Summary
The SS13 season of Torchlight: Infinite has brought Mind Control builds to new heights, with Yuga 2 emerging as the preferred hero for many players. This guide breaks down a fully optimized Mind Control Yuga 2 build that has reached over 5 trillion DPS in farming setup, with key upgrades including a crafted hero memory worth approximately 8,000 Flame Elementium and specialized gloves that provide up to 240% additional spell damage through intimidate and crowd control stacking. The build leverages the Nether King's Divinity system, precise slate crafting, and a specific kismet setup to apply six crowd control effects simultaneously. For players looking to acquire the necessary resources for endgame crafting, Torchlight: Infinite Flame Elementium remains essential for T0 upgrades and hero memory crafting. Whether you're transitioning from Thea 3 or starting fresh, this guide covers everything from gear progression to farming strategies.
Why Yuga 2 Over Thea 3
Both Yuga 2 and Thea 3 are excellent choices for Mind Control builds, sharing very similar gear progression paths. Players can easily swap between the two heroes if desired. However, Yuga 2 is the preferred choice for several reasons.
The main difference lies in recovery mechanics. Thea 3 naturally restores energy shield, mana, and life when defeating desecrated enemies as part of her hero trait. Yuga 2 lacks this innate recovery, requiring alternative sustain solutions. The combination of Barrier of Radiance and energy shield charge on reaching low health provides excellent survivability, making Yuga 2 feel tanky and reliable in endgame content.
For players who enjoy the Mind Control playstyle, Yuga 2 offers a smooth experience with proper gearing. The build's damage scaling through skill factor ratio nodes on the passive tree makes him particularly effective with channeling skills like Mind Control.
Gear Showcase and Key Upgrades
Gloves: The Damage Core
The gloves represent the most significant damage upgrade for this build. They provide additional spell damage and elemental damage for each crowd control effect on the target, stacking up to six times. With a 39% intimidate effect roll and 29% base effect, this translates to approximately 40.3% additional spell damage per crowd control effect, totaling around 240% additional spell damage when fully stacked.
The gloves require a specific setup: a source of intimidate application and a way to apply six crowd control effects. This season, the required kismets are significantly cheaper than previous seasons, making the setup more accessible.
For budget players, even a 25% roll gloves at around 300 Flame Elementium provide substantial value. Prioritize a good intimidate base effect roll and intimidate effect over the immunity roll, which can be solved later.
Weapons and Chest
Both weapons are nearly fully T0ed, with the only remaining non-T0 affixes being the +3 spell skill level and reaping recovery speed. The chest received T0 energy shield upgrades, providing additional survivability. These upgrades were relatively inexpensive and significantly improved the build's defenses.
Hero Memory: The 8,000 FE Upgrade
The hero memory was crafted on stream for approximately 8,000 Flame Elementium. The base cost 4,800, the Approaching Nightfall Lunaria revival item cost 2,800, and the revival dust cost 500. Both fixed affixes were upgraded to T0.
The Approaching Nightfall affix is the most important mod, settling 35% of damage-over-time effects immediately. Since Mind Control is a channeling skill, the dot is instantly reapplied after removal, effectively shotgunning damage. This single upgrade provides massive damage gains for both ramping and mapping.
Slate Crafting
The crafted slate follows a deterministic crafting method using Goddess of Knowledge divinity packs. The bottom slot should target +spell skill level, with a 20% chance to hit. Once spell skill is secured, focus blessing becomes a 25% chance on the middle slot.
The slate also includes "immediately starts to charge energy shield" for survivability and intelligence scaling for damage. Spell skill on the bottom is critical because it gets copied by both the Prairie and Moth nether king talents.
Kismet Setup: Applying Intimidate and Six CC Effects
Three kismets enable the full glove damage potential:
Tiger's Roar — Applies intimidate on hit. Since Mind Control cannot inflict on-hit effects directly, this is triggered through Shackles of Malice or the corrosion focus.
Bounded Holy Maiden — Replaces ignite, numb, wilt, and trauma with paralysis, blind, weaken, slow, hunt, and frostbite. This provides six crowd control effects at the cost of 60% crowd control effect reduction, which is negligible compared to the damage gained through the gloves.
Tiger's Roar (second copy) — Required for the full setup.
Last season, these kismets cost approximately 1,000 and 3,000 each, totaling over 6,000 Flame Elementium. This season, the total cost is around 2,000, making the setup much more accessible.
Survivability: Barrier of Radiance Combo
Yuga 2's lack of innate recovery makes energy shield sustain critical. The Barrier of Radiance pedigree prevents energy shield charge from being interrupted by damage. Combined with the "start charging energy shield upon reaching low health" mod (approximately 35% energy shield), this provides excellent sustain against multiple small hits.
While one-shots remain a threat, this defensive layer makes the build feel smooth and tanky in most content. Eventually, further gearing will increase tankiness even more.
Passive Tree and Skill Factor Ratio
Yuga 2's kit revolves around recording dot damage, making skill factor ratio scaling essential. The passive tree prioritizes skill factor ratio nodes, which provide significant damage multipliers. Most other passive points remain similar to Thea 3 setups, with additional energy shield nodes for survivability.
Farming Strategy and Currency Generation
The build's owner has been farming Cube and Creation strategies extensively. Over the last two days, approximately 25,000 Flame Elementium was generated from selling corners, wedges, desire cores, and prairies. Additional valuable drops include six prairies sold for over 2,500 each and three mirror cards worth approximately 10,000 each.
The Creation strategy generated around 2,000 to 2,200 Flame Elementium per hour initially, with a slight drop to 1,500 per hour later. Cube farming remains the preferred fallback strategy for consistent returns.
For players looking to replicate this success, focus on high-density farming strategies that drop valuable cards and materials. The build currently clears content efficiently with over 5 trillion DPS in farming setup and 7 trillion DPS with damage pets equipped.
Final Thoughts
The SS13 Mind Control Yuga 2 build has reached impressive heights with relatively focused investment. From 1.2 trillion DPS to over 5 trillion, the key upgrades included specialized gloves, a crafted hero memory with Approaching Nightfall, and targeted T0 upgrades on weapons and chest.
The glove setup leveraging six crowd control effects and intimidate provides massive damage scaling, while the Barrier of Radiance combo ensures reliable survivability. The deterministic slate crafting method makes endgame gearing achievable, though budget players can start with cheaper alternatives.
With the increased demand for endgame crafting and gear optimization, Torchlight: Infinite Flame Elementium continues to be the currency of choice for serious players looking to push their builds to the next level. For players who want to skip the extended grind and dive straight into endgame crafting, Buy Torchlight: Infinite Flame Elementium provides a direct path to acquiring this essential currency and maximizing your character's potential. Whether you're pushing high-tier maps or farming valuable cards, this build offers both power and consistency.
