New Exhalted/Celestial Seraphim, seeking advice

[Elric of Grans 23]

I recently picked up Sacred 2 Gold up from Steam and played a few characters as far as the Orc lands (on Silver). I have then decided to continue forward with a dual wield Seraphim that mostly follows the Azrael build. For the most part, things have gone well. The typical issues (underestimating opponents, getting caught by an unexpected attack, etc), but nothing out of the ordinary. Until the Desert. I have just finished the Desert and had a pretty ugly time there. I had a solid survival bonus going in, but found myself repeatedly killed by Scorpions. Only Scorpions were a threat, and two non-Champion Scorpions could be enough to kill me faster than I could believe. I died repeatedly to the Scorpion Boss. Not to the attacks of the boss itself --- they were easy --- but every time he summoned the two adds, they would kill me almost instantly!

 

Just a summary of my build. I finished the Desert at level 38. Every attribute point so far as gone into Stamina.

 

Skills (Base/with gear):
38/53 Tactics Lore
38/42 Armour Lore
2/14 Dual Wield
38/43 Celestial Magic Lore
1/1 Combat Discipline
1/2 Celestial Magic Focus
1/2 Exhalted Warrior Focus
1/5 Constitution
I will pick up Toughness at 50 and Enhanced Perception at 65. My accuracy is beginning to feel a little iffy, so I will be putting my spare Skill points per level into Dual Wield from now on (to Master fourth).

 

My Combat Arts are all at level one. I will list their level after gear modifiers along with the most I have chosen:
4 Pelting Strikes: Succession, Enfeeble (will take Precission)
1 Dashing Alacrity: Bloodlust (will take Delay and Impatience)
1 Battle Stance: Premonition, Flexibility, Retaliation
3 Radiant Pillar: Hypnosis, Brightness, Ordeal
3 Hallowed Restoration: Recuperation (will take Prevention and Antidote)
5 Cleansing Brilliance: Distract, Purify (currently considering Eagerness)

My gear is hodge-podge, as you would likely guess, but as good as I can manage. I have socketed Anneal into Bronze sockets, +skills into Silver and +attributes (mostly Vitality) into Gold slots. My current weapons are Physical+Fire and Physical+Magic+Ice. I have prioritised modifiers over raw armour (eg +1 Armour Lore > +10 armour), but damage over modifiers for weapons (eg +20 damage > +10% attack), realistic exceptions taken of cause (eg +1 Combat Discipline <<<<<<< +100000 armour).

 

The Scorpions seemed to cut me like paper, while I could hapily stand in a group of any other Desert mobs and carve them up. A lone Champion Scorpion required the kind of approach I would normally save for Bosses. I was switching to three Poison relics before facing Scopions, so I faced them with the strongest defence I felt I could have. I was using Battle Stance and a combo of Hallowed Restoration + Pelting Strikes + Soul Hammer to attack them.

 

As a separate question, could I have a little advice on eating Runes? Regen times are currently close to equal to animation times. Should I consider eating Runes soon, or wait until much later (eg Gold or Platinum)? With this build, would it be best to focus on Battle Stance/Cleansing Brilliance, spread runes across the other CAs, or try and balance both the Buffs and the other CAs? Alternatively, would eating Runes probably not be a brilliant idea and I could instead focus on +CA gear (eg from Sets)?

[chattius 2,522]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

 

In my opinion a single point into dual wielding is enough. Hit chance is mainly done with sockets late levels: -x% chance that enemy can't evade and such.

And the doublehit-mastery bonus is only for normal left click attacks.

 

My current Seraphim is level 113 and is like:

tactics 9

armour 75

dualwield 1

celestial lore 75

celestial focus 113

concentration 1

combat discipline 61

toughness 75

ancient magic 75

spell resistance 75

constitution 1

 

However melee was just for the time till I got magic running. So just modified battlestance for dodging and reflecting and socketed hitchance and regeneration per hit to recharge my pillars with weapon hits.

But I wasn't in the desert at level 38. I preferred leveling a bit to around level 50 in undead and t-mutant areas to make good use of my light aura.

[Ryanrocker 200]

I recently picked up Sacred 2 Gold up from Steam and played a few characters as far as the Orc lands (on Silver). I have then decided to continue forward with a dual wield Seraphim that mostly follows the Azrael build.

Using my build? Blasphemy! Kidding of course, I'd be happy to give my 2 cents

 

My Combat Arts are all at level one. I will list their level after gear modifiers along with the most I have chosen:

4 Pelting Strikes: Succession, Enfeeble (will take Precission)

1 Dashing Alacrity: Bloodlust (will take Delay and Impatience)

1 Battle Stance: Premonition, Flexibility, Retaliation

3 Radiant Pillar: Hypnosis, Brightness, Ordeal

3 Hallowed Restoration: Recuperation (will take Prevention and Antidote)

5 Cleansing Brilliance: Distract, Purify (currently considering Eagerness)

Perfectly okay, especially because you're still level 38. The reason I suggest the bigger Area of Effect on Cleansing Brilliance is because it is a VERY situational buff, and you will really only be using it in the swamp.

 

The Scorpions seemed to cut me like paper, while I could hapily stand in a group of any other Desert mobs and carve them up. A lone Champion Scorpion required the kind of approach I would normally save for Bosses. I was switching to three Poison relics before facing Scopions, so I faced them with the strongest defence I felt I could have. I was using Battle Stance and a combo of Hallowed Restoration + Pelting Strikes + Soul Hammer to attack them.

Yup, scorpions, blood dryads, fen fires, alien guys, and temple guardians are some of the hardest hitting PITAs that I have ever encountered. You're honestly not doing anything wrong, they just hit so hard that until you get fully geared and leveled up a bit more, it's best just to leave those buggers alone when possible and avoid getting swarmed (especially by the red scorps).

Also, on a side note I think that maybe you should grind to 50ish before facing the scorpions as 38 seems a tad bit low to me, but I haven't played in awhile so I may completely wrong

 

As a separate question, could I have a little advice on eating Runes? Regen times are currently close to equal to animation times. Should I consider eating Runes soon, or wait until much later (eg Gold or Platinum)? With this build, would it be best to focus on Battle Stance/Cleansing Brilliance, spread runes across the other CAs, or try and balance both the Buffs and the other CAs? Alternatively, would eating Runes probably not be a brilliant idea and I could instead focus on +CA gear (eg from Sets)?

Regarding the two buffs: sink as many runes as you can into Cleansing Brilliance before the cap kicks in (IE: you get level 3.2 combat art instead of level 4 or just keeping it equal to your level). The reason I say this is because Cleansing Brilliance is really only used in the swamp, because with such a high CA level it can literally 1-2 shot the zombies without you even attacking once. For Battle Stance, try and keep it as low as you can and use a +CA set that you make to boost up it's level. As soon as one of your activated CAs feels like the animation time is about equal to the regen time, feel free to eat a rune. Just as long as it feels good to you playing the character, as that's how I base my rune eating choices.

 

Welcome to the forums as well!

[lujate 575]

Welcome aboard!

 

My first question is, what color are the target circles you see around mobs? If they are orange, red or (God forbid) purple, then you are most likely under leveled for that zone.

 

Those green scorpions mean business, and should be treated like a mini boss.

 

For buffs, I stuck with only one rune and used Buff Suits.

[wolfie2kX 528]

Welcome to Darkmatters!

First off... I'm going to tackle your 2nd question first. - YES! You should eat runes! In addition you should consider gear with Regeneration per Hit (RpH). Every time your weapons make contact with an enemy, energy goes to recharge the combat art you just used. Also, I would throw points into Focus skills as those skills reduce regen times and bolster the number of runes you can eat without penalty. Not that you're going to go out and go crazy with eating runes. There is only ONE rune that can be eaten without a shred of guilt - that would be the High Elf's Grand Invigoration as it has no penalty for eating too many. Of course this is moot as we're not playing a High Elf.

You should also be looking at your stats on the Inventory screen - specifically the weapon damage and the Combat Art damage. You will want to eat runes to boost the CA damage. And as a consequence, you should also invest points into your Focus skills as that will drop regen time.

For Pelting Strikes, it should be at the very least 75% of the weapon(s) damage alone. You're on the right track, IMO, with the options on that skill. Pelting Strikes + Dual Wield + 2 good, sharp weapons = Ancaria's answer to the Veg-O-Matic. She slices, she dices and makes thousands of Julienne Fries.

For Radiant Pillar - I'd consider the Magnify option for the 3rd modifier. Might as well pump up the damage. Death will come soon enough for those caught in it's grip.

For Hallowed Restoration - I usually go with the Solidarity mod - simply because it heals anyone who is in your party - including those people you're escorting who are insane enough to go into combat unarmed...

For Cleansing Brilliance - I would have gone with the Cleanse option for the second modifier. Why? Because you're pretty much done with undead by the time you get past the Swamps. But you will wind up facing T-Mutations all the way to the end. The nameless guardians at the end are essentially T-Mutants.

The rest are fine.

As far as armor goes - by all means - go with whatever set items you can get. In addition to gaining whatever bonuses they might have, grouping at least three items together also gives you a SET bonus which will vary depending on the set(s) you're wearing. For dual wield, I would recommend going with Niokaste's Blade Dance. Having 3 pieces of this set will give you + Exalted Warrior Focus and having 4 will give you + Defense Value. It also gives you (on average) 2 sockets per armor piece - giving you more places to put RpH rings/ammys.

I'd also consider grabbing something that will give you life leech. Either one will do - the fixed variety or the % LL. Why? Because I am of the philosophy that when you're going into combat, the faster you can kill your opponent, the less opportunity your opponent will have to do damage to you. By adding some life leech to the mix, you're adding damage to each hit. In addition, it mitigates some of the damage your opponents are doing to you while you're hacking and slashing at them. The easiest way to get fixed value LL would be to socket Dryad or Inquisitor runes that have + x LL as the secondary effect into your weapons and armor.

As far as skills go...

I'm OK with most of your choices. except Combat Discipline. Truth be told, I'm not a really big fan of Combos in most cases. There are only a few times I find them to be useful and amusing enough to put up with the time it takes to cast them. The only real time I'm fond of them is when playing an Inquisitor where you can use Clustering Maelstrom to grab a bunch of enemies into one spot and then zap them into oblivion with a Levin Array. Beyond that, combos tend to take far too long to execute IMO and as I said before it's better to kill your enemies fast to minimize the damage they can do to you. Since Sacred 2 doesn't allow you to stack 2 of the same CA in an combo (which is different from the way it was in Sacred 1), you can't use it to spam multiple instances of say, Pelting Strikes. Not that you SHOULD need to spam PS at the same opponent more than once. With the right weapons, and enough runes eaten in PS, you should be able to take out at least 2 - 3 enemies with one casting.

In place of Combat Discipline - I would have gotten Concentration. This cuts the regen time of ALL of your CAs across the board and gives you a second buff. Keep in mind that Concentration is one of those skills where it's not very useful to just throw one point into it as you've done with Combat Discipline. You will need to add points to this skill to make it useful.

I also agree with everyone else - hitting the Desert and beyond as early as you did is downright dangerous. I personally would have held off a bit longer and made her more better to deal with things - like those nasty champ scorpions.

In addition... You didn't mention it but I would recommend getting the CM Patch if you haven't already done so. It fixes numerous issues and adds new content including new gear.

[Elric of Grans 23]

Thank you for the replies.

 

Yup, scorpions, blood dryads, fen fires, alien guys, and temple guardians are some of the hardest hitting PITAs that I have ever encountered.

Oh, good to know that these are simply tough enemies. They did not *look* tough (like a dragon that breathes demons) so I thought it was just me.

 

Also, on a side note I think that maybe you should grind to 50ish before facing the scorpions as 38 seems a tad bit low to me, but I haven't played in awhile so I may completely wrong

I did not think the game had a concept of too low/high, since enemy levels are based on your level. I doubt you would beat the final bosses at level one, but within reason. Is it a little more complex than face value?

 

Regarding the two buffs: sink as many runes as you can into Cleansing Brilliance before the cap kicks in (IE: you get level 3.2 combat art instead of level 4 or just keeping it equal to your level). The reason I say this is because Cleansing Brilliance is really only used in the swamp, because with such a high CA level it can literally 1-2 shot the zombies without you even attacking once. For Battle Stance, try and keep it as low as you can and use a +CA set that you make to boost up it's level. As soon as one of your activated CAs feels like the animation time is about equal to the regen time, feel free to eat a rune. Just as long as it feels good to you playing the character, as that's how I base my rune eating choices.

Good general advice. Thank you!

 

My first question is, what color are the target circles you see around mobs? If they are orange, red or (God forbid) purple, then you are most likely under leveled for that zone.

I had no idea what you meant when I read this. I Googled it, then turned on the circles in the options menu I jumped around the world and every enemy everywhere is yellow (except at the starting zone, where they are green). This *is* after losing my Survival Bonus, however; perhaps it may have looked different when enemies had higher levels. I will keep this option on and keep an eye on it in future.

 

As far as armor goes - by all means - go with whatever set items you can get. In addition to gaining whatever bonuses they might have, grouping at least three items together also gives you a SET bonus which will vary depending on the set(s) you're wearing.

Is there a good way to farm these, or simply `random is random'? I have one item of Niokaste's that dropped in the Swamps, but I have not seen others (yet).

 

I'd also consider grabbing something that will give you life leech. Either one will do - the fixed variety or the % LL.

One of my weapons has a fixed value life leech. I am surprised how much such a small number helps!

 

In addition... You didn't mention it but I would recommend getting the CM Patch if you haven't already done so. It fixes numerous issues and adds new content including new gear.

I do not have the patch. Is it safe to install over an existing game, or so you need to start a new game with it (I am used to modding Elder Scrolls game where you often need to start new games).

[wolfie2kX 528]

1.) Looks can be most deceiving. Who knew a little eyeball thingy can suck the life out of you so drastically? And yet, they can and do just that.

 

2.) Actually... Each region has a 'basement' level and a 'ceiling' level. In other words, there is a minimum and maximum value for each region's baddies. It's easiest to see this when you're in Teardrop Hamlet. If you follow the road due south, you wind up trekking through the T-Energy fields and eventually wind up in the Desert - well ahead of schedule. If you hold the mouse cursor under an enemy there - and you haven't gone through the human, orc, Seraphim, DragonSea and Swamp regions beforehand, the circles below your enemy's feet should be a bright yellowish to orange to even red. You should also be able to see the level of said baddy when you hold the mouse. Just look in the red bar when you're hovering over them.

 

That said, these circles go from white to greenish white, to green, to yellowish green, to yellow, to red and finally purple.

 

a.) White = Below your current level

b.) greenish white = Just below or equal to your level

c.) Green = A bit above your level

d.) yellowish green = higher than your level

e.) Yellow = well above your level (8 - 9 levels above you)

f.) red = 10+ above your level

g.) purple = WAAY too high above your level!

 

3.) Random is pretty much random - One thing I have found is that it IS a good thing to keep EP high AND go after tougher opponents. Going after white ringed opponents almost always equals weak drops - grays and white items.

 

4.) Yup. Every little bit helps. Once my characters can wear level 50 armor or so, I like to socket Niobium LL runes. that gives me 10 to 11 LL per rune socketed.

 

5.) it should be safe to install on top of an existing game. BUT... On the other hand, it's not always a good idea to uninstall the patch once you do and try to play. The reason being is that it makes some changes to where some quests are located. (the Epic Office Quest, for instance, was originally in the Jungle region's portion of the book - but it was moved to the Class Quest section instead). There are also issues where you may have found an item not otherwise found in the game and when you remove it, the game has no idea what was there and can bomb on that.

[lujate 575]

Once a character has been played with CM, it is not a good idea to play that character again on the plain version. Making the leap from plain I&B to CM is not so bad, although you may see some item modifiers change.

[Elric of Grans 23]

Thank you. I have installed the CM patch then spent a bit of time grinding levels before I continued. That made a surprising difference, to be honest! I have finished Silver with this Serpahim, but I think I will try the other classes out before I go into Gold.