11-06-2003, 01:22 AM
I think there are mostly three schools of thought on this matter.
The first (and the one that I'm a big advocate of) is to build an entirely wind-based Druid. This build is nice because it provides two types of damage, a timered and a spammable skill as well as some good defensive mechanisms. This build would be something like this:
Cyclone Armor - 10-20 points
Tornado - Max
Hurricane - Max
Twister - 1-20 points
Additional Points spent in Oak Sage, Carrion Vine and the various summonables.
The basic idea is to cast Hurricane (with a REALLY long duration) while spamming Tornados. Only Cold/Physical immunes would be untouchable by this build. Other nice things about this build is that it has good defense with Hurricane slowing down the monsters (and maybe a Holy Freeze Act II merc slowing them even more). In addition, a Druid of this type can cast a powerful Cyclone Armor which essentially leaves the Druid impervious to all but the most potent elemental attacks.
Drawbacks of this build is that, with so many points thrown into the wind skills, the other skills (Oak Sage and the other summonables, in particular) can suffer. Thus you end up having to re-cast stuff a lot later in the game. Also, Tornado's semi-random flight path can be a pain but once you learn roughly how they behave, you can aim them fairly well. You might still have to move around a lot to find a good spot against single enemies.
However, this build is fun to play from what I've seen/heard and, when combined with an actual tank character, can tear through just about anything.
The second build idea is to focus on the Fire side of the Tree. The Druid fire skills are actually fairly variable. Often, a character will use Armageddon as well as either Fissure or Volcano. Sometimes Molten Boulder can also be used though the reports I've heard about its damage vary quite a bit (some say it works well, others are NOT impressed in the least).
Armageddon - Max
Volcano or Fissure or Molten Boulder - Max
Others - 1-20 points
Other points into the summonables.
Obviously, the stronger you want your elemental skills, the weaker your summonables are going to be. In this way, I think it'd probably be best to resist the wish to use all of the above skills.
Rather, I would personally probably break from most ideas and use Fissure + Volcano without Armageddon to save points on the pre-requisite skills. Also, Volcano tends to work better against stationary targets (since they take ALL of the damage) while Fissure works better against moving targets (which walk across multiple vents). Thus, you could pump the rest of the points into Oak Sage and either Grizzly or Dire Wolves to make a big beefy tank (plus a high-level Grizzly can dish out some serious damage making it a potential source of a secondary type of damage, physical damage).
The final method of Elementalist construction I've seen has been the combination of the above. People will take Tornado as a source of Physical Damage, Hurricane as a source of Cold Damage, and one of the Fire skills for Fire Damage. This usually ends up as follows:
Hurricane - Max
Tornado - Max
Fire Skill - Max
Other points go into synergies for the above skills or summonable minions.
The obvious drawbacks of this approach is that you lose out a LOT on synergy bonuses from either method #1 or 2. In addition, you tend to have fewer skill points to drop into the summonable minions which can be the difference between life and death in 1.10. Thus, I personally, don't believe in this philosophy, but if you are playing in a group with a good tank character then this method can be a great way to get lots of varied elemental damages to deal with the physical immunes of Hell.
The first (and the one that I'm a big advocate of) is to build an entirely wind-based Druid. This build is nice because it provides two types of damage, a timered and a spammable skill as well as some good defensive mechanisms. This build would be something like this:
Cyclone Armor - 10-20 points
Tornado - Max
Hurricane - Max
Twister - 1-20 points
Additional Points spent in Oak Sage, Carrion Vine and the various summonables.
The basic idea is to cast Hurricane (with a REALLY long duration) while spamming Tornados. Only Cold/Physical immunes would be untouchable by this build. Other nice things about this build is that it has good defense with Hurricane slowing down the monsters (and maybe a Holy Freeze Act II merc slowing them even more). In addition, a Druid of this type can cast a powerful Cyclone Armor which essentially leaves the Druid impervious to all but the most potent elemental attacks.
Drawbacks of this build is that, with so many points thrown into the wind skills, the other skills (Oak Sage and the other summonables, in particular) can suffer. Thus you end up having to re-cast stuff a lot later in the game. Also, Tornado's semi-random flight path can be a pain but once you learn roughly how they behave, you can aim them fairly well. You might still have to move around a lot to find a good spot against single enemies.
However, this build is fun to play from what I've seen/heard and, when combined with an actual tank character, can tear through just about anything.
The second build idea is to focus on the Fire side of the Tree. The Druid fire skills are actually fairly variable. Often, a character will use Armageddon as well as either Fissure or Volcano. Sometimes Molten Boulder can also be used though the reports I've heard about its damage vary quite a bit (some say it works well, others are NOT impressed in the least).
Armageddon - Max
Volcano or Fissure or Molten Boulder - Max
Others - 1-20 points
Other points into the summonables.
Obviously, the stronger you want your elemental skills, the weaker your summonables are going to be. In this way, I think it'd probably be best to resist the wish to use all of the above skills.
Rather, I would personally probably break from most ideas and use Fissure + Volcano without Armageddon to save points on the pre-requisite skills. Also, Volcano tends to work better against stationary targets (since they take ALL of the damage) while Fissure works better against moving targets (which walk across multiple vents). Thus, you could pump the rest of the points into Oak Sage and either Grizzly or Dire Wolves to make a big beefy tank (plus a high-level Grizzly can dish out some serious damage making it a potential source of a secondary type of damage, physical damage).
The final method of Elementalist construction I've seen has been the combination of the above. People will take Tornado as a source of Physical Damage, Hurricane as a source of Cold Damage, and one of the Fire skills for Fire Damage. This usually ends up as follows:
Hurricane - Max
Tornado - Max
Fire Skill - Max
Other points go into synergies for the above skills or summonable minions.
The obvious drawbacks of this approach is that you lose out a LOT on synergy bonuses from either method #1 or 2. In addition, you tend to have fewer skill points to drop into the summonable minions which can be the difference between life and death in 1.10. Thus, I personally, don't believe in this philosophy, but if you are playing in a group with a good tank character then this method can be a great way to get lots of varied elemental damages to deal with the physical immunes of Hell.
-TheDragoon