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Elric of Grans

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Silicon Mage

Silicon Mage (6/20)

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  1. Thanks. I have CM-patch already and just double-checked my Ice Elf to confirm and Damage Lore is still Secondary. The manual for EE does not mention moving Damage Lore, but that could have just missed the manual. The shield is a change from the EE mod too (I remember that quest, as I only did it about a week ago). From the looks of things I would have to re-start all my characters again (after only *just* getting back to where I lost them) if I installed EE, and I am not so keen on some of the changes either, so I think I will pass on it.
  2. Do you recall which quest drops the shield? I do not recall anything like that, I thought Damage Lore sounded like a good idea (it seems a good combination with fire CAs), but I saw that it is only a Secondary Skill for the High Elf. She cannot take it without first investing in Sword Weapons, Magic Staffs, or Tactics Lore. I am not so keen on the idea of throwing-away a skill slot on one of those.
  3. I lost all my Sacred 2 characters a while ago, but thankfully still had notes for my builds. I have been gradually rebuilding them over time and am mostly back where I left off. When I was rebuilding my Ice Elf, however, I did not enjoy myself and stopped at the end of Silver. I thought I would try starting a Fire Elf (not done this since before Ice & Blood!) to see if it were just those CAs I was not enjoying any more, or the class itself. I have a basic outline for a build, but I cannot decide on some of the finer details. I was hoping I could get some advice on tweaking those bits. I will be playing single player, non-hardcore. For attributes, I was thinking Int until 50, then taking a 3 Int:1 Vit ratio. This is what I did with my Ice Elf, but Ice is a little more defensive. Would this be fine, or do I need a little more Vit in there? For skills, I was thinking: Level 02: Arrant Pyromancer Lore Level 03: Concentration Level 05: Delphic Arcania Focus Level 08: Arrant Pyromancer Focus Level 12: Armour Lore Level 18: Combat Discipline Level 25: Constitution Level 35: Ancient Magic Level 50: Shield Lore Level 65: Spell Resistance I feel like I am trying to put too many points into skills and may need to cut back somewhere. I am uncertain on order to Mastery too. Arrant Pyromancer at clvl until 75 seems a no-brainer. Similarly, Concentration and Combat Discipline can stay at 1 point and just benefit from +skills. My first area of doubt is Delphic Arcania Focus. I could take it to 31 to fully mod Grand Invigoration and Expulse Magic, but I am worried that my max CA-level will not be high enough to maintain enough banishing potential on Expulse Magic. If that is the case, then I would need to bring this to Mastery (modding Shadow Step along the way), likely by clvl75. Then again, I could ignore Expulse Magic and not require so many points, but it is such a strong spell that this seems a bad idea. Arrant Pyromancer Focus is another area of doubt. I feel like I need to get it to Mastery by clvl75 for regen, max CA-level, and mods for four CAs (the mods in particular have me keen to boost this quickly), but if I do AP Lore, AP Focus, and DA Focus all by clvl75 I will be very fragile until sometime in Platinum. I keep swinging back and forth on this. If I were to leave DA Focus at 31 and AP Focus at 21, then I would instead take Armour Lore and Constitution to Mastery at clvl75, which would be a huge defensive boon (albeit I would not be able to mod all my CAs and have lower level CAs). If I left them until later then I would make Armour Lore my fourth Mastery (for reduced penalty and higher level armour) and Constitution my fifth. This is where I start to feel like I am investing in too many skills. If Armour Lore and Constitution were fourth and fifth, then Ancient Magic, Shield Lore, and Spell Resistance would be sixth to eighth, and that feels like too many skills (my Seraphim is only Mastering seven, and my Dryad six). Originally I had Bargaining in here (nine skills!) because I lack a shopper, but swapped it out for Combat Discipline to get another skill that requires no points investment. Perhaps I should instead swap-out Shield Lore or Spell Resistance to retain Bargaining? For my Combat Arts, I was thinking the following mods: Blazing Tempest: Scorch > Conflagration > Ambition Incandescent Skin: Inferno > Revenge > Fiery Ardor Incendiary Shower: Skull Smash > Continuity > Intensity Ancestral Fireball: Explosion > Globe > Hot Pursuit Grand Invigoration: Arrant Pyromancer Expertise > Life Energy > Resilience Expulse Magic: Strength > Pentagram > Protection Shadow Step: Phase Shift > Vanish > Mend The order to take them is another point I am stuck on. I was thinking: Arcania - All three in Grand Invigoration, then all three in Expulse Magic, then (if I get there) all three in Shadow Step. This one seems pretty straight-forward. Pyromancer - Blazing Tempest (Scorch), then all three in Incandescent Skin, then finish Blazing Tempest. After this, Incendiary Shower (Skull Smash & Continuity), Ancestral Fireball (Explosion & Globe), then gold IS before AF. My thinking was that BT may need an early buff so I can efficiently mob while I build-up IS, then finish it off so I can decimate mobs. I then want to make IS strong enough for bosses (hopefully before The Guardians in Silver), but I do not want AF falling behind and not being any good for Champions, which is why I considered splitting them. Would this be a good plan, or would you suggest something different?
  4. I am hoping I could get some advice around fliers. These were trivial with my Wood Elf, but seem a lot tricker with the Seraphim. My current Seraphim is clvl20 (almost 21) and has just finished doing the side-quests at Faries Crossing (about to move onto Crow's Rock Castle). It has been slow going and difficult, but this is the furthermost I have taken a Seraphim before. I had some difficulty with the Family Ties quest. The wizard and harpy went down easily enough, but the little dragon-thingie was a PITA. Once it would start flying I would take huge damage and was uncertain whether or not I was doing any damage to it. I ended up taking a slow approach to it. I would run away until it focused on Wilbur. Once the dragon-thingie knocked him out it would land, so I would use my 1 x Combat Jump/3 x Heavy Hit Combo to jump in and deal some quick damage. It would take off again, so I would run away and repeat. It took several minutes to defeat, and this strategy will not work when I fight more fliers later in the game. There would obviously be a better way to deal with these guys. What is the way you are supposed to deal with flying enemies?
  5. I have tried every class except Dark Elf and Gladiator. Basically, they are the two classes that look least interesting to me. Both are primarily melee-focused classes, and I never enjoy melee-focused classes in this genre. That is ultimately why I became bored of the Vampiress very quickly too.
  6. I have found myself doing most side quests in Sacred (not so much in Sacred 2). They are generally quick to do, and the rewards feel worth it. I have always picked-up the Rescue the Novice quest, however. Why is it best to trigger it by entering? I knew you could get health potions from wells; I did not know an NPC gives you one in Bellevue. I will speak to him next time! I also did not know you could configure when the low-health prompt appears; I will change that next time I load (I always felt it was too low). I started the Seraphim over and finished the start of Bronze (just shy of clvl7!). This is the first time I have tried Dual Wield in Sacred (I used it plenty in Sacred 2). I have a couple of questions about this. Firstly, my perception is that the dual wield attack speed is the same for swords, axes, etc. Am I right? If so, any good single-handed weapon would be a legitimate option, right? Secondly, is it better to stack weapons with the same damage (eg two physical+magical) or mix damage types (eg a physical+magical with a physical+fire)? I read somewhere that dual wield averages the damage for both swings rather than using the individual weapon that is animated. I have no idea what that would mean when the damage types are different.
  7. Thank you for the advice. It seems like it would take an awful lot of grinding to get her back on track. It would probably be faster (given how early I am in the game) to just restart her. I will use the Seraphim you are currently playing as a template this time.
  8. I am mostly playing my Wood Elf (cruising through Gold), but keep coming back to my Seraphim. I struggled through the Goblin Lawn, but finally managed to reach Porto Vallum. I am still struggling with the goblins, however, and Orc Champions are out of my league. I wanted to check if I have completely messed up and need to restart, or if this is salvageable. She is clvl19 in Silver. I *think* I have split her attributes 14 Physical Regeneration and 5 Magical Regeneration, but I cannot be certain. Her Skills are: Magic Lore (5), Weapon Lore (15+1), Concentration (14), Heavenly Magic (5+1), Constitution (9+4). I was going to pick up Armour at 20, Agility at 30, and Meditation at 50. Her Combat Arts are: Attack (1), Celestial Light (1), Combat Jump (1+2), Hard Hit (1), Rotating Blades of Light (2+1). I was planning to add Light when I reach Undead and likely Strength of Faith when I have a fifth CA slot. My play is to start by casting RBoL. I keep mental track of the duration and pause fighting when it is close to running out. When I enter combat I use Attack against most enemies (it regens right as it finishes) and Combat Jump against archers and casters. I intended to use Celestial Light against groups, but currently the regen on it and RBoL are too long for that to be practical. I picked up Hard Hit with the intention of later making a 4xHard Hit Combo (with lots of runes socketed) to use against tough enemies. My biggest issue is staying alive. When I fight three or more enemies I usually need to use a potion, sometimes two. I still keep running out of potions all the time. I tried fighting an Orc Champion just before, but used all my potions and only managed to knock-off half its health. I keep socketing Vampire runes whenever I can, but have only managed 3% or 6% Life Leech at a time. That said, I just had a sword drop with a lot of LL, but I am currently below its level requirement.
  9. I started the Wood Elf in Gold, and there was definitely no need for me to be concerned about her level. If anything, I am finding the start of Gold easier than the start of Silver. I should be able to visit the Desert with her soon, so that will be a very interesting experiment. I have obviously completely misinterpreted the Goblin Lawn! Because it is mostly Goblins, and they are one of the first enemies you encounter, I assumed they were not worth the effort and try to get my characters to Porto Vallum ASAP. Based on this information, that is likely half the problem I have had in the past. What should you do when the Goblin Lawn feels too hard, as is the case with my Seraphim? I pop a health potion with every group of Goblins and keep running out of them (a lone Vampire Rune + RBoL does not seem to make enough of a difference yet).
  10. I can hardly believe it. I finally beat Sacred on Silver! When the game prompted me to do so, I exported her to move into Gold. I have a few questions. Two are very straight-forward, but the other may be trickier to find answers for. The first is simple enough. I was at clvl46 (almost 47) when I finished Silver. Is it OK to start Gold at this level, or would I find myself struggling and should grind in Silver first? I have a save from just before I exported that I can use if I need to grind. The second is a little longer. My understanding of the skills in Sacred is that the diminishing returns on skills is such that it is usually not worth raising them past 50, with some exceptions. I know that Trading is special and needs to be at clvl. Most guides suggest leaving the weapon skills (eg Sword Lore, Ranged Combat, etc) at lower levels, often around 20. Guides then tend to suggest some skills to raise to 100, but other guides may say leave those same skills at 50. When is it worth raising a skill past 50? The third may be a little trickier. Before starting Gold, I thought I would like to try and get a second class through Silver. I have started and given-up on perhaps four or five hybrid Seraphim, but I still find it the most exciting-sounding build. Is there anyone around these days who knows the Seraphim well-enough to help me out? I always find that, very early on, I feel extremely weak --- she has a glass jaw (I use potions like crazy). I usually push-through to the Desert, but give-up there. My last attempt only got to Silver Creek, in Silver difficulty. Their current build is: clvl14, alternating attribute points between Physical Regeneration and Magical Regeneration (up to clvl10 I put them all into Physical Regeneration). Magic Lore 3, Weapon Lore 12+1, Concentration 11, Heavenly Magic 3, Constitution 4+3. Attack 1+1, Combat Jump 1+2, Rotating Blades of Light 2+1. At present, I am alternating each level between Magic Lore/Heavenly Magic or Weapon Lore/Concentration and the remaining point into Constitution. Going forward I intend to pick: Armour, Agility, and Meditation. I am casting RBoL before entering combat, then using Assault; I use Combat Jump to deal with archers/casters. When I unlock another CA slot I will add Celestial Light, and when I start facing Undead I will add Light to use in place of RBoL. When I get the fifth CA slot I was thinking maybe Strength of Faith. I was thinking at some point I would make a Combo Suit with Hard Hit runes to use against bosses. Is there anything obvious that I am doing wrong? How do I get a hybrid Seraphim past this early game and into a point where they start to feel effective?
  11. I currently have three bows: one with physical & magic damage, one with physical & fire, and one with physical & poison. My gear mostly has a mix of +skills, +CAs, -regen, and +speed/attack speed. I currently have a Vampiress rune socketed too for some life leech (I do not feel like it makes a huge difference, however). I recently gained a +7 Multiple Shot item, which has slightly blown the regen out, but otherwise I have kept it at duration. Exploding Arrow regen is not too bad and I use it as my every second attack at the moment (regen is marginally longer than attack time at my current attack speed). Companion of the Woods seems fine too. I keep the unicorn's level at the level of my opponents (roughly) and it usually regens shortly before it dies. My Penetrating Arrow Combo has a huge regen, but I only use it for bosses and just use Concentration Potions to spam it. I definitely intend to finish the game, if possible. I know from Sacred 2 that it takes all of Silver for your build to take form, then it only gets good by the end of Gold. I presumed it was the same in Sacred. If I can (I almost gave-up at the Frost Dragon), I aim to get this Wood Elf to Gold. I am then torn on whether to get her through Gold, or return to the Seraphim and try to work out how to get her working (I still like the *idea* of that class, even though I am struggling with her).
  12. I have tried most of the classes, mostly several times in the past. In the past I usually played as far as the desert where I would find the character usually gets stuck (those desert Orc groups of a Leader, three melee, and two archers chew-up my characters, and often spawn 2-3 groups near each other), but when I reinstalled this time I made a whole bunch of starts (about 1.5-2 hours each) and quickly gave up on all bar the Wood Elf. I quickly gave-up on the Battle Mage (Bronze/clvl7) as I was finding him too hard (fragile + regen times). The Daemon was strong but I was finding it dull to play (Silver/clvl12). It felt very passive constantly casting a Daemon form, then a buff, and then a spell that feels no different to a buff, then maybe, occasionally, having a few seconds to do something active. I skipped the Dark Elf. The Dwarf was OK but I was not overly excited by him (Silver/clvl14). I do not generally enjoy melee-focused characters, and I found his guns less satisfying than bows. I skipped the Gladiator I like the idea of the Seraphim (and she is my favourite in Sacred 2) but gave up because I was struggling in Silver Creek (Silver/clvl14). Every group of goblins was causing me to use a health potion or two, so I kept running out (and the store would run out forcing me to backtrack), resulting in me making no progress. I found the Vampire OK but again not overly excited (Silver/clvl14). Again, I just do not enjoy melee-focused characters. I enjoyed her more than the Dwarf, but I still got bored of pure-melee after a while. I tried the ReBorn mod, but quickly uninstalled it. They seem to have shifted the balance to suit the most-skilled players, as I kept getting bodied around Bellevue. I managed to get past the Frost Dragon yesterday. On a hunch I backtracked to Bravemart, spent an hour buying gear with more fire armour (halving my physical armour in the process), then bought a bunch of gear with sockets so I could give myself +16 Penetrating Arrow, which I made into a Combo. The extra armour reduced the Frost Dragon's damage to half my health, and I was doing 1/4 of his every time I used the Combo. The Fire Dragon ended up being trivial, as I had the room to circle him (the Frost Dragon fight was in a narrow corridor) and he only took two of the Combos and a couple of Exploding Arrows. I am just about to enter the Dark Elf city for the third element. How do you finish the game without fighting the bosses? I know there are optional dragons and things scattered off the main path, which I do intend to skip until later, but I thought these main quest fights were necessary. The way I have been playing is roaming from town-to-town as I follow the main quest, doing most of the side-quests I find there before I move on.
  13. I have played Sacred Gold many times, but I have never finished it. Most characters I get to the desert, find it too hard, and give up. I once before got a little further, but similar problem. I have just gotten a character up to the Frost Dragon and, prior to this, was thinking I may finally finish Silver. I was not making any meaningful headway, however. I am playing a Wood Elf archer. My build, if relevant: Level 36, every attribute point into Physical Regeneration (gear is boosting Dexterity and Physical Regeneration). Agility 18+2, Weapon Lore 36, Concentration 18+1, Constitution 17, Ranged Combat 10, Armour 8, Moon Magic 1. My plan was to get Constitution and Armour to 1/2 my level (the same as Agility and Concentration) before level 50, then keep that proportion going forward. At level 50 I will pick up Parrying, which I will gradually raise with Moon Magic. I am using Multiple Shot (6+1), then Exploding Arrow (1+1). Against bosses I have been using a Combo of 4 x Penetrating Arrow (1). I also use Companion of the Woods (5+1) as a meat shield. I have not raised these higher yet due to regeneration times. I had a little trouble approaching the Frost Dragon (Level 40), but was able to kite my way there. Once I engaged the Dragon, however, it was quickly hopeless. Every time it nicked me I was down 2/3 of my health and my Multiple Shot->Combo->Exploding Arrow was barely scratching it. What should I do? As a side question, I have a spare Combat Art spot and nothing to use in it. Looking over the remaining options, however, nothing seemed terribly appealing. I had originally planned Quick as a Flash, but by the time I had the slot for it my equipment had obsoleted the spell. Is anything else worth adding to this?
  14. Thanks for the help! I did the Evocator quest-line, then went to the desert where I ended up doing most of the quests. I only gained marginal gear improvements, for the most-part, but I gained +1000 HP (from +life, +Vitality, and +Constitution) as well as some +Dual Wield (for more attack speed). I then set up a Combo of Hallowed Restoration+Assailing Somersault+Pelting Strikes, switched to Poison Relics, and did some hit-and-run. I only dropped below 50% health a couple of times and never had any difficulty healing back up. I got a bit worried when something bugged and I found both the Guardian and myself walking through walls, but that seemed to correct itself ;) I have gotten to the first town in Gold and am now ready to start building-up my Map Revealed% on this playthrough ;)
  15. Thanks for the replies. I will try the hit-and-run combo, but I will try and improve my gear first (more HP, attack speed, perhaps block:stun). What would you suggest is the most efficient way to improve my gear? I would imagine, lacking Bargaining, that shops are unlikely to help. I could keep running the first three Guardians (which were easy enough) and then save/quit, but the first time I hit them up I only got a pile of trash so it may not be efficient. Would the Orc Cave be a good plan?
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