Druid-specific Newbie Questions

[flugel]

Druid-specific Newbie Questions

Hi all. I posted in the Newcomer forum, but all my questions seem to have been about druids, so hopefully I can get a better response in here.

1). I've seen a couple of wind druid videos on Youtube, and what I want to know is; does the screen really jump around like that using those powers? Or was that just something the person who made the video did? That would make me ill to look at for hours on end.

2). For those with experience playing a Fury Werewolf, how difficult would that be for a 1st time player with no twink gear and no intentions of creating a battle.net account? I find the Fishymancer quite boring, and I'm still reading up on paladins, but I've found some interest in Fury WW.

3). How does this look for a Fury WW build?

20 WW
20 Lycan
3 Feral Rage
20 Fury
20 HoW
20 Dire Wolves
1 Carrion Vine
The rest in Prerequisites

That's actually probably cookie-cutter, but I haven't found enough guides yet to know what cookie cutter really is. I know a lot of people choose Oak Sage and Grizzly instead of HoW and Dire Wolves, just seems more thematic this way.

4). What can you guys tell me about Fire Claws and Rabies? I've noticed that many builds that have these only have 1 point in WW and Lycan. I don't get this, but as a newbie, I'm probably not supposed to. Would FC be good for a SP PvM build to battle physical immunes? Or is the damage to piddly?

5). I realize that the above build is built around charging Feral Rage and then Fury. Does Rabies/FC simply not fit in that attack plan? Too much button pushing?

6). I don't see a lot of summoner guides, and the ones I do go on about how they can't solo Hell with them. Is the summoning line just too weak to use as a primary spec? On the other hand, if I'm bored with Fishymancer, won't I be equally bored with animals, plants and spirits? Just don't like how they tend to wander off the screen picking fights lol.

7). I know the least about the fire druid so far. I'd imagine if one were going to want to be a fire spellcaster, they'd just chose sorceress? I had wondered why there were no Ele/SS builds, but now I know why.

8). Obviously the answer to a lot of my questions will be "It depends on your playstyle" or "play what you like". Problem with that, besides it being a cop-out response, is that I don't know what my playstyle is, or what I like yet. It's going to depend a lot upon the capabilities of a build to get me through the game on 3 different difficulty levels as a single-player. Can werewolves really survive melee combat against hundreds of demons per map? Are the elemental and summoning druids capable of mowing down enemies before they're roasted themselves?

9). Basic gameplay question: Do most people use /players8 while running normal/nightmare? Do they turn down to /players1 when fighting bosses? Does that even work?? Once the boss is on the map, does changing difficulty even work? I've read some posts where people suggest to /players1 on bosses and go /players8 right before it dies to get max loot. Can this possibly be correct? I would think that once the boss has "spawned", its level is established. Probably the same for every monster in the game, no? Hope someone can clear that up for me.

Stickies, 9 year-old guides geared towards PvP and ladder play, and Youtube videos only help so much, guys. Out of all the classes, druid looks the neatest to me, and having only done the first 2 quests with each class so far, I've got a steep learning curve ahead. Hope someone can provide some quality and sound advice

Thanks!!!

 

[stephan]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

Hi all. I posted in the Newcomer forum, but all my questions seem to have been about druids, so hopefully I can get a better response in here.

1). I've seen a couple of wind druid videos on Youtube, and what I want to know is; does the screen really jump around like that using those powers? Or was that just something the person who made the video did? That would make me ill to look at for hours on end.

Screen doesn't shake.

2). For those with experience playing a Fury Werewolf, how difficult would that be for a 1st time player with no twink gear and no intentions of creating a battle.net account? I find the Fishymancer quite boring, and I'm still reading up on paladins, but I've found some interest in Fury WW.

It wouldn't work out at all. Melee untwinked is already hard and for a Wereform even more so.

6). I don't see a lot of summoner guides, and the ones I do go on about how they can't solo Hell with them. Is the summoning line just too weak to use as a primary spec? On the other hand, if I'm bored with Fishymancer, won't I be equally bored with animals, plants and spirits? Just don't like how they tend to wander off the screen picking fights lol.

The druid's summons don't do enough damage.

7). I know the least about the fire druid so far. I'd imagine if one were going to want to be a fire spellcaster, they'd just chose sorceress? I had wondered why there were no Ele/SS builds, but now I know why.

Fire Druids aren't that good even if you have reasonable gear.

8). Obviously the answer to a lot of my questions will be "It depends on your playstyle" or "play what you like". Problem with that, besides it being a cop-out response, is that I don't know what my playstyle is, or what I like yet. It's going to depend a lot upon the capabilities of a build to get me through the game on 3 different difficulty levels as a single-player. Can werewolves really survive melee combat against hundreds of demons per map? Are the elemental and summoning druids capable of mowing down enemies before they're roasted themselves?

To be honest, untwinked Druid is probably the last class I would pick to finish the game. Windy would probably be easiest.

9). Basic gameplay question: Do most people use /players8 while running normal/nightmare? Do they turn down to /players1 when fighting bosses? Does that even work?? Once the boss is on the map, does changing difficulty even work?

You use whatever player setting you can manage. Changing the setting doesn't affect monsters that already spawned. It takes effect from a distance of about 2 screens away, or when you enter a new area via a stairs.

Stickies, 9 year-old guides geared towards PvP and ladder play, and Youtube videos only help so much, guys. Out of all the classes, druid looks the neatest to me, and having only done the first 2 quests with each class so far, I've got a steep learning curve ahead. Hope someone can provide some quality and sound advice

All the guides in the sticky are up to date for the current version.

 

[Verashiden]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

Hi all. I posted in the Newcomer forum, but all my questions seem to have been about druids, so hopefully I can get a better response in here.

1). I've seen a couple of wind druid videos on Youtube, and what I want to know is; does the screen really jump around like that using those powers? Or was that just something the person who made the video did? That would make me ill to look at for hours on end.

Depends, was that Windy Teleporting around? If yes then that's what the screen does. However, if you don't intend to be on BNet it's of no issue for you since the Windy was using a runeword nearly impossible to make on your own.

2). For those with experience playing a Fury Werewolf, how difficult would that be for a 1st time player with no twink gear and no intentions of creating a battle.net account? I find the Fishymancer quite boring, and I'm still reading up on paladins, but I've found some interest in Fury WW.

It's possible. However, most melee builds need something to get them going. WWs have a high life tally which makes it less dangerous then, say, a Zealot. Just be intelligent about how you fight and don't run into the middle of a mob and start swinging.

3). How does this look for a Fury WW build?

20 WW
20 Lycan
3 Feral Rage
20 Fury
20 HoW
20 Dire Wolves
1 Carrion Vine
The rest in Prerequisites

That's actually probably cookie-cutter, but I haven't found enough guides yet to know what cookie cutter really is. I know a lot of people choose Oak Sage and Grizzly instead of HoW and Dire Wolves, just seems more thematic this way.

You forgot 1 pt into Grizzly for WTF tankage. Druid summons lose a great deal of their punch later on untwinked and Dire Wolves are situationaly good in Hell mode. However, more times than not you'll want to have a Grizzly out.

4). What can you guys tell me about Fire Claws and Rabies? I've noticed that many builds that have these only have 1 point in WW and Lycan. I don't get this, but as a newbie, I'm probably not supposed to. Would FC be good for a SP PvM build to battle physical immunes? Or is the damage to piddly?

FC/Shockwave Bear is arguably the safest untwinked build for melee. That said, the only builds that go 1 pt Lycan are super twinked. For untwinked you sacrifice damage for survivability since you won't have a lot of +skills to boost you.

Rabies, on the other hand, is a horrible skill untwinked and is mainly used as a PvP skill. I highly suggest against using it.

5). I realize that the above build is built around charging Feral Rage and then Fury. Does Rabies/FC simply not fit in that attack plan? Too much button pushing?

Depends. If you do FC/Fury you're doing so with the intent of using FC only where Fury doesn't get the job down. Also, FC requires at least 40 points into it and one synergy to be an effective backup attack which would require a build remake on your above idea.

6). I don't see a lot of summoner guides, and the ones I do go on about how they can't solo Hell with them. Is the summoning line just too weak to use as a primary spec? On the other hand, if I'm bored with Fishymancer, won't I be equally bored with animals, plants and spirits? Just don't like how they tend to wander off the screen picking fights lol.

Here's the thing, Druid summoners suffer from the fact that they are good early, mediocre late. Pure Druid summoners can work. However, you'd need a lot of patience to get through a lot of areas in hell. Summons can compliment almost any build though and add a lot to some even with only 1 point of investments. If you want a Summoner-esque build I'd recommend Fire Huntermentalist.

7). I know the least about the fire druid so far. I'd imagine if one were going to want to be a fire spellcaster, they'd just chose sorceress? I had wondered why there were no Ele/SS builds, but now I know why.

8). Obviously the answer to a lot of my questions will be "It depends on your playstyle" or "play what you like". Problem with that, besides it being a cop-out response, is that I don't know what my playstyle is, or what I like yet. It's going to depend a lot upon the capabilities of a build to get me through the game on 3 different difficulty levels as a single-player. Can werewolves really survive melee combat against hundreds of demons per map? Are the elemental and summoning druids capable of mowing down enemies before they're roasted themselves?

Yes and Yes.

9). Basic gameplay question: Do most people use /players8 while running normal/nightmare? Do they turn down to /players1 when fighting bosses? Does that even work?? Once the boss is on the map, does changing difficulty even work? I've read some posts where people suggest to /players1 on bosses and go /players8 right before it dies to get max loot. Can this possibly be correct? I would think that once the boss has "spawned", its level is established. Probably the same for every monster in the game, no? Hope someone can clear that up for me.

Personally, I do Players 8 for everything except bosses which I turn down to Players 5. I'm not 100% sure if switching the Players after the boss appears has an effect on drops. It would depend on if the Players setting is checked again when it goes through the loot table. It doesn't matter really since that's a cheap way of winning a fight. If your build can't take the boss on players 8, don't steal players 8 type loot.

Stickies, 9 year-old guides geared towards PvP and ladder play, and Youtube videos only help so much, guys. Out of all the classes, druid looks the neatest to me, and having only done the first 2 quests with each class so far, I've got a steep learning curve ahead. Hope someone can provide some quality and sound advice

Thanks!!!

My responses are in bold.

 

[Jary]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

I 100% disagree with everything Verashiden stated. Wolves tend to use duplicity, tell small truths to win you to their side, then once they have you... = P


Glad to see people are still interested and gaming it up here. Woof

 

[flugel]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

I 100% disagree with everything Verashiden stated. Wolves tend to use duplicity, tell small truths to win you to their side, then once they have you... = P


Glad to see people are still interested and gaming it up here. Woof

Thanks for the replies, guys!!!

As far as an untwinked wolf not running into a middle of a large group, how do you deal with a sub-boss that rezzes everything you kill? That's the first thing I go after when I see one, since the mercs and pets aren't programmed to figure out that's the best one to hit. I'm sure it's easier to deal with using a windy, but that seems to be a big drawback with WW.

I've tried a Corpsestrike boss on /players8. He wasn't having any of it. As a newbie, I really don't know when the bosses are coming up, so it would probably be very difficult to /players1 in time for that anyway.

I haven't really mentioned Werebear, because the impression I got from reading was that it's designed for group play to be the tank rather than SP PvM. But I'd also imagine it's just as gear-dependent as WW. Am I correct?

 

[Verashiden]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

Thanks for the replies, guys!!!

As far as an untwinked wolf not running into a middle of a large group, how do you deal with a sub-boss that rezzes everything you kill? That's the first thing I go after when I see one, since the mercs and pets aren't programmed to figure out that's the best one to hit. I'm sure it's easier to deal with using a windy, but that seems to be a big drawback with WW.

Lure enemies away and attack the threat or fight on the outside of the pack and step back when you're in danger of being surrounded. You'll learn how to do it as you go.

Summoning Wolves directly on the target greatly increases the chance that they will aggro it. The same applies to Ravens.

I've tried a Corpsestrike boss on /players8. He wasn't having any of it. As a newbie, I really don't know when the bosses are coming up, so it would probably be very difficult to /players1 in time for that anyway.

I haven't really mentioned Werebear, because the impression I got from reading was that it's designed for group play to be the tank rather than SP PvM. But I'd also imagine it's just as gear-dependent as WW. Am I correct?

Kinda. Bears are less gear dependent if you go FC route. With SW as the best support skill ever and a weapon requirement that's not terribly hard to reach (weapon with six shaels in it) they can focus on resists and still be able to take almost any no FI threat.

@Jary: Oh hush, you . Shouldn't you still be hibernating?

 

[MCPWTB]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

You can get through normal and nightmare easily with many builds. But those builds get a lot more difficult once you get to hell, sometimes it takes till act 4 sometimes it's in act1 as soon as many enemies are immune to your main damage type.

The Fire Claw bear can handle this game untwinked. With some effort, the Fire Claw bear can make it through hell difficulty. The 'required' gear is very achievable untwinked with some knowledge of where to get shaels, how to craft crushing blow on gloves, basic survival skills for the rest of the items(resists, life). The only big hit to stats is in dex, because the phase blade requires 136 dex. What I mean is ideally all your stat points go directly into vitality, especially in bear form. The thing is some builds require a set of items that are difficult to get in SP and some require straight up impossible to find items to be 'easy' or 'plausible'.

The basic strategy is very simple: Shockwave first, check their stats second, and kill or run third. If the enemy is too fast, then retreat and shockwave, fire and maneuver.

 

[flugel]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

You can get through normal and nightmare easily with many builds. But those builds get a lot more difficult once you get to hell, sometimes it takes till act 4 sometimes it's in act1 as soon as many enemies are immune to your main damage type.

The Fire Claw bear can handle this game untwinked. With some effort, the Fire Claw bear can make it through hell difficulty. The 'required' gear is very achievable untwinked with some knowledge of where to get shaels, how to craft crushing blow on gloves, basic survival skills for the rest of the items(resists, life). The only big hit to stats is in dex, because the phase blade requires 136 dex. What I mean is ideally all your stat points go directly into vitality, especially in bear form. The thing is some builds require a set of items that are difficult to get in SP and some require straight up impossible to find items to be 'easy' or 'plausible'.

The basic strategy is very simple: Shockwave first, check their stats second, and kill or run third. If the enemy is too fast, then retreat and shockwave, fire and maneuver.

Check their stats? Sorry, I don't understand. How do you check their stats in the middle of a fight? Do you mean mouse over them to see if they're PI or not?

 

[MCPWTB]

Re: Druid-specific Newbie Questions

Yes. They are stunned, so look at what enemy they are, immunities, can you kill them, or should you run?

If you're not hardcore, you can trial and error, dying is ok. Hardcore requires a conservative approach.

Fire Immunes: With a strong act2 mercenary weapon, such as Insight runeword in an elite polearm by Hell, you can defeat these guys. Or a good weapon switch that does high physical damage. Some enemies are best to avoid such as FI death lords. The last sub bosses to baal in hell, the minions of destruction, sort of lure them out of the room, stun them, and run in to face baal.

Physical Immunes: Yes you can defeat them, you do fire damage. But sometimes they have high fire resistances.
Cold/light/poison/magic: Yes, probably really easily.

Physical/Fire Immune: Hmm.... probably shockwave and run unless you have some items that do alternative damage. If it's a boss, abuse patience, try to get it to attack your merc, and let your crushing blow/open wounds go to work. Or restart the game.

Ancients: Ancients are hard in Hell. That's it lol. Restart the game if they're all fire immune lol.

Extra Strong/Fire Enchanted: Be careful, stun the enemies and let your merc go to work on the unique monster so the CE doesn't kill you or leave you in human form with 1 HP.


You can always ask here if you really have trouble.