Seraph equipment

[Kadelake]

What equipment do people usually use for the Seraphs? Regen, reinvigoration and MR is a no-brainer.

[chrispedersen]

Then I must have no brain =) Depends on the job.
But I am completely partial to fear inducing items - as it works well with the awe - and awe items when I can get them to boost.

[Edratman]

As long as your give the seraph an AOE weapon, just about everything works.

[Ewierl]

Don't forget cold resistance- Rime Hauberk is a nice choice. I once actually lost a well-equipped Seraph to the AI because it cast Grip of Winter, and I couldn't kill all of his massive army before I froze to death.

[Aezeal]

luck? etherealess?

[mathusalem]

But de Seraph can already cast luck and etheralness, so I prefer equip it with other stuff : revig, regen, MR, Awe and Fear, ...

[Aezeal]

hmm in teh equip we should then also use the 5 magic orders for buffs.. so we can see the total picture for it.

[Agema]

Yes, reinvig, regen and MR are no brainers. You probably want 2 items of MR to be on the safe side, particularly because of assassination spells so don't rely on the battelfield spell for extra boosting.

Important stuff:

You are definitely missing cold resistance (preferably 100%) as mentioned. The other obvious thing you're missing is a load of soak, so a robe of invulnerability or the cut price option of marble armour (bear in mind 50% cold vulnerability and high encumbrance). Your spell buffs most wanted are Body Ethereal and Mistform, which cannot be granted by items. If you know you're facing lots of magic damage, you could skip these as magic damage isn't affected by ethereal and mistform will disappear after the first hit.

You could pick from luck, shock resistance, fire resistance, resist magic. Maybe some missile warding. You could use items or spells for any of the above. I can't stress enough how important full resistance to fire/shock can be against appropriate opponents. Enough lightning bolts will kill even with 50% resistance, and I've embarrassingly lost an SC to heat fatigue because it only had 50% resistance.

Optional stuff:

Fear will combine well with your Seraph's awe via item (eg. horror helmet). Also maybe some aura damage via spell or item (eg. Charcoal Shield, Fire Shield, or there's a low level astral spell.) Not the Vine shield: better to damage than entangle attackers if paralysed, and Awe means you shouldn't be hit much by basic units anyway. The spell Phoenix Pyre could be handy just in case something can kill you.

In terms of weaponry, AoE is standard and usually best. But there are plenty of optional others in some situations, for instance The Sickle Whose Crop... for generating death gems.

That should cover most bases.

[Jazzepi]

Notably you can get the ethereal status from cloak of shadows.

Jazzepi

[Agema]

Yes, you're right. But it's a poor option for a seraph as it'd be difficult getting much protection for the body: wrong spell paths, weak options for items (stone boots, bracers, barkskin amulet...)

[Kadelake]

Is BE really that important? I was hoping that high awe and high protection should be enough to take care of non-magical attacks. Luck would be much more important I think.
The seraph starts with a fire shield so no need to cast it.
I noticed you didn't list mirror image. How useful is it?

[Gregstrom]

If you really want ethereal, perhaps the Wraith Crown then. It's crowd of free undead chaff might also be useful.

[Kadelake]

We have tied the Seraph to a post, and are forcing your former King of Flames to singe her, one feather at a time. When her mind has fully turned to darkness, and hate and vengeance her only thoughts - we shall Gift of 'Reason' her, and send her back to you - on wings of hate and flame.I know something that doesn't work at least :D

Frost brand, the Ember, astral cap, rainbow armour, quickness boots, regen ring, reinvigoration ring.
Luck, phoenix pyre, blessing (+5 regen +2 reinvigoration), mirror image and mistform.

I thought it was quite impressive with 100% resistances and 23MR but I lost it to enslave mind in the first battle. Learn from my lesson, you can never have too high MR ;)

[Agema]

You're already getting +5 reinvig from the armour and bless, you probably don't need an amulet as well. Similarly, with bless regeneration, you might not need the regeneration ring. That's two slots that could be used for something else, like an amulet of antimagic.

[Aezeal]

well more regen never hurts

[JimMorrison]

well more regen never hurts


Especially in a dual wield setup.

[Gandalf Parker]

Sounds like this would be a good addition to SemiRand.

[Agema]

well more regen never hurts

Particularly true in this case true, considering the protec from rainbow armour and astral cap is only about 10.

I'd also consider a good shield, higher protec, or missile ward. It's unlikely the seraph would be hit in melee, but it's vulnerable to missiles as is. Regen +15 might be a lot of HP for a seraph, but enough bowfire and it might neither regain enough HP nor be able to avoid afflictions from a lot of small hits.

[Kadelake]

Have you considered that the seraph has 14 natural protection? That makes the protection from astral cap and rainbow kind of decent.

I agree that it might be vulnerable to missile fire but it depends a lot on what you're facing. My enemies didn't use missile troops but if you're facing massed archers you can always exchange mirror image for air shield or BE.

[Olive]

For cold protection, I would consider Frost Brand + Bone Armor. BA is expensive and has low protection, but SV is good.

A bit off-topic, but do you consider Gath's national summon worth 222 pearls ? It seems like a sort of Seraph with no magic diversity. What would you make summon one instead of wishing for a seraph + gor ?

[Agema]

I'd think 14 natural plus weak armour is okay against normal missiles, but risky against AP. But yeah, if you're not facing them, it doesn't matter. :)

[Gregstrom]

The top end Gath summon? You get four (I think) Ophanim, and the summoned angel gets four lives (and 4 paths of magic, even if you only use one at a time). The Ophanim make up a lot of the cost difference, and the main angel is pretty nifty in terms of combat endurance. Wish is probably more cost-efficient, even so.

[Olive]

Oops, I just summoned one to see wat they looked like, I didn't get the 4 lifes ability. The spell gives just one Chayot. I guess the 4 lifes stuff compensates the lack of magic diversity, the 55 hps and the extra pearls. Pretty tough against AI's chaff, got to try to hurt him to see his other shapes. :)

[Gregstrom]

Use the change shape command - it works like Dragon pretenders in that way.