Sacred 2:Energy Shields
Two of Sacred 2's character classes, the Seraphim and the Temple Guardian, have a powerful tool defense: the Energy Shield. The Temple Guardian has the T-Energy Shroud buff, and the Seraphim has two forms: the Warding Energy buff, and the Divine Protection short-term spell. Each entry has specific details; this article aims to cover information that is shared by all three Combat Arts.
Shield Point Regeneration
Shield point regeneration time is 20 seconds at base, and can be improved with item boni, as well as the Mastery bonus for the skill Warding Energy Lore. For example, if a given shield has a total size of 1000 shield points, it will recover from empty to full at a rate of 1000/20 per second, or 50 shield points per second.
The Temple Guardian's T-Energy Shroud offers the silver modification "Recharge" that enables the recovery of shield points while in combat. Neither of the Seraphim's shield powers can recover shield points while in combat under any circumstances. Note though that "in combat" is loosely defined as, within a five second period:
- The character has taken damage
- The character has made an attack check
- The character has received a defense check
How Energy Shields Work
Energy Shields have 3 statistics, shield energy, damage absorbtion (Block Warding Energy) & Absorption Warding Energy.
- Shield energy decreases as damage is taken and if it drops to zero, the shield stops functioning.
- Shield energy regenerates outside of combat (though the Temple Guardian's T-energy Shroud has a modifier that gives in-combat regeneration), and is increased with higher Combat Art levels and the skill Warding Energy Lore (Tactics Lore for T-Energy Shroud with silver "recharge" mod while in combat).
(Tactics Lore for T-Energy Shroud).
- Damage absorbtion (Block Warding Energy) reduces the damage taken (after resistances are applied, but before the damage is applied to the shield, or player health), it's static, though it can be increased by increased Combat Art levels, CA modification and the skill Warding Energy Lore (Tactics Lore for T-Energy Shroud). The damage absorbtion provided by the shield is a flat value and is absolute. There is hidden modifier (1,1) for this value, this means that if the damage mitigation provided by a shield is 264, then the shield will mitigate 264*1.1 = 290 points of damage.
- Absorption Warding Energy is fixed for the two buffs (T-energy Shroud & Warding Energy), but increases for Divine Protection. It also exists as an item modifier and this can be used to increase the total % of damage that is diverted to the shield energy, rather than player health.
When damage is dealt to a character that is running a shield of some type, the damage is first reduced by armor and damage mitigation, secondly (some of which may be provided by the shield itself). Any remaining damage that penetrates is divided between character health points and shield hit points. The statistic "Absorption Warding Energy", visible in white text on the sigma bonus summary, determines the base proportion of how the damage is split. As total Absorption Warding Energy value approaches 100%, a larger proportion of incoming damage will be diverted to the shield, and less to character health points. When Absorption Warding Energy is equal to or greater than 100%, all incoming damage goes to the shield, and character health points do not go down due to incoming damage.
Important note: Some effects that directly reduce player hit point total, e.g. the Garganthropod's weaken attack, may still decrease player health points despite the presence of the shield.
The base statistic for a shield's Absorption Warding Energy value, given in white text on the sigma bonus summary, is determined by each type of shield:
- Temple Guardian's T-Energy Shroud has a base Absorption Warding Energy of 60%. It does not change with CA level.
- Seraphim's Warding Energy has a base Absorption Warding Energy of 50%. It does not change with CA level.
- Seraphim's Divine Protection has a base Absorption Warding Energy of 100%, which increases with CA level.
It is worth noting that some items, particularly weapons, include the modifier "Absorption Warding Energy (opponent) -X%". This will reduce the Absorption Warding Energy value of the target enemy, allowing a greater portion of incoming damage to be inflicted on health points. Since there are only a very few NPC enemies that have shields at all, notably the endgame bosses and the Gar'Colossus, this may not be a very valuable bonus to try to maintain. This bonus may be quite valuable for PVP purposes, when facing an opponent that uses energy shields.
Item Bonuses that Affect Shields
For items with the modifier "Modified by 'Warding Energy Lore'", the related modifiers scale up with Warding Energy Lore skill. This means that with increasing values of Warding Energy Lore, the boni provided by that item will increase in value as well. E.g., for an item that provides the "Block Warding Energy" bonus, that bonus will grow larger with skill increase.
Several item boni can affect how shields work:
