Bark with Bite ~ R10 Pure Druid Wolf Build

[Strimtom]

Hello everyone, welcome to my pure wolf druid guide! The accompanying video that explains this in great detail can be found here.

FAQs

Why pure druid?
I like the utility of Snowslide and Mass Regenerate. I don't like losing those.

What do I do if I don't have tomes or past lives or racial points?
Doesn't need tomes or past lives, and without racials you just drop some points out of half-orc. You need everything from natures protector and natures warrior.

Why two weapon types? Didn't you use a maul on stream?
Greatswords are better for levelling. Great axes/mauls are best for endgame since you use either Torn or Tremor. I used tremor because I had it but I think Torn is better.


Pure Wolf Druid
Druid 20
True Neutral Half-Orc


Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . 34pt. . .36pt . . Tome . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . ----. . .--------
Strength. . . . 20. . . .20 . . . 20. . . .+6. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . .+6. . . .8: STR
Constitution. . 15. . . .15 . . . 16. . . .+6. . . 12: STR
Intelligence. . .8. . . .10 . . . 10. . . .+6. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . 14. . . .14 . . . 14. . . .+6. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . .6. . . . 6 . . . .6. . . .+6. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Heal. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spot. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Intim . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Swim. . . . .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Hide. . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. . .11
Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. .8
Concent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .16. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7


Feats

.1. . . . : Martial Weapon: Greatsword
.3. . . . : Power Attack
.6. . . . : Completionist
.9. . . . : Natural Fighting
12. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
15. . . . : Natural Fighting
18. . . . : Natural Fighting
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Martial Weapon: Greataxe
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Toughness
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Epic Reflexes
30 Legend : Scion of: Ethereal Plane

.2 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Wolf
.5 Druid. : Wild Shape 1: Bear
.8 Druid. : Wild Shape 2: Winter Wolf
11 Druid. : Wild Shape 2: Dire Bear
13 Druid. : Wild Shape 3: Water Elemental
17 Druid. : Wild Shape 3: Fire Elemental


Spells

1. Jump (1), Magic Fang (1), Merfolk's Blessing (2), Takedown (4), Ram's Might (7)
2. Resist Energy (3), Lesser Restoration (3), Gust of Wind (4), Align Fang (6), <Any>
3. Quench (5), Neutralize Poison (5), Baiting Bite (6), Sleet Storm (8), <Any>
4. Mass Longstrider (7), Ice Storm (7), Freedom of Movement (8), Flame Strike (10), <Any>
5. Animal Growth (9), Death Ward (9), Reincarnate (10), Panacea (12), Cold Breath (15)
6. Jaws of Winter (11), Fire Shield (11), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
7. True Seeing (13), <Any>, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
8. Heal (15), Finger of Death (15), Earthquake (16), Howl of Terror (18), <Any>
9. Mass Regenerate (17), Snowslide (17), Storm of Vengeance (18), <Any>, <Any>

Enhancements (80+8 AP) Errors

Nature's Warrior (41 AP)

• Natural Adept, Nature's Senses, Nature's Bounty, A True Hunter, Howl of Winter, Beast Form Mastery
  1. Take Down II, Beastial Nature II
  2. Flight III, Ghost Wolf, Double Strike Boost III
  3. Fight III, Prey on the Weak II, Ghost Wolf Pack, Essence of the Shrike II, Strength
  4. Fatal Harrier I, Four Legs Good, Ferocity III, Strength
  5. Alpha Strike I, Swift Hunter, Jaws of Ice, Go for the Kill

Half-Orc (24 AP)

• Orcish Fury, Orcish Strength, Orcish Fury II, Orcish Strength II
  1. Orcish Weapon Training
  2. Orcish Weapon Training, Orcish Rage
  3. Improved Power Attack III, Orcish Weapon Training
  4. Raging Crush, Brutality, Orcish Weapon Training, Power Rage III

Nature's Protector (23 AP)

• Nature's Protector, Nature's Defense, Magical Beast, Big Claws
  1. Rage of the Beast II, Enchanted Defense III
  2. Primal Beast II, Grizzled Defense II, Beast at Bay III
  3. Enduring Beast II, Strength
  4. Undying Beast, Beast Awakened

Destiny (24 AP)

Legendary Dreadnought

1. Legendary Tactics III, Extra Action Boost III, Strength
2. Imp. Power Attack, Strength
3. Strength
4. Strength
5. Advancing Blows, Devastating Critical
6. Master's Blitz, Pulverizer

Twists of Fate (26 fate points)

1. Sense Weakness (Tier 4 Fury)
2. Balanced Attacks (Tier 3 Primal)
3. Dragonhide (Tier 1 Draconic)
4. Brace for Impact (Tier 1 Sentinel)

[Chaoscheerio]

I just watched the video and I'm so happy to see this! I saw your bear build and I'm looking to do my last dragonborn life but... my last dragonborn was a bearbarian lol. So I'm really happy to see a wolf build with some explanation of what to do.

I have a couple questions and maybe just stuff I'd like advice on if possible?
Does the lack of proficiency matter that much? From what I can see it just means a loss of 4 attack, and given I have every heroic past life do you think it would matter that much if I drop it? It feels a bit odd to spend a feat on proficiency.

and does spellpower matter at all when it comes to the winter wolf spells? I'm in love with the idea of a white dragon wolf and it seems interesting to maybe combine the strengths of the two and pick up the bonus spellpower from dragonborn.

Either way! I just got into your videos and I've been really enjoying your ideas! Cheeeers!

[Pilgrim1]

Proficentcy is a huge problem. It turns 25% of your attacks into glancing blows. 1 fighter and 1 fvs give proficentcy, feets, and cheep divine might.

[Chaoscheerio]

Proficentcy is a huge problem. It turns 25% of your attacks into glancing blows. 1 fighter and 1 fvs give proficentcy, feets, and cheep divine might.

I didn't know that D: Thank you. Considering this is mostly for a racial life and he got me hype for snowslide one fighter level at the start makes sense so I can still get it by 18! Appreciated!

[Zretch]

Just a thought. 18 Druid, 1 Barbarian, 1 FvS may be an alternative worth looking into.

1 barbarian unlocks the tier 1 barbarian enhancements for extra rages, extra rage duration, extra con while rages for 1AP per con point, etc. It also unlocks martial weapon proficiency so you don't need to burn a feat on GSword or GAxe or whatever. It also allows you to swap different types of weapons (GSword for trash clearing & oozes, GAxe for boss beating and DR breaking, etc) without losing proficiency or having to take multiple feats.

1 FvS unlocks Divine Will/Presence/Might depending on if you want to do CHA or WIS as a secondary stat.

My current wolf build has almost the same gear as you, but I use Echo of Ravenkind in the trinket slot for CON and deception (sneak attacks without needing to do baiting bite are awesome), I do the slave lord's 5 rings in my ring slot with basically the same affixes, and I lose the Ring of Nightfall. I find 20 CON is better than insightful INT and insightful deadly for me.

I still get Mass Regen, Mass G Vigor, Heal, Snowslide, etc.

The thing is, at 20, you gain enough spell slots to slot every single level 9 druid spell, two of which are basically worthless on a dog druid anyway. 18 still gives you enough slots for the really useful 7, 8, and 9 spells and gives a lot of benefits in addition without having to worry about how to fit tier 5 barbarian, tier 4 wolf (trip immunity), and tier 4 bear so you can cast while raged with a fixed number of AP.

[Jetrule]

I agree 18 druid 1 barb 1 fvs is great I played and posted such a build around here somewhere. What makes StrimTom's pure build good IMO is the tier 4 enhancements in half orc. Raging crush is a thing of beauty and extra helpless damage is great with snowslide and other druid cc. If you dont have the racial ap for those 2 enhancements I would recommend the 1 barb 1 fv split for sure.

[Coffey]

Great work on this guide and video Strimtom!

I cant say thank you enough for the Twitch stream. I dont always have the time to watch live but always catch the video when i can. You always cover new content and its awesome the way you take the time to answer any and all questions from your viewers

[Xxyyn]

As always, great thread. If you swap the necklace out, don't you lose the adherent of the mists bonus? What gear are you using now?

Also, any alternative to farming slaver's forever for that crafted piece?

Thanks.

[unbongwah]

18 Druid, 1 Barbarian, 1 FvS may be an alternative worth looking into.

We've got a thread for that build too.

[voxson5]

Any worth to run a wisdom horc doggo? Still exploiting the horc tree, but also offer more CC options - notibly howl and earthquake

Might be AP limited due to reliance on falc?


Side note, am running an Asimair wis doggo right now and while it has been super fun since 17, I found it sucked before that. But thats more that I found it really boring, rather than underpowered.

[unbongwah]

Might be AP limited due to reliance on falc?

That is the main issue. You could get by with 12 APs for WIS to damage, but you really want tier 4 as well for No Mercy etc.
Add in 41 APs for Nature's Warrior capstone and you only have about 12 out of 80 APs remaining. Not enough for Brutality as well unless you have a bunch of extra racial APs.

[Strimtom]

Also, any alternative to farming slaver's forever for that crafted piece?

Thanks.

Share comes out on May 14th with a bunch of accuracy items in a lot of slots.

Until then, slavelords is really the best way to get accuracy, a much needed stat.

[Xxyyn]

With the new Sharn loot, it looks like there aren’t many Wisdom melee pieces. I think I will have to switch my Aasimar Druid to this build.

[Zretch]

With the new Sharn loot, it looks like there aren’t many Wisdom melee pieces. I think I will have to switch my Aasimar Druid to this build.

Hiya Xxyyn. I got what I needed, though it did take some crafting.

Part of the Family set for Armor, Gloves, and Neck.
i went with the +22 wis bracer artifact. Yes, it's the caster version, but it fit my gear better than the ring.
I am wearing my Band of Insightful Commands to replace the profane well rounded and get insight accuracy.
I'm wearing the new +Con belt and +Inight Con cloak since part of the family freed up silent avenger.
That freed up my trinket slot so I could cannith craft doublestrike, dodge, and insightful whatever I feel I need.
Last night I just upgraded my Collective Sight goggles to Insight Wis.
I'm still wearing my slavers +sheltering, +accuracy, +vertigo, +Q Wis ring.

So that's 22e + 10i + 4q + 2p wisdom from equipment while still maintaining 80% doublestrike (down 6% from ravenloft, which is a bummer...you can probably go Mantle of Fury in the cloak slot, insightful Con in the Collective Sight, and slot insightful Wis in the trinket for a 22e + 7i + 4q + 2p for an extra 5% doublestrike).

I flipped between a STR raging build and a WIS build last night and was able to get them both to perform very similarly. STR build capped out at around 107 raged and primal screamed (I refuse to come out of animal form to Tensers myself). WIS build capped out at 95 without needing to rage, but the extra bonus to damage and tactics I get from Divine Will (1 level splash of FvS) closes the gap pretty well.

I think either way you're fine. I've toggled between WIS and STR 3 times in the last 2 weeks, so it's by no means an easy choice.

STR means raging, which means I can't cure curses without unraging, can't use scrolls without unraging, can't cast Nightshield (5 min duration), can't use my clickies if I forget before I hit rage, etc, etc, but it's much easier to get STR up into big numbers, and LD allows for STR increases but not WIS. STR is also much more AP friendly as you don't have to splash into Falconry.

WIS is more convenient, can cast and use anything at any time. It also means my deathward can be stripped where bear for gets neg energy immunity while raging, multiple enhancements give melee power while raging, etc. You also will want to throw at least 15 points into falconry for wis to damage, hitpoints, and well rounded (don't need Killer Instinct if you have the FvS splash, which saves quite a few APs). On the flip side, with a set of froggles, you can effectively Mass Frog, have more spell points, etc.