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Possessed Weapon Guide


F8L Fool

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Upgrading possessed weapons is a very easy process when you know how it functions. Every possessed weapon can have a maximum of 4 attributes applied to it. Elite weapons always have 3, rares have 2, uncommon 1, and commons have 0. However, possessed weapons will not always have attributes on them when they drop. Sometimes they have one or two, but never more than that. Because of this you must “sacrifice” items to your possessed weapons, in order for them to gain additional attribute properties as well as increase the values of the ones it already has.

 

High level, high quality quality items are worth the most experience when sacrificing them. The most valuable item you can sacrifice in terms of pure experience, is a fully upgraded (max level) possessed weapon. The next best thing is an elite scythe and secondary weapon, followed by elite amulets, then elite armor. This trend persists at all rarity tiers.

 

When you have sacrificed enough items to fill the experience gauge at the top right corner of the screen, the possessed weapon will level up. When this happens it will let you choose to take on the attribute properties of the items that you fed it, or increase one of the current values. The properties it takes on are in no way random, meaning if you feed a weapon nothing but critical chance and critical damage items, it will only let you choose between critical damage and critical chance as a new attribute. It is also worth noting that each of the skull icons represents one level that has been gained on the weapon. Once all five skulls are filled in you can no longer upgrade that possessed weapon, as it is essentially "maxed out".

 

Each time your weapon levels up, the maximum number of attributes you will be able to choose from is 4. So if you feed it 5 different items with a total of 10 different properties, it will choose 4 of those for you to add or increase the value of. To eliminate the chance of this happening it is best to feed it only the attributes you want to add to the weapon when it levels, and nothing else.

 

This guide will teach you how to eliminate randomness and ensure that you build a weapon with precisely the attributes that you want. It will also offer you tips and techniques to make the process easier in general.

 

 

Step 1: Choosing the attributes

Before you begin upgrading your possessed weapon you will want to pick out what attribute properties it will have. For the sake of this guide I will go through an example weapon.

 

The example weapon I’ve decided to make will be a pure Necromancer/Reaper build weapon. With this type of build I want to pick out wrath steal, arcane critical damage, arcane critical, and arcane. That is a total of 4 properties that it will have. Now that I know what I want I can move on to the next step.

 

Step 2: Collect items that have the properties you want

In order to successfully build the weapon you want you must first have two things: a possessed weapon and items that already have the attribute properties you want to add to said weapon. You can find the items from chests and monsters, as well as from the vendors. Because Gilt has relatively no use, I suggest purchasing cheap items that have the attributes you want as a last resort. Or, if you have an abundance of cash buy really good items instead, because it will level the item faster. Once you have all of the items you need you can move on to the next step.

 

Step 3: Save the game

Now that you are fully prepared to upgrade your weapon you need to save the game. This is so that if for whatever reason you make a mistake or don’t get the result you want, you can quit out and start over again. No harm done.

 

Step 4: Sacrificing the items

This is a crucial part of upgrading your weapons. The key is to always add the most important attribute to your weapon first, and go in descending order from there—from most valuable, to least. The reason for this is as your weapon levels up the existing attributes will gain additional points. So, to maximize stat gains you will always put the main attribute you want on the weapon first.

 

The trick to getting the attribute you want onto your weapon to begin with can be a bit complex. You will want to try your best to sacrifice no more than 4 attributes to it at a time, or make sure the priority levels are correct. That way you will always get to choose from the attribute that you want, 100% of the time.

 

What I mean by priority levels is that certain statistics are weighted more than others. So, for example, if you were to put 3 attributes up against another 3 attributes, you could accurately work out what the final 4 would be on an upgrade with perfect accuracy.

 

Here are what the priority levels look like for all tiers, as well as within their own tier in descending order:

 

Priority levels

#1 - Health -> Wrath -> Strength -> Arcane -> Defense -> Resistance

#2 - Crit Damage -> Critical Chance -> Execution Chance

#3 - Elemental Damage

#4 - Health Per Kill -> Health On Crit -> Wrath On Crit

#5 - Health Steal -> Wrath Steal

 

Test cases: [spoiler=1]

Item 1: Wrath on crit, arcane, health per kill

Item 2: Defense, Health, Fire damage, execution chance

My Prediction: Defense, Health, Arcane, Exe

Result: Correct.

 

Item 1: Arcane, Health, Wrath, Exe Chance

Item 2: Crit Chance

Item 3: Crit Chance, Ice Damage, Crit Damage, Wrath Steal

My Prediction: Arcane, Health, Wrath, Crit Chance

Result: Correct

 

Item 1: Defense, Arcane Crit, Resistance, Experience (Necro item).

Item 2: Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Strength, Wrath Steal

Item 3: Health, Wrath, Arcane, Execution Chance

My Prediction: Arcane, Health, Defense, Resistance

Result: Arcane, Strength, Health, Wrath

 

Item 1: Defense, Crit DAmage, Strength, Health

Item 2: Defense, Arcane Crit Damage, Resistance, Experience (Necro=Arcane)

Item 3: Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Health On Crit, Execution Chance

My Prediction: Defense, Strength, Resistance, Health

Result: Defense, Strength, Health, Crit Damage

 

Item 1: Defense, Strength, Arcane, Health Regen

Item 2: Thorns (Necro), Defense, Wrath, Resistance

Item 3: Defense, Critical Damage, Health, Experience (harb)

Item 4: Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Health on crit, exe chance

Prediction: Defense, Crit Damage, Strength, Wrath

My Result: Correct.

 

 

So if you sacrifice an item that has health/defense/resistance and an item that has shock damage/wrath steal/crit chance, you'll always end up with the following choices to choose from as a new attribute: Crit Chance, Health, Defense, Resistance.

 

In addition to the above properties there are also inapplicable properties, which are ones that cannot be applied to a weapon. They are found on armor and amulet pieces. When you attempt to add one such attribute to your weapon it will instead add a completely predetermined, yet different attribute. Below is a list of such attributes as well the property that is added in its place.

 

Inapplicable Attributes

Experience=Arcane on Necromancer items, Strength on Harbringer items.

Glit Found= Piercing Damage

Thorns= Arcane on Necromancer items, Strength on Harbringer items.

Wrath Cost=no attribute

 

You can tell if the item is a Harbringer item or Necromancer item its name. For example, if the item has a magic sounding name like Magus, Warlock, or outright Necromancer, it is a necromancer item. If it is something like Slayer, Executioner, or Juggernaut, it will be a Harbringer item.

 

To be quite honest it is best to avoid sacrificing armor whenever possible, simply to avoid the chance of an inadvertent stat property appearing.

Edited by F8L Fool
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How did you determine priority levels? because I am pretty sure its wrong. havent tested it fully, but the ones you say are high priority are also the more common ones, and are also ones that give the weapon less XP. and it doesnt make sense that abilities that are worth less and give weapons less XP have a higher priority

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How did you determine priority levels? because I am pretty sure its wrong. havent tested it fully, but the ones you say are high priority are also the more common ones, and are also ones that give the weapon less XP. and it doesnt make sense that abilities that are worth less and give weapons less XP have a higher priority

 

It is a pretty long testing process, but I will try and describe it for you. I began by adding an elite weapon and an uncommon weapon to a single possessed weapon. I added the uncommon (1 property) weapon first, then the elite ( 3 properties) weapon so it would level up the possessed weapon. Every time I did this the four attributes were offered as choices 100% of the time. I tried multiple elite+uncommon combos, as well as rare+rare. The result was always the same four original properties which confirmed that attribute assimilation was not a random mechanic.

 

Next, I added in one additional attribute property to the mix to see which one was replaced, making it 5 total. Through trial and error a pattern emerged showing a clearly defined priority level. Once I had a general idea of what the priorities were I started to test them.

 

I bought items that had attribute combinations that consisted of as many stats on one priority level as possible (I.e. resistance+health+defense on one item)' then pitted it against another priority level, such as crit dmg+crit chance, and what I thought to be in the same level; on crit. The results were that the resist/health/defense item always had its three stats present, while only crit chance or damage showed up as the 4th and final property, and on crit never did. From there I tested resist and the like vs other stats and it revealed to be dominant over those as well.

 

I could go on about the next few steps but I am sure you get the idea.

 

As for how you came to the conclusion that "items that are worth less and give weapons less EXP have a higher priority" is quite strange. Because no where did I say that in my post. You are confusing attribute properties with item rarity, in which there is no correlation. The quality of the item does not, I repeat does not affect which properties you can choose from when they are sacrificed. It is the properties themselves that determine the priority, not the item quality that they are on when sacrificed.

 

Lastly, it is entirely understandable as to why they chose this priority level. For starters the highest priority attributes are also the most common attributes because they are the "core stats" of each skill build, thus very important. By making them override the rarer attributes it ensures that those rare ones remain rare--at least until the system is understood using methods like mine. It also is a way for Vigil to make very difficult to entirely screw up your item builds, resulting in a frail character.

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As for how you came to the conclusion that "items that are worth less and give weapons less EXP have a higher priority" is quite strange. Because no where did I say that in my post. You are confusing attribute properties with item rarity, in which there is no correlation. The quality of the item does not, I repeat does not affect which properties you can choose from when they are sacrificed. It is the properties themselves that determine the priority, not the item quality that they are on when sacrificed.
I wasnt referring to anything in your post in that. and I wasnt referring to the value of the item either. I was talking about how much experience each attribute contributes to leveling up a possessed weapon. and I go those from my own tests

 

Health/wrath steal/crit give you the most XP out of any of them and are equal to each other. followed by execution chance, piercing, and elemental, then below that is everything else (all the crits, strength, def, resistance, etc)except for gilt found and experience which is obviously at the very bottom.

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I wasnt referring to anything in your post in that. and I wasnt referring to the value of the item either. I was talking about how much experience each attribute contributes to leveling up a possessed weapon. and I go those from my own tests

 

Health/wrath steal/crit give you the most XP out of any of them and are equal to each other. followed by execution chance, piercing, and elemental, then below that is everything else (all the crits, strength, def, resistance, etc)except for gilt found and experience which is obviously at the very bottom.

 

Ok, but I didn't test the exact EXP values of each attribute. Plus your first response was about my priority levels being incorrect. The EXP values and the priority levels aren't connected, but their rarity and EXP values are directly linked. I definitely agree with that.

 

All you have to do to test that is find an uncommon weapon and feed it to a possessed weapon of an equal level, that hasnt been upgraded. Then you go to gift it and it shows the exact EXP gain. Just rotate the uncommon weapon's attribute to discover them all.

 

I personally don't think that finite of analyzation matters in this game. Since there is an abundance of items to sacrifice and the properties you want will dictate things anyway. It isn't exactly something you can control.

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never claimed it to be directly connected. just that the priority levels being the opposite of XP values was odd enough to warrant my question of how you came to your conclusion regarding priority. and now that you have explained it, I am perfectly satisfied with your conclusion.

 

XP values arent that easy to determine. as the type of weapon or armor and the strength of the attack or defense also effect the XP.

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Ok, this might be a glitch, but I have 5 different attributes on my Possessed Double Scythes. Fire Damage, Critical Chance, Reaper Energy per kill, Wrath on Crit and Health Steal.

 

Also, is Health Steal a combination attribute? Because I never had a "Steal" attribute on a single weapon, it just popped out of nowhere. I don't think I will change it anymore as I'm almost invincible with above mentioned attributes, dealing 2000 damage on average per hit and absorbing 400 HP per hit, but I'm curious.

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Got something to add here, which requires further investigation

 

I personally believe that you can choose between 4 or 5 status changes max once the weapon gained a level.

 

I remember a time when I fed like 3 or 4 weapons/armours to my posessed weapon, totaling with like 7 or 8 status upgrades like crit chance+

arcane, defense, ice damage and what not. I thought I had figured the system out with feeding a weapon with ice damage to gain a posessed weapon with ice damage, turned out I was wrong because I just got merely 4/5 upgrades

and none of them was my ice damage (thank goodness there was still crit chance +).

 

That is when it occured to me: WHY making low-expierence-giving armour and weapons a feeding option if it hadn't a specific purpose?

and given this hint I thought:

 

"well maybe you can queue the effects in a line" and once the end is reached and a new effect drops in, the first in the queue drops out"

That leads to the conclusion: Weapons without an effect to add upon feeding won't extend this queue.

 

would explain at least my ice-less weapon since i feeded an ice damager first

and crit chance last. But, alas, I was too afraif to try again, only found one other posessed weapon that ground stats outmatched my current posessed, so I didn't want to risk "wasting" my newfound weapon upon another try, instead watched that I wouldn't outline the queue I wanted for my weapon.

got to execution chance + 40%

and have a current crit chance of 60+ % for both primary and secondary.

 

So further investigation is needed to first find out whether the queue exists and what the rules of extending are

 

like if you feed a weapon with an effect you already have on your posessed weapon, then it probably won't extend, but what with the "white" effects and the greyed out ones?

and so on

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So I just did further testing and came up with more precise measurements. I also think I figured out a way to bypass the tiers (somewhat). If you stack two of one attribute property it seems to supersede the priority rule. So 2 crit damage + 2 crit chance would win out over 1 health + 1 wrath + 1 defense + 1 arcane, to result in a Crit damage, Crit chance, health, arcane choice.

 

Also, I'm about 90% sure that you can only have 3 attribute properties of one tier at a time. So if you were to do Arcane/Strength/Health/Resist/Defense (priority 1) w/ Crit Chance/Crit Damage/Exe Chance, you wouldn't get 4 properties from priority 1, you would get the 3 highest within that priority tier and the next highest in the following tier. So it would be Health, Strength, Arcane, Crit Damage.

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Do all possessed weapons have similar base stats, esp. damage?

 

When should I start making my possessed weapon for the Crucible? As soon as possible or should I wait until Endgame because I maybe get better possessed weapons?

 

And since I play the German Version: Health steal means you get health when you kill an enemy? (There is a German ability called "health for kills").

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Do all possessed weapons have similar base stats, esp. damage?

 

When should I start making my possessed weapon for the Crucible? As soon as possible or should I wait until Endgame because I maybe get better possessed weapons?

 

And since I play the German Version: Health steal means you get health when you kill an enemy? (There is a German ability called "health for kills").

 

 

Health for kills means you get health when something dies, just like what I presume will be "wrath for kills" on the German version which would be the wrath equivalent.

 

You should start building your stage 4 Crucible weapons (lvl 25+) near the end of your first playthrough. By this I mean save all good the wrath steal, health steal and critical chance items you can get your hands on. ESPECIALLY the steals because they are hard to get unless you repeatedly load at a vendor. Once you hit 25 you should build the first good scythe you find, then the secondary. The reason you do the scythe first is because it will be your wrath stealing weapon which accounts the vast majority of your crucible damage and healing.

 

There are slight variations in the possessed weapon base damage. This can be distinguished by the model of the weapon skin. For example, I have 8 level 30 scythes with no upgrades on them but the base/max damage varies. Why? Because there are different weapon skins that result in different damage scaling. Sometimes it's minor, but other times it is huge. The Scythe I use now started with 253 max damage, while the 8 no upgrade scythes started between 215 and 225. That's a pretty large disparity.

 

It works much differently with secondary weapons like axe's, maces, etc. Becaues they have different damage ranges based on the type of weapon it is. Some have a higher top end damage, but lower base damage, which results in a wider range of overall damage. Where others have a higher base and a lower top end to make it better average damage. It's all pretty trivial in the end because you don't min-max in Darksiders 2 like you would in a MMO.

 

If done right you can clear all 101 waves on even Apocalyptic without using a single health or wrath potion. It's quite rewarding.

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Thanks a lot for this detailed explanation!

 

Then I have to wait, I am Lvl 14 and my best scythe has under 100 base damage!!!

 

But the Crucible guide recommends health stealth and doesn´t mention wrath steal at all?

 

No offense to the guy that wrote it, but his Crucible guide is only good for details about wave information and not much else. He uses health stealing and heath on crit and refers to teleport slash as only a way to regenerate wrath when needed...lol.

 

His build is nonsensical because it doesn't use Rage of the Grave (20% crit on teleport slash), Death Blossom (can hit all targets in the area for 4000+ at 30), or even Inescapable (30% slow for 4s) in his build. The truth of the matter is that Teleport Slash and Unstoppable are the two best skills in the game. If you combine them you can hit spam 12-15k AE damage while full healing, indefinitely.

 

He also says to use 3/3 Red Harvest (Reaper Energy on Harvest) which is pointless. Reaper is only good for Necromancers. If Harbringers use it you just lose a ton of damage and all of your wrath skills.

 

I will write up a good Crucible build when I have the time, but trust me, Wrath Steal is the best at end game. No contest. The only time you use Health Steal as your main source of healing would be on your secondary weapon before you get a high crit damage/chance. Even then you'd be better off just using an Achidna's Fang in the secondary until you get enough damage to make use of the steals.

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Thanks! If there would be a world championship for this game, I am sure you would win it!

 

Can´t wait for your Crucible guide, esp. what weapons and skills you recommend to breeze through!

 

Only bad thing is I sold items with (in German lol) "wrath for each kill" ability ...

Edited by Berny18
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I have to ask: is upgrading possessed weapons worth it in the long run? should I start feeding possessed weapons right away, or should I save good items for later in the game? I'm not sure how long I've gotten in the game(I've got about 6-8 hours of active playtime, with a lot of retracing steps to pick up extra stuff), and I just wondered if it's something I really should do, or if it's just a "for extra fun"-part of the game, but unnecessary when it comes to completing the game?

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And since I play the German Version: Health steal means you get health when you kill an enemy? (There is a German ability called "health for kills").

 

I just saw that "health steal" and "health per kill" are different abilities.

 

Weapons with "health steal" won´t appear until level 20+, will they?

 

So I didn´t sell "wrath steal" but "wrath on kill" ...

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I just saw that "health steal" and "health per kill" are different abilities.

 

Weapons with "health steal" won´t appear until level 20+, will they?

 

So I didn´t sell "wrath steal" but "wrath on kill" ...

 

Not sure if they only appear at 20+. But I do know that they are the rarest weapon properties by far.

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midway through my ng+ playthrough and have still not came across a weapon with health steal or wrath steal except black demise.

 

have been hunting for them the entire time aswel, using hoardseeker and demonheart talismans at right times and reloading all vendors etc and still no joy :(

 

ive tried the crucible once using black demise and absolution at level 26 and managed from wave 1 all the way to wave 70, was absolutely gutted.

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