mepersoner
22-04-2004, 13:30
Disclaimer: This is based on pubby dueling. The fact is, most pubby duelers are about half as good (50%) as a good dueler. Therefore, do not think I am underestimating builds or a class or insulting them in any way, shape, or form. The fact is, in these forums, the duelers are generally good duelers, and will be much better than the average pubby dueler and will therefore probably have similar experiences to me if they pub duel.
Maybe you've seen me, end_existance is my druid's name on west. :) *mepersoner_end is my account name.
Next time, I'll report on how I do against good duelers, I have faced a few from a few different classes, but that's not for here, not yet anyways...
This will just be a tidbit of information on my fire druid I've made. I'd really like to write a guide for it eventually, but I've been swamped with work and school. So here's my experiences from pubby dueling thus far. Note Note Note, this is not a guide or anything close to a guide, I have far from enough experience to write a guide for a fire druid *yet*. This is just my experience thus far.
First, the build of the Apocalypse:
1 firestorm
20 Molten Boulder
20 Fissure
20 Volcano
20 Armageddon
1 arctic blast
1 cyclone armor
1 tornado
1 twisters
1 hurricane
1 spirit wolves
1 ravens
and I think I have about 7 points into oak so far, it will be level 20 if I ever reach level 99.
My gear:
Ravenlore /w no socket yet :/
Wiz spike with str/dex/other mods jewel
Storm shield
Switch:
HoTO
Lidless /w 4/4 fire facet
Arachnid's mesh
Waterwalks
2 sojs
Rare amulet with +2 druid skills, 20 str., life, resists....
Enigma armor
I have in my stash Thundergods, 2 dwarf stars, 2 ravenfrosts, some aldur's boots (for who knows why) and a jah'd shako. I should probably get some lightning absorb rings...
I don't I've ever actually used any of that gear besides the thundergod's in a pub game though. Sometimes I throw on dwarfstars vs. fireball sorcs, but I usually prefer not to absorb at all.
Oh, I use ravenfrost from time to time when I don't feel like getting frozen, like, in CH, where I have to run and not telly.
First off, I win 90% of the time in pub duels 1 on 1. 2 on 1 it's like 70% and it does down little by little. Now, there a couple of reasons for this:
1) Pubby duelers suck.
2) Pubby duelers still, even in 1.10, do not have fire resist. Those with fire resists, tend to have no damage reduction.
Why this is, I have no idea. Regardless, a variety of my duels go like this:
me: *telly telly telly*
opponent: *shoot/blast/cast/etc.*
me: *volcano*
opponent: *dies*
It's either that or they get close and die to geddon. Now, this isn't a very good comparison due to the fact that, well, pubby duelers suck, there buidls suck, and they have no skill. On the bright side I've been called a scroll hacker and/or auto-aim hacker by about 7 different pubby games tonight. :/
So keep in mind, I haven't been up against good duelers, had I been, this would be quite a bit different.
Of course, you do get some decent pubby duelers, who do not just absolutely suck. Here's a brief rundown of what I've ran into so far:
First, my most hated enemy from 1.09.
Zons.
I've yet to run into a good zon yet. Most zons are starting to become bowazons in pubbies on west again, and usually don't require much strategy. Generally, I have oak sage, ravens, spirit wolves and armageddon, and cyclone armor going (which you should probably have all those out unless I say otherwise anyways) and I teleport around being unhit by their guided arrow due to the minion stacking bug. Okay, but the smart zons shoot multishot killing the spirit wolves. Unfortunately, I've yet to meet a zon who doesn't die if she's caught with a volcano while she's shooting. The most I've seen one live through is 3 volcanos so far. It seems to effectively dodge-lock them.
If you think your volcano does enough damage and the zon is running. Just namelock her and tank, usually works in pub games. :/
Sometimes I throw on shako vs. bowazons, as I haven't decided on my ravenlore's socket yet, I only have 43% DR using it. Shako takes me to 53%, which is over the limit of 50%.
Most other zons it's a pretty similar match, melee zons just keep away from and cast volcano from a distance. I did run into a pretty decent lightning zon. Mass FRW and high damage from charged strike. I beat her pretty consistantly 1 on 1 (65% of the time probably). I threw on Thundergod's to test the difference, much easier because I could survive an extra hit, sometimes two.
Barbarians:
I've encountered two types of Barbarians, well actually one.
Whirl barbs.
I've dueled barbs that use zerk and concentrate, but, well, that was me telly they die to armageddon. :/
Whirl barbs come in two packages in pubby games. Whirl barbs, and telly'ing whirl barbs.
I've had no trouble with whirl barbs whatsoever. Walk out of the way of whirl, they get hit with armageddon, occassionally throw up a volcano and they die (sometimes fissure will work better depending on their resists). Or in one case, use an entire belt of full rejuvs, never hit me, and run to town.
You may run into some good whirlers, but for the most part, just judge and dodge, an occassional teleport might be needed.
Now, the harder ones, are the telly whirl barbs. Why are they harder? Simple - they telly. Okay, glad I got that out of the way. The difference is, I like to be more defensive vs. these barbs. If they telly near me, I telly away right away. They'll usually telly and whirl though, so that doesn't always work. Often, I'll shoot a volcano up underneath them and telly away. Pretty simple eh? Well, it gets tougher, you get into the mental part of it. Have to play cat and mouse. Sometimes I throw up a fissure underneath them since it only has a 2 second casting delay. Then I throw up a volcano underneath myself. If they don't move, hit by fissure, if they go in for the attack, hit by the volcano. Meh, that doesn't always work so well though, sometimes it's just better to hit with the volcano, get out of there, wait for the casting delay, rinse, repeat.
The great thing about whirl barbs, I usually don't do much other than dodge - armageddon takes care of them.
Sins:
Well, I haven't dueled many good whirl sins yet. Most I can just dodge their whirls and they die relatively quickly. Dodging WW is easy people, practice that.
I can see whirl sins being a major threat if played correctly though.
The other sins are trapsins. They come in two kinds, the crappy ones, and the annoying ones. The crappy ones you plant a volcano under when you see an opening (try to draw them out) and they die. The good ones, well, you plant a volcano underneath them, and they don't die. Instead they mindblast you and traps hit you, and you die.
I need some more FHR. I've been killed with just mindblast spam due to my lack of ability to move. :(
Druids:
Wolf druids - stay away from them. Far far away. Fury hurts and can kill you QUICK. Rabies hurts and can kill you... slow, but in 1 hit. Not tough though with your volcano and it's instant hit when cast nature. Volcano and run/teleport around until the delay is gone. Sometimes they like to follow and die to armageddon.
Wind druids - well, I think pubby wind druids suck. Just make sure they don't have the chance to teleport in on you and spam you with tornado. Remember, you outrange them. Use a ravenfrost. Armageddon usually breaks their armor and kills them. Plant volcanos where you think they'll teleport too.
I think fire druids and wind druids will be on pretty equal ground when dueling each other soon enough here...
Bear druids - hah, haven't seen any in a long while. Haven't seen ANY with my fire druid. More or less, easier wolf. Have fun! Throw on some extra fire resist if they like fireclaws.
Necros:
Meh, necros. Most necros die relatively fast to fire damage, some like to go overly offensive and die to volcano, but, those are the crappy necros.
The good necros stay away and play cat and mouse and it's quite a pain. Make sure to have your spirit wolves out. Recast when needed. This is to keep bone spirit from bombarding you. Unfortunately, they'll probably kill those wolves with teeth and bone spear whenever possible. Bone spear hurts, don't get hit by that.
Your only real advantage here is you can do driveby's, and if you're lucky you won't get hit and that volcano isntantly hits. This means you can slowly pick away at them, but you'll have to be damn good.
Probably too good. A good necro will eat you.
Sorcs:
I'm getting tired, I'll add more later maybe.
Fireball sorcs - Meh. I can't beat them. They cast too much faster and their projectile fire of death moves too fast. You can try absorbing them, but then they can do that to you...
Oh well, I'm sure that it's possible, but I haven't found a way to beat decent ones. Non-decent ones just die in a volcano. Decent ones, well, sometimes aren't even hurt by it due to energy shield. Depends on the build of course as well.
Lighting sorcs are just like fire sorcs, only they have a driveby spell often... might want to avoid the pets because chain lightning is hella annoying. That goes for those zons that like lightning fury too.
Cold sorcs - haven't found one I've had a hard time. Wear your ravenfrost (2 if they're bm bastards) and/or stack resists (actually stack resists either way, but how much is the question, depends on how fair you want to be).
Blizzard hits much harder than volcano, but is harder to aim and functions very similarly. The difference is that it can be fully absorbed if stacked against (tough), which doesn't really matter because you're not a cheapo doing that anyways. So here's your goal in this match:
Dodge blizzard.
That's about it. Dodge blizzard (it has something you're familiar with, casting delay), cast a volcano. It's pretty simple. You'll slowly wear them away. This hasn't been too tough for me so far.
I haven't dueled any good frozen orb sorcs. Most I just namelock and tank their orbs. :/
A good one will hurt like hell though, I just haven't run into a good one yet.
Paladins:
I'm going to bed like in 2 seconds. Basics:
Charge - hella annoying. Have armageddon going for sure. Throw a fissure/volcano in front of you from time to time. You can try to telly away if you'd like, but doesn't seem to work well.
Smite - Easy to dodge. Only problem, charge + smite. If they charge you, and don't keep charging, get the hell out of there.
Zeal - Hahaha...
Hammerdins - Meh, easy, you have the range advantage with volcano, just stay away. Many will teleport on top of you and attempt to hit you with a hammer, teleport away. Simple as that. If they try to teleport on top of you they'll end up getting hit by armageddon and slowly (or quickly, depending on the hammerdin) dying. No reason to rush for the kill, just play careful.
FoH Paladn - stack lightning resist. Good, now volcano. Use wolves for when they use that auto-hit FoH so kindly has.
Okay, one last time. This is not a guide, do not treat it as one, this is just what I've been doing vs. pubby duelers. I haven't had time to play much, so these are most definately not good strategies etc. etc. etc. Basically, this is an overview of what I've been doing when I've had the chance to play.
Mainly, it's a point that fire druids are quite viable pubby duelers.
A guide will come eventually, when I have some time to duel some real duelers, if you haven't figured it out...
Duelers in pubby games generally suck very badly.
Maybe you've seen me, end_existance is my druid's name on west. :) *mepersoner_end is my account name.
Next time, I'll report on how I do against good duelers, I have faced a few from a few different classes, but that's not for here, not yet anyways...
This will just be a tidbit of information on my fire druid I've made. I'd really like to write a guide for it eventually, but I've been swamped with work and school. So here's my experiences from pubby dueling thus far. Note Note Note, this is not a guide or anything close to a guide, I have far from enough experience to write a guide for a fire druid *yet*. This is just my experience thus far.
First, the build of the Apocalypse:
1 firestorm
20 Molten Boulder
20 Fissure
20 Volcano
20 Armageddon
1 arctic blast
1 cyclone armor
1 tornado
1 twisters
1 hurricane
1 spirit wolves
1 ravens
and I think I have about 7 points into oak so far, it will be level 20 if I ever reach level 99.
My gear:
Ravenlore /w no socket yet :/
Wiz spike with str/dex/other mods jewel
Storm shield
Switch:
HoTO
Lidless /w 4/4 fire facet
Arachnid's mesh
Waterwalks
2 sojs
Rare amulet with +2 druid skills, 20 str., life, resists....
Enigma armor
I have in my stash Thundergods, 2 dwarf stars, 2 ravenfrosts, some aldur's boots (for who knows why) and a jah'd shako. I should probably get some lightning absorb rings...
I don't I've ever actually used any of that gear besides the thundergod's in a pub game though. Sometimes I throw on dwarfstars vs. fireball sorcs, but I usually prefer not to absorb at all.
Oh, I use ravenfrost from time to time when I don't feel like getting frozen, like, in CH, where I have to run and not telly.
First off, I win 90% of the time in pub duels 1 on 1. 2 on 1 it's like 70% and it does down little by little. Now, there a couple of reasons for this:
1) Pubby duelers suck.
2) Pubby duelers still, even in 1.10, do not have fire resist. Those with fire resists, tend to have no damage reduction.
Why this is, I have no idea. Regardless, a variety of my duels go like this:
me: *telly telly telly*
opponent: *shoot/blast/cast/etc.*
me: *volcano*
opponent: *dies*
It's either that or they get close and die to geddon. Now, this isn't a very good comparison due to the fact that, well, pubby duelers suck, there buidls suck, and they have no skill. On the bright side I've been called a scroll hacker and/or auto-aim hacker by about 7 different pubby games tonight. :/
So keep in mind, I haven't been up against good duelers, had I been, this would be quite a bit different.
Of course, you do get some decent pubby duelers, who do not just absolutely suck. Here's a brief rundown of what I've ran into so far:
First, my most hated enemy from 1.09.
Zons.
I've yet to run into a good zon yet. Most zons are starting to become bowazons in pubbies on west again, and usually don't require much strategy. Generally, I have oak sage, ravens, spirit wolves and armageddon, and cyclone armor going (which you should probably have all those out unless I say otherwise anyways) and I teleport around being unhit by their guided arrow due to the minion stacking bug. Okay, but the smart zons shoot multishot killing the spirit wolves. Unfortunately, I've yet to meet a zon who doesn't die if she's caught with a volcano while she's shooting. The most I've seen one live through is 3 volcanos so far. It seems to effectively dodge-lock them.
If you think your volcano does enough damage and the zon is running. Just namelock her and tank, usually works in pub games. :/
Sometimes I throw on shako vs. bowazons, as I haven't decided on my ravenlore's socket yet, I only have 43% DR using it. Shako takes me to 53%, which is over the limit of 50%.
Most other zons it's a pretty similar match, melee zons just keep away from and cast volcano from a distance. I did run into a pretty decent lightning zon. Mass FRW and high damage from charged strike. I beat her pretty consistantly 1 on 1 (65% of the time probably). I threw on Thundergod's to test the difference, much easier because I could survive an extra hit, sometimes two.
Barbarians:
I've encountered two types of Barbarians, well actually one.
Whirl barbs.
I've dueled barbs that use zerk and concentrate, but, well, that was me telly they die to armageddon. :/
Whirl barbs come in two packages in pubby games. Whirl barbs, and telly'ing whirl barbs.
I've had no trouble with whirl barbs whatsoever. Walk out of the way of whirl, they get hit with armageddon, occassionally throw up a volcano and they die (sometimes fissure will work better depending on their resists). Or in one case, use an entire belt of full rejuvs, never hit me, and run to town.
You may run into some good whirlers, but for the most part, just judge and dodge, an occassional teleport might be needed.
Now, the harder ones, are the telly whirl barbs. Why are they harder? Simple - they telly. Okay, glad I got that out of the way. The difference is, I like to be more defensive vs. these barbs. If they telly near me, I telly away right away. They'll usually telly and whirl though, so that doesn't always work. Often, I'll shoot a volcano up underneath them and telly away. Pretty simple eh? Well, it gets tougher, you get into the mental part of it. Have to play cat and mouse. Sometimes I throw up a fissure underneath them since it only has a 2 second casting delay. Then I throw up a volcano underneath myself. If they don't move, hit by fissure, if they go in for the attack, hit by the volcano. Meh, that doesn't always work so well though, sometimes it's just better to hit with the volcano, get out of there, wait for the casting delay, rinse, repeat.
The great thing about whirl barbs, I usually don't do much other than dodge - armageddon takes care of them.
Sins:
Well, I haven't dueled many good whirl sins yet. Most I can just dodge their whirls and they die relatively quickly. Dodging WW is easy people, practice that.
I can see whirl sins being a major threat if played correctly though.
The other sins are trapsins. They come in two kinds, the crappy ones, and the annoying ones. The crappy ones you plant a volcano under when you see an opening (try to draw them out) and they die. The good ones, well, you plant a volcano underneath them, and they don't die. Instead they mindblast you and traps hit you, and you die.
I need some more FHR. I've been killed with just mindblast spam due to my lack of ability to move. :(
Druids:
Wolf druids - stay away from them. Far far away. Fury hurts and can kill you QUICK. Rabies hurts and can kill you... slow, but in 1 hit. Not tough though with your volcano and it's instant hit when cast nature. Volcano and run/teleport around until the delay is gone. Sometimes they like to follow and die to armageddon.
Wind druids - well, I think pubby wind druids suck. Just make sure they don't have the chance to teleport in on you and spam you with tornado. Remember, you outrange them. Use a ravenfrost. Armageddon usually breaks their armor and kills them. Plant volcanos where you think they'll teleport too.
I think fire druids and wind druids will be on pretty equal ground when dueling each other soon enough here...
Bear druids - hah, haven't seen any in a long while. Haven't seen ANY with my fire druid. More or less, easier wolf. Have fun! Throw on some extra fire resist if they like fireclaws.
Necros:
Meh, necros. Most necros die relatively fast to fire damage, some like to go overly offensive and die to volcano, but, those are the crappy necros.
The good necros stay away and play cat and mouse and it's quite a pain. Make sure to have your spirit wolves out. Recast when needed. This is to keep bone spirit from bombarding you. Unfortunately, they'll probably kill those wolves with teeth and bone spear whenever possible. Bone spear hurts, don't get hit by that.
Your only real advantage here is you can do driveby's, and if you're lucky you won't get hit and that volcano isntantly hits. This means you can slowly pick away at them, but you'll have to be damn good.
Probably too good. A good necro will eat you.
Sorcs:
I'm getting tired, I'll add more later maybe.
Fireball sorcs - Meh. I can't beat them. They cast too much faster and their projectile fire of death moves too fast. You can try absorbing them, but then they can do that to you...
Oh well, I'm sure that it's possible, but I haven't found a way to beat decent ones. Non-decent ones just die in a volcano. Decent ones, well, sometimes aren't even hurt by it due to energy shield. Depends on the build of course as well.
Lighting sorcs are just like fire sorcs, only they have a driveby spell often... might want to avoid the pets because chain lightning is hella annoying. That goes for those zons that like lightning fury too.
Cold sorcs - haven't found one I've had a hard time. Wear your ravenfrost (2 if they're bm bastards) and/or stack resists (actually stack resists either way, but how much is the question, depends on how fair you want to be).
Blizzard hits much harder than volcano, but is harder to aim and functions very similarly. The difference is that it can be fully absorbed if stacked against (tough), which doesn't really matter because you're not a cheapo doing that anyways. So here's your goal in this match:
Dodge blizzard.
That's about it. Dodge blizzard (it has something you're familiar with, casting delay), cast a volcano. It's pretty simple. You'll slowly wear them away. This hasn't been too tough for me so far.
I haven't dueled any good frozen orb sorcs. Most I just namelock and tank their orbs. :/
A good one will hurt like hell though, I just haven't run into a good one yet.
Paladins:
I'm going to bed like in 2 seconds. Basics:
Charge - hella annoying. Have armageddon going for sure. Throw a fissure/volcano in front of you from time to time. You can try to telly away if you'd like, but doesn't seem to work well.
Smite - Easy to dodge. Only problem, charge + smite. If they charge you, and don't keep charging, get the hell out of there.
Zeal - Hahaha...
Hammerdins - Meh, easy, you have the range advantage with volcano, just stay away. Many will teleport on top of you and attempt to hit you with a hammer, teleport away. Simple as that. If they try to teleport on top of you they'll end up getting hit by armageddon and slowly (or quickly, depending on the hammerdin) dying. No reason to rush for the kill, just play careful.
FoH Paladn - stack lightning resist. Good, now volcano. Use wolves for when they use that auto-hit FoH so kindly has.
Okay, one last time. This is not a guide, do not treat it as one, this is just what I've been doing vs. pubby duelers. I haven't had time to play much, so these are most definately not good strategies etc. etc. etc. Basically, this is an overview of what I've been doing when I've had the chance to play.
Mainly, it's a point that fire druids are quite viable pubby duelers.
A guide will come eventually, when I have some time to duel some real duelers, if you haven't figured it out...
Duelers in pubby games generally suck very badly.