Druid - Goldpact Knight

[Nnamztub]

Hello friends,

i´d like to start a new playtrough and read a bit (poorly really just a little bit) about multiclassing a druid with a goldpact knight. I want to take a mountain dwarf. I tried shifter barbarian  and it was a lot of fun but i saw me forced to be the main DD in my team and i´d like to see me more as a tank with moderate damage output. Standing in the middle of the enemies, defend, casting etc. (I played a melee tanky druid in POE1)

I know that i should take the bear form for the extra AR. But what else should i do?

Heavy or light armor?

Should i take a shield?

Maybe any druid subclass?

What about the stats?

You see i have an idea but no real plan so feel free to give me some advices. I hope you can help me.

Thanks a lot and sorry for my bad english,

Marcus

Edited July 11, 2020 by Nnamztub

[Boeroer]

A Shifter heals after Spiritshift and you will still be able to use Lay on Hands and other Paladin stuff. So that can work (and you wouldn't have to settle down on one particular form).

Besides that I would consider Lifegiver. If you want to tank while shifted your vastly superior healing spells like Moonlight etc. will help immensely. After shifting your healing will drop though. You could compensate by using the Spine of Thicket Green after shifting - or just live with the malus until encounter's over. You can use Druid healing before/while shifted and use Paladin's Lay on Hands afterwards (since it doesn't suffer from the Power Level drain. 

In non-shifted form I would use the thickest armor if your goal is tanking. Since you might want to pick Two Weapon Style for your Spiritshift attacks you could take a bashing shield setup when not shifted: it profits from both Weapon & Shield as well as Two Weapon Style. Look a Tuotilo's Palm or Magran's Blessing for example.

Analternative could be to use dual hatchets since they have some defensive capabilities. There's a hatchet called Vion-Ceth which does +30% dmg against all enemies with a plant effect. Druids can cast plenty of plant spells on enemies which can be used to unlock that bonus 100% of times. For example.

Another good weapon could be the Lance of the Midwood Stag which can give you +2 to all Power Levels as soon as you have a plant effect (e.g. Woodskin).

As tanker you want high RES. Good INT and solid MIG would be good for the healing. DEX is good for faster casting, esp. in thick armor.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Boeroer

[Nnamztub]

Ah Boeroer, I hoped that you read and and reply my topic. 

Thank you a lot so far. 

I played a Batsh!t Crazy inspired dwarf in poe1. Maybe you remember your char. Now I am searching for another tanky druid. I love druids since poe1 but multiclassing is so interesting. I think goldpact shifter is a good choice for me and it fits for a dwarf because of the goldpact what was founded by dwarfs, if I'm thinking right. A dwarven explorer who lived in the wilderness of the living lands, who learned how to solve the magic of nature and who was hired by the goldpact.... 

Some questions. If I wear fat armor my spells need a lot of time to be casted. Isn't that a problem? 

What about perception? I don't like dump stats completely. Maybe at 8?

Aaand for a tank what about con? I saw a lot of discussions about this Stat. I would say 10 should be enough in good armor and with nice resistances. 

Two hatchets aren't the optimal (visual) choice for me I really like the idea of a bashing shield and a one handed weapon. I thought of a hammer or mace even if it isn't the best weapon for the build. But I don't know more than one bashing shield (Tuotilo's Palm). Are there others? 

Thank you for your answers

Edited July 12, 2020 by Nnamztub
Incomplete