Need help picking skills for a ranged Seraphim

[noct 0]

Hey all,

 

I'm working on a pistol/shield Seraphim, and have reached the point where I don't know what skills to take.

What I have thus far are:

 

Exalted Warrior Focus

 

Ranged Weapons

Tactics Lore

Speed Lore

 

Shield Lore

Armor Lore

 

I'm trying to determine my remaining 4 skills, picking from:

 

Combat Discipline

 

Damage Lore

 

Combat Reflexes

Constitution

Spell Resistance

Toughness

 

If it matters, my Seraphim is around level 30 and has been putting attribute points strictly into Dexterity. I plan to only use Exalted Warrior combat arts, all of which are at level 1 for the time being, with the exception of Battle Stance, which is at 9. I haven't determined, at the moment, how I'm going to want to rune and mod the attacks in this aspect.

 

I haven't gotten a character past 32 before, due to alt-itis, so I'm not really sure how the game difficulty progresses, or the relative value of these skills. I don't know if I'm going to want more damage, more defense, or an improved ability to slow enemies with freezing from Damage Lore. Currently, I'm having no difficulties, which makes it even more difficult to judge.

 

What would really help me, in addition to suggestions which skills to take, would be the reasoning behind the suggestions. Recommendations for skills not in this list are also welcome, with explanations. Thanks!

 

-noct

[Dragon Brother 619]

Well, firstly, welcome to the forums.

 

As to your question. Your first 6 picks are solid. The others just come down to preference really, have you considered taking the energy shield? Rev tech focus+Warding Lore and a shield gives huge protection, but does eat up 2 of your four remaining choices.

Combat discipline will provide less of a damage boost as it doesnt affect all of the damage from weapon based Combat Arts, the regen bonus is still there though.

Damage Lore...nice for the extra dot damage if your damage type is fire or poison..

The rest, if you don't play Ice and Blood don't worry about Spell Resistance, the other 3 are nice. You could consider picking 2 of them and some general skills too...EP+bargaining for all the looty goodness you could ever want.

 

If you want max damage (always nice) take combat discipline and damage lore then 2 of the rest. Max defense, and you could take all 3 of toughness, constitution and combat reflexes giving you 5 defensive skills in total which is probably a little excessive. Damage lore, combat disc, constitution and toughness would probably work well unless you decide to add the energy buff of general skills.

[noct 0]

Thank you for the welcome, and the advice.

 

I'm probably going to stick to a single aspect for this character, and save the multi-aspect stuff for a future one; I want to have a strong, focused character for the first time through the game. I have a similar level Seraphim with a more varied build that, while currently a little more fun, I have some worries for in the future, so I want to see just what is waiting for me.

 

I think I'll go with Damage Lore as my next skill; between options to slow enemies with freezing or increase damage with dots, it seems like it may be a versatile choice. I figure I'll take at least two defensive skills as well, so the only decision left seems to be between Combat Discipline and another defensive skill. If things continue to be easy, I suppose Combat Discipline will be it.

 

I hadn't really considered general skills. Do you think a faster kill rate due to increased damage from Damage Lore/Combat Discipline would counter-balance the increased loot from Enhanced Perception and Bargaining, as more enemies dying would equal more chances for item drops, or do those general skills provide a much more significant bonus to loot gain?

[Dragon Brother 619]

Well, there are going to be plenty of good drops no matter how you pick your skills, you are at some point going to be running out of room and selling sets/uniques or storing them on other toons. Bargaining is something however that can really add offense and defense to a toon. If your toon has access to higher difficulties then you can shop the best gear to increase everything, but for a seraphim its second tier meaning you need to put points into a first tier skill, EP or riding (devine devotion sucks). So it leaves you with less skill choices, but the gear you can shop is quite definitely worth it. The added bonus of a bargaining toon is that it can shop jewellery and stuff that other characters can socket in their gear so an EP+Bargainer can supply all of your other toons with handy stuff.

 

It depends on what you want to do in the end, spend time (and it can be alot of time if the shopping bug bites) buying gear (picking EP+bargaining) or just running through hacking and slashing and not worrying so much about have to really look for your gear and letting it drop for you (not picking general skills). I must say, I kinda feel interested in playing a ranged seraphim now though...

 

Edit: Totally gonna do it, energy polearms, EP but no bargaining

[noct 0]

I'm generally more of the hacking and slashing sort, so I will probably pass on bargaining this time around; maybe I'll consider it for a future character if gear turns out to be hard to come by. Thanks for all your help. Hope you enjoy your new seraphim. There's something fun about killing zombies and orcs with lasers.