Sacred (PC) Seraphim Guide Version: 1.14 Created by: Gilmore R. Guirao Date created: Thu. Jan. 1, 2009 Date modified: Fri. May 17, 2013 Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I) Legal Issues II) Contact Info III) Acknowledgements IV) What Is Sacred? V) Who Are the Seraphim? VI) Seraphim Pros and Cons VII) Attributes VIII) To Ride or Not to Ride? IX) Skills X) Combat Arts XI) Combos XII) Misc. Tips XIII) Allowed Sites XIV) Version History I) Legal Issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Sacred is copyright 2004 Ascaron Entertainment. *This guide is copyright 2013 by Gilmore R. Guirao. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances, except for personal, free, and private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission and must remain unaltered. Unauthorized use of this guide is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. II) Contact Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For any questions, comments, or ideas, feel free to e-mail me at gguirao@hawaiiantel.net. Please be sure the word "Sacred" is included in the subject line. Also, connnect with me on Facebook. Flames, spam, or other junk will be promptly deleted. III) Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) God for everything. 2) My friends and family for their love and support throughout my life. 3) Ascaron Entertainment for making this game. 4) Other players who have made my gaming experience most enjoyable. 5) Matt P. (elementalizard@hotmail.com) for inspiring me to write this guide and providing some minor insights. 6) GameFAQs.com for hosting this guide. 7) You for reading this guide. IV) What Is Sacred? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sacred is a simple point-and-click, hack-and-slash RPG not unlike Diablo and Titan Quest. You go through the game killing enemies, finding items, and solving quests. It's simple, yet addictive. One of my favorite games of all time. V) Who Are the Seraphim? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Warriors of Light, maidens of righteousness, knights of faith--the Serphim of Ancaria are known by many titles and distinctions. Born as the heirs of angels during the ages when the gods waged war, these noble women stand for all that is good, just, and holy. The silver blood flowing through their veins burns with the desires to defend good and vanquish evil. Seraphim are trained not only to serve their churches and help those in need, but also to take up arms when called to defend the innocent. Throughout Ancaria, sanctified abbys have been used as citadels for Seraphim convents. Senior clerics instruct their young acolytes in the ways of faith, charity, and holy battle. In the wake of the chaos surrounding the world of Ancaria, many Seraphim have been called into service by the civil leaders of the land. Though these women will dutifully carry out any just orders from worldly leaders, their true and final devotion is to the Light. Though my favorite character in this game is the gladiator, I've come to take a liking to the Seraphim lately. Not just because of their fighting abilities, but also because of those outfits... You know, for women who are supposed to be pure and chaste, these ladies sure don't mind tempting a man... By the way, "Seraph" is the proper singular term. VI) Seraphim Pros and Cons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraphim are angelic warriors. As such, they possess powers beyond those of mere soldiers. Not only are they trained in physical combat, capable of holding their own against any foe, but they also excel in divine magic. The energies of Heaven are at the command of those who stand for justice and faith. Such powers give the Seraphim an added weapon in their crusade against evil. The spiritual forces they channel are as potent as any magician's incantations and as devastating as any warrior's deadly blows. The Seraphim are perhaps the most versitile warriors in all Ancaria. And just to repeat myself, their greatest strength may be the outfits... With a balanced mastery of both physical and magical warfare, it is hard to imagine the Seraphim would have any kind of weakness. They can go toe to toe against the most brutal fighters, and wage magical warfare against the foulest mages. However, it takes careful planning and deliberate development to hone the abilities of the Seraphim. Will your angel of justice be a holy knight, vanquishing foes with a strike of her sword? Will she fully dedicate herself to the Celestial Arts and use the powers of Heaven to smite the wicked? Or will she walk the line between Heavenly and worldly powers, calling on both to aid her cause? You must decide this before you even don your armor if you are to be a triumphant warrior of the gods. Another disadvantage of the Seraphim is that the damage of her spells focuses only on two elements: physical and maagic. All spellcasters share the disadvantage of not being able to alter the forms of damage their spells cause. To combat this, they must enhance the damage elements their spells already possess. Seraphim focused on spellcasting must make the best use of the limited forms of damage at their disposal. VII) Attributes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As with other characters, the Seraphim has the ability to raise her strength, endurance, dexterity, physical regeneration, mental regeneration, or charisma as she gains levels. What's interesting is that, even though you only get one attribute point to invest per level, your attributes will increase by ten percent of their starting value automatically. Strength (22): Strength increases your attack rate, damage with melee weapons (swords, axes, etc.), and health. Endurance (19): Endurance increases your defense and reduces the damage you take from being poisoned. Dexterity (25): Dexterity increases your defense and damage with ranged weapons (bows and crossbows). Physical regeneration (22): Physical regeneration accelerates your natural rate of healing and the rate at which your non-magical Combat Arts regenerate. Mental regeneration (22): Mental regeneration increases the damage your spells inflict and the rate at which your spells regenerate. Charisma (17): Charisma increases the amount of poison damage you do and reduces vendor prices. Seraphim are capable warriors and spell casters. It would be a good idea, then, to focus on investing in physical regeneration, mental regeneration, or possibly even both. The first option is ideal for warrior Seraphim, who will benefit from faster-regenerating special moves. Magical Seraphim will opt for the second choice to accelerate the regeneration of their spells. Hybrid Seraphim should take the third option to balance both physical and magical power by investing in both physical and mental regeneration, either in equal measure or favoring one over the other, depending on their strategy. VIII) To Ride or Not to Ride? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ah, yes, horses. Everyone wants to know, "Should I ride them or not?". Well, like all aspects of this game, horses have their advantages and disadvantages. Some characters or builds will clearly benefit from riding horses, whereas others may be better off fighting on foot. Why should I ride a horse? If you choose to ride a horse, you will get bonuses to hit points, speed, and resistances. This may sound tempting at the start of your game, since you may not have ideal equipment yet. Also your steed can execute a charging attack in combat, allowing it to stampede through foes and clear your path. Equipping your horse with riding equipment further enhances its restances, and often, it's speed. Characters who favor a hit-and-run battle plan should not be so quick to pass off these speeding stallions. Simply right-click on a bridle or in your inventory to equip it onto your mount. Why should I not ride a horse? You don't have to feed or clean up after your mounts, but you will need to heal them if they're injurded. This can be done by taking them to a stable master and paying for healing or by drinking a healing potion while on horseback. Also, don't forget horses are not exactly the smartest animals in the world. You have to keep them in a protected area when you're not riding them, or else, they may get killed. You also can't take them into caves or other underground/indoor areas. The biggest drawback of having one of these animals is it usually depletes your offense. Even with their charging attack, you may find yourself unable to use a powerful attack or spell, and combos are completely out of the question. Also the horse's charge attack does little damage comapred to your comabat arts and has a long regenration time that cannot be reduced by items that regenerate special moves faster. The charge attack also damages your character when used against larger enemies, such as hill giants and dragon bosses. On a technical note, there may also be a glitch in the game that causes your horse to vanish if you exit the game while not mounted. Make sure to be on horseback before exiting your game to prevent this. Again, the choice is always yours. IX) Seraphim Skills ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Each character in Sacred starts with two default skills. As your character progresses, he or she will be able to learn new skills. These skills are passive and do not need to be triggered. When you put a point into a skill, the enhanced bonuses the skill offers will apply instantly. As with attribute points, you will gain skill points with each level up. You may invest points into a skill until the number next to it turns red with each level. Default Skills Magic Lore: Magic Lore increases the overall damage your spells inflict. Spell damage is broken down into physical, fire, magic, and poison damage. Weapon Lore: Weapon Lore increases the overall damage you inflict from melee and ranged weapons. Damage is broken down into physical, fire, magic, and poison damage. Level 3 Skills Parrying: Parrying improves your defense and ability to deflect attacks. Good if you want to use a shield. Again taking Agility and Parrying will give you a double bonus to defense, but if you're only going to choose one, and you will be carrying a shield, take Parrying instead. Heavenly Magic: Heavenly Magic is a skill available only to Seraphim. It reduces the time it takes for a Seraphim to cast her spells and increases the rate at which they are replenished. This is is must-have skill for caster Seraphim. Meditation: Meditation improves the regeneration time for spells--a favorite of casters of all types. Place points here to keep your spells' regeneration rates in check. Riding: Riding allows you to have better control over your horse. A skilled rider will improve the damage and duration of his or her mount's charge as well as receive an attack rating bonus while on horseback to make up for the initial decrease in attack rate that comes with horses. Concentration: Concentration increases the rate at which special moves (non- magical combat arts) regenerate. If your character uses special-move combat arts, you will need this skill. Keep track of how quickly your special moves regenerate, and spend a point here if you want them to recharge faster. Constitution: Constitution enhances your maximum health and natural healing rate.Put points into this skill if you are low on healing potions or are planning to take on dragons or other bosses. For other enemies, you should have the stamina to survive. As you play the game on higher difficulty settings, healing potions will heal less of your overall health, so you should start investing in Constitution early on, even though it looks as if you don't need it. Sword Lore: Sword Lore enhances your attack rating and attack speed with swords. Long-handled Weapons: Long-handled Weapons improves your attack rate and attack speed with staves and spears. Constitution: Constitution enhances your maximum health and natural healing rate. Put points into this skill if you are low on healing potions or are planning to take on dragons or other bosses. For other enemies, you should have the stamina to survive. As you play the game on higher difficulty settings, healing potions will heal less of your overall health, so you should start investing in Constitution early on, even though it looks as if you don't need it. Level 6 Skills Dual Wielding: Dual wielding allows you to equip two single-handed weapons at once. Also, your attack rate and attack speed will increase for both weapons. Note that Dual Wielding's bonuses do not stack with sword or axe lore bonuses. Also, you can't dual wield on horseback. Some people invest only one point in Dual Wielding just for the ability to hold two weapons and neglect increasing it any further. Level 12 Skills Armor: Armor increases your armor's protective values against physical, fire, magic, and poison damage. Also your speed penalty is reduced, allowing you to wear armor with greater ease. Level 20 Skills Ranged combat: Ranged combat improves your attack rate and attack speed with bows and crossbows. However, this may not sound like much of a good idea since most characters' combat arts will not work with ranged weaponry, with the Wood Elf being the only exception. Level 30 Skills Agility: Agility improves your attack and defense ratings. If you won't be carrying a shield. Agility may be more helpful than Parrying, since you will get an increase in attack rate so you can fight more efficiently despite not having Parrying's greater defense bonuses. Of course, taking both would be the best idea. Level 50 Skills Trading: Trading reduces vendor prices and increases the chance of vendors carrying special items. It is almost a must for solo players, who can't trade with others. However, as Matt P. explains in his battle mage guide, your level of this skill must be about equal to your character level to find the best items for sale. You can choose six skills in addition to the two you start with, so choose wisely. Seraphim will obviously need Constitution to keep themselves healthy, Armor to keep themselves protected, and Agility and/or Parrying to improve their defenses. Warrior Seraphim will want to take Concentration to improve their special move regeneration and a weapon-based skill (Dual Wielding, Sword Lore, or Long-handled Weapons) to make them more efficient fighters and to streamline their weapons of choice. Mastering Weapon Lore is also a must. Magical Seraphim will want to master Heavenly Magic and Meditation to greatly improve their casting efficiency and Magic Lore to improve spell damage. Hybrid Seraphim will have to make some comprimises in their skill selection depending on whether they favor phyiscal or magical combat. Again, Trading is pretty much mandatory if you play solo, Riding should only be taken if you can spare a skill slot. Finally, players should delay heavy investment in Trading until they have gained sufficient mastery over the skills the Seraphim will require to survive and prevail in combat. X) Searphim Combat Arts ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unlike your normal left-click attack, combat arts can only be used when their icons are fully colored. Once activated, all combat arts are depleted and may not be used until they regenerate. There are two types of combat arts: special moves and spells. The regeneration rate for special moves is based on physical regeneration, while spells require mental regeneration to increase their rates of regeneration. Here I will list all the Seraphim's Combat arts in alphabetical order as well as each is classified as a special moves or spell, what type of damage the Combat art causes, and whether or not it is usable on horseback. I will also add a brief description of each Combat art and a grade of its usefullness based on my own experience. *Attack* Combat Art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: No The Seraphim starts with this combat art. She will unleash a series of blows against her targed. If the enemy is killed in the middle of the assault, the Seraphim will continue against another nearby foe. The number of hits depends on what weapon or weapons you are currently using. Though Attack's damage starts out less than your normal move, the increased number of hits and attack rate bonus make up for that. For instance, a level 1 Attack does only 81% of your normal damage, however, with multiple hits, you will get better overall damage. Attack seems to deliver the most hits when performed with two weapons. Unfortunately, Attack is a little difficult to use against enemies that move around a lot, like archers and shamans, since an enemy must be still to take the full force of Attack. Only use it against non-moving foes. Consider using Hard Hit or Lightning Bolt against moving enemies, and only level up Attack if you use dual weapons. Grade: C *BeeEffGee* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Physical Available on Horseback: No The forces of Heaven grant the Seraphim a mighty weapon capable of firing blasts of holy energy at her foes, causing severe damage. Warrior Seraphim will appreciate BeeEffGee's ranged ability and can use it to thin out crowds of monsters before moving in for the kill. BeeEffGee replaces your weapon for the duration of the combat art, so you will not have to equip a ranged weapon to use it. Unfortunately, it will not receive some of the weapon(s) it replaces, such as attack speed or elemental damage. Also, it has quite a slow start-up time. So you have to cast it before you get surrounded. What I like the most about this combat art is actually its name. BeeEffGee. Get it? BFG? And we all know what that stands for, right? Grade: C *Celestial Light* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Magic Available on horseback: Yes The Seraphim raises her hands to the Heavens in prayer and summons a beam of holy light to illuminate the earth and greatly damage any enemy caught within its glow. It makes no difference whether your foe is eager to hunt you down or prefers to fire at you from afar. You can lead melee enemies into the radius of the light, and you can cast it directly where ranged foes are standing. Celestial Light is especially fun to use against dragon bosses, since their great size makes them easy targets. Even the fiercest fire-breather will fall to a Celestial Light onslaught. It's greatest asset, though, is the massive life-stealing potential Celestial Light offers. Caster Seraphim, who usually try to avoid melee contact, can use Clestial Light to restore an increadible ammount of health from their foes. Try to keep the spell's regeneration time less than its duration for best performance. Grade: A *Combat Jump* Comat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on weapons Availible on horseback: No The Seraphim will leap into combat against a targeted enemy, attack it, and stun any nearby foes. This is a good way to catch fast-moving targets and to avoid missiles. The range of the jump is also infinite, as long as there is a clear path between you and your enemy. Combat jump also allows you to leap across terrain to get to other areas. Simply hold Ctrl while you right- click. I don't really use this move as an attack, but simply as a mode of quick transportation. Therefore, you may want to take only one level of Combat Jump, to keep its regeneration time as low as possible. Grade: A *Combat Kick* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: No The Seraphim performs a mighty kick to a foe, knocking it back. This can be used in a combo to set an enemy up for a Hard Hit or Lightning Bolt, but some people might prefer just killing the enemy than pushing it back. Still a good way to control crowds, though. Grade: C *Conversion* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes Many Seraphim serve as priestesses of their faith, embarking on crusades to win disciples to their creed. Through mental training and focus, a Seraphim is able to make manifest the very splendor of her convictions. Yet true faith can never come by force. The Seraphim understand that only those souls who truly receive their Light will be fully converted, while others will only experience breif moments of revelation. However, this power also has some use on the field of battle. Though the Seraphim knows she can not fully sway the minds of the wicked, she can take advantage of their momentary state of conversion. While in this fascinated state, enemies will stop attacking the Seraphim and her companions, and will even turn on their commrades. This can be a good crowd-control skill if used wisely. Cast it on one moster to gain a temporary ally, and hope it thins out a crowd well enough to make the fight easier for you. Just be ready to fight if it survives Converson and returns to its former ways. If you can keep Conversion's regeneration time less than its duration, you could keep a constant ally for a limited time and gain a strategic edge against a mob of enemies. Grade: B *Energy Bolts* Comat art type: Spell Damage type: Magic Available on horseback: No This blessing imbues the Seraphim with the power to hurl blasts of Heavenly energy at her enemies at great speed. It's pretty much the spell version of BeeEffGee, and a good ranged attack for casters. Grade: B *Hard Hit* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: Yes The Seraphim will deal a powerful blow with increased attack rating against one enemy. Warrior Seraphim will find Hard Hit especially useful against fast- moving enemies like shamans. Due to its high damage increase, Hard Hit does not need constant investment. Grade: A *Hunter-Seeker* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: No The Seraphim will throw her weapon or weapons toward a targeted enemy. They will travel in a small, circular path and return to her, damaging any foes while in flight. An odd thing about Hunter-Seekr is that, depending on what weapon or weapons you use, the combat art will state that it does no damage, even though you will see your foes being hit. Its narrow flight path makes Hunter-Seeker a poor choice for a ranged attack, and only makes it useable as a measure against being surrounded. If it were not for the return effect of Hunter-Seeker, I'd say it was just as useless as the gladiator's Throwing Blades. Still, Hunter-seeker would be a good combat art to use for a ranged Seraphim build. Grade: D *Irritation* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes With this spell, the Seraphim places a halo of Heavenly light upon an enemy. Faced with the glory of righteousness and virtue, the foes of the Seraphim lose their fighting nerve and are less capable of striking their targets. Honestly, this is the worst combat art I have ever seen. It doesn't even do damage. If you don't want to get hit, just wear stronger armor. Don't even bother learning this! Grade F *Light* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Magic Available on horseback: Yes In deep medetation, the Seraphim cloaks herself or a chosen ally in an aura of divine light. This blessing from the gods not only brightens the area around the Seraphim, symbolizing Heaven's eternal watch over the righteous, but it also damages the hordes of the walking dead, who serve the foulest forces of Darkness. I have never seriously used Light, honestly. Sure, it does good damage, but only against one sort of enemy, which is too selective for my tastes. Also, the illumination Light provides is not much and can be provided by your torch. Grade: F *Lightning Bolt* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Magic Available on horseback: Yes Reaching toward the Heavens, the Seraphim calls down a bolt of lightning to strike at her foes. Though it is the simplest manifestation of the gods' vengeance, Lightning Bolt is ideal for attacking archers, shamans, and mages. It's basically a spell version of Hard Hit, so its regeneration time should be kept as low as possible relative to its damage for best use. Grade: A *Light Sheild* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes This blessing creates a shield of Heavenly light around the Seraphim or a chosen ally that repels missiles. Unfortunately the protective effect is limited to physical and poison damage. Like Light, such restrictions reduce the viability of this combat art. Grade: F *Multi-Hit* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Availible on horseback: No The Seraphim spins her weapon(s) around and strikes all enemies within melee range. Multi-Hit may start out with reduced damage, but it offers increased attack rating. Warrior Seraphim will make good use of this crowd-damaging move.However, it sometimes doesn't hit your foes due to positioning. Use it when you're cornered. Grade: B *Rotating Blades of Light* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Physical, magic Available on horseback: Yes The forces of Light are eternally watching over their disciples and are ever ready to lend their aid in times of need. With this spell, the Seraphim calls upon the forces of righteous wrath to strike back against evil. With this spell, the Serapim creats a field of spritual swords to surround herself or an ally, and to strike out against any enemy within melee range. This blessing is an excellent move to use while in melee combat or when running from danger. The field of blades also creates a great life-stealing source. As with all buffing techniques, the spell's regeneration time should be less than its actual duration for best results. Though caster Seraphim will have the easiest time keeping Rotating Blades of Light running efficiently, it is best used by hypbrid Seraphim, who may have to stand toe to toe with their atackers, but still have adequate spell regeneration. Warrior Seraphim, though they will make the best use of the spell as a life-stealing attack, will not be able to get it to high levles due to their poor spell-regenerating ability. Grade: A *Strength of Faith* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes While Seraphim are trained to fight their own battles in the world, they are also reminded that, when the powers of flesh and steel faill, it is faith that will see the forces of Light through to glory. This blessing grants the Seraphim or a chosen ally the ability to fight more effectively for the causes of honor and right. Strength of Faith increases the attack rating of its target, allowing more calculated strikes with melee or ranged weapons. While caster Seraphim may not have need of this blessing, warriors will find it crucial to their warfare and survival. This is the one spell I highly recommend warrior Seraphim learn and master, especially if they will be joining others on the battlefield. Like other buffs, Strength of Faith works best when it can regenerate at a faster pace than that at which the spell lasts. Grade: A *Whirling Hit* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on Horseback: No With this move, the Seraphim rises into the air while executing a forceful spinning attack, knocking back any approaching foes. Whirling Hit is preety much Multi-Hit with knockback. Of course the knockback effect does make it less practical to use in combos, so Whirling Hit may not be as useful as Multi-Hit. Still if you want to use it, remember to keep its regeneration time to a minimum for constant use. Grade: B XI) Seraphim Combos ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Combinations of moves are an easy way to do a lot of damage in one attack. They also allow you to have a second way to activate a skill if you are waiting for your special move timers to recharge, since combos run on a separate timer. You can create up to four combos of up to four moves each. My favorite Seraphim combos are: 1) Rotating Blades of Light*1: Putting Rotating Blades of Light in a combo slot allows you to cast it without worrying about depleting time for your other combat arts. 2) Hard Hit*4: This is a good boss-killing combo for warrior or hybrid Seraphim. Hard Hit comes out quickly, so it is the ideal choice for efficiently taking out fire-breathing dragons and other deadly foes. 3) Lightning Bolt*4: This is the caster Seraphim's boss killer. 4) Celestial Light*4: This is the caster Seraphim's other boss killer. 5) Strength of Faith*1: Warrior Seraphim will want to create this combo for another chance to cast their most valuable spell. As with Rotating Blades of Light, having Strength of Faith as a one-move combo allows you to use it without taking time away from other combat arts. 6) Multi-hit*4: This is the Warrior Seraphim's crowd control. 7) Combat Jump*4: This allows warrior or hybrid Seraphim to kill groups of fast-travelling enemies who tend to aviod entering close-combat range, such as, shamans and archers. XII) Misc. Tips ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Always check for and download the latest patches at the Sacred offical site to ensure your game is up to date and free of bugs. I would especially suggest downloading the free Sacred Plus file. This will offer new quests, areas, enemies, and items. *Certain towns have more than one armory. In this case, each armory changes its inventory with every visit. So you can travel between them and browse to find something you'd like. *Be on the lookout for magical hiding places. If you see a twinkle when you mouse over a piece of land, click there, and find a treasure. *Certain items require a certain ammount of points invested into a certain skill to be used. Take note of these requirements if you plan to use such items. *Take every quest presented to you. The experience rewards you get from solving quests are not dependent on your character's level, unlike experience from killing monsters. Quests are also the easiest way to get experience, gold, and items, especially runes. Finally, the more quests you complete, the quicker you gain the respect of the townspeople. *Certain quests will require you to escort someone. There are basically two types of escorts; those who can be killed before they reach their destination, and those who can't. Those escorts who can be killed should be healed frequently and you should quicksave your progress. Those who do not need to be healed are nothing to worry about. It could possibly help to equip your escorts, too. Also, the quicksave feature is a good way to keep your client alive. *Look for items that allow you to increase the regeneration rate of your combat arts. while there is nothing wrong with using your normal move, your combat arts should be your bread and butter, while your normal move just passes the time between combat art use. Also look for items with bonuses to skills or combat arts. *When considering upgrading your combat arts, consider the regeneration time increase. If you can kill enemies with a level 1 combat art with regeneration time of 3.0s, it is better to wait for your regeneration time to lower before improving your combat art. The same goes for combos. You can create a combo with low-level moves and keep it at a low regeneration time so you can use it more often instead of having a high-level combo that will take longer to regenerate. *If you are using weapon-based attacks, diversify your damage. Have one weapon setup for each type of damage. Of course, all weapons do physical damage, but you need to have high fire, magic, and poison damage as well. Also examine the resistances of your foes. That way, you won't use your poison-based gear against zombies and liches, where fire damage would be better. Rings and skeleton skulls have damage bonuses, so socket these into the appropriate equipment slots. *As with damage, you will want to diversify your resistances. Socketing resistance jewelry is an easy way to get high resistances. *The ability to trap flying opponents may come in handy. Look for ways to augment a setup of your weapon(s) with this power. Remember there are no potions to do this for you, unlike preventing the undead from being raised again. *If you are using your weapon(s)s for damage, socket life-stealing runes and jewelry into your armor. That way, you can leach no matter what type of weapon setup you are using. *Hold on to mentor potions. They are not sold in stores and can help you get level ups when you want to get new skills or improve your present skills. *The longer you go without dying, the higher your survival bonus becomes. With a high bonus, you will have a better chance to get special items. Qucksave is an easy way to keep yourself from dying. *Don't bother staying in areas with enemies at a much lower level than you. You will get less experience per kill. Look at the circles beneath your foes' feet to compare their level to yours. You should only be fighting enemies with green, yellow, orange, or red circles under them. These enemies are, at most, a couple levels lower than you, and give a fair amount of experience. *Start in bronze difficulty, unless you think you can handle the challenge of starting at silver. At higher difficulty levels, the enemies' levels are higher relative to yours. Also, healing potions are less effective. The best thing to do is to play quickly through bronze and export your character into silver when you notice your character is no longer gaining efficient experience. Beating the game in bronze is not required for anything, and may just be used to gain levels and items and improve your character. *Notice how potions come in different strengths. You should conserve higher- level potions during lower difficulty levels. This is especially true of healing potions. If a potion works well enough for where you are, save stronger potions for later. *Certain quests will require you to meet quotas. You will have to kill a certain number of a certain kind of enemy and/or find a certain number of a certain item. For such quests, the quest indicator may not lead you to exactly where you will meet your goal, but you should be able to find what you need if you keep looking. *Activate all transfer portals as soon as you can. Not only does this provide a quick means of travelling between areas while on a campaign, but any portals activated during an earlier game are kept for later difficulties. *Certain quests have a time limit. You should complete these quests as soon as possible upon accepting them. *Listen to any comments your character provides about your current environment or battle situation. For example, if your character comments on how difficult it is to resist a certain form of damage, that may be your cue to improve your resistance to it. XIII) Allowed Sites ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a list of sites allowed to host this FAQ. If any other sites have this FAQ posted. Please inform me at once. gamefaqs.com (Most up-to-date version.) gamespot.com neoseeker.com supercheats.com XIV) Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *v1.00 Finished Thu. Jan. 1, 2009 Original version. All sections completed. *v1.10 Finished Sun. Feb 1, 2009 Forgot to type in Section XI last time. Fixed that. Some text fixes. v1.11 Finished Sat. Jun 18, 2011 Updated copyright information in Section I. Edited information on horses in Section VIII. v1.12 Finsihed Mon. Aug. 22, 2011 Fixed some text in Section VIII. Added tip on character comments to Section XII. v1.13 Finished Mon. Jan. 2, 2012 Updated copyright information in Section III. Updated information on Hunter-Seeker and Whirling Hit combat arts in Section X. v1.14 Finished Fri. May 17, 2013 Updated copyright information in Section I. Added some contact information in section II. Edited Section XIV.