Shadow Warrior Guide: Astral Malevolent Champion

[Stéphane 2]

Hi guys,

 

Gogo ask me to translate one of my shadow warrior build, since there is no Astral build yet, here I am.

Ninja Ninja

 

Attributs:

 

Everything in strength

 

 

Skills:

 

Armor Lore : 75

Constitution : 75

Concentration : 75

Astral Lord Lore : 100

Astral Lord Focus : 100

Tactics Lore : 195

Dual Wield : 75

Malevolent : 75

Combat Discipline : 75

Acnient Magic : 75

 

 

Set :

 

Full Infernal torment + armentin elbow/gauntlet/Belt/Boots + Legs of Justice.

 

 

Combat arts :

 

Shadow Veil : Creep (1a), Fade (2b) and Sinister Pact => Increase furtivity + Reduces detection with spells + Permanent effect (buff)

Nether Allegiance : Sharp Blades (1b), Tower Shield (2b) and Elite Equipment (3b) => Damage + Armor x2

Skeletal Fortification : Rapid Fire (1a), Ice Shards (2b) and Scatter Shot (3a) => Firing rate + Ice Damage + another projectile

Rallied Soul : Armament (1a), Vivification (2a) and Contagion (3a) => Armor + Soul duration + Infection

 

Rousing Command : Persistence (1b), Impulse (2b) and Leader (3b) => Duration + Attack Speed + Area effect

 

Frenzied Rampage : Double Attack (1a), Double Attack (2a) and Envenom (3a) => Double hit x2 + Poison Damage

Augmenting guidon : Ensign (1b), Healing (2a) and Fear (3a) => Expend Area of effect + Healing in the area of effect + Reduces attack of the opponents

Killing Spree : Control (1a), Perseverance (2b) and Sear (3b) => Increases attack and stored damage per hit + Duration + Fire Damage

Reflective Emanation : Backslash (1b), Antimagic (2b) and Idol (3b) => Reflect ranged + Reflect spells/AdC + Area effect

Belligerent Vault : Routine (1b), Shock (2b) and Commotion (3a) => Regeneration + Confused/slow down + Stun in the area

 

 

This shadow warrior is invisible. You have to use CAs if you want to stay invisible, frenzied rampage with low rege is very effective, you have 46% chance to double hit with dual wield at mastery (with softpoint bonus) at high level and since we have taken "Double hit" twice in frenzied rampage we have another 40% chance to double hit.

Frenzied rampage = 80% chance to double hit.

 

The spectral soldier offers a nice support, at high level they will be level 320-330 with 149K HP and 20k in life regeneration. Almost invincible.

Skeletal fortication is very powerful too, I like to launch it before the battle in a big mob or on bosses, it's a killing machine! I prefer the rapid fire mod on the regeneration mod because it's a melee build with astral as a great support/cover, I don't want to relaunch the tower every 5sec But with the rapid fire mod you can have 1.6shots per sec, and with the mod Scatter, you can have 4 shots per second approximatly. 27k+ per hit in the tooltips

Rallied soul is sweet too, I don't like the mod that add a third corpses on cast, because 2 or 3 corpses isn't very different. The duration mod make your minions live for more than 65sec at high level. But the contagion mod is marvellous, soon you will have an army with you. Command and Conquer!

 

All the others Combat Arts are modded with area effect to help your minions. Rousing command for more attack, augmenting guidon for attack/defense and healing and reflective emanation for an huge reflect damage area.

 

Note of caution : Be careful in the desert with sandmen or in the great machine with temple guardians, their traps can be deadly with minions around you.

If you don't move you will not recieve the damage of the traps, but if one of your minions take a step in the traps, you will recieve damage for every step and minions moving in. Eek.

 

I will add screenshot later. Enjoy!

 

Skeletal fortification :

 

Rallied souls :

 

Nather Allegiance :

 

Reflective Emanation :

 

Frenzied Rampage :

[Uber Tyson 0]

Hi,

 

Very nice guide.

 

Couple questions:

 

1. Does Rousing Command with area effect mod not count as a buff then? ie. it won't knock off the other 3 buffs you have active? Also, how did you modify Rousing Command without skill points in Death Warrior Focus?

 

2. You say

"This shadow warrior is invisible. You have to use AdC if you want to stay invisible"

Sorry to sound dumb but what is AdC?

 

 

Cheers

[Stéphane 2]

1. Does Rousing Command with area effect mod not count as a buff then? ie. it won't knock off the other 3 buffs you have active? Also, how did you modify Rousing Command without skill points in Death Warrior Focus?

You can mod death warrior CAs with tactics lore.

Rousing command can't become a buff, so It won't knock off one of the others buffs.

 

Without death warrior focus, it's will be hard to have an high level in CA from this aspect, but it's possible. ^^

 

2. You say

"This shadow warrior is invisible. You have to use AdC if you want to stay invisible"

Sorry to sound dumb but what is AdC?

Oops, my french has slipped! AdC = Arts du combat = Combat arts (CA).

I will fix that. thanks for reading my big post!

[gogoblender 3,326]

Sweet! Steph, thanks for bringing this over here. It's the first of it's kind in our guides section... I'm sure you're going to be busy for a while answering questions

 

And... now I have info just in time for my forays into the world of the SW ^^

 

 

gogo

[Uber Tyson 0]

I'm afraid I've only had the game for a few days so I'll be the person asking the questions!

 

OK Tactics Lore I see.

 

I am making a SW relying mainly on minions but do you think Spectral Hand is powerful enough?

 

 

Cheers

[Stéphane 2]

Spectral hands is a weapons based CAs, meaning it's depend on your weapons damage. Two handed hammers are the best for this CA.

With my build (dual wield) I'm doing around 60-100k per hit on monsters.

But with a two handed hammer/axes I can hit around 100-160k per hit

[Slayer89 0]

Sweet a build that works into the way my SW was being built.

[FrostElfGuard 9]

Thank you for your marvelous guide Stéphane!

[Epox 2]

just a little thought can't u list the skills as u have taken em I followed that setup up thier but conc can't be gaind in that order ^^

[Stéphane 2]

just a little thought can't u list the skills as u have taken em I followed that setup up thier but conc can't be gaind in that order ^^

Sure !

 

Here is the order :

 

2 : Armor Lore

3 : Constitution

5 : Astral Lord Lore

8 : Concentration

12 : Tactics Lore

18 : Astral Lord Focus

25 : Dual Wield

35 : Malevolent Champion

50 Combat Discipline

65 Ancient Magic

 

The first CAs I've modded are frenzied rampage (with tactics lore) and shadow veil, then Nether Allegiance and Reflective emanation.

[Epox 2]

that would be spec hand for me because im going two handed weapons so I should swap dw for hafted or how would u suggest my setup

 

oh yeah and what set items would u suggest also same as u or maybe some parts from astral:)

Edited June 27, 2009 by Epox

[Stéphane 2]

You can switch dual wield for hafted weapons, however you will make less hit with frenzied rampage with a two handed hammer.

But you're right Spectral hand are very powerfull with two handed weapons ^^

 

For the best mods on spectral hand are :

 

Bronze : Clout - Increases the damage the spectral hand inflicts. (50% increase)

 

Silver : Chill - The spectral hand inflicts additional ice damage. (4% + 1% per CA level)

Gold : Double Attack - Chance to strike twice with one hit. (25% chance)

 

You can also mod shadow veil for invisibility as soon as possible, then Skeletal fortification and frenzied rampage.

 

 

Same set, thoses sets have a lot of slots, you can forge very good stuff in it.

[Epox 2]

so my lineup should be duo two-handed weapons

 

first spec spectal handed, then shadow then nether and relfective at last or?

[Flooxim 50]

This is a great Guide! Thanks a lot Stéphane!

 

 

Max

[BLIND GUARDIAN0_0 0]

Cool guide! I found another one but this sounds better. just a quick question tho. What about rune reading? I know you're pics say how many u read but what about for the others?

[DTS 0]

Since idol for Reflective Emanation extends the buff to your summons as well, making they even more invincible, would it be better to take the mod that adds another skeleton instead of one of the armor mods?

[Stéphane 2]

Since idol for Reflective Emanation extends the buff to your summons as well, making they even more invincible, would it be better to take the mod that adds another skeleton instead of one of the armor mods?

Could be a good choice, but reflective emanation only offer 50% of the reflection on party member, which mean 80% / 2 = 40%, it's not that weak but it's not as powerful as the % you can have on your SW with bonus RE and bonus (armentin's belt chance to reflect close combat for example).

However nether allegiance at level 133 offers spectral soldiers level 294 with 121K in HP and 14k in HP regeneration, that's a lot! ^^

Those stats are high level stats. At low level, without the shield they might be weakened but if you keep the Elite Equipment (3b) I think they might have enough armor.

 

I will made some test with 2a Commander (Summons another additional soldier. (+1)) instead of 2b Spectral Shield (Equip summoned soldier with greatly enhanced shields.) to see the different in their stats.

I will keep you informed!

[xXMASHERXx 0]

How many rousing command runes should be read?

[Stéphane 2]

How many rousing command runes should be read?

As much as possible, since we don't have the Death warrior focus, later it's will be hard to level up this CA.

But it's not a buff so you won't have any regen penalty.

 

I have memorized 500 runes and my rousing command is level 94.5

CD+RT : 64.6s

Duration : 44.1s

Attack Value + 1464.1%

[iiTz 0]

Loving the guide, just wondering, what should I go for first for best results in terms of point placement. I keep tactics=my level but I'm not sure what to do for others in terms of order. I was thinking keep up whatever I need most.

Thanks.

[mattcoops 0]

Awesome guide, thank you very much for taking the time to translate!

 

1 simple question I have, but may be a stupid one since I'm still very new to Sacred and am playing on the 360 so everything isn't quite the same as for the PC version. but anyway, my question is for Unique mounts with this build (I assume you'd use 1)... which 1 would be the better choice? I'm thinking the Astral Lord version but I'm unsure of the value of the 'generic' Hellhound mount I.e. the one with +resistance bonus. With Temple guardian the 'generic' mount is actually arguably the better choice, but with Shadow Warrior... I need some advice!

 

again thanks for your time and effort and hope someone can help answer my question. Very keen to try out this ninja style build... strike from the shadows sounds like a fun way to play. peace!

[Knuckles 904]

Hi and welcome matt

 

I always choose the mount that is the same as my main Aspect...so in your case I'd pick the Astral one. Imo, the extra defense isn't as good as the aspect regen bonus

[mattcoops 0]

Hi and welcome matt

 

I always choose the mount that is the same as my main Aspect...so in your case I'd pick the Astral one. Imo, the extra defense isn't as good as the aspect regen bonus

thanks for that mate, I will go with the Astral one... cheers!

[BoF12 0]

I have a few questions myself:

 

What main things do you look for when you socket your items?

How do you keep your regen times low with 2 buffs adding a lot of +Regen times?

What weapons do you dual wield?

How do you setup your combos if you use them?

What is a good time frame to keep the regen times at for the main CAs?

[Stéphane 2]

Loving the guide, just wondering, what should I go for first for best results in terms of point placement. I keep tactics=my level but I'm not sure what to do for others in terms of order. I was thinking keep up whatever I need most.

Thanks.

Since you will be invisible soon enough, you can go for concentrations (concentration 3 buff and astra lord focus) and damage skills (Astral lord Lore, tactic lore and ancient magic) first.

 

I have a few questions myself:

 

What main things do you look for when you socket your items?

How do you keep your regen times low with 2 buffs adding a lot of +Regen times?

What weapons do you dual wield?

How do you setup your combos if you use them?

What is a good time frame to keep the regen times at for the main CAs?

1 - Damage and attack value +xx% with rings damage +xx-xx and attack value + xx% or damage +xx% and attack value +xx%.

2 - Shadow veil is very low (10%) and reflective emanation/nether allegeance are around 30-40%, which mean +100% to regen times. The shoulders from Infernal Torment offer a good stamina bonus, and you can forge stamina bonus if you want to lower the penalty from buffs.

3 - Officier Saber or Khandar's slicer.

4 - Frenzied rampage in a combo, Rousing Command + Augmenting guidon + Killing Spree in another one, Skeletal Fortification in the third one, and rallied soul in the last one.

5 - Frenzied rampage around 3-5s under the buffs