Build a DPS Wolf Druid - Two Variants

[Chobo]

The way to build an <b>effective</b> dps wolf druid: There are two ways that I know of:

VARIANT (1)
8druid/12monk
Half-elf rogue dilentantte, shadowdancer final ED
Do this for:
- For winterwolf form (+30% native attack speed)
- For Master of Thunder (Air stance +12.5attack spd & 7.5% doublestrike (http://ddowiki.com/page/Monk_enhancements#Way_of_Air)
- Monk Ninja Spy II for +2d6 sneak attack
- For Unarmed Strike +2.5[w] (lvl12 monk)
For this build, you do not take Shield Mastery or Imp Shield Mastery. You have to stay centered which means you can't wear shield. Also note that you lose Nature's Warrior Prestige Enhancement that gives 2d6 (+2d6 if under 50%) sneakdmg.

VARIANT (2)
20druid
Half-elf rogue dilentantte, shadowdancer final ED
Pure druid for capstone which is an extra +2d6 sneakattack, you get Mass Heal, a non-gimped mana pool, and brings spell cooldown back to 1.5 second while in wolf form. (which is invaluable). Also greater creeping cold is part of your damage too. (I fit a maximize feat in, but this is optional. You can grab empowered healing instead if u like). This build is lower dps than Variant (1).


The point is to maximize attack speed & doublestrikes in order to achieve maximum number of sneak attacks.
For Build (2), You want Maxed Bluff (dont dump charisma completely) and bluff in tandem with your pet wolf (which is wearing a +8 cha item & +4 cha from Pack Aptitude & Augment Summoning). And make sure you look after your wolf (w/ heals) and keep him out of trouble (do not aggressive stance in EE and then not keep an eye on it).

The greatest weakness of Wolf Form is that you are stuck at 1d10 forever. This cannot be improved by equipping epic weapons. Also you cannot reach 70+ Strength like the Barbarians can. So even with the x3 crit multiplier, you're not going to ever see 8000 crits. You simply do not have the base attack damage even Close to Fighter/Barbs. So you have to play to your form's strengths, which is extreme fast attack speed/doublestrikes and sneak attacks.

Shadowdancer also has 5% on-hit to make mob vulnerable to sneakattack, EVEN IF HE IS IMMUNE (which is key!)
This together with Bluff gives you fulltime sneakattack damage. Most of the abilities on the shadowdancer tree are unuseable to you (requires INT). So just forget them.

For Build (1), put all your stat allocation to wisdom.
For Build (2), put all your stat allocation to wisdom (and switch to strength once u hit EE. Because DC doesn't matter once you are in EE)

I'm not too big of a fan of stunning blow, maybe someone can give a few tips on how to get it to effective DC in epic elite?

Compulsory Feats for Variant (1) Only:
3x natural fighting +18% doublestrike total
toughness
IC: Bludgeon
Edit: Stunning Fist added

Compulsory Feats for Variant (2) Only:
Shield mastery +3% doublestrike with sheild equipped
improved sheild mastery +5% additional for a total of +8% sheild mastery doublestrike
3x natural fighting +18% doublestrike total
toughness
IC: Bludgeon (gives 20 free mana constantly)
Augment Summoning (Non-compulsory)

Note: Do not take Two Weapon Fighting feats.
Note2: I've seen the 17druid/2monk/1fighter or 18druid/2monk variants. Not really a fan of it because 18 druid makes your pet useless (which is a primary source of bluff). Evasion is useless unless you have the reflex for it, which you don't. Power Attack is not a substantial upgrade for this build. you want all of your attacks to land 100% of the time for maximum sneak attack damage. The only martial feat I consider worth taking is Mobility in order to get Spring Attack. What little benefit you are left with from taking 2monk levels is offset by not being able to take Shield Mastery and Imp Shield Mastery and losing a HUGE chunk of your mana pool.
Note3: Do not take cleave.

For Epic Destiny Twists:
If you are Variant(1), take Orchid Blossom & Lily Petal which will increase your damage Dramatically! <--- nothing even comes close.

There is Legendary Shield Mastery from Unyielding Sentinel for +6% doublestrike.

You could take Haste Boost from Legendary Dreadnaught, but it's not really my playstyle because you lose a round and it only has 5 uses.

Grandmaster of Flowers has TWO +3% doublestrike twists (pretty lackluster).

Just take something that matches playstyle and switch around depending on which dungeon you are doing.

These ideas were originally from hermespan which I got a lot of advice from.

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Summary:
Variant (1) is much higher dps but slightly lower survivability imo (but has higher saves & imp. evasion & stunning fist). You bring sleet storm.
Variant (2) is lower dps but higher survivability imo. It is a team player build because you can keep mass heal on your melee friends (thanks to Constant Supply of free +20mana on crit). The earthquake only works in EH. Also you bring lots of sleet storm. Also it is possible (or even desirable?) to take both Orchid Blossom & Lily Petal but your 3rd twist MUST be the +45 ki T1 ability from grandmaster.

Please don't forget even a 12monk/8druid has FoM & Sleet Storm!
Any tips graciously welcomed.

[Dolphious]

You really find the wolf companion useful in EE? Frankly if I saw someone summon one of those poor buggers in an EE quest I'd call PETA.

I assume you're using stunning fist on your monk one? You should probably add that to the must-have feats. Or is that what you meant by "stunning blow" (they're really two separate feats). A druid, even a STR based druid, is unlikely to be able to get a workable stunning blow DC for EE, stunning fist OTOH is a whole different story, that shouldn't be hard at all on a wisdom based druid.

Stunning fist breakdown:
10 (base) + 12 (levels) +17 (44 wisdom, should be reasonable for WIS based) + 5 (exceptional combat mastery; eg. spare hand or cloak of the bear) + 10 (stunning item, dun robar ring, or a great way to get it on a centered wolf druid is on a Kama in the off hand) + 6 (legendary tactics twist, lvl 1 dreadnaught ability) = 60

And shadowdancer? Just for the 5d6 SA and vulnerability proc from innates?

I agree you're not going to get useful EE DCs on a melee focused druid, so probably not worth evening going wis based on the pure if you're building for EE. Though I'm pretty skeptical that druid is at all worth it if you can't use any of the DC stuff...

[Chobo]

You really find the wolf companion useful in EE? Frankly if I saw someone summon one of those poor buggers in an EE quest I'd call PETA.

And shadowdancer? Just for the 5d6 SA and vulnerability proc from innates?

I agree you're not going to get useful EE DCs on a melee focused druid, so probably not worth evening going wis based on the pure if you're building for EE. Though I'm pretty skeptical that druid is at all worth it if you can't use any of the DC stuff...

Yes the pet bluff works in EE. They do have 1200 HP, and 125% movement speed with -100% threat (i.e. 0 threat) and Imp Evasion. They only die if u dont look after them. (btw u lose imp evasion if u spec it to give party-wide 10% attack speed boost). They do the same damage as a lvl20 Fighter but without feat advantage (i.e. 4 attacks per round). The druid is a low dps class because 15%~ of its damage comes from the pet. If you dont learn how to use pet, you just cannot compete.

The problem with final EDs, is that the competition is weak. Fury of the Wild & Legendary Dreadnaught can't be fulfilled to their full potential bcuz of wolf jaws (which is 1d10). Fury of Wild has sense weakness which I like. but Shadowdancer has +6reflex and evasion, so i picked that instead for the proc which takes advantage of the 10d6 sneak dmg which already exist.

The one other competitor is Grandmaster, but twists can extract most of the goodness from it already. So you are left with ShadowDancer.

[peng]

The way to build an <b>effective</b> dps wolf druid: There are two ways that I know of:

VARIANT (1)
8druid/12monk

...

Compulsory Feats for Variant (1) Only:
3x natural fighting +18% doublestrike total

...

Natural fighting has level 9 druid as a prerequisite.