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Seraphim Build For Advanced Sacred 2 Players


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Here’s a small belated New Year’s present from me – a build for Sacred 2 hardcore masters – an all-out-attack Seraphim with maximum firepower and minimum defensive skills. She can hunt everywhere, she can do anything, but you must use all your skills and knowledge of the game to keep her alive.

 

1. Build Concept.

 

Since we are making a build for hardcore masters, one that can hunt anywhere and kill anything, we are going to be creative – utilize ALL aspects, use ALL buffs, learn ALL spell damage improving skills and use MINIMUM amount of defensive skills in the process, deriving defense from skills, combat arts, buffs, and equipment setup based on the player’s preferences.

 

2. The Build.

 

As stated before, we take on all aspects, all spell-boosting skills and only 2 defensive skills. Using all aspects means that you will need to choose a primary aspect, a secondary one and a supporting one. The secondary aspect will be improved after you’re done with the primary and the support aspects, without neglecting the defense.

 

Skill listing:

 

- Aspects:

Revered Technology Lore

Revered Technology Focus

Celestial Magic Lore

Celestial Magic Focus

Exalted Warrior Focus

 

-Offense boosts:

Concentration

Combat Discipline

Ancient Magic

 

Defensive Skills:

Armor Lore

Warding Energy Lore

 

It is entirely up to you to switch or add skills, choose aspects and mold the build to your liking. I personally play with Revered as main aspect, Celestial as secondary and Exalted as support. It is also interesting to note that since Warding Lore is a first-tier skill, you can take any second-tier one as armor lore replacement – like toughness, for example, if you think it’s better.

 

3. Ensuring survivability.

 

Since you have only 2 defensive skills, you will need to be creative. For example, Warding Lore is here to replace Constitution. If your almighty shield is up, you will never die. If it fails, you have Divine Protection as your backup. In great emergencies, you have Assailing Somersault to jump away if you’re surrounded. When you’re outnumbered, you have Instill Belief to gain a few allies and switch the aggressive mobs attention towards them. Then, you have 9 equipment slots, 1 amulet and 2 rings. You may go for big damage mitigation, big reflect, blocking, leeching, absorbing warding energy, evasion, and whatnot. The game provides a lot of options; the only thing that’s left is to utilize them.

 

4. Ensuring decent offensive capabilities.

 

After you’ve ensured some decent defense, you must now think about offense. Your offense will be comprised entirely of spells – Archangel’s Wrath, Flaring Nova, Baneful Smite and Radiant Pillar. Most of them are magic damage based, and you must utilize that to the best of your abilities because of the secondary effect. An opponent with reduced attributes is much easier to kill. You will also have combat discipline and ancient magic as additional damage boosters. You can also add various runes to suit your gameplay and improve the damage and the attack rating. Do not forget that AW is based on weapon damage and weapon’s modifiers, and its chance to hit is the same as if you’re swinging a weapon – so you will be wise to set yourself a chance to hit standard and play based on that number. You can add opponent’s chance to evade -% and opponent cannot evade attacks +% as necessary to maintain it.

 

5. Balancing the regeneration times.

 

This is when things get tough. This is also the reason I always put 20 hard points in armor lore, even if I don’t plan on mastering it anytime soon, as it greatly reduces the regeneration penalty by armor. You should keep in mind that the seraphim has the hardest time becoming a good spellcaster, but once she does, she can be virtually unstoppable. It is really hard to strike a balance between regeneration time and damage, but it is attainable through + damage% modifiers and runes, items and runes reducing the regeneration times, + all combat arts or + aspect modifiers and so on. Since you will use 3 buffs, keeping them at a respectable level is also very important – very high level buffs can destroy the build’s regeneration times.

 

 

6. Attributes and mastery order.

 

Attributes and masteries are entirely up to you and the way you see your build. I personally go for warding lore, revered focus and exalted focus as my 3 level 75 masteries and keep about 20 points in armor lore – it always helps having access to better armor. Doing so allows me to “cheat through” the level till 80 when I can start working on Revered Lore. By “cheat through” I mean boss hunting – it’s fast, and it allows you to gain a few legendary items, as well as a big bunch of set and unique items. The damage will stay high even without revered lore – thanks to the damage boosting runes you can socket in your equipment.

The attributes are also up to you. Personally, I think that 1 vitality point per level never hurts, since you have no access to constitution and if your shield is dropped down for some reason, you’re in a bit of trouble. The rest is up to you – stamina, intelligence and willpower are good attributes to level up.

 

7. Combat arts.

 

Since we’ll take on all aspects, I will quickly list all combat arts and give my personal opinion about the mods I would take.

 

7.1. Exalted Warrior.

We’ll have only 75 points in this aspect, so we can fully mod only 3 combat arts, but that’s pretty much enough.

 

- Battle Stance – our primary buff and source of defense. I usually mod it for best defense and additional attack rating to support archangel’s wrath combat art.

Mods: Premonition – Flexibility – Retaliation.

 

- Dashing Alacrity – our castable buff. Put it on an easy to remember spot on the combat art bar and recast it as soon as you can. At very high levels the duration will become very close to the regeneration, so no need to mod it twice for duration.

Mods: Bloodlust – Delay – Ardor

 

- Assailing Somersault – our “get away from tight spots” skill. I usually add this skill to the bar only if I know I’m going into a dangerous area that is densely packed with enemies.

Mods: Spurt – Impetus – Bewilder.

 

7.2. Revered Technology.

I usually take this aspect as my main and dump quite a bunch of points here to mod everything but BFG.

 

- Archangel’s Wrath – great CA with good offensive capabilities and synergy with a number of modifiers and items. I usually mod it for best effect and maximum offense.

Mods: Salvo – Explosive – Vulnerable

 

- Flaring Nova – good crowd-control combat art, which works best when you’re surrounded. Since I usually play with revered as my main aspect, I mod it for maximum damage.

Mods: Impulse – Stun – Flux

 

- Divine Protection – last-resort CA, which should be used only when your primary shield fails. If the later stages of the game (say, level 75 and onward) your primary shield fails too often and you’re forced to use it way too often, there is a high degree of probability that something’s wrong with your char.

Mods: Capacity – Uplifted Force – Improved Mirror

 

- Warding Energy – our main buff and actual source of HP. In the early levels, your shield will be poor, but as you improve the warding energy lore skill, add more modifiers, it will become an impenetrable wall which will stop anything that is thrown at you. I always mod this buff for best defense.

Mods: Projectile Reflection – Magic Mirror – Block

 

7.3. Celestial Magic.

This aspect is very strong, has great synergy with the celestial set that you’ll most likely use throughout the game.

 

- Baneful Smite – this skill is a great boss battle initiator and has decent single target damage. I personally mod it as an utility CA, but if you pick the celestial aspect as your main, you should mod it for max damage.

Mods: Disarm – Potential – Electrocute

 

- Radiant Pillar – my favorite CA of them all. Really good damage radius, can be used to simply slap a few pillars and run around while they do their job, thus minimizing the damage you take.

Mods: Hypnosis – Brightness – Magnify/Ordeal

 

- Instill Belief – if you play as celestial aspect as a main aspect, this CA comes in handy on many occasions. Simply convert a few enemies and have them take the damage instead of you. If not, this should be one of the last combat arts you mod, as you will have plenty of damage to dispatch the enemies with due haste.

Mods: Strong Voice – Sinner – Fanatic

 

- Hallowed Restoration – a good ca to save yourself from some secondary damage effects, but in general, you shouldn’t be using it a lot.

Mods: Recuperation – Prevention – Antidote

 

- Cleansing Brilliance – very good buff with great synergy with AW, because it can be modded for defense reduction.

Mods: Blind – Purify/Cleanse – Illuminate

 

8. Final words.

 

All in all, you get a very interesting, fast-killing, yet tough to play build that keeps you on your toes for a long time. By pulling the right strings of this build you can fully enjoy the combined 3-aspect power of the Seraphim and merge it into one unstoppable force. It’s a build in which everything boils down to pure player imagination and knowledge of the game.

Edited by Dobri
  • Like! 1
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Veeeery nice, Dobri! Makes me want to start a seraphim... which says a lot as it is the class I like the least. A nice, concise writeup for vets who haven't played Seras. 10/10.

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Thanks mate :)

 

To be completely honest, it's this girl that taught me a lot about defense and the intricacies of this game. For example, how to balance regeneration times without being a HE :D With her, I used all the resources available - life leech, buff suits, shield boosting, damage mitigation, balancing CA level with CA regen, when to use runes and when to use socketable items, and a lot of other things.

 

She's 111 now, killing everything in Platinum and dropping the Guardians is no time, but I can't play her at this point, even though I kinda crave that. My laptop in Germany now has only 32 megs of video memory, so Sacred 2 will have to wait for a while :)

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Well, that is a very exciting and original build. Many thanks for sharing.

 

I am busy with three builds already, but will give this a try sometime in the future.

 

I would like to ask one question :- is Flaring Nova worth it please ? I see you call it a crowd-control ca. I have a few doubts over this ca, as when I use it, it does so little damage that it seems a waste of time, tbh. Is it that I am doing something wrong, and is there any specific advice you can give in regard to this ca. It would be great if I could use Flaring Nova to good effect, as it feels a bit of a waste, at this moment.

 

Cheers,

 

Steve. :)

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Personally, I always keep the following setup on the CA bar:

 

1. Archangel's Wrath

2. Radiant Pillar

3. Baneful Smite + Archangel's Wrath (boss fight initiator combo)

4. Flaring Nova

5. Dashing Alacrity

 

This is also the order in which I use the Combat Arts. However, if you play with the Revered aspect as your main, Flaring Nova does better than Pillar until you start working on the Celestial Aspect. I agree that Nova's damage isn't all that much in general, but you can get it up a notch if you play with + aspect/+ all combat arts/+ damage% socketables, since you'll get more damage for less regeneration time.

 

It's always good to remember that this build is all about being creative and improving your knowledge of the game :) In general, if you play it well (and with a little support from other chars if necessary) you will never have any problems with the game from level 30 on (which is usually the time when you start forming the char's equipment).

 

This build can be very tough if you have no support and have to play it on its own - without bargaining and minimal options to customize your equipment. You may have to go through the seven circles of hell in this case, before you actually start seeing some improvement.

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Personally, I always keep the following setup on the CA bar:

 

1. Archangel's Wrath

2. Radiant Pillar

3. Baneful Smite + Archangel's Wrath (boss fight initiator combo)

4. Flaring Nova

5. Dashing Alacrity

 

This is also the order in which I use the Combat Arts. However, if you play with the Revered aspect as your main, Flaring Nova does better than Pillar until you start working on the Celestial Aspect. I agree that Nova's damage isn't all that much in general, but you can get it up a notch if you play with + aspect/+ all combat arts/+ damage% socketables, since you'll get more damage for less regeneration time.

 

It's always good to remember that this build is all about being creative and improving your knowledge of the game :) In general, if you play it well (and with a little support from other chars if necessary) you will never have any problems with the game from level 30 on (which is usually the time when you start forming the char's equipment).

 

This build can be very tough if you have no support and have to play it on its own - without bargaining and minimal options to customize your equipment. You may have to go through the seven circles of hell in this case, before you actually start seeing some improvement.

 

Many thanks for coming back with some extra advice.

I only play sp atm, so maybe this build will be a bit out of my league. I would still like to give it a go in the near future, all the same. I like the sound of "seven circles of hell" hehe, a challenge is always good.

 

I'm sure this will be a good build for those with a strong heart, so thanks again for your hard work.

 

See ya,

 

Steve. :)

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Interesting build, Dobri. It shows real creativity and making the most of all available possibilities. I;ve got to say up to the release of Ice and Blood, I was a bit of a + all skills slave, which would have stopped me building a seraphim like this, due to needing bargaining. I'll give this a go after the current build I'm playing with, who's only just got to gold, to see if I really am as good with seras as I think I am*.

 

 

* I doubt it!

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I would not worry :)

 

Actually, this build sounds tougher than it actually is. If you happen to have a shopper to support it, it will be much, much easier. If you have some life leech, it will be easy too. If you happen to have a gold/plat/niob smith, then it's really, really easy :P

 

I was also an +all skills save, hence my interest in HE's. All the HE needs is all skills to boost her skills and respectively, damage. With the seraphim, things get much more different and intricate :) That's where the fun is.

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I would not worry :)

 

Actually, this build sounds tougher than it actually is. If you happen to have a shopper to support it, it will be much, much easier. If you have some life leech, it will be easy too. If you happen to have a gold/plat/niob smith, then it's really, really easy :P

 

I was also an +all skills save, hence my interest in HE's. All the HE needs is all skills to boost her skills and respectively, damage. With the seraphim, things get much more different and intricate :) That's where the fun is.

 

You've touched on something that I have always wanted to clarify. I hope you don't mind me asking here.

 

You mention that having a shopper will aid other builds. But something that has always puzzled me :- The shopper, surely, can only buy items at thier own level. So, it won't be much use, say if your level 100 shopper is buying stuff for your level 10 new build. It will be a long time before they can use the newly aquired items. Or do I have something wrong ?

 

Steve.

 

BTW, please don't think I am having a go at you Dobri. It is just something that has been talked about for years, and always puzzled me.

Edited by cider_steve
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No problem at all, Steve :)

 

Shoppers buy items which are at least their level. So for example, if you have a shopper that's level 140, you'll be seeing items that are level 140-156 at most. You can't go lower than the char level...

 

However, you do have a bonus here - you can still use the high level shopper to smith high level blacksmith arts into your low-level toons' sockets. Using high-level smith arts can easily get you through level 60 or so, which is more than enough to help set up a network of shoppers to help your up and coming toons. It's always worth the time you put in setting up this network :)

Edited by Dobri
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I would not worry :)

 

Actually, this build sounds tougher than it actually is. If you happen to have a shopper to support it, it will be much, much easier. If you have some life leech, it will be easy too. If you happen to have a gold/plat/niob smith, then it's really, really easy :P

 

I was also an +all skills save, hence my interest in HE's. All the HE needs is all skills to boost her skills and respectively, damage. With the seraphim, things get much more different and intricate :) That's where the fun is.

 

You've touched on something that I have always wanted to clarify. I hope you don't mind me asking here.

 

You mention that having a shopper will aid other builds. But something that has always puzzled me :- The shopper, surely, can only buy items at thier own level. So, it won't be much use, say if your level 100 shopper is buying stuff for your level 10 new build. It will be a long time before they can use the newly aquired items. Or do I have something wrong ?

 

Steve.

 

BTW, please don't think I am having a go at you Dobri. It is just something that has been talked about for years, and always puzzled me.

 

 

 

For that you make network of shoppers at crucial points. like level 2 shopper, level 30 shooper, level 75 shopper and 100+ shopper. And a niob shopper will have access to niob blacksmith arts which doesnt rise item level at all. For example I run with level 20 office saber with 3x niob damage from smith .. its so overpowered that evern such weak character like utilitz tg can devastate all

Edited by Elwin
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No problem at all, Steve :)

 

Shoppers buy items which are at least their level. So for example, if you have a shopper that's level 140, you'll be seeing items that are level 140-156 at most. You can't go lower than the char level...

 

However, you do have a bonus here - you can still use the high level shopper to smith high level blacksmith arts into your low-level toons' sockets. Using high-level smith arts can easily get you through level 60 or so, which is more than enough to help set up a network of shoppers to help your up and coming toons. It's always worth the time you put in setting up this network :)

 

Thankyou for coming back to answer my question, I appreciate your time.

 

One last thing though ( I hope ! ) If level 140 shopper buys a level 140 ring, then goes to the blacksmith and sockets that ring into a level 10 weapon for my other toon, doesn't that level 10 weapon then become level 140. I thought that was the case ?

 

Steve.

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NO, hes talking about blacksmith arts and not items. BCA dont have such thing like level so they dont change anything. Like I said I have level 20 saber with niob arts. If u put item in socket it will rise level however. It doesnt matter if its NPC or character

Edited by Elwin
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Steve - on PC, if you socket a ring into an item it does alter the level. It's actually possible with bargaining to buy a ring or amulet that pushes the level of the socketed item above equippable level. From what I've read, this does not apply to blacksmith arts. For those on console, level change doesn't apply, from what I've seen.

 

Thanks for the reply, Dobri. I think when I do it, this build will be stand alone, just out of interest. Sort of an 'if this had been my first build, what would have happened?' approach. I can always delve into the +all skills stockpile if necessary. I'm not that far with the latest character, though, so it might be a little while (although I will be trying this).

Edited by Steerpike1
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Just to explain myself: a Shopper can also do the smithing by using the NPCs and add high-level smith arts to up and coming character's items. A blacksmith char can do it better - he can be a lot better than a niob smith (say - 37.5% vs 50% from the high-level smither char) - but still, while you build one, the shopper can still take over that role.

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Combat Discipline is bugged on the consoles. Any suggestions for an alternative (Damage Lore perhaps)? I looked but could not find any obvious choice.

 

Also, I seem to recall there was some issue with Ancient Magic on the consoles but cannot find anything. Did I just hallucinate that?

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Well, I cannot give any insight about CD on consoles, but if I were to sub that skill for something, I would go for one of these:

- Damage lore - nice, you get a higher chance to reduce the enemies' attributes or get more damage out of the burning effect of AW when you master it.

- Toughness - if this is a build with less support (you don't have any shoppers or a smith to help it), turning it from 2-def skills to 3-def is a good idea, as it will add more survivability.

- Enhanced perception - well, some extra magic item finding is always nice. If I recall correctly, it used to work in S2FA just fine even without the added tooltip in Ice and Blood.

 

As for Ancient magic - if I recall correctly, in S2FA which the consoles use, the Seraphim did not have access to Ancient magic. That may force you to change that skill for another. In that case, you may opt to make her self-sufficient - add EP and Bargaining to the build. In that case, buff suits + aw + life leech + lots of all skills and all combat arts = downright deadly combo.

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I just checked, and Ancient Magic is not an option.

 

I think I will go with Damage Lore and EP. I just started a DW shopper, so items should not be a problem. I will just advance them in tandem.

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Steve - on PC, if you socket a ring into an item it does alter the level. It's actually possible with bargaining to buy a ring or amulet that pushes the level of the socketed item above equippable level. From what I've read, this does not apply to blacksmith arts. For those on console, level change doesn't apply, from what I've seen.

 

Thanks for the reply, Dobri. I think when I do it, this build will be stand alone, just out of interest. Sort of an 'if this had been my first build, what would have happened?' approach. I can always delve into the +all skills stockpile if necessary. I'm not that far with the latest character, though, so it might be a little while (although I will be trying this).

 

Ok mate. Thanks for info.

 

When I've gone to the npc blacksmith, I'm sure that if I've put a higher level ring/ammy into an item, it has raised the overall level. I have just started a new toon, and have, for the first time, taken the blacksmith skill, so will be happy to try that out. Be very nice indeed, if I can socket high level rings and not pay a penalty of the item being too high for my char.

 

Steve. :)

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I just checked, and Ancient Magic is not an option.

 

I think I will go with Damage Lore and EP. I just started a DW shopper, so items should not be a problem. I will just advance them in tandem.

 

Now that's a very, very good idea! Having your characters support each other is always, always and always the best thing to do. Sacred 2 may be an easy game for everyone who's got good support, but it's a hell to go through if you have no support and have to pray to the good Sacred 2 gods to give you a good drop.

 

I really think you hit the bulls-eye with this decision.

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Steve - on PC, if you socket a ring into an item it does alter the level. It's actually possible with bargaining to buy a ring or amulet that pushes the level of the socketed item above equippable level. From what I've read, this does not apply to blacksmith arts. For those on console, level change doesn't apply, from what I've seen.

 

Thanks for the reply, Dobri. I think when I do it, this build will be stand alone, just out of interest. Sort of an 'if this had been my first build, what would have happened?' approach. I can always delve into the +all skills stockpile if necessary. I'm not that far with the latest character, though, so it might be a little while (although I will be trying this).

 

Ok mate. Thanks for info.

 

When I've gone to the npc blacksmith, I'm sure that if I've put a higher level ring/ammy into an item, it has raised the overall level. I have just started a new toon, and have, for the first time, taken the blacksmith skill, so will be happy to try that out. Be very nice indeed, if I can socket high level rings and not pay a penalty of the item being too high for my char.

 

Steve. :)

Steve, after reading all this I think you might still be missing something here. When we use a high level character to smith items at a blacksmith we do not socket rings or amulets that are above the level of the item. We do however use the high level character for Forging Blacksmith arts. For instance a level 153 Shadow Warrior with the blacksmith skill can forge Whet into a gold slot for near 50% Damage.

 

I personally with socket at least 4 Anneals, 2 Enhance, and the rest Whet into almost all my gear, I try to leave one socket open per piece to socket in a ring or amulet for the character. This allows me to change that ring or amulet out for something else with out losing the item.

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Awesome guide Dobs, I been working on a Pistol seraphim with the same skills you have used here. Slight variables here and there but its awesome. Had to start over for the third time last night. I'm making the mistake of pushing the difficulty too soon and tend to run into bad guys that have found the weak link in my shield/armor. Very fun, very powerful build, just don't push her too fast too soon.

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