-Diablo 2 Summoning Druid FAQ (1.11)
-V1.11 (6/2/07)
-By KIRBIX
DISCLAIMER:
This is property of KIRBIX (Sean D'Hoostelaere). This may be not be
reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not
be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance
written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any
public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
In plain English, this means that it is against the law for you to copy this
guide. If you want to print it out, that's fine, but I do not permit its use
anywhere on the web or for it to be used for anything profitable.
_________________
/ \
|*****************|
|Table of Contents|
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\_________________/
I. Version History
II. What this guide is for
III. Overview of the Druid, and why summoning will actually work
IV. Skills
V. Skill allocation
a. The Summon Synergies
VI. Stat distribution
VII. Equipment
a. Overview
b. Helmets
c. Armor
d. Gloves
e. Belts
f. Boots
g. Weapons
h. Shields
j. Jewelery
k. Final listing
VIII. Mercenary
a. Getting around PI
b. Poor Man
c. Rich Man
IX. How to Use
X. Contact Me
XI. Credits
I. VERSION HISTORY
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1.0- Original version; Summoning Druids have been argued as "useless" for far
too long, now. It's time to end the stupid beliefs and just kick some ass
with them.
1.1- After some serious collaberation with what appeared to be another serious
summon druid fan, there are several changes all over the FAQ. Equipment,
skill layout, mercenary suggestions...
1.11(6/07)- Housekeeping
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II. WHAT THIS GUIDE IS FOR
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This is designed to explain the proper use of a summoning druid exclusively for
the purpose of PvM (Player versus Monster, which means NOT dueling).
It will cover an explanation of the skills you'll be using, provide a skill
layout, stat suggestions, and some equipment ideas. At the end it will go into
some explanation of how to use the character, too.
It's a semi-expensive build, but you don't need top-end gear to beat hell on
your own.
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III. OVERVIEW OF THE DRUID
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Druids are one of the expansion characters, and they've got a bit of everything
at their disposal. With a summoning tree, they can bring tons of minions into
the field to aid them. The shapeshifting tree gives the druid a wide range of
decent melee options to use against their opponent. The elemental tree gives
them two different types of damage to bring the foe down with. Simply, the
druid has a bit of everything.
...Unfortunately, it's not really all that good at any of them. It holds its
own, but others can do it better. Consequently, druids are often forgotten and
left in the dust for the more proficient builds.
The summoning druid isn't an exception- a summoning necro is far better. It's
arguably the best class in the game at PvM, able to take on anything, and it
can do it with no equipment.
The thing is, just because it's not as effective of a summoner as the necro,
the druid is still a good summoner; I mean, being worse than the absolute best
overall class doesn't make you bad automatically, just bad by comparison (Look
at meteorbs: they're far from useless).
This setup uses an almost pure summoner setup to get the job done, and it's
done at a fairly early level, too. It's strong enough to tackle hell without
great equipment, and WITH great equipment, it's awesome.
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IV. SKILLS
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Like I said, the skills are mostly from the summoning tree. A couple from the
others to give you some more meat, but that's it.
~~~~~~~
~~Raven~~
~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Summon a flock of ravens to peck out the eyes of your enemies
Ravens are definitely your typical level 1 spell: they're great early on, and
they're quickly obsolete. The raven damage does not increase much, and while
the ability to blind is kind of nice, it doesn't justify using them any great
amount.
1 point as a prerequisite: you can summon them to blind archers later on, but
that won't require more than 1 point and a couple of +skills, especially since
they don't take damage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Poison Creeper~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Spawns a vine to deal poison damage to your enemies
Totally useless summon for its damage. However, the poison damage prevents
monsters from healing their HP back (a problem especially prevalent with most
bosses). Use it as a PMH on bosses; with regular enemies, your summons should
be quite good at taking down the enemies despite any healing they do.
1 point and let the +skills do the rest
~~~~~~~~~~
~~Werewolf~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Transform into a werewolf
An OK skill, but of little use to you. It's a prerequisite for lycanthropy, so
you put a point in and forget about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Lycanthropy~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Increases the stats of your Werewolf/bear form
Great skill for making your druid into a total tank. If you're going to stay
in wereform, you want to have this skill at your disposal.
Poorer druids will dump their points here. If you've got top-end equipment
(namely enigma), you will have little use for this skill OR werewolf.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~Oak Sage~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Summon a spirit that raises the HP of all party members nearby
A living paladin aura, this is a highly popular and really good summon...
Usually. For you, though... you're not going to use oak sage once you have
access to heart of the wolverine.
1 point, only a prerequisite for you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Spirit Wolf~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Summons a pack of wolves to do your bidding
These are your basic summons; you will use them until you get dire wolves and
Grizzly. You can summon up to five of them, and theoretically they're just as
good as your other two summons. However, that's only true when you've got
tons of +skills to give them a wicked boost from Grizzly.
Max it; 20 points; all that you can, whatever.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~WereBear~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Transform into a giant bear
Far better than werewolf, it provides more life and provides defense. No matter
what your setup is, get a point here- you want the access to shockwave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Cyclone Armor~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Create a whirlwind that absorbs elemental damage
In the same way that a summoner often builds up his bone armor once his
summons are competant, this is a great skill to invest in once your summons are
doing well by themselves. A practical spell for every druid to have, it does
a ton for your ability to survive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Heart Of Wolverine~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 18
Effect: Summon a spirit to increase your fighting abilities
This is another great summon, easily as good as oak sage in its own way. It's
almost as good as fanaticism, and it's your summon of choice. A boost to AR
and damage is very helpful for your summons, which on their own are not all
that powerful.
Dump the full 20 here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Dire Wolf~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 18
Effect: Summons a pack of vicious wolves to do your bidding
Much more powerful than the spirit wolves, the Dire Wolf should be your main
summon once you get it. Interchangable with Grizzly in certain situations,
they hit harder and live longer than their counterparts, which is why you're
limited to three of them.
Max it out, of course.
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Shockwave~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Required level: 24
Effect: As a grizzly, pound the ground to stun your enemies
GREAT for crowd control, every summoner needs a point here. It will make all
of your foes sitting ducks, and while your summons don't NEED the extra help,
they're not going to complain if it's available for them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Summon Grizzly~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: Summon an enormous Kodiak bear to kill your enemies
This is your other summon. While Dire Wolves win in number, the grizzly does
more damage and has more health, making him an incredible ally. Generally the
preferred summon, he can tank like nobody's business.
Max it.
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V. SKILL ALLOCATION
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There aren't a lot of skills that you're even investing any points in as a
summoning druid, so this is fairly brief.
1 Raven
1 Oak Sage
20 Spirit Wolves
20 Dire Wolves
20 Grizzly
20 Heart of Wolverine
1 Poison Creeper
1 WereBear
1 Shockwave
Total of 85 points, finished at level 74. Really quick, all things considered.
You could have possibly put 2 points into WW/Lycan, brining it up to 87 points
and level 76. Either way, easy to finish.
From there, it really depends on your equipment. The wealthy will put their
remaining points into cyclone armor. However, if you're not especially wealthy,
you're likely to have weaker wolves/bears who aren't quite as good at crowd
control. That being the case, you need to take a hit or two. Points into
lycanthropy would be best.
Now, as for the order of distribution:
Put your point into poison creeper and raven immediately and then save your
points. 1 point into oak sage, and then get 5 points into spirit wolves. After
that, save your points. At level 18, start putting points into both Dire Wolves
and Heart of Wolverine. Get werebear early on to get your transformation, and
then shockwave at 24.
Come level 30, you'll have three skills to max in whatever order you see fit.
Grizzly should be your main focus, but you can put points into Dire Wolves for
an HP bonus or into HoW for the damage boost. I usually stop touching dire and
HoW (because they're decent enough by then) until grizzly is maxed, and then I
go back and max Dire Wolves and lastly HoW.
With all three of them maxed, finish Spirit Wolves. It gives the least useful
bonus of them all and therefore gets touched last. Finally, after that's done,
as I said earlier you just put your points into cyclone armor or lycanthropy.
If you used WW and Lycan, put the two points in at the beginning so you can
reap the benefits as early as possible.
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VA. THE SUMMON SYNERGIES
############################
Synergies are (if you didn't know) a system introduced in 1.10 of Diablo 2.
Basically, a synergy is an ability that you put points into to add to the
affect of another skill. For example, every point I put into molten boulder
adds 23% to the damage of my firestorm, meaning that with 20 points in molten
boulder I can increase the damage of firestorm by over 600%! However, synergies
only work with hard points, meaning that if I have +skills, they do not count
towards a synergy.
Druid summons, however, do not follow this rule. Spirit Wolves, Dire Wolves and
the Grizzly synergize with each other, but +skills DOES affect them. This is
where the summons truly shine. Dire Wolves give an HP boost to the Grizzly and
the Spirit Wolves, and the Grizzly gives a damage bonus to both of the wolves.
So, with a large number of +skills, your summons not only gain levels, but they
also get a larger synergy bonus. Awesome stuff.
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VI. STAT DISTRIBUTION
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\ /\ /
Strength
/ \/ \
Quite simple- enough strength to carry all of your equipment. The heaviest thing
you should carry is a monarch shield (156 strength). Take into account any
charms you may have (annihilus and torch) and whether or not you'll have enigma
before dumping tons of points here.
\ / \ /
Dexterity
/ \ / \
As much as you need for equipment, so you really shouldn't need any. Don't
bother with max block.
\ /\ /
Vitality
/ \/ \
The most important of the stats- place every extra point into vitality. You'll
need the life, I guarantee it- not to mention that with battle orders, you'll
get a definite bang for your buck.
\ /\ /
Energy
/ \/ \
NO POINTS IN ENERGY. You've got no reason to.
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VII. EQUIPMENT
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This is the toughest part of any build; most people can figure out what skills
to invest in and stats are incredibly easy since they're the same for each
build. Equipment is where things start to vary and get tricky.
VIIA. OVERVIEW
#####################
Just so that this makes sense, I'm going to go over how this works. I go by
equipment piece. I've picked out a low-end piece of equipment and a high-end
piece for each section, so whether you're rich or poor, there should be a
suggestion that works for you.
Early on, look for +skills more than anything. The more +skills, the more
damage your summons do, and that's really the only obstacle that you deal with
as a summoning druid. Get some decent mods for yourself, of course. +resists is
a good idea, +HP... you know, the usual stuff. Think the same way you would
if you were trying to get equipment for your summoner necro and you'll do fine.
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VIIB. HELMETS
#################
The best helmet of all is, of course, the Harlequin Crest Shako. Excellent
mods all-round make it unbeatable.
\Harlequin Crest (unique shako)
/+2 To All Skills
\+ 1-148 To Life (Based On Character Level)
/+ 1-148 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
\Damage Reduced By 10%
/50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
\+2 To All Attributes
The poor man will be using another cap, only this is the exceptional version.
Peasant's Crown is not quite the same as the harlequin crest but is by no means
a bad helmet.
\Peasant Crown (Unique War Hat)
/+100% Enhanced Defense
\+1 To All Skills
/15% Faster Run/Walk
\Replenish Life +6-12
/+20 To Energy
\+20 To Vitality
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VIIC. ARMOR
#################
As with almost all classes, the enigma runeword cannot be beaten. It is the best
armor for a summoning druid.
\Enigma (3 Socket Body Armor)- Jah+Ith+Ber
/+2 To All Skills
\+45% Faster Run/Walk
/+1 To Teleport
\+750-775 Defense
/+0-74 To Strength (Based On Character Level)
\Increase Maximum Life 5%
/Damage Reduced By 8%
\+14 Life After Each Kill
/15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
\+1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)
The less expensive armor is the typical poorer armor choice- Skin of the
Vipermagi. Surprised? Of course not.
\Skin of the Vipermagi (Unique Serpentskin Armor)
/+120% Enhanced Defense
\+1 To All Skills
/30% Faster Cast Rate
\Magic Damage Reduced By 9-13
/All Resistances +20-35
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/ \/ \/ \
VIID. GLOVES
#################
You really don't need much that the typical set of gloves can offer you. A
summoner creates his minions and then doesn't really have any spells of his own
to cast. So, most of the typical gloves make no sense. Try Bloodfist. They give
40 life, which is a nice thing to have at any level.
\Bloodfist (Unique Heavy Gloves)
/+10-20% Enhanced Defense
\+10 Defense
/10% Increased Attack Speed
\30% Faster Hit Recovery
/+40 To Life
\+5 To Min Damage
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VIIE. BELT
#################
Arachnid's Mesh is a caster's belt through and through, and the +skills is good
for you.
\Arachnid's Mesh (unique spiderweb sash)
/Defense: 119-138
\+90-120% Enhanced Defense
/Slows Target By 10%
\+1 To All Skills
/+20% Faster Cast Rate
\Increases Maximum Mana 5%
/Level 3 Venom (11 Charges)
A less expensive belt is nightsmoke. Providing you with some resists, you can't
go wrong with it's simplicity. Up it to exceptional to make it 16 boxes and you
are good to go.
\Nightsmoke (Unique Belt)
/+30-50% Enhanced Defense
\+15 Defense
/50% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
\Damage Reduced By 2
/All Resistances +10
\+20 To Mana
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VIIF. BOOTS
#################
The best boots are definitely Sandstorm Treks. Great bonuses across the board
to give you a little bit of everything.
\Sandstorm Trek (Unique Scarabshell Boots)
/+140-170% Enhanced Defense
\+20% Faster Hit Recovery
/+20% Faster Run/Walk
\+1-99 Maximum Stamina (Based On Character Level)
/+10-15 To Strength
\+10-15 To Vitality
/50% Slower Stamina Drain
\Poison Resist +40-70%
/Repairs 1 Durability In 20 Seconds
However, they're a bit expensive. This piece of Aldur's set is actually quite
useful by itself. For it's price, it gives some awesome mods.
\Aldur's Advance (Set Battle Boots)
/Indestructible
\40% Faster Run/Walk
/+180 Maximum Stamina
\10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
/Heal Stamina Plus +32%
\+50 To Life
/Fire Resist +40-50%
\+15 To Dexterity (2 Item)
/+15 To Dexterity (3 Items)
\+15 To Dexterity (Completed Set)
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VIIG. WEAPONS
#################
There are actually three options here. The best option is a weapon with
Last Wish in it (no, not beast- you're using a rogue). Another viable option,
though, would be a weapon with Heart of the Oak, which is cheaper and still
provides some great bonuses (think of it as the expensive and the REALLY
expensive)
\Last Wish (6 Socket Swords/Hammers/Axes)- Jah + Mal + Jah + Sur + Jah + Ber
/6% Chance To Cast Level 11 Fade When Struck
\10% Chance To Cast Level 18 Life Tap On Striking
/20% Chance To Cast Level 20 Charged Bolt On Attack
\Level 17 Might Aura When Equipped
/+330-375% Enhanced Damage
\Ignore Target's Defense
/60-70% Chance of Crushing Blow
\Prevent Monster Heal
/Hit Blinds Target
\+0.5-49.5% Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\Heart of the Oak (4 Socket Staves/Maces) Ko + Vex + Pul + Thul
/+3 To All Skills
\+40% Faster Cast Rate
/+75% Damage To Demons
\+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
/Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration
\7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
/+10 To Dexterity
\Replenish Life +20
/Increase Maximum Mana 15%
\All Resistances +30-40
/Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
\Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
/+50% Damage To Undead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An unusual option for your druid is actually a necromancer's wand, known as
the suicide branch. It gives +1 to all skills instead of just necro skills, and
it has resists. Always a plus!
\Suicide Branch (Unique Burnt Wand)
/+50% Damage To Undead
\+1 To All Skills
/50% Faster Cast Rate
\Increase Maximum Mana 10%
/All Resistances +10
\+40 To Life
/Attacker Takes Damage of 25
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, if you're on the ladder, pick up the spirit runeword in your weapon,
instead. Far better mods... it's just tough to get off the ladder.
\Spirit (4 Socket Swords)- Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn
/+2 To All Skills
\+25-35% Faster Cast Rate
/+55% Faster Hit Recovery
\Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
/Adds 3-14 Cold Damage 3 Second Duration
\+75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds
/7% Life Stolen Per Hit
\+250 Defense Vs. Missile
/+22 To Vitality
\+89-112 To Mana
/+3-8 Magic Absorb
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VIIH. SHIELD
#################
Unless you're nonladder and poor, you should only be using one shield- A monarch
with a "spirit" runeword.
\Spirit (4 Socket Shields) Tal+Thul+Ort+Amn
/Required Strength: 156
\+2 To All Skills
/+25-35% Faster Cast Rate (varies)
\+55% Faster Hit Recovery
/+250 Defense Vs. Missile
\+22 To Vitality
/+89-112 To Mana (varies)
\Cold Resist +35%
/Lightning Resist +35%
\Poison Resist +35%
/+3-8 Magic Absorb (varies)
\Attacker Takes Damage of 14
For those off the ladder who are not especially wealthy, there's Lidless Wall.
Not a great shield by comparison, it still gets the job done.
\Lidless Wall (Unique Grim Shield)
/+80-130% Enhanced Defense
\+1 To All Skills
/Increase Maximum Mana 10%
\20% Faster Cast Rate
/+3-5 To Mana After Each Kill
\+10 To Energy
/+1 To Light Radius
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VIIJ. JEWELRY
#################
Since there aren't any good low-end unique rings, just deal with what you have
initially. You'll eventually want two BK rings, though- you don't need any mana,
and more HP is always good.
\Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band (Unique Ring)
/+1 To All Skill Levels
\+0-49 To Life (Based On Character Level)
/3-5% Life Stolen Per Hit
\+50 Maximum Stamina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The obvious high-end amulet is mara's kaleidoscope. Resists and +skills all the
way!
\Mara's Kaleidoscope (Unique Amulet)
/+2 To All Skill Levels
\All Resistances +20-30
/+5 To All Attributes
However, an amulet you rarely see put to use is Saracen's Chance. It also has
a great boost to resists, so if you can't find an amulet that gives +3
summoning skills, it's another awesome option.
\Saracen's Chance (Unique Amulet)
/10% Chance To Cast Level 2 Iron Maiden When Struck
\All Resistances +15-25
/+12 To All Attributes
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VIIK. FINAL LISTING
######################
Rich Man's outfit:
\Helm: Shako (um it)
/Armor: Enigma (breast plate or archon plate)
\Gloves: Gravepalm
/Boots: SandStorm Treks
\Belt: Arachnid Mesh
/Weapon: Last Wish
\Shield: Spirit Monarch
/Rings: BK x2
\Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
Poorer Man's outfit:
\Helm: Peasant Crown
/Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi
\Gloves: Gravepalm
/Boots: Aldur's Advance
\Belt: Credendum
/Weapon: Suicide Branch
\Shield: Lidless Wall
/Rings: random rings
\Amulet: Saracen's Chance
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VIII. MERCENARY
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VIIIA. GETTING AROUND PI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is by far the most complex aspect of the entire build, oddly enough. The
mercenary is an important aspect to the summoning druid. The job of your merc?
Deal with physical immunes. If you hadn't noticed yet, the druid summoner does
not have corpse explosion to deal with PI, nor does it have amp damage to remove
the immunity. However, rather than get stressed about it, we'll just bypass it
and kill them with another attack style.
There are several options:
1) Open Wounds
Open Wounds is something that's actually somewhat tough to explain. Basically,
open wounds is damage very similar to poison damage, and the amount of OW
damage done is based on the level of the person inflicting it. At high levels,
it's a significant amount of extra damage. Open wounds is also kind of it's
own element, meaning that no enemy is really immune to it (although uniques and
bosses have the damage cut in half). It's a nifty way to get around physical
immunities, and put on top of the damage you're already doing, it can be highly
beneficial.
2) Amplify Damage
Simple enough- if you can get something that will cast amplify damage on
striking, you can get rid of the physical immunity. The trick is finding such
a thing. It's not all that hard to find amplify damage around, but here's the
trick. You get something like Brand, which does have a chance to cast, but that
chance to cast is based on "when struck," which isn't all that reliable. Other
weapons like "Lacerator" are great with a 33% CtC when striking, but no merc can
equip it, and you don't have the Attack Rating to use it yourself.
While it was a good idea, it was quickly squashed... there was no good way
to execute it.
3) Non-physical damage
This makes the most sense- if you have something immune to physical, just get
some non-phsyical damage, instead. This is the path I chose.
In the end, I use a combination of elemental damage and open wounds to get the
job done on the poor setup, with a pure element damage on the richer Merc.
The elemental damage is obtained through the use of an Act 1 merc that uses fire
arrow; her Open Wounds comes from the Duress Armor.
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VIIIB. POOR MAN
##################
Basically, if you're poor, your job is to do the best you can. You'll be able
to kill physical immunes, but only if they're not strong enough to kill you
first. If you have a good grizzly or some good dire wolves, they can *usually*
hold the enemies at bay, especially since you're able to just quickly resummon
as they die.
WEAPON
~~~~~~~~
Again, do the best you can with what you have available to you. If you can get
your hands on a good unique, by all means use it. However, for it's cost,
Harmony is a great option. It provides a bunch of little boosts to your attack
through the elements, and when her job is to deal with physical immunes, every
little bit helps.
\Harmony (4 Socket Missile Weapons)- Tir + Ith + Sol + Ko
/Level 10 Vigor Aura When Equipped
\+200-275% Enhanced Damage
/+9 To Minimum Damage
/+9 To Maximum Damage
\Adds 55-160 Lightning Damage
/Adds 55-160 Fire Damage
\Adds 55-160 Cold Damage
/+2-6 To Valkyrie
\+10 To Dexterity
/Regenerate Mana 20%
\+2 To Mana After Each Kill
/+2 To Light Radius
\Level 20 Revive (25 Charges)
ARMOR
~~~~~~~
As I said, Duress is your armor of choice. It provides Open Wounds, something
that should help a ton. And hey! More cold damage! Cool beans.
\Duress (3 Socket Body Armor)- Shael + Um + Thul
/+40% Faster Hit Recovery
\+10-20% Enhanced Damage
/Adds 37-133 Cold Damage
\15% Chance of Crushing Blow
/33% Chance of Open Wounds
\+150-200% Enhanced Defense
/-20% Slower Stamina Drain
\Cold Resist +45%
/Lightning Resist +15%
\Fire Resist +15%
/Poison Resist +15%
HELMET
~~~~~~~~
The helmet is the same for both the rich and the poor, because it provides a
bunch of great mods. Crown of Thieves, simply. Andariel's Visage provides little
for you, and crown of thieves provides tons.
\Crown of Thieves (Unique Grand Crown)
/+160-200% Enhanced Defense
\9-12% Life Stolen Per Hit
/Fire Resist +33%
\+35 To Mana
/+50 To Life
\+25 To Dexterity
/80-100% Extra Gold From Monsters
_ _ _
/ \/ \/ \
VIIIC. RICH MAN
##################
Pull out all the stops: Here's the best equipment you can get.
WEAPON
~~~~~~~~
Money's no object, so we can go all-out. Remember where I said no beast?
Obviously you know where this is going; using faith is a must for giving your
summons a huge boost, as well as making her a death machine o_O.
\Faith (4 Socket Missile Weapons)- Ohm + Jah + Lem + Eld
/Level 12-15 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
\+1-2 To All Skills
/+330% Enhanced Damage
\Ignore Target's Defense
/300% Bonus To Attack Rating
\+75% Damage To Undead
/+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
\+120 Fire Damage
/All Resistances +15
\10% Reanimate As: Returned
/75% Extra Gold From Monsters
ARMOR
~~~~~~~
My natural reaction was to use Chains of Honor, but fortitude basically provides
the mods I wanted and also gives a killer damage bonus.
\Fortitude (4 Socket Weapons/Body Armor)- El + Sol + Dol + Lo
/20% Chance To Cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when Struck
\+25% Faster Cast Rate
/+300% Enhanced Damage
\+200% Enhanced Defense
/+15 Defense
\+X To Life (Based on Character Level)
/Replenish Life +7
\+5% To Maximum Lightning Resist
/All Resistances +20-30
\Damage Reduced By 7
/12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
\+1 To Light Radius
HELM
~~~~~~
Still Thieve's Crown. Honestly, there's no better helm available.
FINAL LISTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
POOR MAN:
"Harmony" Bow
"Duress" armor
Thieves Crown
RICH MAN:
"Faith" Bow
"Fortitude" Armor
Thieves Crown
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IX. HOW TO USE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's a really simple build, actually. You summon all of your stuff in town,
make sure your merc is up and functioning, and go to work.
Knowing when to use Grizzly and Dire Wolves is pretty much what you feel would
work best. Despite being only one minion, the Grizzly actually does a rather
good job of distracting all of your enemies so that you don't get attacked
much at all. However, sometimes the Dire Wolves just seem to make more sense,
so don't worry about using them.
Now, your job as a druid is to keep the enemies at bay. How, you may ask.
Quite simple- make liberal use of shockwave. Transform into bear form and
use shockwave, transforming out of it if you have an enigma and need to
teleport.
Lastly, summon management: it's not all that hard- if your summons are not
fighting what you want them to, resummon them where you want them to be. Or,
if you got ahold of an enigma, teleport next to them and quickly run back.
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X. CONTACT ME
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This build is by far the one I put the most research into. Mostly because I was
unable to find any decent precedents to base my build off of. That being said,
I would love suggestions for the build. If you've got one, send me an email
at Kirbix@gmail.com. I'm pretty good with email correspondance and should be
back to you in a few days.
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XI. CREDITS
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Systemafunk- I went to the gameFAQs forums asking for some advice. While he
did not ever provide me with any new ideas, I appreciate the fact
that he tried to help. Thanks for throwing out all of those ideas,
even if none of them were much good >_>.
Cimartin- Sent me an email 4 pages long (two of them, actually) with suggestions
of various things to fix. I didn't use all of his suggestions, but I
used plenty of them. Tweaked the build significantly. Thanks for the
help.
Chou Balloon Fighter- Suggested Harmony as a bow option. Thanks.
The Arreast Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/)- Best website on the
net for Diablo 2; I owe them a lot of information.
GameFAQs and CjayC- My favorite gaming website, it's a pleasure to write here.
Copyright 2006 © Sean D'Hoostelaere
