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Found 11 results

  1. After over a decade of playing this game, reading all of the wonderful guides (THANK YOU), and gravitating to the same build over and over again, I figured it was time to share it with everyone else, in the hopes that others might 1. Like it 2. Find it useful and/or 3. Help improve it. Credit to @RavenLight for their Dual Wield Build, which this is based off of. You can find that guide here- Overview (How and Why it Works): This build is based on a few key aspects and concepts: Hit them quickly and consistently; make yourself hard to hit- if they do hit you, reduce the realized damage taken to as close to zero as possible as to be zero, and even when we're taking damage, hit them at a rapid clip with Life Leech EVERY HIT to heals us, and worst case (very, very rarely) abuse the heck out of our health potions. Finally, increase the quantity and quality of our loot reliably. It eschews all other aspects of the mechanics and game in the pursuit of efficiency- this beautiful, wonderful game, for all of its intricacies, relies heavily on very, very linear mathematics- and we're going to take a sledgehammer to them. It is possible, given a little patience and planning, to play this build through Niobium without dying even once- I died 5 times, and I can tell you how it happened each time- 1st time: Cat disconnected the HDMI cord, and my console is hooked up through my receiver, and, well, it's not a quick process getting behind there. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th times: Fell asleep. 5th time: Tried running the Orc Cave on Niobium... at level 78, without sufficient +All Skills. Not bright. Downsides to this build: Well, there are a few, most notably the complete lack of crowd control. Ignoring combat arts does give us more skill slots and points to spend on damage and survivability, but a mob of meanies can outstrip your life leech, especially on Niob, and you'll need to watch out for those spinny skull DOT spells (though those are easily enough avoided). Yes, eventually you'll be so unbelievably powerful that it won't matter, but if you, like me, reach the end of Niobium at about level 100, you'll have some touch and go moments on your hands, especially with Temple Guardians at the Great Machine- those death spells (which sound to me like really weak and raspy TARDIS noises) can be murder, and until you start equipping +10 and greater All Skills equipment, spike damage is still a very real threat (at level 100-110). Furthermore, it's kind of boring to play- again due to the complete erasure of combat arts. You're going to be spending a lot of time with your fingers on the A button and hovering over your health potion slot. Lastly, if you're a hoarder, then this is either the best or worst build for you- you're going to have *** equipment coming out your ears before long, but by the end of Platinum, you can easily set your main pickup setting to *** and just glide through without the constant inventory management issues. I. Skill Choices Tactics Lore- (Moar damage!) Keep at your level until 75 Armor Lore-(Get hit less often) Keep at your level until 75 Dual Wield- (Hit them more often and quicker) Keep at your level until 75 Toughness- (Oh, did you hit me? I didn't notice 😁) Get to 75 as quickly as possible Enhanced Perception- (Get that loot boi) get to 75 AFTER toughness Bargaining- (Buy that loot) doesn't need to be mastered, I usually go to about 50. Sword Weapons- (For any weapons we might find with Sword Mastery as a modifier) Get to 75 Combat Reflexes- (Haha you gotta be quicker than that) Get to 75 Constitution- (Boiiii I'm a tank, ya hear?) Get to 75 Exalted Warrior Focus- (I want to jump more often, because when we glitch ourselves into the ocean we don't want to be there for centuries) Get to 75 If you're thinking to yourself "Wait, there's a whole lot of extra points leftover", you're right. This build relies heavily on socketing All Skills+ rings and amulets to raise those skills- we only need to master them for the extra bonuses, and we can ignore Bargaining because the mastery bonus is pointless (or master it, it really doesn't matter). Those extra points can go... pretty much anywhere you want (My choice is for either Toughness [extra unkillable] or Enhanced Perception [IT'S RAINING GEAR]). And because of the extremely overpowered benefits of All Skills+, by the time you reach the end of the game, you should have at least 22 sockets with All Skills+10-20 rings/amulets socketed, which adds another... 220-440 points... TO EVERY SKILL. As an example, my level 100 Seraphim (This build) on Niobium currently has +157 All Skills+... I don't even remember the last time I was close to death- the only thing that does damage to me are ground spells. II. Gear The following gear is non-negotiable, when you find it, no matter whether you like it, it's now your jive. Garment of the Celestial Gown of the Celestial Endijian's Wings What do these all have in common? All channel damage mitigation. If you don't know what that is, an easy way of understanding would be to say that damage mitigation is a modifier that reduces all damage, regardless of source, before all damage calculations have been made. It's a little like saying "Oh you hit me with a bus, good thing I have +300,000 bus armor on, guess I'll go get coffee now". This is the second pillar of our build (the first being DPS focus), and without it this build is trash. Every so often you may find a piece of gear that has better All Channel Mitigation than your set piece- you'll need to weigh whether losing the set bonus is better or worse than the extra Mitigation, or whether you have another workable set piece to swap in (it often is better, honestly, search for explanations of the mechanics behind this and I think you'll agree). A thorough test and discussion of this mechanic written by @Dobri can be found here- Sections III-VI appear to have gone missing, must have made a mistake in a previous edit; it will take some time before I am able to restore them 😭😭😭 VII. On Level Grinding While many guides point out that the swamp, specifically the southeast corner, has the highest spawn rate, I've always disliked it for two reasons- high density of undead and high density of enemies which can stun/freeze/root you. This makes leveling, without a gear set built to protect against those attacks, a chore. Other guides will mention D'Ary, the infamous island of turtles just off the south eastern coast of the Dryad realm- this is a good choice, though I will state that without a gear set with ample +experience% you may find it a chore. I propose two alternatives- the south western desert, with all of its scorpions (no special attacks, high experience but low density), and using the Orc Cave (A link to a guide written by none other than Dobri again is here- http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php/Sacred_2:A_guide_to_the_Orc_Cave_-_your_easy_way_to_a_ton_of_XP_and_drops! ), After level 100, however, it is in my opinion best to move on to higher density areas, and only use the Orc Cave as a loot grind, when you get bored of doing side boss runs. The swamp is an excellent choice, as is the northern part of the Dryad realm (especially Blood Dryads- quick to kill, and high spawn). VIII. So you've beaten Niobium and have over 100% map revealed, now what? Some options- 1. Use this build to shop for a cooler, more fun to play build. 2. Get to level 200, and hunt down a perfect set of gear. 3. Speed Trial, Every Single Boss Edition 4. Uh, other stuff? This build guide is somewhat incomplete, and if I've left anything out, please feel free to ask in the comments section. Addendum: I've included a picture of my Seraphim which I took literally seconds after beating Niobium- in all honesty, this build can likely beat Niobium 5 levels earlier with a few alterations. Edited for inaccuracies and clarity, will be edited and updated with any relevant information as time allows.
  2. A complete and detailed guide about my greedy ranger Dryad Greetings everyone! I am finally back on this wonderful Sacred world and, since there are a lot of common builds for Dryad such as archer, voodoo focused or pure caster, I wanted to develop a little different build. Recently I finally managed to try out a personal project which I was thinking since I have returned to the Sacred games (about a year ago). The build is focused on a Dryad that can basically do everything – kill fast, deal tons of damage, have a lot of defense and resistance, find lots of valuables and good items and also be fun to play. It has been tested on all difficulties, starting from Silver and climbing up to Niobium without problems (even on Niobium difficulty). The game mode used was the Standard mode since I didn’t wanted to lose the character if I die, but 0 deaths at level 150+ proves that this build is viable for Hardcore too. Expert touch option was enabled since I mainly used Capricious Hunter aspect and the deity chosen was Testa (here you can choose basically any deity you’d like). So, to sum up this long description for you: Difficulties played on: Silver - Niobium (100% finished them all) Game mod used: Standard (Hardcore works very well as well if you want a little more challenge) Expert Touch option: ON Level: 150 (at the moment) Number of deaths at the end of Niobium: 0 Survival bonus: 94,3% (at the moment) Map explored: 67-70% (at the moment) Legendary items found without farming the Guardians: 2 (so far) Table of contents: 1. Game version and patches 2. Overview – pros and cons 3. Combat arts and modifications 4. Skill build, and skill points distribution 4.1. Skill build 4.2. Skill points distribution 5. Attributes 6. Play style 7. Weapons, equipment, jewelry and relics 7.1. Weapons 7.1.1. Bows 7.1.2. Blowpipes 7.1.3. Shurikens, throwing daggers, throwing stones and throwing potions 7.1.4. Shields 7.2. Equipment 7.3. Jewelry 7.4. Relics 8. Socketing 1. Game version and patches The build was successfully tested on Sacred 2 Gold v2.65.2 with the Community Patch 1.60 installed. No other mods or patches has been applied to the game, but I believe my build will work just fine with Flix’s Enhanced Edition mod (note that it hasn’t been tested on Enhanced Edition mod) or Elite Mounts mod. 2. Overview - pros and cons PROS: very good against both groups and single opponents tons of damage dealt in small periods of time amazing defense and resistance both offensive and defensive build lots of valuables and special items found fast level-up insane modifications for all combat arts used high weapon flexibility (can use bows, blowpipes, shuriken, throwing stones, throwing potions or throwing daggers with only one dedicated weapon skill) can use a shield for even more resistance when paired with shuriken or other one-handed ranged weapons can equip two sets at the same time CONS: susceptible to Fire damage due to the Ancient Bark buff you have to sacrifice some resistance in order to maximize the damage dealt (by using a bow or a blowpipe since one-handed ranged weapons usually deal less damage) can be a bit weak early on requires some combat art modifications in order to fully come on-line Dryads can't use energy ranged weapons, which some of them can be amazingly good needs a lot of attention if playing on Hardcore since we're vulnerable against Fire damage possible waste of two skills since it requires both Enhanced Perception and Bargaining (some players may prefer other skills such as Spell Resistance or Combat Discipline instead of these two) 3. Combat arts and modifications For the following build we will be mixing two aspects together – Capricious Hunter and Nature Weaver. Capricious Hunter aspect will represent our offensive side while Nature Weaver aspect will be the defensive side of our build. Capricious Hunter aspect (I personally modify the spells in the same order as listed below) Sinister Predator (buff) - main offensive buff that increases our attack value and attack speed. Read how many runes you want, up to the penalty level. (200 runes eventually). Eagle Eye – increases the chance for critical hits (9.9% + 0.1% per Sinister Predator level) Marked Shot – adds a chance that opponents cannot evade or parry incoming shots (20% + 0.1% per Sinister Predator level) Hunting Focus – decreases the regeneration time of the Capricious Hunter aspect (30% + 1.5% per Sinister Predator level) Why Eagle Eye? – for more damage (we don’t need the attack speed from the other modification since we already have a lot and we’ll eventually increase it to maximum via leveling up Sinister Predator and items) Why Marked Shot? – for a better hit chance (better hit chance = faster killing = faster level up) Why Hunting Focus? – to reduce the regeneration of all Capricious Hunter combat arts (note that it’s a scaling regeneration reduction, decreasing it more and more with each level of this buff – another note is that after level 35-40 of this buff you’ll have negative regeneration penalty, which means your Capricious Hunter combat arts will have lower regeneration time while the buff is active rather than while the buff is inactive) Darting Assault - main combat art we’ll use the most, very good against groups of opponents. Keep its regeneration around 2 seconds if you’re using some regen/hit modifiers (1.5 or 2 regen/hit will be enough) or around 1 second if you aren’t using regen/hit. Don’t read too many runes because the damage doesn’t scale that well; we’ll boost the damage via Tactics Lore and good weapons found. (I personally had up to 5 runes read at max at level 150). Reload – increases the number of projectiles (+1 projectile) Throwback – chance to knock back opponents slightly (30% + 0.3% per Darting Assault level) Rotate – the attack is directed at all opponents around Dryad (from 120 degrees + 1 degree to 300 degrees + 2 degrees per Darting Assault level) Why Reload? – to hit more opponents (more opponents hit = faster killing = faster level up) Why Throwback? – for a bit of control and safety in case we’re surrounded somehow (also opponents are stunned while knocked back) Why Rotate? – because it spreads the area of effect so much, making this modification a must-have one (much better than the other one – Pierce) Ravaged Impact - main boss killer combat art. Keep its regen around 1 second if you aren’t using regen/hit modifiers or around 2 seconds if you’re using. Don’t read too many runes because it will up your regeneration time a lot. Also we’ll boost the damage via Tactics Lore and by weapon used. (unlike Darting Assault, here you can read a little more runes, I personally had up to 10 or 15 runes read at level 150). Perforate – chance to cause an open wounds (24.7% + 0.3% per Ravaged Impact level) Breach – chance that enemy armor will be ignored and full damage will be inflicted (20% + 0.5% per Ravaged Impact level) Double Shot – two shots in quick succession (+1 projectile) Why Perforate? – far better than Envenom since Envenom modification is more situational Why Breach? – to be able to inflict a lot of damage against bosses (we don’t really need Trail since they are usually big and won’t evade most of our attacks) Why Double Shot? – to basically double the damage dealt by adding another hit Dust Devil - good spell to use before or during boss fights since it provides more evade chance. (200 runes here and don't mind the penalty level and the regen time since we won't really spam this). Concealment – increases evade chance inside the cloud (10% + 0.2% per Dust Devil level) Spell Shield – light protection against hostile spells (20% + 1% block chance per Dust Devil level) Spread – increases the circumference of the cloud (42.9% increase) Why Concealment? – for a better protection inside the cloud (we don’t need cooldown reduction since we’ll use this mainly against bosses) Why Spell Shield? – again for even more protection (we don’t need duration increase since the default duration is enough and bosses don’t even last that much in a fight) Why Spread? – for a wider cloud (we don’t need damage over time because we already deal a lot of damage with our attacks and other combat arts) Nature Weaver aspect (again, I personally modify the spells in the same order as listed below) Ancient Bark (buff) - secondary buff we’ll use, a defensive one, that increases our armor value but reduces the fire resistance. Also grants a light healing effect. Read how many runes you want, up to the penalty level. (200 runes here in the end). Rugged – increases all armor values (20% + 5% per Ancient Bark level) Repel – additional chance to evade weapon attacks (20% + 0.2% per Ancient Bark level) Effortless – Ancient Bark costs less energy (20% + 0.2% per Ancient Bark level) Why Rugged? – for more resistance (we already have enough evade chance and defense from other sources and we don’t need Slippery) Why Repel? – because it evades all weapon attacks and not just close combat damage, like the other modification (Divert – chance to deflect close combat damage back to the attacker) Why Effortless? – for less regeneration penalty caused by this buff (far better than the other modification, Invigorate, which adds some hitpoint regeneration) Goldenglade Touch - insane castable buff that heals us over time. (200 runes here and read how many you want; don't mind the penalty level nor the regen time). Flow – increases hitpoint regeneration rate (7 hp/s + 15hp/s per Goldenglade Touch level) Persevere – increases the Willpower attribute (20 + 30 per Goldenglade Touch level) Diligence – increases the duration of Goldenglade Touch (50% increase) Why Flow? – because it heals more over the duration of this spell than the other modification (Bandage, which rapid heals when casting Goldenglade Touch) Why Persevere? – for tons of spell resistance increase, which Dryad really need (more Willpower = more spell resistance = survivability) Why Diligence? – to be able to sustain the spell longer in battles (increasing the duration from 8 to 12 seconds) Acute Mind - another very good castable buff before boss fights, briefly decreasing the regeneration time of all combat arts and adding a bonus to Intelligence. (200 runes here and read how many you want; don't mind the penalty level nor the regen time, similar to Goldenglade Touch). Proficiency – decreases the cooldown of Acute Mind (49.5% + 0.5% per Acute Mind level) Defiant – decreases the impairments and wounds (20% + 0.5% per Acute Mind level) Celerity – increases attack and casting speed (20% increase) Why Proficiency? – just because we don’t need that much Intelligence, so this modification is far better in this build than Insight (Intelligence increase) Why Defiant? – for the same reason as stated above, we don’t need the Insight modification in this build (decreased detrimental magic effects actually helps us a lot) Why Celerity? – because we don’t really need more regeneration reduction (from the Easiness modification) since we’ll have a lot of regen/hit modifiers ***POTENTIAL COMBAT ARTS WE CAN USE AS WELL: Forest Flight - quick teleportation to the targeted area with a chance to root the opponents at the position where she teleports from. Very good mobility spell. (200 runes here, don't mind the penalties or the regen time). Recovery – heals the Dryad slightly during the teleportation (14.9% + 0.1% per Forest Flight level) Escape – increases the chance to break immobilizing spells (30% + 0.2% per Forest Flight level) Escape – increases the chance to break immobilizing spells (30% + 0.2% per Forest Flight level) Why Recovery? – we’ll modify this spell mainly for an escape one and healing will help a lot (root chance from the other modification, Roots, is good as well, but I prefer Recovery a lot more) Why Escape? (for both silver and gold modifications) – if we’re rooted, we can easily be targeted by spells, which we don’t want it (we’ll take Escape modification for both silver and gold points for a total of 80% chance to break root effects) Tangled Vine - good boss fighting combat art, creating roots from the ground that holds opponents in place while damaging them. Note that we’ll leave Nature Weaver Focus at 75 points, so we won’t have more modification points to mod this spell, we’re going to use it as default. (200 runes here and since we'll only use this against bosses, don’t mind the regeneration time or the penalty level). 4. Skills 4.1 Skill build Level 2: Tactics Lore [200 points] – for more weapon damage and critical hit chance Level 3: Capricious Hunter Focus [75 points only] – for better regeneration time and higher penalty level for the Capricious Hunter combat arts Level 5: Combat Reflexes [75 points only] – to be able to evade weapon attacks (prerequisite skill for Armor Lore; you can also swap this skill with Spell Resistance if you feel like you need it more) Level 8: Ranged Weapons [75 points only] – for more attack, attack speed and higher penalty level for all ranged weapons Level 12: Armor Lore [75 points only] – for better armor values, regeneration penalties and higher penalty level for armor Level 18: Nature Weaver Focus [75 points only] – for better regeneration time and higher penalty level for the Nature Weaver combat arts Level 25: Concentration [1 point only] – only for the two active buffs Level 35: Enhanced Perception [75 points only] – especially for the chance to find valuables (prerequisite skill for Bargaining) Level 50: Bargaining [200 points] – to get better items, prices and offers from merchants in order to constantly upgrade our gear Level 65: Constitution [75-100 points only] – for more hitpoints and health regeneration rate (which actually synergies with the regeneration granted by Ancient Bark) 4.2 Skill points distribution Level 2 – Learn Tactics Lore and keep it at character level until level 200 (yeah, you read it right) Level 3-4 – Learn Capricious Hunter Focus and keep it at around 2/3 character level until you learn Bargaining (level 50) Level 5-7 – Learn Combat Reflexes and skill 5 points in it until level 12; you can keep it around 1/4 character level afterwards and until mastery Level 8-11 – Learn Ranged Weapons and occasionally put points in it; you can keep it around 1/4 character level until mastery Level 12-17 – Learn Armor Lore and occasionally put points in it to reduce the penalties; you can keep it around 1/3 character level until mastery Level 18-24 – Learn Nature Weaver Focus and try to keep it around 1/2 character level until you learn Bargaining (level 50) Level 25-34 – Learn Concentration and don’t put any points in it, leave it at 1 (note that Concentration will be the only skill which won’t be mastered since we don’t need the third buff. We’ll leave it at 1 for the entire game) Level 35-49 – Learn Enhanced Perception and skill around 10-15 points in it until level 50; you can keep it around 1/2 character level or above until mastery Level 50-64 – Learn Bargaining and skill 3 points each level up in order to master it at level 75 and keep at character level afterwards (ignore any other skill until level 75, except Tactics Lore, Capricious Hunter Focus and Nature Weaver Focus, where you can add the remaining skill point; I personally skill one point in Capricious Hunter Focus and one point in Nature Weaver Focus the next level and so on until level 75) Level 65-74 – Learn Constitution and occasionally drop points in it if you feel like you need it; you can keep it around 1/3 character level until mastery (since I always use the unique mount which grants some health and defense bonuses I rarely drop points into Constitution before Platinum difficulty) Level 75 – We’ll master our first skills, Tactics Lore and Bargaining Level 76-100 – Keep Tactics Lore and Bargaining at character level even after mastery and drop the remaining 3 skill points in Capricious Hunter Focus and Nature Weaver Focus and try to master them both at level 100 (I suggest you to drop 2 points in Capricious Hunter Focus and 1 point in Nature Weaver Focus one level, then the next level drop 1 point in Capricious Hunter Focus and 2 points in Nature Weaver Focus and so on until you master them both) Level 100 – We’ll master another two skills, Capricious Hunter Focus and Nature Weaver Focus Level 101-125 – We’ll now focus entirely on Enhanced Perception, where you should put 3 points each level up, in order to master it before level 125 (if you feel like you need other skills such as Constitution, Armor Lore or even Ranged Weapons, you can ignore Enhanced Perception at some level ups and spend points in either skill, depending on your need) Level 125 – By now we’ll have another skill mastered, Enhanced Perception, this meaning we’ll ignore it and focus on mastering all the remaining skills (except Concentration) Level 126-150 – Focus on Constitution now and add 3 points per level in it until mastery Level 150 – By now you should have Constitution mastered as well Level 151-200 – These final levels we’ll focus on mastering the remaining of the skills (I prefer the following order to master the last skills: Armor Lore, then Ranged Weapons and finally, Combat Reflexes, or Spell Resistance if you took it instead of Reflexes; after you master all 9 skills except Concentration, drop the remaining skill points until level 200 in either skill, depending on your preference and/or your need) 5. Attributes Level 2-30: I prefer to go for both Dexterity and Stamina in a 50-50 ratio (if you prefer other attribute points distribution you can go for anything you’d like, based on your preference and need, but Dexterity and Stamina should not be ignored before level 30) *we’ll take Dexterity for the attack, defense and ranged damage boost *we’ll take Stamina early for some regeneration decrease Level 31-49: for now I prefer to pump up Dexterity and Vitality in a 70-30 ratio (like the previous situation, you can go any ratio you’d like or need and you can put some points even into Willpower, but once again, Dexterity is essential) *we’ll take Vitality for a bit of health boost *we’ll take Willpower for a bit of spell resistance bonus (if you prefer to increase it at some level ups) Level 50-149: now we have 2 attribute points to spend, you can maximize the damage and put both of them into Dexterity or focus on your defense a little bit and drop some points into either Vitality and Willpower at some level ups, along one point in Dexterity (after level 50 one point should always go into Dexterity) Level 150+: now we have 3 attribute points to spend and I prefer to put all three of them into Dexterity to maximize the damage dealt (however, if you’d like some Willpower or Vitality, then you are free to drop a point in either one of them at some level ups, but two points each level up should always go into Dexterity) 6. Play style Wipe entire groups of enemies using Darting Assault and slay champions and bosses using Ravaged Impact Always carry on different types of ranged weapons since we’ll need them based on the situation we’re facing (I always have like 2 bows slots for max damage, 2 shuriken slots with strong shields for boss fights and a blowpipe slot because of its instant projectile) Don’t forget to cast your defensive spells (Goldenglade Touch and Acute Mind) before engaging a boss fight (I prefer to put them both in a combo only for boss fights) Also don’t hesitate to cast your Dust Devil spell because it saves you a lot (I find this spell really underrated by most of the players) Since we’ll have tons of potions, always use Mentor potions before fighting groups of opponents or shortly before you kill bosses and/or champions For the same reason, always cast a Concentration potion before the boss fights Your relic slots should be like this (after starting on Niobium you can drop the Enhanced Perception relics and start to fill your slots with relic sets from the Community Patch) o one main slot with very high mixed resistances (I prefer one or two fire relics and one magic or ice relic) o one slot filled with Bargaining relics that you switch before you click on shops o one slot filled with Enhanced Perception relics that you use when farming or shortly before bosses die o one slot filled with Fire resistance relics that you switch when fighting fire-damage opponents like Carnach, young dragons from the Seraphim Island or even Temple Guardians from the Wastelands since their fireballs they shoot can be very very deadly (on Niobium it can even one shot you to death) Like another user (ThirstForBlood) mentioned in his Dryad guide to avoid Fen Fires since they can be very dangerous in groups, I advise you to do the same. Be very careful on the Dryad isles and always cast your combo (Acute Mind + Goldenglade Touch) or just Goldenglade Touch before engaging them I also advise you to use your unique mount all the time since it increases your health pool considerably. After you find the unique mounts vendor in the Jungle (east of Archeologist Camp, near a Temple of the Gods), buy the Chthonic Lizard and always ride it since it has a nice boost to health pool and Willpower Since we have mastered Bargaining at level 75, try to do all the optional quests in the game because Bargaining mastery increases the rewards you gain after completing them (I even got set items from one star quests) Always search in chests and barrels after Enhanced Perception mastery (or even before) since we may never know when the luck hits us (I personally got some uniques and sets from the chests I opened even before Perception mastery) Gameplay related, Expert touch option should be ON since we aren’t using too much aspects and we’ll also have some regen/hit items Some suggestions I have about the difficulties o I don’t recommend playing on Bronze, we can pretty easy play start from Silver at level 1 o I usually try to finish Silver at around level 60 to shape our build a bit for upcoming difficulty levels o I usually try to finish Gold at around level 100, but only after I master the following skills: Tactics Lore, Bargaining, Capricious Hunter Focus and Nature Weaver Focus o I usually focus on finishing Platinum at around level 140, but only after I have Enhanced Perception and Constitution mastered (since we’ll badly need survivability on Niob) along with either Detheya’s Agility or Remnants of Glaurung sets completed (since we’ll need the % Lifeleech on Niob as well) o after starting the Niob difficulty, we want to master all the remaining skills (Ranged Weapons, Armor Lore and Combat Reflexes), except Concentration, so I always do every side quest and kill all the bosses in the entire game for some good XP and possible valuable drops after completing these quests 7. Weapons, equipment, jewelry and relics 7.1 Weapons 7.1.1 Bows the best ranged weapons to use in terms of base damage and damage dealt overall I personally prefer to use the bow most of the time, being very good against most of the opponents we're facing in Ancaria that being said, if you want to maximize the damage (like I do), stick with a bow the best bows in the game you can use, which fits our build as well, are the unique ones that we can pretty easily find thanks to our insane chance to find valuables stats (especially from the Enhanced Perception skill) 7.1.2 Blowpipes lower base damage than bows but having instant projectile speed works very well against fast moving enemies that usually avoid slow projectiles (such as arrows or shurikens) blowpipes comes with a lot of secondary damage effects such as Burn, Freeze, Poison and/or Weaken (usually comes with bonuses to all 4 of them) so, if you want to maximize the secondary effects, then blowpipes are for you since the blowpipes are exclusively available only to the Dryad, there are some cool and strong unique blowpipes which you can find, but also some legendary ones (if you're really lucky) as well as a set one 7.1.3 Shurikens, throwing daggers, throwing stones and throwing potions very cool type of ranged weapons we can find all over the map, usually having less damage than bows but a little higher than blowpipes (except for throwing potions) powerful weapons to use against enemies that usually closes the gap on you and you have to fight them from close range (such as Octagolamus for example) they don't have a very high attack range and their projectile speed is very slow, thus leading you to easily miss the attacks if used against fast opponents, so be careful when you decide to use these throwing ranged weapons from this list of throwing weapons I find shurikens to be the strongest ones, both in terms of damage and modifiers they came with (some rare ones may even carry %Lifeleech bonuses) for the throwing potions, they are the weakest in terms of damage, but they usually come with at least 1 or 2 elemental damage types as well as a nice modifier to use, which is the chance to hit additional opponents, making this a very powerful area of effect ranged weapon to have throwing stones are available only with the Community Patch on and they usually have average damage and usually carries the chance to stun modifier, which can be pretty good in certain situations as for the last, the throwing daggers are usually pretty random (at least from my perspective), both in terms of base damage as well as modifiers that comes with, but you can be lucky and find some rare and unique ones that can carry the %Lifeleech effect on them 7.1.4 Shields shields can be paired with one of the throwing weapon type mentioned above, increasing your defensive capabilities when using such weapons there some great unique (or legendary, if you're lucky) shields to use, the best ones being those who grant high resistance values, damage mitigation bonuses, damage over time decrease, spell resistance, block change: spells/combat arts or at least some fire damage mitigation effects 7.2 Equipment for the armor pieces we're going to wear, the things are pretty simple: a full completed Detheya's Agility set you might be wondering why Detheya's and not the Mormorin's Garments of Mutation set (which most of the people use), so, I'll offer the details behind this choice firstly, Detheya's set is purely focused on the Capricious Hunter aspect, the main aspect we are using secondly, and the most important thing is that this set grants us a nice %Lifeleech bonus, +5% (on Niob) when wearing the full set, this being insanely powerful in addition to this, the pieces of this set each have pretty good bonuses which synergies very well with our build before the Detheya's Agility set is completed, you can basically use items by your preference, if you find them good enough 7.3 Jewelry similar to the armor pieces, the jewelry in this build is fixed as well since Dryad can wear 2 personal sets at the same time, the second completed set we're going to wear will be the Remnants of Glaurung set, a pure jewelry-based set the main reason we're doing this is because this set give us another +1.9% Lifeleech (on Niob), for a total of 6.9% (even more if you have some weapons with %Lifeleech as well), which is amazingly strong at all points in the game some other very good bonuses provided by this set are a +skills and +all combat arts as well as a -20% regeneration time also, the pieces of this set each have some powerful bonuses to take, those being a regen/hit effect, +Willpower, +Intelligence, +Stamina, as well as a very nice resistance and spell resistance bonuses coming from the shrunken head this set has 7.4 Relics for the relics, I personally use a mixed resistance set as a main one, filled with set sigils from the Community Patch (at least one should be a Fire resistance relic and one a Magic resistance one) one relic set should always contain a +Bargaining relics which you will switch before clicking on shops for better offers one relic set should always contain a +Enhanced Perception or a +Chance to find valuables relics which you will use while farming, if you are careful enough, or just switch to it before killing bosses (or when farming bosses such as the Nameless Guardians) since we're vulnerable to Fire due to the Ancient Bark buff, the other remaining relic set should be filled with Fire resistance relics, which you'll switch to it before fighting Fire damage opponents (such as Carnach for example) since we have enough Poison resistance from the Ancient Bark buff, we won't need any Poison relics 8. Socketing this is the most flexible part of the build, you can basically add a personal touch here by socketing any desired bonuses and effects into your armor for me, the best bonuses to socket into your items are the following: o for weapons: +Damage rings in all the sockets (my favorite approach) or some +Regen/hit, +Attack speed, +Chance for critical hits, +Chance for double hits o for armor pieces: +Resistance jewelry in most of the sockets, as well as some Fire damage mitigation effects, Damage mitigation (all channels), -Regen time, +Spell resistance or, for some greedy players (just like me), +Experience per kill or +Chance to find valuables can work too o for shield: the situation here is similar to the armor pieces, but I personally focus on pumping up some +Resistance jewelry or some Fire damage mitigation/Damage mitigation (all channels), as well as some +Damage rings, if the shield has more than 2 sockets for Guardians farming, I personally prefer to have another shield (a 4 sockets one if you can find one) that I use only for the farming, fully socketed with +Chance to find valuables bonuses on it before you find all these jewels to put into your equipment, you can use a lot of Whet runes from the Blacksmith as well as a few Enhance ones to reduce the regen time early on (Anneal runes won't be used since we have enough resistance and defense from the Ancient Bark buff) Thus being said, this was my personal approach to the Dryad, one of the most popular characters from the Sacred 2 world. I hope you liked it and it helped you in any way possible in developing a really powerful as well as fun to play type of the fierce huntress Dryad is. Any feedback you leave here in the comments is more than welcome and appreciated! Thank you in advance and I hope you all have a fun time while playing this beautiful game! -RavenLight
  3. Jubei, the Mentalist Dragon Mage 1. Character introduction Once a noble apprentice of the High Temple of the Mages' Guild seeking magical knowledge, Jubei quickly earned a name for himself in the Great Council. His fast learning abilities combined with the accurate magic and fighting skills acquired during the short stay at the Temple turned him into one of the most promising students in the land. The ranks and grades he obtained were bolstered day by day, slowly climbing on his way to the top. One day, following his hard work and commitment at the Temple, Jubei managed to came into the Grand Archmage's attention who wanted to personally greet and teach him all the knowledge he had. Finally, the young student, got the opportunity to fulfill his childhood dream, that to meet and directly learn from the Archmage himself. But he never got the chance to fully complete his wish. At a time, the men's long forgotten enemies had returned, the Demons. They shortly begun to slaughter everything in their path, man by man, kingdom by kingdom, quickly making their way to the Mages' land. Overcome and outnumbered by the demonic army, Jubei and his fellows retreated into the mountains to seek shelter, but only a few of them managed to fulfill the long and tedious journey to the peak of the mountain. Little did they know that they had taken refuge close to a dragon's lair so they were taken by surprise by the dragon's return, who surprisingly allied them against their common enemies, teaching Jubei vast mentalism and dragon magic knowledge. Since that day, the now fearsome and skilled Dragon Mage seek to avenge the loss of his former colleagues and masters, entirely driven by his own will in order to banish the evil once and for all. 2. Skill build and skill mastery 2.1 Skill build Level 2 - Mentalism Lore (at least 75 points here (I recommend 200); match its level by your character's level so you can master it at level 75) - What's a mentalist without his Mentalism Lore skill? Mentalism Lore is a crucial skill in our build, increasing both damage dealt and casting speed of the combat arts from the Mentalism aspect as well as granting Runes of Protection buff further resistance increase. Also allows modifications for our most important spells. Level 3 - Tactics Lore (at least 75 points here (you can go even 200 if you want a more melee oriented character); keep it 3/4 of your character's level so you can master it by level 100) - A good mentalist has to be a skilled fighter as well. Tactics Lore provides us increased weapon damage as well as better chance for critical hits. Level 5 - Armor Lore (75 points here; keep its level around 2/3 of your character's level in order to diminish the penalty caused by high level gear; usually, the penalty level has to be at least 20 levels higher than your character's level, meaning that a level 75 Dragon Mage (for example) should use level 95 or even 100 gear without any penalty) - A balanced mentalist should not only focus on his offense but on his defense as well. Armor Lore provides us a decent amount or resistance and regeneration decrease as well as a penalty level decrease for our equipment. Level 8 - Mentalism Focus (75 points here; match its level by your character's level so you can master it as level 75) - In order to be a complete mentalist, we should have the focus skill of this aspect as well. Like Mentalism Lore, Mentalism Focus is another crucial skill in our build that greatly reduces regeneration time for Mentalism aspect combat arts and diminish the penalty levels too. Also allows further and faster modifications for our Mentalism spells. Level 12 - Concentration (75 points only; keep its level 1/4 of your character's level until mastery; don't put too many points into this skill since we're using it mostly for the second buff) - Learnt by Jubei in the loneliness of the mountains, Concentration is a must have skill that comes in handy even with a single point into it. It reduces the regeneration time of all combat arts but most important, it enables the use of 2 buffs at the same time. Level 18 - Dragon Magic Focus (75 points here; keep it 3/4 of your character's level so you can master it by level 100) - The mighty dragon's knowledge finally comes in handy. Dragon Magic Focus greatly reduces regeneration time for Dragon Magic aspect combat arts and diminish the penalty levels as well. Also allows modifications for our Dragon Magic spells. Level 25 - Pole Arms (75 points here; keep its level around 2/3 of your character's level in order to diminish the penalty caused by high level weapons; like Armor Lore, the penalty for Pole Arms weapons has to be at least 20 levels higher than your character's level, meaning that a level 75 Dragon Mage (for example) should use level 95 or even 100 weapons without any penalty) - Like a skilled Shaolin fighter that uses long-handled weapons, our mentalist will focus on learning the power of the pole arms weapons. Pole Arms increases attack speed and chance to hit as well as a penalty level decrease for our weapons. Level 35 - Constitution (75 points; keep its level around 1/2 of your character's level; try to master it by level 150 'cause we'll badly need it for Platinum and Niobium difficulties) - Constitution provides increased health and health regeneration, empowering our Mage's survivability. Level 50 - Combat Discipline (75 points; keep its level around 1/2 of your character's level until mastery; we won't really need 4 combat arts in a combo so don't hurry up mastering this skill) - A Concentration-like skill that comes in handy without many points in it. Combat Discipline improves the damage of all combat arts as well as the number of combat arts that can be put in a combo. Level 65 - Toughness (75 points; keep its level around 1/3 of your character's level until mastery) - One final defensive skill for the mentalist, Toughness provides a little bit more resistance as well as a minimal damage mitigation percent. I picked Toughness as a final level 65 skill simply because I find resistance and survivability in general a higher priority for the late game (Platinum or higher) rather than damage increase skills (we already have Mentalism Lore as well as Combat Discipline skills to do it). If you intend to give the build a personal 'touch' or you want to define it in a particular way, some other possible level 65 skill choices can be (instead of Toughness): Dragon Magic Lore (75 points; keep it around 1/2 of your character's level until mastery) - Only if you really want to further improve the Dragon Magic aspect combat arts in terms of more Eternal Fire and Dragon Strike damage and a little bit of Familiar health bonus as well; I personally prefer Ancient Magic skill to increase the spell damage and the health bonus granted isn't that much of a thing since we already have Constitution) Ancient Magic (at least 75 points here (you can even go for 200); keep it around 1/2 of your character's level; try to master it either on Silver or Gold difficulties since we'll badly need the opponents' spell resistance reduction on Platinum and Niobium) - If you want to maximize the damage dealt, choose this skill. It boosts our spell damage by a decent amount and it decreases opponents' spell resistance when mastered (my personal favorite skill as a Toughness replacement because it can be a good choice for Platinum and Niobium too if you master it before entering those difficulties since it reduces the enemies' already high resistance, dealing with them a bit faster) Spell Resistance (75 points only; keep it around 1/3 of your character's level until mastery) - Good skill to choose if you feel your Runes of Protection buff can sustain you in battles against weapon attacks. As the name says, Spell Resistance increases our Mage's resistance against magic spells and adds a protection against spell-based critical hits as well. Enhanced Perception (75 points; keep it at least 2/3 of your character's level for better effectiveness) - Learn Enhanced Perception if you like a greedier approach to the build since it increases our chance to find valuables. Good skill to take if you like to play with a lot of set and special items. Bargaining (200 points here; if you want to fully benefit from it match its level by your character's level) - Learn Bargaining if you intend to do a lot of shopping to constantly upgrade our gear. 2.2 Skill mastery order 1st - Mentalism Focus: for further decrease of the regeneration time and even more penalty level diminish for the Mentalism aspect combat arts. Master it at level 75. 2nd - Mentalism Lore: for further damage increase for the Mentalism aspect combat arts. Master it at level 75. 3rd - Tactics Lore: for even more damage and chance for critical hits increase. Master it by level 100. 4th - Dragon Magic Focus: for further decrease of the regeneration time and even more penalty level diminish for the Dragon Magic aspect combat arts. Master it by level 100. 5th - depending on your skill chosen at level 65: Pole Arms (only if you didn't pick Ancient Magic at level 65): to have the chance for double hits. Doesn't have a certain level to be mastered with. Ancient Magic (only if you picked it at level 65): to be able to reduce the enemies' resistances against magic. (if you picked Ancient Magic at level 65 then master it 5th, right after Dragon Magic Focus and delay the order of the rest of the masteries afterwards by 1; try to master it either on Silver or Gold difficulties since the spell resistance reduction to the enemies will be much needed in Platinum and Niobium). 6th - Armor Lore: for further reduce to the regeneration penalty. Doesn't have a certain level to be mastered with. 7th - Constitution: to increase the health regeneration rate during combat. Try to master it by level 150. 8th - Combat Discipline: for further combat arts' regeneration time decrease and to allow up to 4 combat arts in a single combo. Doesn't have a certain level to be mastered with. 9th - depending on your skill chosen at level 65: Toughness: for even more resistance increase and damage mitigation. Dragon Magic Lore: for further damage increase for the Dragon Magic aspect combat arts. Spell Resistance: to be able to reduce the duration of detrimental effects (the five secondary damage effects like open wounds, burn, freeze, poison and weaken) and damage over time effects. Enhanced Perception: to grant a chance to find secret compartments in chests and hiding places (not really sure what this means to be honest since I never mastered Enhanced Perception). Bargaining: for better quest rewards. All of these skills mentioned in this section doesn't have a certain level to be mastered with. 10th - Concentration: for further combat arts and buffs' regeneration time decrease and to allow up to 3 buffs to be used at the same time. Doesn't have a certain level to be mastered with. I choose to master Concentration last because we don't really have a useful buff as our 3rd one since we didn't focused on the Elemental Magic aspect to modify the Protector buff. 3. Combat arts and modifications 3.1 Combat arts Mentalism aspect 1. Energy Blaze: Our main offensive combat arts we'll be using. It creates a magic energy that damages and burns (damage over time) enemies in the area of effect. Very good for dealing with groups of enemies. (I don't really have a certain number of runes to be read here, just pay attention to not go above the penalty level; the damage dealt will be primarily increased via +% Magic Damage modifiers and not via reading runes but we'll eventually end up with 200 runes at character level 200; on a personal note, I try to keep this spell's regen at around 1.5-1.8 seconds) 2, Combat Trace: Powerful castable buff that reduces our combat arts' cooldown and protects us against root and stun effects as well. Very good ability when used before boss fights. (200 runes here since we won't really spam this; can even go above the penalty level a lot without any major issues) 3. Maelstrom: Good crowd control combat art that slows the enemies inside the area of effect. Also slows the missiles inside the field. Probably better when used in a combo paired with other combat arts than used as a standalone spell. (200 runes here; can go up the penalty levels by your wish) 4. Runes of Protection (buff): Our main buff we'll be using. It basically provides the Dragon Mage a magical armor that protects him against melee attacks and spells. Extremely powerful defensive buff. (200 runes here eventually but keep an eye out on your Energy Blaze's regen and also to the penalty level to not go above it; don't increase your spells' regen too much with this, so, my advice is to start occasionally reading runes after you reach level 25-ish) Dragon Magic aspect 5. Eternal Fire: Another area of effect damage ability that ignites an enemy and spreads the fire over to nearby targets. Might be better used in a combo paired with another area of effect or crowd control spell rather than a standalone ability. (occasionally read runes up to the penalty level and keep this around the penalty level as well; 200 runes will go there eventually, later in the game) 6. Dragon Strike: Heavy area of effect offensive spell that comes in handy in a possible combo. Calls down a dragon that casts a massive fireball at the targeted area, dealing fire damage over time to the enemies. (similar to Eternal Fire, occasionally read as many runes as the penalty level lets you; 200 runes here as well) 7. Familiar (buff): Our second buff after we'll learn Concentration. Summons a small dragon companion that increases our Intelligence, Health and Willpower. Very good second buff if modified according to the build. (as this is a very important defensive buff, I recommend to reduce its regen a lot via item modifiers and read a lot of runes here; can even go above the penalty level but not too much; 200 runes will go there) 3.2 Modifications (modify the combat arts in the exact same order as listed below) Mentalism aspect 1. Energy Blaze Confusion: targets attacks more slowly (30% + 0.02% per Energy Blaze level) - I find this modification to be more effective than Blind (opponents' hit value decrease) just because it synergies better with Maelstrom's slow (Energy Blaze and Maelstrom combined provide movement slow, attack speed slow, missile slow as well as a weaken effect) Zone: increases the area of effect (+5 meters) - I personally prefer this one over Impact (damage increase) because we can increase the Energy Blaze's damage much easier than increasing its area of effect. Afterglow: magical burn gets stronger (2.5 damage/second + 1.25 damage/second increase per Energy Blaze level) - I personally find this better than the regeneration decrease modification (Experience) because we'll reduce the regeneration time of all spells via items, Combat Trace or Energy Flux Familiar modification, so a little damage increase over regeneration decrease won't hurt us that much. 2. Runes of Protection (buff) Protection: increases protection against physical damage (8 + 5 per Energy Blaze level) - Very good modification since most of the enemies in Ancaria's lands uses physical damage (or physical + other damage type). Stone Skin: increased chance to block missiles (25% + 0.3% per Runes of Protection level) - We already have one Protection modification as well as Armor Lore and eventually Toughness, so we have enough physical resistance. An increased chance to block incoming missiles would be better this way. Flux: reduces the costs to keep up the runes (-25% reduction to the regeneration penalty) - A huge modification to take since it reduces the regeneration penalty caused by Runes of Protection buff, thus meaning a shorter regeneration time of all our combat arts. 3, Combat Trace Awareness: increased stun resistance (16.7% + 0.1% per Combat Trace level) - I find this better than the Light Footed modification (increases root resistance) because we can still use combat arts and attack while rooted, while we're completely defenseless while stunned. Experienced: reduces the Trace's cooldown (down to 40 seconds) - Self explanatory. Shorter cooldown, more Combat Trace uses we have. Energy Flux: markedly increased regeneration (-15% + 0.3% per Combat Trace level) - Highly recommended modification to take for further regeneration decrease to all aspects. 4. Maelstrom Grind: further reduces the armor of enemies caught in the Maelstrom (-50% + 0.2% per Maelstrom level) - The less armor they have, the more damage we inflict. I choose this modification over the Burden one (further speed reduce) because Maelstrom has a -50% speed slow by default, which is more than enough for huge crowd control. Thicken: missiles are further slowed inside the field (200% slow) - A total of 400% missile slow after this modification. I'm not a big fan of the Extension modification (Maelstrom duration increase) since 8 seconds by default is more than enough and we usually finish opponents in less than 8 seconds. Demoralize: attributes are further decreased inside the field (5.5% + 0.1% per Maelstrom level) - Similar to the Grind modification, the less attributes they have, the more damage we inflict. I prefer this modification instead of another Thicken one since a total of 400% missile slow is usually more than enough. Dragon Magic aspect 1. Familiar (buff) Insight: increases experience per kill (+10%) - A free 10% increase experience per kill will help us level up a bit faster. I pick this over Firebug modification (chance to ignite targets) because we won't rely on the Familiar to kill our targets, we'll do it with Energy Blaze and Eternal Fire. Quick Mind: increases casting speed (15% + 0.2% per Familiar level) - From my perspective, Dragon Mage has a lot of slow casting spells so I always prefer this modification over the Protection from Fire one (self explanatory name). Energy Flux: reduces the regeneration time of all spells (-16.7%) - Another huge regeneration decrease modification and a must have one since it decreases the regeneration of all spells from all aspects, not just from the Dragon Magic aspect. Also, the Life Force modification (health increase) can be a bit overkill since we have Constitution anyway (and a lot of resistance from our items and Runes of Protection buff). 2. Eternal Fire Licking Flames: fire can jump to enemies that are further away (+0.8 +0.01 meters per Eternal Fire level) - As the description says, more spread range with more burning enemies. Can be deadly in certain combos. Hunger: increases the chance to jump over to nearby enemies (+10% +1% chance per Eternal Fire level) - Like the previous modification (Licking Flames), this one increases the fire spread further more. Fury: fire burns stronger (+37.5% damage increase from base damage) - The more damage dealt, the more deadly Eternal Fire will be. 3. Dragon Strike Heat: fire burns faster, reducing time between the pulses (+0.34 hits/second) - Faster damage over time to the enemies caught. Since this spell will only be used in a combo, we won't take the other modification, Terror (chance to stun the targets). Heat: fire burns faster, reducing time between the pulses (+0.34 hits/second) - Another Heat modification for even shorter damage intervals. Fury: fire burns stronger (+33% damage increase) - Very good modification to take to maximize the damage potential of this spell. 4. Combos Combo 1: Energy Blaze + Maelstrom - Both crowd control and damage focused combo. (Energy Blaze rips enemies apart and the survivors (if they exist) will be greatly slowed and will be finished only by weapon) Combo 2: Energy Blaze + Eternal Fire - Maximum damage focused combo. (Energy Blaze heavily damages the enemies in the area of effect while Eternal Fire sets them ablaze, finishing the rest of the survivors (if they exist)) Combo 3: Dragon Strike + Maelstrom - Another crowd control and damage focused combo. (We'll put Dragon Strike first into the combo since it has a short delay before the fireball falls.) if you want to use 3 combat arts in the same combo (after learning Combat Discipline, level 50), the third combat art that will be put into the combo is pure preferential (same thing applies after Combat Discipline mastery when we can combo up to 4 combat arts); I usually use combos with just 2 combat arts into them a suggestion for a maximum damage 3 combat arts combo: Dragon Strike + Energy Blaze + Eternal Fire (can be good against certain slow bosses) 5. Attributes level 1-30: add points into Strength (for increased attack value and pole arms weapon damage; note that we won't be using blunt pole arms which are only affected by Dexterity attribute since Strength-based pole arms are usually easier to find and comes with better damage values as well) and Stamina (for better combat arts' regeneration time early on) in a 60-40 ratio (at level 30 you should have around 18 points added into Strength and around 12 points added into Stamina; if you prefer you can even add 16 points into Dexterity and 14 into Stamina) level 31-50: put points into Strength and start to occasionally up Vitality as well (for some health bonus) in a 60-40 ratio as well (by level 50 you should have added around 12 points into Strength and 8 into Vitality) after level 50 when you will have 2 attribute points to spend: ONE point should always go into Strength while the other one should go into Vitality or Intelligence (for a bit of spell damage and spell intensity); my preference is to improve Vitality one level and then Intelligence next level and so on after level 150 when you will have 3 attribute points to spend, TWO points should always go into Intelligence (to be able to scale our spell damage better into the higher difficulties) and the other one into Strength 6. Weapons and equipment 6.1 Weapons since there are no set pole arms specific to the Dragon Mage, we're going to use some unique ones (if we're lucky enough to find some) otherwise, rares are good too (even some blues can be found with nice modifiers as well) best weapon modifiers to use: +X% Lifeleech is the best modifier so far (+X flat value Lifeleech is good too), +X/X% Damage, +X% chance for critical hits, +X% chance for double hits, -Combat arts regeneration time, +X% damage to the same damage type you use, +Regeneration/hit, +X all combat arts, +X all skills try to keep each one of the weapon slots for each damage type and focus on one main damage type (I personally use magic damage due to the weaken effect that synergies with the weaken from the Maelstrom spell) only use pole arms that are affected by Strength attribute (thus meaning that all blunt pole arms that doesn't have a sharp edge or a point won't be affected by Strength) best unique vanilla-version pole arms you can use (for lucky people): Cordell's Javelin of War (+All combat arts, +Strength, +Attack and Deathblow), Gronkor's Downfall (+Chance for double hits, +Chance for critical hits, +Regeneration/hit, +Attack and Defense), Optimus Minimus (+All combat arts, -Regeneration time, +Offensive Skills), Torik's Wrath Ice and Blood version (just for the sake of role-playing but fortunately it has some nice bonuses such as +Attack speed, -Opponent's chance to evade and a huge +Ice damage boost) if you have the Community Patch installed (thanks Flix for reminding me), then the best pole arms weapons you can use are: Danse Macabre (+% Lifeleech, +Chance to disregard armor, +Attack, +Spell Intensity), The Earth-Shaker (+% Strength, +All skills, -Opponent's armor: physical, -Opponent's attack value, +Chance to slow), Soulflay Fork (+Chance to reflect combat arts, +Damage, +All combat arts, +Intelligence, +Regeneration/hit) and Waton's Dreamblade (+Chance to halve regeneration time, -Opponent's chance to evade, +Duration of potion effects, +Chance to hit additional opponents) best modifiers to socket into your weapons (from jewelry): +X/X% Lifeleech, +X% Chance for critical hits, +X/X% Damage, +X/X% Magic damage, +Regeneration/hit or even +X Attack 6.2 Equipment best type of armor to use are the set ones (we're going to use Torik's Oath set for the bonuses to the Mentalism aspect) until you find all pieces of the Torik's Oath set, mixed gear containing rares, uniques or other set items are also good best modifiers to use on your armor pieces: +X/X% Lifeleech, +X/X% Defense, +X/X% Armor, -Combat arts regeneration time, -Regeneration penalty from buffs, -Regeneration aspect: Mentalism, +Mentalism aspect, +X all combat arts, +X all skills, +X% Damage mitigation,+X% Magic damage or +Spell Intensity best modifiers to socket on your armor pieces (from jewelry): +X/X% Lifeleech, +X/X% Armor, -Combat arts regeneration time, -Regeneration penalty from buffs, +X to all skills, +Regeneration/hit, +X% Damage mitigation, +X Defense, +X% Magic damage or +X Max hitpoints modifiers 6.3 Jewelry the best jewelry you can equip are the ones that provides the bonuses mentioned above (like +Resistance, +Defense, +Regeneration/hit, -Regeneration time, -Regeneration penalty from buffs, +X to all skills, +X Defense/Attack or +X Max hitpoints) pieces with individual skill bonuses such as +Mentalism aspect, +Mentalism Lore, +Mentalism Focus, +Constitution or pieces with individual attribute bonuses such as +Strength, +Vitality, +Stamina (or even +Willpower) etc. are good too don't socket more than one jewel into a single item (if it has more socket slots) because you'll lose the other ones when you will take one of them out (fill the rest of the slots with Blacksmith arts; Anneal and Enhance are the best ones for armor pieces while Whet for the weapon slots) 6.4 Relics have a main relic slot with mixed resistance relics (I personally use one Magic relic, one Fire relic and one Poison/Ice relic for every character and build I follow) the rest of relic slots should focus on the following resistance types: one entire slot filled with Fire relics, one with only Ice relics and the remaining one filled with Poison relics if you have the Community Patch installed, the new set relics added with the patch are one of the best ones to use (following the rules mentioned above as well) 7. Play style Expert Touch option should be ON since we're mainly focused on the Mentalism aspect you can use both standalone spells or put them into different combos, it's your choice Combat Trace should not be put in any combo, just use it as a standalone spell because I heard people saying it can crash the game when used in a combo; didn't experienced it on my play nor even tried to verify the eventual bug yet (I'm not sure if the Community Patch fixed this bug either) control groups of enemies with Maelstrom, slowing them down, then follow with an Energy Blaze to wipe them out use the "hit'n'run" kiting style a lot early on since we're not a casual 'hack'n'slash-kill-everything-in-our-path-overpowered-toon' and we need some time and a lot of modifications to fully outline our build (later levels you can stand and fight in almost all battles because we'll eventually grow stronger and resistant) don't forget to always use a Concentration potion followed by Combat Trace before tough battles or boss fights try to use the maximum damage combos (Energy Blaze + Eternal Fire or Dragon Strike + Energy Blaze + Eternal Fire) against bosses since most of them are slow-ish and in majority of the cases we won't need Maelstrom to slow them down (however, slowing projectiles and missiles with Maelstrom is always a good thing) don't hesitate to often use Mentor potions since we're mainly fighting against hordes of enemies (also, we find potions quite easily and Mentor potions stacks with the Familiar Insight modification if you have the Community Patch installed) try to complete as many side quests as possible and collect all items found (even the common ones) because we need some levels and enough gold to outline the build and constantly upgrade our items (I always do all of them in all my playthroughs, from the 1 star ones to the 5 star ones) although boss killing can be a bit slow, try to complete all 4 and 5 star side quests since they give a lot of experience and good item drops after completing them if you find the character's casting speed a bit slow then you can slaughter single enemies only by your weapon 8. Pros and cons As a part of all my guides so far, in the end of each one I show the players both pros and cons in order to help people understand advantages as well as disadvantages of each particular build I create. So, without further ado, I came to the following conclusions: 8.1 Pros very good crowd control and damage against huge groups of enemies high amounts of damage dealt with the offensive spells amazing resistances (one of the highest physical resistance in the game from all characters) due to the Runes of Protection buff (Familiar buff also provides some health bonus) combat arts that synergies very well between them as well as their modifications interesting and extremely powerful combos to use can be an interesting build for the players who are into role-playing awesome looking Mentalism focused set (Torik's Oath) 8.2 Cons can be a bit weak early on requires a lot of combat arts modifications to fully come on-line boss killing can be a bit slow since it requires a lot of 'hit and run' strategy not that flexible build in terms of combat arts, modifications and items since it requires certain choices to work well Dragon Mage is the only character in the game who doesn't have access to weapon-based combat arts the use of two-handed pole arms turn the player unable to use shields, thus decreasing his resistance a little bit
  4. Hi, so I started a buid but I'm stuck on a question. Should I start on 100% intel and carry a magic stick or balance it with strength and take a hammer with both hands? Obviously I'm willing to take any other advice ! Shadow Veil (Buff) A B A Spectral Hand B B A Skeletal Fortification A B A Reflective Emanation (Buff) B B A Grim Resilience (Buff) A A A 1-Astral Lord Lore 2-Astral Lord Focus 3-Concentration 4-Discipline de combat 5-Tactics Lore 6-Damage Lore 7-Speed Lore 8-Hafted Weapons or Magic Staffs ? 9-Armor Lore 10-Ancient Magic 100% Int or 50% int 50% str ?
  5. Version 1.0.0

    32 downloads

    I never liked the design of this set, with the yellow face looked more like a beetle than anything else, I finally gave it a more demonic touch and includes the sword. Installation: Copy the mq folder to the path C:\Program Files (x86)\Deep Silver\Sacred 2 Gold Edition\pak\mq Requirements: Armantin's Legacy http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php/Sacred_2:Armantin's_Legacy
  6. Im looking to put together a sword and shield build for a seraphin to got to niobium difficulty and would welcome any tips on improving her. My focus is to make a strong char that rolls with a sword and shield, slow but steady wins the race. The skills Tactics lore [75] Exalted warrior focus Sword lore Armor lore [75] Constitution [75] Toughness Combat reflex Spell resistance Shield lore Enhanced perception the ones with the brackets are to be 75 on lv75 ? The battle arts Battle Stance mods Aggression Flexibility Retaliation / Soul hammer mods Aim Battering Coup de Grace / Pelting Strikes mods Succession Focus Precision Assailing Somersault mods Athletic Brawn Concussion / Dashing Alacrity mods Bloodlust Delay Impatience if this build seems ok should I pick Expert touch because of one focus ? I would welcome any tips on anything thats does not work for some reason. I have played this exact build without expert touch up to lv 30 so up to toughness and it's fun to play, a bit slow but thats ok not looking to one shot everything. im also keeping regan times low for pelting strike only 1 rune but plan to build battle stance up a bit. playing without cm patch till 1.6o releases.
  7. I saved my chars from vanila and I am just about to instal the new 1.60. can I continue with my old char or do I have to start new char.
  8. Hello all! I really hope someone can help me with my melee TG shopper build... The possibilities on the last 2 skills are killing me! I want to be able to use deathly spears effectively and survive decently. As it stands, my first 8 skills are: 1. Enhanced Perception 2. Bargaining 3. Armor Lore 4. Hafted Weapons 5. Tactics Lore (better weapon damage, DS damage, and derogate damage) 6. Devout Guardian Focus 7. Warding Energy Lore 8. Combat Discipline (haven't taken this YET but it does make deathly spears better I hear) So this leaves me with a few options for my last two skills. I am keeping combat alert as a castable which hopefully won't force cooldowns too hard on deathly spears and such. Anyways, I've devised a few options for skills 9 and 10: Option 1: Toughness and Lost Fusion Focus (for modding jolting touch) Option 2: Concentration (for 2 buffs) and Source Warden Focus (to mod and use the buff untouchable force) Option 3: Toughness and Concentration (is untouchable force worth using unmodded?) Option 4: Lost Fusion Focus and Concentration (again, is untouchable force really worth it unmodded?) I find options 3 and 4 LEAST compelling. Option one seems legitimate to me but then I miss out on a bunch of potential stun from not having UF. Option 2 seems good but then I only have an unmodded jolting touch and I miss out on toughness. Can my TG make it by with just armor lore and warding energy lore? I could always not take combat discipline, lose out on some DS damage (idk how much), and then come away with a little more options. Help. PLEASE help! I would really appreciate it!!!
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