Advice for MF wind druid needed

[zerth]

Hey all, I am building a wind druid in SP and want to make some gear decisions. The idea is to be able to do /p8 baal runs :whistling:.

The build is 20 Tornado and synergies, 20 Oak Sage, 1 Summon Grizzly

Equipment is:

Shako (ptopaz)
Enigma
HotO
Arach
2xSoJ
War Travs
Magefist
Stormshield/Spirit
Gloves and amulet depend on fcr needs
CtA and Spirit on switch
5xElemental skillers, Gheeds and 7mf small charms (plain or with resists)

Act2 HF merc with Reaper's, Fortitude (or Shaftstop depending on tanking needs) and Vamp Gaze.

The main question, as many of you might have guessed, is Spirit or Stormshield. Stormshield provides max block with reasonable dex investment, and 50% dr, meaning the druid will be able to tank some. On the other hand Spirit increases damage output and allows room for more versatile equipment selection, meaning more resists and possibly more mana. It also has massive fhr, making it possible to reach 99 fhr even.

What is more viable? Is grizzly and a sturdy merc with BO and Oak Sage boost enough to keep Lister's pack at bay until they die? Or do I need the stormshield setup (possibly with some fbr/fhr)? Assume that I will level to 92 in pits before giving a shot at baal running.

[KellKheraptis]

Hey all, I am building a wind druid in SP and want to make some gear decisions. The idea is to be able to do /p8 baal runs :whistling:.

The build is 20 Tornado and synergies, 20 Oak Sage, 1 Summon Grizzly

Equipment is:

Shako (ptopaz)
Enigma
HotO
Arach
2xSoJ
War Travs
Magefist
Stormshield/Spirit
Gloves and amulet depend on fcr needs
CtA and Spirit on switch
5xElemental skillers, Gheeds and 7mf small charms (plain or with resists)

Act2 HF merc with Reaper's, Fortitude (or Shaftstop depending on tanking needs) and Vamp Gaze.

The main question, as many of you might have guessed, is Spirit or Stormshield. Stormshield provides max block with reasonable dex investment, and 50% dr, meaning the druid will be able to tank some. On the other hand Spirit increases damage output and allows room for more versatile equipment selection, meaning more resists and possibly more mana. It also has massive fhr, making it possible to reach 99 fhr even.

What is more viable? Is grizzly and a sturdy merc with BO and Oak Sage boost enough to keep Lister's pack at bay until they die? Or do I need the stormshield setup (possibly with some fbr/fhr)? Assume that I will level to 92 in pits before giving a shot at baal running.

First off, do you have a torch and anni? That makes some things a lot easier, namely statting for max block :) I'd go with something like :

Jalal's w/ Shael
Enigma (MP or DS for low str)
Arachnid's Mesh
Bloodfists
Sandstorm Treks
HotO
Stormshield (Ist or Shael if you need more block, or Ber for max DR%)
2xFCR Rings with stats (15 Dex would rock, life or MF are just gravy)
2 Skill/19+% FCR crafted ammy (hard to do, but will give you both 99% BP's)

The rares and craft can have MF on them, depending on what staffmods you get. This will give you plenty of tankability, unneeded max resists (due to Cyclone being pwnage against elements), nice life and damage, and decent mf. Add sc's to taste, and if you have 4x5% fhr sc's, slap a ptop or ist in Jalal's. Another possibility would be getting a rare circlet with 2 sockets, and throw Ists in that. That would free up the amulet for Mara's, or the rings for Wisps (gg Souls, even if CA goes down). Hope this helps/makes sense, and hopefully someone better with windies will post after me :D

[zerth]

Thanks for the quick reply. No torch or anni available in single player (with SPF accepted mods anyway). So I take it you opt for Stormshield? :)

[KellKheraptis]

Thanks for the quick reply. No torch or anni available in single player (with SPF accepted mods anyway). So I take it you opt for Stormshield? :)

Really it all depends on how good you are with minion stacking. If you can keep those wolves on top of you with a nice BO (between 800 and 1000 life per SW), melee will have little to no effect on you, allowing you to focus on resists and mf. If you went with Spirit, try for as high of fcr as possible, and then everything FHR I'd mentioned before can go out the window :) Also bear in mind, with a Wizzy you can probably hit the 163% BP fairly easily, and the 152% FHR BP without a TON of sacrifices. While not at all needed, imagine the tankability and mobility. All things considered, in the long run, faster runs=more drops. Up to you though.

[comiction]

peronally i vote for spirit, i'm not on SP, but my windy had SS and spirit, and all in all i liked the spirit more,