Elemental/summoner hybrid

[Darksilanus]

Hey all,

I was thinking about making a summoner/elemental hybrid, but I needed a few questions answered.

First, I'm going to put 20 in dire wolves, 20 in grizzly bear, 10 in HoW and 3 in their prereqs. I'm planning on probably using solar creeper, but assuming that I can get a few +skills, will solar creeper be ok as a one poine wonder?

Anf second, since this build will be VERY tight in points, which will get me more bang for my buck, fire or wind? Say, if I could only max two skills in the elemental tree (with the proper prereqs) which would you max?

I appreciate any feedback you all can give me.

[Valick]

The wind element attacks. Hurricane and Tornado should be maxed and then as much points as possible into the synergies last, Twister and Cyclone Armour to get as much damage as possible out of Hurricane and Tornado IMO and that includes 1 into Artic Blast as Pre-Req.

[jsurfer]

I'm building my elem/summon druid also. Currently level 54. But I play PvM. So I'll talk about the build from PvM perspective.

First question I have is are you primarily bear or wolf for summoning. If bear, having 20 pts in dire wolves seems like overkill. I went for

20 grizz
4 dire wolves
15 HoW

I plan to get about +7 skills so that should make a grizz with enough fat to stay alive. Having a stronger HoW also means better Ar and damage for my bear. Plus HoW will live longer to maintain its effect.

In the elem side, I went fire since I tried a windy before. I find the windy relies too much on physical damage just like the minions. So the druid is very vunerable to PI monsters. Being a fire elementalsit, my char deals fire damage while my animals deals physical damage.

I like fissure with its wide AoE (area of effect) against mass and volcano for its concentrated blast against a stationary enemy. Both are timed skills so I won't be needing too much mana regen enhancements. In between casting, I can dump a few arrows (aka hunter style) to help out. A harmony bow will give you an extra valk minion.

Hope this helps you.

PS. Check the druid builds on the forum. Some of them give very good explanation of the various builds and spell pros/cons.

[Darksilanus]

I'm building my elem/summon druid also. Currently level 54. But I play PvM. So I'll talk about the build from PvM perspective.

First question I have is are you primarily bear or wolf for summoning. If bear, having 20 pts in dire wolves seems like overkill. I went for

20 grizz
4 dire wolves
15 HoW

I plan to get about +7 skills so that should make a grizz with enough fat to stay alive. Having a stronger HoW also means better Ar and damage for my bear. Plus HoW will live longer to maintain its effect.

In the elem side, I went fire since I tried a windy before. I find the windy relies too much on physical damage just like the minions. So the druid is very vunerable to PI monsters. Being a fire elementalsit, my char deals fire damage while my animals deals physical damage.

I like fissure with its wide AoE (area of effect) against mass and volcano for its concentrated blast against a stationary enemy. Both are timed skills so I won't be needing too much mana regen enhancements. In between casting, I can dump a few arrows (aka hunter style) to help out. A harmony bow will give you an extra valk minion.

Hope this helps you.

PS. Check the druid builds on the forum. Some of them give very good explanation of the various builds and spell pros/cons.

Fissure for groups and volcano for single enemies (bosses) huh? Having had experience with a druid summoner before, I like the versatility that comes with having the option of either wolves for crowd control or a bear for bosses, so I'd probably go with 15 hard points in both and let a few +skills bring it to 20.

I too was thinking about grabbing a weapon to deal some damage. Maybe a bow, but I kind of like keeping a shield, so I may end up going with something like gimmershred or a weapon with +to skills (like the spirit runeword.

Any more suggestions?

By the way....I find the druid guides kind of lacking in the hybrid suggestions, though there was a decent article or two.

[jsurfer]

For my build, I started with a harmony bow in mind but my direction has changed.

I'll be using a lacerator axe with a splendor shield. The lacerator has 33% cast amp damage on striking so I can break most PI. My mini-necro solution against the PI/FI monster. :brainiac: I think only stone-skin PI/FI will be untouchable.

On switch, I use a spirit sword with a cheap pdia sigon shield to raise my fire power. Yes, its a cheap solution. Ideal is HOTO with spirit shield would be WAYYYYY better. But that means lots of strength investment.

Obviously, I go for max block so I have a decent chance to fight also. HoW is my pal here. 1 pt into werebear gives me a stronger melee option in case I get bored standing at a distance. Jalah Mane is a great pelt for my build. Here is where I made a mistake, instead of 1 pt werebear, I should have done 1pt werewolf + 1 pt lycanthropy. With the +skills, the latter would give equal or more life in wereform and almost triple duration.

I wear a carrion wind ring to get a level 21 poison creeper so I can save a bunch of pts for a vine. I read a lot of great things about this little creeper - hard to hit, stops enemy regen, AoE. That can now invest into firestorm to pump up fissure. I don't have a lot of $$ to get godly equips. :cry:

Oh yes, because I am too lazy to switch between wolves/bear, I use a STONE armor to bring gumby (level 16 clay golem) into my attack force. IMO, L16 gumby + L20grizz is better than 3x L15 dwolves.

I'm in NM act 5 now, so I will soon find out how my druid fair in hell. My windy was getting whipped in act 1 hell if my memory holds.

[jsurfer]

Oh yeah, what merc will you be using?

I chose the Act 2 defiance merc. Along with HoW, I have a balance offense/defence. I like my meatshield to hold ... my druid has weak knees when the wall crumples.

[Darksilanus]

For my build, I started with a harmony bow in mind but my direction has changed.

I'll be using a lacerator axe with a splendor shield. The lacerator has 33% cast amp damage on striking so I can break most PI. My mini-necro solution against the PI/FI monster. :brainiac: I think only stone-skin PI/FI will be untouchable.

On switch, I use a spirit sword with a cheap pdia sigon shield to raise my fire power. Yes, its a cheap solution. Ideal is HOTO with spirit shield would be WAYYYYY better. But that means lots of strength investment.

Obviously, I go for max block so I have a decent chance to fight also. HoW is my pal here. 1 pt into werebear gives me a stronger melee option in case I get bored standing at a distance. Jalah Mane is a great pelt for my build. Here is where I made a mistake, instead of 1 pt werebear, I should have done 1pt werewolf + 1 pt lycanthropy. With the +skills, the latter would give equal or more life in wereform and almost triple duration.

I wear a carrion wind ring to get a level 21 poison creeper so I can save a bunch of pts for a vine. I read a lot of great things about this little creeper - hard to hit, stops enemy regen, AoE. That can now invest into firestorm to pump up fissure. I don't have a lot of $$ to get godly equips. :cry:

Oh yes, because I am too lazy to switch between wolves/bear, I use a STONE armor to bring gumby (level 16 clay golem) into my attack force. IMO, L16 gumby + L20grizz is better than 3x L15 dwolves.

I'm in NM act 5 now, so I will soon find out how my druid fair in hell. My windy was getting whipped in act 1 hell if my memory holds.


LOL....most of my equip aren't nearly as good as yours, but that's because I only play SP. Having played many necros, stone skin PI's are the only ones you cannot break with amp damage. Also, if you are using Gumby and an ACT 2 merc, why not use Reaper's Toll for it's ctc decrepify? You get a mighty slowing effect with those two sources and if you've got something that does a little cold damage, that only increases more.

I've heard the poison creeper can be useful for stopping regeneration, but I like the idea of getting rid of annoying and revivable, corpses.

[jsurfer]

Just wear a nature peace ring against revivables.

I am going to equip my merc with an obedience polearm. Cold is a better choice but obedience scores me style pts for a fire/physical build. My merc has to be that melee char that I am not. So he must hit often. 40% CB is good.

If you really wanna skimp on skill pts, go with a beast 1h weapon. You get a free L13 grizz.

[Beowulf]

Huntermentalist is the best way to go. Using volcano and fissure along with a strong bear and a bow gives you a nice variety of damage and with oak allows for good life also.

[Darksilanus]

Huntermentalist is the best way to go. Using volcano and fissure along with a strong bear and a bow gives you a nice variety of damage and with oak allows for good life also.

Actually, I've begun my hybrid and was thinking more along the lines of using HoW instead of Oak, because I want the additional AR that HoW provides. Also, when the time comes, I've got a gimmershred in my ATMA stash waiting. Should really help, provided I can actually HIT anything.

[jsurfer]

Since you pumped a lot of pts into dire wolves, your bear will be PHAT. :thumbsup:

BTW, my druid made it to hell. Currently lvl 65. Those FI are causing me a lot of problem as my druid is almost helpless. My cheap spirit sword is not damaging enough and I need 3 more lvls to wield the lacerator. Good thing is, dex is 160 and that puny sword is hitting. My HoW is lvl15 (same with bear) and that doubles my AR to around 2200.(All lvls mentioned include skill enhancements).

NM was a walk with maxed fissure and volcano. And my merc finally has that obedience stick and with enchant on, he can do almost 3k damage. Baal dies within like 6 volcano with merc and bear on him.

The poison creeper from ring charge was pretty handy. It is also the one that dies the most often. I'd say maybe death every 10 min. Usually facing a large crowd.

Hope the info helps you. Once I get the lacerator going, I'll give an update on how well my druid can fight.

My bud calls my char DR. DoLittle since I control so many diff critters. I am oh so tempted to switch in a harmony bow to add a valk and a few revives to the mix. :grin: