12-04-2003, 10:53 AM
Very informative discovery Brista. Perhaps this is more common knowledge than I assume but I've seen nothing on it to date. I can't be certain regarding poison length but my summons held up well against Andy and Radament in Hell and I didnt notice a need to resummon when it came to poison.
The comments regarding PI are well taken. My first thought was fire claws as a complementary skill to handle PI. As a hardcore player that chose HOW I feel the need to boost life and transform duration with lycanthropy though.
My next thought was charges as a weapon switch. I could see life tap being useful in this regard but still no impact against PI. Perhaps lower resist in combination with a very high elemental damage weapon. I think you could easily cube a fast magic weapon with multiple sockets and inheritted elemental damage. I'm sure there are uniques out there that might serve the same end. Vengeance charges might be useful and I believe there is a runeword with high level Poison Explosion charges that could help (my guess is that this is a less effective alternative). Another possibility is to give your merc a high elemental weapon and perhaps combine it with the use of enchant charges. Unfortunately, a merc isn't easily controlled in game situations and getting him to attack a specific monster in a mob isn't real practical.
I took my summon druid trough most of act 2 hell in a small party today (hc btw) and made some personal observations.
- High level Summons hold up well against elemental damage
- High level Summon Bears KICK Arse
I summoned a bear in a pack of about 15 hell lightning bugs in rocky waste. Among those were champions. It took some time but he demolished all of them by himself without the aid of my merc or his might aura. The stats read about 5k life and about 2k damage for the bear. My wolves couldnt handle this pack but the Bear handled it with flying colors. I think most of the time wolves are a better option as they give you a bit more control over mobs and a bit more protection. The Bear is certainly a powerful ally though in tough situations.
- PI's are a show stopper
I cleared the DEN of evil and of course the unique there happened to be PI. I tried creatively to kill him, first with my very weak fire claws and then with some poison pots. Neither had much affect if any. Ultimately, I bailed and called a friend in to finish the final monster and gain the quest. I think there are alternatives to handle PI. Hopefully at least a few of them are effective and I'm able to come across them. It certainly would have been a nice option to add fire claws as a synergy to summons and have it add fire damage to summon attacks.
- Best point I invested most likely is shockwave
Level 1 shockwave has a very nice stun duration. I want to boost this but realistically I'm getting great utility from it with very little cost right now.
- Thus far my neglect of spirit wolves (its actually 15 with plus skills... I realized late that it doesnt boost damage but had already assigned a number of points) hasn't seemed to adversely impact the summons. Its possible that ar/defense (per Brista) may be a greater factor in acts 4 and 5 but thus far it seems that I could have invested less.
- With the exception of PI I believe I could solo Act1 and Act 2 hell which I think speaks highly of summon druids now. I think the most difficult part will be the tombs in Act 2. Revivers pose a serious problem for summoners in that its really impossible for your summons to kill as fast as they can revive. Will Dire Wolves/carrion vine be able to feast on corpses fast enough... i doubt it. Perhaps CE charges are an option here to help eliminate revived monsters. I experienced this with my necromancer though he had tools in his arsenal to handle the situation. it will be interesting to see how this scenario plays out for sommon druid.
Sorry this post is so long. I guess it reflects my enthusiasm for the character and how much fun I've had playing him.
The comments regarding PI are well taken. My first thought was fire claws as a complementary skill to handle PI. As a hardcore player that chose HOW I feel the need to boost life and transform duration with lycanthropy though.
My next thought was charges as a weapon switch. I could see life tap being useful in this regard but still no impact against PI. Perhaps lower resist in combination with a very high elemental damage weapon. I think you could easily cube a fast magic weapon with multiple sockets and inheritted elemental damage. I'm sure there are uniques out there that might serve the same end. Vengeance charges might be useful and I believe there is a runeword with high level Poison Explosion charges that could help (my guess is that this is a less effective alternative). Another possibility is to give your merc a high elemental weapon and perhaps combine it with the use of enchant charges. Unfortunately, a merc isn't easily controlled in game situations and getting him to attack a specific monster in a mob isn't real practical.
I took my summon druid trough most of act 2 hell in a small party today (hc btw) and made some personal observations.
- High level Summons hold up well against elemental damage
- High level Summon Bears KICK Arse
I summoned a bear in a pack of about 15 hell lightning bugs in rocky waste. Among those were champions. It took some time but he demolished all of them by himself without the aid of my merc or his might aura. The stats read about 5k life and about 2k damage for the bear. My wolves couldnt handle this pack but the Bear handled it with flying colors. I think most of the time wolves are a better option as they give you a bit more control over mobs and a bit more protection. The Bear is certainly a powerful ally though in tough situations.
- PI's are a show stopper
I cleared the DEN of evil and of course the unique there happened to be PI. I tried creatively to kill him, first with my very weak fire claws and then with some poison pots. Neither had much affect if any. Ultimately, I bailed and called a friend in to finish the final monster and gain the quest. I think there are alternatives to handle PI. Hopefully at least a few of them are effective and I'm able to come across them. It certainly would have been a nice option to add fire claws as a synergy to summons and have it add fire damage to summon attacks.
- Best point I invested most likely is shockwave
Level 1 shockwave has a very nice stun duration. I want to boost this but realistically I'm getting great utility from it with very little cost right now.
- Thus far my neglect of spirit wolves (its actually 15 with plus skills... I realized late that it doesnt boost damage but had already assigned a number of points) hasn't seemed to adversely impact the summons. Its possible that ar/defense (per Brista) may be a greater factor in acts 4 and 5 but thus far it seems that I could have invested less.
- With the exception of PI I believe I could solo Act1 and Act 2 hell which I think speaks highly of summon druids now. I think the most difficult part will be the tombs in Act 2. Revivers pose a serious problem for summoners in that its really impossible for your summons to kill as fast as they can revive. Will Dire Wolves/carrion vine be able to feast on corpses fast enough... i doubt it. Perhaps CE charges are an option here to help eliminate revived monsters. I experienced this with my necromancer though he had tools in his arsenal to handle the situation. it will be interesting to see how this scenario plays out for sommon druid.
Sorry this post is so long. I guess it reflects my enthusiasm for the character and how much fun I've had playing him.