Myrddrall9’s PvP Fury/Rabies Guide
IntroductionThe purpose of this guide is to reintroduce a relatively unknown and underestimated dueler to D2JSP. That dueler is the fury/rabies wolf druid. Now if you are looking for a dueler that will clear a pub game 7v1 then please look elsewhere. If you are expecting to win every single duel you take part in look elsewhere. However if you are looking for a character that is unusual, fun to play, and effective in duels then this character is for you. There is no greater complement from a player then something to the effect of “Wow nice wolf!” etc. Anyway on to the guide.
Author’s note- The build itself and gear options are not my own. The build is the work of several people that I will credit in the appropriate section. This guide is based upon their work and my own experiences dueling with my wolf as well as my own insights into the character. I will also include note about pure fury wolves in the dueling sections as well as the 2 characters are very similar.
Stats Wolves are unique in the sense that they receive relatively small amounts of health from points assigned into vitality in comparison to other classes. Druids receive pathetic health points per stat, 2 health per every point. They reach such high health through the use of the lycanthropy ability, Battle Orders, and Oak sage, which magnify the base health tremendously. SO don’t be too worried if you end up spending more stat points then normal, your wolf will still have good health.
Strength-As with all characters enough to hold all of your gear. However DO NOT rely on Enigma for this, you should be able to wear all of your gear besides Crown of Ages in any combination (you will use Enigma and COA together).
Dexterity-This should be enough for max block when using 2 angelic rings and stormshield.
Vitality-All remaining points go here.
Energy-Do not place any here. This is for town bear druids only!
Note: When statting for strength EBODTZ should never be included. However when statting for dexterity it MAY be included. However take note that if you do this you won’t achieve max block while using a different weapon without 2 Ravenfrosts.
Equipment The fury/rabies build is not as nearly as expensive as a pure fury wolf but you will need some wealth to make it work. The more you put into this character, the more you will get out of it.
HelmsJalal’s Mane-This is your primary helm. Every mod on it is useful, from skills to FHR to resistances. This will rarely leave your wolf’s head. Socket this with an FHR/ED/other mods jewel. However do not build the strength in, tempting though it may be because then you couldn’t use these other helms…
Crown of Ages- This helm has two uses. The first is far less useful however it is still an option. COA’s first use is against smiters, where you would use a 2 handed weapon. This is an impractical approach however (see dueling strategies). The other, far more valuable use is against wind druids. This will allow you to maintain 50% DR and use a 2 handed weapon which would be suicidal otherwise.
Guillaume's Face-This helm is only for pure melee duels and I’d only use it for wolf versus wolf. The sheer amount of crushing blow this helm provides, along with some deadly strike, will prove very effective against your high life opponent.
Cerebus’ Bite-Many people I’ve seen in public games have asked about this helm. It seems good but in reality Jalal’s will serve you much better. The only advantage over Jalal’s it has is attack rating and open wounds, and that’s only if it spawns with +4 to shape skills.
ArmorEnigma-Even though I said not to stat to this armor, I find myself using it over all others. The +2 to skills aids with BO, Rabies, Oak Sage, Lycanthropy, Werewolf, and Fury, which is very helpful, especially the additional Rabies damage in combination with the higher life. Enigma also offers 45% Faster Run Walk, which allows you to keep up with casters easier. It also provides some DR, which is useful in reaching the 50% cap.
Fortitude-This is also a highly useful armor offering resistance, life per level (not Boable) and most importantly 300 ED%! This armor is more useful versus barbs, smiters, or other opponents that don’t move around much.
Bramble-This is another invaluable armor in this wolf’s arsenal, perhaps even more important then Fortitude. The Rabies damage that results from using this armor is significant. It also provides a massive 50 Faster Hit Recovery and 100 poison resistance, invaluable verses some duelers.
Jeweler’s Armors-To be honest I am too poor to own these
However for this build they seem to be unnecessary. If you have one use it, but I feel these would go better on a pure fury wolf.
Belts
Verdungo’s-This is the first choice for a belt merely because it’s easy to find. The only really useful mods are the 15% DR and the 10% FHR. The +Vita is useful, but not magnified by BO or lycanthropy. Replenish life is marginally useful, Defense is useless on a wolf, and REPLENSIH STAMINA COME ON!!!
Crafted belts-If you can get one of these use this over Dungos. These can have 24 FHR 10% open wounds, a max of 60 Life (magnified by your skills!) and varying resists. A good one will cost an arm and a leg though.
M'avina's Tenet-Only use this belt if you need the FRW.
Tgod’s-Use this belt verses hard hitting lightning characters. Take note that your resistances must already be stacked for this belt to have any effect.
GlovesTrangs-These will be your most used gloves because of the Rabies damage they provide.
Bloodfists-If at anytime you don’t need to use Rabies use these. They provide 40 Boable life, 30 FHR, and some minimum damage. Awesome gloves.
Rings and Amulet-These kind of go together because which amulet you are using will determine what rings you are using.
Angelic Amulet-Usable with one or two of the rings the partial set provides 75 life and MASSIVE attack rating along with 10 dexterity. These are useful mainly verses barbs and pallys as these are the only classes capable of massive defense.
Highlords-This amulet is invaluable for the 35% deadly strike as well as the lightning resistance. The +1 skill helps with Rabies and your other skills as well.
Note: If you can get an 08 Highlords you are set. The useless Faster Attack Speed is replaced with FRW making this amulet extremely valuable. However most are dupes so please be aware of that.
Mara’s-This amulet could be useful when dealing with casters as it gives you a higher BO level as well as increased resistances.
+3 shape skills/Life amulet-This amulet is used when you are using rabies as a primary damage dealer. This will increase rabies damage significantly as well as boost your health by a large amount (100 Boable life).
Ravenfrosts-These rings are used with any amulet other then Angelics. They provide a substantial Attack Rating boost, though not nearly as much as Angelics. These also provide 20% cold absorb each, especially useful against orbers.
Rare rings-I suppose ones with AR, high life, and resists could be used in certain situations over Ravens. These will cost a lot compared to Ravens however.
Wisps/Dstars-Only use these for sorb and of them the wisps will be far more useful.
BootsGores-These are self-explanatory as all of their mods are useful for wolves and melee characters in general.
Hotspurs-Only needed for fire-based characters.
Aldur’s Boots-These boots are highly useful caster killers, providing 40 FRW, 50 Boable life, and 50 to fire res. I often use these verses all types of casters.
Rare boots-Yes the godly rares work on a wolf too. Just make sure they have 30 FRW. Again these may be dupes and will always be very expensive.
Weapons-This is the most important choice for your wolf and the ability to obtain the best version of these weapons will have the most impact on your overall character performance.
Shield Stormshield-This shield is the only option for this druid. “Ber” it if you are using a crafted or rare belt, otherwise socket it with a FHR/Enhanced Damage jewel.
One handed weaponsEBODTZ- Breath of the Dying, in an Ethereal Berserker Axe. This weapon is the mainstay of the Fury/rabies wolf and many Fury wolves use this weapon as well. It hits at 9/5 Fury (this means that the first attack will take 9 frames to complete and the successive attacks will take 5. 25 frames=1 second). The raw damage is extremely good and it is range 3 allowing for easier hits. You will use this for the vast majority of your duels.
Grief Phase Blade-Another extremely good weapon. Like the EBODTZ it hits 9/5 fury however it is only range 2. It has great mods such as –25% target defense, -20-25% to enemy poison resistance, and most importantly 20% deadly strike. It also has its most famous mod, 340-400 + damage. This has a higher average damage then EBODTZ but lower maximum. This weapon is the great equalizer in fury duels. I used to duel someone that had a much better wolf then me (and he was pure fury) and I was able to beat him by using grief. However it may be considered BM in some melee circles so be aware of that.
Rares-A godly rare for a fury wolf is one of the more expensive items in the game. Usually found in phase blades or fanged knifes these normally possess cruel, fools, 2 sockets, 40 Base IAS, and may be eth or eth/repair. If you happen to have one of these it is much better suited to a pure fury wolf. However feel free to use it and gloat immensely to all other shape druids.
Two-handed weapons-These weapons are used mainly versus casters or any opponent that does not have a blockable attack.
Ethereal Tom Reaver (3 sockets)-This weapon is the ideal for 2 handed weapons. It is a range 4 weapon and when socked with 40/15 jewels will hit 7/4 fury speed as well as reaching 900-1000 maximum damage (shown on weapon). ETOMB also provides up to 50 resistances making it an ideal anti-caster weapon.
EBOTD Greater Pole axe-The other main 2 handed weapon, EBOTD GPA has a range of 5 and a fury speed of 8/5. Honestly I prefer ETOMB to this weapon as it is faster and provides resistances. The advantages to using EBOTD GPA are the increased range (useful if you are going 2 handed versus smiters) and its drastically cheaper price.
Switch Weapons-These weapons you will have on you alternate weapon slots.
Call To Arms/Spirit Monarch-Use these for Battle Orders.
Death’s Web/ 20/20 Poison Faceted Monarch-These are used in the Rabies Flash Switch (explained in dueling section below). If you are incredibly rich use a JMOD (Jeweler’s Monarch of Deflection) as this will enable you to have better block when you do the flash switch and will protect you better for the fraction of a second that the switch takes place then a regular monarch. Plus you gain style points if it’s legit.
CharmsHellfire Torch/Anni-Get these as high as possible, stats being more important then resistances. However take resistances carefully into account, as these charms are an important source of them. I’d rather have an 18/20 torch then a 20/14 for example.
Shape Grand Charms-Get these with as high life as possible. These are relatively cheap compared with skillers for other classes. These are necessary for high Rabies damage.
Small Charms-You have room for 10 small charms. One of these must be a FHR charm. Ideally this should have Attack rating on it. The other charms should all have life and Attack rating or attack rating/damage or resistances. I prefer charms with life and resistances, as your attack rating should be high enough already and your resistances are the thing that suffers with this build.