The Sufficiently Simple and Simply Sufficient Seraphim Build

[2Lemurs 26]

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. 

Edited November 9, 2021 by 2Lemurs
Clarification, edits for inaccuracies and my own misunderstanding, credit to various members for previously written articles and discussions, and a note about entire sections disappearing.

[2Lemurs 26]

*comment removed and worked into existing topic post*

Edited November 9, 2021 by 2Lemurs
Redundant