So the past week Shell has been putting together our apartment with all the neat gifts she received at her shower. We got a heck of a lot of kitchen stuff. We got an awesome panini maker/griddle/waffle iron contraption that I am excited to use. Shell got a food processor so she can start making some great new incredible edibles. We also got a new pot set, which may not sound too exciting, but we definitely needed it since the old pot we had was loose, and the handle was on the verge of falling off. The most exciting thing we got was a set of four beer mugs, which Im looking forward to using for some frosty brewskis.

We also got a bunch of stuff to redecorate the bathroom. Initially I thought it was lame and didn’t really care about getting all these new towels, shower curtains, and other matching toiletry stuff. But the day Shell finished putting it all up and I walked in, I was pretty impressed with how awesome it looked.
We also got some bed stuff. We got new throw pillows, so I was forced to retire my giant Rangers pillow, which was sad. Loki was pleased to find that we also got a bed skirt, so he can hide right under the bed, and then strike out suddenly from under the skirt. That’s getting pretty annoying.

We also got a couple of gift cards to Bed Bath and Beyond, which is where our registry was. This weekend we are going to go back there and get some stuff that we didn’t receive from the registry, which actually isn’t much. We got most of the big-ticket items we wanted (food processor, comforter and sheets, luggage), so for the wedding we are going to set up a registry with Walt Disney World so that people can help us out for our honeymoon.

So yeah, it was pretty awesome. We got so much stuff we needed for our apartment, and got even more stuff that we are putting away until we get a house just because we don’t have enough room for it now. The only thing we didn’t get that I want is a deep fryer. Shell doesn’t want one, but I told Steve that one of his best man duties is to snag me one as a wedding gift.

Shell had her shower this weekend. On Saturday morning we headed down to the surprise location, which ended up being at Torches in Newburgh. Once I got off exit 17 from I-87, I had her put on a blindfold I had picked up at Target and drove her the rest of way so she couldn’t see. I started telling her all sorts of stuff, about how I had to stop for a cow crossing and how I saw Bigfoot in the woods. As we neared the waterfront, there is a steep road going down to it. The road is still made of bricks like it was in the 1800s, so it was a bumpy ride. She was like “what are you doing?!” and I said “its some dirt road…I don’t know where we are going.” I had her convinced that the shower was at some barn or something. When we finally arrived I led her inside, said hi to all the ladies there, and then ran out so I could get to my parents house where the men (and bbq) were.

While the women were at the shower, some of their male counterparts were at my parents house with my Dad. I also invited Steve to come join us, and in this way most of my wedding party (except for Nick) were present. We had a huge lunch consisting of hot dogs, burgers, ribs, chicken, and all sorts of sides and snacks. My Mom had also listened to me, and there was plenty of Sam’s Oktoberfest to go around. Eventually the girls came back, and thus began the lengthy process of dragging all the shower gifts in, and then going through the inventorying and determining what was coming back to our apartment and what was staying behind for the time being.
We then headed to Shell’s Dads, where all her family was. Her Mom went nuts and ordered a huge dinner, consisting of two pizzas, stromboli, meatball sub, wings, and garlic knots…all this for seven adults and two kids (who ate nothing.) I got to see Shell’s nephew who is ridiculously cute and awesome.

Around 9 I headed to Steve’s house, and we gamed the night away while repairing Shell’s laptop, which has been having some fan issues. We played a bit of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, and then some Rag Doll Kung Fu, Street Fighter Puzzler, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and Worms. I didn’t get back to Shell’s Dads until after 3am, and Shell was waiting up for me watching Home Improvement. We then crashed the night away.

Sunday was a little less stressful. After breakfast, we headed up to Shell’s cousins house to pay a visit. He has a house in the middle of nowhere, and driving up to it felt like I was traveling through a campground. While it was out of the way, the house itself was pretty awesome.

After that we headed back to my parents house. After a lunch of leftover ribs and chicken, we began going through the presents some more and then packing up what was going back with us and what was staying behind. My Dad and I also removed some rust from my car and added some touch-up paint to it. It doesn’t look too bad, and you cant see it unless your right in front of the car staring at the hood. Later on my Dad and I grilled some sausage for dinner while watching the Jets game. My Dad is a total Jets fan, and the whole day kept saying “If there’s one team I want them to beat this season, its New England.” So needless to say, he was pleased as punch with the outcome of the game.

After dinner we rushed to the train station to drop Cara off in time for her ride down. I was surprised when a double-decker train pulled in, as I was not expecting that, and had never seen one before. Shell and I then drove back up to Albany, where we unloaded all our presents into the house. As Shell began to set up some stuff, I wrote up a five-page reflection paper for my District Supervisor. By 10:00 I was ready for bed, so after taking care of my laundry and some other stuff, I was out by 10:30. It was a very exhaustive weekend, with lots of stuff going on and things to get done. In the end it was fun, and Im glad Shell enjoyed her shower. However, I am looking forward to next weekend since I don’t think we have any plans.

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.

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