Incendiary Shower - Choice of mods, which is better?

[Pavlo 1]

Hello again!

 

 

Which mods are the best for this CA ?

 

Bronze

* Skull Smash - Chance to stun opponents on impact. (30% + 0.3% per CA level chance of stunning)

* Magma Rain - Increases meteor fire damage. (50% increase of fire damage)

 

Silver

* Continuity - Increases Incendiary Shower duration. (increases number of meteors)

* Smoking Rock - Meteors inflicts more physical damage. (50% increase of physical damage)

 

Gold

* Devastation - Increases the chance of inflicting critical hits. (9.9% + 0.1% per CA level chance)

* Intensity - The time interval between meteor falls is shorter. Number of meteor is unchanged. (bonus of 3hits/sec + 0.05 hits/sec per CA level increased)

 

Help guys

[locolagarto 15]

I'll tell you what I took and why and let you decide on your own

 

Skull Smash - for the bosses. it adds that stun that allows a HE to not get the *bleep* kicked out of her in boss battles

 

Continuity - adds more meteors, and also the duration of the attack

 

Intensity - works with the Continuity mod to make the whole attack rain faster for more damage per second.

 

My level 90 Piromante could rain down 15 meteors in about 2 seconds. and with a 1.5s regen I could spam them. Check out the video in my Piromante build. it is very impressive against the Guardians

 

Cheers

[gogoblender 3,069]

Interesting

I've never modded this CA...but I would have chosen B, B and A

 

I would love to do a test run comparing how many seconds it would take for a pariculr set of choices to take out a guardian versus another.

 

If it were a strict countdown competition choice b could lose out while being stunned...but maybe while it got off its meteors in the strike, the kill speed could be that much faster?

 

I've always been so curious as to the ultimate modding of Incendiary...is there truly one that that pwns that should be the ipso facto for this Combat Arts setup?

 

 

gogo

[locolagarto 15]

Well I did a few tests and I must say, I am leaning towards your picks, gogo.

 

the Test char was level 160 with maxed out skills and CA levels

 

the the BBA (gogo's picks) test did double the damage of the AAB (Piromante's picks) test. And the difference in damage per second was noticeable. even though the AAB test had 16 meteors vs 13 and the duration of the BBA Shower was much slower the videos show a big difference.

 

I am in the process of uploading to Youtube. I will post in a little while.

 

I do want to note that this test represented the ultimate end game. level 160 in Niob against the guardians. At level 100 and below I don't know what the result might be. It may take a lower level test to see what the difference is.

[gogoblender 3,069]

This is awesome Loco! Recorded tests like this are gold!

 

 

gogo

[locolagarto 15]

I have all 4 videos uploaded. although the 2 level 160 vids were way too big so they may not work for another hour or so.

 

Ok this first video is a level 75 test char with is modded for stun, continuity, intensity. AAB

 

 

 

You can see the Guardian pausing his melee attack with the stun, and the damage is low but rapid. Th kill takes about 30 seconds

 

 

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The second is the same character with the Damage, damage, crit mods BBA

 

 

 

You can see double the damage, however it scrolls a little slower and the HE is getting the crap knocked out of her. the kill takes about 60 seconds

 

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The third is a level 160 with maxed out skills, attributes, and CAs. The mods are stun, duration, intesify

 

 

Now I would expect more of the same as the first video, but its just the opposite. the damage being halved is making the DPS much slower. the first kill takes about 45 seconds

 

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The last is the level 160 with the mods Damage, Damage, Crit

 

 

Now in this case the damage being much higher with the chance for crits is really putting a hurt on those guardians. the first kill takes 17 seconds

 

 

In summary I think it depends on what level you plan to take the HE to and what your intended play style will be.

[Dobri 55]

It is all too well and good, but I would never pick skull smash for incendiary shower. Bosses cannot be stunned, and selecting that mod seems like a total waste. In my opinion, adding some more damage is much better than hoping to stun something that cannot be stunned (please correct me if there is a boss that CAN be stunned).

 

So my favorite and unorthodox choice of mods for IS is:

* Magma Rain - Increases meteor fire damage. (50% increase of fire damage)

* Continuity - Increases Incendiary Shower duration. (increases number of meteors)

* Intensity - The time interval between meteor falls is shorter. Number of meteor is unchanged. (bonus of 3hits/sec + 0.05 hits/sec per CA level increased)

 

This provides:

- more fire damage - enemies and bosses are widely physical resistant, so more fire damage always helps

- more meteors - this way you gain double from any damage mods you equip on your gear. In my opinion this option is much, much better than adding simply physical damage to the meteors. That almost doubles the amount of meteors that smash the bosses' heads - in essence, doubling the gain on any + damage mods you'll put on your gear

- faster meteor fall - this looks stupid compared to devastation, but it also makes the IS casting time shorter, which means you can play with lower CA regeneration times - and that is something rather nice. Still, devastation is generally ok as well, I guess.

 

Loco, I also noticed that your IS damage on the level 75 with BBA is a bit low, and though I do understand that guardians have a nice damage damping through the shield, I don't see this as a good example of those IS mods.

 

I'd like to give this as an example of how the mods I usually select work (keep in mind that this HE plays with over 100% XP per kill, so I have a lot of unused damage mods):

 

link:

Video:

 

 

This video got deleted when FDM got the rollback, so here it is again

Edited September 26, 2010 by Dobri

[Dragon Brother 619]

It is all too well and good, but I would never pick skull smash for incendiary shower. Bosses cannot be stunned, and selecting that mod seems like a total waste. In my opinion, adding some more damage is much better than hoping to stun something that cannot be stunned (please correct me if there is a boss that CAN be stunned).

 

Well, in the two videos loco uploaded which had stun as a mod you can see the guardians getting stunned, they pause there attacks briefly, have another swing and then pause again instead of there constant battering ram of attacks.

 

Anyway, I think mods will come down to personal choice. Since it seems that +critical hits from gear doesnt effect spells in Ice and Blood, only the bonus from lores there are arguments to be made for any mod really.

[locolagarto 15]

It is all too well and good, but I would never pick skull smash for incendiary shower. Bosses cannot be stunned, and selecting that mod seems like a total waste. In my opinion, adding some more damage is much better than hoping to stun something that cannot be stunned (please correct me if there is a boss that CAN be stunned).

 

You'll have a tough time proving that statement to me. I have clearly demonstrated that stun works on bosses in my videos( here and in my build). I have seen the stun work on many different bosses, including the Guardians, the Boar, and at least 2 of the Dragons I frequently hunt. BTW these videos where not intended to demonstrate the max damage potential of either choice. just a comparison of the choices of mod picks on a static character.

[Dobri 55]

I missed the brief delay in their attacks while watching it, but I also saw that they still tend to hit quite often and quite hard. I'll remember this and I will run my own test as well. However, I'm quite sure I'll still go for more fire damage rather than stun. With Expulse up (meaning no temple guardians and nullified guardian opening attacks) , 50% chance to be hit (thanks to shield lore), over 50% chance to reflect close combat and some chance to block close combat, the stun still doesn't look that good compared to the extra damage in my opinion. Those values are taken at level 78 - so they are bound to rise dramatically in platinum and niobium. It is unlikely that a niob guardian will be able to kill a HE who has over 70% reflect, over 40% block, around 20k HP and ever-running expulse.

EDIT: Oh - forgot to mention over 1000 hp/sec regeneration rate.

 

As such, modding IS for more damage is better in my opinion.

Edited September 27, 2010 by Dobri

[gogoblender 3,069]

It is all too well and good, but I would never pick skull smash for incendiary shower. Bosses cannot be stunned, and selecting that mod seems like a total waste. In my opinion, adding some more damage is much better than hoping to stun something that cannot be stunned (please correct me if there is a boss that CAN be stunned).

 

You'll have a tough time proving that statement to me. I have clearly demonstrated that stun works on bosses in my videos( here and in my build). I have seen the stun work on many different bosses, including the Guardians, the Boar, and at least 2 of the Dragons I frequently hunt. BTW these videos where not intended to demonstrate the max damage potential of either choice. just a comparison of the choices of mod picks on a static character.

 

 

Loco, this is just about one of THE best tests I have ever seen run here. It's the stuff of Consumer Reports!

 

Four videos one simple question...which one's going to kill faster?

 

Clearly if a person envisions going all the way with Sacred 2, number four is definitely the way to do it...I have NEVER see a Guardian go down that fast from Incendiary.

 

Ever

 

A few questions... in the low level test the guardian is getting stunned... so you have a chance to get off yer damage at him, while riddling him away... then in next low level with all damage options chosen... yes we see the guardian is taking more damage per hit...but at the same time he's making us red line over and over... so dangerous.

 

Are we redlining because we can't stun the guardian and the guardian is hitting us so often?

 

My question becomes... why are we not redlining when we use the uber damage setup at the high levels... are we killing him so quickly that he doesn't have a chance to stun or hit us?

 

Super work, mind if I move this topic over to High Elf guides/reference section? There's a lot to learn here.

 

 

gogo

 

 

p.s. I just keep watching the fourth video hahaha who doesn't want to have a High Elf that can literally melt a Guardian like a pat of buter!

[chattius 2,522]

I was choosing stun only for my old melee elves which hadn't the fire lore and were partly played PvP. Reason was to suppress enemy ranged attacks while being rooted, knowing that the meteors won't be able to kill without the lore. The latest melee elves were more full arcane elves with combat discipline and ancient magic so that the meteors could do decent damage even without the fire lore: fire skin, fire monkey, combat discipline, ancient magic, ...

 

But I wasn't choosing meteors for them anymore, I used the pyro elves main attack spell as third fire spell.

[Pavlo 1]

Wow guys ^^ now I know almost everything about this ca

Thank you for your time

[locolagarto 15]

It is all too well and good, but I would never pick skull smash for incendiary shower. Bosses cannot be stunned, and selecting that mod seems like a total waste. In my opinion, adding some more damage is much better than hoping to stun something that cannot be stunned (please correct me if there is a boss that CAN be stunned).

 

You'll have a tough time proving that statement to me. I have clearly demonstrated that stun works on bosses in my videos( here and in my build). I have seen the stun work on many different bosses, including the Guardians, the Boar, and at least 2 of the Dragons I frequently hunt. BTW these videos where not intended to demonstrate the max damage potential of either choice. just a comparison of the choices of mod picks on a static character.

 

 

Loco, this is just about one of THE best tests I have ever seen run here. It's the stuff of Consumer Reports!

 

Four videos one simple question...which one's going to kill faster?

 

Clearly if a person envisions going all the way with Sacred 2, number four is definitely the way to do it...I have NEVER see a Guardian go down that fast from Incendiary.

 

Ever

 

A few questions... in the low level test the guardian is getting stunned... so you have a chance to get off yer damage at him, while riddling him away... then in next low level with all damage options chosen... yes we see the guardian is taking more damage per hit...but at the same time he's making us red line over and over... so dangerous.

 

Are we redlining because we can't stun the guardian and the guardian is hitting us so often?

 

My question becomes... why are we not redlining when we use the uber damage setup at the high levels... are we killing him so quickly that he doesn't have a chance to stun or hit us?

 

Super work, mind if I move this topic over to High Elf guides/reference section? There's a lot to learn here.

 

 

gogo

 

 

p.s. I just keep watching the fourth video hahaha who doesn't want to have a High Elf that can literally melt a Guardian like a pat of buter!

 

Well, as Dobri pointed out the low level toons were not exactly optimized and playstyle tactics would go a long way to making it more effective.

 

As for the high level. This was a maxed out character with mastery in all skills. 200 max runes in all CAs and Buffs. With Shield lore giving a huge defense and block to Close Combat, and Fire Skin was reflecting close combat very well. So that is why the 160 wasn't getting hit.

 

As for the low level. It was the constant attack by the Guardian that kept red lining me. The Stun really did help as I never hit the space bar once.

[Dobri 55]

I would like to point out that the "red hitting" problem can be avoided with a good GI level boosted by constitution as well as some items with close combat reflect. If you go over 50% reflect, the red-hit problem goes away just like that. All you need to achieve this is a decent buff suit and a shield with reflect. Anything else is just a bonus.

 

The basic idea is: keep the guardians hits down to 50-60%, have 50% reflect at level 75, around 60 at level 100 and try to push up to 65-70% at 140. As you slowly master shield lore, you will get a passive bonus to close combat block as well. After that, all it takes is 1-2 +all skills/block or all ca/block items to make it better.

 

Now you can easily dish out the damage.

 

In the end, the HE is not so frail afterall.

[rhs408 7]

I went ABB for my HE, the silver mod makes a VERY big difference in terms of damage. Kills bosses like no other toon I've created. I would think that less rocks, higher damage would do better than more rocks, less damage. What does it matter if there are more rocks if each rock hardly does anything? Also I don't see much point in extra duration being needed at all, IS is easily spammable - I'm always aiming my second IS as the first one is still dropping rocks. If anything I'd like to try out BBB... no stun, but you may not need stun since whatever you are attacking will die in a very short amount of time.

[joanofarc 1]

Well I did a few tests and I must say, I am leaning towards your picks, gogo.

 

the Test char was level 160 with maxed out skills and CA levels

 

the the BBA (gogo's picks) test did double the damage of the AAB (Piromante's picks) test. And the difference in damage per second was noticeable. even though the AAB test had 16 meteors vs 13 and the duration of the BBA Shower was much slower the videos show a big difference.

 

I am in the process of uploading to Youtube. I will post in a little while.

 

I do want to note that this test represented the ultimate end game. level 160 in Niob against the guardians. At level 100 and below I don't know what the result might be. It may take a lower level test to see what the difference is.

 

Hi Loco.

 

Your videos are awesome! I tend lo lean forward to use BBA (which seems very impressy at level 160 but quite dangerous at level 75 against Guardians. Which one do u recommend to choose for IS?

How cpould you mod Fireball: I like

1.Explosion, Globe Fussilade or

2. Explosion, Fussilade, Fussiladend

How about to choose GI silver (I am playing 2.40 now, but might want to use my chara in ice and blood too)? Revenge or Life Energy?

I am using Gi as a Buff and want to use Skin with too (conc provided) and later demon as a 3rd buff. My question is modify inc. skin soon or have plenty of time?

[lujate 576]

I am rebuilding my HE (my prior HE died due to equal parts overconfidence and bad luck). I was happy with my prior choices for Incendiary Shower (Skull Smash, Smoking Rock & Devastation) but I am wondering if I was happy simply because I did not know better. I am rather attached to Skull Smash (I swear it does stun bosses), for survivability.

 

I was thinking about this time doing Skull Smash, Continuity & Devastation, figuring that the increased number of meteors from Continuity would increase the chance of stun/critical from the other mods. Does that sound like a good idea?

 

 

(Cool vids BTW)

[Graeystone 3]

For my Fire High Elves, Incendiary Shower is for Champion/Bosses while the other fire spells for everything else.

[lujate 576]

For my Fire High Elves, Incendiary Shower is for Champion/Bosses while the other fire spells for everything else.

I agree, IS is generally too slow to be used on mobs.

[essjayehm 58]

I am rebuilding my HE (my prior HE died due to equal parts overconfidence and bad luck). I was happy with my prior choices for Incendiary Shower (Skull Smash, Smoking Rock & Devastation) but I am wondering if I was happy simply because I did not know better. I am rather attached to Skull Smash (I swear it does stun bosses), for survivability.

 

I was thinking about this time doing Skull Smash, Continuity & Devastation, figuring that the increased number of meteors from Continuity would increase the chance of stun/critical from the other mods. Does that sound like a good idea?

 

 

(Cool vids BTW)

I used that combination lots, with no complaints. Continuity helped a lot with the stun-lock, as the 3-5 extra rocks do seem to make the difference in the mid-levels.

I've got a Pyro-Elf play-for-fun who is now using BBA - setup, but too early to see the massive damage improvements.

[SupidSeep 0]

Don't mean to necro this thread but I do have something to clarify

 

I'm new to this forum. I play Sacred 2 Vanillia version 2.43 casually on single player at home. I've been playing with the HE most - my highest level character is a pyro HE, Level 90 just entering Niobium.

 

While the videos demostrating the effects on mods seem quite enlightening, I notice that the Guardians fought are at the same level as the HE used - and I want to ask how do you face monsters the same level as your HE on nobium

 

After the early levels, I find the monsters encountered in Sacred 2 SP to steadily scale higher and higher in rank relative to my character - and the difference gets more marked as I enter the next difficulty level.

 

Now that my level 90 Pyro HE is in Niobium, the once-puny critters in Act 1 start at Level 112, with the boars doing >3k dmg on a successful hit against my HE with 10k health (I.e. 3-4 hits will do her in). Despite the 60% reflect from her IS, if she's swarmed or is downright unlucky, she'll get killed easily. I managed to run her to the Desert area (Act 6?) and the monster level scaled up to 128 (ie. 38 levels higher, >40% above my HE). I don't even want to test how much a single hit from a level 128 T-Mutant Bear from the T-Energy area before the desert will do to her - so don't get started on the bosses.

[lujate 576]

See if this helps: Enemy Levels

 

My HE is not that high of level, but the best advice I can give is not to stand still long enough to get hit.

[Knuckles 904]

Hi and welcome

 

All areas have a min/max enemy level depending on difficulty and survival bonus %. Off the top of my head I can think of only 2 ways that would happen. The High Elf was in Gold, or was in Platinum and had a lower level player go in first, causing the Guardians to spawn to that players level. Not sure what the min spawn level is for them in Platinum though. But I know it's much higher than 90 for Niobium.

[SupidSeep 0]

Very well, then. I shall assume that I am consistantly going to face enemies at much higher levels than my HE.

 

Which makes me call in question the real value of the Videos for Level 160 Pyro HE - because I strongly suspect than until (if ever) I level up my HE to nearly the hard level cap, there is no way I would face opponents remotely close to my levels on Niobium.

 

The Level 160 videos simply show the HE standing point blank without concerning and raining death down on the Guardians like a walk in the park but that's not going to happen in my game where 3 hits from a boar will do me in. If I face the Niobium Act IX Guardians, chances are my char is going to be roughly level 115-120 vs level 160. Alternately, if I actually bring a level 160 into Niobium Act IX, the Guardians are likely to be found at the level cap of 200 (I believe).

 

I am not out to belittle the effort spent in making the video comparisions, but without a video showing that a level 160 HE can stay unruffled by Niobium level 200 Guardians' attacks, I will remain critical of the arguements promoting the damage mods.