Whats with all the hype?

[Keaka26]

Whenever someone asks what type of druid they should be, I hear "the windy druid build is the best druid you can make". And Im sitting there scratching my head...Heres why:

1. When I was a much lower level, like 20 ish I think, a level 30 something windy druid comes and offers to walk me through act 4. I said sure...He got OWNED by diablo...So I figured maybe that guy sucked..

2. Last night, a level 68 windy druid asked ME if I would beat the NM baal quest for him. Im a level 72 Werewolf. I was gonna do it free, but he said I could have any drops. So anyways, he just follows me around and stays out of danger (still died once) while I was tearing through the Worldstone keep. I asked why he didnt just do it himself, he said he tried a couple times and that baals minions tore him a new one. How sad...A level 68 cant beat baals minions solo? So I solod baal and got a cliffkiller bow...not bad I guess...

3. Ive played 4 player games in Hell act 1 with windy druids, and they ALL died MANY times, while I didnt die once, although, I almost died a couple times, thanks to other party members leading all the baddies to the entrance of the cave level 2...Where they all died...So they want me to clear the bodies, and its impossible due to the fact that theres no room to manuever. Not to mention they were all lightning immune there, and Im using a lightsabre =) ...

4. Many other incidents where I see the Windy druids get spanked left and right.

So why are people saying that windy druids are even a viable build in later parts of the game? Pure physical damage is asking for it in Hell...The only time I can see theyd be good is in Normal....MAYBE in NM, but not even as much as a shapeshifter...

[GIR]

Whenever someone asks what type of druid they should be, I hear "the windy druid build is the best druid you can make". And Im sitting there scratching my head...Heres why:

1. When I was a much lower level, like 20 ish I think, a level 30 something windy druid comes and offers to walk me through act 4. I said sure...He got OWNED by diablo...So I figured maybe that guy sucked..

2. Last night, a level 68 windy druid asked ME if I would beat the NM baal quest for him. Im a level 72 Werewolf. I was gonna do it free, but he said I could have any drops. So anyways, he just follows me around and stays out of danger (still died once) while I was tearing through the Worldstone keep. I asked why he didnt just do it himself, he said he tried a couple times and that baals minions tore him a new one. How sad...A level 68 cant beat baals minions solo? So I solod baal and got a cliffkiller bow...not bad I guess...

3. Ive played 4 player games in Hell act 1 with windy druids, and they ALL died MANY times, while I didnt die once, although, I almost died a couple times, thanks to other party members leading all the baddies to the entrance of the cave level 2...Where they all died...So they want me to clear the bodies, and its impossible due to the fact that theres no room to manuever. Not to mention they were all lightning immune there, and Im using a lightsabre =) ...

4. Many other incidents where I see the Windy druids get spanked left and right.

So why are people saying that windy druids are even a viable build in later parts of the game? Pure physical damage is asking for it in Hell...The only time I can see theyd be good is in Normal....MAYBE in NM, but not even as much as a shapeshifter...
Personally, I looked through the Druid skills and decided I wanted to go Wind just because I though it'd be different. It can be a very good build if played right. I've been soloing 8 player games and have had no problem. And while this is getting a bit redundant to type out, I'm doing so completely untwinked, and have 155 stat points I haven't used yet. So, these other druids you've met either don't know how to play the build effectively, or they're just lazy and want someone to do the work for them. Both are perfectly logical explanations, especially on bnet.

[Keaka26]

So, these other druids you've met either don't know how to play the build effectively, or they're just lazy and want someone to do the work for them. Both are perfectly logical explanations, especially on bnet.

So sad, yet so true...

So are you saying that the windy build requires a little finesse?

[GIR]

So sad, yet so true...

So are you saying that the windy build requires a little finesse?Well, it does in a way. The Wind Druid's main attack method Tornado does require practice and a certain amount of skill to use effectively, whether it be finding the best angle to let a couple Tornados fly, or luring creatures into a big group to you can let a few tear through the group. (To me there's nothing more fun than sending 2-3 Tornados into a huge group of Flayers and the like.

But yes, it does take practive to use, as Tornado goes along whatever path it feels like, more or less. Those people you encountered probably heard that a Wind Druid was good, and tried to make some cookie cutter build without bothering to learn the skills to use it effectively.

[Voice]

Wind druids are so overpowered its not even funny ... I kinda wish I didnt make one but it was the first ladder character i made (the day .10 arrived, so i didnt know they wee over-powered). Now im looking into better / more fun builds. Sadly its impossible to get into a game where people play through.

And yes i bet i could play through the game w/ charsi only items on a wind druid. hell would be a pain but other than that i probably wouldnt die.

[Keaka26]

Hmm, whats the average damage a tornado does with full synergies?

[BreakThruX]

I got a level 70ish wind druid on sc ladder, the first one i made also for 1.10 =). He owns pvp, pvm hes ok but he only has 800ish life cause i build him ****ty and i didnt know id get such good gear. I do about 3700 tornado dmg which is alot because it almost does it per second i believe? I own everytihng in pvp for the most part. I stoped sc and i started hc if i leveled my wind druid more id put points into vitality and oak and hed be godly pvp. I average 1k life with oak and with some life charms id be fine.

[GIR]

Hmm, whats the average damage a tornado does with full synergies?
Well, I don't have a fully synergized one yet, but right now mine's doing 1378-1489, and I still need 15 points worth of Synergies to max it. Also, Tornado can hit twice, so that's potentially 2756-2978 per Tornado, not yet at max, and with no +skills added. It also stays at a casting cost of 10 no matter what the level, which makes it a cheap high-damage spell that can go though entire groups of monsters like they're nothing. The thing with Tornado is it takes practice to aim, as you can't just name-click on something and have it hit it effectively.

[Keaka26]

is hurricane not a usable skill in this build? No one has mentioned it yet.

[GIR]

is hurricane not a usable skill in this build? No one has mentioned it yet.
Hurricane is just great in its own right. I was just talking about tornado because that's your main damage spell.

Hurricane is a whole other can of worms. It's both an offensive spell, and, really, a defensive spell, as well. It's cold damage, so it slows down things, and with a Holy Freeze Merc, you can slow your opponents to a practical standstill. Also, it's 360 degrees of protection from things rushing you. (Carvers, Flayers, those bat and flying insect things, etc.) I'm currently in Act 3 NightMare, and all the little Flayers that try to rush me get stopped dead in their tracks, either from being chilled, Hurricane causing hit frames to occour, or a combination of the two. Occasionally in a big group one or two may make it through, but those are quickly dispatched. With Cyclone Armor maxed, it stays for 50 seconds per casting, and has a range of 6 Meters 360 degrees around.

[Keaka26]

can tornado be cast while using hurricane?

[GIR]

can tornado be cast while using hurricane?
Absolutely, as can Cyclone Armor.

Here's a quick run-down of the Wind Skills.

Cyclone Armor - Protects against all elemental damage (except poison.) Lasts until it's absorbed too much damage. Easily recast.

Twister - Shoots out 3 small twisters that cause Physical Damage and 0.4 seconds of stun. Minimal damage. I personally don't use them. Useful only as a synergy to me.

Tornado - You main attack skill. Capable of high Physical damage at high synergized levels with +skills. Moves in a random path in the direction fired. Takes practice to use effectively.

Hurricane - 360 degrees of Cold damage, lasting 50 seconds per casting with Cyclone Armor maxed. Everything within it's radius gets damaged, except Cold Immunes. Currently 656-737 damage caused per second spent in its radius on my druid, with 15 points still needed for synergies and no +skills.

[Keaka26]

The build does sound pretty cool. Maybe I will try it eventually...Im still playing my first ladder character (werewolf) ...

On a side note about builds: I just read the Fire/Rabies build FAQ thats stickied and JUST found out that the poison creeper on Carrion Wind will work as a synergy to rabies...I think I will start to throw a couple of rabies attacks in with my fury and feral rage attacks =) ...The damage wont be super good, but its quick and will be useful with large packs of monsters like baals minions...

1. Feral Rage on the group (3 hits for full charge)
2. Rabies attack on a couple of em
3. Fury like a madman none are left standing =) ...

[GIR]

The build does sound pretty cool. Maybe I will try it eventually...Im still playing my first ladder character (werewolf) ...

On a side note about builds: I just read the Fire/Rabies build FAQ thats stickied and JUST found out that the poison creeper on Carrion Wind will work as a synergy to rabies...I think I will start to throw a couple of rabies attacks in with my fury and feral rage attacks =) ...The damage wont be super good, but its quick and will be useful with large packs of monsters like baals minions...

1. Feral Rage on the group (3 hits for full charge)
2. Rabies attack on a couple of em
3. Fury like a madman none are left standing =) ...
Yeah, give it a try when you get a chance, see how you like it. Certain people like certain builds, it's all a matter of preference, but I'd recommend it, as I'm really enjoying mine.

[mepersoner]

I still don't think they're overpowered compared to many of the builds nowadays. They're pretty strong, but yeah, I think most other classes have a build that matches it. Druids have many other strong builds as well.

[PiscesIscariot]

You've obviously been playing with some very average Druids.

[LemurSpirit]

well. concerning to the first post, I think the guys were just first-timers. Many amazon/sorc/barb-only players decided to start a wind druid after the new patch. Most of them never played druids before so it may be hard to figure out how to play properly. I started an untwinked windy after coming back from my retirement and I soloed all the bosses in all dificults (in fact I only partied to HELP people with nm ancients) and I haven't died to any boss so far (even my merc tanked hell diablo and survived). btw, my gear is as crappy as it can be (I'm using sanders boots at lvl88) :D

[DemonicTutor]

My wind druid owns soloed games... Dunno why that 68 was haveing such a tuff time...

I know I couldn't use much of any gear till lvl 70 since I opted for base strength. By the time I hit 70 I could use my anihilus, my ammy, so this enabled my to use enigma and then wear the rest of my gear.

So possibly that lvl 68 was a base str build waiting to use enigma/anihilus. But it doesn't take long to hit lvl 70 anyways, just nm baal in 8ppl groups.

Now my druid owns. I also use a 1 handed Doom Berserker axe which gives -57% to enemys cold resists. Also grants lvl 12 holyfreeze, so any monsters that come near me become blue statues. Combine Hurricanes cold damage with holyfreeze's -50% movement/attack speed and its cake mowing things down. Also the -57% cold res helps hurricanes damage quite alot. But basically when monsters are moveing at a snails pace, your tornadoes rip through them before they even hit you. Also the fact that they move so slowly helps tornadoe to land double hits instead of single hits. And I'v noticed my bear almost never dies with the HF/Hurricane combo.

I havn't died to a monster since I equipped my Doom. The game becomes so much more manageable with a holyfreeze aura. I suggest people to use a act2 HF merc with there druid if possible. Hurricane is awsome by itself, but combine it with HF and your unstoppable.

[ƒenris]

They were newb druids..mine can rush any area of the game easy.
I'm kind of annoyed that I'm largely responsible for all these newb wind druids :yawn:

[Ravenforce3]

The only problems I have with my Wind druid come in the form of Gloams, which seem to spawn frequently and in large numbers right off the Wp. It tears throught my Cyclone Armor and takes me down to about half HP (this is not a base Str/Energy build.) I ought to get him out of NM and into hell soon. I just have had him sitting on the shelf for so long now.

I'm also quite tempted to try a Fire/Rabid druid, but I have a lot of projects right now, including a Fury w/ Minions build I'm recreating because I accidentally deleted the origonal incarnation. :scared:

[steve2677]

Ahem, now im not the best druid player but even my druid (crazy fire/wind combo) could survive hell. THe main prob with these ppl is that i bet they have NEVER gone through the game by themselves and realized just how to use their chars right. SPAM SPAM SPAM i do right ya? i mean cmon i see alot of decent/excellent posters here and i bet they are none of the ppl you see. There are just those ppl who think that the way to play is spam newhere netime.

Its sad really :(

[sexyfool]

The biggest mistake I made with my first windy, which, thanks to fenris excellent guide, I have now corrected, was not understanding the power of cyclone armour.

With vita builds dominant in hcl pvm druid blocking is often ignored so absorb is absolutley vital. What I used to do was play tornado left button and hurricane right. With max cyclone armour making hurricane duration over 1 minute I can add hurricane as needed and have cyclone on the right button. I now watch my druid more than the monsters! As soon as he looks like dropping armour I top up. The only time I have even looked like being in danger in 8 player nm baals is when i accidently left oak on right key!

Most windy's seem to play quite defensively which may add to their problems.
If you hang back and wait for monsters to attack then try to pick em off like a 1.09 burizon u will lose mana and probably life at an appalling rate. I run in, draw monsters like javazons drew 1.09 cows and then run back to summons in a zig zag fashion. Monsters engage merc and bear leaving me with a big pack to spam tornado through while hurricane slows em all down nicely.

At lvl 76 I have deviated a little from Fenris suggestions and have pumped a few extra pts into oak to keep it alive and boost all our lives. This means that with plus 8 ele skills I still have 2k tornado and 1k hurri damage but that seems to be plenty in every situation.

With only 1 pt in pre reqs for bear and 1 in carrion vine I still have enough minions to run interference and oak keeps em all alive long enough for tornado to finish em off. For newbie ele druids like me I think the 5 ravens I get from plus skills are a huge benefit. They seem to be first targets for monster ai, are hard to hit and blind range attackers quite nicely. I rate them as useful as cloak of shadows is for trapper assy's.

I agree with the general view in this post that ele druids are a powerful build but they still require skill and thought to play.

Chat later people, I',m off to tear diablo a new rectal passage. :thumbsup:

[ƒenris]

The biggest mistake I made with my first windy, which, thanks to fenris excellent guide, I have now corrected, was not understanding the power of cyclone armour.

With vita builds dominant in hcl pvm druid blocking is often ignored so absorb is absolutley vital. What I used to do was play tornado left button and hurricane right. With max cyclone armour making hurricane duration over 1 minute I can add hurricane as needed and have cyclone on the right button. I now watch my druid more than the monsters! As soon as he looks like dropping armour I top up. The only time I have even looked like being in danger in 8 player nm baals is when i accidently left oak on right key!

Most windy's seem to play quite defensively which may add to their problems.
If you hang back and wait for monsters to attack then try to pick em off like a 1.09 burizon u will lose mana and probably life at an appalling rate. I run in, draw monsters like javazons drew 1.09 cows and then run back to summons in a zig zag fashion. Monsters engage merc and bear leaving me with a big pack to spam tornado through while hurricane slows em all down nicely.

At lvl 76 I have deviated a little from Fenris suggestions and have pumped a few extra pts into oak to keep it alive and boost all our lives. This means that with plus 8 ele skills I still have 2k tornado and 1k hurri damage but that seems to be plenty in every situation.

With only 1 pt in pre reqs for bear and 1 in carrion vine I still have enough minions to run interference and oak keeps em all alive long enough for tornado to finish em off. For newbie ele druids like me I think the 5 ravens I get from plus skills are a huge benefit. They seem to be first targets for monster ai, are hard to hit and blind range attackers quite nicely. I rate them as useful as cloak of shadows is for trapper assy's.

I agree with the general view in this post that ele druids are a powerful build but they still require skill and thought to play.

Chat later people, I',m off to tear diablo a new rectal passage. :thumbsup:
A few points in Oak Sage in hardcore is not a bad idea, especially with lower +skills to compensate, and you don't lose a lot of killing power. Good luck with your druid.

[wolfstar]

I know I couldn't use much of any gear till lvl 70 since I opted for base strength. By the time I hit 70 I could use my anihilus, my ammy, so this enabled my to use enigma and then wear the rest of my gear.



Can I have your gear list? I want to know what does a base str build looks like.

[DemonicTutor]

Can I have your gear list? I want to know what does a base str build looks like.

Uhm my setup is something like this:

Base str for druid = 15
Anihilus = +20
My ammy (+2 druid, fcr, +strength) = +18
Storm Loop ring (10 fcr, 15 res all, +37 life, +55 mana, +1 mana per kill, +5 str) = +5
--------------
So add that all up and you get 58 Strength

Then my enigma is a Mageplate so it requires 55 strength to use, so after equipping those items, I have the strength to use it. And enigma in itself adds up to +72 strength I belive.

So for me it adds like +65 right now I think so thats 123 Strength.

Then if you chose to use jahals mane, thats another +20 strength makeing 143 (I'm useing one now, but it's a temporary item till I find a +2 druid/20fcr circlet).

Then lets not forget our boots, imp shanks add like 18 I think, or you can use marrow walks for +20 str, or sandstorm treks for +15. I'm currently useing Marrow walks but looking for sandstorms. So thats 163 strength.

Then After I equip my stormsheild, that adds another +30 strength, so 193 strength.

Pretty nutty to have nearly 200 strength on a character that didn't sink a single point into strength.

Course this is a bit overkill, you could do away with several items. But the important thing is that you want to equip your stormsheild, so use enough +str items to equip your SS. You can also put a -15% req in your SS, thus freeing up more item slots of less strength heavy items.

I'm an advocate of never wasteing a single stat point, so I can maximize my vitality.

There's other choices as well...

If you cant get your hands on some nice 30+ life elemental skill charms, then opt to use some +5-6 strength ones.

I just feel that strength is such a pointless attribute for a wind druid, you only need it to equip items, so why put any points into it at all? Especially if you can get away with +140 strength through items.

Thats more or less a base str setup. Oh yea, if when you die and you retrieve your corpse, but you cannot pick up everything at once, then your strength is too low. Useually this is caused by people who will equip a +strength item like imp shank boots, just to equip there Stormsheild, then after the SS is equipped, they take off imps and put on waterwalks or something. This is a problem because when you die and retreive your corpse, your no longer wearing those imp shanks, so your stormsheild will remain on your corpse. This is a hassle to deal with multiple corpses, so just don't do it. If you absolutly have to, since a couple into strength to avoid this bug. Because if you leave a game with multiple corpses, the game saves the corpse with the most items, so you could lose your SS if your not carefull.