Build for a Earth Shifter

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

I just got the thunder maul last night along with Ravenlore...and would like some ideas on a build to be able to use the +10 to Elemental that they both would give me.

Thanks,

HoS

[Ragnarok]

My Shockbear Geddon (soft pvm) druid uses Earth Shifter and Ravenlore. He´s level 76 and skills are these:

Lychantrophy 10
Werebear 1
Shockwave 1

Fissure 20
Volcano 20
Armageddon 20

I have lots of +skills items like soj, eningma, archanid mesh, anni etc.

Stratedy is simple: Cast armagddon and keep people stunned with shock wave. I have powerful Barbarian merc helping. If there is monsters with fi I attack with Earth Shifter. Nice build but problems are low attack rating, slow attack speed and random hits of armageddon...

[petri]

Hi,
I'd like to suggest 2 possibilites for the geddon/shifter route using Earthshifter.
1.) the shockbear-geddon build
2.) the wolf-geddon build

For 1.) shockbear-geddon
----------------------------
Pros:
1.) Great fire damage - you can max all damage synergies + geddon - I wouldn't max fissure, as all that does is increase length, but you won't be doing much besides casting shockwave and geddon anyways...
2.) Great crowd control - 1 pt in shockwave + skills = perfect crowd control. All except bosses/champs are controllable with this skill.
3.) Good life - inherent bonus in life with bear, plus some in lycanthropy means you will have decent life - not that you'll need it much because of shockwave.
4.) You can wear Ravenlore and not worry about the fact that it adds nothing to melee/shifter skills because you don't really do any melee damage to talk about anyways.

Cons:
1.) Very poor physical dmg (except for a possible merc). Why?
2.) Earthshifter is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW on a bear. With a shaeled Earthshifter, and no ias you are hitting at an amazingly slow 16 frames per attack, and it takes 60% oias to get to 13 frames per attack, but you may have to sacrifice on +skills to get there.
3.) Your AR sucks. (No spare skill points for HOW) + (no points (beyond first) invested in Maul) + (no points left over for dex because of the high str. req. of earthshifter) = (very poor chance to hit). There are ways to remedy AR problems - I highly recommend a demon's limb on switch for the enchant charges - but most of them (besides demon's limb) require the sacrifice to +skills and you don't want to sacrifice +skills do you, just so you can hit at 13-16 frames per attack?


For 2.) Wolf-geddon
--------------------------------
Basically a wolf-geddon sacrifices a significant portion of his fire damage (versus a shockbear-geddon build) for good physical damage.

Suggested build:
10 prereq's
20 fury
5-10 werewolf (you need lvl 15 werewolf with skills for no outside ias req.)
10 lycanthropy (adjustable to preference)
20 geddon
20 volc
----------
finished around lvl 75-80 with skill quests - dump into geddon damage synergies (not fissure) afterwards

Pros:
1.) Good physical damage! You do ~7k or so max damage with earthshifter and you hit with a 12/7 fury (you need lvl 15 ww skill after +skills to achieve this with 0 oias). Now 12/7 fury is slow but not nearly as slow as the mauling bear. I've done a physical dmg per frame analysis of the elite uniques using dragoon's calculator, and you'd be amazed, but even with this relatively slow attack for a wolf, the high max damage allows the average damage per frame to be in the top 4 for the elite uniques. I would still never recommend earthshifter for a pure shapeshifting wolf, as I prefer to hit 5 frames with my fury - this gives you time to react, leech more consistently, etc.
2.) Your AR is adequate. Its not great, as you won't be pumping much dex, and your werewolf skill wont' be maxed, but its ok, and it can be pumped up with demon's limb and some charms.

Cons:
1.) With no spare points for summons, and no shockwave, you pretty much dont' have crowd control - get a merc with reaper's toll, as this mostly solves that problem.
2.) Your fire damage is quite a bit lower. why? Well first off, you will only have one synergy maxed and another skill partially raised. Secondly, you may have to sacrifice +skill gear for some melee gear. See the next point. Still you can get your geddon well over 3K with the right gear, and at later levels.
3.) You will be pretty gear dependent. You need good +skills, good resist, good physical damage reduction, good faster hit recovery, and good leech. In other words you need the best of both caster gear and melee gear. In particular, wear Jalal's for the resist (hard to come by), + shapeshifting (important in this build), and fhr instead of Ravenlore. Wear ravenfrost and perhaps a dual leech ring instead of 2 bul-kathos rings. If you can get your hands on chains of honor that is the ultimate armor for this build...damage reduction, great resists, a +2 skills, etc. just awesome for this build -- but if you can't get chains of honor, I'd suggest Leviathon or shaftstop. You'll probably want some damage reduction as your life isn't great for a shifter, you have pitiful defense, and you dont' block.

In summary, the wolf-geddon is more balanced, in that he does good physical and reasonable fire damage, while a shockbear-geddon can get really high fire damage (well over 10k I believe), and has better crowd control (shockwave), but he doesn't do much in the way of physical damage.

My comments have been entirely from a PVM perspective, as I dont' really duel. I think (from reading posts, etc.) that the shockbear/geddon may do a bit better at dueling, but I can't imagine that they would ever use earthshifter for a duel though - no shield, too much str., etc.

Hope this helps.

[Forcefeedback]

^Talk about through answer... :thumbsup:
Somebody copy this down! Is this in a guide or what? If it isn't it should be...

I wouldn't take the wolf version out for a stroll without the aid of a holyfreeze merc. He really does seem lacking in the crowd control department+slow weapon--> easily overwhelmed by mobs(needs good fhr).

[Tor]

OR HE CAN BE A PURE FIRE DRUID

max oak
max geddon
max volc
max fissure
max boulder or firestorm

there you go

[HarbingersOfSkulls]

OR HE CAN BE A PURE FIRE DRUID

max oak
max geddon
max volc
max fissure
max boulder or firestorm

there you go

And There I go...Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks all for the input.

HoS

[Crogon]

max firestorm, NO POINTS IN BOULDER, and use a stone armor ;)

[Almighty Cow]

Shame that doesn't work if you put any physical points in MB. As it were, MB is a prereq...

[lextalionis]

max firestorm, NO POINTS IN BOULDER, and use a stone armor ;)

This only works for FireClaws builds. They max FireClaws and then Firestorm. Then they use Stone armor. A lot of thesse builds put points into Fury or Rabies as well. This can be a good idea since Stone can have some really high Defense ratings and Bears get added defense.

Because Molten Boulder is a prerequisite for Fissure, Volcano, and Armmeggedon, its impossible to put skill points in any of these three skills and still receive the bonus from Molten Boulder.

[Tor]

stone armor doesnt work you dummy

it only works if you have no skill points in it