Rabies Druid

[chris griffin]

I think im going to make a Rabies WW. This will be my first so could someone tell me what to do with stat pts, skill pts (like wut i should max) and gear. (Since there doesn't seem to be a rabies ww guide ne where.)

[Bob_TheMadCow]

Well, you got some choices with rabies. The biggest thing to consider is the Carrion WInd ring. It has charges of lvl 21 Poison Creeper, which provides a lvl 21 synergy bonus to rabies. If you have one of these rings and decide to use it, your Rabies damage (past Clvl 67 iirc) will be higher than if you'd maxed out PC, and you'll have saved 20 skill points. If you don't use it then getting through normal difficulty will be a breeze as you max out PC first and watch it make short work of everything and anything in the first difficulty.

Right, once you've made that decsion, there are other things to consider. Back-up skills. Do you want to use Summons, Fury, Fire, or Wind skills to back-up your rabies?

There is an unfinished guide floating about for the wind/rabies combo, unfortunately the author got himself banned (several times) before he could finish it.

If you wanna go for fire, then I think your best bet would be to get Geddon and two of its damage synergies cause you can cast it while staying in WW form, bite with rabies then run away/tank with geddon going. Should work ok. Both of those options really need you to use the carrion wind though.

If you go Fury, you get the advantage of sticking to one tree, so you can specialise more, but it means you gotta get more melee orientated gear, good damage weapon and so on. But you can also spare more points for WW and Lyc too.

If you take summons, you should max out Dire Wolves and Grizzly, along with HoW or OS depending on taste and do hit&run tactics with Rabies. If you used carrion wind in this build, then you can pump points into Spirit Wolves or more into Lyc for more HP for yourself if you want.

In any case, items that increase your poison damage or lower enemy poison res are generally good. Rabies benifts from +skills greatly too :)

[SonicRage]

You should definitely take a look at electricblue's hybrid guide which covers the Rabies/Fury build and the Rabies/Fire Claws build:

http://www.rpgforums.net//showthread.php?t=127492

He answers the questions you had in regards to stats, skills, gear, etc. for those two builds. I hope this helps. Best of luck to you.

*SonicRage

[Fritos-crunch]

i hate to jump in.. but looking at that carion ring ... will it still work if you already have a skill point in pc?

[electricblue]

http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=173297

pls post questions related to the guide here.

and no, it wont work

[chris griffin]

What if you had 2 carrion rings?

[IntemptestaNox]

Two rings won't make a difference. Synergies only work on the first 20 skill points, if I recall.

[Bob_TheMadCow]

two rings will give a lvl21 synergy effect, just the same as one ring.

Charges give a synergy effect equal to the lvl of the charged skill. This is not capped to 20, just look at the Marrowwalk boots and see how many bone necros use them.

[chris griffin]

Oh yea, eletric i just checked out the guide and ive got the info i need but i didnt see nething about stat pts? Maybe i overlooked it, but i dont know. Could you plz give me the stats for the Fury/Rabies Rabid Wolf (not the carrion one)

[electricblue]

right, no stat info in the guide.

str enough for equipping
dex for max block if u have a shield
rest into vitality...

[Aerath]

Didn't Kaz write a flaming rabies guide ?

I assume most of that still would be an interesting read...

[chris griffin]

So no pts into werewolf or wut? Don't you want the AR bonus?

[Astral]

Keep in mind, if you plan on going the Carrion Wind route, it IS a level 76 ring....that's a long time w/o putting any synergy points into PC...

An earlier item that's made for a Rabies WW

Plague Bearer
One-Hand Damage: 35 To 150 (92.5 Avg)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 103
Required Dexterity: 79
Durability: 44
Base Weapon Speed: [-10]
150% Enhanced Damage
Adds 10-45 Damage
+300 Poison Damage Over 8 Seconds
5% Chance To Cast Level 4 Poison Nova On Striking (81-115 poison in 2 seconds)
Poison Resist +45%
+5 To Rabies (Druid Only)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)

[Astral]

Also, there's Tranq-Oul's Claws (Heavy Bracers, level 45)
Defense: 67-74 (varies)(Base Defense: 37-44)
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 58
Durability: 16
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Cold Resist +30%
+30 Defense
+25% Poison Skill Damage
+2 To Curses (Necromancer Only)

only good for the 25% Poison Skill Dmg, but it's still something

[chris griffin]

Oh yea and im also really really slow with out werewolf should i put ne pts into it or not?

[Bob_TheMadCow]

+skills should give you enough skill based IAS from WW, you'll get a more noticable effect from getting a faster base speed weapon.

theres a good Were Druid speed calculator here (http://students.washington.edu/akrinke/wereform.html) :thumbsup: