[CLASS BUILD] The Thundercat (or 'crit me maybe on more time!')

[dgray62]

Also, would it make sense to take Novice's suffering with this build? If so, would this boost the attack ACC and damage while Spiritshifted?

[Boeroer]

Two Weapon Style is for the Spiritshift form where you have dual claws.

 

Novice's Suffering only works with fists, not the claws and stuff of spiritshifted druids. It's intended because the combination would be too powerful.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

Thanks for the clarification, Boeroer. I can see how Novice's Suffering and Spiritshift would be overpowered.

[Infiltrator_SF]

Hey really cool guide man. Mind giving us the short version of the party that you run? I was thinking, Druid-Eder-Pallegina-Aloth-Durance-Grieving Mother?

[L4wlight]

Your line-up looks perfectly viable to me.

 

My party line-up was...

- Kana (tank for trash; buffs; heavy AoE damage) [as Drake's Ambassadors Consort ^^]

- Palleginia (tank for trash/ heavy hitters; single target buffs/ heal; focused damage/ bursting down squishy/ dangerous enemys with Blunderbusses and Missile Spells; later AoE damage; bodyguard for the Tundercat) [as "Missile" General] ^^

- Aloth (AoE damage; focused damage; active CC/ debuffs) [as Zeblastian Hurtstacker Double]

- Durance (heal; buffs; debuffs] [as Buff-n'-Heal-O-Tron]

- Sagani (heavy focused damage; passive AoE damage; passive CC] [as Storm & Plague Caller] and of course Itumaak (off-tank; flanker) [as...           Itumaak!]

 

The damage potential of my line-up was much too high near the end of the game. I think Eder and Grieving Mother could give you a more balanced experience.

 

Edit: You could take out Aloth too. My AoE damge was out of control.

Edited July 13, 2016 by L4wlight

[Boeroer]

I think it's always like that: after level 9/10 or so the difficulty starts to drop significantly. Bounties and dragon excluded.

[L4wlight]

Yes. I agree with you, but the AoE damage of this party was just "fun killing" insane.

Edited July 13, 2016 by L4wlight

[L4wlight]

I'm doing another run right now. I intend to overhaul the guide after that (factor in all the changes from v.3.03, finally write the "buffs & party composition" part, including all the alternative entries etc.). And of course...  Thunder Stag inc.

[Dr <3]

Solo or with a team?

 

Btw i'm testing druid a bit since i want to try to solo the game with him... Just a couple of non-asked notes:

1) avenging storm doesn't work with retaliation anymore ( boerer will be so sad)

2) you actually don't need a super High dex imho. As far as you cast only "fast" spells the difference is barely noticeable ( es: rentless storm (lvl 5 storm) is easy to cast also at 10 dex while for returning storm ( lvl 3 storm) you need more if you don't want to be super interrupted. And i plan to use mainly rentless storm, form of dangleman, Sunbeam, overwhelming wave, world maw, wich are all fast or average speed.

Also for dps dex is not super important : you can decide to go for daom potion dependency or double weapon style+frenzy, anyway you will reach 100% or 95% recovery while shapeshifted. Clearly have 20 agi intstead of 10 boost a bit your dmg, but i feel you can spend your points better in percepion, constitition or in non dumped res.

3) i can't decide between costal amanua, pale Elf or Moon godlike

Edited September 4, 2016 by Dr <3

[L4wlight]

This guide is mainly designed with a sturdy frontline (2+ other melees) in mind and my actual run is a party run too (I intend to test some more builds in the same run).

 

As for a solo game, yes 10 DEX might be more than enough and you definitely want to do something for your defense.

 

In a dps heavy party on the other hand, you want some more DEX (for the casting routine) in order to even have the chance to use spiritshift at its full potential/ length, because fights are very short (even on PotD). I never felt the need for more CON/ PER/ RES in a well arranged team. You can buff your deflection/ accuracy/ immunities sky high, but you can't buff your casting speed (that easy).

 

EDIT:

I'm interested in your results and thoughts though. Feel free to share them.

Edited September 9, 2016 by L4wlight

[JerekKruger]

This is comprehensive and awesome.  I really, really appreciate the spell guide.

 

Yeah, the spell guide alone makes this build post really good. Even if you don't plan to follow the build it's a really comprehensive guide to all Druid spells that any Druid can use as a reference. Excellent work L4wlight!

[AndreaColombo]

The build itself works pretty well with Hiravias too, by the way. Sure, his stats aren't quite as optimized but they aren't that bad either—and because he doesn't have a low RES, you can replace Celebrant's Gloves with Gauntlets of Swift Action to make up for his lower DEX, or Gauntlets of Accuracy for extra melee oomph.

[Boeroer]

You mean while in orlan form?

[JerekKruger]

Surely in Stelegar form.

[Dr <3]

I agree, hiravias is a good shapeshifter druid... His form gives even +8 accuracy...

[AndreaColombo]

Ofc in Orlan form.

[Boeroer]

Right - because gloves don't work while shifted. Celebrant's Gloves are special because once Holy Meditation got triggered it carries over to the shifted form.

[SaruNi]

Looks fantastic. One concern though: while endurance is restored, doesn't health get depleted, especially if you're not wearing heavy armor? Do you have to rest more frequently as a result, especially if you have low con? Or is there some health-restoring part of this build that I overlooked?

[Boeroer]

YOu can use potions of Infuse with Vital Essence to restore health without resting.

[hansvedic]

Hey there, L4wlight.

 

Thanks for this great guide to the Thundercat Druid.

 

Have you tried this build at all with a human? I'm thinking about using a human for the extra might and the passive. I might also go with Munacra Arret for the headgear, as it is one of the only, if not the only, spell-granting headgear. (Pun Alert) I'm thinking of calling this variant of your build "The Aristocat" (Aristocrat background not included in the Pretender Edition).

On another note, have you considered getting Survival to 14 in order to, with an item like Sanguine Plate or Jack of Wide Waters, get 16 Survival for Accuracy Bonus Level 3? I'm thinking that this, combined with the human's Fighting Spirit accuracy bonus and Champion's Boon from a priest could turn this build into a crit machine. Thoughts?

[Archaven]

Is it true game is balance based on PER of 10? POTD v3.02. Are there any rebalance changes on 10 PER in other patches?

Edited October 21, 2017 by Archaven

[Braven]

Is it true game is balance based on PER of 10? POTD v3.02. Are there any rebalance changes on 10 PER in other patches?

Before version 2, perception increased deflection instead of accuracy. It resulted in super-tanks, particularly with paladin since they also had more starting deflection and a better faith and conviction back then and fighter with the good “defender” modal before it was nerfed to oblivion. The best strategy was to just max out deflection with perception and resolve such that every attack always misses you. To correct that and make the game more aggressive, it was switched to boost accuracy. That said, I think the expansions messed with balance more than anything else. That is why “high level party” changes were added to increase difficulty in case you skip a region of the world until late game.

 

I guess you could say the game was never really balanced particularly well. I mean, you can solo the game; able to beat all encounters with 1/6th the party shows that the game is not particularly difficult. Probably better now than in the early days, though. 10 is the baseline for all stats since they do “nothing” at that point.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Braven

[BlindDruid]

I have several playthroughs on PoTD difficulty and always ditched druids.

 

This time I played this build. Boy - what a blast.

It is the most fun build I have ever played due to it's flexibility in all areas.

You can deal tons of single target damage, CC enemies, buff/debuff/ offheal. You are a jack of all trades - and you are a master of all aspects as well. Not a master of none.

For partyreasons I went with spiritshift boar though - I wanted a stormcaller-hunter - with the pet having the knockdown talent - in the grp as well.

And the synergy between those 2 builds is absolutely breathtaking and one of the strongest 2 class synergies in the entire game IMHO. (Cipher/Monk lategame is another combo i really love)

The Dot applied by the shifted druid gives the pet the extra damage from the DOT-Effect, the Druid can easily help the pet in staying alive with Nature's Vigor AND his CC/DMG spells (I opted for this as 1st level spell) while the hunter debuffs the lightning DR of enemies for your druid. Plus they can apply flanked to the target whith proper positioning. 

As a cape I do have another on hit item which i really liked in a few fights, because I felt that it made me stay alive to do my job - especially the scripted ones : Cape of the Master Mystic

"Dodging" a spell or followup and beeing able to heal/ reposition/dispell was well worth it in my playthrough. And the RNG-God gave me the recommended cape really really late in my game.