Pure druid HELP!!! I think I screwed up :(

[greyheartt]

I've run a full life on Druid and am unhappy with the results. Heroic levels were amazing, one shot call lightning on mobs and instantly wiping out any quests I ran. Epic levels have been disappointing and now that legendary is here. Its just not even worth playing druid accept maybe as a healer.
I went spell caster with my druid. But with all the buffs and crazy versatility that a druid has, I feel like I don't know how to use everything to my advantage and my play style is all whacked.
I've identified that there are two ways to play a druid. Either as a caster or a fighter. Either way you play, if you use a druid's fighter/spell abilities like slash or take down, wisdom is rolled in for the dc's of those and you make up for lack of strength with buffs. If your a spell caster, wisdom is still used for dc's. Over all it may be easier just to go the caster route.
The problem with a caster druid is spell power how ever. In epic levels call lightning doesn't do much to mobs on elite. It now takes too much to do a little damage. I have thunderforged weapons loaded with evocation and spell powers for each element. My DC's at 67 for evocation.
I'm thinking it's time to reincarnate. I'm doing a second life of pure druid. I've watched Gingerspice's vids on youtube but it didn't give me much incite into the matter. Checking the forums gave me limited ideas as well.
The way I've been playing has been versatile and I think it's limiting my potential.
Current stats are:
Str 37 Base: 15 +6tome
Dex 24 Base: 10 +3tome
Con 33 Base: 13 +4tome
Int 14 Base: 8 +3tome
Wis 60 Base: 25 +6tome
Cha 14 Base: 8 +3tome

LVL 30
Race Elf

Feats: Augment summoning, lesser and greater Evocation, improved crit(slashing), magical training, improved mental toughness
Epic feats: Epic cold spell power, Epic lightning spell power, Elusive target, Embolden spell, Epic Evocation

Enhancements are filled up to the fifth core and fifth tier in season's herald with 56 points spent in that tree.
Nature's warrior has 24 points spent in it's tree.

I'm thinking maybe it'd been better to go half-elf for the extra wisdom and I believe I'm seriously missing something. I feel like I'm spread too thin or something even after improving some gear and learning that evocation augments stack with everything. I like playing all four forms for the versatility but don't like how weak I am. I really want to do more damage. I don't know what to do to correct this for next life.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and if your on server Thelanis I will gladly pay you for it!
PLEASE HELP!!!

[burlicconi]

Hi,

always glad to see more druids

I think I know exaclty what kind of problems you have, because I have simialr issues.

Heroic levels were more or less piece of cake, but Epic was a real deal. But, as they progress, you simply lack offensive spells to do some real damage. I had the same issue, but I mostly play in static group, so we managed to be able to get throught eopic quests, at least at Gianthold, before we TR.

First thing is to identify problem- if we agreed that the lack damage spells is the most important issue, I can give you some hints how to improve your damage.

You need good DC and I thing you're ok with evocation DC 67 you have. Next is your play style. I see you pick improved crit(slashing) feat and I suppose that is because of schimitars? If I am right, that means that you like to do close melee combat? From my experience, this is not the best way to force larger groups of mobs. Use power of sleet storm to slow your enemies, then use earthquake to bring them down and then use vengenace storm and ice storm for dps. Also, sun burst is excellent for CC if you can blind your opponents.

This is very good for epic hard, but for epic elite you'll soon discover that you need something more. You need much more AOE DPS. You can use energy burst from Draconic incarnation, which is serious DPS booster. Also, you have that Crusade from Divine Crusader, that's is also decent DPS and heal for your party. I have my dog, hire and owlbear, thay can do some decent DPS with proper investment. Also, you can find some other sources of DPS.

Spell power is issue, but I'm sure that you manage to raise it as high as you can.

Also, having full plate instead of medium can be excellent choice because of PPR. so taking that feat instead of IC slashing is worth considering, because if you are surrounded by larger group of mobs when earthquake and sun burst and other spell can not take care of rangers or casters, it can be your saviour.

In terms of healing, I discover that healing can be excellent with druids, because very low SP can be converted to decent HP and oll that with mltiple allies. For 25 SP you can heal about 300 HP your whole allies, which is pretty decent. Also, when you cast mass regeneration, your allies should be safe for about 10 seconds, and that time is enough to cast sleet storm, vengenace, earthquake or so...

Hope this helps!

edit:

I don't know how good new legendary feats are, such as Master of the Wild, but maybe it is worh taking, I think call lightning can be well boosted by this feat...

[Sunnie]

Feats: Augment summoning, lesser and greater Evocation, improved crit(slashing), magical training, improved mental toughness
Epic feats: Epic cold spell power, Epic lightning spell power, Elusive target, Embolden spell, Epic Evocation

Your feat selection is not quite optimal. Augment Summoning is a trap, it looks good at a glance, but is not really worth it unless you want to be a professional doggie charmer in the Hound of Xoriat raids. Improved Crit also stands out, if you're playing a caster druid, you don't really want or need to hit things. You could chat up Fred in House J and switch those two for Empower and Maximise spell. You can apply those to your SLAs for free, greatly increasing their damage.

While Burli is right that Energy Burst deals good damage, it's not all that great for a druid since it doesn't synergise with Wisdom and will only deal half damage most of the time as a result. Exalted Angel is a better choice of ED for augmenting your casting imo.
As for Master of the Wilds, there was some discussion about it recently (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-feat-worth-it), I'd say it's only really worth taking if you're in a primal destiny, and even then you can't always take full advantage of it.

[burlicconi]

I completely overlooked that you haven't mentioned empower and maximized feats. It is absolute must have for any caster build, druid is no different!
Both increase your spellpower for 225, and it's free for your SLA's (rpuduce flame, creeping cold, Call lighting and word of balance).

Augment summoning is worth taking if you play summoning style, otherwise better swap for something better.

About destiny, it depends fro myour play style. I like to play summoner, so primal avatar is my first choice. I choose enhancements that boost DPS for my hires and they can do deent damage.
If you want to be independet from your allies DPS, then shiradi should be your first choice. In both cases, Master of the Wild is probably good choice for epic feats.

Exalted angel is another good choice, it boosts your spell DC for free (by inherited cores), but I found that primal spheres gives me more damage (except for the undeads I belive, but I haven't played undeads on elite so much).

You should have both Magister and Draconic Incarnation epic destiny's ehnancement that boosts evocation spells, one gives +3, another +2. With +3 from Exalted angel you should have serious evocation DC. USING EARTHQUAKE now is very useful, because you can CC very neatly now.

[burlicconi]

Another note- I prefer human to elf for druid, because free feat and healin gaplification is great difference...

[Vooduspyce]

I've run a full life on Druid and am unhappy with the results. Heroic levels were amazing, one shot call lightning on mobs and instantly wiping out any quests I ran. Epic levels have been disappointing and now that legendary is here. Its just not even worth playing druid accept maybe as a healer.
I went spell caster with my druid. But with all the buffs and crazy versatility that a druid has, I feel like I don't know how to use everything to my advantage and my play style is all whacked.
I've identified that there are two ways to play a druid. Either as a caster or a fighter. Either way you play, if you use a druid's fighter/spell abilities like slash or take down, wisdom is rolled in for the dc's of those and you make up for lack of strength with buffs. If your a spell caster, wisdom is still used for dc's. Over all it may be easier just to go the caster route.
The problem with a caster druid is spell power how ever. In epic levels call lightning doesn't do much to mobs on elite. It now takes too much to do a little damage. I have thunderforged weapons loaded with evocation and spell powers for each element. My DC's at 67 for evocation.
I'm thinking it's time to reincarnate. I'm doing a second life of pure druid. I've watched Gingerspice's vids on youtube but it didn't give me much incite into the matter. Checking the forums gave me limited ideas as well.
The way I've been playing has been versatile and I think it's limiting my potential.
Current stats are:
Str 37 Base: 15 +6tome
Dex 24 Base: 10 +3tome
Con 33 Base: 13 +4tome
Int 14 Base: 8 +3tome
Wis 60 Base: 25 +6tome
Cha 14 Base: 8 +3tome

LVL 30
Race Elf

Feats: Augment summoning, lesser and greater Evocation, improved crit(slashing), magical training, improved mental toughness
Epic feats: Epic cold spell power, Epic lightning spell power, Elusive target, Embolden spell, Epic Evocation

Enhancements are filled up to the fifth core and fifth tier in season's herald with 56 points spent in that tree.
Nature's warrior has 24 points spent in it's tree.

I'm thinking maybe it'd been better to go half-elf for the extra wisdom and I believe I'm seriously missing something. I feel like I'm spread too thin or something even after improving some gear and learning that evocation augments stack with everything. I like playing all four forms for the versatility but don't like how weak I am. I really want to do more damage. I don't know what to do to correct this for next life.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and if your on server Thelanis I will gladly pay you for it!
PLEASE HELP!!!

If your goal is doing legendary and epic elites, you're going to have to decide between melee or caster. Trying to do it all will work in legendary and epic hard but will likely just lead to frustration in elites, as you have discovered.

A caster druid can solo and do really well with most ee's but will not be as fast as some other classes at doing so. EE's that I personally struggle with are those with beholders or other anti-spellcasting elements like GOP and Terminal Delirium. You can check out some of my EE solo videos on Ginger as a comparison and to see if the performance is similar to yours or if you are looking for higher dps, etc.

Ginger struggles with soloing LE's. LE Creeping Death took me an hour and I had to use every last spell point clicky to do so. I could not solo LE To Curse the Sky on Ginger in my regular destiny of Sentinel because a large portion of the mobs (abishai) are immune or highly resistant to a druid caster's primary damage types and there's not a whole lot that anyone can do about this. Thanks to Slarden's advice, I tried it again in other destinies. Shiradi did not make a big enough difference, but I was able to solo it in Exalted Angel, however it took a long time because I basically had to exclusively use Divine Wrath and Sunbolt and had to perpetually wait for them to come off cooldown. Taking feats that offer non-elemental damage types like Ruin, Greater Ruin and Arcane Pulse will also help with mobs like abishai.

Your feat and enhancement allocation are too divided between melee and caster and this is contributing to your feeling of being spread too thin. If you're not happy with the performance and you want to focus on the caster side of things, then drop all the Nature's Warrior and melee stuff. Get rid of Improved Crit and Augment Summoning (I love this at low levels but I trade it out in early teen levels). I use Elusive Target, but Ginger is a tank, so unless you are interested in being tanky, then this can probably be traded for something else. I understand that you like playing in all 4 forms, but a caster druid should run exclusively in elemental forms. Wolf is for melee builds and bear is for... I dunno maybe flavor lol.

I really like Energy Burst (cold) on my druids, so I will disagree with some of the others here. While it may not be as effective as a intelligence or charisma caster, it's still worth taking imo. Some caster druids invest heavily in int for bonus to spellcraft and burst dc, or like Ginger I like higher charisma for skills like intimidate.

in LE tempest spine I find that I play the role of healer, cc and tank. Ginger can stay toe-to-toe with all LE TS mobs except Sorjek, which has been really handy in keeping mobs like the assassin and the inevitable off of the rest of the party. I have found that a 67 DC Earthquake is somewhat effective in LE's (effective enough that it's worth using), but I am hoping to get my DC in the low 70's. The bar for an effective LE Earthquake DC is a lot higher than EE.

There is lots of great feedback in this thread so far and I hope it helps you get on a better path toward accomplishing your goals

[burlicconi]

Also, we didn't noted, but for DC there are some other soruces, mainly debuffs for mobs. You have solid fog which can be found on some clickies- this significantly reduces mob's reflex save. Also, when you are in water form, you shoud always have Mantle of the Icy Soul casted on you, because it lowers reflex and fortitude saves by 4.

There are some other good stuffs- personaly I love Chill of Winter (tier 5 of Primal vatar), because, as summoner who has pet, hire and owlbear, ity can really slow down mobs.

[greyheartt]

If your goal is doing legendary and epic elites, you're going to have to decide between melee or caster. Trying to do it all will work in legendary and epic hard but will likely just lead to frustration in elites, as you have discovered.

A caster druid can solo and do really well with most ee's but will not be as fast as some other classes at doing so. EE's that I personally struggle with are those with beholders or other anti-spellcasting elements like GOP and Terminal Delirium. You can check out some of my EE solo videos on Ginger as a comparison and to see if the performance is similar to yours or if you are looking for higher dps, etc.

Ginger struggles with soloing LE's. LE Creeping Death took me an hour and I had to use every last spell point clicky to do so. I could not solo LE To Curse the Sky on Ginger in my regular destiny of Sentinel because a large portion of the mobs (abishai) are immune or highly resistant to a druid caster's primary damage types and there's not a whole lot that anyone can do about this. Thanks to Slarden's advice, I tried it again in other destinies. Shiradi did not make a big enough difference, but I was able to solo it in Exalted Angel, however it took a long time because I basically had to exclusively use Divine Wrath and Sunbolt and had to perpetually wait for them to come off cooldown. Taking feats that offer non-elemental damage types like Ruin, Greater Ruin and Arcane Pulse will also help with mobs like abishai.

Your feat and enhancement allocation are too divided between melee and caster and this is contributing to your feeling of being spread too thin. If you're not happy with the performance and you want to focus on the caster side of things, then drop all the Nature's Warrior and melee stuff. Get rid of Improved Crit and Augment Summoning (I love this at low levels but I trade it out in early teen levels). I use Elusive Target, but Ginger is a tank, so unless you are interested in being tanky, then this can probably be traded for something else. I understand that you like playing in all 4 forms, but a caster druid should run exclusively in elemental forms. Wolf is for melee builds and bear is for... I dunno maybe flavor lol.

I really like Energy Burst (cold) on my druids, so I will disagree with some of the others here. While it may not be as effective as a intelligence or charisma caster, it's still worth taking imo. Some caster druids invest heavily in int for bonus to spellcraft and burst dc, or like Ginger I like higher charisma for skills like intimidate.

in LE tempest spine I find that I play the role of healer, cc and tank. Ginger can stay toe-to-toe with all LE TS mobs except Sorjek, which has been really handy in keeping mobs like the assassin and the inevitable off of the rest of the party. I have found that a 67 DC Earthquake is somewhat effective in LE's (effective enough that it's worth using), but I am hoping to get my DC in the low 70's. The bar for an effective LE Earthquake DC is a lot higher than EE.

There is lots of great feedback in this thread so far and I hope it helps you get on a better path toward accomplishing your goals

Wow!/seriously the best advice I could've asked for. I didn't expect to be blind sided by a small ddo celebrity either. Ive learned a lot and I think k I know how to go about this next life now..
I just don't know exactly how to prep for it.. Really don't know how to prep for any kind of toon but its okay. I still do well even without prep work.
Thank you everyone and thank you Ginger

[Tilomere]

I've run a full life on Druid and am unhappy with the results. My DC's at 67 for evocation.

If I made a hybrid druid, it would use TWF + IC:B to fuel spell point procs in NW, be T5 NW for reduced spell cooldown penalties, and have 1 warlock and 2 FVS levels for just reward +Aura + lantern ring to convert all spells to light damage spells, for even more temporary spell points.

I would take all the spell points and spam consecrate/sacred ground twists (no save damage), arcane pulse (no save damage), hellball (good damgage on save int/chr), burst of glacial wrath (no save damage), energy burst (int/chr), and energy vortex(int/chr) in draconic, I would probably go pure Con build, with Int or Char secondary, dex for feats. Other than Heal, Snowsllide, Mass Regen, FoM, and DW, I wouldn't even have any heroic level damaging spells or SLAs on any of my tool bars. As you mention, heroic damage abilities are good for heroics only. Feat choices would include Plate, Shield Mastery, and Epic DR, Dragonmark for Displacement instead of Evo or MT.

My DC would be like 30 for evocation. Probably lower.

You are trying to hammer heroic level abilities which are a square peg into the round hole that is EE. Of course you are unhappy with the results.

[Morroiel]

If I made a hybrid druid, it would use TWF + IC:B to fuel spell point procs in NW, be T5 NW for reduced spell cooldown penalties, and have 1 warlock and 2 FVS levels for just reward +Aura + lantern ring to convert all spells to light damage spells, for even more temporary spell points.

I would take all the spell points and spam consecrate/sacred ground twists (no save damage), arcane pulse (no save damage), hellball (good damgage on save int/chr), burst of glacial wrath (no save damage), energy burst (int/chr), and energy vortex(int/chr) in draconic, I would probably go pure Con build, with Int or Char secondary, dex for feats. Other than Heal, Snowsllide, Mass Regen, FoM, and DW, I wouldn't even have any heroic level damaging spells or SLAs on any of my tool bars. As you mention, heroic damage abilities are good for heroics only. Feat choices would include Plate, Shield Mastery, and Epic DR, Dragonmark for Displacement instead of Evo or MT.

My DC would be like 30 for evocation. Probably lower.

You are trying to hammer heroic level abilities which are a square peg into the round hole that is EE. Of course you are unhappy with the results.

This actually sounds like a fun build - I might try this on one of my alts for their next life. Thanks.

However, while I think your suggestions are great for a hybrid build - I would caution the OP from following this advice. Hybrid builds are dangerous in that they either are viable at best and completely trash at worst (a lot of this has to do with spell weaving too, which is harder to learn than almost any other attack style imo). OP you should choose either dc caster or melee dps but not both.