Sorc Infinity Base (self wield)

I'm contemplating making one in an

Eth base.

The only consideration is being unable to repair the cyclone charges. I don't really use them to begin with, but maybe I should be.

So I'm just wanting your opinion and maybe Insight is regarding the

Cyclone Armor charges.

I see SW Infinity as a

Nova weapon not a lightning weapon. As such I'm not going to be specifically targeting bosses, ubers, or Uber ancients with

Nova. Against everything else in the game, save souls, I don't need the CA. Sometimes there's a random

Herald that does an ungodly amount of dmg with a spell and in that case I'm usually just dead, maybe CA would help but I'd have to he using it every single time for the random occurrence of it maybe saving me from an instant Death.

I don't do pvp but I also don't imagine wanting to self wield Infinity as a sorc pvp.

Anything I'm potentially missing?

Cyclone Armor is not essential, but if you're going to use it, the order you cast it matters in how the game determines what absorbs damage first, and that is important in regards to

Energy Shield. CA cast first followed by ES will cause ES to trigger first and then whatever gets through is handled by CA. Reapplying CA after it expires while ES remains active will not achieve the desired result, keep that in mind.

As for the base to use,

Scythe gets a lot of use as players like the look, but

Brandistock gives you the option to use it on a self-wield Trapsin if you ever want to play that build as it has the fastest attack speed for trap laying.

I was thinking of doing a trapsin for my next ladder, but I know nothing of them. Is it important for them to get Infinity at some point as well? Might make an Infinity just for them in that case though if its ladder

i never use

Cyclone Armor on my self wield Infinity zon, believe it to be negligible at <300 hp at 0 res if I'm not mistaken

ganseng wrote: 9 hours ago

i never use

Cyclone Armor on my self wield Infinity zon, believe it to be negligible at <300 hp at 0 res if I'm not mistaken

Well you don't have access to

Energy Shield, that's why.

Doesn’t matter either way.

Eth base for self wield - no advantage
Non

Eth base for cyclone charges - pointless IMO - no advantage.

Crimmy wrote: 9 hours ago

Is it important for them to get Infinity at some point as well?

It's a lot cheaper than the alternative. Cunning

Greater Talons of Quickness with 2 sockets is not something you can just find willy nilly. You'd even have a tough time trading for them because they are extremely rare, expensive and sought after.

you mean after 90%+ went to

Energy Shield and sorc has <1k hp and bad res, the ~300 points of the

Cyclone Armor make a difference?
maybe, but it's also quite annoying to recast isn't it?

D2Veteran wrote: 9 hours ago

ganseng wrote: 9 hours ago

i never use

Cyclone Armor on my self wield Infinity zon, believe it to be negligible at <300 hp at 0 res if I'm not mistaken

Well you don't have access to

Energy Shield, that's why.

ganseng wrote: 9 hours ago

you mean after 90%+ went to

Energy Shield and sorc has <1k hp and bad res, the ~300 points of the

Cyclone Armor make a difference?
maybe, but it's also quite annoying to recast isn't it?

It's 95% if you're using a swap setup to hit max level. If you recast CA you gain no benefit because the game will trigger ES last.

You can read more about it here.

D2Veteran wrote: 10 hours ago

Cyclone Armor is not essential, but if you're going to use it, the order you cast it matters in how the game determines what absorbs damage first, and that is important in regards to

Energy Shield. CA cast first followed by ES will cause ES to trigger first and then whatever gets through is handled by CA. Reapplying CA after ES has remained active will not achieve the desired result, keep that in mind.

Do you have a source or a proof of this claim? According to the Amazon Basin (which I generally trust), ES is applied after

Cyclone Armor (and

Bone Armor - so maybe also

Psychic Ward?). Was it changed in D2R?

Trang Oul wrote: 9 hours ago

Do you have a source or a proof of this claim? According to the Amazon Basin (which I generally trust), ES is applied after

Cyclone Armor (and

Bone Armor - so maybe also

Psychic Ward?). Was it changed in D2R?

Here you go

Thank you @D2Veteran!
I also dug up some ancient Reddit posts. Here is the post preceding the one you've found. It claims the same, that the cast order matters.
Apparently this game will never stop surprising me.

varangium wrote: 9 hours ago

Doesn’t matter either way.

Eth base for self wield - no advantage
Non

Eth base for cyclone charges - pointless IMO - no advantage.

Eth reduces the stats needed by 10.
And the looks also matter. I'd go with the one I prefer visually tbh.

vued wrote: 9 hours ago

Eth reduces the stats needed by 10.
And the looks also matter. I'd go with the one I prefer visually tbh.

I personally use an

Eth base myself, and i have no issues with survivability without the use of CA.

Cyclone Armor use in this context is more of a min-maxing niche, only really useful if your intent is quick magic find runs that last for the duration of CA (explained in my initial post why that is the case).

D2Veteran wrote: 9 hours ago

Crimmy wrote: 9 hours ago

Is it important for them to get Infinity at some point as well?

It's a lot cheaper than the alternative. Cunning

Greater Talons of Quickness with 2 sockets is not something you can just find willy nilly. You'd even have a tough time trading for them because they are extremely rare, expensive and sought after.

Trapsins usually don't self-wield Infinity.

Crescent Moon + Spirit

Monarch and Infinity on Merc is preferred because it provides much better defensive capabilities and fcr (for teleporting and general QoL).

Note that you can use

Claws for laying traps and have

Crescent Moon on swap to increase the trap damage after having placed them.

If you cast them in the right order, so that CA applies after ES, CA is a great extra layer of safety that applies for a very long time. I use it all the time on my

Nova Sorc, (except if I do very short runs (repair cost) and wouldn't want to miss it, so a non-

Eth base for me.

vued wrote: 9 hours ago

varangium wrote: 9 hours ago

Doesn’t matter either way.

Eth base for self wield - no advantage
Non

Eth base for cyclone charges - pointless IMO - no advantage.

Eth reduces the stats needed by 10.
And the looks also matter. I'd go with the one I prefer visually tbh.

Meh… if you gotta get that

Scythe strength requirement down to 31, I’ve gotta wonder… what does the rest of your character look like… butt naked? No anni or torch too.

But yeah I get it,

Eth looks cool.

varangium wrote: 7 hours ago

vued wrote: 9 hours ago

varangium wrote: 9 hours ago

Doesn’t matter either way.

Eth base for self wield - no advantage
Non

Eth base for cyclone charges - pointless IMO - no advantage.

Eth reduces the stats needed by 10.
And the looks also matter. I'd go with the one I prefer visually tbh.

Meh… if you gotta get that

Scythe strength requirement down to 31, I’ve gotta wonder… what does the rest of your character look like… butt naked? No anni or torch too.

But yeah I get it,

Eth looks cool.

OP asked about

Eth vs. non

Eth base for Infinity, which not necessarily has to be a

Scythe.
If you opt for another base (e.g. style reasons),

Eth becomes more relevant for the lower stat requirements.

Crimmy wrote: 10 hours ago

I'm contemplating making one in an

Eth base.

The only consideration is being unable to repair the cyclone charges. I don't really use them to begin with, but maybe I should be.

So I'm just wanting your opinion and maybe Insight is regarding the

Cyclone Armor charges.

I see SW Infinity as a

Nova weapon not a lightning weapon. As such I'm not going to be specifically targeting bosses, ubers, or Uber ancients with

Nova. Against everything else in the game, save souls, I don't need the CA. Sometimes there's a random

Herald that does an ungodly amount of dmg with a spell and in that case I'm usually just dead, maybe CA would help but I'd have to he using it every single time for the random occurrence of it maybe saving me from an instant Death.

I don't do pvp but I also don't imagine wanting to self wield Infinity as a sorc pvp.

Anything I'm potentially missing?

If you never really use the charges anyway, then it becomes more a question of preferences / aesthetics?

For many players, it "evolves" into something aesthetic rather than just "practcial / LoQ" issues.

Some mention that Ethereal looks better - I definitely agree. But if "the looks" does not matter, then go for the ones with lowest req.

And as also mentioned, if you do go for the aesthetics then Ethereal may play a vital "role" in terms of those -10 ATT for either or both STR and DEX req. (some only have STR req - others have both, that you need to use (waste) pts. on).

My personal favorite by far is the

War Scythe - nothing beats that look, seen from my perspective.

And before all the experts starts telling you, that you will need to "waste a few pts. into ..." here is something to consider imo:

1. In this case, using eg.

War Scythe, you may have to spend around 25 pts. depending on your stats on the amulet and/or ring(s). Typically setup would probably be 2 x SOJ - so that leaves out the ring part - and thus leaving it up to the stats on the amulet. On top of that, you can add whatever ATT that is missing on your torch and anni.

Possible "waste" could be 5 pts. (I have 20 STR on my amulet, so that leaves me with wasting 5 pts. into DEX).

If you are using upgraded vipermagi and / or eg.

War Traveler - then you "only" need to waste pts. into DEX (or find an amulet to cover this).

2. Is it worth it? Well, I believe that if you can't spare to waste at least the 5 pts. then your build is not adequate anyway?

If you need to "waste" eg. 30 pts. - then it starts to make a "difference" - all though, if you only or mostly play P1-P3 then I would absolutely claim it does not matter.

Most importantly - do what you like and want - and just enjoy

NB: if you go the Ethereal style - remember to assign your left mouse button to eg. "lightning" attack - that way you will avoid the Ethereal weapon from "hitting" anything and thus be worn down. Remember, that it resets if you eg. use a token or get a reset at the vendor, so you will have to assign again.

Brandistock, non-

Eth. Reducing the stat requirements with ethereal is of no benefit.

Your torch and anni (and other gear requirements) will get you to

Brandistock levels, and it can be used for a trapsin. It is (IMHO) the best transpin gear that is actually reasonably attainable.

But it has to be a

Brandistock. Scythes suck for trapsin. I've stopped making Infinity scythes.

The only mild gotcha that I can see for a

Brandistock is that your stats won't be covered on a twink run while at low level. But who cares in that instance? If you're rushing

Larzuk, you're not trying to optimize stat points. That being said, for this reason, if you're absolutely 100% sure it will never get used on a trapsin, go

Scythe non-

Eth.