A Comprehensive Guide To The BFG Seraphim

[Dobri 55]

In response to some PMs I got, as well as the request of our beloved administrator gogoblender, I have decided to create a new guide for the BFG-type Seraphim. I have played one for a long time, and I can assure you that what people say about her is true - she is indeed vastly overpowered.

 

1. Pros and Cons of the BFG-Seraphim

 

Pros:

- Extremely powerful

- No weapon worries

- you need 4 runes and 500 gold to start off the right foot and rock the game till the end

- will one-shot pretty much every enemy throughout the game with slight exceptions (champions, bosses)

- requires minimal micromanagement

- great boss-killer

- the best starter char in this game

- Endijian's Set will make your seraphim look like the female futuristic manga chars

 

Cons:

- the BFG weapon texture isn't exactly a masterpiece...

- power comes at a price - random reflects may seriously hurt your char (this will not be a problem later on)

- power comes at a price 2 - 1-shotting every simple mob on the map may get tedious and boring (but feeling all-powerful is great)

- Endijian's Set will make your seraphim look like the female futuristic manga chars

 

2. Basic reasoning

 

The BFG build is undoubtedly the best build for a starter character. It is very cheap, very easy to maintain, because there is no need for you to spend millions on weapons or armor. The support this build requires is minimal as well, because of the sheer power of the BFG gun and the fact that you will be 1-shotting everything pretty much throughout the entire game.

 

3. Advanced reasoning.

 

In order to make the BFG build all-powerful, you will need to select 10 skills that will complement each other to the best of your ability. With a proper skill complement and utilization, your char will not only become all-powerful - it will also become immortal. Yes, you heard me right - immortal.

 

Immortality in Sacred 2 isn't difficult to achieve, especially as a Seraphim. Seraphims enjoy a vast variety of set items and skills that contribute to it. The first aspect of immortality is the Damage mitigation options. Damage mitigation practically means that a certain portion of the incoming damage will be nullified before any other calculations kick in. This means that if your seraphim has 50% damage mitigation and you're hit for 5000, 2500 damage is mitigated and the calculations regarding armor, resistances, etc. will start at 2500 damage. Neat, huh? But that is only the beginning. The second aspect of immortality is the Energy shield your seraphim can employ to protect herself. The shield absorbs some of the incoming damage and the rest is deducted by your char's HP. Items in Sacred 2 have the innate ability to increase the absorption of damage from the shield. If you click on the sigma button in your inventory, you will see how much absorption do you have. Using items that improve it will force more damage to be absorbed by the shield. having an absorption of 65-75% is good enough in my opinion for this build. 80% is also nice, but do not go all the way to 100%, or your shield may get depleted quickly, leaving your HP the only barrier between life and death. Also keep in mind that with mastery in constitution your HP will regen even in combat - while your shield will not. The third aspect of immortality is Constitution. This is a skill we will incorporate in this build. It directly adds to the char's HP totals, improves the HP regeneration and with 75 hard points in it, you gain mastery, which allows your HP to continue to regenerate even while in combat at an amazing rate.

 

References:

http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=11745 - a wonderful and extremely comprehensive guide to damage mitigation by Soldats

http://sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Energy_Shields - explanation about the energy shields

 

4. The Build.

 

The build consists of 10 skills, which we will pick in a manner that they will complement each other to the best of their ability.

 

level 2 - Armor Lore - the most important protection skill. No build can go without it. It improves resists, increases maximum item level without penalties, and decreases regeneration penalty from armors. We are picking it first to ensure the easy-going in the early levels. It can be substituted for ranged lore if you have pre-set bfg rune and you want to start using the big gun straight away.

 

level 3 - Ranged Weapons - time to pick the skill that will support the development of the BFG gun. 1 point in this skill is enough to carry the big gun and use it regardless of its level. If you picked ranged lore as level 2 skill, select armor lore as your level 3 skill pick.

 

level 5 - Tactics Lore - Increases damage and chance for critical hits with all weapons. This is exactly what the big gun needs to become even more powerful. Putting points here will also add to the exalted warrior point pool, which can be used to mod the combat arts.

 

level 8 - Concentration - very important skill. The BFG build is widely supported by its buffs, and this skill opens up to 3 buffs. Keep this skill at character level till level 75.

 

level 12 - Revered Technology Focus - we will start by opening up the focus for the revered technology tree. Why focus first? The answer is simple. It will allow you to mod the BFG buff, and it will allow you to get more levels in it very quickly, which will help you one-shot everything on the map at this point.

 

level 18 - Exalted Warrior Focus - we take on our support combat art tree. Exalted warrior tree opens up some cool skills that will allow your BFG gun to fire stronger shots, multiple shots and will improve the combat art levels of our initial Battle stance buff.

 

level 25 - Revered Technology Lore - this skill will improve the damage of all combat arts in the revered tree, including the BFG gun.

 

level 35 - Constitution - adds directly to your char's HP totals, and improves the regeneration rate of her HPs.

 

level 50 - Toughness - adds directly to the armor rating and provides a reduction of the incoming damage - also known as all-channel damage mitigation.

 

level 65 - Warding Energy Lore - this is the skill that will directly improve your Warding Energy Buff and will provide more shield points and better damage absorption.

 

5. Skill masteries.

 

You need 75 hard points in one skill to open up its skill mastery. Skill masteries open up new properties, improve the existent skill bonuses, etc. This is the order of skill masteries I would propose for this build. This means 3 of these skills must be at level 75 by char level 75, the 4th around level 80-85, the fifth around level 90-100, and so on. You should also keep in mind that it's not absolutely necessary to master all skills. The order shown below will give you the skill priorities and the amount of skill points (in square brackets) I propose to put in:

 

1. Concentration [75] - we need this up to 75 hard points by level 75 and then it can stay at 75 till the end of the game. It will open up the third buff and will let you add Warding energy as third buff.

 

2. Constitution [75] - although we pick this skill at level 35, you must level it in a manner that will allow you to have 75 hard points by level 75. We need it to open up the in-combat regeneration and we will leave it at that.

 

3. Tactics Lore [75+] - this is the skill that directly improves the damage of your char. You will want it at 75 hard points by level 75. It is a general opinion that chars who rely on their weapon to damage their enemies must keep it at character level, but you may as well leave it at 75 and let +all skills equipment do the rest.

 

4. Armor Lore [75] - this skill should be mastered around char level 80-85. It will open up various mastery modification on armors, not to mention that it will give a great boost to the armor rating, resistances and the reduction of penalty caused by various armors.

 

From this point on you will have to decide which mastery is more important based on your play style.

 

5.1. Lazy play style - buffs do the trick, gun does the rest.

 

The basic idea of the lazy play style is that you will pump up the buffs without limit even beyond the max level stated by the respective aspect's focus.

 

5. Toughness [75] - 75 hard points in toughness will provide 9% damage mitigation and +90 to all armor types.

 

6. Revered Technology Focus [75] - mastery opens up even more CA levels. This is imperative for our BFG gun. The more levels, the better the damage.

 

7. Revered Technology Lore [75] - the sheer damage this skill provides will make the bfg gun even more powerful.

 

8. Warding Energy Lore [75] - better shields and better absorption.

 

9. Exalted Warrior Focus [1+] - We just need a few points here to improve the regen times. Keeping in mind that Tactics lore will provide most of the modification points for the Exalted warrior Combat arts, you don't really need to add points here.

 

10. Ranged Weapons [1] - you don't need a skill mastery here. 1 point is enough, as the BFG buff directly improves the skill with each level of the gun.

 

5.2. Dynamic play style - combat arts for the win!

 

You will need to micromanage a lot, using CAs according to the situation and switch between them as necessary. Combos are not needed since revered tech and exalted warrior have few good combinations between them. The only good combo that comes in mind seems to be Soul Hammer + Archangel's wrath for boss battles.

 

5. Revered Technology Focus [75] - more CA levels and better regeneration of Flaring Nova and Archangel's Wrath (AW). Since AW is based on weapon damage, and your weapon is the one with the biggest damage in the entire game, you can imagine what this CA will do. Good level AW boosted by BFG may go well over 60k damage on a normal hit.

6. Revered Technology Lore [75] - more damage and better execution speed of the Revered Combat Arts is what you need.

7. Toughness [75]

8. Warding Energy Lore [75]

9. Exalted Warrior Focus [your call]

10. Ranged Weapons [1]

 

6. Combat arts and their modifications.

 

Since we will be playing a 3-buff build, you can expect the buffs to have severe detrimental effect on your combat arts since each buff significantly increases the regeneration times of combat arts. This is why you should exercise extreme caution when leveling up your combat arts through runes especially.

 

6.1. Revered technology tree combat arts and modifications.

 

1) Archangel's Wrath - We will need to mod this CA for sheer damage.

Mods: Salvo - Lock/Explosive - Vulnerable

-> Salvo is the best mod. It inflicts the damage of 2 bolts, and if you have any %deathblow equipment (double damage when enemy HP fall beyond a certain value based on your total deathblow) it will apply to BOTH bolts when the enemy HP levels falls below your deathblow level.

Lock is the mod you will want to choose when you're not shotgunning (the enemies are far away and you want to be certain the bolts hit).

Explosive is the mod you want when you're shotgunning (you expect enemies to be around you and you want to hit as much of them as you can).

-> My personal favorite is the Explosive mod. The enemies will be coming to hack at you anyway, so this mod is the better choice.

-> Vulnerable will improve the crit chance. This is just uber. Not only our damage is sky high, but this mod may make it go in near-earth orbit with a crit.

Regeneration time: if you play the lazy style, read 1 rune only and forget it till you get firmly in the preferred regen time. Try to keep it down to 0.7-1s regen time. If you play the dynamic style, try to get regeneration time of 0.5s or lower. The runes read (or + combat arts equip used) will be determined by this regeneration time amount.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...angel%27s_Wrath

 

2) Flaring Nova - a great CA which provides wonderful crowd control.

Mods: Impulse - Stun - Flux

-> Impulse mod forces the nova to lauch two expanding rings.

-> Stun mod gives a certain chance to stun the enemies that are caught in the blast.

-> Flux mod improves the damage of flaring nova.

Regeneration time: if you play the lazy style, use your own judgment. It all depends on how often ou are forced to use it. In my eyes, 3 seconds regeneration time is good, since you won't be using it all the time. If you play the dynamic play style, you will need a good regen time in order to be able to spam it several times in short succession, and this 0.7-1s regen time is prudent.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Flaring_Nova

 

3) Divine Protection - a great CA, which provides you with a shield that has 100% absorption for a limited amount of time. Modification to this combat art will be determined by your own willingness to use it and recast it at a regular interval:

a) frequent use - Capacity - Boost - Improved Mirror. These mods will make its cooldown lower and its duration longer.

b) infrequent use - Dampen - Uplifted Force - Improved Mirror. These mods will make it more durable and with better damage absorption, but the cooldown times will remain high.

The regeneration time for dynamic play should be roughly equal to the duration of Divine Protection.

EDIT: Since you will be suing Warding Energy as well, make sure you turn on this CA when the primary shield fails. DP has a nasty habit of overwriting your primary shield.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...vine_Protection

 

4) Warding Energy - your energy shield and an extra supply of "HP". Depending on your play style, you will have to decide how to mod it:

a) lazy play style - we will need a shield that will reflect the ranged and magic damage so that divine protection doesn't have to be active all the time. Mods: Projectile Reflection - Magic Mirror - Block.

b) dynamic play style - we will need a shield that will reflect the ranged and magic damage while keeping the buff's penalty on the CAs to a respectable level. Mods: Projectile Reflection - Magic Mirror - Resource.

c) the safer the better - we will need a strong shield that will absorb damage regardless of its source. Mods: Field Force - Field Force - Block/Resource (depending on whether us use CA frequently or not).

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Warding_Energy

 

5) BeeEffGee - our big gun and most important buff. Regardless of the play style, you must keep this CA at its highest level (even over the allowed level by revered technology focus) and preferably at 1.5-2x your character level if possible. regardless of the play style, the mods of this CA are as follows: Enhancement - Enhancement - Accuracy.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:BeeEffGee

 

6.2. Exalted Warrior combat arts.

 

We will need these CAs as a support. They have various uses and are good combat openers.

 

1) Soul Hammer - an attack with improved weapon damage. Read only 1 rune here. This skill is one of the best boss killers in this game, especially when combined with the BFG gun since it will force the boss to take even more damage with every hit.

Mods: Aim - Battering - Coup de Grace. Aim improves the chance to get a crit (and this the damage to skyrocket), battering reduces the armor class, meaning the next shot will be even more powerful, and Coup de Grace will inflict double damage when enemy's HP fall below a certain threshold - and yes, it stacks with deathblow!

In order to keep this skill effective, you need a regeneration time of 0.5s or lower regardless of your play style.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Soul_Hammer

 

2) Pelting Strikes - used with the BFG, this CA will make your char shoot several shots in quick succession against multiple enemies. There isn't much use of it by the BFG Seraphim, but it is a great battle opener vs. multiple enemies.

Mods: Succession - Focus - Precision. Succession gives you 20% chance for double hit (it seems to proc more often in my opinion), Focus gives you lower regeneration time and precision improves the crit chance. You could opt for other mods like reductions of armor class and defense value, but don't we have Soul Hammer for that?

In order to keep this skill effective, you need a regeneration time of 0.5s or lower regardless of your play style.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...Pelting_Strikes

 

3) Assailing Somersault - the ability to leap in and out of combat. Completely superfluous CA for the BFG Seraphim in my opinion, but it may provide an interesting diversion. Still, keeping in mind that your CA setup will most likely be AW, Flaring Nova, Dashing Alacrity and Divine Protection or Soul Hammer, Pelting Strikes, Dashing Alacrity and Divine protection, I wonder when will you use except for posterity...

Mods: Spurt - Brawn - Concussion

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...ling_Somersault

 

4) Dashing Alacrity - this CA will improve the run and attack speed by a decent amount. With enough rune investment and decent regeneration times you can practically make it chain-castable.

Mods: Bloodlust (increase attk spd) - Delay (improves duration of Dashing alacrity) - Ardor/Impatience. The last mod is up to you. If you want performance from Dashing Alacrity, select Ardor. If you want to try and make it chain castable, select Impatience to reduce the cooldown.

 

5) Battle Stance - Our second (bfg is first) buff, and mind you, a very important one. This buff will contribute to your immortality quite a lot.

Mods for lazy play style: Aggression (improves weapon damage) - Flexibility (improved evasion) - Retaliation (damage reflection chance)

Mods for dynamic play: Aggression (improves weapon damage) - Drill (reduces energy cost and this penalty on CAs) - Retaliation (damage reflection chance)

EDIT: If you wish to have this build end up as a boss killer, you should mod Battle stance for Premonition as a first mod. In niobium bosses have a big chance to evade and every sliver of attack rating is welcome.

CA link: http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacred_2:Battle_Stance

 

7. Attributes.

 

Depending on your play style, attribute points should be distributed in different manners.

 

Lazy play style: start off with 1 vit, then 1 vit/1 dex, and finally 1 vit/2 dex. The basic idea is that vitality is paramount, and since you won't be using CAs frequently it's way better to improve the weapon damage.

 

Dynamic play style: start off with 1 vit then 1 vit/1 sta and finally 1 vit/2 sta. The basic idea is that stamina will improve your CA regeneration times, which is improtant for you and your CA micromanagement.

 

8. Equipment.

 

In order to make this build shine you will need a specific equipment. This equipment should provide a balanced amount of sockets, bonuses to your preferred combat arts, good damage mitigation and must not necessarily comprize of the best items with the most defense and the most sockets. In addition to that, it must not be the prettiest of them all. If you want a pretty equip, disregard my suggestions and make your own equip based on your view of the game.

 

Seraphim set items links on wiki:

Endijian - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...n%27s_Artifacts

Niokaste - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...27s_Blade_Dance

Revelation of the Seraphim - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...of_the_Seraphim

Heavenly Justice - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...eavenly_Justice

Illuminated skies - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...luminated_Skies

Infinite revenge - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...nfinite_Revenge

Nikotaste's Arguments - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...s%27s_Arguments

Origin of the Seraish - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre..._of_the_Seraish

Sofia's Benevolence - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...27s_Benevolence

Twilight of the Gods - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...ght_Of_The_Gods

 

Helmet:

Lazy play style - Sofia's Benevolence Helm - 3 sockets (b/s/g), +atk/def values.

Dynamic play style - Helmet of the Seraish - 2 sockets (b/s), +def, +willpower, +all combat arts

 

Torso:

Regardless of the play style, you need a torso with all channel damage mitigation, like Garment of the Celestial (2 sockets - s/g) from Revelation of the Seraphim set. If you feel very stubborn, go with Holy Protection and kiss the immortality goodbye.

 

Shoulders:

Regardless of the play style, you need shoulders with damage mitigation, such as Niokaste's Shoulder guards (1 gold socket, +soul hammer, +str) or Gown of the Celestial (1 gold socket, +stamina!). Gown of the Celestial provides lower def but additional stamina, which will help the CA regen times.

 

Wings:

Regardless of your play style, I would suggest Endijian's Wings - 2 sockets (s/g), all channel damage mitigation, hit point regeneration.

 

Wristguards:

The only decent wristguards are the Wristguards of dusk (3 sockets: b/s/g, +atk value, +visibility range) from the Twilight of the Gods set. Another option is endijian's wristguards (+BFG CA, +damage, 1 silver socket). Third option is wristguards with +all skills, +damage and 1 socket.

 

Gloves:

Endijian's gloves (+damage, +BFG CA, + AW CA, 1 silver socket) is a good addition to the equipment. In addition to that you will need to keep a few spare pairs fo gloves with elemental modifiers (can be dropped or shopped) like conversion physical to fire/magic/poision (ice is not needed since BFG is ice) in order to compensate for BFG's innate weakness, as some enemies and bosses have physical + ice resistance and even with your overpowered gun you will inflict slim to none damage.

 

Belt:

Good options for lazy players are: Niokaste's Cord (2 sockets: s/g, +stamina, +battle stance CA); Sash of Sacrifice from the Sofia's Benevolence set (3 sockets - b/s/g, +atk and def values).

For dynamic players good options are: Niokaste's Cord (2 sockets: s/g, +stamina, +battle stance CA), Endijian's Sash (2 sockets - s/g, -revered tech regen time!, +divine protection CA)

 

Leg Guards:

Good options here are: Sofia's Protection fro Twilight of the Gods set (3 sockets b/s/g, +chance to evade, +run speed), Greaves of Justice from Heavenly Justice Set (2 sockets - s/g, +armor, +block root, - enemy defense value). Both are good - but don't underestimate the "-enemy denfense value". This makes the enemies even easier to hit.

 

Boots:

Dynamic players should look for rare boots with + revered tech aspect/+run speed or Endijian's boots (1 silver socket, + flaring nova CA, +run spd, -regen time for revered tech). Lazy players may have their pick of extras: Endijian's boots (1 silver socket, + flaring nova CA, +run spd, -regen time for revered tech), Niokaste's Sandals (1 silver socket, +dashing alacrity CA, +run speed, -regen time for exalted warrior), or any good rare boots.

 

Conclusion: looking at the sets, few of those have decent bonuses for wearing 3 or more items from the same set. Endijian's set provides +atk spd, which is nice if you opt for Wings + Gloves + Boots, as well as Aspect: Revered Tech of you add one more item from the set, like Endijian's Sash.

 

Additional option:

Celestial Set without the wings + Endijian Wings from the Endijian's set.

Managing to collect and equip this set later on will allow you to drop down platinum/niobium bosses quickly. Your BFG damage should be quite high, and a small nudge from the Life Leech +% this set provides will do nicely. Even though it has low armor, low defenses, and bonuses to Combat Arts you do not use, the Life Leech is all you need. BFG+AW+Life Leech % is a combo that makes many others pale in comparison.

Revelation of the Seraphim set page on wiki (more commonly known as celestial set) - http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5/Sacre...of_the_Seraphim

 

Try to use the aforementioned set items from level 75 upwards, or of that's impossible, from 100 upwards. It is actually in platinum that things get tough, so you will need the damage mitigation and the good shield in order to keep on rocking the game.

 

9. Let's get the action on!

 

Level 1-30 - these levels should a breeze with your overpowered gun. You will one-shoot everything around you, so you may as well put this to good use. Pick a boss and start killing it over and over for set items. With any luck you'll soon be wearing a bunch of various set items ready to be customized. Easy bosses should be Holos (desert), Gar'Collosus (you can shoot it from above, provided you find the proper spot on the bridge above him, effectively taking no hits) and The Boar (Wargfels). All of these are relatively close to portals and easy to do with decent drops. Try to fully mod BFG (that's 9 points in revered lore+focus) and Battle Stance. Then mod Soul Hammer and Dashing Alacrity and leave Pelting for last. If you decide to add more points in the revered aspect from this point on, figure out which CAs you'll be using the most and start modding them (like AW, Warding Energy, Flaring Nova and Divine protection).

At this point you should be running around with 2 buffs: BFG and Battle Stance (for extra atk and def ratings are well as reflect).

Level 35-60 - try various boss battles for more items, or try the Orc Cave (http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=10049) and try to powerlevel a bit while taking breaks to restock on set items from the bosses you found easy-to-do. Also you may want to try Kral (jungle), Poison Lord and the Forest Guardian (Dryads' Isle). If you feel confident enough, you should try the Four Guardians (final boss) and see how well you will do against them. They are usually the best opponents to measure your build against.

Buffs: BFG and Battle Stance. Against the Guardians you may want to switch Stance for Warding Energy since they hit hard - especially the last guardian.

Level 60-75 - the grind for experience and equipment continues. At this point you may start feeling bored with this char. It's completely normal, and it's not a BFG-only issue. Keep on leveling, testing the build against various bosses and enemies and make sure you have 75 concentration by level 75.

When you hit 75, you should be running around with 3 buffs, decent amount of damage mitigation and means of diversifying the BFG damage through different glove sets.

Level 75-100 - it's grinding time again. Keep on doing bosses, do some quests, check how the set items from quests drop. Try your hand at the orc cave, against the Dragons (Grunwald, Desert, Swamp, etc.) and start building the aforementioned equipment to ensure your well-being all the way to level 200.

Level 100-200 - Things are pretty much the same. The enemies will get stronger, the XP rewards will diminish due to the strange idea of the developers to make the level ups harder this way... Provided you feel persistent, you will get to 200 and rock the game from start to finish. Just keep on updating your equipment, keep on leveling up your buffs way beyond their focus level while keeping the regen times to a respectable amount and you should be just fine!

 

10. Final words.

 

Although you'll be playing an overpowered build, I will warn you - it still takes some getting used to, knowing its strengths and weaknesses and analyzing its properties. She will be almost immortal in the end: big reflection + big evasion from Battle Stance, 65-80% shield absorption, over 60% damage mitigation (should be even more), a ton of + all skills and probably over 80% deathblow... However, it does take quite some work, patience and attention to get there. This is an easy-to-play build which even the new players should be able to bring up and rock the game from the get-go

 

11. UPDATE.

 

Took my time and updated the build for ice and blood. S2FA users should still go heavily on deathblow and all skills, even though I removed these comments.

[Zinsho 0]

I read through this quickly and found it quite interesting however I did have one question about your playstyle distinctions on Warding Energy.

 

With WEL you'll end up with high shield values. Especially with a bit of +%Max.

 

You say Safer is better is +Force, +Force, +Either.

 

I have to disagree there. +Reflect is safer than +Force since fewer hits will actually impact your shield. If you assume 7k damage per hit against you (valid at high levels) and 50k shield. +40% to that value would mean 70k shield, or 10 hits to take it down (assuming 100% Absorb), of course it wouldn't be that big an increase due to other modifiers but it's fine for the argument.

 

40% Reflect however means that instead of 7 hits (+ a fraction of the 8th) it would take ~12 attempts to actually successfully hit. (12 would be 7.2 hits, assuming fair odds).

 

Of course could always take one of each, if you did I'd end up suggesting Magic since Ranged seems a bit less common, although of course both is always better.

 

As to block vs resource... tested this quickly tonight on a level 200 open character... block added maybe +50% to block warding energy, which is also directly increased by Revered Lore, so you could easily end up at 400-600+ block warding energy from WE alone, not counting anything from WEL or from gear. Now with low mitigation this is barely useful, but with high values of mitigation that actually takes out a huge chunk of the limited damage that gets through.

[x Zeus x 0]

Great Looking guide you can tell you have spent some time making this, now my only question. What if this is someones very first character and they want to take the Bargin skill which two skills would you drop and why?

[Dobri 55]

@Zinsho

 

You say Safer is better is +Force, +Force, +Either.

 

I have to disagree there. +Reflect is safer than +Force since fewer hits will actually impact your shield. If you assume 7k damage per hit against you (valid at high levels) and 50k shield. +40% to that value would mean 70k shield, or 10 hits to take it down (assuming 100% Absorb), of course it wouldn't be that big an increase due to other modifiers but it's fine for the argument.

 

40% Reflect however means that instead of 7 hits (+ a fraction of the 8th) it would take ~12 attempts to actually successfully hit. (12 would be 7.2 hits, assuming fair odds).

 

Would you kindly elaborate how many mobs in this game have decent ranged and decent magic damage? 90% of the enemies in this game are close combat based. As such the safer tactic would be +force, +force, boosted by damage mitigation and about 75% shield absorption and the close combat reflect, evasion and def values you get from battle stance. I do agree that through battle stance modded for close combat reflect and warding energy modded for projectiles and magic reflect you can easily shrug off most of the attacks in this game, but still, you do need to take into account the sheer number of enemies that have these types of attack. And please - you can safely assume that I also have a bunch of level 200 unskilled chars with decent equip in SP which I use for testing (they're so easy to make). On level 200, in the generally popular areas - Orcs, Desert, Swamp, Dryads, Jungle - I found that 2x +Force does best in Orcs and Desert, while the other reflection mods do pretty bad there due to the generally lower shield values and lack of numerous ranged and magic casters. Magic reflection does well in the swamp (and those pesky spiders), but still, 70% of the enemies in the swamp are close combat (only skel archers, spiders and such are ranged, but they do comprise over 25% of the enemies there). Projectile reflection does well in the jungle since like 30% of the garemas use blowpipes and thus projectiles. On dryads magic reflect does great against the Fen's (probably one of the most irritating casters in the game), but still, the fen fires are the only enemy worth worrying there since dryads is once again 80% close combat enemies. Wastlelands are pretty much the same deal

 

That was the basis of my analysis when I proposed the 3 modding options for Warding energy.

 

Of course could always take one of each, if you did I'd end up suggesting Magic since Ranged seems a bit less common, although of course both is always better.

 

Compared to close combat, both are much less common But still, it's up to everyone to decide which mods to take. I have given some basic reasoning in this build and I do not expect players to follow it blindly, not taking into account the stuff that can happen in their games.

 

As to block vs resource... tested this quickly tonight on a level 200 open character... block added maybe +50% to block warding energy, which is also directly increased by Revered Lore, so you could easily end up at 400-600+ block warding energy from WE alone, not counting anything from WEL or from gear. Now with low mitigation this is barely useful, but with high values of mitigation that actually takes out a huge chunk of the limited damage that gets through.

 

Thanks for the info. Now that was one of the things I didn't test. I should be able to do this today. I will also try testing the BFG with battery-battery-accuracy mods or enhancement-battery-accuracy mods for dynamic play style with Revered tech CA spamming. That will be a fun test in my eyes Battery severely reduced the regen time penalty cause by the BFG.

 

@x Zeus x

 

Yeah... bargaining. You're delving into the depths of my very first char. I must warn you that this build is very cohesive as it is, and dropping 2 skills out of it to get bargaining may have a devastating effect. Since my first HC char online was a shopper BFG, I can give you some pointers based on my own mistakes.

 

For my shopper I dropped revered lore and toughness and took Enhanced Perception and Bargaining based on some SP level 200 testing that proved the build an outstanding success. This char ended up being killed by the 4th Guardian and his wicked damage (and the fact I didn't have my shield on, but that was my mistake).

 

If I were to pick now, I would leave out revered lore and warding lore. Armor Lore + Toughness is a great combo even at the cost of reduced shield values and I would never leave it out. Then it's up to you what to take. Keeping in mind that set items are easily found with numerous boss runs, I would take Riding + Bargaining, but you may opt for EP + Bargaining as well.

 

Other option you may try:

If you feel adventurous, drop revered lore and constitution, but get masteries in Armor, Concentration and Tactics by level 75 and bargining mastery by level 85, followed by toughness. Then put all attribute points in vitality and choose the riding skill to boost your HP totals. Mod the shield for magic and projectile reflection and battle stance for evasion and close combat reflection. Then ensure that you have 90-95% shield absorption. This will force your char to play with lower HP totals, but you will be able to shrug off almost all attacks and have your shield take most of the damage that gets through.

Edited August 10, 2009 by Dobri

[x Zeus x 0]

If you drop revered lore wpnt you ne gimping your damage? why not warrior focus

[Dobri 55]

Because exalted warrior focus allows for more CA levels in battle stance and thus better evasion and damage reflection. Since you will be using + all skills equipment, even at 1 hard point, this skill will improve dramatically, allowing your battle stance to get more and more powerful. And since this build has a surplus of damage already, if you want to take on general skills, you may want to sacrifice some of the damage rather than some of the defensive capabilities. Believe me, this is the proper choice. I sacrificed defense and ended up regretting it BIG TIME.

[Schot 415]

Very nicely written build Dobri. Even for someone as myself, who has never played a Seraphim, it's quite easy to follow. Quick question about a comment you make in the build. In it you suggest; "If you feel confident enough, you should try the Four Guardians (final boss) and see how well you will do against them. They are usually the best opponents to measure your build against." I'm curious if you prefer to try that sort of a test on an empty server or a full server? Certainly succeeding on a full server would be the most rewarding but I'm wondering what you would consider good conditions for a fair assessment. Thanx. I wonder because I'm often thinking in these terms for my own build and haven't decided for myself what standard of challenge is fair enough to grade my build on.

[Dobri 55]

Always an empty server, Schot If you can do it, you can move to a more populated server. In my eyes, it's better to check your toon out and test its skills and abilities gradually. There is no need to blindly jump into big battles (such as the battle with the guardians) and come out with a dead toon and a big adrenaline rush that leaves your hands trembling

 

This is the way I'm testing my builds, provided I feel confident they can take on the bosses I've designated in advance

[Flooxim 50]

A very useful and comprehensive Guide. Thanks a lot!

 

 

Max

[Dobri 55]

Build added to SIF... I felt like contributing something before the forums go down... someday.

[rahriot 0]

Hi, I'm new to the game, this guide has been great and very informative for someone like me. But, I have one question.. for the combat arts, do I pump runes into any of them, and if so, to what level and which one, thank you!

[Dobri 55]

Leveling up the combat arts is a matter of build planning and build options. I have given you the recommended regeneration times for each CA in both exalted and revered tech trees.

 

If you current regeneration time is higher, you should not read any more runes (even if you have only one in it) until it gets down to the value I have given you. Try to buy + all skills rings or add points to the respective skill focus to reduce the regeneration times until you get to the values I pointed out. When you get down to these values (e.g. 0.5s regen time on Soul Hammer), then you can check the CA itself in the CA tree and see if you read a rune how much the regen time will jump and decide - read one rune or wait a bit and then read one.

[BlackJAC 3]

Hi Dobri,

 

First off, thanks for creating this fantastic guide for all of us that are still learning the ropes when it comes to playing this game.

 

On to the point that I actually came into to ask; Because this is noob friendly so by it's very definition means it's easy and safe it will no doubt become tedious after awhile, what skill would you drop as to incorporate swords? I just like mixing it up from time to time.

[Dobri 55]

Swords in a BFG build?!

 

Well, if you put it like this... just keep a sword on a slot of your choosing, and that's it - do not alter the build. You should know that Sacred 2 is very unfriendly to "mix-a-lot" builds, unless they follow a specific pattern of aspect complementing, because you only get 10 skill picks and 3-aspect builds or 2-3 weapon type builds take a lot of those skill picks to make it good. That's something that even the most experienced players (who deliberately do such builds) have problems with... As such I strongly recommend you stick to the build as it is, and if you want to swing a sword, put one on the 4th weapon slot and leave it there for fun.

[rahriot 0]

Leveling up the combat arts is a matter of build planning and build options. I have given you the recommended regeneration times for each CA in both exalted and revered tech trees.

 

If you current regeneration time is higher, you should not read any more runes (even if you have only one in it) until it gets down to the value I have given you. Try to buy + all skills rings or add points to the respective skill focus to reduce the regeneration times until you get to the values I pointed out. When you get down to these values (e.g. 0.5s regen time on Soul Hammer), then you can check the CA itself in the CA tree and see if you read a rune how much the regen time will jump and decide - read one rune or wait a bit and then read one.

 

Thanks a lot! I re-read over your guide and noticed on certain ones (warding energy, dashing alacrity, etc) there is no suggestion for regen times, sorry if I am missing something! Any help would be great

[Dobri 55]

Warding energy is a buff. There is no regen time there.

 

Dashing alacrity is a castable buff, this is why I wrote: "If you want to try and make it chain castable, select Impatience to reduce the cooldown." This means if you decide to play with it, you should use your own judgment how to level it in order to have its regen time less than duration.

 

The same goes for many CAs that are either buffs or aren't that important, or are a matter of common sense and best judgment. There are some Combat Arts in this game which are castable buffs, and best judgment in the balance between regeneration time and duration is the most important thing of all - like Dashing Alacrity, Divine Protection, Acute Mind, Frenetic Fervor, etc.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Dobri

[jigglypuff18 0]

I very much enjoy this guide, it has helped me a lot but I am having a little trouble with a certain part. I'm an inexperienced player as of right now, so I would like to know your personal preference for rune eating for Warding Energy, BFG, and Battle Stance. Also, how much runes you memorized for Divine Protection, Dashing Alacrity, and for the second mod, Arch Angel's Wrath, which did you prefer, explosive or lock? Thank you in advance!

[Dobri 55]

My personal preference is to read as many runes as possible (way above max focus level) in BFG, Warding Energy and Battle stance and play with level 1 Soul Hammer, Pelting Strikes and Archangel's Wrath. As for Divine protection and Dashing Alacrity I eat just enough to make them chain castable. I can't give you a proper number because it entirely depends on the equipment of the character.

 

As for AW, I really like Explosive. Lock is nice, but you will most likely start spamming it when the mobs get closer, and at close range it's harder to miss

[Freyalise25 0]

My personal preference is to read as many runes as possible (way above max focus level) in BFG, Warding Energy and Battle stance and play with level 1 Soul Hammer, Pelting Strikes and Archangel's Wrath. As for Divine protection and Dashing Alacrity I eat just enough to make them chain castable. I can't give you a proper number because it entirely depends on the equipment of the character.

 

As for AW, I really like Explosive. Lock is nice, but you will most likely start spamming it when the mobs get closer, and at close range it's harder to miss

 

 

I've started playing sacred 2 lately and have been following this guide almost exactly, I'm just level 50 right now. Would you advise to read as many runes as possible for the combat arts you just listed regardless of soul hammer, and pelting strikes regen time? Because right now I've only read 1 rune of each of those 2 for the lowest regen times and am sitting at 1.3 secs for both but if I pump the Combat Arts you listed is it more beneficial even if the regen times go way up? Thanks.

[Dobri 55]

Would you advise to read as many runes as possible for the combat arts you just listed regardless of soul hammer, and pelting strikes regen time? Because right now I've only read 1 rune of each of those 2 for the lowest regen times and am sitting at 1.3 secs for both but if I pump the Combat Arts you listed is it more beneficial even if the regen times go way up?

 

They may become so high that they will become unusable.

 

You should realize one thing. This build is mainly a left-click build. In order to make it more effective with the CAs you will use, it will take time and a lot of + all skills equipment. This is why I gave you the regeneration times and not the number of runes you should read. The thing is that many new players like to slap in as many runes as they see. Analyze: let's say you have AW doing 8000 damage at CA level 1 with regen time of 1.2s. Let's sat you pump it to the max, and the damage goes all the way up to 60000 and the regeneration time becomes 10s. Having so much damage will be cool, right? However, it's not effective because you can spam 8x8000=64000 damage which is better.

 

I realize the CA regen time and damage is a difficult thing to balance, so this is why I have you a proper regeneration time. If you are above that amount, add skill points into the respective focus and concentration, and attribute points into stamina, provided your char needs that CA right away - otherwise, leave that for later.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Dobri

[jigglypuff18 0]

Thanks for all of your help! I found most of the items you were talking about in the equipment list. And I was wondering what you'd suggestion to put in the sockets of most of the items listed?

[Dobri 55]

Sockets must be used as with any other build. This means mainly (especially if you play mainly on left click):

 

1. + All skills rings/amulets

2. deathblow level till you hit 60-70% (I usually pump up to 85% or more for a left click build)

 

That's the best for you and the thing you should look the most. Afterwards:

 

3. + max shield energy (provides better defense and you can take more punishment)

4. + aspect (exalted warrior for lazy play, revered for dynamic)

5. + Block warding energy (improves the damage mitigation from the energy shield)

6. + absorption warding energy to force some more damage to revert to the shield, especially if you're pumping it up through max shield energy (point 3)

7. + damage/+ ice damage/+ physical damage or +fire damage/+ magic damage if you play with Archangel's wrath and Flaring Nova

 

That should do it.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Dobri

[ka243 3]

If making an EP bargaining build, you suggested dropping Revered lore and consitution or WEL.

 

I did read all the articles on WEL and from what I understand it adds an absolute number of damage mitigation (27 at mastery). plus 135% shield values...

Also read the guides on damage mitigation and it seems really good too.

If your goal is to get damage mitigation to eventually take all the damage on this build while still taking ep and bargaining, is that possible on this build and what skills should we drop in this case?

 

If dropping such skills, would this change the way you mod any of the CAS?

 

I'm very interested in ranged characters with bargaining and ep because on xbox its very easy to miss with combat arts and in this case a normal attack is executed. When such attack is a melee attack, well its just off target and misses which stinks but if its a ranged attack, it hits something, so the attack is not "wasted".

 

BFG seraphim seems like a really good build to create an EP/bargaining character on the xbox for this reason.

 

Thanks a lot!

[Dobri 55]

Actually, it isn't that good to take EP/bargaining but if you're bent on doing it, it's okay.

 

If your goal is to get damage mitigation to eventually take all the damage on this build while still taking ep and bargaining, is that possible on this build and what skills should we drop in this case?

 

It is possible, yes. You need to armor lore + toughness masteries by all means, preferably at lower level (before you hit 100) disregarding the mastery order I gave you there. By level 100 you should take your time and shop torso armor and shoulders with stacked high-grade damage mitigation (meaning 2 x all channel damage mitigation on one item, unlocked by armor lore mastery). It takes a long time, but its possible.

 

If dropping such skills, would this change the way you mod any of the CAS?

 

Of course it will. You'll have to rely on focus to mod the revered Combat Arts, as well as the fact that you need to add a lot of + all skills in it to ensure a good level of the BFG gun. This means at least 9 points in revered focus (to fully mod BFG) and adding points from time to time to mod Warding energy and probably divine protection.

 

You should also know that that number of mitigated damage of WEL is a flat value - not a %. that is 27 points of mitigated damage.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Dobri

[ka243 3]

If WEL only mitigates 27 pts of damage, it seems like this is the one to drop if going for damage mitigation, so would drop that and rev tech lore for bargaining and EP.

 

If you don't have EP, how do you go about getting all the rare/set equipment you need other than having another character or multiplayer? It seems like really bargaing and EP gimps every character but maybe this is one that it gimps less because BFG is pretty powerful by itself.

 

Multiplayer is not an option for me at this point as I don't want to pay for an xbox live subscription.