Pure Rabies

[OkHello]

I'm always looking for new (non-sexual) things to do with a druid so I was wondering how viable a pure rabies druid is in PvM (HC)?

I had a couple of smaller questions such as:

Does life/mana leech work with Rabies?

Recommended equipment?
I was thinking (Upped?)Plague Bearer/Jalal/Guardian Angel/Moser PD PD/the rest not yet decided. EDIT: Obviously Trang-Oul gloves.

Should I Shael the Plague Bearer? I'm not good with (IAS) calculators.

How does pierce work with rabies, if at all?

So yeah, let me know.

ps. I'm not super rich so don't come with stuff like "u shud use a ebotd gp dood"

[OkHello]

Seeing as the editing button vanishes, here's a follow up post:
Resistances:
Fire = 73 = +22 for max
Cold = 53 = +42 for max
Light = 23 = +72 for max
Poison = 68 = +27 for max
Herein are only : Anya, Jalal's, Plague Bearer, Trang-Oul, Aldur's Boots and Mosers. Which leaves 2 rings, an amulet and a belt to achieve max resist. Should be doable right? If not there are always charms (but only as a last resort)

Can someone also tell me what my block will be?
Some info:
Moser's Chance to Block: Dru/Nec/Sor: 57% (from Arreat Summit)
Guardian Angel: +20% Increased Chance Of Blocking
Dexterity: 110.

When I upgrade the Plague Bearer its range will go from 1 to 2, how big a difference will this make?

Even if you only know an answer to one of the questions please reply.
Thanks in advance.

[Senor Bezeer]

If you post your characer level, i can figure out your blocking for you. Or, you could figure it out using the formula (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=436762&highlight=block) i got from Orphan :thumbsup:

Hope that helps.

[ZiplockBaggiesX]

for resists, its easy to find rare rings with mods like attack rating and some res. As for amulets i gotta stand by mahim oak curio as a solid choice, its got 10 all res 10 all attribs and 10% to defense and attack rating, for cheap and easy to find its a great amulet, especially on hardcore where everything good is so expensive.
As far as IAS goes, your going to be a warewolf right? (i dont make druids but i think rabies is only a ww skill) You should be alright as ww's usually get all the ias they need to be good from their maxing of the skill and little added is neccessary to be decent for pvm especially.
as far as your range question i dont think it makes a very big difference but it will definitely help at least a little, you'll also get a good dmg boost with your upping so thats great too. If the question is ever to upp an item or not its almost always a yes.

[stoutewolf]

I'm always looking for new (non-sexual) things to do with a druid so I was wondering how viable a pure rabies druid is in PvM (HC)?think it struggles in hell 8p, not sure though

I had a couple of smaller questions such as:

Does life/mana leech work with Rabies? yes, on the physical part of it, which ahs the damage of a normal attack iirc

Recommended equipment?
I was thinking (Upped?)Plague Bearer/Jalal/Guardian Angel/Moser PD PD/the rest not yet decided. EDIT: Obviously Trang-Oul gloves.not enough into hardcore to answer this

Should I Shael the Plague Bearer? I'm not good with (IAS) calculators. yup

How does pierce work with rabies, if at all?not at all as its a melee attack

So yeah, let me know.

ps. I'm not super rich so don't come with stuff like "u shud use a ebotd gp dood"


good luck ;)

[OkHello]

If you post your characer level, i can figure out your blocking for you. Or, you could figure it out using the formula (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=436762&highlight=block) i got from Orphan :thumbsup:

Hope that helps.

I calculated the max dexterity I'll ever need for max-blocking, which is 208 at level 99. Is this worth the dexterity investment? If I do this I am also certain I'll never need to worry about attack rating, and I don't have to wear angelic amu/ring to boost. Which brings me to the following:

Also I think I'll Ral Jalal's and Ort Guardian Angel, or vice-versa, so I can really use the rest (rings, amu, belt) to max cold and lightning.

I mean 95 resist all + Max block would be neat!

Thanks for the answers so far!

[FrostBurn]

Are my eyes deceiving me, or does your druid avatar have his right hand down his...... He looks a bit frisky to me...:shocked:

How'd you do that??

[OkHello]

Are my eyes deceiving me, or does your druid avatar have his right hand down his...... He looks a bit frisky to me...:shocked:

How'd you do that??
It's my furyburi druid from the previous ladder season. The Buriza's normally cross shaped, well... it's a crossbow after all. Anyways there's this bug that when you exit a game in wolf-form, a part isn't displayed so it looks like your holding a stick/gun/wooden arm/****.

More answers please!

[OkHello]

The dexterity question is particulary urgent :)

[FrostBurn]

Seeing that no one has stepped up to reply you, I'll give it a shot. I will say that I have never played a druid before (though I will one day), so I can only offer you general advice on melee builds.

I can confirm that your calculation of 208 dex for max block with Moser's at clvl 99 is correct. Imo, I feel that is too high. Have you considered Stormshield? It is an excellent shield for any melee class, and will go for a pul in most realms. Sometimes you can even get it for 10-15 pgems. SS will give you excellent cold resist and some lightning resist. I know that it will lack fire and poison resist, but imo, the 35% PDR far outweighs that. With a SS, you need 186 dex at clvl 99 to achieve max block with GA.

As for resists, there is always the option to socket something for more resists. The shield can be socketed with a Ral for 35% fire resist. With your current gear setup, there is little room left for added resists. As you stated yourself, the rings, amulet and belt can be used for added resists. Note that if you use a perfect Verdungo's, you will get 50% PDR (max) with SS.

If you can do without the PDR of SS and are raring for all the resist you can get, how about a Sanctuary runeword (Ko + Ko + Mal) in a 3 sox Hyperion shield? It needs 127 str, and will need 192 dex at clvl 99 for max block together with GA. See below:
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+20% Faster Block Rate
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
+130-160% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+20 To Dexterity
All Resistances +50-70 (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced By 7
Level 12 Slow Missiles (60 Charges)

Unless you change your gear setup, I'm inclined to think that you will need to use shimmering charms to bring your resists up to 90%. I'm working on a paladin using GA, and I have the same problem. I'm using charms to cover for any deficit in my resists.

Can't help with the werewolf specific questions, but hopefully the rest of this will be of some use to you.

[FrostBurn]

Btw, type in 'weapon speed calculator' in google. The first link takes you to a German calculator that should be rather straight forward to use. It should answer all your questions on IAS.

[OkHello]

Btw, type in 'weapon speed calculator' in google. The first link takes you to a German calculator that should be rather straight forward to use. It should answer all your questions on IAS.

Character Druid
Weapon Rune Sword / Runenschwert
Skill Werewolf - Rabies
IAS 0 %
Werewolf Level 24
WIAS Frames per attack Attacks per second
0 % 10 2.5
10 % 9 2.7
17 % 8 3.1
37 % 7 3.5
64 % 6 4.1
81 % 5 5

I got this. Does it mean that if I add Shael (20%) I'll go to 8 FPA?

Also thanks on the resist thing, but I don't think I can afford Mal. I mean the highest rune I ever had is like Pul :)

I think I can get max resist with only items though:
Helm: Jalal+Ral: fire=60 rest=30
Armor: Guardian Angel+Ral: fire=30 rest=0
Shield: Moser's+Perfect Diamond+Perfect Diamond: 63 all
Weapon: Plague Bearer: poison=45 rest=0
Gloves: Trang-Oul: cold=30 rest=0
Belt: Wilhelm: cold=10 rest=0
Boots: Sandstorm: poison=46 rest=0
Anya: 30 all

Which leads too:
83 Fire = Needs 7
63 Cold = Needs 27
23 Lightning = Needs 67
114 Poison = Already maxed

Now I found a level 18 amulet giving 37% light and 27% fire. Which maxes fire and puts a reasonable dent in the large resist needed for Lightning. (Only 30% left) The rest of the mods aren't that great, but I'm sure I can find others like this with like +1/2 to skills or something. Seeing you can get up to 40% resist on a rare ring. I think the 27% and 30% left for respectively Cold and Lightning won't be that big a problem. (If I'm lucky I'll find them in one ring and have a free ring space for whatever)

[xspy]

I have a question:

Perfect Death's Web + Jewel
-55% To Enemy Poison Resistance, +5% To Poison Skill Damage

4 Socketed Armor + 4 Jewels
-20% To Enemy Poison Resistance, +20% To Poison Skill Damage

4 Socketed Monarch + 4 Jewels
-20% To Enemy Poison Resistance, +20% To Poison Skill Damage

Shako + Jewel
-5% To Enemy Poison Resistance, +5% To Poison Skill Damage

This is -100% To Enemy Poison Resistance. Is this means that there are NO POISON imunes in hell anymore? -100% means that the druid will remove poison resistance like Conviction Aura.. or no :).

[Valvolux]

No only Lower Resists will remove Poison immunes immunities. Conviction only lowers light/fire/cold resists.

[FrostBurn]

Character Druid
Weapon Rune Sword / Runenschwert
Skill Werewolf - Rabies
IAS 0 %
Werewolf Level 24
WIAS Frames per attack Attacks per second
0 % 10 2.5
10 % 9 2.7
17 % 8 3.1
37 % 7 3.5
64 % 6 4.1
81 % 5 5

I got this. Does it mean that if I add Shael (20%) I'll go to 8 FPA?

I checked the calculator myself with your stats. Oddly enough, at 10 fpa and 2.5 attacks per second, there is a red message next to the Speed bar that says 'further IAS useless'. Normally, this means that you have hit the fastest attack speed possible. However, the table shows that there are further fpa breakpoints. Usually, the message 'further IAS useless' only occurs when you reach the highest fpa, in this case, 5 fpa. Oddly, in this case, it seems to stop at 10 fpa. As I have not known this calculator to be wrong before, I must assume that the actual fastest fpa you can reach for a werewolf using slvl 24 rabies and wielding a rune sword is 10 fpa giving 2.5 attacks per second. I assume that the rest of the data in the table must be for information only. But it is strange, and perhaps the druid guides might have something to say about IAS.

In any case, if my assumption is correct, then you will not need any further IAS for a werewolf using slvl 24 rabies and wielding a rune sword. That should leave your weapon socket free for something else.

As for resist, it looks like you have it pretty well thought out. The only thing I can add is that, if you happen to find an Um rune either from the countess, the Hellforge, or cube up enough pgems to trade for one, you can socket it into Jalal for 15 resist all. Together with that amulet of yours, you will have 95 fire resist, and have 15 resist more in the other elements. If you do it this way, you will need one small cold resist charm and three small lightning resist charms to get max resist all at 90.

Also, pick up all the jewels you can get hold of. If you're lucky, you can find a scintillating jewel with 15 resist all, and maybe a suffix to go with it as well, like enhanced or max damage.

If you go with the Moser's, although you will need 208 dex at clvl 99, its low str requirements mean that you will save a lot of str compared to wearing SS. You can look upon that saved str stats as bonus stats to put into dex.

I notice that you do not have any PDR and only 5% dual leech from your belt. Like I said, I know little of druids, but I do have a phoenix striker 'sin with 50% PDR and a smiter/zealot with dracul's for life tap, life leech and verdungo's for 15% PDR. Since you have no PDR and only 5% life leech, and with plague bearer that does fair but not massive damage, I wonder if you will be leeching enough life to stay alive. Or do you intend to spread the rabies, run back, and let the poison kill them?

To help with the survivability issue, I recommend Dracul's for the life-saving Life Tap. Also, look out for scintillating rings with life leech, as they can offer up to 15 resist all and 8% life leech. I also recommend a Ravenfrost for that sweet AR and cannot be frozen.

[macbeth]

Oddly enough, at 10 fpa and 2.5 attacks per second, there is a red message next to the Speed bar that says 'further IAS useless'. that's because at some point only wias (weapon ias) is relevant for a shapeshifter. rabies can reach 4 frames with enough wias. "further ias useless" only refers to off-weapon ias.

[FrostBurn]

that's because at some point only wias (weapon ias) is relevant for a shapeshifter. rabies can reach 4 frames with enough wias. "further ias useless" only refers to off-weapon ias.

Ah right. That explains it. I neglected the weapon IAS option in the 'Right weapon' section of the calculator. So, with the following table:

Character Druid
Weapon Rune Sword / Runenschwert
Skill Werewolf - Rabies
IAS 0 %
Werewolf Level 24
WIAS Frames per attack Attacks per second
0 % 10 2.5
10 % 9 2.7
17 % 8 3.1
37 % 7 3.5
64 % 6 4.1
81 % 5 5

The WIAS % only applies to IAS on the weapon itself. And if you socket Plague Bearer with a Shael, you will indeed reach 8 fpa.

[OkHello]

Neat, thanks a bunch.