Considerations about a Bosshunter Seraphim

[Dobri 55]

Well, Barris has proven that it's possible, so I'm trying to compile some info about what makes for a good boss hunter Seraphim. Since it has been proven unequivocally that a seraphim can run circles around the nameless guardians and farm legendaries for fun, I'm very much in the mood for making one. Here's my ideas as of now:

 

1. Basic Build.

 

level 2 - Tactics Lore

level 3 - Armor Lore

level 5 - Dual Wield

level 8 - Exalted Warrior Focus

level 12 - Constitution

level 18 - Combat Reflexes

level 25 - Toughness

***********************

level 35 - custom

level 50 - custom

level 65 - custom

 

In theory, Armor Lore + Constitution + Toughness + Combat Reflexes is more than enough to provide sufficient protection to a build. Tactics + Dual Wield + EW Focus is enough to provide decent damage for quite a while.

 

2. Custom skills.

 

Well, I'm thinking about:

- Speed lore - I know it's underrated, I know it's not much of a skill, but the extra atk/def ratings are very much welcome for farming the guardians, since as we know, they are the bosses with the highest defense. Even a small sliver of extra atk/def boost will be more than welcome.

- Combat Discipline - this improves the damage of any combat art in a combo. Since pelting the bosses is the quickest way to end them, the extra damage will be more than welcome.

- Enhanced Perception or Damage lore. I'm uncertain if damage lore can reduce the attributes of the bosses but my guess is that it should, provided the chance is high enough. Reducing the attributes should mean more damage and less chance to be hit. If not, EP is always a good pick, as it will make you get better drops easier.

 

Why not sword lore? Well, using sword lore will make you stick to using swords, while decent life leech can also spawn on hafted weapons, and life leech both hurts a lot and provides a lot of survivability. It'll be such a waste if you have to drop a good hafted life-leech weapon because you picked up sword lore.

Why not another aspect? Well, another aspect sounds nice, I must admit. Getting revered lore, focus and concentration will greatly improve defense through Divine Protection and Warding energy and I'm considering it as well. However, if I have to play like that, I'd skip expert touch unless I limit myself to the Revered buffs only.

 

3. Combat arts.

 

Well, since I'm thinking about expert touch, I'll be using exclusively the EW aspect and play a 1-buff build. So, we have:

 

- Battle stance - I tried using the buff with damage mode and it was one big flop. At level 44, I have only 66% vs 18% chance to hit the guardians. 66% is really, really low if we are to be efficient. So, the mods should be: Premonition, Flexibility and Retaliation.

- Pelting Strikes - launches a volley of hits in very quick succession. Attack speed is very high, so it's prudent to use this Combat Art as a main damage dealer vs the guardians. As such, the mods should be: Succession, Enfeeble, Precision. Since in Ice and Blood regeneration per hit works properly, no need to reduce regen on pelting with focus.

- Soul Hammer - it's a great skill, but it needs a powerful one or two-hander to make it work properly. If I am to pick it, I'd mod it for Aim, Battering, Coup the grace. Coup the grace is amazing, but it still needs a good weapon to make it work, while Pelting + DB% works all the time without letting go of the button.

- Dashing Alacrity - well, this is a good battle opener. Not so much for the run speed than for its utility. Modifications should be Bloodlust, Delay, Impatience. Bloodlust improves atk speed, which is great, while the rest should make it chain castable. This build would not need reduction in regen times, since regen per hit works so well here.

- Assailing Somersault - well, I guess we can use this for posterity and maybe in combo with Dashing. Hit dash from afar and leap on the boss might be cool. Mods should be Spurt, Brawn, Concussion. If stun doesn't work on bosses it should still ba taken, because bewilder is for escaping a battle, and this seraphim is not planning on running away.

 

4. Equipment.

 

Anything with a lot of sockets and life leech. Same goes for weapons. It's not a must to equip uniques and set items all the time - some rares provide all of these in one too. Life leech is only good for builds that hit all the time (95% or more Chance to hit), and the basic idea is to keep this one just like that.

 

Things to look for: +All skills, Life leech, Evasion, +Chance to Reflect: Close Combat, DeathBlow and Enemy chance to evade, chance that opponent cannot evade if the % to hit is still not close to 100.

 

5. Masteries.

 

Well, with so many useful skills, it's hard to pick an order, but here goes:

 

by level 75:

- Armor Lore, Constitution, Tactics

By level 80 or so:

- Dual Wield

by level 95-100:

- Exalted Focus (better battle stance with more evasion+reflect for platinum)

by level 115:

- Toughness

by level 130:

- Combat Reflexes

 

and then the rest, maybe starting with combat discipline or damage lore, if it works.

 

Well... after all that blabbering... Any ideas what else can be improved or even changed for this build to become even better for boss farming?

[Barristan 14]

Heya,

 

I use a much more simplified build.

 

EP

Concentration (WE and BS)

Armor Lore

Tactics Lore

Dual Wield

Axalted Warrior Focus

Revered Technology Focus

Warding Energy Lore

Constitution (Not really needed with the shield, but eh... still Guardians)

Combat Discipline

 

I use Soul Hammer/Pelting in a DW combo, with Dual Kal'Durs Legacy. (You could take the Celes set too, but I do not like the way it looks, and more important, I need more slots to tweak )

 

I think you are going without a shield no? A strong shield, and you would need less defensive skills, not even constitution. My 200 can pretty much stand and reflect Guardians to death without attacking.... such power is a shield. Easy 400K energy with 100% absorb. Numbers say 20K dmg done by Guardians on crit..... but the shield does not notice anything.

 

SKIP damage lore.... Chance that opponents cannot evade and Opponents chance to evade, with BS, is more than sufficient to keep hit rate well over 100%

 

Greetz

Edited March 19, 2010 by Barristan

[locolagarto 15]

I am toying with a new seraphim myself. I am going the celestial/revered path atm. as a bonus to your build add revered lore and focus and use Divine protection for boss fights. and AW in shot gun mode for the bosses. (I love that it utilizes LL% , DB, RpH.) and with mastery in Focus and Lore and some RpH, it can be more powerful than a BFG at close range. Great for Bosses.

[Dobri 55]

Interesting idea, Barris

 

I was thinking of going without a shield, because with a decent close combat reflect and a decent damage mitigation, I doubt anything can touch her. However, I guess the big shield is a big deal too. Your build has so few defensive skills and it still did oh so well. I guess I really need to re-evaluate the shield tactic. You managed to get to 400k without even picking up Revered lore for further boost, so I assume you went for field force twice? Amazing. That gives you a lot of time to slice them to pieces quickly.

 

I'll certainly keep your ideas in mind. Thanks a heap for sharing your build, even though I didn't ask for it (you can be sure I was thinking about it, lol). I think one can easily make a build that incorporates both defensive skills. It'll be a lot of fun smatting down the poor guardians without them having a chance to do something in return.

[Rotluchs 82]

you can really tool around a lot with a seraphim as bosskiller, and there are many variations that still all work great, more or less..

 

 

with full revelations+ DW 1-2x kal'durs, you could skip tactics lore, combat discipline and damage lore all together.. (the pure %leech will be enough, plus pelting)

(eg. for a 'socket max mf possible' build)

 

 

1handed+shield is fastest config when using AW modded for double-hit.. then you can skip any weapon specialisation lore for instance...

 

 

then there also is BFG+AW, which will have one of the highest possible dmg outputs per hit.. AW will be noticeable slower than 1handed+shield then, but dmg will be higher+u need less (to none) %leech item-mods..

 

for AW, in any case, tho it works with +rph u may want to stand very close to your opponent, still.. that is because AW has a slow travel time, and +rph is triggerd on hit, not on launch.. AW/BFG can pierce also, and it's possible to activate multiple guardians almost simultaneusly+draw their aggro/attention..

 

 

personally, I'd only use DW if I had 2x Kal'Durs (or 1x kal'durs + one of the other 'uber' 1h-weaps), but since I don't, other variations are faster/more comfortable...

 

as for energy shields, if it's high enough and absorbs 100% dmg, u really don't have to worry about def skills either, like barris already mentioned.. (exception ofc if you plan to also face debuffing enemies )

 

for low level chars def skills still might be useful, since you may not be able to get shields high enough so easily to do the job alone (it may 'waste' too many slots)

Edited March 19, 2010 by Rotluchs

[Dobri 55]

Valid points.

 

Well, I've rerolled her and so far so good. Barris is right that shield can be everything. Soon I will be down to my last skill pick, which I will leave open for a while. I'm debating between Revered lore (another tool to up the shield strength), Toughness (the damage mitigation is good at higher levels) and EP for drops - but since I farm 4+1 bosses (not to mention the toughest ones), good drops are constantly available - from own and other char sets to uniques.

 

To see if I'm right with my theory on the opening post, I'm starting a 3-buff Inquisitor in my last free game slot that will work with reflection + toughness as I've planned the original seraphim. In theory, that should be enough as well. The build will be:

Gruesome Focus (starting with it to open up concentration quickly, you've got to start somewhere)

Armor Lore

Dual Wield

Concentration

Tactics Lore

Nefarious Focus (second, since reaver gives atk/def bonuses)

Astute Focus

Constitution

Toughness

Combat Discipline

(I can even leave tactics for later... who needs it early when you have niob smith arts)

 

That in theory, should do it as well if you keep reflection high, and I plan on playing with maxed buffs, Life Leech and Regen Per Hit to offset the buffs regen time penalties.

 

EDIT: Well, it would appear I'll end up selecting sword weapons as final pick. This should also go as a warning to all players who want to go for the big bosses based on % Life Leech... Unless you have at least 1 Kaldur's, don't pick dual wield. Seriously. There are some sets and Combat Art's that provide %LL, but there's nothing like stacked %LL. If you don't have Kal'Dur's the safest pick is sword weapons. LL% shows on two-handed swords and along with a few sets or Combat Art's, you'll be just fine.

 

Someone should really write a guide for playing with LL%

Edited March 24, 2010 by Dobri