soldats

I need this..right now! epic teaser.....

which brings up a question, does combat d increase the damage/reduce regen times of horse Combat Arts? or is it character Combat Arts only? I'm quite curious... as for horse builds, I would go even further to say that riding is NECESSARY as much as any other character specific aspect. because that is the livelihood of your build, it is necessary. but for the majority of players, I would say that riding would not be in the top shelf of skills. and I agree again with certain general skills...without them, some characters would be inefficient...or even worse, some builds could not exist/emerge without superior gear/knowledge gained from having superior gear I wish that more of the skills had been accessible to ALL characters, as it would have widely affected creativity. for instance, I don't understand why combat r. cannot be had by a high elf when they clearly gave her a melee ca. or even worse, ancient magic is not available to tg's and seraphim's, some of which are heavy spell casters, yet most of their spells only call from 1 or 2 native elements, meaning that certain minibosses are untouchable. I guess that last part was a gripe, but I'm trying to figure out why ascaron designed characters with 2/3 aspects devoted to spell casting and did not give them ancient magic....

you'll need different tables because the values change with difficulty as well as character level

no new epics for me as of 2.43

it's been awhile since the release of Sacred 2 and with the impending release of the experience for pc players, I have to wonder if new skills that are accessible to all characters are going to be introduced. if so and we aren't getting any new slots for skills[10 max], then we'll have to rid ourselves of some to make room for the new. of course this is all speculation as I have NO support to back up whether or not we'll be getting new skills. what we can conjecture on, however, is the usefulness and uselessness of certain skills. I won't be going into character specific skills as there is no way to gauge their effectiveness[in fact, I would posit that ALL character specific skills are CRUCIAL], though we can dismiss certain defensive, offensive and general skills as everyone can use them. so to start off, I will list my 3 absolute MUST have skills...no matter the build/character 01. armor lore- lowers armor malus for all types, but especially the heavier pieces. allows for the use of higher level armor without a speed penalty. scaling unlockables include casting speed, defensive value, attack value[?], +existing armor type; mastery includes all channel dm, -detrimental magic effects. an important skill for all characters in that it reduces regen penalties allowing for faster use of Combat Arts/more rune consumption. useful for casters on weapons such as tinwora's curse[casting speed]. all channel dm granted at mastery. what else could you want? 02. combat discipline- lowers regen times of all Combat Arts in combo by 10%. mastery lowers regen by 20%. increases the damage of all spell Combat Arts by a flat amount. increases the damage of all weapon based Combat Arts by their ca bonus. allows for 3-4 ca combos. this is THE premier skill to enhance damage output. it doesn't matter what character you play; this skill will help you kill faster and allows for more ingenious combos, such as utility or timered buff combos. 03. concentration- lowers regen times per skill point and allows the use of two buffs. at mastery, allows the use of 3 buffs. now, not all characters use more than one buff, but usually characters with a single aspect will be left wanting an extra skill or two due to not requiring another focus/lore. concentration helps all characters by lowering regen times even if only one buff is being used. and now for the 3 most useless skills[in my opinion] 01. divine devotion- allows for more frequent use of god spell. increases the level of god spell[undocumented in-game] therefore, effectiveness of god spell. however, is limited to the usefulness of the god spell. MOST god spells are not very useful to begin with. I don't believe that the sakkara demon grants you experience when it kills monsters. slowing everything down all the time with lumen makes Area of Effect killing painful. 02. speed lore- increases run speed, attack and defense values by %. mastery unlocks include a 9% bonus to run speed and 135% bonus to atk/def values. 9% at mastery is a joke and a travesty in my eyes. at level 5, you can shop for gear[without bargaining, even] with run speed in the 10%'s in silver. at level 200 gear, you can find run speed in the 30%'s. seeing as how run speed is capped at 150% in generally most situations, choosing this skill for something that can be replaced by gear THREEFOLD is saddening. the atk/def value only benefits weapon based characters, leaving spell casters to benefit from def value only. chance to evade eclipses the bonus def value provides. 03. riding- all benefits gained ONLY when mounted- faster run speed, riding unlockables[horse only], increases horse ca damage. lowers regen times while mounted on a horse. this skill use only useful if you are mounted and on top of that, only truly useful if you ride a horse. it does not affect ca times when on a non horse[?]. unless you plan on making a horse only character[no character specific Combat Arts/buffs while mounted on a horse], you will be suffering big time. also keep in mind that most bosses are in caves, where mounts are not allowed, so your true effectiveness as a character is diminished in the most crucial times. now, if they were replacing existing skills to make room for new ones, I would throw these three right out the window without hesitation. unless they add some unlockables/other benefits to using these skills, I don't see any reason why anyone would even want to touch these. well...let the discussion begin- what are your 3 must haves and 3 don't wants? keep in mind it's hard to have a varied discussion on skills because if you choose a skill that only 5/6 characters can take, it makes the discussion invalid as 1/6 cannot choose it. there are few all character skills... or you could choose to discuss 5/6 or even 4/6 skills if you feel inclined. if I weren't so restrictive myself, I would throw blacksmith and bargaining into the must haves and magic staffs[should be staves anyway, bad on ascaron for the typo, unless it's vernacular] should be placed in the don't wants.

I did post my guide. err one of them.

such an interesting thread

cookie cutter builds are not required to be overpowered. that can be one proponent of such a build, but I think the meaning refers to the de facto aspect of such a build. by that, I mean looking at an sw, you would probably assume that he would be a melee character. why? just look at the way he's physically built for one thing. another thing is how the game is initially advertised. you don't see ascaron making teaser videos with an sw using a bow. on top of that, the descriptions of said character lend it a melee feel. therefore, a melee sw = cookie cutter. I also think that the more popular a build becomes, the more players that play it, any build can really become a cookie cutter, although this is a bit arbitrary...saying anything can become one. but I think you guys get what I mean. another example: a dryad that uses a bow. why does that smack of cookie cutter? because popular culture teaches us that dryads are SUPPOSED to use bows or at least be ranged. societal norms and everyone wanting to fit in is a broader view of this real life phenomenon. cookie cutter builds also lack creativity as someone said. it can be inferred that they are boring, one dimensional, easy to learn, easy to play with a low sense of satisfaction gained from playing such a character. playing the devil's advocate here, but I also agree with gogo in that since they are so easy to play, they tend to build confidence in the player with a lower learning curve. which is not to say that people who aren't committed to gaming always play cookie cutter builds, but that they tend to. a casual gamer, say. it also requires thinking within the box rather than outside of it in short: cookie cutter = stereotype I will never play or take serious a cookie cutter.

thank you all for the reads/replies I'll be updating the op with some more information tomorrow..hopefully just got out of class and a 4am shift looms in the immediate horizon...

thanks for quick fix, dob. and it's true that the number of sockets does not a great character make. what people don't realize is that a property must be given up for a socket...and while sockets are great for customization, the native properties found on gear will ALWAYS be quantitatively larger. meaning, for the same level item, you will get a higher value on gear than on jewelry. this has been tested to be 100% true in all cases with the exclusion of uniques[still, 95% of uniques follow this rule]. so if you value certain properties you can't find on jewelry or want a higher value, then less sockets will suit you better. the reason why I didn't use endijian's wings is because 1- they're ugly and 2- the -opponent's chance to evade on high level wings of revenge helps with hitting bosses. I believe the value is somewhere in the 60%'s. with endijian's wings, it is possible to reach 97%+ dm. and with enough +all skills, you can further boost it to 100% dm, though this is still untested by me. zin did some dm testing on tg's and it is indeed possible to reach 100% dm, so I don't see why not in this build.

I know you had sent me that pm asking about ca mods and stuff and I felt a little bad for not getting back to you sooner, but I had been working on this and I spent last night finishing it up and meant to pm you about it. but here it is and if you have any other questions, just ask here. finals are coming up and I'm working weird hours[4am shifts, 12am shifts] [edit] leveling strategies and more playstyle tips will be added, pending my hw/class status...

intro- first off, this guide isn't meant to look pretty. I don't have the time/patience to be doctoring up my text so you can see pretty colors and pictures. secondly, some of you may know me from the sif. some of you do not know me at all. it matters not. only keep this one thing in mind...my aim is to create tried and true non cookie cutter builds that thrive in the hardest/most difficult conditions and come out victorious. I also only play closednet hc, so all my builds stress survivability, but in a passive sense, allowing you to focus on playing offensively. a disclaimer...all my builds, once they reach 150, are retired from play. I've been asked numerous times why I don't go for 200. why not? because there is no difference between 150 and 200 except that you do more damage and gain less experience, while spending a month or more working to get there. the grind is not for me. getting to 150, which I consider commendable since the majority of players in hardcore never even see 140+ due to death or boredom, is enough. this is a build I was toying around with a few months ago. I wanted to create a 'valkyrie' type of seraphim, that is, using polearms and lightning-based attacks. needless to say, I abandoned that project in lieu of a pure caster once I entered the testing phase of Combat Arts. perhaps I will pick it up again, or someone else can. this build is unique in several ways: 1- single buff 2- no general skills 3- no mount 4- effective Area of Effect 5- effective single target damage 6- no melee 7- NO BFG 8- immortality so you're probably looking down that list and you'll notice that some of those properties I listed are moot/not unique to my build. I must step in and say that yes, while every build strives for effective Area of Effect/single target damage and immortality, many many fail at achieving all three. most builds are heavy Area of Effect with less single target effectiveness or vice versa. what I offer here is the closest you will get to 50/50 with extreme killing speed in both Area of Effect and single targets, in which I think few builds truly achieve. so in essence, these properties are indeed, unique to my builds. skills- 02- revered technology lore[75] 03- celestial magic lore[75] 05- revered technology focus[75] 08- celestial magic focus[75] 12- armor lore[75] 18- constitution[75] 25- shield lore[1] 35- warding energy lore[1] 50- combat discipline[75] 65- toughness[75] this build requires that all but wel and shield lore reach mastery and no more. if you would like to continue to boost damage through maxing out cd or rtl/rtf; cml/cmf, go ahead. masteries- foci are required to raise the maximum level of Combat Arts without penalty and to lower regen times. lores increase crit, execution speed and damage. armor lore to unlock all channel dm. constitution is for in combat hp regen. cd for -20% global regen and damage boost. toughness for an extra 9% all channel dm. ****note**** this build at 152[I know, breaking my own rule, but it's my rule to break] will achieve enough extra skill points to master shield lore, which gives near 35% close combat blocking with a non lore shield. it will DRAMATICALLY increase defensive capability to the point of immortality. I will explain later. if you opt out of shield lore, stick the extra 70odd skill points somewhere else. attributes- I follow this template I developed for all my characters. 1-49- 1vit 50-149- 1vit/1sta 150-200[if you get to 200]- 1vit/2sta why stamina? why not int for casters or str/dex for weapon users? because anything other than sta is misleading. an often overlooked property of Combat Arts is their modification scaling based on ca level. the only way to effectively raise these modifiers' values is to raise Combat Arts, which means incurring a higher regen penalty. sta reduces penalties, so much so that I strive to find +sta on gear and make it a high priority. even over vit. str/dex/int does not allow for rune consumption, only to raise damage without respect to ca level. example- archangel's wrath mod explosive. if left at ca level 1[realistic...maybe 20], the chance for Area of Effect is less, but damage is increased through the proper weapon attribute, str or dex. if pumping sta, you can increase the damage of aw, while indirectly raising the chance for Area of Effect until it is 100%. a caveat...once you reach the point of penalty because you've eaten too many runes past what your focus dictates, raising str/dex/int will benefit you more than sta, but that is for advanced players with intimate knowledge of their character and her gear and specific playstyle. combat arts- aspect: celestial magic- baneful smite[bs; disarm, confuse, electrocute] this is your debuffer. The bronze and gold mods are inconsequential. what you’re looking for is the ability to spam the ca as fast as you can with the confuse mod. if used on bosses, they can have a 0% chance to hit you. however, the tradeoff is that you won’t be able to use your other ca’s for killing speed. I personally do NOT use this as a debuffer, instead I use it as a lure to bring far off enemies to me out of sheer laziness. the unlimited range on the ca offers great sniping opportunities if you choose to make this a damaging ca. keep this at .3sec/regen. radiant pillar[rp; hypnosis, brightness, ordeal] this is your Area of Effect setup. on its own, it does considerable dot, however, dot is not effective, fast killing. the only important mods are the bronze and silver mods. hypnosis brings everything within a certain radius to the center of the rp and brightness increases the Area of Effect range. eventually, one rp can cover and hypnotize an entire screen's worth of enemies. keep this = fn's regen time. hallowed restoration[hr; recuperation, master healer, antidote] while this ca gives many players the impression of immortality, it doesn't and those players are wrong in thinking so. all this ca does is heal you at a considerable rate, given the bronze and silver mods. the gold mod isn't important. what this ca does is give you the ability to heal back 100% of your hp in one second. the drawback? if something one-shots you, hr is going to do squat, so no, it does not offer immortality. it's more of a convenience ca, so you won't have to carry healing potions[more room for loot]. eventually, you won't have to use this at all because your dm will be high enough to mitigate most blows, even boss ones. keep this under 1sec/regen. cleansing brilliance[cr; distract, purify, eagerness] this is your one-off buff for undead situations. only the silver and gold mods are important. use it in the swamp when you want to run around watching stuff drop in one pulse. champions included. the mist of miasma is a piece of cake with this buff on, as is indicated in my video. aspect: revered technology- archangel's wrath[aw; salvo, explosive, vulnerable] this is your single target killer. only the bronze and silver mods are important. salvo to increase overall damage[indirectly, db] and explosive to take care of groups resistant to magic damage. this is the only ca that is weapon-based. meaning that the damage is affected by your weapon's base damage and chance to hit is important. if you want as an alternative, try keeping a stronger base 1h weapon on switch for using this ca, but keep in mind that when you switch off, you'll lose the +ca from tinwora's, so any 1h you find should give you more aw damage, otherwise just use tinwora's. keep this at .3~.5sec/regen. flaring nova[fn; impulse, stun, flux] finally, the other shining gem of the technobabe. this is your mob killer and all three mods are important. rp's hypnosis draws them into the center and fn wipes all mobs out. keep this at .6sec/regen. warding energy[we; projectile reflection, magic mirror, block] the mainstay buff. all three mods are important, although newer players might opt for field force as it is more player friendly in the early stages of the game. this buff is completely worthless until the end of platinum. I don't suggest even using it until then. why? it will increase your regen times for all other Combat Arts, while it goes down in a few hits. once certain skills are mastered with certain gear, this buff really shines. until then you're better off without it. I'm serious. it's a total late bloomer, but once it does, it guarantees invulnerability, ie immortality. gear- anyone who tells you that a character is more/less gear dependent in comparison to another character is lying to you. every character is gear dependent no matter if anyone tells you otherwise. walking out less than optimally geared makes your character weak and less likely to kill at fast speeds. it doesn't matter if you're playing a da dryad or a gt high elf. gear is 50% of your character. •helm- helmet of the seraish[set; origin of the seraish] +all ca, +wil and 2 sockets[1 bronze, 1 silver] •shoulders- gown of the celestial[set; revelation of the seraphim] +all channel dm, +rp, +sta and 1 socket[1 gold] absolutely beautiful shoulder armor. you can instead choose a rare piece with scaling all channel dm and 2 sockets, but with 3 pieces of this set, you gain scaling +sta. •torso- garment of the celestial[set; revelation of the seraphim] +all channel dm and 2 sockets[1 silver, 1 gold]. again, beautiful piece of armor. there are rares that exist that would outright beat this torso, but with the scaling +sta and cohesive look of the set, I believe this is optimal. •sleeves- wristguards of dusk[twilight of the gods]- thanks dobri 3 sockets[1 bronze, 1 silver, 1 gold]. customize to meet any other areas where you are weak. if you need more db, this is a good place to stick it. if you need more all skills, etc, etc. •gloves- +%dmg, +aspect: xx, +ca[not all ca, but specific ones], +atk value, +cast speed[rare] there are no truly amazing set gloves so find yourself a rare pair of gloves with 1 socket and +19 aw or +%dmg or something useful. •belt- braid of the celestial[set; revelation of the seraphim] +sta, +hr, 2 sockets[1 bronze, 1 silver]. the third piece of the revelation set that will give you the scaling +sta. with the native +sta on this piece, I was able to reach over +250 sta. incredible. bonus points for being a thong. killing while fashionably dressed is always in style. •pants- sofia's protection[set; twilight of the gods] again use these to customize to your needs. there aren't any really good set legs and the rares I have found are lacking in native properties, however, that does not exclude their use. I just personally have not found any useful ones and I know they exist. you can substitute any 3socket pants here, but I thought these looked the best. •boots- +aspect: xx, +run speed, +evade[rare] no good set boots exist. try to find a rare piece with +aspect, run speed and 1 socket. •wings- wings of revenge[set; infinite revenge] +def skills, +run speed, -opponent's chance to evade, 2 sockets[1 silver, 1 gold] these wings are precious. when I look into my personal stash, I see a new set of wings every 15 levels because I refused to use anything else. all the properties on these wings are beneficial to your character and especially the -opponent's chance to evade as aw requires atk value to land hits. another option is to use endijian's wings[dobri] to boost all channel dm. •shield[1]- close combat[cc] blocking, +aspect: xx, +def skills, +experience[!], +physical dm[rare] with 1 point into shield lore and around +150 all skills, you can be sure that you're cc blocking will reach 80%+. try to aim for 2 sockets. •shield[2]- glacial defender[unique] ***see below*** +all channel dm, 1 socket[1 gold] •weapon- tinwora's curse[unique] +all ca, -regen, +casting speed, 2 sockets[2 gold]. this is the best 1h caster weapon that is widely available. the new epic 1h might rival this due to +int%, but it won't give you the scaling bonus to ca mods. •jewelry- any combination of +all skill, all ca, -opponent's chance to evade, +chance opponent cannot evade, +db, +dmg, +aspect: xx, +attribute, +def skill any sockets you find in your gear should be socketed with a combination of said jewelry and niobium blacksmith arts[bs arts] until you reach an equilibrium of dmg vs regen. setup- everything I alluded to before probably sounded confusing, but I will explain it all here. check out my guide on dm before you go any further....http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?sh...p;#entry6854478 yes, I know it's a lot of reading, but I am extremely meticulous and anyone failing to meet my level of care shouldn't be surprised if they die or lose their character. there's a reason why details are important to me and all my characters. so with toughness, all channel dm from gear[shield lore mastery + glacial defender optional] and even some from we, it is possible to reach nigh 80% dm. that is absolutely insane. that means that of all the damage that is able to make it past 40% block, evade and reflect, only 20% of it will affect you, which is like bringing a level 60 to bronze and letting a kobold hit you. with constitution mastery, your hp regen should be high enough to shrug off all hits, even boss hits. the infrequent use of hr will patch up bigger hits if you're afraid you're going to die. even if you opt out of shield lore mastery, you can then achieve 85% cc blocking with 65% dm. that's trading in some dm for much higher cc block, but that is your decision. I don't particularly value avoidance all that much, so I choose 80% dm with 40% cc block. either way, you will be immortal. important properties to find on rare gear- max energy shields +xx%, absorption warding energy +xx% these two are needed until your shields are high enough to take a beating in a 5man niob game, the hardest way to play this game. I wouldn't suggest having absorption warding energy at 100%, as is noted in my dm guide. 80/20 is much more efficient. playstyle- quite easy. combo 1- rp>fn use to draw mobs in and flatten them to the ground combo 2- aw spam for boss killing combo 3- bs spam for sniping/debuffing/luring ca slot 4- hr hr does not activate healing in a combo when exiting a cave. it's a bug and I don't know if it's been reported yet, but I noted it in a couple threads at the sif before being banned. •while it is repetitive, think about how every other character levels, but spamming Combat Arts. this is no different, only you'll be using a multitude of Combat Arts instead of only one or two. •I refuse to use bfg, as it is an ugly weapon and a noobstick unworthy of advanced players. if you want to use it, this build is not for you as it violates the stipulation I laid down in the intro as being non cookie cutter. •no melee aspect as everyone seems to pair up ew with either cm or rt. this is the only pure cm/rt build that I am aware of. on top of that, it is effective at all areas of play in the game, tested in a 5man niob game. she can handle anything solo. •being mountless means indirectly increasing your damage. I won't need to explain this as it is pretty apparent why. leveling- I think I am correct when most players start off using weapons to kill enemies. while I am opposed to this, there is no reason you can't do so. myself, I am a purist and once I have a build in mind, I make sure to play it all the way through no matter the difficulties or ease. with this particular build you will be able to rock mobs right off the bat with the Area of Effect Combat Arts. •lvls1-15- you don't need a shopper for your gear as you will soon outgrow it. spend some time going around to different merchants and try to buy any gear with sockets. the more the better. you'll stuff these with the ENHANCE bs arts. the higher the -regen, the better. I believe that belts can naturally spawn -regen as a native property, so a belt with that and 2 sockets is probably the best thing you'll find besides +sta helms and torso. once you have these pieces of gear equipped, eat 1 fn, 1 rp, 1 hr and 1 aw rune. don't worry about your buff. you won't need it/it won't be useful until level 75-90. now go out to sloeford and head west to western tyr lysia and start gathering groups of 4-6 kobolds. hopefully, combo1 will have a regen time of about 3~7 seconds. with that, you should be able to spend 10 seconds gathering a group, then 3~7 smashing them. repeat over and over. keep yourself close to a cave so when you do level, you can enter/exit and reset the levels of monsters in proportion to your own. it should take you 20~40 minutes to reach 15. •lvls16-35- this is the prime time for set farming/fast leveling. I believe that 2-3 white griffin kills will net you a level, so if you set up a run...white griffin>wild boar>holos, you can level once in each game up until about 30~ then it'll take a little more. hopefully, by that time, you'll have gained a nice stash full of sets...the most important of which are ones with high number of sockets and are of the ones I listed in the gear section. if you don't end up with favorable pieces, at least keep in mind that you'll soon outgrow these anyway, and that they definitely have better stats than the level 1 gear you've been using. fully upgrade these set pieces with any +skills jewelry/bs arts and get ready for the next step. keep all your rune consumption to nil. everything should be at ca level 1. your regen times for fn and rp should be close to 2-5 seconds •lvls36-60- this is where things start falling into place. you'll get a feel for how the character is doing and you'll also notice what you lack. if killing speed becomes a problem, try to find/socket +ca jewelry. BUT. keep it to a minimum or you'll blow regen times out of proportion. another alternative is to start looking for db jewelry. realistically, 40% is the highest you'll be able to go without sacrificing too much in the way of enhance bs arts. spend some time in the jungle, swamp and dryad island for the first 15 levels after 35. once you near 55-60, start doing some great machine runs and if you want to test your mettle, try out the nameless guardians. be sure to keep modding your Combat Arts as you dump points into the ca skills. the use of hr really starts to shine at the end of silver when the bosses hit harder. try to spam it 2-4 times before engaging in boss fights. •lvls61-100- congrats, you've made it to gold. now repeat what you just did for levels 16-60. only, try to spend some time with the forest guardian. if you can finish him off in under 40 seconds, enter the nearby cave and exit. he'll respawn and this will allow you to find many many set pieces as well as rares from him. he is relatively easy if your aw is under .8 sec. make sure you have at least 40% db and use bs to lure him to your location. alternate time spent looking for sets with straight leveling, as sets only change every 15 levels. if you've spent your skill points right, at 75, you can mastery 3 skills. I'll let you decide which are most important to you. at 80, you should be able to mastery a 4th skill, and by 90~100, your 5th skill. also, another change is the ability for your we to be of use. by that, I mean I hope 1 of your 5 mastered skills is armor lore, giving you all channel dm, which makes we much better than it was before. eat 1 rune of we and make a test suit by socketing we runes into old set gear to find out where you're comfortable having your ca regens vs total shield energy at. by now, you'll also be able to eat a few of your ca runes, although I prefer to keep them at 1 and boost through +ca jewelry myself. it is your choice. •lvls101-150- if you've made it this far, pat yourself on the back. it wasn't fast, but it was fun. hopefully, you'll have something that resembles ms. grandcross in her video. •lvls151-200- if you've made it this far, you're a more dedicated player than I am. nothing changes from 100-200, except that you'll spend more time leveling than anything else. rune consumption shouldn't be an issue now that you've got a handle on how your character works. I would suggest plenty of nameless and forest guardian runs for nice rares if you don't have a shopper. hey, maybe you could even make a video and post it for other to see.... this is the video I created with the build above: one last thing: gogo, if you would like to 'pretty' up the guide with links and pictures to the wiki as I know you are wont to do, that's fine. it's not my cup of tea, but it might make the guide more accessible to others if they can read it like a picture book. [edit] sorry about my previous posts I'm having net problems, but this is the whole and entire post I spent the night writing up before sleeping... [edit2] fleshed out gear section [edit3] added leveling section

this build will work as I've tried vines only to kill at clvl 100+ in niob good luck with it!

glad the build works out for you. my iphone won't allow me to view xfire vids, but I'll view it proper when I'm home tonight.

great find, wk. this begs he question of whether or not one of the unstated fixes from the last patch corrected the tier from which bergonix drops...

im about 800 miles from home so I'm posting this via iphone and it won't be as in depth as I wish it to be, but the instances I was inferring to involved the use of glacial thorns against a reflecting opponent. since at high ca levels, gt becomes primarily ice damage, the physical armor gained from cs won't be enough to save you from an 800k[yes, quite easy to achieve that damage without combat d.], on a crit+db, you might end up dead. however, since he's only get mitigation on one piece of gear, the most I can imagine you can get is around 20%. that still might not be enough to save you. in the cases of using cascading s., it increases vulnerability to fire damage, so mitigation there is nice, though if you know which mods to take, you can avoid damage completely. magic coup elves choosing the ice path have much to gain from using dm if their damage is reflected. I'm sure there are other instances as well, albeit more specific. thank you all for your posts, especially yours, zin. I've been out of town so that's why there's been a lack of responses from me

the only jewelry with dm are tanit's collar and darwargon's circlet and the dm on those pieces at high level will yield less than 5% dm... no rings exist with such properties

the glyph and perdition set pieces have all dropped in the desert for me... with the exception of on perdition piece found off of the griffon boss while playing my tg. so weird

my ravok's pieces came from a champion sand person[the one that comes out of the ground] and from thranak, so both not from the elven region. I guess if you were to ask me where I found most of the 2.40 sets, I would have to say the desert...

I don't believe there is a difference between hc or sc in terms of frequency of drops. much of the time I spend playing is farming all the bosses over and over and over again. although there were a few normal mobs that dropped the glyph set for me. very strange even stranger is that I found the helmet of perdition a second time...while playing a non high elf, which I thought was strange and was probably the least amount of chance that that helm would drop for a non class. either I am lucky in some aspects and very unlucky in others, or I don't know...it's just random?

might I add that since you're not taking wel, you'll need all the mitigation you can get..and since the seraphim is the only character[and tg, actually] that can get access to THREE pieces of mitigation gear, try out endijian's wings. they are ugly as all hell, but I guess compromises must be made. not sure if there's a non wel unlockable for +max shield energy, but if you plan on using we, your shields are going to be low until you can chain cast dp

not sure if sh benefits from the offhand weapon, as aw does not it would be best to bring out a non lore 2h weapon to blast away with aw, unless you plan on using the cookie cutter bfg I had originally planned on making a build identical to this one, only subbing out dw for polearms and using only 'spear' type weapons, to benefit aw. the spear part was so I could make a proper 'valkyrie,' using bs with chain and melee aspect, but this was before my research on toughness, so I was out another two skills, making the build impossible I think it is entirely possible now, as giving up combat r. and spell r. in lieu of toughness makes it possible. and I think you meant to say celestial magic lore for your 10th pick. so in short: yes this build can work. tested it myself on a 200 tester, but now dw. melee aspect shouldn't matter too much, only that you'll only gain the damage boost for aw from your mainhand weapon.

spent about 3 hours hunting the fg...about 25 seconds per run. no epics lots of sets...sometimes a triple drop and still, no champ trees have dropped an epic for me perhaps it's bad luck

the new 2.4 sets with the exclusion of the bergonix have all dropped for me in closednet hc they are rare, but not impossible to find

I did some testing with celestial magic before I worked out my tech/magic build if you take the Area of Effect mod coupled with a nlovae's mystery, you can cover your whole entire screen with one pillar@ca140+ that was for pure testing purposes, as that many ca levels will seriously impact your regen times, but if you could work out say....a dw build without wasting an offensive skill prereq, you could dw 2 nlovae's with the optional -regen property that randomly spawns on that staff...with 2x +Area of Effect radius, you would easily cover your screen with ca120 and you could probably gain that ca through +ca/without eating runes, keeping your regen times lower I think at level 150, it's quite easy to achieve +200ca, of course, with penalties kicking in, it would require a substantial amount of runes eaten in addition to +ca gear