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Druid kicks major ass so far (beta)
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Posted by: uh...ok
Just started an elemental/summoning druid tonight after giving up on my sorceress (I put a lot of points on Warmth, but supposedly since whatever patch it was, Warmth is no longer as useful as before).
I must say, he kicks some major ass. The first thing I did was turn on 8-player mode, and he had no problems killing monsters. I had a little trouble with the zombies in the Den of Evil but my club (doing extra damage to undead) still pulled through.
And then once I got Molten Boulder (unfortunately I didn't catch the 1000-2000 damage MB bug this time  ), I started dishing out even more havoc. I'm level 13 right now and it only took me a little over an hour to get there. I've taken on uniques (usually 2 at once too!) with little problem, though going up against two unique archers took several visits to town.
Oh and the Cone of Ice or whatever (ice version of Inferno) rocks because it doesn't drain as much mana as it used to. I killed a Fire-Enchanted/Immune boss with it, holding down the spell all the way (for about 8 seconds or so) and didn't even use up all my mana doing so.
Is anyone having as easy a time as I am right now?  (Of course I was having a crapload of trouble with my sorceress just in 1-player mode.)
Posted by: AngstMerchant
I used to think the Druid was the least powerful character type in D2:LOD. However, since I made it my personal mission to make solid Druid, I think the Druid may be the most stable character type in the game, if configured correctly. And you don't have to have rare and exotic gear to make them, either. Here's a run down on my strategy:
Oak Sage: Max it out and, with the correct gear, you can quite realistically expect life totals over 2000, which is good for a spellcaster.
Carrion Vine: With the enormous life totals an Oak Sage Druid will achieve, the Carrion Vine isn't just handy, its essential. I recommend nine or ten percent recovery rates.
Armageddon: Duh. Max it out.
Hurricane: Necessary for Hell difficulty. If you encounter monsters with fire immunity, Armageddon will not harm them. Having a second elemental attack type is crucial in building a character who can survive in Hell difficulty. Max this out also. Added bonus: Hurricane doesn't trigger Lightning Enchantment. If you run up against a Multiple Shots-Lightning Enchantment monster, you can handle them with no problems.
The final step in completing this Druid is to hire a combat mercenary from Act 2 in Nightmare difficulty. The combat mercenary will add Thorns to your party members, which is the best way to make those enormous life totals work for you. Joe Monster runs up to you, attacks you three times and kills himself and then your vine crushes his lifeless corpses to replenish the life Joe Monster did to you. Its the cycle of life, its beautiful and thats all happening without any attacks. Add flaming meteors raining down all around you and thats fun for everyone, dude.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you keep your mercenary alive. Provide him with weapons that steal life abundantly and horde gold to bail him out if he dies. If he falls behind in levels, its a total hassle to keep him alive and, frankly, his Thorns aura is a major player in this strategy.
Of course, this strategy is great for game play but sucks PvP. However, if you're building a specific PvP character, you're a ****ing wanker in the first place and don't deserve my advice anyway.
Posted by: uh...ok
I never play PvP. I think I've only PK'd two or three people in my entire D2 career - once in a duel and once because this guy tried to con me into downloading a trojan (he was following me around, and I was playing dumb, and ended up bringing him outside of town and killing him. It felt good.  Screenshots here and here.)
Anyway, thanks for the advice Angst. I'm beginning to have trouble with the druid (simply because it's tough against bosses). I should probably not go any further down the Oak Sage tree and just focus my points on Oak Sage itself. (I have one point in the next one down though, the one that ups damage and AR.)
Right now I'm relying on my Dire Wolf to tank and basically using Fissure against groups and Molten Boulder against individual, strong monsters. It's working, but bosses still take a good while to kill. What's worse is that Fissure has been my staple spell (though, like all the other skills, it only has one point right now - I have about 6 or so saved up) in Act 1, but it's not nearly as effective in Act 2 because the monsters don't clump together. And fire immune bosses are a pain - I have to sit there using Cone of Cold for an hour. At level 20 there's not much else you can do.  Oh, and the level 18 spell where you summon the three tornadoes - yea, it sucks.
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