Druid Caster Build

[jortann]

Hey Everyone!

I was trying to put together some Druid Caster build ideas for next Monday. Unfortunately I did not spend a lot of time in Beta so I was hoping I could get some advice from those who did.

Here is what I have so far...

Human
Druid 20

STR 14
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 8
WIS 18
CHA 8

Feats
Toughness
Maximize
Spell Focus: Evocation
Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Heighten
Quicken

Any thoughts or insights?

[RavenStormclaw]

Hey Everyone!

I was trying to put together some Druid Caster build ideas for next Monday. Unfortunately I did not spend a lot of time in Beta so I was hoping I could get some advice from those who did.

Here is what I have so far...

Human
Druid 20

STR 14
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 8
WIS 18
CHA 8

Feats
Toughness
Maximize
Spell Focus: Evocation
Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Heighten
Quicken

Any thoughts or insights?

I would drop either heighten or quicken... in my opinion having played closed beta and now open beta... augment summoning is almost a must for any druid. It enhances your pet and since summon natures ally is a spontaneous cast you'll almost always have one out...I think its a must.

[Zitaloc]

Been trying something like that but instead of the i use 10 points(or less) in str and put the remaining points in int for skill point.(skill seams kinda importent with some of the enhancements i have looked at)
You can even melee just fine with this build just fine when you get Fire blade, just make a the blade(s) pop on rams might, that + enhancement to natural weapons and go into animal form(this is at level 3 its gets much better later ) and then use your wisdom as +hit and + dmg

Edit:
Oh and Augment summoning is really great as a druid(especialy if you solo allot), Pet + Summon + hirelingbarb then add a little blood moon = BAM right in the kisser

[Expalphalog]

go into animal form(this is at level 3 its gets much better later ) and then use your wisdom as +hit and + dmg

I thought I'd read somewhere that WIS as hit and damage mod does not persist through animal forms?

[jortann]

I thought I'd read somewhere that WIS as hit and damage mod does not persist through animal forms?

I think if you are using flame blade, it uses you WIS modifier.

[jortann]

So I have two past wizard lifes on the toon I will be TRing to a druid so, I'm looking at this...

Human
Druid 20

STR 14
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 12
WIS 18
CHA 8

Feats
Toughness
Augment Summoning
Maximize
PastLife: Wizard
Spell Focus: Evocation
Spell Penetration (or Greater Spell Focus: Evocation)
Heighten
Quicken


Now I am just left with the choice of Spell Pen or Greater Spell Focus. Do a lot of the Druid Spells require spell penetration?

[LupusVai]

I thought I'd read somewhere that WIS as hit and damage mod does not persist through animal forms?

That is correct the wisdom to hit and damage does not work in animal forms. the only part of the flame blade that works while in animal form is the fire portion of it.

[rtgr10]

So I have two past wizard lifes on the toon I will be TRing to a druid so, I'm looking at this...

Human
Druid 20

STR 14
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 12
WIS 18
CHA 8

Feats
Toughness
Augment Summoning
Maximize
PastLife: Wizard
Spell Focus: Evocation
Spell Penetration (or Greater Spell Focus: Evocation)
Heighten
Quicken


Now I am just left with the choice of Spell Pen or Greater Spell Focus. Do a lot of the Druid Spells require spell penetration?

i will trade this: Spell Penetration (or Greater Spell Focus: Evocation) for Empower.... this stacks with maximize??? i dont know... i dont read this yet.... but spell pen and spell focus u takes with magister .... ;-)

Put 18 at constituiton and 12 at int.... its better for end game.

[Zitaloc]

I thought I'd read somewhere that WIS as hit and damage mod does not persist through animal forms?

The weapons damage die dont translate over to the animal forms but the enhancement bonus and weapon effect. What Fire blade does is that it changes where you get your hit and damage from, you normally gets melee hit and damage from strength. Fire blades changes this to Wisdom

[Detton]

Looks like almost what I was planning, except I git augment summons as well. Well, and eschew materials for leveling and laziness :P. Don't judge me...plan on swapping out as soon as Fred is fixed. Thought about extend, but that would have been great early game... By the time I thought about picking it up, and with bugged Fred, my spell durations were already high enough.

Might forego spell pen for maximize. Souped up greater and regular creeping cold stacking is pretty nice.

[Zitaloc]

That is correct the wisdom to hit and damage does not work in animal forms. the only part of the flame blade that works while in animal form is the fire portion of it.

Thats incorrect. The only thing you loose when shifting to animal form is the damage weapon damage die from the weapon. Example.
You got a weapon thats like this "+5 weapon 1d10 slashing plus 1d6 fire" and you change into wolf form then the weapon would look like this "+5 weapon 1d6 slashing/piercing plus 1d6 fire". the standard die will change but the the rest of the stats on the weapon still works like normal

Edit:
add "/piercing" to the "1d6 slashing" part

[Osma77]

Very few spells on druid spell list allow spell resistance. A quick and dirty look worked out to be about 12 no sr/ 3-4 yes sr.

Id say just use sr gear and use spell pen feat for augment/Max/greater evoke.

Keep in mind that while most of the druid combat damaging spells are evoke, some like storm of v are conjure.

[Ertay]

Thats incorrect. The only thing you loose when shifting to animal form is the damage weapon damage die from the weapon. Example.
You got a weapon thats like this "+5 weapon 1d10 slashing plus 1d6 fire" and you change into wolf form then the weapon would look like this "+5 weapon 1d6 slashing/piercing plus 1d6 fire". the standard die will change but the the rest of the stats on the weapon still works like normal

Edit:
add "/piercing" to the "1d6 slashing" part

Try it, see how it works. I can personally confirm flame blade's wisdom modifier does not carry over. Seriously. There also are dev posts that confirm this is intended behavior, log on lamma and see for yourself. You will have to look for the actual rolls because you won't see a change on the paperdoll when you shift, but with the damage range on an 18 wis 8 str build it should be very noticable.

Personally that is what killed druids for me, you won't be able to really change roles on the fly like it seemed at first, because you don't really have the feats/ap to support different playstyles, but thats another question.

About the build layout you proposed:
- Race choice human is correct, caster druids should obviously be human, nothing else even comes close
- Augment summoning is not worth it. If you want it at endgame get a roderics wand, but at the cost of the feat slot... no thx.
- You have few things that need a spellpen check, from the top of my head, that would be the wolf paralyzing cry (which is outclassed by the no sr snowslide a few levels later) and FoD. As you have wiz past lives, you can get to a reasonable spell pen, I'd chose necro over evoc focus personally, just for FoD. There is a water elemental aura that will debuff enemies fort save by -4 on taking ice damage, this can effectively push your fingers by a lot and I'd want to play to my strengths I guess. I'd say if you go spell pen (which should work well given your pastlives), also go necro focus and vice versa. If you scrap one, also scrap the other. There are few single spells that warrant such a heavy investment, but finger really is one of the best there is if you can support it.
- empower does indeed stack with maximize, there is a reason everyone carries both. Their power level is going to change some with the expansion, I'm not sure if it is even worth to carry them, with the limited sp pool druids get, but if you take one, you'll probably want to take the other as well.

[conanj77]

On the topic of augment summoning:

A Caster w/ back up heals needs augment summoning to be worth it, I want to play a caster druid, and be able to at least self heal and I would like to be a back up healer, EG: Shroud, or epic raids, 2 healers, a druid or bard back up healer and, your good.
Augment summoning is extremely useful for a caster build as it allows you to make your wolf a viable tank like helper, add in a summon with that and you can just sit back and nuke. Also remember, HoX needs augment summoners, making you a helpful character for HoX. You can spec out healing, fire and cold spells, then augment summon the puppies while you sit around and heal the chew toy, fill 2 roles with one character. In raids, you bring a good healer, with cold DoTs, fire AoEs and an extra melee body(wolf pet) so you can fill the role of healer or caster, then you bring along your helpful wolf to fill in the gap your spell damage will miss when compared to a FvS evoker or a Wizzy/sorc. And when healing then you have the wolf to just tag along and hit the raid boss with the melee's just as a bit of extra DPS for your party.

get the picture, Augment Summoning is essential for a caster druid.

Thanks for the read.

CJ out!

[deahamlet]

Listen to me.... almost nobody wants to see your pet in raids. The end.

[Ryiah]

Augment Summoning is essential for a caster druid.

Augment Summoning doesn't really do that much. During an Artificer life on my completionist I took Augment Summoning and compared before/after for the Pet's character sheet. Despite what it says, fortification doesn't change in the slightest and the stats only go up a few points at most. Simply not worth it to anyone who intends to run raids and epics on a regular basis.

[Zitaloc]

Try it, see how it works. I can personally confirm flame blade's wisdom modifier does not carry over. Seriously. There also are dev posts that confirm this is intended behavior, log on lamma and see for yourself. You will have to look for the actual rolls because you won't see a change on the paperdoll when you shift, but with the damage range on an 18 wis 8 str build it should be very noticable.

Thats wierd when i tested it my damage numbers went way up(about 6 damage and hit per attack at level 8) when i tried it. Does it depend if you cast in while in or out of form? I take it that it was a bug i encountered then

[Ertay]

On the topic of augment summoning:

A Caster w/ back up heals needs augment summoning to be worth it, I want to play a caster druid, and be able to at least self heal and I would like to be a back up healer, EG: Shroud, or epic raids, 2 healers, a druid or bard back up healer and, your good.


get the picture, Augment Summoning is essential for a caster druid.

Oh god no. I hope nobody *ever* follows this advice. To be more bold: Augment summoning is a total waste of a feat on higher difficulties, where your pet is nothing but a pretty toy. It will definitely get slaughtered, and if you manage to pour your ressources to keep it alive, it will keep dragging mobs outside of cc/aoes, all the while doing its pitiful damage and annoying your party members.

Want to test?
1. Whip it out in epic hard/elite and tell people its going to tank for you.
2. Watch people's reaction.
3. Reroll.

[TheDarkTraveler]

I don't post much but I certainly agree with not having your summoned in the higher diff quests ...

That being said, I do use Augment Summoning at the lower levels, usually up to lvl 6 or 8, then use a feat swap for something more useful. What "useful" is depends on the class I'm playing ... YMMV.

I'm rolling my first caster Druid, I guess we'll see how it works out.

Cheers.