r00sters Road to Immortality

[r00ster 1]

Hello all,

 

Been a long time since I've done a guide, so hopefully it all goes well.

 

This guide is firstmost for players that play Hardcore. It's the mode where death counts, and gives purpose to these strategies.

This guide is secondmost, for every person who loves Sacred. It's been a long time since 2002-3 when I first discovered the world of Ancaria, and it's been my favorite series/game ever.

 

Thanks to Ascaron too (sob).

 

I was going to write a bunch of individual guides, but decided to merge them all into one big mess. Apologies.

 

Also, it should be stated I am a pure min/max type player in a sense (lol) and put character defense in these types of games over everything else. Feel free to take your toons to YOUR desired level of 'immortality'

 

Okay, lets begin.

 

NOTE* All modifiers that do not boost defenses, offenses, or character power in anyway, are omitted. Things like +xp, magic find etc are not part of these equations.

 

NOTE* These builds for the most, are gear independant. That means, you can smith in whatever you like. Immortality comes down the most to two things;

 

Combat Arts and proper modifications.

Skill Selections.

 

Attaining Immortality

 

Lets have a look at some characters.

 

Seraphim

 

Seraphim is overall the 'most' immortal of the characters, so best to start with it.

 

It is relatively easy to attain godhood with seraphim, but it unfortunately comes at the price of all your skill choices (for full immortality. It can truly have all damge thrown at it even bugged demon mages be made irrelevant).

 

Combat Arts needed: 3

Skills needed: 10

 

Combat Arts: Battle Stance, Hallowed Restoration, Warding Energy.

(divine protection as well, but is totally overkill. With this logic, it is almost impossible to damage in divine)

 

Mods

 

Battle Stance: Bronze = irrelevant. Silver = Flexibility. Gold = Retaliation.

Hallowed Restoration: Bronze = Recuperation. Silver = irrelevant. Gold = Antidote.

Warding Energy: Bronze = Projectile Reflection. Silver = Magic Mirror. Gold = Block.

 

Skills:

 

Tactics Lore

Exalted Focus

Celestial Lore

Celestial Focus

Revered Tech Focus

Concentration

Armor Lore

Constitution

Combat Discipline

Warding Energy Lore

 

Combos

 

Lightning > Hallowed > Assailing > Pelting

Lightning > Radiant > Hallowed > Pelting

Lightning > Hallowed > Soul > Pelting

 

Lightning CA is a massive debuff. It stacks.

Using the third combo vs a boss renders it useless (unless it can reflect magic, then trouble.. debuffs reflect too). It cannot hit you, almost ever.

With Hallowed modded, it will pretty much instantly remove any detremental effect cast on you immediately.

In combos like shown, hallowed restoration will 'chain cast' (without needing to remember anything) itself, giving a health regen that nothing but one shots will stop.

 

NOTE* Halloweds intended healing others first in a combo was fixed in the expansion. I submitted this bug 10x until they probably finally got sick of it, so it will always heal you first now.

 

With shields, even without any shield mods, like absorption etc, you are pretty much immortal here. Using these combos renders all damage insignificant and irrelevant.

Where the shields shine, is they prevent the infamous 'one shot' from demon mages. You MUST have constitution for that. They still hurt, but only the leech %. By Niob, without constitution (even going all vitality) you will NOT have enough health otherwise.

 

Lighting should be modded to debuff. Slow, lose attack rating (120%!), and always weaken.

Radiant Pillar should be modded to lose attack rating (important to make sure normal mobs never hit) and Area of Effect size. Duration becomes irrelevant later in character life, last mod is free choice.

 

Misc.

 

Celestial Lore and Focus are non negotiable. Hallowed was reduced in the expansion, and will not provide its previous amounts without the lore. Focus is self explanitory.

 

You do not 'need' Combat Discipline, but it makes life oh so much easier. As long as hallowed is the first move in a 2 move combo, your good.

 

With only having Warding focus, bring it to mastery and leave it. This will allow three Combat Arts to be fully modified. Aside the buff, divine protection should be a choice and Flaring nova modded to slow, stun and reduce attack rating are the best choices. BFG and Archangel's Wrath are omitted.

 

High Elf

 

High Elf is another character that is relatively simple to make immortal.

 

Combat Arts needed: 2 + either buff, Incandescent or Crystal skin and Grand Invigoration

Skills Needed: 6

 

Combat Arts: Expulse Magic, Shadow Step

 

Mods

 

Expulse Magic: Without Delphic Lore, the mod 'Strength' is a must for bronze. Silver = Pentagram. Gold = Protection.

Shadow Step: Bronze = Phase shift. Silver = Vanish. Gold = Mend

 

Skills

 

Pyro/Ice Lore + Focus

Delphic Focus

Combat Discipline

Shield Lore

Constitution

 

Combos

 

Depending on whether you are fire or ice, you can do these as you see fit, aside the stated Combat Arts. I.e. Expulse > Frost Flare > Raging Nimbus > Glacial Thorns (a personal fav)

 

 

Expulse > Spell 1 > Spell 2 > Spell 3

Shadow Step > Spell 1 > Spell 2 > Spell 3

 

Expulse Magic:

 

Is one of the best defensive Combat Arts in the game. Spells stack. So with a few high level castings of this spell, the elf is immune to combat arts and detremental effects. It also stacks fear chance, so the player can literally sit inside their circle of immortality.

 

Shadow Step:

 

Is used to heal and kite faster than you can move, as well maintain a constant 'invisible' status.

In a four move combo, with good regens (expert touch) the combo will be ready to cast just as you become visible again.

 

Shield Lore: It is necessary to gain a shield with 'block close combat +x%'

This with high all skills, and shield lores master will prevent immunity to non combat art melee damage.

 

Crystal skin will nullify ranged attacks, the burn arrow mod on incandescent at high ca levels the same.

 

CD is a must in this case, as the cooldown on shadow step with phase shift mod is just under a 4 move combo (with all skills/Combat Arts, no read runes into 'fighting' Combat Arts. Only buffs). This allows the elf a pseudo shadow viel.

 

Dryad

 

A while ago, gogo said he was having some survival troubles with dryad. This section is dedicated to you gogo. You prompted me to explore this class as well as look at even more means of immortality. Thanks.

 

Combat Arts needed: 1

Skills needed: 3

 

CA: Golden Glade Touch

 

Mods: Bronze = Flow. Silver = Persevere. Gold = Dilligence.

 

Skills

 

Constitution

Nature Weaver Lore

Nature Weaver Focus

 

Combos:

 

Golden Glade > Anything

Grasping Vines > Edaphic Lances

*With CD: Grasping Vines > Black Curse > Edaphic Lances

 

This is much easier to do with a magic based dryad than a ranger, as ranger skills regenerate to fast for Golden Glade.

 

Much like the seraphim, simply slap Golen Glade modified as stated in a combo and you can absorb any amount of damage dealt to you.

 

This spell gets to even such absurd levels, you might regen more hp than you have.

On a test character, it was giving 47000 hp/s when the character had 48000 hp.

 

With the persevere mod, again, spells stack. The same test character had over 10000 willpower in 2 casts. That's more than shadow warrior gets with Grim Resilience. CA was level 130.

 

Of course the Ancient Bark buff rocks.

 

Mod it for rugged, which is the same as armor lore skill, a % addition to ALL armor values, so having hundreds of thousands of resistance is a definite possibility. Defense will get high enough on it's own to have a less than 20% chance to be hit without any modding of gear. The silver mod should be the reflect melee, lastly increase healing is the option I choose at gold (with const. mastery about 2500 natural hp/s regen) though either is fine.

 

Modding Acute Mind to also lower detremental effects is another great choice.

 

The second combo is just a 'boss killer' it will prevent any boss from doing anything, can be chain cast over and over. A boss will simply sit there and wait to die.

 

Constitution: Is a MUST. Without it, know that there are things that can one shot a dryad in late game, mostly niob. This class has almost no Combat art protection and spell protection.

 

I.e. A DoT from the Garganthropods tail attack in niob did 18000 points of damage per tick to the dryad (no -dots smithed, etc). Without Constitution that could result in a KO.

 

The Gar Collosus' stone throw did 23000 points of damage. This is with 70000+ physical resistance, Combat Reflexes was tested, Spell Resistance was somewhat helpful. You want to survive this hit in niob, you need constitution. You cannot depend on dust devils ~50% chance to reflect Combat Arts when the other 50% could be a one shot.

 

Shadow Warrior

 

Okay, this shouldn't really be that hard to figure out lol.

 

Combat Arts Needed: 1

Skills Needed: 1

 

Gee, what could this be...

 

CA: Shadow Viel

 

Mods: Bronze = Creep (without Astral Lore. With astral lore, the other is better, -detremental effects). Silver = Fade. Gold = Sinister Pact.

 

Get this to level 25 for 100% combat art invisibility.

NOTE* This does NOT mean enemies can't see you. You can just do combat arts without losing the buff if they don't.

 

By endgame, a stealth value of 2000 or greater is immunity. The only way to achive this WITHOUT Astral Lore is the 'creep' mod.

 

With Astral lore, avoidance is much better. The only stray damage that will hit the player are spells like traps etc, and certain detremental effects.

 

Never left click, the end.

 

 

 

MISC NOTES

 

On Constitution:

 

Some say const is not needed for a build. I strive for defense. Even with all the defenses in the world, your last is your health pool. Know that if you don't take this, there are attacks that can kill players outright, if they ever get passed said defenses, usually in the forms of one shots.

 

Vitality with all points from level 1-200 will yield about 10000 hp without any survival bonus.

Constitution around skill level 350-400 yields in the 20000 range. With a lot of +all skills we can see 30000+

 

Constitution raised on it's own to high levels will allow any class to survive at least ONE of any hits anything can throw at you, except the bugged demon mages.

 

Note though, that a Shadow Warrior with over 90000 hp (const, vitality points, grim res) can actually survive their hits, with only a sliver left.

 

In my book, this skill is essential. I will never make a build without it. This is your last line of defense and without it, you don't have one.

 

Just because your shield has 20000000 points, and the nameless guardians have 'never' hit you doesn't mean they can't.

 

In tests, they have hit characters level 200 for over 20000 damage. Some weaker defensive characters (by game design) like highelf I have received over 30000 points of damage, even when wearing the correct relics. Without constitution, that means death.

 

 

On Combat Reflexes and Spell Resistance:

 

Many people say these are bugged. They are not.

They are a second chance that is not listed in the sigma, because their stats are absolute.

I.e. If combat reflex says you have 60% evade, then that's what it has. it's not like socketable evade where there can be addition %'s to a base, etc that 'grows' as the player does.

 

Both of their main uses are critical avoidance. Again, if the plan is late game, the threat is from critical attacks.

 

Spell resistances mastery is also incredible. Most dots will never tick more than once.

 

Shield Lore:

 

Shield lore is great. The mods on rare shields make it godly.

However, again shield lores mastery is absolute. If it says 20% block close combat, its a 'true' 20%. This is not the case with blocks found on items. 100% block close combat from a shield is NOT a true 100% block and immunity. You will still be hit. There is much confusion about this, so I felt it needed to be said. Same applies to Projectiles, and combat arts. If one were to consider immunity via those stats, it's probably around 1000%, of which only the High Elfs Expulse Magic stacking can attain with Combat Arts.

 

On Gear:

 

What to socket? I've tried to make these examples as gear independant as possible to allow freedom. however, some things are paramount;

 

+all skills. Even in its nuetered state, it's still the best mod in the game. There is no other mod that gives this kind of 'bang for the buck'.

 

+all combat arts. Self explanitory.

 

+max hp. Again, your health pool is your last line of defense. The larger it is, the bigger that defensive line. There is NO such thing as too much with health. It may not be essential, but it's never not useful. Even if nothing touches you, ever! eventually something will. This will allow you to survive it.

 

-detremental effects. For characters like dryad, which have very few options otherwise.

 

-damage over time again, not needed if you have spell resistance skill and a massive hp pool with const mastery, or leech. Or, are using hallowed restoration/golden glade or equivalent.

 

Anything defensive.

 

The aspect sets are much improved in the expansion, to the point where I actually use them now.

Some sets are incredible, for their bonuses. LL% being the obvious on things like dethyas or revelation of the celestial.

 

STACKING

 

Okay, so how to get immunity, without using slots on gear, or gear at all?

 

Skills and CA stacking.

 

I.e.

 

Taking combat reflexes alone will make 90% of hits miss once you have it high level however you attain it.. *Cough*allskills*cough* however, eventually somethign will roll the other 10%, and you could get smacked hard. So, what do we do? stack protections for a near impenetrable defense on dice rolls.

 

I.e. High base defense (from a skill like battle stance) > Evade (the kind found on gear) > Combat Reflex > Shield Lore > Reflect Close Combat (on a buff)

 

Gives a good example of stacking. With each of these at high values, like 60%+, the chance to be hit is MUCH lower than stated in the menus.

 

The reason? each is a seperate roll.

This is why combat reflex/spell resistance ROCK. They are seperate chances, independant values, thus allow stacking just by choosing them. They also grant another roll on criticals.

 

If any enemy attacks a player with a setup like this, it would have to roll that proverbial 10% on each factor, thus massively decreasing it's odds. So much so, that the player is basically immune to said attack types.

 

This is probably one if not the most important considerations to making immortal characters.

 

Unfortunately, the ONLY character as far as I know that can stack the most important one, combat arts, is high elf with expulse.

 

On Offensive Combat Arts:

 

I find it better with the games mechanics to choose mods that debuff etc over duration or cooldown effects.

 

The reason is simple; they stack.

So an inquisitor stacking the lowering of enemy attributes via disloged spirit with mods to enhance said lowerings, will always favor better in actual gameplay.

 

It may often be tempting to choose a regen mod, or damage mod (in the disloged spirit case choosing silver mod 'torture' over mod 'deprivation') over the debuffs as they grant their bonuses at the 'here and now' but they usually dimish or become irrelevant later.

 

A good example is the stun mod on elfs meteors. At high CA levels, its totally possible to 'stun lock' enemies and bosses, but the damage mod its against offers MUCH higher damage.

 

However, I would totally rather stun lock an enemy, as then damage becomes irrelevant. The enemy WILL go down, without any threat. It's just a matter of time.

 

On Skills,

 

Defensive skills aside Constitution are not 'must haves' yet they do provide exceptional defenses.

If the player can attain immortality without them (I.e. in the case of seraphim) then all the better.

 

It's better for example to take Celestial Lore/Focus for Hallowed Restoration than it is to take armor lore, toughness, combat reflexes, spell resistance, warding lore combined.

 

A never ending regen pool of 10000hp/s beats em all. Especially with constitution, as that much more hp. When you put these in combos, so that they are 'always on' and you needn't worry about casting them when they wear off etc, you are pretty much impervious to damage. The only thing you need is a larger hp pool.

 

Same for Dryad, no defensive skill will ever stack up to golden glade with constitution.

 

Lastly, with all this said, the real 'killers' are combat arts.

 

Again in a test case, the Garganthropods Tail attack gave my Dryad 18000 DoT's, combined with the 18000ish dmg the tail attack itself did.

 

That would mean instant KO for a character without constitution, or some massive hp increasing effects. As the DoT happened immediately after the hit, without any visible effect.

 

The Nameless can also OHKO a toon easy in niob, as their hits are massive.

Their Combat Arts don't have a high hit chance until the late game, mostly niob, so they are also very underrated. However, again in tests (just to see damages that can be done, standing there letting them pound characters of various defense) they can whack a toon anywhere from 20000-30000+ in late niob with their Combat Arts. Normal hits are in the 10000 range.

 

I nearly fell out of my chair when the Gar' Collosus hit the dryad for 23000 in niob. I never thought he could unleash a hit like that.

 

Others are similar, The Carnach, hits around 10000 but many at once, etc.

The Octagolomus, insanely high hits (elf in expulse is completely immune if you stack it enough. Makes the player think its 'missing' or soemthing is wrong, yet just let expulse drop....)

 

Yet most of the time, if not almost always players neglect these sorts of things, because a buff or something has never made them witness these hits yet. I can assure you, they do exist.

 

I'll add to this if I discover anymore truly relevant data, or come with more 'easy to make immortal' builds.

 

Hopefully this helps everyone avoid posting in 'Dead Character' threads.

 

Thanks to everyone for playing Sacred, and all the cool people over the years I've met because of it.

 

Cheers,

 

Lastly, I would very much like to hear infos from everyone on what they do or think makes certain classes immortal. Can someone post an immortal TG? or DM? it would be great to hear from the players with a lot of high level experience as well, players who play a lot in plat+ too to hear what you think works etc.

 

Cheers again,

Edited August 18, 2010 by gogoblender

[dreeft 9]

Brilliant read r00. Excellent information.

 

Much thanks for compiling it!

[r00ster 1]

I forgot to add this in;

 

Expert Touch VS 'ye olde style'

 

Expert Touch is superior to the old style, separated regens in a way that is not so obvious;

 

If the character being planned will use Combat Discipline, expert touch is the way to go, even with multi aspects.

Due to how combos work, there is no loss in regens, and they will be shorter.

 

The Combat Arts will execute in a combo sequentially, regardless of regen, and we know that combos only regen when done.

 

This means that all you have to worry about when using combos, is the last move to regen, which with using expert touch, again, even multi aspect, will be shorter.

 

The only time when not to use expert touch for the most, is the character will be multi aspect, and combat discipline is not planned.

 

Cheers,

[Groosum 1]

Brilliant read r00. Excellent information.

 

Much thanks for compiling it!

Ditto, totally awesome provides many of us with very useful insight into the mechanic's of surviving.

[Shattered Rift 2]

(Wasn't there an older version of this guide?)

 

Only skimmed a few areas, but I'm disappointed not to see Temple Guardians listed when every(?) other class is. (No, wait, Inquisitors are missing, too.)

 

A good job, though. I'll probably read it in-depth later.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Shattered Rift

[chattius 2,522]

Yes niob is way harder. In niob the damage from enemy is multiplied by 3.35 compared to silver (=value from tooltipp in last kill independant from difficulty).

But it is even worser: this multiplier is applied before resistance comes in. So what does this mean?

 

If we do:

D_r as damage_received

D_d as damage-dealt by enemy following tooltipp

R resistance against this damage type

 

then for silver we have:

D_r = D_d * (D_d / (D_d+R))

 

In Niob the damage dealth is multiplied with 3.35:

D_r = 3.35*D_d * (3.35*D_d / (3.35*D_d+R))

 

or after transforming:

 

D_r = 3.35*D_d * (D_d / (D_d+(R/3.35)))

 

So in niob you take the formula for silver, but divide your resistance by 3.35. You multiply the damage the silver formula now gives with 3.35. So if you enter niob with silver equipment you may receive MORE than a factor of 3.35 damage.

 

Some numbers:

silver:

If the enemy deals 1000 damage and you have a resistance of 0 you will receive 1000 damage.

niob:

If the enemy deals 1000 damage and you have a resistance of 0 you will receive 3350 damage.

 

silver

If the enemy deals 1000 damage and you have a resistance of 3000 you will receive 1000*(1000/(1000+3000) = 250 damage.

niob:

If the enemy deals 1000 damage and you have a resistance of 3000 you will receive 3.35*1000*(1000/(1000+3000/3.35)) = 1767 damage.

 

So the damage in niob is like a factor 7 in the second case compared to the damage in silver with same equipment.

Edited August 18, 2010 by chattius

[Llama8 8]

Lastly, I would very much like to hear infos from everyone on what they do or think makes certain classes immortal. Can someone post an immortal TG? or DM? it would be great to hear from the players with a lot of high level experience as well, players who play a lot in plat+ too to hear what you think works etc.

I was wondering why you'd not put in a TG (or Inquisitor & DM).

 

I'm not sure off the top of my head what an "immortal" TG would look like, but I'm sure Jolting Touch would feature fairly heavily since it gives stackable melee reflection (or life leech, sadly not a %), 5% healing per pulse (or more RpH per pulse) & most importantly, Damage Mitigation (25% at level 1).

 

You'd probably have to take Concentration so you can use T-energy Shroud (modded for damage mitigation & CA reflection) & Untouchable Force (modded for stun, attack speed reduction & arrow block) & possibly permanent Combat Alert (obviously you'll get better bonuses if you keep it a CA, but you'll have more to manage, but you can just chuck it into a combo) modded for defence & melee reflect. Charged Grid is the TG's only healing CA (well, and Jolting Touch), but it's got a massive cooldown that isn't reduced by any of it's mods. Furious Emblazer can also be modded for stun.

 

That would make necessary skills - Concentration, DG Focus, SW Focus, WE Lore, Tactics (since it boosts the damage reduction/absorption of T-energy Shroud), LF Focus (Lore would only be necessary if you're using LF CAs for damage), then the "usual" Consitution, Armour Lore, Spell Resist & Combat Reflexes, possibly Toughness as well, though you'd need to swap something out since Conc -> CR is 10 skills.

[Ryanrocker 200]

(Wasn't there an older version of this guide?)

 

Maybe your thinking about the Demigod one regarding damage mitigation? Excellent read roo, really gets me thinking about how to maximize my builds

[Barristan 14]

Heya,

 

great write-up there

 

The only way I skip constitution is with TG or seraphim. You will have to make sure that the shield has 100% absorb (WE). DP has this as a native stat. Besides that, toughness and armor lore mastery are needed to counter the shifted balance. (WEL also preferred) You should then also be sure to have healthy -DoT and DM, to make sure your shield does not suffer. That way I have skipped it on many an energy shielded toon.

 

Keep up the good work rOOster!

 

Greetz

[kriv 14]

Great write up! As someone who is new to sacred, I really appreciate the effort you put into this.

[r00ster 1]

Thanks guys.

 

Another find!

 

and it's IMPORTANT!

 

On Critical Hits:

 

It seems that the evade criticals provided by Combat Reflexes and Spell Resistance are a seperate check from the hits 'chance to hit' your character.

 

What I mean is, is if there are TWO dice rolls on a basic hit;

 

Chance to hit

Chance to critical

 

So with these skills, a hit that will hit you still will, however most hits become noticably HALVED.

 

Example:

 

I let (basic, red type) scorpions beat on a character (dryad with ancient bark) without combat reflex.

I was hit in the 300ish range per hit (has massive armor).

 

I then mastered Combat Reflex skill, and the hits became 150ish.

 

The same worked with SPELL resistance skill.

I took the dryad to the wastelands, with 53000 hp.

 

I let a demon mage hit it with the death spell, and.... it survived! I was still dropped to like, almost no health, but I took the 'one shot bug' with a class aside the seraphim and shadow warrior.

I believe the reason is the leech is 50%, the spell is massive dmg, however, with ancient bark with rugged mod 12000 magic resistance and spell resistance removing the 'critical' chance on the hit, I lived.

 

Just had to add this.

 

Cheers,

[Llama8 8]

r00, those hits (300) from the scorp, were they the normal hits & then you saw occasional crits on top? 'Cause if that's the case then CR is reducing the non-crit damage as well as the chance to crit (or the crit damage, or something).

[r00ster 1]

r00, those hits (300) from the scorp, were they the normal hits & then you saw occasional crits on top? 'Cause if that's the case then CR is reducing the non-crit damage as well as the chance to crit (or the crit damage, or something).

 

I will try to explain further;

 

The hits without were 300ish.

I assume the scorpions have high critical chances, they have always appeared to, which is why I used them for the testing.

 

In niob, their critical chance could be extremely high, it is unknown but safe to assume.

 

However, I do not believe the critical avoidance makes the player avoid the hit.

I believe it simply works as a deductive % to the enemies crit chance, and their are two rolls on an attack;

 

I.e.

 

scorpion attacks

A roll is made if the hit is successful.

IF successful, another roll is made based on the creatures critical chance, say its 50%.

 

I believe my evade criticals works is deducted from their critical chance, so it would be 0.5 - 79%, which = 0.105, or leaving them only a 10% critical chance.

This makes the majority of hits much less, which seems to be what I'm experiencing.

 

That said, this is after the 'to hit' roll, and the attack will hit, so in a sense it does just lower the 'critical damage' done to the player.

 

I could be wrong here, but this would explain what I see in game with and without this skill being the only discrepancy.

Edited August 18, 2010 by r00ster

[chattius 2,522]

So if you have 80% evade, the enemy does 300 on crit and 150 on normal and had 50% crit chance the result from 100 hits will average in:

80 misses, 10 hits with 300 damage and 10 hits with 150 damage.

 

If you avoid crit hits by 50% it will average in:

80 misses, 5 hits with 300 damage and 15 hits with 150 damage.

 

Do I understand it correct?

[essjayehm 58]

Awe-some stuff, R00!

 

Soooo glad someone who is on PC wrote up the "CA + skills" version of immortality. Damage Mitigation is somekindagood, but doesn't stop absolutely everything, and 100% all-channel isn't available until late-game. The techniques you described work for most of the characters' lifetime (well, after the requisite skills and CA levels are attained).

 

Hrm... Inquisitor needs some attention, does he? I can get to 100% mitigation relatively easy (Reverse Polarity +exploit gold mod, with some immortal escorts and some IS ghosts), BUT that doesn't stop the DoT's, which get really hairy with the spitting spiders (even on console). Some -DoT and he's good to go, but again, that is for console versions.

[r00ster 1]

A simple way to beat the DoT problem everyone has comes at the cost of a skill choice: Spell Resistance.

This at mastery I have found will make DoT's tick but once.

 

With high constitution, hp, and hp regen, that makes the effect of such attacks very small. You mostly regen the damage done in a blink, unless you let them really pile up on you.

 

 

Chattius;

 

You understanding of numbers in this game seems far beyond my own. Your logic seems correct in what you assume though, that is the exact type of experience I get from actual gameplay.

You yourself could probably shed more light to this over everyone else, as you have an intricate knowledge of the numbers.

 

 

Another thing I would like to add, is COMBOS.

 

Using combos to help 'immortalize' a character is a very real possibility.

 

Lets take a look;

 

example character - High Elf

Combat Discipline mastered.

 

You could make a combo like thus;

 

Phase Step > Frost Flare > Ragning Nimbus > Glacial Thorns.

 

With mods chosen like such;

 

Phase Step bronze = cooldown, silver = vanish, gold = mend (heal on teleport).

Frost Flare bronze = further reduce move speed, silver = reduce attack value, gold = Area of Effect.

Nimbus bronze = either(damage based mods), silver = reduce attack speed, gold = Area of Effect.

Glacial thorns = (all damage mods for the most, irrelevant to the concept)

 

From this, you can note;

 

Teleport will lower its cooldown the higher the ca, so with a bit of work, will be fully regenerated at the end of the four moves.

From this, it will allow the player to maintain a 'near always invisible' state thanks to the second mod.

The gold mod, will also heal the player for large amounts each teleport.

 

That in it's own sounds 'godly'... there's more!

 

Frost flare, after the intial teleport, will then hit a mob with the Area of Effect mod. The mob then loses over 50% movement, and 20%ish attack value. They will have a hard time chasing the player, who also just teleported away first....

Then nimbus, further reducing their speed, to roughly 90% loss with both Frost flare and nimbus (spell effects stack....) and losing 40%+ of their attack value!

Then lastly, they will run RIGHT into 100+ ice shards to the face!

 

Also, did I mention that shadow step often stuns the opponents at it's start location?

 

Having a combo like this, with mods chosen to be part of a sequence, will MASSIVELY increase character power, and survival.

There are combo possibilities like this, for EVERY character.

 

I have had great success (so far) with; Seraphim exalted/celestial combos modded for debuffings, High elf like stated, inquisitor, Shadow Warrior and dryad.

 

I apologize for the lack of dragon mage and TG, I haven't really played them enough to make suggestions.

 

Cheers,

[claudius 104]

Rooster I'll finish reading it later but one thing that stuck out at me. Bugged demon mages? Where do these guys live?

[Furian67 14]

Rooster I'll finish reading it later but one thing that stuck out at me. Bugged demon mages? Where do these guys live?

The bugged demon mages spoken of are the demons in the wastelands that cast a lightning bold effect at you. Usually they are the smooth headed ones and can but not always carry a staff. look like this

When I run through the Wastelands I will keep an eye open for these and jump on them first before all other mobs in the area.

[Dragon Brother 619]

Is it only the champs that cast the bugged CA though? I cant remember if the normal ones do it or not.

[Furian67 14]

I think they all can do it but if I'm right the champs have a higher percentage to cast it and make it stick. Bottom line is if ya see a round head out there JUMP on it!

[claudius 104]

Probably best not hang out in the wastelands if you are going to 200 unless you are farming the guardians..

[Etherian 76]

Lets not forget the Abishai of Dissension.

 

Not only does he pose serious traps. Found HERE.

 

He also has a "one hit kill" CA called "Mortal Strike" I believe. This DeathBlow CA has killed me [2] times. You will be throwing everything you have at the Abishai, all of the sudden your growing daisies.

 

After talking with r00 about this last night. All we could come up with is a battle suit made for this CA. A suit with massive amounts of % block CA socketed. But again, we are only talking numbers. There is still a chance one could recieve this "one hit kill" CA.

 

I remain,

[Dragon Brother 619]

Lets not forget the Abishai of Dissension.

 

Not only does he pose serious traps. Found HERE.

 

He also has a "one hit kill" CA called "Mortal Strike" I believe. This DeathBlow CA has killed me [2] times. You will be throwing everything you have at the Abishai, all of the sudden your growing daisies.

 

After talking with r00 about this last night. All we could come up with is a battle suit made for this CA. A suit with massive amounts of % block CA socketed. But again, we are only talking numbers. There is still a chance one could recieve this "one hit kill" CA.

 

I remain,

Theres that one and the gust of wind that are potentially dangerous. In case you wondered or hadnt checked, mortal strike has either a 100% or a 50% deathblow value...hard to tell since I dont know which of the various formulas it follows...50% is more likely seing as we no how it stacks ingame. I suppose you could just have insane amounts of health...

[r00ster 1]

I suppose you could just have insane amounts of health...

 

 

When all else fails, there is health.

I don't know how many times I gotta say it lol. HP is the last and most important line of defense. Always has been, always will be (unless they change how action rpg's are made dramatically).

 

Cheers,

[Dragon Brother 619]

I suppose you could just have insane amounts of health...

 

 

When all else fails, there is health.

I don't know how many times I gotta say it lol. HP is the last and most important line of defense. Always has been, always will be (unless they change how action rpg's are made dramatically).

 

Cheers,

Of course, its the only surefire way to survive an attack, have more health. Better than a %chance to not be hit...always that one time you get smacked.