Infinity viable for Summon Merc? [Mages, etc]

[Decker]

Hmm, something just occured to me. As it is right now I'm in the process of creating myself a summoner as what will probably be the last character I make this ladder season. I've got a full setup for him including Enigma, Beast/Faith [debating which to use in another thread], SOJs, GCs and all that. One thing that just crossed my mind is that unlike most other classes, a Reaper's Toll is not viable.

I was about to go toss my upgraded BerShaelShael Eth Hone Sundan thingy on him when I came acorss the Infinity I previously used on my Javazon for cowing.

My question is this: Although skeleton mages and even most caster revives are crappy, would Infinity make them worth having/summoning? [I usually get 10+ in revive and use mostly Archers for revivals]. I usually spend the excess points in CE but realistically that's only due to nothing better to spend in [I don't like using bone hybrids]. Obviously Infinity does -85 resistances which is nearly double damage.

Anyone have an idea? I can also see the Conviction from Infinity benefitting the other skeletons due to the -defence but I have no idea if the defence drop on enemies is even beneficial given how strange defence is to calculate.

I also contemplated using Pride instead of Infinity, but I really have no idea :)

Thanks.

[sk8brdnick]

I haven't tested, but I would think that it would make a great weapon. It will not only boost you skeleton's chance to hit a great deal as well as mage dmg, but it will boost explosion dmg too! Remember, CE is 50/50 physical/fire dmg... I say go for it, I would if I were ladder. It will help a great deal on high def bosses like baal I bet.

[Decker]

The CE thing didn't even occur to me, thanks. With Amp and -85 resists, it'll be doing even more damage with CE, hmm..

Anyone else have an opinion on whether Infinity's Conviction outweighs Pride's damage boost? I've considered using the Wolverine thing from Oath but I don't want to go through all the hassle of recasting it and wearing a Wisp and all that.

[Mad Mantis]

My question is this: Although skeleton mages and even most caster revives are crappy, would Infinity make them worth having/summoning?

A lot of us find that Mages are worth having even without the Infinity. With the Conviction from Infinity your Mages will do noticeably more damage, but it won't be as much as the Skellies.

You are giving up a chance to further boost the damage of your Merc and your Skellies. You'll have to decide whether loosing the chance the further increase one type of damage is worth increasing the damage on two other types.




Anyone else have an opinion on whether Infinity's Conviction outweighs Pride's damage boost?

That will depend on the amount of +skills you have. It is possible, to some degree, to calculate this. If you are using CE a lot it can certainly be worth it.

[Cdnexpat]

Infinity is the Rune word I someday hope to get. It helps everyone hit or boosts their damage, and it gives a decent chance at crushing blow. It will even wash your car. But I'm just new here so I don't really know if it is good I would really like to hear how it works out.

[Decker]

What I'll do is put the usual 1 base skill in Mages, pump Revive to 13-17 like I usually do but leave CE at 1-5 with extra points available to pump it or Mages. The reason I'm doing this is Mages don't get stronger it seems with extra skills, only more life and their damage comes from Mastery [which I max anyway]

I'll cast a bunch of just mages and revives, take them to a place like the pits with my merc using Infinity to see if it does decent damage. Since I'm using Enigma, the argument against mages getting in the way of other skeles might be not as big of a problem given that I can regroup at any given time.

Since someone brought up how its effectiveness will be reliant on how many +skills I have, I'll be using pretty much the usual "elite" setup with Shako, Enigma, Beast, Arachnid Mesh, Arm of Leoric [to summon off the start], Homunculus, [though I'm tempted to go for 35% Spirit so I can use two SOJs for the 75% FCR breakpoint instead of using one FCR ring] and all that stuff along with 4-5 Summon Skill GCs.

[Myrakh-2]

Mages get damage from both Mastery and Raise Mage skills.

Of course, I don't actually know what the problem is that needs testing. Conviction boosts elemental damage; this has been known for ages.

[Cdnexpat]

Infinity also gives minus 45% to minus 55% on opponents lightning resist. If you focused on getting lightning mages they would benefit from this as well.

[Necrochild313]

Infinity also gives minus 45% to minus 55% on opponents lightning resist. If you focused on getting lightning mages they would benefit from this as well.

No, only your merc will :(

But that doesn't make infinity any less appealing!

[Decker]

Since no one seems to have any results, I'll post mine:

Infinity was definetly not the best choice. I tried mages/revives [the best revives possible, I had about 40 of them after skill bonuses] with Infinity, they still do crap damage. I think the -def isn't very useful as well as it did not increase skeleton killing speeds at all it seemed, if it does increase their chance to hit it's not enough to notice it. I never bothered to make a Pride since I got bored of my Necro in no time. On that note, it DID help CE but the Convictions radius isn't big enough to accomodate the large range of CE at higher levels, I'd recommend not boosting it anymore than level 5-10 since the radius is about the same I believe.

Anyway, in a nutshell I think I'd rather use a Doom, Eth Upgraded Hone Sundan or something else if I ever make another summoner.