Fawngate's Druid

[Silverleafeon]

New final build for upcoming Druid changes
Pure Wisdom Caster Druid with focus on SLAs & DCs


Aasimar Scourge ~ requires +1 heart to get rid of ranger 1

Str 08 (0)
Dex 08 (0)
Con 16 (10)
Int 16 (10)
Wis 20 (16)
Cha 08 (0) {Given the reduced casting time of reincarnation, cha focus is less necessary}



Skills in order of importance:

Concentration max
Spellcraft max
Heal max
Tumble 1 rank
Balance 10 ranks
Jump 10 ranks
UMD max
Perform max if planning Shirdai ED
Search max if planning on finding hidden doors via scrolled Find Traps spell




Feats

1) Maximize
3) Completionist
6) Empower
9) Enlarge
12) Quicken
15) Spell Focus (Evocation)
18) Heighten
21) ? Past Life: Arcane Initiate / Extend (if in Fire Form) / Augment Summoning (more desirable given removal of Pet Death Penalty) / Wellspring of Power (if sloting Otto's Irrevocable Power)
24) Master of the Wild {Given the decrease in SLA cooldowns this becomes more desirable}
26ED) ? Epic Skill Focus (Spellcraft) / Epic Spellpower (Fire/Cold/Electric) {unsure if overall +5 universal <=> +20 one element?}
27) Intensify {Given the decrease in SLA cooldowns this becomes more desirable} / Ruin {if seeking Greater Ruin at level 30}
28ED) Mass Frog {try it, you might grow to like it}
29ED) ? Arcane Pulse {likely best overall} / Spirit Blades {if in Shirdai ED} / Dire Charge {unlikely due to poor attack bonuses}
30) ? Burst of Glacial Wrath / Ruin / Improved Augment Summoning / Arcane Insight (if sloting Otto's Irrevocable Power) / Embolden Spell / Greater Spell Focus (Evocation)
30LG) Air



Epic Destinies:

Primal (for raids?)
Shirdai (for R1~6 quests) {Druid falls apart in Reaper 8+, like most other builds}

Twists:
1) Tier Four: Draconic Energy Burst (fire/cold) given the new immunity breaker, and the lack of AoE spells
2) Tier Three: Magistar [Evocation Spell School] Augmentation
3) Tier Two: Magistar [Evocation Spell School] Specialist
4) Tier Two: Draconic Precise Casting: Evocation
5) Empty due to upgrading slot four



Spells ~ see the list of useful spells on DDO wiki:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Spell_usefulness#Druid

[Silverleafeon]

New final build
Pure Wisdom Caster Druid with focus on SLAs & DCs


Aasimar Scourge ~ requires +1 heart to get rid of ranger 1
or Aasimar as desired

Str 08 (0)
Dex 08 (0)
Con 16 (10)
Int 16 (10)
Wis 20 (16)
Cha 08 (0) {Given the reduced casting time of reincarnation, cha focus is less necessary}



Skills in order of importance:

Concentration max
Spellcraft max
Heal max
Tumble 1 rank
Balance 10 ranks
Jump 10 ranks
UMD max
Perform max if planning Shirdai ED
Search max if planning on finding hidden doors via scrolled Find Traps spell




Feats

1) Maximize
3) Completionist
6) Empower
9) Enlarge
12) Quicken
15) Spell Focus (Evocation)
18) Heighten
21) ? Past Life: Arcane Initiate / Extend (if in Fire Form) / Augment Summoning (more desirable given removal of Pet Death Penalty) / Wellspring of Power (if sloting Otto's Irrevocable Power)
24) Master of the Wild {Given the decrease in SLA cooldowns this becomes more desirable}
26ED) ? Epic Skill Focus (Spellcraft) / Epic Spellpower (Fire/Cold/Electric) {unsure if overall +5 universal <=> +20 one element?}
27) Intensify {Given the decrease in SLA cooldowns this becomes more desirable} / Ruin {if seeking Greater Ruin at level 30}
28ED) Mass Frog {try it, you might grow to like it}
29ED) ? Arcane Pulse {likely best overall} / Spirit Blades {if in Shirdai ED} / Dire Charge {unlikely due to poor attack bonuses}
30) ? Burst of Glacial Wrath / Ruin / Improved Augment Summoning / Arcane Insight (if sloting Otto's Irrevocable Power) / Embolden Spell / Greater Spell Focus (Evocation)
30LG) Air



Epic Destinies:

Primal (for raids?)
Shirdai (for R1~6 quests) {Druid falls apart in Reaper 8+, like most other builds}

Twists:
1) Tier Four: Draconic Energy Burst (fire/cold) given the new immunity breaker, and the lack of AoE spells
2) Tier Three: Magistar [Evocation Spell School] Augmentation
3) Tier Two: Magistar [Evocation Spell School] Specialist
4) Tier Two: Draconic Precise Casting: Evocation
5) Empty due to upgrading slot four



Spells ~ see the list of useful spells on DDO wiki:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Spell_usefulness#Druid



Enhancements

Racial

Aasimar/Scourage (pretty much the same tree for a caster)

Take all Cores = 5 points spent ~ you want all of these regardless

Tier One Aasimar Improved Recovery = 2 points spent

Tier Two Arcanum = 6 points spent ~ somewhere along here become optional

Tier Three Aasimar Improved Recovery = 2 points spent

Tier Four Aasimar Improved Recovery = 2 points spent (definately optional)

{Why the push for Healing Amp? Because Druid Casters rarely get more than an occasional Cocoon from other party members.}



NATURE'S PROTECTOR {Optional goal to get +2 Wis at a cost of 24ish action points} {Also Hybrids might consider this path}

Cores 1 thru 5 = 5 points spent

Tier One:
Improved Nature's Defense: Competence bonus PRR MRR 4/8/12 = 3 points spent (total = 8)

Tier Two:
Improved Nature's Defense: Competence bonus Saving Throws = 3 points spent (total = 11)
Thick Hide: Nature Armor Bonus 2/4 = 2 points spent (total = 13)

Tier Three:
+1 Wisdom = 2 points spent (total = 15)
Spirit Refreshed = 2 points spent (total = 17)
Ursa Protector: While in bear form nature's defense now does +15/20/25 % to max hp = 3 points spent (total = 20)

Tier Four:
+1 Wisdom = 2 points spent (total = 22)
Spirit Refreshed = 2 points spent (total = 24)



SEASONS HERALD most important tree for casters

Cores: Take all six = 6 points spent (total = 6)

Tier One:
Wax and Wane = 2 points spent (total = 8)
Produce Flame = 3 points spent (total = 11)
Druidic Wisdom = 3 points spent (total = 14) ~ double universal spellpower optional
Shared Spirit = 3 points spent (total = 17) ~ double universal spellpower optional

Tier Two:
Wax and Wane = 2 points spent (total = 19)
Creeping Cold = 3 points spent (total = 22)

Tier Three:
Autumn Leaves = 1 point spent (total = 23)
Wax and Wane = 2 points spent (total = 25)
Call Lighting = 3 points spent (total = 28)
Wisdom = 2 points spent (total =30)

Tier Four
Spring Resurgence = 3 points spent (total = 33)
Strength of the Solstice = 2 points spent (total = 35)
Wax and Wane = 2 points spent (total = 37)
Salt Ray = 3 points spent (total = 40)
Wisdom = 2 points spent (total = 42)

Tier Five
Crown of Summer = 1 point spent (total = 43)
Master of the Elements = 3 points spent (total = 46)
Time and Time again = 2 points spent (total = 48)
Word of Balance = 3 points spent (total = 51)
Armor of Winter = 2 points spent (total = 53)

One could remove the six optional points from tier one to drop down to 47 points for a hybrid build.

One could add Tier two Action Boost for an additional three points, increasing to 56 points spent in the tree.

Also of interest are the Metamagic Cost Reducers which could increase the tree cost by 18 points for a total of 74 points.

[Silverleafeon]

llllllllll

Older build

Fawngate of Khyber
Dragonborn
Current Life working towards Ravenloft
Build for last life Aasimar Scourge

Goal of Build = Spellcasting Crowd Control plus Spellcasting DPS
Focus on better SLAs


Stats
Str 10
Dex 06
Con 16
Int 16
Wis 18 {all level ups here}
Cha 10

Feats

Auto Grant: Racial Completionist
Auto Grant: +7 tomes all stats
Auto Grant: All Epic Past Lives
Auto Grant: +2 Fate Tome

1) Maximize
3) Completionist
6) Empower
9) Enlarge
12) Quicken
15) Spell Focus Evocation
18) Heightened
21) Extend
24) Master of the Wild
26ED) Epic Skill Focus Spellcraft
27) Intensify
28ED) Mass Frog
29ED) Spirit Blades or Arcane Pulse?
30) Burst of Glacial Wrath
30Leg) Scion of Fire



Skill Points
Tumble 2 ranks
Concentration - Full
Spellcraft - Full
Heal - Full
Balance - 2 ranks
Jump 9 ranks
Intimidate Full (but unlikely to use)
Preform Full
rest of points into Swim (which is rumored to affect float speed)



Equipment:

Legendary Pansophic Circlet (and heroic version) - making you an strong healer without even trying
Legendary Spinneret
Bauble, Ring of Spell Storing, ect for Spell Points
Stack of store sp pots for emergencies
Stack of Heal scrolls for emergencies
Stack of all typical potions
Spell Components shown on hot bar for keeping track of especially dried black roses
Heroic Concordant Greensteel items
Heroic Greensteel spell clickies including Solid Fog, Cloudkill, Haste, Displacement often on Qstaff for increased duration
Dragonmarked armor for Wolf
Various Collars for Wolf
End Game Armor for Wolf which includes fortification (something any wolf needs badly)
Spell Absorption items such as Ioun Stone, etc...
Legendary Greensteel +HP equipment
Legendary Greensteel Salt one handed weapon
Legendary Greensteel Vacuum one handed weapon

Stuff in progress:
Mostly complete Heroic Slayers Caster Set
Cannith Crafted level 15 and level 23 Caster Gear
Still working on Legendary Slayers Caster Set (should have taken more Broken Shackles)
Adding Fire&Lighting&Ice spellpower to Slavers Set
Starting to replace Legendary Greensteel Ozze Weapon with Fire & Lighting spellpower (stacks with normal spellpower)
Made a Freezing Legendary Greensteel Weapon

Planning on
Sentient Ravenloft Elemental Club

Heroic Action Points:
Most everything into most all of Season's Herald Tree.
23 Racial Points taking all in tier 3 & 4 along with health/amp plus spell pen and dragon's breath.

[Silverleafeon]

Since DDO is a 32-bit program, there has been mention of avoiding running other programs on a 64-bit machine in case you clog up to memory as a 32 bit program might not be able to access all your memory?

Such could cause an odd sort of lag?

[Silverleafeon]

A few thoughts after update 38:


Enhancement points all went into racial & season's herald trees.

The only thing not taken in Season's Herald was beguile.

Racial Aasimar tree went after all cores, all healing amp, spell pen


At the level 21 build option point, started with Wellspring of Power on the thought of reslotting sentient weapon, however when faced with the option of soloing Devil Assault with hires, went to Fred to feat swap over to extend.

Level 27 and under hires did fine on EN Devil Assault while extend allowed me to divide my attention elsewhere.

Keeping Extend atm, picked Ruin with my eye on DQ1&2 runs.

Finding that Body of the Sun is definitely better now that Druids have anti Fire/Cold immunity options.
Upon first hit occasionally a monster will register a single fire immunity, however the very next fire hit will definitely do normal damage.

Call Lightning Storm has gone from blah to useful, and combining extended Body of Sun along with meta Call Lighting yields a aura like effect that has its own playstyle if one is feeling lazy.

The toggle Elemental Wild Shape button is actually helpful to reduce eyestrain of Body of Sun, although I still recommend avoiding summoning any Fire Elementals while in Fire Form.
Its possible other players can see my toon easier as well, so this "cosmetic" effect actually has in game benefits.

The reduction of cooldowns on the various SLAs yields a much more comfortable flow with cycling SLAs without having to dip into high costing spells as often.

Earthquake remains its reliable CC spell, there seems to be zero nerfs stealth of otherwise there which is a relief.

There is likely more work upcoming on Primal ED as there was talk of changing how spirits charge etc...
Nice to see the Dev spent their time on our requests first.

The two new Acid Dots worked nicely in the limited usage that I have done so far.


Healing is definitely a pleasure.
Healing Hands, Winter's Heart, reduced casting time for Reincarnation added to Heal along with two strong Healing over time mass spells makes a strong healer if one desires.
Still feel Healing Hands is worth going one of the Aasimar races.



Overall, the new and improved Druid is more fun to play.
There is much less concern over immunity and more access to power in various forms.
Definitely not too powerful, but definitely funner to play.


Looking forward to equipping end game gear and seeing how the final build works out.

[Silverleafeon]

Quote of the week (since we usually never get this kind of info):



From Steelstar:

The general numbers we’ve used for getting the Named Loot Table in the last few years’ worth of updates:

Normal/Epic Normal: 10%
Hard/Epic Hard: 16%
Elite/Epic Elite: 33%

Reaper boosts Elite’s numbers by 1% per skull, I believe.

The potions directly add to those numbers, so a 5% potion would push each of those up by 5.

Sev~

[Silverleafeon]

Went thru several feat/tree swaps for the optional feats for the current build:


Ruin & Greater Ruin ~ with the changes to elemental immunity breaking, an full scale elemental approach via leg slave master's staff & Ravenloft belts yields amble results without resorting to the force damage of Ruin Duo (bear in mind my elemental spell power is considerably higher)

Augment Summoning, Improved Augment Summoning, Leg Pet Scion ~ rather nice but not really outstandingly needed; reaper is still terribly hard on pets, feats could be spend elsewhere better

Extend spell ~ being able to have Body of Sun last a full minute (same amount of time that Call Lightning storm lasts) is very convenient and more efficient by far, even if one alternates seasons. For a Fire or Fire/Cold build its highly recommended (take at level 21). For those only using Cold seasons, you can skip this feat. The loss of 1 DC by not taking Greater Spell Focus is more than made up for by the increased ability in playing options.

Intensify ~ worth taking at level 27

Master of the Wilds ~ worth taking at level 24

Burst of Glacial Wrath ~ this spell is not affected by off season penalties and grants a druid a rare AoE spell; worth taking for Fire or Cold builds; the CC is a bonus that works rather well with high wisdom

Mass Frog ~ definitely worth taking at level 28

Scion of the Plane of Air ~ recently did some very rough math and this feat is pretty much equal in overall damage compared to Scion of the Plane of Fire when used by a Druid (within 1%ish which would hardly be noticed); with damage being almost equal, it would seem the increase in DCs makes this the superior feat for druids to take.

With the definite decision to go Scion of Air, Fawn adjusted her focus more on DCs:
Earthquake in Elite = 90 DC +6 in reaper +1 Primal Spirit Boon mental
along with possible -10 magistar twist debuff & possible -4 mantle of icy soul debuff


Current Epic Destiny: Primal
all Wis
full Cocoon
full natural shielding
full Tsunami
Summon Dryad Elder (who helped the party against red named boss last night)
Spirit Boon Mental

Twists:
Evocation Augmentation
Evocation Specialist
Precise Evocation
Stay Frosty
Endless Faith


Enhancement trees:

Aasimar ~ 19 points
all cores
all healing amp
all spell pen

Season's Herald ~ 73 points
everything but Beguile

Equipment
5 piece slavers set
5 piece Leg Greensteel set ~ Mat & Dom = spell point bonus = 6k spell points
Ravenloft belt and armor
Cannith Crafted insight wisdom (will be finding the armor from House J someday)


Spells

All the lastest update improved spells are now worth considering using which is nice.

[Silverleafeon]

If you are using Summons, Level 27 Cleric >>> Level 25 Favored Soul.

Also, went afk for quite awhile in an assault type dungeon on Elite and came back to find the everyone dead (including Fawn) except Animated Scarecrow level 30 who at 1/3 health was almost done cleaning up the dungeon. Highly recommended if you can afford the luxury expansion.

[Silverleafeon]

Currently:

Aasimar 17
Season's Herald 51
Falconry 16
Harper 8

Swapped
Extend -> Augment Summoning
Intensify -> Improved Augment Summoning
Scion of Air -> Scion of Elysium
Primal ED -> Magistar

Not posting thus on front page, because it a pet build variant for soloing various quest like Devil's Assault.


So far liking "killer instinct II" from the falconry tree even if using Legendary Slave Master's Staff on a raid boss with zero melee feats or equipment.
Seems worthwhile.


I think I could let go of extend metamagic, even possibly keeping augment summoning as a replacement.
However, if I was running high reaper (this build did fine in r5 except for lack of group tank), likely would press for higher DCs.

Still need the Wis 20 item from Ravenloft and the Ins Wis 9 from House J to beef up stats, but definitely happy with the 6k sp gained from Leg Greensteel set which comes in handy for raids like Babba...