10-22-2003, 10:06 AM
That's one good-looking guide, Fenris!
Your original guide was the inspiration behind my own Hunter so I couldn't resist checking out where you've made revisions. These were mainly in your choice of vines:
Poison Creeper: now 1-20
Solar Creeper: now 0-1
(Pretty much how my own Hunter turned out as it happens - I picked up the idea of using Poison Creeper from a guide by Alram, by the way).
There are drawbacks playing a Poison Creeper Druid - if you don't continuously recast the vine, your frame-rate quickly disappears - but a big advantage is having monsters turn their back on you and the rest of your army. At 8 mana a cast, Poison Creeper is cheaper than recasting your Grizzly and makes a better tank if you keep it alive. Certainly effective in Nightmare but the lag starts to get a little dangerous in Hell.
That's not to say that I don't throw my Grizzly around though. In fact, what with spamming Poison Creeper and lobbing the old fur-ball around, I find myself needing the occasional Solar Creeper simply to keep my mana-ball full. Having taken the decision to actively cast Grizzly, I didn't expect to benefit from the passive life bonus from Dire Wolves which is why I've left that skill at a single point.
So, Poison Creeper at 20, Dire Wolves at 1, what else have I done differently? Nothing really, I use a Lore helm with +3 to Cyclone Armour and +Elemental Skills on a rare amulet and Grand Charm to get Cyclone Armour up around level 8 and that seems adequate so for a back row character so for the time being my druid is pure summoner as far as skill points spent are concerned:
17 Oak Sage
17 Heart of Wolverine
1 Spirit of Barbs
20 Poison Creeper
1 Carrion Vine
1 Solar Creeper
1 Ravens
1 Spirit Wolves
1 Dire Wolves
20 Grizzly
In Act 2 Hell at level 73 I've got 2 points saved up.
Equipment: your list is pretty extensive but you've left out Dark Clan Crusher - I use it on my weapon switch to buff my spirits up to 20 (with the +1 from Lore) and it's pretty effective in it's own right against Fallen in Act 1 especially with Heart of Wolverine active. Other than that I've Neffed a Kuko so I can use Blood Gloves. Low, low stats on the auto-hitting bow mean I've been able to go pure vit: it really is teh besto.
Merc: I went with a poor man's lightning hose Rogue - shop-bought +2 skills short war bow, Lore helm. Does the trick.
Strategy: I use your Oak-healing trick a lot but I've also developed a trick of my own - alternating between Oak and HoW, it's possible to have both auras active simultaneously. Heck, I've even been able to get Spirit of Barb's aura active on top. I routinely spirit-stack before tripping urns and it's a tragedy that I won't be able to continue doing so when the patch comes out.
All this chews up the mana though which, coupled with regular castings of Cyclone Armour, Poison Creeper and Grizzly makes for even more game time for Solar Creeper. Other than that, I'm wearing some vulpine gear (damage taken goes to mana) so as a last resort I'll deliberately take a hit to keep my mana-bulb full. When I'm using this tactic, I'll normally try to have Spirit of Barbs up so at least I'm dishing out some hurt in response. The damage returned is nowhere near enough for a level 30 skill but at least I've been able to get some mileage out of it: I've seen off both Diablo and Baal in Normal using just Poison Creeper and Spirit of Barbs with Oak to heal. Hmm, maybe that's where I'll put those skill points.
Your original guide was the inspiration behind my own Hunter so I couldn't resist checking out where you've made revisions. These were mainly in your choice of vines:
Poison Creeper: now 1-20
Solar Creeper: now 0-1
(Pretty much how my own Hunter turned out as it happens - I picked up the idea of using Poison Creeper from a guide by Alram, by the way).
There are drawbacks playing a Poison Creeper Druid - if you don't continuously recast the vine, your frame-rate quickly disappears - but a big advantage is having monsters turn their back on you and the rest of your army. At 8 mana a cast, Poison Creeper is cheaper than recasting your Grizzly and makes a better tank if you keep it alive. Certainly effective in Nightmare but the lag starts to get a little dangerous in Hell.
That's not to say that I don't throw my Grizzly around though. In fact, what with spamming Poison Creeper and lobbing the old fur-ball around, I find myself needing the occasional Solar Creeper simply to keep my mana-ball full. Having taken the decision to actively cast Grizzly, I didn't expect to benefit from the passive life bonus from Dire Wolves which is why I've left that skill at a single point.
So, Poison Creeper at 20, Dire Wolves at 1, what else have I done differently? Nothing really, I use a Lore helm with +3 to Cyclone Armour and +Elemental Skills on a rare amulet and Grand Charm to get Cyclone Armour up around level 8 and that seems adequate so for a back row character so for the time being my druid is pure summoner as far as skill points spent are concerned:
17 Oak Sage
17 Heart of Wolverine
1 Spirit of Barbs
20 Poison Creeper
1 Carrion Vine
1 Solar Creeper
1 Ravens
1 Spirit Wolves
1 Dire Wolves
20 Grizzly
In Act 2 Hell at level 73 I've got 2 points saved up.
Equipment: your list is pretty extensive but you've left out Dark Clan Crusher - I use it on my weapon switch to buff my spirits up to 20 (with the +1 from Lore) and it's pretty effective in it's own right against Fallen in Act 1 especially with Heart of Wolverine active. Other than that I've Neffed a Kuko so I can use Blood Gloves. Low, low stats on the auto-hitting bow mean I've been able to go pure vit: it really is teh besto.
Merc: I went with a poor man's lightning hose Rogue - shop-bought +2 skills short war bow, Lore helm. Does the trick.
Strategy: I use your Oak-healing trick a lot but I've also developed a trick of my own - alternating between Oak and HoW, it's possible to have both auras active simultaneously. Heck, I've even been able to get Spirit of Barb's aura active on top. I routinely spirit-stack before tripping urns and it's a tragedy that I won't be able to continue doing so when the patch comes out.
All this chews up the mana though which, coupled with regular castings of Cyclone Armour, Poison Creeper and Grizzly makes for even more game time for Solar Creeper. Other than that, I'm wearing some vulpine gear (damage taken goes to mana) so as a last resort I'll deliberately take a hit to keep my mana-bulb full. When I'm using this tactic, I'll normally try to have Spirit of Barbs up so at least I'm dishing out some hurt in response. The damage returned is nowhere near enough for a level 30 skill but at least I've been able to get some mileage out of it: I've seen off both Diablo and Baal in Normal using just Poison Creeper and Spirit of Barbs with Oak to heal. Hmm, maybe that's where I'll put those skill points.