FrostElfGuard

Welcome back! So far (only to level 34 SW, 2X seraphim, 2X HE) I haven't used it deeply. I think it gives a big leg up, and that the game probably could be done without it. That is: you can make Niob without it is my GUESS. The designers started at the top end and designed DOWN... not UP like S1. So, I think the game should be viable for level 200 characters without Bargaining, but only time will tell. Check back in a year!

I found the Incandescent skin drags the fire spells down too much... for so low a level character. I don't use it. I view it as something to add in in higher levels of diffculty (like Gold and beyond) where you need extra edge.

I voted for Shield Lore since you are always getting surrounded and pounded on. The others are less frequently used. I view the God Spell as forgettable... I completely forget it is there. I usually am playing Good and taking the Reflect Damage God Spell. But I never remember to use it. So far. I've accidentally set it off a few times now... so maybe now I'll remember it is there... But, really, I'd just got with Shield Lore. I wanna play HC, so more defense is better.

Law enforcement could well be preparing a high level sting. We're not in the know.

About CAs not firing: Some opponents can prevent the CAs by having the mod that suppresses CA use (passive). Plus there are spells that do that kind of thing too (active).

The concert is worth the effort gogo!

lag: one component not addressed above is number of hops and are the intermediary jumps on overloaded servers? If everyone had super-duper netcards with no traffic jams or DDoS attacks... why... there'd be less lag! One thing I wonder about Sacred 2: Can people hammer the servers like in S1? Overspawn is a thing of the past... but do some CAs generate a huge amount of load/traffic on the servers in Germany?

Further (and belated) best wishes from Canada!

Way to go! Congratulations!

Any chance you could markup a map? I have no idea where these places are... and I have just finished the game in SP. A map would be a w e s o m e!

What a beautiful child to be blessed with! Thanks for sharing.

IceElf: A German Guide by DaBiggy translated 2009-Jan-12 Version 1.1.2 12.Jan.2009 I used the English Sacred Wiki as a source for a lot of the numbers presented here... I'm not mathematically inclined and am very grateful to be able to harvest from there. So: Big thanks to the Sacred wiki! Hello! Welcome to my IceElf Guide. I took the existing IceElf guide and adapted it to my style of play. If you love area of effect (Area of Effect), you'll love this build! This guide is not for melee-oriented players... just ones that use spells. The main spell will be Glacial Thorns while wearing a shield and carrying a one handed sword. There will be info on defense since survival is essential. {Frost: sounds like a Hardcore character guide} Sections will be as follows: 1) Abbreviations 2) Attributes 3) Skills 4) Combat Arts 5) Buffs 6) The Mount 7) Playing Style 8) Runes 9) Items 10) Patches 11) Link list 12) To Do List 13) Final Word 1) Abbreviations CA - Combat Art level - level +taS - + to all skills +taCA - + to all combat arts +experience - +% experience +mf - chance to find special items, aka Magic Find EP - Enhanced Perception 2) Attributes Strength - increase melee damage Dexterity - increase ranged weapon damage Stamina - decrease regen times for combat arts (spells) Intelligence - increase damage from spells Vitality - increase life points Willpower - increase resistance to spells Since each attribute will increase by 10% of start values, you can enjoy benefits from each attribute increasing anyway. We find that Stamina, Vitality and Intelligence are useful attributes to increase for the IceElf. Stamina is especially needed at the lower levels when regen is a very limiting factor on the IceElf. Later, damage and increase life become more important. 2:3 or 3:2 points for Vitality and Intelligence as you see fit. 3) The Skills 8 are core skills with 2 free choices: Mystic Stormite Lore Mystic Stormite Focus Delphic Arcania Focus Concentration Constitution Shield Lore Armour Lore Ancient Magic The order you take the skills is up to you, but this is the order you need to maximize to mastery (level 75). The shield and armour lores need not go so high. 921 skill points are available. So, we can have 2 skills kept at character level and all the others at 75. Our main skills are the Stormite skills, we need to keep them at character level from the beginning. Things get a bit more complicated if you take Bargaining as a free skill choice, which needs a high skill investment to pay off. After these 3, Delphic Arcane Focus should go to 75 next. HC variant: Push Armour Lore up to 75 instead of Delphic Arcane Focus first. Your elf can wear heavier armour without regen penalty. The armour focus also protects your built in Magic Find from Survival Bonus. In a non-hardcore character you can always regrow your SB, with HC, it is over right away if the character dies. The Skill Choices Are: 1) The Negotiator. Skill: Bargaining. Amazingly good rings and amulets are available to the character with high bargaining skill. Bargaining is one of the most important skills for the High Elf. Second choice skills for the Negotiator: a) Riding b) Spell Resistance c) Enhanced Perception 2) The Pilgrim. 9th skill choice is either Riding or Divine Devotion. 10th skill choice is Enhanced Perception. Riding is highly recommended. At character level 75 the next skill to max out should be Enhanced Perception. 3) The Warrior. 9th skill: Magic Staffs. 10th skill: choice of Speed Lore or Tactics Lore. This is an unlikely build since you need to have a high damage staff to make it viable. Such staves are not yet found in the game, but could be patched in. 4) The Combo Champion. Some people really want to use combos, which an IceElf normally does not need. So. This build choice is provided. 9th choice: Combat Discipline. 10th choice: Bargaining (highly recommended) or Riding. 4) The Combat Arts We'll use 4 spells and 2 buffs. This underlines it is so important to bring Mystic Stormite Focus to level 75 as soon as possible. Our main combat art will be Glacial Thorns. Glacial Thorns - (Ice Splinters) Very powerful to single targets and as an Area of Effect (Area of Effect). Single targets can be hit with every shard, and groups can be hit by a wide dispersal spray. Modifications to Glacial Thorns Bronze * Fusillade - Increases the number of frozen thorns. (16.2% increase in base number, 8.6% increase in bonus number gained from CA levels) * Frost - Increases damage inflicted by each frozen thorn. (70% increase in Ice damage) I think more shards=better, especially against bosses. An argument could be made for more ice damage too I suppose. Silver * Devastation - Increases the change for critical hits. (9.8% + 0.2% per CA level increased chance) * Pierce - Chance that thorns will continue to spear forward after hitting a target. (33.4% + 0.2% per CA level chance) While increased crit is great, increase lag due to all the calculations is not. I support the pierce option since it make the character less susceptible to lag... which kills. Gold * Fusillade - Increases the number of frozen thorns. (16.2% increase in base number, 8.6% increase in bonus number gained from CA levels) * Pierce - Chance that thorns will continue to spear forward after hitting a target. (33.4% + 0.2% per CA level chance) Your choice here depends on your earlier choices. More shards or pass-through? If you haven't taken pass-through, you should take it now. If you want more shards, well... take that. If you gather big mobs of monsters and then let fly, you'll want Pierce. Players who do this often have a large regen on their shards--they had better not miss! Raging Nimbus A raging blizzard sweeps across the target area damaging opponents with lightning and additionally slowing them down considerably. Raging Nimbus Modifications The idea in this build is to use the Raging Nimbus to slow the enemy, not to kill them. So. Anything that slows the enemy is good. Lightning frequency is better to increase than ice damage. The choices are yours to make. Cascading Shroud - (Mist Form) The High Elf becomes wisp-like in substance. Her fogged appearance makes her a difficult target for weapons, but increases her vulnerability to fire. We only use CS when the situation is delicate. Like just before a boss fight. Or we're about to face a big mob. Cascading Shroud Modifications Bronze * Faint - Reduces the probability of being struck by weapons. (4% + 0.2% per CA level evade) * Mist - Additionally reduces physical damage. (20% + 0.2% per CA level dampening) Since we will be using Crystal skin, we don't really need the reduction in physical damage. Choose Faint. Less chance to be hit at all. Silver * Intangible - Chance to fully resist root effects. (49.5% + 0.5% per CA level chance) * Inconspicuous - Reduces the chance to be detected by opponents. (1% + 0.5% per CA level reduced chance) We're not using CS to run away, we're using it as temporary buff. Choose inconspicuous. Less chance of being seen while the spell lasts. Gold * Steam - Reduces the vulnerability to fire effects. (10% + 0.4% per CA level dampening) * Facileness - Increases run speed while Cascading Shroud is active. (20% + 0.2% per CA level increase) I chose Facileness. However, Steam would be great against dragonfire. If your just going to use CS to fight bosses, choose Steam. I like the speed boost when I'm not in battle. Shadow Step (Delphic Arcana Aspect) With this spell the High Elf can teleport to any location within her line of sight. She will even be able to render herself invisible or invulnerable after the teleport making this spell a valuable strategic asset. Shadow Step Modifications Bronze * Phase Shift - Decreases the cool-down time, not regeneration time, of Shadow Step. (50% + 0.5% per CA level decreased) * Escape - Chance to break all rooting effects while teleporting. (100% chance) Phase Shift--the only way to bring down cooldown time to 15 seconds. The only choice. Silver * Vanish - The caster remains invisible for a brief period after the teleport. (9.9 sec + 0.1 sec per CA level) * Sanctuary - The caster is briefly invulnerable after the teleport. (100% dampening of physical damage for 4(?) seconds) Vanish is the choice since Crystal Skin gives us high physical resistance. Gold * Explosion - Inflicts damage while teleporting. (To get an idea it does as much as the unmodded fire damage part of Fireball, damage type is magic) * Mend - Heals the caster during teleport. (20% + 0.2% per CA level healing) Mend- I prefer to heal rather than damage. We do have Glacial Thorns for damage! {Frost' note: Yup. But GT is ice/physical. Explosion would be fire damage. A new type, useful against a different set of opponents, and thus valuable to the IceElf.} 5) The Buffs Crystal Skin The ultimate buff. Boosts physical resistance {Frost's note: the most common form of damage in the game} and reduces our regen for our Stormite spells. Crystal Skin Modifications Bronze * Freeze - Slows movement rate of opponents in close combat range. (19.8% + 0.2% per CA level slow) * Glacial Mirror - Increases the chance to reflect incoming detrimental magical effects. (8% + 0.4% per CA level chance to reflect spell) Well. This depends on your skill choice. If you did not take Magic Resistance skill, choose Glacial Mirror. If you did, then consider either as a free choice. Silver * Feel Cold - Reduces the opponent's resistance against ice damage. (20% + 0.5% per CA level reduction) * Focalize - Increases the spell intensity of the aspect Mystic Stormite combat arts. (30% + 1% per CA level increase) I chose Feel Cold. I want to be able to damage even Ice creatures. I could have chosen Focalize to strength the spell intensity of all Stormite spells... but I'm hoping Ancient Magic boost of 75 levels will give me a much needed damage boost. Gold * Mystic Stormite Expertise - Decreases the regeneration time for the Mystic Stormite aspect. (26.7% + 1.3% per CA level decrease) * Frosty Breeze - Additionally increases ice damage. (50% + 2% per CA level increase) I chose Mystic Stormite Expertise. I like the much lower regen times. If you choose Frosty Breeze you're going to have much longer regen times. With Frosty Breeze you'll get a big jump in Ice damage... which also makes it a good choice. I suspect it will be much harder to play a Frosty Breeze IceElf, so I chose Mystic Stormite Expertise. Grand Invigoration - Regenerative Power (Delphic Aracania Aspect) When active, hitpoints and spells will regenerate at an increased rate. Grand Invigoration Modifications Bronze * Arrant Pyromancer Expertise - The regeneration time for the aspect Arract Pyromancer will decrease significantly. (10% + 1% per CA level decrease) * Mystic Stormite Expertise - The regeneration time for the aspect Mystic Stormite will decrease significantly. (10% + 1% per CA level decrease) No brainer here! Mystic Stormite Expertise FTW! Silver * Replenish - Further decreases the regeneration time of all spells. (7% + 0.7% per CA level decrease) * Life Energy - Additionally increases the hitpoint regeneration rate. (1.5hp/sec + 1hp/sec per CA level) Choose Replenish. Life regen is nice, but we want spells when we want them. Not later. Gold * Resilience - Reduces the impact and duration of incoming detrimental effects. (30% + 0.3% per CA level reduction on debuffs) * Fleetness - Increases run speed while Grand Invigoration is active. (9.9% + 0.1% per CA level increase) I like speed, so I took Fleetness. If you prefer you can choose Resilience. 6) The Mount Whether we took Riding skill or not, we'll use the Wind Serpent that boosts Mystic Stormite spells, aka the Ice Mount. We should have roughly the same regen as an unmounted character, but with 25% more life points. If our life counter drops to 0, our mount will die and we won't. Well worth the gold. {Frost's edit: Especially to a hard core character!} 7) Play Style Pretty simple: Start Crystal Skin and Grand Invigoration when you enter the game. Always use a Mount. Use Glacial Thorns as your primary attack. Add a Raging Nimbus if you face a boss. Use Cascading Shroud just before a boss fight. Maintain a minimum distance from the boss. You don't want to melee with them. Keep moving. Never stop. Avoid projectiles. 8) Runes What runes are we supposed to read? What ones should we not read? The answer is simple. Crystal Skin, Grand Invigoration and Cascading Shroud can be read. The others are to be increased by equipment and socketing equipment. Why socketing and equipment? Because they have a lower regen penalty for higher levels than just reading the runes would cause. The difference is socketed/equipped levels cost 1/2 of the cost of just reading a rune. This implies the IceElf that just reads runes will have twice the regeneration time for the same damage compared to an IceElf that uses socketed/item levels to boost her spells. Or... the runes read IceElf at the same regen time will have 1/2 the damaging power compared to an socketed/equipment IceElf. 9) The Items So far we have covered the basics. Getting the right equipment is an art -- from drops and shopping and balancing skill levels with spell levels with damage dealt with damage prevented, evaded or blocked. Things I look for in items: 1) Rings: to all skills +X, to all combat arts +X. These are the best. Next best is +X ice damage. 2) sockets in armour: we boost the value of the armour by socketing rings. 3) bonuses built-in to the armours: we want the following bonuses: +taS, +taCA, +Mystic Stormite Focus, +Mystic Stormite Lore, +ice damage%, +physical damage%, +experience, +mf, +defense, +x specific spell we use, and much more. 4) avoid items that boost skills we don't have and have no or minimal sockets. We're not fighters, so a boost to Attack rating doesn't matter. Helmets 2 set helmets are great for us: Faladal's Eye : Raging Nimbus +X, Spell Resistance +X%, Casting Speed +X%, Physical Resistance, one socket. Not very good for us, and only one socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...aladal%27s_Eye Cowl of Antiquity: Grand Invigoration +X, Intelligence +X, xp +X%, two sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...l_of_Antiquity Circlet of Innocence: Visibility range, defense, 3 sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...t_of_Innocence Torso armour: Robe of Innocence: chance to find valuables +X%, 3 sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...e_of_Innocence Velaria's Garment: defensive skills +X, 3 gold sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...ia%27s_Garment Faladal's Moxy: Crystal Skin +X, Max Hit Points +X, 2 sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...ladal%27s_Moxy Velaria's 3 gold sockets are great. Life bonus or Magic Find are also very nice to have. Belt: A girl has a hard time finding good accessories these days... 2 sockets and bonuses that aren't that great are the best we can find in Faladal's Belt: Faladal's Cord: Stamina +X, Cascading Shroud + X, 2 sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...ladal%27s_Cord Pants/Legs: Pantaloons of Innocence: Chance to Evade, Run Speed, 3 sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...s_of_Innocence Faladal's Safe Step: Glacial Thorns, Combat Discipline, Mystic Stormite Lore, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...%27s_Safe_Step Again 3 sockets trumps the other benefits. Socket the right rings, and you're rockin'! The shoes: Boots of Remembrance: Chance to Evade, Shadow Step, Delphic Arcania Focus, 2 sockets. Faladal's Finesse: Raging Nimbus, Spell resistance, Casting Speed, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...al%27s_Finesse First choice: Boots of Remembrance for the Arcania Focus and 2 sockets. If not, then Faladal's. The Shoulders: Faladal's Sound: Glacial Thorns, Frost Flare, Casting Speed, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...adal%27s_Sound Velaria's Wristguards Crit, Regen, Spell Intensity, Casting Speed, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...7s_Wristguards Because of bonus to Glacial Thorns, Faladal's is first choice. Gloves: Velaria's Mitts: All combat arts +X, Spell intensity, Attack value, Ranged defense value, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...aria%27s_Mitts Faladal's Gloves: Crit, Frost Flare, Glacial Thorns, Regen per hit, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...dal%27s_Gloves Velaria's gloves are the best out there for a High Elf. Bonus to every spell, and more intensity. Faladal's aren't so bad either, but definitely second choice. The Weapon: Unique weapons: Officer's Saber: (one handed sword) Faster increase of Survival Bonus, Attack Value, 4 sockets Tinwora's Curse (hafted weapon): All combat arts +X, decrease regen, casting speed, 3 sockets. Rancuil's Dark Flame: (one handed staff): decrease buff regen, Ancient Magic, Attack Value, 3 sockets. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...iques_Database The best weapon for a High Elf is Tinwora' Curse, it was designed with a caster in mine. Mega's ring in the Officer's Saber makes is a strong contender for best weapon. The Shield an unique:Stalworth Safeguard: Faster increase of Survial Bonus, Opponent's chance to proc decreased, big defense bonus, 1 socket. http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php5...Unique_Shields Why is this shield the best? Very high resistances. If you take Shield Lore to 75, look for a different shield with chance to block, since blocking (0 damage) is better than resisting (reduced damage). Only drawback is just one socket... but the resistances make up for that. Rings and Amulets All skills, all combat arts come only on yellow rings. No big deal, with high bargaining you should find many at the merchants. Also to look for are + Ice Damage and + Mystic Stormite Lore and Mystic Stormite Focus. 3rd tier of bonus to look for: XP and MF. PATCH The Patch cut down the damage the IceElf dealt to 1/6 of previous values. Damage numbers reduced to 1/4, but armour resistance reduced actual damage further. To keep the damage up, you need to have much higher levels of Glacial Thorns. Low regen builds will fail now at the higher difficulty levels as they cannot overcome the resistances of the opponents. So, pump your skill levels, pump your spell level and use items with "reduce opponent's resistances". Recommended that you run a Bargaining character ahead of your IceElf to shop for her. Because Glacial Thorns can be used both on individuals and area of effect, it makes for a much more enjoyable Sacred playing experience. Either the elf wipes out the opponent, or gets wiped out herself. No middle ground. The classic glass cannon. 11) Links Sicfreid's FAQ in German Zigfive's High Elf Spells 12) To Do List a) Insert Images b) Insert Abbreviations c) Improve spelling d) General improvements 13) Final Word I hope you like my guide and have a good idea of what skills to take. If you wish to distribute this guide, please send me a PM so I can give you my consent. If you have questions or criticism, please let me know as soon as possible. I'm still looking for images for all the items discussed here, and would like to receive images around levels 80 to 90 to compliment the others here already. Unfortunately, I cannot harvest from the Sacred wiki because of the level differences. I wish to thank both Unimatrix and Gorx for help with this guide. Wishing you tons of fun DaBiggy

I translated an Ice Elf Guide and published it on Clan-DA site. Probably should go to wiki too.

I translated the following guide for the Shadow Warrior... and I think it should go to the wiki (and perhaps be prettied up:)) I have 2 (I think) others translated too. Dryad and Inquisitor. Is this the place we should discuss how/where to do this kind of thing? I think we should have a game patch level section... and a section for modifications to the guide based on game patch level. What works in fall of 2008 won't necessarily work in 2.35+--they could do more than bug fixes--they might rebalance the CAs for instance. Best witches, Frost/Dave ===== Shadow Warrior: Pure Summoner by Montaux (translated from German) [Guide] Der General - Pure Summoner by Montaux 2008-Nov-29 Preface Why a pure summoner? I like to play a character that sits back and lets his minions do his dirty work. In Diablo II, this character was the Necromancer {Frost's edit: and the Druid}. In Sacred 1, this was the Vampiress (which was a disappointment). {Frost's edit: probably because the summons all were canceled when the Vampiress TiK (Turn into Knight), ie her buff of Vampiress mode expired. --though you could get around this with a 28 days later Vampiress build that TiK's while a primary summons is still being cast.} The Shadow Warrior Summoner is very much improved in Sacred2, and has become my favourite! The SW acts as a General, encouraging his troops, summoning new ones as required and generally not getting his own hands dirty. He even can cloak himself in Shadows so that he is not targeted... Attributes (each Attribute is bright yellow too) Strength Increases melee damage. We don't melee. So, no points. Dexterity Increase physical damage for ranged attacks, defense and attack values. Again, we don't do any of these things, so again, no points. Stamina Shortens regen times for combat arts. Most of our points will go here. Intelligence Increases spell damage. No points, no spells. Our minions do the damage. Willpower Decrease incoming spell damage. You could put some points here, but I don't advise it. Vitality Increase maximum life points and life point regeneration. You can put points here from time to time. {Frost's note: in hardcore, you could put all your points here, since dead is dead.} Skills (in Green, then each skill in Green) Astral Lord Lore Increases damage, critical chance, and cast speed for this aspect. Our minions need damage multipliers. Keep at char level. Astral Lord Focus Improves regeneration and raises max Combat Art level for this aspect. Our main strength. Keep at char level too. Concentration Improves regeneration for all Combat Arts, and allows the use of up to three simultaneous buffs when mastered. Concentration lets us have more buffs active. At level 75 we can have 3! It reduces regen times for all combat arts. More more could you want? Take it to level 75, and then add more if want. Hafted Weapons - Increases attack speed, chance to hit, and max item level usable without penalties when wielding a hafted weapon. We're not planning on melee fighting, but when we do, we want to be able to hit VERY HARD. Axes and hammers have the highest base damage, so I chose this skill. Take this skill to 5 to unlock Speed Lore skill. Then you can ignore this skill, increasing it, as appropriate, with equipment. Speed Lore - Increases attack and defense, and run speed. Increase as desired. either a) Death Warrior Focus Improves regeneration and raises max Combat Art level for this aspect. or b) Malevolent Champion Focus Improves regeneration and raises max Combat Art level for this aspect. Our only skill supporting this tree. We won't be boosting this with equipment. Armour Lore - Improves resists, increases maximum item level without penalties, and decreases regeneration penalty from armour. Without this skill our armour will be bad. Put as many points and you need to offset the regen penalty from good (strong) armour. Toughness - Improves resists and provides minimal % damage mitigation. Protection from damage. Can be ignored at the start, but later you'll need to invest here. Constitution - Increases health and health regeneration. More life points = more damage we can take. Also boosts effect of health potions since they are based on hit point percentages. At level 75, we regen even in battle. Again, you can ignore this early on... put points into it later in the character's lifetime. Last skill: Free choice, suggested choices are: a) Combat Reflexes - Improves Evasion statistic (chance to dodge attacks), and reduces the chance of receiving a critical hit from an attack. b) Spell Resistance - Increases resistance to spells and protection from spell-based critical hits. c) Pacifism - Reduces damage taken in PvP (all possible ramifications still unknown). d) Blacksmith - Allows the player to socket items and exclusive enhancements without having to use a Blacksmith. e) Divine Devotion - Improves regeneration of the Divine Gift (God spell) and unlocks some additional attributes. Combat Arts (in Red, each CA in red) Nether Allegiance (Buff) - "Ghostly cohort" (Astral Lord Aspect) Our main CA. The skeletons summoned will keep us from harm and kill our opponents. Only drawback is they are someone autonomous. They attack what they choose to attack. That's ok. We can dispel them at will and resummon them. Read as many runes as you're allowed by your current Astral Lord Focus skill level. This is your primary source of damage. Rallied Souls - "Battle command" (Astral Lord Aspect) Our second conjure combat art. Keep the regen at 2 or 3 seconds (without buffs... always be prepared to be stripped of your buffs and your character won't die when it finally happens). You'll need this to resurrect opponents as your skeletons kill them. Augmenting Guidon (Malevolent Champion Aspect) A stationary banner which increases defense and attack values for every party member within its range. Our main support skill. Boost attack and defense values so our guys never miss. Keep the regen for this under 20 seconds. Spectral Hand - "Ghosthand" (Astral Lord Aspect) Conjures a spectral hand to strike the target opponent. Our main attack CA. This works well with our skill selection. Affected by Astral Lord skills, concentration and stamina attribute. It can't be stopped by obstacles, and uses the equipped weapon as a damage base (thus the heavy damage axes/hammers). Read just one rune. Upgrade the weapons as the character increases in levels. Skeletal Fortification - "Bone Tower" (Astral Lord Aspect) Summons a stationary skeletal tower that will fire projectiles at opponents within a certain radius. A quick summons, it doesn't deal all that much damage--compared to Spectral Hand. On the other hand, it works on its own once summoned. Not needed in every combat. Definitely use in every boss fight. Read as many runes as you can so that the regen just stays under the duration. Shadow Veil - "Geistform" (Astral Lord Aspect) The Shadow Warrior will temporarily become invisible. When he executes short-range attacks or casts spells his shadow veil will be lifted, rendering him visible. Initially just a convenience, later this becomes almost Godmode. With the right modification choices it becomes a permanent buff. From CA level 40 we have a 100% chance of remaining veiled when casting a spell. This maybe considered an exploit, but it simplies our life immensely. Read as many runes as you can of this, until you hit 100%, 25 runes read. Then, read runes as required to prevent discovery by opponents. Reflective Emanation (Buff) (Malevolent Champion Aspect) Reflective aura with a certain chance to mirror close combat damage back at the attacker. At high levels this will be our 3rd buff. With the right mods, most everything will be reflected both for the SW and his minions. Level 75 unlocks mastery. Read as many runes as you can while still keeping the regen under the duration. Belligerent Vault (Malevolent Champion Aspect) The Shadow Warrior leaps purposefully towards his target. Read one rune here. Used as a shortcut over rivers and across cliffs and such. Modifications of Combat Arts Nether Allegiance - Ghostly cohort (Astral Lord Aspect) Bronze * Accomplice - Summons an additional soldier. (+1) * Sharp Blades - The spectral soldiers inflict more damage. Using math: Sharp Blades gives +20 to 30% damage. So: 3 skellies gives 130% *3 = 390%. Additional skellie gives 100% *4= 400%. So, pick accomplice. {Frost's note: I'd pick more damage per hit to overcome the increasing damage at the higher levels {Plat + Niob} Don't want the damage washed out.} Silver * Commander - Summons another additional soldier. (+1) * Spectral Shield - Equip summoned soldier with greatly enhanced shields. Hmmm. We can't really measure the increase in defense from Shield... so I'll go with another skellie again. 5 is better than 4. (or 3!) {Frost's note: I'd go with higher defense if planning on playing in Niob.} Gold * Balm - Increase life regeneration of the spectral soldiers. (50% increase) * Elite Equipment - Upgrades the spectral soldiers' armor. (7.5% + 5.5% per CA level (?)) Hmmm. Increased health regen vs increased armour. 300 armour was the original increase, which is quite considerable. This was toned down to 30 armour per rune by Ascaron with 2.34 patch. Still recommend the Elite Equipment. Perhaps Ascaron will increase this amount with a future patch since I consider 30 too small per rune for a Gold modification. Rallied Souls - "Battle command" (Astral Lord Aspect) Modifications Bronze * Armament - The animated corpses will receive an armor bonus. (7.5% + 5.5% per CA level increase (?)) * Dark Realm - Increases the effective range of the conjuration. (50% increase) Your choice. Both good. Silver * Vivification - The animated corpses live considerably longer. (50% increase) * Demand - Chance to animate an increased number of corpses. (80% increase) Your choice again, both good. Gold * Contagion - Adds a chance for the animated corpses to infect their victims, turning them into undead servants. (30% + 0.1% per CA level chance) * Furor - Animated corpses inflict more damage. (5% + 5% per CA level increase (?)) Again, both choices are good. Each has advantages and disadvantages... your choice. Augmenting Guidon - (Malevolent Champion Aspect) A stationary banner which increases defense and attack values for every party member within its range. Bronze * Elite - Increases attack and defense values by 50%. (50% increase) * Ensign - Expands the area of effect. (50% increase) Elite: the increase to attack and defense is calculated last, so any additional boosts will also gain the bonus. {Frost says it would be harder to keep track of the skellies that wandered off anyway.} Silver * Healing - Heals party members within area of effect. (8hp/s + 2hp/s per CA level) * Tutor - Grants more experience from opponents within area of effect. (10% + 0.2% per CA level increase) Boost the healing or boost the xp? What's not to love? Tutor stacks with mentor potions. Your choice. Gold * Fear - Reduces attack values of all opponents within area of effect. (130 + 1 per CA level decrease) * Leadership - Increases attack and cast speed of allied units within area of effect. (10% + 0.2% per CA level increase) I prefer leadership: more damage, more satisfying. Fear could be used by the defensive player. {Frost's note: Reduction of enemy attack values = less hits. Increased damage is good too. In Niob, you want both. What would be interesting is to see which of the two is more useful... which is all about game balance... which could be changed in each patch.} Spectral Hand - "Ghosthand" (Astral Lord Aspect) Modifications Bronze * Swiftness - Increases attack speed. (20% increase) * Clout - Increases the damage the spectral hand inflicts. (50% increase) 20% increase in attack speed versus 50% more damage. Damage FTW! Choose Clout. Silver * Chill - The spectral hand inflicts additional ice damage. (4% + 1% per CA level) * Intent - Increases the chance to land critical hits. (19.8% + 0.2% per CA level chance) Hmmm. A little bit of elemental damage versus crit. Hmmm. CRIT! Crit can mean 1000s of damage in Niob! Gold * Double Attack - Chance to strike twice with one hit. (25% chance) * Destruction - Increases all damage types of the spectral hand. (17.4% increase) Hmm. Increased damage versus... increased damage. If you're a gambler, take Double Attack. If you like knowing how much more you'll get, take Destruction. Both are good. Skeletal Fortification - "Bone Tower" (Astral Lord Aspect) Modifications Bronze * Rapid Fire - Increases the skeletal tower's firing rate. (50% increase) * Focus - Reduces the cooldown time for the skeletal tower. (100% + 1% per CA level decrease) Your choice. If you want two towers up at one time, choose Focus. If you want a more effective tower, choose Rapid Fire. {Frost's note: Since the tower is stationary, I prefer the shorter regen. I can optimally place the next tower myself sooner. Though you might want the higher DPS from a tower that shoots more projectiles... might be needed in Niob to be effective.} Silver * Ice Shards - Adds ice damage. (40% from base physical damage) * Arcane Power - Adds magic damage. (40% from base physical damage) Ice or Magic damage. Your choice. {Frost's note: this choice will affect what parts of the game you grind for levels in. Pick one that will be a weakness {in general} for your chosen enemy type.} Gold * Scatter Shot - Adds another projectile to the skeletal tower. (The extra projectile will always fire if there is another monster nearby, so is the recommended mod.) * Perforate - The arrows pierce through their targets and continue on their flight path. (100% chance to pierce, but slim chance there is another monster directly behind the first.) Since the monsters rarely line up with the fortress, I'd pick Scatter Shot more projectiles=more damage. Shadow Veil - "Geistform" (Astral Lord Aspect) Modifications Bronze * Creep - Opponents have to get closer to detect the Shadow Warrior while he is walking amongst them with Shadow Veil active. (+100% effectiveness (?)) * Avoidance - Reduces the effects of incoming detrimental spells. (3% + 2% per CA level) Creep, since with current game balance, we will be undetectible if we put a lot of runes into Shadow Veil and boost the hiding values. Silver * Nimble - Increases run speed while Shadow Veil is active. (10% + 0.2% per CA level) * Fade - Greatly reduces the detection radius while casting spells. (50% + 1% per CA level) Run fast or be undetectible while casting spells. Take Fade--we want to be able to act freely. Gold * Sinister Pact - The effect of Shadow Veil is permanent rather than temporary. (changed to buff) * Shadowmaster - Significantly reduces the regeneration time of Shadow Veil. (50% decrease) Sinister Pact. Make this a buff. Then we permanently invisible. Drawbacks are we are missing a 3rd buff slot until char level 75, and our regen will be longer until we can get to the sweet spot (when we have the skills to support the 3rd buff). So, a payoff in late game (Plat/Niob). {Frost's note: playing impaired at lower levels teaches caution--which is a good lesson if you're planning on HC Niob!} Reflective Emanation (Buff) (Malevolent Champion Aspect) Modifications Bronze * Tough - Adds a chance to reflect stun effects. (20% + 2% per CA level chance) * Backlash - Adds a chance to also reflect ranged attacks. (20% + 2% per CA level chance) Choose Backlash. There is a lot more projectile attacks in the game rather than stun attacks. {Frost's note: I prefer Tough, 'cause I can weave {move the character away from projectiles}, and I HATE to be stunned.} Silver * Unstoppable - Adds a chance to reflect root effects. (20% + 2% per CA level chance) * Antimagic - Adds a chance to reflect incoming spells. (20% + 2% per CA level chance) I would choose Antimagic. Again, it much more common than root effects. And damage is more deadly. {Frost's note: I'd choose Unstoppable--I do not EVER want to be stuck standing "taking it". Though, I can see Antimagic is good too.} Gold * Riposte - Adds a chance to increase to reflected damage. (14% + 1.4% per CA level chance) * Idol - Extends the reflective effect to all party members. (50% effectiveness to party members) We take Idol. We plan on using the skellies to do our attacking, so they need to reflect on the opponents. Belligerent Vault (Malevolent Champion Aspect) We aren't planning on using the Vault to attack, just as a shortcut over rivers and such. Playing (in bright blue) In general: Nether Allegiance and Shadow Veil should be on all the time. Once you have 25 runes read in SV, you'll be set. However, you must still be aware that area effect attacks will still hit... so be nimble. Be quick. And jump over that candelstick! Single enemies / Single boss (bright blue) Ghost Hand them. Should be all you need. Throw up an Augementing Guidon for bosses. It'll help you and your allies (Ghost Hand, Skellies, + Skellie Fortress). Small Groups (bright blue) Ghost Hand, Augementing Guidon, Skellie Fortress. Your Nether Allegiance will help too. Large Groups (bright blue) Start with Skellie Fortress. Augmenting Guidon. Rallied Souls as opponents die. Put in the occasional Ghost Hand. Have fun. So, this is my guide. Of course constructive criticism is welcome... flames...well, just hold them in 'till you explode please. And yeah, Shadow Veil can be viewed as a permanent cheat. But hey, the game was designed that way, and I like to use it. {Frost's note: Any errors are mine. Sometimes the German translation is pretty weird, so I've just had to guess sometimes. Sometimes I took the intent and jazzed it up using English idioms instead of German ones. If any bilingual people read this, please comment on better translation and thanks in advance!} NEW: I had a great time making a video that shows off this build. It's on youtube here: YouTube - Sacred 2 - Level 30 SK in Niob ==== comment from MaskÖ 10-Dec-2008: Since the damage comes from the minions, you can equip your character with tons of MF and XP gain. comment from MrYTitus 13-Dec-2008: Test proves Ancient Magic affects only the damage of Skellie Fortress. Nothing else. comment from Princess Asura 14-Dec-2008: I have played this character to level 33 and have reached Platinum. This is no fun since there is no challenge. comment from Wienerschnitzl 05-Jan-2009: I had a hard time with the Ghost on Christmas Island! It takes a looong time to take down this boss! response to Wienerschnitzl from ScHmiDi 06-Jan-2009: That's why I took Divine Devotion and Testa as my God. God of Science (Shadow) He is the spirit who brings life to dead and mechanical things. Divine Gift: Will-o-wisp - Several will-o-wisps appear out of nowhere. Animated by Testa's spirit, they assist the hero by healing his wounds and absorbing incoming damage. response to Wienerschnitzl from Montaux 07-Jan-2009: Probably due to the high physical resistance that boss has. Use a fire or poison based weapon. Or go away and level up and come back (so your attack rating + damage are higher). Or ask another player (online) to help you. comment from Daniel35102 13-Feb-2009: Here is my version: Astral Lord Lore Astral Lord Focus Tactics Lore (for damage from weapons) Damage Lore Concentration (3 buffs) Hafted Weapons Speed Lore Armour Lore choice: Toughness, Constitution, Combat Reflexes, Magic Resistance. I took Tactics Lore because sometimes you're stripped of all your minions. Particularly in Niob. What do you recommend for the last 2 skills? I don't have a Blacksmith or MF finding character yet. response from Wienerschnitzl 17-Feb-2009: Yes, help is the only way. For example the Octagolamus. In plat and beyond he's deadly. The Skellie tower and the Skellies can barely scratch him. He's level 86, and the Skellies are level 101! question from Daniel35102 on 23-Feb-2009: How to boost damage of all the parts? response from Jinzo-1995 on 25-Feb-2009: Skellie Fortress: Intelligence, Ancient Magic, Tactics Lore. Rallied Souls (Ghost): Tactics Lore and Astral Lord Lore. Nether Allegience: combat art levels in Nether Allegiance ONLY.

I just read today that Flaring Nova type of damage can be changed by equipping different weapons with different elemental damage. eg: weapon with lava chunk for fire damage, or a poison tooth for poison. My seraphim isn't high enough level to worry of upper level skills. I do plan on at least 3 defensive skills: Constitution, Shield Lore and Armor. Hope this helped.

Glad to read that things got resolved to your satisfaction. (And apologies for resurrecting this old thread from the dead...) One more thing about campus cops: Here in Canada, they are wanna-be or failed or retired cops. In the USA, they might well be ACTUAL COPS. One thing you must NEVER never do: Be guilty of 'contempt of cop'. Never disrespect the police. Ever. You will always come out a loser.

Well. I'm very late to find this thread. Sorry for your losses. I too had a cat who had been bitten. I too took him to the vet. The vet recommended the cat stay overnight so they could drain the abcess. The cat had been bitten through the paw by a neighbour alpha cat. My cat contracted distemper from that visit. He died overnight the next night. My Dad buried him before I woke up. Your cat loved you, you did your best to take care of him/her. That's all anyone can ask of you. Your best. Hope this doesn't open old wounds... instead provides you with a bit of soul-balm.

...you're cycling along and you're replaying the opening speech (in your mind) for your character when you first made it...

I found a gem on the SIF. Swordsman5 pointed out that side-quests give xp based on your character level. So... if you save up the side quests (there seem to be >500 side quests) you gain XP faster in Niob by doing quests potentially than by grinding alone. Please post here more ideas for the higher level characters...

Sounds like another company that lets their workers have weekends to themselves... Strange for an internet-based company. Wonder if they were attacked by distributed denial of service over the last while? Or maybe they moved? Or... lots of things could've got in the way... like a new product launch...

Or--you have a really powerful set of speakers in your pc/stereo/cd/dvd player... or your light ballasts are out of wack... or your neighbours have the super powerful speakers..right next to where you hang out... Could be something else? Though I do believe some people have wacky wacky fields... I had a friend who could be used as the aiming device for the remote control for the tv... TV-remote was finicky --unless you aimed the remote at her! --- I bought a couple of educational games for my nephew at Costco. The clerk was lazy and scanned the same game twice. (they were different). When I applied for the mail in rebate I was refused... rebate required both games be purchased... not 2 of the same. So. No rebate. I bought a video card a long time ago... sent in the wrong part of the box with the receipt. No rebate. Re-sent the rebate in, too late. Expired rebate... no rebate. So: I don't count mail in rebates to my purchasing decision. Marketers like to create 'pressure to buy'... as a consumer, the more they press for immediate sale, the less likely I am to buy. They must be lying is my learned response.

I opened this thread thinking it would be about something like a Shadow Warrior that was deeply into the Alchemy skill... Psych! Yokes on me. (Egg humour, relieves the stress.)

From my translation of the Astral Lord build (on Clan-DA): question from Daniel35102 on 23-Feb-2009: How to boost damage of all the parts? response from Jinzo-1995 on 25-Feb-2009: Skellie Fortress: Intelligence, Ancient Magic, Tactics Lore. Rallied Souls (Ghost): Tactics Lore and Astral Lord Lore. Nether Allegience: combat art levels in Nether Allegiance ONLY. That's what the Germans are saying. Hope this helps.

Hope you have a blast on your b-day!

Here, we'd be good to go just about all the time! (Windows up or you freeze to death!) Just this week I've put the windows down in the car to get fresh (just above freezing) air while driving! Aaah! Spring! ... and now, I can't ding, 'cause I decided to reformat C: and put XP on my fast computer. I hate VISTA. I unloaded Sacred first... which deactivates it.