So im trying to make a build around Earthshifter... suggestions?

[Boom]

hmm
i was browsing on arreat summit at 430 am, pointedly avoiding finishing the essay i am supposed to be crafting :rolleyes: when i came across a certain maul

the earthshifter
heavy damage, cb, chance to proc fissure (at which i thought hmm, i could synergize that), some ias, and wait
what was that i just saw
SEVEN to elemental skills?
oh crap!
now if one could get an eth one.. and zod it.. bam!

so ideas then bounced around in my head
to make a fury/armageddon wolf with the fissure on the ES synergized
what im thinking is
(this would be done at level 99, so itd give me something to do with my time!)
20 oak sage
20 armageddon
20 volcano
19 firestorm
20 fury
1 werewolf (+skills will pump this)
1 lycanthropy (+skills will pump this)
and everything else would go into prerequisites

im not exactly familiar with fury druids
but this should give me an 18/10 (slow but hard hitting) fury assuming skills got werewolf to at least 10
about 700 damage on the 25% ctc fissure
and a 5-6k+ armageddon flying around

does this sound viable to everyone?
if not
what could i do to tweak the build? like less fury more werewolf for speed?
or even a few less oak sage? (it doesnt help THAT much)

or is this just a waste of idea power? :lipsrsealed:

(course even if it was a good idea, id still have to find an eth earthshifter :grin: )

[Rydiak]

I would Shael it over finding an Eth one and Zodding it. It will simply be too slow to kill anything otherwise.

[Jary]

Done it before, heh. If you shael it you can still hit like 8 Frame Fury with some added ias I believe... I'll have to check again. >.< it's been a while

Yup, I did the same thing with synergizing volcano & firestorm. The ~700 fissure damage is pretty dope especially when you have Firestorm from the torch and fissures dropping left and right, it helps clear all the lil' pesky nubbins that hord you (aka maggots, headhunters, etc).

From experience, going all the way through hell with this build:

-Feral rage is your friend in this build. Due to the lack of speed and protection against bigger monsters such as in A4 since you dont have a shield, you'll find yourself very vulnerable a lot of the time so you'll need all the life you can get. I suggest drop Armagaedon (it just doesn't do much in hell.. it really doesnt) and instead max Lycanthyropy, go all health.

- add one point all the way up to grizzly. Having a one-point-wonder Grizzly at your side with maxed Oak is a life saver, especially when you can cast it and throw it around to block for you whenever need be. Since you don't have shockwave to support, it's almost a must here to have a Pet... and if you can, an A2 nm combat merc with Holy Freeze for extra control.

- add one point in Carrion Vine. ~7-8% life per corpse, especially when you're doing some massive killing XD, that's a lot of life coming back. This build is slower than most Fury, so any extra life helps. I added one in carrion later on in hell... prolly one of the few decisions I DID do right lol

side note:
I hope you have Enigma for this build. This build is VERRRY strength demanding, and if you can save yourself at least ~150 strength using Enigma (~+65), Jalals (+20), and/or anni & Torch (+25-40), all the merrier. I even suggest using IK gloves & Belt combo, once you get to 110 strength. I believe that's what I ended up doing and it worked wonders in saving skill points. Gl man, lates

[Boom]

hmm well thanks for the input
armageddeon is really so useless? even if im hitting like 8-10k armageddeons with a bunch of skill gear?
yea i ended up thinking shael would be better than the eth zod as well

and what was that you said about added ias? i thought only weapon ias worked in werewolf? (and werewolf ias, of course)

[Jary]

hmm well thanks for the input
armageddeon is really so useless? even if im hitting like 8-10k armageddeons with a bunch of skill gear?
yea i ended up thinking shael would be better than the eth zod as well

and what was that you said about added ias? i thought only weapon ias worked in werewolf? (and werewolf ias, of course)

nope. non-weapon ias is always a factor, who said that >.<
Generally, however, the WW base ias is great enough to accomodate for just about any necessary boost. But since you won't be placing in ww, it's always important to check to make sure you in the bp...

For instance, you'll need at least lvl 15+ werewolf skill in order to reach 7 frame Fury. Otherwise, item-ias will be needed.
There's a chance you could make it, but slim unless you go all Shapers (which I wouldn't recommend)...

However, like I mentioned in my last post, I used IK gloves & Belt not only for the strength bonus to use Shifter, but it also adds +25% item ias. kudos >.<

[Verashiden]

Jary's part way right. OIAS does play a factor. However, it's normally so minuscule that you'd be better off with just more WIAS. Even SIAS (WW) doesn't do much unless at the higher frames of attack speeds (like 15/10 Fury). In this case OIAS might reduce your attack by a frame. I'd have to test though >.<

[Boom]

huh
i dunno i thought i ran across that sentiment in the forum that nonweapon ias didnt help in shift
that and thedragoon's calculator shows no benefits gained from oias
http://home.comcast.net/~thedragoon/wereformadvanced.html
even with 999999999% theoreticial oias =x

is that thing just wrong? i thought it was accurate besides the feral rage numbers (evil and wrong, confusing my wolfbarb)

(and as a side note, how would one get non werewolf sias? theres a spot on the calculator for that, its confusing me [or is that just for feral?])

[phool]

oias can often push you attack rate up by 1 frame. If you have absolutely terrible wias afaik it can do quite a lot more than that. Getting hold of an eth earthshifter seems extremely difficult, how good the weapon may be aside.

[Jary]

huh
i dunno i thought i ran across that sentiment in the forum that nonweapon ias didnt help in shift
that and thedragoon's calculator shows no benefits gained from oias
http://home.comcast.net/~thedragoon/wereformadvanced.html
even with 999999999% theoreticial oias =x

is that thing just wrong? i thought it was accurate besides the feral rage numbers (evil and wrong, confusing my wolfbarb)

(and as a side note, how would one get non werewolf sias? theres a spot on the calculator for that, its confusing me [or is that just for feral?])

Wias dictates most of the speed, that's right. Oias can only push at most one breakpoint with wolves.

I'm not gonna get too much into it, but one relative way of looking at it is:
Heavier weapons (polarms, mauls, etc): generally require larger chunk of non-weapon ias to hit that next breakpoint... important to check
Lighter 1-handers: usually require <20%, therefore lvl 1+ Werewolf hits the transition point right away. That's why you'll see, for example, 5 5 5 5 across the board on ligher 1-hand swords, etc.

[Boom]

so is that calculator accurate?
couldnt find an oias value that would pump me up a frame
if not
then i guess i'll roll ik glove/belt and highlord's for an ammy
i got that stuff lying around
(im a pack rat)

[Jary]

I can't see you having a lot of AR with that build (I sure as hell didn't lol)

I'd go Anghellics/raven with that 2-hander setup... save points in dexterity that way, since you'll already be blowing enough in strength. If you need some deadly or OW, etc. you can always run Gores.

The calculator works fine. You have to play around with it.
Okay do this:
-start out with 2 handed Maul
-set Wias for 30%
-all non-Wias keep at 0%
-1 point in werewolf
Examine all the breakpoints when no extra skill or item ias is added, they should all break across the table. Now keep changing the werewolf skill lvl up by 5 or so, see how that effects your attack speed table and keep checking. You'll see that at like lvl 20+ werewolf for ANYTHING takes care of the need for any oias.

-now try 1 handed sword or mace
-keep wias at 30%
-keep non-wias at 0%
-1 point werewolf
you'll see that the 20% sias pretty much covers all the breakpoints for most 1-handers... there maybe be a few rare cases but I'm not sure.

[Boom]

hmm
well i just had the fortune of finding a 295 ed ribby
so
maybe i might just make a rib druid :D
or some combination of my earthshifter and a rib druid
maybe ill stick rib on offswitch
so i can still run around with a fatty armageddon :)