Just to be clear, I totally understand that the runes involved are SUPER hard to get, but having goals is good, right?
Anyway, I have a question about how it actually works. I was always told that Infinity is great for lightning sorcs. However, since the reduction of lightning resist on the weapon only applies to your merc’s damage and the conviction aura applies to other resistances as well, then wouldn’t a cold sorc benefit greatly from having this on a merc also? Does it have the ability to make a cold immune monster vulnerable to cold spells?
Any info would be great. I don’t have any aversion to playing lightning, it’s just that if I remember correctly, cold had the least trouble with immunes in Hell level and I need to be able to, you know… KILL some creeps. Then all I have to do is find a great polearm and throw ice cubes at some jerks until they fall over and spit out 2 bers, a mal AND an ist…HAHA
Infinity breaks the lightning immunity of most monsters in the game. It is very powerful on lightning sorcs because monsters with lightning immunity are within the threshold of being breakable, from what I understand. It is still very strong on fire sorcs, but there are fewer monsters within that threshold. Because cold mastery exists, it is less necessary for cold sorcs. But also, cold mastery is unable to break immunes and I’m not sure if Infinity really does a whole lot more for cold sorcs.
Not 100% sure if I have this right, but this is my understanding.
If monsters have immunity, the conviction aura only reduces resistance by 1/8 of its effect until it reaches below 100. It might not be exactly 1/8 as I haven’t played the game for too long.
It might be viable if you combine it with lower resistance wand charges but then that’s too cumbersome.
Edit: the effect is 1/5 and not 1/8 for immunities
I wouldn’t use infinity on cold sorc, it’s a waste unless OP has a lot of highrunes to spare or if he plans to build a hybrid sorc (cold and fire). Infinity won’t break almost all cold immunes and cold mastery alone is plenty for killing non-immunes. You can’t get monsters below -100 resistance. If OP is going for purely cold damage, go with insight for convenience.
Edit:
The conviction at level 12 lowers resistance by -85. That means any immunes equal to or above +117 resistance (100 + 85/5) stays immune. Most of the cold immunes in hell difficulty have resistance of 120+ and lightning immunes in hell difficulty have resistance of 115 or under. That’s why lightning sorc or javazon use infinity.
Any toon could benefit from their merc using Infinity however it only breaks lightning immunitys not cold,fire,physical immunitys, However it’s not only a light sorc that would get full benefit, A shock palidin,lightning javazon would as well
Okay, thanks for the info, everyone. I’ll plan on trying to make an Insight, because at least those runes are quite accessible. Then later…if I ever have the runes to make an Infinity I’ll consider making a lightning character of some kind. I like the idea of a lightning amazon. I had one with Titanstrikes a long time ago, she was a very efficient cow-killer I remember.
Actually the answers simple " The Conviction aura provided by Infinity maximizes the effects of the high-level Chain Lightning that the weapon produces. For nearly every character that deals elemental damage, this is the best mercenary weapon since it actively reduces resistances, vastly increasing the damage output of the character. Only builds that deal magic damage, poison damage or physical damage (with the exception of moves that deal with defence values) do not receive significant benefit from the Conviction aura on this weapon.
The decrease in enemies’ [Lightning Resistance]Lightning_Resistance) only works for the character equipped with it, so Lightning-based Sorceresses with an Infinity-wielding [Mercenary] will only benefit from the [Conviction Aura. Sorceresses who use lightning spells may even want to wield Infinity themselves to make use of the massive enemy lightning resistance reduction, or opt for [Crescent Moon] .Crescent_Moon_Rune_Word) instead.
Infinity is a prized polearm because it requires two Ber runes and can only be constructed by Ladder characters.
Result:
50% Chance To Cast Level 20 [Chain Lightning] When You Kill An Enemy
Level 12 /Conviction) Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster [Run/Walk
+255-325% Enhanced [Damage]
-(45-55)% To Enemy [Lightning Resist]Lightning_Resist)
40% Chance of [Crushing Blow] Crushing_Blow)
Prevent [Monster Heal]
0.5-49.5 To [Vitality](Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic_Items)
Level 21 [Cyclone Armor]Cyclone_Armor) (30 Charges)" VS The Reaper’s Toll
[Thresher]Thresher) Two-Hand Damage: (34-40) To (408-479) Required Level: 75 Required Strength: 114 Required Dexterity: 89 Durability: 65
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
+190-240% Enhanced [Damage]Damage)
Ignore Target’s [Defense]
Adds 4-44 [Cold Damage
11-15% [Life]Life) Stolen Per Hit
33% [Deadly Strike]Deadly_Strike)
33% Chance To Cast Level 1 [Decrepify] On Striking
Requirements -25%
And if everyone sported a sorc with lvl1 cold mastery, the writer of this copypasta would be correct. This is not in practice correct, though, as a decent Blizzard sorc will always have enough CM to lower most if not all mobs to -100, the max.
I ask again, how could that possibly be better than reaper’s toll, which is widely regarded as the best merc weapon for a Blizzard sorc?
It is possible to find/buy Lv3 Lower Resist Daggers. So it makes to 125??? (someone please check my math)
Still not that good on pure cold sorc. However, as you said a fire-cold hybrid sorc could use one.
Sure you could but I wouldn’t recommend it. 95% of cold immunes in hell difficulty have resistance of at least 120 and 50% are at least 140. Rather than using cold/fire hybrid, it will be much more convenient for you to make 1 cold sorc and 1 lightning sorc but I wouldn’t do that either. Personally, I would make a cold sorc then a javazon, smiter, and gf barb.
Edit: More than anything though, it’s just painful to use lower resistance wand in the late game especially when you can afford an infinity. Using a wand means you have to carry CTA inside a cube and do a weapon swap in every new game.
The question isn’t about whether or not Reapers Toll is the best for a Blizzard sorc…As I read your response you were saying a Reapers Toll was better all across the board over Infinity Answer is subjective as neither is best in all circumstances, Just as you wouldn’t use a bulldozer to dig a hole to plant a sapling nor would you want to manually build a dam with a shovel you pick and choose the tool or weapon to fit the job it’s as simple as that
Answer is subjective as neither is best in all circumstances, Just as you wouldn’t use a bulldozer to dig a hole to plant a sapling nor would you want to manually build a dam with a shovel you pick and choose the tool or weapon to fit the job 
it’s as simple as that