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Sacred 2 Character Build Guide- High Elf

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Posted by Rob on July 11, 2009 – 12:14 am
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This is my second guide, after the Shadow Warrior build I already did. This guide is to help you develop what I believe is a High Elf that will own all enemies in Sacred 2.

The High Elf is the big magic caster in the game. Most of her combat arts deal with magic spells that attack enemies from a distance. She has one melee combat art, and I dont use it. Most of her combat arts that deal damage target multiple enemies rather than just one. She can hold her own against mobs, as long as you’re careful and know how to play her. My High Elf uses mainly fire magic, with a little help from some lightning combat arts, and one ice attack.

I use a High Elf when playing online with Steve. She compliments his Shadow Warrior greatly. He can wade in and strike down enemies head on, while I cast fire projectiles at the enemies surrounding him. I think the High Elf is my second favorite, next to the Shadow Warrior, because she really is a force to be reckoned with. This is the first game I ever played a mage-like character (I usually use tanks or ranger-type characters in RPGs), and once I got used to the playing style, it was a blast.

SKILLS

So lets get down to business. As you know, there are 10 skills that every character can learn. These skills are unlocked at levels 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 18, 25, 35, 50, and 60. Playing as a High Elf, these are the skills I feel make the best character:

  • Arrant Pyromancer Lore- one of the most important skills for the HE. Keeping this leveled will allow you to cast many fire balls with almost no regen time. This is very key to your survival
  • Delphic Arcania Lore- this aspect is for the HE lightning spells. There are two you will be using often, so you want them recharging quickly
  • Concentration- this way you can have two buffs active at the same time
  • Arrant Pyromancer Focus- this skill will make your fire attacks deal more damage. Since the HE does not use much melee at all, you will want your fire combat arts to be as powerful as possible
  • Ancient Magic- This will make all your non-melee combat arts do more damage, and best of all, will weaken your opponents resistances. This will come in handy when facing bosses who are resistant to fire.
  • Divine Devotion- unlock this and pump five points into it, so that you can use Enhanced Perception
  • Bargaining- Not only do you get better items, but you can buy better items from merchants. Will also be leveled up to eventually unlock Enhanced Perception
  • Armor Lore- makes armor better, and makes your combat arts recharge faster
  • Delphic Arcania Focus- makes your lightning combat arts do more damage and cast faster
  • Enhanced Perception- find more items, and they will also be better quality

So, based on these skills, you can see that the High Elf is a heavy combat art user. Unlike the Shadow Warrior who can hold his own using weapons, the High Elf cannot, and relies on ranged combat arts such as Ancestral Fireball, Blazing Tempest, and Incendiary Shower. Due to this, you will want to probably use less runes, and max out the Lore and Focus skills whenever you can. The High Elf can hold her own, but you have to be prepared to keep moving, and always be ready to pop several potions as need be. The High Elf will take damage, and cannot take much of it before she falls, so always keep an eye on her health when in battle.

COMBAT ARTS

Now the following paragraph goes for any character you are building. In Sacred 2, there are three combat art aspects per character, and each aspect has five combat arts your character can learn (and in most cases, one of these is a buff.) Now my recommandation is that you concentrate on only two aspects. That is, when learning skills like above, only get the Focus and Lore skills for the two aspects you will use most. The reason you want to do this is to conserve skills for other things, rather than just buffing up your aspects, and also because it will give you more runes which you will not use, and thus can be traded in for the runes you do use. So with my High Elf, I concentrate on Arrant Pyromancer and Delphic Arcania as my two main aspects.

So now that thats done, lets discuss the combat arts. With combat arts, there is no order in which to learn them…it all depends on when you get your first rune for that combat art. For example, if you want to learn Cobalt Strike, you will have to wait until you either find a Cobalt Strike rune in the field(from a chest or enemy drop) or you can trade in other runes for the Cobalt Strike one.

HIGH ELF COMBAT ARTS

Here are the combat arts you will want to learn to make a dominating High Elf:

Arrant Pyromancer:

  • Ancestral Fireball- AA ranged fireball attack that can be modded to attack several opponents
  • Blazing Tempest- A wall of fire shoots out in front of you, burning all in its path
  • Incendiary Shower- Your most powerful attack. A shower of meteors/comets will come from the sky and rain down upon a group of enemies
  • Incandescent Skin (Buff)- FLAME ON! Flames surround the High Elf, burning enemies who get too close and destroying incoming arrows before they reach you

Delphic Arcania:

  • Cobalt Strike- Shoot a ball of lightning from your hand. Powerful against single enemies
  • Shadow Step- Extremely important skill for the High Elf. This allows her to teleport away to a location you can select within range, and when she teleports, enemies that were near her are usually rooted to the ground and stunned for several seconds. Can also be used to quickly cross rivers and go through fences and walls.
  • Grand Invigoration (Buff) – Also extremely important. This buff will make your combat arts and health regenerate at a quicker rate.

Mystic Stormite:

  • Glacial Thorns- Throw out some icicles in a wide arc in front of you, hitting several enemies multiple times
  • Cascading Shroud- Makes the High Elf invisible, and most attacks will not harm you. Very useful when in a pinch

COMBAT ART MODIFICATION

So there you have it. With Arrant Pyromancer, you will be using Ancestral Fireball, Blazing Tempest, and Incendiary Shower to defeat your enemies. Ancestral Fireball can be modified to damage nearby enemies (Explosion), create two fireballs (Fusillade) and, most importantly, to make the fireballs track your opponents (Hot Pursuit). Without Hot Pursuit, the fireballs will frequently miss, and hit nothing. Blazing Tempest can be modified to do more damage (Scorch),  reduce the recharge time  (Spell Flow), and can send the enemies running away in terror (Fright). Incendiary Shower can be modded to stun enemies (Skull Smash), do more damage (Smoking Rock), and to make the spell last shorter (Intensity). Note that Intensity will not make the spell weaker because it is shorter, but will simply make it faster for the spell to recharge so that it can be used again. Finally, for Incandescent Skin I suggest Inferno (cause fire damage to nearby enemies), Energy Focus (reduces the recharge speed for all Arrant Pyromancer combat arts), and Arrant Pyromancer Expertise (further reduces recharge rate of Arrant Pyromancer). So as I said, Arrant Pyromancer is the aspect that will keep your High Elf alive. The key is to keep cast fire spells one after the other. I suggest modding Ancestral Fireball, Incendiary Shower, then back and forth between Blazing Tempest and Incandescent Skin.

With Delphic Arcania, the first thing you want to mod is Grand Invigoration, since it recharges everything. I would suggest using Arrant Pyromancer Expertise (once again decreases regen of Arrant Pyromancer combat arts),  Replenish (decreases regen of all combat arts), and Fleetness (makes you run faster).  Next, alternate between modding Cobalt Strike and Shadow Step. Cobalt Strike could be modded to do more damage (Heavy Damage),  hit additional enemies (Chain Reaction), and to damage enemies in the surrounding area (Explosion). Shadow Step can be modded to reduce the cool down time (Phase Shift), become temporarily invulnerable (Sanctuary), and to do damage to nearby enemies (Explosion).

I also suggest using two skills from Mystic Stormite. Glacial Thorns are necessary, as they give you another attack while Arrant Pyromancer and Cobalt Strike are recharging. Glacial Thorns should be modded with Frost (more damage per icicle), Pierce (icicles will pass through enemies and hit ones further back), and Fusillade (make more icicles appear). You will also want Cascading Shroud to get out of tight spots. Mod Cascading Shroud with Faint (makes it harder for enemies to hit you), Inconspicuous (less likely to be detected by enemies), and Facileness (run faster). Fully mod Glacial Throns before hitting up Cascading Shroud. You wont use Cascading Shroud too often, instead relying on Shadow Step to get out of tight spots.

I dont recommend using any combos for the High Elf. She does not use as many weapons, so you will have plenty of room to map each combat art.

For slotting these combat arts, I have two weapons mapped to my High Elf’s main Action Slot- square is for melee (usually a staff that reduces casting speed or increases intelligence or spell intensity) and triangle is used for a ranged weapon (either a bow or a pistol, whatever the best ranged weapon you have is. I have Ancestral Fireball mapped to circle and Cobalt Strike mapped to X. On Action Slot 1 (R2) I have my other offensive attacks (Tempest Blaze, Glacial Thorn, Incendiary Shower), and also Shadow Step. On Action Slot 2 (L2) I have my buffs (Grand Invigoration and Incandescent Skin) and Cascading Shroud.

MOUNT

The High Elf’s mount is the Wind Serpent. Much like the Hell Hound, I find myself loving and hating the Wind Serpent. The Wind Serpent is useful because it is quick, and allows you to weave around the battlefield while casting spells. I choose the Wind Serpent that gives a negative regen to Arrant Pyromancer, but the other aspects then suffer, so you are not as quick with spells in a fight. I also find my spells a bit weaker when on the mount, and I tend to take more damage. Much like the Hell Hound, as I already mentioned, the Wind Serpent is great for traveling long distances, but I often find myself dismounting when I want to fight.

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Conclusion and General Tactics

I hope this guide helped out. I think it makes for a very powerful High Elf who can take on mobs, but is also great as a support character, playing alongside a Shadow Warrior or Seraphim. Keeping her combat art regen down will make her a damage-dealing machine. Some people call it “spamming”, I call it burning the heck out of enemies. Yes, she takes damage, and will fall quickly, so just watch her health and you will be ok.

A few final pointers:

  • Always keep on the move. Standing still for only a few seconds may allow a few enemies to hit you, and thats all it takes for the High Elf to bite the dust
  • Keep an eye on the armor you equip. You would think it would be best to have a strong armor since she has little resistance to physical damage, but the combat art regen is much more important than the protection.
  • Be prepared to use a lot of health potions. You will need to either buy them, get them from a friend, or get them from your hero chest
  • Be prepared for long battles when playing by yourself, particularly with bosses. If they happen to have a fire resistance, you will be in for a long fight.
  • A great thing to do is wait until a bunch of enemies are around, then use Shadow Step to freeze them in place, and when you reappear, hit them with Incendiary Shower. They will still be stunned from Shadow Step when the meteors begin to cascade upon them.
  • As a sign of good faith and good sportsmanship, dont use the High Elf in PVP matches to destroy other players

Thanks for looking, and there will be more guides to come! The next one should be for the Dryad

Sacred 2 Character Build Guide- Shadow Warrior

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Posted by Rob on July 9, 2009 – 8:39 pm
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This guide is to help you develop what I believe is a pretty kick-ass Shadow Warrior in Sacred 2. I plan to do a character guide for all the characters eventually, but right now I am focusing on my favorite…the Shadow Warrior.

First off, if you’re brand new to the game and have not made a character yet…pick the Shadow Warrior. He is awesome for beginners to use to learn the ropes of the game. Why? The Shadow Warrior is pretty much the “tank” of the game…he can take physical damage, dish out physical damage, looks awesome, and has some really great combat arts. Not only is he powerful himself, but you can use the combat art Nether Allegiance to have up to four skeleton warriors at your side, and they can take damage as well as duke it out. Between himself and his undead friends, it will be tough for a player using the Shadow Warrior to die.

SKILLS

So lets get down to business. As you know, there are 10 skills that every character can learn. These skills are unlocked at levels 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 18, 25, 35, 50, and 60. Playing as a Shadow Warrior, there are the skills I feel make the best character:

  • Death Warrior Focus- the bread and butter of the SW- most combat arts deal with melee attacks
  • Astral Lord Focus- allows the SW to fight from a distance, and to summon allies to fight for him
  • Concentration- this way you can have two buffs active at the same time
  • Tactics Lore- unlock this and pump five points into it, so that you can use Dual Wield
  • Dual Wield- whats better than using two swords at once
  • Divine Devotion- unlock this and pump five points into it, so that you can use Enhanced Perception
  • Enhanced Perception- helps you find more items, and there is a better chance the item will be awesome
  • Armor Lore- makes armor better, and makes your combat arts recharge faster
  • Constituton- increases your health and health recharge rate- a must have for a melee fighter
  • Combat Reflexes- makes it harder for enemies to hit you

So, based on these skills, you can see that the Shadow Warrior will be a melee fighter, getting right into the action. Skills like dual wield, constitution, and combat reflexes will allow him to last longer in a fight before you go running for potions. Also, he will not be alone in the fight, since his Astral Lord Lore will allow him to summon minions faster to help you vanquish your enemies. Now lets get into the Combat Arts.

COMBAT ARTS

Now the following paragraph goes for any character you are building. In Sacred 2, there are three combat art aspects per character, and each aspect has five combat arts your character can learn (and in most cases, one of these is a buff.) Now my recommandation is that you concentrate on only two aspects. That is, when learning skills like above, only get the Focus and Lore skills for the two aspects you will use most. The reason you want to do this is to conserve skills for other things, rather than just buffing up your aspects, and also because it will give you more runes which you will not use, and thus can be traded in for the runes you do use. So with my Shadow Warrior, I concentrate on Death Warrior and Astral Lord as my two main aspects.

So now that thats done, lets discuss the combat arts. With combat arts, there is no order in which to learn them…it all depends on when you get your first rune for that combat art. For example, if you want to learn Nether Allegiance, you will have to wait until you either find a Nether Allegiance rune in the field(from a chest or enemy drop) or you can trade in other runes for the Nether Allegiance one.

SHADOW WARRIOR COMBAT ARTS

Here are the combat arts you will want to learn to make a badass Shadow Warrior:

Death Warrior:

  • Demonic Blow- a single powerful hit- when teamed with dual wield, becomes two powerful hits
  • Scything Sweep- a wide attack against several enemies in front and to the side of you
  • Rousing Command- Raises your attack power
  • Grim Resilence (Buff)- Raises your max hitpoints and spell resistance

Astral Lord:

  • Spectral Hand- a powerful ranged attack
  • Skeletal Fortification- a tower rises and fires arrows at nearby enemies for a limited time
  • Shadow Veil- makes you undetected in case you ever need to sneak around
  • Rallied Souls- enemies you just killed can be resurrected and then fight for you
  • Nether Allegiance (Buff)- up to four skeleton warriors will always follow you around and attack enemies

Manevolent Champion:

  • Frenzied Rampage

So there you have it. With Death Warrior, you will be using Demonic Blow and Scything Sweep quite often to take on enemies. Demonic Blow can be modified to damage nearby enemies (Vehemence), poison your enemies (Poisoning) and to drain your opponents health to replenish yours (Life Leech). Scything Sweep can be modified to do more damage (Force),  stun them (Numb), and send them flying (Hurl). Grim Resilence can be modded to further increase your defensive abilities. I suggest Fortify (raise max hitpoints) and Readiness and Reflex (makes it harder for enemies to hit you). Rousing Command can be modded to make it last longer (Persistence), increase your attack speed (Impulse), and to make all your combat arts regen faster (Surge). Do not waste your mod points on Grim Resilence and Rousing Command until you max out Demonic Blow and Scything Sweep.

With Astral Lord, the first thing you want to mod is Nether Allegiance. I recommend getting three skeletons. Four is a waste I feel. Also, the game tends to lag a lot, so the less characters on the screen the better. Instead, use your next two mods to raise their attack and defense. Next, mod out Rallied Souls. You’ll want to mod it so that it effects a wider range (Dark Realm), and then get more of them out there at once (with Demand and Contagion.) Next you can jump between Skeletal Fortification and Spectral Hand. With Spectral Hand you will want to concentrate on modding the damage (Clout and Chill), and then go for the Double Attack. With Skeletal Fortification, I suggest Rapid Fire, Ice Shards, and Scatter Shot for mods. Like I said, it doesnt matter which of these you build up, just do what you feel like.

I also say that you should use Manevolent Champion’s Frenzied Rampage. This is a series of melee attacks which are pretty sweet for close-range melee combat. For mods, I recommend Double Attack and Double Strike (chance to strike twice on one attack) and Vampire (drain the health of your enemies to replenish your own.)

One last thing I want to say is that I recommend creating a combo out of Rousing Command and Skeletal Fortification. Both are temporary boosts, which are very useful when facing an onslaught of enemies.

For slotting these skills, I have three weapons mapped to my Shadow Warrior’s main Action Slot- triangle and square are used for my melee weapons (a combination of swords and axes, depending on what I have in my inventory. Circle is used for my bow, and X is used for Demonic Blow. On Action Slot 1 (R2), I have Scything Sweep, Rallied Souls, Spectral Hand, and Frenzied Rampage. On Action Slot 2 (L2) I have the two buffs (Grim Resilence and Nether Allegiance), Shadow Veil, and the combo for Rousing Command/Skeletal Fortification. This is similar to all my characters, where I usually have a main combat art attached at X, then offensive combat arts at R2, and defensive combat arts and buffs at L2.

MOUNT

The Shadow Warrior’s mount is the Hell Hound. It is a pretty quick mount, and I recommend it, to a degree. Yes, you will be faster, and of course the Hell Hound looks cool, but I find I have trouble attacking enemies when mounted. Scything Sweep and Demonic Blow are both very cheap when using them on the mount, as in they dont always hit, and they do less damage. If you are using the Hell Hound, I recommend purchasing the red one, which is the one that will give negative regen time to Death Warrior combat arts. This is because you will find yourself using Demonic Blow and Scything Sweep far more than Spectral Hand.

Personally, I use the Hell Hound to travel long distances, but I often find myself dismounting when I want to fight. Also, you will take more damage on the Hell Hound, so be ready to use a few more potions than usual. While it is not the best, I still recommend it because it is useful for when you are exploring new places or want to get somewhere in a hurry.

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Conclusion and General Tactics

I hope this guide helped out. I think it makes for a very strong, decent Shadow Warrior. He is able to get into the midst of fights and hold his own, and he can keep summoning assistance to make the battles go easier. Also, he is the character who you will use the least amount of potions on, so it may be a good idea to stockpile his potions in the hero chest, so your other characters can take them as they need them.

A few final pointers:

  • He is a melee fighter, so dont be afraid to take on enemies head-on.
  • When using Dual Wield, use whichever weapons you have that are best. It doesnt matter if its a sword, axe, or something else one-handed.
  • Always carry a bow to do some long-range damage when you have the chance
  • Save often- between Nether Allegiance and Rallied Souls, there can be a lot of characters on the screen at once. The game is known to occassionally glitch and freeze, so saving frequently will ensure that if it does happen, you wont lose much.

Thanks for looking, and there will be more guides to come!

Sacred 2 Character Build Guides Coming Soon

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Posted by Rob on July 8, 2009 – 8:56 pm
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Well after reviewing my site activity for the past two weeks or so, it is quite clear that my most popular thing on the site is my Sacred 2 blog that explains all about combat arts, skills, and stuff. Im getting about 15 unique visitors a day for that, and thats pretty cool for my little ol’ blog. So I decided to capitalize on my awesome love for Sacred 2 by crunching out my character builds.

I do have a character for every class so far, all at differing levels. As of right now, my characters are:

Shadow Warrior- Level 45 (my first, and thus suckiest)

Shadow Warrior- Level 24 (my new and improved one)

High Elf- Level 24

Inquisitor- Level 21

Dryad- Level 16

Seraphim- Level 5

Temple Guardian- Level 1

All characters are on the Shadow path, except for my two Shadow Warriors. I am playing through the game online with Steve, and we are on the Shadow path, so all my characters are such except for the Shadow Warrior, because that is what Steve is playing as.

So as I said, I hope to get this rockin’, and I should have my Shadow Warrior guide up by Friday. Thanks to all you crazy people out there in the US, Canada, UK, Norway, Spain, France, Brazil, Australia, and everywhere else that have been drawn to my site thanks to my simple Sacred 2 explanation guide. I hope you’ll all find my future character builds of equal greatness.

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