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Uncharacteristic builds


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So here's the deal. I've been playing melee HE for some time now, I've always enjoyed the build ever since I read Chattius guide to it and over the years I've tried pretty much all the variations the build can have. Therefore I'm hitting that particular point where I'm thinking about retiring my latest one (once I clear everything I want in Niob) and start anew with a new type of build. Thing is, I don't really like playing with regular builds.

 

I have a soft spot for hybrid builds and/or those that twist the basic aspects or a class to play against the grain, the melee HE on the one pure caster class being a great example of that. Now I know about the BFG Seraphim and the ideas behind going full Astral Lord on the Shadow Warrior, but are there any more "strange builds" like these? I'd like to know what the general consensus is. ;)

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I don't really know if it's uncharacteristic but the melee Dryad dual wielding too is awesome and devastating and not as often seen as this.

I think I've never seen a BFG Seraph in fact (by the way, did you notice that BFG is refering to Doom, the famous Big fraking Gun).

I tried Astral Lord but abandonned him, not really knowing how to buid him (what weapon for example) but with CM patch it's worth I think as summoned Skeletons for example gained extra run speed.

Interesting post :)

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Thanks for pitching in Desm. ;)

 

Dual wielder melee on a purely ranged class is certainly uncharacteristic. That's exactly what I'm talking about! I think I'll need to read some guides on it though, never played with a Dryad before. Shame on me I know. :P

I've abused a bit of the Astral Lord aspect but my general feel of the SW is that it's too easy to play with from the beginning. I don't know, I guess it gets too powerful too fast no matter what aspect you choose. BFG is indeed related to Doom, as much as Quake 2 (my first ever PC game), though from what I read the BFG Seraphim is pretty much a one-hit wonder. Know what I mean?! One-shooting everyone gets tiring after a while.

 

Anything else? Do Inquisitors or Temple Guardians have similarly "weird builds"?

 

PS: Chattius mentions a SW variation of this weaponless Dryad build, he calls him "Captain America". Has anyone ever tried it?!

Edited by Androdion
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I always considered my weaponless kungfu melee dryad as more weird than the melee elf ;)

The Ninja SW of my 13 year old is some kind of funny too, weaponless, all three aspects and invisibility buff is modified for run speed and protection. Fighting barehanded while invisible has your enemies spread all around. This is good for not getting hit, but bad for the exploding melee hits. Actually you have a better experience-rate while not invisible. Run speed is quite useful for boss runs: as long as you don't fight you can run to the boss very quickly while invisible ignoring annoying weeklings.

At very high levels you do experience mainly with running through high end quests. Without a weapon skill she could add the smith skill while still having the buffs from all three aspects.

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Got ninja'd by the man himself! :D

 

Yeah, I was reading those kung fu guides and they're so weird! I never played with a Dryad though so I'll probably want to try it with a character that feels more familiar to me, hence me asking about the Captain America thingy.

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The Ninja and Captain America are quite similar. The Ninja sacrifices another defence skill for a third tree. Both can use a shield and no weapon. So they can have an exploding double-hit attack. Getting the x% life leech set from the CM-patch for a SW is a bit harder than for the dryad where it is a regular set.

I will ask my daughter for her build at the weekend. She visits a full day school and has a room there. The school is a full high-school and allows to join an university when done. But at the same time the school trains you as an apprentice for a craftmans ship. She trains making furniture, carving, blacksmithing and all what is needed to handmake them. She plans to study medicine with the weight on artificial limbs and wants to know how to do design and how to make them.

Even if she ends doing something totally different in the future, knowing how to work with your hands is never wrong.

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Of the builds I have tried, I suppose my most "off the beaten" path one is a dual wielding Dryad with staves. I was seeing if the Acute Mind boost to Intelligence could make it a build to be reckoned with.

I have a Dragon Mage "Darth Maul" build, but I've not progressed very far with it.

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Staves are underestimated due to low damage but overpowered IMO, due to the way Magic Staffs skill adds magical ranged projectiles. There is an exploit where multi-hit weapon-based CA's hit everything on screen (and further) when the hero has learned Magic Staffs skill. Combine Darting Assault with an Intelligence boost such as that granted by Acute Mind and you will be unstoppable. Add LL% and Regen per Hit and the game pretty much plays itself.

 

The Dragon Mage is actually the only character that can't exploit it, as he doesn't have a weapon-based CA. But he does have a big Intelligence boost from the Familiar buff.

 

My first Dragon Mage (my first Sacred 2 char ever actually) was a magic staff fighter. But I eventually switched to Mentalism/Dragon Berserk when I saw how superior they were. His downfall was a low chance to hit. It's so hard to get good attack rating with a DM. Yes, a magic staff DM is truly for the intrepid. Definitely look into DaveO's thread on it.

 

Since I am a Dragon Mage fanatic I will also recommend The Sohei, a mentalism-polearm hybrid by Chattius. This build is more viable in CM 1.50 with better unique polearms to shoot for. Danse Macabre was tailor-made by Silver Fox for this build.

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Thanks for the links mate, I'll definitely check them out. ;)

 

Anyone has weird builds for Inquisitors or Temple Guardians?

 

PS: Had no idea magic staves would shoot stuff. I'm learning more about the game everyday! :D I really need to reform my HE and start experimenting with other classes/builds. Soon, soon...

Edited by Androdion
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Staves are underestimated due to low damage but overpowered IMO, due to the way Magic Staffs skill adds magical ranged projectiles. There is an exploit where multi-hit weapon-based Combat Arts hit everything on screen (and further) when the hero has learned Magic Staffs skill. Combine Darting Assault with an Intelligence boost such as that granted by Acute Mind and you will be unstoppable. Add LL% and Regen per Hit and the game pretty much plays itself.

 

The Dragon Mage is actually the only character that can't exploit it, as he doesn't have a weapon-based CA. But he does have a big Intelligence boost from the Familiar buff.

 

My first Dragon Mage (my first Sacred 2 char ever actually) was a magic staff fighter. But I eventually switched to Mentalism/Dragon Berserk when I saw how superior they were. His downfall was a low chance to hit. It's so hard to get good attack rating with a DM. Yes, a magic staff DM is truly for the intrepid. Definitely look into DaveO's thread on it.

 

Since I am a Dragon Mage fanatic I will also recommend The Sohei, a mentalism-polearm hybrid by Chattius. This build is more viable in CM 1.50 with better unique polearms to shoot for. Danse Macabre was tailor-made by Silver Fox for this build.

I'm really curious about this, how would I go about achieving such a .... world breaking feat with a High Elf.

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Staves are underestimated due to low damage but overpowered IMO, due to the way Magic Staffs skill adds magical ranged projectiles. There is an exploit where multi-hit weapon-based Combat Arts hit everything on screen (and further) when the hero has learned Magic Staffs skill. Combine Darting Assault with an Intelligence boost such as that granted by Acute Mind and you will be unstoppable. Add LL% and Regen per Hit and the game pretty much plays itself.

 

The Dragon Mage is actually the only character that can't exploit it, as he doesn't have a weapon-based CA. But he does have a big Intelligence boost from the Familiar buff.

 

My first Dragon Mage (my first Sacred 2 char ever actually) was a magic staff fighter. But I eventually switched to Mentalism/Dragon Berserk when I saw how superior they were. His downfall was a low chance to hit. It's so hard to get good attack rating with a DM. Yes, a magic staff DM is truly for the intrepid. Definitely look into DaveO's thread on it.

 

Since I am a Dragon Mage fanatic I will also recommend The Sohei, a mentalism-polearm hybrid by Chattius. This build is more viable in CM 1.50 with better unique polearms to shoot for. Danse Macabre was tailor-made by Silver Fox for this build.

I'm really curious about this, how would I go about achieving such a .... world breaking feat with a High Elf.

You mean playing melee with a HE? It's very cool. I intend on making a guide for my version of it but I can help you get started if you will. ;)

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Staves are underestimated due to low damage but overpowered IMO, due to the way Magic Staffs skill adds magical ranged projectiles. There is an exploit where multi-hit weapon-based Combat Arts hit everything on screen (and further) when the hero has learned Magic Staffs skill. Combine Darting Assault with an Intelligence boost such as that granted by Acute Mind and you will be unstoppable. Add LL% and Regen per Hit and the game pretty much plays itself.

 

The Dragon Mage is actually the only character that can't exploit it, as he doesn't have a weapon-based CA. But he does have a big Intelligence boost from the Familiar buff.

 

My first Dragon Mage (my first Sacred 2 char ever actually) was a magic staff fighter. But I eventually switched to Mentalism/Dragon Berserk when I saw how superior they were. His downfall was a low chance to hit. It's so hard to get good attack rating with a DM. Yes, a magic staff DM is truly for the intrepid. Definitely look into DaveO's thread on it.

 

Since I am a Dragon Mage fanatic I will also recommend The Sohei, a mentalism-polearm hybrid by Chattius. This build is more viable in CM 1.50 with better unique polearms to shoot for. Danse Macabre was tailor-made by Silver Fox for this build.

I'm really curious about this, how would I go about achieving such a .... world breaking feat with a High Elf.

You mean playing melee with a HE? It's very cool. I intend on making a guide for my version of it but I can help you get started if you will. ;)

Oh no no no, I'm more curious about the exploit that kills everything super easy =). At the very least, it seems to fun to play around with, kind of like using Cascading Shroud as a permanent buff, though makes the game unbelievably easy :3.

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From what I've read it's just a matter of (ab)using dual wield magic staves with CAs that boost INT, while the correspondent weapon skill basically turns your melee weapon into a ranged affair, energy weapon style. It sounds fun but like you say exceedingly easy. ;)

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I'm really curious about this, how would I go about achieving such a .... world breaking feat with a High Elf.

 

Hmmm... you know, the High Elf is also kind of on the low end of the spectrum of abusing the Magic Staff skill exploit. Her only option would be Magic Coup, since that's her only weapon attack. Plus, she can't dual wield.

 

Take the gold mod Stray Damage and you should see the effect when the splash damage triggers. You have to be wielding a magic staff and have the Magic Staffs skill learned.

 

For the other characters, the key attacks would be:

Darting Assault

Scything Sweep (possibly also Frenzied Rampage)

Ruthless Mutilation

Pelting Strikes

Battle Extension

 

Note that most of these characters can't learn the Magic Staffs skill without the CM Patch or Enhanced Spells installed, which is probably why said exploit has gone mostly unnoticed.

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I'm really curious about this, how would I go about achieving such a .... world breaking feat with a High Elf.

 

Hmmm... you know, the High Elf is also kind of on the low end of the spectrum of abusing the Magic Staff skill exploit. Her only option would be Magic Coup, since that's her only weapon attack. Plus, she can't dual wield.

 

Take the gold mod Stray Damage and you should see the effect when the splash damage triggers. You have to be wielding a magic staff and have the Magic Staffs skill learned.

 

For the other characters, the key attacks would be:

Darting Assault

Scything Sweep (possibly also Frenzied Rampage)

Ruthless Mutilation

Pelting Strikes

Battle Extension

 

Note that most of these characters can't learn the Magic Staffs skill without the CM Patch or Enhanced Spells installed, which is probably why said exploit has gone mostly unnoticed.

Ooooooooh, I'll keep this in mind when ever I decide to play someone else, very cool, I'll be my own little mini-God, killing all those nasty enemies on the screeeeen, Mauahahaha!

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The inquisitor can have a 180 degree hit everything in front attack with staves. The dryad has an allaround attack. So the Inquisitor is not as good as a dryad but is a strong second in staff abusing. No other classes can hit unlimited enemies with staves. The Seraphim must hit the first enemy with a staff in melee range, the other enemies in the series of 7 strikes or so can be far away.

I prefer to sit on the spider when doing a oneeighty with the Inquisitor. It is better to aim the angle, all in front of the forelegs of the spider. Without spider the Inquisitor swings his weapon and you don't know where the angle starts and ends.

Another reason for the Inquisitor can be his blackhole effect: it bundles the enemies and you hit all inside the effect and this is less running to collect the loot.

The character I liked most is an Hardcore Dragon Mage Mentalist. With all the +CA-Range items he covers a lot space with his damage over time effects. Playing him for some years and he is level 181 now.

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So both the Dryad and the Inquisitor can better use that exploit because of the modification on their CAs, which allow for 180/360 degrees attacks, while other classes are dependant on triggering the extra hits that then cause the projectiles to fly away, right?!

 

It seems like the Dryad is a very very versatile class that can be played in many different ways. :)

 

Still regarding the Captain America build, I have a Denderan's set for the SW taken from the download section and it gives "+%LL" when fully worn. But the Wiki page says it gives "+LL per hit", so were the set's bonuses changed with the expansion? I guess the download section probably has a major bulk of its stuff with the pre-I&B old stats?!

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Scything Sweep should fall into the same category as Darting Assault and Ruthless Mutilation. It hits in a cone in front of the character. The SW can't learn Magic Staves without the Enhanced Spells mod though.

 

But yeah the others, Pelting Strikes, Battle Extension, and Frenzied Rampage, would just get the range extension, not the unlimited bonus hits.

 

Regarding stats on items, they update dynamically. Meaning, even if the downloads were very old, they would have whatever bonuses are scripted in blueprint.txt of your current game install. It's more likely it's the Wiki that's out of date, or perhaps just has a typo.

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That makes sense, but why is it then that one of the pieces of the set still appears with the (wrong) bonus to Exalted Warrior?

Let me check.

 

EDIT: Well I don't know why wrong bonuses would still appear. I do know that even very old items that dropped in earlier versions of the game still update their bonuses dynamically. This is the same High Elf helmet from the downloads section, before and after editing the bonuses:

nFN5cRg.gif

 

Or that Kaldur's Legacy still appears as a legendary instead of unique?

This is because Kaldur's Legacy is tier 14, which is in-between your standard uniques (tier 13) and "true" legendaries (tier 15). They may drop with either gold or orange colored text. Silver Fox and I tried to puzzle out why this would be a while back, you can read the discussion in this thread. We reached no clear conclusion, though I suspect that when received as an enemy drop, tier 14 items have orange text, and when received as a quest reward they have gold text.

 

This behavior is why tier 14 items like Bugslayer and Hammer of the Righteous have two stats pictures.

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Got you on the rarity tier. ;) I had read about it before but not as in depth as that when it pertains to items dropping as two rarity variants.

 

I also have no idea why that particular set item is behaving the way it is, it should update dynamically like you say. Have you tried opening the Denderan's set to see if it appears as in my game?

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I just checked Dendaren's Tactical Genius from the Downloads Section and it has the proper bonus. You mean the set bonus to Malevolent Champion is to Exalted Warrior for you?

 

Edit: Forgive me, I can't remember if you have the CM Patch installed? The patch notes say "added missing bonus for Dendaren's set" so I assume this was fixed in the CM Patch, and others wouldn't get the fix.

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