Sacred 2:Unipuma's Dryad Guide (for lazy rich people)

Unipuma's Dryad Guide (for lazy rich people), Guide with minimal micromanagement, lotsa find valuables By Unipuma Aim of this setup: Ranged fighting with flee option, lots of +attack, little defense, anti-micromanagement, item-finder. Overview Skills 1: Ranged Weapons 2: Tactics 3: Perception 4: Concentration 5: Spell resistance 6: Armor lore 7: Caba Voodoo Focus 8: Nature Weaver Focus 9: Speed Lore 10: Bargaining Combat Arts - Forest Flight - Tangled Roots - 3 Buffs Weapon Poison Blowgun Fire Blowgun Pet Spider (insect head) Mount Monitor Lizard with Nature Weaver Buff In Depth (aim of setup) What was the aim and why? My initial thoughts were to make a badass Shadow Warrior. But, I needed gold and items for that build. Shadow Warriors have no Bargaining and the Enhanced Perception is in de second half of the tree, so that would cost a wasted 'Blacksmith' skill or something. I came up with following solution: make a Dryad build only for the gold and the items, with Enhanced Perception and Bargaining as her main skills. Play with Dryad, do the quests a bit and then put all the good loot in the shared chest so I can use it with my SW. What went wrong in the first idea? In short: the Dryad kills MUCH faster than the SW Now what? Ok, stay calm. We stick with the plan. Keep focussing on item-finding. But now we need to make sure the Dryad stays alive, not just cannonfodder that has 300 deaths to her name. We do that by focussing on killing stuff before it reaches her face. As soon as it's in her face we run like mad. Riight.. and what was that about anti-Micromanagement? Ok.. let me say: I HATE micromanagement (MM from now on) I'm lazy, I dont want to go to inventory in the middle of a fight, pick the right Shrunken Head, click combo 1 or combo 2, swap weapons etc etc. Seriously, my brain can't handle that as I'm already watching Knight Rider on TV, pet my cat who's on my chest, eat the chocolate thats on my desk (melting), and also talk on the phone. No way I can handle another thingy beside that. The thing is: this game needs buttloads of calculating to get an optimised build. Problem is, there is no way to take out learned Runes or Skillpoints. How is a level 20 person gonna make a build that also has to work on level 200? Imho: NOT. Some people have the time and luxury to restart builds over and over but I have not. (Well I do but I can't be bothered to redo all the missions) Yeah so whats the solution? For me it's easy: ALL CA's stay at level 1, except the 3 Buffs. Max those out to level eehh 500? Wha.. whyyy?? First of all: I'm not gonna use my CA's to kill monsters. I'm gonna focus on my weapon for killing. Make it 100% to hit, critical every shot. By not having to watch and calculate all the other CA's it makes gameplay very easy. Nothing to combo, not having to worry that raising Sinister Predator will make your Forest Flight reload-time 4 kazillion seconds (effectively rendering it useless in long fights). But if all CA's stay at 1, the CA's we ARE gonna use (Forest Flight and Tangled Roots) still work even if you have 3 buffs on at level 50 (giving you +350% time penalty on CA's) I'm not gonna read long answer, say it shorter. Ah, a lazy person. This is the right guid for you. In short: CA's level 1, max the buffs. Forest Flight and Tangled Roots stay usefull. Hence the title: Guide for Lazy people. In Depth: bow or blowpipe? Easy: Blowpipe! Bows have better stats, often better mods. But, blowpipes have 3 rediculously good arguments: 1: they can fire through walls, rocks, bridges, houses etc etc. Demonstration: Inside a church, hitting 3 opponents whilst firing through a wall. 2: they have no 'arrow-flight-animation' When I run outside in a mountainous enviroment my arrows get stuck on a rock, or even on a small hill if the enemy is just on the other side of that tiny hill. Stuck arrow = missed arrow ! 3: instant hit. Important on MOVING objects. If you use arrows, and the target is moving lateral to you even a slow moving target is too fast for even a fast-flying arrow. With the blowgun there is no animation, so the microsecond you fire, it either hits or misses purely based on your to-hit-%. Not on to-hit-% PLUS target moving speed! 4: also I read that she actually uses her tongue with this blow...pipe... I use 1 blowpipe with POISON base, and 1 with FIRE base. So far I havent seen mobs that are highly resist to a combo of both fire and poison. In Depth: COMBAT ARTS In this build, it's important to understand that your main weapon is your only weapon. If it misses, you're screwed. % to hit is most important. % Criticals is secondary. Also note that I'm only talking about BLOWPIPES. Sinister Predator: +atk speed, +% to hit. Modifications: Eagle Eye, Marked Shot, Unflinching. Eagle Eye vs Rapid Fire I believe the Blowgun already is close tot he maximum firing speed. Chosing this would not give a huge gain. Chosing Eagle Eye saves skillpoints on Tactics. Marked Shot vs Perforate Sorry but I never see enemies line up so they can be shot all at once. They always surround, making 'pierce' useless. Also, very useless on Bosses since there is only ONE target and hitting the wall behind him wont impress him to death. Unflinching vs Hunting Focus As said, I;m not using other CA's. I'd rather have the hit%. Only argument that would validate Hunting Focus is if you want to use Forest Flight every 2 seconds. But Forest Flight already has a time-reduce mod. Moribund Animus: mob distraction #1. Modifications: Stone Skin, Elevation, Fury This setup aims to kill mobs before they can reach me. That doesn't work if 5 enemies attack at once. My pet distracts 3 enemies, so I can pick my targets one by one and I'm safe. Keeping the pet alive is more important than using the pet to actually kill mobs. You can forget about that. Stone Skin vs Malice Survival of pet = longer distration. Make it a tank. Without this, pets get 'killed' rather fast redering it useless. Elevation vs Headhunter Well.. this was an experiment. The idea is: higher level pet = better armored/evading/damaging pet. Right now I'm level eehh 55 I think and my pet is level 75. It can survive a Boss fight. And Shrunken Heads I really can't be bothered with. They all suck except my one in a million Dragonhead find. Fury vs Headhunter Have I told you lately how I feel about Shrunken Heads? maybe* Headhunter is nice if your aim is to go for yellow shrunken heads. But see it this way: a Shrunken head is basically just a slot like a ring or amulet. And you can buy those with excellent buffs at vendors. I went for Fury so the pet attacks faster, thus more chance to actually HIT a mob and thus distracting it. (not damage, distraction!) note. Level or quality of Shrunken Head does *NOT* affect summoned pet qualities ! Ancient Barkskin: under construction Forest Flight: Teleport skill. Modifications: Roots, Expert, Escape This has got to be one of the best skills in game. Teleport through everything, go everywhere (needs a bit of training to figure out the exact maximum range of the teleport). Best is, if you're surrounded by a mob and you teleport, the mobs that stay behind will be entangled ! (% chance to entangle) Works on Bosses. Roots vs Recovery Choice between very tiny heal or making enemies incapable of following you? Easy choice! Expert vs Escape Hmm... there are 2 things that can kill me. Stun/confuse/root effects, and Mages that do buttloads of ranged damage in 1 shot. For Silver-mod I chose Expert, since the gain from decreased regeneration time is rather big, and on Gold there is another 'chance to escape root' bonus. Refresh vs Escape I really dont see the point in a minor healing effect when I carry 50 potions around. I do see the point in escaping when I'm rooted. Hence I chose Escape. Tangled Vine: Immobilise Boss skill! Modifications: Sprawl, Impair, Encroach Sprawl vs Tendrils I'd rather have a Boss thats stuck in 1 spot for a long time so I can shoot it over and over doing 500 damage, than some Vines that do 50 damage. (dunno the exact damage value, but it's not gonna be high since my CA is at level 1 !) Stuck Boss = better than slightly scorched and very angry Boss. Impair vs Singe Ow wait.. this is the scorching part. No matter. Bosses do rediculous damage with 1 shot. The less shots it can fire per minute the better. Therefore: Impair, which reduces attack speed. Also remind that this setup has poor defense so eehh really.. you don't wanna get hit at all. Encroach vs Intent To be honest: this skill has just enough range so Encroach is not really needed. But, since I already choose not to do damage with this CA, Intent is useless. I would only go for Intent if I'd chosen Tendrils AND Singe before it. Encroach makes life just a little easier. Can Tangle Bosses now almost out of the screen note: it is my strong belief that Rooted mobs are easier to hit with ranged weapons. I can't support this with numbers or fact, but I really do believe it. note 2: IF you entangle a Boss, you can actually use a BOW again since the target is now stationary. BOWS have the advantage that they usually do much more base damage and are easier to find (better % on good bonusses on the weapon) In Depth: SKILLS 1: Ranged Weapons +atk speed, +% to hit I keep this maxed. 90% hit to a normal mob, is only a 10% loss of dps. BUT.. 90% on normal mobs, means you do only 30% on Bosses (numbers are not accurate, as example only) Question: If player A does 30% to a boss, and player B does 40% to a boss, how much more damage does player B do? NOT 10 %. It's 33% ! If player A does 30%, and player B does 90%, how much more damage does player B do? NOT 60%, no, a whopping 200% EXTRA. (ask your maths teacher to explain, I'm too lazy (hey you lazy people still reading this guide? hahahah suckers!)) In short: keep it maxed. 2: Tactics +% damage, +% criticals % damage part is the thing that counts, because you already get a % critical bonus from Sinister Predator buff. Very good skill, but do NOT max it in the beginning as it is just not needed yet! Put it to level 9 so you get MODIFIER POINTS for the CAPRICIOUS HUNTER tree. With 9 points you can modify Sinister Predator buff. Later on in the game (at level 50 or so), set Tactics to level 31 so you can get another 3 MOD points you can put into Forest Flight. In short: set to 9 early, modify Sinister Predator. ~ 50: set it to 31 so you can modify Forest Flight. 3: Perception Increased chance to detect hiding places, traps and stealthed creatures Hmm... The skill actually doesnt say anything about better loot from mobs. Howevery I find buttloads of stuff, lotsa green, lotsa yellow from monsters. Also, in every 10 crate I open there is 1 yellow item so I really think it works. I also have the feeling I get much more cash, with drops of 40.000 gold from 1 champion being regular loot. BIG note: Enhanced Perception modifier unlocks the +% EXPERIENCE bonus on rings/armor ect etc !! In short: keep it maxed. 4: Concentration 2 buffs, 3 at 75 skillpoints. Ah damnit. 75 skillpoints just to get 3 buffs. But hey thats the build so do it! Remember: you can only put 75 points into this, if your character is also level 75 or higher. So in the beginning, keep it at 1. Invest in other stuff. Later on when you get 5 skillpoints per level, reserve 2 or 3 for Concentration and make sure you have 75 points in it by the time your char is also level 75. In short: keep at 1 till level 75, then 75 it. 5: Spell resistance +spell resist, +% evade critical SPELL Tough one.. I needed either Spell Resist, or Combat Reflex to get to Armor Lore. Why choose Spell Resist? I think Combat Reflex only works on physical weapons such as axes and arrows, not on spells. During gameplay I found that physical damage is not such a problem, since mobs dont actually reach me. They die before they do. Spellcasters however are ranged. They really hurt, so I figured I need more protection from that. As fas as I see it: a critical hit from a spell is MUCH worse than a critical hit from a physical weapon. I put this to 5 in the beginning just to unlock Armor Lore. I;m level 55 now and still the skill is at 5. Will raise later on when I have leftover skillpoints. In short: put to 5 to unlock Armor lore. Much much later in the game, add points when needed. 6: Armor lore % armor bonus, -%penalty on CA's Armor is for wussies. Nah seriously I only use it to unlock the bonusses on the armors. In short: keep it low, add points later on in the game when you have leftover points. 7: Caba Voodoo Focus higher CA level possible Well... it's not really needed to take this skill at all. I just took it to unlock the MODS for Moribund Animus. Only 9 points needed in this skill to unlock the mods you need !! Best thing about picking a skill that you don't need to take up to 200, is that you have many leftover points to put in usefull skills. Rather have a high Tactics Lore than a high Combat Art. In short: 9 points only! 8: Nature Weaver Focus higher CA level possible Same as Voodoo Focus. Initially take it to 9, so you can modify Entangled Vine. Later on in the game, put it to level 31 so you get another 3 mod-points for Ancient Bark. Seriously, Entangled Vine first, then Ancient Bark. In short: To 9 early, modify Entangled Root, to 31 later in the game to modify Barkskin. 9: Speed Lore +atk, +def, +speed (need more testing) Difficult one. On paper the bonusses look really small. I've been collection leftover skillpoints and I'll put my findings in here. Why choose this skill then? Well, it's another +ATK, always good. It's +speed, and when riding the Monitor Lizard a little % speed is a lot I think. Rumour: as far as I read somewhere, people say that there is sort of a hidden bonus in this skill, a % bonus. So on paper +100 ATK, but in reality it's 200 ATK that you actually get. In short: to 75 waayyy late in the game. 10: Bargaining +% special offers I think this skill really compliments the Enhanced Perception skill. As far as I know it ALSO influences price of stuff you're going to sell. Dryad with Bargaining sells an Axe for 50.000, put it in chest, give to my Death Warrior and he only gets 45.000 for it (numbers are not correct). As far as I've read on the forums, the skill has been nerfed a bit. No more orange items, no more set-items at vendors. I will eventually get it up to max later in the game, because people say it should stay close to character level to be effective. One more thing: it's really hard to find GOOD blowpipes. I rely on vendors for that because I need 1 specific bonus on the blowpipe (-% to evade for enemies). So I also plan to take Bargaining high just to buy a decent weapon. In short: beginning of game: keep at 1, endgame put it to max. In all, as far as I can tell now, I'll be needing 200-75-200-75-5-5-9-31-75-200 skillpoints. Thats 875 in total, and this game has eeehhh 950 max? So I got 75 points left to put into important skills like Armor Lore, Spell resist or Tactics. note: if someone were to drop Bargaining and take a spell like Damage Lore just to 75, that would free up loads of skillpoints. It's just that this build is also a money-making item-find build In Depth: Why not take <insert skill> instead? I'm not gonna discuss all skills, just the ones that would fit into my build. Capricious Hunter Focus. I did not pick this because to make this skill work good (low recharge times), I would have to invest a lot of skillpoints into it. My golddigger setup doesn't leave me any room for that. In fact I think I'm already beginning to get under-defensed (however, I have not used Ancient Barkskin at all so far) Besides, I;m not gonna kill stuff with CA's, I;m just gonna use the blowpipe. No Micromanagement for me! Combat Discipline I might not have mentioned it, but I HATE MICROMANAGEMENT! Why would I bother with combo's? Also: one you started a combo, you can;t stop the sequence. So theoretically, if you put 3 CA's in a combo, and each CA takes 10 seconds to execute, your puppet is standing still for 30 seconds. I can't handle that with my armor. I need speed, freedom, I like to run around naked! No Combat Discipline for me. Damage Lore (need testing!) I actually been thinking about this one. Dryads do lots of DOT damage. Some Bosses regenerate fast. In other games it has always been, that regeneration is at 0 when a secondary effect is in place (poison for example). BUT... DOT is something I hate. I still need to test this as well, but I dont think DOT stacks. Example: I do 10 poison damage, and for 10 seconds after the hit I do 1 damage per second. In total I do 20 damage. I shoot the monster 2 times. Second 1: 10 damage from the hit. Second 2: 10 damage from another hit, +1 damage from the poison effect. The question that needs to be answered: Second 3: 2 damage from BOTH shots? Or only 1 damage? I didn't pick it so far because I have more faith in Speed Lore. I will also be testing which are exactly SECONDARY EFFECTS. If 'scare away mob' is a secondary effect then this skill might actually be superdupergood ! Constitution One of the best skills as far as I've read, but... I just don't have the skillpoints anymore and I needed Armor Lore for the bonusses. With pain in my heart I skipped this skill. In Depth: Best bonusses (rings, armor, weapons) The bonusses you're looking for thisbuild are: +% damage (at Blacksmiths) Aim for at least 25% Opponent level for Death Blow Suppose it's at 20%. That means that, when opponent health drops below 20% you do double damage. It doesn not stack linear. 20%+20%+20% is about 45% (still, thats goood ) Aim for at least 33% Opponents chance to evade Godly! Eventually if you try to stack % to hit, it;s not linear anymore. So 20+20+20 is only 45. However, Opponents chance to evade seems to be a totally other %. 20-20 to hit, combined with 20% oppochancetoevade leads not to 45%, but to 55% Aim for at least 20-25% Enhanced perception Use the Relics to make this higher. Not that much influence on the game I think but still important for golddiggers. % chance to find valuables Well... eehhhhh this was the whole idea of this build so as long as I kill mobs easy, I will sacrifice damage/defense to put some % valuable rings on Aim for at least 50% if you really wanna find lots of set-items and good yellows. I will be testing the 'Chance to fear opponents away' bonus soon. I got some rings and stuff that does ~5%. I wonder if mobs really run away (Bosses !!) if I got it at 25%. Since my blowgun does 3 hits per second, this could actually be a very good bonus. Not tested yet! Right. I think that's about it. Please feel free to comment. Also point out any spelling mistakes and stuff so I can correct it. I will be updating every now and then but as I might have mentioned before.. I'm LAZY and I consider tweaking this guide a form of MICROMANAGEMENT so don't expect me to do it every day.. or week.. maybe once a month Good luck folks. note: this is based on 'feelings' not on hard number evidence! Originally published at DarkMattersfor review and discussion. See Also Dryad Guides Sacred 2 Player Contributed Guides