Druid Guide- New Build? Sneak Peak!

[TurfTalker]

Druid Guide- New Build? Sneak Peak!

Hi-ya. Just been thinking of a new idea for a build for a couple of months now, so I thought I'd share.

Ideas for names for this new build are much welcome:laugh:

This build is a druid that ultilizes both Armeggeddon, and Hurrican as his main attack, while avoiding danger with the use of Cyclone armor.

Stats
Strength- Enough for heaviest piece of equipment.
Dex- Enough to wield your weapon, unless going max block route, then add accordingly.
Vitality- Everything else
Energy- Aww give it some love! Put 1 point here!:grin:

Some equip ideas are:
Helm:
Ravenlore
+3 elemental
+7 raven (cool addition just for kicks!)
+20-30 energy
-10% enemy fire res(awesome!!!)
all res +15-25

There are other, ie shako, +2 druid circlet etc... this just seems like the perfect helm for the build!

Wep:
HotO
+3 skills
40% fcr
max mana 15%
res +30-40

Spirit
+2 skills
25-35% fcr
55% fhr
+22 vital
89-112 mana
+3-8 magic absorb

There are others such as wizpike and whatnot, but these two seems like prime competitors for this build. I guess it all depends on whether or not you really want that extra +1 skill point from HotO. Imo Spirit>HotO. Only use wiz or HotO if you're severely lacking in res, which you shouldn't be if you follow the equip i've suggested.

Shield:
Spirit
(see above)

Or if your one who wants to go the max block route, it goes without saying... Slap on a Storm Shield.

Gloves:
Magefist
+1 fire skills(sweet!)
20% fcr
Regen mana +25%

Boots:
Rare tri-res

Waterwalks(for the extra dex if going max block route)

Ammy:
Maras

+3 ele ammy

Rings:

This is really up to you. If your lacking cbf, use raven, which will also add dex to aid you if you decide to take the max block route. Other choices would be SoJ, or FCR rings.

Belt:
Arachnid
+1 skills
+20 FCR

Verdungos
I'm sure we're all familiar with the benefits of this belt. Use if you're going for max PDR.

And last but not least....

Armor:
(obvious choices) Enigma, CoH

Something overlooked- Ormus Robe. +10-15% fire skill dmg, +10-15% cold skill dmg, benefitting both of your main skills, yay! +20% FCR, regen mana 10-15%.

Other choices include: vipermagi, que-heagan, 10/10 fire/cold facets, 20/20 fire, 20/20 cold. The reason I mention facet armor last is because since you are using so many synergies, you want as many +skills as possible, without them, +to ele dmg wont be very noticable.

Charms:
Ele skillers, anni, torch.

Finally the skills. I decided to add this last since I want to show you the benefits +skill equip will have on your final dmg output.

Your goal when choosing equip is to allow yourself +20 skill points from your setup, which really shouldn't be a problem, once you have a well organized inventory.

Skills:
Max Armaggeddon
Max Hurricane
Max cyclone armor
1 pt in all prequisits (all of these will be level 20 boosting your elemental dmg immensely!))

These are a must, the last 20-30 pts are really up to you.

If you went the max block route, I suggest pumping synergies to either geddon, or hurricane since the extra life from Oak Sage wont be a neccessity, and vice cersa. On the other hand, with all of these plus skills you could make a very fine Oak Sage, while still pumping synergys with the large amount of +skills you will receive<--------- I recommend this!

With a level 40 Armageddon and all synergies at level 20 (remember we only put 1 pt into these:thumbsup: ) you will achieve: 10170-11364 initial fire dmg, and 2010-2034 fire dmg/sec.

Same for Hurricane, and you will achieve: 2309-2424 cold dmg.

Cyclone Armor: Absorbs 3352 ele dmg, and boosts Hurricanes duration to 90 seconds.

With this build you will easily obtain a very solid def which includes:

max block or high life
high res /w elemental absorb
great manueverability
100%+ FHR
and multiple skills you can cast, and then leave em alone

You will also obtain a very solid offense:

huge fire dmg (/w -% enemy fire res)
huge cold dmg
150%+ FCR
20+ additional skills
great manueverability
insane dmg per/sec

Anyway, just an idea, tell me what you guys think!:azn:

 

[Bladewind]

+skills do not affect synergies.

So uhh your build will not work past NM.

 

[wildbillboy]

Name suggesting - Call it Disaster
What the post above me said is true so only base points spent in a skill boost the synergy - another reason for the name sadly.
Nice try, At least yours is not lvl 70's I hope? Mine was built in early 1.08 to 1.09 non ladder and is playable just not fun in hell.

 

[Osmium]

should try it through.....but with more synergy points.......

 

[Valvolux]

Hmm I like this idea, but firstly a few points, Hurricane's and Armageddon's duration to is capped at 50 seconds.

2nd Armageddon is an all or nothing type skill IMO, it needs to have lots invested in its synergies for it to really shine.

lvl 40 Armageddon (with no synergies) average 363 physical & 1626.5 fire damage;

lvl 40 Hurricane (with no synergies) average 607 cold damage;

As stated, looks like a fun NM build but I don't see it cutting it for hell, nice first attempt tho.

 

[Metathrom]

If you want a hybrid, a build focused on Fissure + Tornado would probably work better IMO... as these are the best PvM skills of their respective elements(Wind & Fire).

 

[MaxMax]

This is a fun build, but as mentioned it doesn't really work beyond nightmare.

If you should have any chance to do damage in hell, you will need to max tornado aswell and hit the max FCR Bp. And then I'd think the only reason to use this build is to be different (which is good thou.) instead of maxing twister too.

When I did this build, I had fun until hell, then it just got annoying....

 

[Ed from Russia]

i've just written a post about a similar build a few days ago. I am not sure if it will work, but I'm also considering trying.

I share most other comments - Hurricane is quite weak in damage and Armageddon is hard to work with. My thought is to sort-of use Hurricane and Armageddon as a kind aura. Hurricane can work as a Holy Freeze (except for weapon damage), but you don't need to max it for this. If you put in one point and max Cyclone Armor it will spin around you for 50 seconds, freezing most monsters for that duration, and long enough to make the fire skills kill them off.

Since Fissure is the synergy to prolong Armageddon I would use this as your main fire skill, possibily with synergy from Volcano. You will still need Cyclone Armor to make Hurrican 50 seconds, but maxed Cyclone Armor is far from useless. You can also choose to use Tornado (instead of Volcano as synergy), that would give you a 2nd source of damage though it would make your Fissure and Armageddon less effective.

Note that as boss killer you can switch back to Volcano (with synergies Fissure and Armageddon maxed.

Personally I would also invest 5 points into the summoning tree to get a Grizzly. This is a personal preference - a 2nd shield beside your Merc, in case monsters are not frozen by Hurricane and walk through your fissure. I would do this for any Elemental Druid, but I'm sure many will disagree.

This would make the skills something like this:
20 Fissure
20 Armageddon
20 Cyclone Armor
1 Hurricane
10-20 Volcano (synergy)
10-20 Tornado (synergy or backup skill)
5 Grizzle (+ prereq.)

The logical questions arising are:
1) Do you really need Hurricane at all?
I quite like the idea of slowing all creatures for 50 seconds, even if you deal no damage. Since you are not wasting skill points (if you consider Cyclone Armor useful), I'd argue: why not.
2) Will you be able to use Armageddon effectively if you also focus on Fissure? Because I've never played with Armageddon, I'm not sure. But the build is original, and I will definitely give it a try once I am ready for a new character.
3) How mana-intensive is this?
You'll cast Hurricane and Armageddon every 50 seconds, which is 30+35 = 65 mana. Apart from that you'll use Fissure most, which is 15 mana. With decent gear you may be able to get by with base energy, though you need to be prepared to invest a bit if you're often running low on mana.

Worth a try, if only because your Druid will look great when you have Hurricane and Armageddon on.

 

[bogie]

Ed, that build woulnt be half bad. I ran some numbers on it, and came up with the following with your skill setup and ideal gear.
Armageddon = 10.6k fire damage (after infinity)
Hurricane = 1200 cold damage (after infinity)
Tornado = 2.6k damage
Volcano = 4.6k fire damage (after infinity), 330 regular damage
Cyclone Armor = 1400+ elemental damage absorbed.
This is using
Ravenlore helm socketed with a perf fire facet
+3 ele ammy
Spirit Monarch
Engima
Hoto
Magefist
2 Soj
Arach
Torch
Anni
7 Ele gcs
Using Tornado as your main attack (left click) and using volcano on your right click (in between castings of hurrican+geddon) to kill enemies. You would be dealing fire, cold, and physical damage all at once :thumbsup:

 

[Ed from Russia]

Tnx for the numbers - I hadn't done that yet. Your recommendation to use Tornado and Volcano as main attack are probably correct - they are the strongest Elemental skills. I had in mind to focus on Fissure, but I will just need to try what works best I guess.

It will take a while before I'm starting this build (maybe a month from now), but I will send an update once I reach NM/Hell.

 

[bogie]

Seems my numbers were a little off, the damage is actually a lot higher than I thought for armageddon, (forget -10% fire resist on ravenlore and only added the -5 resist on the facet, not the +5% dmg ) its around 12k fire damage. As for fissure VS volcano, I just like the fact that volcano is very easy to aim (just throw underneath a monster) and spews countless 5k fire bolts. Most non-immunes will die in 3 fireballs even in late hell. Fissure would also be a very viable option, actually doing a bit more than volcano (but doesnt spew out 20+ bolts of lava). The only problems I see with the build is that you wont be finished until lvl 94 and that it needs some nice stuf to make it really effective. Cant wait for the update:thumbsup: .