Druids: An Informative Write-up

[Quetzacoala]

H-Elf: Probably my personal favorite choice. Rogue Dilli gives you some good DPS, specially on top of Wolf form. If you are a Wolf, you get the extra H-elf bluff Icon, and as a bear Helf lets you have the extra HElf Intimidate icon. Some people find fighter a good dilli as it lets you expand your weapon proficiency to all marital weapons. A pretty decent thing for those that have a hard time finding weapons with certain effects on the limited proficiency in weapons that Druids get..

Marital weapons, eh? Interesting...

Seriously though, great post, exactly what I have been looking for.

[riexau]

I have an informative tip for new druids:

If you're in a party, and someone is casting firewall, don't cast ice storm. Unless the mob is immune to fire. That ice storm is probably quenching a 70sp max + empowered crit firewall.

[o_outro]

Hi

one quick question, does the natural fighting feat work when in elemental shape?

[Culver.Civello]

Hi

one quick question, does the natural fighting feat work when in elemental shape?

No. Only Animal Forms. A Dev actually made a comment on this in another thread saying they will probably make that more clear... as some people have been getting confused by it's weird wording I guess.

[manfredshw]

winter wolf is actually 19-20X3
dire bear 20/X3

Due to I have IC:B, but I can only critical in 17-20X3 in winter wolf. The desription is wrong.

[threefeetunder]

winter wolf is actually 19-20X3
dire bear 20/X3

Due to I have IC:B, but I can only critical in 17-20X3 in winter wolf. The desription is wrong.

This, just tested this out and he's right. It's possible though that the description is correct and the crit rate is bugged. A dev coming by to confirm this would be nice.

Ps: random info from playing around on beta, specifically on a wolf:
-cooldown on hide of the crocodile and celerity enhancements is 5 minutes.

-snowslide pushes you twice as far as propulsion jet effect from the house c boots do. (to get an idea, the distance is slightly over 2/3 of the bridge in the harbor)

-*edited* Snowslide movement boost shows up as an action boost bonus in the effect log, but in practice doesn't stack with haste (ergo, enhancement bonus)

-fatal harrier doesn't show a counter or timer so you don't know how high it's stacked at any given timer, nor does the bonus show up in the effect log. you definitively attack faster, though I have no idea if it's the correct speed.

-howl of terrors range is about the range of haste centered on you

-you can cast fires of purity (fire elly form only, grants +2d4 fre damage to your weapons, and you reduce enemy fire resistance by 10 when you hit them with said weapon) when in elly form, switch to wolf, and still have the effect on your weapons (every other form specific buff disapear when you change forms)

-in the effects log, celerity shows up as a 60% doublestrike bonus rather then 50%

-essence of the shrike stacks with itself, meaning if you get a critical hit (and thus 20 temp sp), then another crit with 8 seconds, you'd have +40 tem spellpower. However each stack has it's own duration (thank god, imagine how OP THAT would be...).

-Sleet storm + fom is absolutely awesome if you enjoy sneak attacks.

[riexau]

This, just tested this out and he's right. It's possible though that the description is correct and the crit rate is bugged. A dev coming by to confirm this would be nice.

Ps: random info from playing around on beta, specifically on a wolf:
-cooldown on hide of the crocodile and celerity enhancements is 5 minutes.

-snowslide pushes you twice as far as propulsion jet effect from the house c boots do. (to get an idea, the distance is slightly over 2/3 of the bridge in the harbor)

-Made a mistake with snowslide earlier, the snowslide movement speed boost (50%) is actually an action boost bonus (like ranger/barb sprint boost, at least that's the kind of bonus it shows in the effects log), so presumably will stack with haste and such. wolven druid will be zerging faster then monks at this rate. Have I mentioned I love this ability so very much?

-fatal harrier doesn't show a counter or timer so you don't know how high it's stacked at any given timer, nor does the bonus show up in the effect log. you definitively attack faster, though I have no idea if it's the correct speed.

-howl of terrors range is about the range of haste centered on you

-you can cast fires of purity (fire elly form only, grants +2d4 fre damage to your weapons, and you reduce enemy fire resistance by 10 when you hit them with said weapon) when in elly form, switch to wolf, and still have the effect on your weapons (every other form specific buff disapear when you change forms)

-in the effects log, celerity shows up as a 60% doublestrike bonus rather then 50%

-essence of the shrike stacks with itself, meaning if you get a critical hit (and thus 20 temp sp), then another crit with 8 seconds, you'd have +40 tem spellpower. However each stack has it's own duration (thank god, imagine how OP THAT would be...).

-Sleet storm + fom is absolutely awesome if you enjoy sneak attacks.

Some good info there, thanks! Was wondering what the CD was on celerity.

But obviously, the real question is: Will it blend?

[o_outro]

No. Only Animal Forms. A Dev actually made a comment on this in another thread saying they will probably make that more clear... as some people have been getting confused by it's weird wording I guess.

Thank you very much for you answer Culver.Civello, I have not seen the feat yet haven't reached that level but a friend with a druid said that I should take all three feats for the build I wanted to try since it also affected the elemental shapes (what I'm aiming for), and as you can imagine it would change drastically any build to introduce 3 feats into it.

I now know that elementals do not use natural attacks of any kind so it only makes sense that it did not work yet he insisted it did so I decided to ask here in the forums.

By the way one curious though anyone considered how a grandmaster of flowers "A dance of flower" and a "Hail of bloes" apply to wikdshape? And also its ability to grant monk unarmed combat style?

[LupusVai]

This, just tested this out and he's right. It's possible though that the description is correct and the crit rate is bugged. A dev coming by to confirm this would be nice.

I posted about the crit description not matching the actual effect on beta forums (and have bug reported it) a dev commented about it, although his response didn't actual verify which was correct. I believe it was something like "good to know". He may as well have said "I like fish".

Pretty much every druid bug mentioned on the beta forums made it to live game. Apart from of course the beneficial ones like the seasons herald one where it was doing too much damage.

[LupusVai]

Ps: random info from playing around on beta, specifically on a wolf:
-cooldown on hide of the crocodile and celerity enhancements is 5 minutes.

-fatal harrier doesn't show a counter or timer so you don't know how high it's stacked at any given timer, nor does the bonus show up in the effect log. you definitively attack faster, though I have no idea if it's the correct speed.

-essence of the shrike stacks with itself, meaning if you get a critical hit (and thus 20 temp sp), then another crit with 8 seconds, you'd have +40 tem spellpower. However each stack has it's own duration (thank god, imagine how OP THAT would be...).

Shame about the crazy long cool down on those two. Doubt i'll even bother taking celerity now if its that long.

Fatal harrier doesn't stack with haste just in case anyone was wondering. Ok for soloing i guess though. It relies on getting killing blow too, so in a group you'll probably not be able to build it up that much very often.

Not seen +40 temp spell points at all on live despite getting chains of crits. My guess is that one got fixed pretty quickly before going live.

[Sarnind]

Shame about the crazy long cool down on those two. Doubt i'll even bother taking celerity now if its that long.

Fatal harrier doesn't stack with haste just in case anyone was wondering. Ok for soloing i guess though. It relies on getting killing blow too, so in a group you'll probably not be able to build it up that much very often.

Not seen +40 temp spell points at all on live despite getting chains of crits. My guess is that one got fixed pretty quickly before going live.

Essence of shrike doesn t stack , it s only a display bug

[threefeetunder]

Shame about the crazy long cool down on those two. Doubt i'll even bother taking celerity now if its that long.

Fatal harrier doesn't stack with haste just in case anyone was wondering. Ok for soloing i guess though. It relies on getting killing blow too, so in a group you'll probably not be able to build it up that much very often.

Not seen +40 temp spell points at all on live despite getting chains of crits. My guess is that one got fixed pretty quickly before going live.

The +40 (got +60 at one point) was on current beta (the one for update 14 patch 1), not the old one, (and I don't think they've put any changes from live just yet, at least haven't noticed any so far)

Your sp bar looks like this, 1211/1456+20 temp. However, if you get additional sp from strike, it won't show 1211/1456+40, instead it'll show 1221/1456+20 (add itself directly to your current sp bar, though it'll stay disappear after 8 seconds.

[threefeetunder]

Essence of shrike doesn t stack , it s only a display bug

Darn

[Dagolar]

So, just to make sure:
Monk increased unarmed damage from levels has no effect whatsoever on shapeshifted forms?
Not that I can necessarily fault that, given how the benefits of the forms would stack with that, but at the same time it seems it limits how useful Monk is to animal forms.

Assuming that's accurate- what are the points IN FAVOR of using monk for a shapeshift hybrid build, over other classes?

[threefeetunder]

So, just to make sure:
Monk increased unarmed damage from levels has no effect whatsoever on shapeshifted forms?
Not that I can necessarily fault that, given how the benefits of the forms would stack with that, but at the same time it seems it limits how useful Monk is to animal forms.

Assuming that's accurate- what are the points IN FAVOR of using monk for a shapeshift hybrid build, over other classes?

It's bugged right now, but i don't see why it shouldn't be giving a benefit since the monk past life/items that increase monk unarmed die work of druid unarmed as well. Even if it didn't, a monk splash is a decent choice if only for the bonus feats + evasion if you use shields, stunning fist and stances if you don't.

[Dagolar]

It's bugged right now, but i don't see why it shouldn't be giving a benefit since the monk past life/items that increase monk unarmed die work of druid unarmed as well. Even if it didn't, a monk splash is a decent choice if only for the bonus feats + evasion if you use shields, stunning fist and stances if you don't.

Well, I get the obvious benefits. I'm more wondering what's working and how well, and wondering at what curious little synergistic effects have been found so far.

So far all I've read on the Monk PL is that it's bugging out and lowering damage..
Has any confirmed success been had with unarmed dice upping items, or have devs commented on the synergy yet?

[Morbic]

Another option for Unyeilding Sentinal is the Fanaticism route where your weapons gain True Law/True Choas if you are chaotic or lawful. Might be an option for any out there that went the route of Lawful/Chaotic Neutral.

[fyrst.grok]

A small addition on the multiclass monk part: 'Stunning fist' seem to work in animal form.

Got a question too tho.
Would it be viable to go more or less max wis and just use the flame blade spell in animal form for melee? In other words.. Is it still wis based to hit/damage in animal form?

[Dagolar]

A small addition on the multiclass monk part: 'Stunning fist' seem to work in animal form.

Got a question too tho.
Would it be viable to go more or less max wis and just use the flame blade spell in animal form for melee? In other words.. Is it still wis based to hit/damage in animal form?

Both of those were actually mentioned earlier in the thread

Stunning Fist works, but apparently only when using Handwraps pre-shift.
Animal Form seems to always use strength, regardless of weapon equipped- Flame Blade was specifically mentioned as no longer working.

[Sani_Medicor]

I'm guessing this is a great big no, but would any of the half orc or barbarian enhancements do anything for you when wielding a staff in animal form? I just finished my first attempt at a druid build...horc 12drd/6brb/2ftr build...and I'm guessing I'm wasting my time! lol