Do druids rock?

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Hey, my friend wants to start playing diablo II again. He wants a character he wont be dissapointed in. He is interested in creating a shape shifter, but i'm unsure of if they are any good? What are good shape shifting builds?
are shapeshifters good or should he just go elemental?
What items do they wair?
thank you.

[Valvolux]

Do druids rock?

Only the Molten Boulder ones :unimpressed: *sigh*

[LorveN]

Good shapeshift druids are usually wolves. They can be really good, yes.
Read through the guides in the guide sticky thread. You might find something.

[stoutewolf]

Good shapeshift druids are usually wolves. They can be really good, yes.
Read through the guides in the guide sticky thread. You might find something.
as he said, most guides have stated the advantages and disadvantages of their build.:wink3:

i suggest you take a look our guide (me and rang) :thumbsup:

[sablast]

someone can be dissapointed in shapeshifters only if he hasn't played with one. Once you start playing, you can get only better, and as much as shifter druids seems limited, those limits can be surpassed

[respawned]

i think windys are the easily to control, but you need the right gear.

[SirGalahad]

Forget it man. The only druid that is really any good is the Wind druid. All the others, melee, summon and elemental are a real pain. That is to say that you will get a much lower level of performance from the same amount of effort put in to that character.

Take the Werewolf for example: You will probably use the Oak spirit to boost your health and survivability. Even a lvl 23-26 spirit, dies pretty easily in Baal, Diablo or Uber battles, just when you need it most. Compare the with the Barbarian who can boost his strength and resistance with pure skills or "bo" for a generous boost to health. Neither of those will go "poof!" in the heat of battle. As a Druid, you can pour a lot of precious skills in to a thing that has an added advantage of being able to die. Woopi!!. It would be worth it if this huge disadvantage came with the added incentive of a much higher boost to health, but it really hasn’t played out that way. For instance, I can easily get a lvl 30+ “bo” on my barbarian by carrying 2x +3 to “bo” skills weapons on switch.

I’m going to get flamed for telling you this but that’s O.K. A lot of Druid players will come over and say that they have godly/awesome Druid builds but the key is what I said,

“That is to say that you will get a much lower level of performance from the same amount of effort put in to that character”

You can make almost any build viable, if you put enough godly gear on it. I gave up on my druid after putting a torch and skiller on it*.

So if your friend is ready for a real challenge and likes to play more difficult builds, then a druid is the way to go for him.

* Does not include the Windy

[tmd turka]

Windys are of course the only good druid.:rolleyes:

If you want to have some fun go WereBear or Wolf. I prefer WereBear myself but both are good. Also you dont need godly gear to take a shapeshifter through hell.

Shoot. Running nightmare alone will net you items decent enough to solo hell.


Who enters Hell with crap gear anyways?


On a side note.
Has anyone noticed that alot of people seem to of left D2. Some of the most crowded channels were almost empty last night? Maybe its just me.

[stoutewolf]

Forget it man. The only druid that is really any good is the Wind druid. All the others, melee, summon and elemental are a real pain. That is to say that you will get a much lower level of performance from the same amount of effort put in to that character.

Take the Werewolf for example: You will probably use the Oak spirit to boost your health and survivability. Even a lvl 23-26 spirit, dies pretty easily in Baal, Diablo or Uber battles, just when you need it most. Compare the with the Barbarian who can boost his strength and resistance with pure skills or "bo" for a generous boost to health. Neither of those will go "poof!" in the heat of battle. As a Druid, you can pour a lot of precious skills in to a thing that has an added advantage of being able to die. Woopi!!. It would be worth it if this huge disadvantage came with the added incentive of a much higher boost to health, but it really hasn’t played out that way. For instance, I can easily get a lvl 30+ “bo” on my barbarian by carrying 2x +3 to “bo” skills weapons on switch.

I’m going to get flamed for telling you this but that’s O.K. A lot of Druid players will come over and say that they have godly/awesome Druid builds but the key is what I said,

“That is to say that you will get a much lower level of performance from the same amount of effort put in to that character”

You can make almost any build viable, if you put enough godly gear on it. I gave up on my druid after putting a torch and skiller on it*.

So if your friend is ready for a real challenge and likes to play more difficult builds, then a druid is the way to go for him.

* Does not include the Windy
atm i am to lazy to tell you that you are wrong in most aspects (for example druid can use bo+oak which is better then only bo) so i will probably make a post later...

you are on europe nl? whisper me at *mfbiatch

[Kiba]

Originally posted by SirGalahad
Forget it man. The only druid that is really any good is the Wind druid. All the others, melee, summon and elemental are a real pain. That is to say that you will get a much lower level of performance from the same amount of effort put in to that character.

Take the Werewolf for example: You will probably use the Oak spirit to boost your health and survivability. Even a lvl 23-26 spirit, dies pretty easily in Baal, Diablo or Uber battles, just when you need it most. Compare the with the Barbarian who can boost his strength and resistance with pure skills or "bo" for a generous boost to health. Neither of those will go "poof!" in the heat of battle. As a Druid, you can pour a lot of precious skills in to a thing that has an added advantage of being able to die. Woopi!!. It would be worth it if this huge disadvantage came with the added incentive of a much higher boost to health, but it really hasn’t played out that way. For instance, I can easily get a lvl 30+ “bo” on my barbarian by carrying 2x +3 to “bo” skills weapons on switch.

I’m going to get flamed for telling you this but that’s O.K. A lot of Druid players will come over and say that they have godly/awesome Druid builds but the key is what I said,

“That is to say that you will get a much lower level of performance from the same amount of effort put in to that character”

You can make almost any build viable, if you put enough godly gear on it. I gave up on my druid after putting a torch and skiller on it*.

So if your friend is ready for a real challenge and likes to play more difficult builds, then a druid is the way to go for him.

* Does not include the Windy

If you put enough time and effort into a werewolf " and know what you are doing , Skill's stat's gear etc..." You can make a werewolf just as good as a windie. If you spend time in a character that you dont know how too play build etc... of course it wont do as good as a character you have some knowledge about , for you im guessin it's a wind druid.

I think most do give up on there Werewolf's because they dont know any of the basic's like frame rate speed for weapon's , and the one main factor they give up is they dont have the patience and never ask any werewolf player's for tip's help and so forth.

My point is Werewolf's and windie's can be just as good as another and or better then one another depending on which one is your personal preference on how you build them.

Awooo!!!

[SirGalahad]

*Play the song Wearwolves of london in the background*

Ouch!! Like I said, I didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just that those builds are harder to play. He might like them but he should know that he might need to got the extra mile to make it work.

A little not O.T.

I saw something that just blew me away the other day. A Wearbear Druid was owning Baal!! I'd never seen that before, especially with a Wearbear.:shocked:

I asked what skill he used and what gear. He said FireClaws and only showed me his weapon. It was a six socket phase blade (Max 35 damage), socketed with 6 Sheals!!

I don't know much about "frame rate" but that's wild!! Has anyone seen this build before?

[stoutewolf]

*Play the song Wearwolves of london in the background*

Ouch!! Like I said, I didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just that those builds are harder to play. He might like them but he should know that he might need to got the extra mile to make it work.

A little not O.T.

I saw something that just blew me away the other day. A Wearbear Druid was owning Baal!! I'd never seen that before, especially with a Wearbear.:shocked:

I asked what skill he used and what gear. He said FireClaws and only showed me his weapon. It was a six socket phase blade (Max 35 damage), socketed with 6 Sheals!!

I don't know much about "frame rate" but that's wild!! Has anyone seen this build before?
yes, fireclaw druids get their dmg from the skill fireclaws and not from their weapon dmh. This is why he has chosen for such a fast weapon

[Omikron8]

Hey, my friend wants to start playing diablo II again. He wants a character he wont be dissapointed in. He is interested in creating a shape shifter, but i'm unsure of if they are any good? What are good shape shifting builds?
are shapeshifters good or should he just go elemental?
What items do they wair?
thank you.

in my opinion a fully loaded pvm werewolf with a HoW summon and might merc + pride runeword is the best melee build in the game

[HeadstrongBox]

i <3 druids. i use to play barbs and pallys mostly. and sirgalahad is right in one aspect, it is a slightly harder build, but only slightly. if you know what your doing enough to know that monsters and some players=bad news, then your good to go

[Valvolux]

So SirGalahad you've never seen a fireclaws druid yet you can safely say how much of a pain melee druids are to play? Sounds like you're very limited in your experience of melee druids.

Take the Werewolf for example: You will probably use the Oak spirit to boost your health and survivability. Even a lvl 23-26 spirit, dies pretty easily in Baal, Diablo or Uber battles, just when you need it most.

Hmm wonder what spirit Wind druids use? lol Yeah wind must be better then...

[inanefedaykin]

He is correct in his statement. Windies get much better results for considerably less skill and equipment.

[malakho]

it might also be beneficial to get more information on what your friend classifies as "dissappointing" is it that he wants to be able to breeze hell baal? mf like crazy? or does he simply want to be able to have fun playing the char through whatever hes playing it thru?

I like all druid builds...however, I agree with galahad in the respects that a windy would be the simplest to build and play for the druid builds. If simple is what your friend is looking for, then go for it.

I personally have had fun with untwinked and odd builds (a bodomsorc or melee zon), as well as most of the cookie-cutters out there. what is he looking for? easy build that he can boast about in the latest hell baal run he's in? if he wants that, then maybe windy is his best bet ( or heck, just go for a sorc, or a javazon if thats his mettle)

It all depends on whether he really wants to play the game, or just have bragging rights :)

However, if lack of experience is the issue, I would suggest a basic melee build (zealot, WW barb) or a nec...both are relatively easy to play and provide good bang for the buck.

malachi

[DrunknSloth]

I have the druid and the best for me is max on spirit of barbs and fissure. For spirit of barbs a guy justs hits you and falls over all you need is this and potions. for fissure is good for killing large groups really fast.