10-23-2003, 02:51 PM
No stat build? Scarey! No wait, you're softcore so you can take liberties with your hitpoints.
My druid's hardcore and every statpoint goes into Vitality as soon as he levels. This makes him a bit more robust and easily able to tank if the need arises. With his vulpine gear and Oak to heal, he uses pots so rarely that two rows of his belt are dedicated to id and tp scrolls. Incidentally, Spirit of Barbs definitely returns damage when hit even though Poison Creeper doesn't.
For the record, I maxxed Poison Creeper, finished pumping Oak, then HoW and only started out down the middle branch of the Summons tree once I topped out both spirits at 20 after adders and needed somewhere else to put my skillpoints. I didn't get my Grizzly until level 50 and late Nightmare. The Poison Creeper/Grizzly combination works surprisingly well even in Act 5.
That said, most of my kills come from my druid and his merc so if you're struggling in NM, it's the monster curve that's getting you down. At level 30, I was still making hay in Normal and kicking my heels until I was old enough to use a Kuko and my cold rogue merc didn't get her lightning hose until much later.
One thing I did do, though, was build up a pretty extensive collection of pelts so I'm a bit surprised that the best you've managed is a +2 to Poison Creeper. Even now when I'm playing another character I'll pick up anything that drops. Perversely with this build, Jalal's Mane falls quite a way short of being uber - a good rare or "Lore" is much better. "Radiance" with +3 to Cyclone Armour works quite well as well.
My druid's hardcore and every statpoint goes into Vitality as soon as he levels. This makes him a bit more robust and easily able to tank if the need arises. With his vulpine gear and Oak to heal, he uses pots so rarely that two rows of his belt are dedicated to id and tp scrolls. Incidentally, Spirit of Barbs definitely returns damage when hit even though Poison Creeper doesn't.
For the record, I maxxed Poison Creeper, finished pumping Oak, then HoW and only started out down the middle branch of the Summons tree once I topped out both spirits at 20 after adders and needed somewhere else to put my skillpoints. I didn't get my Grizzly until level 50 and late Nightmare. The Poison Creeper/Grizzly combination works surprisingly well even in Act 5.
That said, most of my kills come from my druid and his merc so if you're struggling in NM, it's the monster curve that's getting you down. At level 30, I was still making hay in Normal and kicking my heels until I was old enough to use a Kuko and my cold rogue merc didn't get her lightning hose until much later.
One thing I did do, though, was build up a pretty extensive collection of pelts so I'm a bit surprised that the best you've managed is a +2 to Poison Creeper. Even now when I'm playing another character I'll pick up anything that drops. Perversely with this build, Jalal's Mane falls quite a way short of being uber - a good rare or "Lore" is much better. "Radiance" with +3 to Cyclone Armour works quite well as well.