Rabid Pack Leader?

[Liliel]

Rabid Pack Leader?

Erm, yeah... I've been trying to come up with a build that isn't commonly used, but at the same time isn't entirely insane. So... I came up with a rabid werewolf, with dire wolf summons. Here's the skills...

20 Dire Wolf
20 Oak Sage
20 Werewolf
20 Lycanthropy
20 Rabies
prerequisites

Yeah, very high level to complete. Lv92 I think... The wolves are more or less just to prevent me from getting overwhelmed. I'm not sure about mercenary choice. Might or Defiance? I'm leaning toward Might at the moment...

Oh, yes, and I need help with equipment choices. I don't know what weapon to use... Preferably something that isn't too rare. So far I've decided:

Bramble
Trang's gloves
Carrion Wind (if two are used, do they stack?)

 

[psuedoenviro]

Carrion Wind (if two are used, do they stack?)

nope.

Since rabies is a one hit attack, meaning you can hit once infect a group and retreat, why don't you max Grizzly instead of lycanthropy? Or max HoW instead of Oak. You shouldn't need a ton of life since you would limit your exposure to monsters. Both of those options mean your minions would do more damage with Grizzly being the best option.

Equiptment: Check the rabies guide stickied. I think most use 6shael pb with a death web on switch.

 

[Black_Dog]

bleh... you'll do fine until you hit Hell... that's where rabies proves to be quite ineffective. That's why people often make a Rabies/Fury druid so they got something to fall back on. The summons idea sounds good, i'm actually feeling a spark to even try this build myself, but meh... i'm too lazy

Use Oak if you plan on trying out Hell, or you'll get beat down. You'd think you'd be doing hit and run, but more often than not you'll get surrounded in the blink of an eye. Oh, and don't forget about those poison/physical immunes in hell, you never know how many there are until you actually go into Hell with only Poison and Phsyical damage as your only weapons.

Like i tell everyone, in 1.10 if you can take a character through NM solo, then that's an accomplishment... unless you're a cookie cutter caster build with l337 It4mz.

 

[Liliel]

Now that you mention it... I probably could deal with less life and take some points out of Lycanthropy and Oak Sage. I don't want to get rid of one or the other entirely though... Lycanthropy I need for the duration bonus, and if I'm not mistaken, Oak Sage gives life to the wolf summons as well. Yeah, I think a few points in Fury would definitely be worthwhile. Beats the heck out of normal attack...

So let's see...

20 Dire Wolf
10 Oak Sage
20 Werewolf
10 Lycanthropy
20 Rabies
10 Fury
10 Grizzly
prerequisites

That should still provide hefty life bonus. Will probably have to recast Oak Sage a lot, but that's no big deal. With points in Grizzly and a Might merc (with Reaper's Toll), the wolves might be capable of killing something without me. I fear this looks somewhat like a simple Fury/Rabies variant now, but oh well. I think the presence of cheap, recastable fodder makes a world of difference in terms of safety.

Well, after reading some guides, I've got some ideas on equipment...

Bramble
Trang's gloves
Carrion Wind
Ravenfrost
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Jalal's Mane
Gorerider
Nosferatu's/Verdungo's/String of Ears/something else?
Tomb Reaver/Ribcracker (the latter for act bosses)

Oh, and I'm aware of the problem with immunities. As a sorc player, I'm accustomed to the Diablo 2 Rule of Dual Immunity, "the most encountered dual immunity is that which negates whatever two types of damage you happen to deliver. Or at least it seems that way."

 

[Black_Dog]

Don't worry about being "Less Original" because you've compromised your original plan so now it's just a slight variant... i mean, c'mon, until now i had never even thought of using summons with my rabies wolf. I mentioned this build to a few friends and they also took some interest in it.

 

[psuedoenviro]

Just wanted to remind Liliel that in most cases you do not have to max werewolf. If you check the stickied speed calc, you can find out the lvl WW needs to be to hit the last bp for rabies or fury. Also for lvling, starting with just one point to oak and then waiting to hell to put additional points is not a bad idea since oak is phy and poison immune in nm. I am a fan of only one point to oak if you are going to max dire and lycanth, especially if you are going to run with 3 dire wolves out.

Personally, I wouldn't mind trying a rabid summoner. I could play him very much like a pure summoner or a hunter who uses rabies as a non-physical attack instead of a bow. Load out on summon gcs. Cast lower resists, run in with minions, attack, retreat. Or you could attack, retreat, and then throw lacerators for amp damage.

 

[Black_Dog]

by george i think he's got it!
w00t... i think we may have a new build on our hands, now we just gotta see how viable it is. I'll leave it up to the inventor to check that out for me

Now the big thing that sticks out with the Rabid Summoner (Or Rabid Pack Leader, i like that better ) to Hunter comparison is that Rabies is a Range 1 attack which means you gotta get in close quarters to hit them, and you're not always gonna hit them so the going may be slow, but that's what the Dire Wolves are for also.

 

[Liliel]

I guess you could use the were/summon idea in a variety of ways... The particular build I have in mind though is melee, fighting up close and personal with the rest of the pack. I just liked the idea of a werewolf, flanked by a pack of wolves, with lots of growling, biting, scratching and feasting, showing the barbarians what true savagery looks like . The basic idea was to let the wolves tie a group up, I come in and poison them all, then melee one at a time while they're distracted; a little similar to how I play a spearazon.

WW probably could be further tweaked, but to be honest, worrying about breakpoints gives me a headache, and I'll probably need the AR anyways.

I've hit a bit of a problem... turns out I won't have access to some of those items, because I'm not on ladder, so now I need to decide on other weapons. Any ideas? Right now I'm looking at some runewords, like famine, or beast. A beast champion axe looks very appealing...

 

[sunbearie]

I've got a druid like that I call him Mad Dog. I like the idea of a rabid wolf pack

Build looks something like this

Maxed Rabies
Maxed HoW
Maxed Dire
Maxed Fury
Remainder into grizzly

Weapon is a plague bearer. Basically infect the monsters, then fury behind your wolves with a 2-H weapon.

 

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

is that Rabies is a Range 1 attack which means you gotta get in close quarters to hit them, and you're not always gonna hit them so the going may be slow, but that's what the Dire Wolves are for also.

even if u use giant thresher rabies is range 1?

phelix

 

[Indemaijinj]

Umm, the build above switches over to Fury after having infected the opponents.

 

[sorento]

Wouldn't be better to use
Beast + Might merc + HoW(10 in this case) + Bramble(return dmg) for better summons dmg, since u have the passive life bonus already? Increases ur fury damage and AR too