My Newbie Druid Questions

[onomastikon]

My Newbie Druid Questions

Hello there,

I'm new to the druid, I've never played one at all, having started a shapeshifter as one of my first chars ever and deleted it after level 6 or so. But now I'm back and wanting to give things a try, this time differently. So here are my questions:

- The damage a druid does with wind elemental spells is listed as “cold†for Arctic Blast, but simply “damage†for e.g. hurricane; is this magic, physical, or what?
- Hurricane lists a range of damage done; is this per second?

- I was considering making a wind-type druid who uses hurricane, maybe some arctic blast, and summons, spending most of his efforts in summons, hurricane, and a bit of melee. Since I cant cast anything as a werewolf, is it then useless to put a point or two in shapeshifting? Getting an attack with huge leech and dam bonuses for 1 point (e.g. hunger) just seems so appealing, perhaps for dealing with bosses. Am I kidding myself? Does anyone make a wind-type druid with support summons anyhow? (Saw no stickied guides for elementalists, partic windy ones...)

In fact, I havent seen anyone post a sticky about a char who uses some elementals, mainly wind, and summons, so I guess you all think it is not doable, and I dont see anyone post anything about armageddon, so I am guessing that no one uses fire-shapeshift hybrids, let alone ones who will also have a point or six in summons. Am I on the road to newbiefailure again?

- If I were to go this road, just curious about vines and spirits. Heart of Wolverine seems untoppable, sort of like a poor man’s concentration, while SoBarbs just seems like a poor man’s thorns; is there any reason not to stick with Wolverine? As to vines, are they worth it at all? Solar Creeper and Carrion Vine both seem like a very very poor man’s version of Meditation, but I have no idea how fast they work; can one switch quickly between vines, or do these need to be up for a while to “find†corpses? Does anyone use vines at all?

thanks much for your input and advice

 

[Ed from Russia]

Wind druids use Tornado as the main skill, which is physical damage. You also have Hurricane and Cyclone Armor circling around you all the time. Hurricane gives opponents in its range pulses of damage, I think every second.

Forget about Arctic Blast; it doesn't work because it requires too much mana. Start with a pure Wind Druid if that's what interests you. You need 80 points for the Wind skill synergies (Tornado, Twister, Cyclone Armor and Hurricane). That leaves you enough points for maxed Oak Sage and a 1-pt Grizzly. More summons would mean fewer points in Wind skills and that would make the build less effective.

Look at the following guides in the stickies:
- Safetypro's Town Dump Bear guide; combines Shapeshifting with Summoning, lots of fun to play
- my own Fire Hunter guide. Unlike Wind skills, Fire skills do work with only 40-60 points invested. That means you can combine them with Summons.
- PvP Wind Druid guide. It works OK in PvM but doesn't really use summons.

Forget about a melee without shapeshifting. It is possible, but you would use the Druid incorrectly.

Spirit of Barbs doesn't work; the damage returned is too low. HoW is useful for physical-damage melee builds only (Fury Wolf or Maul/Hunger Werebear). Oak Sage is the best choice for other Druids. One point in Carrion Vine is very helpful for some replenishment, and to get rid of corpses. Most Druid builds don't need much mana so Solar Creeper is not useful. Druid summons don't need any corpses; you can cast them as long as you have the mana.

 

[onomastikon]

Thank you. I didnt take a look at many of those guides since they were posted as PvP, and I am interested in PvM, but I will peruse later when I get the chance. I am surprised to see Oak Sage prefered over Wolverine, but I will give that a try too, and the grizzly is preferred to 3 wolves?

 

[Verashiden]

Grizzly tanks better than the wolves with only 1 point into it. Also, HoW doesn't increase your Tornado damage.

 

[onomastikon]

Thank you.
I finally hit level 30 and bought a point of Hurricane.
I have a couple of +skills items, I dont know if that is important, but my skills tab lists the radius at 6 yards, not 5.3 (as indicated on Arreat), and it also indicates that the damage it does is "cold damage".
Is this simply wrong? Is it really physical damage, as seems to be indicated elsewhere? Does that mean that the damage indicator is also incorrect?

 

[Ed from Russia]

The damage is cold damage for Hurricane, I forgot to mention that. For Tornado it's physical damage though, and that's your most important damage skill. Hurricane is more for slowing monsters (or other players) that come close to you, the damage is not very high.

the difference in range could just be a mistake either at Arreat Summit or in the skill tab. It's a minor mistake though.