super-avianti

well thanks for the kind words I resume playing after a break, the slowdown was most likely due the region I was going through, the desert. I quickly start leveling at a reasonable rate. So far so good. I'm in gold now starting the swap @lvl42 (I keep rushing through the campaign). The character has some lacking attack and defense rating are pretty low no matter the points invested in Strength and my pretty hight level in "dual wield" (~70, I shopped plenty of +all skills gems early in gold ). Anyway FF does the job but I don't use it enough to say the truth. For defense I got Irune, Toughness is at a decent level, I found shoulder with some mitigation as well as Sakari belts, along with high level of constitution I can stand a beating, still constitution mastery will make the build clearly less of a potion drinker. On top of it I decided to start a "Nefarious Netherworld only" build. I'm not taking it seriously as the lack of ancient magic as well as the fact that PD is broken remove a lot f the build potential. Basically my plan for the build is to use melee a lot and live with a low damage output. I'm level 12 right now I did the following choices for skills: Dual wield (1) Armor lore (5) NN lore (5) Bargaining (12) NN focus (1) 7 points left. I'm suffering right now from really low damages output. I will get better as my next skill will be Tactic lore. Tactic lore will be critical to the build as I can't see my self relying on NN spells only. So I need to do some damages with weapons and fual my CAs through rgh. For info I didn't use any CA from other aspects (not even mutilation which is known de facto). In the end the skills selection should looks like: Dual wield Armor lore NN lore Bargaining NN focus Tactic lore constitution Alchemy toughness Spell resistance The reason for Alchemy while playing on console is that I feel like I'll need to make the most out of "concentration potions". Lacking in damages and Area of Effect spells, I'll need to keep my CAs at pretty high level. CA mods: I was wondering about the mods that grant the build with +% life heal per kill/soul (soul imbiber, restore, reclaim) but I decide it's counter productive I better drink potions and focus on mods that makes the build better vs more comfortable. SR: std zealot/source/zealot DS: spite/torture/stimulate IS: effort/fanatic/probation ED: greed/violence/plague pd: Despair/demoralize/extension (<= due to its buggy nature on console I won't mod it maybe won't use it... ). For ordering I'm going for something pretty weird. zealot/spite/greed/violence/plague/source/zealot/torture/stimulate/effort/fanatic/probation. It's an attempt "for the fun" so I decide to mod IS last. My idea is have ED close to highest level without penalty and use it as a "tiny nuke" every time my blades takes down one critter. It's my only Area of Effect so... let try Then I want DS at level so I can spam it on tough critters with help of "concentration potions" and achieve a cumulative effect. I took torture as... I still anticipate that the boost to damages will help (cumulative too as the effect on characteristics?)I took stimulate as it may help during (long) boss battles which could be resume in IS+DS combo (as SR is useless my hit chance will be low...). Later on I will focus on turning elite warriors into minions. For gear mainly +all skills, then deathblow.

I'm floored by my own stupidy and how greedy the game can make you. I suffered my most stupid death ever with this build... Fighting the miasma in silver my attention was caught by some item that could have been interesting. It was not a tough fight... I decided to open quickly my inventory in the middle of the fight to delete quickly some poor items.... Turned out really bad, the camera focused on me and I found my self caught in a hell of a slow down... I instantly gave up, but the slow down Was stronger... the sequence last for almost ten seconds... and I died... I could not exist the inventory in time... How stuypid can I be? Really I was considering deleting the character, I played a bit more (killing the miasma easily by the way, not that it was tough in the first place) but I'm on the way the scorpion boss now and I've notice a hell of a slowdown... in my level up speed this time... I'm floored... I wonder about restarting the build but I feel so dumb... and I know the build is OK it's no longer the same it was done almost "right" my motivation has taken a hit... Dumb, dumb, dumb...

Woot I guess I finally found a build I'm happy with (from another board): I'm level 29 in a bit less than 10 hours, using only stuffs I find and buy (self sufficient build). I'm 65% in the silver campaign, no death (hopefully as a reset of my survival bonus would make me really sad). I've to swallow plenty of potions but it's getting safer now and the build should improve in the upcoming level as its defense is coming together @ lvl29 this is my skills selection armor lore 5 dual wield 5 Bargaining 29 Tactic lore 8 GI focus 1 toughness 1 Combat reflexes 1 Skill points left: 29 Actually I'm saving them because I want to achieve Constitution and Bargaining mastery @ level 75 At level 75 the build should be: rmor lore 5 dual wield 5 Bargaining 75 Tactic lore 30 GI focus 1 toughness 1 Combat reflexes 1 Constitution 75 EDIT SR 1 <= forgot one skill... Alchemy 1 For gear, whatever with +skills (if possible to all skills but take everything you find). Attributes: I invested evenly in strength, vitality and stamina, to address some shortcoming of the build in its early life. I plan to focus on strength once I get constitution (I plan to have constitution @ character level).

I've started a PVE rendition of this build, I really like it. It's may fastest leveler so far. I like because it so simple. Still it'a a really fragile thing early. I've been careful for cone and I'm at lvl26 in less than 10 hours (in seraphin island now in silver), well below my standards (sucky standards... whatever). I did some unusual choices early on in regard to attributes, I pumped Vitality, Stamina and Strength equally. I allow me to keep some skills @1 with suffering to many trade offs. I took the skill in this order: 1) dual wield 2) armor lore 3) bargaining (@character level 4) tactic lore 5) GI focus 6) Toughness 7) CR 8) Constitution 9 & 10) are pretty much open choices and would vary depending on PC/console). For a long while my skills point attribution was like (following the skills order): 1, 1,character level, 5, 1 Now it's more level 26 5, 5, character level, 8, 1, 1 I've skill point in spare. But I've to be wise I've mod only FF so far and I need to mod PC and CE to iron out the build (for Irune and Startle). Irune is overall more valuable but against Boss and elites startle does wonder. I will mod PC first and swallow some more potions against (not disabled...) tough guys. FF may not be an obvious choice but it allowed me to chop tiny mob which would have taken me down early on. I needed to take them down fast landing almost every hit is a must. The "resolve mod" provide that kind of power. Still I swallowed a lot of potions, actually I still do. I've to be really careful, Things should get better once I get the mitigation from Irune and more +all skills gear (through toughness). Another unusual choice especially for a GI only (no other CAs learned) is that I've only put one point into GI focus and I don't plan to pump it up significantly anytime soon. +all skills will do the job. Tactice lore is my priority among others, I've to keep Bargaining at char level and I plan to master Constitution pretty early. For those that wonder about why I took Toughness before Constitution it's because even swallowing plenty of potions, having found Zakary's belt as well as having bought shoulders (pretty early I've been lucky for once) with physical mitigation I needed more In the same vein, about taking CR first (to put only one point) it's just to evade more hits, the character is still fragile. I need to get hit less and soon especially critical (or I may messed up soon, my wife say hello... and no pause...). Extra hits point provide by Constitution won't help it. On top of it has no impact on the "constitution mastery schedule". For gear I'm starting to access +all skills gear and I buy as much as I can. I take also every + to offensive skills I found as hitting most of the time is critical being a fragile being. I still don't know for my last skill. *CD is an option, I'm not sure about it but it's "safe" nobody complains about extra damages. *I wonder about trying Alchemy even playing on console. Trophies are not an option to use in fight but the benefits on potions strength and duration may be worse it.(my most likely choice as for now). *Speed lore may be an option to maximize hit chances and up the build defense still at this stage FF should last almost long enough.

Interesting I may try to play a build for some hour to see how it goes, I'm addicted to the game and fraked up experiments too... Who knows may be I will find that it's an effective way to not still the show from my minions (can't mean slower killing too, then it depends on what is the safest strategy if one were to try in hardcore fashion).

I've one question about CM, I tried the Vortex mod and they work great but I never tried the other mods? Did somebody gave them a chance? It "seems" to me (I never tried to make proper measurement) that the range of CM is growing a bit over time and both the stunning and the bleeding effect are tempting. COuld it be a "sane" trade off to maximize the utility of CM on tiny mobs and simply spell some more time against bigger mobs? (when facing bigger mods the stun effect + bleed may compensate a bit for taking your encounters faster, the longer they stand the more likely they are to hit you but if stunned or bleeding?) Edit I'm not that willing to try my self as testing is so time intensive on console and bad items managements (my fault) did not help either (At some point my chest was so full I cleared it a bit too recklessly ~armor sets aside I no longer have +% XP per kills and the like...) As a note I would compensate for the likely a bit lesser damage against huge mod by taking the LA "paralize" mod as slow down enemies leave you option for m more strategic positioning.

Agreed the only real benefit of the ranged buyld is that it makes fight against tough single opponent "safer", RM+the deprivation mod ensure that you can stay in the distance. On top of it some ranged weapons have interesting properties "like -% to the opponent chances to reflects ranged damages" which for example help me a lot against the Gran Inquisitor (I died stupidly once before I realize that I was hurting my self badly thanks to his RP... ).

After messing around with various ideas, I gave some extra play time to my first real Inquisitor build which was a Ranged GI only build. After all my weird tries it (as well as this thread) convinced me to give another try to a single aspect Inquisitor in "hardcore" mode (ie not Hardcore but without learning any CA from other aspects). My previous suffered from quiet some design flaws: *I didn't not take Bargaining *I spend most of my attribute points into Dex which scale damages, defense but pump attack value slowly. *As result I took both speed lore and ranged weapon to pump my attack rating. *I pass on the "resolve" mod for FF which did not help the aforementioned issue either... *It was really fragile I took Constitution as my last skill and spent no point in vitality... (unwise I died 9 times I'm in gold ~level 70) *I overall spend my skill points unwisely, I pump to much skill too early instead of being focused *But the mother of the design flaw is linked to ranged per self. They can be great, in place where enemies tend to run away from you or in region that are not densely populated and vs bosses it makes battle a lot safer (I happen to suffer more in some Boss battles with Inquisitor that where better designed, overall more powerful). The real problem with ranged weapon is when you're surrounded your damage output crumbles, at best you hit three critters at a time and damage are lower anyway than with two handed melee weapons. I thought a bit about that, in a first time I considered going the DW route = more damages, more sockets that sounded nice. But I decided that it was not really my play style, I like range build and the safety during Boss battles appeals me (With only one aspect there is not much between your Inquisitor and the fury of some Boss/Elite critters... Distance in those situation is a good start. Overall I made the following arbitration, I'll pass on weapon lore and pump Speed lore (even if I've to pump some more skills point into it to achieve the same attack value). So I'll be free to switch between range and melee weapons without suffering a penalty to hit chances. I trade attack speed and some skills points for greater flexibility as well as higher defense (nice side effect but not the reason behind my choice). I also changed my skill points distribution I plan to keep vitality, dex and strength even. Extra hit points are the best thing in the world (as well as constitution @ character level ) and strength pump my attack rating higher than Dex and boost my melee damages. So here the build: Attributes STR=DEX=VIT (more or less, I may module along the way). Skills: Bargaining Tactic Lore Speed Lore armor lore GI Focus Constitution @character level SR CR Toughness Combat discipline (I might choose damage lore but I'm not sure it works on console but for PC players) In regard to gear, well the Ilgard set is a good starting point as well as the best GI spider available. For rings/amulet/sockets I'll see as I level, but expect the usual +x to all skills, +% deathblow, some +%XP, runes. For gameplay: *While surrounded change to melee weapons *Depending your level and your luck (in regard to gear)or simply how steep is the leveling curve // whatever the reasons // adjust your play style if critters are not that easy to take down play it safe and avoid engaging in melee. *Think to activate FF as you need to take your enemies fast. It's easy to forget and sometime everything looks fine till you take a bad critical right on the head... * Keep plenty of different weapons (with %LL, boost to attack value, various elemental modifier, etc). You can adapt you need to make the most out of it, actually you will need. On console you should have 7 slots available for weapons *Whenever the topology allows even if like me you favor Shuriken better use energy weapons, range change everything, RM will trigger more shots more often. Enemies will get hit more on their way to reach you. For CAs: *RM should be your main CA either ranged or melee: deprivation/petrify/frenzy Deprivation is critical as along with speed lore it allow you to run circle around most critters. Petrify is better than LL and Frenzy grant double which you don't have otherwise (no weapon lore). Regen time should be pretty low so you can go with few regen per hit (best case only Ilgard gloves). *CE Bleed/startle/judgment *MP disgrace/proclamation/mortify <= the least important CA to mod *FF Fanaticism/Resolve/relentless <= critical to boost your attack value swallow as much runes as you can. CE Purge/Eradicate/Hallow or Irune <= Up to you. I almost always go with Irune but I'm not sure for this build, hallow would have a great synergy with damage lore for PC gamers (and pistols for example come with multiple elemental modifiers) hallow should bump your DOT consistently. Either 10% less damages for every blows you take or +20% on every hit you land, keeping in mind that as mitigation kicks in before other modifiers it saves more vs critical. As I've invest in quiet some defensive skills I'm tempted by hallow especially as my previous ranged build lacked in damage output (it didn't had access to melee weapon but it's still something to keep in mind). So far I'm more attracted to Hallow. I chose Purge as it bumps fire Dot, Dot are good for range player. Too bad PC doesn't offer a poison mod it would have made MP and ED more powerful CAs (and they kind of suck without it), choosing between magic and poison makes more chance for the an Inquisitor than fire/magic anyway... that's for modder I started last Sunday I'm level 12, so far so good (I haven't play since then).

Some update and thanks for extra advices. I played a lot less lately, till I manage to push my test character pass level 50. It ain't perfect but I think the concept (no offensive skills as crazy as it sounds) is valid but the character is ill suited for console play. Below the build @level 54 Bargaining 54 GI focus 9 NN focus 9 CD 1 Armor lore 25 Concentration 1 constitution 54 toughness 1 SR 1 I've 35 points I'm saving as I'm not sure about how to invest them (most likely it would be in GI and NN focuses to unlock mod points). I died 5 times (mostly dumbly)I believe but not important as the build is not hardcore, neither going for max power. It's more of an almost RP character, If there were something as rp in Sacred 2 I would along with my choices for skill pump all my attribute point into wisdom. I could do a bit better in skill ordering but nothing critic in regard to the build. the build is sane I believe just badly suited for console gameplay, especially the fact that you need to go through the campaign to access higher difficulties level. The fact the PD is broken is bothering too as it's so critical to the build. The character has real PRO: +) it's really easy to make it efficient enough, it needs few mod point to the concept of the build to work. Basically mods FF for attack boost and extend duration (3mods) and mods for SR zealot/recreation/soul imbiber. It's enough in first difficulty as long as focus on gathering tiny mobs (hence why I believe the build is more suited to PC players). +) It's easy to make it work so you have plenty of skill points early on to boost other skills. I plan is to reach bargaining and constitution mastery by level 75. Armor mastery could be reach pretty soon too without much trade off. +) Skills as SR/CR are not critical to the build, PC player could (actually should) favor Alchemy and blacksmith, which would make the build a good support /self sufficient character. +) the character allows for various gameplay. From plain melee to melee/ranged as a support for minions. And CONS: -) Going through the campaign is not really fun, Bosses battles are long and boring, attack value is really low and it will only by later level that FF and PD will be up most of the time. Pc players may have work around with Alchemy making campaign play more convenient. -) Damage output is low early on and it won't reach the level of some more dedicated to damages Inqy. You are slow and don't do much damages (even if you were to spend more point in CD early on). Once again Alchemy can help in critical situation (bonus to speed). -) You won't have that many mod points there is no way to mod all CAs in both aspects. Overall If I had a decent computer... I would not complain... The character is easy going, not depend on gear in early (bronze/silver/gold) difficulty levels but Bosses... I will continue to level it up but I've mixed feeling, on one hand I think the build is odd enough that it could deserve a proper guide on the other hand it would strange as I would have to do it for PC and I play on console... For console play it has too much restrictions. ----------------------------------------------- I'll post it here for the sake of it (and the hours I spent testing plying and enjoying), I may move it to the proper section if some find its weirdness interesting. So I'll try to do it as if I were playing PC. Name: Slow Mow (the guy is really slow ) Skill choices: Bargaining: (@character level) GI focus: mastery + NN focus: mastery + CD: mastery + Armor lore: mastery Concentration: 1 constitution: @character level Alchemy: mastery Blacksmith: mastery toughness: mastery + Attribute either vitality or a blend of stamina+vitality. Mods I chose 9 mods as the basis of the build (you will have more points later on depending on how far one would push the build). GI aspect (in that order) FF: Fanaticism/Resolve/Relentless RM: Deprivation/Petrify/Frenzy PC: free/Eradicate/Irune NN aspect (in that order) SR: Zealot/Recreation/Soul Imbiber PD: Free/Decrepit/Extension IS: Brunt/Fanatic/Probation How to play: It's a melee build. 1)You gather tiny mobs, you unleash your FF/PD in tough spot or when SR is not charged. Try to make Elite into minions (once the others are down). Basically FF/PD and trophies are your trump card in tough spots. 2)RM is your main attack, I took deprivation as some critters running away is bothering. Most likely you will wield two handed melee weapons most of the time but keep some ranged weapons as they proved convenient for me in various spots (you can take tough opponents in the distance easily by out running them). Others choices are self explanatory, stun is better than life leech or extra damages, frenzy is good as you have no chance of double hit otherwise (no weapon lore). RM is great to makes a lot out of regen per hit (no need for many regen per hit items). 3)In latter level when PD/FF lasts and with help of trophies going through the campaign should be a more valid option. The PRO: + The build should be pretty resistant: good damage mitigation Irune+Toughness. + The build should have an healthy amount of hit point vit+constitution @character level. + The built with regenerate a hell lot of hit points per second, high constitution+vitality / SR benefits recreation+soul imbiber. + The build is self sufficient and a good support character for other builds (Bargaining+blacksmith). + The build is weird and that's nice. The CONS: - Low damage output for an Inquisitor (but your resilient and you can make the most of the PC damage bonus). - Not really suited for the campaign but alchemy should help (a bit) there. - Low Spell resistance. The gear: Early on I would focus on %experience items, then I would start to blend in some %death blow items and finally throw into the mix +x all skills. Make it so you don't need more than a good regen per hit item. Keep %LL weapon (both ranged and melee) you melee most of the time but ranged is great to support your minions and helpful in some tough spots.

Tiny advice, I noticed that you play on Xbox take care as you can't move to higher level of difficulty by reaching a given level, you have to go through the campaign. Some builds can give headache during some bosses/tough fights (plain AS build for example till your ZD last really long). I tried one based on some Dobri's advices on the thread "Inquisitor for the impoverish?". It did well but some orcs were really difficult (you can't really make a mob big enough so CM really shine) and Bosses fight. It's all my fault as he described how to play the build and I did not think Boss or some elites would be such a bother. Still I believe there are work around on console to make the AS build more viable (ie being able to go through the campaign more conveniently). I didn't not try but I think that completely shifting the priority when it comes to modding, I went CM RP first. Going ZD till gold mod then CM could help. ZD is the only way to handle bosses few elites characters even if its dumb AI is a plague.

Last up-date before a while I guess as I decide to do a "sacred break" I spend an impressive amount of time playing and testing for more than three months. My wife started to complain, and I've to say that a break can only be as the game will fresher when I decide to give it a chance later on. I start to be attract to HC gaming as when one of my characters dies I mostly no longer play it test play aside. The two last build I considered was a Full AS build inspired by a Dobri post. Pretty impressive, my fastest leveler so far but it implies a specific gameplay. I died because I ended bored, in some region you can't form huge mob so CM shine still I've been unwise and stop trying to kill some monsters, bad idea... especially as I forgot about my Doppelganger... The build is super powerful for a single aspect Inky, actually I would say it is the most valid option for a single aspect Inky. It also allow for plenty of fine tuning depending on the player's goal as the build doesn't require many skill slot to be effective. I guess the only limitation for the build is the player, if you're to run the campaign (as I like to do) you have to accept at some point to simply pass on killing in not densely populated areas. Blending some NN aspect is tempting. SR mod for healing is really tempting & the bonus to attack/defense make regen per hit and life leech tempting. Actually as RP is not that effective (and costly regen wise) early on and as I find wiser to mod CM first I spend most of the time with SR as my buff (I'm next to lvl30 in 12/13 hours). After playing that build (and enjoying it) I decide to go back to my GI/NN build which I've still tough time deciding between "ranged" (like the play style) and melee (more power). I realize that I need concentration, my previous experiments made me more aware of the Bargaining benefits... Basically it was clear that I haven't enough skill slots to do it all. I start to wonder if there was a possibility like with the AS build to make a pretty self sufficient pretty simple GI/NN build. Basically the AS build core skill set consists of the following: Skills: 1 Bargaining 2 Astute Lore 3 Astute Focus 4 Armor lore 5 Constitution 6 Combat discipline 7 Dual wield + Toughness at some point After these ones players may add whatever they want depending of their goals, likings or simply depending on the version of the game they play (PC/console // Ice and Blood or just FA). I wonder about a build that would require no "offensive/CA lore skill" in his core skill set (I know that crazy). I considered this: 1 Bargaining 2 Armor lore 3 GI Focus 4 NN Focus 5 Constitution 6 Concentration 7 Combat discipline + Toughness at some point Basically the trade of is that one has to pass on Irune as the third mod for PC as Halow is used to make up for lesser damages due to lack of tactic lore. Basically I reach ~level 25 (and die stupidly in the process, not an tactic error like with the AS build) so the skill set was not completed. I switched between ranged and two handed melee weapons depending on the situation ( I tend to switch to ranged when accompanied by minions or in area where critters offers lesser challenge). I didn't test extensively but I think the build should be workable in the campaign (as the AS build not optimal in every situations tho). It should be even better for the lucky PC player as the can put FF and PB in a combo which should yield to great results in bosses battle (when you attack and defense value collapse... or during tough fight or while charging SR). Console renditions of both builds could be: Single aspect AS build: 1 Bargaining 2 Astute Lore 3 Astute Focus 4 Armor lore 5 Constitution 6 Combat discipline 7 weapon lore 8 Toughness 9 SR 10 CR GI & NN "no lore" build: Bargaining Armor lore GI Focus NN Focus Constitution Concentration Combat discipline Toughness SR CR That as far as I can go in Sacred 2 for now.

blabla posting a lot... I feel like I've to, people have been helping and I see too many threads where people ask questions or advices but don't give others returns in regard to the choices they made. So I'll keep updating the thread till I'm done with the build. I'm still testing a bit playing all of my Inky builds. I'm getting closer to something more efficient in regard to skill ordering. I'm still considering bargaining vs concentration as PC really pump damages how does high level jewelry compares? I'm missing experience but PC bonus to damages is really meaty (hallow or not). I'm also fine tuning my choice for mods (the ordering too). I feel like something powerful can be achieved it's even truer for PC player who can safely use PD. I'm to test more +% to spell intensity item to see how it affects my NN damages. I'm also considering various strategies for the build. NN offer a lot of CAs that heal you namely IS, ED and SR. ED and SR works together, if you kill some one and make his corpse explode you're healed twice (20%). You can't do it with IS, once you create a minion you can't make his corpse explode and SR is not fed. You don't have to spend a lot of mod to have ED to heal you. I test it a bit (CE+ED) but it lowers consistently your damage output (you can do two CE during the time it takes to do a CE+ED combo). It could be interesting if you can pump ED damages high enough (I would have to run a test character to test this properly and mod ED first when it's cheap). I think that I'll end opening my-self a lot possibility for healing. In the end the build could be more complicated to play that I though first mixing killing and healing with thread management (minions and MP). I want high damages and too many minions can be bothering, so I can't rely only on IS+CE combo. So as I say earlier I'm considering GI only combo or NN+GI combo to pump my damages. For DS I could go with Gelidy/Deprivation/stimulate. I don't care much for DS duration I'll keep regen low enough (with few regen per hit items a DS/MP/CE with the stimulate mod and tenacity mod regen time should not exceed the combo execution time). More to come.

For the Gar Colossus I find that I encouter more problem with my melee Build than my ranged ones. With my ranged ones I can simply shoot and stun him from the platform while swallowing few potions. The startle mod for CE is convenient For my melee build I usually kill him with a blend of IS+CE and IS+DS combos.

Hum... it's embarrassing , I'm as undecided as a person as possible... I further test the "damages" issue I was describing ealier and I might have been wrong or the effect is less pronounced than I though. Actually the "spike" in damages was due to some "deathblow property" in a melee weapon I used. Anyway I still think that something is strange but to a lesser extend. As I was further test trying build I went back to my melee GI/NN. I will start him again I may keep both character as I can't blend in Bargaining for this new build. here's the skills choice. 1 dual wield 2 GI focus 3 NN focus 4 Armor lore 5 combat discipline 6 concentration 7 constitution 8 Tactic lore 9 NN lore lore 10 Toughness I've settled for concentration as I indeed want to run both SR and PC. I read some comment saying that there is no "synergy" between them but I think otherwise. I'm to make "odd choices" for SR mod. Actually I don't like the "fake security" provided SR, Zealot mods only make the illusion longer. As an Inky we have few way to pump our defences against CAs and spells I want as much way to restore my health as possible now. I like simple build, this one will be, it will be a high damages army raiser. Being more simple I've a better idea about the priority for the build in regard to mod. GI Aspect: => modding PC is the priority, it's pretty different from the ranged build as CE will be use all the time and is pretty good by default. I would say the same about pilori. I won't use RM. I don't want to be skill points starved so I've to make choices so I get most of the early mods (those you get for cheap). Mystic/Eradicate/Hallow (mostly because I never did a Hallow build ). As I state CE and MP are good on their own, I can improve their efficiency through the NN aspect (locking property of IS, debuff of DS), So I'll fully mod FF next: faith/resolve/relentless. I'm not to really on SR early on I'll need the attack boost asap. NN Aspect: First priority => IS making minions doesn't provide you with soul and I'm to create minions I'll create a lot of minions 1 I want better survivability, here my mod selection: Brunt/Menace/Reclaim <= I'll create a lot of minions, my defence as an Ink is not great, I need as much health as possible. Second priority SR: Death magic / source / soul imbiber. I'll use SR to pump attack and defence but to a lesser extend than its usual use, it will pump my damages, restore my health. When I'm facing many opponent the duration will be enough, when roaming in less dense area I should have no problem killing lonesome encounter (IS then a mix of CE, MP or DS => lonesome encounters is soon turned into dead meat). I guess DS should come next but that not a priority. I postpone the selection of a "lores" (tactic or NN) as I want early to be able to do three CAs combo, being able to add whatever CAs to my basic IS+CE combo will do more good than pumping their damages in insulation. On top of it CD pump damages Early on I'll rely on PC than SR, I'll get hurt but I've made it so I should be able to regain health way before I reach Constitution mastery and without locking socket with LL items. SR will come as an icing on the cake. For some reason I feel way more confident in this build success than my early attempts, I just feel like it will work (till my- next post lolz). I'm a great inquisitor, I've no espect for my ennemies, I make them suffer in this world and they should find no peace in the netherworld. They are all binded to me the living.. and the deads

I've test with the kind of pole arm that relies on dex as the damages modifier, I'll check properly as the modifier (+xx to damages) varies not only with the dex rating but the weapon. I guess my best bet is too try with FECAL MATTERY! weapons say a FECAL MATTERY! dagger vs a FECAL MATTERY! throwing dagger. In case the difference is really great (with a pole arm I can land some 10.000 whereas with any of the ranged weapons in my possession I can't pass 4.000). Depending on the result I may have to give up on ranged weapons, while playing my level 80 character I realize that nothing can make up for such a delta in damage out put (it shows a lot less at lower level and I can't imagine how much more it shows at <100 level...), ranged is great for bosses as it keep you out of trouble but bosses are a tiny part of scared 2 world. Other than that I'll keep an eye on rings and amulets with some LL property

Crap I died multiple times in the last days... I've been receiving my family during the last week and I happened to play really "casually" while discussing with family... Still it also happened to me three times not completely unexpectedly (I could have avoid if I had been more focus). Basically I die more than with my previous builds or tests characters. I guess it's once again a side effect of keeping Bargaining at the character level I run lower level buffs and my armour skill level is lower too. I could have avoid it as as I say but I think that I must do better with the build, SR is great but as I mod it when it's not "charged" enough the character is really fragile (low armour+ no damage mitigation...). I've to make change to this buff to improve the build survivability (especially at early level when you have few skill points per level). I'm to give up on one Zealot mod and on the source mod. I'm crazy after so many advices to have re-roll my character, any way let I'm addicted to Ancaria So for SR I'll settle on Zealot/ Recreation / Soul Imbiber. As I was not that happy with the character, he would have been long gone if I had been playing in HC, I played tested a higher level Inquisitor of mine ( level 80). I was curious about the life leech property associated to NN runes and how it would scale later on. As usual no proper measurement were done but my feel is that it doesn't seem to scale that well / enough. A lot less useful than at earlier levels, it can't only get worse in platinum and then niob. So it made me more confident in changing my choice for SR. On top of it I don't understand how life leech for "+ x life leech" works or what it means, ( %Life leech is more self explanatory). Does it means that x hit point are stolen per hit? it's affected by "tactic lore", right? Even though I made a quick calculation of what kind of value can be achieved though socketing, let say around ten runes => +100 hit points stolen per hit, with mastery in tactic lore you can expect around 200 hit points stolen per hit. Anyway it's a non blocking matter runes can be removed and testing is possible at any stage of the character's life without re-roll I'm also pretty sure right now is "broken" on console in regard to ranged damages. I tested my ranged high dex level-80 inky with some random melee weapon which damages are in the same league as my ranged weapons and damages are ways higher. Damages are ways higher and for crits damages it's even worse. Something is plainly wrong in this regard. I'm still to experiment with the build to avoid to do more errors if I go with re-roll once again and it could make a good shopper for the future build

OK, just an update I realize that Bargaining is worse it eventhough it makes things tougher during the character really early life (say till level 15, the time to regen time to go down and to get enough regen per hit gear).

I owe you a drink I've some piece of the ilgard and dreiden suits that I thought mostly lost to my other characters. An extra answer to Chattius earlier post about gear/socket/etc. By watching to the Inky set I would like to use at later level the Kuan set. plenty of socket and a bonus to both attack and defence that would allow the character to run PC all the time instead of SR. On top of it the "+x to all combat arts" bonus is cool.

An update. I started my character some days ago, I went for bargaining for my free skill and I keep it @ character level (level 18 now). I've to say that so far I've mixed feeling about this choice. It indeed makes shopping worth it but it also makes early character life tougher. In comparison with my ranged test character (with more balanced skill points attribution) the character does less damages, the buff level is lower, armour level is lower, etc. I get my hand on some +1 to all skills rings/amulets but it still doesn't make us the investment in bargaining skill. May be it's usual and I've to persevere it will pay later on (not that I've choice). A thing that "scares" me a bit is that I plan to socket a lot of runes so I may not have that much room for others "socketables" (at least for a while in the character development). I also died once stupidly... I tried to do the same as I did with my test character, rush to the desert using Thilissium "short cut" I got really nice gear this way without bargaining and pretty early in the character life. Basically I thought that SR was responsible for this (as when it was not fed properly I had to be really careful). I was wrong... I forgot about life leech... how dumb As I could not socket SR runes (even socket it taxes regen time too heavily early on), I pass on socketing NN runes... bad call... real bad. You have no clue to measure in game how much life life leech really grants you but it's a meaty addition to survivability. Even with no that many runes you can reach or exceed the amount of life leech found on weapons found later on in the game and at higher difficulty levels. So an error but more my error than something wrong with the build. To close the matter I hope bargaining will shine later on Since I own Sacred 2 I played mostly Inkies, I start to wonder about the buffs. Depending on the mod you choose I fee like they don't "scale" that much (I put RP aside). What do I mean is that I start to wonder if it's worthwhile to read/socket more than a few runes for both SR and PC. Getting more into the details (may be it was obvious to everybody but me...). For GI, PC mostly pumps damages, if wiki is accurate from lvl1 to lvl2, you gain +5% to max damages and +4% to elemental damages (if you took hallow), whatever GI runes socketed will grant you +10% (for a bronze runes) and you face neither diminishing returns (even though you're limited by the number of sockets available to you character) neither regen penalties. If we consider mods that don't affects damages namely "Eradicate" and "Irune" they scale poorly/slowly which makes the sacrifice really tempting. So I'm fine tuning my socketing strategy PC will be used only against boss or in not densely populated areas, we can't afford either regen penalties for CE/RM so the most valid runes to socket is FF or Pilori ones (early on). For NN, SR scales better than PC, without any mod, soul duration improves as well as the bonus granted per soul. Mods make the issue more complex than for PC: Death magic scales properly Zealot mods don't scale at all. Source doesn't scale properly (as for irune/eradicate you rip most benefit when you take the mod even at level 1) Recreation scales properly, still low but allow regen in combat really early. soul imbiber doesn't scale at all. I was not sure of my choice for SR last mod but it's clear now:I'll choose a second Zealot mod. It allows to make a lower level SR as efficient as a higher one without 2 mods as you have more souls "on the flight" the bonus to attack and defence can match those of a SR with fewer souls but whom grant better bonuses. Socketing strategy: socket really few runes so the regen penalty is matched by the source regen bonus. The plan is during the character life to make SR mostly free. Overall this pull me back to Chattius early comment" which socketing strategy". I realize that I mostly a newby in this regard no matter the amount of time I spent in Ancaria. With most my previous builds I mostly didn't socket stuffs, I even use blacksmith art on some set items... to discover that You can't remove blacksmith arts... so their usefulness now is limited. I guess for this build my plan (a newbie plan thus) is to socket mostly runes, I wonder if it will get me somewhere and how bargaining usefulness is affected by this choice. I also want really low regen time for CE and RM to the point where I could pass on regen per hit gears so the 5 slots available to Inky (4 ring + 1 amulet) armour pieces aside can be use to pump damages or defence.

That's sound like a sweet single aspect character I'm willing to try it (on console so no blacksmith/Ancient magic, may be SR&CR for extra defensive measures).

I start my character tonight.

First thanks again to be so willing to help Your notes are useful. I'm mostly done right I couldn't help my self but to play my test characters again yesterday evening, both the melee and the ranged one. So I managed to try various AS mod for the CAs I was considering before I messed and did something something that triggered a save... Anyway I tried most of the things I wanted mostly RT and RP mods and it was a wise thing to do. About Raving Trust: I'm not happy at all with it mostly about the Relay mod, the cone is to narrow to be relevant enough for the use I intended to have for the CA. May be I should try with more runes but if wiki is accurate, it won't change much. I give up on the CA altogether, CM might very well be a better mean to make some room around you when it's needed even not modded (either by killing those already weaken or by attracting them away). About Reverse Polarity and the Exploit mod: I tried it with my melee test character for which IS is not modded and lower level than for my ranged build so my first impression might be wrong/biased. Using my melee character I was closer to the critters, my minions did not benefit from the "menace" mod thus I got plenty of aggro. Point is the mod make my minions die too fast, it could be better with my range character but it toned down my enthusiasm a bit. I discovered that minions are a blessing in many way, they take aggro away from me and let me do the most out of my offensive CAs, making champions into minions is great, their killing speed is neat So... with proper mod I may get less aggro, being ranged be further from the "real fight" so the Exploit mod could only help in tough situation. But this relies on a bit to much of a tale: I will be surrounded by critters, incapacitated in some ways (stunned /whatever): -minions still get a lot of aggro + take their share of my damages. -I might be surrounded/stunned with few minions as 1 to back me up. -Once my minions have gone down for my sake (they go down eventually anyway but...), my offensive power is greatly diminished, I'm still surrounded and my defence till later level won't be great (low level RP). What I'm trying to figure out is that I've to be responsible for my defence either through SR, PC(+Irune) or RP. Till later level I wonder if as you state irune (10% mitigation for PC @ lvl1) is a better choice. The result is reproducible, whatever hit you spells, weapons, fists, 10% of the damages are cut off, whatever hit make them suffer more. Later on with high damages reflection So I'll wait later lvls to complete RP modding. So for AS aspect I've 3 mod point in the air. I think I'll mod LA till Paralyse and use my last mod point to get the life leech modification. ----------------------------- Overall thanks to all those tests (and plenty of advices )I get a better grip about the priorities for skills and mods as well as play style. I will start the build soon may be tonight if it successful enough I may post something more synthetic in the build section of the forum as I've seen very few ranged Inquisitor build. I think now that minions can be the key to make the ranged Inquisitor an attractive alternative. I will see while playing the proper build but I fee like it's the only way for a ranged Inquisitor to match come close to other type of Inquisitor. Minions are still pretty random in their action, get a lot of aggro only a ranged build can properly "support" them using RM as you don't spend your time running after them. In those situation even if RM shoot three bullet at max it recharges pretty fast your CAs which that you can IS a "softened" victim whenever you want. It's an interesting gameplay. I'm not to play in HC with this build as you high-lighted I lack a shopper to risk the adventure (or I may sacrifice one of my skill) and I don't want to invest the time to do so. Other than that I like the life leech property gained through socketing of NN runes, it's part of the build survivability but lock down quiet some sockets (+ few socket on ranged weapons vs other weapon types, even worse again dual wielding builds), I may change my mind on the matter W&S. I read awful things about Niob difficulty and I'm sure I'll die some times but my experience may push somebody with the proper infrastructure (I mean gears/shopper, etc.) to give the build a try who knows

Well that's a limitation of ranged inquisitors as none of their CAs mods offer "pierce" property (vs a dryad for example) stil it's not that bad weapons have pretty wide "spread". When enemies are stuck to you pretty often they are hit properly even if it means that the bullets are spread on a ~180° arc (it's more obvious when using pistols/energy weapons) the problem is with enemies charging you. In this case I find some weapon better dagger/shuriken most likely due to the parabolic "path" they use. But yes sometime it hurts as you slow down only one critter which make later positioning a bit more complex (that also why I mod LA the way I did in tough spots LA will slow down plenty of enemies and slow them down a lot which make easier to move in a position where you make sure RM hit multiple critters at a time). May be some could find it bother some but I like to move may character in more strategic spots, to me it's a nice addition to the gameplay and one of the single plus of the console versions of the game, movements and actions are separated as far as inputs are concerned (I'm not doing it all the time, it depends on situations/strength of the critters, SR level etc.). Having an army at hand also limit the issue Yes it is, I wear actually with one of my build Keilen boots which has "chance to repel enemies" property and I can see for time to time my Inquisitor slide Wiki is accurate in this regard. Overall I tend to use gear with properties that affect me so the issue is minimal but I'm aware of the problem... a sad problem as this combat art is pretty powerful. That's reassuring to hear I never tried bargaining but may be I should as I usually don't shop (just sell stuffs) as the gear I find is consistently better than what they offer to me. As a note I played my test ranged inquisitor yesterday and had fun with PC buffs too. I made some changes to the rings I was wearing to improve my attack rating and raised some pretty cool armies of minions, they are more effective killers than I thought With this character PC is still un-modded and it actually didn't add much to the damages. I think that for a "army raiser" type of gameplay RP would do even better. I start to wonder if to give my build another option I should consider taking the mod exploit. Food for thought and tough arbitration as it means that I've to give away some other mods, LA and RT both need two mods to be effective, passing on the third ZD mod would almost void ZD usefulness in boss fights. I also have implications on the NN aspect but it's easier here as I could pass on buggy Paralysing Dread and mod IS. Hum... that's not my original plan but I was surprised by my minions effectiveness yesterday night. May be it's a fake impression but it looks like minions tend to focus on the same target as you which conveniently makes IS a lot more useful and efficient. I'm getting psycho about this build, it's possibly my last attempt to build a potent character, I feel like I need to do it to be done (at least for a while) with the game. With the "exploit" mod damage mitigation can sky rocket pretty fast as well as survivability... Let say I'm sold. NN aspect: *SR Zealot/Source/Soul Imbiber. *IS Brunt/Menace/Probation. *DS Spite/Deprivation/Stimulate. AS aspect: RT Bedaze/Relay/Tumble ZD Intensive/Equal/Determination RP Rebound/Counter-blow/Exploit This was a bit tougher, I didn't want to give up on the ZD boost in boss fight and RT mod looked better to me as far a disabling is concerned. As a side note I wonder about modding PC for max damages (ie Hallow instead of Irune)

Well would have been better if the game were still supported Anyway that was a good try, it at least show that the CA still has some effect at least More on topic I've push two test characters (the one I was experimenting on and an old ranged Inquisitor build) till lvl30 and came up with some conclusions (some might be obvious to more seasoned players). Various thoughts: *Both builds are different, the melee one relies more heavily on CE whereas RM is the ranged one best friend. *I previously said that the melee one lead in regard to damage (due to CE hitting twice). I would be a bit more measured now. Due to a bug on the 360 while meleeing the Inquisitor often does a standard attack before the CA. This makes a combo using CE and RM together bothersome (too long imho so actually CE alone is better) whereas on a ranged build it's workable and the damages comes close ( or can exceed them depending on the situation: hitting other critters or the target actually taking hits intended to another(s )target(s)). Another thing I tried the Frenzy mod for RM and it's a real nice addition to RM damages, the double hit triggers quiet often, once I chose this mod I started using the CE/RM combo less often actually shifting to RM alone. * In regard to "army rising" the melee build is more efficient (at least early on before CD is accessible) a DS+CE combo does often enough damages to take down an opponent quickly making it an instant minion maker. Not that much with the ranged build, to match the effect the ranged build combo should be DS+MP+CE (<= so CD is needed). In any case for both build one would have to mind about to collect souls to feed SR before creating minions, SR is your main defence early on. * With one build I choose concentration I'm not convinced by PC effectiveness (at least early on). In standard situation once SR is fed properly is usefulness is greatly reduced. So I ended not using it for the sake of lower regen time. I fought the Gar colossus with both build, I turned off SR and PC on (actually I died once with the melee build, was way easier with the ranged one), I'm not sure that alone it will enough latter against bosses. So I'm now more iffy about my choices for the build in regard to buffs more to come on that matter. * I'm not convinced by the NN aspect either in regard to damages overall I'm also questioning my choice in regard to the NN Lore skill. * For both builds socket SR runes, the combo offered by SR high defence and life leech is great (I guess other found out before me but still it's great). Conclusions: - I'm not convinced by the NN aspect for damages, I will give up on NN Lore - PC has a nice emphasis with (magic( damages but that's not enough to make up for SR being useless in boss fights. Got to use another buff. - The ranged build is more workable than I thought based on my previous characters, still will suffer from the lesser number of available sockets. - May be a crazy idea but I think that I can go using only one buff at a time and pass on concentration all together. So I've come with a new build It will be another ranged one, it will indeed use all three aspects, GI will be the main damaging aspect whereas AS and NN will be used for Buffs/de-buffs. I may used all three buffs but only one at a time depending on the situation. Here the new skills selection: GI focus (level 75) NN focus (level 75) Tactic lore (+level 75 and more) Armor lore (level 75) Ranged lore (+level 75 and more) AS focus (level 75) Combat discipline (level 75) Toughness (level 75) Constitution (level 75) Open choice (level 75) (either concentration, SR or CR) The difference with the previous build is that I will be limited in the number of CAs I can mod in the NN aspect. The same is true for the AS aspect. Spending 70 skills points will grant me 9 mod points in both aspects I've to choose carefully which CAs to mod. I've take no lore skill in either aspects, CD won't be enough to make maximizing damages a proper approach, I'll focus on buffing and de-buffing mods. NN aspect: *SR Zealot/Source/Open (will choose later on between Zealot or Soul Imbiber). *PD Despair/Decrepit/Extension. *DS Spite/Deprivation/Stimulate. AS aspect: *LA Disperse/Paralyse: basically set as an escape solution or to make some room between you and critters/bosses. *RT Bedaze/Relay: a bit of the same idea, put enemies away possibly stun them... Great in combo with LA the more time it takes for enemies to reach the more hits they suffer. *ZD Intensive/Equal/Determination => cheap boost for boss fights (or tough fights). I may lock the boss with IS and let the ZD hurts him... *RP Rebound/Counter-blow => for boss fights too. I'm confident that the build will have more means to use while in tough spots. Using RP should yield better results in boss fight than the use of PC. It seems to me that RP grants both higher defensive and offensive power than PC. Regen penalty for a high level RP is high I expect DS (with stimulate mod) to make things a bit better. I could socket some RP runes but it would be at the expanse of life leech per hit which by pass resistances. I made some change to to GI aspect too. PC: Purge/Eradicate/Irune I'll mod last as I don't plan to use it much. CE: Tenacity/Startle/Judgement RM: Deprivation/Petrify/Frenzy MP: Disgrace/Proclamation/Mortify FF: Faith/Resolve/relentless Considering CE and RM as well as RT I set for my-self more opportunity to disable opponents. The character should have high chances to stun its opponents (I dunno how the stunning effect is resist at high level). LA gives a neat opportunity to significantly outrun opponents if needed (surround by too many critters with SR uncharged or a boss). A side effect as PC is not critical to the build, I'm not "stuck" to magic damages modifiers (or let thinking it not optimal for the build), I can adapt to encounters and regions while feeling like my choice is optimal (disclaimer this is pure rhetorical BS ).

I think I'll take Tenacity, I played another Inquisitor of mine and let say that it's convenient IN regard to the stimulate mod I don't really get the result of your thread. 5%+5% per CAs is not applied but the 0.5% + 0.5% doesn't seem to match your result (ie 25% reduction in regen time). Another thing I don't get is does the "torture mod is any good in this regard? your result 0.7 +0.01 per CAs makes it sound that it make actually thing worse. Thanks for your help