The Ultimate (softcore) as... druid?

[Phyriel]

I'm actually thinking about going some other form than cat atm. Cat is awesome dps but doesn't bring much for when you have to deal with massive damage coming your way. So far i've been maily using it vs other beasts fights when I can just paralyze them and get free dps on them but on other enemies I still have to cast so I end up wasting like half of form duration anyway. 

 

I'm battling idea of respecing into other form only because it seems that cat makes it also faster to cast spells so even tho I might not use it to melee down enemies it still benefit my survival by making it easier to spam through needed rotation of spells.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Phyriel

[Boeroer]

As I said: boar has a regenerating effect which also works with healing bonuses and stacks with Veteran's Recovery and Shod-in-Faith boots. It's not superstrong but it helps a bit. Besides that, boar can reach the same DPS as the cat form because his tusks are wounding. Depends on enemies' DR though (high DR: boar's better, lower DR: cat's better).

The boar also has the "advantage" that he has two passives instead that one stupid 1/rest ability.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Boeroer

[Phyriel]

Lvl 6 now, picked +10 fort, body control and veterans recovery + boar right now. I like it so far. Finally getting to resist some knockdowns lol but using spiritform only after I used my spells cause I have lower 11 less fort in form ;s

Edited June 23, 2017 by Phyriel

[Boeroer]

You should get that shield from the Drake in lvl 5 of the Endless Paths and fetch Blaidh Golan from Caedman Azo in the Sanatorium at some point. Both have the preservation enchantment (+50 to all defenses when stunned or prone) and they stack (because one is a weapon/shield). Sometimes it doesn't trigger, but most of the time it makes you untouchable if you sit down or get stunned.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Boeroer

[Dr <3]

When i soloed with druid my build was pretty simple: 16 str/16 con/ max int . Sword & shield. All shapeshift talents taken.

Go in a fight, rentless storm, nuke / cc spells ( sunray/ overwhelming wave/ paralyze ecc) / when there are only 2-3 monsters left shapeshift and devour them. In fact i used shapeshift for save a lot of spells every fight : es killing an ogre takes 4-5 spells or 1 spiritshift, if you cc him before.

 

Imho you don't need to pick elemental talents or other caster tools.

 

For the rest: use figurines ( your summon sucks, now they have all time limit, so no more "immune blight abuse" like before), put yourself in a corner diring fights, use food, ecc ecc.

Druid is very flexible and powerful.

Edited June 25, 2017 by Dr <3

[Phyriel]

Yea thats what I did in the end. I really fought initially to keep max dex for some reason but all it achieved is that I had to gear fully defensive so it was a pretty annoying trade. 

 

Now I stated as you adviced and I got more con which is pretty helpful cause before I had fights when I got to 0 hp and died even tho I was able to heal up all the endurance. Pretty annoying knowing that you got enough healing but just not enough hp. Now hopefully that won't be an issue anymore. Also my fort went up nicely so I got more than before even without fort talent. 

[Phyriel]

Having problem with bridge fight for Sanguine Plate. I'm level 8 but no matter what I try i get wrecked. Its a really **** place to fight, figurines don't provide much cover and having low res and average dex its already hard to cast when I'm hit by 2 guys so even if I distract 4 of them with summons it still isn't quite enough to cut through. Generally I got just 1 semi free cast before I get surrounded and destroyed. I tried to cc them with overwhelming wave / calling the worlds maw but more or less half of them resist it. Any ideas? or just too early?

 

Edit: Just made it, used oaken scarab to splitpull melees from casters and ran to the gates, found a spot there to have only 2 hitting me, summoned shades + combusting wounds, then just monitored hp and cast moonwell form of delemgan and along the shades infestation of maggons and insect swarm they went down. Casters alone were a breeze. 

 

P.s after getting through some tougher fights I gotta say shifter is not very strong, being solo require you to be very sturdy and shifter form is very very squishy, not matter which you take. Without going full ham on dps glasscannon talents it doesn't do much damage. Most of the time I can't afford going spiritform cause I'd die in seconds so I stay in caster form very tanky and kill everything with spells. I think shifter approach is more for party where you can create a frontline and treat shifter as a solid single target dps with some precast aoe storms. I'll spec out of wildstrike and get something useful for caster.

 

P.p.s Although its nice when you run out of spells and got 3-4 squshies left with half hp to turn cat and murder them with flurry of 70+ crits at lvl 8. It's just a bit costy talent investment for just a clean up mechanism imo. Price of versatility i guess. Truth be told I don't know if other talents would help caster form that much cause I guess I'd go for extra defenses and deflection but in most problematic fights I had thus far if I did everything right and placed myself strategically correct the only thing that lost me a fight was running out of spells (unlucky resists into enemy heals etc) and spiritform actually made me win some of this after I went yolo mode with it. Its hard call, just wish I could utilize it more as a main source of damage.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Phyriel

[Dr <3]

Imho:

- druid as caster: no real need of talents for optimization ( maybe an elemental talent, nothing else)

- druid as tank: need to pick many def talents

- druid as shapeshifter dps : need to pick all the offensive talents he can ( you really want 10 but only have 8 slots)

 

In solo the best thing is " not die", soon after comes " kill people as fast as you can" so you have to tank less.

 

As usally it al comes at the end "is a matter of playstyle".

I played him with vet rec, sword & shield, all the other were aggressive/shapeshift talents. Was a good journey.

Tank/ cast storm/ cast wave or other dmg spells/ when there were 2-3 mobs left stun them and shapeshift.

 

Caveat: never shapeshift at start of combat without cc your enemies. Since shapeshift removes all your objects, all your defences will sink by a good amount, expecially if you also use a shield ( wich i reccomand). At the start of the fight is solo you need to tank a lot of alpha strykes ( flames of devotions, arquebus shot, necrotic lance , ecc ecc) so you need all your defences at top to mitigate the fist one or two spikes of dmg. Go shapeshift asap is like paint a giant "kill me" on your face

Edited June 26, 2017 by Dr <3

[Phyriel]

I'm against huge roadblock, obviously I could skip it but thats a huge thorn in a side if you have to skip something, kinda invalidates your build.

I'm talking about fempyr pack in scaled up wm 1 russetwood. The one to the west near ogre camp. Those guys molest me in ways that are just ugly. My storm stuns are way too short and don't land reliably. Darguls attack fast as hell and interrupt my casts to eternity so basicly all I can do is cast 1 or 2 spells before I get surrounded and i'm ****ed. No amount of survival gear makes this easier, summons from figurines die instantly and if I'm getting charmed while figurines are out it will last for 10+ seconds... I honestly have no idea how to clear this pack. 

 

I even used ogres to make 2 packs fight with each other (after im charmed they start fighting with eachother) to clear out the named fempyr that starts dialog with you and few other darguls but its still too hard for me to clear the rest... 

 

Edit: 

- 2 things that makes this fight impossible right now = charm and paralyze that they land on me with ease (i've been reloading like 50 times to not get charmed/paralized in first 5 seconds), even tried splitpulling (i consider it a massive cheese so I rather not do that, its abusing stupid AI and there is no challenge to that) but still died... those guys wreck me so hard its unbelievable. I'm level 12 done all act 1 and act 2, cleared 3 bounties. My build atm is M 17 C 10 Dex maxed Per 10 Int maxed Res minimum. Using Mix and match gear, tried this fight with various gear I had available but to no real difference. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Phyriel

[Boeroer]

That fight is supertouch compared to the rest that dwells in Russetwood (the Lagufaeth + Trolls are also a bit tough).

 

They are so tough because they can be used to attack the Ogre Cave if you're getting the right dialogue options.

 

Anyway: you can lure the Lagufaeth to the Fampyrs and let them fight - you kill the rest then. This only works if you don't talk to the Fampyrs first. You can still talk to them later if some of them survive (usually they take out the Lagufaeth).

 

Actually you can lure any hostile being to that group - but the Lagufaeth are near and they are also the most powerful ones on that map (besides the Fampyrs).

Edited June 28, 2017 by Boeroer

[Phyriel]

Ye I gave up on trying to beat this group legit way.

 

I suppose this gets easier once you lay your hand on some ingredients or full scrolls that give immunity to charm and the other one that give immunity to paralyze but right now I actually can craft 1 scroll that give immunity to charm (due to random ingredients from chest) but charm is not even the worst thing (i used a drug that give +40 def against charm and it was still bad but not that bad because atleast when they charm me they move away from surrounding me for few yards atleast). 

 

But I don't have any means to get scroll for paralyze immunity yet. 

 

As druid this fight is extra ****ty when charm lands on you because then your storm can hit yourself and then you get stunned by your own storm -> charm wears off they get back on you and u're self stunned.... reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep :D

 

Anyway its really with a heavy heart but I have to give up spiritshifting... its extreme talents investment and its reallly reallly weak in my opinion... its only kewl for clearing up in melee savage rp way things you'd kill as easily using just spells but for hard encounters it feels like you're gimping yourself for a form you barely use when you really need it... bah using it is a death sentence more than anything helpful most of the time. I had a naive dream it would be useful vs really strong single target opponents but accuracy is beyond **** in spiritform and any "real" opponent on potd ain't getting hit quite enough. Hits lands nice when you disable them but i don't land druid petrify on strong opponents easily as druid as its vs fort spell and druid kinda struggles in accuracy department. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Phyriel

[Boeroer]

In a party, spiritshift is really great. The best single target dps tool there is. More melee damage than a rogue but still able to cast. But for a solo run it's just too short.

[Phyriel]

Yea, and you really don't get to use it when you still face several of dangerous opponents on a field. I had situations like clearing a pack of 7-8 and having just 3 melee left seriously wounded and I'd just shift thinking its a nice cleanup time but they would suddenly knock me down into some cc and destroy me in few hits cause without items you get reaaaally squishy. But I admit its super enjoyable to use forms, just doesn't belong in solo potd run. Not when you have to trait like 6-7 talents to make it even remotely useful.

[Boeroer]

Yeah it's all-in or nothing.

[Boeroer]

By the way: did you try to use some pulsing spells like Wicked Briars and then Nature's Terror + a ring of Searing Flames against the vessel group?

[Phyriel]

Umh not yet. You say its a nice combo?

[Boeroer]

Multiple hits combined with Combusting Wounds is quite nice, yes. And it keeps working for you even if you get disabled.

The terrifying part of Nature's Terror also helps with surviving.

 

Also works great with a retaliation item plus Sura's Supper Plate plus potion of Flame Shield. You will trigger 3 Combusting Wounds on everyone who hits you in melee.

[Phyriel]

I managed to beat that fight yesterday. I had to respec and put talents into defenses to reliably resist paralyze effects. Anyway I think I'll need to respec again and drop some con (dont feel too good dropping that fort save tho) to max out perception. Why?

 

Well as druid a lot of my crucial spells are rolls vs fort and I just don't have high enough accuracy. It kind of sucks when you know fight is hard and you succeed with kiting to favourable position, you get to buff up and you're still very much alive but then you proceed to raid down all aoes and you end up hitting 1/3 of the flock with spells, I even miss a lot with combusting wounds from the ring. 

[Phyriel]

Ye that was a good call, I specced into max might per and int leaving con and dex at 10 and dumped res and its working like a charm. Using orlan bramle ring and full defensive talents to up saving throws and I can progress smoothly so far. Just cleared wm1 bounties without any struggle, once your spell debuff got enough accuracy and land you just snowball fights into triviality. I actually took galant focus as the only offensive talent. I'll pick heart of the storm also. 

 

Edit: the only thing that made me "nearly die" (I failed to notice and kite out purging flame... that blue priest spell from Lagufaeth Broodmothers ... the pack had 2 of them... and obviously I didn't avoid them so I had 2 of those on me) but I already had all the debuffs, dots and storm rolling so I just popped beetle shell and once some regular Lagufaeth died and my shell broke down I used garden of life to jump back to full hp. But its been rough I think without extreme healing that I pulled of there I'd die tripple times over cause I got hit by long duration of those spells... like 20 seconds each. They ticked together for 30% of my hp each 2 seconds or sth. 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Phyriel

[Boeroer]

Against Lagufaeth you can use Aila Braccia (small shield, Celestial Sapling, monk leader). It turns 100% of ranged grazes to misses and reflects them back to the origin. Also works with targeted spells like Cleansing Flame from Broodmothers if it grazes you (targets deflection). It also works with the blowgun-darts and so on.

 

If you use an amulet that gives you +10 to spell defense and also use Moonwell this makes some hefty encounters a lot easier. 

Edited June 29, 2017 by Boeroer

[Phyriel]

Thats a nice tip. I didn't know about that item. I'd probably use it if I had it but I went wm1 before going into act 3 zones but honestly its not too hard. Obviously I'd prefer being missed by Cleansing Flame or those paralyzing darts but the fact that I was able to clear out those packs even after being hit by multiple of those makes me confident enough. 

 

One question tho... I'm using combo of Blaidh Golan and Ilfan Byrgar's Solace and I guess it works cause I rarely get re-stunned before stun wears off but those stacking defense buffs from these (sum of 100) doesn't show in character panel under defenses when i'm stunned. Is that right? Or I should see that 100 more to every defense in char panel when im stunned?

Edited June 29, 2017 by Phyriel

[Phyriel]

Ok, I got to level 14 and its insane, im currently clearing endless paths and its such a breeze. 

[Boeroer]

Usually it stacks. But it's a bit buggy. Most of the time you'll get +100 (minus the debuff from stun/prone) but sometimes nothing happes. It should be displayed in the char sheet though.

[Phyriel]

Hmm then I suppose its either a visual bug or it doesn't work in 3.06. I simulated getting stunned by vithrack exarch on 10lvl of endless paths. Each time I get stunned I only get values substracted from my defenses, I don't get anything. 

 

Edit; Ok I managed to get it after 10 tries but I think its bugged as hell because I had nearly 160-200 defenses and 160 deflection after it procced and he landed paralyze on me super easy, and once paralyze took hold it suppressed stun effect so buffs from chest and shield were gone. I think its super unreliable and there is something funny going on with those defenses because noway paralyze from vithrack would land when I had 200 fort (i suppose its a vs fort roll). 

 

I think i'll replace those pieces they were super good early game when I had problems with knockdowns from common bandits etc and had no aoe storm yet but I think I could use something better already. 

Edited June 30, 2017 by Phyriel

[Boeroer]

They are still great against Ogres. But yes, there's better gear.

 

Little Savior has the same enchantment by the way and is a better shield by itself.

 

Blaidh Golan is especially nice since it reduces the prome/stun duration. This helps a lot. If your defenses are good and you're also wearing Fenwalkers (best defensive boots in my opinion) then grazes from prone, stun and paralyze are very, very short - sometimes they don't even apply.