHR.

retepnap wrote: 11 hours ago

- 60 FHR is non negotiable (in my humble oppinion) - this is by far more important than +life
- 86 FHR will grant you "untouchable" ability in p8 games

NN FHR other than treks. The only situation you need FHR is against knockbacking mobs.

retepnap wrote: 11 hours ago

I run 86 FHR (87 to be exact) - did I mention this is more important than +life?

Life at least helps you against blood mana curse.

retepnap wrote: 11 hours ago

My current

Nova has 59 fire res / 46 cold res / 75 light res / 55 poison res

Why cold res for PVM? Also, with such a low life pool, how are these resists worth it (especially that you have to

Sacrifice some mana to achieve these resists)?.

Sorc with self wield Infinity is more of a glass cannon vs HoTo+Spirit with Infinity wielding merc, my experience anyways. And youre gonna lose alot of FCR & res vs HoTo+Spirit too. Might be fun and obliterate mobs quicker though, especially lightning immunes.

For lightning sorc on HC I prefer

Crescent Moon (for the -enemy light res) +

Stormshield and Infinity wielding merc, but that's just me. Feels less squishy.

BigD wrote: 4 hours ago

Sorc with self wield Infinity is more of a glass cannon vs HoTo+Spirit with Infinity wielding merc, my experience anyways. And youre gonna lose alot of FCR & res vs HoTo+Spirit too. Might be fun and obliterate mobs quicker though, especially lightning immunes.

For lightning sorc on HC I prefer

Crescent Moon (for the -enemy light res) +

Stormshield and Infinity wielding merc, but that's just me. Feels less squishy.

Of course, it all depends on your playing style. I see you're using a Nintendo Switch. For me, playing in console mode is terrible, especially on hardcore mode. Even when playing on Steam Deck, I connect an portable monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

NovaES is an aggressive build, everything depends on your reaction and skill, correct positioning of the mouse cursor etc

I am a bit unsure if we have the same baseline, so I would like to put some more context into this:

1. P8 is the only "true" baseline - if you play P1 most of the time - then I dont really see the relevance in gear "debate" at all
2. DPS and thus clear speed is the "ultimate" goal here - combined with never dying and your merc never dying
3. There are only a few monsters / groups that can kill you - I hope we can agree on that - all of those requires FHR in most cases to effectively survive
4. Solo clearing Chaos and WSK in p8 games - since they hold the only monsters / groups that imo pose the biggest (and any?) threat to the

Nova build
5. Why are some of you "debating" playstyle? Telestomping combined with clear speed does not really give you any other way of style?
6. If your merc helps you with killing boss'es then I assume you are playing P1 games and that your DPS is way too low
7. Having higher def is ofcourse helpful - but claiming that the FHR from

Sandstorm Trek is enough makes no sense (keep in mind that the context is the above mentioned situations) 20 FHR gives you 11 frames - 86 FHR gives you 7 frames - thats the difference of dying easily or not at all
8. Life does not help you against blood mana - I know this migth end up in semantics but holding back attack is what ultimately "saves" you?
9. Asking why I have cold res just tells me that .... ugh My cold res mainly comes from +ALL RES gear - thats not the same as me pursuing it or even needing it?
10. My gear is flexible - I usually play with 59 fire res / 46 cold res / 75 light res / 55 poison res - but I can instantly change that to 59 FR / 24 CR / 75 LR / 75 PR
11. Mana, FHR, resistances, defence
11a The priority is not up for debate unless you play somewhere else than where it matters
11b First priority is Mana (the initial pool but definately also the regen) - Second is FHR (again, unless you play where it doesnt matter ofc) - Third is Poison resist and Lightning resist - the first because its annoying, not because you risk dying (with the exception of dolls, but thats a matter of skills imo) - Fourth is life and the remaining resists

12. Now, tell me in which situations you or your merc dies in the game (if you are not playing P8 games, then never mind)

And to those of you who still insists that

Sandstorm Trek is BiS and that 20 FHR is "enough" - how about we test it?

I challenge you to do 50 games each of clearing Chaos and wsk solo in P8 games - I will bring the stopwatch and coffins for you

retepnap wrote: 1 hour ago

I am a bit unsure if we have the same baseline, so I would like to put some more context into this:

1. P8 is the only "true" baseline - if you play P1 most of the time - then I dont really see the relevance in gear "debate" at all
2. DPS and thus clear speed is the "ultimate" goal here - combined with never dying and your merc never dying
3. There are only a few monsters / groups that can kill you - I hope we can agree on that - all of those requires FHR in most cases to effectively survive
4. Solo clearing Chaos and WSK in p8 games - since they hold the only monsters / groups that imo pose the biggest (and any?) threat to the

Nova build
5. Why are some of you "debating" playstyle? Telestomping combined with clear speed does not really give you any other way of style?
6. If your merc helps you with killing boss'es then I assume you are playing P1 games and that your DPS is way too low
7. Having higher def is ofcourse helpful - but claiming that the FHR from

Sandstorm Trek is enough makes no sense (keep in mind that the context is the above mentioned situations) 20 FHR gives you 11 frames - 86 FHR gives you 7 frames - thats the difference of dying easily or not at all
8. Life does not help you against blood mana - I know this migth end up in semantics but holding back attack is what ultimately "saves" you?
9. Asking why I have cold res just tells me that .... ugh My cold res mainly comes from +ALL RES gear - thats not the same as me pursuing it or even needing it?
10. My gear is flexible - I usually play with 59 fire res / 46 cold res / 75 light res / 55 poison res - but I can instantly change that to 59 FR / 22 CR / 75 LR / 75 PR
11. Mana, FHR, resistances, defence
11a The priority is not up for debate unless you play somewhere else than where it matters
11b First priority is Mana (the initial pool but definately also the regen) - Second is FHR (again, unless you play where it doesnt matter ofc) - Third is Poison resist and Lightning resist - the first because its annoying, not because you risk dying (with the exception of dolls, but thats a matter of skills imo) - Fourth is life and the remaining resists

12. Now, tell me in which situations you or your merc dies in the game (if you are not playing P8 games, then never mind)

And to those of you who still insists that

Sandstorm Trek is BiS and that 20 FHR is "enough" - how about we test it?

I challenge you to do 50 games each of clearing Chaos and wsk solo in P8 games - I will bring the stopwatch and coffins for you

Just out of curiosity, would you mind tell us your gear set up? To reach 105 FCR and 86 FHR at same time I mean.