Prizzle
19-07-2007, 19:16
Disclaimer: This is in no way intended to be a guide or a direction on how to play a Fury WW Druid or Diablo in general. Simply, this is a recollection of my experiences, dilemmas, and frustrations in Hell level difficulty to perhaps assist other Druids of similar spec or type to perhaps prepare better for the trials they face.
Overview: Skill
20 Fury
20 Lycanthropy
8 Werewolf (Diminshing returns makes more than 10 almost worthless in my opinion)
20 Oak Sage
+prereqs
Have points in Rabies and its synergy but they aren't maxed yet and until both are... the skill isn't really worth using or documenting.
Stats:
Str: Req for gear only
Dex: Req for gear only
Vit: 350ish
Ene: base
My usual in game stats:
Life (with Sage up) 3300ish
AR (with NM Might merc) 3500ish (not enough for Hell really but I make due with what I have)
Dmg - 2500-3500 Fury
Equipment:
Upped Ribcracker
2 dual leech rings w/ +AR (Rare)
Tal Rasha's (dual 10% leech)
String of Ears (Life leech) Demonhide Sash
Venom Grip (Life leech) Demonhide Gloves
+3 Shapeshifting skills ammy
Piece of crap Chest piece that isn't worth naming
War Travelers (CB, OW, DS low% each) Battle Boots
Druid Torch (+3 skills, res all, stat all)
Anny (+1 skills, res all, stat all)
My gear is in no way optimal, I often struggle with frustrating Attack Rating and must keep my merc up at all times in Hell for the AR bonus. This proves difficult because he gets ganked regularly.
I'm currently in Act 2 and its been a bumpy ride (to say the least). After maxing Fury, Lycanthropy, Oak Sage, and putting a few points in Werewolf I was horribly confused where the points should go. Many Druids are advocates of the Grizzly Bear course of action which assists in damage mitigation but does not solve the major problem I knew I'd have in Hell: an alternate form of damage beyond Physical
I made the decision late to invest in Rabies and its synergy in attempts to develop a respectable form of elemental damage. Thus far, its proved a poor investment because Rabies takes far too long to make any serious dents in the huge health pools of most Hell mobs. 10+ seconds to wait for the damage, in most cases, is death. This leads to a lot of running in, applying Rabies, running out and around waiting. This is not only annoying but dangerous unless you already have a large area of cleared zone. My leech is very high, around 50% I think, but my low AR counter acts that... in Hell with 3500 life a Super Healing potion doesn't even scratch the surface of the term "effective" for healing... you will rely almost solely on Life Leech. That being said... you have to hit to leech.
With no respectable form of alternate damage and low AR, encounters are often long and grueling even in Act 2 for my WW Druid. There have been many occasions where I'd meander into a mob and die almost instantly to mana burn minions or extra strong, cursed, etc without even really knowing that there was a named boss until after the fact. This is partly a playing mistake but also a innate difficulty in the Druid class. We aren't Barbarians, therefore we don't have time to scroll through the names of what we are facing while Whirlwinding around facing no real threat. We get in there... start Furying, and hope we don't die in the spam of the few seconds it takes to get our 5 attacks off. Hit recovery is important in Hell as well. I've died many times while unable to retreat in the middle of Furys... being slowed mid-Fury or some other such nonsense.
Load up on AR Charms... full inventory of them when advancing through content if possible its that important. No hit = no life leech = death.
There has been a lot of negativity here... so lets talk about some positives:
Assuming your resistances are respectable enough, you will destroy bosses like they are going out of style (at least in my experience up to this point)
I had no trouble with Andarial and, assuming I bring enough Thawing potions, should have no problems with Duriel. Fury Druids, like Smitadins, are boss destroyers. Mobs that are susceptible to leech with high life will not scratch you so take heart in that. Getting there, however, is often difficult.
I'm currently at Maggot Lair in Act 2 Hell and want to claw my eyes out when facing the Itchies or whatever they are called that are all Physical Immune. It takes me about an hour per level and thats assuming no deaths.
Hell is most definitly a challenge and with no ability to convert our damage to Elemental beyond Rabies, we face difficulties many other classes can not imagine. We aren't 2 tier Sorcs, we don't have Berserk like Barbs, and we don't have minions to do all the dirty work for us (even if we did, they all do phys damage anyways).
Take heart however because all your hard work is rewarded in the end... once you finally get to the bosses at the end of every Act... you get to lol all the way to phat lootz.
Hopefully my experiences helped some. This is actually the 4th remake of this character all got to about level 65-70 and were scrapped due to design mistakes. This is hopefully the last one... and I really hope Rabies works out. I had no real better alternatives for the points (some would argue Feral Rage) so its not a huge loss one way or another.
Druid Most Wanted List:
Wraiths
Itchies
Flying things in act 4 that drain your mana
Run from Phys Immunes and avoid if possible... you may avoid male pattern baldness if you do
Overview: Skill
20 Fury
20 Lycanthropy
8 Werewolf (Diminshing returns makes more than 10 almost worthless in my opinion)
20 Oak Sage
+prereqs
Have points in Rabies and its synergy but they aren't maxed yet and until both are... the skill isn't really worth using or documenting.
Stats:
Str: Req for gear only
Dex: Req for gear only
Vit: 350ish
Ene: base
My usual in game stats:
Life (with Sage up) 3300ish
AR (with NM Might merc) 3500ish (not enough for Hell really but I make due with what I have)
Dmg - 2500-3500 Fury
Equipment:
Upped Ribcracker
2 dual leech rings w/ +AR (Rare)
Tal Rasha's (dual 10% leech)
String of Ears (Life leech) Demonhide Sash
Venom Grip (Life leech) Demonhide Gloves
+3 Shapeshifting skills ammy
Piece of crap Chest piece that isn't worth naming
War Travelers (CB, OW, DS low% each) Battle Boots
Druid Torch (+3 skills, res all, stat all)
Anny (+1 skills, res all, stat all)
My gear is in no way optimal, I often struggle with frustrating Attack Rating and must keep my merc up at all times in Hell for the AR bonus. This proves difficult because he gets ganked regularly.
I'm currently in Act 2 and its been a bumpy ride (to say the least). After maxing Fury, Lycanthropy, Oak Sage, and putting a few points in Werewolf I was horribly confused where the points should go. Many Druids are advocates of the Grizzly Bear course of action which assists in damage mitigation but does not solve the major problem I knew I'd have in Hell: an alternate form of damage beyond Physical
I made the decision late to invest in Rabies and its synergy in attempts to develop a respectable form of elemental damage. Thus far, its proved a poor investment because Rabies takes far too long to make any serious dents in the huge health pools of most Hell mobs. 10+ seconds to wait for the damage, in most cases, is death. This leads to a lot of running in, applying Rabies, running out and around waiting. This is not only annoying but dangerous unless you already have a large area of cleared zone. My leech is very high, around 50% I think, but my low AR counter acts that... in Hell with 3500 life a Super Healing potion doesn't even scratch the surface of the term "effective" for healing... you will rely almost solely on Life Leech. That being said... you have to hit to leech.
With no respectable form of alternate damage and low AR, encounters are often long and grueling even in Act 2 for my WW Druid. There have been many occasions where I'd meander into a mob and die almost instantly to mana burn minions or extra strong, cursed, etc without even really knowing that there was a named boss until after the fact. This is partly a playing mistake but also a innate difficulty in the Druid class. We aren't Barbarians, therefore we don't have time to scroll through the names of what we are facing while Whirlwinding around facing no real threat. We get in there... start Furying, and hope we don't die in the spam of the few seconds it takes to get our 5 attacks off. Hit recovery is important in Hell as well. I've died many times while unable to retreat in the middle of Furys... being slowed mid-Fury or some other such nonsense.
Load up on AR Charms... full inventory of them when advancing through content if possible its that important. No hit = no life leech = death.
There has been a lot of negativity here... so lets talk about some positives:
Assuming your resistances are respectable enough, you will destroy bosses like they are going out of style (at least in my experience up to this point)
I had no trouble with Andarial and, assuming I bring enough Thawing potions, should have no problems with Duriel. Fury Druids, like Smitadins, are boss destroyers. Mobs that are susceptible to leech with high life will not scratch you so take heart in that. Getting there, however, is often difficult.
I'm currently at Maggot Lair in Act 2 Hell and want to claw my eyes out when facing the Itchies or whatever they are called that are all Physical Immune. It takes me about an hour per level and thats assuming no deaths.
Hell is most definitly a challenge and with no ability to convert our damage to Elemental beyond Rabies, we face difficulties many other classes can not imagine. We aren't 2 tier Sorcs, we don't have Berserk like Barbs, and we don't have minions to do all the dirty work for us (even if we did, they all do phys damage anyways).
Take heart however because all your hard work is rewarded in the end... once you finally get to the bosses at the end of every Act... you get to lol all the way to phat lootz.
Hopefully my experiences helped some. This is actually the 4th remake of this character all got to about level 65-70 and were scrapped due to design mistakes. This is hopefully the last one... and I really hope Rabies works out. I had no real better alternatives for the points (some would argue Feral Rage) so its not a huge loss one way or another.
Druid Most Wanted List:
Wraiths
Itchies
Flying things in act 4 that drain your mana
Run from Phys Immunes and avoid if possible... you may avoid male pattern baldness if you do