Having problems with my first Druid

[Origin]

Having problems with my first Druid

I'm making my first druid, here are my plans:

20 Lycantrophy
7-20 Werewolf
5-20 Fury
20 Rabies
20 HoW

(plan being to intoxicate the mobs then fury them until the poison runs out then repeat)

I also plan to use that ring with poison creeper charges to boost the rabies damage.

I am currently level 20 and only just came to A3. I'm having huge problems here and also had huge problems with A2. My skill levels and stats right now are as follows:

7 Werewolf
8 Lycantrophy
1 HoW
3 Rabies

stats so far:
60 str (going for 70 for bonesnap to start with)
base dex
rest vit
base en

I play HCL on players2.

First off I have around 450 HP in the start of Act 3 which is way more than I ever had with another character except maybe Barbs. But still for some reason it feels like I have less HP than ever. I've had tons of near death situations and I feel fragile like hell. Almost any attack will bring my HP down by a ton, it almost feels as if I have a display glitch on my HP or something. My def and resists are pretty low but I've always gotten by in a1-a3 normal with low def and resists before on other melee chars (I've played alot of barb and assasin). My def is around 160 but I don't see how it could be much higher as I have the highest armor the stores in A2 had to offer and am playing mostly untwinked. My resists are pretty much non existant but like I said I've gotten by with this easily on other characters.
Secondly my normal damage is pretty low but this is natural I guess since I don't have any "normal" attack skill yet.
Then theres Rabies. On level 3 it still barely dents the enemies HP. It has nearly NO effect. Does this skill just plain suck or will it get better later? I was hoping I could hurt things with it and not just have a 20(40 except im using that ring) skill point PMH :/

So in short:
I die easily
I can barely hurt crap
oh and my swing speed is unbearably slow :'( (i guess fury will remedy this?)

What am I doing wrong? This is my first serious attempt at a druid so maybe I'm overlooking something or other or do werewolves just suck at low levels? I'm worried about my character and if he doesnt do better by nm I'll just trash him because right now he is not fun to play at all.

 

[Chimaira]

I think you're better of putting points in Fury than HOW...Fury gives 17% ED/7%AR, HOW gives 7%AR/7%ED. I know HOW helps with both Fury and Rabies but you're going to use Fury a lot more...

I'm not really sure what you're doing wrong right now...I can't really give you any other advice than get some better equipment. Sigon's Set would definitely give you the edge over those nasty critters.

Your swing speed is very low because you don't have a fast weapon (doh). Druids in wereform have horrible attack speed when attacking with slow weapons (Weapons without any IAS on them), but they really speed up when you slap something fast on them. Bonesnap is going to be very slow but it deals a lot of damage...later on try to get a Steeldriver or even better a Ribcracker. There's an attack speed calculator in the stickies...check it out it will be your best friend.

About Rabies I think you need some +skills and some posion damage modifiers like the +25% poison damage on Trang Oul's Claws for it to really work. There's a unique sword called Plague Bearer which has +5 Rabies which might be worth checking out.

 

[Origin]

ohh ribcracker looks really nice.. are those expensive or are they buyable with pgems or mid runes?

 

[Garbad_the_Weak]

I plan to intoxicate the mobs then fury them

^^

Wolves seem to die easily because they take so many hits (low defense). I personally think playing a wolf without block in HC is suicide. Also, rabies is a very low damage attack for a long time. Good luck finishing, rabies is a hard skill to rely on.

I would try to get a faster weapon. In addition to a ribcracker, The generals toe and rakescar work well around your level. Most druids go from khalims flail to ribcracker / coldsteel to ik maul / bstar.

Garbad

 

[Origin]

Hmm how would I go about reaching 4fpa fury with the ribcracker? If i shael it i reach 5 but neither off weapon ias nor werewolf levels above 4 seems to do anything. Is it impossible?

 

[Origin]

^^

Wolves seem to die easily because they take so many hits (low defense). I personally think playing a wolf without block in HC is suicide. Also, rabies is a very low damage attack for a long time. Good luck finishing, rabies is a hard skill to rely on.

I would try to get a faster weapon. In addition to a ribcracker, The generals toe and rakescar work well around your level. Most druids go from khalims flail to ribcracker / coldsteel to ik maul / bstar.

Garbad

but i'd have a 9 frame block as opposed to a 3 frame hit recovery, and fury isn't uninteruptible is it? wouldn't high life and leech work better? with the low def i'd be afraid to spend too much time blocking.

 

[Chimaira]

Hmm how would I go about reaching 4fpa fury with the ribcracker? If i shael it i reach 5 but neither off weapon ias nor werewolf levels above 4 seems to do anything. Is it impossible?

Yes...There are very few good weapons that are capable of reaching a 4 frame Fury...but 5 is good enough.

 

[ChthonVII]

^^
Wolves seem to die easily because they take so many hits (low defense). I personally think playing a wolf without block in HC is suicide.
Garbad

Why is it that when I say things like this, everyone treats me like I'm crazy?...
Anyway, I agree 100%. Get a sheild, if not permenantly, at least until you can survive w/out it.