Archer Based Seraphim

[Ajaxduo 0]

THIS BUILD IS NOT YET COMPLETE. I am posting this in the guides section as when I have finely tuned it I will submit it since it is unique in it's own right, please bare this in mind.

 

I've been 'lurking' around on these boards for a good time now and recently came up with the idea of an Archer based seraphim, utilizing Exalted Warrior and Celestial Magic aspects. I was unable to find a ranged seraphim build that wasn't BFG..so yeah I thought I'd contribute to the community and post up a build. Rather to play a 'common' build I'd mix it up and try something entirely new. Everyone knows of the classic BFG seraphim, I played it got to 120+ and quit because cutting through bosses like butter got boring and there was no incentive to keep leveling. Imagine BFG and the shield Combat Arts never existed, this I believe is what people would come up with.

 

Why not just use BFG?

You can easily tailor this build for a BFG based classic but I have played BFG and it gets boring FAST.

 

Why no shield?

I love a challenge and this build will punch up the difficulty, I am substituting it with Hallowed Restoration.

 

 

The Build

 

level 2 - Armor Lore

 

level 3 - Ranged Weapons - I'm guessing the attack speed bonus will effect Pelting Strikes? I'm wondering whether to pump this into mastery or leave it at level 1, also I couldn't understand what the mastery bonus is. I read somewhere someone said it gives doublehits..but Wiki doesn't say that and even if it did would it effect Pelting Strikes?

 

level 5 - Tactics Lore

 

level 8 - Concentration - I'm not going to use any of the Revered Tech tree so I'll leave this at level 1.

 

level 12 - Exalted Warrior Focus - I'm guessing since I am not pumping Concentration into mastery, I will need to level this? Although it may be useless raising it above 21, Tactics lore gives mod points and I can easily combine some Regen per hit + pelting strikes instantly recharges all Combat Arts.

 

level 18 - Celestial Magic Focus - 21 points to mod Radiant Pillar and Cleansing Brilliance.

 

level 25 - Celestial Magic Lore - Does the lore effect the healing power of Hallowed Restoration?

 

level 35 - Constitution - More HP for survival, Mastery for in combat regen! Mastery for this is a must I believe since I will take this build into Niob.

 

level 50 - Toughness - I am unsure, I have read that Hallowed Restoration modded correctly + constitution mastery gives you godly regen so this may not be needed

 

level 65 - ?

 

Since I am on the Xbox 360 I will be taking full advantage of high + skill slotted into my armor etc, which makes up for leaving certain skills so low. The idea I have is using radiant pillar to draw mobs and unleash a flurry of arrows with pelting strikes. Cleansing brilliance will give me advantage with lower enemies defense values aswell as damage support.

 

Skills

 

Battle Stance

Aggression - nice damage boost

Flexibility - chance to evade? Since I'll be running 2 buffs and not raising and regen lowering skill past 21 it may be better to invest in Drill.

Retaliation - chance to reflect Close Combat

 

Pelting Strikes

Succession - chance for double hit

Enfeeble - Lowers the enemies defense value. Never used this one before but my belief is that with RPH socketed I will be able to overcome the regen time, Wikia says it's 100 + 1 per CA level..that I hope will cover the fact I did not take Premonition with Battle Stance.

Precision - chance for critical hits

 

Soul Hammer

Aim - Battering - Coup de Grace. Boss killer.

 

Dashing Alacrity

Sprout- run speed

Delay - lasts longer

Impatients - shorter cooldown

 

Cleansing Brilliance

Blind - Lowers the enemies defense value

Unsure which Silver Mod to take, please advise!

Eagerness? - Increased damage per second sounds nice. Majority of mobs in the game rush you anyway so I think this would be more beneficial.

 

Radiant Pillar

Hypnosis - Drawing the enemies towards the pillar sounds extremely useful for later on in Niob, since I will be ranged it sounds like the smarter choice.

Brightness - Increases the Area of Effect, a wider Area of Effect will attract more mobs toward it.

Magnify - More damage. Since I'm playing on the console I don't have the Ice + Blood experience and updates from that, plus it is very easy to obtain a high deathblow rate!

 

Hallowed Restoration

Recuperation - HP regen

Master Healer - Yet again since I'm on console this will enable me to keep it up permanently

Gold Mod - Unsure which to choose, a HUGE disadvantage of playing on the Xbox is that there are rarely anyone to play with. Yet I may play with my brother, the other mod confuses me though as I don't understand what it means completely.

 

Stats 100% Dexterity.

 

I'm completely open to constructive critism on this, since that is what I want. Although I will not take kindly to insensitive comments, e.g. "Omg you noob just play BFG **''###!11" etc. If you have something to share make it count

Thank you.

[wolfie2kX 528]

For what it's worth - I won't be telling you to get out the BFG. In a sense, BFG is good, but it's a buff and as such, buffs do nerf your other Combat Arts regen times. A bow makes good sense in that regard. One thing I would recommend - life leech! Either by finding a bow with LL modded into it, or by wearing armor with LL or by socketing some runes (Dryad or Inquisitor) or a combo of any of the above. Even if you're healthy, the additional damage factor is a nice boost - especially when going up against bosses...

 

Otherwise the build looks pretty solid.

 

To answer some of your questions...

 

Celestial Magic Lore may or may not affect Hallowed Restoration's ability to heal. I've never really looked into it but you will likely find that the Focus will have a beneficial effect on HR's abilities. One of the things the focus does besides lower the regen cycle time is boost the maximum level for the Combat Arts in that aspect. So... you can eat more runes without penalty, thus raising the healing power of HR. Make sense?

 

Ranged Weapons: I'm thinking this won't have much of an effect on Pelting Strikes. Pelting Strikes - like Soul Hammer - are combat arts that are pretty much a one shot affair. The idea here is when you use a regular attack, a bow will require time to "recharge" - think reload and pull the bowstring back to fire the next shot. Ranged Weapons reduces the time it takes for the bow to be recharged. Bottom line: You shoot faster = more shots = more damage = dead opponents.

 

Toughness: It's not a bad thing. The less damage you take the less you need HR. Makes sense.

 

Level 65: I'd consider perhaps Enhanced Pereception. If for no other reason than to be able to find better loot.

 

Battle Stance: Drill makes good sense - anything that cuts regen nerfing is a good thing.

 

Cleansing Brilliance: I'm leaning toward Purify. There are far more undead roaming Ancaria than T-mutants. There's the central elf region, the swamps - both of which are chock full of undead.

 

Hallowed Restoration: Solidarity isn't JUST for people you're playing with. It's also beneficial for those pesky suicidal NPCs you have to escort on occasion. So let's say you're doing the Pawn Sacrifice (my personal nightmare) quest in the Black Oaks region. You have to escort the weapons dealer to the military camp down the road. Instead of following you like a good prisoner, he runs off and attacks anything and everything dangerous in the area in an effort to get himself killed. You can either do the potion thing, or you can hit him with HR with the solidarity mod and that just might keep him healthy enough to show up at the military camp long enough to testify...

 

Antidote: a Damage over Time (DoT) hit on your character will make her lose health points for a period of time AFTER the original hit. You can see the effect as a red, yellow, blue or green glow surrounding your character. Say you step in a T-Energy pool - you will see a blue aura around the character for several seconds after you step out. Antidote reduces the length of time that effect will last as well as healing the damage done.

 

Hope that helps... and Good Luck..

[ololcat 3]

Some words regarding BFG: like wolfie2kX said, it is a buff. A buff itself provides a boost to ranged weapons skill, so you won't have to put skillpoits there, it's mastery bonus doesn't affect combat arts anyway.

Since bows can't do as much damage as BFG, it could be useful to pick Damage Lore skill and use fire/poison bows.

[lujate 576]

Do you think Cleansing Brilliance is worth using?

[wolfie2kX 528]

Do you think Cleansing Brilliance is worth using?

 

It all depends... It, of course, depends on how you modify it. If you modify the silver mod for Cleanse - it will only do bonus damage to T-Mutants. The Purify mod gives you a bonus against the undead. Given the epidemic proportions of undead you find in the central part of the elf region, the swamps and in most caves/catacombs and graveyards, I'd say it could be very useful in places like that. Other than that - eh.. Maybe not so much. It depends on how much of a regen nerf it adds on top of everything else that penalizes your regen times.

 

If you've got Celestial Magic Focus and are dumping points into that skill, it might not be quite so bad.

[lujate 576]

The OP seems to be taking Concentration for the sole purpose of running Cleansing Brilliance together with Battle Stance. I just cannot help but wonder if it would be better to skip Concentration/Cleansing Brilliance and go with another skill.

[wolfie2kX 528]

The OP seems to be taking Concentration for the sole purpose of running Cleansing Brilliance together with Battle Stance. I just cannot help but wonder if it would be better to skip Concentration/Cleansing Brilliance and go with another skill.

 

Well.. Concentration isn't ONLY for one CA. It reduces the regen penalty on ALL of your CAs that have one. So you don't use Cleansing Brilliance, but you're more into Dashing Aclarity... That's got a nerf like most everything else in the Seraphim's arsenal. Who knows - he might even <gasp> go for BFG as a backup - just in case...