reintroduction and druid questions

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laughingman

Diabloii.Net Member
reintroduction and druid questions

Greetings, all! I have been away from D2 for a while, and thus away from these boards. While it says I have only been here since June 2003, I actually joined before the Great Forum Disaster Known as The Giant Squid. I don't remember exactly when I first started posting, sometime in late 2002. Seen a lot of things since then, omae.

I see many unfamiliar names, so maybe I need to say a few words about myself.

I live and work in Berkeley, California, USA. I have been a substitute (supply for you Brits) teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District for the last three years, teaching Kindergarten through secondary school, whatever the situation demands. Foot soldier in the educational wars, ya dig?

I speak German passably, Latin atrociously, and English like demented parrot.

I play single player exclusively, and almost always Necromancers. In 1.09, I played just about every variant you could imagine. My problem is, I get bored after early Nightmare, and start over. The furthest I ever got was with Lord Bone, a throwing weapon/summoning Necro in 1.09 whose army slaughtered its way to Act V Hell before my poor skill placement and merc choice became apparent.

I started going to school to get my credential to teach primary school, and so lost a lot of gaming time. Semester is winding down, so I have as always come back to my own personal heroin substitute, Diablo 2. :flip:

Recently I became intrigued with Druids. Summons that don't require corpses and synergize with each other? I started playing around with a Hunter build (ranged weapons combined with Summons) and he has reached Act 2 normal. I am happy enough with the basic idea to want to continue. I plan to max Grizzly, Dire Wolf, and Heart of Wolverine, with probably 10 points in spirit wolf and 5 in Raven (gotta lotta love for Dim Vision, dontcha know).

I can see the utility of Poison Creeper, but should I max it? I don't have any points here yet, but I do have a few saved up.

I plan on using a Defiance merc, but the idea of a Might/Heart of Wolverine combination makes a twisted sort of sense. Yes, conventional wisdom says max oak sage, but my pets don't need a lot of life if their enemies die quickly.

So what do you think?
 
Dacar92

Dacar92

Moderator: Community, D2 Zon, DH, Inc Clan Officer
Welcome back! You mentioned 1.09. Are you playing 1.10 now?
 
LprMan

LprMan

Diabloii.Net Member
:wave:

Hello and welcome back! As you may already have noticed, this place has changed. Old members have gone away, many new members have came here (like me)...but don't shy away, this still is great forum :)

Have fun posting (again)!
 
B

Bjorn

Diabloii.Net Member
laughingman said:
I can see the utility of Poison Creeper, but should I max it? I don't have any points here yet, but I do have a few saved up.

I plan on using a Defiance merc, but the idea of a Might/Heart of Wolverine combination makes a twisted sort of sense. Yes, conventional wisdom says max oak sage, but my pets don't need a lot of life if their enemies die quickly.

So what do you think?
Click to expand...
Hi there.

I don't think poison creeper is worth putting much more than one point in - it dies too easily to be much good. The other two vines are probably worth at least a point each, though - they can come in useful for disposing of corpses as well as giving you life/mana.

I'd go for a might merc over a defiance one - you can always recast your summons when they die, after all. And if you're going to go for damage over survival you might as well go the whole way. :)
 
R

Ravenforce3

Diabloii.Net Member
A thought: You're going to want more than just five points into Raven if you are going to use it for the Hit Blinds Target feature once you hit Hell, due to the fact that it is an AI curse and they are cut by 3/4 in Hell. Other than that, it sounds like you are on your way. Good luck with bows; I tried a Hunter about a month before .10 went live and he was having a lot of problems with too little damage.
 
L

laughingman

Diabloii.Net Member
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Yeah, things are different now, but it's still a good place.

Ravenforce, I think might + heart of wolverine would really fix that damage problem. I don't have a lot of high-level experience with it, though. Is it just me or are SP druids rare birds?
 
Crazy Runner Guy

Crazy Runner Guy

Diabloii.Net Member
laughingman said:
Is it just me or are SP druids rare birds?
Click to expand...
They're generally not common. There's theis lack of dealing with PI's and/or Fire Immunes, depending on your build.

Although, there have been several Druid Pat's, just they are not that frequent as say...Fishymancers, MetOrb Sorcs or Hammerdins.

crg
 
F

Forcefeedback

Diabloii.Net Member
laughingman said:
Is it just me or are SP druids rare birds?
Click to expand...
:wave: Hi there, I see someone has seen the light...

Well, regarding the raven thingie, at skill level 16 ravens have a 100% chance of blinding monsters of the same level as you. Probably you will be using the /players 8 command for more drops etc. so you will constantly be something like 5 or more levels higher than the monsters you kill(except the 85 areas possibly) so your ravens have a good chance of blinding enemies with less points in them and they usually bunch up so all attack the same target anyways.

I agree with meme, might merc beats a defiance merc anyday, if you want more defence for your summons, drop some spare points in spirit wolves.

Since you plan on putting some points into spirit wolves, max Heart of wolverine and use a might merc I wouldn't step on you're Grizzlys toes..
All you are missing now is good gear and charms(+skills are extreamly important for this build) and you are set to bash the Lord of Destruction back to where it came from. :D
 
S

Sharakorr

Banned
Welcome back :howdy:

I think your build is great, the only thing i would change is if you were playing hc, i would use oak sage rather than heart of wolverine.

you say u speak Latin? My english teacher does too. Could you by any chance tell me if Malakia (is this how you spell it :scratch: ) is Latin or Spanish? :uhhuh:
 
G

Gouda

Diabloii.Net Member
Welcome,

Since noone has offered yet: Have a beer on me at the EMB, our local hangout!
About your build: I had a similar druid in 1.09, who got stalled in act I Hell, because he was not allowed to use any unique or set items. Once i twinked him up he was doing okay again, so I'll tell you my general idea:

Step one: get a reasonable fast bow (or xbow).
step two: I used a lot of crushing blow, and together with that explosive arrows. combined with pierce it got rid of the monsters quite quickly.
A buriza will probably also work wonders.
Step three: knockback and slow can also be your friend.
step 4 if you are lucky enough to get something with a chance to cats Amplify Damage, that could also be a great help.
I combined this with 5 +summoning skills, pelt and amulet.
On switch a high elemental damage bow, for those PI's

Besides all of this you would have the usual resistance problem, so keep an eye out for high resist items, you will need them!

This was my approach, i can imagine that with your might merc and HoW (i used that one as well), you could go for a high physical damage bow, and kill very quickly like that. Still some crushing blow is good, esp. against act bosses.

All of this together with a lot of patience should see you fare well!

Have fun,

Gouda
 
L

laughingman

Diabloii.Net Member
Many thanks, Gouda. I'll take a Guinness, please. :)

Sharakorr: I'm not sure, that word does not look familiar to me. If it's Spanish, chances are it has a Latin root. Do you know the meaning?

Thanks everyone for the advice. I plan on doing this untwinked, like most of my characters. It should be a wild ride. I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers! :drink:
 
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