Evoker

[Michele]

OBSOLETE - build moved to this thread: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...itan-Ice-Druid

Druid 20 - Human (lawful neutral)

Feats:
level 1: quicken spell
level 1: maximize spell
level 3: completionist
level 6: past life arcane initiate
level 9: empower spell
level 12: mental toughness
level 15: improved mental toughness
level 18: heavy armor proficiency
level 21: epic mental toughness
level 24: past life arcane prodigy
level 26: epic spell power cold
level 27: spell focus evocation
level 28: epic skill focus spellcraft

Attributes:
CON 16 base +2 completionist +2 ship +6 tome +2 litany +7 item +2 insightful +1 exc = 38
INT 16 base +2 completionist +2 ship +6 tome +1 litany +7 item +3 insightful +1 exc +4 enhancements = 42
WIS 18 base +2 completionist +2 ship +6 tome +1 litany +6 item +2 insightful +1 exc +2 enhancements +7 level +2 hierophant +5 shiradi champion +2 alchemical = 56

Skills: tumble x1, umd x1, concentration, heal, spellcraft, spot, balance, hide, jump, move silently, search

Earthquake DC = 18 +23 wis modifier +2 evocation augment +1 past life arcane initiate +1 spell focus evocation +6 thunder-forged weapon evocation focus +3 past lives sorcerer +1 archwizard ship buff +1 moment of clarity +4 mantle of the icy soul +5 solid fog greensteel clicky = 65

Energy Burst DC = 20 + 14 half character level + 16 int modifier +4 mantle of the icy soul +5 solid fog greensteel clicky = 59

Shiradi Champion: wis x5, wild shots x2, fey form x3, double rainbow, nerve venom x3

Twists of Fate: energy burst, white dragon heritage, endless faith, interrogation

Enhancements Harper: agent of good III, harper enchantment, traveler's toughness x3, magical endurance x3, versatile adept IV, highly skilled x3, intelligence x2, enchantment of magic, moment of clarity (38 AP spent)

Enhancements Season's Herald: hierophant, wand and scroll mastery x3, beguile x1, wax and wane x4, negotiator x3, efficient metamagic maximize x3, action boost spellpower x3, nature's warden x3, autumnal sussurs x3, wisdom x2 (42 AP spent)

PRR = +12 past lives +45 heavy armor +25 heavy armor proficiency +15 tower shield +15 improved shield mastery +30 legendary shield mastery +24 guardian's ring = 166

Spells:
Level 1: entangle, jump, magic fang, merfolk's blessing, ram's might, shillelagh
Level 2: creeping cold, gust of wind, lesser restoration, resist energy, splinterbolt
Level 3: call lightning, protection from energy, salt ray, sleet storm, spike growth
Level 4: cure serious wounds, dispel magic, flame strike, freedom of movement, ice storm
Level 5: call lightning storm, cure critical wounds, death ward, reincarnate, wall of fire
Level 6: fire shield, greater creeping cold, greater dispel magic, tenacious pack, word of balance
Level 7: body of the sun, creeping doom, freezing spray, sunbeam, fire storm
Level 8: earthquake, finger of death, fires of purity, heal, ice flowers

Equipment:

goggles level 20: epic goggles of time sensing with insightful wis +2, spell points +150 yellow slot, exc wis +1 colorless slot
goggles level 24: cannoneer's goggles with insightful wis +2 green slot

helm level 20: epic darkstorm helm with evocation focus I green slot
helm level 25: helm of the blue dragon with insightful int +3, evocation focus II yellow slot, draconic soul gem green slot

neck: vim and vigor with str +7, false life +30, greater heroism, natural armor +6, heavy fortification green slot
trinket: epic litany of the dead with wis +8 blue slot and dex +8 green slot
cloak: epic envenomed cloak with vitality +20 green slot
belt: green steel, concordant opposition, hit points +10, spell points +150, exc int skills +4, exc cha skills +6
gloves: epic charged gauntlets with master's gift yellow slot

boots level 20: epic kundarak boots with exc con +1 colorless slot
boots level 24: orcish privateer's boots with fire resistance +50, fire absorption 30%, insightful con +2 colorless slot

bracers: epic scorched bracers with good luck +2 green slot
armor: flawless blue dragonscale armor with globe of true imperial blood blue slot
ring left: guardian's ring with fear immunity yellow slot

ring right level 20: deathblock ring of ice lore +15% with int +6 yellow slot and spellcraft +11 colorless slot
ring right level 28: epic eye of the beholder with deathblock, int +11, wizardry X, spellcraft +15 blue slot, resistance +8 green slot

hand left: alchemical tower shield with combustion +90, alchemical wis +2, efficient metamagic maximize II, arcane augmentation IX, greater spell focus evocation

hand right level 20: midnight greetings with glaciation +90 red slot
hand right level 28: thunder-forged scimitar with glaciation +150, evocation focus +6, ice lore +22%, magnetism +138 orange slot, heal +15 colorless slot

Completionist with these past lives:
- All 39 Heroic;
- All 12 Iconic;
- 8x Epic -> 1x divine, 3x arcane, 3x primal, 1x martial

Epic elite quests made in solo with bravery:
- phiarlan carnival: the snitch, partycrashers
- sentinels of stormreach: all quests;
- the red fens: all quests;
- the druid's deep: the druid curse;
- menace of the underdark: all 16 quests (from "the lords of dust" to "in the belly of the beast");
- the vault of night: all quests;
- ruins of gianthold: all quests (except the crucible);
- three-barrel cove: all quests;
- shadow over wheloon: all quests

[SirValentine]

Nice Druid.

Base Evocation DC = 10 + 27 wisdom modifier +3 epic spell focus evocation +1 past life arcane initiate +3 magister evocation specialist +2 evocation augment +5 sage's locket +3 past lives sorcerer +1 strength of the solstice = 55

You know, I was wondering why this was so low, until I noticed that you didn't have spell level included. 64 sounds much better than 55. :-)

WIS = 18 base +2 completionist +2 ship +5 tome +1 litany +11 item +3 insightful +1 exceptional +1 human +5 shiradi +7 level +4 enhancements +2 hierophant +2 great ability wisdom = 64

Let's see...Yugo pots for 2 more. An Alchemical weapon can get you 2 more.

Shiradi: wis x5, wild shots x2, fey form x3, double rainbow, nerve venom x3

Twists of Fate: energy burst ice, magister evocation specialist, avenging light

How much do you need Avenging Light? I'd think between Druid SLAs, Shiradi procs, etc., you'd be good without it. If you drop Avenging Light, and, say, Fey Form, you can pick up 2 more Wisdom between Shiradi and a level 1 twist.

I'm assuming you're committed to Energy Burst, so Precise Evocation or Acute Instincts are out of reach, unless you rack up more Fate Points from Epic Reincarnation.

[Michele]

mmmhhh... yeah, I should really craft an alchemical weapon sooner or later.

Nice Druid.

Let's see...Yugo pots for 2 more. An Alchemical weapon can get you 2 more.

[Michele]

you are perfectly right, I will do as you say (remove avenging light, maximize wisdom, and rack up more fate points from epic reincarnations).
build updated.

How much do you need Avenging Light? I'd think between Druid SLAs, Shiradi procs, etc., you'd be good without it. If you drop Avenging Light, and, say, Fey Form, you can pick up 2 more Wisdom between Shiradi and a level 1 twist.

I'm assuming you're committed to Energy Burst, so Precise Evocation or Acute Instincts are out of reach, unless you rack up more Fate Points from Epic Reincarnation.

[Micron]

Base Evocation DC = 10 + 29 wis modifier +3 epic spell focus evocation +1 past life arcane initiate +3 magister evocation specialist +2 precise casting evocation +2 evocation augment +5 sage's locket +3 past lives sorcerer +1 strength of the solstice = 59

Does the spell focus on augments stack with spell focus items now? A guildie told me some time ago it was being considered but has it already been implemented?

Also I notice you list Mass Frog DC but don't take the feat?

[Michele]

Does the spell focus on augments stack with spell focus items now? A guildie told me some time ago it was being considered but has it already been implemented?

Also I notice you list Mass Frog DC but don't take the feat?

yes, augments stack with spell focus items: it has been implemented recently and I have tested it personally.

as far as mass frog, I still have to decide if it's better than +20 spell power fire (my current main tactic against trash is earthquake + body of the sun + firewall without metamagic; earthquake and body of the sun both proc shiradi on each tic).
I wrote mass frog DC just to show what numbers can reach that spell.

[Micron]

Thanks for confirming.
I play a caster druid on my secondary server who doesn't have much in the way of DCs but I've been meaning to start working on them. I don't have a lot of time to play her so I definitely won't be able to get 3 sorc lives, the alchemical Wis item or completionist, I'd say my final DCs will be 6 or 7 lower than the ones above (ie. low 60-ish with spell level included). I'm hoping that will still be semi-useful in EE groups (I have no soloing ambitions on her).

[Silverleafeon]

[Spell School] Augmentation: Passive Bonus: Chosen school spells have [5/10/15]% chance to reduce target <save depending on school> by 10 for [10/20/30] seconds.
Conjuration/Evocation: Reflex. Enchantment/Illusion: Will. Necromancy: Transmutation: Fortitude. Abjuration: [5/10/15]% chance to increase target's Armor Class by 5 for [2/?/?] minutes.


++




Mantle of the Icy Soul

Evocation (Cold)
Valid Forms: Water Elemental. You are shrouded in the mantle of the icy soul. The targets of your cold spells take a 25% penalty to movement speed, a 10% penalty to attack speed, and a -4 penalty to reflex and fortitude saves.

++


Ice Storm

Evocation
(Cold)
Hail creates a lingering area of effect for 30 seconds that deals 2d6 of bludgeon damage and 1d6 of cold damage plus 1 per caster level (up to a maximum caster level of 15) every 2 seconds to each creature inside the area.


++



Earthquake

Evocation
Summons an earthquake beneath your enemies' feet. Enemies within the area of effect have an additional 30% spell failure chance, and every three seconds they are knocked down and take 2 to 16 points of damage. A successful reflex save vs. the damage halves the damage, and a reflex save vs. the knockdown negates it. Flying enemies are immune. D&D Dice: Deals 2d8 level bludgeoning damage.



Valid Forms: Water Elemental. You are shrouded in the mantle of the icy soul. The targets of your cold spells take a 25% penalty to movement speed, a 10% penalty to attack speed, and a -4 penalty to reflex and fortitude saves.

[unbongwah]

Don't forget Autumnal Susurrus: "Your acid, negative and electricity spells have [10/20/40]% chance of applying the shaken condition (-2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks) to their target." AFAIK, shaken stacks w/Mantle of the Icy Soul's debuff; so drop a Storm of Vengeance on top of your Ice Storms & Earthquakes.

[Michele]

[Spell School] Augmentation: Passive Bonus: Chosen school spells have [5/10/15]% chance to reduce target <save depending on school> by 10 for [10/20/30] seconds.
Conjuration/Evocation: Reflex. Enchantment/Illusion: Will. Necromancy: Transmutation: Fortitude. Abjuration: [5/10/15]% chance to increase target's Armor Class by 5 for [2/?/?] minutes.


++




Mantle of the Icy Soul

Evocation (Cold)
Valid Forms: Water Elemental. You are shrouded in the mantle of the icy soul. The targets of your cold spells take a 25% penalty to movement speed, a 10% penalty to attack speed, and a -4 penalty to reflex and fortitude saves.

++


Ice Storm

Evocation
(Cold)
Hail creates a lingering area of effect for 30 seconds that deals 2d6 of bludgeon damage and 1d6 of cold damage plus 1 per caster level (up to a maximum caster level of 15) every 2 seconds to each creature inside the area.


++



Earthquake

Evocation
Summons an earthquake beneath your enemies' feet. Enemies within the area of effect have an additional 30% spell failure chance, and every three seconds they are knocked down and take 2 to 16 points of damage. A successful reflex save vs. the damage halves the damage, and a reflex save vs. the knockdown negates it. Flying enemies are immune. D&D Dice: Deals 2d8 level bludgeoning damage.



Valid Forms: Water Elemental. You are shrouded in the mantle of the icy soul. The targets of your cold spells take a 25% penalty to movement speed, a 10% penalty to attack speed, and a -4 penalty to reflex and fortitude saves.

yes, you could choose to go in water elemental form, BUT... you loose the benefit of using body of the sun that procs shiradi on every tic (together with earthquake), unless you simply want to be a crowd control machine, in that case it's handy to have the -4 malus to your enemies.
also a wall of fire without metamagic deals more damage than an ice storm with both empower and maximize: so consider well if you really want to go in water elemental form.

yes, by twisting magister evocation augmentation, you have a 15% to reduce target reflex of -10, but when you see an hangry epic elite minotaur charging on you, you really want to blind him with a sunbeam immediately, so you don't have time to debuff him.
if you see a pack of mobs far away, you want to blind them all with an enlarged sunburst sla, also you don't have time to debuff them.
so, I prefer twisting +1 wisdom over magister evocation augmentation if it makes my wisdom even.

I'm a fun of debuffs, but they cost spell points and druids don't have so many spell points.

If I have to choose between water elemental form and fire elemental form, I prefer fire for more dps against trash.

[Michele]

you can play a first life druid in epic elite effectively, but you have to compensate the missing sorcerer lives with the debuffs mentioned by "Silverleafeon" (mantle of icy soul + ice storm without metamagic).

you can equip your druid with easy to acquire equipment (belt of the sun soul, shadowsight goggles are cheap to buy in the auction house, a couple of scepters for spell power, an epic sage's locket with +5 evocation dc that you can get 100% of times as end reward of a single wheelon quest).

Thanks for confirming.
I play a caster druid on my secondary server who doesn't have much in the way of DCs but I've been meaning to start working on them. I don't have a lot of time to play her so I definitely won't be able to get 3 sorc lives, the alchemical Wis item or completionist, I'd say my final DCs will be 6 or 7 lower than the ones above (ie. low 60-ish with spell level included). I'm hoping that will still be semi-useful in EE groups (I have no soloing ambitions on her).

[thomhas_of_mabar]

yes, augments stack with spell focus items: it has been implemented recently and I have tested it personally.

as far as mass frog, I still have to decide if it's better than +20 spell power fire (my current main tactic against trash is earthquake + body of the sun + firewall without metamagic; earthquake and body of the sun both proc shiradi on each tic).
I wrote mass frog DC just to show what numbers can reach that spell.

So the (Greater) Spell Focus augments stack with spell focus items. What is a spell focus item?
Are you referring to spell penetration items?

What about the (Greater) Spell Focus feats? Do they stack with the augments or spell penetration items?
I just want to confirm whether or not there are any redundancies.

For end game and EE content, what would you say is the best area to concentrate on (Ice, Fire, Lightning, etc ...)
What weapons do you usually equip at end game?

BTW, even though I'm currently only at level 16, I picked up a +250 spell point augment from yesterday's sale because of your suggestion


Thanks for the feedback.

[SirValentine]

So the (Greater) Spell Focus augments stack with spell focus items. What is a spell focus item?
Are you referring to spell penetration items?

What about the (Greater) Spell Focus feats? Do they stack with the augments or spell penetration items?

Spell Penetration is caster level check to overcome Spell Resistance. It only applies to certain spells (does NOT apply to most damaging spells; only a few Druid spells need Spell Penetration), and only to certain mobs (those with Spell Resistance). It is totally separate from your spell Difficulty Class ("DC") which determines how hard it is for enemies to "save" against your spell. Spell Penetration does not "stack" with Spell Focus because they are two different things.

Spell Focus, be it from items, augments, or feats, increase your DC. The items, feats, and augments all stack with each other. Currently, you can get up to 3 from feats (Epic Spell Focus), 2 from an augment, and 5 from an item. Those are all only for a single specific school of magic, such as Evocation. Examples of spell focus items would be The Nether Orb or the Sage's Locket, though there are many such items, and it also drops on random loot.

[Michele]

So the (Greater) Spell Focus augments stack with spell focus items. What is a spell focus item?
Are you referring to spell penetration items?

What about the (Greater) Spell Focus feats? Do they stack with the augments or spell penetration items?
I just want to confirm whether or not there are any redundancies.

For end game and EE content, what would you say is the best area to concentrate on (Ice, Fire, Lightning, etc ...)
What weapons do you usually equip at end game?

BTW, even though I'm currently only at level 16, I picked up a +250 spell point augment from yesterday's sale because of your suggestion


Thanks for the feedback.

spell focus items are not spell penetration items: a spell focus item could be "sage's locket", a necklace that you can get as end reward by doing "Friends in Low Places" quest.

spell focus feats stack with spell focus items and spell focus augments.

a druid should increase ice (creeping cold), fire (body of the sun and wall of fire), electricity (call lightning) and untyped (word of balance).
I tipically equip silver ingot arcanum for ice, epic cloak of flames for fire, epic bracers of wind for electricity, flawless blue dragonhide armor for everything else (scoring critical hits is important).

[Panzermeyer]

as far as mass frog, I still have to decide if it's better than +20 spell power fire (my current main tactic against trash is earthquake + body of the sun + firewall without metamagic; earthquake and body of the sun both proc shiradi on each tic).

Out of curiosity, it would seem you are mainly in Fire Ellie form. And using body of the sun and firewall, why choose ice for the Draconic Incarnation then?

[Lanhelin]

Nature's Warrior Enhancements: instinctive fighting x2, bestial nature x3, extra wild empaty x3, athletic x3, flight x3, reaving roar x3, wisdom x2

I have a question regarding Reaving Roar. Why do you take it three times? Because the sonic damage is not increased but applied at a 100% rate when killing an enemy. The increasing chance only affects the insight bonus to threat generation for 10 seconds. I currently play a melee Druid and more than one point into RR seems not worth it.

[Michele]

I have a question regarding Reaving Roar. Why do you take it three times? Because the sonic damage is not increased but applied at a 100% rate when killing an enemy. The increasing chance only affects the insight bonus to threat generation for 10 seconds. I currently play a melee Druid and more than one point into RR seems not worth it.

I use bestial nature for +3 reflex and fortitude, so I never use reaving roar.
I just need to spend 20 action points in nature's warrior tree to have access to +2 wisdom, so I could spend them anywhere in that tree, without changing the build effectiveness.

[Panzermeyer]

Season's Herald Enhancements: creeping cold x2, call lightning x2, word of balance x1, spring resurgence x1, everything else

Human Enhancements: human versatility spell power boost, human adaptability wisdom, human versatility skill boost, human greater adaptability intelligence, fighting style traditionalist caster x3

So you have switching things to not use Nature's Warrior at all to get the additional Wisdom?

Thanks for the responses and sharing all this work.

Like others have said, most druid build topics out there are about animal form builds.

Though I am sure it is viable and excellent, I really did not like running around in animal form. I much prefer being a caster and I have so far really enjoyed my druid casting and the new selection of spells.

[Michele]

I see your first post has been updated with your new build specs. Water Ellie form dealing direct damage then? Is this mainly predicated on gear?

Being new, I don't have the greatest caster gear. So wondering if the fire ellie shiradi proc route would be better.

Going that route from your previous posts it sounds like I should not take Maximize and I don't have the completionist feat. What would you recommend in their stead? It sounded like in your fire ellie/shiradi build you have both the wizard and sorc active past life feats. Both of which I can get.

water elemental is easier to build because you inflict -4 saves with mantle of icy soul and your creeping cold spells will benefit a lot.
fire elemental + shiradi is ok, but I unleash more damage in ice draconic (I tested both and I do more damage in ice draconic).

I listed in the build (first post in the thread) and as you can see it's very easy to acquire: you can be good with just a silver ingot arcanum (get it cheap from auction) and a sage's locket (get it 100% as end reward of a quest).

About maximize and empower feats: I played all epic elite content and I don't miss them at all. But I updated the build including maximize spell because past life arcane prodigy gives only 145 spell points, and because maximize feat applied to creeping cold sla and storm of vengeance sla is nice to have.
As I wrote in the build, you can get empower spell instead of completionist feat if you are not a completionist yet.
And if you don't have access to past life arcane initiate then choose a feat between empower healing, heighten or enlarge (I would take enlarge if you want to use all the season's herald SLAs).

How have you changed the build since you originally posted it?

You originally had this listed. So it sounds like you dropped maximize and empower, what did you put in it's place since you already had MT and IMT?

the build is not changed too much from the original one: I only changed shiradi with draconic, and past life arcane prodigy with maximize spell (many players will like more this new updated build because it can include maximize and empower easily).



Also what twists are you using if you are running in Shiradi and no longer using Energy Burst?

the twists are listed in the build I post in the first post of the thread.

Out of curiosity, it would seem you are mainly in Fire Ellie form. And using body of the sun and firewall, why choose ice for the Draconic Incarnation then?

No, I'm currently in water elemental form using draconic. my old build was fire elemental in shiradi.

So you have switching things to not use Nature's Warrior at all to get the additional Wisdom?

I decided to sacrifice the +2 wisdom from nature's warrior for the +22 universal spell power got by spending more in the season's herald tree: the epic elite bosses are the druid weakness, and against them you only need spell power