Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by sirpoopsalot on Oct 22, 2009:

Patriarch HarryPalms - Fury/Rabies druid

I always meant to try a Rabies druid at some point. And since my first Fury druid was my 3rd or 4th character and I'm a little richer these days, I always meant to revisit that skill too.

So I did both together.

Also, this guy got parked for bassano's tournament, and Fabian's gambling thread has motivated me to get back on that horse (if only for a short time), but the Grief & Fortitude were designated for Harry. So I decided it was time to finish him off. But remembering his progress pre-tournament is a little vague, since all those MF runs overtaxed all 4 of my braincells.


The Usual:
LCS (Fury)
LCS (Rabies)

Skills:
20 Rabies
20 Poison Creeper
20 Fury
20 HoW
7+ Werewolf
2 Ravens (I wanted the max of 5 Ravens available, so I had to spend a 2nd hard point)
1 Lycan., Grizzly, prereq's.

+11 Shape Shifting skills
+3 Summoning skills

Gear:
Grief Phaseblade (+356)
Fortitude AP
Stormshield (rare jewel with: -req's, 26 fResist, 5% ED, 1-15 Lightning dmg)
Jalal's (29/7 Ruby jewel of Bliss)
Highlord's
Trang's Gloves
Thundergod's Vigor
Goreriders
Ravenfrost (19/244)
Rare ring (7/4 leech, 11 resists, 119 AR, +1 max damage)
Switch: Lower-Resists Wand (level3 charges) + 3xPoison Facet Trolls nest (+10/-10)

Charms:
6x Spiritual GC's (+22 life, +4 max damage, 1-3 lightning damage)
1x Shimmering GC of Life (15/18)
1x Shimmering LC of Vita (7/34)
3x Fine SC of Inertia
2x Ruby SC of Balance
1x Amber SC of Balance
TP Tome + Keys

Merc: Might aura
eth Reaper's Toll (Amn)
Guillaume's Face (15 resists jewel)
eth Treachery


Finds:
- Hellforge: Io/Io :(... that's like 5 characters in a row with crappy runes
- Rising Sun (Flayer Dungeon Level1, Hell)
- Steel Large Charm of Vita (65/27, somewhere in Act4 or 5 Hell)


Notes:
- Rabies & Fury are both capable skills, but I had a small complaint about the disparity of power between them. Fury was a lot stronger, so if I went through on lower /players settings I really didn't even need to bother with Rabies (even for PI's). And on higher settings Rabies was a little slower than I'd want to tolerate for very long. So although the build was very solid, and could kick butt very well, I don't see a lot of point to combining the two together (unless you have significantly worse gear than I did - in which case it would work rather well).

- Fury vs. Zeal: I've done a few zealots now, but before I did my first one it had probably been over a year since I'd retired my previous Fury druid. So I wanted to compare the builds with the knowledge I've picked up over the years. I was pleased by how they're somewhat similar (especially in playstyle), but still quite different in the approach you take to building one and being effective. The paladin has some advantages (more diversity from auras, etc.), while the druid has others (minions for crowd control, Feral Rage for leech, etc).

- Slow(ish) Blocking + Interruptable Attack was one area where I wasn't particularly pleased with Harry. My only non-IronMaiden NDE's were because of this happening around archers. If it weren't for this I'd prefer it to a zealot, but as it was, it irritated me enough to still prefer the zealot (by a small margin). However, I may (someday) ditch rabies and go with a higher investment into a pure FuryWolf (i.e. more in WW, Lycan. and/or Grizzly) to see how they stack up then. Next time I'll also strongly consider a low-blocking shield (Lance Guard has 20% Deadly strike... :scratchchin:).

- Although the ravens weren't really necessary for me, I did notice that my HoW and Grizzly tended to do better at staying alive with them around. So I used them a lot. As for the HoW, even with 20 points it died so much that it was the justification for the Grizzly and Ravens (read: more targets for monsters = safer HoW).

- Since it seems like 3 out of 6 facets that I find are crappy-rolled poison facets (and 2 out of 6 are crappy-rolled fire facets), I figured the Troll's Nest might be a good idea for making Rabies a little stronger. It really wasn't necessary, but oh well. I was also planning to try using the wand + Rabies around IronMaiden, but that also turned out to be unnecessary. I couldn't think of any other good choice for switch except CtA, but I decided to try for a little originality for a change (and with softcore, ~1500 life and de-shifting to prebuff, CtA isn't an especially great fit either).

- I didn't encounter any Burning Souls until WSK2 in Hell, but when I did, I took a moment to bask in their Lightning bolts and get healed by my 90% resists and +20 points of absorb. That's always nice.

- I played /players8 through Nightmare, /p5 through Act1 Hell, /p3 through Act3, and /p1 for the last couple of acts. I had a couple of deaths - once in Nightmare to something stupid (don't really remember beyond it being my fault entirely) and once in Hell to IronMaiden-deshift + a muscle-spasm-click that made me whack an Oblivion Knight a 2nd time while under IM.


Overall:
I'm glad I did it, though it's not exactly the most original build. With my rich-man's gear the hybrid approach seems like not as good of a fit for me, but it would probably work well for folks with more modest equipment.

It was nice to (re)learn how each skill stacks up. This is only my 3rd druid ever (a mediocre Ribcracker Furywolf and a Hunter/Summoner previously) and this time I enjoyed the nuances of the class a little more than the other times. In fact, I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably do full-physical and Rabies/FireClaws builds someday (as well as the long-awaited/never-started Windy). I think those will both be better alternatives for me.
 
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Originally posted by Skinhead On The MBTA on Jun 23, 2008:

Long Road to Ruin, there in your eyes (Pat Thread)

This is my fifth Character to finish the game, and my first ever Druid.

He's a Fury-Rabies Hybrid, and to be honest, he's great fun. He's got a fast, powerful main attack, and a strong backup attack in the form of Rabies. He could even take care of dual-PIs - slowly - using the elemental damage on the IK Maul combined with the Boots, Belt and Gloves.

So here he is - LongRoadtoRuin the level 83 Wolfdruid (he's named after the Foo Fighters song).

Stats - With Gear and Shifted into Wolf-from (he doesn't go around naked as a human)
Strength: 254
Dexterity: 74
Vitality: 300
Energy: 40
HP: 2963
Mana: 264
Stamina: 551
Defense: 1847
AR: Feral Rage - 9325/Fury - 11746

Damage:

Feral Rage: 1409 - 2792
Fury: 2409 - 4229
Rabies: 1236 - 2543 + 7282 - 7672 over 13.6 seconds

Fire: 130/90/30
Cold: 93/53/-7
Lightning: 177/137/77
Poison: 103/63/3

MF: 25
FR/W: 40
FHR: 55 (4 frames)
IAS: 105 (enough for 5 frame Fury)

Skills
Raven: 0/0
Poison Creeper: 20/22

Werewolf : 13/18 (Cast at 23)
Lycanthropy : 20/25 (Cast at 30)
Feral Rage : 1/6
Rabies : 20/25
Fury : 20/25

Gear
Code:
Hat: 
Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 286
Durability: 11 of 20
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x65b4669f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
189% Enhanced Defense
+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)
All Resistances +30

Amulet: 
Corruption Gorget
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x6e144de9
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+4 to Strength
Damage Reduced by 1
Lightning Resist +11%
Poison Resist +10%
Half Freeze Duration
All Resistances +17

Armour:
Aldur's Deception
Shadow Plate
Defense: 781
Durability: 55 of 70
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0x63e861d4
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
+300 Defense
Lightning Resist +42%
Requirements -50%
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)

Rings:
Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x9123c95d
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+162 to Attack Rating
+15 - 45 cold damage with 4 sec Duration
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Manald Heal
Ring
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xb24e8034
Item Level: 41
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Life
20% Regenerate Mana
4% Mana stolen per hit
Replenish Life 6

Belt:
Immortal King's Detail
War Belt
Defense: 247
Durability: 19 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0xdd84ee8b
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+25 to Strength
+36 Defense
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +31%
Set (2 item): 
+105 Defense
Set (3 items): 
25% Faster Hit Recovery
Set (4 items): 
100% Enhanced Defense

Boots:
Immortal King's Pillar
War Boots
Defense: 285
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0x687fb270
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+44 to Life
+110 to Attack Rating
+75 Defense
40% Faster Run/Walk
Set (2 item): 
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Set (3 items): 
+2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
Set (4 items): 
+160 Defense

Gloves:
Immortal King's Forge
War Gauntlets
Defense: 229
Durability: 21 of 24
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0x2b75445f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+65 Defense
12% Chance to cast level 4 Charged Bolt when struck
Set (2 item): 
25% Increased Attack Speed
Set (3 items): 
+120 Defense
Set (4 items): 
10% Life stolen per hit

Whacker:
Immortal King's Stone Crusher
Ogre Maul
Two Hand Damage: 231 - 318
Durability: 53 of 60
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 225
Fingerprint: 0x59881c59
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
200% Enhanced Damage
200% Damage to Demons
350% Damage to Undead
39% Chance of Crushing Blow
Indestructible
Set (2 item): 
+211 - 397 Fire Damage
Set (3 items): 
+7 - 477 Lightning Damage
Set (4 items): 
+127 - 364 cold damage with 6 sec Duration
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune

Pre-buff Gear:

Fleshrender
Barbed Club
One Hand Damage: 73 - 124
Durability: 56 of 36
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x8a8ee10e
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
198% Enhanced Damage
+35 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
+20 Maximum Durability
+1 to Druid Skill Levels
Prevent Monster Heal
25% Chance of Open Wounds
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
20% Deadly Strike
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
150% Damage to Undead

Spirit
Monarch
Defense: 137
Chance to Block: 22
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x544c1f44
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+22 to Vitality
+105 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
55% Faster Hit Recovery
28% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skills
+4 Magic Absorb
Poison Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Charms
A mixture of AR and life, for a total of 774 AR, 14 Max Damage, 170 life, 16% Resist all, and 1-2 Fire Damage (which made all the difference :D)

Code:
Mercenary:


Name:       Emilio
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Off-Nightmare
Experience: 69447448
Level:      83
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   183/183
Dexterity:  147/147
HP:         1687/1747
Defense:    1209/2135
AR:         1189/1189

Fire:       161/121/61
Cold:       161/121/61
Lightning:  161/121/61
Poison:    161/121/61

Shaftstop
Mesh Armor
Defense: 674
Durability: 37 of 45
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 92
Fingerprint: 0x4230f633
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+60 to Life
215% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Damage Reduced by 30%

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xba59b1f7
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
Damage Reduced by 18%
+6 - 22 cold damage with 4 sec Duration
8% Life stolen per hit
8% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
All Resistances +14
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Scintillating Jewel

Scintillating Jewel
Jewel
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xfeafbdb2
Item Level: 36
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist 14%
Lightning Resist 14%
Cold Resist 14%
Poison Resist 14%


The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 40 - 479
Durability: 41 of 65
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 88
Fingerprint: 0x5f0800a3
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
240% Enhanced Damage
+4 - 44 cold damage with 1 sec Duration
12% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target's Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
 
Originally posted by Sledge on Feb 6, 2005:

Patriarch Despithe

The first character i got through nightmare, my fury druid has waited months to get through hell. He multiplayed a lot through hell, but I decided to take him solo through act V. After 2 FE deaths on the way to the ancients, the ancients went down on the first attempt. After hell ancients, he paused for a day and ran hell baal in multiplayer games. So finally at level 87 he killed baal by himself. He rerolled the wsk once, with the burning souls. He might have made it through, but it would have taken awhile. Play style was simple, charge up Feral Rage, then Fury and leech the the damage back. He has no leech from the gear, fully charged Feral Rage gives him 25% life leech in hell (1/4 of 100%). A five frames per attack fury with the ik maul.

So heres the stats:

Character name : Despithe
Character type : Druid
Character level : 87
Character exp : 1264189778

Strength : 180 (225)
Energy : 20 (40)
Dexterity : 20 (68)
Vitality : 305 (335)
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem : 0

Life : 4875 (with sage)
Mana : 278 / 192
Stamina : 721 / 450

Gear:
Jalal's Mane - Totemic Mask
Despithe's Shaftstop - Mesh Armor 'Um'
Raven Frost - Ring
Verdungo's Hearty Cord - Mithril Coil
Tearhaunch - Greaves
Immortal King's Forge - War Gauntlets
Immortal King's Stone Crusher - Ogre Maul 'ShaelShael'
Switch:
Dark Clan Crusher - Cudgel
Lidless Wall - Grim Shield

Rares:
Bitter Scarab
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x2f54cf8a
+1 to Maximum Damage
Damage Reduced by 1
All Resistances +20
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1 to Druid Skill Levels

Death Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xbb6d1e6b
+14 to Life
+87 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +10%
Lightning Resist +26%
Cold Resist +10%
Poison Resist +10%
Replenish Life +3

Charms:
One Shapeshifter Skill GC
One Shimmering GC (+11 Res all)
Rest +Life, +Res

Skills:
Werewolf: : 20 (26)
Lycanthropy : 20 (Cast at 29)
Feral Rage : 17 (23)
Fury : 20 (26)
Oak Sage : 20 (Cast at 26)
(One in Rabies)

Damage:
Fury : 2242 - 3290 (5957 AR)
Feral Rage : 1399 - 2100 (6067 AR)

Resists:
Fire : 55
Cold : 37
Lightning : 73
Poison : 26

Hazade, Act 2 Nightmare Holy Freeze
Mercenary Items :
Knorr's Rockstopper - Sallet
Rockfleece - Sharktooth Armor 'Tal'
The Reaper's Toll - Thresher

Patriach Despithe
 
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Originally posted by Solar Ice on Aug 17, 2009:

Patriarch Eyedol - Titan Feral Rage Wolf

Hi all.

Having played a Wolfbarb, I decided to make a Druid using Feral Rage. Went Titan for the extra damage and difficulty.

Gear and Skills

Guillaume's Face - 31%ED/ 9 Dex jewel
'Fortitude' - DS
Highlord's Wrath
19/60 Steelrend
Gloom's Trap
20/249 Raven Frost
20/248 Raven Frost
Gore Rider

4x Sharp GCs of Sust./Vita
3x Sharp Gcs of Dex
2x Ruby and 3x Amber SCs of Dex
4x Fine SCs of Dex
2x Fine SCs of Vita

The weapon was the same one that the Wolfbarb used, a Tomby socketed with 9/15; 21/15; 29/15 ED/IAS jewels.

Tomb Reaver
Cryptic Axe
Two-Hand Damage: 139 to 633
Durability: 31 of 65
Required Dexterity: 103
Required Strength: 165
Required Level: 84
Polearm Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x49b4d5b2
+322% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +39
65% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+10 Life after each Kill
+4 to Light Radius
105% Increased Attack Speed
207% Damage to Undead
+312 to Attack Rating against Undead
10% Reanimate As: Returned
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Merc: Act 2 Might

Reaper's Toll - Shael
'Fortitude' - AP
Vamp Gaze

Max Lycanthrope
Max HoW
Max Feral Rage
14 - Grizzly

LSC

Gear and Skill Chioces

I picked the Tomby for the great damage, resists and most importantly the 5-frame attack that it gave me. It had lower average damage than the Ribcracker but the fun, fast attack more than made up for it. The Returned were mostly for show but they did help out on a couple of accasions. Fortitude for the extra defence and massive damage boost and Guillaume's for DS and CB. Gores, Steelrend and Highlords gave DS and CB and some more damage. I needed to fit in some Mana Leech so the Gloom's Trap provided that, along with some Vit. The main equipment challenge was meeting the Dex requirements of the Tomby. Dual Ravens provided 40 Dex but I still had considerable Dex to find from gear. I had originally planned to use IK Forge, which would've eased the charm selections and given me more HP, but it is just inferior to Steelrend, which I really wanted to fit in. Charms were the only way to go. I had to use Fine SCs and Sharp GCs with Dex instead of life and I just about used all the ones with Dex that I had. The resist charms were there because I ran out of Sharp/Fine ones but they were a good choice anyway seeing as my resists were poor.

The skill the build is based on.is Feral Rage. It provides *massive* Life Leech as well as AR and Damage. The result is that the skill has virtually built-in Life Tap. In fact there is very little difference between this leech and LT apart from the fact that, unlike LT, leech does not work on skeletons, PIs and othe unleechables such as some Act Bosses in Hell. One small difference was that FR provided fast gradual life refill on my Wolfbarb because of his massive life total (and the slvl was not as big as on this Wolf) whereas Life Tap is like a (full) rejuve. It was still mostly not a good idea to get mobbed with this druid. Dangerous mods like Cursed/ES/EF/Might/Fana can can be deadly. FR was great with just a few points in Normal and NM and the same goes for Hell judging from my Wolfbarb's experience.

Other skill chioces were Lycanthrope for the duration and, most importantly, the life boost; HoW for the damage and AR boost, as I like to pile on the damage especially when going with a Titan; Werewolf for even more AR and the Bear for the extra tank. The Bear seemed a little shaky on this build, having to be re-cast because of dying quite a bit. Rest of my skill points went towards beefing him up.

Game Progression

Normal and Nigntmare:

The really cool thing about a Feral Rage Druid as opposed to the Barb is that the main skill is available at level 12 not 79. Unlike the Barb, who used a 1-point Double Swing until all the way to level 84 (it was quite effective with Fort and two Griefs :p), I did not have to wait an eternity (for questing chars, that is) for the main skill.I used FR when I got it and to great effect. It was fun and powerful throughout Normal and NM. Weapon progression was Khalim's Will > Rogue's Bow with loads of Fine SCs and Sharp GC's .> Shael'd Ribby > upped, Shael'd Ribby.


Hell

Act 1: /p5 till the Pit, when I switched to /p8 and began levelling. Put on War Travs and a Gheeds for some MF. I had quite a few deaths, mainly because of Archer bosspacks, which were a total pain. Sometimes it seemed that I needed more AR even with the massive AR I already had as I occasionally missed a few times in a row. It was probably because of the the fact that the monsters, especially the bosspacks, were several levels above me and my /players setting was at the max. Got to the Tomby required level after several hours and then the the fun increased. Levelling was a grind, not something I enjoy doing when the char has no MF future but the weapon that awaited me was well worth the wait. :) The rest of the Act was straightfoward.

Act 2: My highly damaging 5-frame attack disposed of most things quickly on /p5, while the 4% - 92% life leech kept me safe when up against anything leechable. Against skeletons and other unleechables my life dropped quickly at times and the use of rejuves was in order. Some poison attacks were painful when no leechables were around and potions were my friends until I could find some meaty monsters. The Maggot Lair spawned with Itches, so progress was not quick and I had to move around and unsummon the Bear in an attempt to entice the Merc to attack. Nevertheless, it was not slow either. Got to Arcane Sanctuary and seeing as I forgot to mule in the Atma's Scarab and the fact that the Merc can be unreliable, I had to mostly dodge Wraiths. For the most part I was successful and the merc usually was on hand to help out when I wasn't. Of course, the Summoner was on the last path that I took...

Act 3: It was a fun Act with this char. I loved seeing the flayers dropping beneath my feet in quick succession. Actually played through Great Marsh (I usually just run/tele through that area). It turned out to be a dead-end so I went back and finally found the Flayer Dungeon. There I was greeted by a bosspack of Extra Fast Wraiths that almost kiled me. But I survived and got the Brain. Died in LK to a mob of Zakarumites and Leapers so I had to start from the Spider Forest again. But I didn't mind, as it was fun killing Flayers with this char. Meph nearly got me as well seeing as he's unleechable.

Act 4: Switched from /p5 to /p3. Going was smooth until City of the Damned when I randomly un-shifted and died to Bats. Meh. RoF was quick as there were no Spawners. CS was pretty quick as well. I re-cast the Bear ahead of me as I went along to sacrifice it to Iron Maiden instead of the Wolf and/or Merc. Maiden got the Merc once and caused me to un-shift (a great advantage that were-druids have over other were-classes; the automatic un-shift with 1 HP when dying as Wolf/Bear). The rest of the area went without trouble. That was about all for the Act.

Act 5: Crystalline Passage spawned with loads of Frozen Creepers. Their cold breath completely lags me when I and/or Merc are wearing Fortitude. I had to save and exit a couple of times until there were no Creepers because it would take a long time to get through the area. Not much trouble apart rom that. One of the Returned proved to be quite a tank when it single-handedly held off Frozenstein and a couple of minions. Ancients took around 10 seconds to fall (/p1), Back to /p5 for WSK and Minions, with Baal on /p3 falling quickly and without resistance.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed playing this build. There were loads of times where I was on very little life mostly due to a combination of mediocre resists and defence but this did not feel like a fragile char. Progress through the game wes fast paced. I would recommend a Feral Rage Wolf and it would make for a safe char in Hardcore as well. Maybe not the Titan version because it would be too risky even with the massive leech.

Finds

Shako
Stone Crusher
Sharp GC of Strenght
(Perfect) Sapphire SC of Sustenance
Forge: Ko/Ist

That Ist makes up for the hellish Hell Hellforge Hel that held the wrath of my Frost Dreamer Zealot a week ago :D
 
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Originally posted by Stony on Dec 6, 2007:

Patriarch #1: Mizor

Baal collapsed to the floor of the Worldstone chamber, a puking, spasming mass of burns and bruises. As life left his sprawling corpse and his soul fled to the safety of his soulstone, Mizor could hear the demon lord's triumphant cackle. Though it cost him his material existence, Baal had done what he set out to do-- and the price he paid was only temporary. They would all be back, in time.

Mizor: "Ruh." (Fudge.)
Paige: "So... what's this Worldstone thing do, anyway?"
Mizor: "Heeksamoww." (Keeps demons out.)
Paige: "Um..." (blinks) "It's not working very well."
Mizor: (shakes head) "Awlonnwws." (The soulstones.)
Paige: "Oh, yeah, Cain told us about them. Couldn't get him to stop telling us."
Tyrael: (floats down through ceiling) "Greetings."
Mizor: (sighs)
Tyrael: "Mortal, I am impressed."
Mizor: (looks down at teeny tiny mace in right hand) "Roamii. Ishimsugs." (So am I. This thing sucks.)
Paige: "So... now what?"
Mizor: (shrugs) "Humo. Ressee." (Dunno. Let's see.)

Mizor, the Fireclaws Werebear, has become Patriarch Mizor. While the original 1.09 Mizor relied mostly on physical damage, I was inspired to try Fireclaws when I found Medusa's Gaze, the unique Aegis. This shield has a chance to cast Lower Resist when the character is hit; I knew from experience that Werebears get hit a lot and are much more durable than Paladins, so a Werebear with a strong elemental attack and a low blocking percentage might get good use out of Medusa's Gaze, which otherwise seemed quite useless. It would also allow me to use the class-specific set Aldur's Watchtower, the only set I could realistically use with my planned septivirate. Along the way, I used plenty of other items... let's look at a few:

Mini-capsule review: Death's Disguise
A modest set, with belt, gloves, and one-handed weapon, useable at level 6. The gloves confer near-immunity to poison, handy when battling Normal Andarial. The sash has the convenient Cannot Be Frozen mod, making it handy everywhere despite having only 8 slots. The weapon is a war sword, with some physical damage and more cold damage; it is quite powerful once your character can use it. The set's partial bonuses are good (30% IAS, 8% life steal, and enough Resist All to notice), so you don't have to abandon the whole thing once better weapons become available somewhere in mid-Normal. All in all, you can do much worse.

Mini-capsule review: Aldur's Watchtower
An immodest set, with helm, body armor, boots, and a one-handed weapon. Aldur's is the class-specific Druid set, and I believe the intention was to make it equally useful for both shape-shifting Druids and elemental Druids. Trying to split the difference between two radically different playing styles ends up making the set a poor choice for any Druid: there aren't enough skill bonuses for a caster, and the set's tiny weapon won't keep any melee Druid alive for long. The only shape-shifter who could make serious use of the set is one who doesn't rely on the weapon to do damage: a Fireclaws wolf or bear, and even they have much better options available. The whole set gives very good attribute bonuses, but Aldur's Advance, the battle boots, is the only item in the set that's useful by itself.

Patriarch Mizor: Level 87 Druid
STR 155 (220)
DEX 20 (101) Chance to block: 21%
VIT 330 (375)
ENG 20 (77)

Lycanthropy 20 (29)
Fireclaws 20 (29)
Summon Grizzly 20 (25)
Shockwave 6 (15) Enough to stun for 10 seconds
Various elemental skills to synergize Fireclaws: 23 (not enough)
1 point in prereqs, Werebear, etc.

Life: 3159
AR (Fireclaws): 6652
Damage (Fireclaws): 3527-4228
AR (Maul): 3326
Damage (Maul): 594-1085 (693-1237 fully charged)
Resists: 75/75/75/36

Itamz:
Aldur's Rhythm, with 3 Shael runes for a total of 90% IAS
Aldur's Deception, socketed with a rare jewel
Aldur's Stony Gaze, with two rare jewels
Aldur's Advance
Medusa's Gaze
Lava Gout, the unique Battle Gauntlets, for the Enchant they occasionally cast
Raven Frost, for Cannot Be Frozen and some AR
Nature's Peace, for Monster RIP and Prevent Monster Heal, a necessity with low-damage characters
A Communal Amulet of Sorcery, +3 to Shapeshifting
A rare belt with fire resistance, extra life, and some other stuff
2 shapeshifting skillers, 2 summoning skillers, other charms with extra elemental damage

Mercenary: Paige the cold Rogue
Blackhorn's Face, for Lightning Absorb and Slow Monsters
"Lionheart" set in Sharktooth armor, for resists and a little damage
Windforce. You know why.

Strategy:
When entering a new area, set players to 1. If there are no fire immunes, set players up to 3 or 5. Then charge in close, use Shockwave to stun a group of monsters, and start clawing away. If a group included Fire Immunes (which most did) charge up Maul a few times. Doing so increased my physical damage from Pathetic to Minuscule, but it was better than nothing. Monsters that could not be stunned, like champions and bosses, represented a more serious threat; I let Paige and the Grizzly work on them while I busied myself elsewhere, letting my summon absorb as much of the damage as possible. For most of the game, progress was slow. Shockwave was my only crowd control skill, and even when Lower Resist went off, it rarely broke any immunities, so I couldn't use my most damaging skill for much of the game. In the end, playing Mizor became dull and frustrating, more of a chore than a game.

What could I do differently to make an Aldur's bear work? More points into synergies would increase my damage, but where could they come from? Bears are slow, and Fireclaws is a single-target skill, so giving up Shockwave is not an option. The Grizzly is great for dealing damage and absorbing it, and Lycanthropy gives me enough life to survive boss battles. Since Fire Immune monsters are common, I get more out of one point in Maul than I would from one more point in a synergy. If a really strong Fireclaws bear could be made, he would need different equipment. Maybe using Tiamat's Rebuke instead of Medusa's, and a fast elite weapon like the Lightsabre, Horizon's Tornado, or Baranar's.

Anyway, Patriarch number one is done and it's time to move on. I hope you enjoyed reading, and if you have any suggestions for a workable build, feel free to speak up. Bye now!
 
Originally posted by SunsetVista on Dec 12, 2012:

Patriarch Lafferty, 1.13 SC FAM Fury Druid

Named after R.A. Lafferty, a science fiction author whose short stories I really like. They have nothing to do with werewolves.

Stats and Resists:
Name: Lafferty
Class: Druid
Experience: 825809090
Level: 82

Naked/Gear
Strength: 145/166
Dexterity: 125/152
Vitality: 210/210
Energy: 20/40
HP: 606/714
Mana: 182/222
Stamina: 350/350
Defense: 31/1279
AR: 595/22029 (actual AR was ~8k, enough for most things, though Baal was tough to hit sometimes)

Fire: 177/137/77
Cold: 155/115/55
Lightning: 211/171/111
Poison: 146/106/46

MF: 60
GF: 252
FR/W: 35
FHR: 64
IAS: 20

Skills:
20 Lycanthropy
20 Werewolf
20 Fury
20 Oak Sage
8 Feral Rage
1 Rabies
1 Raven
1 Spirit Wolf
1 Dire Wolf
1 Grizzly
With +skills I had 28 Lycanthropy, Werewolf, and Fury; 23 Oak Sage; 16 Feral Rage; and 4 Grizzly.

Gear:
Head: Jalal's Mane (socketed with ptopaz)
Amulet: Dread Necklace (rare with +2 shapeshifting and mana leech)
Armor: Naj's Light Plate
Belt: Gale Harness (rare with fhr, fire and cold res)
Ring 1: Raven Frost (247 AR)
Ring 2: Raven Coil (rare with AR, life leech, lightning res, mf)
Boots: Storm Stalker (rare with frw, fhr, fire and lightning res)
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Weapon 1: Upped 286ED Ribcracker (Shael)
Weapon 2: 'Lawbringer' Phase Blade

Various resist charms, a mediocre Gheed's, 1 plain shapeshifting skiller, 1 small charm of frost, and 1 poison damage small charm

Act 2 Might Merc Gear:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Eth Duriel's Shell
Hone Sundan (Shael Sheal Amn)

Gear Readouts (lots of rares):
Code:
-----
Gale Harness 
Demonhide Sash 
Defense: 67 
Durability: 12 of 12 
Required Level: 28 
Required Strength: 20 
Fingerprint: 0xc163e89d 
Item Level: 61 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
14% Chance to cast level 5 Nova when struck 
+24% Faster Hit Recovery 
+92% Enhanced Defense 
+7 to Life 
Cold Resist +20% 
Fire Resist +9%
-----
Raven Coil 
Ring 
Required Level: 35 
Fingerprint: 0x2a67aea3 
Item Level: 53 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+72 to Attack Rating 
6% Life stolen per hit 
Lightning Resist +28% 
Magic Damage Reduced by 2 
9% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
-----
Storm Stalker 
Scarabshell Boots 
Defense: 65 
Durability: 14 of 14 
Required Level: 49 
Required Strength: 91 
Fingerprint: 0x95dfdefa 
Item Level: 87 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+30% Faster Run/Walk 
+10% Faster Hit Recovery 
Heal Stamina Plus 50% 
Lightning Resist +34% 
Fire Resist +30% 
69% Extra Gold from Monsters
-----
Dread Necklace 
Amulet 
Required Level: 30 
Fingerprint: 0x221e3a1b 
Item Level: 49 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only) 
3% Mana stolen per hit 
Replenish Life +7 
Poison Resist +33% 
Magic Damage Reduced by 2 
-----
Ribcracker 
Stalagmite 
Two Hand Damage: 319 - 478 
Durability: 128 of 130 
Required Level: 56 
Required Strength: 63 
Required Dexterity: 35 
Fingerprint: 0xccd4304 
Item Level: 64 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+70% Increased Attack Speed 
+50% Faster Hit Recovery 
286% Enhanced Damage 
Adds 30 - 65 Damage 
50% Chance of Crushing Blow 
+100% Enhanced Defense 
+100 Defense 
+15 to Dexterity 
Required Level +7 
+100 Maximum Durability 
1 Sockets (1 used) 
Socketed: Shael Rune 
-----
Lawbringer 
Phase Blade 
AmnLemKo 
One Hand Damage: 31 - 35 
Indestructible 
Required Level: 54 
Required Strength: 25 
Required Dexterity: 136 
Fingerprint: 0x999c8da1 
Item Level: 85 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
20% Chance to cast level 15 Decrepify on striking 
Level 17 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped 
-50% Target Defense 
Adds 150 - 210 Fire Damage 
Adds 130 - 180 Cold Damage Over 7 Secs (171 Frames) 
7% Life stolen per hit 
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace 
+211 Defense vs. Missile 
+10 to Dexterity 
75% Extra Gold from Monsters 
3 Sockets (3 used) 
Socketed: Amn Rune 
Socketed: Lem Rune 
Socketed: Ko Rune 
-----

Gameplay and Notes:
I recently started playing this character again, so I only really remember the journey through Hell starting with killing Andariel. This is not untwinked. It was a nice change of pace after the untwinked single-pass ES Nova sorc. I think I did die once in Normal surrounded by mana burn yetis before I knew how to play correctly, but there were no deaths in Hell. Tip: don't get surrounded.

Upped Ribcracker is an excellent weapon. Lafferty hit fast and hard. I did Hell on /players 1, but I think I could have definitely gone to a higher players setting. Fury is a fun skill combined with the run speed and leech of Feral Rage. The occasional misses due to the bug were no big deal, although I would've been more frustrated with a lesser weapon. Ribcracker even has enough durability to last a few areas, and the repair cost isn't too high.

The greatest challenges were physical immunes and anything with mana burn. The sanctuary aura on Lawbringer solved the PI problem nicely, and sometimes the mana burn too, since mana-burning undead would be knocked back before they could hit me. A quick switch to Lawbringer to proc decrepify really helped against stronger monsters even if they weren't entirely immune. I didn't do enough physical damage with Lawbringer to leech much health back, so I had to be ready to drink pots or back off if things went nasty. Finally, the Sanctuary aura was great against undead dolls. I could keep my distance while the merc and bear took them down.

Before Lawbringer I had tried Buriza, and that probably would've been my plan if Iron Maiden was still a thing. I had planned to use Azurewrath at 85, but I didn't want to grind out the levels to equip it. I was also considering Baranar's Star. Overall though, I love the decrepify on Lawbringer.

Naj's Light Plate is a nice armor for the build. It's got the skill, resists, some nice life, and most importantly damage goes to mana to help with mana burn situations.

I went with Oak Sage as the spirit. The extra life helped since Werewolf doesn't give a huge life boost (I had ~3000 hp with the spirit out). Oak Sage made my merc and bear better tanks too. Since I was fighting up front, melee monsters didn't kill the Sage very often. I only had to recast it a few times in heavy elemental damage areas.

Hell was not a problem. I shredded everything not physical immune, including the smith at the Hellforge (got a Fal, oh well) and the Ancients (downed them in one shot with no rerolls needed, but that was very lucky). Baal cloned himself before Decrepify procced, and I drank all my pots against him. He didn't drop anything of note. In fact, since I was focusing on just finishing the game with this character, I didn't get many special finds. Best was probably an ethereal Bartuc's.

Future skill points will go into Feral Rage for the small damage boost and for utility when I need a single target attack (mixed groups of enemies containing dolls). Future stat points will likely go into strength, since 3k life is plenty. Not sure what I'll run with this character now that he's beaten the game. Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading! Now I just have to win with an Assassin and then I'll have beaten Hell with all the classes. I'm thinking Phoenix Strike.
 
Originally posted by Swiller on Apr 11, 2010:

Patriarch Mbwun - Fury/Rabies Wolf

Alhizeer sized up his companion, the enigmatic man from Scosglen who had hired him in Lut Gholein.

They were resting in the desert wastes amongst the ruined statues of civilizations past, eying a horde of malevolent beasts who now formed on the horizon, preparing to attack. Alhizeer briefly considered giving up ale; as he had clearly imbibed too much when he agreed to accompany this "druid". The scrawny man had no discernible combat abilities and would only get him killed. The mercenary's eyes moved from the approaching monsters and onto his companion. "Listen here, you little runt. Are you going to do any of the fighting, or hide like a coward?"

The druid gave him a cold stare. "You're making me angry," he replied.

Alhizeer ignored him and continued his insults. "And what's with the staff, anyway? You realize you aren't Gandalf, right?"

The druid bared his teeth this time, becoming increasing upset. Was it Alhizeer's imagination, or were those teeth growing longer, and sharper?
Unable to contain his rage, the druid now stood at his full height, brandishing his staff.

"You're making me angry! YOU WON'T LIKE IT WHEN I'M ANGRY!!




Greetings and salutations, SPF! I actually finished this character back in January 2009, but then took a year-long hiatus from the game (and pretty much the forums, as well.) All I can say is that it's great to be back! But lets get on with the character, already.


STATS

That's 8.2k Fury damage you see, somewhat in part because of all the points I poured into Strength. Mbwun is a little fragile as a result, especially because I opted for HoW instead of Oak Sage. I may respec later and think about changing things.


SKILLS

Werewolf: 1 (9)
Lycanthropy: 20 (28)
Feral Rage: 1 (9)
Rabies: 20 (28) (35 with switch)
Fury: 20 (28)

Raven: 1 (3)
Poison Creeper: 16 (18)
Oak Sage: 1 (3)
Hear of the Wolverine: 16 (18)

Yup, I'm working on maxing out my spirit and Poison creeper.


GEAR

Rich (BB code):
  • Jalal's Mane - Um
  • Metalgrid
  • "Fortitude"
    Fortitude Archon Plate 'ElSolDolLo' Defense: 1560 Durability: 36 of 60 Required Strength: 103 Required Level: 63 Item Version: Expansion Item Level: 87 Fingerprint: 0x7cdca36f +200% Enhanced Defense +300% Enhanced Damage +15 Defense Damage Reduced by 7 Fire Resist +30% Lightning Resist +30% +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist Cold Resist +30% Poison Resist +30% Replenish Life +7 +1 to Light Radius 25% Faster Cast Rate 12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana 20% Chance to cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when struck +85 to Life (Based on Character Level) Socketed (4: 4 used)​
  • Ribcracker - Shael
    Mbwun's Ribcracker Stalagmite 'Shael' Two-Hand Damage: 324 to 485 Durability: 29 of 130 Required Dexterity: 35 Required Strength: 63 Required Level: 56 Staff Class - Fastest Attack Speed Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion Item Level: 49 Fingerprint: 0x2f350bc7 +15 to Dexterity +100% Enhanced Defense +293% Enhanced Damage +30 to Minimum Damage +65 to Maximum Damage +100 Defense +100 Maximum Durability Required Level +7 70% Increased Attack Speed 50% Faster Hit Recovery 150% Damage to Undead 50% Chance of Crushing Blow Socketed (1: 1 used)​
  • Nosferatu's Coil
  • Laying of Hands
  • Gore Rider
  • Ravenfrost
  • Beast Hold
    Ring Required Level: 47 Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion Item Level: 88 Fingerprint: 0x890dbf72 +15 to Strength +9 to Mana +108 to Attack Rating 3% Life stolen per hit 5% Mana stolen per hit​

MERCENARY

Alhizeer, the Act II Might hireling

Vampire Gaze
The Reaper's Toll
Duriel's Shell


THOUGHTS?

My basic play-style was like this: I had Feral Rage as my main attack, and would use it every few seconds simply to keep it fully-charged. My secondary skill was primarily Fury, but I switched to a Plague Bearer and "Spirit" Monarch when I used Rabies.

I don't know why everybody is always hating on Rabies. I found it absolutely invaluable. Not only did it provide a safe way to wear down a pack's health, but I was also able to clear half a screen's worth of monsters within seconds. The Far Oasis was especially epic. An absolute TON of the physical immune locusts would spawn. I would switch to Rabies, infect one of them, then retreat away. Take a sip of my beer, then return. YAY! No more locusts.

I'm not disagreeing that it's better for PvP, nor am I saying that I couldn't have beaten Hell without it. I just think it performs a lot better than people give it credit for.



Thanks for reading, everyone; and thank you for welcoming me back to this awesome game!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by @T72on1 on Nov 13, 2018:

Patriarch Fireworks

Fireworks is the uninspiredly named Fury Wolf based on this thread. Basically, it's a Fury Wolf using the Doom runeword as weapon and the Phoenix runeword as shield and synergizing the CTC Volcano and Firestorm from both weapons. I had already witnessed the build in action a few years ago, when a fellow Basiner and I did a lot of games over TCP/IP together and this was one of the builds I ran along with. I was so impressed with all the fireworks going on (off ?! ;)) all the time, that I just knew that, whenever I'd ever find a Cham rune, Doom would be what I'd make, and this build what I'd do eventually.

I knew I was going to max Fury, Molten Boulder and Fissure for sure, and was quite certain I'd go with maxed HoW too. After that I was undecided. In the end I didn't completely max HoW, as in Hell it became clear that, despite the crowd control from the Holy Freeze aura and the freezing ability of Doom, I needed more crowd control. It wasn't safety as such which caused me to rethink, but the fact that when surrounded, my attacks seemed to get interrupted way too often, leading to much longer fights. Not the right thing to happen on a build which should play out as a complete powerhose. So from level 77 or so on I started putting points in Grizzly and it's prereqs. It turned out to be a great move, as after getting the Grizzly I could focus on killing stuff, and killing stuff fast, while the Grizzly provided enough distraction and meatshield for that.

I tend to make my write-ups, for my Septs and such, rather long, but this character was started after I had finished my oskill Sept and was still doing two untwinked 99ers. As such I felt like just playing the game and not much else in terms of taking notes, pictures, ...

Fireworks was started as a standard Fury Wolf. I think I started out with full Death's set. I certainly kept the belt and gloves for a very long, but I'm not sure when I switched the weapon, and with which one I replaced it. Probably Bonesnap at level 24. It's slow. But it hurts like nothing hurts at that level :). At level 31 Ribcracker came in, then probably upped Ribcracker for a while, until I could equip Doom and Phoenix. At that point I respecced to synergize the procs and the real fun started. I steamrolled NM on /p8 obviously, but like I said, in Hell, on /p5, things didn't go smooth enough to my taste, until I acquired a Grizzly. That was in Act 3 and especially that act was tremendous fun. Lots of enemies, but due to their low hp the combination of Volcanos, Firestorm and Fury they literally melted in not time.

The rest of Hell was a walk in the park as well. No deaths were suffered at that stage, and none at all I think, although I'm not completely sure about that. I rerolled Ancients once, as two of them rolled Stone Skin and with high fire resistance or even immunity. I didn't feel like just hitting them for 5 minutes straight, so I rerolled. As a matter of fact, they maybe even had been impossible to beat at that time, as the one big downside of the build is the use of a high speed attack combined with the low durability of a BA. Well, I started using the cube recipe to repair the weapon somewhere down the road, but still ...

I used CtA / Spirit on switch, but it was a bit annoying to unshift, recast and reshift quite often. Without it I was still at some 2000 hp, which would probably be fine for the build. However I'm not sure what else could have been useful instead. As pointed out in the thread I based my build on, Lawbringer is an option, but you actually (almost) never need it, as the Fire portion of the build kills PIs just fine.

As belt I used Thundergod's Vigor, because I thought it fitted the build really well. Raven Frost and Phoenix Shield already provide cold and fire absorb, Thundergod's gave me lightning absorb. Moreover it added yet another proc to the game, CTC FoH when Struck. While dealing insignificant damage, it procced enough to add to the lightshow that was going on.

Forge was something / Shael / Um.

Ok, some random pictures:

1586046511187.png

How come the snow isn't melting?

1586046500584.png

Drops were lousy across the board. This one was nice though.

1586046489220.png

Apparantly he managed to kill my Merc. I showed him who's the boss though ...

1586046476803.png

Andy doesn't like Fire. Enough said :).

1586046467847.png

Best Duriel map ever !!

1586046458195.png

Hell Helforge.


The full potential of the fireworks of this build doesn't really show in these pics, so I recorded the last part of the journey, from the WSK2 waypoint on. Unfortunately, Youtube decided to work against me for some reason, and I didn't have any more patience to wait for it. I'll add the video later.

This is the full dump, cleaned up a bit.

Name: FireWorks
Class: Druid
Experience: 1100426072
Level: 85

Naked/Gear
Strength: 142/185
Dexterity: 40/60
Vitality: 313/333
Energy: 20/40
HP: 817/1037
Mana: 188/239
Stamina: 456/476
Defense: 10/2462
AR: 170/23373

Fire: 167/127/67
Cold: 88/48/-12
Lightning: 136/96/36
Poison: 88/48/-12

MF: 0 Block: 11
GF: 10 FR/W: 44
FHR: 50 IAS: 85
FCR: 25

Raven: 1/6
Poison Creeper: 0/0
Oak Sage: 1/6
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1/6
Carrion Vine: 0/0
Heart of Wolverine: 17/22
Summon Dire Wolf: 7/12
Solar Creeper: 0/0
Spirit of Barbs: 0/0
Summon Grizzly: 1/6

Werewolf: 1/8
Lycanthropy: 4/11
Werebear: 0/0
Feral Rage: 1/8
Maul: 0/0
Rabies: 1/8
Fire Claws: 0/0
Hunger: 0/0
Shock Wave: 0/0
Fury: 20/27

Firestorm: 1/6
Molten Boulder: 20/25
Arctic Blast: 0/0
Fissure: 20/25
Cyclone Armor: 0/0
Twister: 0/0
Volcano: 0/0
Tornado: 0/0
Armageddon: 0/0
Hurricane: 0/0

Sharp Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xcdcdfa7e
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
+56 to Attack Rating
+8 to Life

Fine Small Charm of Greed
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xd4aca937
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+11 to Attack Rating
10% Extra Gold from Monsters

Fine Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x3732ee9e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+19 to Attack Rating
+15 to Life

Fine Small Charm of Lightning
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x2eff5f2f
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+20 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 7 Lightning Damage

Fine Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x53f48333
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+20 to Attack Rating
+1 to Strength

Ghoul Turn
Ring
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0xc6364a11
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
6% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +9
+11 to Mana
Lightning Resist +13%
Fire Resist +29%

Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 143
Durability: 27 of 34
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 94
Fingerprint: 0x51a70e59
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
10% Chance of Open Wounds
+166% Enhanced Defense
+20 Maximum Stamina
Requirements -25%
+10 Maximum Durability

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x3d8ad7a5
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
31% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 84
Durability: 6 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x696dc95a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+350% Damage to Demons
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%


Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 151
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0x99f763d9
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+185% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
+10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
+20 Lightning Absorb

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x78a2a0a8
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+244 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 268
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x985a2278
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
+50% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+171% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
All Resistances +30
+5 to Mana after each Kill
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Fortitude
Superior Wire Fleece
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1514
Durability: 26 of 32
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 111
Fingerprint: 0x4899a4d0
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+211% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+127 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +28
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

Sharp Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xc0bb00b7
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7% Faster Run/Walk
+7 to Maximum Damage
+74 to Attack Rating

Sharp Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xa34ca193
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7% Faster Run/Walk
+10 to Maximum Damage
+56 to Attack Rating

Sharp Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xbb4ddf76
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7 to Maximum Damage
+52 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

Sharp Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x54d91c50
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
+56 to Attack Rating

Sharp Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x24ea1d2a
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Maximum Damage
+64 to Attack Rating

Sharp Grand Charm of the Glacier
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xbfa52ad9
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
+68 to Attack Rating
Adds 3 - 7 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)

Sharp Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x6fe30393
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Maximum Damage
+49 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xfc5780fa
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+18 to Attack Rating
+2 to Strength

Fine Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x37a7021d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+20 to Attack Rating

Fine Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0x7103af3d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Maximum Damage
+16 to Attack Rating
+1 to Dexterity

Call to Arms
Superior Crystal Sword
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 18 - 56
Durability: 15 of 20
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0xdbba019b
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
275% Enhanced Damage
+2 to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+4 to Battle Command
+4 to Battle Orders
+4 to Battle Cry
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 141
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 74 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xd1a62b41
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+27% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+94 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+4 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

FluffyFlavius's Doom
Berserker Axe
HelOhmUmLoCham
One Hand Damage: 103 - 306
Durability: 21 of 26
Required Level: 67
Required Strength: 111
Required Dexterity: 48
Fingerprint: 0x5c8de8c6
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 18 Volcano on striking
Level 12 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+2 to All Skills
+45% Increased Attack Speed
332% Enhanced Damage
-55% to Enemy Cold Resistance
20% Deadly Strike
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Freezes target +3
Requirements -20%
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Hel Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune
Socketed: Cham Rune

Phoenix
Monarch
VexVexLoJah
Defense: 146
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 59 of 86
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x622e7f12
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
100% Chance to cast level 40 Blaze when you Level-Up
40% Chance to cast level 22 Firestorm on striking
Level 15 Redemption Aura When Equipped
397% Enhanced Damage
-28% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+357 Defense vs. Missile
+50 to Life
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
+10% to Maximum Fire Resist
+20 Fire Absorb
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Vex Rune
Socketed: Vex Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune
Socketed: Jah Rune

Mercenary:

Name: Ahsab
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 74571142
Level: 85
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 186/215
Dexterity: 150/150
HP: 1767/1873
Defense: 1302/4770
AR: 1913/1913

Fire: 156/116/56
Cold: 175/135/75
Lightning: 175/135/75
Poison: 245/205/145

Andariel's Visage
Demonhead
Defense: 336
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 83
Required Strength: 102
Fingerprint: 0x88cc9705
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
15% Chance to cast level 15 Poison Nova when struck
+2 to All Skills
+35% Increased Attack Speed
10% Life stolen per hit
+117% Enhanced Defense
+29 to Strength
+10% to Maximum Poison Resist
Fire Resist -19%
Poison Resist +70%
Level 3 Venom (20/20 Charges)
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Garnet Jewel of Fervor

Garnet Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x550f40ba
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
Fire Resist +11%


Infinity
Giant Thresher
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 215 - 613
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 178
Required Dexterity: 130
Fingerprint: 0x14e0ac2c
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
259% Enhanced Damage
-52% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+42 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Fortitude
Balrog Skin
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 3132
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 155
Fingerprint: 0x3e6d842b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+200% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+106 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +26
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

All in all, the build played out exactly as I had hoped. I can really advice it to anyone !!!

Edit: this is the video:

 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Thirty-Thirty on Aug 31, 2005:

Patriarch Wesley

Ahoy,

I thought this might take until the weekend, but I guess not. I've long been waiting to finish Wesley the Fireclaws Werebear, now my 8th Pat/Mat.

Patriarch Wesley
Level 81

Stats:
Str: 65 (160)
Dex: 165 (242)
Vit: 245 (290)
NRG: 20 (93)

Once going...
Life: 2150
Mana: 516
Resists: 75/75/75/42
Maul damage: 672-1076
Fire claws damage: 4212-4851

Gear:
Aldur's Stony Gayze
Aldur's Rhythm
Aldur's Deception
Aldur's Advance
String of Ears
Laying of Hands
Stormshield
Carrion Wind
Rare ring (20/30 Cold/Lightning Resist)
Communal Amulet of Enlightenment (+3 Shifting skills, +28 NRG)

Merc: Act II Offensive
Rare Chaos Armour (defense 960)
Strong Grand Crown of Balance
The Reaper's Toll

Skills:
20 Firestorm
15 Molten Boulder
5 Werebear
5 Lycanthropy
20 Fireclaws
10 Oak Sage
1 Grizzly and prereqs and the rest of the shifting tree (except Hunger)

Gear gave +3 Summoning, +7 Shapeshifting, and +4 Elemental.

I started this build way back when I first decided to put my new Aldur's kit to good use. It was the first of the class-specific sets I completed. After some debate here about what to build, I Shaeled the mace and made a Fireclaws Werebear. He kicked butt all the way through Nightmare, but then...

The physical damage on the weapon almost renders this build impossible. Given the fact that this should be the ultimate druid set, if only for some builds, its pathetic. Its not on the scale of a naked Bowazon, but its far harder than my Martial Artist, or the Wolfbarb.

So Hell was a pain. I struggled my way through to the River of Flame, and then found myself impotent to clear the Sanctuary: Pit Lords and Oblivion Knights are fire immune. I MPed that bit, then pressed on. The worst areas were the Frozen River and Ancients' Way. The fight against the Ancients was peculiar, however. I died once, got transformed back into human form in a single hit once, so rerolled, and I rerolled a FE Madawc and Cursed Talic.

When I did fight them, I think the Talic was attacking my Grizzly. I saw it dying, so I resummoned it nearer to me. Talic didn't pursue, so I only had to deal with Madawc and Korlic. Korlic had tolerable mods, so I killed him, and Madawc followed. I then looked around for Talic. Although I'd been fighting near the entrance to the WSK, I found Talic milling around the entrance from the Ancients' Way. Anyone seen this before? Could it be made into a reproducible way to separate the Ancients?

I died against Achmel, which sucked, because I had to retrieve my kit in pieces, given how much I was relying on +strength gear. That took some time. And there wasn't a hope in Hell of beating Lister, so I had to park him. Again. Baal was simply annoying: he kept teleporting around the map. Not attacking, or cloning, just teleporting. And I really felt his 60% chance to block: I eventually shifted into a Wolf for the increased AR. Before I forget, Hellforge dropped a Lem. Okay, but I really want a Pul!

What can I say about Aldur's set? It sucks. Badly. Any melee build is marred by the low damage on the weapon. Also, one-handedness implies a shield, which curses one with the abysmal block rate of a transformed druid. If I was ever surrounded, my 2k life didn't matter: I was stuck in either block or hit recovery. And I couldn't find any decent ways of working around the set. Trying to get to Anya, I eventually stripped him of Aldur's stuff, gave him some other goodies (Jalal's Mane, Reaper's Toll, some IK pieces, and so on) and played as a Feral Rage Wolf to finish the area. Very lame.

If I were to build another druid to use this set, there are two options:

1. Wind druid. I know the set isn't suiting towards a caster, but if a Windy can make it untwinked, he can make it with this set. Things like Frostburn and Gloom's Trap can make up for some bits. Its cheesy, but it won't be as painful as this was.

2. Fireclaws/Rabies Wolf. I'm still playing 1.10, so I'd employ the synergy bug to get a good Rabies on the cheap. That way there'd be a better backup attack. This won't be any cookie cutter though: be prepared for a lot of red potions.

Thanks for the read. I'm very glad this character is now finished. One day I'll upgrade a Ribcracker and make a real shapeshifter. Now I just need to Mat my 'sin, and all 7 classes are done!

30-30
 
Originally posted by TopHatCat64 on Nov 17, 2018:

Patriarch Syrtis Major - Doom/Phoenix Fury Wolf

Stats

Code:
Lvl 87

Fury Damage: 3969-9175 (w/ Might)
Firestorm Damage: 1266-1470 per second
Volcano Damage: 224-231 physical damage, 382-394 fire damage per fire ball
Armageddon Damage: 2709-3137

Life: 3535 (w/ BO and Werewolf)
Resists: 81 F, 41 C, 79 L, 42 P
Str: 106 | Dex: 20 | Vit: 379

Skills

20 Fury
20 Fissure
20 Molten Boulder
20 Armageddon
8 Lycanthrophy

Gear

Code:
Jalal's Mane '15 res all jewel'
Mara's
eth 'Doom' Berserker Axe
'Fortitude' Archon Plate
'Phoenix' Monarch
Laying of Hands
String of Ears
Gore Rider
Viper Grip rare ring*
Raven Frost
Switch: Beta CTA / eth 'Spirit' Monarch

Merc: eth 'Infinity' CA / 'Fortitude' Archon Plate / Andariel's Visage 'fire res jewel of ias'

Charms (combined stats): 76 life, 75 min damage, 26 max damage, 14% frw, 6 str, 10% cold resist, 27% LR, 11% PR

Viper Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 74
Fingerprint: 0x7344057e
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+94 to Attack Rating
6% Mana stolen per hit
+19 to Strength
+3 to Energy
Lightning Resist +21%

The Planning Stage

I'm a big fan of ctc builds, so bcoe's Tyto_Alba has been my holy grail ever since I came upon it in the Pat/Mat thread. Wide coverage fire damage paired with 2 defensive auras in a stylish fur coat - sounds really fun. I was eager to compare how well this build did versus the variety of other melee ctc builds I've tried. After about a year of accumulating rune wealth, I finally had a chance to see for myself.

When I name a character, I always want there to be some connection with the way the build plays, the skills it uses, or particularly important piece of gear. All the fire that would be erupting around this character led me to name him Syrtis Major, after an ancient volcano on Mars.

Leveling and Observations

Initially, my build followed bcoe's to a T. Skill-wise I also followed the same path of max Fissure/Molten Boulder/Lycanthropy/Fury. His plan seemed very sound on paper and he'd actually tested it in-game.

In my experience, however, Volcano was not feeling powerful enough to me. I really wanted Volcano (and Firestorm) to feel like the stars of the show, since they are what truly sets this build apart from any other Fury Wolf. Firestorm, with its concentrated cone of fire firing off in front of me, was a strong and consistent source of fire damage. Volcano, with it's randomly spewing fireballs, felt rather weak. Even when the Volcano erupted directly underneath a stationary enemy (best case scenario for the skill), it still wasn't doing enough damage to make the skill feel powerful to me.

bcoe had mentioned that he had considered Armageddon (Volcano's third synergy) as his fifth major skill investment, but never actually tried it. I decided to go this route when I respecced and pushed it even further by shifting points away from Lycanthropy to max out Armageddon. I justified the loss of life and Werewolf up-time by my usage of a beta CTA on switch, I still had over 3000 life after the respec, and I was constantly unshifting to reapply BC and BO.

In practice, Max Armageddon/Fissure/MB/Fury felt right to me. Volcano, while still the weakest of my 3 fire skills, was finally pulling its weight by softening up mobs or single large monsters. Firestorm dished out the majority of my fire damage in steady bursts that melted enemies even at Hell p8. I was already in melee range, so Armageddon's character-centered rain of fire worked perfectly in adding another source of hard-hitting fire damage. I'd say my fire damage breakdown was about 50% Firestorm, 30% Armageddon, 20% Volcano.

All this talk about offense, how'd this wolf feel defensively? Well, I definitely sacrificed some life by not maxing Lycanthropy and it directly lead to one of my 2 deaths when I unshifted right in the middle of a pack of abominables. My first death was completely avoidable when I decided to keep attacking Sszark the Burning while down to about 300 life and cursed...:oops:. Doom's Holy Freeze aura and freeze target definitely reduced a decent amount of incoming damage, but Phoenix's Redemption aura was not returning enough life to make much of a difference, as I played most of Hell on p8.

One of the common questions for this build (and in general when it comes to Phoenix) is how the casting delay of Firestorm affects the smoothness of gameplay. The delay seemed to fit neatly in the space of time it takes for one Fury to finish and another to start, so it doesn't feel clunky at all. I will say though that the attacking delay caused by Phoenix's CTC Firestorm is much more noticeable when using a faster, single hit attack like Feral Rage.

The Doom/Phoenix Fury Wolf is a part of a larger family of melee builds that utilize CTC skills to further boost their area of damage beyond the tips of their weapons. VoR/Riftadins, Necro's using Bone/Oath, Wind Wolfs, Liquid Evil's Earthshifter Fury Wolf. These build all help to somewhat negate the classic weakness of all melee builds - only hurting monsters in a small area around you. I'd say this particular build is one of the strongest in the family, since it affects so much of the screen at once with more then one spell.
 
Originally posted by Vang on May 14, 2007:

Hunger Guide

Hello all, some of you may know me, others may not. I'm a single player addict, and try all sorts of classes. Hunger was always one of those skills I was intrigued about and when I was fiddling around noticed that elemental damage was reduced. So Hunger it is.

This guide is intended for PVM.

Blizzard's description of Hunger: Nature gives life, but it can also snatch it back. When a Druid using this ability bites an opponent, he drains some of his victim's vital essence, replenishing his own.

Hunger's main drawback is simple: -75% damage. Not including elemental/magic damage.

So with knowing that, lets get down to the build and follow up with strategy.

Strength: Normally I love a ton of strength. But this character doesn't benefit off it. What you need for equipment.
Dexterity: Enough for Equipment. Bear blocks so slowly.
Vitality: Rest
Energy: You need none here.

Skills:
Shape Shifting:

1 Werewolf: pre-req
1 Feral Rage: pre-req
1 Fire Claws: pre-req
10-20 Lycanthropy: More life
1-20 Bear: More defense is all you really get from this
20 Hunger: More leech and More attack Rating
10+ Shockwave: I like increased stun time.

Summons:
1 Oak Sage: Pre-req
1 Raven: Pre-req
1 Spirit Wolf: Pre-req
1+ Dire Wolf: Pre-req or more Bear life
20 Heart of Wolverine: More Attack Rating and Damage for Bear and Mercenary
20 Dire Bear: More Damage

You have a couple options to fit your needs, but overall its a straight up Attack Rating/Life/Stun/Help Merc and Minion Build.

Equipment Goals:
High Elemental Damage
High Crushing Blow
5 attacks per second with Hunger.
Good Resist
Great Attack Rating

Equipment:

Helms:
Guillaume's Face: Crushing Blow. Socket it to fill more damage or another need like resistance.
Giant's Skull: Crushing Blow + 2 sockets.
Other options: None really. I suppose an Artisan's Circlet of the high Lightning Damage with 3x jewels would suffice.

Armor:
Duress: Massive Cold Damage, FHR, Resist all, Crushing Blow, Open Wounds. Nothing compares.

Shield:
Head Hunter's Glory: a 3socket one with 3x resist all jewels w/ Dual Elemental Damage would be insane. Good defense vs missiles, which is all your concerned about.
Tiamat's Rebuke: The one most people will own, Get a near perfect resist/ed% one and socket it with said above jewel. Will add over 400 maximum damage if good enough. Slightly less than Head Hunter's Glory.
Other: Any that can have sockets for elemental damage and mods you need.

Belt:
Thundergod's Vigor. Lightning protection mods as well as +str/vit and 1-50lightning damage.

Boots:
Goreriders or Goblin Toe: Both are equally useful here, do you want more crushing blow?

Gloves:
Lavagouts: Fire damage, 20ias you need and ctc enchant.
Crafted Blood: 20ias +Crushing Blow and other mods

Weapon:
This one is simple. Azurewrath. 500-1000elemental Damage. Socket with Argent/shimmering jewel of fervor to get 5 attacks per second with 20% additional from somewhere else.
Other: Any rare phase blade that has good elemental damage and decent physical damage.
NOTE: 45wias +20oias on a phase blades get the 5attacks per second we are looking for.

Amulet:
Mara's or +2 Druid Amulet. These really give all you need.

Rings:
Raven Frost + other. Can be dual, I went with a rare one with LL, resist all, +ar, +str.

Charms:
Elemental Damage and Attack Rating to what you see fit. If skillers, use Training to up your Bear and Spirit.

Switch: I use Heart of the Oaks and A spirit, but using Demonlimb to pre-buff has some advantages changing glove slot around.

Mercenary:
Might with Reaper's Troll.
Other slots: I used Fortitude and Blackthorn's Face, but everyone has what they use is ideal on a mercenary.

Leveling:
Early on you can just use maul. Other than your main weapon all your gear is equipped rather early. At 57 equip a Lightsabre to get a nice junk of speed and elemental damage. Slower weapon options include: Baranar's Star and Glimmershred.

Strategy:

Its fairly staight forward. Shockwave the area and maul up(I like glowing stuff around me and the additional..10damage it adds..) On a more positive note, maul's stun is active as well. Then hunger everything to death.

Baal Runs: I handle the first two waves on players 1 and then /p8 rest and /p3 Baal. Take yourself out of Decrepify Range for the last three waves.

Ancients: Really I didn't find a problem, you deal mainly different elemental damage types, and have enough beef to whack them silly.

Oblivion Knights: Don't charge up pretty useless glowing baal of ozoo against them. Ok seriously, you should not worry to much, but I stun them to keep my Mercenary alive.

Rooms full of ranged attackers: Cast spirit and Bear out ahead and run up and stun things.

Odds and ends: Elemental Damage is King. Crushing Blow is King. Damage Reduction is worthless since you don't get hit other than stray attacks that you didn't stun. Your also big. Did I mention that you never get lost in a sea of enemies?

My Bear: Clicky
 
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Originally posted by Vorbiss on Feb 25, 2004:

Patriarch DrJekill_MrHide

Well, here is my last Pat, he became one few mins ago at lvl 85. He is Flaming/Rabies Druid, meaning Fireclaw/Rabies Wolf(most of the time). I've build him for MFing purposes, and after testing I'll decide if the build deserves a guide. :) As you may notice from skills/gear, I used the Carrion Wind bug, that gives 21 synergistic points to Rabies, without investing even one skill point. I know this is exploit, and I decided to use it because the build is impossible without it.
His skills are:

Elemental: 5 Firestorm, 1 Molten, 20 Fissure, 20 Volcano (all maxed for synergising Fireclaws)

Shapeshifting: 1 in Lyc, WW, WB, Shockwave, Feral rage, Maul, Fury, 20 in Rabies and 20 in FC(duh!)

Summoning: 1 in Raven, Spirit wolves, Oak

Items:

Jalal's
CoH Wire
Mara's
Verdungo's
Carrion Wind ring (<---for the bug)
Ravenfrost
Goblin Toe (<---very helpfull)
Dracul's Grasp (<---Only way to leech)

Inventory: 7x SS skillers, some with second mods, like life, 2x tomes and 7x various SC's with life/AR/resists.

Switch 1:
6 sock Phase Blade with 4x Shael and 2x AR/IAS jewels, reaching last BP voth in wolf/bear form and adding 122 AR!(Thanks again for the jewels Shivan! :worship: )
Stormshield,Shaeled

Switch 2:
Death's Web with perfect Pfacet
4x Pfaceted Monarch

The first switch is used most of the time, I have 58% DR and 75% res all with it, and the second switch is used when I've already infected the crod with Rabies, switching back to the first just after that. This way all the + Pdamage and -poison resist on the second switch are carried to the remaining rabies duration's damage making it a killer! I've read that in electricblue's SS guide, so I didn't invented this, neither did he but the credits goes to him for that info.

Interesting finds during questing: Ist from hellforge, Hellrack, Blackoack(lost because of crash :grrr: ) I'll test him for MF tomorrow and I'll see what I'll do with him.
 
Originally posted by winmar on May 27, 2007:

Pat/Mat #12 - Cerebus the Fury/FireClaw Druid.

Patriarch Cerebus

Level 80 Druid.

Skills
1 Werewolf
13 Lycanthrophy
20 Fire Claw
20 Fury
20 Fire Storm
10 Molten Boulder

+4 To All Skills
+4 To Shapeshifting Skills

Stats
Strength:
45 (110)
Dexterity: 20 (70)
Vitality: 405 (445)
Energy: 20 (50)

Life: 1306 (3026) (3620 With Oak Sage)
Mana: 206 (278)

Fury Damage: 2494 - 3912 (3091 - 4824 with Might)
Fire Claw Damage: 4014 - 4725 (4610 - 5637 with Might)

Fury Attack Rating: 5009 (6932 with Enchant)
Fire Claw Attack Rating: 7055 (8977 with Enchant)

Crushing Blow: 65%

FR: 53
CR: -20
LR: 53
PR: -20

Equipment
Jalal's Mane (Ort)
Lionheart Dusk Shroud
Up'ed Ribcracker (Shael)
Thundergod's Vigor
Laying of Hands
Gore Rider
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Raven Frost (20 / 203)
Highlord's Wrath

Switch: Demon Limb

Mercenary
Eth Vampire Gaze (8% 6%)
The Reaper's Toll
Shaftstop

Hellforge
Nightmare: Sol :cry:
Hell: Io :cry:

The playing experience.
N: P8
NM: P8
Hell: P1

This character could pack a punch and annihilated packs of enemies in seconds in Hell. Even though i mostly played on P1 in Hell i did try him out on /P7 and he did well. He had almost no problems with immunes. I did come across some Fire and Physical immune Frenzytaurs in Act5 Hell, but when my merc triggered Decrepify their PI broke and i could land a few hits.

But even though i had some good gear and a solid build it was still frustrating. The reason for this is how the game works when you use melee chars. There is ofcourse IM to begin with, redicolus if you ask me. Dont get me wrong, i like a fair challenge, but IM is just not fair at all.

Besides the OK-infested areas i had huge problems with A2 Hell. Every single bosspack seemed to spawn with Manaburn, Cursed, Stone Skin, Extra Fast and Fanatiscm or Might. When you use Fury and get manaburned the game will not use Normal Attack instead, extremely annoying! My Merc also died a billion times until i had no cash left to revive him.

Then we have The Throne Room. Baal is casting Decrepify all the freaking time! This is no problem for casters but once again melee chars gets a hard time. The balance between casters and melee is extremely broken in this game, there were more frustrating and boring moments then fun moments in Hell difficulty.

We also got the AR-issue. Without alot of good AR-charms and Demon Limb you are screwed. I did manage to get my hands on some nice AR+Life GC's though. I used a +30 Str Amulett to equip Demon Limb aswell. But the repair cost is quite high.

Bosses were extremely easy though thanks to Crushing Blow and high damage. Ancients were also a walk in the park.

So in conclusion, it dosn't matter if you have good gear, alot of life and high damage. This game will always be frustrating for melee chars thanks to some poor design choices.

Thanks for reading!

ps. If someone has a nice base item for Obedience, like a 5os Eth Cryptic Axe or something and feels like donating it to me i would appreciate it!
I have been looking for one for a year now! .ds
 
Originally posted by Xdeathfire on Aug 16, 2008:

Patriarch UrsaWarrior: Hunger Bear

Well, this is my latest Patriarch. The name actually comes from Dota, the hero named fuzzy wuzzy the ursa warrior. I really didn't like fuzzy wuzzy at all and so ursa warrior was the only choice. Its really the perfect choice: fury swipes stackes like maul, earthquake is like shockwave, and fuzzy wuzzy has that one buff that makes him attack super fast like hunger.

Character level : 85

Strength : 107(157)
Energy : 20 (27)
Dexterity : 99 (136)
Vitality : 289(296)
LCS

Life : 2285(after werebear)
Defence : 5690
Block Percent : 29%

Gear:

Code:
Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x83dd9cc5
Lightning Resist +35%
Adds 1-30 lightning damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to All Skill Levels
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15
31% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)

Duress
Archon Plate
'ShaelUmThul'
Defense: 1557
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x577bb21a
+200% Enhanced Defense
+11% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +45%
Poison Resist +15%
Adds 37-133 cold damage over 2 seconds
40% Faster Hit Recovery
33% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
-20% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Raven Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 48
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xdc141b93
+11 to Dexterity
+3 to Life
+43 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +26%
10% Faster Cast Rate

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x5715a5ab
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+214 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Fiend Buckle
Mesh Belt
Defense: 47
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 85
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 92
Fingerprint: 0xcacc5a90
+27 to Strength
+13 to Life
+15% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +23%
Cold Resist +26%
1% Life stolen per hit
8% Chance of Open Wounds

Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 154
Durability: 34 of 34
Required Strength: 94
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6fcc4af4
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+187% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x5582134a
+15 to Strength
+120% Enhanced Defense
+6 to Maximum Damage
Adds 2-9 fire damage
Adds 1-100 lightning damage
30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Viper Scarab
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x897f8213
+6 to Maximum Damage
Adds 2-9 fire damage
Adds 1-100 lightning damage

Doom Clutches
Sharkskin Gloves
Defense: 77
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 96
Fingerprint: 0xe9fe2159
+11 to Life
+94% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +27%
Poison Resist +8%
2% Life stolen per hit
9% Chance of Crushing Blow
14% Chance to cast Level 5 Nova when struck

Azurewrath
Phase Blade
One-Hand Damage: 113 to 127
Required Dexterity: 136
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 85
Sword Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x408dc79c
+7 to Strength
+7 to Energy
+7 to Dexterity
+7 to Vitality
+265% Enhanced Damage
Poison Resist +15%
Adds 250-500 magic damage
Adds 250-500 cold damage over 10 seconds
+3 to Light Radius
45% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to All Skill Levels
Level 11 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Beryl Jewel of Fervor
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x4f4151f7
Poison Resist +15%
15% Increased Attack Speed

Tiamat's Rebuke
Monarch
Defense: 388
Chance to Block:  42%
Durability: 125 of 126
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 61
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1a251934
+15 to Mana
+192% Enhanced Defense
+3 to Minimum Damage
All Resistances +35
Adds 35-95 fire damage
Adds 2-220 lightning damage
Adds 27-53 cold damage over 6 seconds
+40 Maximum Durability
Required Level +7
5% Chance to cast Level 9 Frost Nova when struck
5% Chance to cast Level 7 Nova when struck
3% Chance to cast Level 6 Hydra when struck
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Stone Gyre
Jewel
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x37ec15bb
+15 to Mana
+3 to Minimum Damage
Adds 1-100 lightning damage

Mercenary Items :

Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x4c118121
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
Damage Reduced by 18%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
6% Life stolen per hit
7% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 0 used)

Leviathan
Kraken Shell
Defense: 1621
Required Strength: 174
Required Level: 65
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x69d22c8a
+47 to Strength
+184% Enhanced Defense
+133 Defense
Damage Reduced by 21%
Indestructible

The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 40 to 473
Durability: 63 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xa8dd3281
+236% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 2 seconds
14% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking

My Charms:

Code:
Bronze Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc43947c
+3 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-28 lightning damage

Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x84101b94
Adds 1-28 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x6e5e3723
+1 to Strength
Adds 1-36 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x35e93d5
Adds 1-39 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6ac0589b
Adds 1-30 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x63084e87
Adds 1-27 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x9a1f7ee8
Adds 1-43 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x188f0fb0
Adds 1-39 lightning damage
5% Extra Gold from Monsters

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x62b7e45
Adds 1-32 lightning damage

Shocking Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x659deb3
+31 to Life
Adds 1-71 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm of Flame
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x2c51a348
Adds 1-2 fire damage
Adds 1-40 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm of Anthrax
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xdf9f0310
Adds 1-30 lightning damage
+50 poison damage over 6 seconds

Arcing Small Charm of Fortune
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x9c7fd721
Adds 1-40 lightning damage
3% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Arcing Small Charm of Lightning
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x1e49591c
Adds 2-42 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6e29be7e
Adds 1-35 lightning damage

Crimson Small Charm of Storms
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x953bcdb7
Fire Resist +5%
Adds 1-24 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x7e6fb1c7
Adds 1-37 lightning damage

Shimmering Grand Charm of Quality
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x208e1071
+2 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +15

Ruby Small Charm of Shock
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x2837f770
Fire Resist +11%
Adds 1-6 lightning damage

Ruby Small Charm of the Icicle
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xc2558ed9
Fire Resist +11%
Adds 2-3 cold damage over 1 seconds

Shocking Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 82
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x4ff1253
Adds 1-52 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xd7cf950c
Adds 1-40 lightning damage

Arcing Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x7de59d91
Adds 1-30 lightning damage

Shocking Large Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 60
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x84b9c717
+6 to Life
Adds 1-80 lightning damage

The charms give me +23-829 lightning damage

Build Concept


20 Maul
20 Lycanthropy
20 Werebear
20 Heart of Wolverine
11 Hunger
Rest Prereqs

I originally got the idea of making this character back before my second hiatus from Diablo 2. I read the Kodiak guide from the Druid forum and thought that the build was really neat. Personally, I hate Druids the most, don't know really why at all, but I just do, and thought this build was very original and could be tons of fun. Since bears have a horrible blocking animation, I planned at first to make him using a 2 hander like Tomb Reaver or a Reapers Toll. However, Wanchu's farewell giveaway resulted in a brand new Azurewrath for me. It is listed as arguably the best 1 hander Kodiak bear and since I felt obligated to actually use the weapon on a Pat/Mat, this build came out.

Since Hunger makes physical damage quite low, I maxed out Maul, Werebear, and HoW to actually make the physical damage significant. The upside was that I had a 5 frame attack, crazy leech, and can supplement that with non physical damage which was dealt normally. Azurewrath gave a very nice 500-1000 non physical damage, Duress and ravenfrost had some nice cold damage, Tiamat's Rebuke had loads of elemental damage, and I had 2 +1-100 lightning jewels socketed along with all of my +lightning damage charms. In addition to that, I had

74% Crushing Blow
61% Deadly Strike
51% Open Wounds

The killing speed once Azurewrath was equipped was okay and /players 3 was doable as long as I didn't get surrounded fast since he had very poor ground control. It took me maybe an hour just to get through the River of Flame just because of all of the maggot young that surrounded meThe extremely high crushing blow, though, made bosses go down very quickly.

Normal

Meh, nothing really exciting stuff going on here. Just the normal twink the hell out of your character and one hit everything until you get accesss to all of your skills, which luckily, happens to be lvl 24 for me instead of the usual lvl 30.

Nightmare

Well, I used a Coldsteel Eye until I was high enough a level to equip Lightsabre. One really surprising thing is that Coldsteel Eye is actually a very good weapon. It has the same base speed as Phase Blades, has like 250 ED, 50% Deadly Strike, and just generally lots of very yummy mods. It could probably even serve as a half decent end game weapon when upped for someone on a budget. Again, nothing too special here.

Oh, this brings up something: I did a TON of MPing with this char. Now, this is what happens when you have a Blessed Aim merc, Heart of Wolverine spirit, Fanaticism Aura on you, and have used a Combat shrine:125k AR

Hell

By now, Lightsabre has dropped off in its killing power dramatically. This brings me to a point:

Why would anyone make the level requirement of Azurewrath 85? That is simply ridiculous. The weapon certainley is very powerful and nice, but the simple fact that an Enigma has a lower level requirement just frustrates you. You can easily Pat or Mat a character before level 80. In fact, Patting after level 85 actually requires lots of very slow and boring running, especially when your character was not built for any MFing in mind at all.

Hellforge, which I only reached at the very last path I explored in the River of Flame, gave me a Mal to compensate for my efforts, which was quite nice. Once Azurewrath was finally equipped, however, it was surprisingly how fun it was to fight against the OKs in the WSK. Basically Sanctuary pushed all of the melee guys out of the way to give you a straight path to proceeding to kill all of the OKs first.

Noticeable Finds

Mal from Hellforge
Harpoonist Grand Charm of Sustenance
A shimmering charm or two

Random Sutff

This character will definately go into retirement now. I didn't really build him for much purpose except to actually Pat a druid that was fun to play. However, I do have a potential variation of a Hunger Bear in a preliminary planning stage. If I manage to get the gear for that plan, do expect a remake of this character.

My next character will most likely be a javazon of some sort using windforce and strafe as a backup for LIs. Really a pretty cookie cutter build there. I plan to Pat/Mat a character of every class so after that amazon, I only have a barbarian and an assasin left. Don't really have an idea of what builds to make with them. I also have another paladin at quite an advance stage of planning. There just need to be some gear finalizations with him, but he would probably me made if not next, at least after the javazon.

Thanks

I would like to thank:

Wanchu for the Azurewrath which made the char possible

and

All the people who MPed with me to get this char patted as well as those who traded me all of those lightning damage charms. I actually do need more of them and better versions of them so expect to see them as a perennial ISO for me from now until the forseeable future.
 
Originally posted by Alfonso the Great on Jun 20, 2008:

Patriarch Schrute

I present for the committee's examination Patriarch Schrute, a Summoner Druid with a mild dabbling into the art of Shockwave for support. This is the first character I've created and played through since reinstalling about two weeks ago, and I forgot how addicting DII can be. Without further ado, Schrute.

Character name : Schrute
Character type : Druid
Character level : 81
Character exp : 747254197

Strength : 85
Energy : 20
Dexterity : 20
Vitality : 215
Stat Points Rem : 155
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 715 / 615
Mana : 182 / 180
Stamina : 352 / 354

Equipment:
Head: Rare Pelt (Anya's, no less--+2 Summoning, +2 Shockwave, +1 Spirit of Barbs, +38 Life)
Amulet: Trainer's Amulet of Greed (+1 Summoning, +34% Gold)
Weapon 1: Dark Clan Crusher
Shield: Sigon's Guard
Weapon 2: Ribcracker
Armor: Hawkmail
Belt: Sigon's Wrap
Gloves: Crafted Blood Sharkskin Gloves (9% CB, 1% LL, 16% Fire Resist, +16 Life)
Boots: Rare Greaves (12% Fire Resist, 16% Lightning Resist, 20% Faster R/W, Replenish Life +4, +67% Gold)
Ring 1: Rare Ring (29% Poison Resist, 12% MF, +45 AR)
Ring 2: Rare Ring (7% Fire Resist, 24% Poison Resist, +6 Life, Replenish Life +3, +50 Poison damage over 3 seconds)

Assorted Resist Charms (mostly Fire and Lightning), a few Hit Recovery and +AR charms; sadly, no skillers.

Basanti the Cold Rogue
Weapon: Cliffkiller
Armor: Toothrow
Helmet: Blackhorn's Face

Skills
20 Poison Creeper
1 Ravens
10 Spirit Wolf
20 Dire Wolf
20 Grizzly
1 Spirit of Oak
15 Spirit of Wolverine
1 Lycanthropy
1 Werewolf
1 Werebear
1 Maul
1 Shockwave

Played untwinked P8 through Normal and Nightmare, which by and large went by smoothly, then switched to P1 for Hell. I completed all quests (though not necessarily using all the rewards) and did my best to avoid rerunning areas.

The only troublesome spots were Normal Andariel and Duriel, who'd kill my weak summons seconds after I summoned them and thereby ate through my small mana supply like crazy; Hell Tal Rasha's Tomb (Unravelers plus Ghosts plus a Blunderbore Extra Strong, Fanaticism-Aura'd, Stone Skin Unique=not fun); Hell Frozen River (Gloams plus Succubi); and the Throne of Destruction (PI/CI Vampire unique coupled with a PI/Might Death Lord unique blocking the way to the throne). Also troublesome: the fact that I for the life of me could not find/gamble an amulet that enticed me more than one that dropped in Act 4 Normal.

Highlights:
Dark Clan Crusher popped in NM Arcane Sanctuary, though I can't recall if it was from a vampire or a Hell Clan (which would make it deliciously ironic).
Sigon's Shield and The Face of Horror from NM Meph. Sigon's Wrap from NM Diablo. Hawkmail from NM Baal. The brothers did me good. I also had Sigon's Boots from Act 5 Normal, but I ditched those for the rare greaves when they appeared in Hell Pits.
Hell Duriel fed me Cliffkiller (before that I had a rare long battle bow with sizable lightning damage that Normal Diablo gave up).
Endugu handed me Blackhorn's Face, which replaced The Face of Horror on the rogue. Hell Mephisto dropped Toothrow, which helped cement her as a killing machine and further reduced my wolves/bear to meatshields.
Hell Hellforge coughed up a Gul. Diablo gave up Stoneraven.
Hell Arreat Plateau gave me Ribcracker.
In a fit of pique, Hell Baal gave me Isenhart's Horns and a bunch of subpar rares. Bleh.

And that's that. Thanks to all who've churned through my dissertation. Now I move on to brighter fields--I've already muled Stoneraven onto a Fendazon who can't survive past Hell Black Marsh, so I'll either be getting back to her or making a new character...I'm considering a Leap Attack Barb.
 
Originally posted by aman on Aug 31, 2006:

Patriarch Townshend

Summon Druid - Level 80

Stength - 159
Dex - 130
Vita - 215
Energy - 25

Life - 824
Mana - 331

Resistances
Cold - 20
Fire - -21
Light - 13
Poisen - 71

Damage
Dire wolf - 1.5k-1.7k per wolf(without how and might)
Grizzly - 4k (without how and might)

Skills

20 - Spirit wolves
20 - Dire wolves
20 - Grizzly
20 - How

1 in all pre required skills

This was how it looked when i finished hell in a multiplayer game

I just spent the rest of my points getting shockwave and lycanthropy so i still have to see how effective this is.

Gear - Focused on caster setup

Helm - 2 Druid/3 Dire wolf/10FHR/small resi helm(coloured red)
Ammy - 3 Summon skills
Rings - 2 x BKWB
Belt - Arach
Gloves - Bloodfists
Boots - Sandstorms
Weapon - Hoto
Shield - Spirit
Armour - Viper

Inv - 6 Summon skillers/1 15 all resi gc/cube/tombs of town portal and identify.

Merc - Offensive

Helm - Tals helm
Weapon - Reapers
Armour - Duriels

Even though i did the last 3 acts part of an mp game i will be honest i was doing most of the work my summons dominated everything :rolleyes: 😁

This has been one of my favourite druids so far. I had planned to use a lancerator thats why my dex is abit high but it didn't turn out to work to well so i just stuck with the caster setup. The only problem he had was mainly in act 2 and that was the maggot lair. This was due to a number of reasons mainly my merc beeing an *** and not helping. If there were physical immunes my merc would be some where else.

Everywhere else was really quickly and i chose how over oak becuase the summon druid guide made a good point about it which was.




The only good find i can remember was an offensive skilelr with 33 life which is real good for my tesladin

Hellforge was a lum

I have had alot of fun with this character and highly recomend it , i think my next druid will be a summoner again but this time a hybrid still haven't decided on what kind.

Im sure i have forgotten something :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by bcoe on Nov 15, 2009:

Patriarch Corvus_Corax (faithful, teleporting hunter-summoner druid)

Patriarch Corvus_Corax


So his name changed from Accipter_Gentilis (Northern Goshawk) to Corvus_Corax (Common Raven), after some ribbing from Liquid_Evil about my penchant for tal-sorcs. Corvus is a cooler name, don’t know why it didn’t occur to me. I guess I was trying to pick a bird name that was a “hunter.”

Anyways, so this is a single-tree summoner druid with a rocking bow. A traditional hunter, I guess, with ridiculously over-powered gear.

STATS:
Name: Corvus_Corax
Level: 80
Strength: 69 (160)
Dexterity: 141 (146)
Vitality: 265 (270)
Energy: 20 (45)

Life: 1542 (after BO)
Mana: 685 (after BO)


Skills (after + skills and BO):
Summoning Tree:
Ravens: 9 (30)
Poison Creeper: 20 (41)
Grizzly: 20 (41)
Dire Wolves: 20 (41)
Heart of the Wolverine: 20 (41)
Spirit wolves: 1 (22)
Oak Sage: 1 (22)
Carrion Vine: 1 (22)

Elemental/Shape Shifting: None

Damage/AR:
Normal Attack: 1000-2478
AR: 5761
Screenshot of LCS: http ://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2900/cclcs.jpg


Thoughts on Skills:

A few points into Poison Creeper made a big difference in early normal. I max’d it in the end, and really like him, but ended up using carrion vine more often in dangerous parts of hell. Similarly, I used dire wolves mostly in Normal and Nightmare, and they were great, but they died too easily in Hell, and I mostly used grizzly there.

Overall, he was kind of slow up until level 42 when he put on Jalal's and all the skillers. He also equipped a Harmony bow, and everything was suddenly super-fast. The Valk from Harmony was a nice additional minion.

Equipment:
Head: Jalal’s Mane (Um)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope (29)
Armor: BP Enigma
Weapon: Faith Ward Bow (+2 skills, lvl 14 Fanaticism)
Belt: Arachnids (used razortail until 80)
Shield: N/A
Gloves: Magefists
Rings: 2x SOJ
Feet: Aldurs
Weapon Switch: CtA/Spirit. I used HotO/Spirit until my meager life amounts just got too dangerous.

Some choice gear readouts:
Code:
Faith
Ward Bow
'OhmJahLemEld'
Two-Hand Damage: 86 to 227
Required Dexterity: 146
Required Strength: 72
Required Level: 65
Bow Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xf93efe17
+330% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +15
+120 fire damage
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ignore Target Defense
300% Bonus to Attack Rating
75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
Level 14 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
10% Reanimate As: Returned
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Enigma
Breast Plate
'JahIthBer'
Defense: 836
Durability: 49 of 50
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0x3a795b20
+769 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
+0 to Strength (Based on Character Level)
1% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (3: 3 used)

The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 66 to 776
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 104
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x74af6ed9
+268% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 0 seconds
15% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (1: 1 used)


Charms:
8 Trainers skillers
Various small charms resists

Resists: 71/59/59/59 on CTA/Spirit switch (for teleporting), 75/39/39/39 on Faith switch


Merc: Might with Eth Reapers Toll (ruby jewel)/Dusk Shroud Fortitude/Guillaume’s Face (Ruby jewel)

Merc Damage: 1431-10218 (!)

Screenshot at level 80: http ://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3125/ccmerc.jpg

Previous to level 75, he used an eth Obedience thresher and got even sillier damage numbers.

Screenshot at level 59 (right after he put on his Fort): http ://img524.imageshack.us/img524/8448/ccmerclvl59.jpg (not bad for a mid-NM merc, huh?). At level 65, after Corvus could equip the Faith, Ahsab's damage max was ~12600.


Finds:
Hellforge: Fal/Fal
Not much else worth remembering.

Thoughts:

This was a ton of fun, and a nice change of pace for me. I have played some over-powered necro summoners a bunch, but I haven’t played a druid summoner for years. A level 41 Grizzly, with might, fanaticism, and HoW buffing him is a force to behold. He was one-hit-killing most of his victims even into late hell.

I used this druid pet calculator: http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~gottwald/druid_pet_calculator.html

These are the stats it provided for my Grizz:

HP: 8014
Attack rating: 24802
Damage: 10126-10469
FpA: 9 (normal) 13 (smite)
Hit recovery: 10
Resists: 85
Regen: 244.5
DPS: 10020.5

I never saw his life bar get below ~80% unless he was IM’d. An absolute beast. All I had to do was sit back and watch him plow through monsters. Of course, he had a henchman in Ahsab, who was doing comparable damage and was spreading Decrepify all around him. The two of them were unstoppable.

Faith worked great as a source of fanaticism, but it felt like my damage contribution was pretty trivial. I didn’t notice a huge difference in killspeed between me just sitting back and admiring the minions versus me plunking away with my 12 FpA normal attack. Still, I was happy with my 1-2k “normal” attack, and it was certainly fun sniping out the dangerous shamans or OKs.

For OKs, I’d just teleport on top of them and either Ahsab or Grizz would kill them immediately. They got IM’d a couple of times, but it wasn’t too bad.

I had a bunch of deaths due to over-aggressive play. If I just stayed back and watched, I was safe as can be. But teleporting into the middle of dangerous packs was a bad idea. I needed a good bit more life, FCR, and FHR to make that a viable move…

Great fun, but I think I’ll retire him for now. I highly recommend a summoning druid, at least to watch a ridiculously strong bear chew his way through any opponent.

Thanks for reading.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by HBeachBabe on Jan 24, 2005:

Patriarch Aardvark the Hunter

Named after one of the lesser animal dieties in the Druid pantheon, little Aardvark was often teased by others as a child for his less-than-fear-inspiring name. As such, he had few human friends and instead would spend his days in the woods with the animals. He developed a strong rappore with the woodland creatures and the earth spirits that govern them. While others of his clan were learning to tame the Earths primal natural forces of Air & Fire, Aardvark learned to talk to the animals, bringing them to him when he called.

Not being as physical strong as his brother druids, he eschewed the physical combat taught by his tribe. Instead, he learned the ways of the crossbow, fascinated by the odd mechanical device that even the other druid hunters avoided.

Outcast from his tribe, he made his way in the world alone, with only his animal friends for support until the day he found himself at the Rogue Camp. There he met the woman with whom he vowed to share his life with - a bow maiden named Ithera. Inspired by her desire to save her community, he set out with her to rid the world of evil. They eventually found themselves crisscossing Sanctuary, journey to the bowels of Hell itself before venturing to the land of his ancient cousins, Harrogath. It was there, high above the village, that He & Ithera defeated Baal in an epic battle. Aardvark plans to retire back to the Monestary with his beloved where he hopes to be able to teach the bow-using Rogues about the wonders of the crossbow.

Patriarch Aardvark the Hunter
level 84 Druid
nekkid/equip
str: 124/193
dex: 156/210
vit: 210/210
eng: 20/40

skills
raven, oak sage, poison creeper, carrion vine: 1/11
spirit wolves, dire wolves, grizzy, Heart of the Wolverine: 20/30
cyclone armor: 9/14
arctic blast: 1/6

(I tried to stay pure summoner, but after maxing out grizzy I needed to put points somewhere and cyclone armor is just too useful)

equipment:
Jalal's Mane
Chains of Honor Archon Plate
upgraded Buriza-do Kyanon socketed with a +5/-4 cold facet
Dracul's Grasp
Nosferatu's Coil
Gore Riders
Ravenfrost
Carrion Wind
Gimmershred & Tiamat's Rebuke on switch for PIs (and when I ran out of bolts)

pack had 5 Trainer's GCs (3 with 2nd cold mod), 6 toxic (or better) sc's, 1 boreal sc, 1 shocking sc

Ithera
lvl 84 rogue scout - ice
Dark Adherent
Nightwings Veil
upped Witchwild String with 2 Shaels
*******************************************

He was quite fun to play in Normal & Nightmare, since it's not a build that requires it's lvl 30 skills to kill effeciently. Granted running around with a few wolves isn't the fastest way to kill, but it's generally safe and they do actually do some damage. I went through NM using 3 dire wolves, 5 ravens, HoW and poison creeper and managed quite well, only switching to Grizzy for act bosses. By Hell, I was going to grizzly more often, for boss packs and other big critters. By act 4, Grizz was pretty much a constant companion.

I mostly MPed in Hell, but did a solo Baal run, just to prove that I could. Gloams were a serious problem, 1-hit killing me on a couple of occasions. A boss pack of PI hell witches were trouble too, but eventually went down - thank god for life tap. The minion waves were a piece of cake, not even Lister standing up to a fully synergized Grizzly.

Baal was a chore. He always spawned his damn clone and would teleport faster than my Grizzly could get to him. Then ol' Grizz would attack the appendages. after running through his entire stock of rejuvs, and TPing back 3 or 4 times, I figured out that the trick was to go in with just bear & spirit - no ravens, no vines, since they do nothing in that battle anyway. This seemed to keep the clone from spawning and allowed my bear to focus on just Baal. Then it was just a matter of slowly wearing him down. Took about 5-6 minutes, but eventually, he died, and Aardvark could rightfully claim his title: Patriarch of Sanctuary.

Sticking with an act 1 moron was to stay with the hunter theme. I just couldn't see a hunter druid teaming up with big polearm weilding guy.

I have now done 5 Mat/Pats. only 2 classes left - Amazon & Sorceress. I have a couple of 'zons back in normal, but have never played a 1.10 sorc and never played one at all past lvl 14 so my 7/7 mat/pats might take a while
 
Originally posted by Neksja on Dec 31, 2008:

Patriarch Turo, Fury/Summon (5/7 Fury Sept)

Character name : Turo
Character type : Druid
Character level : 85

Strength : 107
Energy : 20
Dexterity : 78
Vitality : 310

Life : 2465
Mana : 278

Resists : 54/48/48/75

Skills:

20 (35) Fury
20 (27) Dire Wolf
20 (27) Spirit Wolf
20 (27) Grizzly
10 (17) HoW

Damage (with Might, HoW and Enchant):
Fury: 651 - 7656 (10463 AR)
Feral: 474 - 5018 (9273 AR)

Dire Wolves (Stats according to Druid Pet Calculator):

Damage (with HoW and Might): 867 - 939
Attack Rating: 11323
Life: 912
Resists: 85

Gear:

Jalal's (15all res)
Mara's
Upped Athena's Wrath (Shael)
Fortitude AP
Crafted Blood Gloves
Raven Frost
Rare res/stat ring
String of Ears
Gores

Switch: Demon Limb
In stash: Upped Ribby (333ed/65ias)

Readouts
Code:
Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 290
Durability: 17 of 20
(Druid Only)
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x6b4b4e9f
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
+193% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +45
+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)

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x940e8475
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +25
+2 to All Skill Levels

Athena's Wrath
Thresher
'Shael'
Two-Hand Damage: 32 to 465
Durability: 35 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 60
Polearm Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x6002a820
+15 to Dexterity
+170% Enhanced Damage
+3 to Druid Skill Levels
Required Level +7
50% Increased Attack Speed
+85 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+85 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Fortitude
Archon Plate
'ElSolDolLo'
Defense: 1587
Durability: 56 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3bebbbe2
+200% Enhanced Defense
+300% Enhanced Damage
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +28%
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Cold Resist +28%
Poison Resist +28%
Replenish Life +7
+1 to Light Radius
25% Faster Cast Rate
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
20% Chance to cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+85 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Glyph Finger
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 62
Durability: 13 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x8289c664
+12 to Life
Fire Resist +6%
Poison Resist +19%
3% Life stolen per hit
3% Mana stolen per hit
Half Freeze Duration
9% Chance of Crushing Blow

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xcaa28ad3
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+234 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Ghoul Knot
Ring
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x2d9dc6ce
+20 to Strength
+15 to Dexterity
+78 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +10%
Lightning Resist +10%
Cold Resist +10%
Poison Resist +20%
Replenish Life +7

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 102
Durability: 20 of 22
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3120827d
+151% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 11
Damage Reduced by 13%
6% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 156
Durability: 32 of 34
Required Strength: 94
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x1488783e
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+189% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One-Hand Damage: 104 to 190
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Strength: 133
Required Level: 63
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe588cdf6
+228% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +20%
Adds 222-333 fire damage
9% Life stolen per hit
123% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
Level 23 Enchant (19/20 Charges)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Ribcracker
Stalagmite
Two-Hand Damage: 354 to 528
Durability: 127 of 130
Required Dexterity: 35
Required Strength: 63
Required Level: 58
Staff Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x356f26e6
+15 to Dexterity
+100% Enhanced Defense
+333% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+65 to Maximum Damage
+100 Defense
+100 Maximum Durability
Required Level +7
65% Increased Attack Speed
50% Faster Hit Recovery
150% Damage to Undead
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Charms:
Code:
Spiritual Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x5d0ec9fe
+31 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)

Spiritual Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xd1a25006
+36 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)

Spiritual Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xebac602e
+37 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)

Fine Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xe80db633
+10 to Life
+10 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage

Shimmering Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0xdf1bdeab
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 50
Fingerprint: 0xd05b9909
All Resistances +5

Fine Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3ca5865b
+20 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage
3% Faster Run/Walk

Fine Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x30ef9342
+15 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Fine Small Charm of Anthrax
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 36
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x30508bce
+16 to Attack Rating
+3 to Maximum Damage
+50 poison damage over 6 seconds

Spiritual Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x36f47772
+36 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)

Spiritual Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 83
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xa1b715ec
+45 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)

Spiritual Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0x74a822d0
+21 to Life
+1 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)


Mercenary, Act2 Might :
Code:
Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 972
Durability: 126 of 126
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x643b1775
+23 to Strength
+185% Enhanced Defense
+29% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +50%
Poison Resist +20%
+100 Maximum Durability
Cannot Be Frozen
+106 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
+85 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (1: 1 used)

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc21218fd
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
Damage Reduced by 17%
Cold Resist +11%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
7% Life stolen per hit
7% Mana stolen per hit
15% Increased Attack Speed
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Socketed (1: 1 used)

The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
'Amn'
Two-Hand Damage: 35 to 418
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x8a924b42
+197% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 0 seconds
20% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Socketed (1: 1 used)



Gameplay

Again, standard playing like Fury Druid, but with a little twist. Before leaving town, I always summoned 3 Dire Wolves, 5 Ravens and HoW, then Enchant myself and wereform and action.

Dire Wolves. Okay, as you can see, they won't be doing huge damage to help you, but they're awesome for some distraction. They won't survive long if Dire Wolf is alone, but when they're teamed together, they can stand quite long actually. Also, if all the three attacks against one monster, it's not horrible damage that they do. But the point is, they're not killers, they're just some distraction and cuteness.

How about Grizzly Bear then? This is a Fury sept, go make an Ugly Bear to see those in action. you can also read this: just used as synergy

Low HoW? Yup, decided to take that route. After the +skills, WW gives me +120% Life and duration is 385 seconds, so need to improve that, so some extra AR/Damage in a form of Spirit. And, all of you who have ever maxed any of the spirits knows that it really doesn't matter what level they are, they always die instantly. Also, it's so easy to recast a Spirit that it came as a habit to me :)


Tough Places

Once again, I had no better PI solution than Reaper's on Merc. That gave me some proplems in areas that have those Ghosts, but I managed to run/get merc first quite well. Propably the toughest place was Frozen River. Ghosts and Gloams with Skeleton Mages was nasty. Notice, no chance to leech, one PI monster, my low light res = 3 deaths. Almost gave up, but I got lucky when I decided I'll try to run all the way to Frozenstein.

WSK/Throne was not that bad. Both had Gloams, but Throne had two other bosspacks with Conviction so it was a little harder. No big problems though, but took some time to clear. Waves were easy, Merc died only once against Lister's Gang. Baal was super easy, thanks to Ribcracker, I used to get Baal's health very low (with Ribby, my CB was 74%)


Fury Sept

He is 5th to finish and that lvl49 MLD druid is still standing in RoF Hell, waiting to get the rest of the questing done. I've decided, he's the next one to "finish", so I can get some more time to figure out my Fury/Rabies Druid's weapon.

Getting closer to the end, but no worries, I've already planned a new sept (this time real sept, with char from all the classes), so I won't be leaving any day soon :crazyeyes: Also, here's the table I've used with this Fury sept:

Code:
Build        Name        Level        Weapon

*Pure Fury    Lionfury    lvl91        Tombreaver
*Earthshifter    Alcolhol    lvl89        Earthshifter
*Tornado    Swind        lvl85        Stormlash
*Summoner    Turo        lvl85        Athena's Wrath
*FC        Amanu        lvl83        Rare Fanged Knife
MLD        Furylion    lvl49        Oath Feral Axe
Rabies        Tao        lvl1        ???
* = done


Finds

Not much, Gores from AT and Ist rune from HF. That's pretty much all.


Thanks

SPF
Who ever traded me that 300ed Ribby (I'm thinking 'poops?)


See you guys with the next one 👋
 
Originally posted by Swamigoon on May 15, 2015:

Patriarch Zasz, Arctic Shaman

After a couple of years of no D2LoD (didn't have a computer that could run it until recently), I'm back into it. Fortunately, I had backed up my SP characters and GoMule stashes, so I was able to pick up where I left off. A few more weeks of work, and I finally finished a project that I had started way back in version 1.10: Zasz, my Arctic Shaman (arctic blast hunter druid).

Code:
Name:       Zasz
Class:      Druid
Experience: 1226345557
Level:      86

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   80/85
Dexterity:  130/168
Vitality:   270/270
Energy:     40/76
HP:         732/896
Mana:       230/260
Stamina:    414/458
Defense:    32/1011
AR:         620/5994

Fire:       108/68/8
Cold:       129/89/29
Lightning:  116/76/16
Poison:     88/48/-12

MF:         30       Block:      17
GF:         0

Skills:
Code:
Raven: 1/3
Poison Creeper: 1/3
Oak Sage: 1/4
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1/3
Carrion Vine: 1/3
Summon Dire Wolf: 20/22
Solar Creeper: 1/3
Summon Grizzly: 14/16

Arctic Blast: 20/31
Cyclone Armor: 20/28
Twister: 1/9
Tornado: 1/9
Hurricane: 15/23

Final Gear:
Code:
Main weapon: Wizendraw, -35% ECR
Weapon switch: Kuko Shakaku
Pelt: Lore RW Antlers, +3 Arctic Blast, +1 Oak Sage
Body: Naj's Light Plate
Hands: Loath Touch rare gauntlets, +2 dex, 22% Cres, 14% Lres, 30% Fres, 16% MF
Belt: Bladebuckle
Feet: Hailstone Tread rare demonhide boots, 20% frw, 10% fhr, +15AR, 51% enh.Def, +25max Stamina, +2 light radius
Neck: Gaean Amulet of Precision, +3 elemental skills, +12 dex
Rings: Eagle Grasp rare ring (+8 min.Damage, +5% AR, +19 max Stamina, +9% LRes, +9% CRes, +9% FRes, +25% Pres, +5 light radius)
and Order Master rare ring (+53 AR, +14 dex, +11 energy, +8% all resist, -25% poison length, 10% MF)
Pack: Natural Grand Charm x3, and a variety of other small charms.
Stashed gear: Rhyme RW heater, Gaean cudgel

Chalan's (A2 NM might-aura mercenary) gear:
Hand of Justice ethereal colossus voulge
Guillaume's Face
The Gladiator's Bane

Just about every hunter druid that I have seen or played has these features in common: dire wolves/grizzly dealing physical damage, usually augmented by a might-aura mercenary and/or a heart-of-wolverine spirit, and the druid plinking away from behind with a bow or crossbow. That's usually enough to dish out sufficient physical damage, so single-player hunter builds just need some way to deal with PI monsters. Arctic blast seemed to the "the road less traveled," and I just love it's visual effect and its soft hissing noise, so that's the build I determined I would pursue.

Arctic blast works best when the druid's hurricane is active and the druid is positioned at just the right distance away from the monster, so that the target is getting pulse damage from the hurricane at the same time it's getting damage-per-frame from AB. Think of AB and hurricane as forming a capital letter Q - the sweet spot is the intersection.

I started this build many years ago - 7 or 8 years in the making, I guess? During those years, I have managed to defeat Hell Baal with about ten other assorted characters. When I discovered GoMule, I happily transferred some gear to Zasz to help him advance a little farther along. He has the best Wizendraw bow I have ever found. I put it on Zasz as an experiment, comparing his level 34 (Gaean cudgel) arctic blast to his level 31 arctic blast aided by Wizendraw's -35% cold resist. I was pleasantly surprised that monsters' life bars seemed to shrink noticeably faster when Zasz blew his minty-fresh breath at them through the bow.

As I progressed through Hell difficulty, I didn't know whether I would fully synergize dire wolves and grizzly and leave arctic blast only partially synergized, or fully synergize arctic blast at the expense of the grizzly. In the end, I split the difference, boosting both grizzly and the hurricane equally, so neither the pets nor the arctic blast are fully synergized.

Of course I had the trouble I usually have with Hell difficulty Ancients/WSK/Baal, until I GoMule'd the Guillaume's Face over to Zasz's mercenary. I believe it basically comes down the the crushing blow modifier. With CB on merc, Zasz achieved patriarch. Without that CB, Zasz probably would never have patted.

Hunters (bow wielding druid summoners) are my favorite characters to play, and I have several other hunter projects going on, so hopefully I'll get to report another patriarch hunter druid someday.
 
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