Where are all the builds?

[Olds-cool]

I mean... come on, MOTU will be out in a matter of hours. Shouldn't the forums be flooded with Druid builds?




But seriously, I don't think I got my druid past maybe level 9 on LAM and was just blindly guessing at Feats and kept the stats as max WIS with a smattering of CON, STR and DEX to get by.

The Druids felt very non PnP druidy... and very powerful. Yet since my builds have been for very simple, one role, type functions, I'm not sure on how to build up a druid. Now that I realize how easy it is to cap a first life toon I'm wondering what builds the LAM-masters have come up with.

Anyone care to share?

-Olds

[thegreatneil]

Honestly as nothing is set in stone yet, its just drawing-board ideas.

Give it a few days, im sure plenty will pop up.

[scouse65]

I plan to focus on animal summoning and shape shifting. So, I will have max wisdom, high strength and dex and moderate con. I plan on using toughness and augment summoning too. interested to see what enhancements i will have

[unbongwah]

Well, as long as we're just theory-crafting, my idea is to make a dwarf monk / druid as a bear shaman / hate tank, hopefully mixed with Dwarven Defender when U15 rolls out, possibly with a ftr splash for an extra feat & Intim.

[Vissarion]

I was thinking Horc high-STR, max-WIS melee casting druid, THF with Staves. May not end up being the best route, but seems to offer some nice synergy. Mostly a matter of figuring out feats and whether it's better to splash or go pure.

[conanj77]

Here is my current 32pt human caster rough draft...

Race: Human
Class(es): 20 Druid

Stats:
Base/geared
Str: 8/16
Dex: 8/16
Con: 18/28
Int: 8/16
Wis: 18/38
Cha: 8/14

Skills:

Feats:
1: Toughness
1H: Empower
3: Augment summoning
6: Mental Toughness
9: Spell focus: Evocation
12: Toughness
15: I- Mental Toughness
18: Greater Spell Focus: Evocation

Wis III
Human Con I
Human Wis I
Herald of the seasons II
Druid toughness IV
Human toughness III
Druid SP IV


Take it from there and go crazy :P

[JasonJi72]

While waiting for the insanely long download, I figured I would post mine. This is of course a rough draft, and I am going off of what I have read on the forums, since I did not play on Lamaland (I was gearing for the expansion).

Human 20 Doodad,

Str 14
Dex 08
Con 16
Int 08
Wis 18
Cha 08

Feats:
Toughness
Maximize
Empower Healing
Imp Crit Bludgeoning
Shield Mastery
Imp Shield Mastery
Natural Fighter x2

My plan is to nuke, heal, and use debuffing weapons in wolf form.

[slothinator]

I'm TRing a Paladin who's used 6 +2 tomes into a druid. The idea is human, dual scimitar wielding, damage focused caster. Here's what I am planning on:

S 14
D 14 (with tome and one level up, full TWF a possbility)
C 14
I 8
W 18 (at least 4 level ups here, maybe all 5)
Ch 8

Feats:

Toughness, Augment Summon
TWF (for sure on this one)
Empower
Maximize
Extend (or ITWF, not sure)
Imp Crit Slash (dual wielding scimitars)
Quicken (or GTWF, depends on earlier selection)

Feel free to offer suggestions or improvements; this is just an idea I had rattling around. Originally planned this as a HE fvs/monk build to TR my WF FVS into, but I really like this for a druid.

[JasonJi72]

A feat starved 2wf'er can (arguably) get away with only having I2wf, but you really should at least have I2wf if you plan on dual wielding.

[slothinator]

Yeah, the more I look at the spell list, the less I'm feeling Extend. Plus I don't really know if Quicken will be a necessity. Not planning on solo healing Shroud or TOD with my Druid.

[stoerm]

I was thinking Horc high-STR, max-WIS melee casting druid, THF with Staves. May not end up being the best route, but seems to offer some nice synergy. Mostly a matter of figuring out feats and whether it's better to splash or go pure.

That's not very different from what I'm thinking. Rough draft:

Nature's Balance - 32pt human druid melee / caster

Stats: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 10
Feats: Toughness, Power Attack, Maximize, Heighten, Quicken, ?

Not decided whether THF, spell power, spell focus, or perhaps augment summoning would make sense for the rest.

I'm planning on qstaff melee, so a monk splash could be an option but most likely stay pure.

[Vissarion]

That's not very different from what I'm thinking. Rough draft:

Nature's Balance - 32pt human druid melee / caster

Stats: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 10
Feats: Toughness, Power Attack, Maximize, Heighten, Quicken, ?

Not decided whether THF, spell power, spell focus, or perhaps augment summoning would make sense for the rest.

I'm planning on qstaff melee, so a monk splash could be an option but most likely stay pure.

Half Orc I was thinking would be:

Str: 18
Con: 14
Wis: 18 (Levels)

Con of 14 kinda hurts, but with Druid getting toughness enhancements I'm not too worried. For feats, was thinking as a starting point:

Toughness
Power Attack
IC: Bludgeoning

Maximize
Empower
Spell Focus: Evoc
Greater Spell Focus: Evoc
Heighten
Quicken

7 standard feats plus 2 epic. If pure doesn't make sense, then I'll probably add 2 Monk and pick up another couple feats as well.

[PNellesen]

A build I rolled up on Lamma, got to about level 7ish. Thinking of going with this and seeing how it works out. It soloed Hard at-level content without much problem.

Half-Elf, Fighter Dilettante (32pt)

14 STR
8 DEX
16 CON
8 INT
18 WIS - all level ups here
8 CHA

Feats: 1-Toughness, Dilettante: Fighter, 3-SF: Evo, 6-Augment Summoning, 9-Maximize, 12 - Spell Pen, 15 - Empower Healing, 18 - Heighten

Have to play around with enhancements, but primarily Healing Amp, Healing boosts, Fire/cold boosts, and probably Summons boosts.

[Olds-cool]

So, has anyone capped or at least gotten far enough to have an opinion on a good melee/caster build?

I've got a human pure sitting at 7 with enough to be 1xp shy of 9. I'm holding off and planning for tomes and to use the free LR.

I will say that I have had fun with him thus far as a max WIS, 16 CON and some STR build. I self buff with shippies to get my STR to 20 and just stay in human form with my summon and pet and throw down the flamestrikes, lightings and Flameblade and have been pretty happy.

I do know that this will change and I also just threw some Feats in there to try. I've got a couple of tomes in the bank and will farm some more. Just need a build to LR into...

-Olds

p.s. Feel free to reference other threads if you've seen good ones lately. I'm scouring the forums now.

[Osma77]

On my 4th life druid i went 2 fighter for extra feats, and have designed him as a melee (high ac, good shield, improved shield mastery, ect). However, despite the fact that i am going to be playing him on the front lines, i have takes spell mastery: evocation, and took the season herald pre.

Why?

Because nothing is as fun at mid levels as seeing half a dozen trolls/undead coming towards you, dropping a firewall, and telling them to "bring it". Even though my damage is no where near that of a sorc, the firewall still does reasonable damage, and with the high ac and prr, i can stand in it and cleave/power attack/takedown everything while they take constant damage. If i start getting hurt, i can toss off a vigor or cure serious, and i always have spring's resurgance active; that way if i get really hurt, i have a nice, large visual effect telling me i need to heal, gives me a free heal, and gives me an additional +2 to hit in case the enemies are already almost dead. Im looking forward to hitting level 14 (12 druid) for season's Herald 2, not because of the pitiful pre which provides a small amout of spell power, ocassionaly, to the spell i am casting at the time, but because there is an enhancement that looks as if i can place on myself or someone else, that provides an additional 3d6 good damage iirc to each hit. Personally, i'll take an additional 3d6 good damage to each hit over 2d6 sneak attack damage.

Of course again, this is all very rough draft. I'll likely be changing things around as i get higher in levels.

[jsaving]

The most common build I'm seeing is half-elf wolf form druid20, stats 16/14/14/8/16/8, feats rogue dilly, naturalx3, shield masteryx2, toughness, improved critical. If you want more feats then splash 2 monk or 2 fighter (take precision/PA or make room for quicken/maximize/empower/heighten). If you want more versatility then add 1 rogue, if even more feats then go 2 monk 1 fighter or 2 fighter 1 monk.

Note that you use a shield and wear armor no matter what splash(es) you take -- light armor if you have evasion, heavy if you have a fighter splash, medium otherwise. Unarmored stunning fist builds are viable but probably suboptimal because of the doublestrike and shield bonuses (such as exceptional combat mastery) that you lose by being centered.

[Maxallu]

Built mine just like i built my offensive casting cleric.

12 or so str, 18 wis, rest in con. all lvl ups into wis.

toughness, maximize, empower, quicken, evo focus, extend, and whatever else you want.

season's herald pre, some toughness enhancements, wisdom III, Con II, points in fire, some in ice, whatever else you want.


grab elemental form, enjoy being a crappy sorc. Still better sub optimal melee wolf/bear builds.

[Schmoe]

I think that once someone figures out a build that doesn't suck relative to the rest of the game, it will probably be posted. I haven't found one yet, though.

[Expalphalog]

The most common build I'm seeing is half-elf wolf form druid20, stats 16/14/14/8/16/8, feats rogue dilly, naturalx3, shield masteryx2, toughness, improved critical. If you want more feats then splash ... 2 fighter

I went with higher WIS and CON at the expense of STR and DEX (12/13/16/8/17/8) with the justification that most of my DPS would be sneak attack and I wanted decent DCs for my wolf abilities.

I'm only level 9, so I can't judge whether or not the build is viable in "real" content, but as of right now I seem to be doing a bit better than most of the other same level Druids I've ran with.

[jsaving]

In response to the OP, I think the reason we aren't seeing more druid builds is that no one has found an area in which druids truly excel in an exciting way. You can design a nuking build, but it won't handle that role as well as a sorcerer could. You can design a healing build, but it won't handle that role as well as a cleric could. You can design a clonk-type build, but it won't be as effective as a clonk in melee (or has to burn more feats to reach parity).

I guess one could respond by saying druids are pretty good at doing a lot of things, and that's just the price that has to be paid for versatility. But I actually don't think they are. Rather, they're pretty good at whatever they're specced to be great at, and so-so at everything else.

The one genuinely new feature druids bring to the table, shapeshifting, conjures images of a character who morphs from fire to ice to wolf to bear as the situation warrants. But because animal abilities were implemented as spells rather than SLAs, and because of the way TWF/THF and natural fighting are handled, druids find themselves effectively 'form-locked', which has quickly dimmed the enthusiasm of a *lot* of people to whom I've spoken in-game. I can't for the life of me understand why these decisions were made -- or why they haven't been changed.