Too many builds....I'm a little lost here.

[Tuffgar]

I'm looking at doing a druid life for my next(5th) life. I've been browsing the druid subforum for a bit here, but I think I'm suffering from information overload. There's a lot of math, a lot of what appears to be abuse of grey areas(TWF working in animal form), and a lot of assumptions about past lives and equipment for builds, or builds that are overtuned for EE runs.

What I'm looking for is a druid build suitable for primarily solo play+hireling. I've got +3 tomes in all stats, with the mabar +5 in INT for skillpoints, and a +4 in CHA because I got a cheap upgrade from the AH. My gear is pretty casual. I don't sport a lot of crafted or epic gear. Generally speaking I get a few levels into epic content and get bored real fast and start another life. I have no need of a build that's aimed at soloing or being an asset in EE. I've never set foot in an EE except to see how badly I'd get smoked.

I don't really need a point by point breakdown, either. What I'm looking for is advice for a general druid build. What class mix, what race, feats, that sort of thing. I'm not even really expecting it all in this thread if there's a good build somewhere that I missed. Just point me in the right direction and I'll take it from there.

Thanks!

[Grailhawk]

Basic ideas for druid builds none of these is the be all end all but they are good and will get you through a life fine.

Caster build
Pure 20

Empower
Spell Focus: Evocation
Maximize
Wizard Past/Mental Toughness
Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
Quicken
Heighten

Focus on AOE damage spells Firewall, Ice Storm, Storm of Vengeance, and Earthquake. Word of Balance and Greater Creeping Cold for single targets.

Hybrid (Dronk)
18/2 Druid/Monk Max WIS and as much STR and CON as you can.

Stunning Fist
Two Weapon Fighting
Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Maximize
Quicken
Spell Focus: Evocation
Heighten/Power Attack/Precision/Greater Spell Focus: Evocation/Improved Critical (any 2)

Plays a lot like a clonk.

Wolf
15/3/2 Druid/Ranger/Monk Max WIS and as much STR and CON as you can.

Maximize
Spell Focus: Evocation
Quicken
Natures Fighting x3
Improved Critical
Stunning Fist
Precision

Double Strike and Sneak attack are your Focus for damage. (+11d6 sneak attack total from enh). Max and Quicken are there for healing spells mostly but you can max damage spells as need.

NOTE: Feat order is not 100% accurate i have no idea if there will be BAB or Stat requirement issues

[HatsuharuZ]

Well, if you're going to be soloing, then you'll most likely be using your summons, right? I'd suggest fitting in Augment Summoning somewhere. And no matter whether you go melee or caster, a devotion item is a must. I would NOT recommend taking the entire Natural Fighting line, but the shield feats are very useful for a druid, since they don't suffer from ASF.

[Grailhawk]

Well, if you're going to be soloing, then you'll most likely be using your summons, right? I'd suggest fitting in Augment Summoning somewhere. And no matter whether you go melee or caster, a devotion item is a must. I would NOT recommend taking the entire Natural Fighting line, but the shield feats are very useful for a druid, since they don't suffer from ASF.

I solo a lot on my druid only time my dog comes out is when I need a lever pulled.

If you don't have a monk splash then shield feat are better then Natural Fighting. But I wouldn't do a melee druid with out a monk splash.

[Tuffgar]

I've solo'd most of my DDO career and I've never used summons for anything other than distraction during certain fights. My last life as an artificer juggernaut never used the dog. I do make pretty good use of hirelings, but even then they're only for healbotting and lever pulling.

I'm just real hesitant to make use of a TWF wolf build when we're on the verge of seeing a new patch that could completely invalidate it. It also feels a little too much like exploiting a bug to me as well.

I do have monk, but I've also been looking at the shield feats and they seem pretty strong. Is a shield build with rogue instead of monk for evasion workable? Or is that trying to cram too much into it? Keep in mind I'm not aiming to run EE anything. This is mostly just to get a druid life under my belt.

[Grailhawk]

I do have monk, but I've also been looking at the shield feats and they seem pretty strong. Is a shield build with rogue instead of monk for evasion workable? Or is that trying to cram too much into it? Keep in mind I'm not aiming to run EE anything. This is mostly just to get a druid life under my belt.

I don't think of monk levels on a druid as for evasion its more about stunning fist, base damage, handwraps, and feat. A shield wolf can work I tend to think it inferior to the monk levels because I prefer Stunning fist and higher base damage over more doublestrike and PRR, YMMV.

The other issue is it takes a lot of feat to pull off I would recommend something like Human 15/2/3 Druid Fighter Rogue or you could drop the Druid down to 11 or 13 but at that point you will lose out on Earthquake and Heal and I would say your playing more of a mutt then a druid at that point.

Maximize
Spell Focus: Evocation
Quicken
Natures Fighting x3
Improved Critical
Precision or Power Attack
Shield Mastery
Improved Shield Mastery

[Tuffgar]

I'm more concerned about performance of the build than sticking to some kind of 'pure' build. As long as there's enough levels of the class for a past life. Anyway, isn't the entire point of the TWF builds I keep seeing to improve the chance at doublestrike with offhand attacks or something?

Getting the heal spell I can understand perfectly, but what does earthquake do that makes it so useful to get?

[Grailhawk]

I'm more concerned about performance of the build than sticking to some kind of 'pure' build. As long as there's enough levels of the class for a past life. Anyway, isn't the entire point of the TWF builds I keep seeing to improve the chance at doublestrike with offhand attacks or something?

The TWF are mostly just about attack speed. TWF procs with 30% innate stacking haste from wolf form and something between 20-30% double strike. Wolf form by default is not supposed to see any benefit from TWF feat.

Getting the heal spell I can understand perfectly, but what does earthquake do that makes it so useful to get?

Earthquake is very effective CC very few things that can stand up to it. I would argue its the best spell a Druid has.

Druids have Strong CC, Strong AOE damage spells, DOTS, and Healing spells but week direct damage spells, Acanse have strong Damage spells (DOTs, Direct, and AOE) and CC, Divines have Healing, Strong DOT's and AOE spells, but week cc and direct damage spells.

Earthquake is what keeps sets them apart from a cleric or divine imo.

[Tuffgar]

Thanks everyone for the input. I ended up going with a 9dru/9mnk/2fgt build. So far it's working magnificiently! Not sure if it's the build or the fact that I streamlined my TR gear in advance, but I feel like I'm flying through elite content like never before.

Only level 9 so far, but at times it feels almost like I'm running a lawnmower over enemies instead of a wolf-druid. Really hope it keeps up like this, although I suspect it won't, since most everything at the lower end is stupidly easy.

[Andoris]

Thanks everyone for the input. I ended up going with a 9dru/9mnk/2fgt build. So far it's working magnificiently! Not sure if it's the build or the fact that I streamlined my TR gear in advance, but I feel like I'm flying through elite content like never before.

Only level 9 so far, but at times it feels almost like I'm running a lawnmower over enemies instead of a wolf-druid. Really hope it keeps up like this, although I suspect it won't, since most everything at the lower end is stupidly easy.

You mentioned that you wanted a druid past life. Be aware that if you go 9/9/2, you will get a monk past life, not a druid one. Might want to go 10/9/1 instead, if the past life is important.

[Tuffgar]

You mentioned that you wanted a druid past life. Be aware that if you go 9/9/2, you will get a monk past life, not a druid one. Might want to go 10/9/1 instead, if the past life is important.

I thought TRs worked alphabetically when two classes had the same number of levels, then worked off of which was implemented first if they started with the same letter. Or is it the other way around?

EDIT: Nevermind, found it on the wiki finally, and you're correct. Suggestions on slightly alternate builds that follow the theme of 9mnk/9dru/2fgt? I could drop monk down to 6 levels and still get shadow veil, and jump fighter up to 4 for weapon spec and some more feats. Could even go 5 levels in fgt to access certain enhancements, although I'm not too sure about that. Dropping monk levels will also hurt the 'unarmed' damage of wolf form won't it?

[unbongwah]

Going from monk 6 to monk 9 gains you +0.5[W], Imp Evasion, and +5% base run speed (not sure it carries over to wolf form, tho). Going from druid 9 to 13 gains you lvl 6 & 7 spells (Frostbite, Fire Shield, Gtr Creeping Cold, Mass Gtr Vigor, Regen, Jaws of Winter), lvl 12 core enhs, and an elemental form (I would recommend Water for the single-target DPS boost: Freezing Spray -> Gtr Creeping Cold -> Creeping Cold -> wolf form w/Frostbite).

So it depends on what you want to emphasize. For me the extra druid levels make Drunks feel more, well, druid-y. But I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with my wolf builds post-U19.

[Tuffgar]

Hmm....I suppose what I'll do then is level druid to 9, monk to 6, then play it by ear from there, and see what suits my playstyle better. Regen and greater vigor sound tempting. Elemental form isn't as appealing to me. I want to do as little form/stance swapping as necessary.

I'll update as I go. There doesn't seem to be a lot of in-depth info on drunks for u19, unless I'm missing a lot of stuff from the old forums or something. Hopefully someone will get some use out of the discussion. I know it's been pretty educational for me.

[Tilomere]

I'll update as I go. There doesn't seem to be a lot of in-depth info on drunks for u19, unless I'm missing a lot of stuff from the old forums or something. Hopefully someone will get some use out of the discussion. I know it's been pretty educational for me.

It took me a few months to figure out the all purpose Druid Druid Build that is at the bottom of the natural evolution post. It does everything a druid can do, and does it all fairly well at the same time. It will work leveling through current EE content. I know it is not the most powerful druid build. However, it does fully incorporate update 19, and is very druid-y.

[Tuffgar]

Level 16 as of this post. 9druid/6mnk/1fgt. So far I've been fairly pleased with the damage and survivability. i took 6 monk early to get Shadow Veil and that turned out awesome. The extra damage from winter wolf hit at just the right time, and the next few levels of fighter should stack that up nicely.

The only real stumbling blocks I ran into was being used to playing a WF. Getting hit by negative levels took me by surprise while soloing a few times.

Soloing elite quests is doable, but a pain, especially if there are traps. my gear is not top tier however. I have no greensteel. But quests on hard are almost a joke, even so. So I group for elites when I can, and zerg hards solo+hire the rest of the time.

Overall I'd say the build is solid. Someone with more past lives and better gear could probably tune it perfectly for which feats and levels to take when. But for a quick run through heroic content it's not bad.