Sacred:Csaszar's Gow BM guide

Originally posted at DarkMatters for review and discussion.

Foreward.

This is my previously written build. I updated (then updated again) a little and taken out outdated things. I am not native English speaker so forgive me my mistakes.

Poisonous Hurricane from the endless toxic wastes - Csaszar's GoW BM guide

This guide is based on my greatly successful but now retired* BM. He was a full GoW user so no other main attack spell. Of course if you feel the need you could choose some other form of attack however I never felt the need to do it. (a true GoW mage will use poison and only poison to defeat his enemies and if built right he will do that very good!)

STATS:

All points to mental regeneration. Quite simple. The higher your Mental Regen the better.

SKILLS:

Absolutely required skills:

Magic Lore

Meditation

Air Magic

Constitution

I think there isn't too much to speak about the above skills.

Advised skills:

Parrying: Good defense and an additional defense bonus when using shield. This build will use while lvling the char a two handed weapon but after maxing him out OR when u feel him enough leveled already I suggest using a shield/weapon combo.

Trading: I didn't like this skill at all but for BM is a natural choice. You have many options at skill choosing and BM has many sets having huge bonuses to trade. Besides trade could come handy because you will need to shop for some stuff regularly.

The last 2 skills:

Choose what you want. I picked agility for the added defense but it is really not necessary. If you want pick an another magic skill like: Earth Magic, Water Magic or Fire Magic. If I would redo my char I would pick Fire Magic and/or Earth Magic. Of course you could try to get more magic skills instead of Trading but picking too many of them is of no use. Long handed could help too because its not that hard to get the +xx% poison damage Orla rings.

MAGIC SPELLS:

GoW (Gust of Wind): This will be your main spell. GoW is a strong and a very useful way to destroy anyone who opposes you. Of course poison trolls and undead (and some other non demon poison resistant creatures) will cause trouble at lower lvls so try to avoid them.

GoW has many wonderful features. It will shock your enemies and throw them back. At lower lvls this will help you to stay alive and GoW has a very nice regen time. Much better than ice shard or other attack spells.

To use GoW efficiently you will need 2 things: high lvl of GoW AND added bonus to poison damage. At lower lvls the blacksmith s arts could help and later you will find rings with +20-26% to poison damage. At the ITEMS section there will be additional info on this. You need to raise GoW as high as you could while maintaining regen time under 1 sec. (I use lvl 300 Gow with 0.7 sec)

GM (Ghost Meadow): The bread and butter of your BM. Raise it as high as possible. An max it out. GM enhances your Mental Regen so every increase in MR will net you better and better results. So raise GM AND socket/wear stuff with bonus to MR. Max duration is 180 sec.

Flameskin: A very nice spell. It damages (a little) your enemies adds to fire resists (a nice bonus) and defends you from ranged attacks. Its advised to raise it till it reaches its max duration 120 sec. I raised it more because of the increased damage and resists.

Stoneskin: Gives Phys and Poison damage and some defense bonus. Greatly needed at the first part of your adventure lesser in the later part. Its advised to raise it till it reaches its max duration 120 sec.

Shield Wall: Gives magic resists and some other resists too. Its advised to raise it till it reaches its max duration 120 sec.

Those are the spells I use. If you picked fire magic skill you could use fire spiral too. It could be useful against Demons. (Demons are resistant to GoW throw back effect).

UPDATE

Whirlwind: Just received word that this spell beside its ranged defense and damage does a pretty nice DISARMING. This feature (i am not 100% sure its new or it was in older versions too) opens a lot new possibilities for this build. Important that Whirlwind needs to be (the same or) higher lvl than the enemies to have its disarm effect. No matter something interesting to try out!

EQUIPMENT:

I strongly advise to get the full Amarri set as soon as possible. Its aimed for Air Magic and has some nice other bonuses like +xx to GoW and +xx% damage against Demons. The best part of the set is the "secret damage". Its an added damage based on your original damage.

Using Amarri will take the slot for: HELM ARMOR BRACER GREAVES and BELT. So your hands (staff or weapon and gloves) will be free as your boots. For Boots I advise to trade (or get from drops) a socketed good boots with bonus to GoW and spell regen. For gloves i propose to use the unique Elohnir gloves if u could get one (any other socketed glove with good spell regen and/or GoW bonus will do if u cant get Elohnir)

Weapon slot|: I prefer the weapon + shield combo. Get a nice weapon with damage/mf/spell bonus and find a shield with the same. I used Blessed Blade of Enlightenment and Kite Shield of the Guild.

At lower lvls TRY TO GET AS MANY SOLWEMYRS rings as you could. Use and socket at every available place that xp + leech solwemyr ring. You could get nice xp bonus and enough leech very easy with that plus it has a bonus xx to Mental Regen - which u need as high as possible. If you could get any jewelry with great MR bonus consider using it.

WHERE TO PLAY (lvling):

As soon as you are able try to get to VOT. When you arrive through portal shoot some GoW to make place then try to run till the Sakkaras. If you played in VOT already you will know what place I mentioned. Try to run past pods and other creatures stopping only if needed. Read some Water Form runes cast it then you are clear to go.

As soon as you get to Sakkaras finish those who are still following you and begin the massacre. The mean and evil and big and dreaded Sakkara demons are lacking poison resist ENTIRELY. If you could get there you will have a relatively easy job even at lower lvls. Those Sakkara demons will net you the BEST xp in game and a mentor could do wonders. If you didn't tried it before you wont be able to imagine how many xp could be gained there.

Just a note: Playing and lvling at VOT nowadays is much more dangerous than earlier. High dangers but still very rewarding. Despite the dangers that VOT offers more and more people (sadly they have some really valid resons to do so) are against to do this massively and will consider it as power leveling. IMHO PW is part of Sacred (and any other games of this genre) and shouldnt be viewed as lowly as now. As long as the player TRIES to improve his or her other abilities and the ultimate goal isnt just to get max lvl (then forget the char) I don't see this that much problem.

If you gained enough lvls and wearing full amarri and raised GoW pretty high you will be able to defeat most of the creatures what Sacred Underworld could send against you. If you picked other magic skills it would be even more easier but after my experience you could do fine only with Gow.

I wish good luck and many happy hours playing this one!

* After some lag accident he found himself in a strange unknown world: Softcore. He tried his best to find a portal back home but fate was cruel. After he went into a deep depressive state I - with all due respect - deleted him.