12-03-2003, 03:10 AM
I have a 70 Summon druid just starting hell so I can't say I'm an expert on the topic but I doubt you'll find a great many that far in 1.10 yet either.
Here's my build from memory:
1 raven
1 Bear
1 Lycanthropy
1 Cyclone armor
20 Summon Spirit Wolf
20 Grizzly
20 Heart of Wolverine
I may split the rest in lycanthropy and shockwave.
More than likely even with summon damage maxed out in skills, maxc plus skill items and using a Might Merc hell will be difficult even in a solo game. Primarily 2 weaknesses :
1) Damage seems too low
Much better than 1.09 certainly but in comparison to hell monster hitpoints not enough it seems. I'm not sure the skill screen adjusts to HOW and merc/party buffs though. There's a small chance it will surprise me.
2) No resistances
Its possible that they bult in resistances in 1.10 similiar to the way they handle merc resistance- by level. I've seen nothing conclusive towards this end though and there certainly is nothing like the necro's summon resist or a documented synergy to address resistances.
The good news is that they are easily rebuilt but the bad news if they are dying they arent killing and you won't be effective.
The character was kind of a struggle early in normal as I chose not to invest in spirit wolf and relied on plus skills and my characters weapon to advance. My feeling was that HOW was a better investment for AR and damage and spirit wolf synergy simply increase AR for the same investment. Its possible I'll need that AR in Hell but I'd sure hope I wouldnt need to invest 20 points just so my wolves or Bear can hit something given my maximum use of HOW.
He did very well in Nightmare though as he was an excellent party player with Max How, minions and repeated use of shockwave to control mobs.
One last thought. I glanced at carrion vine but frankly I'm not sure how beneficial it would be because the returns are confusing. Is life returned based on damage ie leech or is life returned as a replenish life buff? My impression was that its the latter which to me seems rather worthless. If its the former (leech) then I would have jumped all over it. Perhaps someone can enlighten us as to how exactly Carrion vine works? I heard poison vine works very well though my glance at the statistics contradict that word of mouth. I'll keep an open mind about it and perhaps try maxing it on another druid.
Here's my build from memory:
1 raven
1 Bear
1 Lycanthropy
1 Cyclone armor
20 Summon Spirit Wolf
20 Grizzly
20 Heart of Wolverine
I may split the rest in lycanthropy and shockwave.
More than likely even with summon damage maxed out in skills, maxc plus skill items and using a Might Merc hell will be difficult even in a solo game. Primarily 2 weaknesses :
1) Damage seems too low
Much better than 1.09 certainly but in comparison to hell monster hitpoints not enough it seems. I'm not sure the skill screen adjusts to HOW and merc/party buffs though. There's a small chance it will surprise me.
2) No resistances
Its possible that they bult in resistances in 1.10 similiar to the way they handle merc resistance- by level. I've seen nothing conclusive towards this end though and there certainly is nothing like the necro's summon resist or a documented synergy to address resistances.
The good news is that they are easily rebuilt but the bad news if they are dying they arent killing and you won't be effective.
The character was kind of a struggle early in normal as I chose not to invest in spirit wolf and relied on plus skills and my characters weapon to advance. My feeling was that HOW was a better investment for AR and damage and spirit wolf synergy simply increase AR for the same investment. Its possible I'll need that AR in Hell but I'd sure hope I wouldnt need to invest 20 points just so my wolves or Bear can hit something given my maximum use of HOW.
He did very well in Nightmare though as he was an excellent party player with Max How, minions and repeated use of shockwave to control mobs.
One last thought. I glanced at carrion vine but frankly I'm not sure how beneficial it would be because the returns are confusing. Is life returned based on damage ie leech or is life returned as a replenish life buff? My impression was that its the latter which to me seems rather worthless. If its the former (leech) then I would have jumped all over it. Perhaps someone can enlighten us as to how exactly Carrion vine works? I heard poison vine works very well though my glance at the statistics contradict that word of mouth. I'll keep an open mind about it and perhaps try maxing it on another druid.