Sacred Wood Elf Guide Version: 1.02 Created by: Gilmore R. Guirao Date created: Sat. Aug. 20, 2011 Date modified: Sat. Nov. 17, 2012 Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I) Legal Issues II) Contact Info III) Acknowledgements IV) What is Sacred? V) Who is the Wood Elf? VI) Wood Elf Pros and Cons VII) Attributes VIII) To Ride or Not to Ride? IX) Wood Elf Skills X) Wood Elf Combat Arts XI) Wood Elf Combos XII) Misc. Tips XIII) Allowed Sites XIV) Version History I) Legal Issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Sacred is copyright 2004 Ascaron Entertainment. *This guide is copyright 2012 by Gilmore R. Guirao. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal and free use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission and must remain unaltered. Unauthorised 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. 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 monsters, finding items, and solving quests. It's simple, yet addictive. One of my favorite games of all time. V) Who is the Wood Elf? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When the Ancarian people first hear about Elves, they typically picture kind, graceful beings who commune with and protect nature. In truth this image only refers to the Wood Elves. Although they are noble and will help humans and animals in times of need, Wood Elves are but one species of Elves living in Ancaria. Recently, the more warlike Ice and Dark Elves have made their evil pressences known to humans, either as the hired mercenaries of tyrants and cults or as terrors in their own right. Wood Elves typically find themselves either fending off attack from their evil counterparts or struggling to uphold a noble image in the eyes of humans in response to the surrounding turmoil. Some Wood Elves have set up camps among humans in areas such as Tyr-Hadar and Tyr-Fasul. Here they typically serve the Crown and Kingdom as hunters, scouts, mages, or warriors. Despite their kindness and willingness to aid humans, Wood Elves harbor a secret grudge against the human expansion into nature in the forms of large cities and paved roads. Like other Elves, Wood Elves can trace their lineages back to the times before men. Rumors even tell that, during the times of the Wars of the Gods, Elves fought through numerous battles, much like the Heavenly Seraphim. All Elven clans tend to organize in matriarchal societies led by priestesses. However, female Wood Elves are more likely to serve as fighters for their people than the females of the other clans, in which males typically serve as warriors, hunters, and assassins. As with other Elven clans, Wood Elves draw their power from nature in ways that reflect their respect for its powers. While Ice Elves identify with the bitter winds and deathly cold of the frozen North near Icecreek Dale, and Dark Elves harness the raging heat and vile poisons of the foresaken lands of Verag-Nar and Zhurag-Nar, Wood Elves draw upon the pure primal energies of the land itself. This explains their preference to settling in forest areas, like the outer regions of the Mascarellean Barony. Wood Elves differ from their counterparts in their manner of fighting. Clans of Dark and Ice Elves train their warriors in hand-to-hand combat with some focus in spells or traps. In contrast, Wood Elves excel in ranged fighting with bows and crossbows. They may also supplement this mastery with magical spells usually focused on enhancing their abilities or protecting or healing themselves and their allies. Wood Elves practice their form of nature magic under the watch of the moon spirits and confer their most sacred rites and honors during times of the full moon. Though they are the finest archers in Ancaria, Wood Elves may also take up swords, staves, or spears when fighting, even if only as a last resort when cornered by hordes of enemies. VI) Wood Elf Pros and Cons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wood Elves are expert archers. In fact, it is rumored that the finest archers and hunters of Ancaria share some ties to the various Wood Elf clans, either as students, decendants, or even members of those clans. Not only can the Wood Elf employ tactics usually reserved for close-combat with her bows and crossbows, but she can also implement attacks specifically designed for ranged combat. Wood Elves are also adept at casting spells. However, these spells tend to focus on such matters as healing, strenghening, or avoiding danger rather than delivering damage to foes. Battle Mages and Seraphim may be more suited for striking down their enemies with fire, lighting, or Heavily magic, but all fighters know deadly skill is useless if one does not live longe enough to use it. Many heroic parties have sought the aid of Wood Elves to serve as healers or even as a magical reserve force for battle. A Wood Elf's greatest weakness may be that, because she is meant to fight at a distance, she will need some way to either detect her foes and launch a preemptive strike against them before they can move in close or keep herself out of harm's reach while maintaining an offensive strategy. Unless she wishes to engage in close-quarters fighting, she must know how to scout ahead, strike first, and retreat. Another weakness is that her spells tend to lack damaging power and usually may only be used as a distraction. Fortunately, the spells that do deliver damage seem to focus on the element of poison, which can deal considerable damage over a long period of time, allowing the Wood Elf to either reposition herself or retreat. For Wood Elves to succeed in their quests, they must find ways to enhance their weapon damage with elemental sources, strenghten the damage components of their spells or both. Personally, I have never been a fan of ranged fighting in RPGs. Characters like the Rogue of Diablo and the Amazon of Diablo II seemed to spend more time running and hiding than fighting, at least at early levels. I like a character who can either stand toe to toe with enemies and beat them to a gory pulp or bombard them with an unstoppable magical assault from afar before they can even blink an eye. Finally, ranged weapons tend to inflict less damage than swords, axes, or other weapons meant for close-ranged fighting. If you want to play the character whom I believe requires the most strategy in Sacred, then you may enjoy the Wood Elf. VII) Attributes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As with other characters, the Wood Elf 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 (13): Strength increases your attack rate, damage with melee weapons (swords, axes, etc.), and health. Endurance (13): Endurance increases your defense and reduces the damage you take from being poisoned. Dexterity (29): Dexterity increases your defense and damage with ranged weapons (bows and crossbows). Physical regeneration (21): Physical regeneration accelerates your natural rate of healing and the rate at which your non-magical Combat Arts regenerate. Mental regeneration (24): Mental regeneration increases the damage your spells inflict and the rate at which your spells regenerate. Charisma (25): Charisma increases the amount of poison damage you do and reduces vendor prices. When deciding on how to allocate attribute points for a Wood Elf, remember, she can function equally well as a warrior, ranger, mage, or any combination of the three. Wood Elves who favor weapon-based combat may want to focus on improving their physical regeneration to aid in recharging special moves. Purely magical Wood Elves will want to focus their investment on mental regeneration to improve the rate at which their spells recharge. Hybrid Wood Elves should invest in both forms of regeneration, either in equal measure or favoring one over the other. Investing in either strength or dexterity is not advised. Although they will increase a Wood Elf's damage with close-ranged or distanced weapon combat, respectively, the benefits are not worth the cost of a player's single skill point. The natural increase is enough to provide the needed bonus. 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 is able to 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. Your mounts will also benefit from bridles or saddles placed on them. Simply right-click on one while in possession of a horse to place it on them. 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 injured. 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) Wood Elf 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 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. 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. Level 3 Skills 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. Long-handled Weapons: Long-handled Weapons improves your attack rate and attack speed with staves and spears. Magic Lore: Magic Lore increases the overall damage your spells inflict. Spell damage is broken down into physical, fire, magic, and poison damage. 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. Moon Magic: Moon Magic is a skill exclusive to the Wood Elf. It accelerates the regeneration rate and casting speed of her spells. Wood Elves focusing heavily on magic will want a high rank in this skill. Ranged combat: Ranged combat improves your attack rate and attack speed with bows and crossbows. Of all the weapon-based skills, Ranged Combat seems to be the ideal choice for the Wood Elf because, unlike other characters, her attacks function with both hand-to-hand and ranged wepons. Some of her combat arts are even designed exclusively for ranged combat. 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. Level 6 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. Level 12 Skills Sword Lore: Sword Lore enhances your attack rating and attack speed with swords. Level 20 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 30 Skills Disarming: Disarming gives you a chance to strip foes of their weapons, which will weaken them. However, like riding, this skill may not be as good as it sounds. As Matt P. states in his battle mage guide, the weapons this skill causes to drop are inferior to what you could get by just killing your foes. Level 50 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. Parrying is also the better choice if you won't be using your weapons in combat, as in the case of spell casters. Wood Elves function equally well as warriors, rangers, mages, or any blend of the three. With so many options, players must decide on which skills will best benefit their preferred style of play. The first issue to consider is whether players will want to fight using their weapons, spells, or both. when using weapons, Weapon Lore, Concentration, and a weapon-focused skill are obvious choices, Moon Magic, Meditation, and Magic Lore are core skills for caster Wood Elves. Hybrid builds will have to compromise between skills meant for improving weapon- and spell-based combat, which may weaken both but at at least allow for more options. Agility and Parrying serve as a perfect skill combination for fighter-type builds, but casters will not benefit from Agility's bonus to attack rating. Instead, they may want to experiment with Riding to give them a better chance of avoiding close-ranged combat. Armor and Constitution are always welcome skill choices, and Disarming is almost always a waste. Finally, the Wood Elf has the fortune of being able to learn Trading at relatively low level, however, she should refrain from investing heavily in it until she has gained a reasonable mastery over core skills for combat. X) Wood Elf 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 Wood Elf'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. *Call of the Ancestors* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Physical/Magic Available on horseback: Yes With the blessings of nature at her side, the Wood Elf never needs to face the forces of evil alone. With this spell, she summons the souls of past champions for nature's cause to aid her in battle. Foes in the physical world cannot harm these spirits, which can harness the power of nature to attack. Also, the Wood Elf need never worry about losing sight of her spiritual companions, as they will remain with her until the spell ends. However, the spirits' bond with nature will only allow the Wood Elf to summon them from unspoiled ground; the ritual will fail when performed on scorched earth. Call of the Ancesstors introduces the interesting concept of summoning to Sacred. Only two characters can summon followers to aid them in battle: the Wood Elf and the vampiress. Call of the Ancesstors is the first of the Wood Elf's two summoning abilities, the other being Companion of the Woods. With both active, the Wood Elf can become an army unto herself and turn the tide against an assault of enemeis. Still, only Wood Elves proficient in spellcasting should invest in this combat art, as warrior and archer Wood Elves will focus their skills on weapon-based combat. Grade: A *Companion of the Woods* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Physical Available on horseback: Yes Not only can Wood Elves commune with the creatures of the natural world, but they can also call upon the fantastic beasts of legend. Using this spell a Wood Elf summons a unicorn to fight at her side. Although it doesn't deliver a large amount of damage, it serves as a relaible defense to draw out lesser enemies, provided it is strong enough to endure the battle. Companion of the Woods is the second of the Wood Elf's two summoning combat arts, and makes an. ideal addition to Call of the Ancestors in bolstering the Wood Elf's attack force to even the odds in a fight against multiple enemies. The only drawback to Companion of the Woods is that it is a spell and requires skills focused on spells to be efficient in combat. This may put warrior and ranger Wood Elves off of learning it, but caster and hybrid types will love having a durable minion around. Besides, weapon-based characters invest enough points into physical regeneration and the Constitution skill to fend for themselves, anyway. I'm quite certain the unicorn delivers physical damage, but the character sheet doesn't indicate anything. Finally, you cannot ride the unicorn. Grade: C *Explosive Arrow* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: Yes The animals and spirits of the forest reward those who devote themselvs to their ways by revealing secrets about the ways in which nature protects itself and its followers. In a particularly bold example, a Wood Elf archer learns how to coat her arrows with naturally-combustable minerals, salves and powders. The result: arrows capable of detonating on contact with enemy flesh or armor. Not only do these potent missiles deliver devastating damage, but they can cause smaller, weaker foes to explode in a shower of blod and gore. Initially, Exploding Arrow seems like nothing more than a stronger version of the Wood Elf's ranged Hard Hit. However, unlike Hard Hit, Exploding Arrow benefits from the Multiple Shot combat art, which will allow the Wood Elf to bombard multiple foes with her explosive ammunition. Still, the Wood Elf should keep Explosive Arrow's regeneration time as low as possible for constant use. Grade: A *Eye for an Eye* combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Avialable on horseback: No Eye for an Eye behaves almost similarly to other characters' Attack-type combat arts. The only exception is that it can function with ranged weapons as well as with close-ranged ones. With a close-ranged weapon, the Wood Elf will unleash an assault of blows against a target that can continue on to other nearby foes if the initial target dies to the barrage. When used with a ranged weapon, Eye for an Eye launches a small quantity of arrows toward a target for muliple hits. In either case, the damage of each blow is less than that of a normal attack, but multiplies by the number of hits. Eye for an Eye works poorly as a close-quarters combat art because it will stop if foes simply step out of range of the sequence of hits. Also, Attack-type combat arts will only hit enemies the maximum number of times when used with dual weapons, and the Wood Elf cannot learn the Dual Wielding skill. Therefore, players should limit its use to either ranged combat exclusively or only agianst non-moving foes if they want to use it with a short-ranged weapon. However, Hart Hit will serve as a better alternative at close range, anyway. Finally, although Eye for an Eye should be avialble on horseback when used in ranged fighting, it isn't. Grade: C *Hard Hit* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: Yes The Wood Elf starts the game with this combat art. She will deal a powerful blow against one enemy with either a close-or long-ranged weapon. Hard Hit also increases her attack rating. Use it to attack fast-moving targets, like shamans, and archers. For constant use, keep Hard Hit's regeneration time as low as possible and monitor investment wisely. Grade: A *Knockback Arrow* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: Yes Wood Elven fletchers have crafted an assortment of arrow types to deal with various foes or situations. The worst situation a Wood Elf may encounter is facing an advancing enemy in a cornered space. With nowhere to retreat, she must either kill quickly or engage in close-ragned combat. As a remedy, archers have come to depend on heavy, blunt-tipped arrows that, although lacking the power to pierce flesh and armor, can strike a foe's center of balance with enough force to both halt its advance and stun it for a short time. When I first tested this combat art, I honestly didn't like it. Knockback Arrow will not increase your damage or attack rate, it only pushes foes back a short distance, and the stun doesn't last very long or affect. champion and boss monsters. Stil, Knockback Arrow's effects last long enough for the Wood Elf to escape danger or better position herself for attack. Remember, archers don't want foes up close to them and should do everything to keep them at bay. Also, advancing enemies are quick to close the distance gap between themselves and you. Like all combat arts meant for ranged weapons, Knockback Arrow benefits greatly from the Multiple Shot combat art, which will allow you to launch a barrage of arrows to stop groups of onrushing enemies. Grade: C *Multi-hit* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends on equipment Available on horseback: No When using a close-ranged weapon, the Wood Elf will execute a spinning attack to strike all foes within reach. With a ranged weapon, she will spin around while firing an array of arrows at multiple enemies in the distance. Warrior Wood Elves will treat Multi-hit in the same way other warrior-type characters and builds do--as a way to escape foes surrounding them. Archers should use it to scout ahead, stop advancing lines of enemeis, or retaliate in a shooting match against a group of ranged foes like shamans and mages. Just remember, Multi-hit may not strike all foes surrounding the Wood Elf. Grade: B *Multiple Shot* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes The spirits of nature are ever vigilant and willing to aid their followers. This Elven art imbues a Wood Elf's ranged weapon to strike with a multitude of arrows as quickly and easily as she can with one. Multiple Shot benefits both normal arrow attacks and combat arts meant for use with ranged weapons. A favored technique among ranger Wood Elves is to fire Penetrating Arrows after activiating Multiple Shot to deliver massive damage to multiple foes. Unlike the Wood Elf's other enhancing abilities, Multiple Shot functions as a special move rather than a spell, so Wood Elf archers can comfortably raise its level without worrying about monitoring two regeneration times. Unfortunately, Multiple Shot's duration does not increase beyond the initial 20 seconds. The only benefit to increasing the level of the combat art is a greater quantity of arrows with each shot. The frequent re-casting of Multiple Shot may not make it worthy of investment, or at least limit its use to the most dire of battle situations. Also, Multiple Shot only multiplies the arrows fired from your normal attack and Explosive, Knockback, Penetrating, and Spider Arrows. Using other combat arts with a ranged weapon will not activate the bonuses. Grade: B *Penetrating Arrow* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes Wood Elves are undoubtedly the finest archers and hunters of Ancaria because of their mastery of long-ranged fighting tactics. Perhaps the most advanced of these abilities is the power to launch an arrow that seems to have a mind of its own to hunt down targets. In a combined effort, Wood Elven fletchers and mages have developed arrows capable of piercing through foes compeletely and hunting down a selected foe. With this ability, the Wood Elf fires an arrow that travels in an eliptical path to a target, pierces through foes in pursuit, and hits all enemies for significant damage. Penetrating Arrow is ideal for killing groups of enemies, espcially if a powerful boss creature hides behind a group of its underlings. When a Wood Elf uses Multiple Shot in combination with Penetrating Arrow, she will send a swarm of missiles flying towards an army of foes. Penetrating Arrow also functions simillarly to a buffing combat art, and Wood Elf archers should strive to keep its recharge time shorter than the duration of the arrow's flight. Grade: A *Plant Cage* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Avaialble on horseback: Yes The dense forest regions near Tyr-Fasul and Tyr-Hadar serve as the ideal places for Wood Elves to reside when among humans. Not only is the area surrounded by throns and posionous plants, but also the roots and vines in the area can halt almost any encroaching outsiders. With this spell, the Wood Elf summons a sentient vine that grabs hold of her foes and entangles them. Against larger foes, the vines may only temporarily delay them, but the Plant Cage's best use is for grounding smaller enemies, especially those that can fly. Plant Cage best resembles the rooting spells certain mages cast, or the ability to trap flying enemies that can be found on certain items or combat art runes. Plant Cage is another of the Wood Elf's diversionary spells, but may be the least useful. It may serve some purpose early on for caster Wood Elves, who need to keep foes at bay, but it ultimately looses its usefulness once the Wood Elf improves her other spells for combat. Grade: D *Poisoned Tendrills* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Magic/Poison Available on horseback: Yes Much like their Dark Elf counterparts, Wood Elvs have learned to harness the power of poison, believing there is no wrong in using any of nature's powers to protect it and themselves. With a prayer to the forest spirits, a Wood Elf can summon forth a thicket of tendrills to knock back incomming foes and damage them with poisonous thorns. This skill somewhat resembles the Seraphic Celestial Light spell. It can only damage enemies that step into the path of the tendrills. Casters can either target ranged foes that will remain standing in the way of the thickets or lead close-ranged foes into them. With some practice, caster and hybrid Wood Elves should have no trouble setting up a barrier of lethal poison to trap and slay their foes. Grade: A *Quick as a Flash* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes While in deep meditation and communion with the moon spirits, the Wood Elf or a chosen ally receives the blessings of gracefulness. The spirits free their followers from their worldly burdens and allow them to move as gracefully as the wind and strike as furiously as lightning. This skill is good in the earliest stages of the game when your character's attack and movement speeds are lowest. Eventually, your speed will naturally increase and you will find items to further enhance both your attack and movement speeds. Magic-focused Wood Elves should have no problem fighting on horseback because riding does not hinder their spellcasting abilities. Simillarly, the Wood Elf's special moves intended for use with bows and crossbows function on horseback as well as they do on foot. Though all Wood Elves should consider learning a few levels of Quick as a Flash, they should stop investing in it when other speed bonuses become available to them, especially those engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Also, remember your attack and movement speeds maximize at 220, regardless of bonuses. Of course this may not happen until characters reach level 60 or so. Quick as a Flash becomes absolutely useless at this point. As with all ehancing combat arts, Quick as a Flash's regenaration time should remain less than its duration for best performance. Unfortunately, levelling up Quick as a Flash will be difficult for warriors and archers, who lack a high spell-regeneration rate from skills like Meditation and Moon Magic. Grade: C *Recuperation* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes The lunar spirits are quick to attend to the needs of their followers and will lend their healing touch to those who fight for their cause. This spell allows the Wood Elf to heal either herself or a chosen ally of a certain amount of damage that increases as her mastery of this combat art improves. In addition, the healing balm of this spell neutralizes poison damage. Recuperation is another spell that seems good at first, but quickly loses its effectiveness. Merchants sell potions to heal wounds and neutralize poison all throughout Ancaria for very little money. Of course gold is scarce at the start of the game, so a low-level Recuperation spell may serve as a better alternative. However, once the Wood Elf gathers enough gold, learns the Constitution skill, or finds or creates equipment that allows her to steal life from her enemies, Recuperation becomes obsolete. Grade: D *Spider Arrow* Combat art type: Special move Damage type: Depends of equipment Available on horseback: Yes In their effort to protect the harmony of the natural world, Wood Elves often turn to the creatures of the wilderness to aid them. A favorite tactic among archer Wood Elves is to attach clutches of spider eggs to their arrows just as they are about to hatch. When these arrows strike a foe, they release the brood of spider hatchlings to attack with a venomous bite. Of course, these creatures won't last long; just enough to infect their targets. Spider Arrow may be a good combat art to use if you combine it with Multiple Shot to fire an entire volley of them. The poison damage can stacks well with other sources of elemental damage on your character, so you can develop a powerful multi- element attack. Of course, some enemies are resistant to poison and can easily remedy its effects. Grade: B *Thorn Bush* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: Physical/Poison Avialable on horseback: Yes The Wood Elf creates a thicket of poisoned thorns and fires it at her enemies. Not only do enemies receive damage from the poisonous brambles, but a worse fate awaits any foe foolhardy enough to destroy them. Upon destruction, the thron bush explodes, sending toxic thorns firing at nearby enemies. This attack can do a lot of damage to a single target or a group. With a little practice at aming the thron bush, players can easily weaken or kill dozens of enemies. Unfortunately, Thorn Bush's greatest damage bonus may not always strike the Wood Elf's foes. Unless somehting destroys it, the thorn bush will only deliver its normal damage. The bush also doesn't travel too far and will not explode when it collides with stationary obstacles, like walls and trees. Grade: B *Transformation* Combat art type: Spell Damage type: N/A Available on horseback: Yes Nature shall claim and rule over all. Nature will bless those who follow it and punsih those defy it. This is the core belief of the Wood Elves. In an effort to teach both men and monsters to honor and revere nature's power, the Wood Elf casts a spell to create a magical ward that transforms enemies who cross it into humble forest creatures. Though the enemies of the Wood Elf stil retain their resistances to damage in their altered forms, they cannot do anything to harm the Wood Elf or her allies, who can attack. The duration of Transformation depends on the type of enemy affected. More powerful foes can resist the spell's effects and reduce the time they spend transformed. In rare cases, Transformation may not even work on a creature. The Wood Elf should make the best use of this spell to either deliver as much damage to a foe as possible or flee. Grade: B XI) Wood Elf 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 combat-art timers to recharge, becuase combos run on a separate timer. You can create up to four combos of up to four moves each. My favorite Wood Elf combos are: 1) Penetrating Arrow*4: This is an excellent crowd- or boss-killing combo for archer Wood Elves. For best effect, cast Multiple Shot before activiating it. 2) Hard Hit*4: This is a signiture boss-killing combo for all characters who focus on weapon-based fighting. 3) Eye for an Eye*4: This is a good combo for dealing with stationary targets with high ammounts of life. You can used with all sorts of weapons, but it's best use may be in ranged combat because enemeis may flee form it up close. Also remember, the Wood Elf cannot wield two weapons to achieve the maximum number of hits with each use of Eye for an Eye. Warrior Wood Elves should rely on a combo of Hard Hits to take down powerful foes at close range. 4) Multi-Hit*4: Here is another generic combo most characters use, this time for killing groups of enemies. Warrior Wood Elves should save this combo for fending off enemeis swarming in upon them. Ranger Wood Elves can use it to strike down a line of ranged foes or to halt advancing enemies trying to close in on them. 5) Poisoned Tendrills*4: Caster Wood Elves can use this combo to bring down more powerful enemies, provided they stand still in the path of the poisoned vines. This is somewhat like the Seraphim's combo using Celestial Light. 6) Thorn Bush*4: Caster Wood Elves may want this combo for crowd control. The brambles can hit multiple enemies and cause even more damage when they all explode. In fact, players may want to use this combo instead of the one above to face bosses. 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 specials should be your bread and butter, while your normal move just passes the time between using your specials. Also look for items with +skills and +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 your weapon to attack, 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 weapons against zombies and liches, where fire damage would be better. Many rings and skeleton skulls have damage bonuses, so socket these into the appropriate weapons. *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 weapons 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 weapons for damage, socket life-stealing runes and jewelry into your armor. That way, you can leech 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 Sat. Aug. 20, 2011 Original version. All sections completed. *v1.01 Finished Mon. Aug. 22, 2011 Made some corrections in Section VIII. Added some information on the Wood Elf in Section V. Edited information on Call of the Ancesstors, Explosive Arrow, Hard Hit, Multi-hit, Penetrating Arrow, Plant Cage, and Quick as a Flash in Section X. *v1.02 Finished Sat. Nov. 17, 2012 Updated copyright information in Section I. Edited information on Companion of the Woods combat art in Section X.