Introduction:Low level dueling is gaining popularity, and with this guide I will show you how to make an effective level 30 wind druid. The elemental is one of my favorite builds, and it is very fun to duel with. Faster run walk will be a very important for this build, as it is the only way you have to catch up to people.
This druid will do great against melee, sorceresses, and many other builds. This character will not do so great against PnB necromancers, trap assassins, and bow amazons. This druid is also a great team dueler, which is one of the best and most fun aspects of low level dueling.
Abbreviations:Frw - Faster run walk
Fcr - Faster cast rate
Fhr - Faster hit recovery
Skill Placement:At level 30, you will have 41 skill points to work with. Yes, this will require you to be grushed, which is accepted in low level dueling on most realms. Your skill placement should look like this:
1 Oak Sage
1 Arctic Blast
18 Cyclone Armor
13 Twister
7 Tornado
1 Hurricane
This is my recommended skill placement, if you would like to be more effective for team dueling, or if you would like to have more life, you can sub out points from cyclone armor or twister and put more into oak sage. You can also sub out 1 point from twister and put it into cyclone armor. I do not recommend either of these, because more points into oak or cyclone armor are not necessary in my opinion, and twister helps your hurricane damage.
Attribute Placement:At level 30, you will have 160 attribute points at your dispense. My Stats before gear are as follows: (these are after all 160 points are placed)
40 Strength
80 Dexterity
100 Vitality
20 Energy
In order to achieve max block when using *Rhyme bone shield*, you will need 90 dexterity. Keep in mind you will be receiving 10 dexterity from your boots, *Sander’s Riprap*. If you decide to use something other than my recommended gear, your stats may vary slightly. Basically, you will need enough strength for gear, enough dexterity for max block rate, and the rest into vitality.
Why should I max block, you might ask. The reason for this is in order to be a competitive low level dueler, you need to be well rounded. You do not want to be destroyed by chargers and melees.
Gear:(*) Items with stars mean recommended by me.
Helm:For your druid’s helm, you have a couple recommended options:
1. *+2 elemental +3 tornado pelt*.
This helm can be improved with more mods. Desired mods to look for are;
+ to summon grizzly
+ to hurricane
+ to oak sage
+10% faster hit recovery
2 sockets
+ to summon wolves
+ to cyclone armor.
Here is my pelt.
2. *+2 elemental +20 Fcr +30 frw circlet*
Only use a circlet if you can find one with these mods.
Here is my circlet.
Shield:For your druid’s shield, you have two options:
1. *Rhyme bone shield.*
This helps your block rate, gives cannot be frozen, and also has low requirements.
2. Sigon shield
This will cause you to put many extra points into strength in order to use, but will power up your damage. If you decide to use this, put a -15 requirements jewel preferably with a useful mod.
Weapon:*35% Fcr 45 or less strength spirit sword.*
Armor:1. *Stealth Runeword (Tal eth)*
This armor will give you great Frw, Fcr, and Fhr. All three are very good on an elemental druid. This will also save you 6 points that you would have to put into dexterity.
2. Skin of the vipermagi
This armor is very good for elemental druids as well, and probably the more common armor used by them. Try to find a 35 resist one with 13 magic damage reduction.
Belt:This varies greatly depending on gear you use. If you use a pelt, you will need a *10% Fcr belt.* If you use a circlet with 20% Fcr, you can either use:
1. String of ears
Gives 15% damage reduction, helping greatly against melee.
2. 24% Fhr Belt
If you choose to use this, you should look for 50-60 life mod.
Ideally, you can use a 24% fhr belt with faster cast rate on it, this must be crafted, and is extremely rare. My belt is 10% fcr +24 fhr, level 29 requirement.
Rings:*Two stone of Jordans.*
Amulet:*+2 elemental +10 faster cast rate + mods amulet*
If you do not need the fcr due to using a 20% fcr circlet, you can look for good mods and not need to find the fcr mod.
Gloves:*Magefist*
Boots:1. *Sander’s riprap*
These give 40% frw, and also 15 stats in total.
2. +30% Frw +10% fhr rare boots
These should only be used if you need the 10% fhr in order to hit the desired breaking point.
Offhand:+17 mediation insight (45 or less strength required)
This is used on almost all low level dueling characters, because it quickly regenerates mana when you run out.
Inventory:Any combination of:
+15 life small charms
+3% faster run walk small charms
Some like to use 40x 15 life small charms
Others use 40x 3% frw small charms
I recommend you experiment with both, but on mine I plan on using 20 of each.
Fcr and Fhr breaking points:Fcr:4
10
19
30
46
68
*99* - recommended by Butters
163
Fhr:3
7
13
19
29
42
63
*99* - Recommended by Butters
174
In order to achieve the desired fhr bp, put sheal in your helm if needed. If not needed, put a perfect skull in it because the replenish life is extremely beneficial in duels.
Dueling:This one is up to you to find your own dueling strategy. I can tell you one thing though, practice makes perfect. This druid should achieve 1,000+ tornado if using a pelt, and a 300ish damage hurricane.
The End
This post was edited by buttersdan on Sep 4 2006 09:09pm