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A Comprehensive Guide To The Ranged Bosskiller Seraphim


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Too many enemy chance to evade stuff is an extremely inefficient way to level up :) However, too many XP per kill is quite efficient. That's what I'm aiming at, since I don't have much time to play anyway, and I do want to gain levels as fast as possible.

Edited by Dobri
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Too many enemy chance to evade stuff is an extremely inefficient way to level up :) However, too many XP per kill is. That's what I'm aiming at, since I don't have much time to play anyway, and I do want to gain levels as fast as possible.

 

Oh, that's true. Stacking +attack does not require taking up sockets, so if that's what you're going for, then go for it. :)

 

Just a question, does Dual Wield Mastery double hit proc. chance work with Pelting Strikes?

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Hmm, that I am not certain. In theory, it should.

 

The thing about extra damage is good, and I agree. The problem is that when you have so much LL%, the extra damage becomes superfluous at very high levels, because when you leech for over 100 000 HP per hit, some 5K more isn't much... Still, you can try. One can never have enough damage :P

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Hmm, that I am not certain. In theory, it should.

 

The thing about extra damage is good, and I agree. The problem is that when you have so much LL%, the extra damage becomes superfluous at very high levels, because when you leech for over 100 000 HP per hit, some 5K more isn't much... Still, you can try. One can never have enough damage :P

 

I went with the attack bonus, for the very reasons that you stated. What's the point of an extra, what will amount to about 105% or so more damage, when I can get triple that in attack value, and possibly save having to use a ring with opponent's evade chance on it because of the extra attack. I did the same thing with Pelting Strikes first mod, I took double hits over the extra damage because double hits will cause way more damage overall to the Guardians than the extra damage.

 

Still contemplating what to do with the second mod. If I keep PS at level 1, then even with a ridiculously high +regen from 200 runes read in Battle Stance, I still shouldn't have problems with regen due to mastered EW Focus and RPH to make up the difference. The second mod seems kind of useless, though, at only level 1 PS. 101 less defense probably won't amount to much, if anything. Still, 20% less regeneration is probably almost completely useless.

 

On the fence about the third mod. Since DW is all about number of hits over dealing big damage blows, I think reducing armor class might be better than having a higher crit chance. What do you think?

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For me, the third mod is... um... cosmetic. Reduction in armor class won't make you hit more often, it will let you inflict more damage to tough opponents which need to be hit more than 3-4 times to die. However, if you already drop the opponents fast enough, it's moot. In that case, crit is better - better to crit once and drop the bugger, than reduce the AC and have to hit a second time.

 

As for pelting strikes, it's best to leave the LL% do everything for you. Leave it at level 1, you can pump up the buff(s) like crazy. Sooner or later the regen will drop low enough to allow you to add more runes. I'm sure you are aware that a char takes shape from level 75-100, and gets better and better from 100 upwards.

 

Your idea with the attack value is good. For me, it works perfectly. At level 97, I need only a single chance to evade ring to keep the guardians at 107% ot so chance to be hit. That drops them in no time. Everything else is dedicated to XP and all skills. At level 97, with the crazy amount of XP per kill I have amassed and of course the ever-present mentor pot, the levelups fly by - about 15 minutes play time tops per level - or about 6 guardian runs.

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Interesting conversation you two have had here. What level is the attack value on your seraphim at the moment? And what difficulty are you fighting in?

 

Kal'Dur's sure does make things easier though...one day I will drop one!

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Interesting conversation you two have had here. What level is the attack value on your seraphim at the moment? And what difficulty are you fighting in?

 

Kal'Dur's sure does make things easier though...one day I will drop one!

 

It definitely is good, though I'm not sure if it's quite THE best one handed weapon, but it's definitely up there.

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Interesting conversation you two have had here. What level is the attack value on your seraphim at the moment? And what difficulty are you fighting in?

 

Kal'Dur's sure does make things easier though...one day I will drop one!

 

It definitely is good, though I'm not sure if it's quite THE best one handed weapon, but it's definitely up there.

 

Not really sure what can beat it for any character that plans on attacking in close combat. Less useful for toons that don't use melee attacks.

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Interesting conversation you two have had here. What level is the attack value on your seraphim at the moment? And what difficulty are you fighting in?

 

Kal'Dur's sure does make things easier though...one day I will drop one!

 

It definitely is good, though I'm not sure if it's quite THE best one handed weapon, but it's definitely up there.

 

Not really sure what can beat it for any character that plans on attacking in close combat. Less useful for toons that don't use melee attacks.

 

Depends on the build. If you don't care about LL% (and if you're not a boss killing toon, then you probably don't), there are definitely better weapons out there. The attack speed and sockets are quite easy to replace. The bonus with Kal'Dur's is having LL% on a one hander along with all those other mods.

 

So far I'm up to level 32 in Silver (god, rushing through each difficulty is such a chore at this point), and the bosses are going down like flies, but unlike the ranged toon, she's also quite capable at taking out groups of mobs. My suspicions that this is just a flat out better build than the ranged one are slowly coming to fruition, it's just a matter of getting a second Kal'Dur's.

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Interesting conversation you two have had here. What level is the attack value on your seraphim at the moment? And what difficulty are you fighting in?

 

Kal'Dur's sure does make things easier though...one day I will drop one!

 

It definitely is good, though I'm not sure if it's quite THE best one handed weapon, but it's definitely up there.

 

Not really sure what can beat it for any character that plans on attacking in close combat. Less useful for toons that don't use melee attacks.

 

Depends on the build. If you don't care about LL% (and if you're not a boss killing toon, then you probably don't), there are definitely better weapons out there. The attack speed and sockets are quite easy to replace. The bonus with Kal'Dur's is having LL% on a one hander along with all those other mods.

 

So far I'm up to level 32 in Silver (god, rushing through each difficulty is such a chore at this point), and the bosses are going down like flies, but unlike the ranged toon, she's also quite capable at taking out groups of mobs. My suspicions that this is just a flat out better build than the ranged one are slowly coming to fruition, it's just a matter of getting a second Kal'Dur's.

 

Yeah, true, not every build focuses on boss killing...slipped my mind for a minute...

 

Mmm...best ranged for mobs is the dryad...they make them melt so fast and the %LL bonus on detheya's agility...oh so sweet. Much higher than the other %LL suits.

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So, there was a question what's the attack value of my seraphim. She's 96 now, with full celestial set and kaldur + felde's sword on the official Sacred 2 Ice and Blood servers. The masteries are in Concentration, Exalted focus, Revered Focus and Warding Lore. Atk value is about 6000, def value about 4000 - that is keeping in mind I haven't even started building up Dual Wield and Speed Lore (currently working on Toughness). I have only - 54% enemy chance to evade and 9% cannot evade (both of those spawned on rings with secondary +XP per kill mod, so no loss there). That amounts to 175% chance to hit the guardians (lol) and +185% XP per kill (without mentor pot). HP is currently 9.2K, shield is 22.5K, life leech is about 3.5%.

 

If anyone wonders why not revered lore - the lore does not increase shield strength, only the damage mitigation (note: flat value!) provided by the shield.

 

Not bad for a weird 3-buff, 3-aspect build :)

Edited by Dobri
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I would also like to mention that the run speed mod for Dashing Alacrity is likely a better choice than the attack speed mod. You would need a CA level of 118 (as per the formula on the wiki) with an unmodded DA to reach the run speed cap. With the mod, you only need a level 43 DA to reach the run speed cap, thereby completely negating any need for run speed mods on gear (with this being the only source of run speed, aside from speed lore). Considering the Celestial set has exactly 0% run speed, and the sockets are better used for other mods, this is ideal.

 

Attack speed, meanwhile, is very easy to reach the cap for. At mastery, weapon skills provide +36% attack speed, so you only need to make up the last 14% (which DA does by itself at level 1). If you are using weapons that have attack speed on them natively, you likely won't even need DA to increase the attack speed. I imagine you could eventually find attack speed on throwing weapons when you're shopping. And of course, there are always +skills (attack speed cap is reached at approximately level 105).

 

DA doesn't even do much aside from increasing attack and run speeds, so you could just keep DA at level 42 with the run speed mod (or whatever level is needed to make the duration > regen + cooldown), and stop increasing it to ensure that the CA remains chain castable.

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Both are actually very easy to attain and both mods sooner or later reach the same usefulness. I chose attack speed for a very simple reason - I plan on mastering Dual Wield/Ranged Weapons very late in the game, after I have built up all the defensive, utility and attack value boosting skills. That goes for both seraphims - the Kaldur one and the Shuriken one. There was only one difference between the 2:

 

- The shuriken seraphim did not require any Combat Arts other than DA to rock the game from start to finish. As such, I hit the 200 runes read cap very, very early, and DA was getting more and more powerful with each levelup and each + all skills trinket added.

 

- The Kaldur Seraphim on the other hand, needed the CA to be useful. As such, DA remained at a moderate level without hoarding much runes in it (duration = regen time), once again with the attack speed mod to compensate for the single point in dual wield (at level 97 I still have only 1 point there).

 

In any case, your idea is good as it is a viable way to advance in the game if the player decided to master dual wield early.

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