gasconron

@ all: very nice info to know... thanks for the feedback guys. @ flix: I've never really considered hit/regen before, as I was following the Unipuma ranged dryad guide, it was aimed more on getting every auto attack to crit and get large damage bonuses via Tactics. If this mod will enable me to use Ravage impact and Darting Assault like a regular attack, I might be better off sacrificing some +%dmg and flat dmg boni in favor of at least "2 sec regen per hit" @ chattius: I wasn't even aware of the % leech boni that Detheya's set provides. For the mean time while I'm still in plat farming levels, I might as well abuse the setup and stack it with that shuriken. However, I already have a damage miti armor waiting for me when I hit level 150 and above (and I will be looking for a setup that can provide me the max amount of sockets that fulfills at least the recommended threshholds). Playing my hardcore so I will have to favor the added security.

I'm not really very well-informed about Dryads, since majority of my experience with the class is based on me following Guides about it. However, since the general opinion seems to be in favor of blowpipes, that was what I built my character upon. In terms of mob clears, I have no complaints with the blowpipe. With enough D.blow and Crit, 2-3 shots is enough to take down a baddie, and since its a blowpipe, those 2-3 shots come out REAL quick. If there was something that I'm really unsatisfied with my current Dryad is that when fighting bosses, the blowpipe's low base dmg really come into play (in terms of boss clear times). Majority of the team fight is spent Forest Flighting away >> Vines cc >> Tri-skill Debuff >> Auto Attacking w/ periodic Darting Assault or Ravaged Impact. Which still takes about a good 3.5 - 4 mins to take down a Plat Nameless Guardian. Not really up to par with my idea of a "glass cannon." Recently, I found a slotless rare throwing star/shuriken that has life leech % on it. And I made tests on it with 2 blank end-game dryads with the same skill allocations and nearly same stats (+skills, +CA, dmg) except the weapon, d.blow and crit. - 1st Dryad (Blowpipe Dryad) - 66% D Blow, ~80% Crit, weapon Socketed with 2x +55 base dmg w/ 53% Poison Dmg (since a big chunk of the blowpipe is poison dmg) - 2nd Dryad (shuriken Dryad) - 33% D blow, ~35-40% crit, 2.6% life leech Test Run: Niob Nameless Guardians 1st Dryad cleared 1st Guardian @ ~ 1.5 minutes (Forest Flighting away >> Vines cc >> Tri-skill Debuff >> Auto Attacking w/ periodic Darting Assault or Ravaged Impact) 2nd Dryad: Vines >> Triskill Debuff >> (Darting Assault + Ravaged Impact Combo) 2x. Goes Down... Didn't even reach 25 seconds by my count. --------- even with an inferior base dmg, CA dmg, D blow and crit, a shuriken with life leech % floored a gimped blowpipe dryad. the fact that u can even use a shield on a shuriken dryad just makes the idea even more ridiculous. I actually feel really stupid right now building my Dryad the way she is atm. But this personal discovery of mine just gave me more unanswered questions. 1. does +life leech% only appear on (ranged) shurikens & throwing stars? or do they also appear on bows or blowpipes. 2. I know that the mod is rare on shopped/dropped items, but is a life leech% shuri based build too impractical? is this the reason why I do not see builds as such on the forums? - would like some thoughts on the matters, I feel really bummed out atm, I really want to scrap my hardcore blowpipe dryad atm.

I'm so glad I read through this guide. It served as the backbone of the build I'm now using on my Temple Guardian. Full damage auras, 15 sec Embers/Evan and a fairly spamabble Charged Grid. The Area of Effect capabilities of a TG isn't something to be overlooked I guess. Had "Ancient Magic" been an option skill for this character, it would've made TG Aura builds a lot stronger.

@ gogo: Just checked now, working great! Thanks!! yah Sacred 2, is just one of those games that don't get old. Just like TQ and Diablo 2. Shame that Diablo 3 was such a disappointment. If ever Sacred 3 does come out, I hope it stays loyal to the genre, rather than cater once again to non-RPG players to try and get more sales. This business habbit has been destroying the RPG genre over the years. Freakin' Bioware is a very good example of this. Although Skyrim has been a really fun game, the oversimplification of the mechanics in of an unmodded gameplay in comparison to previous Elder Scrolls is an eyesore to a RPG player.

@dragon bro: that would be nice. I am only able to edit posts that have been posted for 30 mins. Any later than that, and [Report - MultiQ - Quote] instead of the usual [Report - Edit - MultiQ - Quote]

LOL at Incendiary Shower - magma > smoking rock > intensity... INTENSITY? where in 7 hells did that come from? that was supposed to be "Copious Shower." can't edit the post anymore though. Another Edit: Frost Flare - freeze > frost > icy circle

Tri-Element Offensive Caster Commonfolk: “A jack-of-all-trades is the Master of Nothing…” Me: “But the master of everything, is what you’d call a God…” Introduction: Everyone has a High Elf, and having said so. I have always wondered why there hasn’t been an in-depth guide of how to make a Tri-Elementalist. I saw a Tri-Elementalist guide in the forums, but it seemed like the guy literally wanted to do everything with his HE. He wanted it to be a multi purpose tanky PvE tri-elementalist and at the same time a PvP duelist. So here I am with a Hardcore-Mode tested LATE GAME highly offensive tri-elemental DPS. This is a hardcore mode build, but it is in no way tanky/unkillable. It's designed not to get 2-3 shotted, but other than that this is a caster-focused build. Play with Caution! If you are familiar with my build-guides (The Knight: 1-h & Shield SW and Corpse Explosion Inquisitor) then you should know by now that this will be equipment intensive and specific, as I am a big fan of optimization. As with other action-RPG games, some concepts are only made viable with only certain equipment, so this should not come as a surprise to some people. Everyone has a Niob Blacksmith/Bargain and at least 2 EP farmers (for mid-level and high level items) that will spoon-feed items to its progressing characters. If your new to this fairly old game, then make sure you build those first. It’s a hassle I know… but necessary if you want to equip characters with nice equipment that don’t have access to those skills. (I know the HE has EP and Bargain, but that is not what this guide is for) I also hate playing “untwinked” or starting from scratch every single damn time. I personally reserve the right to use whatever I found in whatever way possible. So if you’re one of them purists that don’t want to twink, then this guide and build is not for you. Glacial Defender, Stalworth Safeguard and 2 Tanits and 1 Darwangon is an integral part of making this concept possible. Good luck finding a steady supply of those as you level up. Still with me? The good news is that unlike the other guides I’ve made, this one is fully doable only by using sets. No more hours wasted trying to find specific dual modded helms/chest/shoulders/waist armor w/ 1-2 slots. So, your only worry will be the jewelry, which you should have somewhere stored somewhere. So without further delay, on to the guide. Skill Selection: FIRST PRIORITY (this maybe subjective in accordance to which Element you feel more comfy starting with, but I suggest you make either Pyro or Stormrite your pioneer aspect) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Start w/ Pyro – Early game damage is good with very little investment is a + especially when your goal is optimization. Doing a lot” with hardly nothing”, You also have the “chance to burn” for even more dmg. *Start w/ Stormrite – You gain access to an early Crystal Skin , which will be our buff of choice instead of Incandescent Skin for the massive defense and armor boost it gives. Crowd Control effect of “chance to freeze” helps with early game survivability. Since I already have an EP pyromancer, I was more or less comfortable starting the pyro route, so I will use that in this example. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level 2: Arrant Pyromancer Lore – 100+ points (5 pts until you have a hard time killing things, increase conservatively) place 5 to unlock “focuses”, add points when necessary only to maintain a reasonable kill speed. This is NOT a solo PYRO build, you will have to OPTIMIZE in order to reach your achieved goal. which means you will have to bear with non-Godly damage early to early-mid game. Level 3: Arrant Pyromancer Focus – 75 pts max. just enough to unlock the “special perk” increase with your level Level 5: Delphic Arcania Focus - 75 pts max. This build was made to make the concept viable… and the only way something is viable for me in an hack&slash action-RPG game is if I can play the game in all difficulties w/o dying. Therefore, THIS IS YOUR MANDATORY 2nd ELEMENT (you need Grand Invigoration early on.) Increase it with your level. Level 8: Armor Lore – 75 pts max. No need to explain this. Raise with your level SECOND PRIORITY Level 12: Concentration – 75 pts max. start out with 1 point just enough for 3 buffs. Start out with 1 pt. UNTIL you unlock your 3rd Elemental Focus (in this example: Mystic Stormrite) Level 15: Combat Discipline – 75-100 pts we want that -20% regen + chunky damage goodness from any combo or any skill put in a combo slot. Also this will be your main source of early game damage, since you will be unlocking/increasing your “lores” last. Get up until 75, then add more later when all focuses have been raised to 75. Level 25: Mystic Stormite Focus - 75 pts max. As soon as you are allowed, rush at least 3-6 CA points for Crystal Skin and Raging Nimbus. THIRD PRIORITY (Time to F#%$ S#$% up!) Level 35, 50 & 65: Damage Modifiers… unlock them but keep them all at 1 pt, until the first 2 focuses and Armor Lore have been 75’d Level 35: Ancient Magic – 75 pts max. No, I’m not trolling… Lore + Com Discip + AM will destroy anything using anything. This is especially true at higher levels (level 150 and up) when you have at least ~ +60-75 Skills & CA or more. But it’s not just the damage we’re after, since we will be using 3 elements in every combo we need to make sure everything does damage. That’s why it’s necessary to break the immunities. Comment: why take AM before the 2 lores? At Level 35, you would want all you dmg sources to be increased rather than just 1. With some low level +skills AM % dmg bonus + Combat Discipline flat dmg bonus is enough to offset the lack of lore points in your build. This early in the game Level 50: Mystic Stormite Lore – 100+ pts No need for explanations here. Level 60: Delphic Arcania Lore – 100+ pts No need for explanations here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ Level 60 your stats should look like this: 5 60 (you have 8 CA mod points) 60 (you have 8 CA mod points) 60 1 2 30 (just enough to fully mod Crystal Skin & Raging Nimbus) 1 1 1 * from here on out you’ll be getting 5pts each per level, get the 3 sets of 60 to 75 (1pt per level each = 3), 1pt to mystic stormrite per level, 1pt to concentration every 2 lvls and 1pt to combat discipline every 2 lvls. @ level 75 – your 5 pts per level should now be split between the 2 Lores, Mystic Stormrite, Concentration and Combat Disc. You are not to keep this stat distribution linear, you are only adding to AP Lore until you have 9-11 CA mod points (depending if u want a modded Fire Demon or not) and DA Lore until until you have 9-10 CA mod points (depending whether or not you had to depend on Magic Coup w/ Target Focus as an extra source of damage). After getting the needed CA mod point for AP and DA Aspect, concentrate on getting your 3rd Focus, Conc and Combat Disc to 75. After that it’s all gut feel on you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stat Allocation: 25/75 ratio Vitality and Intelligence. All INT in the first 15 levels. This is an offensive caster build, a glass cannon. You should not be playing one if you can’t keep her alive early-game. After that you can start with a 1:2 distribution until you have 101 pts. in Vitality. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Combat Arts: Note: I will not only list the CA mod choices and explanation, I will also explain the order you mod your CAs… This is not really that important in the long run since this build will give you the full 15 mod points in all 3 aspects, but the order early on is very important to get the most of the build in early game when your damage is fairly hampered by spreading yourself thin. Arrant Pyromancer Aspect: Blazing Tempest (BT) – scorch > conflag > ambition (combo’d with glacial thorns as your main mob farming utility) * all mods taken was meant to do damage. Anyone who has an EP/Bargain Pyro knows why this CA is crazy good in terms of hoarding XP. Some people may opt for spell flow (silver mod) to compensate the lack of an incandescent skin buff regen, we need to remember that this is going to be a tri-element HE, which means this was not meant to be a 1-2 trick pony. We will utilize certain skills under certain situations, which is why this skill does not need to be spammable. Incendiary Shower (IS) – magma rain > smoking rock > copious shower (the main damage of your 3-part boss combo) 1. Skull Smash is the meta for the bronze mod for an EP Pyro, but this was only because it used 1 aspect and was reliant on that aspect to do everything for you. But me reminded that you have access to other aspect AoEs that can do the crowd control. The stun-lock will be sorely missed, but in the end game your IS damage will be greatly increased for this. 2. Smoking rock taken in favor of more damage 3. the crits were tempting, but now that the stun is gone on IS we need the shower to come down faster while bosses are getting cc’d Ancestral Fireball (AF) – (depends on how you mod your Cobalt Strike) > Globe > Hot Pursuit * the silver and gold mod is the current meta for a pyromancer I believe, the reason I opt not to choose the bronze mod is because this will largely depend on how you mod your CS, because this will be your early combo, while waiting for you GT > BT combo to regen at early levels. So let me discuss CS next so that we can talk about mod implications after that. Cobalt Strike (CS) – (flexible depending on what you will use it for) If you want an Area of Effect CS: chain reaction > chain reaction > explosion = CS > GT > BT combo If you want a single target Spike + Debuff: heavy damage > electrify > critical = CS > RN > IS combo for bosses, also CS > AF combo in @ lower levels Fire Demon – power > lively > modesty * silver and gold mods were taken to buff the cast and regen of our CAs which is the HE life and blood Comment: Incandecent Skin is a good buff, but being in Hardcore mode, Crystal Skin will do us more good than increased regen time and more damage. +% chance to reflect close combat is a good mod, but I will take “more chances of getting hit for less than less chances of getting hit for more.” Evasion/Avoidance is a bonus, mitigation is a must. I am fully aware that reflect, evade and defense are put in a different category but what reflect does is the chance to completely nullify the hit, which in essence is almost like evading the actual hit. Suggested Modding Order (micro-maxing your CA points until level 60 w/ 8 CA mod points): BT bronze > BT silver > AF bronze > AF silver > BT gold > IS bronze > IS silver > IS gold > rest Delphic Arcania Aspect: Grand Invigoration – (this depends on your initial aspect) > Replenish > Resilience * mods used were taken for regen and 2ndary resistances. This is your initial buff, this will heal you along the way so you’ll only really need health pots to counter health spikes early on. With DA Lore, hitpoint regen will blow through the roof. Cobalt Strike - CS has been discussed Shadow Step (SS) – phase shift > sanctuary > explosion 1. Being able to break root effects is valuable as being rooted on a squishy HE will get you killed. However, root effects is situational and not every enemy has it. For me personally, there is more value in an 8 second SS, than a 15 second SS that can break roots. That 7 second difference in very tight spots, especially when something goes wrong when herd farming early. Same can be said by being rooted just once, but then again, that’s a gamble I’m willing to make. We can always address chance to block: Root in our gear. 2. Sanctuary – majority of the things that will hit you in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is Physical damage. 3. Explosion – This is the reason why I took Phase Shift in Bronze and Sanctuary in Silver. This can be potent enough to wipe mobs that have been softened by CS > GT > BT from mid-to-end game. Magic Coup (MC) – target focus > leech life > stray damage * use of this in higher levels is really debatable. With enough +% chance opponent cannot evade/-% opponent evade chance gear and target focus mod, you can use this well until Niob. Not really advisable though. Although at very low levels even unmodded it, it is a great tool to pick off stragglers that are in melee range when BT, CS or AF are in recharge. It’s much more practical to MC something rather than SS’ing away just to buy you time. Suggested Modding Order (micro-maxing your CA points until level 60 w/ 8 CA mod points): Buff: bronze > Buff: silver > CS bronze > CS Silver > MC bronze (optional) otherwise buff gold > SS bronze > SS silver > SS gold > rest Mystic Stormite Aspect: Crystal Skin – glacial mirror > focalize > (this depends on whether you took MS as your 1st aspect or 3rd aspect) 1. Chance to reflect combat arts is valuable 2. This is debatable as my attention has already been called out for giving some importance to Spell Intensity. Apparently people say is a waste of space… but better be safe than sorry. 3. Expertise if you got it as your first aspect, Frosty Breeze if you took it as your third Glacial Thorns (GT) – frost > pierce > fusillade 1. This will be combo’d with BT, the purpose of the GT is to soften the targets initially so that BT’s DoT will be enough to chew them up 2. designed to potentially increase the number of targets hit by the spell 3. designed to potentially increase the number of targets hit by the spell Raging Nimbus (RN) – hurricane > momentum > cyclone 1. You need the hits to proc as often as possible, this will help you hit your IS, now that we’ve forgone the IS stun lock effect 2. slower speed inside the RN will help you hit the full damage of your IS 3. the longer the RN duration, the longer the slow effect is on your target(s) Comment: What could've been done was to take the current Pyro meta of the IS (stunlock effect), then mod RN as a damage skill rather than a crowd control. But I realized that too late when I was already playing. And I didn't want to scrap this toon at high 100's in Hardcore. Cascading Shroud (CasSh) – mist > intangible > steam 1. There are situations when you know you’re going to get hit. Even worse if you know its going to be a hard one. This will be your panic button should your SS be on recharge. 2. I chose to forego the root break capability of Shadow Step, so this will be the tool pre-casted when engaging enemies that have the said ability 3. reduce fire sensitivity Frost Flare – freeze > frost > icy circle * if taken as your first aspect, this will be one of your primary damage along with GT and CS 1. Target(s) slow down 2. Increase DoT, you’ll need all the damage you can get early game 3. FF’s version of AF’s explosion bronze mod, except this thing will freeze your target(s) Suggested Modding Order (micro-maxing your CA points until level 60 w/ 6 CA mod points): Buff: bronze > GT bronze > RN bronze > RN Silver > CasSh bronze > GT silver > Equipment (end game): **since this is a very gear dependent build, I will be as thorough as I can be on this, put forth what I personally used. I made various changes as I progressed to higher levels, and obviously as my farmer/shopper found better stuff** 1. Damage Mitigation – despite the fact that you OD’d on eating Grand Invig Runes and Crystal Skin Runes, When you get hit you will get hit hard. This can be fatal in Plat/Niob, which is why no matter what class you’re using as long as you’re playing Single Player or Solo LAN Freeplay, with no teammate to Tank for you this mod is a “must” for any class. Levels of mitigation varies depending on difficulty. In earlier levels armor is just plain better. But when bosses start to hit for 6-7k damage or more, that’s when mitigation starts to shine. At end-game 25-30% is sufficient which can easily addressed by a Glacial Defender, 2 Tanits and 1 Darwagon (shield and 2 extra socketed slots) comment: this along with the armor bonus from your equipment and Crystal Skin (an easy 35-40k armor in end game), addresses survivability issues in the game 2. The Usual Suspects.... (anything that will boost your damage lvls or improve you overall), such as - + All Skills + All Combat Arts * for any class I usually use it as a general rule not to have + CA & Skill more than +75, as it really starts to kill “balance”, I have finished SP Hardcore Niob with only 3 chars (SW, seraphim and HE) and the initial 2 have ~ +40-60 CA & Skills @ end-game (which is very low, for someone who is twinking). However this setup is different. since this is a tri-element build that weaken the damage potential of the CAs we will need these stats to a be a bit higher than normal. ~ +75-90 should be good enough. 100-110 would be Optimal, but that just goes against my personal ego. + Critical Hit Chance % - for any “procs” I usually follow a standard ~ 33.3% chance, 1/3 of anything you throw will crit. The only time I ignored this was when I followed Unipuma’s Dryad Guide that aims for a 100% crit chance + Death Blow % - I’ve seen people use 40% as a generic threshold, but for casters in general you are expected to kill things fast (the faster you kill things the less likely they have the chance to retaliate. A generous 60-75% should be placed here. + damage % to all – the only time you should be using ele specific dmg increases is if they have 2ndary effect proc chances on them. You have 4 ring slot, 2 amulet slots and I recommend the following must haves: Belt of Storms – 2 Gold Slots w/ hit point regen and the very valuable % chance to reflect close combat Circle of Innocence – 1 Gold, 1 Silver & 1 Gold Valeria’s Garment – 3 Gold Slots! Mitts of the Ancients (1 silver and 1 gold slot) or Valeria’s Mitts (1 Gold Slot w/ + all Combat Arts) Valeria’s Wristguard – 1 Gold Slot, but your given –regen%, crit % and spell intensity% Greaves of Heirs – 2 Gold Slots , 1 Silver Slot and bonus to Grand Invig and spell resistance Boots of Remembrace – no WOW modifiers but you get 1 silver and 1 gold slot. IMHO this has the potential to beat out a +CA/Skill and another rare modifier with a 1 Silver slot Rare shopped item depending on what you socket in it. *this setup gives you 20-21 jewelry slot possibilities to fulfill the minimum thresholds above. Given that you have really nice jewelry already available. You’ll have 4-5 slots left of whatever, enabling you to focus on upping the damage or survivability of the build. 3. Your Weapon of Choice: Glacial Defender is a must @ end-game. Your most logical choice would be Tinwora for the fat, chunky +CA bonus it gives, but if you have no need for +CA you can always get an Officer’s Saber for more utility. I use Thane’s Axe, for the healthy 12-14% chance to burn, freeze and weaken. I’m NOT exactly sure if this is unnecessary, but I really want those 2ndary effects to proc more w/o Damage Lore. My End-Game Combos: Slot 1: Glacial Thorns + Cobalt Strike (only if you modded it to chain for Area of Effect) + Blazing Tempest Slot 2 : Cobalt Strike (only if you modded it as a spike/debuff skill) + Raging Nimbus + Incendiary Shower Slot 3: Shadow Step + Magic Coup (only if you gear up +% chance opponent cannot evade attack) Slot 4: Cascading Shroud or Expulse Magic Levelling Up: Herd farming is the way to go. I’m not going to suggest Orc caves unless you are already high enough. Herd Farming – GT > BT Combo Orc Cave XP Farming (recommended only for 140 & above) Cast Cascading Shroud (+% Physi Dmg Miti) >> Combo 1 (Glacial Thorns + Blazing Tempest ) >> Shadow Step >> Combo 2 (Cobalt Strike + Raging Nimbus + Incendiary Shower ) >> Combo 1 (Glacial Thorns + Blazing Tempest ) >> Shadow Step >> IF they are still alive: Combo 2 (if you have low recharge), Combo 1 if not. Notes on the Shadow Step Spike: I have switch weapon whenever I execute an offensive SS. Consider getting a rare yellow 1-h that has +% magic dmg w/ 2 sockets. The one I have has ~130+% magic dmg socketed with a 2x dual magic% boni rings, easily hitting ~+ 260-280% magic dmg on just the weapon (this can be easily substituted by an officer's saber socketed with 3 dual magic% boni rings for lesser 230-250% magic dmg 1-hander). Theoretically, you can also hunt for a shield with the same mods to be used on the switch, but you’re sacrificing 19-20% damage mitigation to all types for a split second. In hardcore, that split second can be fatal… I wouldn’t recommend it. Build Rating (personal opinion): Character Progression - 1/5, IMHO character development is strict to get the most out of the build and stay true to the concept of being a tri-element HE. If you carelessly assign points and CA mods there will be stages in the game wherein you will feel that your HE is severely underpowered. Survivability (Early & Late Game) - 1/5 early, 2.5/5 late Damage (Early Game) – 3.5/5 Damage (End Game) – 4.5 to 5/5 (depending on how gimped you are) Game Progression – 4 to 5/5 (depending on your game knowledge and your situational control of the HE) levelling grind – no grind, very flexible in leveling. Equipment Dependency – 1/5 for the shopper/farmerless people or those without a vast amount of stash on separate chest.sacred2chest files 3.5/5 for those with access to sets, End

@ Dragon Brother - Thanks, greatly appreciated

Wow... I started trying to understand TG by going directly into the guides, when I should've read these first from the basics. Could've spent me hours in testing how to make a non-utility TG, which is pretty much the most popular way to use the dude. Very informative read.

post count... I guess we'll have to remedy that then, eh... Working on an in-depth Tri-Element Guide for HE's just cleaning up some stuff. I felt like I also had to include the order I modded my skills since micro maxing was such a chore, so that was a bit tedious. Will post that one soon.

@ claudius: lol, sorry SW is my main... got confused there. can we not edit old posts anymore? like we used to be able to? or is that an admin privilege now?

I am still unable edit opening posts done by myself, I would like to make a major edit to it. but for now I'll just add it here as an extra post. Update: Due to my initial attempt at a full Niob HC run with this build failing miserablly at plat, I concluded that the build depended too much on clustering maelstrom + levin array + (raving thrust) to kill something in the Area of Effect to hit the initial "corpse explosion effect" and get the chain reaction desired. However, that only worked for me in my testing because I did it with a fairly matured Niob blank toon with gear available. When I put it into practice on my actual hardcore run, I had a very hard time getting the initial kill in mid game, when enemies were tougher, regens were slower and damage miti sucked and armor was lacking. Therefore, enraged by the death of my level 95+ Inquis, I immediately planned a re-work on the build that addressed the issues. Changes - 1. Take out Dual Wield , it was only taken only to access dual Ignis Magikas for the instant ~70 Deathblow, and do more with the slots you conserve. Replace it with Gruesome Inquisition Focus . This gives us access to the valuable free damage mitigation of the Purifying Chastisement. Combined with dmg mitigation you can get from your gear it will increase your survivability a lot. The danger of initiating a Dislodged Spirit on a boss at melee range is greatly reduced. @ level 75 of GI Focus, you are now granted: - a fully modded Ruthless Mutilation and Callous Execution. Even w/ 0 Strength and minimal investment in + damage%, the damage on these 2 CAs is ridiculous. - New Combo: Raving Thrust > Clustering Maelstrom > Ruthless Mutilation - - - > Clean up withEruptive Desecration spam. - - - This can now be used as a farming tool as your new buff now enables you even at mid-game mediocre gear to herd as much creeps before you spike them down. With a steady supply of mentor potions levelling will be a joke. You can now also Orc Cave, but that is unnecessary, due to the efficiency of your Area of Effect farming. With this new setup you sacrifice your Reverse Polarity buff, a slotless ~70% DB (2x Ignis), and 2 jewelry slots in exchange for: a possible max of 20+% damage mitigation (via buff) and around a healthy "40-45% to all" at end-game, plus an additional physical damage mitigation from Deylen's (translates into 1000's of reduced damage in boss fights in level 140 and above in Niob) with the same armor setup, a fully modded Callous Execution (Boss Killing Tool), and a fully modded Scything Sweep (to make your chain explosion more effective). Worth it? Hell f#$%*ing yeah! Comment: Most people would prefer to keep the Reverse Polarity and lose the Doppelganger buff, but I really hate recasting companions as a summoner in any RPG game, so the choice was done out of sheer laziness and not micro-maxing. If your the type that doesn't get annoyed recasting the damn Doppel every couple of seconds, then by all means. Having Reverse Polarity + Purifying Chastisement will really pump your survivability through the roof. New Skill Order: * this was the path I took on my current Hardcore Entry Level 2: Gruesome Inquisition Focus Level 3: Armor Lore Level 5: Astute Supremacy Focus Level 8: Nefarious Netherworld Focus Level 12: Concentration Level 18: Constitution or Combat Discipline Level 25: Constitution or Combat Discipline Level 35: Nefarious Netherworld Lore Level 50: Astute Supremacy Lore Level 60: Toughness Added Combat Arts: Ruthless Mutilation - Ire > Petrify > Frenzy - Damage... Prevent Damage... Damage... *sounds reasonable* Callous Execution - Bleed > Lacerate > Judgement - modded for boss killing meaning... MOAR damage! Purifying Chastisement - Mystic or Purge > Eradicate > Inure - Added Crit and the valuable damage mitigation Equipment: Except for the Weapon of Choice, everything remains the same. 1 modifier is now required for you to have, though. Consider lowering deathblow % to ~60's to add a decent amount to +% chance opponent cannot avoid attack. Weapon of choice has been changed to "Slicing Scythe" a unique w/ 2 gold sockets for a decent boost to your crits %, and addition of deep wounds and life leech. There are probably more options for the largest most damaging 2-hander you can get your hands on, but I chose this weapon for its mods rather than damage. I wanted to keep the integrity of the character as a caster-focused build rather than a melee hybrid.

Been playing Sacred 2 on the side, but it took me years to find out that Darkmatters was not permanently gone. So, I'm back to playing the game and posting on the forums

I have been away from the forum for a long time, but I'll update it regardless For some reason, I don't have the option to "EDIT" the post even though it's a post I made, I'm not really sure why, but I'll just put this here. Minor Update to Equipment: Recommended Gear Consider using Armatin's Battle Gauntlet's socketted w/ 1 Rare Duo modded ring (+chance your opponent cannot evade/-opponent's chance to evade), both items are a fairly easy find for someone with a mature Shopper and EP farmer. At end-game consider using a weapon with + x% life leech for bosses like Kaldur's Legacy. The leech simply beats out a pure flat-damage weapon. 2 Gold Sockets to so you can just replicate your setup with the Stradal's Hammer. * Update for Ice & Blood - If'you have the CM patch installed, there is an item there called "Gruma's Talisman" that has a higher possible max dmg miti than Tanit's. 60% is still the optimal damage mitigation, 70% for the paranoid, 80% for the one's with a god complex, 90% for the mentally insane (I did this on mine after I got mine to level 200). But with this item it is now possible to hit the 100% damage mitigation w/o sacrificing the necessary mods for this build (3 socketed Tanit's = 12.5% dmg miti vs. 3 socketed Gruma's = 21% dmg miti... big difference). This will free up slot's from your equipment so you can you can use it to improve the build further (not that it needs it). Is this really practical? No, not really... finding uniques even with a "acceptably generous" alteration in your balance.txt, is hard enough. Even with a ridiculously gimped drop rate, finding a Legendary is already a chore. Just saying that the possibility is now available, but you're just gonna have to grind it out if you really want the 100% dmg miti w/o losing damage, deathblow, crit, disregard armor, +skills and + CA.

lol, sorry for the thread necro... I havent been into darkmatters for almost 4 years, seems like people have been answering questions for me. sorry bout' that.

Well, Orc Caves are designed to char builds that kill fairly slowly. Since this build is fairly suffers in DPS eary stages of the game this place gives you pound-for-pound value for your gametime. More xp then running around killing critters. This build does not have the luxury of a hoarding skill like HE's flame wave. Not to mention the fact that while most classes are fairly vulnerable against the uber-damage dealing orc, this build does not need to fear big damage.

Question 1: I'm interested in making this, because my only dryad, is a "mainstream" Capricious Hunter one. However, this will be my first experience looking for shrunken heads. From what I see with this build, it can only be at full potential when equipped with the right shrunks. However, while playing my other dryad, I did not come across any rare shrunks, and if they did drop for me it was only once in a blue moon. Where do I farm shrunks, and without the gold mod "headhunter" in MA, what can I do to compensate in increasing their chance to drop. - - Question 2: Since I am under the impression that CV aspect is the main aspect of this build, why was CV lore not chosen and NW Lore instead. I was under the impression that NW had always been a support aspect for increasing survivability in both CH aspect and CV aspect based builds. Thus their damage did not need to be increased, only their regen times and max skill level needed to be improved? while waiting for your reply I'll park my new dryad and continue farming for shrunken heads on my ranged dryad... TY in advance for the reply.

wow... this I did not know, I thought this was just for survivability purposes to heal HP like life leech mechanics in D2, or attack dam convert to health in TQ. I did not know it actually did damage in Sacred 2. I could've used it as another damage source for my previous melee chars. Well, at least its good to know now. Since, I plan to make an HC polearm Inquis sometime in the future. I hope it doesn't get as dull as playing Shadow Warrior or DW seraphim...

Also 1 more reason why I didn't get a weapon lore. I am constantly upgrading weapons especially when levelling up. You really have no control on what 1-hand weapon drops for you or your farmers. The best weapon available for you at one point may be a sword or a shafted weapon. At mid-game, I was using Ice flash for its big-base damage & 2 sockets, the modifiers on it was only satifactory though. A couple of weeks later, the game gave me a Stradal's Hammer (which gave me better combat art range, life leech and a generous bonus to one of my favorite modifiers in the game: disregard)... Now had I chosen a 1-h weapon lore early game, either I would not have been able to equip the Ice Flash earlier or not been able to upgrade to Stradal's hammer later on. DW is out of the question, since it completely goes against the concept of this build, and I would lose a potential +18-20% damage miti at the end-game play.

lack of better items is always the problem on your 1st ever character on an RPG game. I never really had troubles playing an untwinked Dryad, but the reason that everyone seems to have an "EP/Bargaining" High Elf is because it is simple to build and very very fast to level up. that way it becomes your utility character that will give better gear to the rest of your other toons.

@ chattius: I am not to sure about the being weaponless part. In my setup, 2x Ignis Magica (comprised ~66-69% Deathblow)... The explosion is set off by the hopes that Clustering Mael and Levin Array Softens the mob to about 75-50% of their HP and for the Explosion w/ the DB modifier to Insta-kill them, but by losing that huge source, I'm not exactly to sure. With regards to NN Lore, it doesn't phenomally increase the damage on Eruptive Desecration, but it does mwith Dislodge Spirit (which is the primary boss killer). However, since you're weaponless (and in my case my 2x weps are my main source of DB), if it was my Inqui, I will lose a lot on firepower. You are right, majority of the guides have used Dislodge Spirit mainly as a Boss Debuff, which it actually does well in its own right. However, in my opinion, the kiling speed and power of, Inexalorable Subjugation is to damn slow. Since Raving Thrust's Gold mod also lower base HP and attri, and is spammable at high levels, Let that be the debuff+damage skill, let IS be the DoT skill, and let DS be the spike, on the HP reduced target. About the Doppel... like people said, it's buggy and I never really wanted to understand it's behavior anyways, I just wanted an extra target in the playing field for enemies to attack rather than myself. It should always be the 3rd buff selected in any AS+x type aspect combination, never 1st or 2nd.

Inquisitor - "corpse Explosion" Necro (Caster) *Updated (02/02/14) - version 2 added. Introduction: Just Like my Invinci Shadow Warrior guide, this is going to be very equipment extensive. The objective of this guide is to direct you from Silver to Niobium mainly by levelling and just playing through the difficulties just doing the main campaign. Then upon reaching Niob, play Sacred 2, the way it should be played. Before making this guide There will be overlaps with the other guides posted by other users in this section due to the limits of a Caster Inquisitor's "variation." However, you will notice that I've modded some Combat Arts differently from the majority of the other Caster guides and I will be discussing specific equipment choices and why I chose them in contrast to the "general opinion" of what to use. As this is a HC caster you would want the optimal gear you can get. You will need niob Shoppers and Smithers and a hella' lucky EP Pyromancer Farmer or Dryad, for certain pieces of gear you need/want via end game. Skill Selection: level 2: Armor Lore - 75 pts max keep it at char level and stop at mastery. Inquisitors do not enjoy any Combat Art reducing buffs, we need this skill first because of 2 reasons. Helps decrease armor penalty to regen, and it enables us to wear higher armor at lower levels, this is especially good for us because this is a Caster HC build. level 3: Nefarious Netherworld Lore - 150+ (150-170) pts. this skill is developed later on, but needs to be chosen early to unlock the "Focus" skills. Like any other starter caster, you work towards making your spells spammable first before making them deal more damage. Put 5 pts, to unlock the "focuses" and leave it until Armor Lore, NN Focus, and AS Focus reach Mastery level. After that, increase at your own pace. level 5: Nefarious Netherworld Focus - 75 pts max 2nd skill that must reach mastery by level 75 level 8: Astute Supremacy Focus - 75 pts max 3rd skill that must reach mastery by level 75 level 12: Astute Supremacy Lore - 100+ (100-120) now we can take the lore. Leave it at 1 point for a while. let the + skills carry it for the mean time. level 18: Concentration - to allow for 2-3 buffs and further improve the regeneration times for our Combat Arts. After the mastery of the 3 priority skills (Armor Lore, NN Focus and AS Focus) Gradually improve this along with the NN Lore and the next skill. level 25: Combat Discipline - 75 pts max It improves REGEN and adds humungous damage to our Combat Art's. After the mastery of the 3 priority skills (Armor Lore, NN Focus and AS Focus) Gradually improve this along with the NN Lore and the Concentration. This is the primary reason why AS Lore can be neglected at 1 pt. Since the generic AS-based Area of Effect combo "CM + LA +(optional Eruptive Desecration)" is buffed up by this baby. level 35: Dual Wield - 1 pt It's only use is to let you equip 2 weapons that will Potentially make your overall char better ---- Survivability level 50: Constitution - 75+ points This skill and its eventual mastery is a must. Increase at your own pace. level 65: Toughness - 75+ points increases our survivability... mastery is a must. any point in excess of 75 is up to you balance the amount with how much you put in Constitution. Stat Allocation: 25/75 ratio Vitality and Intelligence . I would recommend however that the 1st 100pts go to Vit. Combat Arts: Dislodged Spirit - gelidity > torture > wildfire ***1st Priority*** fully mod this skill before anything else in NN aspect I know, I know... completely unorthodox when the "generic mod choices" are: spite > deprivation > stimulate This skill the way it is modded is intended to be the primary bosskiller, when combo'd a synergy modded Raving Thrust + Inexorable Subjugation. This Combat Art is modded completely as a Spike skill, rather than a debuff. Let me explain: the 1st 2 mods are self explanatory, added damage... minimal, but it adds up. In a spike any extra sources of damage is always welcome... Wildfire is the main reason why this skill became our spike skill. What it actually does is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from its function description. Even though it says, "if target dies the sould held will explode causing minor area damage", all it does is give you an added chunky physical damage. Comment: I doubted my eyes at first, but after conducting a test using 2 different hacked level 200 Inquisitors (no equipment & jewelry worn, no attributes allocated, no SB difference), both using gelidity and torture as their bronze & silver mods, but using different gold mods, the damage gap was enormous on their base damages. On another test, I geared 2 different level 200 Inquisitors with ~+90 all skills & Combat Arts, ~+200ish% (x type of damage), then put used an elemental modifier on the equipped weapon to fit the equipped damage type % boni. The result: Dislodged Spirit - gelidity > torture > wildfire - - - nets about ~50k+ damage Dislodged Spirit - spite > deprivation > stimulate - - - nets about 6-7k damage Advantages: damage is great, you'll never have a problem taking down a boss, even at early game. Killing speed is phenomenal. Outside of boss fights, use this in a combo "IS + DS" touch anything you see and 2 seconds later = instant meat shield. Disadvantages: its a touch skill, so you'll be living like a during boss fights, which puts you in immediate danger in higher difficulties (dealing with this problem will be discussed further along the guide). Inexorable Subjugation - brunt > menace > probation self explanatory... this is the generic modded IS. when combo'd with DS, you become a Diablo 2 or Guild Wars Necro Minion Master in your own right. Soul Reaver - zealot > source > zealot ***2nd Priority*** mod this until "source" to further decrease regen of Combat Art's making skills more spammable. Then proceed to fully modding IS, before you come back to mod the last zealot. again, generic modded SR for added defense, should be no surprises here. Eruptive Desecration - restore > violence > apocalypse 1. Restore - life gain, 2. Damage - 3. increase range - * this is used as the clean up skill in the generic AS-based Area of Effect combo "CM + LA" add as the 3rd skill in the combo to finish of any stragglers. Thus, the corpse explosion effect, that you will see about 90% of your game play. Paralyzing Dread - despair > decripit > extention again, generic modded PD for added Boss debuff... Since you will be using a "RT (ranged) + IS (ranged) + DS (touch) combo spike" in every boss fight and at every moment of the said boss fight, you will find your caster ending up right in front of the boss. Paralyzing Dread ensures 2 things: 1. that the boss doesn't swing at you as much. 2. that the boss walks like a crippled 90 yr old, as you retreat further back to start your "RT + IS + DS combo spike" over again. Clustering Maelstrom - chaos > vortex > vortex this is the setup for your Area of Effect have fun in Swamps, Dessert and Orclands with this. Agro a lot! the more bodies collide the more damage taken from Chaos mod. Levin Array - disperse > hesitation > dynamic generic modded LA... should be no questions here. Raving Thrust - bedaze > vehemence > lesion this is the setup to our "RT (ranged) + IS (ranged) + DS (touch) combo spike". stuns the target, added damage, reduces base HP temporarily (technically since the combo is being spammed, the base HP is actually almost permanently reduced throughout the duration of the boss fight. Reverse Polarity - rebound > counterblow > exploit this will be the 2nd buff you take to add to your survivability. no surprises in the modding except probably your gold mod. exploit actually mitigates 5% of the damage taken to your minions. Since, you are a minion master, might as well take advantage of it. Mitigation is better than evasion in this case, because %chance to evade can be gained from various other sources, where as damage mitigation has limited sources and in the Inquisitor's case armor sources of "damage mitigation vs. all" are rare. At least in my experience. Seraphim and Shadow Warrior armors with miti sources were not to hard to find with an EP farmer/niob shopper (the rare ones are those, with good 2ndary mods and 2 sockets). For inquisitors, just finding an armor with a dam miti vs all with just 1 socket makes you cry blood. Zealous Doppelganger - incentive > either > companion meat shield goodness, however out of all the 3 buff you will use this will be the last one you should gain. Booster Slots: Slot 1 - Combo: Raving Thrust + Inexorable Subjugation + Dislodged Spirit Usage: spike skill, for champions, orcs in orc cave, boss killer Slot 2 - Combo: Clustering Maelstrom + Levin Array + Eruptive Desecration Usage: Area of Effect, if you prefer lvlling up via "mob hoarding" this makes it very viable. Slot 3 - Paralyzing Dread - - boss debuff Slot 4 - Mortifying Pillory - - use in early game as a way of turning the crowd against target you feel threatens you the most. Equipment (end game): **you have been warned this is gear intensive, especially on the wicked nerf on +skills and deathblow since the latest update.** First the needed modifiers and the recommended thresholds at around level 180+: ~+90 all skills & Combat Arts (im not a fan of + 100+ skills chars *cough*breaks game balance*cough*, except for shoppers), ~70-75% deathblow, ~30-50% chance to crit, ~65-90% chance to disregard armor, 50-60+% chance to evade & ~+ 175+% (x type) damage w/ a corresponding convert ~70-81% to damage type (chunk of lava, magic pearl, ice, poison fang) 1. Taking care of our death blow need w/ just 3 sources, this quickly takes out he problem of the nerf on jewelry bonuses: 2x Ignis Magica & Deylen's loyalty. a level 185+ of these items will get around ~70% DB, as an added bonus you get a chunky bonus to your spell intensity and decent increase to your Area of Effect Combat Arts. I know it's asking a lot but socket both ignis Magica with the rare Silala's rings to quick boost your crit chance & armor ignore 2. start hunting for yellow gear (head, sleeves or boots) with ~+20-24 Combat Art on them. 3 armor pieces with the mentioned mod preferably with a 2ndary mod that addresses the needed modifiers. headgear and belt MUST have 2 slots, sleeves or boots can have 1 as I barely see any with 2, if they do the modifiers are usually crap. Add 1 Maldrion's and that should put your +all Combat Arts to ~90ish 3. Damage mitigation gear (torso, shoulders and belt) - a. physical damage miti - it was a choice between using Insignia of Deference (helmet) and equipping a +20-24 all Combat Art belt. Or using Deylen's Strength (belt) and equipping a +20-24 all Combat Art helm. Deylen is probably the way to go since it is easier the get Insig of Deferrence. b. try to find at least 1 with 2 sockets... this is probably the hardest one to get out of all; Inisignia of Pain for a chunky evade chance%, added defense, and 2 slots. By now, you have a lot of free jewelry sockets on your gear and an 4 empty ring slots with DB and +Combat Arts are knocked out of the way, and all of the needed modifiers are partially addressed. However, you have "0 +skills." Now for the most boring part... Bust out your niob shopper and hunt for those +14-16 skill rings/ammys with 2ndary modifiers (crit, disregard, evade chance) to get them to the desired threshhold. --- After addressing all the needed modifiers, you should have about: 2-3 jewelry sockets left, and no rings worn. Depeninding on the sockets left remaining use 2-3 artamarks for socketing for increased armor, depending on how much you can spare. Shop for 4 rings with +50-60% (x type) damage of the same kind, hopefully with 2ndary modifiers...the 2ndary mods to the ring is up to you depending on what you feel is still missing (I personally recommend spell resistance... to pass against opponent Combat Art intensity vs. player resistance check.) comment: definitely, the most gear dependent build I've played. very expensive too with 2-3 artamarks, 2 silala's rings and 2 hard to find armor pieces. Levelling Up: In my accelerated (balance.txt x50 to gained xp) run, early on I just hoard farmed in the kobold region using the Area of Effect combo, did the Gar Colossus and lvled up in the Orc region until I fully modded DS, got the "source" silver mod on Soul Reaver, before I actually farmed the orc cave. It was to ensure that the combo spike was semi- spammable. What is good about this build is that you can opt not to farm the Orc cave, because you can level up minimally slower by mob farming, but increases your safety from early to mid game. In my actual run, I am at late Gold as of the moment, and still kicking ass. comment: I have to reiterate that due to frailty of this build, you must have booster equipment (above average equipment at your current level) readily available as you progress. Your "good" equipment 20 lvls ago is now mediocre... For that reason, I have 2 non-HC EP farmers to farm gear, 1 who has access to Silver & Gold LAN freeplay and the 2nd one that has access to Plat and Niob, for mid to end game equipment. I also duplicated my non-HC Smith/Shopper Temple Guardian when he was in Gold, and got one copy to Niob to serve the same purpose (it's technically cheating, but I don't really care making, since Utility chars is boring as hell to build.) Build Rating (personal opinion): Survivability (Early Game) - 2/5...you are generally safe because you have a lot of meat shields, but since your boss kill combo involves a touch skill, not really good. Survivability (End Game) - 3.5/5... it get's better because you gain bigger armor rating, damage mitigation. but bosses can still kill you in 4 unlucky consecutive crits. Damage (Early Game) - 4/5 provided you setup your Area of Effect right, and your RT+IS+DS combo early on. there will be no problems whatsoever. Damage (End Game) - 5/5, mobs are a joke, bosses are a joke... I actually timed my boss runs I kill the bosses faster than DW Serra and Invinci Shadow Warrior Game Progression - 4.5/5 progressed until gold faster than my Shadow Warrior and seraphim, but still slower than my High Elf. level'ing grind - n/a... many options on lvlling up. you are not confined to the stinkin' Orc Cave. Equipment Dependancy - 0.00000001/5... to get to the desired damage mitigation level (60-80), deathblow (65-70+), crits (30-40), ignore armor (70-90), +all skills & Combat Art's (40-60) and still have slots on your weapon of choice to socket +base weapon damage w/ +damage% type rings. It takes a long hours of niob shopping, EP farming, unless of course you started the build, with all the end game items ready to use (just like I did) ... comment: same description as what I put on my Invinci Shadow Warrior guide, but finding the mitigation gear w/ at least 1 jewelry socket was really painful. not to mention using 2 Silala's and 3 artamark's. This build needed ~90+ skills and Combat Art's, while my Shadow Warrior only needed ~+50-60 to do good damage. (this meant more hours wasted on shopping for jewelry) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 2 - Version 1 is still workable and viable but this give a little more "punch" and staying power in melee range. Update: Due to my initial attempt at a full Niob HC run with this build failing miserablly at plat, I concluded that the build depended too much on clustering maelstrom + levin array + (raving thrust) to kill something in the Area of Effect to hit the initial "corpse explosion effect" and get the chain reaction desired. However, that only worked for me in my testing because I did it with a fairly matured Niob blank toon with gear available. When I put it into practice on my actual hardcore run, I had a very hard time getting the initial kill in mid game, when enemies were tougher, regens were slower and damage miti sucked and armor was lacking. Therefore, enraged by the death of my level 95+ Inquis, I immediately planned a re-work on the build that addressed the issues. Changes - 1. Take out Dual Wield , it was only taken only to access dual Ignis Magikas for the instant ~70 Deathblow, and do more with the slots you conserve. Replace it with Gruesome Inquisition Focus . This gives us access to the valuable free damage mitigation of the Purifying Chastisement. Combined with dmg mitigation you can get from your gear it will increase your survivability a lot. The danger of initiating a Dislodged Spirit on a boss at melee range is greatly reduced. @ level 75 of GI Focus, you are now granted: - a fully modded Ruthless Mutilation and Callous Execution. Even w/ 0 Strength and minimal investment in + damage%, the damage on these 2 CAs is ridiculous. - New Combo: Raving Thrust > Clustering Maelstrom > Ruthless Mutilation - - - > Clean up withEruptive Desecration spam. - - - This can now be used as a farming tool as your new buff now enables you even at mid-game mediocre gear to herd as much creeps before you spike them down. With a steady supply of mentor potions levelling will be a joke. You can now also Orc Cave, but that is unnecessary, due to the efficiency of your Area of Effect farming. With this new setup you sacrifice your Reverse Polarity buff, a slotless ~70% DB (2x Ignis), and 2 jewelry slots in exchange for: a possible max of 20+% damage mitigation (via buff) and around a healthy "40-45% to all" at end-game, plus an additional physical damage mitigation from Deylen's (translates into 1000's of reduced damage in boss fights in level 140 and above in Niob) with the same armor setup, a fully modded Callous Execution (Boss Killing Tool), and a fully modded Scything Sweep (to make your chain explosion more effective). Worth it? Hell f#$%*ing yeah! Comment: Most people would prefer to keep the Reverse Polarity and lose the Doppelganger buff, but I really hate recasting companions as a summoner in any RPG game, so the choice was done out of sheer laziness and not micro-maxing. If your the type that doesn't get annoyed recasting the damn Doppel every couple of seconds, then by all means. Having Reverse Polarity + Purifying Chastisement will really pump your survivability through the roof. New Skill Order: * this was the path I took on my current Hardcore Entry Level 2: Gruesome Inquisition Focus Level 3: Armor Lore Level 5: Astute Supremacy Focus Level 8: Nefarious Netherworld Focus Level 12: Concentration Level 18: Constitution or Combat Discipline Level 25: Constitution or Combat Discipline Level 35: Nefarious Netherworld Lore Level 50: Astute Supremacy Lore Level 60: Toughness Added Combat Arts: Ruthless Mutilation - Ire > Petrify > Frenzy - Damage... Prevent Damage... Damage... *sounds reasonable* Callous Execution - Bleed > Lacerate > Judgement - modded for boss killing meaning... MOAR damage! Purifying Chastisement - Mystic or Purge > Eradicate > Inure - Added Crit and the valuable damage mitigation Equipment: Except for the Weapon of Choice, everything remains the same. 1 modifier is now required for you to have, though. Consider lowering deathblow % to ~60's to add a decent amount to +% chance opponent cannot avoid attack. Weapon of choice has been changed to "Slicing Scythe" a unique w/ 2 gold sockets for a decent boost to your crits %, and addition of deep wounds and life leech. There are probably more options for the largest most damaging 2-hander you can get your hands on, but I chose this weapon for its mods rather than damage. I wanted to keep the integrity of the character as a caster-focused build rather than a melee hybrid.

So far only 3 HC chars have bitten the dust. My first real try at HC was a Invinci Shadow Warrior and a DW Serra. And at high levels these guys are unkillable even if you tried really hard to get them killed. - level 3x Temple Guardian @ Orc Cave - primarily because I didn't really have too much experience with TGs back then...bad build, stat allocation, skill order, etc; - level 5x Dryad @ Outside the Orc Cave - this is when I learned my lesson not to afk outside the cave. - level 1xx niob HE Pyromancer @ Great Machine - I didn't know what was going on my head back then... I usually cast MS and retreat while kiting the bosses, but in one of my runs, I just stood there and cast MS in place and let the darn thing near me. 2 consecutive crits was all it took...

sorry if for "thread necro'ing" but I just need a piece of info about this so I can plan my Caster NN+AS Aspect Inquisitor better. guys... just a quick question regarding this matter. I never really had an issue with Spell Intensity before as a High Elf because, because with the insane damage boost/survivability/-regen that the buffs give to it. As a result a lot of jewelry slots are available to address and balance out +skills, +Combat Art, deathblow, + evade%, +HP, crits, disregard armor and spell intensity and still have more room to slot in +%damage (x damage type) rings here and there. However, the luxury isn't really there for an Inquisitor. I won't really get into details but my question is, "how much Spell Intensity are Casters recommended to have"... give or take, in Niob end game?