Help! My druid sucks :(

T

Teknical

Diabloii.Net Member
Help! My druid sucks :(

Hey all,

I spent some time since being back in D2 creating various builds of each class and they have all been reasonably successful (bar my Warrior which is both boring to play and weak). However my last character to create was a druid and I went down the route of this guide; http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=590115&highlight=guide

I have followed it to the letter however I can't afford the gear listed. I am decked out in Aldurs and various unique gear yet it still takes me around 20 mins to kill mobs like Blood raven :( I am now 77 and have around good 20 skill points left so its not all bad news.

Current skills look a little like this (with +skill gear included);
Skills
Shapeshift Tree
+1 Werewolf
+15 Lycanthropy
+1 Werebear
+1 Feral Rage
5+ Maul
+1 Fire Claws
+1 Hunger
+1 Shockwave

Summon Tree
+1 Raven
+1 Oak Sage
+1 Summon Spirit Wolf
+20 Heart of Wolverine
+20 Summon Dire Wolf
+20 Summon Grizzly

Question is, without sorting out runes like vex's etc how can i really save this character from the delete button? I still have all the sockets in the set armor free so runes/gems/skulls can be inserted to tweak him a little.

Any help appreciated!
 
MalVeauX

MalVeauX

Diabloii.Net Member
Heya,

I'm not quite sure why you're having so many problems. I use Aldur's Set exclusively on my Druid Summoner due to the massive stats and resists it lets me keep for a low STR investment, and I wear a Spirit Monarch and a +3 Summons amulet. The rest isn't noteworthy, mostly res's or life, mana, etc rares or uniques.

You should have 20 hard points in your Spirit/Dire/Grizzly & HoW. After that, the rest of your points in Lycanth, with 1 point in Werebear and 1 point in Shockwave (prereqs noted). Very easy to max out this build and be done before level 80. Future points go into Lycanth. Running around with Maul isn't going to do much since it only works on single targets. And if you don't max all 3 summons, you miss out on extra stats like AR/DEF/Life/Damage. You need all of that. And HoW completes the deal. The Merc is the next step:

Your merc should be an Act2 Might Merc and I highly recommend the Reaper's Toll unique Thresher on him. Decrep & Might with your own HoW and summons will tear the crap out of everything.

Tip: Spirit Wolves are the real underdog here. They deal the lowest listed damage, but there's 5 of them. Against mobs and most monsters, you will want to use your Spirit Wolves. With all the damage buff and your shockwave, they will rip through everything. I never even use my Dire Wolves--they're just there for synergy. I use my Grizzly to beat on bosses and really hard targets that need higher damage.

If you need to see it, I do Hell Ancients & Hell Baal's Minions with Aldur's Set as a pure Summoner. Shockwave keeps everything nice and still while you tear into them. Bloodraven isn't even remotely a challenge.

Hell Ancients (Click to Watch)
Hell Baal's Minions (Click to Watch)

I recommend placement like this:

20 Spirit Wolves
20 Dire Wolves
20 Grizzly
20 HoW
1 Werebear
1 Shockwave
1+ Lycanth (dump points beyond first after everything else is maxed)

Use anything you want, just get a ton of +Summon skills going. You want at least +8 skills to get things cranking. Aldur's Set is fine. It gives you +3 and gives such a massive boost to STR that you can use a Spirit Monarch for another +2. From there, a +3 summon amulet gives you +8 total. A Torch or a few skillers will break you past the +10 mark, which will have you loving it. See the recommendation about the Might Reaper Toll's merc above. Watch the videos. He's the little helper that makes all the difference in unleashing the power of your summons.

Get up in there, shockwave things to stun. Use Spirit Wolves to deal with monsters. They're your primary killer! Not Dires. Not Grizzly. Grizzly is for PVP if you go that route. Again, see videos above that are linked. You don't need godly gear at all to rock in Hell as a summoner. It's all about using your summons and pumping them with cheap but stackable auras and curses.

=======

Alt Gear:

If you don't want to use Aldur's, here's a very cheap alternative gear setup that can be bought with pgems:

Helm - Jala's (+20, resists, +2 skills; you can buy one for 5~10 pgems)
Armor - Vipermagi (resists, +1skill, FC, any will do, about 6~7 pgems)
Weapon - Spirit sword (a boardsword gets 4 sockets max in NM/Hell, use that, +2 skills, FC, Mana, +Vit)
Shield - Spirit Monarch (same thing, don't worry about the STR, you can get there)
Amulet - Gamble a blue +3 summoning amulet (costs gold, woo)
Gloves - Whatever you want, Frosts are nice for the +mana (3 pgems at best?) Crafted safty for res's.
Boots - Waterwalks (3~4 pgems?), Tearhuanch (1pgem?), Crafted safty for res's.
Rings - Gamble some +mana or +res rings, craft safty rings for res's?

Funny Tid Bit: Aldur's is actually cheaper to buy, lol, does the same thing with less FCR.

Merc:
Tal's Mask (1pgem)
Reaper's Toll (5~10 pgems at best?)
4 socket armor with 4 ias jewels (you can make that easy) or use Duriels' Shell or Treachery runeword.

--- All super cheap. You will have great stats and good +skills and rumble quite well. You'll have a huge life pool well into the 3K+ area too by level 80. Just enough STR to use gear. Rest in Vit.

===================

Cheers, :sunny:
 
T

Teknical

Diabloii.Net Member
You sir are a diamond.

I'll get maxing my other wolves for the synergy now and grab some more + skills items to polish off. I think i was going wrong by using Bear form and Bear summon! I also went with the wrong merc so i'll grab a might one and kit him up (i already have a tal helm on an alt!). I'll grab that reapers toll (i think I have one of these also *fingers crossed*.

Will reply back in a few hours and let you know how i get on!

Thanks again.
 
MalVeauX

MalVeauX

Diabloii.Net Member
Teknical said:
I think i was going wrong by using Bear form and Bear summon! I also went with the wrong merc so i'll grab a might one and kit him up (i already have a tal helm on an alt!). I'll grab that reapers toll (i think I have one of these also *fingers crossed*.
Click to expand...
Heya,

Yea, the Grizzly is not there to be used all the time--he's for hard bosses, high life monsters, pvp, etc, mainly just his synergy to the other pets. He's not your most powerful summon in PvM against multiple monsters. He will kill nicely but take forever to do it because he's one minion with one attack against one target, and if he changes his attention between several without finishing them, you can literally beat on things for minutes and never kill them as they regenerate while he attacks a new one. Dire Wolves are better in tight areas where you can still get several minions on a monster at once. They eat corpses and power up off them too, so they're great for in-door fights. But usually your Spirit Wolves are the best minion for general fighting. More minions means more attacking and each one is getting an attack with all the buffs and curses you're helping out with and your merc. They end up doing way more damage, way faster. They're your grunt soldier. So stick 'em out there and watch your kill speed go way up.

Here, watch how fast BloodRaven falls to the Wolves when they all turn on her in the end after they eat all her zombie boyfriends (and then I take the money off her corpse, lol).

Aldur Summoner vs. Blood Raven

Cheers, :sunny:



 
T

Teknical

Diabloii.Net Member
Well I have given the merc the elbow and bought an offensive one (no he doesn't swear :p) although I got him from Hell so he came with the blessed aim aura :/ I will go through and grab a might merc as that really appears more relevant for what I need.

Although saying that my kill speed went right up with a merc armed with a reapers toll, tal helm and duriels shell! The decrip from the weapon really gives the edge here I think.

Your advice here was on the button though, thanks!
 
MalVeauX

MalVeauX

Diabloii.Net Member
slothkin said:
Sorry to knock on you bro but spirit wolves suck and those videos are basically just you stunning with shockwave while the merc kills. Use dire wolves or grizzly if u actually want your summons to kill anything.
Click to expand...
No offense taken,

But I've tried all of them, and Spirit Wolves just do the job better and faster. The merc doesn't do the killing. You'll note that he can jab all day on a boss, but it's the Wolves that make it go zippity quick.

Watch my Baal Minion run. Clearly my merc is not killing everything.

But hey, believe what you like. :)

Cheers,



 
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safetypro

safetypro

Diabloii.Net Member
Teknical hello,
Your build is solid however, Aldur's is not the best choice for that build. MalVeauX developed an excellent way to use Aldur's but, your build is best suited to melee.

The key to the Town Dump Werebear build is the combination of IK gloves, belt, boots and Maul. These are dirt cheap and can be acquired for mere pgems. Socket the Maul with 2 Shael runes. The build guide mentions that Smoke can be used instead of Chains of Honor. Smoke (Nef + Lum) provides 50 all resists and when socketted in an elite armor can provide decent defense.

Also try to get Jalal's Mane (Druid Pelt). You should again be able to acquire a Jalal's for a mid rune or pgems. Socket the Jalal's with a 15% Increased Attack Speed Jewel of Fervor.

A rare amulet with +2 druid skills and resists will work just fine. In the ring slots, make sure you have at least a Ravenfrost so you cannot be frozen and if you can't get a Carrion Wind ring, a nice rare with dual leach (or life leach as a minimum) and resists will also work fine.

Use charms to gain needed mods like resists, strength, attack rating, faster hit recovery and elemental damage. It's usually a good idea to add at least one good poison damage charm to prevent monster heal.

You definately need an act 2 Nightmare Offensive Mercenary for the Might Aura. The merc gear you listed above should do the trick nicely though you may require elite armor for him in higher Hell.

Lastly, if you are on US East Ladder (or even Non-Ladder), drop me a PM and I'll be able to help you with some of the gear for your build.

I hope that helps you:)

safetypro
 
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T

Teknical

Diabloii.Net Member
Would the shael thing work if I whack three of those in aldurs mace?

With regards to the IK stuff I'll start saving the stuff from MF runs and try them out. My druid now works from the advice given above on merc, gear and play tactics which is great. By getting my weapon dirty will add another angle so i'll give it a go!

Thanks!
 
safetypro

safetypro

Diabloii.Net Member
You are most welcome.

I haven't crunched the numbers for the Aldur's mace so I'm not sure how many Shaels you'd need to hit the right speed rate. I'll check it out later today and post it here after work.

Yes the changes to your merc (Might Merc and Reaper's Toll) will definately help however, Aldur's only does physical damage and you'll need more than that in high Hell. The IK set up is definately the way to go:)
 
MalVeauX

MalVeauX

Diabloii.Net Member
safetypro said:
You are most welcome.

I haven't crunched the numbers for the Aldur's mace so I'm not sure how many Shaels you'd need to hit the right speed rate. I'll check it out later today and post it here after work.

Yes the changes to your merc (Might Merc and Reaper's Toll) will definately help however, Aldur's only does physical damage and you'll need more than that in high Hell. The IK set up is definately the way to go:)
Click to expand...
Heya,

According to the weapon calc, Aldur's with 3x Shaels for Mauling in Werebear starts at 8fpa and will hit the maximum which is 7fpa with just 11% more IAS.

Cheers,



 
safetypro

safetypro

Diabloii.Net Member
MalVeauX said:
Heya,

According to the weapon calc, Aldur's with 3x Shaels for Mauling in Werebear starts at 8fpa and will hit the maximum which is 7fpa with just 11% more IAS.

Cheers,
Click to expand...
Thanks MalVeauX.
So with 3x Shael in your Aldur's mace, you'll still need a Jewel of Fervor (15% Increased Attack Speed) in your Aldur's Helm. I was kind of hoping that you'd be able to reach 7 frames without all 3 Shaels thus enabling you to add an Enhanced Damage jewel in your weapon and possibly helm.



 
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