Sacred 2:The Queen of Blades, Dual Sword Shopper sera

The Queen of Blades, Dual Sword Shopper sera By Antitrust Some of you might be already familiar with my Dual Wield sera. Here's yet another one Dual Wield build 1smile.gif A much more powerful yet simpler version, this sera can wipe the floor with any monster or boss. Build concept: Dual Wield seraphim with Sword Weapons skill and Bargaining. Aka "how to be overpowered without relying on bugs or exploits". I’m bleeding, I’m fading, Here in my final hour, When long-lost memories return... And a voice keeps calling: “All dead and gone”... Skills Overview 1 Tactics Lore 2 Armor Lore 3 Dual wield 4 Enhanced Perception 5 Bargaining 6 Exalted Warrior Focus 7 Combat Reflexes 8 Toughness 9 Constitution 10 Sword Weapons The distribution of skill points depends on your personal preferences, but skills that should be mastered asap are Dual Wield (your main skill), Constitution and possibly Enhanced Perception. You might also want to invest heavily in Exalted Warrior Focus in order to modify and use high-level Combat Arts, so keep that in mind. I recommend assigning about 20 points in most of the skills before trying to master the important ones. That is usually the point where the diminishing returns kick in, so you get the best bang for the buck. This build has an easy access to +all skills gear, so some skills can be left at low levels, giving you more points to focus on important ones. Choosing skills There is no particular order in which you should choose your skills. Get what you need most as early as possible, and you're done. This build is very forgiving in that aspect. Level 2-3 Tactics Lore is one of the first skills you should pick if you want to get Dual Wield as soon as possible. At level 3 you can pick one more skill (Armor Lore recommended). Level 5 This is the first level at which you can get Dual Wield. For later game, no more than 75 hard skill points are needed here. Level 8 Enhanced Perception unlocks Bargaining. Another general skill can be used, but EP is more useful for this build. This will help you find more good items. Level 12 Bargaining. Now you can shop some nice items 1smile.gif Put most points here until the skill has about 20 hard levels. Don't put more than that in this skill (you can make up for it with +all skills gear (christmas set is a nice option for a bargaining suit). When you approach char level 100-110, it is recommended to master Bargaining, but 75 hard points are more than enough. Level 18 Exalted Warrior Focus. When splitting points between EWF and Tactics for modification purposes, you might want to put more points in EWF. That way you'll be able to use higher level Combat Arts, which is rather important for this build. Level 25-35 Combat Reflexes and Toughness. Level 50 Constitution, for that extra hitpoints and in-combat regeneration. This build has a LOT of hitpoints 1smile.gif Level 65 The final slot is reserved for a utility skill. It can be any skill you wanted, that was not in the list so far. I always wanted to make a sword sera, so I'll go with Sword Weapons. The skill bonuses don't stack with Dual Wield, but there are some very nice swords with unlockable bonuses that really shine when dual wielded (uniques and legendary). This can be left at a rather low level, letting +skill gear to do the work for you. You need skill level 250 to unlock the maximum values of item bonuses. Alchemy is also a nice option here. Attributes I put about 70% in Vitality, and 30% in Willpower. For hitpoints and Spell Resistance boost. This build is not lacking damage, defense or regeneration, so I see no reason to pump Strength, Dexterity and Stamina, while Intelligence is totally useless here. This allocation of stats is definitely not mandatory, so feel free to put them wherever you like. Combat Art Modifications You can modify your Combat Arts any way you like, but here are my recommendations: Battle Stance (Buff) - this is the only buff to use here. Premonition for an increase in Attack Rating, Drill so you can use high level buff with lower cost, Retaliation so you can avoid some damage which will be reflected to your attackers instead. This CA should be gold-modded as soon as possible. It gives 20% reflect at level 1, 45% at level 30, 55% at level 50... Pelting Strikes - this is the spam-art that practically replaces your left mouse attack. Better left at low level for a while, the goal is to have the regeneration time at approximately 2,5-3 seconds (less if you can perform it faster). Succession for the double-hit chance, Focus for the regeneration bonus, Precision for the Critical hits chance. You might want to mod it just to silver in the beginning, to save a mod for another CA like Dashing Alacrity (or if you don't want the chance for critical at all). Playing is simple, just run up to a monster and pelt him. 1smile.gif This leaves the other 3 CA slots for Flaring Nova (to spread Weaken on enemy groups), Assailing Sommersault (for fun and to jump over obstacles to avoid running), and for Dashing Alacrity. Using booster slots is an extremely convenient option for Battle Stance, which can be kept at level 1 (memorized runes). Socket a few + Battle Stance rings or runes in two weapons, and possibly wear similar armor pieces. Precasting such a high level Battle Stance gives you a high chance to reflect melee attacks, a very high bonus to attack/defense, and a very low regen penalty. Learn more about booster slots in Making the best of Booster Slots and Key Bindings in Sacred 2 I also like modding Dashing Alacrity. This CA will break roots, will give you a chance to resist roots, increase run/attack/cast speed, what's not to like. The drawback is it's short duration. Recommended mods: Sprout will increase run speed (you won't need Attack Speed with Dual Wield), Delay will increase the duration by another 10 seconds, Impatience will reduce the cooldown to 40 seconds. At CA level 1, the duration is 30 seconds vs 40 seconds cooldown (not including regen time of course). At CA level 34 the duration will be 35 seconds, vs cooldown of 40 seconds (this allows to have it on most of the time). At CA level 67 the duration gets to 40 seconds, but you need a high Exalted Warrior Focus to achieve that. Don't expect to ever get higher than 45-50 seconds, that is hardly realistic as the CA level without penalty makes it way too hard. With these modifications you can cast it very often, and benefit from ~50% Run Speed bonus (that's faster than on tiger, and about as fast as with a horse). Needless to say, if you don't like the idea of recasting it every 30-40 seconds, don't bother modding it. I think the bonuses outweigh the inconvenience. Horse doesn't allow using Battle Stance, while tiger slows Pelting Strikes (but seems to increase the normal Dual attack speed). Using items with Run Speed occupies slots that can be used for other bonuses. All in all, this is an extremely tough Seraphim, both defensively and offensively. Bargaining gives you access to amazing jewelry (hitpoints, all skills, all combat arts, deathblow) that fills any defensive shortcoming you might think this build has. I had 7000 hitpoints at level 50-55ish, with all the other defensive goodies included. Dual Wield and Sword Weapons give you some nasty offensive capabilities, though you don't necessarily need to always use swords. ;) Lots of hitpoints, lots of damage, lots of fun :) It’s not over now, watch me I will rise, Time to reveal now... I know I will not fail anymore... Originally published at DarkMattersfor review and discussion. See Also Seraphim Guides Sacred 2 Player Contributed Guides