Wood Elf Blizzard set build

[DaveO 88]

At gogoblender's request, I registered to this forum to provide my suggested Blizzard Wood Elf build. This is a Single Player build with the full Blizzard set completed, but it can be adaptable to multiplayer without much difficulty in my opinion. I picked specific skills for specific reasons, and below is how I developed the Wood Elf up to level 50.

 

Attribute allocation and reasoning behind attribute points:

I did a 6/2/2 split into Dexterity, Mental Regeneration, and Physical Regeneration. For online play, you can safely get by without the Mental Regeneration allocation so put the attributes in whatever area you like. Bear in mind that my attribute allocations are specifically focused for the build. I always choose Dexterity for the added attack damage from my bow shots. I know many guides adhere putting points into just one attribute(usually Physical Regeneration), but I truly feel that a split of some sort is better in order to provide multiple specialties whenever possible. With the attribute allocation out of the way, let me proceed to the skill choices and reasoning behind them.

 

Level 1 and 2 skill choices: Concentration and Meditation. Concentration improves the Wood Elf ability to use the bow combat arts. Since the Blizzard set has bonuses to Meditation and Moon Magic, I decided to pick this skill. I also chose Meditation since spell casting is much more important to this build(in my opinion) versus a standard Wood Elf build. For online multiplayer, I'd choose Concentration and Constitution as the starter skills.

 

Level 3 skill: Weapon Lore - Pretty obvious skill. Added weapon bow damages.

 

Level 6 skill: Trading - Best skill in the game besides Constitution in my opinion. You can change your socketed items at will practically, AND you don't need to worry about the belt part of the set affecting your Charisma like Forest Stalker does.

 

Level 12: Constitution - Best time to pick this skill since Armor is the next one that's available at level 20. VERY important to put points into the skill for added hit points.

 

Level 20: Armor - Extra resistances and no mobility penalty by equipping the completed Blizzard set items, which have minimum character level requirements of 46.

 

Level 30: Moon Magic - Best time to pick this skill in my opinion. Items that provide bonuses to this skill range from level 42(Forest Stalker) to 46(the Blizzard arm greaves) in general. You may find items to provide bonuses to Moon Magic earlier from rares or magical items bought at a merchant place. But I believe that it's better to postpone choosing Moon Magic as an earlier skill so that when you do choose it at this level, it adds in a multiplied benefit of picking Meditation.

 

Level 50: Magic Lore - Spellcasting is pretty important to the build in my opinion, so getting extra damage maximizes the synergy of picking Meditation and Moon Magic.

 

The only bow I can use realistically with this build is the Octanion bow. This is beneficial in providing nearly Seraphim levels of experience boosting from equipment, and the bow has four sockets. Excellent bow to really tweak to your heart's content.

 

I know some will ask why no points in Ranged Combat? Again my focus for this set build is to get as many benefits from the equipment that I can. I can't get every skill boost(the set adds points to Agility as well), but if I get most of the skill and combat art boosts, then I'm happy. The set does add to the Companion of the Woods combat art significantly, so you'll be lonely for a while without your Unicorn. You could put one or two runes into CotW, but each rune adds five levels to the Unicorn's level. If the Unicorn is too high over your level any kills it makes will have reduced experience.

 

Advantages of build: Flexibility and ability to effectively use every single Combat Art. This is what I really like about the set. You can do anything you want for the Combat Arts. I put points into Transformation and Plant Cage just so that every combat art was covered. The Ice Damage cannot be resisted by monsters, so that is beneficial on the higher difficulties where it gets harder to bypass resistances. 'Fun factor' is another advantage of the set. You can advertise Xmas or winter parties at any time of the year(and being in Arizona, I appreciate any opportunity to not think about the HOT weather starting down here).

 

Disadvantages of build: Excessive rune requirements if you want to use all of the Combat Arts. This set would require fairly consistent rune and quest hunting in order to be effective. The fully completed set is weak for Poison Resistance(like many other Wood Elf sets), and the set item bonuses of the armor is merely ok compared to the more useful bonuses of the other pieces.

 

In conclusion, this is the most fun I've had with a set character build after multiple runs thru Single Player in Sacred: Underworld. I hope others here have enjoyed my comments and insights into this unusual build, and I am looking forward to your replies!

 

P.S. - My favorite screenshots of this Wood Elf build in action are below:

Edited May 19, 2007 by DaveO

[myles 2]

Nice guide.

 

"let it snows, let"

 

Just some questions.

 

Do you have a recommendation on CA, which CA is your choice for this build? How do you allocate your points for skills?

 

Thank you for posting this.

 

Cheers.

 

Myles

[gogoblender 3,068]

First off...the pix are fantastic! Lol, this kind of mod that turns yer enemies into that kind of a skin makes me want to quite my daemon and play a WE right away!

Regarding skill point allocation I agree. With most of my builds I"ve done the same thing and created toons with well placed skills. I've always found, like you have, that this gives me the greatest amount of flexibility when designing and allows us to really build out from what we're able to find and socket.

Your pics for Concentration and Constitution as starting skills makes sense. Con for obvious reasons and Conc because this allows us to spam the Combat Arts faster, and get that damage and experience in quick. Thanks for adding this note for mp builds, as these two choices are kind of integral towards the survival of mp toons.

Regarding trading as an important skill choice, absolutely. It's a hassle having to have other toons shp for you and the ease which it gives us in allowing us to choose how we want to buid out is absolutely advantageous. Good choice.

Sockets, sockets sockets...yes to Ocatanions. It's four socket flexibility just can't be beat and I actually look for sockets as prime value in putting together builds that plan in advance with specific weps and/or armor sets.

Regarding the non-resistability of creatures to ice-damage, this and the build's flexibility, as you have stated, make running this at higher levels one of its' plusses. As a new niobiumer with my daemon in hc, built in abilities to overcome monsters' resistances is a huge advantage.

Question

You mention that this build has built in resistances.

Can it be mobbed?

How careful do we have to be when using this ranged build.

For example, if I were to compare this build to Obsession's Glad Cross Bow build, does this WE build have to dance?

By that I mean what is the skill level needed to keep this we archer safe in niobium.

Could it withstand being mobbed? Or does it require a more skilled player to dance the WE out of harm's way while getting the shots off like a seraphim for instance?

 

Thanks for the build, DaveO, I believe I had posted somewhere around here that we were looking for some great new WE builds and this one looks like a wonderful new addition to the Sacred Build library.

 

Cheers!

 

gogo

 

[Obsession 0]

So this is similar like Jack-of-all-trades mady Stalky in SIF, but where that build is possible to use what ever weapons and this one is only ranged? I would like to see more of the tactics you are using whit this build.. as I get picture that this one tries to be everything at the same time? Sort of hybrid.

 

Sounds like impossible formula to me. Normal hybrids needs to be based to few melee attacks and few spells, but this one uses all spells and all Combat Arts?

 

One interesting point in this build is that you are using full magic set whit bow? where do you get the needed RSM, only from Conc or do you need to use all needed slots to socket RSM? Just thinking as low level Combat Arts are useless in higher levels and high level Combat Arts whit high regen times are useless as you need to rely too much on normal left click attacks.

 

Looking at skill choises I am amazed that you have selected meditation and moon magic to hybrid. If thinking that you have allready selected Caster set, this one starts to look like hybrid that relys on spells and uses bow just for support?

 

On those pics, your elf isn't doing that much damage, is it some lower level pic or why the damage numbers seen are so low? Looks like PA whit MS in action only.

[DaveO 88]

Thanks so much for the earlier replies. To answer a few questions, I mainly use Multi Shot and Penetrating Arrow for increased damage when needed. Going thru the Hero Cave required me to be much more flexible. By that I mean I could use Poison Tendrils for those highly resistant heroes as well as Call of the Ancestors. I needed both occasionally, so this is the great appeal of the build to me. If I want to use Transformation or Plant Cage, I just keep the CA investment to either half regeneration or within five seconds of the 30 second CA regeneration limit. If I had to pick just one Combat Art that I'd see being a life saver in Niobium, it would be Poison Tendrils. Just lay down one, get slightly behind it and let it do the mass killing. The monster AI will often just suicide itself within the Tendrils. I do also have Thorn Bush that I could use.

 

I've invested in every combat art with this build, and that's the greatest appeal to me. No useless Combat Arts, since I can get boosts to several with only equipment. As far as the low bow damage, I don't have Bravemart to rely on in Single Player so that I can socket rings into the Octanion bow easily. I had four available sockets for the bow, and none were being used due to lack of good rings.

 

To answer the skill allocation question, I always keep Trade maxed with the intention of having Concentration, Constitution, and Meditation at 80% of the character level. For online multiplayer, obviously Trade and Constitution would be consistently kept at maximum. You still could reach the 80% character level point for the skill allocations, but it will be a longer journey in multiplayer. The other skills only need to be at half of the character level in my opinion.

 

More screenshots of the other combat arts in action:

 

 

- This one shows better damage against a boss opponent. The hero bosses in the cave are highly resistant!

 

Edited by Myles: Merged the images into the post.

[Schot 407]

Ah cool! Fantastic screenshots DaveO.

 

I've never seen the effect on large creatures like the Sakara demon. Ascaron certainly did come up with some cool effects throughout the game.

 

I really like the fact that you attempt to make ALL WE combat arts high in level. I'm presently building a couple of rune farmers which will defintely be able to contribute to a build like this. One more build for me to look forward too.

 

Cheers and thanx for this DaveO.

[gogoblender 3,068]

I like Schot's take on this as well.

Attempting to bring ALL Combat Arts to high levels is a fascinating project.

And trying to find the mechanisms to pull it off always intrigues me.

I've been trying to do that with my seras and now my Daemon.

So...how many runes does this baby cost DaveO?

 

 

gogo

[DaveO 88]

I'll freely admit that Bronze difficulty in Single Player is hardly a test of the capabilities, advantages, and disadvantages of the character. If there is enough demand, I could play this build thru SP as long as I can and post results along the way. I'd expect Platinum and Niobium to be the true challenges for the build, but by that time my Combat Arts would very likely be invested in quite heavily.

 

At level 50, I have the following investments into the magical combat arts: Transformation - 30, Thorn Bush - 14, Poison Tendrils - 40, Plant Cage - 30, Call of the Ancestors - 50, Recuperation - 1(boosted to 10 by equipment), Quick as a Flash - 25(mainly for the extra duration, I reached max speed at 15), Companion of the Woods - 13(boosted mostly by equipment). I don't expect to encounter much serious resistance until Platinum and Niobium at the current investment allocation. Think of how much damage this build can do in any situation, and being adaptable to the opponent. If a creature has high physical resistance, use Poison Tendrils for help. If it has high resistances to physical and poison damage, then try Call of the Ancestors. Very few monsters are going to have high resistances against Physical, Poison, and Magic damage. Add in the fire damage I usually add on with +fire damage rings socketed in the bow, and now you're having to resist Fire heavily as well. Extremely unlikely.

 

Adding up the 4 for 1 exchange, you're talking about 750+ runes just to reach that level of investment. That's assuming no direct CA contributing runes drop at all while leveling up the character in order to be able to equip the full set. The actual investment of CA runes should be lower, but you're going to need rune drops like a Battle Mage in order to pull this build off. I have the luxury of two computers that I can transfer runes from a SP character with the inventory and stash filled with runes. This won't be possible in an online environment, and could require significant trading requests with other players online.

 

P.S. - Here's a virtual offer of coffee to those who no doubt just took a 'spit take' on the massive rune investment requirement. Cheers!

Edited May 19, 2007 by DaveO

[erialc 2]

wow DaveO Thanks a ton for this post I have NEVER seen this sort of build before and I am intruiged enough to want to have a go at making one

 

The rune investment is indeed huge but thats part of the challenge so it seems....be warned lol I will be posting lots of questions when I try to make this WE of yours

 

Thanks again

 

Claire

[DaveO 88]

I believe that's my cue to continue playing the character along in Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Niobium. I managed to reach Gold before, but restarted the different SP character due to Underworld changes and overall dissatisfaction with the build. I have a handful of SP characters I need to get to level 50. Once that's done, I'll devote the free time to going further along in SP with the build.

Edited May 19, 2007 by DaveO

[Epox 2]

now well what do we have here nice take on for a Hybrid WE me likey likey very much hehe. well I would have done 1 thing diffrent I would have swapped PA out for EA for more damage just my insight

[DaveO 88]

I do have all of the Combat Arts invested in, including Exploding Arrow. As an added challenge in Silver, I'm going to try using just my spells on the Dragon bosses to see how powerful they are. I don't expect D'Cay to survive more than a few hits from Call of the Ancestors. If I recall correctly, D'Cay is more vulnerable to magic damage than the poison damage of Poison Tendrils. I'll let everyone know how the Dragons turn out in Silver SP, and her continued adventures in Silver Underworld including VoT.

Edited May 20, 2007 by DaveO

[DaveO 88]

I've attached the newer full screen shots, from gogoblender's recommendation of Photobucket. No more going into MS Paint to cut off stuff. Enjoy!

Edited May 21, 2007 by gogoblender

[gial 2]

Since you are investing in all the arts, you could go 3 for 1 at the combo master to get "random" class specific runes. This may reduce the cost until the needs become more tightly delineated.

[gogoblender 3,068]

The new pics are briliant, Daveo. Seeing monsters turn that color never stops delighting me. I resized the pics for you btw, and now they fit perfect.

Btw, Gial, very clever use of the combo master. I keep forgetting on his discounts for general runes.

 

+++

 

 

gogo

[DaveO 88]

Thanks for the edit of the pictures, gogo. I figured out how to resize Photobucket images, so the inadvertent bad effect to the forum layout won't happen again.

 

P.S. - For the four sockets in the bow, I'll be aiming for +critical hit rings. This will increase bow and spell damage, making the character even more deadly to monsters. My next run thru of Underworld is going to be my gunner Dwarf. I found a unique musket with another Dwarf build as well as one of the gun set items. It should be interesting and fun!

Edited May 21, 2007 by DaveO

[myles 2]

Keep them coming.

 

GJ, now can you find a way to work knockback arrow then? Maybe KA with EA?

[DaveO 88]

Maybe it's just me, but it seemed like Knockback Arrow never works. I'd trigger the CA, attack a monster and it does not get affected. Perhaps it's like Transformation. Expect some humorous screen shots on my next run thru. I'm gonna try to get a picture of the 'Dragon Dance' by attacking D'Cay with Spider Arrow. For amusement, I'm going to see if I can Transform the starter bosses at the beginning of Silver. If I can, I'll post those shots as well.

Edited May 21, 2007 by DaveO

[DaveO 88]

The Ice Queen Cometh - Continued adventures of the Blizzard set build in Silver SP

 

I had a bit of time to begin my journey thru the Silver Ancaria campaign. I did find out some rather interesting things. The Transformation spell is unfortunately useless since if you kill the monster in a transformed state its treasure drops are affected. I turned the boss wolf on the Wolf Eyes quest into a deer, and it dropped nothing whatsoever compared to the usual drops of gold and occasional items. I won't be putting any more points into this spell unless they are direct rune drops. I decided to experiment with some of my other CAs including Thorn Bush and Plant Cage. The minotaur in the Shining Light quest cave was immune to the effect of Plant Cage, so I'm wondering how the game calculates whether it works or not. I was able to immobilize the two mages at the start of the game, and Plant Cage is like having the Aarnum sword. Mages tend to NOT cast spells while being affected by Plant Cage, and just let me eliminate them at will. I'll likely increase my Plant Cage CA due to that one encountered immunity so that I can attempt it on D'Cay and other dragons. I'll keep posting my discoveries and adventures along the way with her trip thru Silver Ancaria.

 

P.S. - Screen shot links are included below.

 

 

P.S.S. - Added link to Transformation picture below after subsequent replies:

Edited June 2, 2007 by DaveO

[gogoblender 3,068]

This recounting of your trip through Ancaria with this renaiisance build is really cool DaveO. And that bonus on Aarnum's is pretty sweet huh. I know for a while Schot was addicted to it and using it to trap dragons! Plant Cage sounds very cool to use if it nicely duplicates this function.

Also, VERY interesting that the Transformation affects the mf drop from a transformed creature. How does this spell work? By a multiple of levels v.s. like Conversion for Seraphim? Or is it a mass spell? Is the regen on it okay?

Cheers and keep travelling!

 

gogo

[DaveO 88]

When you trigger the Transformation spell, a ring emanates from the character. The radius is a bit like the exploding effect range for Thorn Bush, so it has a bit of potential to be a mass spell. I'll capture a shot when I resume my playing. Both Transformation and Plant Cage are capped at 30 seconds for the maximum time, so in my opinion Plant Cage should be invested in significantly so that it's close to the cap(within 5 seconds or so). I started out with Plant Cage in the 30s for the CA, and invested into it up to CA level 44 so that fewer monsters will have immunity to it. I believe that Plant Cage is like the Dark Elf's Cobra CA, in that significant levels provide no defense against it for unique bosses, champions, and possibly Dragons.

 

As far as the Transformation spell mechanics go, I'm not sure if it's based on the CA level, character level, or something else. I do have the character as a downloadable export file on my Web page that I updated yesterday if anybody else would like to take her for a test drive. My Web page is located at: http://members.cox.net/dave.caspermeyer/

Edited June 1, 2007 by DaveO

[DaveO 88]

I've been continuing along with my Blizzard WE adventures. I've been going thru the quests fairly rapidly in Silver, and had to take a LONG stop for shopping up at Bravemart to get ready for the desert. Not much of note from an item standpoint, but I've got some serious resists with over 1000 for each with the exception of Poison. I suspect things are going to heat up a bit as soon as I go thru the Desert as well as the Ice Elf area. As always, I'll keep everyone up to date. Below is a screen shot of her in action in Wolfdale.

 

 

Edit - Just got done taking out one of the dragons, and I attempted to capture the Dragon 'Dance'. The best way to describe it is that the dragon will flap its wings rapidly in an attempt to rid itself of the spiders. I took a few shots, and the best one is below.

 

Edited June 2, 2007 by DaveO

[DaveO 88]

I just completed my excursion in the desert with the orcs. D'Cay was surprisingly resilient against Call of the Ancestors, but it still fell to my well-coordinated magic/melee attack. My stash got overloaded with set items, so I decided to sell stuff I'm not going to be holding for other characters. I still have a decent amount of runes left after I started her Silver excursion, but I won't be using the muling process to add any more to her. Half of her chest stash is filled with mentor potions, so I expect my stash and inventory space becoming more of a challenge to keep as cleared as possible.

 

Due to the extended shopping session in Braverock much earlier, I was able to build almost a complete Trade suit. The first picture in my attached screen shots shows one of four items that I have filled with +2 Trade amulets. Add in +20 to the Trade skill when equipping the items, and I get significant money when I return to sell of any magical/rare/or set gear. I'll wait until later to continue to mass carnage just so that I'm ready for the Kamikaze session later today.

 

Pieces of Trade suit

 

Undead cleanup required

 

My Pet Purple Dragon D'Cay

 

P.S. - I did try Plant Cage against D'Cay twice, but it was immune to the CA.

Edited June 3, 2007 by DaveO

[DaveO 88]

I've continued along her journey thru Silver, and went into the difficult Ice Elf region. The captains clobbered me a bit, but I did use Poison Tendrils to eliminate them effectively. I'm getting filled with items to hold and transfer to other SP characters, so I may be forced to export to mule the items over.

 

In an attempt to consolidate the multiple character mules, I'll be playing my SP Battle Mage, Melee/Magic Seraphim, and standard Wood Elf build before continuing the Blizzard build in Underworld. No pictures to share from this excursion, but I eliminated the double dragon guards without too much difficulty.

 

P.S. - I did find and socket a Dwarf Thar Eros ring to increase my Trade and magic find capabilities.

Edited June 4, 2007 by DaveO

[DaveO 88]

During the downtime of the DarkMatters site, I continued along with my Blizzard Wood Elf adventures. I completed the Ancaria campaign with her earlier this morning. Oddly, the other dragons seemed more vulnerable to Call of the Ancestors than D'Cay was. The roughest parts were doing the Lich Lord quest in Gloomoor(sp) where I was close to dying due to the massive mobbing when I entered the dungeon, and killing D'Mordrey who was insistent on mostly avoiding the Call of Ancestors waiting outside his throne room. In terms of treasure, I was able to complete the Octanion set for a set build Wood Elf, but I'll be running thru with my Battle Mage, Seraphim, and standard Wood Elf to see if I can get the Octanion items at a lower level(level 70+ for items I did acquire). Other characters got buffed with items I transferred over, so overall about 8-10 characters got a power increase from the items the Blizzard Wood Elf exported. I have a level 60+ Wood Elf mule character that I gave 66,666,666 gold to the Blizzard Wood Elf. The mule still has 400 million gold to give away to other characters that get to level 75-100. I've posted a few screen shots of her in action during the final part of the Ancaria campaign. Enjoy as always!

 

 

Dragon hunting and Wind Element

 

More Dragon hunting

 

Poor Wirt! - Diablo

 

Sakkara Demon Ancaria quest boss

 

P.S. - I found the Lloraneth set leg greaves and socketed them with two +3 Trade amulets. With all of the +Trade gear, my Trade skill is close to or slightly above 150! She ended her Ancaria campaign adventures at character level 75.

Edited June 9, 2007 by DaveO