Fissure Druids are nice at levels 29-30 but tend to be beaten by the majority of other casters due to cast delay, lower damage, and inability to effectively compete vs necs/hammerdins/sorcs ect.
At levels 15-20 however they shine quite well, my guide is for a level 18 one.
The most important aspects to this build are damage, life, and regen. Max block is another critical aspect if you are facing melee characters. This build is not meant for quick and easy killing, as the damage is rather low. It is a build requiring patience and tactics.
Gear:Helms:+3 Fissure 3 socket Druid pelt. Other auto-mods you would like would be Oak Sage, Firestorm, or Molten Boulder.
+1 Elemental Skills/10% FHR/+3 Fissure/2 Socket magical Druid pelt.
This would be your ideal dream helm. socket these with either P Rubies (+38 Life), or P Skulls (+5 Replenish life/19% Mana regen). Its a choice between life or regen
I find regen to be much more beneficial.
AmuletAngelic Wings, Set Amulet
This helps to give you the set bonus given by 2 Angelic pieces (+75 life/10 Dex)
+1 Elemental Skills/25-40 Life/8-10 Replenish Life Amulet
Another dream item, this amulet could also spawn with resists, mana, or stats.
Armor:Stealth Light Plate (Or any Light armor)
25% FRW/FHR/15% Mana Regen are nice bonuses and are all very beneficial. You also get +6 Dex and 30% Psn Resist
3 P Skull Light Plate/4 P Skull Gothic Plate
Have one of these depending on your STR in the stash when Regen is necessary
Weapon:+1 Elemental skills/2 Socket club.
socket this with the 2 best stat jewels you can find for level 18. The optimal jewel would be 6 dex/4 str/8 life/15 mana.
Mine has 4 str/5 dex/5 energy and 4 str/4 life/4 energy jewels. The STR allows me to use Sigon's Shield.
Switch: +1 Summoning skills/2 Socket club.
socket with 2x+4 str jewels
Shield:Sigon's Shield
+1 Skills, socket with a -15% Req jewel. Mine has a -15% Req/10 resist all jewel in it
Deflecting mod/2 socket shield.
You can shop these easy from hell anya/drognan. The ideal magical one is a Vulpine Bone/Spiked Shield of deflecting (7%-12% Damage To Mana [DTM], 30% Faster Block, 20% Increased Block). These have a 50% chance of getting 2 sockets from larzuk
Rare shields of this type have the chance to spawn with FHR/Life/Resists/DTM/2 Sockets/Deflecting Mods. these are your optimal shields against Melee and when you need to have 75% Resist all.
here is the shield i used:
socket this with P Diamonds for Resist.
Switch: Sigons Tower Shield, socketed with -15% req jewel.
GlovesBloodfists. 30% FHR/40 Life
RingsAngelic Ring
+8 Replenish Manald
These will give you +14 Replenish life, 20% Mana regen, and the Angelic helps to give you the set bonus mentioned above
Belt24%FHR/30-40 Life is your standard aim. Additional mods would be 3-5 str/3-5 replenish life/mana/resists.
I used a 24/40/4 replen
Boots:Viper Track
30% FRW/20% FHR/21 Life/7% Lit Resist/24% Fire Resist
Kind of scarce duped classic boots if you don't mind using dupes. FHR/Life is a great bonus
Cow Kings Hooves, Set Boots
+20 Dex/30% FRW helps alot
Charms:Smalls - 15 Life, with 5-7 Mana/Resists as the desired 2nd mod. fill invent with these.
Grands - 7% FRW, with 26-33 Mana as the desired 2nd mod. use 3x of these.
I pretty much think that having ~85-90% FRW is enough for this build (20 from charms/25 from stealth/30 from Boots). As for FHR i find 48% enough, but getting 86% is not that hard (30 from gloves/24 from belt/17 from shield/25 from stealth)
Skills/StatsHell rushed will have 29 Skills.
18 into Firestorm
1 into Molten Boulder
7 into Fissure
3 into Oak Sage
Str - Enough to wear sigs on switch w/ +8 str on the club (so 56)
Dex - I have base because of Cow Kings/Angelic dex boost.
Vit - Rest
Ene - Zero
DuelingYou will have to play defensively, as Fissure will only be doing near 400 dmg at this level. have molten bolder/firestorm as your left click spell. Be sure to cast Oak sage on switch for +2 more into (10% more life).
When facing melee/chargers/hammerdins (anything needing to be close to you to hit), try to draw them into you by sitting in the fissure, and having them chase you into their demise.
Long range casters you will have to try to play a little more offensively, as fissure has limited range, especially vs Necros/Throw barbs. Be sure to have oak resummoned whenever it dies on switch.
If your opponent is stuck in hit animation while running through fissure try to land a couple firestorms in and duck out.
Once again, this build is virtually 90% defensive, and is not your cookie cutter build. its still a fun alternative to hacking melee and other stereotyped 18 casters.
btw you wont kill a hammersin with this build so just negate his damage with duskdeep and melee each other.any comments or questions feel free to post em.