Fun with Volcanoes

[OverUsedChewToy]

Fun with Volcanoes

Hi, I've recently been thinking of ways in which to maximize volcano, which, for the purposes of PvM, couldn't really be hailed as a staple skill. One prerequisite i found in the guides I've read upon volcano is that some means is require to keep the target in place and on top of the volcano so as to receive its full force.

So I'm considering making a druid focused upon PvM and volcano as a staple (just for my own amusement more than actual viability :laugh: ), and have been wondering what mechanisms were the most efficient for keeping a target in place so the volcano can take its effect.

First way I thought of would be to have points in Shockwave and transform into a Werebear to stun the potential victim and then unleash the volcano (after unmorphing) so that they're stuck on top of it. Though that means would be ridiculously expensive and time-consuming.

Basically, what i need is something that can keep a monster rooted to the spot in order to recieve the full force of a volcano spell. Any ideas?

 

[Rawness]

slow, minions, A1 freeze merc, a3 merc, cold.
Fast running = Circle around.

 

[tigercan]

Shockwave works well, but like you mentioned it's time consuming & awkward.

How about something with the hit freezes target mod? Give your merc a Woestave/Iceblink & that should hold the target still for a while.
Holy freeze aura will slow them pretty well too so that's another option

 

[Jary]

marrowalks 4 PvP vs movement based.

If you're not gonna go full synergy in armaegedon which would be smart then, I'd put points into dire wolf... maybe like 10, then use Spirit wolves.

Numbers alone, just having 5 pets attack/surrounding enemies is usually enough to lock most enemies in place... no need to be dramatic with shockwave. Plus having to transform back and forth sounds good on paper but won't be effective at all in regular play, just annoying. There's some Huntermentalist guide I think that relies on a similar setup using fissure, might wanna check it out though just for kicks.

I wouldn't use 'Doom' unless you have magefists, arachnid, and spirit monarch otherwise you just cast too slow, but it's a good idea. I like the A2 nm combat merc idea better.

 

[vknez]

volcano is one of the visualy best skill in the game. i recently made pure fire druid and its very fun to use. ofc infinity on merc helps a lot...

 

[TigerPrawn]

If you plan to make enemies slow, trying using Act 2 Holy freeze merc and giving him Reaper's Toll... The Holy Freeze + Decrepify is AMAZING. It slows them down to molasses.

 

[OverUsedChewToy]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'd already decided on having infinity for the Merc, but Iceblink is a good idea (but does its freeze work better than the cold damage freeze from Holy Freeze aura?).

I think I'll give minions a miss, since its been my experience that anything below grizzly get finely minced in hell difficulty, and the grizzly isn't exactly the best at holding a target in one spot.

Shockwave would certainly be a gigantic waste of time versus regular crowds, but what about against bosses, superuniques, uniques, etc? Anyone know what targets the Shockwave can stun, and whether the duration is more/less for each target?

Thanks for the advice so far, much appreciated :thumbsup:

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

5x Spirit Wolves are fantastic for just sitting there and getting beat on, since they run to the fight in front of you. Enemies just wail on them since they take good punishment and since they do lowish damage, they won't overkill things while you sit back and summon plumes of molten lava to errupt under their pants.

You've just inspired me to make a smoldering caldera loving hippie.

Cheers, :laugh: :laugh:

 

[OverUsedChewToy]

Hmm, i suppose the wolves would create a "front line", much like the necroskeletons seem to do. The worry i have with using wolves is whether they have enough life to stay alive. Spirit wolves are about the only viable summon option, and the only way i can see of giving them a better hope of long-term survival would be to sink lots of hard points into oak sage and dire wolf, but this compromises my volcanoes synergies, which are vital to its damage output.

Basically, i want my wolves to be tough enough to survive and still have the best damage volcano can give. So far my skill plan looks like this (110 skills counting 98 from levels and 12 from skill quests):

Elemental:
20 Volcano
20 Molten Boulder
20 Fissure
20 Armageddon

Summoning:
2 Oak Sage
20 Dire Wolf
1 Spirit Wolf (Item bonuses bring the total up to 5)

-Rest in Prereqs


This setup would, without items, give spirit wolf 375-512 x1.35 life each, which I suppose equals about what a necroskeleton would. Factor in _Druid skill items and mayb they could tank, I don't know for sure. Any ideas on the optimum level of health for spirit wolves to survive in hell and later? :shocked:

 

[Ed from Russia]

I agree with the suggestions to use Summons to keep monsters in place. Using Spirit Wolves means a lot of re-casting but is viable. 20 points in Dire Wolves will make your minions a lot more survivable - in this case you can use Spirit Wolves, Dire Wolves or a Grizzly, whichever you like more. The cheapest alternative is a 1-pt Grizzly, that is pretty survivable and together with your Merc should be enough to hold monsters in place. However, in my experience the Grizzly tends to lag behind you, while wolves get to the front line faster. An Oak Sage also helps a lot in this case.

Volcano is an awesome skill, but I'd combine it with Fissure. I see Volcano as a single-target attack, with an erratic fall-out that may do some damage to surrounding targets. It's awesome against bosses, but Fissure takes care of groups. No need to invest in its synergies though; focus those on Volcano.

Shockwave is an awesome skill, but you will get terribly annoyed if you need to cast 4 spells for each group of monsters: shape-shockwave-unshape-volcano.

 

[maiku]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'd already decided on having infinity for the Merc, but Iceblink is a good idea (but does its freeze work better than the cold damage freeze from Holy Freeze aura?).

Holy Freeze Merc + Iceblink + Blackhorn's Face/Vampire Gaze = total battlefield control. I use one on my Hydra Sorc, so I can slow and keep enemies in place for Hydra and fireballing them to death. (Similar to how you want to keep enemies in place for Volcano. Hydra bolts tend to miss if enemies move too fast, so slowing them down and freezing them makes them take the full damage.) My HF merc freezes enemies a lot thanks to his Iceblink (much more than I expected), and you'll want to maximize his chances for freezing enemies by making sure his "Infinity" is in a fast weapon.

 

[vknez]

i dont use any summons except 1 point oak sage and ravens from helm (ravenlore). ravens with blind efect and holy freeze are controlling the crowd enough (they dont last long anyway cause of high damage)

setup is:
ravenlore with facet
hoto
eni
spirit shield
3 ele amu
bk
arach
6 ele skilers
ani+torch
cta+spirit on switch

maxing moulten boulder at the moment
armagedon,fissure, firestorm and volcane are maxed

 

[OverUsedChewToy]

I think I'll start mine up soonish, with the skill plan i listed before and see how it turns out. Thanks for all the help people, much appreciated :grin: