Wolf Pack Build -- Thoughts?

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TonyBone

Diabloii.Net Member
Wolf Pack Build -- Thoughts?

I've just started my first 1.10 druid and thought I'd build him as what I'm calling a Wolf Pack. I've read Dragoon's guide (excellent BTW) and thought I'd give this variation a go. It's primarily built around Werewolf and dire wolves and wanted to know if this was a viable, survivable build. Its for PvM and absolutely not PvP (I don't care for PvP).

I haven't worked out my gear yet, but what I'm really looking for on insight on the skills I've selected. Below is my skill plan and my rationale

SHAPESHIFTING
Werewolf (20) - focus of build so probably goes without saying
Lycanthropy (20) - focus of build so probably goes without saying
Feral Rage (1) - Decent life leech + gear will LL also.
Rabies (1) - prerequisite for fury
Fury (20) - primary attack
All other SS skills (0) - not interested in bear form or shared skills.

ELEMENTAL
Artic Blast (1) - prerequisite for Cyclone Armor
Cyclone Armor (1) - damage absorb boosted with +skill items
All other elemental skills - (0) not a focus of the build

SUMMONING
Oak Sage (10) - life boost needed plus flexibility if partied with another druid
Heart of Wolverine (10) - attack boost if needed plus flexibility if partied with another druid
Raven (1) - prerequisite for other creature summons
Spirit Wolves (1) - prerequisite for other creature summons
Dire Wolves (20) - Other focus of build. Crowd control and meat shields. Plus I thought it would be cool to have a werewolf run with a pack.
Grizzly Bear - (2) - another meat shield option boosted by +skills
Poison Creeper (1) - prerequisite for carrion vine
Carrion Vine (1) - a little life recovery never hurts. A nice 1 pointer. Also stops reviving creatures (ex:Act 2 undead)
Spirit of Barbs & Solar Creeper (0) - Mana not needed and the damage from barbs is minimal.

There you have it. Here's what I need help with. Will this survive in Hell? Are the wolves able to stand alone or am I going to be spending too much time recasting them as they die off? Do you think this build will be very gear dependant?

Any insight, thoughts or suggestions are most welcome. Thanks all!
 
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aragorn-18

Banned
It looks ok, but for the dire wolves i prefer the grizzly, he stands longer then the wolves.
And the skills as you say them now are not that easy to get there. You should end up in about lvl 95 to end this build as you say it.
 
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TonyBone

Diabloii.Net Member
aragorn-18 said:
And the skills as you say them now are not that easy to get there. You should end up in about lvl 95 to end this build as you say it.
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That's a given. I've actually accounted for all 110 skill points so it goes to level 99. My first priority would be all the other skills, then I'd work last on the spirits. Just dumping a point in each early to get a quick little boost.

Thanks for the feeback.
 
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psuedoenviro

Diabloii.Net Member
PvM means you shouldn't have too many problems hitting things. I would suggest no more than 10 to Werewolf and let any +skills you get bring you up if needed. If you want your wolves to do damage, you should add more points to grizzly. I am a fan of picking one spirit and sticking to it, it survives alot easier in hell. Wolves will struggle in hell and are not very good against bosses.
 
Dogbert

Dogbert

Diabloii.Net Member
psuedoenviro said:
PvM means you shouldn't have too many problems hitting things. I would suggest no more than 10 to Werewolf and let any +skills you get bring you up if needed. If you want your wolves to do damage, you should add more points to grizzly. I am a fan of picking one spirit and sticking to it, it survives alot easier in hell. Wolves will struggle in hell and are not very good against bosses.
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Good points. My summoner had level 40+ summons. Grizzly was very durable and dished out some great damage. Enraged wolves were good too but rather weak individually, i used these when i needed more than one meatshield.
 
jgreg7

jgreg7

Diabloii.Net Member
I like theme builds. It's a shame spirit wolves aren't stronger, so you could have a larger pack!

I second the recommendations to pick only one spirit and max it. If you want the wolves mainly as meat shields, then go with Oak Sage.

You do get a bigger boost to wolf damage from points in their skill than in grizzly, but you should put at least one point into the grizzly anyway. The first point gives the highest incremental returns, plus you can take advantage of any +skills and the bear is handy against bosses. (In other words, 20 & 2 points sounds pretty good to me.)
 
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GhostOfValor

Diabloii.Net Member
If you do choose to go with only 10 in WW (Which i think you should) you should throw your extra 10 into bear. I would say 5 in bear and 5 in cyclone armor but its basically pointless because, unless cyclone is maxed it wont take a heap of damage like some might be used to. It can become a hastle to have to recast it after every single wave you are put up against.
 
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lextalionis

Diabloii.Net Member
Problems

You'll never get to 99. This is a given. So if you are actually putting points into Spirits last, I think you'll be dissappointed by how often you have to recast your spirits. Max one and max it early. Here's why:

1. More points will boost the life and resistances of your spirit. Spirits seem draw a lot of fire in PvM, so keeping it alive during a fight is very important.

2. You are spending a lot of points to get good minions, at least Spirits will boost your minions too. I realize you can recast your wolfpack, but you need them to live through things like Diablo fire blast, etc. And you want them to damage.

OTHER BIG PROBLEM

All your damage is physical. I think it would behove you to max rabies and get poison creeper from the ring or put points into it and forget casting carrion vine. Rabies is a legitimate killing weapon and your wolf pack will keep them off of you long enough for the poison to do its damage. Potions can take care of your life regeneration. Even if you have to just focus on collecting rejuvs because of the size of your hitpoints pool.

I think your build is inherently very defensive. All the points in WW and Lycanthropy. I would focus more on offensive. Rabies, You might not need to max Fury, since you get all the hits with just one point.

I would focus more like this:

20 Rabies
20 Fury
20 Poison Creeper (if you don't want/have a Carrion Wind Ring)
20 Oak Sage (I think this will make up for the lack of life on yourself and minions)
10 Grizzly
10 Wolves that you cast all the time.

Last spliting points in Grizzly and Wolves

No points in Cyclone Armor, at the level you wil be able to cast it, I wouldn't think it will last long at all, save the two points for something else.


EQUIPMENT & MERCS

Think about auras that will help all your minions. Might Mercs are very nice, but there are a lot of new runewords that also work well in Bows so act 1 mercs are also good.
 
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