Dual Wield Seraphim, with normal attacks.

[Little Sara 1]

Antitrust said I should write my build, so I will. It's different from his, in that mine is entirely melee and normal attacks dependant. It uses buffs and foregoes active-usage combat arts entirely.

 

Skills used in my build are similar, the order differs a bit. I don't take Focus or Lore skills for obvious reasons. Even making the effective level of one or both buffs slightly better would not be worth the skills points spent.

 

Skills taken and general order:

Sword Weapons - 1

Tactics Lore - 75+

Dual Wield - 75+

Armor Lore - User choice

Concentration - 1

Constitution - 75+

Warding Energy Lore - User Choice

Enhanced Perception - User Choice, though I recommend 75+

Toughness - 75+

Combat Reflexes - 75+

 

Sword Weapons is taken first, it fulfills 1 point of the requirement to unlock Dual Wield, and allows "Modifier Sword Weapons" bonuses to be active.

 

Then Tactics Lore fulfills the rest up until Dual Wield is unlocked, with 4 points in Tactics Lore.

 

After finally unlocking THE main skill of the class, take Dual Wield and keep it at character's level. I recommend keeping up with Tactics Lore as well, since this build relies on sheer damage.

 

Armor Lore should be taken next, not for the regeneration penalty, but for the +% to armor total, which helps significantly for a melee character always in the fray, so to speak.

 

Concentration is taken next, and kept at 1. The Mastery bonus is unneeded, since BeeEffGee diverts from the purpose of a melee build (and goes into ranged weapons territory), the regeneration bonus is similarly not needed. Taken at 1 still unlocks a second buff slot. At this point you can start using both Battle Stance and Warding Energy together. Before this point is reached, I suggest going with Battle Stance only. Enemies should not prove too challenging at the start either way.

 

Constitution is taken next for the HP, up until it is Mastered, then it offers its real bonus: Regeneration during combat. No need to get it very high up until Mastery can even be envisioned (around lv 60+).

 

Warding Energy Lore is next. It can also help with Divine Protection, probably the only skill used, because its very long cooldown is not a hindrance when it is needed sparingly (against groups of champions, or mostly bosses). It primarily helps with Warding Energy's buff though, where it gives nice bonuses to damage reduction. Both the buff and Divine Protection can be used in conjunction, though the latter will last a short time.

 

Enhanced Perception I take as 8th skill, at level 35, primarily because levels start becoming slow at this point, and the player would do well to get more decent equipment for the upcoming battles. Before it reaches Mastery, it still can help by being the modifier for certain things like Experience per kill, and Chance to find valuables (on equipment). Similar to Constitution, it should be Mastered as soon as possible, but it can be kept as 1 until then, boosted only by the orbs/relics.

 

Toughness provides added oomph to Seraphim's already very potent armor total, multiplied by Armor Lore's modifier, so it's important to get Armor Lore higher as well to benefit more from this. Previous to this (lv 50), a Seraphim should have pretty decent armor.

 

Combat Reflexes adds that nice final touch of boosting evasion and reducing chance of critical. It's not fully necessary, and can be paliated until then by forging runes with "+% evasion" into slotted equipment. Afterwards, slots can be used for other things, like Damage Mitigation.

 

 

--------------------

 

 

For the unique mount, given this Seraphim doesn't benefit from Combat Art regeneration, I warmly suggest the "basic" one, that adds defense and evasion instead of reduced cooldown. The movement speed is also welcome. Chances are, if you're careful enough, you might never need to buy a mount again. A Seraphim can be *that* strong. I wouldn't tempt fate and play hardcore mode my first time around just to prove my point however.

 

I would avoid horses prior to getting that unique mount. Because simply, Battle Stance is that important, and buffs do not stay when mounted on a horse. At an effective level of 18.1 of Battle Stance, it gives +170% or so attack and nearly +120% defense (and a hefty +150% regeneration time).

 

So this build relies entirely on hitting fast and killing quickly, taking very little damage. Equipment that reflects damage seems to work independantly of evasion (or maybe I'm seeing things), so even with capped evasion, you would be able to fight hordes of monster and see them become corpses before you even hit them. This build is well-equipped to fight many enemies at once, but ill-equipped against ranged fighters. Be advised of this flaw, especially in pvp (as in pve, ranged fighters typically don't run away for long). The buff BeeEffGee can be upped to be efficient, but without Ranged Weapons, the accuracy will be low.

 

What else is important with this build, is putting runes in the ever-so-important Battle Stance and Warding Energy buffs. Can also spare some for Divine Protection. For completion's sake, you can put all the other Combat Arts at 1. The rest I suggest using for forging into slots, or trading for Battle Stance and Warding Energy.

 

Once Dual Wield and Constitution skills reach 75, this build becomes extremely efficient (double hits and regeneration in combat). Once Enhanced Perception reaches 75, even better for the items.

 

Mod your two main buffs as you see fit. Augmenting the attack of Battle Stance is pretty important for accuracy, the rest is pretty much open to preference. You will get mods for Exalted Warrior by putting points in Dual Wield amongst others, so they will be acquired naturally.

 

In my personal build, Dual Wield reaches 174 at level 200. Diminishing returns make any investment above ~150 pretty wasteful, but this being the main skill of the build, and double-hits being pretty important, it is the highest. Most skills are left to preference as for their level. Armor Lore mastery isn't all that important, but a high skill level always helps.

[gogoblender 3,069]

This is a VERY interesting build. About five years ago, I'd heard tell of a player in the German servers who had created a knight that was doing all his damage from just left click attacks. Pure base damage, no Combat Arts. Result? He did very well. He was an HC player who could take on dragons.

 

Secret?

 

Horses.

 

He was using the extra HP and speed that the mount would give him plus be very picky with his saddles. Sarah, reading about your build right now, something has clicked for me. I'm wondering if riding was created for left click builds only now. Think about it. Everyone is saying that the horse mounts are useless...yet if there's one thing I've learned about Ascaron, it's that they're full of surprises. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering if the horses were created for combat for players who want to build out using base damage only.

 

The riding skill would very much help with this. I'd actually picked riding skill on one of my last builds for my dryad, just to see what sort of advantages it would imbue... my conclusion? Nothing for the special mount, lol... BUT...when I lost the special mount and had to buy a horse...WOW...the speed I got off the horse with all the points from riding coming off of relics was insane.

 

Also the riding skill confers more damage abilites to the horse mount. Maybe you could take your seraphim into battle while mounted!

 

The relics would be able to give you a great bonus of not having to put all those points into riding, especially if you were picky and ONLY chose relics that had the riding skill. That's what I was doing with my last Dryad, and it was kind of fun. With the points I was able to save from putting into Riding via skill points, I could alot them to other skills, while counting on the relics to push up the Riding...

 

I very much like your take on this Seraphim.

 

Think the horse mount could help?

 

Cheers!

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. now I'm curious...does your Attack Rate get higher while you're doing it from a horse? ^^

[Little Sara 1]

This is a VERY interesting build. About five years ago, I'd heard tell of a player in the German servers who had created a knight that was doing all his damage from just left click attacks. Pure base damage, no Combat Arts. Result? He did very well. He was an HC player who could take on dragons.

 

Secret?

 

Horses.

 

He was using the extra HP and speed that the mount would give him plus be very picky with his saddles. Sarah, reading about your build right now, something has clicked for me. I'm wondering if riding was created for left click builds only now. Think about it. Everyone is saying that the horse mounts are useless...yet if there's one thing I've learned about Ascaron, it's that they're full of surprises. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering if the horses were created for combat for players who want to build out using base damage only.

 

The riding skill would very much help with this. I'd actually picked riding skill on one of my last builds for my dryad, just to see what sort of advantages it would imbue... my conclusion? Nothing for the special mount, lol... BUT...when I lost the special mount and had to buy a horse...WOW...the speed I got off the horse with all the points from riding coming off of relics was insane.

 

Also the riding skill confers more damage abilites to the horse mount. Maybe you could take your seraphim into battle while mounted!

 

The relics would be able to give you a great bonus of not having to put all those points into riding, especially if you were picky and ONLY chose relics that had the riding skill. That's what I was doing with my last Dryad, and it was kind of fun. With the points I was able to save from putting into Riding via skill points, I could alot them to other skills, while counting on the relics to push up the Riding...

 

I very much like your take on this Seraphim.

 

Think the horse mount could help?

 

Cheers!

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. now I'm curious...does your Attack Rate get higher while you're doing it from a horse? ^^

 

If attack rate does get higher on a horse, it is minimal compared to the Battle Stance increase.

 

Consider a +200% Attack increase, with base 500 attack, becomes 1500 attack. Even if the horse gave 200 attack, or +50% attack, it wouldn't even compare.

 

And Battle Stance (and Sinister Predator, for Dryad) cannot be used while on a horse.

 

This is why I prefer the special mount (one for defense/evasion), for the additional move speed, the stats bonuses, and the ability to use buffs while mounted.

 

It might be nice to do a comparative build, mine vs a horse-build with Riding. This build wouldn't (be able to) rely on Battle Stance though.

 

As for Orbs, I would prefer Enhanced Perception on all 3 (or all 12).

 

I'd use magic ones in High Elves, Human, Seraphim, fire in Orc and Dragon, poison in Swamp, Jungle, Jungle Isle, ice...hmm where would I use ice?

 

Oh and personally, for Dryad I also do a full normal-attack build, relying on Moribund Animus, Sinister Predator and Ancient Bark. I use Goldenglade Touch (it's actually better than the Kybele godspell imo...) and Malicious Totem to "help" in large mobs of enemies, but I take on enemies directly as well.

Edited December 2, 2008 by Little Sara

[Llama8 8]

Gogo, does Riding improve the regen time of CAs when mounted?

[Little Sara 1]

Gogo, does Riding improve the regen time of CAs when mounted?

 

It's horse CAs though. So it probably does, but it's not your character's attacks.

 

If you meant improve regen time of CA on the special mount. I can't say, but I doubt it. The skill certainly mentions nothing of it (on the wiki or elsewhere).

[Cygnus 0]

Gogo, does Riding improve the regen time of CAs when mounted?

 

 

Hard to say Llama. Seraphim take a huge combat art penality regeneration if they lack riding skill and ride any tiger, I think it is more like Armor in that higher riding skill reduces the regeneration penality that there may be.

[Antitrust 32]

Nice guide Leaving some skills at base points allows better investment in other ones, while still getting a significant benefit from +skill bonuses. I think I sorta didn't think about it in my own build, which could weaken it a little.

 

 

On Riding issue, I didn't have enough time to test every skill, so I only put their tooltips in some cases. If anyone manages to figure out wjat those number mean, he can insert them

[Little Sara 1]

Nice guide Leaving some skills at base points allows better investment in other ones, while still getting a significant benefit from +skill bonuses. I think I sorta didn't think about it in my own build, which could weaken it a little.

 

 

On Riding issue, I didn't have enough time to test every skill, so I only put their tooltips in some cases. If anyone manages to figure out wjat those number mean, he can insert them

 

This is my own take on the build, I might decide to change it at some point, but it seems fine now:

 

Sword Weapons 1

Tactics Lore 150

Dual Wield 174

Armor Lore 100

Concentration 1

Constitution 100

Warding Energy Lore 100

Enhanced Perception 100

Toughness 100

Combat Reflexes 100

 

926/926 skill points (and 10/10 skills)

 

Possible modification if Sword Weapons proved unneeded:

 

Warding Energy Lore 100 -> 75

Sword Weapons 1-> 0

Alchemy 0 -> 25

Dual Wield 174 -> 175

 

Edit: Further modifications and new build:

 

Dual Wield 175 -> 150

Tactics Lore 150 -> 125

Toughness 100 -> 75

Combat Reflexes 100 -> 75

 

Constitution 100 -> 125

Alchemy 25 -> 75

Armor Lore 100 -> 125

 

Tactics Lore 120

Dual Wield 150

Armor Lore 125

Concentration 1

Constitution 125

Warding Energy Lore 75

Enhanced Perception 100

Combat Reflexes 75

Toughness 75

Alchemy 75

 

This new build focuses on the most "potent" aspects, giving the bare minimum for Mastery in the cases of Warding Energy Lore, Toughness, Combat Reflexes and Alchemy (since those skills aren't all that essential).

 

It gives 100 to Enhanced Perception due to lack of points elsewhere. Dual Wield at 150 due to it being needed at highest. Tactics Lore at 125, and the lone Concentration at 1, since the regeneration time reduction is not needed.

 

The best skill point to gain ratio is attained below 75, but the Mastery often offers pretty neat benefits. And then the gain increase per level picks up at higher than pre-75 (and wanes around 90-100), making the 75-100 trek about as gainful as 50-75 was (save for the Mastery itself). 100-200 isn't too gainful, and only considered with bread-and-butter skill, as I consider that putting skills at 200 to leave some at 1 or 25 is a waste, even with "All skills +x" bonuses.

 

Modified build lowering Tactics Lore to 120 from 125. Was counting on 926 total points, and there are 921.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Little Sara

[Llama8 8]

I took Riding on a Bargaining character last night & points in Riding reduces the Regen penalty for all CAs when on your class-specific mount (pre-Riding I was getting ~50-something % penalty, with 2 points in Riding that had dropped down to ~49%).

 

So yes, Riding does boost your regen when on a special mount.

[Antitrust 32]

Thanks for testing that

[Little Sara 1]

I took Riding on a Bargaining character last night & points in Riding reduces the Regen penalty for all CAs when on your class-specific mount (pre-Riding I was getting ~50-something % penalty, with 2 points in Riding that had dropped down to ~49%).

 

So yes, Riding does boost your regen when on a special mount.

 

Then I just might scrap Bargaining in favor of Riding for my High Elf, who would benefit most from it. I'm not sure Seraphim would benefit much however (at least not my build, who has over +300% regeneration time, and no Focus).

[OnuRtheKilleR 0]

I chose those skills for my seraphim full damage based

75+ exalted warrior focus

75+ tactics lore

75+ dual wield

75 armor lore

75 sword weapons

75 damage lore

1 enhanced perception (thinkin' about but not decided yet, some1 can explain me about this due to his/her experiences)

1 revered technology lore (I clicked accidently )

75 speed lore

1 concentration

 

if anyone have any opinions about this build, pls share me

Edited January 8, 2009 by OnuRtheKilleR

[Llama8 8]

The only thing I can add is that Speed Lore adds a % bonus (at level 1 it's +7%, not +7 attack/defence), so it's not boosted by Battle Stance.

[Arperum 3]

I'm slowly building up a similar seraphim, but without shield, and thus only one buff, I'll post her once she proved usefull to me.

 

And Sara, it's not dual wield that unlockes mods on exalted warrior, it's only tactics lore that is doing this.

[Kanafire 0]

Onurthkiller, I made a seraphim with almost the exact same build and so far, in my opinion the build works like a charm.

[Dobri 55]

I'm wondering about damage lore. Damage lore increases the chance to trigger various secondary effects from weapons and skills. What good will it do to a dual-wield char, be it seraphim, or another? I always thought that it's only useful to casters in order to burn, shock, stun or whatever.

 

Enhanced perception works like a charm, but I'd substitute damage lore for revered focus and add some Area of Effect damage to the dual wield.

 

If you add concentration, this means you'll be playing with warding energy. It may be prudent to add warding lore as well then, and ensure some more survivability. If you skip warding energy, it may be prudent to skip revered tree and play with 1 buff, as Arperum points out.

 

Another useful skill is Constitution. It adds a lot of survivability to melee builds. With good HP regen (even in combat after 75 points in constitution), your Seraphim may survive awhile longer in combat.

[Vegeta 0]

Sara, a question. I'm new to Sacred and I was wondering why you didn't put any skillpoints into sword weopons anymore? wouldn't it make you even stronger or does dual wield cancel out the benefits gained from sword weopons (you van only have one that works?)

[Jaeca 0]

Hey Sara,

 

I wanted to ask, what damage do you deal to your enemies per hit? I was debating the Seraphim build vs the Dryad melee build as well, and Chrona's build does 150k dmg per hit now, only at level 110.

 

But he uses CA -- but I personally like a left clicker build.

[Foosnark 1]

I've just started playing with this build, and I like its simplicity. Run up to stuff, left click, they die and I don't.

 

I do wish for some shopping in there, but I'm not sure there's room for it and still have nice swift killing from the start and good defense later. I might instead bring up a left-click dryad ranger shopper type in parallel, 'cause I think that would work.

[FaKeSnake 0]

Yo with this build what about the stats? Str/Dext ect ect.