Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by Thirty-Thirty on Aug 30, 2005:

Patriarch Bill

Ahoy,

Why the name Bill? I like aliteration (even though I'm sure that's not how you spell it). On the one hand, Bill is a Barbarian, but then again, William is a Werewolf! :uhhuh:

Earlier today, I beat Baal with my Wolfbarb, who is arguably the most fun of my characters. His stats are:

Bill
Level 84 Wolfbarb
Str: 110 (173)
Dex: 70 (126)
Vit: 325 (340)
NRG: 10 (20)

After warcries and shifting...

Life: 5050
Mana: ~300
Def: 14k
Resists: 75/75/75/53

Skills:

20 Battle Orders
20 Polearm Mastery
20 Shout
20 Iron Skin
5 Natural Resistance
1 War Cry
1 Battle Cry (those 2 on Gohanman's suggestion)
1 into prereqs and stuff

IIRC, his Wolfhowl is 5/4/4 for Lycanthropy/Werewolf/Feral Rage.

Gear:

Tomb Reaver
Que-Hagan's Wisdom (Arkaine's at 85... thanks Masas!)
Wolfhowl
IK Gloves, Belt, Boots
Ravenfrost
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Manald Heal
Arioc's Needle (+4 skills) on switch for warcries and wolf skills

Merc: Act II Offensive
Bonehew
Godly Kraken Shell
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

I think its worthwile for me to say quite a bit about this little fella'. Normal was alright, but NM was painful. There aren't many decent polearms for beating the game with a normal attack until Bonehew at Level 64. I hit slayer at 35. More players was just too slow. I then more or less ran through nightmare, up until Eldritch, who I reached at something silly like Level 47. I then milked Eldritch for XP using Athena's Wrath, all the way up to 64.

I walked into Hell at 66, and then did my now well-practised technique of running through the game. I got into Kurast at level 68. At this point, I MPed with two friends: a Lightning Sorc and a Wind Druid. That session got me to the River of Flame WP, and level 75, which meant I could equip The Reaper's Toll. From there, I killed Diablo, and started milking Eldritch again. At 79, I popped on my Wolfhowl, and the fun began...

As you've probably noticed: this guy has ten tons of life. He simply will not die unless you get hit by a unique rolling cursed+fanatic+extra strong+critical strike, or something. Also, Feral Rage gave around 40% life steal, so I was practically immortal against anything that could be leeched.

Also, he is a bundle of fun. I have Feral Rage on right-mouse, so I just click and hold. This practise got me into a lot of trouble, which I always managed to survive. Amazing!

However, this character does not do a great load of damage. I was getting ~1000-4000, which doesn't look bad on paper, but I need to throw some IAS jewels into that Tomb Reaver. This could probably have been sidestepped by choosing a different weapon. I chose mine because I simple love the chance to reanimate on the Reaver. I'd guess a better choice might be an upgraded Ribcracker. As it so happen's, the Reaper's Toll also worked very effectively. And if you get the strength for it, the IK Maul would probably work, presuming you use the other bits (though maybe not the armour). Other standard two-hander's might also work.

Unfortunately, the guide presumes a one-handed weapon, so I didn't find any serious consideration. Either way, the Tomb Reaver certainly works, but you have to wait until 84, and I think there may be some better choices out there. As for getting to level 79: it takes patience if you can't be rushed. Even if you can, its a bit cheesy. Just hammer on through. It isn't slow because you're vulnerable: BO prevents that. Its slow because of the very low damage and attack speed. Dealing with this is just a trial before a great reward, IMHO.

This is my first Barbarian, and means I've now done five of the seven classes. My Aldur's Fireclaws bear is at the Crystalline Passage, and I think my Martial Arts 'sin is at the Far Oasis. Hopefully I'll finish the d|2øød by the weekend.

The guide doesn't talk about PvM too much, so if you're wondering about aspects of building a Wolfbarb in SP, you're more than welcome to ask.

30-30

Edit:

I neglected to comment on the last few fights.

Strangely, the Ancients were a walk in the park. I beat them in under 10 minutes, having used only 2 healing potions. Lister was unbeatable: he spawned Extra Strong Stone Skin. I couldn't do damage faster than he recovered life, so I had to park him.

Baal himself also took freaking ages. At one point, I switch to a Hone Sundan just to knock off some health with crushing blow. Eventually I killed him, and was rewarded by...

A rare hydra edge. Doesn't matter. The Hellforge dropped a Gul! 👏
 
Originally posted by TopHatCat64 on Mar 17, 2012:

Patriarch Champ - 12k life Survival Wolf Barb

Patriarch Champ

Stats
Code:
Lvl 95

Feral rage damage: 1359-2621
AR: 2816
5 fpa

Life (in wolf form): 12036
Resists: 75/80/85/75
Defense: 22794
5 frame fhr

Str: 66 | Dex: 20 | Vit: 474

Skills
20 Battle Orders
20 Natural Resistance
20 Shout
20 Iron Skin
20 Axe Mastery
3 Increased Speed
1 Battle Command

Fighting Gear
Code:
Wolfhowl 'Ber'
Mara's
Zod-bugged Eth Runemaster 'Ber Shael Shael Shael res jewel of ias'
Shaftstop 'Ber'
Stormshield 'Ber'
Blood Clutches crafted gloves*
Thundergod's Vigor
Wraith Tread rare boots*
Order Knot rare ring*
Bitter Finger rare ring*
Switch: 'Heart of the Oak' Flail / 'Heart of the Oak' Flail
28 resist sc's w/ 20 life | 2 resist sc's w/ 5fhr

Might Merc: Reaper's | 'Fortitude' Archon | Guillame's

Wolfhowl
Fury Visor
Defense: 359
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 129
Fingerprint: 0xe027162
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
+6 to Werewolf
+6 to Lycanthropy
+3 to Feral Rage
+138% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Strength
+14 to Dexterity
+15 to Vitality
Damage Reduced by 8%
Level 15 Summon Dire Wolf (18/18 Charges) 1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xc6d42166
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +29

Rune Master
Ettin Axe
One Hand Damage: 164 - 332
Indestructible
Required Level: 72
Required Strength: 135
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0xf1691b1e
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+75% Increased Attack Speed
236% Enhanced Damage
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
+5% to Maximum Cold Resist
Lightning Resist +26%
Cannot Be Frozen Ethereal
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Ambergris Jewel of Fervor
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune

Blood Clutches
Sharkskin Gloves
Defense: 38
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 73
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xacfbf472
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
2% Life stolen per hit
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
+13 to Strength
+14 to Dexterity
+18 to Life
+32 to Mana
Poison Resist +5%

Wraith Tread
Mesh Boots
Defense: 65
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x3d675273
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
12% Chance to cast level 4 Charged Bolt when struck
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+45% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +37%
Fire Resist +40%
67% Extra Gold from Monsters

Order Knot
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x5adb2d1d
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Minimum Damage
+19 to Strength
+25 to Life
Lightning Resist +27%
Poison Resist +6%
+2 to Light Radius

Bitter Finger
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x7be158e6
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
2% Mana stolen per hit
+18 to Strength
+16 Maximum Stamina
Lightning Resist +17%
Fire Resist +15%
Half Freeze Duration

Prebuff Gear
Code:
For Battle Orders

+3 BO 'Delirium' Fanged Helm
Echoing amulet
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
'Enigma' Breast Plate
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
Arachnid's Mesh
Beta BKWB
BKWB
10 War Cry skillers

For Werewolf

Wolfhowl
Mara's
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
'Enigma' Breast Plate
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
Arachnid's Mesh
Beta BKWB
BKWB

Character Evolution
Champ was originally built as an experiment to see how high a life pool I could achieve (see old pat thread here). Once I surpassed 12,000 life, though, I started to question the real purpose of my character.

12,000 is a pretty number, but what does it actually mean in-game? With my old gear loadout, it meant that I was able to easily "eat" hits from normal, everyday monsters but it also meant that I took large chunks of damage - at a high rate - against even moderately troubling monster packs, let alone the notable outliers of monster difficulty. I was a thin coating of concrete over a flimsy balsa wood frame.

Not good.

Thus came the shift, as I re-geared from maximum life to maximum survivability.

My massive life pool was an excellent starting point because hit points are the most universal defensive stat in the sense that life "absorbs" every type of damage. To take things to the next level of indestructibility, I had to pack on gear that would protect that life pool from having to do ALL the heavy lifting against potent force multipliers like conviction and amp damage.

-
Gear Evolution

My gear underwent numerous iterations as I went through various stages of theorycrafting / wealth accumulation.

Main Weapon

A. Ribcracker w/ Shael - A fixture on many a melee build, Ribbie was cheap, fast, and effective. Ribbie's only drawback was that did not allow me to use an off-hand weapon.

B. Griswold's Redemption w/ 4 Shaels - Later on in my character's life, I decided to sacrifice damage for speed. I wasn't doing a lot of damage, even with Ribbie, so Grissy allowed for more crushing blow chances. Grissy is able to reach uniquely fast speeds (3fpa) for melee attackers.

C. Griswold's Redemption w/ 3 Shaels and 29% fire resist, +9 str rare jewel - Post shift, I was trying to find socket space for more resists. Taking away a shael and replacing it with a resist jewel dropped me down to 4fpa, but got me to max fire resist while effected by a monster's lvl 11 conviction

D. Zod-bugged Eth Runemaster w/ 3 Shaels, 26% lightning resist/ 15 ias jewel, Ber - And now we come full circle, and I realized that a Zod-bugged eth Runemaster offered 20 more damage per frame (and thus greater life leech) while allowing for added resists and crushing blow. RM is one frame slower at 5fpa.

Off-hand Weapon

A. Heart of the Oak Flail - For lack of a better option, I was swapping my second HotO between my weapon switches. I went with HotO largely for the boost to resist all, +3 skills helped boost up defense and damage a bit.

B. Eth Runemaster w/ resist jewels of hope - After some research, Runemaster struck me as a particularly attractive utility option. I was able to squeeze out more resists then HotO, had the added bonus of more BO'able life through jewels of hope, and CBF allowed me to swap out Ravenfrost for a rare ring.

C. Jeweler's shield of Colossus w/ 2 Jahs and 1 Cham - As my plans for maximum life continued, I realized a JSoC filled with 2 jah's and 1 cham offered the highest possible boost to BO-able life while still getting CBF out of my off-hand slot. Luckily, I had not committed the runes to this option before swapping in Stormshield.

D. Stormshield w/ Ber - My final choice for maximum survivability. SS offers the highest percentile damage reduction achievable from the shield slot. Only 14% blocking (an important consideration, since I never want to actually trigger my super slow block), cold and lightning resist help me overstack resists, defense per clvl is gravy.

Armor

A. Duress Archon Plate - Champ was originally built before 1.13 and its subsequent boost to rune drops. I had no patience for HF Rushing or LK's pre-1.13 drop rates, so I was making do with budget options. Duress was the logical choice since it's one of only two options for boosting crushing blow from the armor slot. All res and a nice boost to fast hit recovery helped my decision.

B. Fortitude Archon Plate - After 1.13, higher runes became a possibility, and Fortitude replaced Duress. Fort boasted more and better mods to boost overall survivability and damage: higher all res, life per clvl, ctc Chilling armor to boost defense, and of course, the big raw damage boost.

C. Shaftstop w/ Ber - After my paradigm shift from maximum life to maximum survivability, I swapped in Shaftstop. Shaftstop boasts the highest percentile damage reduction achievable from the armor slot and it has a big boost to bo-able life, to boot.

-

Now that the major pieces of gear were set, I got to work finalizing my remaining gear slots to maximize my tanking abilities against worst case scenario monster packs. How did I define a WCSMP? Here's how I broke them down:

Worst case scenario for physical damage monsters

Monster type: Frenzytaurs, Archers, Dolls
Unique monster mods: Cursed, Aura-enchanted with Might/Fanaticism, Extra Strong
Additional considerations: Decrepify being cast by Baal or Oblivion Knights
Gear to neutralize: -89% damage reduction

- Ber'd Stormshield (-43% dr)
- Ber'd Shaftstop (-38% dr)
- Ber'd Wolfhowl (-8% dr)

Against WCSMP, you're not going to negate ALL the damage. It's more a matter of reducing it to a manageable rate. Damage reduction % was the key mod against physical damage monsters. Against normal monsters, DR% is useful, but less effective then integer PDR. Against the hardest hitters, it's the opposite, with DR% being much more effective against the highest damage attacks. With -89% damage reduction, I reduce Decrepify to -39% damage (instead of +50% damage) and reduce being Cursed to +11% damage (instead of +100% damage).

Worst case scenario for elemental damage monsters

Monster type: Gloams, Council Members
Unique monster mods: Aura-enchanted with Conviction, Lightning Enchanted for Gloams or Fire Enchanted for Council members, Spectral Hit
Gear to neutralize: 225% fire resist, 230% cold resist, 235% lightning resist (Runemaster and Thundergod's Vigor boost max resist)

- Lvl 23 Natural Resistance (69% resist all)
- Mara's (29% resist all)
- Runemaster (26% lightning resist)
- Stormshield (60% cold resist, 25% lightning resist)
- Rare ring (15% fire resist, 17% lightning resist)
- Rare ring (27% lightning resist)
- Rare boots (40% fire resist, 37% lightning resist)
- Charms (the remainder)

The maximum level for monster conviction is lvl 11. That's -80% fire/cold/lightning resist. To negate it, I chose to overstack my resists. If anyone is wondering why I'm always looking for resist charms w/ life, this is why. Without my resists sitting in the negative, Conviction-enchanted monsters are much less scary.

As an added measure to combat Gloams, I swapped Thundergod's Vigor into my belt slot. T-God's has the dual benefit of boosting my max lightning resist AND adding integer lightning absorb. As a side note, poison is not affected by conviction but I have that maxed as well.

-

Co-op Considerations and Concluding Thoughts

Champ was definitely built with co-op in mind. As you might expect from a dedicated tank, my gear is heavily slanted towards defense. Consequently, I suffer from low damage and AR. I can do my part against bosses with my high attack speed and crushing blow, otherwise, I'm rarely going to get kills. I work best when teamed up with squishier characters that can unleash torrents of damage. Glass cannon bowazons, budget sorcs, trappers, etc...

My ultimate goal for this character is to never have to retreat from any scenario I encounter. Anytime I do, it means that I expose my teammates to damage that I should be much better equipped to take. I can't let that happen.

::Cue the heroic music, incoming clouds, and end credits::
 
Originally posted by VoX Dei on Feb 27, 2009:

Patriarch Gahroun, Titan Wolfbarb

Patriarch Gahroun
, Titan Wolfbarb


Introduction


Hi all! Introducing Patriarch Gahroun. He is a level 88 Titan Wolfbarb who unshifts and uses 1pt Berserk to deal with IM. The concept was heavily inspired on the Ulfhednar (<= Warning: silly link :D) described in the Norse Sagas. However, the actual build was based on the SPF collective knowledge pool (eg., Maareek’s Warren_Zevon, LHTB’s Mutation, TopHatCat’s Champ, and SirPoopsalot’s WrongTurn). Thanks for sharing guys 👍

Without further a do…

Stats:

LCS

3 fpa Feral Rage with up to 40% LL, ~75% chance of double damage, 25% CB, 3 frames hit recovery, and 11% block at 9 frames (I wish he had 0% blocking!).

Skills:

20 BO, Shout, Mastery, and (eventually) Iron Skin / 14 Natural Resistance / 1 Battle Command, Howl, Inc. Stamina, Inc. Speed, Bash, Stun, Concentrate, Berserk.

I invested so heavily in Nat. Resistance, because this way my damage/ar output would be greater by freeing inventory space for fine/sharp charms. I’ve also socketed my shield with an Um instead of a standard PDiamond for the same reason.

1pt Berserk, because: (1) it fits the concept; (2) the thing I hate the most about wolves is the danger posed by IM. Berserk fixes that; (3) max speed (9 fpa) with great damage from 21 points in synergies (20 Shout, 1 Howl) and all the strength; (4) along with Concentrate (synergised by 20 BO) it was a wonderful levelling tool.

Equipment:

Weapon: Griswold’s Redemption 238% ed (4*Shael)
Shield: Lance Guard (Um)
Helm: Wolfhowl
Code:
Wolfhowl
Fury Visor
Defense: 335
Durability: 35 of 35
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 129
Required Level: 79
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xdf45e899
+12 to Strength
+12 to Dexterity
+8 to Vitality
+122% Enhanced Defense
+97 to Attack Rating
+15 to Maximum Damage
+5 to Lycanthropy
+3 to Werewolf
+6 to Feral Rage
+3 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
Level 15 Summon Dire Wolf (18/18 Charges)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Argent Jewel of Carnage
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x81bed9c7
+97 to Attack Rating
+15 to Maximum Damage

Not the greatest I know, but it is the best I have from a lot of 18.
Armor: Fortitude AP (27% all res)
Gloves: Steelrend (+20 str, 54% ed)
Belt: Fiend Clasp
Code:
Fiend Clasp
Mesh Belt
Defense: 60
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xda58a53f
+30 to Strength
+59 to Life
+47% Enhanced Defense
24% Faster Hit Recovery
Boots: Upped Gore Rider
Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath
Rings: 2*Ravenfrost (16/250 ; 16/248)
Switch: HotO + Spirit
Prebuff: Demonlimb
Inventory: 2*4 free spaces, assorted charms with 33% all res, +max damage, +ar, +life, +fhr.

I could get him 50% DR and maintain the same FHR% (3 fph) and resistances via Stormshield + 15% DR Verdungo + Sharp GC with 12% FHR, but he was so safe as is that I didn’t even bother trying this more defensive setup.

Merc: Alhizeer, lvl 88 Might enhanced equipped with Eth Reaper’s (Shael) + Guillaume’s Face (Um) + ebugged Treachery GH.

Gameplay:

Gahroun journeyed through the game mostly on p8. Exceptions were the Ancients (p1), Act 3 Hell (p1), WSK (p3). I used Concentrate/Berserk to level him. Concentrate was used most of time, whereas Berserk was used only vs. PI/IM. As a result levelling to 79 was much easier/faster than I had anticipated. He entered Hell at level 79 as a big bad wolf :D with the angel’s blessing.

A few deaths along the way, but none to IM and only 2 in wolf form (vs. Fanatic mob in RoF and vs. Pindle’s gang charges). I can say in all fairness that his deaths were all due to overconfidence/carelessness on my part and could have been avoided with little effort.

Act4 Hell had the RoF superchests near the waypoint so I run it for a while. I was very careful playing him in the Chaos Sanctuary. The strategy there was simple: if big mob then thin the herd by luring and killing the bad guys far away from the OK’s in wolf form / if small mob then unshift and berserk them to oblivion :D while getting drunk on rejuvs. WSK was a piece of cake. It didn’t spawn with a single OK.

Overall, I found the Wolfbarb a very fun/safe char to play. Strongly recommended.

Finds:

This char packed exactly 0% mf, but fortunately that didn’t prevent him from finding me some good stuff. Dol and Ist from the Hellforges. Pul from the visits he paid the superchests in the River of Flame + a few nice charms/jewels (eg., Garnet SC of Vita, Shimmering SC, etc). A Sharp GC of Balance (somewhere in Act3 NM) that he is proudly wearing. 3*tc3 (2*Vidala’s Ambush and 1 Arctic Furs).

Next:

Hybridzon / Tornado Wolf / Earthshifter Wolf. Not necessarily in this order.


Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
- VoX Dei
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by VoX Dei on May 13, 2010:

Patriarch Sigrim-Kathos, Frenzied Frozen Orber

Patriarch Sigrim-Kathos, Frenzied Frozen Orber


Biography

Sigrim-Kathos (“Kathos, Lord of Victory”) was born three decades ago into a noble Barbarian family from Harrogath. As a child he went climbing Mount Arreat’s peak with his father on a particularly cold winter night. A terrible avalanche swept the mountain side that very night. The next morning, his father’s corpse was found solid frozen, but Sigrim was nowhere to be found. For many years, he too was dead. Recently Sigrim has returned to Harrogath a man. Nobody knows how he was able to survive alone for so long. Some say “Sigrim-Kathos alone possesses the ability to command snow storms upon entering battle frenzy. He is Mount Arreat incarnate.” Others think “Only Baal himself could have bestowed such demonic boon” but do not dare uttering a word… Sigrim knows there’s only one way to eliminate all distrust and regain his rightful place among the people. He must live to his great name by tracking and slaying the Arch-demon Baal.

Stats

LCS

20% IAS => 5 frames attack !?
with:
Code:
15% CtC lvl 13 FO => 236-252 (244 avg) cold damage @ -32% ECR
16% CtC lvl 21 FO => 384-404 (394 avg) cold damage @ -32% ECR
25% CB
25% OW
49% FHR => 5 frames hit recovery
20% FCR => 11 frames cast

Skills

War Cries
: 45

20 (31*): Battle Orders, Shout
1 (12*): Battle Command, Howl
1 (6): Taunt, Battle Cry, War Cry

Masteries: 31

16+ (21): Iron Skin
8 (13): Natural Resistance
5 (10): Mace Mastery
1 (6): Increased Stamina, Increased Speed

Combat: 16

13 (18): Frenzy
1 (6): Bash, Double Swing, Double Throw

*: on switch.

Equipment

Weapon 1: ‘Rift’ Caduceus
Weapon 2: ‘VoR’ Scourge
Helm: Nightwing’s Veil 14% (+5/-4 facet)
Armor: Ormus’ Blizzard 15% (+5/-4 facet)
Belt: Verdungo 15/39
Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
Boots: Goblin Toe Battle Boots
Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath
Ring 1: Bul-Kathos 5%
Ring 2: Order Hold
Code:
Order Hold
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 92
Fingerprint: 0x401af50a
+9 to Dexterity
+116 to Attack Rating
+2 to Minimum Damage
All Resistances +9
5% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Mana After Each Kill
Switch: 2 x Echoing Pilums
Prebuff: Demonlimb (Hel)
Charms: dual mod focused on ar, life, resists, and fhr

Mercenary: Kundri the Fire Rogue

Bow: ‘Faith’ Great Bow
Helm: ‘Delirium’ Tiara
Armor: Crow Caw (15% light res/15% ias)

30% IAS => 8 frames attack
15% FHR => 9 frames hit recovery
35% OW

Random Comments

- Normal and NM /p8 - fast. Hell /p1 - slow but steady progress.

- My basic math skills showed that 'Rift' + 'VoR' is the highest damage setup for a Frenzier focused on CtC FO, hence the weaponry choice.

- For a while he spent money like a drunken sailor: 7808 gold
Code:
Voice of Reason
Superior Scourge
'LemKoElEld'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 90
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Dexterity: 77
Required Strength: 125
Required Level: 57
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc5e206db
+10 to Dexterity
+13% Enhanced Damage
+52 to Attack Rating
Adds 100-220 cold damage over 7 seconds
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Light Radius
239% Damage to Demons
505% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Cannot Be Frozen
15% Chance to cast Level 13 Frozen Orb on striking
18% Chance to cast Level 20 Ice Blast on striking
-24% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Socketed (4: 4 used)
per lost durability point versus 117 gold
Code:
Voice of Reason
Scourge
'LemKoElEld'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 80
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Dexterity: 77
Required Strength: 125
Required Level: 57
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x7edca6b2
+10 to Dexterity
+50 to Attack Rating
Adds 100-220 cold damage over 7 seconds
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Light Radius
237% Damage to Demons
524% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
Cannot Be Frozen
18% Chance to cast Level 20 Ice Blast on striking
15% Chance to cast Level 13 Frozen Orb on striking
-24% to Enemy Cold Resistance
Socketed (4: 4 used)
- Xeroxes were everywhere.

- He likes PIs.

- The Ancients took three rolls.

- This build would not have worked smoothly without having both CtC Life Tap and Confuse curses, coupled with situational use of Warcries.

- The rogue getting left behind and/or killed a number of times was probably this build's major drawback.

- Hellforges were Io and Fal. Best find was a perfect Amber SC of Balance.

- ARRGGGHHH!!!

Credits:

Jason Maher, for the thread that inspired this build,
AJK, for the idea to use 2 curses,
You, for reading.

Thank you for reading

Cheers,

VoX Dei
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on May 16, 2013:

Patriarch Drummer - Venomous Wandbarb

The inspiration for this build comes from the Whacky wand tournament, which alas, did not really have anyone finish it. This isn't for that of course, since it is twinked. While questing with my venomsin and poison amazon, I did some numbers and I think a large part of why those characters suffer is because they have no way to reduce poison immunities, no 'Death's web' or 'lower resist'. Thinking about how interesting it would be to have a venom WWsin dual wielding Death's webs, it struck me that there is, indeed a character who can dual wield Death's webs..

And thus a hero was born!

LCS

Skills

20 Frenzy
20 Mace mastery
20 Battle orders
14 or so ( remaining ) shout
1 Battle command, warcry, natural resist, incr speed, sword mastery, etc.

Gear

Death's Web ( +5/-47)
Death's Web ( +4/-55)
Bramble archon plate ( +37 )
Arreat's face ( +4/-3 )
Highlord's wrath
Trang oul's claws
String of ears
Raven frost
Nature's peace
Death track ( rare )

switch:
grief phase blade ( 398/31 )
Necromancer's wand of lower resist

Merc: A1 cold rogue with faith greatbow, fortitude, Tal's hat

gear readouts

Code:
Death's Web
Unearthed Wand
One-Hand Damage: 22 to 28
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 66
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x4cd0d43
+36 poison damage over 2 seconds
+11 Life after each Kill
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
+10 to Mana After Each Kill
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
100% Chance to cast Level 23 Venom When You Level Up
+5% to Poison Skill Damage
-47% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Death's Web
Unearthed Wand
One-Hand Damage: 22 to 28
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 66
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x75633243
+36 poison damage over 2 seconds
+9 Life after each Kill
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
+9 to Mana After Each Kill
+1 to Poison and Bone Skills (Necromancer Only)
100% Chance to cast Level 23 Venom When You Level Up
+4% to Poison Skill Damage
-55% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Arreat's Face
Slayer Guard
Defense: 321
Durability: 55 of 55
(Barbarian Only)
Required Strength: 118
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x81a7ff88
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+166% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +30
+36 poison damage over 2 seconds
4% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
100% Chance to cast Level 23 Venom When You Level Up
+4% to Poison Skill Damage
-3% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 69
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xd5e0fa33
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

Bramble
Archon Plate
'RalOhmSurEth'
Defense: 813
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1a35068
Regenerate Mana 15%
+300 Defense
Fire Resist +30%
+5% to Maximum Cold Resist
Poison Resist +100%
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
+13 Life after each Kill
50% Faster Hit Recovery
Level 16 Thorns Aura When Equipped
Level 13 Spirit of Barbs (33/33 Charges)
+37% to Poison Skill Damage
Socketed (4: 4 used)

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 109
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x59213720
+171% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
Damage Reduced by 12%
8% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xd36fbc84
Damage Reduced by 10
Poison Resist +27%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)

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
30% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x69c656e1
+15 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+246 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

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

Grief
Phase Blade
'EthTirLoMalRal'
One-Hand Damage: 31 to 35
Required Dexterity: 136
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 59
Sword Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x5384bb0a
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+13 Life after each Kill
31% Increased Attack Speed
Adds +398 Damage
Ignore Target Defense
-25% Target Defense
Prevent Monster Heal
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
20% Deadly Strike
35% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
153% Damage to Demons (Based on Character Level)
-25% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Necromancer's Grim Wand of Lower Resistance
One-Hand Damage: 5 to 11
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 42
Staff Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x323a05f5
+2 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+1 to Summon Resist (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
Level 3 Lower Resist (82/82 Charges)

Thoughts

Well this was easier than I thought. Smooth coasting through the first three acts at players 1, most things dying fast. Grief was used to proc venom and also concentrate/berserk to take down poison immunes. Wand with LR was used to break immunities but after act 2 most couldn't be broken so I just used it vs bosses. Act 5 was annoying and hard, with half the enemies poison immune in addition to their regular immunities ( wtf blizzard ), and frenzytaurs witches and whatnot. Howl, warcry and taunt were used liberally.

I did put some poison dmg charms in the inventory like pestilent large charm of pestilence, but their effect was minimal as Venom just dwarfs them. Funny thing is that LCS before venom procs were much higher than after venom proc, though ofc venom is far better. Here this the LCS with level 23 venom from facet levelling. Of course, I seldom got to use that. Sheesh, p1 characters level so slow. Level 82 by end of the game is usually what I'd get by the end of Act 1 Hell. ( Normal/nightmare was played as a regular frenzybarb though.. )

Unlike staves that make a solid 'thud' sound, wands go a weak 'thwack' on hitting with them. Meh..

Screenshots

Conviction/LE sucks..
PI frenzytaurs
Dual immune
- quite rare

Deaths: Nah
Finds: Nah ( hellforge- gul )

Try this, it's fun.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by arrethyn on Sep 17, 2012:

Patriarch Gwaihir - Windy Druid

This is not my first character but the first serious one, the next highest I have barely made it to act 3 normal. I found the windy druid to be quite a bit of fun although difficult to fit much mf on. He was technically twinked as I used a death's hand which I found on another character for most of the game, and indeed while I killed baal although that was mostly an oversight as by then I had magefist and didn't need poison res for baal. Other than that everything he used was self found.

Character

Code:
Name:       Gwaihir
Class:      Druid
Experience: 1240303514
Level:      86


            Naked/Gear
Strength:   156/159
Dexterity:  20/26
Vitality:   319/363
Energy:     20/24
HP:         830/1050
Mana:       190/529
Stamina:    463/478
Defense:    5/337
AR:         70/167


Fire:       39/-1/-61
Cold:       89/49/-11
Lightning:  72/32/-28
Poison:     156/116/56

Skills:

Raven: 1/5
Oak Sage: 18/22
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1/5
Summon Dire Wolf: 1/5
Summon Grizzly: 1/5
Arctic Blast: 1/11
Cyclone Armor: 20/30
Twister: 14/24
Tornado: 20/32
Hurricane: 20/30

Gear:

You'll notice there are 2 amulets, 3 rings and 2 gloves, during act V Hell I swapped between magefist, chaos ring, and gaean amulet of absorption or death's hand, corruption ring, and fortuitous amulet of the apprentice depending on if I needed the poison resist on death's hand while still keeping over 99% fcr

Code:
Fortuitous Amulet of the Apprentice
Amulet
Required Level: 8
Fingerprint: 0xecc65275
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
13% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Gaean Amulet of Absorption
Amulet
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0xd39c521d
Item Level: 68
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Damage Reduced by 3

Gaean Dream Spirit
Dream Spirit
Defense: 120
Durability: 14 of 20
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 118
Fingerprint: 0x4e51a6fb
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
+2 to Tornado (Druid Only)

Stealth
Studded Leather
TalEth
Defense: 35
Durability: 28 of 32
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 27
Fingerprint: 0x781450e2
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25% Faster Run/Walk
+25% Faster Cast Rate
+25% Faster Hit Recovery
+6 to Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 15%
+15 Maximum Stamina
Poison Resist +30%
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune


Great Wyrm's Ring of the Apprentice
Ring
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x70944226
Item Level: 37
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+75 to Mana

Bitter Buckle
Plated Belt
Defense: 24
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x70ea6646
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+100% Enhanced Defense
+3 to Strength
+52 to Life
Lightning Resist +7%
Attacker Takes Damage of 1

Tireless Boots of Balance
Boots
Defense: 2
Durability: 9 of 12
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xcaddebb2
Item Level: 20
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
Heal Stamina Plus 50%

Chaos Eye
Ring
Required Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xba15fe20
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
+31 to Attack Rating
+2 to Energy
+19 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 7%
Cold Resist +5%
All Resistances +6

Corruption Eye
Ring
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xfdf9c9f1
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+67 to Attack Rating
+4 to Energy
Replenish Life +5
Cold Resist +17%
Fire Resist +9%

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 17 of 18
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0xbbcf9992
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Fire Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 1 - 6 Fire Damage
+29% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%

Death's Hand
Leather Gloves
Defense: 3
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Level: 6
Fingerprint: 0xe889c710
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +50%
Poison Length Reduced by 75%
Set (2 items): +30% Increased Attack Speed


Spirit
Crystal Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 5 - 15
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0x76d839fe
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+27% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
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
+105 to Mana
+4 Magic Absorb
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune


Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 147
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 62 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xc6497397
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+32% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+108 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+8 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Mercenary:

Code:
Name:       Varaya
Race:       Barbarian
Type:       1hs-Normal
Experience: 77237984
Level:      86
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   211/211
Dexterity:  136/146
HP:         1692/1692
Defense:    1584/2134
AR:         2198/2198

Fire:       187/147/87
Cold:       184/144/84
Lightning:  154/114/54
Poison:    154/114/54

Darksight Helm
Basinet
Defense: 249
Durability: 24 of 30
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 82
Fingerprint: 0x5a8454dc
Item Level: 64
Version: Expansion 1.10+
6% Chance to cast level 3 Dim Vision when struck
5% Mana stolen per hit
+172 Defense (Based on Character Level)
Fire Resist +33%
Cannot Be Frozen
-4 to Light Radius
Level 5 Cloak of Shadows (24/30 Charges)


Treachery
Embossed Plate
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 301
Durability: 46 of 55
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0x6a00363d
Item Level: 66
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 15 Fade when struck
25% Chance to cast level 15 Venom on striking
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune

Lawbringer
Executioner Sword
AmnLemKo
One Hand Damage: 36 - 60
Two Hand Damage: 70 - 120
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 160
Required Dexterity: 100
Fingerprint: 0xd1f78308
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Decrepify on striking
Level 18 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
-50% Target Defense
Adds 150 - 210 Fire Damage
Adds 130 - 180 Cold Damage Over 7 Secs (179 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
+206 Defense vs. Missile
+10 to Dexterity
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ethereal
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune

Charms:
Mostly +Life, no skillers or gheeds.

Gameplay:

Normal:

Although I started with the intention of making a windy druid I initially put points into the fire tree to speed things along while leveling. This resulted in using primarily firestorm in act 1, molten bolder in act 2 and the first half of act 3 only switching over to tornado late in act 3. Even then the transition from using a spell that launched a direct line of damage to one that created a tornado seemingly determined to go anywhere except where I wanted it to was frustrating to say the least. Furthermore it was around the time that I entered lower kurast that i found out how to use the /players command. I had heard of playing in other than 1 person mode before then but was unsure of how to actually accomplish this. As a result I was in LK around level 25 and with only 2 points in tornado and not even adept at using it yet. Needless to say the though of trying to fight even harder enemies was daunting and I played out act 3 on /players 1. However after beating mephisto I converted to /players 8 and quickly became hooked on the increased drops and drastically increased exp gain. Despite being on a higher player setting act 4 wasn't terribly difficult but diablo took a very long time to kill as I spent most of the time running from his massive lightning attack. After 5 or 10 minute I realized that even though my grizzly died very quickly, he still gave me a chance to get some uninterupted time casting tornados at diablo. After that I took his health down much faster. By the time I reached act V I was finally starting to come into my skills and that along with having more practice with tornado made it by far the easiest act. Additionally I put spirit in a broad sword shortly before I headed up to the ancients which was a fairly massive upgrade compared to the 5mpk wand I had been using. I don't remember the exact level that I beat Baal for the first time but I think it was roughly 40-43.

Nightmare:

When I started nightmare I decided it was time to respec and get rid of all the points that I had put into dex and energy while leveling as well as the points in firestorm and molten boulder that were now worthless. This resulted in a rather large drop in mana but overall I found nightmare to be far easier than normal due to actually having the appropriate skills. I mostly spent the act practicing getting tornado go where I needed it to and tanking act bosses with my grizzly. Additionally I only had two deaths in all of nightmare, which was far less than either normal or hell. The first was to a boss pack of gloams in act 4 and the second to a group of archers in the world stone keep.

Hell:

I started hell at 76 and attempted to keep going at p8 as I had been but after dying twice fairly early in act I I decided that it wasn't going to be realistic, so I lowered things down to p5. I completed the rest of hell other than the maggot lair on p5 up until I ran into the bugged tomb vipers in the halls of Vaught, at which point I dropped things to p1 and finished the game like that. Hell was definitely harder than I was expecting coming from the ez-mode that is nightmare. If I were to rank the difficulties as far as actually difficulty at the time played I would place it Hell > Normal > Nightmare. However I learned to be more cautious, and that running into rooms blind was a good way to get myself dead quickly. I also started using my grizzly as a literal meat shield some time in act 3 by summoning him directly in front of a group of ranged monsters. I'm guessing this isn't a particularly revolutionary tactic but it was for me and made a huge difference in my ability to engage groups of archers or mages. Additionally with only 28 tornado going into act IV I really started to feel the lack of + skills in my damage. Picking up magefist off one of the uniques before diablo (which allowed me to drop my fcr neck for a +3 elemental skills one) helped some as did finally finding a 4Os monarch in the WSK to make spirit in but even so I felt my damage was somewhat low, it would be interesting to see how the damage improves with more + skills gear.

I'd like to fully gear out this guy at some point but my next project is probably going to be leveling up a fishymancer with high MF.
 
Originally posted by Baltha on Aug 19, 2018:

And... a much delayed sepvirate: Patriarch #7 Manígulat

Named after a sky god from a novel by Javier Negrete. Sky... wind... sound better in my head.

HI33cEk.png


Stats
Strength: 126 (227) more than needed duh
Dexterity: 35 (46)
Vitality: 294 (362)
Energy: 20 (20)

Life: ~1.000 (~1.700 with Battle Orders; 2.800 with Oak Sage that never survives to be useful)
Resists: 43 fire; -5 cold; 37 lit; 100 poison; lvl 20 cyclone armor though
Skills: 20 Tornado, 20 Hurricane, 20 twister, 20 cyclone armor, 9 oak sage; probably better with artic blast to help with immunes

Equipment
Weapon/Shield: Heart of the Oak Flail 38 resist all / Spirit Monarch 35% fcr
Switch: Call to Arms Double Axe +6 BO/+5 BC / Spirit Monarch
Helm: rare circlet +2 elemental skills 20 fcr 23 str 37 PR
Armor: Enigma Light Plate
Belt: Verdungo's Hearty cord
Gloves: Frostburn
Boots: Sandstorm 14/14
Amulet: rare +2 druid 10% fcr
Rings: 2 Stones of Jordan

Inventory: resist charms

Merc
Holy Freeze with shaeled TRT / Treachery dusk shroud / Guillaume (ias jewel) to handle immunes


So apparently I was missing a druid to get a septvirate. So I finished this guy. As much as I love casters, I freaking hate the random pattern of Tornado as much as I hate blessed hammer. Being able to reposition himself with Enigma kinda solved the problem. That's what OP Runewords are for, aren't they? Anyway remind me a lot of the gameplay of an underpowered hammerdin. And I hate hammerdins. That's why this section is so small. I mean, your game plan is: teleport to your enemies because you are tanky and spam your main skill and hope for the better because you aren't able to direct it better.


NM HF: Sol
Hell HF: Lum

Notable finds
Fal, Naguel Ring in Act IV NM
Dwarf Star in Act V NM

Plans for the future
I'd like to try AT with this guy. But I will probably burn his socket quests and retire him.
 
Originally posted by bassen on Sep 7, 2008:

Patriarch Kelsharr the Wind-Druid

Patriarch Kelsharr the Wind-Druid


So I have finally finnished my Wind-Druid using my own guide. The playing time has been very easy. The few times I've actually died was because I did not pay attention to the game (like cube gems or talking on the cellphone while being in battle). Playing a Wind Druid has been very fun and the power he possess is great.

Normal: Not so much to say here more than I ran Normal Baal until I was able to wear my Spirit 35" Monarch. Found a few good things but most rubbish.
Nightmare: Ran through it pretty quickly. At A5 I ran NM Baal until I was level 76.
Hell: Very simple, much easier than I expected it to be.

Playing style: I have followed my guide pretty much so you who have read it it's nothing new when I mention that I have used Cyclone Armor and Hurricane 24/7 from when I was able to use them. However I have used Artic Blast against PI's when nothing else more than the PI's have been there.

And another thing that I have added myself is the addition to Shapeshifting skills. If you wanna become a Wind Druid Bear it's a great health boost when running around as a bear using Shock Wave and having such much health is good when tankin PI's ghost.

In Chaos Sanctuary - Summon Grizzly next to the OK's and then obliterate then.

Stats:
Name:
Kelsharr
Type1: Druid
Type2: Wind
Level: 82

Stenght: 136 (186/156)
Dexterity: 180 (193/193)
Vitality: 164 (164/186)
Energy: 20 (40/40) (base)
Life with no Oak Sage: (514/558)
Life with Oak Sage: (951/1047)

Equipment:
Jalal's Mane (Jewel of Fervor)
Heart of the Oak
Stormshield (Perfect Diamond) / "Spirit" Monarch
Skin of the Vipermagi (Scintillating Jewel 14%)
Arachnid Mesh
The Stone of Jordan
The Stone of Jordan
Trang-Oul's Claws
Natalyas Soul

7x Natural Grand Charm of X or plain
8x X or plain Small Charm of Inertia

Elemental Tree (Stormshield/"Spirit" Monarch):
1 Artic Blast
20 (39/41) Cyclone Armor 2579 / 2704
20 (39/41) Twister 1025-1092 / 1105-1177
20 (39/41) Tornado 4896-5158 / 5254-5529
20 (39/41) Hurricane 2235-2350 / 2382-2497

Shapeshifting Tree:
1 Werewolf
1 Lycantrophy
1 Werebear
1 Maul
1 Shock Wave

Summoning Tree:
1 Raven
1 Summon Spirit Wolf
1 Summon Dire Wolf
1 (10/12) Summon GRizzly
3 (12/14) Oak Sage

Mercenary:
Type:
Desert Prayer Merc (A2)
Weapon: Eth Thresher "17 Insight
Helm: "Delirium" Tiara
Armor: "Fortitude" Superior Archon Plate
Damage: 799-4500

Finds:
Hellforge NM:
Hel
Hellfoge H: Um

This might be my last character, for now at least. But I'll still be hanging around the forum, trading and chatting ;). But now I probably will only do LK runs to find that Ber I'm searching for ;)
 
Originally posted by Colorless Green on Sep 21, 2008:

Patriarch Katrina, Wind Druid

I don't usually post pat threads for "cookie cutters", but this is probably the char over my entire career that's taken the longest to reach patriarch, and besides, windys are seeming much less trendy these days, so I'll make an exception for this one.

Patriarch Katrina, level 84 Wind Druid

Str: 156 (156)
Dex: 35 (53)
Vit: 304 (336)
Ene: 20 (20)

Tornado Damage: 5792-6086
Life: 2517
Mana: 919
Resists: 40/70/71/53

Skills:
Oak Sage: 9 (21)
Grizzly: 1 (13)
Carrion Vine: 1 (13)
Cyclone Armor: 20 (44)
Twister: 20 (41)
Tornado: 20 (44)
Hurricane: 20 (41)

Equip:
Delirium Antlers (+3 tornado/+3 cyclone base)
Skin of the Vipermagi (Um)
Magefist
Arachnid Mesh
Natalya's Soul
Gaean Amulet of Dexterity
Stone of Jordan
Stone of Jordan
Heart of the Oak Flail
Spirit Monarch
CtA/Spirit Switch

Prayer Merc: eth Insight Thresher, Treachery Scarab Husk, Crown of Thieves

Well, I first started this one slightly over three years ago, and then he was, for one reason or another, stalled for quite a long time. I've come back to him and done about one waypoint then put him back on the back burner a few different times until I finally just decided to finish him. This is no reflection on the char or the build - it's quite entertaining and extremely strong, but other things just kept getting in the way.

As far as playing goes, as I said, he's extremely strong. Almost nothing presents any problems. Defensively, synergized cyclone armor plus a castable meat shield and a large life pool (not to mention the dim vision aura of gg that is ravens) makes it quite difficult for anything to actually hurt me, and a piercing spammable attack with relatively high damage makes short work of just about everything, even on high player settings. I think I did the first two or three acts of hell on p8, then switched to p5 basically because PI's were taking too long to drop with hurricane and I was getting bored.

Tornado aiming is a bit annoying, but I've done a few different hard-to-aim skills in the last few months, so I didn't find it to be too much of a problem. My favorite tactic against groups was, rather than trying to find a good tornado path to hit a bunch of enemies, to just shift click and then slowly move the mouse across the back of them. Plenty of the tornados I released this way only hit one monster (or sometimes none in the weird times where tornado decides to go about 120 degrees away from where I was aiming), but the general effect was a cone of pwn over the group, resulting in pretty quick pwnage. For single monsters, the easiest was usually to just run right up on top of them and namelock and not worry about the tornado path.

Ko from hell hellforge (don't remember NM), and a gold elegant blade (woo) from hell baal. Nothing else to speak of, yet, but I plan to level him up to 90 and then (with a bit of regearing) go do cows. Switching out of some of my more defensive gear into the pure offense I'd use there will get my tornado up a few more skill points, and that plus piercing should make for some fairly quickly dead cows.

I'd highly recommend this char to anyone looking for a strong caster without playing sorc or hammerdin. It's great.

-CG
 
Originally posted by Colorless Green on May 3, 2008:

Patriarch BhutJolokia, Fire Druid (...and we're back)

So, I've finally gotten through with moving and getting internet and everything. Surprise, surprise, I've been sucked back into D2 after a ~4 month hiatus, as those of you who frequent the hell baals may be aware. I got myself re-interested via one of my favorite things to do in the game, unconventional builds, so I hereby present...

Patriarch BhutJolokia, Level 82 Fire Elementalist Druid

Str: 136 (156)
Dex: 30 (45)
Vit: 314 (356)
Ene: 20 (55)

Life (with BO and OS): 2617
Mana (with BO): 919
Resists (Hell): 75/75/75/75
Firestorm Damage (per LCS): 5494-6078
Fissure Damage (per LCS): 3745-3914
Molten Boulder Damage (per skill tree): 1260-1395 phys/1135-1257 fire
Volcano Damage (per skill tree): 877-884 phys/954-1046 fire

Skills:
Firestorm: 20 (40)
Molten Boulder: 20 (40)
Fissure: 20 (40)
Volcano: 20 (40)
Twister: 1 (20)
Raven: 1 (20)
Spirit Wolf: 1 (13)
Dire Wolf: 1 (13)
Grizzly: 1 (13)
Oak Sage: 1 (13)
Unspent: 5

Equip:
Ravenlore (Fire Facet)
Mara's Kaliedoscope
Skin of the Vipermagi (Um)
Magefist
Arachnid Mesh
Sandstorm Trek
Stone of Jordan
Stone of Jordan
Heart of the Oak
Spirit
CtA/Spirit on switch


This char is quite strong against anything that isn't fire immune. Fissure and firestorm were definitely my main attacks - fissure decimates crowds and firestorm is excellent for stragglers/bosses. Non-FI hell ancients went from full health to dead within a couple seconds of firestorm (as did baal). The first four waves of baal's minions went down like they do against a blizzsorc, but the tedium that was lister's pack more than made up for it. FI's are really annoying, not because they're particularly dangerous (I had no deaths that weren't easily avoidable carelessness, such as stopping to rearrange my pack in the middle of combat), but because they're tedious. Molten boulder can consistantly take down a single FI with two or three casts, but it's really difficult to hit more than one or two at a time because of how slow it rolls, and the fact that the knockback angle screws up multiple hits if you move after casting it. Volcano was also good against individual FI's when they were willing to stand still fighting with a grizzly or merc. Fortunately, I only encountered one PI/FI (a blood lord boss in A4hell), which I took down out of spite over the course of maybe 15 minutes with my ~20 damage twister and the ~15 cold damage from vampire gaze on my merc. I could see this being a relatively commonplace character if it weren't for the fact that FI's are everywhere.

So anyways, yeah, I'm back. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do next, though the RoF superchests are quite intriguing, so I'll probably spend some time there. We'll see.

Yay, diablo.
-CG
 
Originally posted by @Corax on Dec 31, 2009:

Patriarch Beast

Beast, lvl 82 Fire druid
Deaths: none
Stats:base(gear)

Str: 103 (123)
dex: 35 (45)
Vit: 342 (357)
nrg: base (57)
Life: 950 (1600+ with HoTo)
Mana: 774

Resists:
Fire:66
Cold:72
Lightning:75
Poison: 75

Skills: (damage)
20 firestorm (3631-4037)
20 molten boulder (1748-1964)
20 fissure (2381-2795)
20 volcano (1386-1439)
3 armageddon (2887-3614)
1 Heart of the Oak & Bear
+all prereqs

Gear:
Helm: Ravenlore with fire rainbow facet (+3% and -5%)
Armour: Chains of Honour
Gloves: Magefist
Boots: Silkweave
Belt: Gloomtrap
Shield: Pdiamond lidless wall
Weapon: Heart of the oak flail
Amulet: Eye of Etlich
Ring1: SoJ
Ring2: SoJ
Charms: mostly MF and mana charms.

Merc:
Flux, lvl 82 frost iron wolf
Deaths: 2. (fighting hell baal and hell diablo)
Helm: Ptopaz shako
Armour: Ptopaz skullders
Shield: pdiamond lidless wall
Sword: culwens point

Hard Bits:
1. Its been that long that ive lost nearly ALL my mad awesome d2 reflexes
2. Hell baal was a struggle due to all his ranged attacks and love of teleporting. He also summoned several of himself and alot of tentacles.
3. FI moonlord boss packs. they take along time to kill 1 with volcano.
4. Vipers tomb in act 2. CI skellies mixed with FI Mummies made it a hard slog. normally the skellies get frozen by the merc and shatter so cant be revived. this lot required much manuvering to get next to the mummies to drop them first. Then i found 2 bosspacks and 2 normal packs in a room together. I ended up luring all the skellies halfway back down the map

Good Bits:
1. druids are awesome
2. TBRC (Tactical Bear ReCasting). especially combined with fissure good use of bear makes killing alot quicker. get him on the mobs, cast fissure under the bear, then recast him further away so the mobs chase him across the flaming field of death.
3. fast killing speed thru all of hell. most FI and PI were not much slower than normal mobs.
4. Im now a fan of the iron wolves. contrary to popular opinion fluc was capable of killing on his own, was fairly hardy and his ability to freeze saved me on many occasions. just stand next to him and anything that comes at you gets frozen.

Next up im starting a barb. being the only character i havent patted. dont think ive even champed one. anyway i cant for the life of me think of what build i want to run. atm hes lvl 17 with boatloads of saved up stat and skill points.
so any suggestions?
 
Originally posted by Cormallon on Jan 7, 2007:

Patriarch Iruma

For the SPUMF II tournament, I wanted to try a fire elemental druid. I looked at the fire skills and thought, boulder and volcano would help against FIs. I developed my build in that direction. Big mistake, I can tell. Fissure / Firestorm take care of all non-FI monsters quite well, I played some parts in hell on P3. But FIs were a real pain, waiting for the merc and bear to kill them. Near the end, this char wasn't much fun anymore. If I ever do another elemetal druid (I have a wind druid as well), I'd try a fire / cold combo.

Well, here are the stats, played untwinked and single pass. Quite a few deaths, at one place it took me about 10 attempts to get my bodies back... but I didn't want to restart because of my (a bit stricter...) interpretation of tournament rules on reruns. Thanks to the hibernate feature of Windows, I didn't have to s&e after a session and could just continue next day.

Character name : Iruma
Character type : Druid
Character level : 85
Character exp : 1128498771

Strength : 96/81
Energy : 20
Dexterity : 180/170
Vitality : 244
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 732 / 679
Mana : 230 / 188
Stamina : 387 / 387

Gold (Inventory): 0
Gold (Stash) : 29558

MF: 348

Resists in hell: 75/75/75/13

Skills:
Firestorm 22/20
Molten Boulder 13/11
Fissure 22/20
Volcano 22/20

Oak Sage 1
Raven 1
Spirit Wolf 1
Dire Wolf 2
Grizzly 20


Armour

Terrene Falcon Mask of the Tiger
Defense: 14
Durability: 27 of 40
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 28
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0xf2d1886b
+30 to Life
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1 to Twister (Druid Only)
+1 to Rabies (Druid Only)
+2 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Falcon Mask

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Corruption Mark
Amulet
Required Level: 19
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xb9247c8c
+18 to Mana
Fire Resist +39%
Lightning Resist +8%
Cold Resist +8%
Poison Resist +8%
Replenish Life +3
22% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Charged Bolt when struck

Coral Ring of Fortune
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 44
Fingerprint: 0x4da802b0
Lightning Resist +30%
21% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Nagelring
Ring
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x1eaf08fc
+57 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
Attacker Takes Damage of 3
22% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Goldwrap
Heavy Belt
Defense: 35
Durability: 7 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xdfec7955
+48% Enhanced Defense
+25 Defense
77% Extra Gold from Monsters
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius
10% Increased Attack Speed

Skull Blazer
Wyrmhide Boots
Defense: 78
Durability: 5 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xf0996cf9
+24% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +32%
Lightning Resist +8%
48% Extra Gold from Monsters
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Faster Run/Walk

Chance Guards
Chain Gloves
Defense: 27
Durability: 10 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0xec597c68
+20% Enhanced Defense
+25 to Attack Rating
+15 Defense
200% Extra Gold from Monsters
40% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Light Radius

Gemmed Tigulated Mail
Defense: 184
Durability: 30 of 36
Required Strength: 86
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0x528545b3
72% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Tigulated Mail

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Tigulated Mail

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Tigulated Mail

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

The Ward
Gothic Shield
Defense: 112
Chance to Block: 46%
Durability: 28 of 40
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x37aa7184
+10 to Strength
+100% Enhanced Defense
+10% Increased Chance of Blocking
+40 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
All Resistances +68
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Perfect Diamond
Inserted into a Gothic Shield

All Resistances +19

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

On switch:
Round Shield
Defense: 52
Chance to Block: 32%
Durability: 64 of 64
Required Strength: 53
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x4ed5e9d0


Weapon

Blade of Ali Baba
Tulwar
One-Hand Damage: 32 to 71
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Dexterity: 42
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 35
Sword Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x26b7694a
+5 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
+5 to Life
+15 to Mana
+104% Enhanced Damage
Cold Resist +22%
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
212% Extra Gold (Based on Character Level)
85% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Sapphire Jewel of Spirit
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 68
Fingerprint: 0xf706e887
+5 to Life
Cold Resist +22%

Emerald Jewel of Virility
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xfba021a0
+5 to Strength
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items


On switch:
Terrene Barbed Club of Craftmanship
One-Hand Damage: 13 to 26
Durability: 72 of 72
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 30
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xcf9a0c73
+1 to Maximum Damage
150% Damage to Undead
+2 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)

In stash, not used very often:
Bone Wand of Lower Resistance
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 7
Durability: 15 of 15
Required Level: 36
Staff Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x784ca2cf
+1 to Poison Nova (Necromancer Only)
150% Damage to Undead
Level 2 Lower Resist (28/75 Charges)



Charms

Lapis Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 7
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x817c37ad
Cold Resist +20%

Viridian Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xb4000e67
Poison Resist +7%

Sapphire Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0x919b4c07
Cold Resist +10%

Snake's Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 24
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 73
Fingerprint: 0x95168a82
+9 to Mana
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Amber Grand Charm of Flame
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 22
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 33
Fingerprint: 0xf77ee012
Lightning Resist +30%
Adds 1-2 fire damage

Sapphire Large Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 55
Fingerprint: 0xcc1e1f45
Cold Resist +15%

Ocher Grand Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 14
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0xc5c484d5
Lightning Resist +19%
7% Faster Run/Walk

Ruby Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 22
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x720b2d21
Fire Resist +30%

Cobalt Small Charm of Flame
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 20
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x139ca2ab
Cold Resist +8%
Adds 1-2 fire damage

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x792621b
+18 to Life


Mercenary
I went with a NM combat merc this time, for the Thorns aura. HF or Might would not help much, I thought, and I looked for something new. I am very surprised how efficient this merc really is. With the +20 regen from his weapon, he rarely dies. Only real exception are poisoning foes or CB / IM and such. No leech required. The rattlecage kept the monsters in motion (flee...), which is quite useful with fissure.

Rattlecage
Gothic Plate
Defense: 331
Durability: 45 of 55
Required Strength: 70
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x28aebd8
+45 to Attack Rating
+200 Defense
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 40%
25% Chance of Crushing Blow

Gemmed Grand Crown
Defense: 109
Durability: 37 of 50
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xc575979a
72% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Grand Crown

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Grand Crown

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Perfect Topaz
Inserted into a Grand Crown

24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion

Husoldal Evo
Bec-de-Corbin
Two-Hand Damage: 55 to 261
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Dexterity: 91
Required Strength: 133
Required Level: 44
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x462f9b3d
+170% Enhanced Damage
+205 to Attack Rating
+20 to Minimum Damage
+32 to Maximum Damage
+59 poison damage over 6 seconds
Replenish Life +20
20% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Flawless Emerald
Inserted into a Bec-de-Corbin

+59 poison damage over 6 seconds

Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
 
Originally posted by @Cyrax on Dec 22, 2008:

Patriarch ReignOfFire, pure fire druid

And here's another pat. This time a pure fire druid. I had him parked in late NM for a long time. But since i was getting a few too many parked characters (for various reasons), i decided i needed to pat/mat at least one of them so i could cross them off the list. And i thought this would be a nice char to do that with.

Patriarch ReignOfFire lvl 80 fire druid

life: 881
mana: 359

Resists: 71/75/75/75 (fire/cold/lightning/poison)

Stats:
str: 156 (161)
dex: 20 (21)
vit: 294 (316)
ene: 20 (55)

Skills:
moulten boulder, fissure and volcano: 20
firestorm and armageddon: 13
pre-req's: 1
shapeshifting and summoning tabs: 0

Damage:
Moulten boulder 1713-1915
Fissure 2534-2648
Volcano 1773-1859
Firestorm 2271-2545
Armageddon 5458-6364
Cyclone armor 251 absorb

Gear:

Ravenlore
Earthshaker
Skin of the vipermagi
Spirit
Rare amu
Rare ring 2x
Rare belt -> Will be replaced with arachnid mesh
Magefist
Hsaru's iron heel -> When entering hell i found out i was still wearing these. After that i've been searching for better ones with FRW and fire resist (my lowest resist), but didn't find any.

And 4x elemental skillers

Code:
Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xf69c05b7
+30% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
+10 Defense
Adds 1-6 fire damage
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to Fire Skills

Earthshaker
Battle Hammer
One-Hand Damage: 98 to 162
Durability: 105 of 105
Required Strength: 100
Required Level: 43
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xe476abff
+180% Enhanced Damage
+50 Maximum Durability
Knockback
30% Increased Attack Speed
Hit Blinds Target +1
150% Damage to Undead
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Fissure on striking

Ravenlore
Sky Spirit
Defense: 386
Durability: 20 of 20
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 113
Required Level: 74
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x258e1213
+26 to Energy
+148% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +25
+7 to Raven (Druid Only)
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
-16% to Enemy Fire Resistance

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x3276bc96
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 11
All Resistances +28
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels

Bone Clasp
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 44
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x6cfeb4b3
+33 to Life
+19% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +10%
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds

Order Master
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xa88506fb
+3 to Energy
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +30%
+1 to Mana After Each Kill

Wraith Grip
Ring
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x20920e1a
+6 to Energy
Lightning Resist +25%
Poison Resist +15%
35% Extra Gold from Monsters
12% Chance to cast Level 4 Nova when struck

Raven Mark
Amulet
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xc2f7dd7e
All Resistances +15
+50 poison damage over 3 seconds
+1 to Druid Skill Levels
+5 to Light Radius
5% Bonus to Attack Rating
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Charged Bolt when struck

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 146
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x6f4f6e86
+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
31% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+3 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Hsarus' Iron Heel
Chain Boots
Defense: 8
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0xaad797c5
Fire Resist +25%
20% Faster Run/Walk

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+800 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Holy freeze mercenary:
tal mask
duriel's shell
reaper's toll

Only one notable find: a passive & magic skiller with minor second mod. Hell hellforge was a ko (sigh, what else is new). Don't remember NM since he was parked in act V of NM for quite a while.

Gameplay:
Normal and NM. Not much interesting too tell here. Twinking my way through and not too much fire immunes, so not really difficult. Only my merc started to have a hard time in NM. He died a lot.
After that: hell.
Act I, still not very difficult. Some fire immunes, but merc too keep them in place and then a volcano under the baddies and that did a nice job taking care of those. BTW did i mention my merc died a lot?
Last part of act I was a bit difficult. First i encountered a PI/FI vampiretype. So i had to park that. And a little later, apparently the monsters couldn't see my merc anymore (as apposed too normal when i can't see him, but they can) so they all went after me. Since i was near Andy i decided too keep it that way because i was afraid she would cost me several merc ressurections. Turned out to be a good decision. Andy kept chasing me while i had fissure at her feet. That, and the fact she hates fire, made it an easy kill.
Act II, at first merc died some more. But he got to the lvl for reaper's so after that, at least he tried to stay alive. No real problem's throughout the act, except for Duriel. My merc could hardly get any hits in. I think decrepify only triggered once. And Duriel hit my merc. And he hit hard. So many trips back too town for healing and also a few for ressurections, but in the end he bit the dust.
Act III. Pretty much a copy of act II. Not much trouble during the act, but Mephisto also had a bad temper and took it out on my merc. Not as bad as Duriel though.
Act IV. Izual apparently likes fire as much as Andy does. He went down like a ton of bricks. A couple of fissures and one volcano was all it took. Then Diablo's sanctuary. Of course populated with some more FI's. Luckily the one's casting curses aren't, so that was a relieve. Still they managed to kill my merc plenty of times. After calling out Diablo he also took my merc out easily. This time i left him for dead since Diablo tends to run around. That means fissure works very nice. Once in a while also a volcano up his rear end and he was toast so to speak.
ActV. Nothing really hard. Just lots of FI's in every area i visited. I thought that reaching those ice caverns would make things a bit easier. But i was wrong. Even there where FI's. Even had to S&E there once. In the second cavern i got those moonlord types. First of all they were FI and secondly they really creamed my merc. Shortly after entering the cavern i ran into a bosspack. So i ran in the opposite direction (no room to split them up yet). And ofcourse i run into another bosspack. So that was an easy decision to S&E.
Next up where the ancients. First try at least 2 were extra fast. Which meant that i had no way of splitting them up. Didn't even have the time to check any of their mods. Try two went better. Still two FI's. First a lot of running and throwing around fissure to take Mawdawc out (couldn't split them). After that i finally managed to split the remaining two. The leaper kept going for me. So i ran around in tight circles trying to get volcano's where i thought they would hit him (FI, so fissure didn't work). And also hoping my merc would take a few jabs. When he died i tried the same with the whirler. When he was down to about a third of his life i had a problem though. My merc was stupid enough to stand in the middle of a whirle and got killed before i could give him a juvie (i still had plenty). So that meant some quick thinking. Would i get my merc back and reroll them, or give it a try with only one ancient left standing? Since i had a lot of potions left and his health wasn't too great, i went for the latter. That meant running a bit. Toss a volcano between myself and him and hope he runs through it. And then run some more. I had one close call there (ran in the wrong direction), but a potion took care of that.
So then entering the WSK too meet Baal. When i entered his throne room i thought too myself: wouldn't it be a fitting end if i could some stygies here. And about 20 seconds later i was thinking: you and your big mouth. You guessed it, i got stygian dolls. Of course diablo doesn't listing when i think: wouldn't it be nice if xxx (insert nice item here) dropped. But apparently it does when i'm being sarcastic.
Anyway, the waves weren't really difficult. Only lister caused some trouble, but i managed to split them up and 1 or 2 at a time they were doable. So let's meet Baal. Well my merc died a lot before, but here he got seriously whacked. Most of the time i could save him, but he died some nonetheless. I think it took me about two books of TP before becoming a patriarch, but i finally managed.

General remarks:
- All in all it was easier then i thought. The listed damage isn't too great, but it does take care of business (the minus resists from ravenlore probably had something to do with that too)
- Also there are lots of FI's, but volcano does a pretty good job of taking care of them. Only downside is that fissure can take out multiple targets while volcano is usually just 1 at a time.
- I had high hopes for armageddon, but the timer on that is way too long. It does make pretty pictures if you like to have a nice screenshot for instance. But in combat it's crap. You cast it. Then you wait. After that you wait some more and then you can go and cast some other spell.
- Having no pets or spirits meant my merc was taking a lot of heat. And that showed. He got whacked left and right by just about any creature with semi-decent damage. Besides that i think he was one of the dumbest merc's i ever had. When i wanted him in front of me, he was behind me and vice versa. That being said, i'm not sure i would have traded some of my skillpoints for either a pet or a spirit. That would mean my damage would go down and that was one thing i am happy with.
- In all of hell i think i encountered 4 or 5 PI/FI's. I took one out (decrep brook the PI) and parked the others because it took too long (and one regenerated as fast as my merc and i could hurt it).
- And last but not least, a question for the readers. I came to realize that i spelled the 'of'-part in ReignOfFire with only one -f. On the other hand, my previous pat (LeapOffFaith) had 2. Now i'm a bit confused on which is the correct spelling (English is not my native language). I guess i'll have to rename one of them, but the question is: which one?

Thanks for reading:wave:
 
Originally posted by Denton on Nov 20, 2005:

Patriarch Wind_Man

Thanks to... erm... a bunch of guys, can't remember all your forum names now. But anyway, thanks to you, I have Patriarch Wind_Man, a Wind Druid. He's level eighty-something at the moment.

Hell didn't take long to finish, thanks to "some" rushing. We did all the important quests though.

Gotta run to boost ocau_mikles's Boner. Thanks. :D


Name: Wind_Man
Level: 82

Base stats:
Strength: 144
Dexterity: 175
Vitality: 161
Energy: 20

Strength is that high because I use Stormshield or Spirit Monarch, depending on the situation. I don't have any other sources for +str than helmet, amulet and boots. I have 75% block with Storm Shield.

Skills:
Elemental:

Arctic Blast: 1
Cyclone Armor: 20
Twister: 20
Tornado: 20
Hurricane: 20

Summoning:
Raven: 1
Oak Sage: 8(maxing this next)
Spirit Wolf: 1
Dire Wolf: 1
Grizzly: 1

None in Shape Shifting.

PvM equipment:
Weapon: Wizardspike
Shield: Storm Shield(PDiamond)/Spirit Monarch
Helmet: Harlequin Crest(PTopaz)
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi(PTopaz)
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Gloves: Frostburn
Boots: Sandstorm Trek
Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Ring #1: Raven Frost
Ring #2: Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Charms:
Gheed's Fortune
+all resist small charms and a grand charm
couple mana grand charms
(that's right, no skillers yet :()

Final life with Oak Sage is about ~1100-1200, and mana is just a little bit less than life to prevent bloodmana curse in Act 5.

Average damage with Tornado is about 2900, Hurricane has about 1400. Cyclone Armor absorbs ~1800 elemental damage(except poison) before collapsing. Those values are with Storm Shield. Spirit rises them a bit.

With current equipment he has about max resists without Wizardspike, which then adds 75% to all. This is "a bit" overkill in PvM. I use nearly the same charm layout with every character just because I'm lazy, but I might switch all the +res charms to +life charms. This would give me ~100+ more base life.

In Hell, he needs to be played with players 1 to clear areas with decent speed. I'm hoping to get some day Heart of the Oak Flail and elemental skillers for him.

Overall, a very balanced character. He can tank fairly well, and can damage multiple monsters at the same time. And he has also some crowd control with wolves and grizzly. Fun character to play, although aiming the Tornados at small footprint monsters can be difficult.
 
Originally posted by Disco-neck Ted on Jun 16, 2006:

Interview with a wind druid

Today our reporter sat down with Patriarch Borborygmus, billed as a "damage-reduced wind druid".

Q: Damage-reduced? Good lord, do wind druids really need any more special advantages to get through the game?

A: Physical damage reduced by X is the perfect complement to cyclone armor. There is just something obscene about the way porcupine quills go right through CA. Giving up +skills and FCR items for PDRx brings an overpowered build into a more balanced state.

Q: For equipment, let me guess... Jeweler's armor of Amicae stuffed with Sol runes, Prismatic amulet of Life Everlasting, Gerke's Sanctuary and maybe Nature's Peace?

A: Pretty much, but with dual SoJs, so no NP. Plus, I like this shield better than Gerke's:

Chromatic Bone Shield of Amicae
'SolSol'
Chance to Block: 40%
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 43
Damage Reduced by 29
All Resistances +30

Socketed (2: 2 used)

Q: Nice, 25 strength required vs. 133, but with that low chance to block, whatever you save in strength will have to go into dex anyhow.

A: What is the point of blocking attacks that aren't doing any damage?

Q: I'll ask the questions around here. By the same argument, what is the point of having resists when using Cyclone Armor?

A: They are handy if CA collapses, but otherwise not worth stressing.

Q: Name three cool things about this character.

A:

1. His endgame gear (including rare boots and belt) were in place by level 47.
2. It's fun to be virtually indestructible.
3. When you summon a grizzly and then summon ravens, birds fly out the bear's ***

Q: And three bad things?

A:

1. Tornadoes are hard to aim. This can be really frustrating at times, and there aren't a lot of resources for dealing with PI/CI.
2. The usual problems with minions.
3. PDRx + CA does nothing for the FE bug. (v1.10)

Q: Can you elaborate about gear and minions?

A: Sure thing. See, the original plan was to be part of an MP group of all overpowered chars twinked to the max. HotO, Arachnid Mesh, dual Sojs, skillers, blah blah blah. It's kind of exciting to think about having ludicrous damage. But the group fizzled and in going it alone, the humble Suicide Branch and a rare demonhide sash / demonhide boots were more than adequate. I just couldn't be bothered changing belts at lvl 80, for example.

As for the minions, it usually went like this:

"Ok, team, we need volunteers to engage the enemy."
(the crowd shuffles and a lone figure rushes into combat)
"Er... would anyone besides the oak sage like to attack? Please?"

It really didn't matter except against demonically powerful melee monsters and sometimes mana burners, since tanking was no problem. The Holy Freeze merc was definitely a good addition to the team to slow the CIs.

Q: Any other thoughts?

A: With Cyclone Armor and PDRx up around 100, you are immune to 97% of everything in the game. Hell was done almost entirely at P3 with only the occasional cursed/fanatical frenzytaur pack (Ancient's Way and WSK both) and gloam stair-trap (Anya rescue) being any kind of problem at all. Fun times!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Doctor Clock on Apr 2, 2010:

Patriarch Ragnarokr Fire Druid

Fire. There’s something about it that calls to us. Some sort of primordial instinct to watch things burn. Or perhaps it is just destruction that we enjoy. Whatever the case may be, Ragnarokr, the Fire Druid was born.

He swept through Sanctuary, scorching the minions of Hell. A swarm of ravens hovered overhead and a ferocious grizzly bear named Bruce swatted demons into the dirt. And Durga, his faithful companion, smote down those who did not fear the flame. Together, they ended the reign of the Three.

Stats with gear:

Str: 89
Dex: 237
Vit: 253
Ene: 45

Life w/ Oak sage: 1601

75 resist all

Skills with gear:

Firestorm: 36
Molten Boulder: 34
Fissure: 36
Volcano: 36
Oak Sage: 10
Dire Wolf: 19
Grizly: 10

Fissure damage: 3091-3230
Volcano damage: 1456-1524

Bruce(grizzly): 3900 life

Gear:

Head: Jala’s Mane socketed with an Ort rune
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope
Weapon: Heart of the Oak
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi
Shield: Moser’s Blessed Circle with two perfect diamonds
Gloves: Magefist
Ring: Ravenfrost
Belt: Tal Rasha’s Fine-Spun Cloth
Ring: The Stone of Jordan
Boots: Silkweave

6 Natural grand charms in inventory along with a Gheed’s and some small charms of vita.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary:

Vampire Gaze socketed with a Sol rune
Shafstop
Infinity ethereal thresher


This is by far the safest character I have ever played. No deaths. And only one near death experience in NM when Baal teleported on top of Raggy and landed some nasty hits. But my magic fingers of rejuvenation hit the buttons 2 and 3, and his health bubble was full. And all was well. And angels sang! Ok, angels didn’t sing. But Tyrael descended from wherever it was he was hanging while I was fighting Baal and he said hello, which is close enough.

Thanks to 1.13, I was able to make an Infinity and turn a fairly weak character into something moderately effective. The Fire side of the elemental tree is a funny thing. It has so much potential, but falls so short. Every spell has long lockout periods (as if spamming Molten Boulder would actually be useful) and so many things wrong with them. Now a Sorceress’ Frozen Orb has a lockout, but you can cast other cold spells while FO is on lockout. But if a Druid casts Volcano, he can’t cast any other fire spell for several seconds. And Fissure has all the weaknesses of Blizzard without nearly as much damage. With that being said, though, it is still a fairly powerful skill, especially with an Infinity merc and +16 elemental skills.

But enough complaining. Time to talk about how awesome this character was, because he was awesome. If it isn’t fire immune, Fissure will tear it apart. He was really good at taking down boss packs. Groups of enemies that would normally take a long time to kill died in seconds. At times, he was javazon speed. This fight only took ten seconds. Other times, though, he was a slow crawl. However, I actually liked being able to take things slow. It is nice to not go fast sometimes and really enjoy what you are doing. No matter the situation, though, Raggy was always in control. Bruce made for an amazing tank. Here’s Bruce holding the line. Here he is keeping me safe from skellies. I don’t care what Zons or Assas or Necros say, bears are the best tank ever.

He also had a fair amount of crowd control. Ravens kept me fairly safe from wandering monsters and I used Twister a lot to keep dangerous baddies stunned. And for really dangerous enemies, Durga and Bruce helped me out in employing the Steam-vent surprise. Baddies wedged between Durga’s long, sharp lance and Bruce’s tough furry hide went down in short order as I spewed hot gooey magma all over them.

My favorite part about this character was that nothing could really faze him. Any combo of boss packs he was able to handle with composure. There were no moments of frantic clicking and potion chugging. Everything just went very smoothly.

This guy is going into retirement. He would actually make a decent mfer. There must be a place without FIs to run. He also makes a decent cow runner, but my javazon does it better. And I don't really magic find anyway so it doesn't matter.

Time to start my IK-sin. I have a feeling she is going to be good.

Thanks for reading.
 
Originally posted by frozzzen on Oct 23, 2009:

Patriarch Stratos – PvP wind druid

Well after getting enigma armor I decided to try myself in PvP waters. Basicly all chars that I will build from now must be PvP capable, and this one was nice start.
I based him on standard 99/99 windy build and hopefuly with some modifications he will be able to convert into 163/174 if needed.

Many of you saw him in MP games, getting acusations of haxxored teleporting druid, so prehaps if you want to know more about him – here you go :)

Stratos - Windy druid

Stats:

85/192
176/193
274/296
20//20

Skills:

20 (38) Tornado
20 (38) Huricane
20 (38) Cyclone armor
20 (38) Twister
19 (26) Oak sage
1 point to summon ravens, summon spirit and dire wolf, and summon grizly. ( lvl 8 skills )
and 1 to arctic blast.

Gear:

Still I don't have setup that would give me 163 fcr breakpoint, but I'm working on it, and by the time he gets lvl 94 I think i will have it :)

Helm: 3ele/20 2os jewel'd coronet
Ammy: Crafted 1/20fcr ammy
Armor: Enigma Light plate
Weapon: Spirit sword
Shield: Stormshield (Eld)
Ring1: SoJ
Ring2: rare FR/LR ring
Gloves: Trangs
Belt: Arach
Boots: Tri-ress 10 fhr boots

Code:
Gaean Coronet of the Magus
Defense: 34
Durability: 29 of 30
Required Level: 45
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5f1ddf00
+8 to Dexterity
+7 to Maximum Damage
Lightning Resist +49%
14% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Faster Cast Rate
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Socketed (2: 2 used)

Raven Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7880e999
+19 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 5%
All Resistances +19
Replenish Life +6
+1 to Druid Skill Levels
20% Faster Cast Rate

Enigma
Light Plate
'JahIthBer'
Defense: 867
Durability: 51 of 60
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 43
Fingerprint: 0x1929f26f
+762 Defense
Damage Reduced by 8%
Increase Maximum Life 5%
+14 Life after each Kill
45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 to Teleport
15% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
+2 to All Skill Levels
+69 to Strength (Based on Character Level)
93% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Spirit
Dimensional Blade
'TalThulOrtAmn'
One-Hand Damage: 13 to 35
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Dexterity: 60
Required Strength: 85
Required Level: 25
Sword Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x3c96432e
+22 to Vitality
+111 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
29% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Stormshield
Monarch
'Eld'
Defense: 487
Chance to Block:  74%
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 73
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x277f68bd
+30 to Strength
+32% Increased Chance of Blocking
Damage Reduced by 35%
Lightning Resist +25%
Cold Resist +60%
35% Faster Block Rate
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10
Indestructible
+348 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 72
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x136d1b59
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5bb2fdaa
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Death Eye
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xe8c814be
+8 to Strength
+9 to Dexterity
+4 to Mana
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +30%
Level 2 Confuse (25/25 Charges)

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 131
Durability: 9 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7fab4cd4
+109% 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)

Plague Brogues
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 10
Durability: 15 of 18
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 52
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xb75dc7fd
Lightning Resist +39%
Cold Resist +39%
Poison Resist +33%
Replenish Life +3
20% Faster Run/Walk
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Switch:

+1Bo stick
Spirit shield

Code:
Call to Arms
Flail
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 3 to 91
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 57
Mace Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 72
Fingerprint: 0x5d3675b5
+283% 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
+1 to Battle Orders
+4 to Battle Cry
+2 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
150% Damage to Undead
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 138
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x4756cc9
+22 to Vitality
+104 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
+4 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Charms:
8 x Natural skillers ( 21 22 24 26 27 33 lifers and 2 x of balance )
Small charms are puting up some resist and life.
Cube, Tome of ID and TP.

On those places for PvP purposes I have some 20 lifers, or 2 x Nat GC's ( plain ), depending on situation and experimenting with him.

Chance to block is 70%, but swapping rare ring or SoJ for raven would net me 75% ctb and CBF mod that he lacks atm.
Gear is not final, and I have to work a bit about his resistances ( fire and poison ).

Merc:

He has no constant mercenary since I'm experimenting what kind of merc is best for Baals, but mostly I use Insight merc on longer runs (Baals) and Reaper's for Pindy.

Gameplay:

Preety easy, with ocasional problems, but nothing serious…
Normal was played on p8 and in beginigs with crappy skills and low life this charachter was just pain to play. I got frustrated once and went so Szark the Burning and left him to die. I was sick of it then. This was only death while questing :p

After lvl 42 when I put skillers… WOAH! This thing kills. And fast.
Rushed rest of normal and NM, and in act4 NM I equiped Enigma. GG
When I reached hell I didn't know what to expect, so I gave my merc Reaper's and phlowed trought Hell on p8 aswell.

Only hard time I had in Arcane sanctuary, so i skipped it most part, and PI Frenzytaurs were only things that could actualy kill me. It didn't happen anyway :)
Most lvling was on Pindy, but it was slow and dangeorus. I suffered few deaths ( 3-4 ) from Fanacursed Pindey mostly.

Ancients were also defeated on p8 and I still have a habit of coming there as this is closest to PvP while playing PvM ( still no close enough ).

Cyclone armor is insane skill btw. It's realy broken in PvM since recast is not BM ( :p ) and neither gloams or any elemental monsters were no danger.
P8 nasty gloampacks instakilled my merc and minions but never droped my healthbar under half.

Best find Green Caddy
Weird Find IM that never stops
Not even after talking to Vendors

This would actualy be preety cool if I had char like this after I saved game. Anyway IM had no dmg return, just style points :D

His Future:
PvP by all means. Even if he never stands in a Moor, since there aren't many duels around he was great charachter to play and I don't regret about spending anything to make him like this.
I'll try to lvl him up to 95 to max Oak and get a point in poison creeper for minion stack, so you will see him in MP games for preety long time :D
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Jason Maher on Sep 23, 2009:

Patriarch Wetherill the Windy

After being distracted by the Bow Masters tournament for quite a while, I decided to go back and finish off my Wind Druid. Well, not quite. He needs 3 more levels to finish off the Twister synergy, but close enough. The ugly bugger with too many arms is dead.

The windy is an absolute blast to play, even with mediocre gear, except when facing PIs. Hurricane takes a while to take them down, by which time all my tanks are usually gone and I'm running around in circles. Frenzytaurs are also increidbly hurt-inducing, even when they're not immune to either physical or cold. But for most monsters, it's run up next to them so they get chilled by Hurricane, then spam Tornado until they go down, which is usually pretty quickly. It is a particularly strong build against groups, as the tendancy for the Tornadoes to do a dance around whatever you're aiming at becomes a non-issue.

My favourite aspect of this particular build is that the wind skills all synergise each other, meaning skill placement is straightforward, and the build only requires 81 points. No dumping 20 points in a useless skill. Well, except for Twister, but it does synergise all 3 other skills, which is better than the average useless synergy. The rest of my points went in the summon tree.

The biggest drawback to the build is honestly the noise of Huirricane. It does get on your nerves after a while.

I can't give too many details about Wetherill's journey, as I can't remember most of it. I did go a slightly unorthodox route at the beginning, using Ravens (of all things) to do a lot of killing until I got to level 24. Surprisingly, at low levels 5 Ravens can take down most monsters pretty quickly, and in relative safety as they blind everything.

I died a few times, including to a Frenzytaur stair trap (died 4 or 5 times trying to retrieve my body, a bunch of bloody snakes didn't help), and the Ancients on the first attempt in Hell (never managed that before).

The immediate future for Wetherill involves chucking on some MF and entering the alvl 85 tourney. I'd like to complete the build as intended by finishing off the synergies and adding a Spirit shield (once I find a 4os Monarch), and will probably use it as my primary MF character until I get something else to level 80+.

By the numbers

Level: 82 (exp 822619723/883294891)
Strength: 114 (139) - trying to get it to 156 for "Spirit" Monarch
Dexterity: 163 (193) - chance to block 56%
Vitality: 203 (225)
Energy: 20 (63)
Life: 916 / 1396 with Oak Sage
Mana: 450

LCS Tornado Damage:
2973-3163
LCS Hurricane Damage: 1411-1519

Resists:
11/11/11/16

Moron: Azrael, level 82 Act 2 Prayer (double healing with Insight)

Skills

Raven - 9 (14)
Poison Creeper - 1 (6)
Oak Sage - 1 (6)
Spirit Wolf - 1 (6)
Carrion Vine - 1 (6)
Dire Wolf - 1 (6)
Grizzly - 1 (6)

Arctic Blast - 1 (10)
Cyclone Armor - 20 (29)
Twister - 17 (26)
Tornado - 20 (29)
Hurricane - 20 (29)

Equipment


Head:
Jalal's Mane
Weapon: "Spirit" Broad Sword
Shield: "Rhyme" Round Shield
Weapon Switch: Gargoyle's Bite (never used)
Shield Switch: Whitsun's Guard
Armour: Skin of the Vipermagi
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: Tal Rasha's Fine Spun Cloth
Boots: Sander's Riprap
Amulet: +3 Elemental, + 23 Energy magic amulet
Ring 1: Manald Heal
Ring 2: FCR, Life, Mana rare ring
Charms: Gheed's, Elemental skiller, 8 x 15-20 Life small charms, 3 x 29 Life large charms, 25 Life + 32 Mana large charm

Merc Helm:
Tal rasha's Horadric Crest
Merc Armour: Rattlecage (crushing blow, haven't found anything better)
Merc Weapon: "Insight" Partizan (probably should make an elite one)
 
Originally posted by @Kitteh on Dec 11, 2012:

Patriarch Berstuk: Boring write up!

I'm an idiot and unequipped him straight away, so I'm afraid it's his unequipped stats xD

Name: Berstuk
Class: Druid
Experience: 1203125494
Level: 86

Naked/Gear
Strength: 53/53
Dexterity: 172/172
Vitality: 275/275
Energy: 20/20
HP: 742/742
Mana: 190/190
Stamina: 419/419
Defense: 43/43
AR: 830/830

Fire: 20/-20/-80
Cold: 20/-20/-80
Lightning: 20/-20/-80
Poison: 20/-20/-80

MF: 0 Block: 18
GF: 0
FR/W: 0
FHR: 0
IAS: 0
FCR: 0


Basic gear;
Jalal's Umed
Enigma BP
HoTo (39 I think)
Stormshield (never got around to putting anything in it, but I have a 13@res/15 req jewel lying in my stash)
Arachnid
Trang gloves
SS Treks
Maras
Fcr rings
Cta/spirit

Charms were your usual resist/life stuff. No skillers for him unfortunately, pretty low damage. I've seen 5-6k. He had just under 4 I think...


Pretty fun character, just as I remember. Originally he was going to level up at the pits, and then become a Baal runner. Unfortunately, I went off the idea so I just quickly tele'd through and finished him. At first I had my spare points in OS, but I got fed up of summoning the damned thing every 10 seconds, so I shoved them in dire wolf for more life on my bear. Can't remember finding anything nice questing, but he did get the aforementioned jewel and a couple plain skillers from the pits.

Perhaps I'll respec him into something else eventually, but likely his future is just a spare socket quest.
 
Originally posted by Low Key on Jan 20, 2008:

Patriarch Brenvol - Shamelessly cheesy Windy

Now, I dont usually write Pat's or Mat's, or even post that much at all, since I'm a lazy git. Over my SP career that has lasted from last May to this date, I've finished around 10 characters. I've found most of them too uninteresting to write about them in great detail. I'm sure most of us have seen enough Fishymancers, Blizzsorcs and the like.

I wanted a reliable character that could do the entire game on P8 and this character was just that. I consider the culmination of all my hard work over these months and I do believe that it deserves at least a small writeup, no matter how cookie-cutter it might be. Thus I give you:

Brenvol - Wind druid

Screeny with full buffs and Baal-loot.

Strength : 116 (156 with items.)
Dexterity : 27 (45)
Vitality : 357 (399)
Energy : 20 (45)

Life : 865 (1111 with items, 3474 with BO & Oak)
Mana : 190 (621 with items, 855 with BO)

Resists: 75/75/75/75 with 2704 Cyclone Armor

Anybody who's played a Windy knows how incredibly powerful, yet safe the build is. Amount of Cold/Physical immune monsters is low, meaning that you can hurt nearly every monster in the game with ease. Meanwhile I used a Spirit-shield that allowed me to pull points usually used in Dex for blocking into Vitality. Nearly 400 vitality combined with BO and Oak Sage gave an immense amount of HP, while the max resists and Cyclone Armor protected me from the elements. Close range I had Hurricane, Holy Freeze and a flock of Ravens to protect me, leaving Brenvol vulnerable only to non-elemental archers. Infact, the only death I had during the game was an ambuhs by two archer packs in Act 5 Hell. Fanaticsm and Cursed is a nasty combo on archers. I did run into some minor mana issues since I wasnt using Insight, byt nothing a row of mana potions wouldnt fix.

Skills (with Battle Command);
Hurricane: 20 (41) - 5254-5529 Damage
Tornado: 20 (41) - 2382-2497 Cold damage
Twister: 20 (41) - 1105-1177 Damage
Cyclone Armor: 20 (41) - 2704 absorb
Oak Sage 12: (26) - 155% Life
Raven & Grizzly: 1 (15)
Battle Orders: 16


Skills-wise there really isnt much to say. Fully synergised wind skills, minus the never used Arctic Blast. A high damage Hurricane messess up large amounts of non-cold immune monsters like Fallen, Fetishes and certain Skeletons amazingly well and gives incredible crowd control. Tornado, while hard to aim, really kills things fast when spammed at 11 frames, 5k damage each. Combined with Decrepify from mercs hurty-stick, even PI monsters were relatively easy to kill. Oak Sage was ok I guess, but I found its hilariously suicidal habits not-so-hilarious when the extra life was the only thing keeping me alive.

On the other hand, I was rather impressed by two skills I didnt think much of when I started. Twister was a rather suprising engame skill I ended up using over Tornado during the last two acts of Hell. It hit more accurately than Tornado and carried stun with it. Lifesaver vs. Balrogs, Frenzytaur and other big nasties. The second skill is Raven. With only 1p in it and +14 to all skills it proved a very effective for of crowd control. Pretty much half of the enemies in raven-range were blinded during the entire game, which addedd to the characters respectable crowd-control. If I ever remake this character, I might very well take the points from Oak Sage into Raven, to increase the chance of blinding.

Equipment

Weapon switch 1: Heart of the Oak-flail & Spirit-Monarch

- Who says runewords are overpowered? +5 to all skills, 35-75 to all resists, up to 75% FCR, immense mana and HP boost...The list goes on and on. It took me a while to get the HotO, but I'll be damned if it wasnt worth every rune used to make it.
Weapon switch 2: Call to Arms-Crystal Sword & Spirit-Monarch
- Then again, the HotO might not be that broken. This is. I dont know what Blizzard was thinking when they thought it might be a good idea to give access to BO for other classess, but I cant say thta I mind that much. It absolutely has nothing to do with the fact that I found an Ohm a while back and made one of these beauties myself. :wink3: As soon as I could use it, I had BO on at all times.
Head: Jalal's Mane (Ral)
- Most Windy-guides seem to suggest a Harley over this, though frankly I dont see why. While a Harley offers a huge boost to life and mana, Jalal's has the Str and Ene +20 mods. That allowed me to pull 20 points of Str into Vita. Not only that, Jalal's offers a huge chunk of resistances, FHR and a supringly useful 5 mana/kill mod. I also ended up socketing in a Ral to compensate Spirit's lack of fire resist.
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (PTopaz)
- Nothing amazing here, but you have to admit that the armor is a solid end-game armor for nearly any caster. Skills, resis, FCR, 'nuff said. Socketed a topaz in it so I could feel better about my lack of MF.
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
- Not much to say here either. For any caster that needs FCR, there really isnt any competition for this slot. I used a Trangs belt briefly before I reached level 80, for the Cannot Be Frozen mod. In the end I didnt actually have any items with the mod and frankly, didnt need it either.
Gloves: Up'd Frostburns
- I wish the game had more viable caster gloves. If you dont need more FCR, Magefist and Trangs are a little suboptimal and Frostburn hasnt got much to offer either. The 40% extra mana is nice if you have mid-to-high mana, but with a pretty low pool and casting low mana cost spells its wasnt needed. In retrospective, a pair of rare glves with Str, resis, life and/or mf would have been better. I up'd these for the miniscule extra def.
Boots: Sandstorm Trek
- Perfect boots for my build/equipment. 15 Str/15 Vit translates to plus 30 to Vit in my build and 20% FHR allows me to reach the 6-frame FHR breakpoint. The resist and FR/W are nice too. I could have used Wartrav's, but the FHR proved too tempting.
Jewelry: Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band & Mara's Kaleidoscope
- Total +4 to skills, +mana and +life, +all resis and +5 to all stats. I had no further need for FCR, so rares just couldnt compete with the traditional +skill jewelry. If I had a second BKWB, I would have used two of those for even higher life total.
Charms: Natural skiller x7, Small Charm of Vita x7
- I went through some trouble to find and trade for those charms, but I definately dont regret it. They'll be waiting for me to make a fire-druid next.

Charms granted:
Code:
+7 to Elemental Skills
+119 Life
+7 to Maximun Damage :P
+4 to Dex
10% LR, 6% FR
+14 Stamina

Item readouts:
Code:
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: 82
Fingerprint: 0x12e6f13a
+10 to Dexterity
All Resistances +37
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)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 136
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 79 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x14a4721d
+22 to Vitality
+94 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
34% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+8 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 17 to 52
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 57
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xd72c61e
+252% 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
+6 to Battle Orders
+3 to Battle Cry
+3 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 142
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x9612de91
+22 to Vitality
+89 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
29% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+3 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
'Ral'
Defense: 258
Durability: 19 of 20
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xdca18c60
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
+161% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +60%
Lightning Resist +30%
Cold Resist +30%
Poison Resist +30%
+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)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 19 of 24
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x721107d
+120% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
All Resistances +33
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
30% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 126
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xd02c9018
+100% 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)

Brenvol's Frostburn
War Gauntlets
Defense: 88
Durability: 18 of 24
Required Strength: 110
Required Level: 34
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x5649c05f
+16% Enhanced Defense
+5% Enhanced Damage
+30 Defense
Adds 1-6 cold damage over 2 seconds
Increase Maximum Mana 40%
Required Level +5

Sandstorm Trek
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 176
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf07a1545
+15 to Strength
+15 to Vitality
+167% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +52%
20% Faster Run/Walk
20% Faster Hit Recovery
50% Slower Stamina Drain
+86 to Maximum Stamina (Based on Character Level)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xb479fcc3
+50 to Maximum Stamina
5% Life stolen per hit
+1 to All Skill Levels
+43 to Life (Based on Character Level)

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1851011a
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xf299593a
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +20
+2 to All Skill Levels

I had no real notable finds during the whole run, due to the fact that I had 24 mf during the whole thing. The usual high amounts of Pgmes, low runes, crappy uniques and sets with the occasional non-magical item thrown in. Hellforge was this, iirc;

Tir - Lum - Um. Nothing to complain about. The Um was welcome.

Mercenary

As a Mercenary I used the usual Act 2 desert moron. During the first two difficulties of the game I used Insight and a Prayer-merc. When I reached level 75 and hell difficulty, I switched to Holy Freeze and Reaper's to deal with the occasional PI. As armor I had Treachery for the usual reasons; IAS, IAS and the occasional fade. Finished the equipment selection with a Kira's Guardian, for the Cannot Be Frozen, FHR and resists. Stuck in a Sol for good measure.

Mercenary equipment:
Code:
The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 36 to 431
Durability: 63 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3b648b55
+206% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 2 seconds
15% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
20% Increased Attack Speed
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Kira's Guardian
Tiara
'Sol'
Defense: 121
Durability: 23 of 25
Required Level: 77
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xa15d36ab
+73 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +60
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Treachery
Dusk Shroud
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 392
Durability: 15 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x907859a7
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)

In the end, I enjoyed this character all the way to the end, even if the spamming occasionally got dreary. Unfortunately, the character doesn't have much future beyond maybe running a few AT's, since I had a great map for it. Maybe some PVP could be done, though I suspect the lack of blocking is too much a crutch there. In the end, I heartily recormend the build for anyone who enjoys playing casters. The build can be completed with much cheaper equipment than I did and its very safe and powerful, even with sub-optimal equipment.

That would be all, thank you for reading my little write up. And hopefully I will have to energy to write a new one in the future for your reading. 👋
 
Last edited:
Diablo 4 Interactive Map
PurePremium
Estimated market value
Low
High