Druid weapon recommendations

[SpiritofAlba]

I am playing a Druid life, roughly following the Togg Winter Wolf build, and at L10 currently.

I understand that for animal shapes, the base damage of the weapon doesn't make any difference, and indeed as long as I am wielding something single handed (to get SWF speed bonuses) I can use what ever I like, given fighter proficiency. So really, it is a matter of finding weapons with nice supplementary effects.

I have crafted a basic screaming of bleeding, which works pretty well, and I have a few situational options for different elements. A guildie gave me a flametongue, which is nice for the burst, although the extra augment damage tends to look better than it is - i.e. Lots of separate numbers proc, but they are all quite small.

The build will manage fine, at least through heroics, with whatever I pick up. My question is whether there are any specifically nice druid wolf friendly named weapons I should look out for.

(Greensteel is obviously an option, but my only GS weapon at the moment is a Qstaff, and building another one is quite an investment)

Many thanks.

[Lonnbeimnech]

I am playing a Druid life, roughly following the Togg Winter Wolf build, and at L10 currently.

I understand that for animal shapes, the base damage of the weapon doesn't make any difference, and indeed as long as I am wielding something single handed (to get SWF speed bonuses) I can use what ever I like, given fighter proficiency. So really, it is a matter of finding weapons with nice supplementary effects.

I have crafted a basic screaming of bleeding, which works pretty well, and I have a few situational options for different elements. A guildie gave me a flametongue, which is nice for the burst, although the extra augment damage tends to look better than it is - i.e. Lots of separate numbers proc, but they are all quite small.

The build will manage fine, at least through heroics, with whatever I pick up. My question is whether there are any specifically nice druid wolf friendly named weapons I should look out for.

(Greensteel is obviously an option, but my only GS weapon at the moment is a Qstaff, and building another one is quite an investment)

Many thanks.

Because of the attack speed of a wolf build, esp one using swf, wounding of puncture works really really well in heroics.

[SpiritofAlba]

Because of the attack speed of a wolf build, esp one using swf, wounding of puncture works really really well in heroics.

Thanks for the suggestion. The idea surprises me, because I thought stat drain was very not effective in the current game (given deadly, melee power, and all the other bits of DPS boosting). Can certainly craft one up and try though.

[Enoach]

Thanks for the suggestion. The idea surprises me, because I thought stat drain was very not effective in the current game (given deadly, melee power, and all the other bits of DPS boosting). Can certainly craft one up and try though.

In Heroic content stat damage is still very effective.

In epics the recovery time is reduced on stat and level drain abilities. But if you use an stat damage that helps your DCs (Dex for Reflex, Con for fort and Wis for Will) or level drain you can do a 2 to 4 hit then cast sequence and effectively get +1 to +2 on your DCs.

[dunklezhan]

Slightly off topic, but someone clarify for me - what is supposed to stack with natural fighting? Or what is not supposed to? Is it just TWF as the wiki says?

I can't remember for the life of me. At this point its been left unaddressed so long I don't really care anymore, but I don't want to waste the feats if I decide to do an animal build.

What about shield mastery and the like for a bear?

ON topic: screaming of bleeding is a nice cannith crafted choice till you get something random that's better. Really any 2 damage effects you can find these days are going to be worth it, if you can find them. At mid-heroic levels I highly recommend a cannith crafted wounding of puncturing* or wounding of bleeding maybe if you can't manage puncturing. Make sure you have a ghost touch of something (pure good if your alignment or UMD allows, otherwise obviously lesser undead bane is pretty low pickings).

Other than that, check the auction house, but be prepared to pay through the nose.


*...actually, that would be pretty great on a swashbuckler too, if they didn't have something like a tiefling assassin's blade yet. I digress. Again.

[Enoach]

Slightly off topic, but someone clarify for me - what is supposed to stack with natural fighting? Or what is not supposed to? Is it just TWF as the wiki says?

I can't remember for the life of me. At this point its been left unaddressed so long I don't really care anymore, but I don't want to waste the feats if I decide to do an animal build.

What about shield mastery and the like for a bear?

ON topic: screaming of bleeding is a nice cannith crafted choice till you get something random that's better. Really any 2 damage effects you can find these days are going to be worth it, if you can find them. At mid-heroic levels I highly recommend a cannith crafted wounding of puncturing* or wounding of bleeding maybe if you can't manage puncturing. Make sure you have a ghost touch of something (pure good if your alignment or UMD allows, otherwise obviously lesser undead bane is pretty low pickings).

Other than that, check the auction house, but be prepared to pay through the nose.


*...actually, that would be pretty great on a swashbuckler too, if they didn't have something like a tiefling assassin's blade yet. I digress. Again.

My understanding it is not the fact that Shield, SWF and TWF stack with Animal form, the problem is that while in Animal form Shield, SWF and TWF all Stack. Thus you get the best of all three of those fighting styles, number of hits as well as increased speed.

Based on this it is not that any single one should not work, it is that the Animal form allows all of them to work when they should not work with each other.

----
I like your ideas of weapon effects. Only thing I would point out is Align Fang can be used to help bypass alignment DR. Also, look at Vorpal, Banish, Smite, Disruption and Paralyze (Big 5) as options as with the increased number of hits means its a numbers game - and even if the instant death parts don't work they now come with a static amount between 100 and 300 HP extra.

[dunklezhan]

My understanding it is not the fact that Shield, SWF and TWF stack with Animal form, the problem is that while in Animal form Shield, SWF and TWF all Stack. Thus you get the best of all three of those fighting styles, number of hits as well as increased speed.

Based on this it is not that any single one should not work, it is that the Animal form allows all of them to work when they should not work with each other.

----
I like your ideas of weapon effects. Only thing I would point out is Align Fang can be used to help bypass alignment DR. Also, look at Vorpal, Banish, Smite, Disruption and Paralyze (Big 5) as options as with the increased number of hits means its a numbers game - and even if the instant death parts don't work they now come with a static amount between 100 and 300 HP extra.

Ahhh, ok that makes sense. So just pick the one fighting style and stick with it and you're all WAI.

[ShifterThePirate]

I'm a pure lvl 20 Druid so I can't use all weapons but I really like the Frostbite Blade and the Royal Scimitar

[unbongwah]

Because of the attack speed of a wolf build, esp one using swf, wounding of puncture works really really well in heroics.

For that reason, I also like Bodyfeeder of Lesser Vampirism, even though your crit profile is only 18-20/x3 w/IC:Blunt. Another option with better DPS: make a weapon with a craftable slot, such as a Cannith air rapier, and use that to add Vampirism.

Slightly off topic, but someone clarify for me - what is supposed to stack with natural fighting? Or what is not supposed to? Is it just TWF as the wiki says?

A brief-ish history of wolf builds (AFAIK):

• Doublestrike bonuses have always stacked. In the early days of wolf builds (U14 - U18), this meant building using Natural Fighting plus either Shield Mastery or Wind stance. THF & TWF feats did nothing for wolf druids back then.
• Then along comes U19 and the Enhancement revamp, and suddenly the TWF feats start applying to wolf/bear form too, enabling "offhand" (offpaw?) procs. This was confirmed as not WAI very early on, but it's been over 2 1/2 years now without a fix, so who knows when it will be nerfed? [My WAG is "when Turbine finally gets around to fixing monks / handwraps / unarmed combat."]
• Then U22 introduces SWF alongside Swashbucklers and wolf players discover the speed bonus applies to wolf form. One interesting quirk: Swashbuckling doesn't work with animal forms, but the Skirmisher enhancement partially does ("you may use a Buckler and still benefit from the Single Weapon Fighting line of feats" works). Is any of this WAI? I haven't seen dev confirmation one way or the other...

So now, with careful build-fu, you can make a druid / rgr / bard wolf build who benefits from SWF, TWF, Shield Mastery (courtesy of Skirmisher), and Natural Fighting all at once while using Dance of Death + Thousand Cuts...at least in theory. In practice I think you will find it too feat-starved, at least until epic lvls.

[SpiritofAlba]

Wounding of puncturing does seem quite effective in this build, thanks for suggestion,

supplementary questions:

Some weapon effects, such as Heartseeker, have tiers based on critical multiplier. In wolf form, standard criticals are always 19-20 and x2, and in winter wolf x3. Does this ALSO mean that the heartseeker effect is based on a x2 / x3 multiplier, or does the underlying weapon make any odds, or does it not proc at all because its a different kind of weapon effect?

Do smiting weapons and similar vorpal effects proc in wolf form?