High Elf Assistance Needed

[Ryanrocker 200]

Well hello there everybody, I have started to throw together the skeleton of a melee elf build which I am planning on testing out/writing a guide if it all goes well. I have done extensive research on melee elf threads both on our forum here and on the official forums. But some information and opinions I would like to have before really starting into this character. I am hoping that some players experienced in the High Elf might be able to shed some light on the following questions (chattius, Dobri, gogo). Any help would be greatly appreciated and taken into consideration in my build Here we goooooooooo...

 

1. [ANSWERED] This is a general question about the Fire Demon buff with regards to the silver modification Lively. It says that "Lively- The demon reduces spell casting time. (10% + 0.2% per CA level decrease)". I am confused at what this modification actually does? Does it decrease regen time? Or does it increase cast speed? It's slightly ambiguous

 

2. [ANSWERED] In my build I have Grand Invigoration modded for the gold mod Resilience which reduces incoming detrimental effects. I was originally going to take Lively for the Fire Demon buff, but what about Guard for another way to reduce incoming detrimental effects? How do these two stack? Is it too much defense?

 

3. [ANSWERED] With regards to the Tactics Lore skill used with a melee elf. I understand that the damage bonus does not affect Magic Coup, but I was curious as to whether the Chance for Critical Hits+% was working? That'd be my only reason for picking this skill.

 

4. [Opinions still wanted] With regards to the silver modification of Magic Coup. I would really love to use Life Leech, but I'm testing this build for console, and Life Leech may be broken? (Can anyone verify this?) It definitely heals the player the correct amount of health, but the extra damage may not be registering. My question is which one should I take with this being the case? Picking Mana Steal would allow me to have a higher level combat art = more powerful, but the Life Leech would give me more health. Thoughts/Suggestions?

 

5. [ANSWERED] This is more of a skill pick suggestion question. I have 2 free skill picks and here are my options:

- Sword Weapons

- Speed Lore

- Ancient Magic

- Arrant Pyromancer Lore

- Spell Resistance (might be broken on console)

- Tactics Lore (if question #3 is working)

Which two do you think would be the best for the melee elf? Any opinions/comments are welcome!

 

Thanks for reading through that huge wall of text, hoping that someone can help me out here with some of these question! Much appreciated

Edited July 28, 2011 by ryanrocker1217

[Dragon Brother 619]

Im not sure about everything, but here's what I do know

 

1) The lively mod for firedemon adds casting speed (token: et_addCastSpeed).

 

2) I think that two mods for GI and FD would stack, but (and I just tested this) the modifier it gives has diminishing returns. Level 200 GI gives only -47.4% detrimental magic effects and as FD gives a fixed bonus that doesn't increase per ca level it only will increase this to -53.5% at level 200 (FD without GI would always give -20%). Also, delphic lore has no effect on increasing this either. I probably would pick the other mods as they would likely be more useful.

 

3) Couldn't be certain about that one, but it should do, it's a melee attack and all...

 

4) No idea, no console experience at all

 

5) I would say no to spell resistance immediately seeing as you're gonna be playing on console. Pyro lore would be my choice if you are gonna play a melee build with pyro backing, but if the only pyro skill is fire demon then perhaps not, but for the skin too then perhaps. Ancient magic...if you aren't using spells much then not much point I guess. Which leaves swords, speed or tactics. Of the 3 I probably wouldn't take speed lore. Melee HE needs all the damage it can get ergo tactics and sword weapons gives attack speed bonus.

 

Hope thats of some help

[Ryanrocker 200]

Thanks for the feedback DB! Posting from my phone right now so ill try to keep things short for ya to clarify some things about the skill picks:

- I will be using AP focus to increase level of both Incandescent Skin and fire demon, and the shower as a utility to stun bosses.

-the damage bonus from tactics does not apply to Magic Coup, although I could use regular attacks (left hand click) against magic resistant enemies. (Magic Coup converts to magic damage)

- sword weapons does not increase Magic Coup attack speed (would increase left hand click speed ^^). All it does for this build is add some attack bonus and unlock sword modifiers.

 

I really dislike speed lore the more I look at it (attack and defense bonus is small, and run speed isn't amazing, gear can do more than enough). I will certainly toss the idea around of maybe picking AP lore and ancient magic for a little damage boost for the shower. AP lore and sword weapons for the modifiers sounds good as well. Thanks a ton for the response!

Edited July 28, 2011 by ryanrocker1217

[essjayehm 58]

1. This is a general question about the Fire Demon buff with regards to the silver modification Lively. It says that "Lively- The demon reduces spell casting time. (10% + 0.2% per CA level decrease)".

 

As DB said, it adds cast speed. Please remember, as far as Magic Coup is concerned, that is your attack speed.

 

3. With regards to the Tactics Lore skill used with a melee elf. I understand that the damage bonus does not affect Magic Coup, but I was curious as to whether the Chance for Critical Hits+% was working? That'd be my only reason for picking this skill.

That critical chance for MC will come from Delphic Lore. Tactics on the High Elf will only affect left clicks. SHOULD only affect left clicks, to be more precise.

 

4. With regards to the silver modification of Magic Coup. I would really love to use Life Leech, but I'm testing this build for console, and Life Leech may be broken? (Can anyone verify this?) It definitely heals the player the correct amount of health, but the extra damage may not be registering. My question is which one should I take with this being the case? Picking Mana Steal would allow me to have a higher level combat art = more powerful, but the Life Leech would give me more health. Thoughts/Suggestions?

The LL on MC is static, not LL%, and works just fine at healing you, AND damaging monsters! BUT, for me... I always took the mana steal option on this (on console), it is quite powerful, and you can effectively have extremely high-level MC with the mana steal modification. At some point, you will mana steal more mana that MC "costs" so it will always auto=recharge, no matter how many runes you eat..

 

5. This is more of a skill pick suggestion question. I have 2 free skill picks and here are my options:

- Sword Weapons

- Speed Lore

- Ancient Magic

- Arrant Pyromancer Lore

- Spell Resistance (might be broken on console)

- Tactics Lore (if question #3 is working)

Which two do you think would be the best for the melee elf? Any opinions/comments are welcome!

Ancient Magic and AP Lore. Neither are "necessary" but makes bosskilling that much quicker. You could consider Riding or the all-powerful Divine Devotion, if you wanted some fun. DD + Testa + Deathblow (console)

 

Thanks for reading through that huge wall of text, hoping that someone can help me out here with some of these question! Much appreciated

[Ryanrocker 200]

Thanks for the confirmation of the info Scott! The build is coming together nicely at this point; I decided to go with Ancient Magic and AP Lore as the two skills, I figure it'll make boss fights a littleeeeeeeee faster Glad to hear that the static +LL is working, I wasn't sure because I never see any "Additional Damage XXX" in orange when I attack. Maybe it's just me Hmm, this does indeed give me a harder decision. Steal Mana would make a very powerful mod, especially if you can eat as many runes as you want. Have you tried both mods? Could you maybe elaborate on your experiences with each? Sorry, lot to ask

[essjayehm 58]

Hrm... a request to blah blah blah? You'll regret that

 

I never tried the life leech silver mod. I had access to the spells.txt and I saw the token added the static leech, so I avoided it.

 

Chattius loves the mod, so I have to say that it probably is quite good, especially with the stay damage mod. (and, say "hit additional opponents" from polearms, etc) IIRC, DA Lore boosts the leech amount... making it feasable at high-levels.

 

As for steal mana, I thought it was just awesome... best CA mod in the game, IMO. Only one small drawback is that I tried a polearm melee elf, and I took the bronze +damage mod instead of the COCE mod, that was a mistake. I missed so often I had to scrap the build because I couldn't register a hit to activate the "RpH". 20 second regen on IS was a nightmare vs. bosses in Plat/Niob... so she had to go into the garbage.

 

Steal mana also gives you some leeway to put skill points into other skills other than DA Focus. I say SOME, 'cause you still need some hard points there... but you can pump DA lore for damage (and +regen from GI, etc, etc...) instead of Focus. THis gives you the much-wanted +cast speed on top of the extra criticals and damage.

 

Beware of the combo glitch on consoles... as good as an IS+MC combo would be for non-button mashing, you suffer from the glitch as you want only cast speed, never attack speed. Just keep IS and MC seperate, and alternating button-presses for bossfights.

 

Magic coup gains absolutely nothing from + magic damage (because it's conversion, not base magic damage)... use +physical if you want to boost the damage on MC.

 

Uhm... what else... on console, I never saw a use for Expulse... unless you didn't want to fight anything, for whatever reason. Fireskin buff is 1000x better than Iceskin when you get to Niobium... but if you have shield lore and block (or reflect) close combat damage (I didn't), then iceskin may actually be better, unless you don't have MS Focus With the AP skills, you have the option for a +experience. per kill setup, and can use Blazing Tempest for fast levelling, if you want... the 2 +dmg mods in BT are quite good with AP lore and make killing hordes of werewolves/spiders or Garemas a nice little break from the melee madness...

[Ryanrocker 200]

Hrm... a request to blah blah blah? You'll regret that

 

Not once! Haha, your comprehensive reply was full of great information

 

Only one small drawback is that I tried a polearm melee elf, and I took the bronze +damage mod instead of the COCE mod, that was a mistake. I missed so often I had to scrap the build because I couldn't register a hit to activate the "RpH". 20 second regen on IS was a nightmare vs. bosses in Plat/Niob... so she had to go into the garbage.

 

Eeeeeppppp! Say what? Haha, I was going to go for the Heavy Damage mod, because I've read tons of posts saying that Magic Coup has a built in chance to hit that scales differently (similar to Archangel's Wrath and Spectral Hand) and that the chance to hit could just be increased using a few "Opponent's Chance to Evade -%" rings. Your findings seem to go against this, and am very curious about this point ^^

 

Uhm... what else... on console, I never saw a use for Expulse... unless you didn't want to fight anything, for whatever reason.

 

Reflect monsters (blue turtles, etc.) weren't that bad on console? I was going to mod it for Expansion (bigger radius), Pentagram (reduction to detrimental effects), Protection (block CA). This way it can debuff any enemies that have reflect, and possibly block some CAs from bosses. But you saw no need for this? Hmmmm

[Dragon Brother 619]

 

Only one small drawback is that I tried a polearm melee elf, and I took the bronze +damage mod instead of the COCE mod, that was a mistake. I missed so often I had to scrap the build because I couldn't register a hit to activate the "RpH". 20 second regen on IS was a nightmare vs. bosses in Plat/Niob... so she had to go into the garbage.

 

Eeeeeppppp! Say what? Haha, I was going to go for the Heavy Damage mod, because I've read tons of posts saying that Magic Coup has a built in chance to hit that scales differently (similar to Archangel's Wrath and Spectral Hand) and that the chance to hit could just be increased using a few "Opponent's Chance to Evade -%" rings. Your findings seem to go against this, and am very curious about this point ^^

 

A few of those rings should be fine and the built in bonus will eventually become worthwhile, low levels its probably not as useful. Of course you will be reliant upon having those rings.

[Ryanrocker 200]

A few of those rings should be fine and the built in bonus will eventually become worthwhile, low levels its probably not as useful. Of course you will be reliant upon having those rings.

 

That was my thought exactly. Chattius' research into spells.txt has shown that at Magic Coup CA Level 50, it has a 150% relative chance to hit normal monsters. That to me seems pretty darn good, so with a few rings here and there I feel like I should be able to keep the hit chance high enough. You are right though about the lower levels hit chance, which may pose a problem. But if I do take mana steal and boost the CA level up, it might work? Blah, these bronze and silver modifications are driving me nuts. Just want the most effective strategy, sometimes I wish Sacred 2 didn't give us SO many options

[Nicholas 0]

lol melee elf, good job cousin.

hope I get to see it soon with my near invincible ice elf (build I got from forums)

we should see which one fairs better.

keep it up

[Ryanrocker 200]

Alrighty folks, after some more reading and evaluating the overall playstyle of the build, I've decided to go with Target Focus and Life Leech. I picked target focus because the math behind the two bronze mods shows that Target Focus is better up to Combat Art level 50 or around character level 100. After that point the Heavy Damage is better. I plan to play this build to level 150 max, so the majority of the characters life Target Focus would be better. Secondly, I've decided to streamline the build a little and give it a playstyle without a lot of micromanagement. "Opponent's Chance to Evade-%" rings can be hard to shop for, but you can always socket in some Whet blacksmith arts for the damage. Am I picking the most optimal way here? No, but it is the most carefree IMO.

 

lol melee elf, good job cousin.

 

Hey don't laugh at the melee elf, she whoops some serious backside

[chattius 2,522]

Sorry for late response, summer breaks for kids, me being on sales travel through europe, ...

 

Depending on what version of the game you are playing:

 

Polearm elf, magic coup modified for damage, some damage x-x rings, magic coup at malus, using a rare polearm with nearly only natural fire damage, having 2 fire buffs boosting fire damage (the buffs will boost the natural fire cdamage before it is converted by magic coup)---

 

Doing like 60000 damage on target and 30000 damage on nearbies and having only 30000 hitpoints in niob... be careful at melee reflecting enemies. A good designed melee elf is far from doing no damage - to enemies or to yourself

 

 

The only reasons to take tactics lore and a weapon skill:

 

I) playing on PC without addon. You won't have regeneration per hit and will use normal hits to fill the time between the magic coups.

II) You play a ranged elf and reg per hit will only kick in the moment you hit, so at long distance sniping you have more or less the same reason as in I)

[essjayehm 58]

I) playing on PC without addon. You won't have regeneration per hit and will use normal hits to fill the time between the magic coups.

 

I always meant to ask, but never had... in the Fallen Angel (ie no Ice and Blood), did the steal mana modification work? Or the Inquisitor's Callous Execution mod to steal mana?

[Capt.Smack87 0]

Expluse magic-strength,banish dead,banish creation.Awesome in the swamp and awesome on the nameless guardians.Its also a good defensive combat art-Expansion,pentagram,protection.Dont over look the value of fearing enemies away.

[essjayehm 58]

Expluse magic-strength,banish dead,banish creation.Awesome in the swamp and awesome on the nameless guardians.Its also a good defensive combat art-Expansion,pentagram,protection.Dont over look the value of fearing enemies away.

Unless, of course, you don't want:

 

Experience

 

Loot

 

Fun. Yes... it's cool to see mobs run away in terror, but...decapitation is just more fun. IMO, of course 8)

[Ryanrocker 200]

Fun. Yes... it's cool to see mobs run away in terror, but...decapitation is just more fun. IMO, of course 8)

 

Mwhahahaha, give me my loot!

[Capt.Smack87 0]

Expluse magic-strength,banish dead,banish creation.Awesome in the swamp and awesome on the nameless guardians.Its also a good defensive combat art-Expansion,pentagram,protection.Dont over look the value of fearing enemies away.

Unless, of course, you don't want:

 

Experience

 

Loot

 

Fun. Yes... it's cool to see mobs run away in terror, but...decapitation is just more fun. IMO, of course 8)

You should try it out,it makes short work of enemies affected by its damaging properties.The Swamp Mist boss comes to mind.You can also rapid cast it if you keep the regen times low.