Nof - Fury Druid long Journey

[NorthKorea]

I've been browsing this diablo 2 enthusiast forum for a long time. I played the game myself for a very long time but had a long break over time. I never got to lvl 99 and actually rather played mainly to dress up the character and that's about it. I never focused on "one" character but kept creating new characters.

I haven't started yet because it's the World Cup and other responsibilities are doing their thing So it's worth enlisting knowledge and discussing before anything else.

Now after buying diablo 2 resurrected I want to start playing from the beginning quietly, but with some assumptions such as:

1) I want to create a fury druid and I want it to be my only character until lvl 99.

2) I want to gain 99 lvl with this character even if it takes a few years. I don't care about time to do it all in the fastest way possible, but also if there is an intermediate way I will use that too.

3) I want to kill diablo clone and destroy ubers.

I haven't played for a very long time so I'm open to all tidbits, suggestions and advice to make my goal come true.

I have a few questions:

* What should I give in stats? Strength, agility and life? I am not interested in block I want to fight with 2H weapons unless you think otherwise and make me change my decision.

* Which mercenary should I take? Might from the second act? Or from the first act with faith?

* What do you guys think should be my priority when it comes to lvl 99? Where would you see the druid's fury in such an option? I would like to add that in terms of armour, I will choose fortitude and I rather not want enigma to ease my issues over time.

* What would you focus on in terms of MF? I'd like to play in such a way that I don't just play Lower Kurast and spend a few weeks there, but enjoy the delights of diablo 2. So let's say I go to Andariel one day, Duriel the next, some cave the third, and then diablo or baal or mix it up somehow so I don't get bored.

* What skills would you guys focus on first for development? I know that fury from lvl 30 onwards I will max out but what before that? And of course which souls do you think are worth investing in? HOW?

If any questions come to me I will give with my next posts.

I am happy to be here with you. And I hope that after a week or a month I will continue on my way and not run out.
For potential grammatical and logical errors, I apologise in advance ; )

 

[Excalibur]

Hey there and welcome!
Aiming for 99 untiwnked requires a lot of dedication so I hope you are not going to give up!

* What should I give in stats? Strength, agility and life? I am not interested in block I want to fight with 2H weapons unless you think otherwise and make me change my decision.

The usual path is to add enough Strength and Dexterity for gear and the rest can go to vitality.

* Which mercenary should I take? Might from the second act? Or from the first act with faith?

In such builds I almost always root for damage above everything else. The extra damage from a Might Mercenary with Reaper's is simply too good to leave behind.

* What do you guys think should be my priority when it comes to lvl 99? Where would you see the druid's fury in such an option? I would like to add that in terms of armour, I will choose fortitude and I rather not want enigma to ease my issues over time.

Damage definitely. The faster you can kill the better everything will be. The more player settings you can handle the greater and faster the experience will be. Getting an Anni as fast as possible would also help for the extra experience gained.

* What would you focus on in terms of MF? I'd like to play in such a way that I don't just play Lower Kurast and spend a few weeks there, but enjoy the delights of diablo 2. So let's say I go to Andariel one day, Duriel the next, some cave the third, and then diablo or baal or mix it up somehow so I don't get bored.

This might be the most difficult part. Mfing with such characters espeically when you are starting from scratch is not going to be very profitable. My suggestion would be to gear up your char with the best possible gear you find and keep the player settings as high as possible. Doing Travincal runs would probably your best bet to acquire valuable loot.

* What skills would you guys focus on first for development? I know that fury from lvl 30 onwards I will max out but what before that? And of course which souls do you think are worth investing in? HOW?

I would put Werewolf in priority and then spread the points between Heart of the Wolverine and Lycanthropy. You just have to decide whether you want to invest in Feral Age or to summonings. Heart of the Wolverine for the damage and Attack Rating is definitely the one to choose for the Spirit.
Personally, I would leave the summonings out and invest in the Shapeshifting tree so my final build would look like this:

20 Fury
20 Feral Age
20 Werewolf
20 Lycanthropy
20 Heart of the Wolverine

Cyclone Armor can be casted now while in Werewolf form so 1 point would be nice to have.

 

[SirName]

Adding to what Excalibur said.

I know you did not care about how long it takes but maybe starting out as a not so item dependant caster (fire) instead of a highly item dependant meleeist could be a good idea. Respec to melee when found enough of basic stuff from NM Meph and Hell Andy, Hell Meph.

This is a personal preference but I would skip spirits entirely. When you need them they die. Whereas even a 1 point grizzly might be a good decoy at least. Not saying How will not help but after planned endgame gear, skills and Might from merc, the added ED and AR from How will be a “drop in the ocean”.

 

[Arparrabiosa]

I know you did not care about how long it takes but maybe starting out as a not so item dependant caster (fire) instead of a highly item dependant meleeist could be a good idea. Respec to melee when found enough of basic stuff from NM Meph and Hell Andy, Hell Meph.

I was going to say something along those lines. Starting out Normal as a fire druid, then respeccing to a wind druid in mid-late NM, then going to a melee druid for the high (90+) levels could be indeed a good idea. And you would be playing all the main druid builds in one character, which is kind of cool.

 

[Excalibur]

I think the most entertaining part of this journey is to choose the build you want to create and stick to it until the very end just to enjoy the whole process of building it. Starting with an easier build and respecting later might be more effectively but you are losing the best part of it.

Regarding the Spirits, leaving them out is a huge mistake for me. The damage but mainly the AR is very important. It may suffer in crowed places but for the most part of the game it can stay alive. Don't forget that a level 20 Spirit will have much more health than a level 1 Grizzly bear. At some point CTA will be added to the build which will increase the Spirit's survivability.

 

[PhineasB]

My take is the most important thing for 99er journey is to pick a character that's fun and engaging, even if not the most XP efficient option, as nearly any build can make it to 99 (within reason). But I think that should be balanced against whether a character with certain limitations will continue to be fun for the full journey, if completing is the ultimate goal, especially if the choice will make the duration considerably longer.

I know that, personally, I would never get a character through the finish line if he had to walk and didn't have decent area of effect attack for pushing the XP journey. But strijdje got a Wolfbarb to 99 in v1.10, so go figure. And quite a few of early 99ers didn't have Enigma and managed with Baal runs and a good map.

So assuming Fury Druid and no Enigma, I think Baal runs are likely the best option for later leveling. I think the progression noted by @SirName and @Arparrabiosa makes sense and (having done a fire -> windy druid 99er) can vouch for that being a solid progression. If @NorthKorea prefers staying Fury the whole way, it may be worth focusing on Feral Rage until finding a really powerful weapon with solid on-weapon IAS. I don't play D2R so am not sure exactly how attack speed landed for Druids, but in D2L, Fury is likely to be a challenge with early game weapons and limited IAS to aid follow-on attack speed.

Good luck, and hoping to see Nof's progress in the untwinked 99er thread!