[Youga 2] From Storyline to T7

[Youga 2] From Zero to T7

UPDATE 12/01: I think I'm done with the game for now... The changes this season made it way too P2W for me. If you tried to follow my codes and didn't get the same DPS, it's because of that.

Pets are WAY too OP. I don't like seeing people with the same gear but 2-3x more damage and farming 2-3x more drops just because they swiped their cards.

It's a shame, because I genuinely like the gameplay, but XD's greed got too much for me to handle.

Might come back to play it casually later during this season, or maybe on the next one, I don't know, but I have 0 wish to grind right now.

This is my latest (and last) gear update, currently doing 11b DPS, 8-2 is doable but not instakill and I die a lot. Build Code: ClWCRNE5Ee+uJAAAAAAAFQ==

If you want to continue following a guide, check out https://www.twitch.tv/shadybroker he’s the Youga 2 GOAT.

(This is a translated guide. All credits go to the original source): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1LBrzY1EV8/?vd_source=2b0ed48292958975a281739ddfa175e6

Update: I’ve now made a follow up guide of my own, from T7 to T8-2. Here’s the link [Youga 2 SS7] From T7 to T8-2

Youga 2, also known as Spacetime Elapse, is a Hero trait specifically designed for damage over time gameplay.

Although the mechanics of damage over time in Torchlight Infinite can be a bit challenging to grasp—such as base damage of ailments, reap, and purify & sever mechanics being somewhat complex—equipment and talents are surprisingly straightforward to implement. Even if you're a complete beginner, you won't make too many mistakes.

That’s the purpose of this guide: I’ll focus on explaining the concepts that might be confusing, aiming to be more detailed than the official F4 explanations.

⚠️ Important: Make sure you select the correct trait! The one on the left is Spacetime 1, which isn’t what we’re aiming for. We want Spacetime 2 (Spacetime Elapse).

Build/Filter Codes

If you don’t want to read the guide, or don’t have time, and just want to follow the build codes, I’ll link them below as soon as I get to these points.

  • Finishing Campaign: awtMo88IEe+TdQAAAAAAHw==
  • EARLY FILTER: p_gcp_lowa|IrWqhJP6Ee-4iwAAAAAADA
  • Timemark 4 (~20M DPS): FQpSK88SEe+TdQAAAAAAHw==
  • T7 Traveler (~140M DPS): xhIOl88qEe+TdQAAAAAAHw==
  • T8-0 Farming (~400M DPS): U2Auc8+1Ee+4RAAAAAAAIA==
  • T8 Farming lower survival (1b DPS): B7Tnac/SEe+4RAAAAAAAIA==
  • Farming T8-1 (4b DPS): LK2oT9B4Ee+zzAAAAAAAFg==
  • Farming T8-2 (11b DPS, Squishy): ClWCRNE5Ee+uJAAAAAAAFQ==

*Notes: To get all the auras I have, you need Off the Beaten Track pedigree and enough skill level on Restrain so the reservation is enough. I also added 1 Sealed Mana Destiny node in my pactspirit page, you can add more if you need to.

If you don’t have Off the Beaten Track pedigree, stay with the previous talent tree with Warlock to get it on the talents. Then use Twisted Belief or Forbidden Power pedigree like I had in the previous version. Also, if using Forbidden Power pedigree, change the talent node on Goddess of Deception for Subtle Impact.

For mapping, change Star Stalker for Arcane Circle. Supports are the same for both.

Mov speed belt and soul eater candle is also optional.

  • Farming T8-2:

Storyline Progression

After creating your character, you’ll initially have to rely on "Flame Jet" + "Blink" + "Compound Source".

Stick with these until you reach level 7, at which point you’ll swap to "Mind Control".

For Talents, just follow the recommended setup below.

Equipment during the storyline is intelligently dropped, meaning most items will be useful for us. Be sure to pick up plenty of loot.

At Level 7, Switch to Mind Control:

At this stage, you can also replace Compound Source with Black Hole, as with Mind Control, monsters will rarely get close to you. However, if you want to play it safe or are in Hardcore Mode, you can stick with Compound Source for extra security.

For Black Hole, you only need to activate it when fighting bosses to stack Affliction on them.

⚠️Each Affliction stack causes the target to take an additional 1% damage over time, affected by the Affliction effect.

This means that single-target damage will more than double, just by pressing a single button. It’s incredibly cost-effective.

Next, open your settings via the ESC menu.

Enable "Auto Channeling".

This way, you only need to press Mind Control once to activate its auto-channeling mode.

Important Notes:

  • Auto-channeling will stop when you enter a new map, a boss area, or interact with certain objects. Simply press the button again to resume.
  • Using mobility skills or briefly activating other skills will not interrupt auto-channeling.

⚠️ After switching to Mind Control, there are several important things to note:

Keywords like "Erosion Damage", "Spell Damage", "DoT Damage", and "Affliction Effect":

  • Do not overthink terms related to "scaling." This can get confusing, so here’s the key takeaway:
    We do     NOT rely on Elemental Damage. Our build is focused on Erosion Skills, not elemental ones.
  • Ailment Damage/Chance is NOT relevant to us. We are NOT utilizing Ailments, and bonuses to Ignite/Freeze/Ailment Base Damage will also be ineffective.
  • Added Damage also does NOT apply to us. Damage Over Time abilities do not benefit from added flat damage.

Then you can begin your journey along the Path of Looting!

Talents 1-9

Unlock the second support slot

This usually happens around the same time you reach level 7. If you’ve been grinding too much, you might hit level 7 first.

After defeating the Dragon Greatwall Boss, you’ll receive a valuable support skill: "Reaping Agony", and you’ll also be able to use Energy to unlock the second support slot.

Here’s how it works:

  • ⚠️ Reaping Agony removes a portion of the target’s health, equal to the total damage dealt by all your damage over time effects over a certain duration.

This means that even if your build relies on damage over time, you can quickly finalize damage calculations, making it an excellent tool for clearing maps.

As you progress, the Reap system will gain even more utility. For now, it serves as both a clearing tool and a damage multiplier.

Third Skill Slot

After progressing through the Path of Looting, you can choose based on personal preference to use either "Mana Fortress"* or "Shadow Swamp".

*TL Note: I have absolutely no idea which skill is “Mana Fortress”, the name was auto-translated

  • Mana Fortress offers better defense, but is more suited for cautious playstyles.
  • Shadow Swamp provides excellent damage output and can constantly amplify the effects of Capturing Thoughts and Seizing Minds. Later, it will also help trigger Reap, but overall, it requires you to focus more on positioning and dodging.

I recommend Shadow Swamp for faster clearing. Set it to auto-cast so you only need to focus on positioning and pressing fewer buttons—this way you can focus on movement and spotting elites.

Overall, I highly recommend Shadow Swamp, as it compensates for the situations where your damage over time may not kill groups of mobs fast enough. The damage amplification from Shadow Swamp is genuinely excellent.

Talents 10-16

Fourth Skill Slot

Once you’ve gathered enough Energy, you can unlock the fourth skill slot and another support for the Main Skill. Here, you can add "Corruption" as the 4th skill, and “Passivation” as the new link to “Mind Control”.

The two suggested skills to add are:

  1. Corruption
  2. Passivation (Mind Control Support)
  • Corruption and Passivation helps increase your damage output or, alternatively, change Corruption to Compound Source recovery. Which one you choose is up to you.
  • You can set Corruption to auto-cast so that you don’t need to worry about it—it’s entirely up to your preference.

Talents 17-24

For your second Talent Panel, select "Shadowmaster".

We will perform our first talent reset around level 40.

Level 25 Key Support Skill

At level 25, you will finally unlock the "Reaping Agony" support skill.

The next step is to link Reaping Agony to all your core damage skills, such as Black Hole and Dark Swamp.

If you don’t have enough unlocked support slots, don’t worry—you can prioritize Reaping Agony as your highest priority support to link first.

Key Notes:

  • Through testing, multiple Reaping Agony setups are independently effective. Therefore, you should always bring this support in your skill links whenever possible.

At level 26, after clearing the Forbidden High Tower, you will acquire "Quick Mobility". Make sure to equip it for better mobility.

Level 27: Treasure Hunt

If you've reached level 27, you can consider farming a bit in the Treasure Areas, as this level has a high chance of dropping Feline Gloves.

These gloves provide +10% additional damage over time, which is incredibly useful for a long period of progression. You can farm Treasure Areas until you acquire them, as they greatly improve your damage output.

Once you progress further, you can replace them with Blood Drinker Gloves*, prioritizing survivability.

* TL Note: I  have no idea which gloves he’s referring to, the name was auto-translated and I could not find a match

Talents 25-31

When selecting talents, prioritize damage over time and damage bonuses whenever they appear. Don’t worry too much—just focus on these and wait for better options to become available later.

Battle Pactspirits (Pets)

With the latest updates, each extra Channeled Stack Limit provides 21.5% bonus damage, making Channeled Stacks highly beneficial in the early stages of progression. This has made Swaying Bonnie one of the strongest early-game pets.

⚠️ Important Notes:

The Channeled Stack Limit refers to the number of stacks beyond the base limit of the Channeled skill itself.

For example:
If the base limit is 5 stacks, and you add +1 to the Channeled Stack Limit, it increases the cap to 6 stacks.

The bonus of 21.5% per extra stack only applies to the additional stack beyond the base limit.

The Curse Pet (Poisoned Omen) is also a good choice, as it allows you to apply an additional Corruption.

Click the Persistent tag in the top-right corner of the pet selection to quickly locate pets with duration-related traits.

Among these, Fire Swordsman and Greedy Chestnut - Radiance are the most suitable pets for our build. If you don’t have these, try to pick ones that provide damage amplification. Remember, Ailment Chance/Damage is useless to us.

Affliction Effect stats are not particularly easy to optimize early on, so pets serve as a convenient boost.

⚠️ Important Notes:

  • Ailment Chance/Damage is irrelevant, as we are not using ailments.
  • Duration is temporarily useless. We will start scaling some skill duration bonuses only after reaching around level 85 and unlocking advanced talent nodes or gear modifiers that allow for additional duration-related bonuses.

Talents 32-39 (Reset)

At this stage, you can decide whether to reset your talents at level 32 or level 39. We reset our talents to get the major talents from the Shadowmaster tree.This talent gives us a huge DPS boost. It’s recommended to reset at level 39, as it won’t interrupt your progression too much.

At level 32, if you find your damage output to be insufficient, you may need to reset and boost your damage earlier.

Key Focus:

  • Reset your first talent panel, and make sure to fully allocate points into Shadowdancer (32 points).

Once this setup is complete, you can allocate mobility-related nodes from the first talent panel.

Why Reset Talent Points?

Because in the early game, upgrading skills by 4 levels results in a significant power spike.

For example:

  • At level 9, the base damage of Mind Control is 57.
  • At level 13, it increases to 134.

The ratio is 134/57 = 2.35, which is more than double the base damage.

This kind of reset will give your damage a substantial boost. It’s absolutely worth the cost and effort.

As for talents, simply continue filling out the Shadowmaster talent panel, completing any leftover points from the first panel as needed.

Level 44 Treasure Trove

This is where you should farm as much as possible.

The Corrupted Marrow that drops here will be extremely useful, providing excellent mobility and speed. Just equip it and assign it to your skill bar for quick use.

Since the monsters here are level 47, this is the best place to farm until you reach level 46 to avoid the experience penalties caused by level differences.

Additional Notes:

  • Generally, it’s not recommended to rush the boss directly, as killing monsters here is very efficient, and you might lose out on experience gains if you rush too quickly.
  • Pay attention to the enemies and loot in the Treasure Area, as it’s a prime location to boost your progression.

Prophecy Holy Grounds

In the Prophecy Holy Grounds, you can quickly clear Shield Bash or Rapid Slash to spawn two waves of monsters, effectively doubling your experience efficiency.*

*TL Note: I have never heard of this before. I think he’s talking about a bug to spawn more mobs in this quest? I don’t know.

By this point, loot may not be as valuable, so you can activate the basic loot filter. Press ESC > Drop Filter > Choose basic loot filter.

Talents 40-56

Make sure to allocate points into the God of Deception talent tree to fill in any remaining nodes.

Level 54 Final Treasure Trove

It is recommended to farm this area multiple times for several reasons:

  1. One of the bosses always drops a guaranteed Memory Fragment, which can provide Intelligence.
  2. Farming this repeatedly will allow you to stack Intelligence and Spell Damage, which is highly beneficial for your build.

This item will be your most valuable source of Intelligence and Intelligence-based Damage in the early stages, so prioritize upgrading it.

⚠️Important Note:

  • Remember to SELECT and ACTIVATE the hero trait that enhances your specific characteristics.

From this point onward, farming troves is no longer very necessary.

Leveling here becomes slower compared to earlier in the game. If you really want to, by the time you reach level 60, you can easily grind your way to level 70 in the trove without any issues if your experience is balanced.

However, with our build's strength, you don’t need to farm here for too long. You’ll have to grind the earlier maps to unlock the Timemarks and level anyway, so there’s no point in staying in troves if you’re strong enough.

What’s important is to make sure you collect Memory Fragments. These can be used for a long time, so it’s worth doing some minimal farming here.

For the skill reward, make sure to choose Erosion Enhancement. Don’t forget that we get +4 bonus levels to Erosion skills.

⚠️Important: Remember to equip and activate it.

Final Campaign Skill Setup

Our current skill setup should look something like this:

*Add Passivation when you have the energy.

Netherrealm T1-T6

Gearing in the Netherrealm

*TL Note: I’m adding my own advice here, I don’t think the original guide did a great job in this section, and the original images are all in Chinese, which makes it kind of pointless. The game is offline right now, if it wasn’t I would add my own prints in English.

Before entering the Netherrealm: 

After completing the storyline, I’d recommend you to do a quick gear reforging session to improve its stats.

We’re not aiming for “good” items, just a few basic upgrades. Try to add one of two of the basic affixes below to your items and you’re good.

Crafting in the early stages is simple, and it is absolutely necessary to progress in the game. You need to learn this.

Affixes are locked based on the item level, so in the early stages, we have very few unlocked affixes to craft. This makes it very easy to understand.

Stat priority 

  1.  (Advanced)
    (Basic on Scepters)
  2. Affliction Effect (Advanced)
  3. Intelligence (Advanced)
  4. Erosion Damage / DoT Damage (Basic / Basic)

and Life + Resistances (Basic / Basic)

That’s it. In the early stages, the crafting system has 2 types of affixes: Basic and Advanced. The basic ones are much cheaper to craft/reroll, and the Advanced ones are more expensive.

So, ideally, you should try to pick up items with the right Advanced affixes, then just use it as a base and craft the Basic affixes on it. It’s much easier to craft Erosion Dmg + DoT Dmg + Life + Res (basic affixes), so it doesn’t matter if your base item has them or not.

Some of these Advanced Affixes such as Reap or Affliction Effect may be showing as locked, which means you can’t craft them because the item level is too low, but you still can drop items with these affixes already in them. If you know how to set loot filters, this can be very useful, and it’s basically required in SSF.

The best modifiers, such as Affliction Effect, are only unlocked with advanced materials in the late game, so there’s no need to rush.

Examples of gear progression

  1. Example of early-game upgrades:
    Focus on simple stat improvements like additional     DoT Damage, life, or resistances. Below is a ring with 3 resistance affixes.

  1. Example of an advanced item:
    Gear with modifiers like     Affliction Effect (e.g., +6% affliction effect) will be your long-term goal.

The important part is to remember the Stat Priority. For the Reap affix especially, it’s better if you can get them in every single gear piece that can have the affix, it’s one of the best DPS boosts once we unlock Reap Purification.

Resistance is Crucial

Do not enter the Netherrealm without sufficient resistances—you’ll die very quickly if your resistances are too low. Eventually, you want ALL of them maxed.

Talents 57-72

Start allocating points in the Psychic talent panel.

Focus all your points on damage nodes, and for your first major node, choose Affliction.

Timemark 1-3

Weapon Focus

When challenging maps in this range, weapons are extremely important.

The example shown is a T5 weapon with additional modifiers. Look out for weapons with Affliction Effect or damage-boosting attributes, as these will significantly enhance your damage. Stop and craft whenever you feel weak.

  • Aim to replace all your equipment at least once at this stage.
  • Pick up and use whatever drops—prioritize weapons with higher base stats if the storyline gear no longer provides sufficient power.

⚠️ When you find a Tier 2 Hero Memory, equip it immediately to activate your third hero trait.

Keep defeating Watchers or bosses to raise your Timemark. There’s nothing particularly special to watch out for—just focus on steady progression.

Timemark 4-6

Energy Management

We will unlock four passive skill slots.

If mana reservation or energy is insufficient, you can disable some of the auras temporarily and manually upgrade them. In the future, we will need higher-tier energy gear upgrades.

However, it’s clear that we don’t yet have enough mana seal reservation, so we need to adjust our talents.

If you find your mana consumption or regeneration insufficient, you can level Mana Source further.

I haven’t had much time to test advanced setups, but you can always experiment.

Shadowmaster Talent Panel Adjustments

In the second half of the Shadowmaster talent tree, your points should be allocated as shown here to maximize performance.

These nodes will increase your Sealed Mana Reservation, allowing you to use more auras/supports. You’ll need to level Restrain (Support) up to levels 17–18 before you can fully unlock all its potential. For now, avoid diving too deeply into nodes that amplify ailments—they don’t provide much damage benefit early on.

Talents 94

  1. The displayed allocations focus on balancing survivability and damage bonuses. Follow the images as a reference to optimize your Shadowmaster and Psychic trees.

Reap Purification Node Explanation

After completing your Psychic talent points, we can finally discuss what Reap Purification is all about:

  • Effect:
  • At a fixed duration, it removes 25% of the target’s remaining HP as damage.
  • It also amplifies damage applied from your existing damage-over-time effects.

Make sure to allocate duration-related nodes (+ Ailment Duration) surrounding Reap Purification after unlocking it. Follow the example image to avoid missing critical points.

All your Reap sources also trigger this effect, that’s why it is important to have the Reap Affix on your gear. This is a huge DPS boost.

⚠️ Reap Purification does not count as a "final calculation" action:

  • This means it does not benefit from effects like "Reap Duration" or "Reap X Seconds".
  • Reap Purification acts as a pure trigger tool for its Reap damage.

The only modifiers that apply are its own cooldown time and any cooldown-related traits (Reap Cooldown Time).

  • Since it works with damage-over-time effects, other Reap bonuses (like duration or final calculations) will be ignored. It also bypasses secondary light-damage effects.
  • Reap Purification removes damage-over-time effects as part of its mechanics.

Key Notes

  • Modifiers that enhance "Skill Duration" do not affect Reap Purification, as its function is tied to its skill activation time.
  • In most cases, we recommend focusing on the number of Reap effects and Reap Cooldown Reduction for efficiency, rather than trying to extend the duration of damage-over-time effects, which won’t work well here.

Legendary Gear Recommendations

Here are some useful legendary items to keep an eye out for, or consider purchasing if you get lucky with Flame Elementium.

  1. Rings

  • The cooldown roll on rings is very important—aim for a value of 1 second CD.
  • The duration roll is less critical; it feels less impactful compared to resistance rolls.
  • You can use two of these rings if you want to increase your damage, but pay attention to your defenses.

  1. Boots

  • These have a fairly high drop rate. While More With Less may not be a very significant upgrade for us, having an additional Reap source is still very convenient and satisfying.

  • This is another option which is a bit more defensive.

  • And Feline Steps are an excellent option if you have a way to generate Agility Blessings. There may be other ways to generate them during this season, but one of the easier ways is through Divinity Slates, with affixes such as this:

 

  1. Chest Armor (Energy Shield)

  • This is a great option once you transition to Energy Shield. You’ll start doing this while you progress through T7. It’s basically just replacing your Life affixes and max life talents for Energy Shield ones.
  • Corrode it if you can, the corrosion on Active Skill Level is very valuable.

  1. Helmet

Choose between:

Or

Neither option stands out significantly, as there aren’t many good helmet choices available. If you’re struggling with health or resistances, it’s also fine not to use them. These are more like placeholders until you can craft a good helmet with the desired affixes.

Key Tip

Pay close attention to your resistance levels, as the pressure to maintain sufficient resistances can be high. Make sure to prioritize resistances wherever possible.

  1. Expensive Ring

The Windbreath Convergence ring is an excellent choice.

Key benefits:

  • +30% Damage Avoidance is decent, and while the +1-3 limit for Channeled Stacks isn’t extremely impactful, it’s still a significant boost.
  • Pay attention to positioning for left or right slots, as this will affect whether the bonuses activate. We want the channeled stacks.
  • If the price for this is too expensive, focus on the other areas of the build first, like the Divinity Slates which can also provide the Channeled Stacks.

Divinity Slates Recommendation

Legendary Affixes

  1. The +1 Max Channeled Stacks is highly valuable.

Key notes

  • You don’t need to over-invest in Max Channeled Stacks, but +7–8 stacks is the ideal goal.
  • Each extra Channeled Stack provides +21.5% additional damage, and this bonus is multiplicative, resulting in significant overall gains.

  1. The +42% Reaping Cooldown Recovery Speed is also very good and highly recommended.

  1. The +1 Persistent Skill Level is also one of the most important bonuses.

  1. Other useful Legendary Affixes:

Other Affixes

For the other affixes on the Divinity Slates (blue and purple), here are some suggestions:

New Support Skills

For Mind Control: Entice, it’s still in development, but it should potentially enable control-based builds in the future. At this stage, you can keep an eye on updates for its mechanics or focus on other reliable setups until it's fully viable.

Both exclusive traits are very powerful.

For Concentrate, at 11 Channeled Stacks (with a max of 6 extra stacks), it provides +86% additional damage—absolutely insane.

Befuddle, when combined with Channeled-related stacking mechanics, is also very effective.

The pricing feels steep, so no further comment—get ready for some intense farming to activate these mechanics.