2Lemurs

I also just calculated my experience/minute in the Orc Cave, with +271% experience gear, at 257,983/min. At this stage (129), that's about a level every 30-40 minutes. So hopefully by the end of the month, I'll hit 175... and then the real grind begins... I'm using the Orc Cave because the swamp is annoying to me lol

I appreciate the heads-up. I've still a ways to go with her- she's only 128 atm, having beaten Niob all the way back at 90 or so.

I appreciate the response, @idbeholdME. I kind of figured that was the case, so now I can focus the rest of my admittedly dwindling motivation on finally level capping. (Yes- after this many years, I've still never hit level 200 😭😂)

That's awesome! It's a proof of your character that you're so family centric and happy to fulfill this dream for your mother. Total props, my dude.

That's awesome gogo, I hope you have a fun vacation- anything interesting planned?

If you're still looking for a copy, I happen to have 2 on hand. Otherwise, I suggest DKOldies- they've usually got 1 or 2 available. And yes, I realize how long ago you posted this. I hope you found a copy and have been happily exploring Ancaria this entire time 😃

Sure, it's been two years. But I finally cracked 100%+ map reveal! And yes, this is the same character/toon from before.

Thanks. Gogo. It's good to see you too! I appreciate your understanding. Hopefully, someone in this great community has the answer I seek. In the meantime, cheers!

Shoot, did I accidentally put this in the wrong sub-forum again? I'm terrible at this 😨😭

Ok, I tried searching but couldn't revise the results enough to learn what I was hoping to- my apologies as I'm sure it's been answered somewhere else before now. That being said- is there an actual hard skill cap, including all +skills bonuses? I.e. if I have 75 points in all skills (mastery), and +212 All Skills socketed (which I do), are all of my skills *at least* 287? Or is there an actual hard cap at like 255 or something, and I should be using some of these socket slots for other things? Mind you, I'm only at level 120 currently (such a slog lol), so I anticipate nearly doubling that +All skills modifier by the time I hit max level. I appreciate any information anyone has. (And yes, I'm still playing on console haha)

Simply Somersault onto him when he's on the shoreline past the boat, and boom, you've got access to the entire southern ocean. Be careful not to attempt normal movement after Somersault- the game will try to realign you if you do. Just hoppity boppity into the ocean a and explore away.

Also, here is the Turtle of Certainty- found on the path leading from the jungle temple boss towards the small village on the western shore.

Found a northern ocean barrier that can be traversed to gain access to the Seraphim Islands portion, pic included for reference. Access was gained by using Assailing Somersault onto an enemy spawned into the river. When you reach this point, you can move your cursor over the upper edge and then back, thereby switching from the Human Realm grid to the Seraphim island grid. Note: There are hard barriers, and then there are occasionally what I refer to as "soft barriers", the latter of which have, along their length somewhere or other, a point at such you can switch over to the next grid. If I'm not mistaken, each realm has a hard barrier around it, but there are a few points at which you can switch over, hence soft barriers. That's all redundant, but hopefully it makes some sense.

And the net results thus far (eventually I get bored)

A shot of the precise location via map

After some great tips from @Hooyaah, and the pleasure of reading these adventures, I discovered (and I'm likely not the first but I couldn't find mention of it) this, which I have dubbed "The Turtle of Certainty". Simply align your Assailing Somersault onto the turtle when it's somewhat past the boat, being careful not to attempt any further movement, and you'll find yourself outside the map- every single time. If there's mention of this turtle and I've missed it, all credit to the original poster and many thanks and apologies. Happy hunting!

Truly appreciative of your fine work here, this is an excellently written guide to a very well built Seraphim.

Perchance, might you be able to shed light on the specific mechanics of said action? Or happen to know of a link with such a description? I've only managed to glitch outside the map occasionally, and never with faithful, consistent reproduction. 😁

I really enjoy your storytelling here, Daedalus, not sure if you're still active but if you read this, thank you for sharing this.

Welcome, and welcome, and welcome. I'm very glad, personally, to hear of someone discovering Sacred for the first time- criminally underrated, oft forgotten, critically assaulted- but still a legend of an RPG. Best regards, and safe adventuring!

Whoa- I've never been able to bridge that gap, though I have been in that lower jungle field (by way of the bridge just north of it). What skill are you using, if it's not Assailing Somersault, if I may ask?

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to respond, just getting used to the navigation on this site. Honestly, I reposted under the Console heading, and thank you so much for including that link, I've read through a bit and discovered a few new things to try out. Again, much appreciated!!

Aha! For I too have found the ocean bound dance hall of eternity!

*comment removed and worked into existing topic post*

After over a decade of playing this game, reading all of the wonderful guides (THANK YOU), and gravitating to the same build over and over again, I figured it was time to share it with everyone else, in the hopes that others might 1. Like it 2. Find it useful and/or 3. Help improve it. Credit to @RavenLight for their Dual Wield Build, which this is based off of. You can find that guide here- Overview (How and Why it Works): This build is based on a few key aspects and concepts: Hit them quickly and consistently; make yourself hard to hit- if they do hit you, reduce the realized damage taken to as close to zero as possible as to be zero, and even when we're taking damage, hit them at a rapid clip with Life Leech EVERY HIT to heals us, and worst case (very, very rarely) abuse the heck out of our health potions. Finally, increase the quantity and quality of our loot reliably. It eschews all other aspects of the mechanics and game in the pursuit of efficiency- this beautiful, wonderful game, for all of its intricacies, relies heavily on very, very linear mathematics- and we're going to take a sledgehammer to them. It is possible, given a little patience and planning, to play this build through Niobium without dying even once- I died 5 times, and I can tell you how it happened each time- 1st time: Cat disconnected the HDMI cord, and my console is hooked up through my receiver, and, well, it's not a quick process getting behind there. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th times: Fell asleep. 5th time: Tried running the Orc Cave on Niobium... at level 78, without sufficient +All Skills. Not bright. Downsides to this build: Well, there are a few, most notably the complete lack of crowd control. Ignoring combat arts does give us more skill slots and points to spend on damage and survivability, but a mob of meanies can outstrip your life leech, especially on Niob, and you'll need to watch out for those spinny skull DOT spells (though those are easily enough avoided). Yes, eventually you'll be so unbelievably powerful that it won't matter, but if you, like me, reach the end of Niobium at about level 100, you'll have some touch and go moments on your hands, especially with Temple Guardians at the Great Machine- those death spells (which sound to me like really weak and raspy TARDIS noises) can be murder, and until you start equipping +10 and greater All Skills equipment, spike damage is still a very real threat (at level 100-110). Furthermore, it's kind of boring to play- again due to the complete erasure of combat arts. You're going to be spending a lot of time with your fingers on the A button and hovering over your health potion slot. Lastly, if you're a hoarder, then this is either the best or worst build for you- you're going to have *** equipment coming out your ears before long, but by the end of Platinum, you can easily set your main pickup setting to *** and just glide through without the constant inventory management issues. I. Skill Choices Tactics Lore- (Moar damage!) Keep at your level until 75 Armor Lore-(Get hit less often) Keep at your level until 75 Dual Wield- (Hit them more often and quicker) Keep at your level until 75 Toughness- (Oh, did you hit me? I didn't notice 😁) Get to 75 as quickly as possible Enhanced Perception- (Get that loot boi) get to 75 AFTER toughness Bargaining- (Buy that loot) doesn't need to be mastered, I usually go to about 50. Sword Weapons- (For any weapons we might find with Sword Mastery as a modifier) Get to 75 Combat Reflexes- (Haha you gotta be quicker than that) Get to 75 Constitution- (Boiiii I'm a tank, ya hear?) Get to 75 Exalted Warrior Focus- (I want to jump more often, because when we glitch ourselves into the ocean we don't want to be there for centuries) Get to 75 If you're thinking to yourself "Wait, there's a whole lot of extra points leftover", you're right. This build relies heavily on socketing All Skills+ rings and amulets to raise those skills- we only need to master them for the extra bonuses, and we can ignore Bargaining because the mastery bonus is pointless (or master it, it really doesn't matter). Those extra points can go... pretty much anywhere you want (My choice is for either Toughness [extra unkillable] or Enhanced Perception [IT'S RAINING GEAR]). And because of the extremely overpowered benefits of All Skills+, by the time you reach the end of the game, you should have at least 22 sockets with All Skills+10-20 rings/amulets socketed, which adds another... 220-440 points... TO EVERY SKILL. As an example, my level 100 Seraphim (This build) on Niobium currently has +157 All Skills+... I don't even remember the last time I was close to death- the only thing that does damage to me are ground spells. II. Gear The following gear is non-negotiable, when you find it, no matter whether you like it, it's now your jive. Garment of the Celestial Gown of the Celestial Endijian's Wings What do these all have in common? All channel damage mitigation. If you don't know what that is, an easy way of understanding would be to say that damage mitigation is a modifier that reduces all damage, regardless of source, before all damage calculations have been made. It's a little like saying "Oh you hit me with a bus, good thing I have +300,000 bus armor on, guess I'll go get coffee now". This is the second pillar of our build (the first being DPS focus), and without it this build is trash. Every so often you may find a piece of gear that has better All Channel Mitigation than your set piece- you'll need to weigh whether losing the set bonus is better or worse than the extra Mitigation, or whether you have another workable set piece to swap in (it often is better, honestly, search for explanations of the mechanics behind this and I think you'll agree). A thorough test and discussion of this mechanic written by @Dobri can be found here- Sections III-VI appear to have gone missing, must have made a mistake in a previous edit; it will take some time before I am able to restore them 😭😭😭 VII. On Level Grinding While many guides point out that the swamp, specifically the southeast corner, has the highest spawn rate, I've always disliked it for two reasons- high density of undead and high density of enemies which can stun/freeze/root you. This makes leveling, without a gear set built to protect against those attacks, a chore. Other guides will mention D'Ary, the infamous island of turtles just off the south eastern coast of the Dryad realm- this is a good choice, though I will state that without a gear set with ample +experience% you may find it a chore. I propose two alternatives- the south western desert, with all of its scorpions (no special attacks, high experience but low density), and using the Orc Cave (A link to a guide written by none other than Dobri again is here- http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php/Sacred_2:A_guide_to_the_Orc_Cave_-_your_easy_way_to_a_ton_of_XP_and_drops! ), After level 100, however, it is in my opinion best to move on to higher density areas, and only use the Orc Cave as a loot grind, when you get bored of doing side boss runs. The swamp is an excellent choice, as is the northern part of the Dryad realm (especially Blood Dryads- quick to kill, and high spawn). VIII. So you've beaten Niobium and have over 100% map revealed, now what? Some options- 1. Use this build to shop for a cooler, more fun to play build. 2. Get to level 200, and hunt down a perfect set of gear. 3. Speed Trial, Every Single Boss Edition 4. Uh, other stuff? This build guide is somewhat incomplete, and if I've left anything out, please feel free to ask in the comments section. Addendum: I've included a picture of my Seraphim which I took literally seconds after beating Niobium- in all honesty, this build can likely beat Niobium 5 levels earlier with a few alterations. Edited for inaccuracies and clarity, will be edited and updated with any relevant information as time allows.