Sacred 2:Buff

In Sacred 2 the term "Buff" refers to a specific type of Combat Art that affects the player in a positive manner over a period of time. They are Combat Arts that can be "permanently" active and are indicated in game with the word (BUFF) beside the combat art name. In order to use Buffs they must first be equiped. Left click on a Buff from the Combat Arts window, (Push "E"), and drag it onto the first Buff slot on the interface to the bottom right of the screen. When a Buff is equipped it can be activated by left clicking on it's Buff slot icon. They remain active until switched off. Some enemies in game have the ability to disable a player's buffs such as the White Griffin's or a champion Dark Fairies lightening attack. This is typically referred to as a "De-Buff"(de=deactivate). At the start of the game only the 1st Buff slot is available on the bottom right hand interface. Players can increase the number of Buffs they can have active at the same time by choosing the skill Concentration. When choosing Concentration for the first time a player will immediately gain the 2nd Buff slot in the bottom right interface. By putting points into Concentration a 3rd Buff slot will be granted when achieving Concentration Mastery at skill level 75. Permanent Buffs are a convenient way to improve a character's abilities in battle but also come at a cost. Permanent Buffs have a penalty associated to them that cause all Combat Arts to regenerate more slowly making normal Combat Art timers take longer to complete. The more Permanent Buffs a character has active the greater the penalty will be. One exception however is the High Elf's Grand Invigoration Buff which does not cause a regeneration penalty. In addition to multiple Buffs increasing the penalty, increasing the level of the Buff by reading Runes will also increase the penalty. There are many ways to reduce this penalty and it is up to the player to find a balance between benefit and penalty of Buffs. Increasing Stamina, Concentration or Focus, forging item modifiers like Chance to halve Regeneration time, using items with the modifier Regeneration Penalty from Buffs and even the Blacksmith Art Enhance are but a few of the ways that can reduce the penalty caused by Permanent Buffs, either by affecting the penalty directly or by reducing overall Combat Art timers.

Buff slots interface

Permanent Buffs

Each of the character aspects contain 5 Combat Arts and within each aspect one Buff exists in most cases. Exceptions to this rule are; The High Elf's Arrant Pyromancer aspect contains 2 Buffs, the Temple Guardian's Lost Fusion aspect does not contain a Buff and the Seraphim's Revered Technology aspect contains 2 Buffs.

Dryad Sinister Predator - Capricious Hunter Moribund Animus - Cabalistic Voodoo Ancient Bark - Nature Weaver	High Elf Fire Demon - Arrant Pyromancer Incandescent Skin - Arrant Pyromancer Crystal Skin - Mystic Stormite Grand Invigoration - Delphic Arcania	Inquisitor Purifying Chastisement - Gruesome Inquisition Reverse Polarity - Astute Supremacy Soul Reaver - Nefarious Netherworld
Seraphim Battle Stance - Exalted Warrior Cleansing Brilliance - Celestial Magic BeeEffGee - Revered Technology Warding Energy - Revered Technology	Shadow Warrior Grim Resilience - Death Warrior Reflective Emanation - Malevolent Champion Nether Allegiance - Astral Lord	Temple Guardian T-Energy Shroud - Devout Guardian Untouchable Force - Source Warden Note: Lost Fusion does not have a Buff.
	Dragon Mage Familiar - Dragon Magic Protector - Elemental Magic Runes of Protection - Mentalism

Temporary Buffs

Temporary Buffs are Combat Arts that increase a character's stats and remain active for a specifc amount of time. Some can be upgraded into Permanent Buffs through modifications. Because they often have long durations, most temporary buffs have a Cooldown in addition to their regeneration time.

Dragon Mage Dragon Berserk - Dragon Magic Dragon Form - Dragon Magic Combat Trance - Mentalism	Dryad Dust Devil - Capricious Hunter Goldenglade Touch - Nature Weaver Acute Mind - Nature Weaver	High Elf Cascading Shroud - Mystic Stormite Inquisitor Frenetic Fervor - Gruesome Inquisition Zealous Doppelganger (Upgradeable) - Astute Supremacy Temple Guardian Combat Alert (Upgradeable) - Devout Guardian Charged Grid - Source Warden
Seraphim Dashing Alacrity - Exalted Warrior Hallowed Restoration - Celestial Magic Divine Protection - Revered Technology	Shadow Warrior Rousing Command - Death Warrior Augmenting Guidon - Malevolent Champion Killing Spree - Malevolent Champion Shadow Veil (Upgradeable) - Astral Lord

Notes

Ruinous Onslaught - Death Warrior

Ruinous Onslaught can appear like a buff at times. It is designed for use against an enemy target for which it causes the Shadow Warrior to charge into the enemy and do damage or as a quick escape from enemy damage. Since it does not allow concurrent actions Ruinous Onslaught is not strategically a buff. When active the Shadow Warrior can not perform any other action except to run in order to maintain its effect which lasts a very brief time of less than 10 seconds (although while mounted on the Hellhound it has an unlimited duration). It is a great way to temporarily increase the Shadow Warrior's run speed in order to cover more ground. However, as soon as the Shadow Warrior stops moving or bumps into something Ruinous Onslaught will abruptly end it's effects.

Removing Buffs

Some examples of things which may remove buffs in the game are:

- selected traps (Abishai summons them for example)

- chain ice lightning (some champions and White Griffin)

- CAs (Combat Arts) of the some characters such as "Archimedes Beam" with gold "Annul" modification, Expulse magic, Dryad's Black Curse with gold "Dispel" modification.

If the character has a chance to block\reflect combat arts, then successfully hitting from the chain lightning does not necessarily mean that all of buffs will be removed. For each attempt to remove buff (lightning may remove from 1 to 3 buffs, it depends on the level of CA) chance to block\reflect is calculated anew: lightning, successfully passed the test on the block\reflection, can cause damage, but don't remove any buff or only one\two of them. Buff is removed in reverse order from the third buff slot to the first.

Removing buffs by Expulse Magic can not be blocked\reflected, Expulse Magic doesn't save character from removing the buffs by enemy's EM circle. (see more about removing buffs mechanics in players contributed guides section)

Regeneration Penalty

Buffs use following modifier to descrease their penalty:

Stamina	Modifier
25	1
75	0.75
125	0.5
225	0.33
325	0.25
425	0.2
725	0.125
925	0.1

For example, you have a total penalty from buffs of 100%, and a regeneration time of the CA is 3 seconds:

The final regeneration time for the CA = 3 * ( 1 + 1 ) = 6 seconds;

And now let's increase stamina to set modifier in 2 times lower than before: there were 125 points in stamina (modifier 0.5) - will be 325 points (modifier 0.25). Will be the final total regeneration time in 2 times less?

The regeneration time for the CA = 3 * 0,5 * ( 1 + 1 * 0,5 ) = 1,5 * 1,5 = 2,25

6 / 2.25= 2.67

This is almost three times less, not two!

This suggests that the more buffs character uses (and a greater penalty from buffs they give), the more value of each point in stamina.

See Also

• http://www.sacredwiki.org/index.php/File:Debuffed.gif
• How to achieve max buff benefits without the regen penalty
• Combat Art Aspects
• Combat Art Modifications
• All combat arts as Item Modifier
• Runes