anyone with a fissure druid build

[silentLance]

same as above, are they any good? i made a windy before, now wanting to try to use the left side of the sill tree

[Strid]

Basically identical gear. Except you don't need to worry about faster cast rate as the casting delay is fixed (the time gained from FCR is minimal compared to the casting delay). Ravenlore is your friend, of course and so is Magefist. The gear should be really standard so not much to say.

If you have the items to back it up, go with a merc that is able to tank well and perhaps also summons. You need to make targets stationary (by using meat shields and so on) and then give them the fissure. They are definitely viable if you can work around the Fire Immunes in Hell (hint: Infinity won't help you much, if at all).
I would work on the pets in conjunction with Fissure.

I've tried a build like this with a Hunter druid I once had:

Might merc Infinity, I was using a Faith Bow.
Max Grizzly, HoW and Fissure, rest in synergies.
Keep three Dire Wolves at all times, they're really strong with Fana, Might and HoW and so is your merc. Keep in the back and shoot/Fissure all over.
I was able to solo most of Hell.

[Eilo Rytyj]

They're alright, they're certainly not weak with the right gear, but you'll have to learn to live with the cast timers, so they require patience and skill.

There's a guide in the stickies. But for some quick ideas of a pure Fire caster Druid:

20 Fissure
20 Firestorm
20 Volcano
20 Molten Boulder
1 Grizzly
1 Dire Wolves
1 Spirit Wolves
1 Oak Sage
1 Raven
1 in each of the prerequisite Wind elemental skills
rest of points to Armageddon, ending up at 20 at level 99.

What you'll need:
- Keep prebuff gear for your summons. A +3 skill Amulet and Circlet/Pelt, as well as your normal +skill gear (i.e. HotO, Enigma, Spirit etc) should get you a high enough life Grizzly to tank most anything sans the nastiest of boss packs. You only need your Grizzly to stay alive, not crank out huge damage numbers. When looking for a prebuff Pelt, value +Dire Wolves higher than +Grizzly staffmods, because only +Dire Wolf increases Grizzly's life.
- General caster gear, with plenty of +skills. FCR isn't as important as a Windy because of the cast timers, but you can get to the 99% breakpoint pretty easily using HotO, Spirit and Magefists + a little more (Arach's, or 4%-14% more in FCR Rings/Amulet covers it).
- Try and find a Ravenlore, it's pretty much the best helm you can get. With a 5/5 Fire Facet you'll be laughing. Next best thing would be a "godly" +2 Druid Pelt with +Fissure, +Armageddon, or any of the Fire skills as staffmods.
- You don't really need more than 1 point in Oak Sage if you know what you're doing. It can be prebuffed at higher levels, and it dies in 1 hit most times in Hell. Keep your Grizzly and Merc alive and healthy and up in front and you'll be fine.
- Firestorm can be deceptively powerful if used right and skillfully. You need to get right up behind your Grizzly to shoot it, which lets your Armageddon do some work, and the snaking fire trails can cross each other and stack damage. It's cast timer is only 15 frames, so it's still a very spammable spell.
- Like Hurricane on a Windy, always keep your Armageddon running, and remember that it has a 6 second cooldown which affects all your other spells. It's like getting caught reloading in an FPS, be in a safe place when reloading or you're dead. If your Armageddon is dealing 5k+ per hit, then you're going to want to keep it up all the time.
- Molten Boulder can be powerful if used right. It deals more Physical than Fire damage, so can be used against Fire immunes still, and it can knockback, causing it's own little Charge-Chains if you're lucky, striking the same target a few times. Best used against those monsters that revive or heal others: Fallen Shaman, Unravellers and those Hierophants in Act 3.
- Throw Volcano into a big pack, or raise one underneath a single stationary monster and he'll get hit by all of the rocks, but it has a 5 frame NextDelay which causes only 1/3 of them to actually do any damage. Rocks strike every 2 frames, and there are 72 total. The first rock does damage, the next rock 2 frames later does no damage because of NextDelay, the next rock after 4 frames does no damage because of NextDelay, next rock after 6 frames hits for damage, and so on. Still, hitting for 24 times listed is pretty damn good for any skill.
- Fissure can do insane damage if you catch a monster running through it, it'll hit multiple vents and can take many times the listed damage.
- Like a PvM Windy, always keep your Ravens out. Blinding monsters is an awesome thing, especially when that group of Saber Cats with their piercing javelins are quietly sleeping while you nuke them from the other side of the screen. Try to keep all 5 up at all times.
- Always have Cyclone Armor up too, you never know when a stray bolt of hurtyness will get past your Bear wall.
- You can use Twister as a means of stunning monsters between cast timers. You can usually get off 2-3 Twisters in the Molten Boulder/Fissure cast delay, or 6-7 during Volcano.


Most important is they're challenging to play, but not that frustrating because all of their skills have little secrets to them that makes them much more powerful than they first seem.

[metalinquisition]

I agree with the above posters. But I would also recommend having a Passion rune word Berserker Axe in your inventory to deal with fire immunes if your merc is having trouble. Zeal and Berserk are awesome.

[inanefedaykin]

Eilo, even if the second and third rock in volcano do no damage can they still be blocked?

[Verashiden]

They still force block animation. Volcano make bowas cry.

[Ed from Russia]

I assume you're talking about PvP, in which case the answers above are excellent.
If you intend to play PvM you could also consider the Fire Hunter:
- 20 Fissure (use on packs)
- 20 Volcano (use on bosses)
- 20 Dire Wolves (use normally)
- 10-20 Grizzly (use against bosses)
- 10-20 Oak Sage

Equip with bow (e.g. Faith). Let your wolves engage, cast Fissure below monsters and fire arrows.

[Strid]

I was actually assuming PvM, because I don't know how I would go about making a pure Fire based PvP druid, lol. I would use summons always with a Fire druid anyway.

[Ed from Russia]

A pure fire build would be something like:
- 15-20 Firestorm
- 20 Molten Boulder
- 20 Fissure
- 20 Volcano
- 15-20 Oak Sage
- 5 Grizzly (+prerequisites)

So you rely more on fire and only a little on summons. I believe this is also called Fire Shaman in PvP.

[Mvip]

When looking for a prebuff Pelt, value +Dire Wolves higher than +Grizzly staffmods, because only +Dire Wolf increases Grizzly's life.
Isnt it only hard points invested in dire wolves that affect grizzlys health?

[Verashiden]

Not for summons since they passively synergize. +Skills affect the synergies as well.

[inanefedaykin]

It's the only reason summoners don't suck.

[Ed from Russia]

It's not the build that sucks, but the player.

[Eilo Rytyj]

A pure fire build would be something like:
- 15-20 Firestorm
- 20 Molten Boulder
- 20 Fissure
- 20 Volcano
- 15-20 Oak Sage
- 5 Grizzly (+prerequisites)

So you rely more on fire and only a little on summons. I believe this is also called Fire Shaman in PvP.

A few flaws I notice...

5 in Grizzly is a waste of 4 skill points. A "Pure" Fire Elemental Druid uses Grizzly only as a meatshield, not for damage. Like I said in my previous post, if you want a better Bear, either prebuff him with Summon GC's, or put more points into Dire Wolves or Oak Sage to increase his life. His damage is not important, only his life and his knockback abilities.

I'd put a full 20 in Firestorm. It's one of the most powerful Fire skills, even though it's a tier 1 skill. Plus it's a synergy to Fissure, you need 20 here to make Fissure as powerful as possible.

Final skill points are a toss up between Oak Sage and Armageddon. I chose Armageddon, because I'm a damage nut and I'd rather kill something faster than have a little more life. It's also a synergy to Volcano, so you'll end up with a more powerful Volcano by putting all your last points in 'geddon. Remember, Oak Sage can be prebuffed with +skills to give you more life. Also remember that you have a Grizzly bear and a Merc in front of you absorbing all the damage.

[Ed from Russia]

A few flaws I notice...

5 in Grizzly is a waste of 4 skill points.

I'd put a full 20 in Firestorm. It's one of the most powerful Fire skills, even though it's a tier 1 skill.

Final skill points are a toss up between Oak Sage and Armageddon. I chose Armageddon, because I'm a damage nut and I'd rather kill something faster than have a little more life.

a) I meant 1 pt in Grizzly and 4 in prerequisites. Sorry for confusion
b) Maxing Firestorm is fine. I normally have a bias towards Volcano synergies and don't really use Firestorm as a skill.
c) You could go for Armageddon, but you'd need to invest 4 pts in the Wind skills. I personally like having an Oak Sage around for some extra safety.

[Majaii]

This was my first build starting up D2 again after not having played since classic. I played him pretty much untwinked untill hell, when i traded for some gears, as mine was a pure fire, no summons even except for oak. Looking back, i would have a bear only as well to help tank, but even with crappy gear (and i do mean crappy) i had no problems till hell, and then once i got a bonehew on my merc i was fine, and could solo most of hell. He was still the most fun character ive ever played, and can be viable in pvp if you know what your doing. If your going pure fire, they are way fun, (great for cows too) but i wouldnt go armageddon, max firestorm, vocano, fissure, and and since i was pure fire i put points into boulder as well, for better firestorm damage. Up too you, but a way fun build.

-Majaii