Shadow Wolf, Work in Progress

[ValariusK]

I still need a druid life, and it's likely that wolf builds are going to change radically in a couple of months. So here's a preliminary stab at a wolf build. Already done the Druid/Fighter/Ranger.

Why 8 druid?, because we want 6 ranger (Imp TWF and exposing strike), and 6 rogue (assassin's trick). Also we don't have the feats to do natural fighting anyway. Healing in epics is a mix of consecrate and druid bluebar spells.
We should have a respectable amount of sneak attack on this build (3 from rogue levels, 4 from rogue enhancements, 3 from ranger enhancements, 2 from being a winter wolf). This makes having improved deception at a premium. We generate helplessness via balanced attacks and very high attack speed. Defense isn't as good as the fighter wolf version, but dodge will be very high. Shadowdancer can substitute for LD occasionally during epic leveling. Assassin's trick is our means of disabling sneak attack immunity. Maintaining a blitz with this attack rate should be pretty easy. Int is prioritized fairly high to allow for strong skill diversity (in particular, move silently maxed and hide respectable to work with the increased sneak speed provided by rogue enhancements). To up the damage at the expense of this (although only by 1, you can strip the int a bit, and some of the other stats, but that will hurt saves and ability to function as a good trapper).

Any comments or suggestions? Haven't built it yet, still working on my 3rd arty life.



Shadow Wolf
8/6/6 Druid/Ranger/Rogue
True Neutral Human


Level Order

1. Rogue 6. Ranger 11. Druid 16. Ranger
2. Druid 7. Rogue 12. Druid 17. Ranger
3. Druid 8. Druid 13. Druid 18. Ranger
4. Ranger 9. Rogue 14. Druid 19. Rogue
5. Ranger 10. Druid 15. Rogue 20. Rogue


Stats
28pt 32pt 34pt 36pt Tome Level Up
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- --------
Strength 16 16 16 16 +6 4: STR
Dexterity 14 14 14 14 +6 8: STR
Constitution 8 12 14 14 +6 12: STR
Intelligence 15 15 15 16 +6 16: STR
Wisdom 12 12 12 12 +6 20: STR
Charisma 8 8 8 8 +6 24: STR
28: STR

Skills
Rg Dr Dr Rn Rn Rn Rg Dr Rg Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Rg Rn Rn Rn Rg Rg
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
------------------------------------------------------------
Disable 4 6 2 6 4 1 23
Open Lo 4 1 6 2 6 4 23
Search 4 3 1 1 10 1 1 2 23
Spot 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 23
Move Si 4 1 3 1 4 8 2 23
UMD 4 6 2 6 4 1 23
Concent 5 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 21
Heal 2 4 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 21
Spellcr 5 5 5 2 17
Diplo 4 2 3 3 1 1 1 2 17
Hide 4 3 1 1 2 11
Balance 4 3 7
Jump 4 2 6
Swim 4 2 6
Bluff 4 4
Haggle 4 4
------------------------------------------------------------
48 8 8 10 10 10 13 9 13 9 9 9 9 9 14 12 12 12 14 14


Feats

1 : Single Weapon Fighting
1 Human : Dodge
3 : Completionist
3 Druid : Wild Shape 1: Wolf
4 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
6 : Precision
9 : Improved Single Weapon Fighting
11 Druid : Wild Shape 1: Bear
12 : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
14 Druid : Wild Shape 2: Winter Wolf
15 : Greater Single Weapon Fighting
17 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
18 : Greater Two Weapon Fighting
21 Epic : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic : Great Ability: Strength
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic : Epic Reflexes
28 Destiny: Elusive Target
29 Destiny: Deific Warding
30 Epic : Epic Damage Reduction
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea


Spells

Druid
1. Ram's Might, Magic Fang, <Any>, <Any>, <Any>
2. Lesser Restoration, Align Fang, Gust of Wind, Resist Energy
3. Cure Moderate Wounds, Sleet Storm, Vigor, <Any>
4. Cure Serious Wounds, Freedom of Movement, <Any>
Ranger
1. <Any>, <Any>

Enhancements (80 AP)

Tempest (36 AP)
• Shield of Whirling Steel, Tempest
1. Improved Reaction III, Acrobatic II
2. Improved Dodge III, Sprint Boost III
3. Storm Dancer, Critical Mastery III, Strength
4. Storm Tempest, Elaborate Parry III, The Growing Storm III, Strength
5. Cuts: Many Cuts III, Dance of Death III

Assassin (27 AP)
• Knife in the Darkness, Dagger in the Back, Assassin's Trick
1. Shiv I, Sneak Attack Training, Stealthy III
2. Venomed Blades III, Sneak Attack Training, Damage Boost III
3. Critical Mastery I, Sneak Attack Training
4. Execute, Killer III, Sneak Attack Training

Deepwood Stalker (12 AP)
• Far Shot, Sneak Attack, Exposing Strike
1. Stealthy III, Tendon Cut I
2. Survivalist, Melee/Range Power Boost III

Human (5 AP)
• Damage Boost, Strength
1. Improved Recovery


Destiny (24 AP)

Legendary Dreadnought
1. Extra Action Boost III, Strength
2. Damage Boost II, Strength
3. Critical Damage III, Strength
4. Strength
5. Advancing Blows, Devastating Critical, Strength
6. Master's Blitz

Twists of Fate (26 fate points)
1. Sacred Ground (Tier 3 Crusader)
2. Balanced Attacks (Tier 3 Primal)
3. Consecration (Tier 2 Crusader)
4. Brace for Impact (Tier 1 Sentinel)

[SpiritofAlba]

I have done some testing of a rogue wolf build, though not actually played one for real.

Venomed strikes doesn't work in wolf form. But bleed them out does, if you need to spend points at that point in the tree.

If I were you, I'd take the haste boost rather than the sprint boost in tempest. The latter is fun, but the former is powerful.

[ValariusK]

I have done some testing of a rogue wolf build, though not actually played one for real.

Venomed strikes doesn't work in wolf form. But bleed them out does, if you need to spend points at that point in the tree.

If I were you, I'd take the haste boost rather than the sprint boost in tempest. The latter is fun, but the former is powerful.

Thanks on the venomed strikes---yeah was looking to spend a few points there to get to T4. Thing is, I'll have damage boost (+30 MP/RP) in other trees, and I'm not sure haste boost will actually stack my attack speed given how much attack speed I'm already going to have. A lot of things have caps.

[unbongwah]

If you're taking Dodge, you might as well take Mobility and max out the Tempest enhancements, IMO; you need plenty of AP filler anyway and that's +2% Dodge +5 MDB +3 Dodge cap. Completionist can be backloaded.

AP-wise, also consider 39 Tempest (DoD+MC+ED) / 25 DWS (Killer+Survivalist) / 13 NW (Fatal Harrier) / 3 human (Dmg Boost + Imp Recovery or +1 STR). Downside is losing Assassin's Trick; upside is gaining Evasive Dance and +10% atk speed from Fatal Harrier if you can keep it fully stacked. I think you'll find Exposing Strike more reliable than AT anyway, particular during DoD. This also opens the option of less rog and more druid for higher-lvl spells.

FYI, Anvil of Thunder & Headmans Chop work in wolf form if you have an axe equipped; OTOH, Pulverizer does not, even if you equip a blunt weapon.

[adrian69]

Thanks on the venomed strikes---yeah was looking to spend a few points there to get to T4. Thing is, I'll have damage boost (+30 MP/RP) in other trees, and I'm not sure haste boost will actually stack my attack speed given how much attack speed I'm already going to have. A lot of things have caps.

Haste Boost Stacks. Fatal Harrier doesn't and will only give you 10% more than gear.

[ValariusK]

Here's a question, does anyone know if the Hide of the Fallen actually works? If so it'd be +7 primal bonus to damage on this build, which would be useful.

[ValariusK]

At L22 now, settled into 36 Tempest/25 Assasin/13 DWS/3 racial/3 TA (got to have that 6% movement speed).

Leveling up was very smooth. Trapping was always adequate to the task in HE. I found that I used my Tenebreous stiletto a lot in heroic, as it had deception on it. Getting sneak attack made a huge difference to damage output.
Epics now I'm in LD, squishiness isn't that bad, DPS output is extremely high. I do have to disengage sometimes to heal as I don't have quicken (or cocoon). Assassin's trick is all it is advertised and more. It really boosts the whole party's dps when you use it on bosses and minibosses. Improved deception in epics is not optional (epic golden guile at 20, seal of avithoul at 21, ring of deceit at 25 in my case). Manyshot is available for those rare instances when melee is disfavored. The 75% and 50% enhancements to stealth speed together do actually stack but they do in a diminishing returns kind of way (it's noticeably faster with both but its like 7 seconds to run a fixed distance unstealthed, almost 8, probably 7.5 or so with both, and 9 with just the assasin 75%). Most likely what they do is reduce the stealth movement penalty. Stacked stealth doesn't feel slow, but unstacked does, from a subjective point of view. Never tested with the monk ninja spy enhancements (rogue/ranger/monk?) I suspect with all 3 you'd have to run longer tests to detect the stealth slowdown.

[ValariusK]

Hit L30 now. Final notes on the build:

Vs the typical 10 druid/6 ranger/4 fighter version, you're down about 18 DS (natural fighting) and about 2-4 melee power. You're also down 50 or so PRR and 20-30 MRR.
On the up side, you have a 25% dodge and have about 7d6 more sneak attack, which is huge. You've also got assassin's trick, which helps your whole party wreck rednames (and shroud portals). In addition you've got 1st tier rogue skills. It's a squishier build but it does have significantly more offense than the base wolf, and the squishiness isn't normally a fatal problem. Having evasion and epic reflexes if very nice.

[raphouminette]

Hit L30 now. Final notes on the build:

Vs the typical 10 druid/6 ranger/4 fighter version, you're down about 18 DS (natural fighting) and about 2-4 melee power. You're also down 50 or so PRR and 20-30 MRR.
On the up side, you have a 25% dodge and have about 7d6 more sneak attack, which is huge. You've also got assassin's trick, which helps your whole party wreck rednames (and shroud portals). In addition you've got 1st tier rogue skills. It's a squishier build but it does have significantly more offense than the base wolf, and the squishiness isn't normally a fatal problem. Having evasion and epic reflexes if very nice.

Thanks a lot for the update and input! Interesting build, maybe I'll try it out.

[ValariusK]

Thanks a lot for the update and input! Interesting build, maybe I'll try it out.

It was a fun build to play. I'd check in advance though to make sure that recent handwrap changes haven't borked druid wolves though.