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Cane druids are fucking abominably good. Tornado + hurricane is probably my favorite druid build.
The thing is, you don't really want to put more than 1 point into something if you're not going to max it. It's kind of the elitist d2 effect, but you only max the good skills and the synergies, and only plop other points down into skills on the path to getting the good ones. Plus, by level 65 or so, you'll have a lot of stuff that gives you + to skills, so you take that into account in the early levels.
at level 85, my cane druid has level 28 Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, and Hurricane. Everything else has 1 point in it, bringing them to 7 or 9, depending on what tree.
Yeah... but see the thing is I didn't want to have an uber god of a character, so I thought I would go summons and elementals as something different. I'm not too worried if I wasted a few points on the fire elementals, as they have been much more use up to this point than the frost/wind elementals. Seems like people agree though that Hurricane is better than volcano?
jeddy lee on
Backlog Challenge: 0%
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PS2
FF X replay
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Prince of Persia
Oh, wow that sounds way better. And I was confusing Armageddon and Volcano. Perhaps what I will do is focus on Armageddon and my bear from here on out. My vine takes care of health regen, but if Hurricane is just surrounding me, what should I spam? Attack? The little tornado's or whatever they are that shoots out two or so seemed to be pretty worthless on chapter two when I first got that far.
jeddy lee on
Backlog Challenge: 0%
0/8
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
Twister is entirely useless except for synergies. Tornado is where it's at. Just for reference, at skill level 28, my tornadoes are doing 2924-3116, plus synergies though. My twister does 585-625, and while there are three of them and they stun for .4 seconds, 600 damage is chump change in Hell. Also consider that tornado hits multiple enemies on its path, so that's several kills right there.
With hurricane up, you can either spam whatever elemental attack really, or just use your basic attack. You won't do any spectacular damage with the basic attack, depending on your weapon, but at least it's something.
Cane druids are fucking abominably good. Tornado + hurricane is probably my favorite druid build.
The thing is, you don't really want to put more than 1 point into something if you're not going to max it. It's kind of the elitist d2 effect, but you only max the good skills and the synergies, and only plop other points down into skills on the path to getting the good ones. Plus, by level 65 or so, you'll have a lot of stuff that gives you + to skills, so you take that into account in the early levels.
at level 85, my cane druid has level 28 Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, and Hurricane. Everything else has 1 point in it, bringing them to 7 or 9, depending on what tree.
Yeah... but see the thing is I didn't want to have an uber god of a character, so I thought I would go summons and elementals as something different. I'm not too worried if I wasted a few points on the fire elementals, as they have been much more use up to this point than the frost/wind elementals. Seems like people agree though that Hurricane is better than volcano?
Fire druids (or fire/summon hybrids, which any good fire druid is to some extent) are an interesting breed. There are so many fire synergies that you really have to focus a little bit. You keep comparing Hurricane to Volcano but I think you mean Armageddon. Regardless, my suggestion (and I have some experience here -- many druids to 70+ on hardcore ladder, including all fire, all wind, all summon, and various hyrbids) is to ignore both Hurricane and Armageddon.
Hurricane is not useful for damage whatsoever. The slow effect is nice but the problem with a fire/summon druid is that your skill points are so tight, going down the wind side of the elemental tree takes too many points. That is also an argument against Armageddon, the other argument being that Armageddon is worthless crap. It's too random to be effectively used with a fire build. Fire builds are all about positioning, maintaining the proper distance/formation with regards to mobs. The best way to use Armageddon is to cast it and then have mobs run after you into it. Thus the playstyle is not compatible.
But that's okay! Because the other fire spells are just so awesome. Molten bolder does an absurd amount of single-target damage to anything that can be knocked back by it because it hits approximately a kajillion times. The trick to controlling molten bolder knockback is this: it always knocks monsters back directly away from wherever your character is currently standing. Which means you could theoretically shoot a bolder at an incoming monster, teleport to the other side of that monster, and the bolder would then knock the monster in the opposite direction the bolder is rolling, making it pass through the bolder. It's a little weird but once you play with it a few times, it's intuitive enough. The thing with bolder is to never use it on something that can't be knocked back and to not think of it as an AoE attack -- because it's not.
Fissure is. Fissure ruins mobs like nothing else. It's straightforward enough but there are a few caveats, namely that it hits every two frames but is limited by monster hit recovery (you can test this by casting it on a fire immune fallen in hell: it will hit him blazingly fast). This means that mobs with a higher hit recovery take more damage -- much more. Also, mobs that move faster -- to a point -- take more damage.
Volcano and firestorm are your single-target killers for things that can't be knocked back by bolder. Volcano is the weaker of the two but easiest to use. Put it under the monster's feet and let it do its thing. Obviously, something needs to hold the monster still like a merc or a bear -- but still. It can't be used next to walls and, like bolder, don't think of it as an AoE. Firestorm is the stronger spell though. The thing to know about Firestorm is that, so long as your mouse doesn't move, it doesn't change its path. So tie up the monster with a bear or merc or something, find the position that makes all three fire snakes hit (or just get in melee range) and keep shooting.
And get the bear. My usual fire build is max bear, max oak sage, the rest in the four fire skills just mentioned. The bear is incredibly useful and does decent damage at higher levels. But his main use is getting the mobs to be still. Don't be afraid to resummon him to position him where you want him.
Obviously, this is a bit more information than you asked for, but I couldn't help it because I freaking love fire druids. 8-)
Jesus I fucking hate Act 3 so much. It's so DULL... Run around in a direction for 15 minutes only to find out it's a dead end then you backtrack to the start and can't seem to find a way to get around, only to find out it wasn't really a dead end, there's a small path you can take from that...
I should have gotten teleport.
urahonky on
0
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
So, nightmare mephisto would like to know if there's anyone in the house that would like this:
NEO|Phyte on
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Yeargh. You rat bastards have me wanting to play this again. I've always been a huge Sorc whore ( F Orb). Maybe I'll make a CL-Orb Sorc. Although all this Druid and Paladin talk is getting my interest...
a penguin on
This space eventually to be filled with excitement
Jesus I fucking hate Act 3 so much. It's so DULL... Run around in a direction for 15 minutes only to find out it's a dead end then you backtrack to the start and can't seem to find a way to get around, only to find out it wasn't really a dead end, there's a small path you can take from that...
I should have gotten teleport.
Well, start working through your god-damned school project already, and you and I will finish act III this weekend. I can just gain levels and make Durial runs until then.
jeddy lee on
Backlog Challenge: 0%
0/8
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
So, nightmare mephisto would like to know if there's anyone in the house that would like this:
My energyshield/enchant sorc may like to have it. That is, if no one else wants it. I have a sword that'll give me a +2 to fire skills, but I forget the other stats at the moment.
Edit: also, in the early levels, a few easily-attainable pieces of gear will help you out tremendously. A Stealth Runeword Breast Plate (Tal+Eth) includes cast speed, run/walk, and hit recovery. Then try to shop (act 2-3 normal is good for this) a +20% cast speed, +5 mana after each kill wand. That will help out mana consumption a lot. And if you really want to go all out, get a 3-socket helm and put Tirs in it. That will give you a total of +11 mana after each kill, effectively ending the need for mana pots.
More tips:
If you're running Normal Countess for the Tirs on Ladder, duly note that Spirit (tal thul ort amn) in a sword is a good idea for casters.
If you're levelling by yourself, clearing Tristram in groups is the fastest way to gain exp until level 15. Then Tombs until 21, cows until 25, then Baal. It's unlikely that you can arrange all this in precision without help (in which case a rush is your best bet anyway), so just use this as a rough guide as to games to join. Assuming you just want to level as fast as possible, of course.
If you have a stronger alt, you can actually run yourself through Act II, sort of. Help some pubbies through Act II. After Duriel goes down, but before anyone talks to Tyrael, bring your weaker alt in and join the party. The game will say that the quest can't be completed, but once someone talks to Tyrael, the quest will complete anyway.
I might as well throw someone a bone I got some stuff to give away more than likely, SCL, the account is letum, only ask if you really need it. I'll be on for most of the night. Being sick sucks.
You guys have reminded me how much I liked my wind druid, and I may need to do that instead... building a smiter from scratch was maybe not the best idea...
yah smiters are hard to get around with. I'm sitting in pa1//wang on east if someone needs me. But yah seriously someone take these shakos off my hands I have like 5 or 7.
I've heard a lot of people mention "HOTO" as the weapon of choice for a hammerdin. A little research got me the actual name, Heart of the Oak, but what kind of weapon is it exactly? A mace? A sword? I was looking on the Arreat Summit website since they have a pretty good listing of uniques and I couldn't find it.
I've heard a lot of people mention "HOTO" as the weapon of choice for a hammerdin. A little research got me the actual name, Heart of the Oak, but what kind of weapon is it exactly? A mace? A sword? I was looking on the Arreat Summit website since they have a pretty good listing of uniques and I couldn't find it.
It's a runeword made in four-socket maces/staves. I wouldn't get your hopes up.
And it is far faster to do it that way if you multitask, since you don't have to be around to switch disks for the install, but the download itself will take a couple of hours most likely.
Yeah, HotO is the best for a lot of casters, and it requires trading for almost-certainly duped high-runes to put in a weapon (generally a plain old flail with 4 sockets, since you don't care about the melee stats and it has the lowest requirements). Everything high-end in D2 these days involves trading for fake high-runes, though, so it's pretty expected.
Hmm, if people are starting to pop up on West, I might as well not sell my stuff. I've got a untwinked Druid summoner on HC west, I can probably help you out. I'm open to making a new character though.
Hey so whats a good website to check for character builds? Im doing the Wolf Druid and I dont want to end up screwing myself in the end. If anyone could help then thank you. If not. I WILL KILL YOU!
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
0
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
Irony: Discussing the awesome explodiness that is Corpse Explosion with someone, followed shortly by getting oneshot by Nihilitak with said skill.
NEO|Phyte on
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Hey so whats a good website to check for character builds? Im doing the Wolf Druid and I dont want to end up screwing myself in the end. If anyone could help then thank you. If not. I WILL KILL YOU!
Diii.net forums has stickies at the top of each classes' forum with links to builds.
I want a team of 1-2 summoning necros, with 2 pallies with Maxed thornes aura and a maxed Might aura.
Mmmmmmmm
I believe the offensive act 2 merc has the might aura, just saying. You can have a ton of active auras going on with pallies+act 2 mercs. And this isn't even taking into account the expensive runewords that have auras as well.
lordswing on
D2:LoD East -> *FlipPaulHewitt
0
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
I want a team of 1-2 summoning necros, with 2 pallies with Maxed thornes aura and a maxed Might aura.
Mmmmmmmm
I believe the offensive act 2 merc has the might aura, just saying. You can have a ton of active auras going on with pallies+act 2 mercs. And this isn't even taking into account the expensive runewords that have auras as well.
Makes me miss the Lads. Fun times, 8 paladins, all with different auras.
NEO|Phyte on
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
I want a team of 1-2 summoning necros, with 2 pallies with Maxed thornes aura and a maxed Might aura.
Mmmmmmmm
I believe the offensive act 2 merc has the might aura, just saying. You can have a ton of active auras going on with pallies+act 2 mercs. And this isn't even taking into account the expensive runewords that have auras as well.
Makes me miss the Lads. Fun times, 8 paladins, all with different auras.
Hey so whats a good website to check for character builds? Im doing the Wolf Druid and I dont want to end up screwing myself in the end. If anyone could help then thank you. If not. I WILL KILL YOU!
Diii.net forums has stickies at the top of each classes' forum with links to builds.
Thank you kind sir!
mastrius on
"You're like a kitten! A kitten who doesn't speak Japanese." ~ Juliet Starling
0
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
Guess who's a goddamn tease.
NEO|Phyte on
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Hey so whats a good website to check for character builds? Im doing the Wolf Druid and I dont want to end up screwing myself in the end. If anyone could help then thank you. If not. I WILL KILL YOU!
Diii.net forums has stickies at the top of each classes' forum with links to builds.
Thank you kind sir!
If you just want a build, your standard wolf druid is pretty straightforward: max fury, max werewolf, max lycanthropy, max feral rage, max oak sage. That takes you to level 90 or so. Do whatever you want after that. For stats, same as everyone: enough str/dex for gear, no energy, rest vitality. Or if you're in softcore, more str/dex as you see fit.
Posts
Yeah... but see the thing is I didn't want to have an uber god of a character, so I thought I would go summons and elementals as something different. I'm not too worried if I wasted a few points on the fire elementals, as they have been much more use up to this point than the frost/wind elementals. Seems like people agree though that Hurricane is better than volcano?
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
Hurricane spawns a ring around you, anything inside that ring takes x amount of cold damage per second and is frozen.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
With hurricane up, you can either spam whatever elemental attack really, or just use your basic attack. You won't do any spectacular damage with the basic attack, depending on your weapon, but at least it's something.
Fire druids (or fire/summon hybrids, which any good fire druid is to some extent) are an interesting breed. There are so many fire synergies that you really have to focus a little bit. You keep comparing Hurricane to Volcano but I think you mean Armageddon. Regardless, my suggestion (and I have some experience here -- many druids to 70+ on hardcore ladder, including all fire, all wind, all summon, and various hyrbids) is to ignore both Hurricane and Armageddon.
Hurricane is not useful for damage whatsoever. The slow effect is nice but the problem with a fire/summon druid is that your skill points are so tight, going down the wind side of the elemental tree takes too many points. That is also an argument against Armageddon, the other argument being that Armageddon is worthless crap. It's too random to be effectively used with a fire build. Fire builds are all about positioning, maintaining the proper distance/formation with regards to mobs. The best way to use Armageddon is to cast it and then have mobs run after you into it. Thus the playstyle is not compatible.
But that's okay! Because the other fire spells are just so awesome. Molten bolder does an absurd amount of single-target damage to anything that can be knocked back by it because it hits approximately a kajillion times. The trick to controlling molten bolder knockback is this: it always knocks monsters back directly away from wherever your character is currently standing. Which means you could theoretically shoot a bolder at an incoming monster, teleport to the other side of that monster, and the bolder would then knock the monster in the opposite direction the bolder is rolling, making it pass through the bolder. It's a little weird but once you play with it a few times, it's intuitive enough. The thing with bolder is to never use it on something that can't be knocked back and to not think of it as an AoE attack -- because it's not.
Fissure is. Fissure ruins mobs like nothing else. It's straightforward enough but there are a few caveats, namely that it hits every two frames but is limited by monster hit recovery (you can test this by casting it on a fire immune fallen in hell: it will hit him blazingly fast). This means that mobs with a higher hit recovery take more damage -- much more. Also, mobs that move faster -- to a point -- take more damage.
Volcano and firestorm are your single-target killers for things that can't be knocked back by bolder. Volcano is the weaker of the two but easiest to use. Put it under the monster's feet and let it do its thing. Obviously, something needs to hold the monster still like a merc or a bear -- but still. It can't be used next to walls and, like bolder, don't think of it as an AoE. Firestorm is the stronger spell though. The thing to know about Firestorm is that, so long as your mouse doesn't move, it doesn't change its path. So tie up the monster with a bear or merc or something, find the position that makes all three fire snakes hit (or just get in melee range) and keep shooting.
And get the bear. My usual fire build is max bear, max oak sage, the rest in the four fire skills just mentioned. The bear is incredibly useful and does decent damage at higher levels. But his main use is getting the mobs to be still. Don't be afraid to resummon him to position him where you want him.
Obviously, this is a bit more information than you asked for, but I couldn't help it because I freaking love fire druids. 8-)
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
I should have gotten teleport.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Well, start working through your god-damned school project already, and you and I will finish act III this weekend. I can just gain levels and make Durial runs until then.
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
My energyshield/enchant sorc may like to have it. That is, if no one else wants it. I have a sword that'll give me a +2 to fire skills, but I forget the other stats at the moment.
More tips:
If you're running Normal Countess for the Tirs on Ladder, duly note that Spirit (tal thul ort amn) in a sword is a good idea for casters.
If you're levelling by yourself, clearing Tristram in groups is the fastest way to gain exp until level 15. Then Tombs until 21, cows until 25, then Baal. It's unlikely that you can arrange all this in precision without help (in which case a rush is your best bet anyway), so just use this as a rough guide as to games to join. Assuming you just want to level as fast as possible, of course.
If you have a stronger alt, you can actually run yourself through Act II, sort of. Help some pubbies through Act II. After Duriel goes down, but before anyone talks to Tyrael, bring your weaker alt in and join the party. The game will say that the quest can't be completed, but once someone talks to Tyrael, the quest will complete anyway.
Also, I'm just going to leave this here...
It's a runeword made in four-socket maces/staves. I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Runeword list
Can't you just register the cd-key on the Blizzard website and just download the game from there?
I suppose I could. Just seems like it'd be faster if I could get the stupid disks to work. :P Thanks, though. Didn't think about that.
Yeah, HotO is the best for a lot of casters, and it requires trading for almost-certainly duped high-runes to put in a weapon (generally a plain old flail with 4 sockets, since you don't care about the melee stats and it has the lowest requirements). Everything high-end in D2 these days involves trading for fake high-runes, though, so it's pretty expected.
The naming I'm using for creating games is from our last D2 game on: PAHNR/wang
PA: duh
H: Hardcore
NR: Normal
NM: Nightmare
If we all stick with that naming convention we can easily join each other's games when we login.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
Steam
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Mmmmmmmm
Diii.net forums has stickies at the top of each classes' forum with links to builds.
I believe the offensive act 2 merc has the might aura, just saying. You can have a ton of active auras going on with pallies+act 2 mercs. And this isn't even taking into account the expensive runewords that have auras as well.
Makes me miss the Lads. Fun times, 8 paladins, all with different auras.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
That was awesome.
Thank you kind sir!
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
EDIT: I'm going to create PAHNR1/wang
If someone from PAHNR sees this, msg me in game.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
What level is your char? I'm lev 18 and about to hit the palace in act 2.
EDIT: Also, what's your account name?
http://steamcommunity.com/id/idolninja
If you just want a build, your standard wolf druid is pretty straightforward: max fury, max werewolf, max lycanthropy, max feral rage, max oak sage. That takes you to level 90 or so. Do whatever you want after that. For stats, same as everyone: enough str/dex for gear, no energy, rest vitality. Or if you're in softcore, more str/dex as you see fit.