Hardcore Questions.

[BWizzle]

Hardcore Questions.

Greetings fuzzy friends and nature lovers,

I have just recently started playing druids, and I have to say they're one of my favorite classes to play. I've grown bored of Softcore so I thought I'd give Hardcore a shot. I would really like to avoid becoming another 'Fishymancer' or 'Trapsin'... I hate knowing that practically every other person has the same build, especially when there are so many to choose from! Is there any druid build that could suit my needs? I have nothing in Hardcore, this will be my first character there, so the build needs to be played by an untwinked character. Then it just needs the other basics, not going to die too easily, can complete the game, maybe some runs for better equipment for future characters. I was thinking a summoner, since it isn't melee dependant, I can use cyclone armor, and hurricaine to slow everything down before it can get to me or my little buddies. Are there any builds that can complete this? Or am I doomed to the classic starter builds?

Any tips, suggestions, stories of Hardcore druids you have to share are greatly welcomed and appreciated.


~BWizzle

 

[Terria]

Welcome to the fuzzy side!

Hardcore shapeshifters really aren't a common sight, so if you're looking for an effective build and don't want to see a thousand copies of yourself on the realms, then I would definitely suggest becoming a furry animal. An effective Fury wolf can be made for relatively cheap, especially if you can get your hands on a Buriza. There are a few moderately cheap runewords that you can and probably will come into that will suffice for PvM.

I really don't have much, but I play on USEast HC Ladder and will be glad to help you out whenever I can, provided you play on the same realm. I'll be starting a new druid soon (maybe later today) since my level 83 Bear-Shifter got TPPK'ed a few days ago.

On that note, even if someone is helping you and seems cool. Don't trust them unless you met them here. Especially if they're a sorceress. Arg.

Whisper me at *AccEvolution later today if you play on east. I'm always looking for some more people to play alongside.

 

[BWizzle]

Terria,

Actually yes I do play East, just transfered over a couple days ago infact, from West. Thank for you for the advice! I've only had one FuryWolf before, and trying it in HardCore will be quite an experience! I gave into my temptations and made a Trapsin for the time being, just for some Anderial/Countess runs to get at least some sort of base started, so I have a handful of runes if you wanted to trade for some 'bleh' equipment. I'm sorry to hear of your losses, hopefully they weren't too great.

If you'd like to reach me, *B-Wizzle2 is my account, and I'd be more than happy to play with you, especially if you're starting a new cub or pup.

Anyone else have any advice? Any builds that worked out well for them?

Thanks,

~BWizzle

 

[tigercan]

FC bear worked really well for me and is a very item independent build (I used a shopped kris of quickness until I found a phase blade that I could socket & stick some Shaels in)

Pretty safe too with a 10-second stun shockwave and tons of life

 

[BWizzle]

Tigercan,

Great. I've never tried a FC of any type. Being a bear does give me a sense of comfort though. I just can't stand how slow a bear is without a decent amount of IAS, which would be kind of hard to come by untwinked... Was that a problem for you?

~BWizzle

 

[Terria]

Fireclaw can be absolutely devastating, but it leaves you open to several immunes. That can be fixed with a decent exceptional unique two-hander on switch, or perhaps even a Passion runeword in a big weapon. The only problem with FC is that if you want to hit the really high numbers, you'll need a lot of + skills, which isn't exactly easy to come by playing untwinked. Don't forget that bears ultimately reach a higher attack speed with Fireclaws, and since weapon damage doesn't matter that much, you can easily get a white Phase Blade in hell and use one of your socket quests to put 6 sockets in it. I believe as long as you ave 85% IAS, you'll hit the last breakpoint. That means any 6 15% IAS jewels (With whatever other mods) will work, or 2 Shaels, 3 15% Jewels with an open socket.

As far as trading goes, I generally just give stuff away unless I feel I'll be needing it sometime soon. So no need to worry about finding adequate trading pieces.

I'll try messaging you sometime later!

 

[tigercan]

110 IAS for the 4fps fireclaw attack, so either 6 shaels or 4 shaels & 2 15% IAS jewels in a 6os phase blade does the job.
I believe one of the elite threshers (can't remember if its regular or giant) can get you to 4fps too but then you lose your shield slot for resists or block.

As mentioned, I used a shopped kris of quickness for a long time and it did the job just fine. Nothing compared to the 6xshael phase blade though.

Immunes really weren't a problem for me. I had a maul with crushing blow on switch and a few points in maul but once I found Guillaume's Face I didn't even bother with the switch as the CB took down immunes faster than my maul did. Shockwave & merc were plenty to finish off any straggler immunes.

High plus-skills really isn't necessary to do decent damage. I was playing untwinked and I think I only had +1 or +2 to all skills and got through just fine.
Sure, I could have had much higher damage with a more optimal skill layout and twinked equipment, but whether it takes one second or two seconds to kill an enemy isn't a big deal to me, especially in HC where safety first is always my biggest concern.

 

[BWizzle]

Thank you both for the information. Both the builds seem pretty fun and effective, still deciding though! So anymore opinions, ideas or experiences please post them!

Terria- Yeah I will try to get in touch with you, I work tonight though, and probably won't be on until late... So maybe with some luck I'll get ahold of you! But otherwise, I'll try again later.


Thanks again,

~BWizzle