`Mawgal' the Harmony Summoner, total bollucks?

[MalVeauX]

Hello,

I've never liked Druids. The wolves are not fun to me because they remind me too much of a barb or pally all at once and I think the werebear looks awful, though the werewolf looks fantastic. Fire druids are just... silly, to say the least to me, with skills that are either dumb to me (boulder?) or just too random to even be fun (geddon?). Wind druids are cool to me simply because they're less random, more effective in my eyes, and the spells look cooler and produce less lag it seems, but in the end, a FCR sorc is just too similar in my eyes.

-- This is not to flame anything or start a problem. I'm just explaining my problem, which is that I don't care for Druids, therefore, looking to make a Druid that I will like and see if it's a waste of time or not by my peer judges who all know the druids ups & downs. Which brings me to my current project:

Mawgal, Harmony Summoner - Basically, I like the summons. They're the least effective branch, to be sure, in all respects. But they're more fun to me because I can resummon them instead of requiring dead bodies like a Necro and they don't have a timer like revives. So it's different enough for me to enjoy more, plus, there are less summons, and less lag due to that which results in less complaining other than "summon druid? lol nub" comments. But what to do other than summons? Melee is out of the question, spell casting is autofail. That leaves standing around, like a Necro waiting to CE, but without the CE, or.... use a bow. I like the bow idea. And that's where Harmony comes in. Faster movement. Faster summon movement. Stackable aura. And of course, a damn fine bow with great damage, and a Valk summon to add to my group. I just get a Might Merc, my full on Heart of Wolverine, and max all 3 summons (not ravens) and I'm set to have some fun I think. Gear wise, I'll just focus on +skills since more is better on my summons to get their damage high enough to do anything.

I'm convinced that this is utterly inferior to a skelemancer, but the point is to make a Druid I like, at least, that I think I'll like.

So knowing the following:

20 Spirit Wolf
20 Dire Wolf
20 Dire Bear
20 Heart of Wolverine
~dump in Ravens
As many +skills as possible in gear.
Harmony bow for main weapon (skillers on switch for summoning)
Might Merc w/ Insight.

Will this work out you think, at least through NM? Or will it just be too pathetic for damage and constantly recasting due to my summons having no resistance to speak of, getting rocked by elemental damage and all that.

Question: If I summon with skillers, and then switch to a bow, do the summons lose ability/stats since my skills just went down realtime, or are they set in their stats when I summon them and remain high even if I switch? That has a big impact on how I will play since Harmony is a bow, and my skillers will be weapon/shield. Does this work, or do I basically always have to use my skillers in order to keep my summons high level?

So what's the verdict? Waste of time? Rotten vegetables? Style points but ultimately doomed to fail? ZOMG will pwn baal (....joke)?

Cheers, :laugh:

[Ed from Russia]

It's a very common build, called a Hunter. They can easily make it through Nightmare, though they will be slow in Hell and hard to play. It is one of the most fun builds in my opinion. Here is a guide (http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?id=481). It's for 1.09 but still pretty good.

Overall what you describe is fine, but here are some suggestions:
- If you can afford it, Faith is a much better choice for bow; it gives the Fanat aura and skill bonuses. Still, Harmony is a decent 2nd choice along with Widowmaker.
- Yes, you can prebuff your minions, your minions will stay pretty strong. On weapon switch keep HOTO and Spirit (if you're rich), or Dark Clan Crusher and Lidless (if you're poor).
- Your skill setup is fine. Consider taking a Poison Creeper (max instead of Spirit Wolves and forget Ravens); he's more useful than you think. You can also get him from the Carrion Wind ring.
- Your Merc doesnt need insight because you really don't need mana. Instead get him a weapon with Crushing Blow and leech (tombreaver, reapers toll, obedience) and Guillaume's for even more CB. Or Pride, with the Concentration aura that helps your minions.

There are some variants to the Hunter Druid:
- Shockwave Summoner Werebear. Invest 10 pts in Lycanthropy, 10 pts in Shockwave and you can stun any monster (including bosses) for 10 seconds. You play melee using Maul and Hunger. here's a guide (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=420025).
- Fire Hunter: combine wolves with Fissure and Volcano. Faster than a normal Hunter and adds another damage type. Here's my guide (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=526489).

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

It's been done, and you are not doomed to fail in anyway. Like Ed said, the summons retain all innate aspects at the time they are summoned, even if you decide to strip your Druid naked.

It's also a decent PvP build if you can get the right gear.

A Grizzly and Poison Creeper can also kill a Skelliemancer's entire army, if the situation is right.

[prion]

I've played a huntermentalist before and enjoyed it, it's very different from a pure summoner, a pure ranger, or a pure mage. it basically combines all their strengths in a weak way.

er...

[superjayson]

off topic kind of but, how do druids remind you of barbarians and paladins all at once ?

[MalVeauX]

off topic kind of but, how do druids remind you of barbarians and paladins all at once ?

In my own twisted way,

I think of Barbs when I see the Oak Sage and the life bonus from Lycanthropy. I think of Pallies as soon as I see Fury.

:tongue:

Cheers,

[superjayson]

you sir, are twisted ;p