[CLASS BUILD] Batsh!t Crazy (disabling druid tank)

[Boeroer]

In the Black Hound tavern in Gilded Vale:

"I saw something weird the other day in Elmshore: A gang of ogres was loitering in front of the cave where I use to pluck herbs when I return from Twin Elms. I quickly hid behind a bush when suddenly a wild orlan came along. He walked right into their midst and yelled: 'Hey guys! I'm batsh!t and you're chickensh!t!"

"What? Was he nuts? How did it turn out?"

"They are all dead"

 

Badshid Krayth was a young druid from the Ixamitl Plains who lived a peaceful live. But one day, while he was spiritshifted and chased some hinds just for the fun of it, he met a big white Stag. The Stag didn't like Badshid chasing the hinds too much, so it chased Badshid instead and knocked him prone. Badshid's head hit a rock and made a cracking noise - *crack* - ouch!

 

When Badshid woke up he was at home in his bed, his head wrapped up in bandages. He didn't know why, but he felt an urge to talk to somebody, so he got up. When he saw his mother in the kitchen he wanted to say something nice, but instead a stream of scatology emerged from his mouth so that his mother paled and fainted.

 

Years of ascesis, training and meditating were needed so that Badshid was able to talk like a halfway normal kith again. But every now and then he blows his stack and has to flee the angry mob - making him a nomad. It doesn't help that everybody understands "Batsh!t Crazy" when he introduces himself. He's had more angry outbursts than a common barbarian and got more beatings than a ranger's mongrel because of that, but this turned him into a cast-iron warrior who giVES A STINKIN' SOGGY SHEEPSH*T, YOU HEAR ME!?!

 

 

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Badshid Krayth aka Batsh!t Crazy

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Difficulty: PotD v. 2.03

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Class: Druid

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Race: Wild Orlan

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Background: Ixamitl Plains - Scholar

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Stats:

 

MIG: 17

CON: 13

DEX: 08

PER: 10

INT: 15

RES: 15

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Skills: Stealth 1, Athl. 2, Lore 10, Mech. 0, Surv. 11

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Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)

Weapon & Shield Style ®

Snake's Reflexes

Bear's Fortitude

Bull's Will

Deep Pockets

Superior Deflection

Body Control

Heart of the Storm

 

Abilities

Defiant Resolve (a)

Spiritshift Stag (a)

Druid Stag Carnage (a)

Druid Stag Defenses (a)

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Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended):

 

Weapon set 1: Exceptional Hatchet & Ilfan Byrngar's Solace (*Durgan Reinforced)

Weapon Set 2: Forgotten Tear of the Beloved & Medium Wooden Shield (*Exceptional) OR Scath Gwannek (if you can buy it from Azurro)

 

Boots: Boots of Stability

 

Head: Stag Helm

 

Armor: Blaidh Golan (*Durgan Reinforced, *Exceptional)

 

Neck: Spellward Amulett

 

Belt: Broad Belt of Power

 

Rings: Orlan's Bramble Ring, Ring of Protection

 

Hands: Bracers of Deflection

 

Quick slots: Defensive Scrolls (Protection, Defense, Prayers), Potion of Spirit Shield, Potion of Alacrity, Ashwood Cameo Figurine

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Hoi - this one is quite easy to explain: this guy is supposed to walk into a mob and disable them. Since druids have fairly good deflection from the start, it's not impossible to turn them into ok tanks. They get a lot of offensive spells but very few class talents that are worthwhile (if you're not willing to invest in spiritshifting). So you can build a very tanky character who still can dish out lots of damage and cause massive CC via spells.

 

In order to do this, I chose a stat distribution that leads to very balanced defenses. At lvl 14, (with gear and talents I mentioned above), Badshid has the following defenses:

 

Deflection: 111 (121 against spells)

Fortitude: 102 (112)

Reflex: 103 (113)

Will: 102 (112)

 

On top of that he has +15 defense against Stuck, Hobbled, +25 against Paralyzed, +10 against Stunned, Petrified, Sickened and Weakened, +30 against Prone, +15 against Push, +30 to all defenses when stunned or prone, -50% stun and prone duration.

If his Will is attacked, it's all +10 because of Defiant Resolve. It's really funny if you meet foes with terrifiy- or frighten-auras beause then it's always on.

 

DR is 12/15/17 against slash/crush/pierce - that was enough.

 

I think we can say that he has pretty good defenses without any buffs - especially as a caster. You can choose which one of the defensive talents to pick based on the enemies that will await you in the near future. Then you get most out of level ups.

 

Another good thing is that druids have some healing over time abilities. That way we don't need Veteran's Recovery and stuff to survive all the grazes that will rain down on us. Moonwell is a great spell for this.

 

His casting takes some time, but luckily he can take a lot of beating before going down. And once Returning & Relentless Storm are both on the fight is basically over. A Potion of Spirit Shield might help against too many interrupts that would prevent you from casting. But that's only for big mobs with high ACC and interrupt (ogres etc.).

 

I chose Deep Pockets because I never did that before ( ) and because of Nature's Bounty (since the other two level 7 spells are somewhat useless). That way I can have lots of scrolls/potions and still have room for this nice summoned potion. You can switch that for any other talent - even more defense would be nice. Cautious Attack can make a difference in tough fights for example. I had some other tanky guys in the party (see doen below), so I didn't feel the need.

 

Speaking of tanks: druids can also summon blights. These things can be very tanky too - if you face enemies that do a certain kind of damage that your blight is invulnerable to. It's really funny to see some xaurips trying to pierce your flame blight. And another good thing: blights don't have durations...

 

Since druids get all their spells per level up you're very flexible. You can cause stun, prone, lots of DoT effects (hello Combusting Wounds!), different elemental damage, raw damage, you name it. And because you're standing in the middle of the mob, you always touch them all with your spells.

 

His ACC is not his best part (not abysmal, but not very high), so it's a good idea to team up with a paladin (Zealous Focus) or any other buffer and/or use another char to debuff the mob until the druid casts his storms.

 

If you feel - while playing the early game - that he's still too flimsy and not yet tanky enough to survive in melee, you can always retreat and use him from the back row like any other druid.

I don't know if he's 100% able to play the role of an antiquated "main tank" - I used him together with three other sturdy frontliners (Engineer fighter, Leech barbarian and Drake's Ambassador chanter) and two flimsier chars (Hurtstacker wizard and Needler priest) and his performance was great. I just looked up the record sheet and saw that he got knocked out zero times. Zero! Well, maybe that's because I had a lot of tankiness in this group AND was very lucky - but still.

 

When you get Avenging Storm you might want to reequip: put on Sura's Supper Plate and Garodh's Chorus. That's because Avenging Storm works with Retaliation. Which is superpowerful. It boosts retaliation from meh to wow (see doen below for detailed instructions).

 

Ok, this is the last build for now. I'll see what WMII brings up. Until then: hands off PoE! At least for me.

 

Edit (24.06.2016): As I said above, there is a neat >3.0 combination of items and late game spells that work great with this build:

- Put on Sura's Supper Plate and any other retaliation item.

- Sip a potion of Flame Shield

- Cast Avenging Storm: the three retaltion effects from above will ensure that you will not only retaliate with those but also Avenging Storm will be triggered. Once because you got hit - and three times because retaliation works with it. In addition it also triggers when you hit with your weapon.

- Cast Nature's Terror

- If you have a priest: cast Spark the Souls of the Righteous on this druid

- Tank the enemies while you cast Returning- and the Relentless Storm (if needed)

 

All foes who surrounded you should be dead by now.

Edited April 16, 2017 by Boeroer

[Raven Darkholme]

lol

[Blades of Vanatar]

How much aggro did he draw?

[Boeroer]

Quite a lot - for a tank. Maybe because he's a caster and his DR is not superhigh.

But as I said: there were three sturdy dudes with him - so maybe it would be different if he would team up with more squishies.

[Boeroer]

Quick update: Avenging Storm works with retaliation. So you might want to reequip once you get that. See edited starting post.

[Elric Galad]

Suppadruid build incoming.

[Boeroer]

Yeah, it's very nice on a tanky druid like this one. But Avenging Storm comes really late. So make sure the build is of any use before you get Av. Storm.

 

By the way: Av. Storm also works with Battle Forged and Potion of Flame Shield or Mantle of the Wreathing Flame ("or" because potion surpresses mantle). So you can build up to four retaliating Avenging Storms when you get grazed/hit/crit. Battle Forged + Potion of Falme Shield + Scion of Flame + Avenging Storm + Heart of the Storm turns every melee attacker into roasted pulp.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

I updated the build a bit. Still works great with 3.02 (even better because of some of the new spells). I will do a comlete overhaul once 3.03 comes out. That will include usage of camping bonuses, new items and so on.  

[Dr <3]

Very nice adds! Re turning storm 3x on hit is sick!

[Boeroer]

Hopefully it stays that way.

[RKHeliplex]

Howdy -- I love this build but was curious if you'd make any changes with the latest patches.

I noticed in this thread that avenging doesn't work with retaliation anymore and your update was in June.
http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/86064-class-build-the-thundercat-or-crit-me-maybe-on-more-time/?p=1840344
 

And thanks for you input Boeroer!

[Boeroer]

I updated the build a bit. Still works great with 3.02 (even better because of some of the new spells). I will do a comlete overhaul once 3.03 comes out. That will include usage of camping bonuses, new items and so on.

Dammit, I never did that. Sooorry! Have too much fuzz going on right now.

 

Since PoE2 will be released in one year at best I guess I could take some time and update all of my old builds. This one was one of my favourite ones back then - although it's not too gimmicky or special.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Boeroer

[RKHeliplex]

 

I updated the build a bit. Still works great with 3.02 (even better because of some of the new spells). I will do a comlete overhaul once 3.03 comes out. That will include usage of camping bonuses, new items and so on.

Dammit, I never did that. Sooorry! Have too much fuzz going on right now.

 

Since PoE2 will be released in one year at best I guess I could take some time and update all of my old builds. This one was one of my favourite ones back then - although it's not too gimmicky or special.

 

Oh in the case, out of curiosity what's your favorite druid build if you had to start fresh these days?

 

And what build of any class is your all-time favorite to play if you're looking for fun? (mine so far has been a ranged cipher)

[Boeroer]

All time favorite so far might be the Witch Doctor. The Backlash Beldam was also very nice, but they nerfed her to death.

 

I also like barbs of any sorts.

 

The druid I like best at the moment is a boar shifter, max MIG and INT, with Veteran's Recovery and survival (14) bonus for healing and Sanguine Plate + Shod-in-Faith boots. Go in, catch a crit which triggers Frenzy & Consecrated Ground, then shift and deal tons of (wounding) damage while self healing prevents knockout.

[Dr <3]

The druid I like best at the moment is a boar shifter, max MIG and INT, with Veteran's Recovery and survival (14) bonus for healing and Sanguine Plate + Shod-in-Faith boots. Go in, catch a crit which triggers Frenzy & Consecrated Ground, then shift and deal tons of (wounding) damage while self healing prevents knockout.

I'm playing too a similar druid ( the only difference is that i also putted 16 in const to have a better health and survive alpha stikes, he's named Honey Badger because he doesn't give a sh!t about anything) and having a lot of fun.

He is sturdy but as a shapeshifter can do otrageous amount of DMG, with wounding lash on top.

I used a "corrode" theme also if Spirit of decay actually do nothing for your spells , if you want to really Power play him the best is go for flaming wildstrike, scion of flame and have as friend a Priest ( Champions boon, devotions, crown) a Chanter ( another +25% flame lash) and a paladin for suspend evental affliction and Emergency healings.

Adding also a self cast avenging storm you can reach about 350 DMG PER HIT ( hi rogue with deathblows!), Just for saying you can slay Trolls with 1 hit. Best DPS in game hands down.

 

At this point i really hope there is a shapeshifter subclass for druid in poe2, and if you can add some kind of carnage picking a couple of lvl of barbarian it will be just crazy.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Dr <3

[Boeroer]

Shapshifting barb (or shapeshifter with carnage, how you want to look at it) would be awesome.

[NatureWithoutMan]

Hey Boeroer, 

Mind giving some more details on that  regen. boar build. Sounds like just what I'm looking for. 

 

Starting stats, important talents? I would appreciate it.

 

Thanks!

 

-Nw/oM

[Boeroer]

Hi. Let's see if I can put it all together from memory:

 

Focus on spiritshift damage and self heals:

 

- maxed MIG and INT

 

- survival 12 (+2 from Sanguine Plate): Healing Bonus III

 

- Veteran's Recovery; works in shifted form and stacks with the boar's own regeneration.

 

- Shod-in-Faith boots (let them trigger, then shift) or Sandals of the Forgotten Friar (to boost unarmed damage when not shifted and get a nice spell bind). Greenstained Boots are also nice. Shod-in-Faith has the benefit of not needing any casting time. It might get suppressed by your own healing spells though. A super potent healing source is Garden of Life, but you have to cast it on corpses. The more corpses the bigger the (AoE) healing.

 

- Sanguine Plate (let it trigger, then shift)

 

- Celebrant's Gloves (sometimes trigger before shifting, sometimes not)

 

- Fulvano's Amulet (doesn't work while shifted, but good when not)

 

- Wildstrike Belt (obviously)

 

- spells and Spell Mastery like Form of the Delemgan, Moonwell, Nature's Balm, Taste of the Hunt (no mastery) or so.

 

- take Novice's Suffering. It doesn't stack with the spiritshift tusks, but in human form you will have quite low accuracy and will graze a lotand don't crit much. Novice's Suffering doesn't care because the base damage is superlow but the flat bonus damage is high. This bonus damage doesn't change on crits or grazes, giving you persistent damage. You also don't need to put any resources into enchanting these "part time weapons". Novice's Suffering also works great with high MIG.

 

- Weapon Focus Peasant (for tusks and fists)

 

- Savage Attack (doesn't work well with the fists, but great for the tusks)

 

- Two Weapon Style

 

- Wildstrike/Greater Wildstrike (whatever element you like)

 

- Heart of the Storm (or Scion of Flame or another element, depends on Wildstrike and the spells you like best). Since Avenging Storm is very good while going melee and I also like things like Relentless Storm and Nature's Terror I would pick shock/Heart of the Storm. But fire also works well for example.

 

- think about Envenomed Strike. It's very good with high MIG and INT.

 

- as for race you could think about Fire or Moon Godlike because Battle Forged or Silver Tide also work while shifted and you won't have headgear while shifted anyway. Dwarf or wild orlan fit the theme quite well.

 

Because your high INT works a bit against wounding's DPS it's smart to attack different foes with each strike if you have two or more enemies that engage you at the same time.

 

With Shod-in-Faith, survival bonus and self regeneration it's hard to knock you out after some levels, but you have to watch your health!

Edited May 2, 2017 by Boeroer

[NatureWithoutMan]

Thanks!

 

Never knew about novice's suffering, Is it viable early game? I was thinking of running sword and board (spear) for some extra durability early on, but if it is useful in the early levels then maybe i'll skip the sword and shield style

Again, 

Thank you.

 

 

[Boeroer]

You can also do that. Thing is that Two Weapon Style and also WF Peasant work for both tusks and fists (or dual hatchets or spears). It's just efficient. If you take Veteran's Recovery as first talent and are not in the frontline you should be good.

 

Novice's fists are not bad in the early game. Especially then you will graze a lot more than later in the game - and as I said the fists don't care as much about grazes as weapons do. In the early game there are also not many crush immune foes. I simply liked it that you don't need to care about weapons.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

How much aggro did he draw?

You know what? Now I got the joke!   

[Dropman]

Is this build still viable? I played the game a long time ago, and I dont know if some patch didnt change something important for this build..

[Boeroer]

Afaik nothing has changed. Except that you now have a higher max level (because of Expansions) and therefore can take some more talents that are in line with the basic idea of this build.

 

Edit: oh, I just saw that I updated the build for 16 levels. So nothing has changed basically.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Boeroer

[Dropman]

Afaik nothing has changed. Except that you now have a higher max level (because of Expansions) and therefore can take some more talents that are in line with the basic idea of this build.

 

Edit: oh, I just saw that I updated the build for 16 levels. So nothing has changed basically.

 

Awesome, going to try it. Just simple question - why stag form? I mean I know stag has better defence, but you cant tank anyway, right? You use it more for dmg gealing...or is there any interaction Im missing?

[Boeroer]

Since I don't shift at all the form doesn't matter.