Fireclaw experience needed...

[Sechler]

Fireclaw experience needed...

Any solid advice is very appreciated :grin:
1. Is angelic ring/ammy + raven enough ar to hit most pallies or do you need to go with 2ring/ammy angelic set up for good measure? Wanted to facet my jalals but should I just cham it?
2. What is optimum dmg without using faceted jewelers armors/shields?
3. Currently my planned gcs are 4 frw, 4 lifers, 1 fhr. Should I change balance to more life or more frw? Casters are big fear with this build…is frw or life key in helping vs casters?
4. Does +vitality from items get boosted by lycan/wereform? Does +life from items get boosted by lycan? Does +vitality per lvl get boosted by lycan?

Currently this is what I’m thinking..
Jalals cham’d
Nigma
Angelic Set (w/ 2rings)
Dungos/Tgods/Snowclash
Phase Blade 4xShael, 2xRes/Ias Jewels
Stormshield 9dex/res jewel
Tri-Res Boots
15.5k dmg, Max DR, 93 frw, 86fhr, Just Barely Max resists
This is for pvp btw.
Thx in advance!

 

[TigerPrawn]

I can only speak from experience, but here's the info I have to offer...

1) I hardly ever use Angelics combo. I find that 1 Raven is a must for the immune to cold/freeze... Also I found a near perf Raven so I statted around it for max block. If I feel I'm missing AR against a barb or pally (If 18K wolf is not enough) I shoot for another Raven. The only time I'll use angelics is if I have a faceted shield equipped against smiters and try to 1-2 KO them before they knock me around and kill me. Remember to calculate +skills aswell. You gain AR when you have +skill to fireclaw or lose AR when you take a skill item away.

2) I'm at 17K dmg using only a faceted Jalal's. I went 3 1/2 synergies.

3) It really depends on who you're fighting. I see you plan on using Enigma, that's a good start for r/w. You'll have to try it for yourself and see if that extra 28% from charms is gonna help. I currently use Enigma, Aldur's, and 1 r/w charm. It's been enough for me so far, but I can see how more would help against very high FCR sorcs, defensive long range players. For now though I prefer extra life and baiting the sorcs to chase me then turn around and catch them mid tele punishing them with a fireclaw to the face.

4) From what I understand any +vit or +life is not multiplied by Lycan. So a BK ring and Dungoes don't net you that much more life, but a rare blood belt with a flat +70 life would net you a ton.

I really think that taking the time to craft/find a nice belt with FHR, res, +high life is worth the trouble. Also, if you are good on res after all your equip I would try some Aldur's boots. The +life kicks major arse.

 

[Queen Mebd]

1. I actually use Hsaru's boot and belt combo on my fc druid for high def melee opponents, which still lets me use dual Ravens for the dex, ar, and cbf in addition to a nice 3 Shapeshifting mass life amulet. I want to say this nets over 30k ar (don't quote me on this figure, I'd have to double check).

2. As TigerPrawn mentioned. Going for a full fourth synergy will get you a bit more. Going three synergies and towards max lycnanthropy is netting me 14-15k with the standard setup.

3. I like using gear rather than charms for fr/w. I think it allows you to optimize more life and still get high fr/w, as you can get 20+ fr/w from a single piece of equipment vs. 7 on a skiller, and at the cost of a good chunk of life. As mentioned, Enigma is solid for fr/w, as are Aldur's, which are my standard boots (they're so hard to beat). M'av's belt is another nice little switch piece for fr/w, as is a Cat's Eye. Circlet's are another nice place to pick up a little. When needed I can use all the listed pieces and get 165 fr/w easily, and my fc damage range really only drops about 1k. Go wolfform for feral rage charge-ups for even more.

4. Erm, I think you meant to say life per level, not plus life is not multiplied by bo/lycanthropy/sage. Just to clarify +vit and +life per level do not get multiplied, but +life from say sources like prubies or Bloodfists do, that's why Jeweler's armors of the Whale make good choices for melee and dvd matchups (waits for a retort from TigerPrawn or Jary). :tongue:

Other than that gear looks good there Sechler. I'd maybe grab a couple of Ravens and a SS/life amulet or even a Mara's for your all around setup. Hsaru's belt and booties or Angelic's jewelry and Trang Oul's belt make good ar swaps, the cbf and mass life is great on Trang's. Just make sure you hit the 86 fhr breakpoint and you'll be set, best of luck with your new druid. :grin:

 

[Sechler]

So a good pub set up with lotsa random charging and fireballs everywhere would be 3ss/90ish ammy, Raven, BK, Hsarus Boot/Belt?

Where are you guys getting your psn resists? charms? I can get all of em to 75, but psn I'm in the crapper… stash a carrion/treks?

 

[Jary]

waits for a retort from TigerPrawn or Jary

lol.. naw
:grin:
Style points count too :thumbsup:

gear looks good. you'll be a killing machine. Yeah, carrion & treks is all you need for that. Heck, even seen 3facet nat armor used >.<

 

[Sechler]

It looked like you guys said this, but just to be crystal...
Lycanthropy affects +life (not life/level) from items??? If so, that's nuts.
Then that end number of life after Werebear w/ Lycan bonus is fully bo-able?
For example, I'm roughly calculating 1400 life in human form/no bo.
1400 x 175% in werebear form = 3850 then x 77% for bo = 6814 :shocked:
And that's w/o oak. Now that was not including dungos or any vit bonuses.
As you can see, I haven't made many droods...but did I get that right?

 

[Jary]

Yeah, I think you got the idea.

Basically anything +life like anghellics, pRubies, waterwalks, life sc's, Shape/life sc's are gg

+life/lvl or +vitality on equipment you can just add on after the calculations. Examples of this are bk ring, arkaine's valor, vertungos coil, fortitude, etc. So if you have a +38 vit dungos, just add on 38*(1.5) = 57 life at the end.
I know, it's yucky but better than nothing lol

 

[Queen Mebd]

As far of a pub setup you should be fine with dual Ravenfrosts and a SS amulet/Mara's. The Hsaru's boot + belt is just one possible sideboard for high def opponents. Usually the rule of thumb is if you need ar, use wolfform, and if that's not providing enough, grab the ar swap. Most of the time you'll want to be using those res boots of yours and whatever you need for a belt (Verdungo's if it's the last bit of pdr, fhr belt if you have one, Arachnid Mesh if you're druid's silly like mine).

 

[Porky]

Angelic ammy + angelic ring/ravenfrost should do fine. In bear form I have 20k AR and if you need more wolf for gives ~37k AR.

 

[superjayson]

eveyone else already got it covered but im giving my 2 cents anyways cause ive been internet-less for 2 weeks and ive been going through d2 withdrawl.

1) it depends on the defense of your opponent. i can get 40k+ ar on my fc druid and i used full angelic's, (trang-oul belt to get can not be frozen) and used wolf form. i strongly suggest using wolf form for these kind of duels as its an easy source of AR and the better blocking/fhr on the wolf will help you in a tight melee duel.

2) if you max 4 synergies 16k+ if you max 3 12k+

3) id go all lifers, or fhr depending on how you want your set up to be. use enigma for casters and get a two hander. you dont need to have super high frw, but you need some (i get at least enigma+aldurs for casters) to run around a bit and learn how to position your self when facing casters. aka when to run/dodge and get in the right spots to use your range 5 two hander to catch someone teleporting by you.

4) +to life items with the exception of bul-kathos, fortitude (may be a few more im forgetting) all get multipled by lycan/oak etc. +vit from items do not. manually invested points into vit get boosted by lycan/oak.

 

[Sechler]

Of course the big pain in my neck is friggin smite. I don't expect to beat decent smiters everytime, but hell if I could just give them a run for their money. So has anyone tried running a clegs + arach/nos type set up vs them?

 

[battledroid]

Did any consider using eth tomb on fireclaw druid to add some physical dam ?
If not, pls tell why

 

[Porky]

Did any consider using eth tomb on fireclaw druid to add some physical dam ?
If not, pls tell why

Too slow and not worth it. If I was going to use a 2handed weapon I would use a 6x Shael'd War scythe.

 

[superjayson]

Of course the big pain in my neck is friggin smite. I don't expect to beat decent smiters everytime, but hell if I could just give them a run for their money. So has anyone tried running a clegs + arach/nos type set up vs them?

ive tried it, but it doesnt work as well as it sounds. your best bet is to load up on as much AR as you need and hope you can get a few shots in as most smiters will fall with a few hits, maybe more if they got good res. unfortunately smiters with really good gear are even more difficult.