what wepaon for fury druid ?

[Generator Of Chaos]

Eth Botd Thundermaul?


As a side note Tom: How the hell are you dying so often? Socket the helm wth an um? Do anya's quest?
Oh and, bear is pretty useless, max Oak Sage to sky rocket your life... Or HoW to help with dmg and Ar... never Bear...

 

[Tom123]

Eth Botd Thundermaul?


As a side note Tom: How the hell are you dying so often? Socket the helm wth an um? Do anya's quest?
Oh and, bear is pretty useless, max Oak Sage to sky rocket your life... Or HoW to help with dmg and Ar... never Bear...

Heh, must be my insatiable lust for damage. I'll stick more points in Oak, get my res up, stick dracs on and hopefully slap those b******ds around.

 

[HCTwinJava]

Tom123: I'm not sure what exactly you're doing wrong...2x Fury druids with Grizzly and merc shouldn't have too many problems in Hell???

Once upon a time, there was a party of 1 asn + 3 druids on SCL. In the party, my most recent Lightening-based trapsin had to kill almost all the Lightening-Immune beetles in Hell act2, while 3 Druids (roughly at the same levels around 80) could only somewhat provide a little help (OAK, cold/fire dmg, minion support, etc). At one spot we ran into a very tough dual immune beetle with teleportation. They started to drop like flies (BTW, my asn, wearing junk gear at that time, has never died in Hell). We never really talked so I don't know why a druid around lvl 80 could ever die that quickly.

Again in Hell act2, the same asn later had the help from a Fury druid, who was using a phoenix with 9.5 K max dmg according to what he told us. In that 6ppl? game, his killing speed was very, very impressive. My trapsin closely followed him to keep Death Sentries out wherever he went. His Fury + DS could clear most places even before all other ppl could catch up with us.

The above was just my xp.

My SCL Fury druid (a full str build) is only lvl 28. He's been doing extremely well so far. But I have the same question: what's the best obtainable runeword or wpn for him after lvl 80? eBotD is unlikely what I will get for him.

 

[Chimaira]

I think the best weapon for a Fury Druid would be a perfect ethereal Tomb Reaver with 2x 15% IAS/40% enhanced damage jewels and a Zod. Huge damage and 7/4 Fury along with a nice chunk of resists and magic find...über.

 

[ChthonVII]

For my 2 cents, the reason your getting torn apart is the fact that your using a two-handed weapon. Although two-handers have higher damage and "hidden IAS for druids" (which just means that druids aren't as horribly slow with them as other classes), those benefits simply don't justify the lack of a shield. Wolves have NO defense boosting skills whatsoever -- all you get is your dex + your items -- which means you will get hit, A LOT. Unless you intend to build a druid that can simply take all these hits and keep going (and if you can't afford above mal, that's going to be too expensive), you're going to have to get a shield to avoid getting torn apart.

Now, what shield? Stormshield, of course. As for your new, one-handed weapon, if you like ebotd so much, try a zerker; it gets 5fps. (Although phys immunes are a serious problem.) My personal favorite is stormlash, which reaches 5fps (shael-ed), sports almost as much CB as ribcracker, and zaps a large part of the screen with static field very frequently. Although I've never been able to afford one (non-ladder), I hear azurewrath is also excellent (especially ber-ed). Another (cheaper) option is fleshripper, which has nice CB and tons of lovely status effects, but only reaches 6fps (shael-ed).

 

[PyroStock]

Even poor Werewolves don't need shields if played and built correctly. I have Werewolves who don't use shields and they do just fine anywhere in Hell. And I have no rune above Mal or runeword made with a rune above Mal.

 

[JihadJesus]

For my 2 cents, the reason your getting torn apart is the fact that your using a two-handed weapon. Although two-handers have higher damage and "hidden IAS for druids" (which just means that druids aren't as horribly slow with them as other classes), those benefits simply don't justify the lack of a shield. Wolves have NO defense boosting skills whatsoever -- all you get is your dex + your items -- which means you will get hit, A LOT. Unless you intend to build a druid that can simply take all these hits and keep going (and if you can't afford above mal, that's going to be too expensive), you're going to have to get a shield to avoid getting torn apart.

I'm sorry, but that's just not true. Well, let me make a caveat:unless you play like a total newbie and just run into the middle of any pack you can find and start to Fury away. drop the bear right into the middle, wait for the merc to catch up, strike from the edges, and you'll get hit a lot less. With almost 100% leech from feral rage, you'll leech back more than you take, especially packing such a high damage weapon. Which isn't to say a shield can't be beneficial, but its hardly an absolute necessity.

 

[Tom123]

I don't need any more tips, I'll see how it goes. Thanks!

 

[ChthonVII]

I'm sorry, but that's just not true. Well, let me make a caveat:unless you play like a total newbie and just run into the middle of any pack you can find and start to Fury away. drop the bear right into the middle, wait for the merc to catch up, strike from the edges, and you'll get hit a lot less. With almost 100% leech from feral rage, you'll leech back more than you take, especially packing such a high damage weapon. Which isn't to say a shield can't be beneficial, but its hardly an absolute necessity.

"Any pack of monsters" isn't a threat to any druid of a decent level. No doubt almost any druid at all can strike from the edges of a normal pack distracted by the bear and merc and kill it easily. (For that matter, a good druid with a sheild can rush right into the middle ("like a total newbie") and kill them in half the time...) It's the rare nasty pack of monsters one has to worry about. (And it's the rare nasty pack that's taking Tom apart.) Try soloing a nasty spawn of players-8 lister and friends or a nice extra stong, extra fast, fanaticism enchanted pack of minotaur demons. Drop the bear in the middle and it'll be dead before you can blink. Leave the merc to tank alone while you stike from the edges and he dies. You've got to tank those yourself. And, without some uber gear (which Tom says he can't afford), you just can't do that with no blocking.

Question: how many points did you sink into feral rage to have around 100% life steal? Why?

Last thing: I'm well aware that many folks around here seem to think that two-handers are the only way to go. But I don't think most of these folks remember what it's like to try to build a character on the cheap.

 

[PyroStock]

My Werewolves (Hardcore and Softcore) were built "on the cheap" including no trading and they never need/needed shields in any area of Hell. Not that 2-handed is the only way to go and it doesn't hurt to try a shield if a WW is having problems, but Barbs and Werebears are not the only ones that do very well with 2-handed melee weapons simply because they have defense. Don't forget there are many creatures who have attacks that completely ignore defense, like those nice extra stong, extra fast, fanaticism enchanted pack of minotaur demons you mentioned. So I hardly see how having a defense skill would have changed anything in that scenario.

 

[ChthonVII]

Don't forget there are many creatures who have attacks that completely ignore defense, like those nice extra stong, extra fast, fanaticism enchanted pack of minotaur demons you mentioned. So I hardly see how having a defense skill would have changed anything in that scenario.

Indeed, defense would not help, but 75% chance to block would, that's my point. Barbs and werebears both have huge def that gets them past other threats (like lister), and happen to have moving-target/crowd-control skills (WW & shockwave) that keep them from taking too many hits against ITD threats. With neither of these capabilities, a werewolf is going to either use a sheild or take a lot of hits against either set of threats. Some druids, well built and equipped can take those hits, but, as he mentioned as his primary problem, Tom's druid can't take those hits.

I'm not saying that 2-handers are a bad idea all around, or even that one-hander + sheild is a better idea in general. I'm simply saying that when someone is having survivability issues, telling them to get a bigger, better (more expensive) weapon is not the best advice (especially if they can't really afford what you recommend). Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, but sometimes it's a sheild.

 

[Tom123]

Indeed, defense would not help, but 75% chance to block would, that's my point. Barbs and werebears both have huge def that gets them past other threats (like lister), and happen to have moving-target/crowd-control skills (WW & shockwave) that keep them from taking too many hits against ITD threats. With neither of these capabilities, a werewolf is going to either use a sheild or take a lot of hits against either set of threats. Some druids, well built and equipped can take those hits, but, as he mentioned as his primary problem, Tom's druid can't take those hits.

I'm not saying that 2-handers are a bad idea all around, or even that one-hander + sheild is a better idea in general. I'm simply saying that when someone is having survivability issues, telling them to get a bigger, better (more expensive) weapon is not the best advice (especially if they can't really afford what you recommend). Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, but sometimes it's a sheild.

I think the shield idea was good, had I foreseen my pronlem. Turns out my dex is way too low to use it effectively :S. So, what I'm doing now is interchanging feral rage with fury, then switching to reapers for immune to phys, keeping merc alive and grizzly up at all times. Still don't have Dracs on because I play so little. I'm also going to make Gloom and put Saracens Chance on so my res will be 50+ on all.

 

[PyroStock]

My 2-handed Werewolves have/had no problems with Hell Lister at all. Strategic positioning, HolyFreeze Merc + my pets handle crowd control just fine. The Barb also doesn't have a vine healing him. All damage goes to the Barb and his Merc, unlike a Druid. And I would hardly call Whirlwind a safety skill in Hell. Werewolves also block slower than most characters. If Tom can get a Stormshield he can get an IK Maul... I think he would be wise to try both.

Indeed, defense would not help, but 75% chance to block would

If he was having problems, why would he have several unused stats points to drop in DEX for Max Block even by Act5?

 

[PyroStock]

And definitely get some resists...That's probably your main problem.

I agree with this, especially lightning resist. I doubt the problem is the weapon (or anything with a shield). 2 Werewolves teamed up should do fine in Hell, even starting at L75. At any rate Tom sounds like he's doing better.

 

[HCTwinJava]

putting a shield on a Fury-based wolf just does even feel good.


the reasons:

- they do less dmg with a shield, for sure. Equally for sure, if they have access to the best gear in the game (like a 1h wpn with 600+ max dmg and 40% IAS), their dmg may still be high enough. But it's still less than if they use a fast 2h wpn with 1K+ max dmg, assuming the same CB% etc.

- 75% blocking is good, but blocking itself puts them in very bad shape in the middle of a tight fight.

- if they run, they block at 25%. if they walk, they slow themselves down.

- A wolf has the fastest hit recovery among all classes, but he can only block with a shield as slowly as a sorceress.

- Generally, a wolf being pounded at is no big deal (with exceptions for sure). if they have enough% of dmg going to mana, they don't even need mana leech.

- Incidentally, their defense rating is also not very important (or say, not as much as for a Barb). Their resists do matter.

- Fast, faster, fastest - that's the motto for any serious Fury werewolf!!!



I've played several fury wolves since 1.09, all but the most recent are in HC (or HCL). They might use a shield for getting extra resists during lvl up. But I don't invest anything in their dex/eng. They all have high str, high vita, no dex, no energy. In general, they did fine - the physical immune and MSLE back in 1.09 were the only problems they could not handle. I built my current Fury wolf after I restarted to play d2 a month ago. At lvl 45, he has 165 str, 1.6K life with a lvl 9 oak or 1.2K if in town. He had 1.0k+ life from lvl 25. He charges into any monster group (Normal Lister's included) with no 2nd thought since he was born. When he attacked at beetles in act2/5, a screen full of lightning bolts killed even his own merc. Yes, I've been playing him totally like a newbie ;-) I don't care. never a problem. never died. Well, ofc, he won't Fury if IM'ed, which is probably the only thing so far that may kill him.

This SC wolf is a cheap build. I haven't even got a Jalal's yet. But I'll trade for a best 2h wpn for him to fit into his "savage" (noobish!?) play style.


A HF merc for a 1.10 Fury wolf in SC, best or just good enough?



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

Fast, faster, fastest - that's the motto for any serious Fury werewolf!!! If you die in eithe pvm or pvp, that's only because you were too slow to even survive.

 

[Tom123]

.............anyway, I am now using dracs so I get a nice life steal boost and become effectively indestructible with life tap on. My grizzly is tanking really well and I am trying to keep feral rage up while using fury, which works a charm. Thanks for the help everyone!