summoners

[HeadstrongBox]

i am just wondering, with the right gear, are summoning druids viable in hell?:scratch:

[Valvolux]

Very much so.

[respawned]

they are? lol

3 Dire wolves / 1 bear vs a swarm of pit lords?

[HeadstrongBox]

thats sorta what i was thinking

[Joshua]

With the right type of gear a summoner can survive very well (if not kill as fast as some of the cookie cutter builds).

A well equiped merc (act 2 imho) is very important and its not all that difficult to get a couple of auras going on him.

After your pets are above level 35 they tend to be quite sturdy (especially if you use oak sage).

Depending on the type of summoner you play there are different options to break the physical immunes such as lacerators/wws bow or reapers on the merc.

If you have good wealth you can make a summoner/hunter that will get a lot of compliments in pub games, mine has :)

Joshua

[HeadstrongBox]

cool thanks

[Valvolux]

With the right items high lvl Grizzly can do 12k+ damage and has 8k+ hit points, I think he'll do fine vs. a swarm of pit lords. :grin:

[xpumafangx]

Hey valvo I got a summon gc 17 life for you. Free too. Did I menten it was free. You do know its free right?

[Omikron8]

they are? lol

3 Dire wolves / 1 bear vs a swarm of pit lords?

when each wolf is doing 10k damage and your merc is poking them too? they make summon necros look pathetic in comparison

[LorveN]

when each wolf is doing 10k damage and your merc is poking them too? they make summon necros look pathetic in comparison

Wolf doing 10k? did I miss something? :shocked:

[respawned]

I guess it does make some sense.. bears gets synergies from all the wolves, and vice versa... and if you have 41 poinst in each.. wow..

that means summoners can be effective, i never thought of that

[Omikron8]

level 40 dire wolf + level 40 grizzly

base dw damage: 1344-1524
might merc: ~200% ed
pride runeword on merc: ~320% ed
level 40 how summon: 293% ed

so after bonuses

12270-13914

this doesn't include the damage bonus from dw eating corpses
throw in a faith/beast for more fun

yes this is an expensive setup for a poor person but i'll just say
pgems = poor man's path to wealth

as for the +20 to summon skills

+3 hoto
+2 spirit
+2 enigma
+2 shako/jalal
+3 ammy
+3 torch
as for the other 5 pick any combo of arach/soj/anni/skill charms

[HeadstrongBox]

ok well....i think i hear an experiment coming on......thats right sports fans.....ITS SUMMONER DRUID TIME!!!!!



plus 3 summoning amulet donation accepted:rolleyes:

[SirBeetle]

Funny thing is that I started making a summoner a week ago and just stumbled accross this thread. Only lvl 20 b/c friends don't want to rush him for some reason, lol. idk, I was though going with that exact same merc and weapon combo for my druid. Hope it works out well. I just love the factor that druid summon gc's are cheap.

[respawned]

yeah, but summoners will run into problems along the way. You cannot control your summons, so I just picture the druid running around in circles thinking " help grizzly!!@@"

[LorveN]

True, didnt take the might/conc from merc into my calculations. 10k seemed a little too high before those kick in. :azn:

[axed]

yeah, but summoners will run into problems along the way. You cannot control your summons, so I just picture the druid running around in circles thinking " help grizzly!!@@"


never played a summoner druid but i would imagine his summons are like the necros minions in that they sprout out/appear from where you stand when going through portals or teleporting. and since enigma is recomended part of this build... you dont need to worry about waiting for your summons as you can tele onto the mob you want them to fight and just move back a few steps. right?

[Omikron8]

yeah, but summoners will run into problems along the way. You cannot control your summons, so I just picture the druid running around in circles thinking " help grizzly!!@@"

no he won't

the exact reason why a druid summoner will perform much better is

1) he can reposition his summons at any time because he doesn't require corpses

2) because he only has 3 dw or 5 sw out the summons are unlikely to block each other and therefore will be fighting constantly instead of standing around

[Valvolux]

level 40 dire wolf + level 40 grizzly

base dw damage: 1344-1524
might merc: ~200% ed
pride runeword on merc: ~320% ed
level 40 how summon: 293% ed

so after bonuses

12270-13914

Err its more like 3963 per dire wolf (including Enraged bonus), the ED% is applied to the base Dire wolf damage, not the total. Otherwise you'd end up with 50k damage bears, which isn't possible.

[waldo]

Im totally new to druids, so excuse my ignorance. Am i correct in thinking that you can only have a grizzly or dire wolves? If so which would be better? Im guessing dire wolves just because you have of them?

I was thinking of doing this and combining it with a beast weilding wolf. Any other ideas?

[Omikron8]

Err its more like 3963 per dire wolf (including Enraged bonus), the ED% is applied to the base Dire wolf damage, not the total. Otherwise you'd end up with 50k damage bears, which isn't possible.

really? wow that's an insane loss of damage

forget what i said then about druid summoners being worthwhile

[Valvolux]

You can't lose something that never existed.

4k per wolf and merc still tears thru hell pretty easy.

[Muzzy Roberto]

Currently playing a summoning druid (level 67. See the 'Rate my summoning Druid' topic...), and if you're looking into making one, I'd recommend getting Shockwave. The Extra life as a bear never hurts, and if the enemies can't move, well, they can't attack you, now can they?

Question: Don't pets get a hidden Resist bonus for every 'hard' point put into them?

[Spellreaver]

yeah, but summoners will run into problems along the way. You cannot control your summons, so I just picture the druid running around in circles thinking " help grizzly!!@@"

Having played both a summoner druid and necromancer, I can say the AI is pretty close.

Skeletons tend to attack the closest enemy and go at it. Mages usually keep their distance, but when the idiot factor kicks in, they walk into enemy packs. Golems, same as skeletons.... pretty reliable in battle.

On the Druid side, my spirit wolves are like the skeletons, but a bit more aggressive. They are also good at keeping between the caster and the enemies. Dire wolves are similar to the mages... although they lack long range attacks, they are pretty good at taking the enemy, but tend to split up and fall victims to the occasional packs. Grizzly's are slower than golems, and reliable in battle, but their speed requires you to slow your pace, otherwise you'll be a room or two ahead before they catch up.

On the stats side, I'd have to say they're pretty even. The druid summons synergize each other with attacks, life, and damage. The only drawback is that your are limited to 5 spirit wolves OR 3 dire wolves OR 1 grizzly. Necromancers can summon more skeletons/mages/revives, but they won't have the life and killing power of the animal summons. This is compensated by the fact you can have 20+ skeletons PLUS a golem attacking at the same time.

In the end, neither is superior than the other. Druid summons have more raw power, but this is balanced with the Necro's ability to summon a small army.

Any druid can beat PvM if played right... some people find a challenge in playing a 'non-viable' build instead of high damage cookie cutters. Don't be discouraged by 'lack of damage' or 'not viable'... MAKE it work and you'll be a better player for it.

As for non-viable, I think its time for an UBER summon/shapeshifting/elemental tri-tree druid.. wah ha ha ;)

[Valvolux]

Question: Don't pets get a hidden Resist bonus for every 'hard' point put into them?

Starting at lvl 2, Spirit, Dire and Grizzly all get 5% resist all and gain 5% per every skill level beyond that (not just 'hard points'), up until lvl 18 (85% is the cap).