A Comprehensive Guide To The Ranged Bosskiller Seraphim

[Dobri 55]

It appears that the build I posted a day earlier has sparked some interest. It is tried and true in SP (while I still didn't have the Ice and Blood expansion) and my current BeeEffGee shopper is partly based on it. Although it is a BeeEffGee build, I don't use the heavenly weapon at all - it simply provides extra options, as well as a nice boost to the Ranged Weapons skill. I will provide it as an option in the build variations, since it's tried and true as well.

 

I. Pros and Cons of the Bosskiller build.

 

Pros of the build:

1. You can kill almost any boss without any problems and in almost no time at all.

2. This build can easily get you to 200 in Hardcore without any worries.

3. This build requires minimum micromanagement. No need to switch between Combat Arts like crazy, which makes it perfect for casual play.

4. The damage is constant. It doesn't vary depending on the type of enemy you fight.

5. The build has high damage mitigation and good blocking, which renders it very hard to kill.

6. The build provides a lot of customization options.

7. Being a boss-killer build, it gives you high chance to find a bunch of legendaries on your way to niobium. For a refference, at level 131, I have found 7 legendary items without any chance to find valuables other than my Enhanced Perception bonus.

8. Does not require dual Kal'Dur's Legacy legendary weapons to make it effective. Besides, Barristan seems to have those drop at his feet as soon as he logs into the game, so it's doubtful there's any left for you

9. When equipped properly, it can either become a very fast leveler or a stinking rich item hungry Seraphim.

 

Cons of the build:

1. The general damage output is low. It takes longer to kill a normal monster than a regular damage-based build.

2. Requires some time spend in shopping to provide the gear you need.

3. Requires specific equipment to make it work efficiently.

4. Some players don't like grinding. Prepare for a lot of it with this build.

5. This build is more of a lone hunter since you will be hard pressed to refresh the server often.

6. This build can still succumb to the 1-hit kill leech bug that are still present in this game, so be careful when fighting deamons or when fooling around in crystal planes.

 

Conclusion: A very rewarding build, if you're willing to put some time in it to make it work properly. With this build, the time spending in shopping to make it effective is equally important than doing the boss runs. In the end, however, this build alone can equip your up and coming seraphims with any item they wish and require due to the constant boss runs.

 

II. General concept of the Bosskiller build.

 

The Bosskiller build is based on Life Leech % equipment. Without it, its effectiveness is vastly reduced. On the positive side, the Life Leech alone is good enough to render quite a bunch of skills irrelevant and leave you with quite a number of options for build customization. Those extra skills will greatly improve this build's survivability and usefulness. This build also runs with an exceptionally high damage mitigation at all times with proper equipment and skills, which makes it even harder to kill.

 

The downside of this build is that you must have a specific equipment. Full Celestial Set + Endijian's Wings, backed up with a good shuriken with Life Leech% and a Glacial Defender Shield (or Kira's Wall, if you manage to find it) is a necessity at all times - even if the part of the set is lower level than your character and provides less defense and bonuses.

 

In addition to that I would stay away from normal monsters. Killing those will be inefficient use of your time with this build. I would also stay away from areas with monsters that have a life leech trait. It seems to be bugged in Ice and Blood and even if some deaths are fake, I would not take any chances. The most efficient use of this build is to farm the Nameless Guardians. For example, if I don't dawdle a lot, even with my low-end PC (which takes longer to load areas, return to the main menu and such) it takes like 4 minutes to complete a run at level 130, which is worth 620k XP (thanks to XP per kill and an ever-running mentor pot) without counting the extra Guardians kills that are spawned by the generators. This means I get a new level in a bit more than an hour. The levels over 175 were still a pain (with the SP build), but it takes much less time to obtain them than the other ones I've tried.

 

III. The build.

 

I found this build interesting when I made it for a very simple reason. It is completely finished by level 18. Anything after that one is a customization pick. That leaves you with 4 (!) build customization choices. That is a lot indeed.

 

I would also advise selecting Expert Touch option when you're creating the character if you play the expansion. Since we will only use Exalted aspect combat arts occasionally, it's best to reduce their regen times a little.

And now, here's the build. I will give you a brief explanation why did I take each skill to help you understand my line of reasoning.

 

Attribute points: All points go into vitality, without exception. You don't need dexterity to improve the shuriken's damage, because the increase won't be that big. You don't need stamina, because after a point, your attack speed will outweigh the combat art execution time for pelting strikes and will render it useless. So keep all your points in vitality. Really!

 

Skills:

level 2 - Ranged Weapons - Since a shuriken with life leech will be our weapon of choice, we'll take ranged lore and master it for faster attack speed. This will also help you equip a BeeEffGee for the early levels. Since the minimum Nameless Guardians level is 26, you will need a decent weapon to get there fast. The BeeEffGee will do just fine even without any revered lore or focus taken.

level 3 - Armor Lore - This is our basic protection skill. In general, this build can do without it as well, because of the overpowered Life Leech, but it will allow you to equip higher level sets at earlier level, which adds greater survivability. As such, I find it essential.

level 5 - Exalted Warrior Focus - This is the skill we will use to modify the combat arts. Since this build doesn't count on tactics lore for extra damage, we need to master it. In addition to the modification points, it will also provide higher battle stance and dashing alacrity level, which are this build's mainstream buffs.

level 8 - Constitution - Although Life leech is overpowered, it never hurts to have some extra HP. We will master this skill as well to unlock the in-combat regeneration.

level 12 - Toughness - This skill is essential, as it will provide additional damage mitigation.

level 18 - Shield Lore - This is skill is very important. It adds extra survivability as well as the ability to wield higher level Glacial Defender/Kira's Wall shields, which will greatly improve the damage mitigation your Seraphim has.

 

And this is it! The core of the build. This is all you need to make it work. You have a skill to boost the attack speed of your shuriken, a skill to help you wear better set items, a skill to boost your buffs and combat arts, a skill to improve your HP, a skill to improve your damage mitigation and a skill that both improves survivability and damage mitigation (albeit indirectly) such as shield lore.

 

Now the proper question here is what to do with the other 4 choices. I will give you a number of samples, but you should feel free to experiment. Technically, nothing can go wrong from this point onward.

 

1. Utility build completion - my personal preference.

 

This is the completion of the build I used in SP. It worked perfectly. It is quite unorthodox, but in the end, it did all right.

 

level 25 - Enhanced Perception - I took it now because I was about to start the Guardian runs and some extra chance to find valuables was welcome.

level 35 - Speed Lore - I know many players shun this skill because of its limited usefulness, but it fits this build perfectly. The extra Attack/Defense rating will improve your chance to hit the guardians and will save you a mod or two you will lose on chance that opponent cannot evade attacks and such. Since Celestial Set + Endijian's Wings + Shuriken + Glacial Defender is kind of low on sockets, every mod counts.

level 50 - Alchemy - Another overlooked skill. This skill improves the duration of the potion of the mentor, effectively making it last throughout the entire run. This also reduces the micromanagement and saves you from worrying whether the mentor pot will last for that last guardian and whether you should gulp another one.

level 65 - Bargaining - makes the build self-sufficient. You may want to take it earlier if you don't have a shopper to support it.

 

This build completion is a basis for some valid questions:

Q: Why no Tactics lore?

A: Shurikens are in general weapon with low damage. What makes them so great is the Life Leech % trait that may spawn on them and the generally high attack speed animation. As such, boosting their low damage by tactics lore or deathblow won't help much. As a reference, at level 131, the shuriken inflicts like 1200-1500 damage to the nameless guardian who has 800k+ hit points (4th one has over 1.3 mil). You can imagine what difference that damage increase would make...

 

Q: Why not Combat Reflexes?

A: The high Damage Mitigation value and the Life Leech is enough to save you from even the most fierce criticals.

 

Q: But I want Tactics Lore! Can't I just pick it?

A: By all means, do so. Check out the other build completions. I have added one with Tactics in it.

 

2. Defender build completion.

 

This build completion focuses on additional defense. If you decide to take it, do not master Ranged lore, master concentration instead. We will use the BeeEffGee buff to boost Ranged lore, even though we won't use the weapon, since the buff provides the boost, not the BeeEffGee itself. In addition to that, mod BeeEffGee for Battery twice, not damage so that it doesn't burden the regen times a lot.

 

Even with this build completion, expert touch is still the better choice, since you will hardly use any revered tech combat arts, only the buffs.

 

level 25 - Concentration - master this till level 75 to allow your Seraphim to use all 3 buffs - Battle Stance, Warding Energy and BeeEffGee.

level 35 - Revered Technology Focus - this skill will improve the Combat Art levels for your buffs. You will master it eventually.

level 50 - Warding Energy Lore - since we go for energy shields, boosting them will be great. Add some +All Skills\+Warding Energy shield% and you will enjoy an awesome shield with extra damage mitigation (note that the value is flat - 200 Damage mitigation from shield means 200 points).

level 65 - Enhanced Perception - some extra chance to find valuables will do fine for this build.

 

3. Offensive Build completion.

 

This build is based on offense. We will add some offensive skills to boost the damage this build is lacking. So for starters, ensure that your shuriken ahas a nice chunk of lava in the elemental modifier spot. We will utilize that burning effect to its fullest for extra damage.

 

level 25 - Tactics Lore - to boost the damage of the shuriken. Don't expect a great increase, since the shuriken has relatively low damage. Still, boosted by Life leech%, it will still be decent enough. Also, be aware that you won't be critting for much as well.

level 35 - Damage Lore - this will increase the chance to ignite an enemy and will improve the damage provided by that effect substantially. Since you will be using a shuriken with fire being the better part of its damage, this skill will greatly augment it.

level 50 - Enhanced Perception - for the chance to find valuables bonus.

level 65 - your call. You may add bargaining as well and make this build self-sufficient.

 

4. Not at all ranged build completion.

 

I'm adding this option to provide an additional idea. If you skip Ranged Weapons, you can take Sword Lore instead and use a 2-hander. 2-handed swords have even more Life Leech% built in (for example, at level 131 in platinum, shuriken have 2.0%, while I've seen 3.2% on a 2-handed sword). However, 2-handers are kind of slow to swing even when Sword Lore Mastery. If you still opt for this, you should obviously omit shield lore as well and select another skill in its place, like Tactics Lore. Tactics lore will augment the generally higher damage output of the 2-handers very well.

 

Such a build may look like this - the defensive style:

Sword Lore

Armor Lore

Exalted Lore

Tactics Lore

Constitution

Toughness

Concentration

Revered Focus

Warding Energy Lore

Enhanced Perception

 

or like this - self sufficient:

Sword Lore

Armor Lore

Exalted Lore

Tactics Lore

Constitution

Toughness

Speed Lore

Combat Reflexes

Enhanced Perception

Bargaining

 

5. Conclusion.

 

It is up to you to experiment. This build can be completed in various ways and it will by no means reduce its effectiveness. Think which skills will go well together and go for it. Sacred 2 loves builds that are well considered and all-round performers, in which the skills have strong synergy with both one another and with the equipment you will use. Always keep this in mind when you want to make a new build.

 

IV. The Combat Arts.

 

Since this build requires minimal micromanagement, we won't use many combat arts. We will focus only on the essentials:

 

1. Battle Stance - our mainstream buff. This buff alone is good enough to provide all the survivability this build needs. Eat runes like crazy here and don't stop till you have 200 in it (over 200 in S2FA). Modifications:

- Premonition - Further increase attack value. (12.5% + 2.5% per Combat Art level increase) - this will save you some mods to improve your chance to hit the Nameless Guardians. Since Life Leech % will be doing most of the damage, the other mod is not necessary.

- Flexibility - Chance to evade weapon attacks. (20% + 0.2% per Combat Art level chance) - this mod is better. Since we won't be using any combat arts after we hit 150% attack speed, the drill mod is a poor choice.

Retaliation - Small chance to reflect close combat damage. (~20% chance, increases slightly with each Combat Art level) - and of course, the chance to reflect in close combat is important. This will help you get up close with the guardians without worrying a lot.

 

2. Dashing Alacrity - our second buff. It's more of an utility buff, since the Celestial Set is kinda low on run speed, and if you're doing nameless guardians runs, you'll need to dash directly to them. We will mod this buff accordingly.

- Bloodlust - Further increases attack speed. (10% + 0.3% per Combat Art level) - both mods are good, but this is slughtly better in the beginning, as it will help you throw your shurikens faster while your skill level in Ranged weapons is still low. At higher Combat Art level the run speed improvement will reach the cap of 150% anyway.

- Delay - Increase the duration of Dashing Alacrity. (50% increase) - our first step towards making dashing chain-castable. The other mod is not a good idea since this Seraphim is never injured - well, never for more than half a second that is.

- Impatience - Reduces the cooldown of Dashing Alacrity. (33.3% decrease) - the next step toward making Dashing chain-castable. The final step is high level in Exalted focus and a lot of runes read, but that's not a concern at all.

 

3. Pelting Strikes - we will use this Combat Art while Ranged weapons skill is still low level and the attack speed isn't significant. This skill will have your Bosskiller throw a few stars in quick succession, effectively, improving the efficiency of the life leech.

- Thrust - Inflicts more damage with each hit. (16.7% increase) - I've never seen shurikens double hit for all these levels, so I assume it never happens. So we'll take this mod, even though damage is not an issue.

- Focus - Pelting Strikes requires less energy (lowers regeneration time). (20% decrease) - since we will only use this combat art in the beginning of the game before the attack speed is less than 150%, we will need some boost to the regen times, since before level 60, almost all builds have shaky regeneration times. And since we will run with a lot of runes in battle stance, this will help greatly.

- Precision - Increases the chance to land critical hits. (9.9% + 0.1% per Combat Art level chance) - I'm uncertain how the other mod works, so I always take this one. Besides, you won't be using this Combat Art for a long time, so it doesn't really matter which final mod you'll pick.

 

Soul Hammer and Assailing Sommersault are a moot for the boss killer, so I will skip them. Mod them only if you play the 2-hander build or the offensive build completion. In that case, mod of damage.

 

V. Masteries.

 

As usual, you can have 3 masteries by level 75 and a 4th one around level 80. Here's the recommended order for masteries for each build:

 

1. Basic build.

Mastery order:

1. Armor Lore - master by level 75 and stop.

1. Exalted Warrior Focus - master by level 75 and stop. You can add some more points here after you're mastered everything.

1. Constitution - master by level 75 and stop.

2. Ranged Weapons Lore - master by level 80 and stop. It's enough to boost the atk rating and atk speed.

3. Toughness - better damage mitigation.

4. Shield Lore.

5. Enhanced Perception.

6. Speed Lore.

7. Alchemy.

8. Bargaining.

 

If you don't have a shopper or a proper support, make sure you modify the masteries accordingly and squeeze in barganing earlier.

 

2. Defensive build.

Mastery order:

1. Armor Lore - master by level 75 and stop.

1. Concentration - master by 75 and stop.

1. Constitution - master by level 75 and stop.

2. Exalted Warrior focus - 75 and stop.

3. Toughness - 75 and stop.

4. Warding Energy Lore - 75 and stop.

-> we are hard pressed to improve the buffs quickly, so shield lore will have to be left behind and enjoy the + all skills bonuses mainly.

5. Revered Tech Focus - 75 and stop. It will improve the Combat Art level and provide a better shield.

6. Enhanced Perception - kind of late, but that's why this build is defensive... + All skills will help a lot again.

7. Shield Lore.

No need to master Ranged Lore for this build, since the BeeEffGee buff takes care of that.

 

3. Offensive build.

Mastery order:

1. Armor Lore - master by level 75 and stop.

1. Exalted Warrior Focus - master by level 75 and stop. You can add some more points here after you're mastered everything.

1. Constitution - master by level 75 and stop.

2. Ranged Weapons Lore - master by level 80 and stop. It's enough to boost the atk value and atk speed.

3. Toughness - better damage mitigation.

4. Shield Lore.

5. Tactics Lore.

6. Damage Lore.

7. Enhanced Perception.

8. Bargaining.

 

4. Not at all ranged build.

Mastery order:

1. Armor Lore - master by level 75 and stop.

1. Exalted Warrior Focus - master by level 75 and stop. You can add some more points here after you're mastered everything.

1. Constitution - master by level 75 and stop.

2. Sword Weapons Lore - master by level 80 and stop. It's enough to boost the atk value and atk speed.

3. Toughness - better damage mitigation.

4. Tactics lore.

The rest depends on your build. If you went for defense, master Warding Lore and Revered Focus first. If you went for self sufficiency, master Enhanced Perception and Bargaining first.

 

VI. Equipment.

 

Sadly, this build is very particular in terms of equipment.

 

1. Armor.

Option 1: Full Celestial set (7 items, without the wings) + Endijian's Wings. This set provides 3 pieces that have Damage mitigation, and significant Life Leech%, which is awesome.

Option 2: Full celestial set - 7 items, with one random set item for another available. Use this option when you don't have all the items necessary for option 1. The Life Leech% provided by the set is paramount, and we want to obtain it by all means necessary.

In the beginning, before you manage to assemble a full set: everything with a lot of sockets and niobium arts (+damage, + armor) in these sockets, if possible, to improve survivability.

 

2. Weapons.

Main weapon: Shuriken with as much life leech % and as many sockets as possible. If you play a two-handed build, a Sword with as much Life Leech % and as much sockets as possible.

Shield: Glacial Defender or Kira's Wall - both provide significant damage mitigation.

->> When your build becomes hard to kill and very much self-sufficient at higher levels (140 onward) you may switch to the Shield of Mirrors and enjoy the extra XP per kill. Just keep a Glacial Defender/Kira's Wall just in case the guardians start hitting way too hard.

 

3. Accessories.

 

You must be very, very particular about your choice of rings and amulets because of the lower amount of sockets your main set (Celestial + Endijian Wings) has. Look for these mods when shopping for rings and amulets (2 of them on the same item, if possible):

-> + All Skills; + Experience per kill (faster levelups); + Chance to Find Valuables (better drops); - Opponent's chance to Evade (better chance to hit the Guardians); + chance that opponent cannot evade attacks (better chance to hit the Guardians); + Attack Rating (Better chance to hit the Guardians).

Secondary useful mods to look for, if you can't get 2 mods of the above:

-> Life leeched per hit +Value (directly improves the Life Leech damage by the said value); +regeneration per hit (if you use pelting strikes or soul hammer); +damage% and +deathblow% (only for offensive build completion and 2-handed sword builds).

NOTE: I tried to use rings with "Opponent's defense value -%" but those didn't improve the chance to hit, which in my opinion is illogical (since chance to hit is based on atk value vs def value), so stay away from them.

 

VII. Gameplay.

 

level 1-25: In these levels, try to get a few decent set items to help you do well with the nameless guardians. Use a Shuriken with LL% against bosses and you will be just fine. Boar, White Griffin (don't mind his debuff), Holos, and a few others close to Resurrection Monoliths are good for farming.

level 26-60: Till the end of silver, you should try to make celestial set (even if you're forced to wear a level 15 part of it!) to become more effective against the Guardians. Since you will be low on attack speed, use dashing alacrity and Pelting Strikes to improve killing speed.

level 60+: From this point on, things fall into place. Keep your eye on the damage you take and if you can easily survive the guardians' encounter, switch some sockets to +XP per kill or +Chance to find valuables.

 

VIII. Conclusion.

 

These builds can easily get a character to level 200 without much trouble. Simply stay away from bugged life leech mobs, and happily farm the Nameless Guardians for sets, uniques and legendaries. Using this build you can easily set a nice network of shoppers that can support your other chars, since the level ups are fast and easy. You may do a few campaign runs as well, but be extra careful with the bugged mobs that have life leech, since they can easily 1-hit-kill you.

 

IX. The Utility Bosskiller in action!

 

These are 2 variations of the same video - one with higher quality, one with slightly lower.

 

High quality:

- about 100 MB

Low quality:

- about 32 MB

 

You will notice that she barely took any decent damage, and she survived the two elite guardians + nameless guardian's special attacks in the beginning without any hassle and barely suffered any damage from all the swings the guardians too at her.

[chattius 2,520]

Nice write up. You really don't need much for a seraphim. Perhaps add an artamark amulet to the musthave. Reflexes to avoid criticals are not foolproof. At bad luck you will receive a critical and forgot (there are dinosaurs playing which have headaches because of their teenage daughters) to adjust your relicts for the next boss. But being hit with no armour to the received damagetype will multiply it. It is not only that you receive full damage, you will receive multiplied damage (factor 3+ in niobium).

I like the defensive setup the best. It has even a second possibility to damage bosses:

Schwertfeuer, sword-firearchangel's wrath modified for double shots. If fired with 150% cast speed at point blanc range they deal out damage quickly too.

 

An often overlooked aspect at alchemy:

PC and consoles: heal potions. They do 100% heals with high alchemy even in niob. So less risc of running into the 5 second potion cooldown.

PC: If you are in the cooldown you hopefully have an emergence trophy heal on a hotkey

 

I once tried to kill all bosses wearing nothing. The last boss at the machine in gold got me. All I had were relicts, blockchance scaling with shield lore, a lifeleech shuriken, alchemy and arcane spells. (playing an elf)

Edited April 19, 2010 by chattius

[Dobri 55]

Well, dying with this build is never an issue. As long as you're not stunned, you will leech twice per second due to the fast attack speed. At level 132, I leech the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Nameless guardian for over 35k and the 4th over for about 64k per hit. There is no way in hell they can get through that, unless they manage to one-hit me. I need to check the SP build what were the numbers at higher levels, but that's beside the point, since you will be leeching far more than you receive as damage.

 

On the other hand, your relics idea is sound.

1st Guardian: Arcane relics (+ magic defense)

2nd Guardian: Fire Relics (+ fire def)

3rd Guardian: Ice relics (+Ice def)

4th Guardian: Although his damage is Phys/Fire/Magic/Poison, his normal attacks are Phys+Poison, so use poison relics

 

Chattius, HE and Seraphim are very different, as you are aware. The HE is at a wicked disadvantage with the lack of damage mitigation. At level 132, with over 170% XP per kill and only +40 All skills, I have over 66% Damage mitigation, which means I take only 1/3 of the damage every time. That, combined with the life leech provides an uber combo that is practically invincible, and can only be broken by a bug

Edited April 19, 2010 by Dobri

[Zeus331 0]

You must just really love seraphims. It must be the thong that brings you back. There is nothing wrong with your BeeEffGee build which handles the Guardians now this guide.

 

Which do you prefer BeeEffGee or this Ranged Version?

[Dobri 55]

I will pretend that I didn't see that "thong" remark. It's not the thing that makes me like Seraphims - I am not a teenager. It's the multitude of options that this character provides.

 

As for which weapon I prefer - I can't say. Both builds are very different and have a different pay style and mind set. LL% is a big deal, such as the BeeEffGee itself. However, since BeeEffGee was nerfed in Ice and Blood, I started thinking of other options. This is why I made this guide.

[Zeus331 0]

I will pretend that I didn't see that "thong" remark. It's not the thing that makes me like Seraphims - I am not a teenager. It's the multitude of options that this character provides.

 

As for which weapon I prefer - I can't say. Both builds are very different and have a different pay style and mind set. LL% is a big deal, such as the BeeEffGee itself. However, since BeeEffGee was nerfed in Ice and Blood, I started thinking of other options. This is why I made this guide.

 

It was just a little humor hope you did not take my "Thong" remark serious. That must really stink that BeeEffGee was nerfed, I did not know that since I play on console.

[Dragon Brother 619]

If you take alchemy on the utility version of this build then you could probably forgo the use of speed lore, although I probably wouldnt take it anyway, but aside from that, the bonus to your chance to hit is negligible when compared to what you -opponents chance to evade and +chance that opponents cannot evade can give you. Alchemy though would allow you to use the troll teeth trophies which can be used as a source for the extra attack needed when going from fighting notmal monsters to fighting the guardians which speed lore will not be able to do. So which skill would you then take instead of speed lore for the utility build?

[Dobri 55]

I am aware that many people dislike Speed Lore. However, at level 135 that the shopper is now, a ring with +33.4% attack value adds 2% chance to hit the 4th guardian. level 30 speed lore adds twice as much (and is easily obtained by the means of + All skills even without hard points). I have also stressed the fact that since you are low on sockets, you will also be low on item modifiers and sometimes you may need to sacrifice +All skills or +XP or +Valuables just to make room for one more "enemy chance to evade" or "chance that opponent cannot evade attacks".

 

As for which skill to pick instead of Speed Lore, I don't have a good answer for you. You may take combat reflexes, but since you'll be running high on Damage Mitigation and Life Leech, combat reflexes do not fit the build that well - you may want to read Soldats' guide to damage mitigation - his ideas that Armor Lore + Toughness are more than enough to keep a build alive are still sound - and if you add shield lore, things become even better. Spell resistance is moot for the very same reasons. Divine Devotion is not a good idea since the seraphim doesn't have access to testa's god spell. Riding is moot as well, since you'll be most likely doing runs from the monolith to the guardians. Tactics lore and Damage lore are not needed since the utility build counts on life leech% to do the damage, not the shuriken or the post-effect.

 

As such - simply take Speed Lore or sub it for any skill you see fit. I have added it because that was the best skill that complements the general idea of the build.

 

In any case, you can also opt for the offensive build that still has Enhanced Perception and bargaining in it, but also has Tactics and Damage lore for added damage. Maybe that one will serve you better.

[Dragon Brother 619]

I am aware that many people dislike Speed Lore. However, at level 135 that the shopper is now, a ring with +33.4% attack value adds 2% chance to hit the 4th guardian. level 30 speed lore adds twice as much (and is easily obtained by the means of + All skills even without hard points). I have also stressed the fact that since you are low on sockets, you will also be low on item modifiers and sometimes you may need to sacrifice +All skills or +XP or +Valuables just to make room for one more "enemy chance to evade" or "chance that opponent cannot evade attacks".

I suppose it comes down to personal preference really. Kudos to you for designing a build whose core is such that it can be played a multitude of different ways, even I guess not needing to pick 10 skills to survive. Great build, and well written too.

[Vivicloud01 0]

Thanks for the guide Dorbi.

Very nice write btw as all wasy.

 

Cheers

[gogoblender 3,068]

Dobri you game killer you. Why'd you go and make a build that's nigh invulnerable AND gets legendaries

 

You know, I saw just a few days back when this build went up, but I love reading good builds and save them for when it's late dinner and I get to make my last few relaxing reads before bed, and your build is just as interesting and revealing as I thought it would be.

 

You set up in advance pro's and con's which I like and helps me get my head in gear for build shopping. Time's on the run these days, and peeps more than ever look for insightful conclusions and steers to help them understand whether or not what's being offered is what they're going to enjoy.

 

Good thing with your build is, because of it's great stay power and steady damage, as you said, we're looking at a good shopper that has some accessibility for the masses.

 

Good job (again!) Dobri

 

 

gogo

 

P.s. You've been picking up legendaries and not telling us? Heresy! C'mon mate...list 'em all, let's see whatcha got!

[larvi 0]

Nice builds, thanks for taking the time to write this up. One question I have is how necessary is warding energy lore for the shield? I'm thinking of dropping that for bargaining in the defensive build so I can have a shopper that still has some level of protection from the LL bug.

[Dobri 55]

Warding Energy lore is crucial. Without it, your shield will be mediocre at best. For example, on my 140 BeeEffGee shopper I decided to do just that - took tactics instead of shield lore and bargaining instead of warding lore. Suffice it to say, without any shield boosters, with 200 runes in Warding Energy, my shield at level 140 was the measly 6k. 6k! Now that's what I would call heresy. It goes down in a few attacks and makes me look stupid...

 

However, even though I was feeling stupid, this experience made me completely aware of the fact that battle stance is all you need to survive the guardians. This is why I did an accelerated run in SP with only BS on and it performed perfectly till 200. And I can say that for sure - the new utility-type ranged seraphim I started yesterday got his uber equip (well, ok, almost uber, since I had 2 level 1 items) at level 16 and scored her first guardian kill at 17. So technically, my runs started at level 16 and hopefully will end on level 200

 

And Gogo, I have nothing to report. 2x Gruma's Insignia of Power (stupid), 2x Soorn's Doombringer (even worse), Signet of Thunder (somewhat good), a few legendary "Spirit of time" rings, a few legendary relics... So far the legendary drops were downright awful.

[Eternalspirit 0]

Just a quick question about this build.. you say Bargaining would make this build self sufficient, but the only equipment I see here that would require bargaining is the Shuriken. I imagine +combat art stuff would be pretty worthless in this build for the most part (other than buffing suits), so my question is, could a Temple Guardian sufficiently support this character? All skills accessories seem to be easy to find in shops, with random other mods, as well as the Shurikens. Moreover, this build doesn't seem to be too MF from gear friendly, as you've really pigeonholed the equipment that should be used with it.

 

I'm just trying to decide if I want to go for this or to remake my ice Elf. I'd probably use the offensive version of this build without Bargaining (might take Alchemy instead), but ultimately, the lack of being able to gear for MF rather than killing against bosses is a bit of a downer for me.

 

Moreover, the lack of efficiently killing trash mobs with this is another thing that is somewhat of a let down. I understand that once you can farm the Guardians, it really doesn't matter, but getting to that point seems like it would be somewhat of a challenge (if only because it would take forever). My guess is, you'd farm other bosses for experience rather than killing trash and doing quests.

 

That said, is it viable to take EP right off the bat at level 2 with this build? What I would likely do is stack as much +experience as possible right from the start, so that I could quickly get to a point where I can start farming bosses to level up faster. Moreover, what would you do with skill points after you've mastered everything? The only skill I really care about is getting EP to 200 to offset the lack of being able to gear for MF. I'm pretty much set on that.

 

Thanks for any input.

[Dobri 55]

The answer is yes. Any char can support this build. As for the trash... this build is made only for boss hunting and set/unique/legendary item hoarding... If I want a trash killer, Fire HE or Inquisitor do a great job. However, trash mobs don't offer much in terms of drops.

 

For your final question about EP - yes, why not. You may need to change the mastery order, but I'm sure you will end up with a good char. Besides, when you get plenty of items with sockets and strike a balance between all skills, xp per kill and MF it will pay off well enough.

[Eternalspirit 0]

The answer is yes. Any char can support this build. As for the trash... this build is made only for boss hunting and set/unique/legendary item hoarding... If I want a trash killer, Fire HE or Inquisitor do a great job. However, trash mobs don't offer much in terms of drops.

 

For your final question about EP - yes, why not. You may need to change the mastery order, but I'm sure you will end up with a good char. Besides, when you get plenty of items with sockets and strike a balance between all skills, xp per kill and MF it will pay off well enough.

 

Sounds good. ^^ I took a wildly different skill order because I wanted my character page to look pretty, so I went EP -> Ranged -> Tactics -> Damage -> Exalted F. -> Armor. I tried to take on the Griffin boss at level 18 with a level 3 BeeEffGee and the fight lasted 15 minutes.. LOL, mostly because my attack value is really bad I suppose. I'm actually thinking of grabbing Concentration at the end instead of Alchemy so I can support both Battle Stance and BeeEffGee. Given that CAs won't be used later on, I can mass pump both skills for benefita, particularly for the attack value and Ranged bonus on BeeEffGee (but without Rev. F., obviously it won't get quite as high as I'd like, but it's still more damage than Alchemy would provide, no?). What do you think about this?

[lujate 574]

Personally, I consider Battle Stance mandatory for all my Seraphims.

[Eternalspirit 0]

Personally, I consider Battle Stance mandatory for all my Seraphims.

 

Yeah, I hear ya, and I was going to have it active. My idea was to get 1 point into Concentration so I can also carry BeeEffGee as well, and pumping that to 200 as well. The only issue I foresee is that without the Focus skill for Rev. Tech., it would be a HUGELY inefficient buff when it comes to effectiveness vs. regen. And since I'll be wanting to chain cast Dashing Alacrity, having a buff like that active might hinder that significantly.

[Eternalspirit 0]

I wonder if dual-wielding Kal'dur's Legacy (now that it is a unique and much easier to find) is another viable option. You wouldn't even need the Dual Wield skill were it not for the fact that it is required to dual wield weapons and the attack speed penalties associated with wielding weapons higher than your character level.

 

Taking the offensive build, I would do something like this:

 

EP to level 200

Armor Lore to 75

Exalted Focus to 75

Dual Wield to 75

Constitution to 75

Toughness to 75

Combat Reflexes to 75

Tactics Lore to 75

Damage Lore to 75

whatever to 75 (I take Spell Resistance)

 

I don't know if swinging dual wielded weapons at 150% attack speed would be faster than a ranged weapon at 150% attack speed, but the obvious benefit is that you'd get two mods of life leech % off your weapon, the weapon itself already comes with attack speed and 2 sockets (you'd max attack speed just with the weapons at a high enough weapon level), you'd have two elemental sockets to play with to exploit damage lore (I'd go fire and magic, since freeze comes with the cold damage on Kal'Dur's, and poison will generally do very little damage to guardians), the weapons themselves will contribute more damage overall, and it would generally be much easier to find a second Kal'Dur's (in my case, since I already have one) than shopping a decent throwing weapon. The addition of Combat Reflexes over Shield Lore also should not impact survivability at all. If you had opted to go for Kira's over a different shield, you'd also net one extra socket (could socket an extra Tanif's if you're really hurting for mitigation). I think this build would also transition better into fighting regular enemies as well for those early levels (I found fighting with ranged weapons to be somewhat buggy.. if you clicked on a target while moving, your seraphim would attack and then move towards the mouse click, especially annoying when fighting the guardians).

 

The downside? The guardians tend to enjoy wandering around aimlessly.. not a big deal for a ranged build, but getting into melee range to kill them would be somewhat of a bother.

 

What do you guys think of this idea? I know it's not very solid because it relies on a specific weapon to be dropped, but when you do get them (and it's certainly very viable because Kal'Dur's is a unique weapon in Ice and Blood), I think this build has the potential to be "the best" of the bunch. You'd be approaching 10% LL with this build, if not cracking it, which means the guardians go down in 10 hits or less (assuming I'm understanding LL mechanics properly). Well, off to testing I guess..

 

EDIT: I think having dual Kal'Dur's also gives you enough flexibility to ditch Celestial's and equip other pieces of gear with more than one good mod on it.

Edited November 5, 2011 by Eternalspirit

[Dobri 55]

The situation with the dual Kaldur's is bery viable. However, be aware that Kaldur's is not so easy to drop. I have been playing the game and doing Guardian runs for a long time (more than 1 year play time) and found only 2 of them - one level 80 and one level 160. It all looks good on theory, but in reality it's not so easy. Shurikens are much easier to find and strike much faster than kaldur's. It is a tough call which is better:

 

- Shurikens - easy to find, can hit twice per second (or so it seems - the 3 guardians go down in 40-45 seconds), but have low LL +%

- Throwing knives - these spawn with life leech +XXX in Sacred 2 - if you have CM patch, there may be changes.

- Kaldur's - along with pelting strikes, they drop a boss down easily, but take some time to swing. LL +% is roughly that of a shuriken at the same level, with the difference that you can wield 2 of them.

- Any of the aforementioned along with Archangel's wrath modded for salvo. Very viable option, effectively doubles the Life leech % with every hit. You need to keep it at very low regen time - less than 1s in order to be useful, so keep it an 1 rune read at all times.

 

The last option is really very interesting. If you have 2 high level kaldurs, along with the celestial set, it will add up to a very respectable value - maybe more than 7-8% per hit. Double that because of the Salvo mod and you get a glimpse of how quickly the Guardians will fall.

[lujate 574]

I would have expected Pelting Strikes to be faster than Archangel's Wrath, even with the Salvo mod.

[Eternalspirit 0]

Archangel's Wrath would require either Rev. Tech. Focus or Lore. Is the speed of AW based off weapon speed or CA execution time? If the former, I'd go with Focus, and if the latter, I'd go with Lore. I suppose I could drop Spell Resistance for this (it was more of a filler skill). And either way, I never got either skill with my current seraphim, so I'm gonna remake her anyways.

 

By my understanding of AW, with the Salvo mod, it unleashes two bolts that take on the properties of whatever weapons you've equipped at the time?

 

I would also note that in the CM patch, throwing knives and throwing potions can both spawn with LL +%.

[Dobri 55]

Pelting depends on Dual Wield. AW's execution speed depends on Revered Lore. However, AW can be zipped from afar, while pelting requires you to get up close and personal with the enemy. That's a big plus in favor of AW, because even with assailing somersault + pelting combo, you will still lose some time. It is easier just to start zipping, and then use pelting when the enemy comes to you.

 

I am currently using a very weird build to utilize the full power of the Kaldurs at minimal cost. It is aimed at having the most attack value possible, so that few modifiers will go to the reduction of enemy's chance to evade, and more to all skills and XP per kill:

 

Offense:

Dual Wield

Tactics Lore

Speed Lore (!)

 

Defense:

Armor Lore

Toughness

Warding Energy Lore

 

Magic:

Concentration

Exalted Focus

Revered Focus

Celestial Focus (!)

 

Stats: everything in VIT (can be subbed for everything in Str for even more attack value, but the increase is negligible)

 

Dual wield and speed lore enhance attack value directly. Exalted focus provides more levels of battle stance and better regen on pelting strikes. Dashing Alacrity can be modded for Ardor if necessary. Celestial focus also provides a buff that has good utility, by reducing the enemy defense values. Armor lore + Toughness are more than enough in the long run to keep the build alive, and the defensive options of Warding Energy and Battle stance provide extra reflection of almost everything.

 

AW regen time with this build is 0.2s, but since it lacks lore, it's more like 0.8s, still, it's more than sufficient to allow my seraphim to drop the Guardian's HP by at least 40% before it can get close.

[Eternalspirit 0]

I would have expected Pelting Strikes to be faster than Archangel's Wrath, even with the Salvo mod.

 

Pelting Strikes should actually indeed be faster, for one simple reason: the chance to double hit. This is also the same reason why I am now confident in saying that dual-wielding Kal'Dur's is the best choice for this build. Ranged weapons (that I know of) cannot proc. double hits. Also, Archangel's Wrath cannot proc. double hits either, so if you get 50% or higher double hit rate, the faster execution time of weapon swings on auto attacks will outdo Archangel's Wrath. I haven't seen Pelting Strikes while dual-wielding yet, but it's either that or auto attacks as the best DPS in the game for a Seraphim with LL% using this build.

[Eternalspirit 0]

Pelting depends on Dual Wield. AW's execution speed depends on Revered Lore. However, AW can be zipped from afar, while pelting requires you to get up close and personal with the enemy. That's a big plus in favor of AW, because even with assailing somersault + pelting combo, you will still lose some time. It is easier just to start zipping, and then use pelting when the enemy comes to you.

 

I am currently using a very weird build to utilize the full power of the Kaldurs at minimal cost. It is aimed at having the most attack value possible, so that few modifiers will go to the reduction of enemy's chance to evade, and more to all skills and XP per kill:

 

Offense:

Dual Wield

Tactics Lore

Speed Lore (!)

 

Defense:

Armor Lore

Toughness

Warding Energy Lore

 

Magic:

Concentration

Exalted Focus

Revered Focus

Celestial Focus (!)

 

Stats: everything in VIT (can be subbed for everything in Str for even more attack value, but the increase is negligible)

 

Dual wield and speed lore enhance attack value directly. Exalted focus provides more levels of battle stance and better regen on pelting strikes. Dashing Alacrity can be modded for Ardor if necessary. Celestial focus also provides a buff that has good utility, by reducing the enemy defense values. Armor lore + Toughness are more than enough in the long run to keep the build alive, and the defensive options of Warding Energy and Battle stance provide extra reflection of almost everything.

 

AW regen time with this build is 0.2s, but since it lacks lore, it's more like 0.8s, still, it's more than sufficient to allow my seraphim to drop the Guardian's HP by at least 40% before it can get close.

 

Attack value is an *extremely* inefficient way to increase your chance to hit. From what I can tell, -opponent evade chance *directly* decreases their evade chance (that is to say, if you have an 80% chance to hit, and have -20% opponent evade, then your chance to hit becomes 100%). All you need is enough -opponent evade to bridge the gap between whatever your chance to hit is at the time and 100% chance to hit, which shouldn't be very high, especially since -opponent's chance to hit comes in large bunches per mod.

 

I like your idea about AW, however, the first guardian doesn't activate anywhere near before you are able to start wailing on it from melee range, the second guardian you can run to before he activates, the third one seems to activate when the second one is about half dead and ends up in melee range before you are able to kill the second one, and the fourth one I haven't seen activate before I can get in melee range. Moreover, having a really low regen time on AW is pointless. You need maybe 1.3-1.4s regen time, unless you pump a ton of points into RT Lore. Even then, it cannot proc. double hits, so auto attacks or Pelting Strikes would still be faster.

 

We shall see in the end either way, I'm gonna be testing this out as I go.