Sacred 2:A Stunning Conclusion: Temple Guardian Build/Guide

A Stunning Conclusion: Temple Guardian Build/Guide By SolomonGrundy A Stunning Conclusion (ASC) Intro: This Temple Guardian was my second character and I play on the x360, which does have its own set of problems and benefits. Although he is now fairly solid (got to Niob at level 77), new players who decide to give this a try are going to struggle – not because Temple Guardian is a bad/weak character, but because it does require some play savvy, and understanding of the damage engine (both taking damage and receiving) in order to get the most out of this class. How I named him: I noticed, while browsing the Sacred 2 wiki, that the Temple Guardian had a few Combat Arts which inflicted stun, and hafted weapons were likely to have the stun on them as well. A stunned enemy can’t do anything, which is a “control” type of strategy that is effective no matter what game you play. This Temple Guardian – ASC- slows down melee attacks, stuns enemies, and reduces incoming damage to a trickle, while dealing accurate melee attacks and using Deathly Spears to great (although not maximum) effect. Skills: Like other guides, I’m not only going to give you the skills, and the order you should pick ‘em, but also a snap shot at a few levels so you can think about allocation of your skill points. My personal observation on character building in Sacred 2: Builds work best when you can leave 2 skills at “1” for a long time (first 75 levels), and have a few others that require smaller point investments. This allows you to focus on 3 “core” skills and build them up first, while still getting bonuses from the other skills via + all skills amulets. L2 - Devout Guardian Focus: this is our primary aspect , needs to be mastered by level 75, and a good idea to keep at character level. L3 - Armor Lore: Temple Guardian armor is HEAVY, investing here will help offset this, as well as open up damage mitigation at mastery. I would lobby for this at 75 as well L5 - Hafted Weapons: Leave this at 1. The main benefit here is access to higher level hafted weapon, and their powers like stun, and physical armor reduction. You want this early in order to melee while Deathly Spears is weak L8 - Source Warden Focus: this is for your second buff, and your secondary aspect. When making choices about skill points here, always remember that this IS a secondary aspect. Get 9 skill points into this by level 12 as possible to mod the buff L12 - Concentration: Leave this at 1 as well. Later in the game, ‘+all skills’ rings and amulets will give you enough to make this skill worth it (as if using 2 buffs simultaneously was not enough reason!) L18 - Tactics Lore: One of the ‘lil ’gotchas’ of Sacred2 is that earning ‘mod points’ (used to improve Combat Arts) cost progressively more skill points, and the max # of skill points you can invest is limited by character level. If there are many Combat Arts you want to modify in an Aspect, you *need* both focus and lore. Devout is our Primary Aspect; we want to invest in Tactics Lore. L25 - Enhanced Perception: ***Players may want to wait until later to take this skill.*** Not because it is a bad skill, but because early level survival tends to be more important than finding neat stuff. If you wanted to move this to 35, 50, or 65 it is not a problem. I took it here, figuring that a good piece of gear might save my tail. L35 – Warding Energy Lore: Right around level 35 enemy champions and bosses start to inflict some pretty heavy damage. Our T-energy shield is still weak, and selecting WEL at this time, with a small investment (1-10 points + all skills) can improve the shield by 50% or more, as well as further reduce incoming damage - the skill itself gives a small amount of damage reduction. L50 - Combat Disciple: THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL. In order to make Deathly Spears and Source Warden Combat Arts function, you need this skill. 3rd Skill to Mastery after Armor Lore and Devout Guardian Focus L65 - Toughness: All channel damage mitigation, and all channel armor. “A Stunning Conclusion” is a melee-centric build, which means we are taking hits, and regardless of other defenses, hard hits will slip through. Constitution could be a substitute. Alternates: if you don’t care for it, you can dump Enhanced Perception altogether. Subs include Source Warden Lore (for more damage/mod points), Constitution (for higher survivability), or Riding (The Temple Guardian’s special mount increases HP, defense, and shield regen rate, and is fast fast fast). That being said, this build benefits from a character with bargaining. You can get by without it, but you will have to give up some “fun” powers, and opt for “functional” powers instead. Sadly you cannot just swap Bargaining for EP as bargaining must be ”unlocked” LEVEL CHART Level 25 DGF 25 AL 15 HW 1 SWF 9 CNT 1 TL 25 EP 1 WEL X CD X TGN X Level 50 DGF 50 AL 30 HW 1 SWF 31 CNT 1 TL 37 EP 1 WEL 10 CD 5 TGN X Level 75 DGF 75 AL 75 HW 1 SWF 55 CNT 1 TL 37 EP 1 WEL 10 CD 30 Note that not all points are spent for the levels detailed. I tried to leave some points free for people to tweak what they want. Combat Arts (Combat Arts) The “gotcha” in Sacred 2 I mentioned earlier. All the combat arts may look great, but if you take a closer look at the mod points you earn, you will not be able to mod all the Combat Arts in an aspect until level 100. Do yourself a favor: pick 2 or 3 to mod first, have a 4th one that is useful ‘as-is’ (unmodded) and leave 1 or 2 Combat Arts unused/unmodded. Another strategy is to take a CLOSE look at the mods on the Combat Art. If a gold mod does not look great, then you can leave it until you have mod points to burn. This second strategy will see heavy use in this build. Numbers after a mod indicate the order they should be selected in. Devout Guardian Aspect First off, we are skipping Battle Extension. It is a good combat art, but so is Dedicated Blow, and we do not need both. Dedicated Blow Bronze: Bedazed (?) – the amount of damage converted will rise with Combat Art level anyway, and spamming stun is a very effective way of nullifying a boss. It is a keystone of the build Silver: Sure Hit (?) Bosses are tough to hit, even with a great attack rating. Criticals are nice, but if you don’t hit, it does not matter what your damage is. Gold: Enforce: Enforce (wait) - Both mods are good. It would not break the build to inflict deep wounds, but more damage means one-shotting champions, and I’m just not sure that inflicting a deep wound has the same value. By level 75 you can will have a choice between this, or the gold Dedicated Blow mod Eat 1 rune only T-Energy Shroud Bronze: (1) Both are good. Very good. Derogate inflicts excellent damage with Tactics, and Combat Discipline. Power means your shield will last longer vs bosses, which is important for the first 100 levels as you flesh out the character. I went with Power. Either way this is your first mod Silver: Reduction (?) - for a lot of reasons, but mostly because recharge is broken. The amount you recharge is much less that you expect in combat. It is not enough to keep the shield active if a boss takes it down during battle. If normal enemies are taking your shield down need to rethink your tactics in a particular area. Gold: Reflection (?) - even if this only blocks, rather than reflects, this is the mod to take. Many boss and enemy attacks are really Combat Arts, which count as spells. Blocking a % of these means the shield does not take damage from them, and the temple guardian is protected from secondary effects inflicted with them… like stun. Eat runes, by manage your regen times carefully Deathly Spears First, a Comment. Deathly spears is a later game Combat Art if ever there was one. This Combat Art will not be useful until it hits level 16, unless you focused everything on damage (tactics lore, and Combat Discipline), and this build does not (it is more of a control build). Also, this Combat Art is unlike others in that you can read runes, rather than rely soley on +Combat Art items. Keep regen around 3 seconds (~1 second per wave). Bronze: Batter (?) - This build does NOT have Constitution, so playing games with your life bar means DANGER! If you are using an alt build, that does have Constitution, then gore is not a bad choice at all. It may save you from chasing down enemies that have been knocked back, but not killed Silver: Either - I picked “Occult” (?) but I think Singe, when paired with Source warden “Fiery Ember” is also a great choice. Gold: Jab (?) - is the only mod that makes sense. I’m not sure I see the point in wounding, since the DoT will not hit as hard as a third (or 4th) wave Use runes and + all Combat Arts to get Deathly Spears to 16 ASAP Combat Alert By the time you hit the mid 30s, you will basically want Combat alert on all the time. Plan accordingly. Act to maximize duration because recasting lowers DPS, and shuts off reflect. Bronze: Assault (?) – I want to hit. +500% (Combat Art level 40) makes sure that I do Silver: Riposte (?) – this mod is CRUCIAL for the build. Since we are not sinking heavy points into Warding Energy Lore, anything we can do keep shield energy up is important, and Riposte reflects melee attacks. Gold: Party Protection (wait). We are keeping this Combat Art a castable, since Concentration is never going above 1. As such it behoves you to wait until later on in the game to fully mod. By level 75 you can will have a choice between this, or the gold Dedicated Blow mod. Eat as many runes as you want, up to penalty. Battle Extension Good Combat Art – too bad we won’t be using it. I like passive hits from the other arm, but you won’t get the stun, and we already have a Combat Art to attack enemies with. Source Warden Aspect Untouchable Force Bronze: Mind Control (1) – this mod is central to the build. Since you will only stun once every 5 seconds, maximizing stun change is critical. 20% stun at Combat Art 20, which is easily achievable. Silver: Calm (2) – another control technique. Slow down incoming damage. At higher Combat Art level, this will make a huge difference in creatures like scorpions and demons, who hit fast, and hard. Gold: Crumble (3) - What’s the point of adding magic damage now? This is a control buff, pure and simple. Staving off ranged damage will again increase the likelihood that T-energy shield stays up. Eat some runes, but manage your regen penalty Fiery Ember This is a Combat Art you can read runes up to the maximum without penalty, since you won’t be “spamming” the Combat Art (it has 15 second cooldown). It may be possible at uber high level, with lots of – regen that the duration will exceed the regen + cooldown, but it has not happened at Combat Art level 50... This will also be your primary character leveling Combat Art during the early levels. If you have a bunch of runes lying about, read them all, gather a bunch of kobolds/poison elementals, etc, and let fly. Bronze: Incinerate (4) – yeah, it would be neat to slow down enemies even more, but these Combat Arts don’t have huge damage numbers, even when you begin to heavily invest in them with runes Silver: Churn (5) – good stuff. This not only allows you to deal more damage with Fiery Ember, but also allows you to do more damage with any fire based attack (a weapon with a lava chunk in it, deathly spears with “singe” etc). Also, let’s face it, the game does not have that many serious ice threats. Gold: Conservation (wait) - The cuts regen time in half, allowing you to carry higher Combat Art levels, increasing damage, and duration (and range). The other option increases duration, which would allow you to have the Combat Art up all the time. Eat as many runes as you would like, up to penalty At this point you will find yourself running low on mod points. You are only going to be able to mod 1 or 2 more Combat Arts by level 75, as you have only 2 mod points. Chose wisely. I chose to pair Icy with Charged Grid in a combo to manage regen times, and allow me to get away with fewer mods. Icy Evanescence Bronze: Icy Needles (wait)– thing is, when opponents get hit by ice based attacks, there is a chance they will be slowed anyway – slow is the other option, so I’ll take the damage. If your build chooses Lost fusion focus, it might be worth using the slow effect with amplifying discharge (a distance attack). We don’t, so our choice is easier Silver: (wait) Fire Protection – Gee, it sure is nice to fight dragons and laugh off their damage. That’s what 50% fire mitigation will do for you (Combat Art level 50ish). I used this mod to make 2 storyline fights a cake walk. The Dragon, and Carnach. Gold: - You won’t be taking gold until well after level 100. Best not to plan that far ahead 1smile.gif Eat runes as you would like, since this Combat Art is coupled with Charged Grid (which has a longer cooldown) Charged Grid This Combat Art affects party members, and people like +life. The damage is a bit half assed anyway (being Magic Damage), compared to your melee Combat Arts, which are our prime focus. This was the last Combat Art I modded, since I could just read runes into it to improve the healing early. If “derogate” and Occult are selected, consider pumping magic damage % Bronze: Substance (wait) - Tough choice… healing or damage. Since the stock build did not take constitution, I would heavily lean towards healing. Silver: Substance (wait) - Once you go healing, stay healing. Double damage may seem great, but doubling a very small number is still a small number. Gold: Longevity (wait) – Yeah, range might be nice, but +40% duration is SO much better on a Combat Art with 60 second cool down. Primal Mutation Another good Combat Art, here are the two reasons we won’t be using it 1) We are out of mod points 2) The helpless mods (which would work well, since we don’t have Lore) require too much investment. If it was available at Bronze, I’d say mod it, and learn to live without the Fiery Ember Gold mod. Combos! Some Bookkeeping: combos use attack speed, not casting speed on x360. This works well for us, since we DO have a weapon lore. Before kicking off any combo, consider the playing environment – are there any threats you need to be careful of? Most Temple Guardian combos have longer animation times than characters you may be used to playing. Combat Alert + Deathly Spears: Resist the urge to add more to this combo, since it’s a little slow to start with. I have had too many close shaves with enemies getting after me from range while I “pump up” Icy Evanescence + Charged Grid: Fire enemy Killer Combo. Sets up HUGE fire damage mitigation, and kicks off healing. Note – do NOT put Fiery Ember in a combo with Charge Grid as well, as the cooldown on CG will prevent you from swapping back and forth until late late (after level 100) game. If you modded Primal Mutation Primal Mutation + Deathly Spears + Dedicated Blow: It is important that Dedicated Blow comes at the END of the combo to take advantage of “regen per hit” as well as maximizing the potential attribute reduction. Attribute Spend Just a quick dialog on this. One of your leading Combat Arts, Deathly Spears, will increase in damage whether Strength OR Intelligence is Increased. As of this writing I have not tested Dexterity, but I strongly suspect Dex, too, improves DS damage. Willpower improves Shield Energy. Level 1-50: 100% Stamina Level 50-100: 75% Stamina, 25% Strength or Willpower or Vitality (your preference) Level 100-200: 50% Stamina, 25% Strength or Willpower or Vitality (your preference) Useful bonuses/Equipment I’ll make this section as Brief as possible. One note; Temple Guardian equips have less slots than other classes seem to have. This means it is essential to be smart about what you slot, and where. Perfect example is deathblow. Yes, we all want a lot of deathblow, but guess what? When you add two deathblow bonus together, the SUM is less than the full amount. Better to get a large single bonus, and live with a slightly lower deathblow %. Access to a Niobium Blacksmith, while not critical, certainly will make your life easier as their Blacksmith Arts are at level 111 minimum. Useful Bonuses: PRIMARY – yeah, no surprises here + All skills + All Combat Arts - Regen time (Blacksmith!) + % Damage + % Damage Mitigation SECONDARY – but still very important + HP – This build has no Constitution, try and find a chest piece or “belt” that has HP tied to Armor Lore + Attack & Defense - Sure, Combat alert will be a % boost, but it needs a large raw value to pump up. % Deathblow – in the Beginning, aim for 25-35%, as you get into Niob, closer to 50% is better. - Enemy chance to evade and Enemy cannot evade – No point in high damage if you do not hit Regen per hit. Get .5/hit ASAP, and move it up as you advance. NICE TO HAVE +% Experience +% Chance to Find Valuables -% All Damage over Time -% Enemy Physical Resistance +% Knockback + Stamina, Strength, Willpower +% Absorption Energy (Less damage to Temple Guardian vs Shield) +% Total Shield Energy + Damage Absorption +% Run Speed +% Evade +% Attack Speed +% Casting Speed Equipment Each Piece here is selected for slots, or for scalable bonuses, feel free to substitute! HEAD: Head Module of the demiurge, OR 2 slot random helmet. The damage and the scaling willpower bump is nice, but we don’t use Lost Fusion SHOULDERS: Random Damage mitigation is the primary consideration, and look for 2 slots, or 1 slot + a primary bonus TORSO: Evaluating! Currently using Torso MMT, but evaluating a random for all channel damage mitigation OR Plate of the Tormentor OR Reassuring Prayer of Lumen ARM: Random - this piece of tends to have the modes that affect warding energy lore, so random tends to be best BELT: Belts are likely to have +++HP, so look for one with HP, and 2 slots. LEGS: Prototype Combat Art 333 – 3 slots for a Temple Guardian is too good to pass up. Alternate is Greaves of the Demiurge (All channel damage mitigation goodness!) BOOTS: If you can find them, Guardians of the Dark path are excellent for both slots (3) and default powers (scaling attack and defense) BATTERY: I found the class-quest battery, with 2 Gold Slots, and +% XP pretty darn good. Alternate would be a random with decent powers, and 2 slots. The two slots are critical though. You can only wear three rings and one amulet (bummer!) and TGs do not wear gloves, can’t use shields, and so they are virtually crippled for gear. Make every decision count! RINGS + Chance to Find Valuables / regen per hit + Chance to Find Valuables / +% Casting Speed + All Skills / -% enemy chance to evade AMULET + All skills WEAPON Obviously you are using a hafted weapon , and the one and only power you NEED is % chance to stun. This is a common power, but you should also be watching the damage, number of slots, and other powers. Here is what I am using currently +7.2% chance to stun +15 stamina -11% to opponents physical armor 1 silver slot, 1 gold slot Character Progression EARLY LIFE: More than many other characters, Temple Guardian Starts off weak. You’ll notice that in silver difficulty, that enemies start to get too strong for you around level 18 or so if you use the build exactly as I have. That’s ok – once you get to level 50 (combat discipline) you see a big uptick in playability, and by level 65, you’ll be quite well protected, and you’ll be heavily investing in combat discipline. Three ways to improve survivability: 1. Leave your Buffs (T-energy Shroud and Untouchable Force) low, and equip some +Combat Art armor or weapon pieces ONLY while you cast the buffs, then switch to your “adventuring gear” – this will keep your regen quite low, but still give a large bonus to buffs 2. Have a high level shopper slots Niob Blacksmith arts or high level rings and ammies on your . 3. Level in the kobold/earth elemental or other weak enemy/high XP areas until you have enough skill points and gear to progress 75 AND BEYOND: Aim to hit Niobium around level 76. You’ll want a few masteries to take on level 90+ Guardians. Once you get into Niobium, the next focus is to get Deathly Spears to 42 (4 waves of spears), using +All Combat Arts and +Devout Guardian rings/ammies/armor/etc. Epilogue So, thanks for hanging in there, and reading my guide. I thought I’d include some questions that friends and other players asked me while I was getting up to Niob. Question: When will that energy hield be tough enough to stand up to bosses? Answer: It depends – the faster you take down a boss, the more likely your energy shield will stay up. It will probably never get to the point where you can just sit and ignore boss damage Question: When will Deathly Spears start doing real damage Answer: In a roundabout way, I noticed Deathly Spears becoming useful at Combat Art level 16 (the third wave of spikes). Before that it was kinda…meh. Question: Why didn’t you pick XXX mod, it is so much better! Answer: Yeah yeah, there are a couple mods (like derogate) that could have been great. I think all in the build turned out fine, and tweaking builds is ½ the fun Question: You have weird skill point investments at various levels. Why? Answer: Good Question! Mostly because mod points come at specific point investments, and for the first 75 levels, you have so few points, it does not make sense to spend a single point more than needed. It is the sum of a Aspect’s Lore and Focus skill that determines mod points are earned. So for example, If I have Tactics Lore at 37, and Devout Guardian Focus at level 50, I will earn the mod point for 87. After that, I might not need any more mod points so desperately, and so I just leave tactics lore at 37 Question: How helpful is Source Warden Aspect without the focus? Answer: Very helpful. Fire damage mitigation, and Fire resistance reduction make a huge difference in damage. The damage of the Combat Arts on their own is not exactly inspiring, but it does “soften” enemies, allowing Deathly Spears to do the work. Question: Is Temple Guardian a “power-game” Character? Answer: Nah, that would be Shadow Warrior or High Elf. Temple Guardian is just very fun, and a decent support character. Originally published at DarkMattersfor review and discussion. See Also Temple Guardian Guides Temple Guardian Combat Arts Sacred 2 Player Contributed Guides