Sorry, edited the post above because I forgot to answer that.

Wolf has hoigher move speed (+1 like Fast Runner) and Knockdown per rest (meh) and bear has +DR (+2 I guess, meh) and 2 frighting roars per rest (supermeh).

Pfffff. I'm going to see if I can make it so the spirit shift looks like a wolf, but has the boar passives.

Well, the build of the Moon Godlike with the regen is awsomely strong. I tried it with another race and there was NO WAY I got killed. I guess with the endurance replenishing of the godlike, it's even more OP! I just don't like the Moon Godlike's flavor... dunno why. He would be nice with wolf, but the wolf is one of the worse spiritshifts you can get...

Dps wise boar ( wounding lash ) and cat ( fast attack speed) are better. But when soloing i found often useful speed and the knockdown of the Wolf, since proned enemies doesn't strike back and are easier to hit. The only thing that bother me is that it is NOT a full attack like a regolar knockdown, in that case Wolf would have outmached both cat and boar in short term dps (once a day)

I always value lore and aesthetics more than sheer numbers. 2 or 3 more damage won't make me choose a cat over a wolf or vice-versa...

I like boar and cat, and I liked orlans. Orlans and boars, for me, don't match. I'd play cat but this kind of character is far from the "unique" concept that I stated about a hundred posts ago... So I'm still evaluating.. Another thing I regret is that a BG with mech AND survival does not exist..

Another viable possibility for me would be dwarf with boar. The boreal gains even higher ACC vs two of the most annoying critter type... Thinking about it...

I always value lore and aesthetics more than sheer numbers. 2 or 3 more damage won't make me choose a cat over a wolf or vice-versa...

I like boar and cat, and I liked orlans. Orlans and boars, for me, don't match. I'd play cat but this kind of character is far from the "unique" concept that I stated about a hundred posts ago... So I'm still evaluating.. Another thing I regret is that a BG with mech AND survival does not exist..

Another viable possibility for me would be dwarf with boar. The boreal gains even higher ACC vs two of the most annoying critter type... Thinking about it...

If it helps, orlans have a reputation (which my come prtially from racism, but...) of being naturally sttubborn, something that can be associated with boars.

 

And Boreal dwarves are very powerful, so go either way.

I'm thinking of going Dwarf/Bear. Lots of interesting images on the web also for portraits. Don't care if it doesn't do same damage as boar...I play easy

In order to have hte boar be as evenly balanced as the others the bleed damage needs to be a 2-use per rest ability. I just tried it and it's just disgusting even at level 1. Needs nerfhammer.

In order to have hte boar be as evenly balanced as the others the bleed damage needs to be a 2-use per rest ability. I just tried it and it's just disgusting even at level 1. Needs nerfhammer.

Agreed. It's the only one that has all passives. Either all become all passive or the bleed ability becomes 2/rest.

 

Anyway, as I stated, at easy difficulty, that won't make much of a difference, so I'll choose Bear to fit with dwarf theme.

@Ben: when you can... I count on your imagination for an "idea" about my dwarf...  Make it UNIQUE!!!

Edited October 31, 20169 yr by Slack83er

In order to have hte boar be as evenly balanced as the others the bleed damage needs to be a 2-use per rest ability. I just tried it and it's just disgusting even at level 1. Needs nerfhammer.

 

Don't give Obsidian ideas. PoE isn't an MMO, it doesn't need to be balanced.

In order to have hte boar be as evenly balanced as the others the bleed damage needs to be a 2-use per rest ability. I just tried it and it's just disgusting even at level 1. Needs nerfhammer.

At lvl 1 cat is even better...

 

In order to have hte boar be as evenly balanced as the others the bleed damage needs to be a 2-use per rest ability. I just tried it and it's just disgusting even at level 1. Needs nerfhammer.

 

Don't give Obsidian ideas. PoE isn't an MMO, it doesn't need to be balanced.

 

In my opinion, it does instead. Like the sabre nerf which is on its way... otherwise, you are taking away the possibility of choosing between alternatives...

In my opinion, it does instead. Like the sabre nerf which is on its way... otherwise, you are taking away the possibility of choosing between alternatives...

 

Well, clearly not, since you yourself just said you're going to choose Bear; and I regularly chose other weapons than sabres even though they were lower damage.

 

It's not like this game is so difficult, or any option is so under powered that a player is severely penalised for not optimising. Even the much maligned Rogue is more than capable of playing through PotD with a party (I am not good enough to comment on solo).

I choose bear over other just because of flavour, and I play easy. The vast majority of players (especially min maxers) choose the best option in terms of results in game. In PotD the boar CAN make a difference, while the bear's roar will be negligible.. 

The vast majority of players (especially min maxers) choose the best option in terms of results in game. 

 

Well no, the vast majority of players never look at a forum, and pick a weapon without any research based on personal preference. We people discussing PoE here are all very much outliers already.

 

But even if what you said were correct, so what? Short of making every weapon identical there's always going to be a weapon which is "best" (even if marginally) and players who care about min-maxing will gravitate towards it. Min-maxers enjoy the process of finding out exactly which weapon that is, they enjoy the process of immersing themselves in the rules and coming up with strange builds that allow for ridiculously high damage numbers. They are not going to be pleased with a game that becomes more homogeneous in the desire to be more balanced.

 

Meanwhile there are plenty of players (even ones who post here) who don't care about min-maxing to the same extent, and who pick weapons based on other reasons. Some of them (myself included) play on PotD.

 

In PotD the boar CAN make a difference, while the bear's roar will be negligible.. 

 

 

You're vastly overrating the importance of the specific shift to the performance of a spiritshift Druid. The important aspects are the high weapon damage (which is shared between all spiritshift forms) and spells (which all druids have). The speed of Cat or wounding of Boar are icing on an already huge cake. You could run as a Wolf or Bear and still be horrendously powerful using the Thunder Cat build.

Why 2/rest if all other forms have 1/rest abilities, anyway?

Why 2/rest if all other forms have 1/rest abilities, anyway?

 

Anything short of 10/rest might as well be 0/rest for me anyway.

A

 

Why 2/rest if all other forms have 1/rest abilities, anyway?

not all... wolf has 2..

Jerek, what you say is undoubtedly true... I am no min maxer, and agree with you. But still, most of the builds are min-maxed, you keep finding almost the same equipment on all builds... bittercut...bittercut... 

What I'm saying is... make 3/4 strong weapons... but instead of "leveling" them, make them strong in different stats...

Just read it now...

 

A dwarven druid with boar as spiritshift? 

Sounds intersting Any further ideas? Male or female? Background? Culture?

It's bEar Ben male, quarterstaff in hand probably, hunter BG, old vailia most probably... stats are as you gave them to me, they sound perfect. Need a story... p.s. boreal dwarf.. the boni are way too good to pass up..

That's grand, you gave it a theme! monster hunter druid! 

Now... how to make it more hunter oriented? some weapons perhaps? some talents??

But still, most of the builds are min-maxed, you keep finding almost the same equipment on all builds... bittercut...bittercut... 

 

There are actually a lot of builds in the build archive that use weapons other than Bittercut. Dual Bittercut gets mentioned a lot because it is, indeed, very powerful (perhaps more importantly, it's powerful because of a non-obvious quirk of the game mechanics), but if you go through the builds that are listed most of them don't use them.

 

What I'm saying is... make 3/4 strong weapons... but instead of "leveling" them, make them strong in different stats...

 

 

I agree, but this is already mostly the case: Tidefall, Hours of St. Rumbalt, Tall Grass, Blade of the Endless Path, Spelltongue, Drawn in Spring, Godansthunyr, Acuan Giamas. These are all excellent (melee) weapons already. The only thing I think is missing is some examples of specific weapon types: an earlier sword, some better quarterstaves, etc.I don't think the game lacks for a variety of good weapons.

 

To elaborate, most of the builds that make use of dual Bittercuts would work (almost) as well with dual something else good. Don't feel like builds are absolute guides which, if deviated even slightly from, will collapse: they're not.

Yes, about the focus with soulbound, you're right. Universal.

Didn't think at the pike.... isn't it a bit "soldier-ish?"

 

I wanted to have higher reach to be 2nd liner when and if the shift wears out...

It's worth noting that pikes in PoE are closer to (two-handed) spears than pikes in length. Calling them pikes is generous.

 

Also Tall Grass is a very good weapon and is available relatively early on.

Edited October 31, 20169 yr by JerekKruger