PvM HC Wind druid

[Paddle]

PvM HC Wind druid

I wasn't able to find a good PvM HC Wind druid build guide, allthough with searches I found a lot of posts saying "check the Wind druid guide on the forums" which I found too expensive, and PvP. I'm going low budget (maybe even untwinked), Insight polearm, spirit runeword weapon, high block shield and such. And usually playing with a group.

I'm thinking of stat allocations like this:
1 to Grizzly
at least 15 to Sage
at least 10 to Cyclone armor
Max Hurricane
Max Tornado
And rest to tornado if sage and armor are high enough.

Now the info I was lacking is Stat allocation. I think I'm going 60-65 str, max block dex, all I can get to vita.

But the question is, how much am I supposed to put to mana if I've got Insight on. If I'm getting somewhat 80% fcr Tornados will be spammable, so how much mana will be enough? Has anyone had any experiences on this Insight thingie with Windy?

 

[Paddle]

And since this is my very first eledruid:

Are max resistances a must? How much does Cyclone armor effect after all?

 

[Uzziah]

And since this is my very first eledruid:

Are max resistances a must? How much does Cyclone armor effect after all?

Cyclone armor works as a direct absorb, when its cast the next xxx damage is absorbed,

What I have noticed is that elemental damages hit all at once when they do hit. The first hit or so is enough to take out the 1000+ point cyclone armor then my druid is open to other attacks. My personal thought is resistances help out when cyclone armor drops with HC you may want to max it.

My elemental druid has 84/75/75/75 in Hell and I am happy with it.

Cyclone armor does not work well with poison so resistance there is definately needed.

***
Don't forget twister as a synergy. Without the massive +skills from expensive gear the twister synergy will be very important. If you can muster a stone armor you can get another rather large minion out that has a slowing effect, with charges of blood golem on the switch you can make that a 3005 life clay golem in Hell mode. 2 items have that charge on realms.

 

[Paddle]

Thanks for your answer, I'll keep the Stone thingie in mind in case nightmare HF drops something nice. And I'm keeping twister in mind, I accidentally spelled Tornado when thinking of twister in the original post.

I've allready started playing the char so I guess I'll see the insight-mana-ratio myself once I hit lvl 27, which won't be far away. And well, for leveling I'm using werewolf form anyway (+skill from a pelt) so won't have to add to mana earlier. I guess you can't go full Ele before you've invested some in Tornado, which comes at 24.

 

[CookiesnCream]

Resistance is absolutely vital in HC so make sure you get it maxed or have a good level cyclone armor. Get a mosers with max block and good resists. Skin of the Vipermagi is good for the fcr/resists/skills and peasants crown is good for the skills/stats so I suggest using these items when you're starting out. You can get all of these items for pgems so it shouldn't be a huge deal. I also suggest you completely max out oak sage since life is the most important thing in hardcore.

Skills:

max sage
max hurricane
max tornado
Decent level cyclone armor
Rest into twister

Gear (not too expensive):
Peasants Crown
Skin of the Vipermagi
Spirit sword
Mosers
Ravens Frost
Dwarf Star
Telling of Beads Ammy
Waterwalks
Frostburn/magefist/bloodfists

You can get all those items for pgems and shouldn't be all that expensive. If you're gonna go untwinked, then try doing some countess runs and making the runeword stealth armor.

 

[Uzziah]

I've allready started playing the char so I guess I'll see the insight-mana-ratio myself once I hit lvl 27, which won't be far away. And well, for leveling I'm using werewolf form anyway (+skill from a pelt) so won't have to add to mana earlier. I guess you can't go full Ele before you've invested some in Tornado, which comes at 24.

You can only cast armageddon in shapeshift form. hurricane and armageddon will last through their duration but hurricane and tornado can not be cast when shifted.

I still suggest leveling using your skills atleast so you can get use to them. Tornado isn't exactly the most friendly of skills to use.

 

[sawse]

If you're usually playing in a party, the best advice I can give you is to talk your friend into playing a skellie-mancer. Tornado really rocks with amplify dammage. It's prettyamazing!

sawse

 

[Uzziah]

If you're usually playing in a party, the best advice I can give you is to talk your friend into playing a skellie-mancer. Tornado really rocks with amplify dammage. It's prettyamazing!

sawse

If your going to do that why not just give your merc a reaper's toll (IIRC) for the decrepify.

 

[sawse]

If your going to do that why not just give your merc a reaper's toll (IIRC) for the decrepify.

Well, amp is usually spammed all over the screen, letting you choose what to attack, rather that having to wait for your merc to trigger his low radius decrepify on a target he chooses to get extra dammage. Given the targeting "eccentricities" of hurricain, it's nice to be able to let them fly without worrying which monster you hit.

Also, Amp adds significantly more dammage than decrepify does, so if defence isn't a concern (which it won't be with a skelliemancer around), it's an easy choice.

With no skelliemancer, a reaper's toll is the way to go in my opinion as well, but I don't think it even comes close to an amp spamming necro.

sawse