Where are all the builds?

[UrbanPyro]

Druid as a whole is an under powered class at the moment.

Here is mine. The post includes other informational links.

As far as I've seen, generic feat setups tend to be as follows (assuming human):

Wolf Dps: Toughness, Maximize Spell/Empower Healing, Quicken Spell/Power Attack, Shield Mastery, Improved Shield Mastery, and Natural Fighting (x3).

Evoker: Toughness, Augment Summoning, Extend Spell/Empower Healing/Heighten Spell, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Quicken Spell, Spell Focus: Evocation/Mental Toughness, and Greater Spell Focus: Evocation/Improved Mental Toughness.

Bear: N/A

I've haven't seen any pure bear tanks out there, because 1) The 28 point first-lifer isn't going to be able to get their intimidate high enough to matter to pull a boss, 2) Their dps won't be anything special either. There are a few multi-class builds out there like 12 Druid, 6 Fighter, 2 Rogue/2 Monk that have potential if properly geared.

[unbongwah]

Given the non-metal restrictions, what are bear tanks doing for AC? Or do they skip AC entirely and rely on PRR? Or is that one of those "still trying to work them out" questions?

Also: has anyone come up with interesting elemental builds, either caster- or melee/ranged-based?

[threefeetunder]

Given the non-metal restrictions, what are bear tanks doing for AC? Or do they skip AC entirely and rely on PRR? Or is that one of those "still trying to work them out" questions?

Also: has anyone come up with interesting elemental builds, either caster- or melee/ranged-based?

You can wear heavy armor on bear tanks if you use dragonplate, and theres a couple medium armors as options lying around, though that's pretty much it.

[QuantumFX]

Given the non-metal restrictions, what are bear tanks doing for AC?

1-4 Cannith Crafted Hide armor
4-8 Cannith Crafted Battle leather
8-14 Snakeskin Vest
14-20 Blue Dragonscale
21-25 Goristro/Carapace/Green Dragonscale

[dean.rys]

i experimented a bit, LR'd a couple times and tried out a bunch of play-styles so far on my 6th life main toon, pure druid.

when i got my 1st ele form, i originally took ice, but swapped it out for fire. i also got rid of the 2 natural fighting feats that give doublestrike bonuses to your bear or wolf forms.

as of now, i'm having a hell of a lot of fun with a stave swinging fire ele melee/caster. casting power is mainly reserved for buffs and heals, with a bunch left over for some of the more effective offensive spells.

extend and quicken were, as i found, essential.

i decided nature's warrior in fire ele form was the way i'm going.

i know there's some talk about the reaving roar not being as effective in higher levels, and i must disagree. of course you're not going to nuke everything and get every single kill.. but when you are swinging a LitII stave in fire ele form with the extended "body of the sun" (which at the moment ticks for 150 and nearly 300 for crits... aside from any other spells you're whipping) then you sure as heck are getting a kill or two.

i solo a lot and have had no issues (saside from the bug with elite mobs' spell power), but druids are great team players and can add that extra DPS or healing (but a little "eh" on the heals).

one great thing i found is that having the 4 spell slots - outside of your summon spells - allows you to keep your other form's spells memmed. so even though i focus on fire ele, i can swap to winter wolf or dire bear on the fly and still have *most* of my best spells for that form ready to go. granted, this isn't easy to do until you unlock those extra spell slots at higher levels.

the real issue here is the enhancements. if you focus on fire/light for your ele form, your winter wolf or water ele spells will suffer. so having a balanced enhancement setup is wise, but at the same time it stunts your effectiveness.

maybe if each spell enhancement had a lower cost like a sorc's 1/1/1/1/1/1/1, it'd be easier - instead of the 1/2/3/4 it costs now. but there aren't many extra enhancements so by the time you're capped you should be able to nearly max out 2 spell lines and have everything for the PrEs.

don't forget the spell lines double up: fire/light; cold/acid/; elec/sonic; and pos/neg. i guess that's the trade off.

[Olds-cool]

Has anyone considered a deep splash tactics build. It seems like wolf form with fighter and possibly even dwarf might be an idea for tactics... especially with a fighter past life in the mix. Maybe a 12/6/2 with monk or rogue depending on needs.

[unbongwah]

When the new racial PrEs come out, I was thinking Dwarven Defender druid 13 / ftr 6 dire bear tank; final lvl probably a splash of monk or wiz for +1 feat. Druid 13 gets you lvl 7 spells (in particular Relentless Onslaught); ftr 6 provides the feats, heavy armor & tower shield prof, and Haste Boost. Feats: Toughness, Natural Fighting x3, Shield Mastery & ISM - not sure about the rest. The "missing link" was what armor to use; until threefeetunder & QuantumFX mentioned it, it completely slipped my mind that dragonscale armor is made from, well, dragons' scales and therefore non-metallic (right?).

[Olds-cool]

When the new racial PrEs come out, I was thinking Dwarven Defender druid 13 / ftr 6 dire bear tank; final lvl probably a splash of monk or wiz for +1 feat. Druid 13 gets you lvl 7 spells (in particular Relentless Onslaught); ftr 6 provides the feats, heavy armor & tower shield prof, and Haste Boost. Feats: Toughness, Natural Fighting x3, Shield Mastery & ISM - not sure about the rest. The "missing link" was what armor to use; until threefeetunder & QuantumFX mentioned it, it completely slipped my mind that dragonscale armor is made from, well, dragons' scales and therefore non-metallic (right?).

Interesting... I have a capped (20) fighter that I was considering TR'ing this weekend. Perhaps something along these lines will work out.

[Xyfiel]

When the new racial PrEs come out, I was thinking Dwarven Defender druid 13 / ftr 6 dire bear tank; final lvl probably a splash of monk or wiz for +1 feat. Druid 13 gets you lvl 7 spells (in particular Relentless Onslaught); ftr 6 provides the feats, heavy armor & tower shield prof, and Haste Boost. Feats: Toughness, Natural Fighting x3, Shield Mastery & ISM - not sure about the rest. The "missing link" was what armor to use; until threefeetunder & QuantumFX mentioned it, it completely slipped my mind that dragonscale armor is made from, well, dragons' scales and therefore non-metallic (right?).

I have a build that is similiar, HElf for the healing amp(can change to rogue if it doesn't work out for more dps). I am going Sentinel so had to go NG to take advantage of the pure good and holy from Sentinel. Of course going NG meant no Monk level, so took Wizard. Wizard also is an easy way to get 40 fire/cold spellpower for 1 ap each, 10 minutes of Retreat, Shield, and Prot from Evil, and wand access(blur).

[CombatLibrarian]

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.

That's the second time I've seen this feat selection mentioned. I still can't figure out how this is supposed to be a possible feat list given the BAB requirements and Druid's BAB progression.

[Xyfiel]

That's the second time I've seen this feat selection mentioned. I still can't figure out how this is supposed to be a possible feat list given the BAB requirements and Druid's BAB progression.

Making use of Epic feats.

There are no Druid specific Epic feats. Druids don't get much use from Spell pen so Epic isn't needed. I wouldn't waste 3 feats for Epic Mental Toughness. Epic Toughness needs 21 base Con and they already get toughness IV. They don't need Combat archery. Bulwark of defense requires a defensive stance. There just isn't anything that useful for them as a 20 Druid, so they are the easist class to take advantage of the Epic feat slots being used as regular feats.

[unbongwah]

This is a rough draft of a build I'm working on: WIS-based HE monk 2 / druid 18 who fights unarmed in elemental form. The goal is to have both melee DPS w/Stunning Fist and caster DPS. Druids seem sub-optimal to me when focused on melee or casting, but by combining the two they're less useless...errr, that's the idea, anyway. Fire elemental w/Body of the Sun who can stun mobs left & right should be particularly fun when not fighting fire-immune mobs. Haven't figured out what to do with epic feats (maybe add IC:Blunt & Emp Heal to round her out melee DPS and healing potential) and the enhs are just thrown in willy-nilly right now. Also can't decide if I'll bother with summoning.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.14.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Lawful Neutral Half-Elf Female
(2 Monk \ 18 Druid) 
Hit Points: 302
Spell Points: 1386 
BAB: 14\14\19\24
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 12
Will: 22

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             15                    20
Dexterity            15                    17
Constitution         14                    16
Intelligence          8                    10
Wisdom               16                    27
Charisma              8                     8

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Rogue
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting


Level 2 (Druid)


Level 3 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Precision
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Wolf


Level 4 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS


Level 5 (Druid)


Level 6 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Bear


Level 7 (Druid)


Level 8 (Monk)
Ability Raise: WIS
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness


Level 9 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting


Level 10 (Druid)
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Dire Wolf


Level 11 (Druid)


Level 12 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell


Level 13 (Druid)
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Dire Bear


Level 14 (Druid)


Level 15 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Fire Elemental


Level 16 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS


Level 17 (Druid)


Level 18 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting


Level 19 (Druid)
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Water Elemental


Level 20 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS
Enhancement: Druid Season's Herald I
Enhancement: Druid Season's Herald II
Enhancement: Druid Spring's Resurgence
Enhancement: Improved Rogue Dilettante I
Enhancement: Improved Rogue Dilettante II
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Strength I
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Human Versatility II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Hoarfrost I
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Storm I
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Sun I
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Life I
Enhancement: Druid Energy of the Locus I
Enhancement: Druid Energy of the Locus II
Enhancement: Druid Energy of the Locus III
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Hoarfrost I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Hoarfrost II
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Hoarfrost III
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Storm I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Storm II
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Sun I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Sun II
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Sun III
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Life I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Life II
Enhancement: Druid Strength I
Enhancement: Druid Strength II
Enhancement: Druid Wisdom I
Enhancement: Druid Wisdom II
Enhancement: Druid Wisdom III
Enhancement: Druid Toughness I
Enhancement: Druid Toughness II

If you really wanted to up the heal amp, a pally PL (+5%) + monk dilly for extra +20% would also work. I'm hoping Season's Herald III doesn't suck, which is why I stuck w/druid 18 rather than splashing something else for another feat or going monk 3 / light path for the buffs.

[Celastelin]

I am going for a similar build but I'm dual wielding the flame blades. They are great ki weapons that uses WIS for damage and attack. Character level 9 so far and I'm keeping up very nicely and sometimes surpassing in kills with the fighters/barbarians.

[CombatLibrarian]

Making use of Epic feats.

There are no Druid specific Epic feats. Druids don't get much use from Spell pen so Epic isn't needed. I wouldn't waste 3 feats for Epic Mental Toughness. Epic Toughness needs 21 base Con and they already get toughness IV. They don't need Combat archery. Bulwark of defense requires a defensive stance. There just isn't anything that useful for them as a 20 Druid, so they are the easist class to take advantage of the Epic feat slots being used as regular feats.

Ahh okay. I saw "druid20" and it threw me.

[unbongwah]

I am going for a similar build but I'm dual wielding the flame blades. They are great ki weapons that uses WIS for damage and attack.

The drawback to the Flame Blades is Stunning Fist doesn't work with them, even though they're not "real" weapons. Plus they dissipate if you swap weapons, e.g., swap in your caster gear to pop off some spells. But they're a good backup for fighting anything which is immune to Stunning Fist but not fire.

[Celastelin]

The drawback to the Flame Blades is Stunning Fist doesn't work with them, even though they're not "real" weapons. Plus they dissipate if you swap weapons, e.g., swap in your caster gear to pop off some spells. But they're a good backup for fighting anything which is immune to Stunning Fist but not fire.

That's very true, but to add to that and take it even further I've been thinking: what if we went for dual wielding khopeshes? We would be uncentered, but we would keep the WIS bonus to AC. Also we get use of the great crit profile and some awesome weapons late game.

The downsides beyond the uncentered state (which translates only to loss of monk stances, really) is the usage of at least 2 extra feats: oTWF, and Exotic weapon: Khopeshes. Maybe a third for imp crit: slashing. I believe that the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages. What do you think?

[Xynot2]

This is a rough draft of a build I'm working on: WIS-based HE monk 2 / druid 18 who fights unarmed in elemental form. The goal is to have both melee DPS w/Stunning Fist and caster DPS. Druids seem sub-optimal to me when focused on melee or casting, but by combining the two they're less useless...errr, that's the idea, anyway. Fire elemental w/Body of the Sun who can stun mobs left & right should be particularly fun when not fighting fire-immune mobs. Haven't figured out what to do with epic feats (maybe add IC:Blunt & Emp Heal to round her out melee DPS and healing potential) and the enhs are just thrown in willy-nilly right now. Also can't decide if I'll bother with summoning.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.14.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Lawful Neutral Half-Elf Female
(2 Monk \ 18 Druid) 
Hit Points: 302
Spell Points: 1386 
BAB: 14\14\19\24
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 12
Will: 22

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             15                    20
Dexterity            15                    17
Constitution         14                    16
Intelligence          8                    10
Wisdom               16                    27
Charisma              8                     8

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7

Level 1 (Monk)
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Rogue
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Stunning Fist
Feat: (Selected) Two Weapon Fighting


Level 2 (Druid)


Level 3 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Precision
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Wolf


Level 4 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS


Level 5 (Druid)


Level 6 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Bear


Level 7 (Druid)


Level 8 (Monk)
Ability Raise: WIS
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness


Level 9 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting


Level 10 (Druid)
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Dire Wolf


Level 11 (Druid)


Level 12 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell


Level 13 (Druid)
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Dire Bear


Level 14 (Druid)


Level 15 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Fire Elemental


Level 16 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS


Level 17 (Druid)


Level 18 (Druid)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Weapon Fighting


Level 19 (Druid)
Feat: (Druid Wild Shape) Wild Shape: Water Elemental


Level 20 (Druid)
Ability Raise: WIS
Enhancement: Druid Season's Herald I
Enhancement: Druid Season's Herald II
Enhancement: Druid Spring's Resurgence
Enhancement: Improved Rogue Dilettante I
Enhancement: Improved Rogue Dilettante II
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Strength I
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Wisdom I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Human Versatility II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Hoarfrost I
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Storm I
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Sun I
Enhancement: Druid Waxing Life I
Enhancement: Druid Energy of the Locus I
Enhancement: Druid Energy of the Locus II
Enhancement: Druid Energy of the Locus III
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Hoarfrost I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Hoarfrost II
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Hoarfrost III
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Storm I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Storm II
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Sun I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Sun II
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of the Sun III
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Life I
Enhancement: Druid Eminence of Life II
Enhancement: Druid Strength I
Enhancement: Druid Strength II
Enhancement: Druid Wisdom I
Enhancement: Druid Wisdom II
Enhancement: Druid Wisdom III
Enhancement: Druid Toughness I
Enhancement: Druid Toughness II

If you really wanted to up the heal amp, a pally PL (+5%) + monk dilly for extra +20% would also work. I'm hoping Season's Herald III doesn't suck, which is why I stuck w/druid 18 rather than splashing something else for another feat or going monk 3 / light path for the buffs.

VERY similar to what I was thinking.

[ChoW]

I posted a melee build in the custom character builds. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...56#post4592556
Real intense critical damage focus.

[Celastelin]

I posted a melee build in the custom character builds. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...56#post4592556
Real intense critical damage focus.

Ah, I see what you did there. I wanted to get as much out of the druid class as possible with the build that I had in mind (really close to unbongwah's build). Second, I hate the animal forms. I tried going into wolf form, and not only was the damage underwhelming, but it attacked way too slow for me. Just attacking with 2wf seemed a lot quicker to me. 18 levels of druid is enough to get level 9 spells and get all the forms druid has to offer. The 2 monk is really for evasion and 2 extra feats. The stances are gravy.

[ChoW]

Ah, I see what you did there. I wanted to get as much out of the druid class as possible with the build that I had in mind (really close to unbongwah's build). Second, I hate the animal forms. I tried going into wolf form, and not only was the damage underwhelming, but it attacked way too slow for me. Just attacking with 2wf seemed a lot quicker to me. 18 levels of druid is enough to get level 9 spells and get all the forms druid has to offer. The 2 monk is really for evasion and 2 extra feats. The stances are gravy.

Of course, to each their own. Each build is fundamentally different.
I don't see a significant difference in attack speed, but either way, what this build lacks in attack speed, it will more than make up for in doublestrike chance.