Thorin Oakshield

First of all, A very belated welcome! Second: upload that screenshot to Imgur and you've got the option to select the right code (starting with [ img] and ending with [ /img] (but just without the spaces)) to upload a screenshot here as well. It may be a bit of extra work, but it certainly works. And the latter is all that matters, isn't it? Thorin

I don't know how far you got by now, but I'm currently running around in Underworld and doing all the quests there as well. If you want to, I could either write them down as a Word.doc or take screenshots from the log to show the how and what. Thorin

Would be interesting to see how this build holds up when doing the Underworld campaign. Also, D'Cay isn't the first Dragon you can encounter. There's one hidden on the islands south of Crows Rock Castle, which can be accessed by either jumping / flying from the shore noth or Porto Vallum or by taking the dungeon route underneath DeMordrey's castle. Not sure if you plan to take on all Dragons, but the most logical order would be 1) the one from Crows Rock; 2) Tyr-Hadar Twins 3) D'Cay 4) Dragon west of Mascarell 5) Element of Air Dragon 6) Element of Fire Dragon 7) Element of Earth Dragon 8) Element of Wate Dragon 9) Gloom Dragon (either from Mystdale Castle or while heading to that campaign point) All in all, ten Dragons to deal with, meaning ten interesting fights. Thorin

Saw several questions pop up that haven´t been fully answered, so I´ll try to do that. Regarding trading± Merchants in Ancaria refresh their stock after you visit another merchant. It´s one of the beauties to exploit at Bravemart if you´ve unlocked both merchants next to eachother. However, the refreshing isn´t the only thing done, the quality of the items change as well. I´ve written a post about it at the Clan DA forum a long time ago and I believe Gogo copied it here somewhere. But in short, quality of the items go from terrible ( like showing only potions) to bad (some jewelry) to good (jewelry with extra stats) to excelent (jewelry with golden stats) to terrible again. It also explains this: As for eating runes; As mentioned Dwarven Armour and Dwarven Steel don't have that much influence on how many runes you find, so you can keep on exchanging other ones for those. I'm not sure if Warcry is in that list too, but it certainly is a third CA I would reccommend to be used. I shouldn't worry too much about the timers of these three CA's, since they will increase the more you increase the level of the CA; while regen will remain pretty low. One thing you could do is to use keys 8, 9 and 0 for these three CA's, put the one with the longest timer at the 0 and the one with the shortest timer at 8, then activate them backwards. That way, all three CA's will run out of time at the same time or not long after the previous one. That also leave you with two more CA slots, in which you can use flamethrower for close quarter fighting or your cannon blast or mortar for ranged fighting. As for the Underworld campain: The start is fairly easy, even at higher levels. The entire areas of Dwarven Ruins and Fungi Hillock are swarming with easy to kill monsters. Even the Hornets are pretty easy when using flamethrower. I managed to kill some with CB, but perfer flamethrower for them. Mortar may be a better option, perhaps, but not sure. However, after Purgatory you'll get into an area with monsters having a very high amount of WIDD (Wounds Increase Damage Dealt) and you really would like to fight those at a distance. Melee isn't really advised there, unless you're able to deal at least 5K damage with a single hit (not a hard hit), and although flamethrower got its damage over time; even that one needs to do at least 5K damage to deal with these monsters. And to make things worse, the Nuk-Nuk champions got a ranged attack dealing insane damage. I've got a pretty solid Dwarven build using CB and FT, but even that one got 3K hits IN SILVER from these mini-bosses. The next two area's after the Embalmed Forest aren't that hard, but the moment you enter Hell's Ridge and later the Valley of Tears you'll face harder monsters again. Fortunately, XP in these area's is nice too, so it'll compensate a bit. Still, fighting at range would be a better option, with FT as backup, compared to fighting as melee. Overall the Underworld campaign is a lot harder as the Ancaria campaign, no matter the level. I know I've completed both several times in both SP and MP, although the SP games were always hard to do; while in MP it was done with multiple persons as a clan event. Looking at things, I'm having the expression the Dwarf is one of the most suited fighters for the Underworld campain, if you're using CB / Mortar and FT. The main thing however isn't focussing at constitution, trade or concentration, but to focus at Weapon Lore, Dwarven Technology and Dwarven Lore. It's those three skills that make the difference between a killer Dwarf or a being killed Dwarf. Thorin

Now I'm back to working again, I somehow lack the time to play many games. So I won't post the list of all the games I've been playing in the last couple of months. Instead I'll stick to the ones I've been playing since I'm working again. Basically those are: - Sacred 2 (because although I got chars in Niob, I haven't finished the Niob Campaign yet); - Wurm Online (the older version of Wurm Unlimited someone mentioned here) - Foundation (A great city builder in wich villagers got quite some freedom) - Baldurs Gate (Making me wonder why I never bought it before, considering its age) - Sacred: Underworld (When visiting my parents and because not many other games run at my laptop). As for the latter, I started a new Gladiator, moved him into Silver when reaching level 6 and already managed to get him killed twice. Once at the infamous invested Goblin Lawn, once when facing 6 Orc Archers, a bunch of Goblin Shamen summoning too many Goblins and a few Goblin Champs. It also showed that Sacred: Underworld is a lot harder as Sacred 2, considering you don't have a shared stash, so (almost) no chance to exchange set-items between chars. Oh well, I'm still having fun with the game and I may consider starting a Canon - Flamethrower Dwarf next time I'm visiting my parents, as those are a lot more fun. Thorin

Welcome to the games that keeps you hooked for the rest of your live. And of course, welcome to our group of dedicated fans. If there's something you'd like to know, there's most likely a guide for it. And if there isn't we'll write you one. Just ask and we deliver (not me, coz I never played anything but Dwarves, seraphim's and Gladiators in Sacred Gold). Thorin

One tip on Flaring Nova: It got an option - I think it's the first one - to choose between a long rage effect and a double pulse effect. If you decide to use FN in a combo with Assailing Somersault or Pelting Strikes, using the double pulse effect is a better choice. Main reason for that, you've got a chance to stun anything attacking you. And personally I don't see any use of stunning monsters far away, if the ones close to you are getting killed and the PE stops after that. Thorin

Count me in. Thorin

I'm pretty sure you're not the only one playing this game, although not everyone is seeking advice here. Occasionally I'll see people asking for advice at the Steam forums as well, so there's still a player base. However, to call this game outdated...... Personally I think the only outdated thing of the game is the fact it's 32 bit. When looking at gameplay, environment and graphics, this game is still top-notch; meaning it's been ahead of time when it was released. And that was also one of its problems. Anyway, I strongly advise you to download and install the CM patch, as it removes quite some bugs, add some other..... no wait, those are cm-patch quest related; add new items and even new quests. It also makes it easier to download and use the items I got listed in my first post. The only "disadvantage" of doing so, you need to switch chests and start / safe your character quite a lot. And speaking of saving, a little trick I use - and I'm not certain even some of the vet's here know it - is to use the save option (I think default is F7) before logging out. By doing so, you start at the spot you were when ending the game, instead at a resurrection monolith which is always "at the other side of the map". And one piece of advice which was given to me as well not that long ago; try to keep Tactics, Armor, DW and Exalted Warrior equal to you level, so you're able to master those four as soon as you hit level 75. Having them equal to your level also helps a lot with dealing damage and dealing with damage. Thorin

Given that I've downloaded a lot of my gear, the stats I'm looking out for the most are the - +X skill] items; because they boost your skills and thus the damage output, regeneration time of your combat arts, increase your combat art execution speed as well as the CA's itself and its damage (if you have the lore part) (I think there's a list in one of the posts about where to download the amulets. Socket them in half of your armour slots) - items having Regen per hit; because each hit will reduce the cooldown regeneration of your CA's, meaning you are able to use 7-10 second regeneration CA's and still having them active again within 1 second. Yes, it works thàt good. - fire and ice modifiers as well as the +Z% physical damage increase rings; With these I'm not only meaning the lava chunck and ice shard, but also rings offering +Y% to either fire and ice. I.e.: a weapon doing 200 physical and 25 fire damge, got a 50% conversion lava chunk and a "Fire damage +20%" ring socketed. That means that the physical damage is reduced to 100, while firedmg is increase to 125 because of the lava chunk. However, with the +20% ring, the fire damage is increased with another 25 points because the ring increases your already high fire rate. If that ring happens to have a 2 sockets, adding a +Z% physical ring, would increase damage even more. - Rings and amulets increasing your resitances against damage over time, chances to wound etc. One of the reasons I said to use the+X skill items in only half your armour sockets. Because these rings and amulets (the ones having all the nice coloured stats) are put in the other half of the sockets. - aspect increasing items like rings giving a bonus to your main CA's or giving a general bonus to one of the aspects you're using. I.e. a ring giving +5 to Pelting strikes is nice, however a ring giving +2 to Exalted Warrior Aspects may work better as it reduced the regeneration time of the CA's, while at the same time increasing the CA's too. - If I'm able to socket them; rings giving points to Dual wield. The reason, the higher that skill, the faster you swing your weapons (capped at 150%), but more important, the higher the chance you do a critical hit too. And we all know, crits kill. The list of items I'm using is in my first post; as well as the reason why I'm using them, so I won't explain that here. As for your question about investing a single point into swordlore to unlock the "special" benefits of those weapons; I've always been reluctant to it as it would also mean - imho - that you would need to do the similar thing for hafted weapons; as you're using both as a Dual Wielder. That is, I am, as there's no use to dump a good hafted (hammer, axe) weapon in favour of a bad sword or dagger. That also means you're dropping two skills to unlock a feature you're only using to unlock benefits for the first 74!! levels, as it won't do a thing after your character hit level 75, since you need Sword Mastery for that. Or, if you're aming at getting the bonii after mastery (and for the other 125 levels) as well, bascially wasting 75-150 skill points into two skills you don't use at all; simply because mastery only works if you reach the hard cap (75) of a skill. Not by getting the soft cap. which may be well over 75 skill points at some point by using +X skill items. Not to mention, the attackspeed and crit hit chance are based upon your DW skill, so no use to invest in sword and / or hafted lore as well. But that's my opinion. Other players think the benefits of having the last modifier of a weapon unlocked for the first 75 levels works better, even if you're dualwielding, because the higher DW skill will override the lower attack speed and crit chance Sword lore is giving. Plus the fact they drop only one point in it, makes their build stronger as they can invest more points into the other skills. So yes, when using Dual Wield only, the other bonii based upon sword lore or hafted lore won't work. However, if you're using the community patch you've got the chance to find (or download them if you want to) items that use Dual Wield as modifier. Disciples of the Architect (staves) is one of those sets, the Flesh eaters axes are another, the Remnants of Drizzt are a DW sword set and the Night and Silent Water are the DW "unarmed" weapon DW set. Personally I found the axes and swords weak compared to those I'm currently using, so I decided to drop the idea of using the modifier in favour of the better damage I'm still doing with the weapons I'm using. And since I've downloaded most of my items, upgrading my weapons / armour when the minimum level unlocks isn't a problem anymore. Anyway, I hope I've been able to answer some of your questions. Have fun with the game and the build! Thorin

Welcome to the club. I've been doing the same thing for years, playing so many games and coming back to either Sacred or Sacred 2 for some time. Never managed to get a char above level 110-ish, although I have been able to get a (shopping) Pyro HE, a (Smithing) SW and a Dryad in Niob and currently working at getting a DW seraphim in Niob as well. I dunno if I'm ever able to get any of those characters to level 200, but if I do, I'm certainly going to pop a bottle of champagne. More important is, that we're still having fun with a game that's 10 years old already. IMHO that shows how well Sacred and Sacred 2 were and how very underestimated they were at the time they were released. And in a way still are. Thorin

Managed to get the lady to level 60 today by doing lots of quests. Sloeford and Twainbrook area are done now, I'm currently in Thylysium and doing quests there. I noticed I got orange rings under the feet of my opponents the moment I had leveled up; meaning I'm not that far from getting the easier targets. Disadvantage is that the moment I encounter new spawns, they're having leveled up as well, resulting in purple rings under their feet again. Yet, with the slightly better equipment I'm able to use now - level 75 weapons and armor can be used - things are slowly improving. As for stats: Thorin

Decided to dust off this project yesterday, but to say things went well.......... No, they didn't. I ran into the same problem trice within the past two days, which is that the seraphim died while fighting some undead. Basically because at level 53 faving level 72 monsters and having the light health potions to help you as well as some low LL simply doesn't work the moment your char is used as a needle cushion by undead archers. Doesn't work well when facing 6 angry buffed Centurion's either as well. The third death was caused by an army of Kobolds combined with some pirates using magic in their weapons. And one of them was throwing a trap at me, which was just the push towards the wrong side of DoT. So, what I did was jumping back to Sloeford, picking up quests there and doing those. It'll mean that my progress to Niob will be slowed down a lot, but the advantage of doing this is that the seraphim would be able to gather more XP and SB to close the gap between her level and the minimum Platinum level she's dealing with now. And at level 55 that's still 16 levels above her; while parts of her gear are still at Gold difficulty as well. So my basic plan right now is to quest and grind, improving her gear when that's posible level wise; which won't be long as she's already able to equip level 70 items right now; and closing that level gap between her and the monsters. It most likely means she'll hit Niob after level 60, but at the same time that'll give me the advantage to use slightly better potions. You know, healing up to 30% in Niob using the normal potions, compared to a very low amount using the light health potions. No matter what happens, I will get this char into Niob and if it can't be done as close to my current level, it'll be done a bit later but she will get there. Will post another update when she hits level 60, will update this post with some screenshots of her current stats tomorrow. Thorin

Glad you liked the build, Gog, but did you really have to quote the entire booklet I wrote? I have to admit that out of all the builds posted at this forum, the "downside" of this one is, that it's very focussed at the use of CM patch items. I'm pretty certain it can be achieved without CM patch items, as I managed to get her up to lvl94 without using those items, still; with the CM patch items she's a lot stronger, since both the armour and jewelry set give so many better bonii (or is it bonusses?) Considering how fast I killed the main quest boss monsters at a higher difficulty as I did in a lower one tells a lot. And my guess is, she'll only become stronger at higher difficulties the moment I'm able to fully exploit all tripple aspects. Thorin

Introduction: A very long time ago - think about the time the servers went off line, yes, that long ago! - I had in mind to get several Sacred 2: I&B characters to Niobium. Since then I've been playing these characters, sometimes a lot, sometimes just a few hours; but I managed to get some of them into Gold or Platinum. Among those characters a Dryad, I had intended to become a triple aspect killer babe. Things didn't always work out well for here, but eventually she got parked in Platinum and sortof forgotten. Until the moment one of my other characters ran into a boss that killed her a couple of time, I started a forum thread about it and began learning a lot of mistakes I made. After getting that character to Niob, I aimed to get the rest up there as well. I started a new seraphim, managed to get pretty far with her, got bored - and in particular because of her voice which ; as Pevil stated at the Beta-test forum "She's such a complete airhead!" - and instead began working at my SW. After he got into Niob, I decided to dust off the Dryad, use my experiences from the other characters on her and get her into Niob as well. Considering she was in Sloeford at Platinum difficulty, it shouldn't be too hard. I certainly wasn't wrong about that, but I never had thought it would actually be this easy as it eventually was. The old build: As said, the plan was to set up a tripple aspect, ranged Dryad. With that in mind, I wanted to use some CA's of some aspects, having the "ghost-immage" of some monsters as pet and hoping in general being able to kill anything I encountered as fast as possible. Given that my Dryad died 3 times during the process, the latter didn't always work out as planned. Another thing that kinda held me back, was that I kept using a lot of various non-CM patch items, despite having better items because of that patch. Before changing the build, it looked like this (between brackets the skills before the change): level 2: Tactics Lore: (94) - The main skill to deal as much damage as possible. The intention was to level it up to 100 and leave it there level 3: Concentration: (94)- Required to get that 3rd buff up and running as soon as it's mastered. Again, intended to be leveled to 100 and left there level 5: Combat Reflexes: (35)- The reason I took this skill, was to have enough evasion of critical hits, she would be able to survive easily. I'm still wondering if toughness isn't a better choice, but decided to leave it as it is. level 8: Armor Lore: (94) - Obviously needed to reduce the regenpenalty of armor, as well as having enough armour to withstand a lot of damage dealt. Intended to kept at level 100 maximum level 12: Ranged Weapons: (30) - The other very obvious skill needed for this build. Intended to be kept at level 75 max. level 18: Constitution: (15) Intended to be kept at level 75 max level 25: Capricious Hunter Focus: (15) The first required focus skill to get one buff and several required CA's to their maximal capacity. Planned to level 75 max. level 35: Nature Weaver Focus: (5) The second focus skill, required to reduce the regen of some CA's I was using in a combo, as well as maxing out Ancient Bark. Another level 75 max skill level 50: Nature Weaver Lore: (5) The other NW skill, used to increase the damage of some NW CA's; while also helping me to boost AB. Guess what.... another level 75 max skill. level 65: Cabalistic Voodoo Focus: (5) The last skill and the last focus skill, used to increase the regen of one CV CA as well as to modify the buff and one CA I intend to use. Intended to be level 9 maximum; which wouldn't have worked at all. For buff's and CA's I had the following in use: Buff's: Sinister Predator, modded with Eagle Eye, Marked Shot and Unflinching Ancient Bark, modded with Slippery, Repel and Invigorate Moribund Animus, modded with Malice and Headhunter, planned to take Fury later. CA's: Ravaged impact, modded with Perforate, Breach and Double shot Darting Assault, modded with Reload, Wounding and Pierce Forest Flight, modded with Roots, Expert and intended to take Escape. Edaphic Lances, planned to be modded with Thorns, Stings and Barbs Tangled Vine, planned to be modded with Tendrils, Singe and Intent Goldenglade Touch, planned to be modded with Flow, Persevere and Diligence Malicious Totem, planned to be modded with Solid, Pointed and Rapid Fire. Combo's: 1) Tangled Vines + Ravaged Impact: This is your basic boss-killer. The intention is to stop whatever is heading to you and hit it hard; twice because of the double shot mod of RI. With low regen it's possible to cast it again before the vines run out, making it possible to perma root whatever you try to kill. 2) Forest Flight + Goldenglade Touch: Your escape option, intended to root whatever tries to kill you at the spot, breaking your own rooting if that's cast over you and healing you the moment you arrive at your safe spot. 3) Tangled Vine + Edaphic Lances: An alternative to the first combo, but instead of using your bow, using the thorns to damage the rooted boss. As for gear, I found over time that Detheya's Agility , combined with the Chestplate of Time instead of the Detheya chestpiece would give me the best protective result. It meant unfortunately that I missed out at the full Detheya's set bonus; which is a certain percentage life leech; but I hoped to encounter that by using fixed LL stats combined with rapid fire. Weapons were a lot more difficult story though. One reason is that for some odd reason, ranged weapons drop as often as melee weapons. Or perhaps that's because we got not that many ranged weapons. Either way, at level 94 I was using an Arnum bow, three Bull's eyes and a blowpipe. The big build change: When I picked up my Dryad, she was level 94, having 3 skills mastered and at the same level, using parts of gear that were way below her level - as in level 60 silver armour - and didn't do as much damage as she should do overall. So, my first step was to load her into the Sacred 2 Character editor to remove points from the 3 mastered skills and drop those into the 4th skill I wanted to master, leaving the remaining points to be added to a 5th skill. Resulting in a build looking like this: level 2: Tactics Lore: 75 level 3: Concentration: 75 level 5: Combat Reflexes: 35 level 8: Armor Lore: 75 level 12: Ranged Weapons: 75 level 18: Constitution: 37 level 25: Capricious Hunter Focus: 15 level 35: Nature Weaver Focus: 5 level 50: Nature Weaver Lore: 5 level 65: Cabalistic Voodoo Focus: 5 The next step was to download a lot of needed items; being armor, weapons and jewelry. I already had downloaded the chest filled with all kinds of +X skill amulets, so those were added into the build as well. One of the things I did was getting rid of Detheya's set with the Chestplate of Time, but switching to using a full The Wild Cat set instead, as that set is more focussing at multiple aspects, while Detheya's is focussing at Sinister Predator only. The change did however also mean I lost some aspect, CA and skill modifiers. But I got better protection - the dmg resistance of the chest piece isn't that much different from the Chestplate of Time - as well as damage modifiers in return. I smithed +10 skill amulets in each and every amulet slot, and added some rings doing life leech or extra damage in the ring sockets. Even with my "old" bows, I was doing a lot more damage and a lot faster kiling as I did with the higher skills. And I had only begun. The next thing I added was a full Remnants of Glaurung set. I had found the headpiece of that set in one of my previous playthroughs and the added bonus protection was something I found very useful. After studying the Wiki page, I realized that using the entire set would give me a benefit I didn't have at all: Leech Life from opponents: +x% A modifier which is very useful when fighting champions and (mini) bosses and something I found - to my surprise, actually - not being present at any unique or legendary ranged weapon. Meaning the Detheya's set is the only set available to a Dryad to have that bonus, and only when all pieces are equiped. With that realisation, I was pleasant surprised my Dryad had only being killed three times. It wasn't the last of my surprises though. The third and last step I took was looking for and downloading better bows. I liked the Bull's Eye although playthroughs with other characters told me that poison weapons are nice, but not really needed anymore. Still, I added the bow to my outfit and upgraded it a bit. The second bow was Arnum's Pathfinder, again modded for extra damage. To do ice damage I decided to pick the I&B version of the Dragon's Nemesis. And during that search I had another surprise: there are quite a number of bows out there, however not a single one! is doing additional magical damage. Which meant I had to stick to three bows and had to hope to find a good yellow one, doing additional magical damage. With all armour and weapons socketted with new amulets and rings, either to increase damage or skills, I began changing the CA's I had chosen. Edaphic Lances got removed from my CA-tree as I barely used it and got better results with the Ravaged Impact at the combo. Forest Flight lost one mod because I removed a lot of skill points from TL. Over time I will add that mod again when CHF levels up. How to play: In general this is a very straightforward build. Eventhough you start out with a blowpipe, finding a bow won't take long. But in case players want to use a blowpipe instead of a bow, it's possible. One advantage a blowpipe does have over a bow: you get an immediate hit, even if a monster is running; while a bow will shoot behind the running monster. The skill choice is very straighforward as well, although one may consider to skip picking Combat Reflexes and instead continue with the rest of the skills, freeing up one skill at level 65. For what I've seen so far, there are several options to pick as either last skill or as a replacement of CR. Toughness is a choice, helping you to increase your resistances and damage migitation. But one may also consider to pick Cabalistic Voodoo Lore to increase the damage output of both the minion and the totem, Bargaining to get better items - think of a bow doing additional magic damage - EP to find better items or even Alchemy to use the trophy's you find. The use of the CA's and combo's isn't that hard to figure out as well. However for buff's it's better to focus at either Ancient Bark or Sinister Predator first, start using both the moment you choose Concentration and only add Moribund Animus after mastering Concentration. The main reason for doing so, AB and SP will keep you alive, while MA does provide you with some cannon fodder, but you will need to keep recasting it as long as that minion is low level. However, after choosing Voodoo focus, you will be able to mod MA enough to make your minion stronger, while you may have mastered Conc, giving you the ability to use a third buff. As for my personal setup: 1st slot: Combo of Tangled Vine and Ravaged impact. As said before, my champion / (mini) boss killer. Root them at the spot, and hammer them down. 2nd slot: Ravaged Impact: I'm not using it that often, but every once in a while you encounter something you don't need to root, but still want to kill fast. This CA does that perfectly for you. 3rd slot: Malicious Totem: This is more a supportive CA to me, as a real boss killer. The idea of using it is to supply my with a 3rd option of attack after both my own and that of the minion. The poison damage is a nice addition and works very well when using a magic enhanced weapon yourself. That is, if you can find any of those.... 4th slot: I had used it for my Tangled Vine + Edaphic Lances combo. But as said before, I was barely using it, so I removed that combo. Will most likely change it to Darting Assault, so I can deal with multiple oponents at once. 5th slot: Forest Flight and Goldenglade Touch combo: My "escape plan", meant to jump away and heal while doing so. In case you're able to switch between slots fast, fire this one, switch to the first slot, aim at the monster and fire the TV/RI combo. Helps you healing while that monster can't get to you and giving you a new chance to kill it. And finally: Skill mastery: Although this build is very straightforward, the order of skill mastery is still very important. First and for all; TL, RW and Conc are the ones you should master asap to make sure you deal tons of damage fast, but also to start getting that third buff activated. After that you should aim at AL and Cons for your defence. What you do afterwards is up to you. Quests to do: Depending at what you want to you got several choices. If your aim is to get to Niob asap, you'd like to do as few quests as possible. If you like to get to Niob in a more balanced way, there are quests you can take to help you level more before switching difficulty. However, what often is forgotten, is that the CA-patch gave us two quests (for the light path, for shaddow path it's only one) offering an additional skill and atribute point as reward. Therefore ALL games should start in Bronze until those two quests are done, before switching to silver. Leaving us with the next quests to do: Shadow path and racing to Niob: Main quest, Ancarian Airlines (found in Sloeford near the light path starting point) Class specific quest (optional) Hold Up! Light path: All of the above "Food for the poor" (found in Thylysium slums) For a slower progress: All of the above, The introduction quests The Undead Legion Blind Guardian For an "ease your mind" progress: Start exploring and questing in Platinum. By the time you're close to level 100, you're also close to finishing the main quest and moving on to Niob. How does it all work out? I have to admit, a lot better as I even had hoped for. After converting the build, I began picking up the main quest after Sloeford, while doing the class specific north of Sloeford. It took me about two hours before getting to the Gar'Colossus, killing it a lot faster as I expected. Octo went down fast as well and by then I realized this build was getting a lot better as I thought it was. But I really knew it was a strong build, when Xanthiar went down within a minute. And not just that, the stats showed how easy it was as well: Same thing happened with the next boss encounter I had. The Carnach went down even faster, mainly because it's having a bit more fire resistance, making it a lot more vunerable to ice damage. However, with AB as buff, I noticed I was vunerable to his firedamage as well. And for some weird reason, one of the fire-elementals it spawned, spawned exactly where I stood; meaning the lava hit me a lot even before the elemental showed up. Still, some potions and the percentage of LL helped me survive it. Level 100 was reached while I was in the swamp, but the Miasma didn't turn out to be a big problem. One thing that helped me a lot with fighting it, is the fact all monsters it spawns are spawning at the same spot. So while attacking one, I pierced through it and also hit the other monsters; making killing them once spread out very easy. After that, the Garganthropod went down about as fast as the previous two big bosses. In fact, it went down that fast, that the two T-mutant scorps it usually spawns, didn't attack me until after I had destroyed the Gargan and looted the boss-chest. Khral took a bit longer, but only because I focussed at those energy pylons first. Facettelleon went down fast as well, somewhere in about 45 seconds, I think: And even Nimonuil and the four guardians went down fast, although each one of them took a bit longer as the previous bosses. But the result of the changes I made is that this build turned from a mediocrene one into a killer build, dealing with bosses faster as I've ever done. All in all it took me "only" eight levels to get her from the just past the start of the Light campaign in Sloeford through platinum into Niob. Of course, each level is about 4M in XP, but it took my SW a lot longer, despite the fact he was starting further down the campaign. And all that questing this killer babe did, resulted in: Thorin

Managed to get the SW into Niob (so that's #2!) although it wasn't always easy. I guess over 92% SB does that to a character. Yet, he's got two more levels to go before he's a "centenial", so I still got some work to do. Now that's done, I decided to dust off my Dryad. Changed a few things on her using the Character Editor before working my way through Platinum. I will post about that in the right part of the forum over time. Thorin

Very small update this time. Although I haven't done much with the Seraphim, I haven't neglected this game. Instead, I've been working to get my Blacksmithing SW up to Niob; which is something I hope to achieve without dying as that guy got a huge (it's really yuuuuuuuuuuuuuge, the yuuuuuugest ever, period!) Survival Bonus. So far things are going well. I decided to stop exploring in Gold and finish the main and personal quest, entered Plat and only did a few quests in there. In doing that, I managed to get him to level 93, having mastered blacksmithing, tactics, AL and Hafted weapons and currently wondering if I should level up the remaining skills, or focus at Constitution for a while, as in some of the last fights I had to use health pots for the first time in quite some time. The main reason I'm leveling him instead of the seraphim is that I could use a Niob smith at some point for my other characters. I had in mind to have him being a supportive character, but with some of my characters in Niob, it's a good idea to have the supportive blacksmith in Niob as well. When that's done, I'll concentrate at the seraphim again. Unless I feel in the mood to dust off my Dryad...... Thorin

Finished Gold at level 52 today after facing far higher opponents at both the Dryad Island as well as the Wastelands and Great Machine area. Level of last bosses were 66 and especially Nimomuil was a real challenge, who had me going through potions as no boss had done before. Not even Xanthiar. Yet, despite that, my seraphim still hasn't died, making her the first character who managed to get to platinum without dying. At least I got that personal achievement for now. She isn't the highest character that hasn't died yet; my level 86 Blacksmith SW got that. He's also the one with the highest SB; which is around 91% I think. Back to the Seraphim, though. Being in Platinum does make me wonder what to do next. I got the option to do a similar run in Gold; knowing I will face monsters being around 20+ levels above my level. And while I'm not that worried about the normal monsters or even the champions, I am wondering if I'm able to deal with the mini-bosses. As well as some of the bosses who'd already given me a headache - in both ways of speaking - in Gold. The other option is to start exploring in Platinum. It won't get me to my goal of getting in Niob asap; however, by doing a full exploration I may increase my level, neutralize the level difference caused by both the difficulty and my SB for a bit - although it will most certainly increase that SB as well - and will probably make sure I will enter Niob with at least two and most likely 4 or even more skills mastered. Of course there's also the option to do a bit of both; but I've already noticed that doing a bit of both won't work, as it always make you ask yourself, should I do this quest or shouldn't I do it because it's too long. So I don't see that as a valid option. Guess it's time to think things through for a while. So for now, I'll end with a screenie of my seraphim's full skill and CA list, taken right before pushing the button: Thorin

Made it to level 50 today, still without deaths and with some fights that were easier as expected. To deal with the Carnach I decided to run the caves a few times, so I would gain enough XP to level up. With that, I could add more points to DW, hoping it would also increase the level to unlock weapons. Unfortunately it didn't, so I had to deal with the Carnach using the same weapons I had used on Xanthiar. Despite that and the Carnach being one level higher, I had less problems with it as with the dragon. Using my FN / PS combo to deal with the summoned fire elementals helped, especially when RpH helps to "free" my PS CA, so I could launch another attack the moment the first was finished. The trip through the marsh was a walk in the park, the moment I leveled up again and was able to use my new (level 60) Sereish swords as well as most of Niokaste's set of the same level. The desert was just as easy now I could use that level 60 Kal'Dur's axe and even the jungle didn't cause many problems, resulting in Kral going down fast as well. One thing I noticed - and I'm not sure if anyone knew this - is that Kral's sonic attack showed my shield for a brief moment; even after it was completely depleted. Making me wonder if that attack is set to deplete / destroy warding energy shields. Perhaps someone playing a TG knows more about it? The irony of all of it, was that I ran out of gold to smith new rings into my armor and then realizing I got a level 86 SW with blacksmith mastery in Gold as well. And all this time I have been saving money and selling off lots of stuff to get enough money for each upgrade. #facepalm Made it to level 50 not long after defeating that winged demon, meaning I got my 5 skill points and two atribute points to work with now. I will start to use that extra point to bring TL up to level asap, followed by AL, so I will master both at the same time when getting to level 75. As soon as those skills are equal to my level, the extra spare point is used on DW and Const to bring that up as high as possible as well. But by then I'll be in platinum, as all that's left between me and the end of the game are a few hundred monsters and the four Guardians. Thorin

Minor correction regarding my previous post: 1) The Icy-weapon setup I use is Ysandrifa's Law having 32 fixed LL and Ragno's Slayer, having no LL at all. I checked my stash and saw that Kal'Dur's Legacy (the legendary version) is having an +x% LL modifier. So while the stats were correct, I mixed up the name. Nearest Kal'Dur's I got is level 60, meaning I will be able to use it after I encountered the Carnach. However, with some luck I will be able to use it in the desert or when fighting the Guardians. We'll see. 2) The total LL I'm doing with my Icy-weapon set is 66. Of that 32 is from Ysandrifa's Law, 9 is from the Inner Demon Amulet of the Smoke without fire set (CM only) and 25 is from Niokaste's Grace. So in a way the "base" LL I got is 34, while the rest of what I leech is depending at the weapons I'm using. Thorin

Small update today. I managed to get to level 45, still haven't died a single time; which kinda shows in itself this build is quite solid. The Octo went tentacle-less within a minute, although I had expected a hard fight, given he had a dark orange / near red ring. Rest of the area was a piece of cake, the seraphim quest in Shum'zum was nice when doing a few Flaring Nova / Pelting Strikes combos in a row - Regen per hit FTW! - and although the ice monsters at the seraphim island were able to burn through my defences - and thus slowing my running speed down a lot! - even that area wasn't that hard. Nor was the quick side-step to that cave north of Bluetonburry in which you encounter those Highlander reference mini-bosses. Again, Regen per hit ftw, giving me the opportunity to do a few FN / PS combo's. One thing I learned from this session is that picking Pulse over expanding as first modifier of FN was a very good choice. Yes, it does reduce the damage of a pulse; however since it sends out TWO pulses instead of one you still do about 50% more damage compared to the single pulse. Another reason it works so nicely, I picked Stun as another option, meaning all monsters in my direct vincinity are hit twice with magic damage, stunned and then turned into pork-chops, minced meat, sausages and t-bones stakes by the PS before the time of the stunning has expired. Is it fair? Not at all. Is it efficient? Most certainly is. All in all, this means I have reached the Carnagh caves; probably the only location I dislike a lot. Those stone throwing monsters with their chance to stun you are anoying, but I can live with that. An AS / PS combe between them will finish most of them off pretty fast. What I do hate about that area are the bugged young dragons. For some weird reason, the young dragons got an invisible barrier around them when they breathe in to release that fireball. Because of that you can't get to them and as a result you are always hit by said fireball. Another thing I really hate is that they're all the sudden teleporting; or perhaps it's jumping / being knocked back; when you're fighting them; even if you don't have that knockback modifier in your gear. So the result is that you need to engage a young dragon twice, no matter how high your damage output is. In worst cases even trice. Anyway, despite all that I managed to get to Loromir. And to do so I had the hardest fight so far: Xanthiar. It was a bit surprising for me, as the Octo was having the same level difference (10 levels) as that lizzard, yet the Octo went down pretty fast; while with Xanthiar I was drinking health potions faster as an alcoholic drinks beer in a "drink all you can" bar. Then I realized the difference were the weapons. I fought the Octo using dual Sereish swords; both having 1.2%LL. And since that percentage is based upon the Maximum HP the opponent starts with, it's a lot when fighting bosses. Xanthiar, however, was fought when using an Ysandrifa's Law and a Kaldur's axe. And the LL at the Ysandrifa's Law is a fixed number. I was able to increase it using a Demon's set amulet, but 1.2% LL is quite strong compared to 30-40-ish LL maximum. Yet, Xanthiar went down - and so did my potions supply, but since I got a standard amount of 99 with me at all times, that wasn't too much of a problem - and I made it to Loromir. Soon (tm) I will venture through the rest of those caves, although I'm not looking forward to the fight with the Carnagh; as I will most likely have to use the same weapons again. And to end it all: the victorious lady just after she had begun chopping that lizzard up: Thorin

I'm using Warding Energy shield right now and plan to combine it with Divine Protection as soon as I got that one with a regen that isn't 4 times the duration. Meaning it'll be a while before doing so. Currently using the two Sereish blades as main weapon; which is ideal for fighting (most) bosses as they got an +X%LL modifier, while also boosting Flaring Nova, which is one of my main CA's when combined with Pelting Strikes. Another thing I noticed is that you're technically able to run the entire map using only two kind of alternative damage types: fire and ice (makes me wonder if I should rename my seraphim into Denaerys.......). For some reason all monsters lack a resistance to either one of these, while Magic and Poison are quite common as resistances. Thorin

When doing the Seraphim Class quest, it turns out the quest "Children and Demons 2" already shows the Demons before even talking to the bad father or bad mother. After you killed those two and talk to the "child" (portraited as a demon), you see the cloud and hear the sound of the transfiguration, however, since the demons are already showing as demons, nothing changes. It sort of kills the quest, as the entire quest was set up as the Seraphim coming to rescue children being punished by the two bad parents. Showing demons instead of children, is taking away the surprise and the entire clue of the quest. Can this be fixed so we have the children again before the transformation, please? Thorin

Went back to my game after a break of about a month. The reason I had that break was twofold: 1) It became to feel like a job to level that Seraphim, instead of a hobby. Not to mention, when doing the same quests for the 4th time within a few weeks they get boring. And 2) I've been having problems with both my shoulders for quite some time now, usually when I've been doing long sessions of playing games I need to run around a lot. Main reason is that I use a right-hand setup while being a left handed player. And although moving the keyboard to the right to get at least most of the keys at the right angle, I've always been forcing my shoulder too much to use those keys. Fortunately, I was able to replace the WASD setting we got in the last CM patch with the default cursor key settings, making life a bit easier. Anyway, as said, I went back to the game today. Didn't do a long session, just went from the Royal Honky Tonk to Orcish Byway to kill Mudman. Gained one level and started with one skill and one atribute point which were most likely a leftover from my previous session. My guess is I got them from doing the Feed the Poor quest. So what are my plans? Well, first of all, to do some math. Or better said, I've already done that. I got 4 skills I aim to master asap, also depending a bit at how the other skills are influencing the build. With my seraphim at level 41, those 4 skills are Tactics Lore (31), Armor Lore (31), Dual Wield (22) and Constitution (23). The next nine levels I will invest my skill points in those 4 skills, meaning at level 50 I'll end up at TL and AL at 40, DW at 31 and Const at 32. After level 50, I have five skill points to spend, meaning one for each of the four skills and a spare for one skill. Since it needs level 75 for mastery, I'll be able to have 25 spare skill points to spend. Getting both TL and AL equal to my level will take me 20 levels; leaving me with 5 spare skill points I can either drop in DW (57 when mastering first skill) and Const (58 at mastering first skill). Given I'm already facing monsters 8-9 levels above my skill, I will most likely spend most points in DW to unlock weapons equal to the monster's level; with the occasional point in Const to keep my health up. Meaning both will most likely be at level 60. Which means I could be able to master those two within 6 levels, IF I ignore the rest of my skills. I haven't decided what to do after I've mastered my first two skills. Looking at how things went in previous games, I may keep AL equal to my level or perhaps drop a point in it every other level. Same with TL. By doing that, I would be able to increase the other two skills faster, but also could use the freed up skill points to level EWF, RTL, CR, Conc, RTF and WEL. Either way, the plans to master my first two skills are laid out. I don't think that'll be too much of a problem for me. Thorin

Small update today (yes, a small one!). I managed to get to level 40, just visited the Royal Honky Tonk and am heading out to Skooks Corner for the next leg of the class' personal quest. No deaths so far, but I'm occasionally starting to see purple rings under the feet of my oponents. Funny thing is, they're ranging between 8 to 10 levels above me, also meaning the rings are orange, red or purple, depening a bit when and where I encounter the monsters. Usually the moment I enter a dungeon, I'll see the purple ones. Encountered only one boss today, with was Telus, the undead general. Fight didn't last long, although I did get some damage. Yet, nothing to worry about for now. Overall the current build looks a lot more balanced as my previous attempt. Although my 4 major skills are all 10 - 19 points below level - and most likely will remain that way for a while - the damage output, attackspeed, health regen and armor stats are high enough to give me low damage to my seraphim's HP for quite some time now. I'm currently changing the items I socketted in the armor into resistance and migitation amulets; which proof to be very useful. Regen of my CA's, however, has been creeping up and if it wasn't forthe RpH rings I got socketed in some weapons, using them CA's would be very painful. I do hope I'm able to deal with this the moment I ge to level 50, where I've planned to take Rev.Tech.Focus, plus also am getting a 5th skillpoint and 2nd atribute point, making it a bit easier to drop the regen of the CA's. But even after that, I'll intend to keep RpH rings in my weapons as they're very beneficial. Thorin