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View Full Version : Something I've noticed about druid elemental forms and spell-casting in general....



HatsuharuZ
08-20-2013, 05:42 PM
While playing my druid as a caster spec, I noticed that there are some differences between the list of available ice and fire spells. It seems to me like whomever made the druid spell list for DDO wanted players to use a certain style, or at the very least had a certain play-style in mind when making the spell list.

Fire elemental form and the spells associated with that element lend themselves to gathering mobs in one place and taking them down with melee weapons while the mobs take damage from the fire spells.

Water elemental form and ice spells tend to be damage-over-time spells, except for Ice Flowers. Also, Mantle of the Icy Soul lends itself well to DC casting by lowering mob saves.

Overall, I've noticed that druid have very few ray spells, and one usually has to get close to the enemy in order to do any significant damage. This is very different from the kinds of things I am able to do on my wizard, which is basically stand back and nuke/cc/whatever and not take damage at all. Of course, druids can heal themselves more healing options than PM wizards, so this isn't too much trouble. It's just really hard to get used to when you've played a class with the arcane spell list.

Earthquake is an interesting spell. It doesn't do much damage, but it lets you put the mobs right where you want them (helpless and on the ground) while you beat on them with whatever spell or weapon you want.

jalont
08-20-2013, 07:44 PM
While playing my druid as a caster spec, I noticed that there are some differences between the list of available ice and fire spells. It seems to me like whomever made the druid spell list for DDO wanted players to use a certain style, or at the very least had a certain play-style in mind when making the spell list.

Fire elemental form and the spells associated with that element lend themselves to gathering mobs in one place and taking them down with melee weapons while the mobs take damage from the fire spells.

Water elemental form and ice spells tend to be damage-over-time spells, except for Ice Flowers. Also, Mantle of the Icy Soul lends itself well to DC casting by lowering mob saves.

Overall, I've noticed that druid have very few ray spells, and one usually has to get close to the enemy in order to do any significant damage. This is very different from the kinds of things I am able to do on my wizard, which is basically stand back and nuke/cc/whatever and not take damage at all. Of course, druids can heal themselves more healing options than PM wizards, so this isn't too much trouble. It's just really hard to get used to when you've played a class with the arcane spell list.

Earthquake is an interesting spell. It doesn't do much damage, but it lets you put the mobs right where you want them (helpless and on the ground) while you beat on them with whatever spell or weapon you want.

Earthquake is the best spell in the game. Playing a caster druid is about stacking aoe dots. Start with earthquake, lay a storm of v on top, kite mobs through earthquake. They'll then get stuck under the sov. For higher hp mobs, add ice storm. Or firewall. Or whatever. For single enemies, your cold dots are king. One single use will usually kill a single mob.

Druids got a huge buff with this enhancement. The SOV and lesser creeping cold SLAs are... amazing. I wish I didn't LR my endgame druid into wizard, so fun to play, but... I didn't have any points in spellcraft AND I wanted to try an PM Shiradi build.

susiedupfer
08-21-2013, 10:16 AM
Druids are absolutely awesome. They are not: wizards, sorcs, clerics, FVS, bards...etc.

Build them and play them without preconceived notions from playing other classes.

richieelias27
08-21-2013, 10:20 AM
Get the enlarge feat and all of your spell range woes will be solved.

Especially useful with their powerful SLA's

red_cardinal
08-22-2013, 02:47 AM
Druids are absolutely awesome. They are not: wizards, sorcs, clerics, FVS, bards...etc.

Build them and play them without preconceived notions from playing other classes.

True dat. I always tried to play any caster as a direct nuker. That's why I'm stuck with sorcerer and I cannot think of playing anything else. Druids are great casters, but I want instant results from instant casts.