[CLASS BUILD] The Vigorous Warthog - regenerating boar druid with a hard punch

[Boeroer]

This build was created for a collaboration with @Aestus who runs the Youtube channel Aestus_RPG. This is build 2 of 3 from that collaboration. A link to the published videa will follow once it's out.
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This build is mainly meant for inspiration. You don't need to follow it in detail to have fun. If you understand the key features - the basic idea what makes this build special - you can usually deviate from non-core attribute-, skill-, gear- and ability selection and form the build to your own likings and ideas. 
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n the Living Lands, there exists a Druid named Rhuar - a rugged, rather ugly man with a deep connection to the natural world. Born in a small, secluded village on the fringes of a vast forest, Rhuar spent his youth learning the ways of both nature and martial combat. His affinity for the land and its tasty bugs was nurtured by the village's ancient traditions, passed down through generations of Druids.

Rhuar discovered his spiritshift ability early on - able to transform into a wild boar, a creature of strength and resilience, embodying the untamed power of the wilderness - aaand able to sniff all the tasty bugs!
This transformation not only granted him unparalleled endurance and a welcome snack every now and then, but also the remarkable ability to regenerate, healing wounds with every blow he takes. As a boar, Rhuar is a force of (dirty) nature, charging through enemies with ferocity and amouthful of chitin.

But even when not in his animal form, Rhuar remains a formidable fighter. His years of training in hand-to-hand combat have turned him into a skilled pugilist. With fists like iron, he strikes with precision, using his human form to deliver punishing blows that complement his druidic powers.

Though Rhuar’s life is simple, it is not without turmoil: driven by an unyielding sense of duty to protect the natural world from encroaching dangers and the wish to dig up some squishy worms from time to time, he roams the land, seeking balance between the feral instincts of his wild boar form and the wisdom of his human heart. Whether in battle or in peace, Rhuar is a guardian of nature a warrior with the soul of a beast and a tummy full of tasty bugs.

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The Vigorous Warthog
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Difficulty: PotD
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Class: Druid
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Race: Human (or Aumaua, Dwarf, Nature Godlike)
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Background: The Living Lands - Colonist
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Stats:
MIG: 20 (+1 Living Lands)
CON: 14
DEX: 12
PER: 12
INT: 16
RES: 04
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Skills: Survival 12, Athletics 9
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Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
2: Wildstrike Shock (!)(or whatever element you like)
4: Novice's Suffering(!)
6: Veteran's Recovery(!)
8: Weapon Focus Peasant(r)
10: Greater Wildstrike Shock(r)
12: Two-Weapon-Style(r)
14: Outlander's Frenzy 
16: Heart of the Storm

Abilities
9: Spell Mastery: Nature's Vigor
11: Spell Mastery: Taste of the Hunt
13: Spell Mastery: Nature's Balm
15: Spell Mastery: Form of the Delemgan

Story Talents:
- Second Skin
- Dungeon Delver
- Song of the Heavens
- Galawain's Boon (+1 MIG)
- Gift from the Machine (+1 MIG)
- Effigy's Resentment: Maneha (+1 MIG)
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Items (!=important, r=recommended):
Weapon Set 1: fists (!)(Novice's Suffering)
Weapon Set 2: two hatchets (r)
Boots: Sandals of the Forgotten Friar (r)
Head: Hermit's Hat
Armor: Wayfarer's Hide/Sanguine Plate
Neck: Mantle of the Dying Boar (obviously )/Fulvano's Amulet
Belt: Wildstrike Belt®
Rings: Pensiavi mes Rèi, Ring of Thorns
Hands: Mourning Gloves/Gauntlets of Swift Action
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Hi again!

Another late build for PoE - I was invited for a second interview by @Aestus again, this time for PoE. And since I talked about some PoE build ideas in the forum but never posted them, we thought this was a good opportunity to do so.

The Vigorous Warthog is a Boar Druid - obviously. The Boar form grants two very good abilities while shifted: a wounding lash on your tusk weapons and also a constant regeneration effect similar to a Fighter's Constant Recovery. Speaking of Constant Recovery: the cross-class talent "Veteran's Recovery" does stack with the boar regeneration so we'll take it, too. We can build around those things and create a Druid who is surprisingly sturdy and at the same time does great melee damage while shifted, especially against enemies with thick armor.
Wounding - as you might already know - scales with Might, and the healing you do does as well - so we have a double motivation to raise our Might high. This also helps all our spells that deal damage and heal us and others.

We want to deal the majority of our melee damage when shifted - but Spiritshift is not endless and often enough we will shift back before the fight is over. For that we might need some fitting backup weapons. Best to use some who don't need a lot of mony and resources to be good, they are for backup only after all. Soulbound weapons come to mind or even a summoned weapon such as Firebrand: they scale without resources. Or - just hear me out - we use our fists.

Novice's Suffering works in a weird way: it leaves your fists' base damage untouched but instead adds a rahter big flat damage bonus to them. Since most damage bonuses use the weapons' base damage as... well... base, adding damage bonuses to fists doesn't do much. But on the flipside damage maluses like grazes also don't influence the damage output much. The flat bonus however doesn't get influenced by anything - except Might! Yes, again Might - another reason to pump it. This leads to a set of backup weapons that does increbibly consistent damage, even if the wearer hasn't that much accuracy (like a Druid for example). And except the talent point they cost nothing. Later we add the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar. They add a second (small) flat dmg bonus to unarmed attacks and is also influenced by Might.   

Now we maxize it during character creation (Dwarf, Aumaua or Human for bonus Might - or even Nature Godlike for the chance to get stackable +3 MIG when under 50% endurance) and use a nice +MIG item (I chose a ring but it doesn't really matter). Outlander's Frenzy can give us another +3 MIG. But we can also use the Sanguine Plate for that: wait until you were hit by a crit and Frenzy procs, then spiritshift: the Frenzy will stay with you - and you spared a talent point. I picked the Wayfarer's Hide however - mostly because of the looks. Use the Blighthollow Resting in Caed Nua for +3 extra Might, it lasts for 3 rests in the wilderness.

Make sure to pick up the Wildstrike Belt. What it does it pretty amazing (and obscured by its vague description): it will ad 10% to your Wildstrike damage it says. But what it really does:

It adds +10% to your Wildstrike lash, raising it from 30% to 40%. But it also adds 10% to your Greater Wildstrike lash! Those two are separate lashes - and the latter one is only 15% which has to overcome enemies DR/4, too. Low lashes often get eaten up by enemies DR, so raiing this 15% lash to a 25% lash is great. Now your Wildstrike does +40% elemental lash damage and +25% elemental lash damage. No it's totally worth it to pick up one of the elemental damage talents like Heart of the Storm. It will raise both lashes, too: from 40% to 48% and from 25% to 30%. Now you do almost as much lash damage as physical tusk damage. And remember: wounding, buffed up by lots of MIG, comes on top! All Rogues who witness this go home crying and decide to attend Druid Evening School...  

Your Boar + Veteran's Regeneration is very good, too, allowing you to hang out at the front line after some levels. And you can always increase it with a powerful healing spell of course.
The best apporach is to first cast some useful spells (Avenging Storm, Form of the Delemgan, Nature's Balm etc.) and only then rush into battle, swinging tusks left and right. And should Spieitshift end before the fight ends you can punch around with your meaty fists - or cast spells of course. Against crush-immune foes you can use a set of solid hatchets: they grant some deflection and deal slash damage - and they share the same weapon focus as fists. 99% of times you won't need them though. 

Since Novice's Suffering fists don't profit much from damage bonuses I skipped Savage Attack, Appr. Sneak Attack etc. and instead focused on Might, speed and lash improvement. 

Cheers and have fun!

 

  

Edited Thursday at 08:26 PM by Boeroer

[Chaospread]

What a good character with a very nice story behind him! A funny druid to play with, for sure.

As a well-know druid maximum expert and bearer of the self assigned title of "Best Druids Lover and Academic in the Universe"  I wanna share some thoughts about him.

First of all, shock is the best choice for a druid, but I think this character fits better with some ground-related element, so I'd pick corrode damage: Spirit of Decay and related Wildstrike talent.
Then, I think like a waste taking Nature's Balm as third level mastery spell, as you already have Nature's Vigor, so I'd pick Infestation of Maggots because it fits well with the bugs thing and is an AoE, or Twin Stones, ground-related and also AoE. You can chose Calling the World's Maw for 4th tier with the same reasons, but indeed, Form of the Delemgan has its why, for sure.
About equipment, you can also have spears as backup weapons, pierce damage and there are many unique ones very special, and I think is nice with a "boar" PG.
Wayfarer's Hide looks awesome but I consider it a little weak; Blaidh Golan is beautiful on him and maybe Husk of the Great Western Stag is pretty. Last one has also +2 Athletics.

If you take Blaidh Golan, it has already preservation enchantment so you can switch Ring of Thorns (even if it is perfect for a "forest" character) with Gwyn's Band of Union: +4 INT on top of high INT instead of +3 DEX with average DEX.
So I speak

[Boeroer]

12 minutes ago, Chaospread said:

First of all, shock is the best choice for a druid, but I think this character fits better with some ground-related element, so I'd pick corrode damage: Spirit of Decay and related Wildstrike talent.

Yes, that's why I wrote "or whatever element you like". Corrode would fit the theme best I think.
But there aren't good druid corrode spells which would profit from Spirit of Decay. So for the sake of efficiency I picked Wildstrike Shock + Heart of the Storm because it's not only the least resisted element, but also the best damage spells of the druid deal shock damage.

12 minutes ago, Chaospread said:

Then, I think like a waste taking Nature's Balm as third level mastery spell, as you already have Nature's Vigor, so I'd pick Infestation of Maggots because it fits well with the bugs thing and is an AoE, or Twin Stones, ground-related and also AoE. You can chose Calling the World's Maw for 4th tier with the same reasons, but indeed, Form of the Delemgan has its why, for sure.

Yes, I didn't put a recommendation tag behind the spell masteries because it highly depends on the party composition, too. This Druid, because of the high MIG, can work very well as the party's main healer. That's why I chose the above spell masteries. Those were just the spells I found myself using over and over again before.

12 minutes ago, Chaospread said:

About equipment, you can also have spears as backup weapons, pierce damage and there are many unique ones very special, and I think is nice with a "boar" PG.

  Possible, but dual spears look a bit weird imo - and more importantly: boar tusk deal pierce damage already. Good to have a third damage type besides pierce (tusks) and crush (fists) and gain the +10 deflection, too.

  

12 minutes ago, Chaospread said:

Wayfarer's Hide looks awesome but I consider it a little weak; Blaidh Golan is beautiful on him and maybe Husk of the Great Western Stag is pretty. Last one has also +2 Athletics.

If you take Blaidh Golan, it has already preservation enchantment so you can switch Ring of Thorns (even if it is perfect for a "forest" character) with Gwyn's Band of Union: +4 INT on top of high INT instead of +3 DEX with average DEX.
So I speak

Blaidh Golan is cool, but Wayfarer's Hide comes superb which is a big advantage for an armor you will not be using frequently because you will have a boar hide. Wayfarer's Hide def. the better pick for me here. Before getting it I wore Blaidh Golan btw.  

 

Edited Friday at 03:22 PM by Boeroer

[Chaospread]

33 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

But there aren't good druid corrode spells which would profit from Spirit of Decay. So for the sake of efficiency I picked Wildstrike Shock + Heart of the Storm because it's not only the least resisted element, but also the best damage spells of the druid deal shock damage.

Yes, we sadly know... but autumn's decays is not so poor. And you can use Rotfinger Gloves (I love it) for Touch of Rot (they had to let this spell on third or fourth druid level...). Ah, and Rot Skulls in 1 is funny as range AoE weapon with high INT.
And enough with these shocking druids!  

35 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Possible, but dual spears look a bit weird imo - and more importantly: boar tusk deal pierce damage already.

Yes, but... Cladhalíath and Danulkya are so insane And why not? You can have a spear and a hatchet. Ok, pierce damage and so on, but spiritshift doesn't last forever, and having those two spears together with your fists... you know, I prefer having them, without penetration system in 1 there are only earth blights I think you can have troubles with pierce damage, come on

40 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Wayfarer's Hide comes superb which is a big advantage for an armor you will not be using frequently

Ah, ok, I didn't consider enchantment cost. By the way, Wayfarer's Hide is the best looking armor for this character and in Poe1 armor doesn't make so many difference

[Chaospread]

P.S.: It is not a criticism, I have read your "disclaimers", my alternatives are only "variations on the theme"
You can build a "corrode" druid, but I'd change spiritshifts, stats and most of the equip, so Rhuar as he is, is more than welcomed

P.P.S: and thank you SO MUCH to have built a DRUID for Aestus, I'm looking forward to hear you and watch the video, very special Christmas gift! Love you

Edited Friday at 04:18 PM by Chaospread

[limaxophobiacq]

New PoE1 builds just in time for christmas! Never knew that about wildstrike belt, I  haven't played with a druid other than Hiravias in PoE1 since playing one for my very first playthrough so maybe I'll try it out.

On 12/13/2024 at 5:07 PM, Chaospread said:

Yes, we sadly know... but autumn's decays is not so poor.

Yes but sadly autumns decay being damage over time doesn't work with the elemental talents in PoE1 which I think has never been fixed (other than in MaxQuest old fix patch).

[Boeroer]

4 hours ago, limaxophobiacq said:

Yes but sadly autumns decay being damage over time doesn't work with the elemental talents in PoE1 which I think has never been fixed (other than in MaxQuest old fix patch).

It works... half.

The initial damage is direct corrode damage (Spirit of Decay works) and then it follows up with a corrode DoT (Spirit of Decay doesn't work). 

But yeah - overall not worth it imo. 

[Chaospread]

Wildstrike belt is a must have for a druid, IIRC the only equipment working during spiritshifts.
Autumn Decay has also a "fixed" damage component, little indeed compared with the AoE, but it can increase stacking elemental talents and other bonus
As Boeroer say not a thing to build on, but if you wanna make a "corrode" druid... you have no many choices and in my runs, it works, corrode damage apart from anything else is a good damage type. And you can play with the DoT effect anyway. I repeat, as a second level tier spell, not so bad.

Edited 2 hours ago by Chaospread

[Boeroer]

5 hours ago, limaxophobiacq said:

New PoE1 builds just in time for christmas! Never knew that about wildstrike belt, I  haven't played with a druid other than Hiravias in PoE1 since playing one for my very first playthrough so maybe I'll try it out.

 

The belt is awesome. Only little drawback: its implemented in a way that it puts a buff on you that gets triggered by your spiritshift. And that buff doesn't profit from INT for some stupid reason. So if you have more than 10 INT the Wildstrike Belt's effect will run out before your spiritshift ends (because Spiritshift does get extended by INT). Still a great effect and worth taking over any other belt - if you like to use spiritshift.