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Ice & Blood Shopping Seraphim CA question


BLaaR

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Finally good Sacred 2 Ice and Blood to run for about an hour before crashing on my Windows 7 64 bit PC. Tried all the tweaks and patches etc but none of them really seems to help.

 

I also refuse to buy Diablo III due to having constant internet connection and since I am using 3G it is any way not such a good idea due to high latency.

anyway.

n my limited experience as a Sacred 2 player, I only played two toons, one the Dryad and the other the Ice elf. Both ranged.

I found this guide by good old r00ster :

http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?/topic/16846-seraphim-shopper-for-ice-blood/

 

Playing Ice and Blood v2651.

I even saw a previous post of mine which was never answered but I think I have those covered. Just to be sure, could any one answer those for me.

Then last question.

Not too sure about how many runes to eat in CA as I go.

Should I go all out with Battle Stance and leave pelting strikes and soul hammer at only 1rune, or must I balance them all ?

I am also assuming I must make use of Battle Stance and Warding Energy in r00sters guide.

If someone can point me a direction how to manage the runes I will be most great full.


Thanks.

 

Also, played SAcred Citadel and can't wait for Sacred 3 when / if it is done.

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Blaar - Long time no see! Welcome back!

 

Sorry if no one got back to you. Let's see if I can clear this up for you.

 

All Buffs - Battle Stance, Warding Energy, BeeEffGee, and Cleansing Brilliance - will make your other Combat Arts regenerate longer when they're active.

 

For instance, if you've gotten your Pelting Strikes CA to regenerate in 1 second and you've got a buff (let's use Battle Stance for this) Active, and you've eaten enough runes to give you a 20% penalty on your other CAs, it will regenerate in about 1.2 seconds. That may not seem like much, but it can be if you need Pelting Strikes immediately.

 

There is only ONE buff you can eat as many runes as you like - the High Elf's Grand Invigoration. It is the only one that doesn't penalize your other CAs. But we're not talking about the High Elf now - so yes, you have to balance the number of runes eaten.

 

All that said, there are things you can do to mitigate the regeneration time on CAs. The first would be to take the focus for the aspect of that CA. For example, if you're running Battle Stance, you will want Exalted Warrior Focus to reduce the penalty on Pelting Strikes - as both of those are in the EW aspect.

 

Secondly, you could use Concentration - it's a skill that reduces the penalty on all aspects - and allows you to eventually eat more runes into a combat art.

 

Third, and finally, since you're playing Ice and Blood, you can get jewelry (Rings and Amulets) with Regeneration per Hit (RpH) and socket as many of those as you can. This will allow you to eat a few more runes and it allows you to regenerate a Combat Art by hitting your opponents with weapons. Note, many of the Seraphim's combat arts are weapon based (like Pelting Strikes - hitting all of the enemies in front of you)....This works better than some of the others - like say, Instill Belief - which is purely magical in nature where no weapon is involved.

 

Personally, I try to do all three regardless of which character I'm playing. I like to keep my CAs regeneration times at a minimum so I can use them when and where I like. I like to keep Pelting Strikes at or around one second or so - so I pump up Concentration, EW Focus and have RpH stuff socketed and worn.

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Thanks for the reply.

 

Playing my previous 2 characters I got a general feeling of how to use CA. I think I got spoilled with the Elf since I found it relatively easy to balance the timers.

The Seraphim I am currently trying to play is making me scratch my head. I am now level 20 and all my arts are still at level 1. I am using gear with +battle stance to cast my buff.

Pelting strikes is still at ~4 seconds and if I activate Warding Energy this jumps up even higher. ~5s or so.

 

I assume I must just keep on balancing all the skills. I found it odd that another topic stated I should go mad and eat all the Battle Stance runes that I can untill I have eaten 200. I do not understand how the pelting strikes and other CA's regen will go down if I eat 200 runes during my run in silver.

I ended up dumping all my attrib points in vitality. This is good yes ?

Thanks again for replying. It is nice to see some activity for such an old game. I still think Sacred 1 and 2 is my fav even aboe all the other ARPG's.

Just wish I can it to run longer without crashing !!!!

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I think you might have misunderstood that poster's meaning.

 

Yes, you probably will want to eat 200 BS runes - eventually! Maybe by the time you reach Niobium. But eating 200 while in Silver? No..! That would be insane. Might as well use whatever God gift you've chosen at that rate - it would likely regenerate faster than a CA would under those circumstances.

 

1.) Do you have Concentration and EW Focus?

2.) How many points have you put into them?

3.) What is your regen time for PS without any buff running?

 

Don't forget to grab anything you find in the merchant's bins that has the Regeneration per Hit modifier. While your CA may take 4 - 5 seconds to regen on it's own - with RpH, that regen time goes down as that modifier will make it go down faster. After all, Pelting Strikes IS a weapons based CA. And if you're in the middle of a mob, you will be hitting the baddies quite often with PS.

 

Having Dual Wield also helps considerably. You automatically get a chance at a double strike with DW. Dual Wield + Pelting Strikes = mowed down enemies. LOTS of them. Add in the right blades, and a Seraphim becomes pretty much unstoppable.

 

Another thing you mentioned - and this is something you might consider... You said you use a lot of gear to boost Battle Stance.

 

Did you know that you can use those bits of gear, cast the buff and then remove that gear and swap it for something better? The concept is called a "Buff Suit" - invented and refined by two guys who used to spend an awful lot of time on here collectively known as the Holos brothers.

 

The effect of a Buff suit - you boost your buff's power by wearing the gear - then when you remove the gear, your CAs will regenerate faster because the penalty is lower without all that +BS gear.

 

Example: You have 1 point into Battle Stance. You've got gear that jacks that up to 10. You activate the buff and you've got Level 10 Battle Stance active. Let's say just for the sake of this example your regen penalty for level 10 BS is 15%. You remove the +xx BS gear and wear something a bit more sensible... The Buff stays at level 10 and for all intents IS level 10, but, since you're not wearing that same gear, the game counts things as if you've only got the one point in BS - and for the sake of argument, your penalty is now 10%. Pelting Strikes may have had a 4 second regen, but now that's dropped to 3 seconds.

 

Of course, this works most of the time. There are a few enemies you will need to be careful around - these would be the ones that can debuff you. That is, they can zap you and turn your buffs OFF. These would be the Furies on Northland Island, Haenir, also on Northland Island and the Voodoo Prince in the Swamp. The last two cast Expluse Magic - just like a High Elf - and that will turn your buffs OFF.

 

It's also a bit of a pain - if you shut the buff off for some reason, you will need to change your clothes so you're wearing the Buff Suit gear before you turn it on again.

Edited by wolfie2kX
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One more thing...

 

Vitality is a good thing to put points into - but.. Stamina may also be a good place to put a few points here and there. Stamina also has an effect on CA regeneration - like the focus skills and Concentration.

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Thanks for the replies.

I tried to play a bit this week end but ended up with more crashes and reboots than loot. I just could not get I&B to run for more than 30minutes without a crash. Sometimes it would crash upon entering the game.

That said I found another tip where the laptop*.dll files are removed from the Sacred folder and that seemed to help a lot. Last night I actually played for 2 hours without a single crash. So I am keeping my fingers crossed this fix will holdup.

Moving on.

My shopper seraphim is now level 42 in gold and doing really well. The mobs are level 61 and usually poses no problem, except when there are 2 or more elites then my shield goes down very quickly.

I do find playing melee a bit annoying at times. My problems with melee is :

1. When executing a combo you have to wait for the combo to finish. Now with soul hammer and pelting strikes the attacks can take a few seconds to complete. I actually died once with a boss fight because I wanted to move and could not. Suppose I will have to learn the bosses better to know when it is safe to execute combos.

2. When attacking mobs, the toon wold sometimes run around in circles around the target not hitting it, just chasing. Really annoying sometimes.

I dumped all my attrib points in vit thus far but I will do stamina too for the next few levels. I was also thinking on do will for some spell resistance later on ?

Thus far my pelting strikes / soul hammer are still only at 1 rune read but they are level 10 with my gear equipped. Battle stance and warding energy are at level 20 with gear when casting but only 6 runes read.

Should I read more rune for battle stance and warding energy ?

My regen on soul hammer / pelting strikes combo is 3.7s.

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Good to hear your system is more stable.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm not a big fan of combos. Thus far, I've only found one character who can get away with doing them - and that's the Seraphim's polar opposite - the Inquisitor. His Clustering Maelstrom + Levin Array is amusing - the Clustering Maelstrom grabs mobs and slams them into one spot, ready to be zapped into oblivion with the Levin Array. Probably why he kinda looks like the Emperor in Star Wars after his "accident" - and why he got the Darth Vader like helmet in the CM Patch.

 

But I digress...

 

The very same reasons you mentioned in 1 above are the reasons why I'm not fond of them. By the by - this "issue" was also around in Sacred 1. You're getting smacked around while you're doing a little dance to get everything in the combo executed. This is why I don't normally use them except when playing the Inquisitor. I find Pelting Strikes to be more than adequate alone most of the time.

 

As far as the 2nd issue - yes, that does happen. You have a mob of say, 3 baddies. You target #3 with say, Pelting Strikes. but by the time the command gets down the chain of command to your Seraphim (or any other melee character, actually), #1 and #2 have moved into the way. so the melee character will move to find the means to execute the original command of attacking #3.

 

Remember, computers and games on computers are very literal. If you tell it to do x, it will do x until it's done.

 

Spell Resistance is a skill - not an attribute... Wisdom - which gives you spell resistance is an attribute. And sure, you can...

 

As far as eating more runes goes... Do you have any Regen per Hit (RpH) gear socketed yet? If you do, then I'd consider eating some PS or SH runes...

 

My philosophy on runes is twofold - 1.) keep CAs that need to be spammable - spammable by any means available (Stamina, Focus, Concentration and RpH) and 2.) build up those CAs to do the most amount of damage possible. This is the balancing act you have to learn.

 

You can go about things two ways - you can play things defensively and wind up getting killed quite often or you can just go on the offense and "offend" But if you do this, you need the best tools you can get your hands on - weapons, AND you need to build your offensive CAs - any magic or weapon based CA that do damage to your enemies. Building defense at the expense of offense is not a good thing.

 

Remember, the faster you take your enemies down, the less chance they have to do damage to YOU.

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Spell Resistance stat: I think Blaar had it right. "I was also thinking on do *will* for some spell resistance later on?" (I interpreted "will" as "Willpower".)

Points into Willpower will also increase Divine Protection's shield HP pool for sure, but I can't remember if Warding Energy's shield HP pool is increased by Willpower also.

 

Issue #2 (character running around randomly when using a CA): On the console version, I normally break this by mashing a normal attack (by pressing the same button that the CA is set to repeatedly) or another CA. Both commands force a re-target, which breaks the random running around quicker.

This solution might work the same on PC also, though I can't say from experience.

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My bad - I was thinking Willpower as well but somehow by the time it got to my fingers wisdom popped out. GAH! Such is the fun of getting old.

 

And as far as the character running around... SOMETIMES that will work on the PC as well. Other times, not so much.

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I put some 10 points into stamina just to see if it would have an effect on the timers. It did not go done one bit. I suppose you will have to invest heavily into stamina to make it worthwhile.

Yes, That was the one. Get some spell resistance for higher levels.

Currently I am now at level 55 and just finished the dessert area and are now on the next island. Some of my boss fights were a bit tight and I had to rely on spamming health pots to survive. Not exactly pretty but it god the job done.

I found that the dashing CA has a habit to run out on me during crucial stages and then I have to run around for ~10s so that I can cast again to get my attack speed up. I am not starting to wonder if I should just pump my pole arm skill to help me out a bit. I learned the hard way the attack speed is everything.

Something odd happened. I was duelling the second Swirling Mist when suddenly my char speed dropped to 50% and my CA timers was up by 10s.

After I managed to kill the mist after 10 gruelling minutes and waiting another 2 minutes the stats did not reset to normal.

Was it a spell that was casted on me or did the game mechanics break ?

After logging in and out all was fixed again.

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It might not seem like much, but putting points in Stamina will eventually give you results. It won't be quite as dramatic as adding points to a Focus or to Concentration, but it will add up.

 

And yes, pump up your weapons skill!!! The higher it goes, the more damage you will wind up doing. Your weapon may say it does say, 150 - 200 damage, but when you factor in the weapon skill and Tactics Lore and all of the other factors that go into it, you might find it going upwards to say 700 - 1000 per hit - in Silver. It will go even higher, of course, in higher levels.

 

Not sure what happened with your fight with the mist. The object of that fight isn't to fight the mist directly - you fight the baddies it spawns and they're all undead minions of various flavors. There are a few liches in the mix, but I don't recall them casting anything that would whammy your attack speed. It sounds like some sort of glitch as when you saved the game and restarted it - everything was back to normal.

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Er.. Maybe just a wee tad bit... IIRC, Platinum starts around level 110... But hey, if your character can handle it without too much difficulty, then why not?

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I finally have my bargaining skill at char level (excluding gear) and I am now able to buy some "opponents level for death blow" jewelry. I remember from the past that these are good mods to have. Jut how many of these should I socket ?

 

Thanks again for all your input.

 

Also I am doing some quests now and believe it or not, I missed a good one right at the beginning. Ended up getting a bone slicer. Never did this quest before.

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ACK! You never did the Undead Legion quest chain? Yeah.. That's a good one indeed - your first legendary and it's a relatively easy - fully guaranteed one. Most of the others are truly based on random chance - and it's one of those it's between slim and none - and slim left town kind of proposition.

 

There are two other quests I can think of offhand that guarantee one - both require the CM Patch. One is the Dark Rituals chain - which starts in the graveyard north of Orcish Byway. You have to visit a bunch of conjurers and pick up whatever they tell you to - then you wind up in the Desert region where you meet the master of the bunch - and you wind up getting the only legendary throwing potion in the game - the Essence of DarkMatters - named after this very site.

 

The other one is a reward for visiting Frank Rentmeister in the southwestern portion of the Orc territory. But to get this - you have to be on the Epic Office Quest... When you find him, he will drop a the only Legendary lightsaber in the game - the Power of NIF (National Ignition Facility, a research lab devoted to developing safe fusion power.)

 

As for the Opponent Level for Death Blow thing - One should do..

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Finally hit level 75 in platinum and she is surviving pretty damn good. %LL is a life saver. When ever Warding Energy runs out, I can rely on LL to heal me up. Only problem is when dashing runs out, then I have too kite for about 5 s, recast, and start hacking away.

I did attempt to go to the forest (Ice & Blood) but things get ugly pretty soon there. I will avoid it for a few more levels before going there again. Those green homing blobs are what ever they are, does a ton of damage and it is the only time that healing up does not help since they expliode.

Guess I should just buy a shuriken and range attack them.

Any tips on dealing with them ?

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