If you care more about applying Crushing Blow or constant Life Leech the Mancatcher is probably better, if care more about damage per a sec Stygian Pike is best, (slightly better than the Giant Poleaxe because it has a lower strength requirement). Mancatcher is the fastest base, while Giant Poleaxe or Stygian Pike has the most damage per a second. The spot in between balancing speed and dps goes to the Giant Thresher or Thresher. Stygian Pike/Giant Poleaxe has the best dps for almost all IAS breakpoints (but Stygian Pike has a lower strength requirement). Mancatcher has the best speed for almost all IAS breakpoints. Infinity base question! - General Discussion - Diablo 2 Resurrected Forums () This post goes into the debate in more detail: Would not advice slower weapons than Giant Tresher/Tresher or Mancatcher personally, speed is key imo. Thus the reach of Giant Tresher and Mancatcher is way higher which easily makes them better. Giant Tresher and Tresher seems equally effective looking at attack speed and damage, but Giant Tresher (and Mancatcher) have a range adder of 4, while Tresher only has 1. That said, I think base damage is not the most important thing on a Infinity merc and I like to have it have more attacks per second for the crushing blows and thus Mancatcher is my favorite choice.

Without Fana, both can reach the same APS for normal attacks and Mancatcher can reach 6.25 APS with Jab, while Giant Tresher maxes out at 5.56 APS (but you would need 102 ias, thus 4x Ias Jewel socketed in armor and 45 ias in helm, so 3x ias jewel of mav’s diadem and 1x ias jewel, but it is possible).

Jab has different attacks speeds so makes it more complicated, but it’s safe to say Mancatcher has an easier time getting breakpoints and if you happen to use Fana with Beast 52 ias is enough for either weapon and high Fana 40 ias is enough for either. So if you expect to reach 63 but not 89, I’d say Mancatcher, but even at 2.78 APS Mancatcher has lower damage then 2,5 Giant Tresher (by a very small margin).

If no Fana present, Mancatcher needs 63ias to reach max aps and Giant Tresher 89ias. Depends on the gear, or better said, the Increased Attack Speed.

Diablo 2 best infinity base