Druid assistance required

[Kaptain_Insano]

Druid assistance required

Hi all,

I have yet to make a druid but have a few of them in planning. A winddruid(strijdge), a fireclaws druid, and a druid that uses rabies/carrion wind ring hybrid.

I have a lot of shapeshifting skillers and thought I could utilize them best with thisall shapeshifting skills)

20 werewolf
20 lycanthropy
20 rabies
20 fury

I could use a ribcraker as main weap. What do u druids out there think. I'm going to have a second look at the guides but if any advice can be given as far as remaining skill points, equip, or other. A summon that u would recommend?

Thank you in advance for your input

Cheers K

edit: looking at the guides, it seems fireclaws is popular with rabies but I would have to lose a lot of points elsewhere

 

[Nightfish]

Only summon I'd recommend in the grizzly. The others all suck. (sorry, but they do). Skills look good. Items you might want to look at are demon limb for enchant (AR boost, important), angelic jewelry (second part of AR boost) and maybe darksight helm. (crowd control, helps you since you have no shield and will have low defence no matter what you do)

 

[Kaptain_Insano]

Looking through some info it seems 20 in oak sage is important and also it seems like fireclaws/rabies is more popular/powerful. This build recommends stone armour and ring for synergies. Is fireclaws really all that? Is fury/rabies as good as the build mentioned above?

Cheers K

 

[Nightfish]

Personally I'd try fury/rabbies. I wouldn't go for a stone armour, either. Better get shaftstop and use crowd control to survive. As a wolf you will never ever have great defence, deal with it. You can put 20 in oak sage if you want to. Personally I think I'd just leave Str pretty low, dex at base, pump vit and max lycantrophy. My oak sage dies all the time and I'm just too lazy to recast him all the time. If you're in SC it's no problem to not have one.

 

[Radagast]

You're going to cruise through hell with an upped Rib. I haven't tried the rabies variant, but before the last time I said "i'm never playing this game again" my favorite character was my Ribby wolf. Rather than rabies I went with Feral, but with a similar set up I managed lvl 87 on HC. A fine test for any build

So yeah, you'll have great staying power with that set up. I recommend Jalals over dark if you have it; its just damn hard to beat 4 to shapeshifting, resist, etc etc. And if you don't have that, rockstopper is way up there on my recomendations. I can see where nightfish is coming from, but especially if this is HC, resists ought to be your number one priority in equipment as that's what this build really suffers... An easy 4k+ life makes up considerably for the lack of block :teeth:

And if you haven't played a fury druid, remember to keep up a charge of feral rage for the hearty life steal.

Have fun!

Radagast

 

[Nightfish]

Yeah, +4 to shapeshifting is kinda hard to get on a helm, but why would I need that? Seriously, my fury wolf had zero +skills and he still rocked. Especially if you have no blocking and no defence that extra crowd control will come in handy. Way more than a few hundred extra damage. Btw, 4k life makes up for lack of resis far better than for lack of block.

 

[Kaptain_Insano]

I just checked my stash and I do have 1 jalals. It has +2 druid, +2 shapeshifting which if I recall was low end. And don't forget I have enuff ss skillers to fill my inventory. Which by the way will it make a big diff or do ss skillers not mean much? I also have a tomb reaver which seems to be a recommended fury weap. I'm jumping all around and finding bits here and there so I apologize if this seems a little choppy.

NF: the stone armour was for synergies on a fireclaw/rabies build

It seems that fury/rabies will be fun.

One other thing: In most of my readings they don't seem to max wolfform Why?
Does my point spread in my first post look good and what about spare skill points?

Cheers K

 

[Derrick1001]

Hmm, it really depends on your build. I recented Pat'ed a Maul/Shockwave Druid using Stone armor and Tomb Reaver for a weapon. I have a defiance merc and I have a very nice armor rating. Between that and shockwave, I rarely if ever get hit, and when I do I hit for so much damage regularly that hunger fills my globes up no problem. I maxed Bear, Lyc, Maul, HoW and put 10 or so points in Shockwave.

Personally, I went for HoW for the damage and most importantly the AR. I would NEVER trade HoW for Oak sage with this build. Of course, I'm not too lazy to recast the little guy :lol: .

Stone is good for the def, and also good for the Hit Recovery, as IIRC druids aren't so hot in that department. If you use an upped ribcracker, you've got even more def heading your way. So, while you probably won't be into Iron Barb or Exile Pally territory, with a defiance merc you'll do just fine if you go for it.

Here's a pretty good link for attack speed (which if you go werebear is absolutely essential. Luckily Ribcracker is hella fast)

http://students.washington.edu/akrinke/wereformadvanced.html

I would've liked to use an upped ribby as well, but all mine are quite a bit of the suck on ed, so no dice.

Anyways, it was alot of fun making my first pat druid. Have Fun!

[edit] and Stone for the fireclaws build is because of the lvl 16 moulten boulder charges I imagine.

 

[Nightfish]

Ah yes, I forgot about the molten boulder charges and I usually don't use synergy bugs in the first place. ^_^

As for your questions: As with most physical damage builds, +skills mean very little for you. Depends on how much you want to use rabbies, I guess. If you want use it a lot, +skills is more important (have plague bearer on switch for that, too). Generally speaking you won't need much +skills.

People usually don't max werewolf because they underestimate the importance of AR.

Skillpoints look decent to me. If I were to rebuild my werewolf I'd build him similar to that. Wouldn't get oak sage this time around since he annoys me more than he helps me. Spare points would probably go to grizzly or a grizzly synergy.

Tomb reaver makes a good fury weapon as well but I'd prefer my ribcracker any day.

 

[SideShowBob]

I just checked my stash and I do have 1 jalals. It has +2 druid, +2 shapeshifting which if I recall was low end. And don't forget I have enuff ss skillers to fill my inventory. Which by the way will it make a big diff or do ss skillers not mean much? I also have a tomb reaver which seems to be a recommended fury weap. I'm jumping all around and finding bits here and there so I apologize if this seems a little choppy.

One other thing: In most of my readings they don't seem to max wolfform Why?
Does my point spread in my first post look good and what about spare skill points?

Jalal's has fixed skill stats (so it's not low-end unless defense matters to
you). Tomb Reaver with 2 x IAS jewels nets you a 4-frame Fury which is
fun. Likewise, an upped Ribcracker with an IAS jewel has a 5-frame attack
and allows you to go the Vitality build route. I've played both types of
Rabies build and they are tremendous fun.

I'd recommend 20 Points in Oak Sage if you're going to use a Carrion Wind
ring. I'd take the boost in life over maxing Werewolf or Heart of
Wolverine. AR can be made up by using Enchant Charges from a Demon Limb.

I think you'll likely enjoy your Fire Claws werebear immensely too (4-frames
with a 110 IAS Phase Blade is fun).

 

[Kaptain_Insano]

All right thank you everyone. So this is what I think I am going to do after much reading.

20 lycan
20 fury
20 rabies
20 ww
1 grizzly
rest in oak sage or some combo with ww

Now what merc? Might to give more bang or defiance to improve defense? I will assume that I will go two handed witha ribcracker. What do u think?

Cheers K

For those experienced druids: How well does rabies work with carrion ring as synergy for killing? If I ever find a deaths web is it worth using for this build?

 

[PinkeyandtheBrain]

All right thank you everyone. So this is what I think I am going to do after much reading.

20 lycan
20 fury
20 rabies
20 ww
1 grizzly
rest in oak sage or some combo with ww

looks OK but I would still have to go with HoW instead of OS and i would max feralrage(i know i know) but it is fun having like 105 is LL never die and somehow survive Im in some cases get at least 5-10 pts in feral rage as a must have for the circleing red ball
and remember HAVE FUn with teh olde dr00d man they r teh schitnitz play them man

 

[corax]

rabies works good with the carrion ring synergy. death web would really crank it up. be sure to throw on trang's gloves too for a cheap psn boost.

dont bother going defiance. the general rule of thumb is if you cant get over 10k def in end game gear (which you more than likely won't) then defence isnt worth bothering with. so go with might for that big k33ling increase.


like P&B said i'd go with HoW, but it comes down to play style. you can go more ar/dmg or more life. in SC its far better to use HoW.


ribcracker is teh schnizzle stick

 

[bill_n_opus]

I'm doing the exact same thing right now.

Fury/Rabies. I like the idea of a Ribcracker Stalagmite with 50% Crushing Blow going up against bosses.

The ribcracker is a fantastic weapon and i'm level 52 so the upgraded ribcracker is ~ 56 and it's a huge jump in damage too according to the calculators.

I've currently got max Rabies, Fury and something like 7-8 points in Lythrancopy ... which may have been a mistake but oh well.

Going to use the Carrion Wind (!) and synergize that way and see how it works. I'm still deciding on a couple of issues:

- Oak or HoW? Do I need the extra damage from HoW? Seeing that the HoW is a bit more hardy with 2x the life of OS. But if i'm going Defiance merc do I need the OS anyways considering that Feral Rage with +skills and all that leeching going on should make a Druid pretty tough to kill?

- Act 2 Defiance merc? Holy Freeze? Or Might?

I kinda like the idea of Defiance and sticking a STONE armor on him and giving him an eth Reaper's for crowd control. I've got the crushing blow so that's okay. We'd be all hard to hit.

- how many pts into Werewolf?

- what to do with PIs? Baranar's and Tiamats? PASSION runeword with the Beserk? Glimmershreds? PASSION on a polearm? ...

Luckily, this build is very skill point abundant so i've got alot of leeway. Hope you are having as much fun with a Druid as i'm having at the moment Kaptain_Insano.

* eh, took too long to post this. Looks like there are some answers above.

 

[Kaptain_Insano]

This wolf is a howl to play. I have no plus gear on and he is smokin through everything on p8 twinked. I haven't put any points in OS or HoW other than 1 to get 1 into griz. I am maxing lyc first then putting points in fury and once I hit lvl 40 I am maxing rabies to be ready at lvl 60. I was going to go defiance but I've swung back a little to might. It would seem there are 2 strong opinions on this one unlike with some other builds. And maybe i will switch to HoW instead of OS.

Cheers K

edit: I also read somewhere that outfitting a fury druid with IK set minus the helm is really good. If I'm going to do that I had better start investing a little more into strength. Or should I stick with my ribby and a variety of uniques?

 

[Nightfish]

I would stick with the ribcracker and leave the IK set for the barbs. ^_^ Yeah, you'll be doing good without +skills items. But that's to be expected if you're playing a weapon damage dependant build. For those guys, damage increases in a linear way, in contrast to skill dependant chars where it usually increases faster than that.

 

[LprMan]

edit: I also read somewhere that outfitting a fury druid with IK set minus the helm is really good. If I'm going to do that I had better start investing a little more into strength. Or should I stick with my ribby and a variety of uniques?

Do you have upgraded Ribcracker or just normal one? If your is upgraded (put Shael in it for 5 frame Fury!), then use it instead of partial IK set. If it is not, then IK set is more useful for increased Fury damage. Using the IK set minus helm has one problem though, you can't use Trang's gloves for more Rabies damage then

Oh and when it comes to mercenaries, might and HF are the only real options imho. That of course depends on the rest of your gear...if you have very high defense armor then Defiance merc could be worth it. I would choose Might for more damage, I think HF would just slow down spreading around that Rabies poison

 

[PyroStock]

My Werewolves don't have Rabies or use the synergy bug, but...

Wolves don't suck, especially if you play Hardcore with them. When you have 3 meat shields instead of 1 Grizzly then you, your Mercenary and OakSage/HoW take less hits. Another way to use them is as multiple decoys allowing you to handle multiple packs of enemies with ease. Wolves are also great for removing corpses, whereas Grizzly will keep wacking the same fallen no matter how many times it keeps getting up. Wolves also move faster to new enemies than Grizzly. In the few areas they die fast then I want a fat Grizzly, which means good points in DireWolves to fatten up my Grizzly anyways. I use both.

Darksight will cast Blind, which may be fine for some, but I personally don't want Blind overriding my Merc's Decrepify or AmpDamage, which cranks up my damage by the thousands. Decrepify/AmpDmg also helps remove some PIs, which Blind would ruin. As for crowd control, my HolyFreeze mercenary and wolves/grizzly team handle that fine.

As for OakSage or HoW, if you're Softcore and twink than either one can work. I lean slightly to OakSage. I think you'll find HoW more valuable to a Hunter or Werebear as a Werewolf typically already has over +500%AR and +600%EDmg after Fury and Strength bonuses alone.

As for the Mercenary, it's hard to go wrong here as he's not crucial to your build, unlike some other builds. I went with HolyFreeze not only for the crowd control and HC safety, but he also makes it much harder for enemies to flee from me and comes with a little cold damage for PIs.

As for which skill to max first, IMO, even if you're Hardcore untwinked you should max Fury first so you can continue to tear through Nightmare.

IK Maul with IK pieces is really good. It does have a 225 STR requirement, but the beauty...
Immortal King's Stone Crusher
Ogre Maul
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 260 to 358
Required Strength: 225
Required Level: 76
Mace Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x9a5366cd
+238% Enhanced Damage
60% Increased Attack Speed
200% Damage to Demons
350% Damage to Undead
37% Chance of Crushing Blow
Indestructible
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
Adds 211-397 fire damage
Adds 7-477 lightning damage
Adds 127-364 cold damage over 6 seconds
+204 poison damage over 6 seconds

You never need to weapon-switch to handle any PIs, even PIs that AmpDmg cannot break and it still has CrushingBlow. The above is 5frame like Ribcracker, but the damage is better. I went this route somewhat since it left my weapon-switch slots free, rather than filled with elemental damage stuff or spending skill points on rabies/fireclaws. The bonuses on the other IK items can be quite nice too. I still have over 4000 life even with over 250%MF before weapon-switch. A Hel can drop the Requirement to ~180 as you only need to use 1socket for IAS to hit 5frames. But I'm guessing Rabies druids using synergy bugs have less issues with PIs so other weapons are favored. Ribcracker and Tombreaver are also great weapons. A good 4frame Tombreaver is the only weapon I might consider switching to now.

You cannot use Passion's Beserk in Werewolf form and it's not worth it to unshift to do so.

 

[bill_n_opus]

Hey Pyrostock, thanks for the info.

I'll consider making a partial IK fury Druid someday ... I just like the idea of Rabies and poison spreading everywhere. Since i'm not above using Carrion Wind I figure that i'd go hybrid.

Since Fury damage is linked to Strength then going 225 for the IK Maul isn't really a big deal. Even less considering a Hel rune in one socket ...

Well, i've been lucky enough that my only Tomb Reaver managed to be a 3 socket one. I'll maybe use that someday ...

 

[Kaptain_Insano]

Lol Far too many choices

I have already pumped my strength to 110 for 3 piece IK so hopefully that is not wasted if I'm going to stick with uniques. I have two ribbies and the one I'm using is 263 ed I believe. Worth upping? I socketed it already and just need to fill it. Wasn't sure if I needed 20 ias from a shael or if 15 was enuff from a nice 2 modded jewel. I have a beautiful IK maul socketed with some nice 15 ias 2nd mod jewels that my barb uses. Would the IK fury druid be a lot more powerful than a ribby one? If I stick with uniques then I'm looking at something like this:

angelic ammy and ring (do I need the ar that bad?)
ravenfrost ring or maybe a dual leech resist ring later
trangs gloves
ribby shaeled or ias jewel?
belt ? I have all of them to choose from
armor ? Leviathan or ...I don't know (currently iron pelt)
boots wars travs or gores?
helm ? andys? Will the venom charges amp up the rabies damage?

I am such a noob when it comes to druids and even meleers for that matter.

Cheers K