- May 12, 2007
- 2,489
- 82
- 18
Well I did say I wanted to do cookie cutters. In this case, though, I’ve done almost this exact skill distribution before, which sort of explains the name, since I felt the similarity to Patior seemed senseless to fight. As for the names, Patior means something like “I suffer†in Latin and, as I said in the Pat thread, I anticipated feeling quite a bit of suffering in playing him, but found joy instead – he’s not my favorite, but he’s damn close (#3, most days) and was insanely fun and he still definitely is, in my mind, the best character I’ve ever planned/designed, being powerful as well as stupidly safe. Fruor, also Latin, supposedly means “I enjoy,†which seemed perfect in opposition to Patior’s name as I see this character’s playstyle in opposition to Patior’s. That is to say Patior was a single-target meleer who had the skills only to aid that goal, whereas those same skills are the goal for Fruor. I dig the name differences because I should enjoy this build and if I don’t it becomes funny because of the irony.
Tl;dr: lol. I gave my char a name!
The Character:
Name: Fruor
Class: Druid
Experience: 1001367147
Level: 84
Naked/Gear
Strength: 146/191
Dexterity: 20/21
Vitality: 324/368
Energy: 20/69
HP: 837/924
Mana: 186/468
Stamina: 466/466
MF: 84 Block: 1
GF: 93
FR/W: 43
FHR: 160 (6 frames)
FCR: 83 (12 frames)
Resists:
Fire: 41
Cold: 6
Lightning: 84 (75)
Poison: 28
Skills:
Oak Sage, Solar Creeper: 1/10
Summon Grizzly: 7/16
Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, Hurricane: 20/29
1 in required skills; none saved. Splurged on Solar Creeper for the weak Meditation replacement which was quite nice, actually, especially around mana burners as it doesn’t really die when you need it, and provides some handy corpse disposal for the gg.
Gear:
Charms:
Hazade, Prayer Merc:
Gear progression:
Arctic/Berserker’s + 3xHel and 3xJewel of Envy Great Maul -> Sigon’s + Great Maul, swapped out Sigon’s hat for Iratha’s and added in Iratha’s amulet at 15 then brought in Bonesnap for the Great Maul at 24. Spirit + Wall of the Eyeless came in at 25. Merc got Insight Halberd at 27.
Questing:
Normal:
Meleed until level 25, was actually quite nice as whacking baddies with a Druid using a big weapon has a comforting feel for me. Did use Twister a bit before 25, when swarmed by flayers. p8 until about the Claw Viper Temple, then variable p3-p8 (p8 for bosses) depending on pack density until about Act IV, when I switched back to full time p8. Two deaths, but both to carelessness as opposed to actual problems. Bosses were kind of slow, but no worries. I’d say the big part of the difficulty really was getting myself familiar with using Tornado. Ran Pindle until 42 (for Jalal’s,) then Baal until 54 (for Spirit Monarch.)
Nightmare:
p8 most of the way. Noticed a real slowdown in killspeed at Mephisto and then continued slowing in Act IV, so I swapped Sigon’s armor for Que-Hegan’s and added in a Natural skiller (junk suffix). Everything seemed to come together nicely then.
Mephisto killed the bear and the merc and sent me back to town. Dropped to p5 for the Diablo fight, but regretted it immediately as he was an absolute joke. Seriously, the bear can tank him for days, it was fantastic.
Frigid Highlands had rogue archers, skeleton archers and boars, including a nice little NDE with a pack of regular skeleton archers right beside a bosspack of archers flanked by a champ pack of boars. Succubi, bone mages and vipers were a pain in the Crystalline Passage.
The Ancient’s Way presented a conundrum. Massive dogs (Afflicted), small hamsters (Spike Fiends) and walking blue Teddy Bears (Frozen Terrors) were attacking my character; someone who supposedly lives in harmony with nature finds himself beset upon by some of nature’s mildest creatures and I just couldn’t understand why. Then it struck me: “Fruor†is Latin! These critters must loathe pretension! :badteeth: ;p
Immediately I felt terrible, of course, since my obtuseness placed him in such perilous straights (as opposed to Dire Straits, which would mean he was in the wrong game :badteeth
and set my mind toward remedying the mistake (I figured a “mea culpa†would be in poor taste....) Before I could come up with anything, though, I realized the present precarious peril proved prosaic. Errr, that is to say the household pets proved no danger to the tornado wielding magician and his ensemble.
Ancients took a little while on p8, but were no threat. Worldstone Keep started out with Cantors and the minions, Dark Lords and witches. A pair of witch bosspacks and a cantor bosspack in the same room made for a tense time, but it worked out alright. Throne spawn was dolls, gloams and frenzytaurs. Was very glad it wasn’t Hell at that point... but the game did apologize by giving me a skiller for my troubles. A Preserver’s. Thanks. -_- Ventar and Lister’s packs each forced a merc resurrection. Baal hopped around like crazy and cloned himself early on, but casting the bear on him gave me time to run him down each time and peg him a bit with tornado before he ported away again. No real danger, but it took a little while.
Ran Pindle/Baal until merc hit 75. Faced one PI Dark Lord in the Throne during that time which I ended up meleeing with the merc. Was nice enough to drop Whitstan’s for my troubles, which was nice.
Hell:
Act 1, p3. Cold Plains waypoint played peakaboo with me. Killed Blood Raven, cleared the Mausoleum and took a muling break then started back to find the Stony Field. Along the way was killing bosspacks/large packs and checking the loot ... Flawless Sapphire ... socketed bow ... Vex rune. Hey, nice, I’ve never found one of those before. I think the highest non-HF rune I’ve found while questing previously has been like a Pul, maybe an Um. Nice. Switched on some MF and ran the Pits until 81 to finish off the build before moving on. Andy dropped well.
Down to p1 after Act I, where I kept it except for boss fights. Radament was PI. Had a really long fight in the Claw Viper Temple when I walked through a door and was knocked back into the hallway by a viper minion, whose leader was Stone Skin and Mana Burn on top of being backed up by five champ unravelers. Nothing terribly dangerous but I couldn’t get through the doorway to take down the unravelers until the vipers were dealt with. Beyond that, I think this may be the fastest I ever found the staff receptacle. Duriel forced a purple on the merc; dropped 3 S/U’s, none really useful.
Level 2 of the Flayer Dungeon was fun times. Came down the stairs and followed the hallway leading to the east. After a bit it opened up into a pair of doorways leading into the same room, said room containing dolls, a champ pack of flayer shamen and a ghost bosspack (PI, of course.) We fell back to the hallway bottleneck and I spammed tornado like a madman, taking only limited damage from a rogue dolls who ran past everyone else. Mephisto dropped Tarnhelm(28%) and an ethereal failed unique Legend Sword.
No gloams in the Plains of Despair. Hephasto was no worries. Um was nice from the forge. Forgot to up to p3 for Diablo, so I only got five items, three of them failed set.
Gloams, ghosts and witches in the Frozen River. While battling a bosspack of witches the bear awakened a bosspack of gloams and a pack of ghosts which led to the death of everyone save the vine and the druid, who then beat a hasty (as hasty as possible when frozen...) retreat back to the stairs, with the boss ghost and a couple minions right on our heels. Resurrected the merc, came back and brought down the ghost then proceeded onward to run into the trailing Holy Freeze gloam boss, who, just for fun, was also LE and Mana Burn. Corridors were fun for being put in gloam crossfires, one in particular was cute as we had a gloam pack from across the river above shooting at us on one end and on the other end the mirror version, with a pack in the center of the corridor as well ... backed up by a champ pack of ghosts (one possessed, of course, cause why not.) Had to clear ~90% of the level to find Anya, so I went ahead and did the last 10% for fun. Resist scroll meant I finally had positive resists for everything.
First roll of Ancients were Cursed, Fanat, Mana Burn, Extra Strong; rerolled when I lost the merc. Next spawn was innocuous and easily split. Stepped into WSK and were greeted by a Might bosspack of Frenzytaurs. Behind that, a Might pack of Vampires, then just down the hall a conviction pack of defilers and around the corner an ES/EF/CE pack of Frenzytaurs. It was a warm welcome. Hell throne was Gloams, Dolls and Horadrim Ancients which meant I actually got an even worse spawn than the Nightmare one. Woot! -___- Lister’s pack forced a retreat but was no real threat to the druid. Baal took forever.
Deaths:
Two. Normal Halls of the Dead level 1,cursed by a bosspack of bats and surrounded by skeletons/guardians = recovery lock, and to unholy bolts in Normal Viper Temple.
Finds:
-NM HF: Lem
-Hell HF: Um
-+2 Javelin skills, 11%MF, 3%ML, +12dex rare gloves
-Vex in Cold Plains
-the MFSC’s he’s using
-Trainer’s skiller
-Preserver’s skiller
-Lots of crafting runes, socketables, pgems, etc. but nothing particularly notable
Thoughts:
Well, keeping with the comparison, I would have to say I much prefer Patior. Maybe I’m just bad (and possibly this is it, cause I can tell I'm incredibly rusty O_O), but I can’t figure aiming Tornado out. It wouldn’t be so annoying if I had something I could aim in addition (like with Blizzard and Glacial Spike/Ice Blast). Even if you’re standing on top of a single enemy, the tornado sometimes decides to pop out the side of the char’s thigh and shuffle harmlessly around. Especially frustrating when you’re trying to line up shots on critters the merc has Decrepified, only to watch your casts miss absolutely everything.
I wouldn’t say I suffered with playing him, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it, either. The Frozen River, for instance, was probably the longest time I spent to get through any one area (Baal probably being close; ~20-30 minutes) and it really wasn’t that bad, but it just felt awful. My first mat/pat, a lightning sorceress, took about the same time to get through the Frozen River, but was fun because I could count on her skills doing their job – if I used Lower Resist on a gloam and then shot it with lightning it would take damage – whereas with Fruor I could round up a group of ghosts, lead them to the merc to be decrepified then line up to the side of them and have all the tornadoes shoot off to the right, then move behind them and have everything fire off to the left, all the while being hounded by gloam lightning and witch bolts. I would liken playing the wind druid to working with faulty equipment: it frustrates, especially when pressure’s on.
Next Up:
I’m thinking Whirlwind. Probably doing some AT runs in the meantime, though.
Thanks for reading!
Tl;dr: lol. I gave my char a name!
The Character:
Name: Fruor
Class: Druid
Experience: 1001367147
Level: 84
Naked/Gear
Strength: 146/191
Dexterity: 20/21
Vitality: 324/368
Energy: 20/69
HP: 837/924
Mana: 186/468
Stamina: 466/466
MF: 84 Block: 1
GF: 93
FR/W: 43
FHR: 160 (6 frames)
FCR: 83 (12 frames)
Resists:
Fire: 41
Cold: 6
Lightning: 84 (75)
Poison: 28
Skills:
Oak Sage, Solar Creeper: 1/10
Summon Grizzly: 7/16
Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, Hurricane: 20/29
1 in required skills; none saved. Splurged on Solar Creeper for the weak Meditation replacement which was quite nice, actually, especially around mana burners as it doesn’t really die when you need it, and provides some handy corpse disposal for the gg.
Gear:
Code:
Que-Hegan's Wisdom
Mage Plate
Defense: 660
Durability: 58 of 60
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x12abd26c
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+152% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Energy
Magic Damage Reduced by 7
+3 to Mana after each Kill
Jalal's Mane
Totemic Mask
Defense: 251
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xa47c2d25
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shape-Shifting Skills (Druid Only)
+2 to Druid Skill Levels
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+154% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
+20 to Energy
All Resistances +30
+5 to Mana after each Kill
24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Topaz
Perfect Topaz
Required Level: 18
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 40 Lightning Damage
Armor: 24% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: Lightning Resist +40%
Doom Talisman
Amulet
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x94d0aa56
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Druid Skill Levels
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+14 to Energy
+43 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%
Fire Resist +9%
Soul Fist
Heavy Gloves
Defense: 9
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xd943728d
Item Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 3 Frost Nova when struck
+38% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +13%
Fire Resist +5%
Half Freeze Duration
Poison Length Reduced by 25%
Immortal King's Pillar
War Boots
Defense: 127
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 125
Fingerprint: 0xfa4344cd
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+40% Faster Run/Walk
+110 to Attack Rating
+75 Defense
+44 to Life
Set (2 items): 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Set (3 items): +2 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
Set (4 items): +160 Defense
Set (5 items): Half Freeze Duration
(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
Rune Finger
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0xe75aa227
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Minimum Damage
4% Mana stolen per hit
+1 to Dexterity
+79 to Mana
All Resistances +11
Lightning Resist +10%
Beast Circle
Ring
Required Level: 51
Fingerprint: 0xc5af37db
Item Level: 71
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Minimum Damage
Lightning Resist +14%
Fire Resist +20%
Poison Resist +22%
Magic Damage Reduced by 1
Immortal King's Detail
War Belt
Defense: 194
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0xb0187958
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+36 Defense
+25 to Strength
Lightning Resist +31%
Fire Resist +28%
Set (2 items): +105 Defense
Set (3 items): +25% Faster Hit Recovery
Set (4 items): +100% Enhanced Defense
Set (5 items): Damage Reduced by 20%
Set (6 items): +2 to Masteries Skills (Barbarian Only)
(2 items): +50 to Attack Rating
Spirit
Superior Broad Sword
TalThulOrtAmn
One Hand Damage: 7 - 14
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 48
Fingerprint: 0x202a66bb
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+26% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+97 to Mana
+4 Magic Absorb
Increase Maximum Durability 15%
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%
Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%
Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%
Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 143
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xab1aec2a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+27% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+92 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune
Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%
Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%
Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%
Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Bonesnap (on switch)
Maul
Two Hand Damage: 119 - 171
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 69
Fingerprint: 0x51c17001
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
298% Enhanced Damage
+200% Damage to Undead
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Cold Resist +30%
Fire Resist +30%Charms:
Code:
Gheed's Fortune
Grand Charm
Required Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0x4e754109
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
93% Extra Gold from Monsters
Reduces all Vendor Prices 12%
26% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Natural Grand Charm of Winter
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x9f2b38cb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
Adds 4 - 11 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
Trainer's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x15f06a48
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Druid Only)
Bronze Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x94bc39e6
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Attack Rating
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x53e7b403
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Garnet Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xf5c0898
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +8%
Serpent's Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xb90c9933
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
+14 to ManaHazade, Prayer Merc:
Code:
Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 689
Durability: 31 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xa0e5aa31
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+188% Enhanced Defense
+105 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability
Giant Skull
Bone Visage
Defense: 424
Durability: 37 of 40
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x75d5d09f
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 9 - 8 Damage
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
Knockback
+317 Defense
+33 to Strength
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Jewel of Bliss
Socketed: Jewel of Wrath
Jewel of Bliss
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xef734763
Item Level: 43
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Minimum Damage
Jewel of Wrath
Jewel
Required Level: 8
Fingerprint: 0x2bb83745
Item Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Maximum Damage
The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 37 - 438
Durability: 52 of 65
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0xcb0e92f2
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
211% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4 - 44 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (23 Frames)
13% Life stolen per hit
33% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%Gear progression:
Arctic/Berserker’s + 3xHel and 3xJewel of Envy Great Maul -> Sigon’s + Great Maul, swapped out Sigon’s hat for Iratha’s and added in Iratha’s amulet at 15 then brought in Bonesnap for the Great Maul at 24. Spirit + Wall of the Eyeless came in at 25. Merc got Insight Halberd at 27.
Questing:
Normal:
Meleed until level 25, was actually quite nice as whacking baddies with a Druid using a big weapon has a comforting feel for me. Did use Twister a bit before 25, when swarmed by flayers. p8 until about the Claw Viper Temple, then variable p3-p8 (p8 for bosses) depending on pack density until about Act IV, when I switched back to full time p8. Two deaths, but both to carelessness as opposed to actual problems. Bosses were kind of slow, but no worries. I’d say the big part of the difficulty really was getting myself familiar with using Tornado. Ran Pindle until 42 (for Jalal’s,) then Baal until 54 (for Spirit Monarch.)
Nightmare:
p8 most of the way. Noticed a real slowdown in killspeed at Mephisto and then continued slowing in Act IV, so I swapped Sigon’s armor for Que-Hegan’s and added in a Natural skiller (junk suffix). Everything seemed to come together nicely then.
Mephisto killed the bear and the merc and sent me back to town. Dropped to p5 for the Diablo fight, but regretted it immediately as he was an absolute joke. Seriously, the bear can tank him for days, it was fantastic.
Frigid Highlands had rogue archers, skeleton archers and boars, including a nice little NDE with a pack of regular skeleton archers right beside a bosspack of archers flanked by a champ pack of boars. Succubi, bone mages and vipers were a pain in the Crystalline Passage.
The Ancient’s Way presented a conundrum. Massive dogs (Afflicted), small hamsters (Spike Fiends) and walking blue Teddy Bears (Frozen Terrors) were attacking my character; someone who supposedly lives in harmony with nature finds himself beset upon by some of nature’s mildest creatures and I just couldn’t understand why. Then it struck me: “Fruor†is Latin! These critters must loathe pretension! :badteeth: ;p
Apologies to bcoe, Vox Dei, et al (<- lol?)
and set my mind toward remedying the mistake (I figured a “mea culpa†would be in poor taste....) Before I could come up with anything, though, I realized the present precarious peril proved prosaic. Errr, that is to say the household pets proved no danger to the tornado wielding magician and his ensemble. Ancients took a little while on p8, but were no threat. Worldstone Keep started out with Cantors and the minions, Dark Lords and witches. A pair of witch bosspacks and a cantor bosspack in the same room made for a tense time, but it worked out alright. Throne spawn was dolls, gloams and frenzytaurs. Was very glad it wasn’t Hell at that point... but the game did apologize by giving me a skiller for my troubles. A Preserver’s. Thanks. -_- Ventar and Lister’s packs each forced a merc resurrection. Baal hopped around like crazy and cloned himself early on, but casting the bear on him gave me time to run him down each time and peg him a bit with tornado before he ported away again. No real danger, but it took a little while.
Ran Pindle/Baal until merc hit 75. Faced one PI Dark Lord in the Throne during that time which I ended up meleeing with the merc. Was nice enough to drop Whitstan’s for my troubles, which was nice.
Hell:
Act 1, p3. Cold Plains waypoint played peakaboo with me. Killed Blood Raven, cleared the Mausoleum and took a muling break then started back to find the Stony Field. Along the way was killing bosspacks/large packs and checking the loot ... Flawless Sapphire ... socketed bow ... Vex rune. Hey, nice, I’ve never found one of those before. I think the highest non-HF rune I’ve found while questing previously has been like a Pul, maybe an Um. Nice. Switched on some MF and ran the Pits until 81 to finish off the build before moving on. Andy dropped well.
Down to p1 after Act I, where I kept it except for boss fights. Radament was PI. Had a really long fight in the Claw Viper Temple when I walked through a door and was knocked back into the hallway by a viper minion, whose leader was Stone Skin and Mana Burn on top of being backed up by five champ unravelers. Nothing terribly dangerous but I couldn’t get through the doorway to take down the unravelers until the vipers were dealt with. Beyond that, I think this may be the fastest I ever found the staff receptacle. Duriel forced a purple on the merc; dropped 3 S/U’s, none really useful.
Level 2 of the Flayer Dungeon was fun times. Came down the stairs and followed the hallway leading to the east. After a bit it opened up into a pair of doorways leading into the same room, said room containing dolls, a champ pack of flayer shamen and a ghost bosspack (PI, of course.) We fell back to the hallway bottleneck and I spammed tornado like a madman, taking only limited damage from a rogue dolls who ran past everyone else. Mephisto dropped Tarnhelm(28%) and an ethereal failed unique Legend Sword.
No gloams in the Plains of Despair. Hephasto was no worries. Um was nice from the forge. Forgot to up to p3 for Diablo, so I only got five items, three of them failed set.
Gloams, ghosts and witches in the Frozen River. While battling a bosspack of witches the bear awakened a bosspack of gloams and a pack of ghosts which led to the death of everyone save the vine and the druid, who then beat a hasty (as hasty as possible when frozen...) retreat back to the stairs, with the boss ghost and a couple minions right on our heels. Resurrected the merc, came back and brought down the ghost then proceeded onward to run into the trailing Holy Freeze gloam boss, who, just for fun, was also LE and Mana Burn. Corridors were fun for being put in gloam crossfires, one in particular was cute as we had a gloam pack from across the river above shooting at us on one end and on the other end the mirror version, with a pack in the center of the corridor as well ... backed up by a champ pack of ghosts (one possessed, of course, cause why not.) Had to clear ~90% of the level to find Anya, so I went ahead and did the last 10% for fun. Resist scroll meant I finally had positive resists for everything.
First roll of Ancients were Cursed, Fanat, Mana Burn, Extra Strong; rerolled when I lost the merc. Next spawn was innocuous and easily split. Stepped into WSK and were greeted by a Might bosspack of Frenzytaurs. Behind that, a Might pack of Vampires, then just down the hall a conviction pack of defilers and around the corner an ES/EF/CE pack of Frenzytaurs. It was a warm welcome. Hell throne was Gloams, Dolls and Horadrim Ancients which meant I actually got an even worse spawn than the Nightmare one. Woot! -___- Lister’s pack forced a retreat but was no real threat to the druid. Baal took forever.
Deaths:
Two. Normal Halls of the Dead level 1,cursed by a bosspack of bats and surrounded by skeletons/guardians = recovery lock, and to unholy bolts in Normal Viper Temple.
Finds:
-NM HF: Lem
-Hell HF: Um
-+2 Javelin skills, 11%MF, 3%ML, +12dex rare gloves
-Vex in Cold Plains
-the MFSC’s he’s using
-Trainer’s skiller
-Preserver’s skiller
-Lots of crafting runes, socketables, pgems, etc. but nothing particularly notable
Thoughts:
Well, keeping with the comparison, I would have to say I much prefer Patior. Maybe I’m just bad (and possibly this is it, cause I can tell I'm incredibly rusty O_O), but I can’t figure aiming Tornado out. It wouldn’t be so annoying if I had something I could aim in addition (like with Blizzard and Glacial Spike/Ice Blast). Even if you’re standing on top of a single enemy, the tornado sometimes decides to pop out the side of the char’s thigh and shuffle harmlessly around. Especially frustrating when you’re trying to line up shots on critters the merc has Decrepified, only to watch your casts miss absolutely everything.
I wouldn’t say I suffered with playing him, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it, either. The Frozen River, for instance, was probably the longest time I spent to get through any one area (Baal probably being close; ~20-30 minutes) and it really wasn’t that bad, but it just felt awful. My first mat/pat, a lightning sorceress, took about the same time to get through the Frozen River, but was fun because I could count on her skills doing their job – if I used Lower Resist on a gloam and then shot it with lightning it would take damage – whereas with Fruor I could round up a group of ghosts, lead them to the merc to be decrepified then line up to the side of them and have all the tornadoes shoot off to the right, then move behind them and have everything fire off to the left, all the while being hounded by gloam lightning and witch bolts. I would liken playing the wind druid to working with faulty equipment: it frustrates, especially when pressure’s on.
Next Up:
I’m thinking Whirlwind. Probably doing some AT runs in the meantime, though.
Thanks for reading!
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