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Sarak Explorer Build


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Sarak has zero deaths at level 78, uses almost no health potions and perhaps most importantly is fun to play. I decided to post not to show-off a great build but because I find him to be fun to play with. Comments welcomed of course.

 

He exists for one reason, to explore as much of the map as possible. That can get pretty boring so I quest on the way (a few parts of the map can only be visited as part of a quest, for example the Gost Village, so of course I would have had to do those anyway). I decided that because he is going literally everywhere I might as well choose Perception for the first time ever, after all he will have more than the usual opportunities to find some decent gear along the way. I am not a newcomer to dying so because I had reached Gold with no deaths I decided that I would put more effort into survivability than I had so far. He always travels alone because exploring can be a boring thing to watch.

 

Attributes

 

I am not always sure what to do with them. At the beginning I shared between Strength and Vitality, mostly Vitality. At about level 30, because he wasn't taking much damage I started to concentrate on Strength with only an occasional point in Vitality.

 

Skills so far

 

Tactics Lore 75, 81 with gear

Armor Lore 45, 57 with gear

Astral Lord Lore 31, 41 with gear

Hafted Weapons 23, 29 with gear

Malevolent Champion Focus 29, 39 with gear

Riding 6, 12 with gear

Enhanced Perception 75, 87 with gear

Concentration 10, 16 with gear

Constitution 16, 28 with gear

10th Skill choice left empty until later.

 

Tactics and Armor Lore were an easy choice, I always go for those two. Armor for bonuses and to reduce the regen penalties. This build does not have Death Warrior Skills so Tactics allows me to mod Death Warrior Combat Arts, this skill is also a great asset to any melee character.

Astral Lord Lore. I'm still not sure if that was the best choice. At the time I wanted to unlock the Shadow Buff, I figured that by being invisible I could explore some of the more difficult places without having to fight/die but now, because he is surviving so well I don't think I will need that Buff so I stopped adding points there after modding Skeletal Fortification.

Hafted Weapons. Chosen because I like using Two-handed Hafted Weapons and figured it would be a good idea to unlock the bonuses and increase attack speed.

Malevolent Champion Focus. My favourite Shadow Warrior Combat Arts are Frenzied Rampage and Reflective Emanation. I wanted to be able to mod and spam, Frenzied Rampage now regens at less than 3 seconds so I can use the CA for hitting without switching to anything else or having to use a normal blow (unless rooted).

Riding. Chosen only to unlock Enhanced Perception. I wish now that I had chosen Alchemy because I never have before and it would be interesting to see if it is any good.

Enhanced Perception. I am going everywhere so lots of opportunities to find decent gear along the way. I later found some +visibilty gear which needs EP Mastery so I'm now glad of my choice here.

Concentration. This was my first skill chosen to improve my survivability. I had been quite happy using only Reflective Emination but I decided to start using Grim Resilience as well for the life bonus so two buff slots were needed.

Constitution. Survivability. With only 16 points I get +949 HP and +15.2% HP regen, with Grim Resilience at 23 that's a total of 10,057HP and if I include gear his HP regen is 238.4 per second.

Skill 10. I will leave that empty for now because I am sure that later in the game I will need something extra but for now he is fine.

 

Where to put my Skill Points? The truth is that I expected to get bored with exploring before finishing so I didn't plan far ahead. This is my first character using Perception so I wanted to master that to see what happens. Points went into Astral Lord Lore to mod for the shadow buff (remember I changed my mind about that mod), I started to find that Skeletal Fortification was helping a bit so I added more points there to mod that skill. I am enjoying him so much now that I am planning things a bit more carefully.

 

His first mastery was Perception, second was Tactics. Perception not only to find good gear but also to unlock some +visibility gear. After that I chose Tactics because it was already at about 70 and I had 5 skill points so easy to master it. After Tactics I have no idea where I will put the rest of my points so I will start saving them, waiting to see what his main weaknesses are. I will put one or two points into Constitution and 1 into EP to keep it maxed at every level but that is all, I don't need it right now but I have read that Consitution helps a lot and it can't do any harm.

 

Combat Arts

 

Demonic Blow 3 Runes read, with gear 16. Modded for Wounding, Poisoning, Trauma.

Grim Resilience. 5 Runes read, with gear 23. Modded for Fortify, Readiness, Safeguard

Reflective Emanation. 3 Runes read, with gear 18. Modded for Backlash, Antimagic, Riposte

Frenzied Rampage. 9 Runes read, with gear 32. Modded for Double Attack, Double Strike, Envenom. Almost the only attack skill I use, it regens before the end of the animation (about 3 seconds) so I can spam it. Beligerent Vault. 14 Runes read, with gear 27. Modded for Reach

Augmenting Guidon. 5 Runes read, with gear 27. Modded for Ensign, Healing, Fear

Spectral Hand. 7 Runes read, with gear 20. Modded for Clout

Skeletal Fortification. 6 Runes read, with gear 19. Modded for Rapid Fire, Ice Shards, Scatter Shot

Shadow Veil. 8 Runes read, with gear 21. Modded for Creep, Fade

 

I use 1 Combo. Skeletal Fortification and Augmenting Guidon. I am considering using them outside of a Combo because I don't normally need Augmenting Guidon and it takes a couple of seconds to cast, time which often could be better spent fighting. I keep both of those CAs at the same regen time.

 

I use Beligerent Vault when exploring to get to those places I can't reach any other way but that is all. Sometimes I switch it for Shadow Veil, cast my Combo and soften the beasties up a bit before I start hitting but that doesn't happen often.

 

I have only just started to use Spectral Hand, maybe a day or two. I always thought it was not worth using but I decided to give it a go. So far I am impressed but I am not sure if I will keep using it.

 

I read as few Runes as possible, balancing Regen times against damage. Instead I socket Runes and +CA items into my Armor, I have a few empty sockets available for that right now waiting to see which CA might need a boost. I am always trying to keep the regen time for Frenzied Rampage around the same as the length of the animation so I can spam it.

 

Gear

 

Infernal Torment, 3 piece set for the +visibilty bonus. The chestpiece gives 822 points of armor, great protection and a lot higher than anything else I have seen so far.

Part set of Denderans Tactical Genius, 3 out of the 7 piece set giving +4 to all skills.

The rest is from a few sets. I keep an eye open for gear that might boost my skills, CAs and/or visibility.

 

I was lucky enough to get my hands on The Forbidden Punisher Hafted Weapon which gives +7 to all CAs and +7 to all Offensive Skills.

 

I carry Kira's Wall (shield) along with Signet of Thunder (one handed hafted weapon). They have a total of 5 sockets, 1 in the shield and 4 in the weapon. I haven't had the weapon long and am considering socketing them both with only +visibility items for the edge of the map. I haven't struck a single blow with them yet but greater visibility along the edges of the map would increase my map reavealed. I would like to avoid using a shield so maybe I will socket a two-handed hammer for +visibility instead, dunno.

 

Mount

 

Level 101 with -33.3% regen on Malevolent Champion. He, she or it hasn't died yet either.

 

Socketing

 

A few +visibilty items along with Infernal Torment gives me +Visibility 88.8%. Other explorers might say that +88.8% is too low but for now it is enough allowing me to eliminate all of those grey spots we see in the middle of some wooded areas etc. I might decide to run along the edges of the map again someday with plus a few hundred percent visibility but for now I am content with +88.8%. It is not until Niobium that the best +visibility items are found so retracing my steps around the edges of the map can wait. The rest is standard stuff with +skills and +CAs high on the list.

 

Gear and Weapon Attributes (unsocketed)

 

Armor

 

Infernal Torment Set (Sacred 2 same as Ice and Blood)

Set Bonus (full set): Visibility range +26.7%

 

Helmet of Infinite Torment level 82

Armor 132

Regeneration Penalty +4.0%

Visibility range +22.2%

Defense value +50

 

Diabolical Chestplate level 90

Armor 822

Regeneration Penalty +6.5%

Chance to find valuables +14.1%

 

Blazing Shoulders level 90

Armor 51

Regeneration Penalty +2.5%

Stamina +10

Run Speed +10.1%

 

 

Denderan's Tactical Genius (Ice and Blood)

Set bonus (3 pieces): All Skills +4

 

Denderan's Reserve level 75

Armor 16

Regeneration Penalty -0.7%

Stamina +17

Hitpoint Regeneration +15.0/s

 

Denderan's Plans level 90

Armor 23

Regeneration Penalty -0.9%

Damage mitigation:Physical +7.5%

Augmenting Guidon +10

Defense Value +28.6%

 

Denderan's Skirmish level 90

Armor 23

Regeneration Penalty -0.9%

Chance to disregard armor +8.6%

Frenzied Rampage +10

Attack Value +28.6%

 

Executioner's Aids (Sacred 2 same as Ice and Blood)

 

Legs of Justice level 90

Armor 48

Regeneration Penalty +1.2%

Chance to evade +22.1%

Defensive Skills +6

Run Speed +15.1%

 

Armantin's Legacy (Sacred 2 same as Ice and Blood)

 

Armantin's Elbow Protector level 90

Armor 53

Regeneration Penalty +1.2%

Chance for critical hits +5.5%

Grim Resilience +8

Chance to knock back opponents +9.1%

 

Weapon

 

The Forbidden Punisher level 90 (Ice and Blood only)

Attack speed -22.7%

Damage 261-401

All combat arts +7

Regeneration Time: -21.1%

Offensive Skills +7

 

Normal Damage max 1548

CA (Frenzied Rampage) Damage max 2798 and 122.0% Execution Speed

 

I usually hit for over more than 7500 but I have seen around the 9000 mark quite a lot.

 

 

Notes

 

I said I was enjoying this character. He can kill everything very quickly without needing to take any potions despite the fact that his Survival Bonus is high enough to put him up against level 92/93 opponents, perhaps the best defence is a good offense but I think the mixture of the two is OK, mostly they die with one or two hits so a small group can go with one click of Frenzied Rampage. He regenerates his health per hit a tiny bit and has a fast health regen between fights so if I get hurt at all I tend to get back to full health before I meet the next mob. The only time I can remember taking any potions in Gold was a few at the start, a few against a huge mob of spiders east of Skook's Corner and a couple fighting the Grunwald Dragon. He has just about finished exploring Artamark and is at 54.2% Map Revealed. Normally I fight alongside my wife and we die from time to time but alone with this guy I don't die at all ... nice. I suppose the thing I like most is not needing to be very cautious while running around the map, I can relax a lot more than usual.

 

Just one thing about +visibility which I have always ignored until this character. It is more useful that I expected for reasons other than Exploration. I now have my radar zoomed out more than I used to and the bonus allows me to look for mobs which are further away than normal instead of running everywhere hoping I will bump into someone. I like that.

 

 

What next?

 

Where I go next with my build I don't know. I will try to keep Enhanced Perception maxed but otherwise, as I said, I am saving my skill points. Being rooted and unable to move is frustrating but not a problem yet, maybe thats a sign that I need more resistance against magic or something but I'll wait and see what happens (Spell Resistance might be my 10th skill). I have Demonic Blow fully modded so maybe I will mod Beligerent Vault the rest of the way, combo the two and try to kill bosses a bit faster but at the moment they die quickly enough using only Frenzied Rampage. I will not be choosing Combat Discipline, I tend to lose track of which skill is which when they hidden in a combo. A while ago I had Rousing Command and Killing Spree in a combo but I wasn't ever using it and neither are modded at all, maybe later I'll reconsider using that Combo and Mod both CAs. I like simple characters without a lot of CA swopping so Frenzied Rampage along with Augmenting Guidon + Skeletal Fortifaction with both buffs active suits my playstyle just fine and so far I have needed little else.

Edited by Gordius
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I completely understand your desire to explore Gordius. I also happen to have the bug, bitten badly in fact.

 

Currently have 118% map revealed. The entire above ground map opened as much as possible. Only exception is still the very elusive Dragon Mage Island.

 

Getting ready to dig deep and test my patience. I take [1] look at Schots DUNGEON MAP and begin to ponder the task at hand. I had originally thought just accomplishing the above ground map would take forever. Which in fact only took approx. 30-40 hours.

 

Entering the realm of Dungeons, this may be a task much more complicated and involved then I had originaly envisioned.

 

Happy Roaming!

 

I remain, ;)

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