Well this was inspired by some posts over at diabloii.net about making werebears that use knives as weapons and pump dex so that they don't have an AR problem, hit fast, the AR adds more damage due to knives getting .75 damage for each dex point, and have even more defense. So I was thinking that the buriza is already a good weapon for a werewolf to use so why not use it with the same general idea as what they were talking about with the werebear and knives. Crossbows get 1 point of damage for each point in dex I believe so that should work well and the buriza hits the fastest breakpoint with nothing in it (well you can shave 1 point off the speed of the normal attack of fury, but not off the 4 fury attacks so close enough I think).
This also will go well with the fact that I like not to max the werewolf skill itself. 1 point in it with more than 6 from items should be more than enough to max out the skill ias for buriza (I've only done the math for the ik maul not the buriza so this is just an assumption). So that means the only reason to put points in werewolf would be for the AR, but since I will be pumping dex I shouldn't need the extra AR from the skill. This means I can max a different skill. I figure 20 in lycanthropy, 20 in fury, and 20 in oak sage as my main skills. Then I can max grizzly as my extra skill instead of werewolf. Two reasons I figure on using oak sage instead of HoW. First is that half the reason of using HoW is to up your AR, which I won't need. Second is that sage will help my bear stay alive longer to help me keep from getting overwhelmed (though that may not be a problem anyway).
So thats 80 skill points plus 6 prereqs, that means counting the 12 quest skills i can get this at level 75. So levels after that I can put the skill points into feral rage to give me more steal and run walk. If the char gets high enough this could even get maxed too (level 94) and then the rest could go into dire wolves to help my grizzly do more damage or something along those lines.
So lets see figuring level 75 I would have 5 stat points per level so 375 plus 15 from quests so 390 points. Buriza requires 110 strength, but I figure I can were the Mane and prob Wartravelers (since I like magic find). So thats 30 strength points. Which means I need to get my strength to 80. So thats 65 plus the 15 from base, which leaves me 325 stat points. None in energy of course so that just leaves vit and dex. This is the kind of tricky part. How high would it be best to take each. Dex starts at 20 and vit at 25. I could bring dex up to 200 with 180 stat points leaving 145 for vit. So I would end up with 200 dex and 170 vit, not counting the dex from buriza(35) and the ravenfrost(15-20) I would wear. The question I guess with this part is how much vit do I really need? Obviously the more I have the more oak sage will benefit me and the more durable the character will be, but also the more dex I have the more damage I do and so the more life I steal back too. Also if I wear a high def armor the dex might help me get hit less too, but I don't know how much dex it takes to really effect that. I might take vit up to 200 too. At level 80 I could have 200 in both dex and vit not counting items. Then from there I can just put all the remaining points from levels into dex. I need to see how well the build will do with just 100 vit and 150 vit though to make sure the 200 is needed or if the points would be better spent in dex.
So what do you all think of the build? I know it will work cause just a normal werewolf build with buriza works fine so this is just taking that and trying to make it even stronger. As everyone knows buriza is such a cheap weapon, but I think it might be fun to specialize in it with a druid.
edit: added some line breaks and capitalized AR (hope I got them all) to try and make kandrathe a little happier. : )
This also will go well with the fact that I like not to max the werewolf skill itself. 1 point in it with more than 6 from items should be more than enough to max out the skill ias for buriza (I've only done the math for the ik maul not the buriza so this is just an assumption). So that means the only reason to put points in werewolf would be for the AR, but since I will be pumping dex I shouldn't need the extra AR from the skill. This means I can max a different skill. I figure 20 in lycanthropy, 20 in fury, and 20 in oak sage as my main skills. Then I can max grizzly as my extra skill instead of werewolf. Two reasons I figure on using oak sage instead of HoW. First is that half the reason of using HoW is to up your AR, which I won't need. Second is that sage will help my bear stay alive longer to help me keep from getting overwhelmed (though that may not be a problem anyway).
So thats 80 skill points plus 6 prereqs, that means counting the 12 quest skills i can get this at level 75. So levels after that I can put the skill points into feral rage to give me more steal and run walk. If the char gets high enough this could even get maxed too (level 94) and then the rest could go into dire wolves to help my grizzly do more damage or something along those lines.
So lets see figuring level 75 I would have 5 stat points per level so 375 plus 15 from quests so 390 points. Buriza requires 110 strength, but I figure I can were the Mane and prob Wartravelers (since I like magic find). So thats 30 strength points. Which means I need to get my strength to 80. So thats 65 plus the 15 from base, which leaves me 325 stat points. None in energy of course so that just leaves vit and dex. This is the kind of tricky part. How high would it be best to take each. Dex starts at 20 and vit at 25. I could bring dex up to 200 with 180 stat points leaving 145 for vit. So I would end up with 200 dex and 170 vit, not counting the dex from buriza(35) and the ravenfrost(15-20) I would wear. The question I guess with this part is how much vit do I really need? Obviously the more I have the more oak sage will benefit me and the more durable the character will be, but also the more dex I have the more damage I do and so the more life I steal back too. Also if I wear a high def armor the dex might help me get hit less too, but I don't know how much dex it takes to really effect that. I might take vit up to 200 too. At level 80 I could have 200 in both dex and vit not counting items. Then from there I can just put all the remaining points from levels into dex. I need to see how well the build will do with just 100 vit and 150 vit though to make sure the 200 is needed or if the points would be better spent in dex.
So what do you all think of the build? I know it will work cause just a normal werewolf build with buriza works fine so this is just taking that and trying to make it even stronger. As everyone knows buriza is such a cheap weapon, but I think it might be fun to specialize in it with a druid.
edit: added some line breaks and capitalized AR (hope I got them all) to try and make kandrathe a little happier. : )