New to Sorc and I like Lightning Sorc better than Nova for personal reasons..

With that being said, my question is, can I use self wielding Infinity on Lightning Sorc if I can still hit 125% fcr with my other gear?

All of the guides I see say to use hoto/spirit on Lightning Sorc & Infinity on Nova Sorc for some reason and I was just wondering why that is? I was assuming it was for fcr breakpoints but I can still hit them while using Infinity...

Short anwser: Resists, DPS and probably +all skills (BO relies on this)

I believe the main reason is that you will have lower survivability if you self-wield infinity on a lightning sorc, versus if you were to do the same on a nova sorc.

The skill point investment for a lightning sorc is much more intensive than a nova sorc. Lightning sorcs need to max lightning, chain lightning, charged bolt, nova, and lightning mastery.

Whereas a nova sorc only needs to max nova, static field, and lightning mastery. This means a nova sorc can run with a very effective energy shield since they have enough skills leftover to max energy shield and telekinesis.

A lightning sorc can allocate a couple skills for energy shield and telekinesis, but the effective strength of their energy shield just doesn't compare.

So lightning sorcs need to worry more about maxing resistances.

The weapon and shield slots are crucial to that, because you can get a lot of resistances directly from gear in those slots(hoto + spirit), and/or get fcr in those slots so you can pick up resistances on other gear

nova sorcs self-wield infy due to having 105 fcr frame and because meditation aura makes them unkillable. vita lightning sorcs have 117 fcr and don't benefit nearly as much from meditation

a lightning sorc should always be using crescent moon + spirit monarch along with infy merc. without 35 fcr from spirit you'll end up sacrificing a lot to reach 117 fcr. without crescent moon you're doing less damage than a summon druid

Survivability needs/priorities of an energy shield build versus a vita build is my whole point.

Yes, crescent moon and spirit are an ideal setup for high damage output- but OP specifically mentioned hoto and spirit. There are guides that recommend that setup. It all depends on what you're optimizing for- damage, MF, survivability, etc.

There is more than one way to play. That's true for any build

any garbage build can be rationalized by "there's more than one way to play" or "priorities"

cmoon + spirit + griffon is the core of a lightning sorc. the guides that recommend hoto are made by noobs, and that's fine. their builds still don't make any sense

I didn't say that setup wasn't the way to go. I came here to answer OP's question- which I did.

I'm not here to say anyone's build is garbage or that they are a noob. I don't do that. I guess you do

Yo Holmes, Do What Ever The Hell You Feel Like Creating, Imo, Use Infinity On Main Sorc And Eth Insight For Merc. Dope Combo That Way Imo... W/e Taint's Your Soul, Go Ahead And Do. You Can Figure Out And Make Bp's With Some Configuration's Of Gear Too. Gl Hf, Later A.

lotta capital letters

Honestly true, I tried this out and I didnt think less damage than a summon druid was a thing...but its a thing