Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by @maareek on May 5, 2013:

Patriarch Fruor, Wind Druid

Well I did say I wanted to do cookie cutters. In this case, though, I've done almost this exact skill distribution before, which sort of explains the name, since I felt the similarity to Patior seemed senseless to fight. As for the names, Patior means something like "I suffer" in Latin and, as I said in the Pat thread, I anticipated feeling quite a bit of suffering in playing him, but found joy instead -- he's not my favorite, but he's damn close (#3, most days) and was insanely fun and he still definitely is, in my mind, the best character I've ever planned/designed, being powerful as well as stupidly safe. Fruor, also Latin, supposedly means "I enjoy," which seemed perfect in opposition to Patior's name as I see this character's playstyle in opposition to Patior's. That is to say Patior was a single-target meleer who had the skills only to aid that goal, whereas those same skills are the goal for Fruor. I dig the name differences because I should enjoy this build and if I don't it becomes funny because of the irony.

Tl;dr: lol. I gave my char a name!

The Character:

Name: Fruor
Class: Druid
Experience: 1001367147
Level: 84

Naked/Gear
Strength: 146/191
Dexterity: 20/21
Vitality: 324/368
Energy: 20/69
HP: 837/924
Mana: 186/468
Stamina: 466/466
MF: 84 Block: 1
GF: 93
FR/W: 43
FHR: 160 (6 frames)
FCR: 83 (12 frames)

Resists:
Fire: 41
Cold: 6
Lightning: 84 (75)
Poison: 28

Skills:
Oak Sage, Solar Creeper: 1/10
Summon Grizzly: 7/16
Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, Hurricane: 20/29

1 in required skills; none saved. Splurged on Solar Creeper for the weak Meditation replacement which was quite nice, actually, especially around mana burners as it doesn't really die when you need it, and provides some handy corpse disposal for the gg.

Gear:
Code:
Que-Hegan's Wisdom
Mage Plate
Defense: 660
Durability: 58 of 60
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x12abd26c
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+152% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Energy
Magic Damage Reduced by 7
+3 to Mana after each Kill
 
Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 251
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xa47c2d25
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+154% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
All Resistances +30
+5 to Mana after each Kill
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Topaz
 
Perfect Topaz
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 40 Lightning Damage
Armor: 24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: Lightning Resist +40%
 
Doom Talisman
Amulet
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x94d0aa56
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Druid Skill Levels
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+14 to Energy
+43 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%
Fire Resist +9%
 
Soul Fist
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 9
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xd943728d
Item Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 3 Frost Nova when struck
+38% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +13%
Fire Resist +5%
Half Freeze Duration
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
 
Immortal King's Pillar
War Boots
Defense: 127
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0xfa4344cd
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Faster Run/Walk
+110 to Attack Rating
+75 Defense
+44 to Life
Set (2 items): 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Set (3 items): +2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
Set (4 items): +160 Defense
Set (5 items): Half Freeze Duration
 
(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
 
Rune Finger
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0xe75aa227
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Minimum Damage
4% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Dexterity
+79 to Mana
All Resistances +11
Lightning Resist +10%
 
Beast Circle
Ring
Required Level: 51
Fingerprint: 0xc5af37db
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Minimum Damage
Lightning Resist +14%
Fire Resist +20%
Poison Resist +22%
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
 
Immortal King's Detail
War Belt
Defense: 194
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0xb0187958
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+36 Defense
+25 to Strength
Lightning Resist +31%
Fire Resist +28%
Set (2 items): +105 Defense
Set (3 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
Set (4 items): +100% Enhanced Defense
Set (5 items): Damage Reduced by 20%
Set (6 items): +2 to Masteries Skills (Barbarian Only)
 
(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating

Spirit
Superior Broad Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 7 - 14
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 48
Fingerprint: 0x202a66bb
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+26% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+97 to Mana
+4 Magic Absorb
Increase Maximum Durability 15%
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
 
Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%
 
Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%
 
Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%
 
Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
 
Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 143
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xab1aec2a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+27% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+92 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
 
Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%
 
Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%
 
Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%
 
Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Bonesnap (on switch)
Maul
Two Hand Damage: 119 - 171
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 69
Fingerprint: 0x51c17001
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
298% Enhanced Damage
+200% Damage to Undead
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Cold Resist +30%
Fire Resist +30%

Charms:
Code:
Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x4e754109
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
93% Extra Gold from Monsters
Reduces all Vendor Prices 12%
26% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
Natural Grand Charm of Winter
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x9f2b38cb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Adds 4 - 11 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)

Trainer's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x15f06a48
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Druid Only)

Bronze Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x94bc39e6
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Attack Rating
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x53e7b403
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
Garnet Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xf5c0898
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +8%

Serpent's Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xb90c9933
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
+14 to Mana

Hazade, Prayer Merc:
Code:
Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 689
Durability: 31 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xa0e5aa31
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+188% Enhanced Defense
+105 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability
 
Giant Skull
Bone Visage
Defense: 424
Durability: 37 of 40
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x75d5d09f
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 9 - 8 Damage
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
Knockback
+317 Defense
+33 to Strength
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Jewel of Bliss
Socketed: Jewel of Wrath
 
Jewel of Bliss
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xef734763
Item Level: 43
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Minimum Damage
 
Jewel of Wrath
Jewel
Required Level: 8
Fingerprint: 0x2bb83745
Item Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
 
The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 37 - 438
Durability: 52 of 65
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0xcb0e92f2
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
211% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4 - 44 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (23 Frames)
13% Life stolen per hit
33% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%


Gear progression:
Arctic/Berserker's + 3xHel and 3xJewel of Envy Great Maul -> Sigon's + Great Maul, swapped out Sigon's hat for Iratha's and added in Iratha's amulet at 15 then brought in Bonesnap for the Great Maul at 24. Spirit + Wall of the Eyeless came in at 25. Merc got Insight Halberd at 27.

Questing:

Normal:
Meleed until level 25, was actually quite nice as whacking baddies with a Druid using a big weapon has a comforting feel for me. Did use Twister a bit before 25, when swarmed by flayers. p8 until about the Claw Viper Temple, then variable p3-p8 (p8 for bosses) depending on pack density until about Act IV, when I switched back to full time p8. Two deaths, but both to carelessness as opposed to actual problems. Bosses were kind of slow, but no worries. I'd say the big part of the difficulty really was getting myself familiar with using Tornado. Ran Pindle until 42 (for Jalal's,) then Baal until 54 (for Spirit Monarch.)

Nightmare:
p8 most of the way. Noticed a real slowdown in killspeed at Mephisto and then continued slowing in Act IV, so I swapped Sigon's armor for Que-Hegan's and added in a Natural skiller (junk suffix). Everything seemed to come together nicely then.

Mephisto killed the bear and the merc and sent me back to town. Dropped to p5 for the Diablo fight, but regretted it immediately as he was an absolute joke. Seriously, the bear can tank him for days, it was fantastic.

Frigid Highlands had rogue archers, skeleton archers and boars, including a nice little NDE with a pack of regular skeleton archers right beside a bosspack of archers flanked by a champ pack of boars. Succubi, bone mages and vipers were a pain in the Crystalline Passage.
The Ancient's Way presented a conundrum. Massive dogs (Afflicted), small hamsters (Spike Fiends) and walking blue Teddy Bears (Frozen Terrors) were attacking my character; someone who supposedly lives in harmony with nature finds himself beset upon by some of nature's mildest creatures and I just couldn't understand why. Then it struck me: "Fruor" is Latin! These critters must loathe pretension! :badteeth: ;p
Apologies to bcoe, Vox Dei, et al (<- lol?)
Immediately I felt terrible, of course, since my obtuseness placed him in such perilous straights (as opposed to Dire Straits, which would mean he was in the wrong game :badteeth:) and set my mind toward remedying the mistake (I figured a "mea culpa" would be in poor taste....) Before I could come up with anything, though, I realized the present precarious peril proved prosaic. Errr, that is to say the household pets proved no danger to the tornado wielding magician and his ensemble.

Ancients took a little while on p8, but were no threat. Worldstone Keep started out with Cantors and the minions, Dark Lords and witches. A pair of witch bosspacks and a cantor bosspack in the same room made for a tense time, but it worked out alright. Throne spawn was dolls, gloams and frenzytaurs. Was very glad it wasn't Hell at that point... but the game did apologize by giving me a skiller for my troubles. A Preserver's. Thanks. -_- Ventar and Lister's packs each forced a merc resurrection. Baal hopped around like crazy and cloned himself early on, but casting the bear on him gave me time to run him down each time and peg him a bit with tornado before he ported away again. No real danger, but it took a little while.
Ran Pindle/Baal until merc hit 75. Faced one PI Dark Lord in the Throne during that time which I ended up meleeing with the merc. Was nice enough to drop Whitstan's for my troubles, which was nice.

Hell:
Act 1, p3. Cold Plains waypoint played peakaboo with me. Killed Blood Raven, cleared the Mausoleum and took a muling break then started back to find the Stony Field. Along the way was killing bosspacks/large packs and checking the loot ... Flawless Sapphire ... socketed bow ... Vex rune. Hey, nice, I've never found one of those before. I think the highest non-HF rune I've found while questing previously has been like a Pul, maybe an Um. Nice. Switched on some MF and ran the Pits until 81 to finish off the build before moving on. Andy dropped well.

Down to p1 after Act I, where I kept it except for boss fights. Radament was PI. Had a really long fight in the Claw Viper Temple when I walked through a door and was knocked back into the hallway by a viper minion, whose leader was Stone Skin and Mana Burn on top of being backed up by five champ unravelers. Nothing terribly dangerous but I couldn't get through the doorway to take down the unravelers until the vipers were dealt with. Beyond that, I think this may be the fastest I ever found the staff receptacle. Duriel forced a purple on the merc; dropped 3 S/U's, none really useful.

Level 2 of the Flayer Dungeon was fun times. Came down the stairs and followed the hallway leading to the east. After a bit it opened up into a pair of doorways leading into the same room, said room containing dolls, a champ pack of flayer shamen and a ghost bosspack (PI, of course.) We fell back to the hallway bottleneck and I spammed tornado like a madman, taking only limited damage from a rogue dolls who ran past everyone else. Mephisto dropped Tarnhelm(28%) and an ethereal failed unique Legend Sword.

No gloams in the Plains of Despair. Hephasto was no worries. Um was nice from the forge. Forgot to up to p3 for Diablo, so I only got five items, three of them failed set.

Gloams, ghosts and witches in the Frozen River. While battling a bosspack of witches the bear awakened a bosspack of gloams and a pack of ghosts which led to the death of everyone save the vine and the druid, who then beat a hasty (as hasty as possible when frozen...) retreat back to the stairs, with the boss ghost and a couple minions right on our heels. Resurrected the merc, came back and brought down the ghost then proceeded onward to run into the trailing Holy Freeze gloam boss, who, just for fun, was also LE and Mana Burn. Corridors were fun for being put in gloam crossfires, one in particular was cute as we had a gloam pack from across the river above shooting at us on one end and on the other end the mirror version, with a pack in the center of the corridor as well ... backed up by a champ pack of ghosts (one possessed, of course, cause why not.) Had to clear ~90% of the level to find Anya, so I went ahead and did the last 10% for fun. Resist scroll meant I finally had positive resists for everything.

First roll of Ancients were Cursed, Fanat, Mana Burn, Extra Strong; rerolled when I lost the merc. Next spawn was innocuous and easily split. Stepped into WSK and were greeted by a Might bosspack of Frenzytaurs. Behind that, a Might pack of Vampires, then just down the hall a conviction pack of defilers and around the corner an ES/EF/CE pack of Frenzytaurs. It was a warm welcome. Hell throne was Gloams, Dolls and Horadrim Ancients which meant I actually got an even worse spawn than the Nightmare one. Woot! -___- Lister's pack forced a retreat but was no real threat to the druid. Baal took forever.

Deaths:
Two. Normal Halls of the Dead level 1,cursed by a bosspack of bats and surrounded by skeletons/guardians = recovery lock, and to unholy bolts in Normal Viper Temple.


Finds:

-NM HF: Lem
-Hell HF: Um

-+2 Javelin skills, 11%MF, 3%ML, +12dex rare gloves
-Vex in Cold Plains
-the MFSC's he's using
-Trainer's skiller
-Preserver's skiller
-Lots of crafting runes, socketables, pgems, etc. but nothing particularly notable

Thoughts:

Well, keeping with the comparison, I would have to say I much prefer Patior. Maybe I'm just bad (and possibly this is it, cause I can tell I'm incredibly rusty O_O), but I can't figure aiming Tornado out. It wouldn't be so annoying if I had something I could aim in addition (like with Blizzard and Glacial Spike/Ice Blast). Even if you're standing on top of a single enemy, the tornado sometimes decides to pop out the side of the char's thigh and shuffle harmlessly around. Especially frustrating when you're trying to line up shots on critters the merc has Decrepified, only to watch your casts miss absolutely everything.

I wouldn't say I suffered with playing him, but I didn't particularly enjoy it, either. The Frozen River, for instance, was probably the longest time I spent to get through any one area (Baal probably being close; ~20-30 minutes) and it really wasn't that bad, but it just felt awful. My first mat/pat, a lightning sorceress, took about the same time to get through the Frozen River, but was fun because I could count on her skills doing their job -- if I used Lower Resist on a gloam and then shot it with lightning it would take damage -- whereas with Fruor I could round up a group of ghosts, lead them to the merc to be decrepified then line up to the side of them and have all the tornadoes shoot off to the right, then move behind them and have everything fire off to the left, all the while being hounded by gloam lightning and witch bolts. I would liken playing the wind druid to working with faulty equipment: it frustrates, especially when pressure's on.

Next Up:

I'm thinking Whirlwind. Probably doing some AT runs in the meantime, though.

Thanks for reading!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by maxgerin on Nov 11, 2005:

Patriarch Friedrich, the Wind Druid

Another Pat, but not for my original Character grail quest...

Character name : Patriarch Friedrich
Character type : Druid
Character level : 87
Character exp : 1282395724

Hardpoints/with Equipment...
Strength : 100/173
Energy : 20/32
Dexterity : 170/213
Vitality : 175/202
Stat Points Rem : 60
Skill Points Rem: 0

Stats with Equipment (Why are photobucket pictures very small? Must have done something stupid? I usually use imageshack... anyway, added the stats/skills with Equipment)

Life : 769 / 544
Mana : 627 / 192
Stamina : 347 / 320

Hell Resist
Fire: 75
Cold: 75
Lightning: 85
Poison: 75

Skills (screenshot with equipment and at the time the character completed the game, posted here are hardpoints only):

Elemental Skills
1 (17) Artic Blast
20 (36) Cyclone Armor
20 (36) Twister
20 (36) Tornado
20 (36) Hurricane

Shape-Shifting Skills
...none...

Summoning Skills
1 (10) Raven
13 (22) Oak Sage
1 (10) Spirit Wolf
1 (10) Dire Wolf
1 (10) Grizzly Bear

Friedrich's Gears:
Helm--Harlequin Crest (socketed with PTopaz)
Armor--Upped Skin of the Vipermagi (socketed with +15 Resist All +6 Dex j00l)
Weapon--Heart of the Oak (with +40 Resist All)
Shield--Stormshield (socketed with +5 to Energy, +11 to Mana, Lightning Resist +25%, Requirements -15% Rare j00l)
Switch Weapon--Call to Arms
Switch Shield--Lidless Wall
Gloves--Frostburn
Belt--Thundergod's Vigor

Boots--Eagle Slippers
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 10
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x28b59b
Fire Resist +30%
Poison Resist +40%
20% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Faster Run/Walk
Half Freeze Duration

Amulet--Mara's +28
Ring--Raven Frost
Ring--The Stone of Jordan

Backpack: 7x Natural Skillers (with total of +16 Strength, +41 Life, and 12%FHR)

Merc Jemali's (Holy Freeze, level 87) Gears:
Helm--Guillaume's Face
Armor--Duress Archon Plate
Weapon--Eth Reaper's Toll

The usual, Normal and Nightmare played at /p8.
For Hell, Acts 1 to 3 played at /p8, Acts 4 to 5 at /p3.
Not really much trouble of death since CtA's +BO and Oak Sage are enough. What made me lower the setting was the slow kill.

NM Hellforge dropped something better than Hell... I got Ko for NM... now imagine what I got for Hell... :rolleyes:
But I did find some goodies along the way... a Golden Kraken Shell, and I'm not sure, I think I got my latest Telling of Beads with Friedrich, though I can be wrong (might also be from my Lightning Sorc).

Question though: Is it better to drop the Tgod's for a Mesh? Would he fare well with Gloams without which? And the gloves... Magefist over Frostburn?
Another thing... would it be better to continue pumping Oak Sage or just go for Grizzly (or wolf for life)? The spirit just dies away so fast...

Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Just post them! :)

--maxgerin
 
Originally posted by nubikoen on May 11, 2009:

Patriarch Manilow - Wind druid

I've been meaning to write this for a few weeks, but I've had problems staying out of the throne room for long enough to get it done.


Patriarch Manilow

This character has been quite the experiment. Not so much in the skills, but gear-wise he's been equipped with just about anything with +Skills, FCR, STR and/or FHR, that I could find in my stashes.

A few words about what a wind druid is.

Windys are casters through and through. A caster dealing 2 types damage - Physical (Tornado and Twister) and Cold (Hurricane).
Hurricane is an AoE skill centered around the character. Very usefull for slowing monsters when they get close.
It deals cold damage once a second to everything non cold immune in it's radius.
It's got a duration of 50 seconds (when fully synergized by Cyclone Armor. CA adds duration to Hurricane, its other synergies add damage)

Tornado is the physical damage skill. Usually the primary damage source on a windy.
When cast it travels in a semi-random path - in the general direction of your cast but quite erratic on the small scale. This makes it quite difficult to aim unless your standing directly on top of the monsters.

The biggest advantage of a wind druid is probably that all the relevant skills synergize each other. And there's only 1 prerequisite (not counting any summons you chose to add). Of course there's also the very handy Cyclone Armor. It pretty much makes you immune to elemental attacks. And it can be recast as often as you like.
Basically it does to elemental damage what the necromancers Bone Armor does to physical damage. That means the only important resist you need is against Poison.


Skills

Skillwise he's pretty much a standard windy.
Since I had copious amounts of +skills, and elemental skills in particular I figured I should try to get a backup for the few PI/CI my shield* or later on, my merc couldn't break.
*See equipment section
Therefore the small investment in the fire side of the elemental tree. They don't do much at their current level. It works just fine for /p1 though but that's not where this guy belong -- He's a /p8 machine.
So I'm thinking about spending any future skillpoints in making my bear stronger.

Here are his skills (with current gear).

Summoning

Raven: 1/10
Poison Creeper: 1/10
Oak Sage: 1/10
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1/10
Carrion Vine: 1/10
Summon Dire Wolf: 1/10
Solar Creeper: 1/10
Summon Grizzly: 1/10

Elemental

Firestorm : 6/23
Molten Boulder : 2/19
Arctic Blast : 1/17
Cyclone Armor : 20/36
Twister : 20/36
Tornado : 20/36
Hurricane : 20/36

Shapeshifting

You might have guessed this but just for the record -- None!

Statpoints

His stats warrants a rebuild IMO, and had it been any other build I'd probably do so. It's just that, a few handfuls of wasted points does not break this build.
He's extremely durable thanks to Cyclone Armor and summons + merc. In fact, he completed the game at lvl 82 with (iirc) 245 unspent statpoints. And he did so without a single death. At /p8 - start to finish.

Anyway, here are his current stats. The unspent points mentioned above have been spent.

Stats

Strength: 83/198
Dexterity: 176/208 (Enough for 75% block with Stormshield)
Vitality: 241/257 (Sink, big surprise huh!)
Energy: 20/22

I spent a bit too much in strength, not a lot mind you, but still... I'm not terribly unhappy about it though since it does offer me a little freedom to swap gear around.

I had not invested in dex before I killed hell Baal, I wanted as low block as I could possibly get (So I would get hit and trigger LR).

Equipment

This is where I've deviated a bit from the norm.
I wanted to focus on the cold damage end of the windy's skills, and NOT rely on my mercs Reaper's Toll to break the PI/CI monsters. Enter Medusa's Gaze.

The shield is the reason I spent the extra points in strength. With a -15% requirements jewel it's got a strength requirement of 187, quite a bit more than I'd usually spend.
The key feature of this shield, for this build, is the chance to cast lower resist when struck. Specifically it's got a 10% chance to cast level 7 Lower Resist. It didn't do very well at breaking cold immunes when it did go off. Not to mention that it pretty much never went off until my tornados, merc and bear had killed the monsters.

I really thought that it would work given my playstyle with him -- Teleport to the middle of a group of monsters and let them have a few swings at me, triggering LR. The problem was; I had a lot of tanks and buffers between me and the monsters -- Holy Freeze merc, Bear, Spirit, Vine and Ravens. They were needed for staying alive but kept me from getting hit enough to trigger the LR.
I didn't find a suitable balance between having enough summons to stay alive, and few enough to get hit sufficiently.

I don't really know what else to say about that shield, it was a huge disappointment. I kept it equipped for all of Hell purely because I had decided to, not because I wanted to. But after about half of act 1 I pretty much ignored it. Merc got his Reaper's Toll and we were off.
Enough about the shield.

I twinked him heavily from lvl 1 all the way to the end of the game.
Started off with a 6 socketed superior Maul with -requirements jewels and Envy gear.
Max damage Breast plates and Masks later on.
When I reached the late twenties I put on a spirit sword, SoJ's. Then Vipermagi. I was mowing through the monsters. At /p8. Then I hit 42. Things started to get slightly ridiculous about this time. I loaded up my inventory with skillers. All I had to do was recast Hurricane whenever it ran out. Then I pretty much just ran past the monsters and they dropped dead. When I started encountering CI monsters it rarely took more than 1 or 2 tornados to kill a group. Twice, I leveled up twice in the duration of one exp shrine (46-48 and 52-54) That's how fast things died.
When I entered Hell (at 76) I was ready to put on my endgame equipment.

Check the spoiler for the current (end game) equipment.

Enigma Breast Plate.
Heart of the Oak Flail
Harlequin Crest
Stormshield
Sandstorm Trek
Arachnid Mesh
Magefist
SoJ / Raven Frost
Plague Eye

Equipment that at one point or another have been worn through hell

I tried out lots and lots of different setups.

The one thing they had in common were: 99% FCR, and most of the time 99% FHR.

My (in theory) ideal setup included Nightwings and Voice of Reason. It cost me the +3 skills from HotO.
I tried this setup prebuffing hurricane with HotO, it required too much hard switching gear (recast Hurricane every 50 seconds, BC and BO every ~2 minutes - Not ideal) and it meant not having room to pick up drops.

This is a pretty much complete list of everything he had equiped.

Headgear:
Harlequin Crest
Jalal's Mane
Nightwings Veil
Spirit Keeper
Ravenlore
Hierophant's Tiara of the Magus (This one had 2 shaels in at first)

Amulet:
Plague Eye (see link above)
Mara's
Magic +3 elemental skills amulet with some minor strength bonus.

Rings:
Raven Frost
Stone of Jordan
Bul-Katho's Wedding Band
Various Rare and Crafted FCR Rings.

Belt:
Arachnid Mesh
Ghoul Lock

Gloves:
Magefist
Trang-Oul's Claws

Armor:
Enigma

Weapon:
Heart of the Oak Flail
Voice of Reason Flail

Boots:
Sandstorm Trek
War Traveler
Waterwalks
FRW/FHR/Resist rare boots

On switch:

CTA/Spirit

Finds:

He found lots of stuff.

Started out in early act1 norm with a Gull, 2 minutes later a greyform.
Vipermagi, Stealskull, 2 Witchwild strings, Moser's, Fleshripper, Griswold's Valor, Tal Rasha's Guardianship, Sazabi's Cobalt Redeemer.

Hellforges were Tir/Io/Fal.

He also had a Lem drop in Frigid Highlands.

Manilows future:

I foresee a quite few WSK/Baal runs.

He is fully on par with my hammerdin as far as killspeed goes. Only he's much safer to play.
-----------------------------------------------
That's it.

TL;DR. Wind druids rock, Medusa's Gaze suck!

It's getting quite late, so I most likely forgot a bunch of stuff.
If you got any questions or comments - Shoot.

Next up.
I probably should write a 'few' more mat/pat threads. I still haven't made one for Ralph the IK WW barb, Hax-I through VIII (All Physical damage Zealots), Seldom the WF-zon, Ray-Cokes the Holy Shock/Holy Freeze Zealot, Lumia the light sorc,Brawne_Lamia the LF/FA zon, Brego the IK WW barb, etc., etc... I got way too many characters.

First thing though. Get Gambolputty through to Guardian, or die trying.
Then it's back to the throne room with marge.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by @Peytron on Feb 20, 2019:

Patriach Auster - A Wind Druid - The Bringer of Summer Storms

Hello Everyone,

Below is an overview of Auster. Named after the bringer of summer storms, he specialises in the Druid skills Tornado and Hurricane.

As one of my first seven single player characters, he went solo through the game at at least players 3 using gear found either himself, or from one of my other 6 single player characters. My sixth run through of the game (one of each class) since starting single player recently. My goal was to quest through the game with each character at at least players 3 without significant respecs. By significant respec I mean not changing main skill trees, e.g. playing a Meteorb through normal and nightmare and then switching into a pure Blizzard or Lightning Sorceress, or playing Whirlwind Barbarian and then respecing into Berserk.

In general these characters have to kill every monster pack they encounter on their quest. That is, not skip the tough ones. The odd Flayer or Fallen that runs away we don't chase down. They don't have to clear every level, or explore every inch of the map, just kill every pack that is in their way.

His main skills are Tornado and Hurricane. With these wind skills being unattainable very early in the game, his initial skill points went into the summoning tree and he fought wielding sword and shield alongside them until his primary skills became available to him. The summons never disappeared entirely as he kept his Dire Wolves into early hell difficulty before deciding to summon the power of the grizzly instead.

Being the second to last of the seven characters to quest through the game, he had a lot of twinking gear available to him, including his helm and surprisingly a total of five "Natural" grand charms. Finding so many of these grand charms is likely what pushed me to try a "Windy Druid", as I likely would have gone with a Werewolf Fury build otherwise.

Skill Distribution:
Elemental - 20 points into Cyclone Armour, Twister, Tornado, and Hurricane plus the 1 point in the prerequisite.
Shape Shifting - nil.
Summoning - 4 points in Heart of the Oak, 8 Points in Summon Dire Wolf, 2 Points in Summon Grizzly, plus 2 points in prerequisites. Future skill points will go into this tree.

Stat points:
Strength - Enough to equip a Spirit Monarch (156).
Dexterity - Enough to equip a flail (35).
Energy - nil .
Vitality - Everything else.

Gear:
Helm - A Lore Rune Word in a +3 Tornado Falcon Mask. He has worn this since level 27 and hasn't looked back. We do have a +2 Elemental, +2 Tornado, +2 Summon Grizzly, +20 Life Hawk Helm that he should swap to. We also have a few +3 Tornado pelts that we could build "Delirium" in.
Armour - Stealth -> Skin of the Vipermagi with a Perfect Topaz. Enigma is his eventual goal.
Boots - Natalya's Soul. We have a pair of rare boots with 22% Increased Magic Find and resists but haven't equipped them due to the lack of Faster Run Walk. War Traveler would be his ideal boots.
Gloves - Chance Guards.
Belt - Goldwrap -> Arachnid Mesh.
Weapon/Shield - Steel Rune Word and Rhyme -> Spirit Crystal Sword and Lidless Wall -> Heart of the Oak Rune Word with a Spirit Monarch
Rings - Two 30% Increased Magic Find Nagelrings
Amulet - Rare +2 Elemental, 10% Faster Cast Rate, +33 Life, All Resistances +18, Damage Reduced by 3
Charms - 5 "Natural" grand charms, a Gheed's Fortune, and random +3-6% Magic Find small charms

Mercenary:
Aura - Defiance -> Holy Freeze
Helm - Wormskull -> Crown of Thieves
Armour - Stealth -> Duriel's Shell -> Guardian Angel
Weapon - Malice -> Insight -> Reaper's Toll

His Quest:
The early levels were quite a grind pushing fighting through mobs, but we found our first "Grail" item very early:
1585547363203.png

He actually equipped that for a while early on!

Continuing through the game was a breeze (haha), so unfortunately I don't have much of an exciting walkthrough to share. I seriously underestimated the power of a "Windy Druid". We really had no problems clearing mobs, and I feel a bit of regret for leaving this character until close to the end as it is certainly a very powerful build. He didn't have any trouble surviving until The Worldstone Keep in Hell mode, even on players 5 or 7.

He was however very good at finding me some nice items, including some decent socketables:
1585547311716.png 1585547270076.png
1585547256014.png 1585547238834.png 1585547227481.png 1585547216882.png

Two somewhat decent rune finds (That Gul went into the cube to make his HoTo):
1585547205127.png
1585547196269.png

A decent claw I may use for a Trapsin early on:1585547181844.png :

1/2
 
Patriach Auster - A Wind Druid - The Bringer of Summer Storms (cont)

Found the right armour for his merc:
1585547578860.png

A few decent charms I put to use:

1585547564336.png 1585547554872.png 1585547544512.png
 
Originally posted by @PhineasB on Aug 10, 2019:

An Overburdened Fire Druid Makes Patriarch

Patriarch Septimus the Fire Druid and Paige the Cold Rogue (Lvl 84)
1585547976655.png
This guy was my entry in the I Am Overburdened Tournament hosted by @Dazliare and I went with Druid as a potential Druid entry in the Untwinked 99er reboot. I was skeptical that he would make it with the tourney restrictions and limited build options for a Druid with no assurance of +skills gear. But he made it without a death :)

The better route likely would have been a Windy, but I hadn’t done a Fire Druid after abandoning the one from my 7x7+2 (character #47 ended up a Fireclaw Wearbear after bogging down in NM). I actually started him thinking he could pull off a hybrid of Fissure + Tornado/Hurricane for three damage types, plus a Grizzly. But I realized it was going to be too stretched to work and Hurricane’s duration was really short without its Cyclone Armor synergy, so used a respec part way through NM to focus on fire and Grizzly.

He had town guards from A2 Normal, until the Cold Rogue made her appearance in A3 Hell due to FI/PI Ismail who had the Flail and couldn’t be parked. She stayed on through the end, helping diversify the damage types a bit.

He didn’t use the personalization quest allowed under tourney rules because he never found a base for runewords or unique item that made it worthwhile. He had found a 4os Partizan in early Hell that would have been an upgrade, but it was sold off due to limited stash space and hope of finding something better later. He didn’t, so he didn’t bother using that reward :(

Key updates from the tourney thread are in the spoiler.
Normal
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5

Nightmare
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5

Hell
A1
A2 & A3
A4 & A5 (through Anya Rescue)
A5 (through Pat)

Septimus was a fun playthrough with the tourney restrictions until A4 Hell, but especially A5 Hell, when it turned a bit tedious at times. I spent way more time on CS, WSK, and Baal than any other characters I’ve played, with Ancients also taking a while and having to simply sprint through a few areas in A4 and A5 due to all FI or FI bosses with nasty rolls.

Even so, I was proud of keeping him alive under the circumstances. It's a pretty powerful build, even with limited +skills, when there aren't hard-hitting, high-life FI monsters. Fissure is solid as advertised, and Volcano, Grizzly, and merc can sort out all but late-Hell FIs. So definitely a good option for running certain targets, but a candidate for tedium if you are hell-bent on full-clearing :D

I think he will continue at a leisurely pace, at least for now, to push into the early 90s as a break from other characters here and there. At least for now, I plan to keep him a Fire Druid, and he will spend some time in Cows and at Pindle. I won’t keep the tourney restrictions and hope he will gather necessary bases and basic upgrades for any future endeavors. No extended stash has been a fun challenge and change-up for Death, my untwinked 99er Barb, but I don’t see it for the Druid, given his slower leveling options :rolleyes:

Readouts are below (streamlined a bit on socketed items where the full readout doesn't add much).
Code:
Name:       Septimus
Class:      Druid
Experience: 1009948917
Level:      84

Naked/Gear
Strength:   75/79
Dexterity:  20/37
Vitality:   395/395
Energy:     20/21
HP:         979/1159
Mana:       186/269
Stamina:    537/537
Defense:    5/230
AR:         70/218

Fire:       181/141/81
Cold:       178/138/78
Lightning:  188/148/88
Poison:     176/136/76

MF:         44       Block:      5
GF:         64
FR/W:       20
FHR:        0
IAS:        10
FCR:        30

Raven: 1/1
Poison Creeper: 0/0
Oak Sage: 15/15
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1/1
Carrion Vine: 0/0
Heart of Wolverine: 0/0
Summon Dire Wolf: 1/1
Solar Creeper: 0/0
Spirit of Barbs: 0/0
Summon Grizzly: 20/20

Werewolf: 0/0
Lycanthropy: 0/0
Werebear: 0/0
Feral Rage: 0/0
Maul: 0/0
Rabies: 0/0
Fire Claws: 0/0
Hunger: 0/0
Shock Wave: 0/0
Fury: 0/0

Firestorm: 16/21
Molten Boulder: 1/6
Arctic Blast: 0/0
Fissure: 20/25
Cyclone Armor: 0/0
Twister: 0/0
Volcano: 20/25
Tornado: 0/0
Armageddon: 0/0
Hurricane: 0/0
Code:
Spirit Shell
Circlet
Defense: 25
Durability: 100 of 105
Required Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x550fb7b8
Item Level: 78
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
All Resistances +4
Lightning Resist +14%
Magic Damage Reduced by 2

Terrene Amulet of Regrowth
Amulet
Required Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x4be98f80
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Replenish Life +8

Jeweler's Light Plate of Amicae
Light Plate
Defense: 93
Durability: 46 of 60
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 41
Fingerprint: 0xc77f54a6
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +30%
Damage Reduced by 10
3 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune

Doom Loop
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x2f03d6b4
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+14 to Attack Rating
+10 to Dexterity
+10 to Mana
All Resistances +9
Magic Damage Reduced by 1

Entropy Band
Ring
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x97afbf1c
Item Level: 67
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+49 to Attack Rating
+4 to Strength
+1 to Energy
+3 to Life
+73 to Mana
Fire Resist +20%

Ocher Plated Belt of the Whale
Plated Belt
Defense: 8
Durability: 18 of 24
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x220726cf
Item Level: 72
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+84 to Life
Lightning Resist +14%

Death Blazer
Mesh Boots
Defense: 56
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Level: 26
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x2657ca6b
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+26% Enhanced Defense
+5 to Dexterity
Heal Stamina Plus 25%
Lightning Resist +34%
19% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Imp Touch
Gauntlets
Defense: 14
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 15
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x9a2da5f3
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Increased Attack Speed
Cold Resist +13%
Poison Resist +7%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds

Jeweler's Tomb Wand of Lower Resistance
Tomb Wand
One Hand Damage: 10 - 22
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x9bfa2c5b
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 2 Lower Resist (32/75 Charges)
2 Sockets (0 used)

Skull Pelt
Field Plate
Defense: 101
Durability: 34 of 48
Required Level: 15
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xd3eb91c8
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Unidentified
+5 to Strength
+10 to Life
Fire Resist +10%

Gemmed Flail
Flail
One Hand Damage: 1 - 36
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 13
Required Strength: 31
Required Dexterity: 25
Fingerprint: 0x776d7dc0
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+150% Damage to Undead
+8 to Mana after each Kill
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune

Gemmed Tower Shield
Tower Shield
Defense: 25
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 52 of 60
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 75
Fingerprint: 0x599509b6
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +57
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
Code:
Coral Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xb9ca79b7
Item Level: 66
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +23%
33% Extra Gold from Monsters

Sapphire Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x71aab237
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+36 to Life
Cold Resist +26%

Natural Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x18b2cd1e
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
21% Extra Gold from Monsters

Garnet Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xdda2911c
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +23%

Ruby Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x44fd06e1
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +10%

Ruby Small Charm of Life
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x5b7fddb5
Item Level: 55
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Life
Fire Resist +10%

Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0xb8edcaa5
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15 to Life

Viridian Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x6fac1289
Item Level: 1
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +7%

Garnet Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xc0badd89
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Fire Resist +9%

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0xb8a7b4ee
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Viridian Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xa8790b0e
Item Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +7%

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0xed4b178e
Item Level: 53
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x18134311
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life

Jade Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0x9fa9abac
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +9%

Key
Fingerprint: 0x8d822c1e
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Viridian Small Charm of Flame
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x39321e33
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 2 Fire Damage
Poison Resist +7%

Shimmering Small Charm of Storms
Small Charm
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x56624b74
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 19 Lightning Damage
All Resistances +3

Viridian Small Charm of Greed
Small Charm
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xe45264e8
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +6%
10% Extra Gold from Monsters

Lapis Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x58021e66
Item Level: 16
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +6%

Russet Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xcdee8ea2
Item Level: 28
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +6%
Code:
Name:       Paige
Race:       Rogue Scout
Type:       Ice - Hell
Experience: 74984750
Level:      84
Dead?:      false

Naked/Gear
Strength:   131/131
Dexterity:  197/197
HP:         1289/1289
Defense:    1067/1242
AR:         2024/3410

Fire:       181/141/81
Cold:       181/141/81
Lightning:  181/141/81
Poison:    179/139/79

Demon Horn
Circlet
Defense: 47
Durability: 22 of 35
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x858b99a4
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels
8% Mana stolen per hit
7% Life stolen per hit
+52% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +15
Damage Reduced by 3

Jeweler's Gothic Plate of Swords
Gothic Plate
Defense: 128
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0x913c719b
Item Level: 72
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
Cold Resist +2%
All Resistances +28
Lightning Resist +2%
Fire Resist +2%
Attacker Takes Damage of 16
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Jade Jewel of Fervor

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Ral Rune
Required Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Armor: Fire Resist +30%
Shields: Fire Resist +35%

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Jade Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x97797b7c
Item Level: 50
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
Poison Resist +28%

Dread Branch
Spider Bow
Two Hand Damage: 28 - 103
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 45
Required Dexterity: 101
Fingerprint: 0x6df200de
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
22% Enhanced Damage
+42 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+1386 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
+68% Damage to Undead
+75 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 7 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
4% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -30%

He had some nice charm luck, as you can see above, with the highlights a Natural skiller and Cold resist GC of Vita (both rerolled) and nice Garnet SC of Vita. In terms of other nice finds, he picked up Hotspurs and an Entrapping Skiller of Sustenance (25), and shopped 3/20 gloves for my twinked Javazon. He also got this nice twinking orb:
Code:
Grim Heart
Sacred Globe
One Hand Damage: 3 - 8
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x7325f860
Item Level: 56
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Cold Skills (Sorceress Only)
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 12 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
+3 to Frozen Orb (Sorceress Only)
+1 to Blizzard (Sorceress Only)
+73 to Mana
Repairs 1 Durability in 33 Seconds
Level 2 Teleport (5/37 Charges)
He has Lem, Fal, Ko x2 and some lesser runes in his stash and a plain amulet of everlasting as an option if he ever makes it to Nihl and hasn’t found another with useful secondary mod.

I’d like to conclude by thanking @Dazliare for hosting the tourney and all the participants for keeping it interesting with updates and for the encouragement along the way. Thanks for reading!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by ricrestoni on Sep 9, 2005:

Patriarch Meltdown

Finally Meltdown the Fire Druid gets to Patriarch! This was a fun and challenging build. Let's meet him:

Patriarch Meltdown

Druid lvl 81

Stats:

STR 195
DEX base
VIT rest
NRG base

Skills:

Shapeshift
nothing at all

Summon (+12)
1 Oak Sage
1 Raven
1 Spirit Wolf
1 Dire Wolf
1 Grizzly

Elemental (+19, +1 fire skills, +3 Armaggedon, +1 Volcano)
1 Arctic Blast
1 Cyclone Armor
1 Twister
1 Tornado
1 Hurricane
2 Firestorm (any future points go here)
20 Molten Boulder
20 Fissure
20 Volcano
20 Armaggedon

Equipment:

Delirium Hunter's Guise (+3 Armaggedon, +1 Volcano)
Mara's
Eth Earth Shifter (Hel) - str 193 to wield it!
Dark Clan crusher + Lidless on switch
Rain Duskshroud - for the skills
Magefist
Arach Mesh - SoE and Verdungos until level 80, for damage reduction
Waterwalk (for life bonus)
2xSoJ

Hey, look! No 'Cannot Be Frozen'! What was I thinking?

3 plain elemental skillers
resist charms to get to 60ish res all - 70 after rescuing Anya

Life: 900ish, 1600ish when Oak Sage miraculously survived.
Mana: not a problem, thanks to Rain + SoJs

Merc:

Holy Freeze Lvl 81

Vamp Gaze
Shaftstop
Reaper's Toll


General thoughts on this guy:

I wanted to play a non-cookie cutter, and that is exactly what I got.

I used Volcano as much as I could. This was my first maxed skill. Proceeded then to max Molten Boulder, since it was my secondary source of damage (synergy for the physical damage part of Volcano). Then Fissure for Volcano fire damage and Armaggedon duration, and finally Armaggedon for more damage all over the place. It worked great.

Armaggedon without Fissure is useless.

About minions, I knew I couldn't trust on lvl 1 Oak Sage, and I was right. He died way too much, and demanded lots of attention from me. Well, he had all the attention he demanded, because 700 extra life deserve it.

Ravens are, as usual, very useful. Until normal Blood Raven. How ironic. I cast those guys late in game because one blind archer is better than all of them shooting me to a horrible death.

Grizzly never ceases to amaze me - what a tank! Easily re-castable, he is the best tank in the game! During my 3rd try against the Ancients, my merc died after the thrower was taken care of. I managed to isolate the 2 remaining in 2 opposite corners, and get one by one, with only my trusting bear to help. The whirler was even fire immune, but the Grizzly stood up against him, and let my Volcano finish him and the other.

Grizzly surely gained a lot of respect from me, once again. Sturdier than a 50% PDR merc.

About cold skills... hmmm... Cyclone Armor was always on, because hey! Less damage is a no-brainer! It absorbed 300ish elemental damage, wich was about a fraction of one hit. Yet, always on.

Funny stuff was about the 2 or 3 Fire Immune Physical immune bosses I found around. All of them were the Balrog type of monsters, including Hell chaos sanctuary's Infector of Souls. That was the longest battle of all. Against him, I had nothing but my minions, Hurricane and Arctic Blast. Damn, that was slow!

He never died, not even once. I think this is my first were-it-HC-I-would-have-a-Guardian patriarch.

His notable finds include 2 UMs, from NM and Hell HF, a 158% ED WWS, and I can't remember of anything else remarkable right now.

About general tactics:

weapon switch
cast dead minions, and cursed/poisoned/injured minions if they were not cast with a Skill Shrine boost
weapon switch
cast Cyclone Armor
cast Armaggedon
wait a few secs
go after enemies - by the time I found them, Volcano was already available.

Armaggedon is a big damage thrown at random. Untrustworthy, yet cool.

Volcano, on the other hand, delivers less damage, but can be concentrated in a spot for overall big damage. Works great with Decrepify, especially against Fire immunes.

On the other hand, every other time I cast Volcano, there goes my faithful grizzly for a knockback slam that pushed the monster away from my Volcano. That guy knockbacked even Baal's tentacles! Since I can't cast another volcano right away, I had to wait and manage to avoid a slaughter.

Curious fact: Armaggedon and all summon skills work OK when under Delirium effect. Funny stuff, having the undead flayer make his otherwordly noise to start a deadly rain of fire!

About delirium, I repeat: a life saver! it works even against archers. ESPECIALLY against archers.


Now, I will resume Chupacabra the rabies/fury WW that I was rebuilding in 1.11 to fix the Carrion wind fixed bug. Also, will resume Orome the hunter druid that is waiting his turn in Hell act1 (I think).

That is it, in 1.1X, Pat #11, and 4th druid now, after Rabid/Fury WW, IK-Mauler WB and Windy. Now, after the hunter, only the Mordalles' Geddon bear and a Fireclawer for my druid eagerness to be put to rest. Hey, it is a druidic septavirate!

(That's because Blizzard killed Uzziah's cool druid idea - octovirate, anyone?)

Finally, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, from now on, is my #1 choice as background music for the final fight against Baal. Including the cinematics that follow.
 
Originally posted by scrcrw on Jan 25, 2012:

Doomed (to fail), the Arctic Blast Druid

Welcome to another attempt of mine to rob this poor old game of all of its dignity. After making an Inferno sorc, Arctic Blast seemed like the logical next step. At the time I dismissed the idea, mostly because I apparently failed pretty badly at calculating the expected damage output of an Arctic Blast Druid.
Anyway, I finally managed to work up some motivation and took this guy through the game. As you can tell from the name, I was bursting with confidence...

Stats & Skills:
Patriarch Doomed
Class: Master Blaster
Level: 77

Strength: enough
Dexterity: enough
Vitality: a lot
Chill: yes

HP: 2246 (BO only) / 3389 (w/ Oak)
Mana: 1k
Stamina: walking is for poor people

Defense: nope
Block: nope

Resists (F/C/L/P): Cyclone Armor/Cyclone Armor/Cyclone Armor/-4

FHR: 30 (9 frames)
FCR: 30 (14 frames)

Skills:

20 (42) Arctic Blast (3.5k - 3.8k damage)

20 (42) Cyclone Armor
20 Hurricane
20 (29) Raven
6 (15) Oak Sage

26 Battle Orders
27 Battle Command

Gear:
'Doom' eth 1.07 BA (-42% ecr) :(
'Enigma' BP
4x Facet Monarch (-18/+18)
Nightwing's Veil (-5/+20)
Magefist
eth Sandstorm Treks (15/13/66)
Caster Belt (10fcr, not much else)
Gaean Amulet (+3 Elemental Skills)
2x Stone of Jordan

Switch: 1.10s 'Call to Arms' + 'Spirit' Monarch

Charms: 10x Natural GC (mostly plain), 9x SC with Life, Mana, Fhr (looting is overrated...)

Merc: 'Infinity' CV, 'Chains of Honor' AP, Giant Skull (2xias/ed)

Thoughts:
*fast forward to 67* (Gemmed Great Maul -> Envy -> Ravenclaw -> Windy)
First things first: You can kill things with Arctic Blast. :D
Similar to Inferno, the actual damage isn't nearly as high as the LCS tells you (and even then it would be fairly low). However it's enough to kill /p1 monsters on Hell in a very reasonable amount of time, thanks to a lot of -enemy cold res. The merc didn't have to do nearly as much work as I had expected. I chose ravens as backup, because, similar to Arctic Blast, they are not the biggest damage dealers. As usual the Oak sage excelled at dying constantly. I could have used Hurricane for a bit more damage, but I did want the full Arctic Blast experience. :)
The gear should be fairly self-explanatory. The focus was on -ecr, +csd and skills. Using +20/-5 Ormus' Robes would have increased damage a bit, but I don't think I would have enjoyed the experience with teleport...
Progress was fairly smooth. I mostly just teleported by cold immune monsters. If I wanted to watch the merc kill stuff, I'd go back to playing HC tournaments... The only deaths came at the hand of Gloams. Quickly recasting Cyclone Armor is quite essential at -70 light res.
Overall, Doomed was decent fun to play and not quite as bad as expected.

Future Plans: Area running, boss running, rune hunting, going for 99, completing the Grail, PvP... - the possibilities are endless. Too bad Doomed is terrible at all of these. Early retirement it is. :D


Thanks for reading!

Bonus: No video this time, only a few pretty pictures. :)
 
Originally posted by Sir Lister of Smeg on Nov 16, 2006:

Patriarch Windy

I continued playing this character a day ago after a hiatus of a few months, and now patted him. I started from the hell River Of Flame waypoint, most of that area, including Chaos Sanctuary, went fine, but I suffered a death to the Infector Of Souls' pack (I don't remember whether it was him or one of his minions). De Seis of course killed my merc, but for the rest no trouble there, including Diablo himself who lasted maybe ten seconds, at most twenty. All the above was at players 3, I remembered he was quite powerful, but not having played him for a while made me feel more at ease starting at players 3 and not higher.

In the Bloody Foothills, the picture was more or less the same. My lifebulb often went far down, but killing speed was high, so high that I switched to players 5 at some point, but that might already have been rescuing the soldiers. At some point in the Crystalline Passage, I did switch back to players 3 though, a setting which was to remain throughout the rest of the game apart from the Ancients. Most monsters continued to fall hideously fast, while others took ages, especially stone skin, physical immune, cold immune bosspacks took a lot of time, sometimes I even started meleeing along, using my Demon Limb and Tiamat's Rebuke on switch after first enchanting the merc and the bear. Frenzytaurs were of course dangerous, but not too dangerous. Even the physical immune version was passable albeit with difficulty.

This is not to say I survived, I died way too often to my taste, what I remember is once to Thresh Socket (cursed, lightning enchanted and lots of caster including gremlins around), twice in some of the tunnel sections, once in the Drifter cavern (due to stupidty, moving towards a succubus boss-pack while cursed and at half-life just after my merc had died), once to Pindleskin's charge, thrice to Nihlatak, and once to Baal. I don't think I ever had this much trouble with Nihlatak's corpse explosion, especially since my life was not very low and the spirit survived me, eventually I could close in though and he went down very quickly. The Ancients were done at players 1, and did not pose any serious trouble, though I did use lots of potions. The jumper took longer than the other two since he was both immune to cold and had stone skin.

In the worldstone keep, I did not have a lot of trouble, although one level had gloams and two had frenzytaurs. Casting ravens and a bear ahead often saved me from being targeted. The throne again had frenzytaurs, as well as infidels and succubi. Clearing was quite easy, but all the frenzytaur bosspacks with nasty mods killed my merc also easily. The first two waves of minions went down very quickly, having negative fire resistance made me very careful for the third and fourth wave, since I was sure they would easily demolish my armour and that thereafter any elemental hit would instantly kill me. This did make it slow, and I'm quite sure I could have finished the third far quicker, but I did survive. Lister easily killed my merc and so I brave-sir-robin-ed, then proceeded to get small groups towards me, keeping the ravens up at all times and when necessary running away againwhile casting a spirit and a bear to keep them busy. Eventually all went down, and I went back to town to resurrect my merc for the fight with Baal.

The fight with Baal took ages, in advance I wasn't sure, I gathered there was some chance of it being alike to the fight with Diablo (it would still last longer, but it could have been relatively fast compared to other characters). Very soon it became clear it would take a long time. Baal was constantly teleporting around which worked very effectively to keep my bear at a distance. At some point early on I died from the tentacles, apparently being too focused on damaging Baal. After that I did pay attention to them and made sure to take them down whenever they were threatening either me or my merc. After a long fight, and a few trips back to town to get rid of the clone, Windy was victorious. As expected, Baal dropped only yellows and blues, although two of the latter were failed set battle axes.

Just a note on resistances in hell. Poison was maxed, cold was positive, fire and lightning were negative, although the latter became positive after getting the scroll for rescuing Anya.

One thing I noticed was that it seemed that twister damaged physical immunes. Is there some hidden non-physical damage dealt by twister or is it just my imagination?

The stats:

Character name : Windy
Character type : Druid
Character level : 86
Character exp : 1153475862

Strength : 120
Energy : 20
Dexterity : 168
Vitality : 172
Stat Points Rem : 40
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 710 / 536
Mana : 512 / 190
Stamina : 353 / 316

Skills:
Arctic Blast 1
Cyclone Armour 20
Twister 20
Tornado 20
Hurricane 20
Raven 1
Oak Sage 12
Summon Spirit Wolf 1
Summon Dire Wolf 1
Summon Grizzly 1

Equipment:
Ravenlore
Telling of Beads
Skin of the Vipermagi 'Sol'
Raven Frost
Manald Heal
Arachnid Mesh
Sandstorm Trek
Frostburn
Spirit Dimensional Blade
Moser's Blessed Circle 'SolSol'
Demon Limb (switch)
Tiamat's Rebuke (switch)

Beryl Small Charm of Balance
Natural Grand Charm
Gheed's Fortune
Tangerine Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm of Vita
Trainer's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Ocher Small Charm of Balance
Burly Small Charm of Vita

The mercenary was a normal defensive (defiance aura) act II mercenary
Name: Emilio
Experience: 70747734
Level: 85
Strength: 190
Dexterity: 154
Hitpoints: 1830
Defense: 2745
Resistances: 152
Mercenary Items :
The Gladiator's Bane
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Insight Cryptic Axe
 
Originally posted by smokeeblade on Oct 18, 2009:

Patriarch Morpheus : The Last Windy

Sorry if my title sounded melodramatic enough for you to have a peek, unfortunately this is just your average Windy with one slight twink; I built him to hit the last FCR break point (163%) and though others have said it isn't really worth it, I didn't have to sacrifice much to get him there.

I finished Morpheus a little while ago, but haven't made the time for a write-up until now. He definitely deserves one; he was a very powerful yet enjoyable character to play, and one of the first characters to have had "planned" stat allocations (if you had look at the LCS of my other characters, you'll know what I mean).

Character

Name : Morpheus (Greek God of Dreams and again taken from DMC :))
Class : Druid
Level : 82

Strength : 135 (156)
Dexterity : 25 (45)
Vitality : 320 (361)
Energy : 20 (25)
Unused : 0

Life : 988 (2771)
Mana : 413 (651)

Fire Resist : 75
Cold Resist : 75
Lightning Resist : 75
Poison Resist : 75

Hurricane : 20 (36)
Tornado : 20 (36)
Twister : 20 (36)
Cyclone Armor : 20 (36)
Oak Sage : 8 (21)
Summon Grizzly : 1 (14)
Pre-reqs : 4

Total FCR : 175 (9 frames)

Equipment

Code:
Brimstone Hood
Coronet
Defense: 39
Durability: 17 of 30
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xffac465e
+58 to Mana
All Resistances +19
7% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate
Level 4 Telekinesis (9/30 Charges)

Heart of the Oak
Flail
'KoVexPulThul'
One-Hand Damage: 1 to 24
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 55
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x8559c54e
+10 to Dexterity
All Resistances +34
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
7% Mana stolen per hit
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
40% Faster Cast Rate
75% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
+100 to Attack Rating against Demons
+3 to All Skill Levels
Level 4 Oak Sage (25/25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60/60 Charges)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Skin of the Vipermagi
Wyrmhide
'Um'
Defense: 833
Durability: 21 of 24
Required Strength: 84
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xb5c512ee
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 11
All Resistances +50
Required Level +7
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 144
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 78 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xafaa29d4
+22 to Vitality
+96 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+5 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 69
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xcc879c85
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 127
Durability: 4 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x2b00fc91
+102% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (9/11 Charges)

Sandstorm Trek
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 173
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3dda0ea8
+15 to Strength
+14 to Vitality
+163% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +66%
20% Faster Run/Walk
20% Faster Hit Recovery
50% Slower Stamina Drain
+82 to Maximum Stamina (Based on Character Level)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Dread Turn
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xfe8cfeec
+1 to Dexterity
+40 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +11%
Lightning Resist +37%
Cold Resist +11%
Poison Resist +11%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x1e0822f9
+50 to Maximum Stamina
4% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skill Levels
+41 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x2e4ed03b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +26
+2 to All Skill Levels

Code:
Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 17 to 53
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 57
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x596b812a
+256% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Increased Attack Speed
+4 to Battle Orders
+3 to Battle Cry
+4 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 137
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x39f04102
+22 to Vitality
+111 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
30% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+7 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Having never found a SOJ, my ring options were a bit unorthodox. Initially I miscalculated the necessary FCR, so for a while carried that rare ring which was useless as far as FCR was concerned. After realising this, I had already grown quite fond of it, and decided if anything, the resistances were enough to warrant its place.

Charms

Natural Skillers : 3
All Resist : 15
Fire Resist : 41

My gear setup left a gaping hole for Fire Resist 👎

Mercenary

Ahsab : Act II Normal Defiance

Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 378
Durability: 21 of 21
Required Strength: 48
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xacf00a4c
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
Damage Reduced by 15%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Duriel's Shell
Great Hauberk
Defense: 1892
Durability: 42 of 150
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xbac6d75a
+15 to Strength
+170% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Required Level +7
Cannot Be Frozen
+102 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+82 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Obedience
Thresher
'HelKoThulEthFal'
Two-Hand Damage: 84 to 991
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 84
Required Strength: 112
Required Level: 53
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xf550e2e3
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+370% Enhanced Damage
+200 Defense
All Resistances +26
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
Requirements -20%
40% Faster Hit Recovery
-25% Target Defense
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast Level 21 Enchant When You Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (5: 5 used)

Story

Having read a few Pat threads, I was at first cynical about others saying that they took their Windy through the entire game at /p8, seeing as how every time I try with my other characters, I get my *** handed to me at Diablo in Normal. Morpheus however clearly could hold his own, and was definitely as powerful early game and it is now in late game.

I also read about the relative rarity of PI/CI, and so took it upon myself to screen shot every monster that negated both Hurricane and Tornado. I could count the results on one hand. That's right there was a grand total of 5 monsters that defied Morpheus, 3 of which died a slow but sure death at the hand of Ahsab. This one in particular confuzzled me, as I never quite understood how the 'Magic Resistant' attribute worked :scratchhead:.

For most of the time, it was a very safe experience with the merc and Grizzly tanking out front, while max'd resistances and Cyclone Armor took care of the rest. There were however some very scary occasions, and of course the occasions where you just never stood a chance.

Notable Finds

NM HF : Dol
Hell HF : Lem

Again it was dry runnings with a small exception :

Code:
Shimmering Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0xe16c3d8d
+14 to Life
All Resistances +15

Future ?

He started out as an up-and-coming Baal runner, and I'll be damned if he doesn't make the cut. Having taken him on a few test drives, I certainly think he has the potential and although he may not pack massive MF or huge killing speed, he makes up for it with rock solid safety and consistency.

Conclusion

Well was it worth it ? I can't possibly see why not. The gear was nothing particularly godly, and Morpheus didn't suffer remotely to hit that last break point. I must admit the 9 frame upgrade was almost negligible to the human eye, but in practice I found I had a much easier time stun-locking certain monsters.

Many thanks go to Thomh for gifting me the suh-weet headgear :) and of course thanks to everyone who bothered to read this far (so anyone who skipped the bulk to get here receives no thanks from me 👍)
 
Originally posted by stephan on Feb 18, 2008:

Patriarch Shib, Fire/Wind hybrid Druid

First the obligatory stats, skills, gear, etc.:

Patriatch Shib, level 82 Druid

Skills
:

Elemental tree:
20 Fissure
19 Volcano
1 Armageddon
20 Cyclone Armor
20 Tornado
1 Hurricane
4 prereqs

Summoning tree:
1 in everything but HoW and SoB

Stat points and resists
str: 65 (85)
dex: 37 (58)
vit: 303 (303)
ene: 20 (81)

60 left

Resists after charms:
30 fire/34 cold/53 lightning/11 poison

Gear
Jalal's Mane
Ondal's Wisdom (+4)
Skin of the Vipermagi
+1 rare druid amu
Raven Frost
+84 mana rare ring
Magefist
String of Ears
Natalya's Odium
1 elemental GC

Merc
Act 2 prayer merc (Waheed) with The Reaper's Toll, Duriel's Shell and Rockstopper.

Explanation/thoughts

The build

The idea of the build was to have hybrid druid with both a usable fire attack (Fissure) and physical attack (Tornado). In the beginning I was afraid I was making a weakened Windy with a 40 point PI solution, however Fissure (and sometimes Volcano) turned out quite useful. In areas where Tornado doesn't always work so well (narrow pathways, blocked doorways) Fissure did it's job and it did it fast. It also turned out quite handy in situations where I didn't really wanted to go toe-to-toe with a monster pack. Volcano was sometimes used on single targets and Armageddon and Hurricane provided free extra damage and some chill.

From the summoning tree I used Oak Sage, Grizzly, Ravens, and Solar Creeper for a little mana regen. Of course Oak Sage dies all the time, though.

I chose Ondal's over dual Spirits because a. staves just look better and b. it steals all your exp. :wink3:

The journey
Up to Hell there were no problems at all. Everything was done at /p8 without much a sweat. Hell was mostly done at /p3, although I switched back to /p1 a few times (Council/Meph, Chaos Sanctuary) and Act 5 was almost completely done at /p1.

There were a few deaths against fana archer packs and things like that. Ranged attackers are really this guy's weak point with no shield and no notable defense. Gloams can be dangerous too as a pack of them can rip my 40 point Cyclone Armor apart.

I let my merc and bear handle Hell Ancients. With some gear changes for the merc (Bonehew, Guillaume's) and me (a life tap wand and Naj's staff for positioning) the Ancients had no chance. The trick is to separate them, with which teleport can help a lot. It's a nice tactic that can work for pretty much any build.

Finds
Nothing really great in terms of items: another Bartuc's, another Jalal's, and another low Raven Frost. Hellforge gave me a Fal and a Gul, which isn't too bad. I'm 1 Gul away from a 'Death' now.

The 'after'-journey
While I enjoyed playing this guy, I don't think I will play him a lot after today. He's not particularly useful for MFing and somehow I never feel like playing chars that are already Pat/Mat. May he enjoy his well deserved retirement now.

I still need another Lem for my Passion Spear Barb, so I guess I'm going to bug Countess for a while after this.

Well that wraps this one up. Thanks for reading. 😃
 
Originally posted by @TheNix on Mar 24, 2018:

Patriarch StagnationKills, Windy Druid

Level: 86

St – 65 (85)
Dx – 20 (22)
Vt – 415 (437)
En – 20 (62)

HP 1230
Mana 446

Tornado: 2405 – 2556
Hurricane: 1572 – 1688

Resists:

Fire: 75
Cold: 75
Ltning: 75
Poison: 33

Skills:

Twister: 20/30
Tornado: 20/30
Hurricane: 20/30
Summon Grizzly: 20/27
Heart of Wolverine: 11/18
Arctic Blast: 1/11
Cyclone Armour: 1/11
Raven: 1/8
Oak Sage: 1/8
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1/8
Summon Dire Wolf: 1/8

Equipment:

Weapon 1:

“Spirit” Crystal Sword
Lidless Wall - pdiamond

Weapon 2:

Nada

Jalal’s Mane “um”
Skin of the Vipermagi
Magefist
Caster Demon hyde boots
Arachnid Mesh
Rare ammy with +2 Elemental, FCR & resists
Manald & Rare ring with resists


Merc (Act 2 – Prayer)

Rockstopper
Soul Forge with +%dam & +elemental
Eth Reaper’s Toll


Random musings:

This has been my first failed character since 1.11. I had planned to complete this character only using the elemental tree, and up until in Act 3 Hell all was going to plan. I started off concentration on the fire section of the tree and it was a killer. I then abandoned it for the windy section and maxed Twister, Tornado and Hurricane and everything just flew along. When I maxed these I went back to beefing up the fire tree. As I side, all was going according to plan then things went horribly wrong. All of a sudden the tornados seemed to go around everything and my Fissure was ambled through without causing damage; it seemed I was cursed! I was at level 85 in mid Act 3 and I only ended up at level 86; oh so many deaths. The final straw came when I was fighting the Ancients, at least 10 deaths and some with a couple of seconds of clicking the altar. I gave in and respec the character to what you see and simply completed the game without fuss.

And now especially for @D2DC - a picture.

1585549402292.png

EDIT: Bugger, I forgot to change Seeker to StagnationKills!!!!!
 
Originally posted by @Trim on Aug 19, 2009:

Patriatch Fallen_Eremite, the Fire Elemental Druid

His Story:

Once upon a time, there was an outcast who had shunned society and was forced to live in the wooded areas outside town. Years had passed since the day he had been exiled from human contact. Yet man is not a solitary creature; the outcast had befriended the wildlife around him and was proud to call the very birds, wolves, and bears of the forest his friends. And while the man was content with his life, never could he forget the misdeeds of his past.

One dark moonless night, the outcast had been practicing his rudimentary skills of fire conjuring when in the distance he heard something moving through the underbrush. Commanding his birds to whistle and the wolves to howl to drown out his movements, the man hid himself within a nearby thicket and laid in wait. Soon, a hooded figure came within sight. The outcast had never seen this ominous person before, but his keen animal senses could detect this was no ordinary man. The outcast could smell death and decay, could hear the whispers of tortured souls, and could taste the hatred and bitterness flowing from the dark wanderer. As the hooded man passed only a foot away, the outcast remained still; the evil that had been before him had now traveled deeper into the wood, toward the very town that had cast him out.

Minutes after the shadowy figure had come and gone, the outcast finally left his hiding spot. While he knew not what plot that malevolent man had in store for that town, the outcast knew that there would be no safety within the city walls from something so evil. Remembering the misdeeds that had sent him away from society all those years ago, the man called his animal servants to him, speaking in a language only they could understand:

"Listen, my children, for there is little time. The figure you saw before you was a sign. From the time I was banned from the limits of the nearby town, I have been the most horrible being in these woods. And still, you stand by me and call me friend. Fate, it seems, has been waiting to show itself; this night has shown me that I am no longer the fearsome creature I once was. I may not have been forgiven for my actions, but I will redeem my younger self and save the very town that had shunned me. With your help, I will follow this dark wanderer and liberate the world of his evil ways. Only then will I forgive myself. Prepare yourselves, denizens of the forest, for we are on a quest for redemption!"


Introducing:
Patriarch Fallen_Eremite, level 81

LCS:
Life-609/976 (Oak Sage); Mana-583; Resists- 22F/22C/36L/22P

Stats (with gear):
Str: 85
Dex: 46
Vit: 212
Ene: 50
Unused stat points: 190

Skills:
20 (+8) Firestorm: 2271-2545 Fire Damage
20 (+8) Molten Boulder: 684-783 Physical / 592-678 Fire Damage, 639-651 Fire damage per second
20 (+8) Fissure: 2070-2163 Fire Damage
20 (+8) Volcano: 469-476 Physical / 469-476 Fire Damage
1 (+8) in Ravens, Oak Sage, Spirit Wolves, Dire Wolves, & Grizzly
Unused skill points: 7

Gear:

Weapon: Spirit Broad Sword
Shield: Lidless Wall Grim Shield (pDiamond)
Switch: Insight Scythe
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi
Helm: Jalal's Mane Totemic Mask
Gloves: Magefist Light Gauntlets
Belt: Nightsmoke Belt
Boots: Silkweave Mesh Boots
Amulet: The Eye of Elitch
Ring1: Raven Frost
Ring2: Great Wyrm's (+mana)

Charms:
Gheed's (101/39/-12%)
2x 7 Lit res SCs

Merc: Pratham, ActII Nightmare Defensive Merc (Holy Freeze)
Waepon: The Reaper's Toll
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Armor: Skullder's Ire (pTopaz)

His Beginnings:
I've been on a bit of a kick trying out lesser-used builds. Out of the blue, I asked myself how a pure fire Druid managed to hurt any foes that were fire immune. To do some research, I looked at a patriarch thread and learned that both Molten Boulder and Volcano had physical damage. While I was concerned about any FI/PI monsters, knowing there were two sources of damage it seemed the build was perfectly viable. So why does no one use it? "...Let's find out!" I said to myself.

Shortly thereafter, I did an anagram for 'Fire Elemental' and I had a perfect name. No reason not to start it now!

(And in case everyone needs to know, 'eremite' is a synonym for hermit. Don't worry, I didn't know, either. 😉)

The Journey:

Normal and Nightmare were pretty unremarkable. I began by placing only a single point into Firestorm and Molten Boulder each and played strictly melee. Once Fissure was available, I maxed it as quickly as possible; in the meantime, I filled out the summons for some tanks and then dumped all the rest of my spare skill points into Firestorm for the synergy. Once Fissure had the full twenty points, I moved on to Volcano.

I finished Normal at clvl46; note that the highest clvl requirement on all my gear is clvl45, so by the time I had moved into Nightmare I was already wearing every piece of my end-game gear.

Nightmare was very easy even on /p8 since Fissure was doing a great job against mobs and my merc was cleaning up single targets. It was slow compared to, say, a Blizzsorc or an Orber, but having an AoE attack means it's faster than a Concentrate Barbarian or a Mauler. Act bosses tended to be super simple (Andy, Meph with the moat, Diablo with dodge tactics) or insanely long (both Duriel on /p8 and Baal on /p1 took forever but was completely safe with castable tanks), but it was never a real challenge. Once I hit ActIV, I started seeing immunities and monster resists are high so I dropped the settings to /p5. Slow, but still very safe. A thing to note was that at /p5, the damage I was doing to Lister & Co. was so little they were regenerating life as fast as I was taking it away. Had to park 'em. I defeated Baal at clvl73, so I ran Pindle until clvl75 so my merc could use a Reaper's Toll for the Decrepify. While in NM, I maxed Volcano, then Molten Boulder for physical synergies to Volcano, then lastly worked on Firestorm.

And then... Hell. It was aptly named. My character? NOT so aptly named since the first creature you see is a Fallen, a fire immune. In the early parts of Hell, Molten Boulder was sufficient since monster life isn't incredibly high. However, as you get deeper into the game the power of MB is low and the casting delay is too high to keep enemies away, so more and more you have to rely on a merc or a wolf/bear to distract enemies as you cast Volcanoes at their feet.

What was worse was that when Fissure, my main killer, started failing in ActIV NM on /p5, it was a sign that is would fail to do big damage on /p1 in Hell. It wasn't always bad; with the exception of the FI skeletons in the Lut Gholein sewers and the resurrectors in the tombs, undead were always decimated. But even large enemies like trees, urdar, venom lords, etc. never seemed to get hit very hard, nor often at all. And when Fissure and MB became mostly useless, the only attack I had left was Volcano, which is basically a single stationary monster attack. And questing became slow, especially against FIs since the only damage I can do is minimal physical. My merc's CtC Decrepify was incredibly useful.

Like Blizzard, Fissure seems to work best against enemies that move through the attack field, but stationary ones get missed a LOT. So you want moving enemies for Fissure, but stationary enemies for Volcano. ... Tough. I ended up using a Grizzly through Acts I-III for his knockback effect, but often used Dire Wolves in the last two acts to keep enemies still for Volcano.

ActIV was where things slowed to a crawl. Lots of FIs, Gloams and 36 Lightning resist meant creeping around to find Izual, and tons of high life enemies means that when I was mercless killing a single enemy could easily take as many as ten seconds. The worst pack was Infector of Souls, who were FI and extra fast; I somehow managed to pull one or two out at a time so Decrep/merc/Volcano could all be focused on one thing at a time. Diablo himself was... bad. Three deaths, all to being encapsulated by Bone Prison. The only skill I had that could do enough damage to escape quickly was Fissure, but due to its random nature it sometimes worked... and three times it didn't.

ActV was actually quite smooth. I hate to admit it, but the most troublesome enemy type I saw was... the fire-tossing imps. Even in Hell, normally these guys are pushovers. But when you're a fire-based character fighting tiny, highly mobile FIs there's nothing to do but hope a Volcano blast will keep one in hit recovery while you dodge fireballs from the other fifteen on screen.

Once I hit the icy areas, though, everything was cake. From that time on until the end of the game, I never once saw: quill rats, frenzytaurs, gloams, pit lords, or OKs. Thank goodness.

I had been dreading the fight with the Ancients, but it really wasn't that bad. I did one reroll since I had rolled two Ancients with fire immunity, but my second roll was much easier. My merc died immediately, and while my Grizzly's 2,112 life would drain really fast, he was spammable and was most always the target for all three of them. Talic, always immune to fire, was a pain since he likes to whirl back and forth, but I just stood back and spammed Grizzlies and Volcanoes 'til he poofed.

WSK wasn't bad; the worst enemies here were FI flayer-types (Oh, I DID see gloams here; "Ahhh! Ahhhhh!! Run away!!!"), but I found stairs quickly. On paper, the worst enemy stat-wise was this one here, but once Decrep triggered a couple times it was easy as pie. Baal's minions went as expected: the first three waves were easy, though I did have to seperate wave four like I did with Infector of Souls in the CS. I didn't even bother attacking Lister; I just ran straight out of the throne room to trick Baal.

And the final battle. ...What... a pain... My merc was useless, my pets would die within seconds, my life and resists were low, and Baal would not stop making clones and appendages. The biggest sadness was that five appendage attacks would kill me. And when you're not constantly barraging and distracting Baal with attacks, he spams tentacles. I started off using Volcano, but ten minutes and fifteen deaths later he still had half his life. By accident, I used Fissure, but his immense size meant he was taking damage almost all the time and it sped up the battle... but didn't minimize my deaths. In all, I probably had thirty deaths. But it was all for the greater good: ridding the world of Baal! (check my defense; guess I also cut off one of the drops... :\)

Finds:
I want to say that basically this character had zero MF on from ActV normal on. The merc ended up with a pTopaz'ed Skullders and a Stealskull Casque for a long time, but this was the only MF I had. And still I ended up with (exceptional or better):

HoZ <--- Grailer!! (NM Pindle)
Guardian Angel (NM Pindle)
Silkweaves (NM Pindle)
Demon Machine (NM Pindle)
Cliffkiller
Goldstrike Arch
Spineripper
Bloodtree Stump
Gheed's Charm (39%MF; only my third Gheed's and certainly the best)
Veil of Steel (random Kurast unique mob)
Bul-Kathos' Sacred Charge (WSK)
Viperfork (Baal, no merc)
Stoneraven (Baal, no merc)

Not bad! Only one grailer from all the above, but that HoZ was incredibly exciting. I suspect the reason I got all these, though, was because my Hellforges from NM/Hell were Ko/Lum, respectively.

Wrap-Up:
In truth, I got almost exactly what I expected. It was challenging and slow, but it was actually pretty fun. Fissure acts a lot like Blizzard, so it felt familiar and comfortable. Also, compare the Fissure damage to a synergized Blizzard and you see Fissure does about half the damage. That basically means if you never used Teleport on a Blizzard Sorceress, a Fire Druid will take about twice as long (ignore monsters' partial resists and the Sorceress' Cold Mastery for this statement to make sense). And having to switch between fire/physical skills and different castable tanks meant there was some true strategy involved.

What makes this build absolutely horrendous is the casting delays. Every fire skill has a delay, even the basic Firestorm. But when your best skill needs to be used twice on an enemy in ActIV on and it has a five or six second casting delay, things go at a crawl. This is not a build for someone with no patience.

My end verdict is that I'm slightly surprised you don't see more fire Druids. I'm not saying they're the cookie-cutter, uber powerful type. But they are straight-forward, easy to use, and as you can see I used some mediocre gear and did just fine. I would say, however, that attempting to get a Guardian would take a lot more finesse and a true hardcore mentality to make it to the end. That said, this is my first Druid Patriarch since 1.10, and that means this build is absolutely viable (my only other Druid to beat the game was a Fury wolf in 1.09 when all you needed was a Baranar's Star and a Stormshield for the win).

...I presume the most pressing question people might pose is, "Why in the world did you have 190 unused stat points?!" And the answer is: ...I, uh, don't really know. I suppose there's two parts. The first is that I had been wearing the same gear for almost forty character levels, so I never knew if I'd need an equipment upgrade and would need higher stats. The second part is that with so many tanks in front of me, I was rarely in any danger. ...The true answer, though, is probably because I'm a prat and I wanted to make a slow, less often used character more difficult than it needed to be. Yes, act bosses were a true challenge, but in most every other situation I just made sure my Oak Sage was up.

The End:
I know it's very lengthy and may be self-serving, but... well, that's me in a nutshell! And I hope some of this was just the littlest bit insightful.

Thanks to everyone for reading this! Hope to see you soon in my next Matriarch thread!

Oh, and sorry for the opening story. I was tired, feeling good after just beating Baal, and haven't had many outlets for creativity lately. I've never made one before... and I'll probably never make one again.
😉
 
Originally posted by Ugla on Apr 27, 2011:

Patriarch Grondur

Ok, so this was my first attempt at a windy. My previous experience with druids involved a summoner, which turned out as a huge disappointment, and indirectly also MPing with a fire druid of Hrus, who summed up his performance herein. I was certaily expecting to improve my impression over the class, as wind druids are renowned as a strong and reliable build.

I got what I was looking for, an extremely potent and well-balanced character and a very enjoyable ride from, well, lvl24 to the very end.

Progress:
The first act was dull, as the wind sub-tree doesn't offer much in terms of offense early on. I started melee and twinked in the Sigon's set to remind me why I never liked it - it's because it slows down your movement and makes you run out of stamina due to the excessive investment into str, offering things you don't really need. I put 1pt into Werewolf and Lycanthropy, but my attack speed dropped rather than improved. Realizing that the faster running only occurs with Feral Rage, I switched back to human form. I was running at /p3, skipping large portion of the floors which brought me to the catacombs at lvl15. I raised to /p8 to get Twister before Andariel, then cowardly dropped to /p1 for the fight. In 1.13, I would definitely start as a fire druid and respecced later on.

Times got a lot better with Tornado which actually does receive the synergy from Cyclone Armor. 'Stealth' works wonders for this build and together with Maelstrom, Wall of the Eyeless, Magefist, Tarnhelm and a rare amulet with +1 to elemental skills, we finally started to "feel the wind". I decided to keep Aliza who received a low-end (read 1.10+) Ravenclaw once we made it out of the sewers. I had ten points in CA, which resulted in a decent 30s Hurricane after once again messing with ps to get it before big D. I also hired Mr. Furry. Roasted bearclaws someone? In fact, he only got fried once before we prevailed. Normal was finished at lvl43.

For NM, I used Jalal's along with 6 skillers, Suicide Branch with 'Rhyme', SoJ+rare FCR ring, Waterwalk and SoE - picked for the %DR over other alternatives. Aliza switched to Kuko, Iron Pelt and Stealskull. At lvl48, I put on my trusty ammy with mana, resists and Teleport charges. Got a 'Shael' from NM forge for all the twinkage. Later on, I almost bit it against the tomb vipers down in the Nihlathak's lair. As my WSK map was crap, I decided not to run NM Baal at all. Instead, I butchered the cows at /p8 and moved on to Hell at lvl71.

I felt no need to change 'Stealth' (it is pretty much ideal for the build). Its studded ladder base, however, didn't seem "fit" the grand exploits ahead of us, so I made an attempt on a perfect (def 524) white AP I had stashed long ago. One can always use a nice base for 'Enigma' or 'CoH' should the odds turn out different, right? It turned out one would have to do with 35k gold. It came to me I could as well use that darned Que-Hegan's armor for once, so I went for it.

I was looking for a reliable PI solution to support Hurricane. Since the on-striking CtCs depend on AR and FPA, which doesn't suit casters in general and druids in particular, I gave Aliza a W..Windforce and took myself a Spellsteel on switch. Yes, I did say reliable. That allowed me to use Mara's for the +2 skills, as the axe comes with both decrep and tele. Worked decent enough. Aliza got a 'Treachery' wyrmhide and Guillaume's Face to equip the WF.

For long time, I believed this would be my first clean softcore sweep. Though I already have a guardian, I never managed to mat/pat an SC char without dying. An extra strong Mauler in durance decided it would be a shame to spoil the record and slapped me back to Docks from full health. The whole durance was rather annoying due to high %DR CI ghouls, which used to hide from tornadoes in the corners. Their bosses often spawned Stoneskin, and hence PI. In doll-infested areas, five Spirit wolves proved superior to a single bear.

I got once fried by Souls on the Plains of Despair, due to CA recast failure (15%LR). This latency while switching skills - if this is due to Hurricane graphics or something else, I don't know, but I generally don't have these problems with other classes. The act was otherwise very easy. Same goes for the act5 outdoor areas which presented an assortment of skeleton archers/mages, spearthrowers and clans. I had two close calls in the Frozen river, from souls and witches alike. The weakest moment on my part was the Ancients fight. All three were gradually losing health, no troubles whatsoever, until I decided to step in to get a better aim and didn't make it. The WSK was relatively easy, though larger clusters of PI witches on lvl3 had to be approached carefully.

Patriarch Grondur
lvl84 wind druid

Stats: (naked/main&switch)
str 75/106
dext 185/190
vita 200/205
erg 20/60
unspent 30

Skills:
20 Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, Hurricane
1 Grizzly, Poison Creeper, Feral Rage, Lycantropy, and all prerequisites
5 unspent

Not sure about what to do with the remaining points, my original idea was to get Fury for boss killing.

resists: (main/switch)
fire 75/40
cold 51/16
light 25/-10
poison 47/12

Life on main 741 (1216 with Oak Sage)

Current gear:
Jalal's Mane
Mara's (30%)
SoJ
rare FCR ring
Code:
Viper Eye
Ring
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3134f48d
Cold Resist +26%
Poison Resist +18%
3% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +8
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Faster Cast Rate
Que-Hegan's Wisdom (empty socket)
Magefist
SoE (14%DR, 15MDR)
Aldur's boots (50%FR)
main: Suicide Branch/'Rhyme' Grim Shield
switch: Spellsteel (30*slvl3 Decrepify, 20*slvl1 Teleport)

6 elemental skillers (one with +32 life and one with +6 str)
SCs with total of 65 mana, 20 life, 31%MF and 4%PR

Merc: Aliza, fire rogue (act1 normal)
Guillaume's Face (15%IAS)
'Treachery' wyrmhide
Windforce (PEmerald) - see the addendum

Finds:
passive skiller (+3 dext), several twinking charms (+stamina, +mana)
this rare ring
Code:
Raven Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x930e45d5
+23 to Life
+11 to Mana
Fire Resist +19%
Poison Resist +26%
8% Life stolen per hit
Level 5 Fire Bolt (32/32 Charges)

HF: NM - Shael, Hell - Mal

Addendum:
Did two Baal runs to get lvl84. I had to revive Aliza several times which cost me almost all the remaining gold. On the second run, we got a PI Lister with Teleportation which proved practically invincible. I wasted all the decrep charges in an attempt to overcome his regeneration, bringing him to a point where he started to teleport - only to find out I lacked the gold (~130k) to recharge Spellsteel.

I collected the gold elsewhere and even built up a reserve for one more recharge, but to no avail. I also tried to combine Hurricane with Arctic Blast (14 soft pts) which seemed to work, once we pinned Lister against the wall using Sokoban tricks (a bear cannot be pushed away if he's blocked by the druid from the other side). Then, he started teleporting again. The CtC Venom on Aliza's 'Treachery' was practically worthless. As I was unwilling to let go, I invested 1pt to get Poison Creeper, too bad it died in one hit. I recalled there was still an empty socket in the WF. Checked the stash and found a perfect emerald. Not exactly the kind of thing people stuff into these, but what the Hel(l). I tried yet another round with Arctic Blast, but it was just far too slow.

Ok, since this already started to look ridiculous, I ate my lunch, did some other stuff, and resumed trying. I cleared the entire floor to prevent any mishaps - I already lost Aliza once in one of my earlier attempts due to some surviving witches. I gathered ~270k gold allowing for two consecutive recharges, and went with the original tactics (hurricane and decrep with tornadoes). I brought Lister very low on health, and after he teleported only a short distance several times in a row, we finally managed to finish him off. I was too weary to take a screenshot of his demise.

Remarks:
- Enormous power of a single-tree build where two different elements synergize each other. Cool.
- Nice balance between offense and defense.
- Grizzly provides a solid tank even with 1pt investment. Other minions have their uses, at times.
- Aiming tornadoes seems tricky at certain angles, especially if the target is adjacent to a wall.
- Life pool was a bit low with the Oak Sage dying left and right. Just what was it trying to accomplish face to face with Lister is beyond me. Btw, have you noticed it does not provide the life bonus while in town? At the same time, it seems unable to survive outside of town..

Does anyone use wind druids for MF on regular basis? Which setup do you use then and what is your preferable area/tactics?

Thanks for reading, the comments are welcome!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by winmar on Jun 19, 2007:

Anaximander the Fire Elemental Druid.

I posted this in my Septemvirate thread but i feel like this character is worthy of his own thread aswell.


Patriarch Anaximander the Fire Elemental Druid

Level 79
Pat/Mat Nr. 13
HF: Io / Um
Best Find: Firelizard Talons.

Skills.
Elemental

Firestorm 20 (33)
Molten Boulder 20 (33)
Fissure 20 (33)
Volcano 20 (33)

Summoning
Oak Sage 1 (8)
Dire Wolf 6 (13)
Grizzly 1 (8)
Raven 1 (15)

Grizzly Life: 2925
Dire Wolf Life: 513

Damage
Firestorm: 3526-3920
Molten Boulder: 1724-1937 (Phys: 924-1038 | Fire: 800-899)
Fissure: 2798-2830
Volcano: 1295-1343 (Phys: 639-646 | Fire: 656-697)



As you can see i decided to use my remaining points to buff my summons. I could have put them in Oak Sage aswell but i don't like relying on the sage since it very often dies. I will continue to put points in Dire Wolf so i guess this is more of a Fire/Summon build and not a pure Fire Elemental. Wich makes it more unusal i think.

Equipment.

Ravenlore
Spirit Sword
Skin of the vipermagi
Lidless Wall
Thundergod's Vigor
Bul-Khato's
Ravenfrost
Magefist
Mara's
Natalya's Soul

Switch: Naj's Puzzler

ATMA Readout
Rich (BB code):
Ravenlore
Sky Spirit
Defense: 357
Durability: 20 of 20
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 113
Required Level: 74
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x8b3b281a
+20 to Energy
+129% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +23
+7 to Raven (Druid Only)
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
-14% to Enemy Fire Resistance

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf7d6938b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +23
+2 to All Skill Levels

Spirit
Broad Sword
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 7 to 14
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Strength: 48
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 46
Fingerprint: 0x2d3a9a3a
+22 to Vitality
+105 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
55% Faster Hit Recovery
32% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5d922dac
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
All Resistances +34
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 309
Chance to Block:  40%
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8144fe8e
+10 to Energy
+105% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +19
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+1 to Light Radius
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 145
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf777235e
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+175% Enhanced Defense
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+20 Lightning Absorb
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xa960c9ac
+27% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills

Natalya's Soul
Mesh Boots
Defense: 135
Durability: 66 of 66
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8b44e9aa
+95 Defense
Lightning Resist +19%
Cold Resist +22%
+50 Maximum Durability
40% Faster Run/Walk
Heal Stamina Plus 19% (Based on Character Level)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x191ebbd6
+17 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+215 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xe7e6d1c3
+50 to Maximum Stamina
5% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skill Levels
+39 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Naj's Puzzler
Elder Staff
Two-Hand Damage: 200 to 232
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Dexterity: 37
Required Strength: 44
Required Level: 78
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8411a7df
+35 to Energy
+70 to Mana
+150% Enhanced Damage
Adds 6-45 lightning damage
30% Faster Cast Rate
150% Damage to Undead
+1 to All Skill Levels
Level 11 Teleport (48/69 Charges)

Charms
2x Elemental Skillers
1 GC +15 All Res
1 GC +29 LR
1 LC +23 Life / +8 All res
1 GC +37 Life
Small Charms with +life and some with +LR or +FR.

Mercenary
Act 2 Holy Freeze

The Reaper's Toll
Shaftstop
Guillaume's Face

Stats.
Fire Res:
67
Cold Res: 64
Lightning Res: 85
Poison Res: 42

Str: 88 (113)
Dex: 20 (42)
Vit: 352 (404)
Ene: 20 (55)

Life: 1160 (1828 with Oak Sage)
Mana: 423

Thoughts and Tactics.
I really liked this character. He is very versatile and can handle every enemy in the game if you play him right. I had the bad luck of spawning Hephasto the Armorer as Physical and Fire Immune in Hell. But thanks to my Merc and his Reaper's toll we could break his Physical Immunity with Decrepify. This allowed me to take him down with the physical damage from Volcano. It took a while but it was possible.

I wouldn't say that he is weak, but he is not a cookie cutter build either. But what he lacks in firepower he makes up for in versatility. He has two types of damage, fire and physical. Alot of life and three different pets to aid him.

Even though both his main spells (Fissure and Volcano) are on long timers and acts like "throw and forget" spells, it never gets boring. All four fire spells have their own use. You need to carefully choose the right one and how to place it.

The position of your merc and summons are also crucial. Having a Naj's Puzzler on switch helps alot! You also need to choose what summon to use in different situations, some times the Grizzly is great and sometimes the Dire Wolves are better. When you are facing a few strong enemies that are not immune to fire the Grizzly is you best choice. But when facing a large pack of enemies it's better to split them up using your Wolves. If the enemy is Fire Immune you will need to use your Volcano (or Molten Boulder) to kill them. If you have your grizzly out his knockback will knock the enemy away from your volcano, so Wolves are better in this situation. The grizzly is ofcourse best at Act Bosses though.

You also need to keep track of both your Ravens and Oak Sage at all times. You constantly have to keep your Oak Sage alive by summoning him away from the enemies in the heat of battle. It's also good to always have 5 ravens summones since they will blind the enemy.

As you can see, there are alot to think about and you use alot of skills and tactics. You are constantly teleporting, choosing the best spells and summoning your pets. In my opinion this is what makes this build very fun to play. You should try it!

Thanks for reading!
 
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Mar 23, 2013:

Patriarch Lex Luthor - Aldur's fire druid

This is was a co-op multi player project played over a long time ( many months ). Originally smilts and Jason Maher were playing a shapeshifter and summoner respectively ( with mine being the elemental druid ), but after shortly before completing nightmare smilts left to play Diablo 3 ( yeah.. ), so then me and Jason finished it together as a two person team.

This is a pure fissure druid, with maxed oak sage as well. Why Aldur's? Maybe something like hoto-enigma-ravenlore would have been fine but if you look at the numbers a fully faceted Aldur's is just as good or better, and you don't have to wear a chicken head. Plus, this is something Aldur's is actually good for.

LCS

Minus enemy fire resist: -26% eFR

Skills

20(39) Fissure
20(39) Volcano
20 Firestorm ( synergy )
20(30) Oak sage
1(11) Carrion vine
11(21) Grizzly

And other prerequisits

Gear

Aldur's Rhythm (+9/-12)
Aldur's Stony gaze ( +8/-10)
Aldur's deception ( +4/-4)
Aldur's advance ( 50 fres )
Spirit monarch
Arachnid mesh
Magefist
Mara's kaleidoscope ( 29@ )
2x The stone of jordan

Switch: Spellsteal ( for decrep )

Merc: A2 might, with infinity, eth fort, andariel's visage

Inventory: 7x elemental skillers

Gear readouts
Code:
Aldur's Rhythm
Jagged Star
One-Hand Damage: 60 to 93
Durability: 70 of 72
Required Strength: 74
Required Level: 49
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 44
Fingerprint: 0x952a19ef
+40 to Minimum Damage
+62 to Maximum Damage
Adds 51-135 fire damage
Adds 50-75 lightning damage
10% Life stolen per hit
5% Mana stolen per hit
30% Increased Attack Speed
200% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
100% Chance to cast Level 29 Blaze When You Level Up
+9% to Fire Skill Damage
-12% to Enemy Fire Resistance

Aldur's Deception
Shadow Plate
Defense: 803
Durability: 68 of 70
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 76
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x47ec246b
+20 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
+300 Defense
Lightning Resist +44%
Adds 17-45 fire damage
Requirements -50%
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
100% Chance to cast Level 29 Blaze When You Level Up
+4% to Fire Skill Damage
-4% to Enemy Fire Resistance

Aldur's Advance
Battle Boots
Defense: 45
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 45
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x36367bff
+50 to Life
+180 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 32%
Fire Resist +50%
40% Faster Run/Walk
10% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Indestructible

Aldur's Stony Gaze
Hunter's Guise
Defense: 165
Durability: 19 of 20
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 56
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0x6697b3dc
Regenerate Mana 17%
+90 Defense
Cold Resist +41%
Adds 34-90 fire damage
+5 to Light Radius
25% Faster Hit Recovery
100% Chance to cast Level 29 Blaze When You Level Up
+8% to Fire Skill Damage
-10% to Enemy Fire Resistance

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 145
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 85 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x470b8a47
+22 to Vitality
+112 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
32% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+4 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 121
Durability: 10 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x8b7c075d
+93% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

Lex_Luthor's Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x661f4c4e
+25% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x7cb4853b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +29
+2 to All Skill Levels

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x75f514af
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3297ec83
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Thoughts

This dude was better than I thought. Yes, not as much as a fire sorceress but it was quite good. The entirety of Hell ( and normal, nightmare ) was completed on p8 with not much difficulty. -eFR helped deal with fire immunes and we also had a good amount of physical damage. Oak sage helped keep the hitpoints up. Also, carrion vine was incredibly useful to regenerate hitpoints over time from corpses.

It is a real nuisance that all the druid's fire spells are on a timer. This meant that mostly I just used fissure, though summons like oak sage can be recast during the timer. Fissure is basically a fire version of blizzard, and it's mostly good though it can be very annoying in cramped areas and sometimes just refuse to hit some monsters. Volcano was used in these areas. Maggot's lair was a pain, summons don't do well there either.

The spellsteel on switch was a last minute addition to deal with PI/FIs, though the rogue could kill them with cold arrows even without it ( this happened with infector ). Cta is too cumbersome for laggy MP, and we had oak sage anyway. Plus, it's softcore.

The ancients were amped and on p8 they were the most scary part of the game but we still beat them. p8 Baal took a while as well. Don't remember any deaths.

Finds: None that I recall. Maybe Jason found a zod somewhere and didn't tell me :p Forges were rubbish.

Random screenshots: 1 2 3 4 5

P.S. I tried to use armageddon instead of maxing oak sage but it is like the worst skill ever.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Jun 28, 2013:

Patriarch Gaul - fireclaws werebear ( and some more druid pats )

Patriarch Gaul

Fireclaws werebear.. Pretty simple character. He smacks stuff by holding down fireclaws on RMB. Occasionally use shockwave and switch to LMB for hitting stuff. Stuff dies. You can charge up maul but its not really useful.

His gear and whatnot is all straightforward. The only problem was the selection of weapon-shield combo. I used the two below, and am listing down their pros and cons in case someone is interested in this.

Grief phaseblade/phoenix monarch

+ Highest physical damage
+ Life tap ( dracs ) and redemption aura
+ Higher life, more max LR/FR, 15% pdr(dungo), 30% block
+ minus 28% eFR
- Only 7fpa attack, slow
- Proc'ed firestorms interrupt attack, but that is made up by having the proc'ed firestorms synergized and do good dmg
- Blocking is slow and interrupts attack ( by far the most annoyance )

Tomb Reaver ( 3 shael )

+ 5fpa attack - fast,fast,fast
+ decent physical attack made stronger by fast speed and no blocking, also bonus to undead makes it more balanced
+ Maxed allres easy
+ Little critters revived are quite tough
+ It looks awesome
- No life tap or redemption aura ( 20 ias gloves reqd )
- Weapon breaks ( not a huge deal, has good dura )
- Level 84 reqd ( not too much problem if you play p8 like me, it's reached in middle of A2 hell )
- No -eFR

Both choices are quite excellent. I used grief/phoenix for the first two acts, and then tried tomb reaver for A3 and decided to stick to it. Grief and phoenix are used a lot anyway, while this is probably the only time I'll use the TR.

Other gear ( Tomb reaver build )

Chains of Honor
Jalal's mane ( +5/-4 )
Highlord's wrath
Gore rider
Nosferatu coil
Lava gout
Raven frost
Bul Kathos wedding band
Cta-spirit switch

7 Shapeshifting skillers

A2 might merc with infinity, forti, AV

Readouts

Code:
Tomb Reaver
Cryptic Axe
'ShaelShaelShael'
Two-Hand Damage: 123 to 562
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Dexterity: 103
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 84
Polearm Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xc06218b9
+275% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +48
56% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+12 Life after each Kill
+4 to Light Radius
120% Increased Attack Speed
209% Damage to Undead
+283 to Attack Rating against Undead
10% Reanimate As: Returned
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 274
Durability: 20 of 20
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xff953a82
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
+177% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +30
Adds 17-45 fire damage
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+5 to Mana After Each Kill
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
100% Chance to cast Level 31 Meteor When You Die
+5% to Fire Skill Damage
-4% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1775f6e6
Lightning Resist +35%
Adds 1-30 lightning damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to All Skill Levels
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15
33% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)

Chains of Honor
Dusk Shroud
'DolUmBerIst'
Defense: 783
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x8f593e49
+20 to Strength
+70% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 8%
All Resistances +65
8% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +7
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
200% Damage to Demons
100% Damage to Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc5159a36
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+177 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x58c3e187
+50 to Maximum Stamina
5% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skill Levels
+44 to Life (Based on Character Level)

Nosferatu's Coil
Vampirefang Belt
Defense: 63
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 51
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc7231247
+15 to Strength
6% Life stolen per hit
-3 to Light Radius
10% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Slows Target by 10%

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 86
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xe69a1e89
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 149
Durability: 34 of 34
Required Strength: 94
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe2337fc7
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+176% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

Skills

Level 38 fireclaws with all points going into the synergies.
1 point Maul, Werebear, lycanthropy, shockwave
No summons

LCS

He is quite a strong character, though slows down substantially against fire immunes, esp. unbreakable ones. I did the first three acts with p8 and the next two with p5 or so. Life tap and redemption with grief/phoenix combo worked wonders in A2 against all the unleechable skeletons and prevented reviving. However, TR with its faster attack shined in A3 and then I decided to finish the game with it. Against dolls I shapeshifted out and used fissure.

Patriarch Fervous - Hunter/Summoner

This build was inspired by the Hunterelementalist guide on the druid forum. It focuses on the summoner side, as I had already made a fire druid before. In fact you can separate out the two components of this build- summons and fire and make two much more powerful characters that combo very well with each other and can complete the whole game on p8, which is precisely what Jason and I did with our two druids project. On his own though, this guy aint too good and it shows. The summons are not that effective and fire side lacks skills/conviction/synergies so I only used that against PIs. Shooting with the bow is okay but more of a style thing than very useful. ITD helps with that, of course.

LCS

Skills

20(38) Dire wolf
20(38) Grizzly
20(26) Fissure
20(26) Firestorm
7(25) Heart of wolverine
1 Carrion vine and prereqs

Items

Faith greatbow
Enigma
Jalal's mane ( um )
Highlord's wrath
LoH
Arachnid's mesh
Raven frost
SoJ
Death track rare boots
Cta/spirit switch

7 Trainer's grand charms

A2 might merc with reaper, G-face, treachery

Readouts

Code:
Faith
Superior Great Bow
OhmJahLemEld
Two Hand Damage: 53 - 231
Durability: 23 of 36
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 121
Required Dexterity: 107
Fingerprint: 0x76b75d99
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 12 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
+2 to All Skills
345% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
300% Bonus to Attack Rating
+75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Adds 120 - 120 Fire Damage
All Resistances +15
10% Reanimate as: Returned
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
4 Sockets (4 used)

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xbb02c976
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
32% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15

Enigma
Gothic Plate
JahIthBer
Defense: 888
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0x70624fb0
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 to Teleport
+760 Defense
+64 to Strength (Based on Character Level)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced by 8%
+14 Life after each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
86% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
3 Sockets (3 used)

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 85
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x5ef086a7
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+350% Damage to Demons
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%

Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 290
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x4ce8fe74
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+193% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
All Resistances +45
+5 to Mana after each Kill
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Um Rune

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x79f47a02
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
Adds 1 - 12 Lightning Damage
+20 to Mana
Increase Maximum Mana 25%

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 129
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x849e623a
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Slows Target by 10%
+105% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x79df3b05
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+191 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+17 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Death Track
Greaves
Defense: 19
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 70
Fingerprint: 0x85352526
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+20% Enhanced Defense
+7 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +36%
Fire Resist +35%

He's all right but.. compared to a necro he just sucks because of lacking amp and CE. Still, the summons are not that bad- I completed Act 1 on p8, but after that I went through on p3 or p1. Not very much more to say, except that the bear is one tough dude. He has like 20 k hp.

With that I'm done with my druid sept. Well it's six characters actually, But I can't be bothered to make another one. Druids are my least favourite class by far, for good reasons. They aint good at anything. Their elemental powers don't match up to sorcs/others, meleeing isn't in the same league as pals/barbs, summons are bad compared to others. They aren't even good shapeshifters, dual dream bearsorcs and wolfbarbs kick more butt than all types of druids combined. I don't know what Blizzard was thinking about with this class but they just failed. I did make an eighth barb, so I think its alright if I have only six druids.

Hall of fame pic.

Patriarch Lupin - Fury druid

Current equipment- Doom GPA, fortitude, Jalal's mane ( um ), HLW, gores, LoH, SoE, etc.
Video here ( Baal waves )

Patriarch Perrin- Fury/Rabies

Rabies is very strong in normal but just doesn't cut it in hell. Even with 44k poison damage fury still kills stuff faster.
Equipment and details in this video

Partriarch Vanin - Windy

Did a ton of pit and Baal runs with this guy. Equipment is HoTo, enigma, Delirium ( +3 nado base ), 2 SoJ, spirit, etc. standard stuff, 99 fcr. Tornado and its synergies are maxed as well as oak sage for huge hp. Level 45 tornado doesn't quite cut it compared to other casters though. Video here ( Baal run )

Patriarch Lex_Luthor - Aldur's fire druid
Writeup here
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by scrcrw on Sep 16, 2010:

Matriarch Instagib - Max Speed WF-Dexazon

Hello SPF. 👋
A couple of days ago I accidentally stumbled upon a WF and a Faith in the depths of my stashes. That combination calls for a classic Glasscannon'zon. After all, who needs life and reists in SC? Thus, Instagib was born...
worst introduction ever

Facts first:
LCS (Strafe)
LCS (Multi)
LCS (no Poison/Enchant/Fana)
LCS with Combat Shrine

Rich (BB code):
Name:       Instagib
Class:      Amazon
Level:      85

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   base/135
Dexterity:  460/506
Vitality:   no
Charisma:   tons

HP:         553
Mana:       204

Fire:       -51
Cold:       -43
Lightning:  -11
Poison:     102 (85)
(subtract 30 for Anya bug...)

Block:      72 (without shield...)
FR/W:       31 (way too low)
FHR:        0 (I might have forgotten about this...)
FCR:        25 (nice for Decoy casting)

AR:         13k (w/ Enchant) / 16k (Enchant/Fana)
IAS:        100 (7fpa GA/Multi with level 13 Fana from Merc

Skills: (+2 all)
20 Strafe, 10 Multi, 9 GA
20 Crit (69%), 12 Pierce (79%), 1 Penetrate
20 Decoy (<- bestest skill evar)

Gear:
Windforce (30ed/15ias) (6ml)
Forti Dusk
Andy's Face (12ed/15ias)
Nos' Coil (6ll)
War Travelers
Rare Gloves (20ias, 15str, 16LR, 22FR)
Atma's Scarab
Raven (20/207)
Rare Ring (19str/14dex + ar, mana, LR)
Switch: Demon Limb + Hsaru's Iron Fist (gg)
... not to forget the 30 str amulet in stash to reequip everything after death :)

Charms (2x4 free): 17 str, 7 dex, 6 frw, 129 life, 679 AR and 80 max damage :)

Merc: Faith (13/1) Diamond Bow, eForti, Gaze (7/7/20/15) (Fal) (don't ask)

Not much to say about the equipment. Pretty standard unimaginative Bowazon gear. Some way to damage PIs seemed like a good idea, so Atma's was a given. Making both the IAS and strength targets was a bit of a struggle, but I managed without too many trade-offs (i.e. only the gloves suck). Also: I am indeed a filthy str-bugg0r.

Gameplay:
Normal: The usual tedium. Highlight: Activated the monoliths in the right order on the first try (without looking at the parchment).
NM: Nice twinking bow, isn't it? Stole the idea from another Dexazon writeup. Resulting LCS. Stuff died.
Hell: Arrived at level 73, right in time for the WF. Made my way to the Pits and leveled to 83 (on /p7) for the final equipment. I quickly discovered how the journey would go: Either place Decoy and scout with Multi/Strafe or get instagibbed by some random arrows.
At least the name was well chosen...
This was pretty much the theme for the rest of Hell. /p3 enemies were mown down fast by ridiculous amounts of arrows, but losing concentration usually resulted in a swift death. Getting annoyed then resulted in even more deaths. Skeleton archers were particularly nasty.
Occasionally this got a bit tedious, but some epic fights made up for it. Diablo completely ignored the Decoy, constantly bone-prisoned Instagib and even his weakest fire attack took off 3/4 of her health. Much running and much suspense. No deaths, for once.
Gloam dodging was equally good fun, every mistake meant instant death.
In contrast the Ancients and Baal's waves were no trouble at all. Decoy really is a great skill.

Finds: Ohm in the Black Marsh, Gul in A2, 195ed eth Hone in the Pits and the usual awesome Duriel drop.

Future: none.

Final Words: This worked, obviously. Admittedly a bit more life and resists would have made Instagib a lot more forgiving/playable. But where's the fun in that?
 
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Aug 5, 2012:

Patriarch Ralf- untwinked single pass co-op Barbarian.

This character was played over the course of a few months with an IRL friend who played a sorceress. Nearly all of the game ( except hell act V ) was played in coop mode, with untwinked and single pass. It was great fun, so I would like to share it with all of you.

Patriarch Ralf - concentrate barbarian

Level 84

Endgame LCS

Skills

20(21) Concentrate
20(21) Mace mastery
20(23) Battle orders
7(10) Warcry
5(6) Natural resistance
2(5) Howl
9(12) Shout
1 point in Battle command, Battle cry, taunt, iron skin, increased speed, pre reqs.

Equipment

Bonesnap ogre maul
Treachery curiass
Immortal King's Will
Beast finger gloves
Entropy wing amulet
Skull Whorl ring
Plague coil ring
Hsaru's iron stay
Hsaru's iron heel
Spirit longsword ( switch )
Spirit flamberge ( switch )

Code readout

Code:
Ralf's Bonesnap
Ogre Maul
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 301 to 415
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 225
Required Level: 63
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x26a03a07
+292% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +30%
Cold Resist +30%
Required Level +12
20% Increased Attack Speed
200% Damage to Undead
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Treachery
Ralf's Cuirass
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 196
Durability: 49 of 50
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 63
Fingerprint: 0x8762e930
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Immortal King's Will
Avenger Guard
Defense: 174
Durability: 55 of 55
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x69a8ba17
+125 Defense
37% Extra Gold from Monsters
67% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Light Radius
+2 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used) <--- wanted to put jewels of fervor instead of topaz, but no Hel :(

Entropy Wing
Amulet
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0xa373854f
+6 to Strength
+12 to Life
+14 to Maximum Stamina
All Resistances +5
4% Life stolen per hit
5% Faster Run/Walk

Skull Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 46
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xf31ab0f5
+19 to Life
+106 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Fire Resist +4%
Lightning Resist +31%
Cold Resist +4%
Poison Resist +4%
4% Mana stolen per hit

Plague Coil
Ring
Required Level: 19
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xf7e43def
+20 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +21%
4% Life stolen per hit
7% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
10% Faster Cast Rate
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Charged Bolt when struck

Hsarus' Iron Stay
Belt
Defense: 215
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0xfe0d08af
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +20%

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+210 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***


Hsarus' Iron Heel
Chain Boots
Defense: 9
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xf1edeb61
Fire Resist +25%
20% Faster Run/Walk

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+840 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Beast Finger
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 11
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 70
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x5ddcd770
+11 to Dexterity
+17 to Life
+58% Enhanced Defense
3% Life stolen per hit
10% Increased Attack Speed
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Nova when struck

Spirit
Long Sword
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 19
Durability: 44 of 44
Required Dexterity: 39
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 36
Fingerprint: 0x3cee1287
+22 to Vitality
+104 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
55% Faster Hit Recovery
33% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+5 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Spirit
Flamberge
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 9 to 15
Two-Hand Damage: 13 to 26
Durability: 50 of 50
Required Dexterity: 49
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x6bc89b39
+22 to Vitality
+98 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Adds 1-50 lightning damage
Adds 3-14 cold damage over 3 seconds
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
55% Faster Hit Recovery
33% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Mercenary: Act 2 nightmare offensive (might )

Gear

Code:
Hawkmail
Tigulated Mail
'Ort'
Defense: 358
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Strength: 86
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x8da5a55
+93% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +30%
Cold Resist +15%
+15% to Maximum Cold Resist
Required Level +5
10% Faster Run/Walk
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
Defense: 334
Durability: 29 of 50
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0x2b5c7782
+25 to Dexterity
+50 to Life
+35 to Mana
+193% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +33%
9% Life stolen per hit
89% Extra Gold from Monsters

Insight
Halberd
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 52 to 161
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Dexterity: 47
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 27
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x8884a0bf
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+259% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
190% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 14 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

The journey

I kept track of the whole journey and it's quite a lot! Props to anyone who reads it all

Normal mode

The journey

May 7th. Ralf and Cleopatra have started their epic journey today. Cleared the den of evil, killed Blood Raven, went through the underground passage and got the scroll, then rescued Cain. Not much to report other than the usual early game nuisances- running out of stamina, no gold, crap weapons, no mana to speak of, etc. I've been putting points into bash, and then double swing, intending to go for some sort of double swing build. The sorceress is leveling firebolt. We have decided to do untwinked single pass, so we also cleared out Mausoleum, cave, and other optional areas. Players setting was set to 8.

May 13th. We raided the countess tower today and found a Ral rune. This might be useful for a 'Leaf'staff later, nice. Lots of chipped gems gems have been collected. The topazes have gone into helms and armors, and I socketed two chipped emeralds into a two handed sword, and two skulls into another 2h sword for leech ( though it's not much ). I also found a cool helm that will last for a long while, probably even more so if I make Lore in it at some point.

Gemmed Jawbone Cap
Defense: 12
Durability: 23 of 25
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 7
Fingerprint: 0x9b88428e
18% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Mace Mastery (Barbarian Only)
+1 to Axe Mastery (Barbarian Only)
+1 to Sword Mastery (Barbarian Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

We fought our way to the outer cluster waypoint, not forgetting to clear the pits and such. Ralf is still using double swing with some points in bash. The effectiveness is decreasing, specially compared to the sorceress who has just obtained fireball and is dominating. We still have our rogue mercs. One of them has a bow with an envy jewel that I found, but it doesn't do much.

May 15th. Andariel is now dead. We have saved our imbue quests for now. No unique items at all and Andariels drop was a bunch of crap. I am now seriously doubting the whole untwinked barbarian idea. There are just no good weapons at the moment, from shops or monsters. We are getting by because of sorceress fire skills and that the barbarian is a good tank. The sorceress is putting half the stat points in energy, half in vita. This is a smart choice- we aren't going to have insight anytime soon, and sorceress without mana is just sad.

May 16th. Spent an hour shopping new items. A +1 to fireball 2os staff ( best I could get ), 3 os breast plate, 3os ringmail, heavy boots of fortune, chain gloves of chance, viridian belt of strength. This filled some gaps in our build and will be used for various things. Then we set out to kill Radamant. He dropped crap, but on the way we got a Tir rune so as to finally make 'Leaf'. The sorceress is now very powerful and carries 89 MF. I used the 3 chip gem recipe to reroll claymores 5-6 times and got a claymore of slaying, in which I socketed a +4 maxdmg jewel and a skull. It still sucks though. I am now looking for Tir and El runes.

We also changed our mercs. One defiance and one prayer merc are serving us well. We bought some random items from shops for them.

May 17th. We ventured out into the rocky waste. Lighting resist is really low and the beetles are very dangerous. This is getting depressing. We pick up all rings and amulets and eventually find one with +11 lite res. Still isn't enough,.

We have obtained the horadric cube after fighting with large numbers of skeletons, mummies, beetles and other creatures. Eager to test it out, we cubed a few gems and obtained two diamonds. Time for the savage polearm recipe! ( which thankfully I remembered from memory, as annoyingly there is no internet here ). The first try yielded a savage voulge of alacrity, which I handed the merc. The second produced- oh joy!- a weapon which I knew would be amazing for the rest of normal- a savage Bill of Gore!

Savage Bill of Gore
Two-Hand Damage: 24 to 103
Durability: 48 of 50
Required Strength: 95
Required Level: 25
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x21d8a1ae
+78% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage

Ralf still has three more levels to go before he can use it, but it has rekindled my enthusiasm. And I probably need to respec to concentrate. Double swing isn't really working as well as I thought, and one can't use it with a polearm obviously. I have a point in find item, and use it on bosses. Mana still a big pain. No Tirs, but some Els found.

May 18th. We are finally getting some nice items. A Tir dropped, so I made steel in a claymore. Also, I have respeced to concentrate, and changed the build around a bit. Hsaru's boots dropped in the maggots lair, along with Arctic belt. I was just thinking how nice it would be have Hsarus belt too, when, hey presto, it dropped! This may be Ralf's endgame items. The scaling attack rating is great, and other good bonuses. We have hit level 24, so now we have Battle orders and meteor. The horadric staffs have been created. Yes, we have two of them.

We have acquired decent nice rare items too.

Death Hold
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0x27788435
+1 to Dexterity
+5 to Life
+7 to Mana
+20 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +30%

Doom Spur
Heavy Boots
Defense: 7
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 18
Required Level: 9
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0xe34a7270
+13% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +5%
13% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds

Claw viper temple destroyed, and we have assembled two horadric staffs.

May 19th.

A few minutes in, and Ralf hits level 25. Nice, he can now equip the savage bill of gore. The concentrate damage has shot up to 99-400, which is enough to own p8 monsters, though not obviously as good as sorceress fireball. 7 points in polearm mastery, 7 in concentrate and remaining in 1 pointers, prereqs, battle orders. We fight our way through harem, palace cellar and arcane sanctuary and are showered with green items. A second Hsaru belt and arctics belt, clegaw's claw, Cathan's rule, Isenhart's helm, Berserker's hatchet. All useless obviously. Look Blizzard , you want to make a green battle staff, don't make it utterly suck compared to a runeword that only costs Tir and Ral. One thing that might come in handy would be Hsaru's buckler, but we haven't found it. The full Hsaru set gives Cannot be frozen, and with concentrate a shield isn't entirely out of the question. The only other easy way to get CBF which is the rhyme runeword also requires a shield. No uniques yet, which is annoying.


Leap attack and teleport came in handy in the arcane sanctuary. The summoner was in the fourth one we checked, and we proceeded to Tal Rasha's tomb. The tombs are insanely annoying areas so we did not bother to do full clear of all the tombs. Then we got ready to battle players8 Duriel. The plan was to have me cast BO/shout and then tank the giant bug while the sorceress lobbed meteors and fireballs. It was easier than I thought, I only had to drink two red potions. He did not attack the mercs, which was just as well, and I had buffed my cold resist to 85% with thawing potion. Duriel dropped handsomely for a change- 3 rares ( admittedly useless ) and a shadowfang unique two handed sword - ahh nice! I immediately equipped it alongside 'Steel'claymore and threw my claymore of slaying away. It makes for a good mana leech/mana recovery setup with 1 point double swing on switch, and is a candidate for upping later, thanks to the nice dual leech.

May 21st.

We have made our way to Act 3 with the assistance of Meshif and set out into the jungles. Soon we found the jade figurine and completed the quest. The spider forest led to the flayer jungle immediately and we could not find the spider cavern which was weird. So we went to the flayer jungle waypoint, completed the gidbinn quest ( decent rings at Ormus's ) and then took a back path into the spider forest which was apparently the way to get there. Anyway we recovered Khalim's eye, and found two nice items along the way. One is the Soul Harvest unique scythe. If I can up it, it could replace the savage bill- the manaleech and 20 resistance seems nice. Strange thing, I almost never bothered to know what the stats of these types of items were. But they are useful in untwinked. The second is a nice rare helm.

Pain Visage
Horned Helm
Defense: 38
Durability: 135 of 135
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 12
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x8695055d
+6 to Life
+24% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +12%
+2 to Pole Arm Mastery (Barbarian Only)
+1 to Sword Mastery (Barbarian Only)
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds

I am considering replacing my earlier fanged helm for this. Sure, I will lose the MF, but I anyway let the sorceress get the last hits on bosses, and she is packing 102% MF. My MF is really only useful for hork, which I use now and then. I have reached level 27. This is the point where I would normally have equipped inisght, but in untwinked, who knows how long that will take.

We have also found a third (!) Arctic belt, and a second Hsaru boot. Hsaru boot/belt seems to be a solid combo that is easily obtained in untwinked play.

May 23rd

Starting out in the flayer jungle, we fought our way through act 3. Nothing too difficult, though Durance 3 gave us a bit of a hard time. We now have one extra Khalim's Will which is basically of no use since the compelling orb is already smashed. More green items all over the place- Arcanna's Deathwind, Berserker's helm, Cathan's armor and other crap. I have a feeling we may complete all the low level item sets at some point.

Mephisto dropped a Crushflange. 50% fire resist and 33% CB seems appealing, but act bosses give us no problem anyway and the knockback on the weapon is unsuitable for regular play.

May 24th

An eventful day. Act 4 drops incredibly well, despite being a very annoying and hard area in general, but the sorceress-barbarian combo makes it easy. We gathered Tir, Tal, Sol runes for the eventual insight, and made the runewords 'Stealth'and 'Lore'. We put these on an act 3 cold merc which replaces the defiance merc. It would be good on the sorceress too, except for the fact that MF is really important.

On the way to kill Izual, a random monster dropped Hawkmail. This is a great item. Sure, the defense sucks ( unless somehow upgraded to Loricated mail ), but Cannot be Frozen is golden. I have put it on now and thrown away my topaz armor. The sorceress is getting most of the important kills anyway, and I am not bothered to use find items anymore.

I have hit level 31 and put two points into Natural resistance and warcry. Warcry is great for crowd control, and my resistances are now very high/max. The sorceress has also respeced all the points out of firebolt and put them into meteor and fire mastery. Our combined damage and tanking ability is through the roof.

We did the hellforge quest unpartied twice and gathered two sets of gems and runes. Niicee. One perfect ruby was used to craft these delightful blood gloves.

Cruel Claw
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 5
Durability: 7 of 14
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x59aa7188
+10 to Life
+15 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +22%
2% Life stolen per hit
22% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1 to Light Radius
8% Chance of Crushing Blow

Another sapphire was used to make a cobalt ring using the recipe ring+thawing potion+sapphire. It didn't give any good result, but there aren't may good uses for sapphires. Two diamonds were used to cube another two savage polearms, but the results were crap.


My 26th

We started out from the river of flame and cleared out chaos sanctuary. A Duskdeep dropped there ( which I passed to the merc ), and an Angelic sickle from Diablo, but otherwise nothing outstanding. Diablo was much tamer than what I remembered from my first untwinked character. It probably helped that we had prepared well- maxed fire and lightning resist on me, BO,Shout, battlecry and the sorceress stayed a safe distance away. Diablo was taken on at players 8, just like all of Normal mode.

It is now time for Harrogath and Act 5! We have resumed full-clear gameplay- We are going through ALL regions in their entirety, even though they are very large areas. The first two quests were done and I created an Ancient's pledge in a Large shield for the sorceress to use on switch in areas requiring high resistance. We also found a decent orb to match. We then rescued Anya- my resists are way over max now except poison, and then proceeded to slay Nihilithak the traitor. Anya gave us some un-exciting rare items as thanks for the rescue. The sorceress is getting owned by blood mana curse. We will have to do something about that in the next respec.

Nihilithak's temple was filled with annoying skeletons that come back to life after dying. Still, we made our way through and picked up some nice rares. However, the biggest catch was something that would otherwise be overlooked as trash- a white halberd. Since it had dropped in Halls of Pain I guessed it was between ilvl 26-40 and dragged it to Larzuk's. And since we had been saving up runes, it resulted in this beauty..

Insight
Halberd
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 52 to 161
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Dexterity: 47
Required Strength: 75
Required Level: 27
Polearm Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x8884a0bf
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+259% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+4 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
190% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 14 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Nice roll on the enhanced damage too! Unfortunately Ralf still lacks dexterity to use it, but will get it in the next 3 levels. Meanwhile I passed it to the merc, which is just as well, since it is a prayer merc and gets double the healing. No more mana troubles now! Good for the sorceress, and also for me, since warcries really cost a lot of mana.

Speaking of which- more power to polearms! We found a Dimoak's hew, which I considered upgrading, but lost interest in the idea after obtaining insight. We also cubed two more savage polearms and obtained a savage partizan and a savage bill. Both are now rendered obsolete. Perhaps the savage partizan can be passed to the merc after I take the insight from him.

Our persistence with cubing 3ring->amulet recipes payed off as we obtained an amulet of luck ( 35% magic find ) for the sorceress . I also got a nice amulet with cold resist and manaleech, though the manaleech is rendered useless now. We will wait till level 51 to cube blood amulets and caster belts.

Nihilithak was stomped without any problems, went up to the glacial trail waypoint and stopped there. Personalize quests have been saved up.

May 31

We ventured through the ice caverns, fought ancients on Arreat's summit and defeated Baal in the Worldstone chamber. Normal mode has been completed, without much difficulty, even on players 8. Ancients went down really easy. Baal's drop was crap unfortunately, and we didn't get very much on the way there either. Since we were doing full clears, we went into drifter caverns, infernal pit and other such areas that are normally skipped.

We started in nightmare mode and finished the first quest. In the cold plains we found a 4 socket bill and a 4 os longsword. Since we had been saving up runes for a while, we could make another insight for the merc ( goodbye savage polearms ) and spirit. However the sorceress lacks dexterity to wield the longsword so we have given it to the cold merc at the moment. Insight is totally amazing in ways I never even realized. 190% bonus to attack rating- hell that's better than 20 levels concentrate, +4 critical strike - not sure how that stacks with mastery but still good, 23 mf- cool, 259 ED- holy **** better than anything else at this stage, 35 fcr, 5 all stats, mpk, hell this thing is awesome all over the place. And ofcourse, the awesome meditation aura.

We also found some items like the iron jang bong staff, which is basically bad in every way compared to spirit. Berserkers full set has been completed, not that it is much use now. Completed blood raven quest, and got the stony field waypoint.

Nightmare

June 2

We have rescued Cain for the second time, and stormed the Countess tower. We got a bunch of items, like Bverrit keep shield, ironstone war hammer, grim reaper war scythe, Pelta lunata, steelclash and other mostly useless stuff. However we got a great item - Immortal King's will! Even though a bad roll ( 27 mf ), it's good. I socketed it with 2 flawless topazes and now my MF is also very high, close to that of sorceress. 67 helm, 23 insight, 22 gloves, 7 ring = 119 mf. Not bad.

We also found a 4os broad sword and made another spirit in that. The sorceress wields that now, alongside ancient's pledge shield. The leaf staff on switch is rapidly becoming useless, unfortunately. The sorceress has also respeced to full lightning skills, to try them out.

I have also used nightmare respec to correct my build. Removed useless skills like find item and double swing, and put 5 each in natural resistances and warcry. Warcry is actually really useful for an untwinked player.


June 3

Andariel awaited us in the catacombs, and we slew her without much effort. She dropped a great prize- a bonesnap maul! And not just any bonesnap too, but a 292 ed one! Wow. Upgraded it to exceptional with the Ral+Amn+P emerald recipe ( had to cube some thuls for Amn ), and got this beauty:

Bonesnap
War Club
Two-Hand Damage: 207 to 305
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 124
Required Level: 30
Mace Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x26a03a07
+292% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +30%
Cold Resist +30%
Required Level +5
200% Damage to Undead
40% Chance of Crushing Blow

Even though I have 8 points in polearm mastery ( and now put one in mace mastery ), bonesnap leaves insight halberd well in the dust. This might well be my endgame weapon.

Since we have reached level 51, I crafted some blood amulets and caster belts. They're not great, but better than what we have currently ( I was making do with an amulet with +39 life earlier ), so we equipped them. Blood amulet:

Blood Torc
Amulet
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 46
Fingerprint: 0xca673d62
+13 to Strength
+17 to Life
+3 to Maximum Damage
2% Life stolen per hit
5% Faster Run/Walk

We travelled east to Lut Gholein, and changed our mercs. Initially we bought a holy freeze and might merc, but holy freeze sucked a lot so we went back to normal and switched it for prayer. It seems HF is even more useless for untwinked than it is for twinked character, while prayer+insight is amazing. Time for some merc stock taking..

Ralf's merc: Might- insight halberd, Sigon's visor, Sigon's shelter ( nice 10% leech and AR bonus )
Sorceress merc: Prayer: Insight bill, Duskdeep, Darkglow.

We went into the sewers and wreaked vengeance upon Radamant. Then we ventured out into the desert and found the Dry hills waypoint. I am no longer going to list random useless items we find, just the ones we actually use. I have equipped spirit long sword ( earlier carried by cold merc ) and Sigon's guard shield as the weapon switch for +3 skill buff on warcries. The main is bonesnap, as I passed the insight halberd to the merc.

June 3

We travelled through the far oasis to a disgusting place called the maggots lair. This is not even wide enough for two characters to pass through abreast. Lightning and it's pierce shined though. After getting the staff from the chest, we went to the lost city, cleared it and the ancient tunnels, then the claw viper temple. No significant drops though. It is surprising how difficult simple things are to get in untwinked. Shael runes for instance. We found one. The first one, cubed from sols went into the bonesnap, and the second, also cubed from sols was used to upgrade hawkmail armor to tigulated mail. Now I need another to make 'Rhyme'for the sorceress but there are none. Two Dol runes have been found though, which are mostly useless. The horadric staff has been assembled, and we proceeded into the palace cellars.

June 5

The remainder of act 2 did not take long to complete. We found the summoner on the first try ( thank god for leap attack and teleport in the arcane sanctuary ). And Tal rasha's tomb was very annoying as well, but we completed it. A good thing the prayer merc is nullifying most of the heavy poison damage. Duriel's drop was epic - 4 scrolls of town portal and a blue! Oh well. Then we traveled again to Kurast and found the jade figurine to complete the first quest.

June 6

We breezed through Act 3 at an unexpectedly fast pace. All quests were completed, and most of the optional areas too, like ruined temples. Only the Durance of hate levels were the difficult part, mainly because of dolls and annoying meteors. Mephisto ( and the entire act ) dropped crap. Highlights were 2 jewels of fervor, some fine and steel charms, and I made my second spirit in a flamberge. The weapon switch is now 2x spirit for prebuff on warcries. Oh, and I nearly forgot- one of the ruined temple areas dropped a Skin of the Vipermagi! Now that is an amazing sorceress endgame armor, though we are now still sticking to 3 topaz armor. The sorceress has equipped whitstan's guard+spirit broadsword ( to deal with physical damage ), and spirit broadsword+ 3 pdiamond large shield ( replacing ancient's pledge, to deal with elemental damage ), on switch. She is packing an astounding 230% mf, and it's paying off somewhat. Blocking on the whitstan's is 50%.

June 8

We proceeded to fight the demons of hell in act 4. Nothing too difficult here- warcry stunned hard stuff and concentrate is awesome defensively. No good drops here- a unique ring and amulet dropped but they were Nokozan's relic and manald heal zzz. Diablo dropped a ripsaw flamberge and some other awful stuff. However we did get one hell of a rune from the hellforge- a PUL rune! YEAH! Now I will be able to upgrade my bonesnap to ogre maul as soon as I get a Lum rune ( or Io rune, as we have two Ios already ). It'll also need a respec for the huge amount of str needed but that's fine and needed anyway to get rid of now-useless points in polearm mastery. Having an elite weapon for hell mode is a huge relief. The other rune was a Ko ( we did the quest twice, unpartied ). That's not so good, but we'll see.

We have not decided on the sorceress skills yet- whether to go full lightning or dual tree with frozen orb. Currently lightning, CL and LM are maxed, and remaining points are saved up. Level 66 now, and planning to do a bunch of crafting at level 71.

Uune 10

An eventful day. After clearing the bloody foothills, we entered the realm of Abbadon, where a great prize dropped- a Lem rune. Nice, along with the Ko there are many options opened up. If it were single player I'd probably make Lawbringer, but with sorceress physical immunes are unlikely to be an issue ( plus, zerk ), and besides I don't want to give up prayer or might for a barb merc ( carrying it myself would be cumbersome ). Treachery seems to be a good candidate- ias will help concentrate quite a bit, plus fade is awesome, but I would have to give up CBF on hawkmail, so that's not good. The Ko and Lem could be used to upgrade it to a loricated mail, but even in a defense focused build, that doesn't sound like a great idea. Then there's wealth runeword, which is out for obvious reasons, and finally voice of reason runeword, which might be useful if the sorceress were to respec to cold. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Other than that.. we finished all the way upto Anya quest. Nihilithak's portal is open and Anya rare items were crap as usual. A lum rune dropped, which means the upgrade to bonesnap is a certainty without messing around with cubing Ios. I haven't upgraded it yet of course, which would be an own goal ( not enough str ), waiting for hell respec. An undead crown too ( merc helm? ) and a shael, so we finally made a rhyme kite shield for the sorceress.

June 14

Nihilithak the traitor met his rightful end today. Nothing much to report in terms of items. One of the temple levels were very annoying- horadrim, razor quillbeasts and maggots. No tomb vipers though and it was a relief. So far the most difficult enemy is proving to be the hell temptresses due to their bloodstars which ignore defense and amp damage. We ascended to the glacial trail, and then to the frozen tundra waypoint.

June 15

Today is a good day to be a champion! We went upto the arreats summit and fought the ancients at p8. The sorceress died to madawc the thrower but the three were unable to put a dent in my armor ( concentrate is awesome1!1 ), and then we proceeded to Worldstone keep. Good lord. Huge hordes of annoying and dangerous enemies awaited us. Flesh spawners , zealots and defilers on level 1, gloams and beetles on the second and oblivion/doom knights, hell temptresses on the third. The gloams weren't too hard, but the doom knights did insane damage under amp and I had to back off after stunning them with warcry. Luckily they aren't immune to lightning. We did encounter a gloam that was PI+LI, but the sorc used frozen orb ( which is at level 15 ) and we killed it.

Baal, then. Throne didn't spawn dolls, but more OKs and witches, still not too difficult. None of the waves were too much of a problem, because of warcry and lightning damage, and then we proceeded to kill Baal. His drop was okay for once - bloodfist and peasant crown ( ethereal, but that's okay ). Aaaand.. It's time for Hell difficulty! Feeling confident, We went into the Blood Moor without changing any gear. A massacre. The sorceress proceeded to die three times in a row ( once getting one hitted by some zombie ), and the mercs kept dying too. I'm not too happy either.. things are rapidly taking out half my life in big chunks. Due to high def, hp and warcry Ralf has not died yet.

We decided to give up on MF and change into full battle gear. New equipment- Bonesnap ogre maul ( after respecing to have enough str and max mace mastery ), treachery curiass, new crafted blood gloves and amulet. SKin of vipermagi and peasant crown for sorceress.

Hell

June 23

Act 1 is started in earnest today. Not much to report actually. Not having CBF from hawkmail is proving to be a pain. I have given it to the merc and am switching the treachery back and forth sometimes after fade proc. We did upto black marsh.

June 24

Act 1 complete. Died once in pits due to fanaticism archers. It's time I started using taunt actually. That spell is awesome. Also, we have now used up all 6 of our imbue quests on white circlet and got.. nothing! Not even anything better than a 'lore' coronet that the sorc is using. They all seemed to have + necromancer skill levels. Oh well. Hell mode is being played on p5.

June 27

Act 2 complete. Bug poison damage from Radamant and then again bug poison from Coldworm were the biggest worries, as was not having CBF. Drops were no improvement on what we already have.

June 30

Act 3 complete .Mostly p5, dropped to p1 for durance 1 and 3. Council was hard. Amusing bosses such as dual CI/LI plus stone skin started making their appearance. Kurast temple containing the book had a fearsome stair trap that we beat somehow without dying. Meph dropped treads of cthon. That about sums up Hell mode drops. I really want a Hel rune at this point to socket jewels of fervor into the IK will but it's just not dropping.

July 4

Act 4 complete. Stygian hags big pain due to their respawning. Taunt helped, but not much. Gloams spawned in the plains but with taunt and frozen orb they weren't a big issue . Did river of flame thrice, on p3. Hellforge was Um and Ko. The only thing that I can think of Crescent moon runeword for sorc. The only base we have is 3os rune sword but luckily sorc has enough str and dex for that. Annoying CI/LI Oblivion knights showed up which were a pain to kill with decrepify. Died once in chaos ( second death ) due to BO running out and not noticing. Diablo dropped crap.

August 5

After a long gap due to various IRL reasons, we lost the sorceress in a hard disk crash. Ralf thus had to go it on his own to make Patriarch. He played on p1.

Bloody foothills: demon imps and easy stuff
Frigid highlands- slingers and stuff like that. Need to switch to CBF after fade proc.
Crystalline passage: required 1 reroll, PI frenzytaur. wraiths big pain because PI/mana burn and have to berserk them while hitting blue pots.
Frozen river: succubi had to be taunted
Halls of anguish/pain - respawning stygian dogs, hierophants and zealots, big pain, taunt helped a lot.
Nihilithak- no tomb vipers. wraiths, surprisingly easy. Taunted skeletons and ice spawns near Nihilithak to make them come out.
Ancients- cursed so two rerolls. Third one very easy
WSK1 - heirophants and zealots buffed up by those funny blue things ( defilers ). Turns out that defilers are un-tauntable. Who would have known.
WSK2- gloams. These things are the most dangerous monsters ever invented. Huge lightning damage, mana burn, unleechable and 90% physical resistance. Strategy used was Taunt, warcry and then berserk. Also exploding things and demon spawn.
WSk3 - Oblivion knights, frenzytaur. champion pack of frenzytaur was a big pain because it couldn't be taunted.
Throne- gloams+horadrim. Taunted. Venom lords
Waves- Wave 2 a major pain. Forgot to switch to cbf equipment so slowed huge, bug poison. Council really easy ( taunted ), wave 4 easy, wave 5 lister PI but not too hard. Baal easy and dropped crap.

Ralf is finally a Patriarch!

Screenshots

Lem rune
Ko rune
Nasty stair trap
One of those really annoying bosses
Oblivion knights
Ancients
Gloams
Council
Endgame LCS and Baal drop


Thoughts

-I really enjoyed playing untwinked single pass, liked a lot of the low end items.
-Coop mode is really fun.
-Developed a great appreciation for the skills howl, taunt, battle cry, warcry. Which I almost never use otherwise.
-Barb is really hard to play untwinked. Most of the game was co-op so it didn't matter, but the last leg really felt hard, even on p1. Single target attacks suck.
-I was hoping to get some random Ber or something, but no such luck
-Future plan: Retirement! Pretty much that, maybe respec into some MF character.

Thanks for reading!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Aconite on Nov 14, 2009:

Patriarch Malfurion: Furious Feral Wolf

Hi all,

Now that I finally have my hands on a Fortitude, I want to build a couple of characters around it. I've got plans to rebuild my strafer and zealot, but wanted to start with something different... a character I've never really played before.

I was also keen to use a particular blue staff that's been sitting in my stash for quit a while. Hence, the idea of a Fury Wolf.

First up, the build. It's fairly standard, I guess.

Level: 82
Werewolf : 20/25
Lycanthropy : 20/25
Feral Rage : 20/25
Rabies : 1/6
Fury : 20/25

Strength: 150/180
Dexterity: 20/73
Vitality: 310/340
Energy: 20/40

Life as a wolf: 2582

Hell resists: 73/35/80/17

12 skill points remaining. Most likely will be dropped into Rabies just for fun. Any future stat points will be split between strength (for additional damage) and vitality.

I found Feral Rage to be a fantastic skill. It has a number of uses. Firstly, it's a great single target attack when you're surrounded and Fury is being interrupted all the time. Secondly, 108% LL when fully charged... this is key to the play-style I adopted. Finally, 57% FRW, which allowed me to run around like a lunatic ripping the throat of out everything that crossed my path!

General play consisted of charging up Feral Rage, then running around using Fury on crowds whilst keep Feral Rage charged. Uniques and Champions got a taste of Feral Rage too. I found the best defence was to just wade in and lay waste - the insane amount of life leech (118%) made me pretty much unstoppable. Skeletons caused a slight issue until Life Tap kicked in, but nothing the odd potion couldn't cure.

Naturally, IM caused issues, although it was nowhere near as bad as with my zealot. I think I only died once to a mis-timed attack, although on 3 or 4 occasions I reverted to human form - no deaths though, drink a full rejuv and shift back to wolf. Souls were a joke for this character, and I could let dolls explode against me without fear of dying.

Bosses just melted under a barrage of damage, 65% CB, and 45% DS. The Ancients went down with no potions. I tanked Diablo, basking in his fire and lightning, using Feral Rage against him.

AR was an issue. I was loathe to use Angelics and miss out on Highlords, so I ended up padding my inventory out with steel charms. Here's what the LCS had to say:

Feral Rage 2499-3842, 3124-4784 (Might), 9235 AR
Fury 3611-5518, 4236-6460 (Might), 8744 AR

This really was the easiest time I've ever had in hell. This character is just insanely overpowered.

Hellforge drops were Dol/Hel. Meh. Only noteworthy drop was a Lacerator, which was a grailer.

My pride and joy:

Code:
Aconite's Fortitude
Archon Plate
Defense: 1581
Durability: 56 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0xaab9dee7
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
All Resistances +29
200% Enhanced Defense
300% Enhanced Damage
25% Faster Cast Rate
+12 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
112 to Life (Based on Char Lvl)
+1 to Light Radius
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Replenish Life 7
5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

And the staff of doom:

Code:
Malfurion's Ribcracker
Stalagmite
Two Hand Damage: 329 - 491
Durability: 73 of 30
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 63
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0x46f20a6c
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+15 to Dexterity
100% Enhanced Defense
299% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+65 to Maximum Damage
+100 Defense
+100 Maximum Durability
Required Lvl +7
50% Faster Hit Recovery
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
70% Increased Attack Speed
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Other equipment:

Jalal's Mane, socketed with Um
Highlords Wrath
2 x Ravenfrosts (both 234 AR)
Gore Riders
Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Dracul's Grasp

I had a Baranar's Star / Tiamat's Rebuke on switch but hardly ever used them. Levelling was fairly painless:

1-> Khalim's Will -> 15 -> 1.09 Ravenclaw -> 31 -> 244% Ribcracker -> 56 -> 299% upped Ribcracker

I used a Might merc with Treachery Archon Plate, an Am'd Reapers and a Vampire Gaze.

Inventory had 12 slots free. The rest were filled with various resist and AR charms.

Life Tap and Decrepify tended to overwrite each other, but I never found this to be an issue - I was either leeching like mad, or damaging PIs. I'm used to this from my Zealot.

The worst enemy for this character had to be the PI Ghosts and their mana drain in Act 2. Everything else was just cake!

I'll probably level his guy up on Baal runs as and when the urge takes me. In the meantime I need to think about who gets the Fortitude next!

Thanks for reading!
 
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