Noob needing advice from the Sacred 2 "1337"

[JXS 0]

Just picked up Sacred 2 for the 360 and I am loving the game.

 

I was working on a dual wield build that would utilize Nether Allegiance

the break down of skills in no particular order, was this (excuse me for not using abbreviations, not familiar with them yet) :

 

sword weapons - 1pt (unlock weapon bonuses)

tactics lore - 200 pts

dual wield - 200 pts

astral lord lore - 9pts (gain 3 mod pts for NA)

combat discipline - 75 pts

concentration - 75 pts

armor lore - 131 pts

constitution - 75 pts

toughness - 82 pts

undecided skill (perhaps combat reflex, speed lore, death warrior focus, pacifism)

 

combat arts would be : demonic blow, scything sweep, rousing command - frenzied rampage, killing spree, reflective emanation - nether allegiance

 

this was my first build in the game which I tried to model after my dual wielding barbarian from Diablo2. Also coming from a D&D background putting 1 point into sword weapons to gain weapon bonuses wasnt a bad idea.

however I have been reading thru various guides and some said that at higher levels I would need to have sword mastery to gain weapon bonuses associated with this skill. others have made builds that only have 1 point and make no mention of losing bonuses.

 

having sword weapon bonus is nice but only until a certain level seems to be more of a waste. I consider that while its only 1 point, it still takes up a skill slot that could have been for something more useful when thinking about end game. can any of the seasoned players clarify? Can I also get some suggestions on how high I should level my CA and best mods for them to consider?

Edited June 7, 2009 by JXS

[Knuckles 904]

Hi and welcome JXS

 

One issue you will have is without the associated Aspect Focuses you will not be able to increase your Combat Arts lvls easily. You will get the CA level penalty very early on. You need the Focus(es) to increase max CA level without penalty. Trying to have 3 Aspects running at the same time can be difficult. I would suggest dropping Astral Lore and take both Death Warrior and Malevolent Champion Focuses since your build seems to be pure melee. Having Grim Resilience and Reflective Emanation going at same time makes you almost into an invincible tank

 

You will start seeing swords that need the Mastery to unlock mods starting around level 70. But there are several good unique and rare swords that don't have any prerequisite for any of the mods. Unless you have a specific weapon you know needs sword lore, I would skip this skill if going Dual Wield

 

All the other skills look good

 

just my 2 cents

[JXS 0]

a penny saved is a penny earned. I very much appreciate your 2 cents Knuckles

 

perhaps this revision to my skill choices (no order)

 

death warrior focus - >75 pt min

tactics lore - 200 pts

dual wield - 200 pts

astral lord lore - 9pts (gain 3 mod pts for NA)

combat discipline - >75 pts

concentration - >75 pts

armor lore - 131 pts

constitution - 75 pts

toughness - 82 pts

malevolent champion - undecided

 

since the only CA in malevolent champion I wanted to focus on was frenzied rampage, perhaps not as many points but instead dump more into concentration and combat discipline to off set regen time.

then again not sure about leveling of combat arts. I know that increasing the level gives negative returns (ie the increase in regen).

 

would this mean it would be preferable to keep CA level that are used frequently at low level if not just level 1 to have the skill and rely more on damage from weapons?

knowing about the CA level penalty I was content to increase it with natural character level progression or is this something that will haunt me later?

Edited June 7, 2009 by JXS

[Knuckles 904]

CA regen versus level is one of the harder things to quantify in this game...everyone has different playing styles/builds. That said I generally do this. I keep my buffs as high as practical and my melee attack Combat Arts low and only try to level those thru equip.

 

The CA penalty can only be offset by Focus level and not character level. So any aspect you use often you really need to invest in that focus. On my melee SW's I always keep the Focus and Lore as high as feasible (Tactics Lore is used as the Lore for both Death Warrior and Malevolent Aspect and will help unlock those aspect lores).

 

If you really want Nether Allegiance switch Astral Lore with Astral Focus...the skeletons level and damage is determined by the CA level only. You can skip Malevolent Focus, and once you get Concentration to level 75 (to unlock 3rd buff) just put one rune into Reflective. You'll still get a nice reflection bonus without investing any further runes. But this will seriously hamper Frenzied Rampage's effectiveness. I like FR the best out of the attack Combat Arts if dual wielding but again that's just me. I would go out and try out each attack CA (just put one rune in each) and see if you like it or not.

 

Investing points in the associated focus, concentration and stamina will help keep the regens down. Also you might consider Riding, once you have some points in it, it will actually give a regen bonus to whichever aspect type the Hellhound is.

 

I haven't used Combat Discipline much but I don't think you get a regen bonus for each level in it. I'll let someone else comment on CD that has more experience with it.

 

Once you're happy with which skills you're gonna take we can get into the different CA mods

[JXS 0]

using FR with dual wield is what drew me into using SW in the first place and would be the bread and butter of my attacks.

what you said about CD having a set regen time bonus is true. sacred wiki lists it as having a -10% regen and increases to -20% at level 75 mastery. what appealed to me about CD was the dmg bonus it gave to CA but looking closer at the numbers it seems that the gains are not as good as I originally thought.

 

I see your point with investing in astral lore. if I want to be a summoner I should go the whole 9 yards which I probably will when I play thru the shadow campaign

 

think I will keep both DW and MC focuses while dumping AL focus all together. then forget CD and instead, as u suggested, pick up riding. I had not considered mounts till you mentioned it... infact I am not sure where to even get them yet.

yet again in place of riding I might take speed lore (thinking about my Diablo2 frenzy barb running at mach 3 ), or combat reflexes.

 

hrm... each has benefits I would want :S any final suggestions for a 10th skill?

[Knuckles 904]

One thought would be to get EP...since SW's can't get Bargaining this is really the only good way to increase chance of good drops....plus you can increase it's level easily thru relic bonuses. I would mention Blacksmith too but currently it's broken on consoles. Speed Lore is o.k. but I find getting equip with either of these mods: Chance to Evade +xx% (def) or Chance Opponent cannot Evade +xx% (atk) work just as well without using up a skill slot.

 

 

How to get a mount

[JXS 0]

thank you kindly brother

I probably will slip a rune or 2 into nether allegiance just to have some minions providing cover for those gawd awful protect/heirling missons (I am surprised that by now programmers still dont give better AI to minions/heirlings)

 

in terms of combat arts, since I am taking tactics lore, DW and MC focus both those CA trees will be fully modded.

 

DB wounding > poisoning > ?both seem equal, not sure what trauma's "cause severe wound" does

SS force > intent > rage

RC war song > impulse > surge

GR fortify > readiness > reflex

 

FR double attack > double strike > vampire

KS berserk > burst > sway

RE backlash > anti magic > riposte

BV reach > shock > commotion

AG elite > tutor > leadership

 

is the vampire and trauma life leeching effect calculated after the inital dmg from the CA or calculated with it?

 

not sure about RO. my main ones that I am focused on using are the ones I listed. RC and KS I plan on using in combo especially when something needs to be cut down fast. wanted to focus mods on cranking out maximum ammont of DPS. nothing to fear if its already dead

does my mod choices look solid or am I missing something?

Edited June 7, 2009 by JXS

[Sathayorn 0]

a penny saved is a penny earned. I very much appreciate your 2 cents Knuckles

 

perhaps this revision to my skill choices (no order)

 

death warrior focus - >75 pt min

tactics lore - 200 pts

dual wield - 200 pts

astral lord lore - 9pts (gain 3 mod pts for NA)

combat discipline - >75 pts

concentration - >75 pts

armor lore - 131 pts

constitution - 75 pts

toughness - 82 pts

malevolent champion - undecided

 

since the only CA in malevolent champion I wanted to focus on was frenzied rampage, perhaps not as many points but instead dump more into concentration and combat discipline to off set regen time.

then again not sure about leveling of combat arts. I know that increasing the level gives negative returns (ie the increase in regen).

 

would this mean it would be preferable to keep CA level that are used frequently at low level if not just level 1 to have the skill and rely more on damage from weapons?

knowing about the CA level penalty I was content to increase it with natural character level progression or is this something that will haunt me later?

I may be wrong, but doesn't this add up to more than the total skill points you get?

[jrok 0]

Yah there are a couple too many points in that build about 11 or so easy enough to fix since its a planning build