Torchlight Infinite Flame Elementium

As a popular ARPG, each season update of Torchlight Infinite undoubtedly attracts a large number of new players to the game. With the latest SS13, Afterlight, only a week away from release, many Torchlight Infinite players often mistakenly believe that defense is simply a matter of stacking high HP.

However, in actual high-difficulty content, this simplistic approach often leads to disastrous results.

Therefore, we must re-evaluate our understanding of defense in Torchlight Infinite before SS13 arrives, so that we can stand firm at any difficulty level in Afterlight.

Early Gameplay and Before T7

In the early stages of the upcoming SS13 story, and before we climb to T7, building a strong defense mechanic doesn't warrant excessive effort.

Because monster damage is relatively low at this stage, players only need to follow mainstream build guides, acquiring some basic health through gear and a small amount of Resistance through crafting.

Therefore, a wiser strategy is to focus resources on improving map clearing speed and damage output, as quickly eliminating enemies is the most effective defense at this stage.

Additionally, you need to focus on accumulating basic currencies like Torchlight Infinite Flame Elementium during this phase to lay the economic foundation for crafting core gear after T7.

In short, from the start of SS13 to T7, you only need to ensure your damage is sufficient to one-shot monsters; defensive attributes are secondary.

T7 to T8

Once you successfully reach T7 in SS13 and begin preparing for T8, you'll find the game significantly more difficult than at the beginning. That's when you should consciously build a defensive system for your build in Torchlight Infinite.

For T7, a crucial defensive requirement is that you cannot allow your three types of Resistance (Fire, Lightning, and Cold Resistance) to fall below 60%. In the game, Resistance directly reduces damage taken; 60% Resistance means a 60% reduction in elemental damage.

Furthermore, at this stage you can consider temporarily delaying the accumulation of Erosion Resistance, as its damage contribution is not as high as the three types mentioned above.

Simultaneously, you need to actively increase your life pool through equipment affixes, such as maximum life and flat life on rings and chest armor.

The introduction of Block mechanic is another milestone at this stage: Block chances should be applied separately to attacks and spells. Ideally, prioritize stacking spell blocks to 100%, as spell damage in Torchlight Infinite is often more lethal.

The default Block effect reduces damage by 30%, but this can be increased to 60% through specific talents and equipment.

In conjunction with Blocks, you can also introduce Regain mechanic, which instantly restores a certain percentage of life or a shield when you hit an enemy. This differs completely from traditional Regeneration and is a powerful survival tool that relies on attack frequency.

In addition to the above, you can consider activating Tenacity Blessing to provide 4% damage reduction per stack and equipping a defensive pet to further reduce the damage taken.

Upon entering T8

After entering Tier 8, besides the basic Resistance and Block, we need to choose Armor or Evasion as the core physical damage reduction layer based on your build direction.

Given that Armor has certain limitations in its effect against elemental damage, you can consider using Ember Armor or specific legendary equipment to improve your defense against elemental damage.

Evasion, by default, provides an additional 40% reduction in spell damage and works exceptionally well with Blur and Deflection.

Blur is an independent buff that provides a damage avoidance chance based on Blur value - each point of Blur provides a 0.25% damage avoidance chance, so a base of 100 points would provide a 25% chance to avoid damage.

Of course, Blur is not permanent; it decays by 10 points per second over time. However, you can continuously generate Blur through actions such as the movement effect of Eternal Sea Fog or Valerie's Night Stroll.

Similar to Blur, Deflection grants an 8% damage reduction per stack, stacking up to three times. However, being hit resets the stack count, requiring you to acquire it through Lightning Striker's Sacrum and Feline Steps.

In summary, you need to make Armor and Evasion complement each other in SS13 T8, combining them with Blur and Deflection to create a multi-layered defensive damage reduction system.

Profound and Deep Space

Once you've finally made it to Profound and Deep Spaces in SS13, Torchlight Infinite will be even more stringent in its considerations regarding your defenses.

First, you must push the three elemental Resistances mentioned above to the 90% cap, while simultaneously starting to stack Erosion Resistance according to your budget.

In these challenging phases, you can no longer just stack up Blocks randomly; you must reach a hard requirement of 100%. Otherwise, you will have no chance of survival when facing monsters with much higher damage than before.

On top of these, you must introduce more advanced damage reduction layers into your build.

For example, Light Hunter Belt is a very useful item when your mana is low, as it provides additional damage reduction, or using Injury Buffer to convert some instantaneous damage into damage over time to avoid instant death

Furthermore, in these two high-difficulty phases, the mechanism of converting physical damage to elemental damage is crucial for builds lacking physical defense.

In short, your defensive system in Torchlight Infinite should never be static; it must be dynamically adjusted based on the difficulty level and the characteristics of your build. Understanding the strategy at each step will definitely help you perform better in the upcoming SS13!

Torchlight Infinite SS13 Afterlight will launch at 19:00 PT on July 16. We know very little about the new season mechanics or the new hero traits, and the season announcement will not arrive until 01:30 on July 11 (Saturday).

The studio has released a very brief teaser for a new hero, or more precisely, a new hero trait. Selena has finally received another form, Dance of the Deep.

Dance of the Deep Selena

In the teaser, which lasts less than a minute, the protagonist is a red-haired girl in a red dance dress moving through a coral reef. This is Dance of the Deep Selena (Selena 2).

Unlike Selena 1, whose core identity was singing, the new teaser contains no singing at all. Instead, Selena 2 uses dance movements throughout to disperse or push away everything around her.

Another notable change lies in the transformation mechanic. The original Selena 1 could shift into a full merfolk form with a fish tail, whereas in the new teaser Selena 2 always stays in semi-human mode and never fully turns into a fish-like appearance. It is possible that the new hero has no transformation ability at all and remains humanoid throughout.

Dance of the Deep Selena Gameplay Speculation

Although Selena 2 and Selena 1 are the same hero, their traits differ, so their skills, talents, and gear may be completely different.

Selena 1's main playstyle revolves around the ice-based Howling Gale, combined with chanting to accumulate stacks and then unleashing burst damage.

Dance is undoubtedly the core of Selena 2's gameplay, but we do not yet know how that will translate into concrete mechanics. After all, the teaser did not show a clear skill-casting logic.

Based on the teaser, one could speculate that Selena 2 might have different combat stances – for example, an area-of-effect stance and a single-target stance – allowing players to switch flexibly depending on the situation. Such a design would offer rich operational enjoyment.

Tangle System

Another important clue about Selena points to Tangle mechanic. In Season 12, Spell Tangle served as a support spell and was the prerequisite for triggering the entire entanglement system.

Some players noticed an intriguing anomaly on TLIDB (A wiki that automatically extracts Torchlight Infinite data). Almost all skills that can be supported by Spell Tangle show a skill shop unlock level of 55, but Selena 1's core skill, Sing with the Tide, is listed in the database as unlocking at level 27.

However, when we actually check Selena 1, the real unlock level for Tangle skill is indeed 55. So why is there a discrepancy between the game files and the in-game data?

The speculation is that the character data for the new hero Selena 2 may have already been pre-embedded in the game package, and the data-mining site accidentally associated the new hero's unlock information with Selena 1's name.

From this, we infer that Selena 2 is very likely a hero centred around Tangle – she might cast various entanglement spells around enemies through her dance moves, thereby activating and strengthening the entire Tangle build. Of course, all this remains conjecture, and the specifics await official confirmation.

How to Get Dance of the Deep Selena?

In Torchlight Infinite, new heroes are not free. A brand-new character introduced at the start of a season usually requires Season Pass to unlock immediately, but in later seasons they rotate into the free unlock pool.

If you do not wish to unlock Season Pass, or if you prefer to play heroes from previous seasons, you can also unlock them directly by taking Primocrysts.

For veteran players, you can earn Hero Emblems for free by completing season events, daily or weekly quests, and so on. Once you have gathered enough, you can exchange them for heroes in the hero shop.

If you want to play Dance of the Deep Selena as soon as Season 13 begins, the safest approach is to prepare to acquire Season Pass. If you choose to wait, you can slowly exchange for her using in-game resources in later seasons.

A reminder: the hero traits in Torchlight Infinite are not like Ascendancy in Path of Exile. Once you select a hero trait at character creation, it is permanent and cannot be changed.

If you want to switch a max-level Selena 1 to Selena 2, that is impossible. The only way to experience another trait of the same hero is to create a brand-new character and level up from scratch.

How to Prepare for Dance of the Deep Selena?

Although new characters are often very strong, if you are a new player, do not be drawn in solely by her power! The new season hero may appear to deal high damage, but the gear and skill gems required are extremely costly, and it takes one to two weeks to fully assemble – which suits veteran players with abundant resources.

You may prefer to start with Rehan or Erika for fast leveling. In about four to five days you can reach Timemark 7. Then you can accumulate gear and Torchlight Infinite Flame Elementium in advance to support Selena 2's leveling.

Moreover, designing your own build can easily lead you down the wrong path, and the materials for resetting talents are very expensive early in the season, so the safest approach is to look for mature builds shared by top players in the community and simply follow their guides. For skill combinations, prioritise those that clear mobs quickly and have large area coverage, as that will speed up your leveling.

Selena 1 requires almost no manual operation for her main skill, which makes her very popular among lazy players. If Selena 2 also features excellent automation mechanics, she will definitely be worth trying.