Time to roll my first Infinity

While having played the game for a long time I'm fairly new to trading, so I started building Wealth only recently. But now I've recently acquired my second

Ber (well technically my third as I've got an Enigma already), and that means its time to roll my first Infinity.

The question is only, which base?

The answer to that question of course depends on my uses. Here is my current priority list of uses:

1. Most immediately, I plan to share it between the A2 mercs of my elementalists (Sorcs, LF Javazon, Trapsin)
2. I'm also leveling a lightning Spearzon for self-wield, and that is on the shorter time horizon
3. I'd also like to try a self-wield
   Nova sorc some time in the future, but that project is no hurry as I have several builds before it on my list

My current thinking is to roll it in a non-superior (for the repair cost) and non-ethereal

Mancatcher, to which is to optimize for uses (2) + (1), and save (3) for future

Ber s. Then I would share it between mercs and the spearzon for now, and it will eventually end up with the spearzon. This strategy is based on the idea that

Mancatcher is actually best base for the spearzon, as it is faster than the zon spears (-20 vs 0). I guess the open question about this strategy is, am I mistaken and is it actually better to have the +3 of an amazon

Spear despite a slower base?

Another option is to roll it in a

Brandistock (also speed = -20) as to make it viable for all three uses (and even for self-wield with a trapsin if I would like). However, in the short term, would that hurt the life/mana leech of the mercs and the spearzon too much?

The

Brandistock would otherwise be my second Infinity, then primarily for the future

Nova sorc (I know

Scythe is an option too).

I also foresee getting a third Infinity in an ethereal elite base for mercs, but then the minus res roll won't matter as much, so to that end I can probably buy a mediocre -res roll for the equivalent of

Jah + small change. For the two self-wield uses I outline above I definitely want to roll it myself, to have the chance of a high roll!

So, I'm basically thinking aloud and I'm curious to hear if anyone has input on my reasoning. It is not really a high-stakes decision but I still want to make sure it is reasonably thought through

Thanks!

NaglFarfar wrote: 2 hours ago

1. Most immediately, I plan to share it between the A2 mercs of my elementalists (Sorcs, LF Javazon, Trapsin)
   2. I'm also leveling a lightning Spearzon for self-wield, and that is on the shorter time horizon

My current thinking is to roll it in a non-superior (for the repair cost) and non-ethereal

Mancatcher, to which is to optimize for uses (2) + (1), and save (3) for future

Ber s. Then I would share it between mercs and the spearzon for now, and it will eventually end up with the spearzon. This strategy is based on the idea that

Mancatcher is actually best base for the spearzon, as it is faster than the zon spears (-20 vs 0). I guess the open question about this strategy is, am I mistaken and is it actually better to have the +3 of an amazon

Spear despite a slower base?

Javazon : use

Jab or

Charged Strike, mainly use

Spear hit directly. not throw.

Mancatcher
Sorcs, V
Javazon, O
Trapsin V
Self-

Nova X

+3 of an amazon

Spear
Sorcs, X
Javazon, O
Trapsin X
Self-

Nova X

Eth Tresher /

Mancatcher
Sorcs, O
Javazon, X
Trapsin O
Self-

Nova V

+3 of an amazon

Spear vs

Mancatcher

Charged Strike X O

Fend O X

Impale/

Jab ?
You need to run calculator to check your ias with it. If ias is same amazon

Spear wins all.

id go schythe in case you wanna selfwield, with javazon you dont need merc dmg

If you are going to self-wield, I would definitely use a

Scythe,

Mancatcher has way to high dex (and str) requirements. If for a merc, I prefer ethereal

Mancatcher for its high attack speed, but ethereal

Thresher or

Giant Thresher are also great (

Colossus Voulge and

Stygian Pike also could be considered).

Eth

Colossus Voulge is best weapon for non tz merc regular play.
Because it will one hit kill outside regular monster.

Eth

Mancatcher need 2 hit.

It depends on which enemy is your target. And you cant just see ED, need real test. If you can one hit kill, more ED wont help. If you cant , you need to look carefully see if it remain tiny bit of hp.(usually it wont fall here) if it does left tiny bit of hp, you will need re-roll to get higher ED.

leox wrote: 1 hour ago

...
Javazon : use

Jab or

Charged Strike, mainly use

Spear hit directly. not throw.

Mancatcher
Sorcs, V
Javazon, O
Trapsin V
Self-

Nova X

+3 of an amazon

Spear
Sorcs, X
Javazon, O
Trapsin X
Self-

Nova X

Eth Tresher /

Mancatcher
Sorcs, O
Javazon, X
Trapsin O
Self-

Nova V

+3 of an amazon

Spear vs

Mancatcher

Charged Strike X O

Fend O X

Impale/

Jab ?
You need to run calculator to check your ias with it. If ias is same amazon

Spear wins all.

Thanks for the breakdown, it kind of confirms my intuition (though I didn't get what you meant by the Javazon using an Infinity

Spear?). You are right about the IAS, I should check the breakpoints although I don't really have the planned spearzon geared out yet. That's one reason why I think of the

Mancatcher as first choice, it will be less dependent on other gear. Also good point about the

Colossus Voulge often 1-shotting enemies, I didn't think of that.

feitan1206 wrote: 1 hour ago

id go schythe in case you wanna selfwield, with javazon you dont need merc dmg

Right, I thought about merc survivability (through life leech) but maybe that too is a non-issue with

Conviction+javazon

justinman114 wrote: 1 hour ago

If you are going to self-wield, I would definitely use a

Scythe,

Mancatcher has way to high dex (and str) requirements. If for a merc, I prefer ethereal

Mancatcher for its high attack speed, but ethereal

Thresher or

Giant Thresher are also great (

Colossus Voulge and

Stygian Pike also could be considered).

Yes, I agree

Scythe is better than the alternatives for self-wield sorc (I never considered the

Mancatcher for that use, but possibly the

Brandistock). As I'll roll for at least one self-wield use the ethereal elite alternatives will have to wait for now.

javzon, sorry, I mean to say spearzon. amazon use

Spear to hit monster directly, not throw style.

anyway, go check ias and decide.

leox wrote: 53 minutes ago

javzon, sorry, I mean to say spearzon. amazon use

Spear to hit monster directly, not throw style.

anyway, go check ias and decide.

Thanks, then it makes sense!

I did some back-of-napkin math using the IAS calculator on this site, on the IAS needed for the Amazon to reach 9FPA with each weapon:

Reaching 9 frames per attack...

Without

Burst of Speed or

Fanaticism:
Matriarchal spear (speed 0): 125 IAS (!)
Mancatcher (speed -20): 63 IAS

With lvl 12

Fanaticism from a Faith merc (if they stay in range):
Matriarchal spear (speed 0): 40 IAS
Mancatcher (speed -20): 11 IAS

With lvl 1

Burst of Speed from Hustle weapon on swap:
Matriarchal spear (speed 0): 60 IAS
Mancatcher (speed -20): 24 IAS

So without Faith/BoS it looks like

Mancatcher wins, assuming realistic gear. With Faith on the merc the amazon

Spear might be better. Without Faith but BoS from Hustle (somewhat cumbersome to re-proc) the zon

Spear is doable, but limits gear options quite a lot.

All this is from only considering the self-wield spearzon obviously. For now it looks like I will stick with the

Mancatcher plan for the self-wield lightning spearzon, to make her a lot easier to gear up. This also synergizes well with sharing the weapon with A2 mercs for other chars, as I outlined above (which would not have been possible with an amazon

Spear).