Wind Druids Explained
A Comprehensive Guide to MF/PVM/PVP
By MrShowtime

Introduction:
In this guide I will explain how to build a proper wind druid that can handle any and all situations (PvP, PvM, and even Magic Finding). Aside from Hammerdins, they are the most versatile characters and if built right, they can be a ton of fun. This guide will show you how to build a versatile druid that can tank a Whirlwind, chase down a Sorceress, magic find, teleport for Baal runs, and even reach the 5 Frame FHR when needed. This guide is broken down into 11 parts:
1. Introduction: What you are reading right now
2. Skills: How to properly distribute skill points
3. Stat Points: How to properly distribute stat points
4. Breakpoints: FCR/FHR tables
5. Mercenary: gear him up right
6. Pelt Selection
7. PvM: Baaling/Leveling
a. Gear
b. Strategies
8. Magic Find: Yes you CAN Magic Find with your druid!
a. Gear
b. Strategies
9. PvP Gear: The proper gear for PvP success
a. Faster Cast Gear
b. Max Block Gear
c. Max Damage Gear
d. Faster Hit Recovery Gear
11. PvP Strategy: Brief Strategy of what setup to use vs. each class.
11. Outro
As you can see, this guide will be a long and in depth. Before you read on, please note the following:
*this guide is based on my Ladder Season 3 druid (on his 3rd and final revision) and does not contain any “bugged items” or “godly dupes”. This build is meant to be used across all realms, ladder and non-ladder.
*The Completion level for this build is HIGH, level 95.
*This guide is written so that a person that has never built a Wind Druid can build an effective one, so even the simplest details have been included.

Skills:
Elemental Tab:
Arctic Blast: 1 Point (pre-requisite)
Cyclone Armor: 20 Points (Cold/Fire/Light Absorb and synergy)
Twister: 20 Points (synergy)
Tornado: 20 Points (your main attack)
Hurricane: 20 Points (synergy and your secondary weapon)

Shapeshifting Tab:
None

Summoning Tab:
Raven: 1 Point (pre-requisite and fun)
Summon Spirit Wolf: 1 Point (tanks for PvP / PvM)
Oak Sage: 20 Points (+ 5% More Life per level)
Summon Dire Wolf: 1 Point (pre-requisite)
Summon Grizzly: 1 Point (tank and good damage)
Poison Creeper: 1 Point (used in certain PVP situations)

This adds up to 106 Skill Points.
You get 12 Points for in game quests and 1 point every time you level, so as stated above you must reach Level 95 to have your skills exactly as stated above. If you don’t want to level that high, you can disregard Poison Creeper (especially if you aren’t going to PVP) and just subtract the remaining points from Oak Sage. If you are going to use this character for PVP I would highly recommend reaching Level 95. There are a lot of good duelers out there and you need every advantage you can get.

Stat Points:
As a Druid you will start out with your base stats like this:

Strength: 15
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 25
Energy: 20

You get 5 Stat points every time you “level up” and a total of 15 stat points from in game quests. If you level to 95 like this build recommends, you will have a total of 485 Stat Points to distribute. They should be distributed as follows

Strength: Enough to wear all your gear in all modes.
Dexterity: Enough for Max Block at your level using “Max Block Mode”
Vitality: Everything Else
Energy: 0

With the gear options listed in the upcoming sections you will be able to have close to base strength and equip all your gear at your completion level. You won’t need to waste many points in strength. As for energy, you will have plenty of mana from your item bonuses, so leave it at base.

Breakpoints:
Faster Cast Rate (FCR): FCR determines how many frames it takes your character to cast a spell (Teleport / Tornado/ etc.). There are different breakpoints that you need to hit to obtain reasonable FCR. We will be focusing on the last two breakpoints (11 and 10 Frame Casting). Anything else is unaccpetable.

Faster Cast Rate Breakpoints (Human Form)

CODE

Frame      |  18  |  17  |  16  |  15  |  14  |  13  |  12  |  11  |  10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FCR needed |  0%  |  4%  |  10% |  19% |  30% |  46% |  68% |  99% |  163%

The FCR that we will use will vary depending on the situation. When using “Max Damage”, “Fast Recovery”, and “Max Block” gear you will be at the 99% Breakpoint and while using “Fast Cast” gear you will be at the 163% Breakpoint. Most people don’t even use the 163% Breakpoint because they consider it too unreasonable. What they fail to realize is how slow druids cast compare to other casters. When dueling against other good casters they will normally be teleporting at an 8 or 9 frame cast rate (and some sorceresses at 7 FPS). Using 99% FCR puts you at 11 frame cast rate, 2-4 frames behind, at 163% that narrows the gap to 1-3 frames which makes it much easier to catch them.

Faster Hit Recovery (FHR): FHR determines how many frames it takes your character to recover from a hit. The druid is unique in that it has 2 FHR tables, one for getting hit with a 2 handed weapon and 1 for all other attacks

Faster Hit Recovery Breakpoints:

CODE

Frame       |  14  |  13  |  12  |  11  |  10  |   9  |   8  |   7  |   6  |    5  |   4   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FHR vs 2 h  |  --  |  0%  |  5%  |  10% |  16% |  26% |  39% |  56% |  86% |  152% |  377% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FHR vs 1 h  |  0%  |  3%  |  7%  |  13% |  19% |  29% |  42% |  63% |  99% |  174% |  456%

We will be using the 6 Frame FHR break point most of the time. That means that we will be at that 99% FHR breakpoint. In certain circumstances you may need the 5 Frame FHR breakpoint. I have included options for this, but we will get into that later.

Faster Block Rate (FBR): FBR is how many frames it takes when a successful block of an opponents attack has been made.

Faster Block Rate Breakpoints

CODE

Frame      |  11  |  10  |   9  |   8  |   7  |   6  |   5  |   4   |  3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FBR needed |  0%  |  6%  |  13% |  20% |  32% |  52% |  86% |  174% |  600%

As with most characters, it is a challenge to increase your FBR and not too important. I am just including the Breakpoints for the sake of being complete.

Mercenary
As with most characters, your mercenary of choice will be an act 2 Mercenary. You go can with whatever you prefer, Prayer, Holy Freeze, or Defiance. I would recommend defiance or Holy Freeze, but the choice is yours. The gear, however, should be the one of the two setups for whichever build.

Setup 1
Helm: Ethereal Ral’ed Andy’s
Armor: Ethereal Glitched Fortitude
Weapon: Ethereal Infinity Colossus Voulge

Setup 2
Helm: Ethereal Glitched Delirium
Armor: Ethereal Glitched Chains of Honor
Weapon: Ethereal Infinity Colossus Voulge

Pelt Selection
One of the most important things is your pelt selection. Important things to look for in a pelt are:
+2 Druid Skills
+3 Tornado
10% Base Fast Hit recovery
+Life
+Resistance
+X Hurricane.
Socket it with a +Resist All/7% FHR Jewel. If you can’t find a pelt with base FHR, then you can take any 2/3 Pelt and socket it with a shael rune. If you can’t find a 2/3 pelt, do NOT make a delirium out of a random +3 Tornado pelt. It is a waste of runes. Wear Jalal’s Mane before wearing a delirium. It has FHR, Strength, and Resistance, which will help out much more than the +3 extra skill levels of tornado.
After finding your pelt, you want to have as much +skills as possible, no less than 17% FHR (this is VERY important as the rest of the guide will be written assuming your pelt gives 17% FHR), as much life as possible, as much +resistance as possible.

PvM
Gear
I will list the gear based on Perfect Stats. If you can’t the perfect version, you can find something close, but just make sure you still hit all the breakpoints listed at the end. SOJ/BK is going to be used throught this guide. The way to decide which ring to use is simple. If you have over 1,000 Mana, use BK's, if you have under 1,000 Mana, use SOJs.
Helm: Rare Pelt
Amulet: +2 D Skills FCR (any > 4%) +20 Str + Resistance
Weapon: “Heart of the Oak” Runeword Flail (40% Resistance)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate
Shield: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch (35% FCR)
Gloves: Frostburn
Ring 1: SoJ / BK
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Ring 2: SoJ / BK
Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks 15/15

Weapon 2: ”Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6/ 6/x)
Shield 2: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch (FCR does not matter)

Inevntory:
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
1x FHR Ele GC
3x Ele GC’s with 30+ Life
1x Tome of TP
1x Keys
5x 20 Life SC’s

This will leave you with a 4x4 area to pick up any goodies that may drop

What is Achieved with this setup:
99% FCR Breakpoint
99% FHR Breakpoint
Maximum Damage
High Mana for teleporting around
High Level Oak Sage for massive life

*Note: you may not have enough strength with base strength to use this exact setup until you are Level 90+ (Remember Enigma’s +Str is 0.75 per level). You have two gear switches you can make until you achieve the appropriate level:
1) Replace your Rare Pelt with Jalal’s Mane (+30 Str)
2) Replace 20 Life SC’s with +2 Str SCs
*Note: You may not show max resistance with this setup but your cyclone armor will absorb most damage anyways, max resistance is NOT necessary for PvM.

Strategies
Well, PvM is quite simple. Cast BC, then BO, cast your 5x wolves, oak sage, hurricane, and cyclone armor. Cast BC and BO again (this second BC cast ups your Oak's skill level and you will get a littlel bit more life). Go find what you want to kill, teleport on it or in front of it and launch tornados until it is dead. Always remember to recast everything when needed. Not much more to elaborate on here

Magic Find
Yes, you can Magic Find with a Wind Druid. Yes, they may not be as fast or have the same range as sorceress, but if your going to spend the effort to level and gear up your druid, then you can easily have a magic find option for this versatile character.

Gear:
Helm: Harlequin Crest socketed with Perfect Topaz (74 MF)
Amulet: +2 D Skills FCR (any > 4%) +20 Str + Resistance
Weapon: “Heart of the Oak” Runeword Flail (40% Resistance)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate (+1% MF Based on Level)
Shield: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch (35% FCR)
Gloves: Chance Guards (40% MF)
Ring 1: SOJ/BK
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Ring 2: SOJ/BK
Boots: War Travelers (50% MF)

Weapon 2: “Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6 / 6 / x)
Shield 2: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch

Inevntory:
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
1x FHR Ele GC
1x Gheed’s Fortune (40% MF)
1x Tome of TP
1x Keys
11x 7% MF SC’s

What is Achieved with this setup:
99% FCR Breakpoint
63% FHR Breakpoint
376% Magic Find (At Level 95)
No Significant Damage Loss
4x4 area to pick up any goodies that may drop

*Note: you may not have enough strength with base strength to use this exact setup until you are Level 90+ (Remember Enigma’s +Str is 0.75 per level and that you lose 5 Strength when switching from Sandstorm Treks to War Travelers but you gain +2 Str when switching from your pelt to a shako). You can replace a couple 7% MF SC’s with +2 Str SC’s until you have enough to wear your Spirit.
*Note: You may not show max resistance with this setup but your cyclone armor will absorb most damage anyways, max resistance is NOT necessary for Magic Finding.

Strategies (Where to MF)
Well, magic finding is ALSO quite simple. Good ares to run aree:
Any Level 85 Areas:

Elditch: Super Unique (located in Act 5: Frigid WP)
Mephisto: Act 3 Boss
Countess: Keys (located in Act 1 the Tower under the Black Marsh)
The Summoner: Keys (located in Act 2: Arcanne Sanctuary)
Nihlithak: Keys/items (located in Act 5: Halls of Vaught)

PvP Gear:
This (in my opinion) is the main reason to make a Wind Druid. It is a very versatile character with little weakness. The First thing I will do is list all the items necessary for a successful PvP druid. You need to have these Items in your stash (or on your character). After that I will list the 4 different modes that you can switch through using the above gear depending on what the situation calls for. This allows for maximum flexibility.

Helms
Rare Druid Pelt
2 D Skills/ 20 FCR/ 2 Socket (Shael / Shael) Circlet

Amulets
18% FCR Amulet (with best bonus stats you can get)
+2 Druid/ + Str / + Dex Amulet
+2 Druid/ + Str/ + FCR Amulet

Weapons
“Heart of the Oak” Runeword Flail (40% Resistance)
Wizard Spike (Socketed with 15% Resistance / 7 FHR Jewel)
“Spirit” Runeword Crystal Sword (35% FCR)
“Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6 / 6 / x)

Armors
“Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate

Shields
“Spirit” Runeword Monarch (35% FCR)
“Spirit” Runeword Monarch (Any % FCR)
Stormshield (Socketed with Ber)

Gloves
Magefist
Trang Oul’s Claws

Rings
1x 10 FCR, +15 Dex, + Mana Rings
1x 10 FCR, +20 Str Ring
2x SOJs or 2x BKs
2x Ravenfrosts (20 Dex)

Belts
Arachnid’s Mesh

Boots
Ethereal Sandstorm Treks (15 / 15)

Charms
9x 30+ Ele Lifers
3x Ele FHR
20/20 Druid Torch
20/20/x Annihilus
10x 20 Life SCs

Below I will list the 4 Gear Setups that you can go with. You will NEED a Fast Cast, Max Block and Max Damage setup, the Faster Hit Recovery one is optional but can come in handy at times

Fast Cast Gear:
This setup will be used when you need that extra FCR to catch up with those fast casters.
Helm: Rare Pelt
Amulet: +18% FCR Amulet
Weapon: Wizardspike (Socketed with +15% Resistance / 7 FHR Jewel)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate
Shield: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch (35% FCR)
Gloves: Magefist (Trang Oul’s Claws vs Cold Based Characters)
Ring 1: FCR Ring with +20 Str, 70+ Mana
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Ring 2: FCR Ring with +15 Dex and 70+ Mana
Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks 15/15

Weapon 2: “Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6 / 6 / x)
Shield 2: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch

Charms:
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
9x Ele GC’s with 30+ Life
10x 20 Life SC’s


What is Achieved with this setup:
163% FCR
99% FHR
High Resistance

*Note: If you don’t have max resistance replace your 20 Life SCs with Life/Res SCs until you have maxed resistance BEFORE applying the Anya quests. Personally my druid has 81 Fire / 84 Light / 106 Cold / 144 Poison (before applying anya quests) in hell mode using this setup.

Max Block Gear:
Every druid should have a max block setup NO MATTER WHAT. All these supposedly “godly” druids that don’t have a block option are a waste of time. Any legitimate BvC or WW-sin will laugh as they destroy them with a couple of quick WW’s. It is also not very hard to attain Max Block with a good switch. People also think you will lose a lot of life going max block, my numbers (located below gear selection) will prove them wrong.

Helm: 2/20/2 (Shael/Shael)
Amulet: +2 Druid/ + Str / + Dex Amulet
Weapon: “Heart of the Oak” Runeword Flail (40% Resistance)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate
Shield: Ber’ed Stomrshield
Gloves: Magefists
Ring 1: Raven Frost (20 Dex)
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Ring 2: Raven Frost (20 Dex)
Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks 15/15

Weapon 2: “Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6 / 6 / x)
Shield 2: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch

Charms:
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
6x Ele GC’s with 30+ Life
3x Ele GC’s with 12% Fhr
9x 20 Life SC’s
1x 5 FHR SC

What is Achieved with this setup:
99% FCR
99% FHR
Max Block
Max DR

Max Block Math
For the sake of easy math I will round up and say you will get +300% Life from BO + Oak (you won’t actually get this much). For max block at Level 95 with a Ber’ed Stormshield you need 227 Dexterity.
Chance to Block = (Blocking on Items * (Dexterity - 15)) / (Character Level * 2)

You will have:
20 (Base)
20 (Torch)
20 (Anni)
10 (Hoto)
20 (Raven)
20 (Raven)
20 (Amulet)

This is a total of 130 Dexterity. You will have to stat 97 points to dexterity (I will round up to 100 for easy math). A druid gets 2 HP per 1 point into life.

100 (Stat Points) * 2 (HP) = 200 Base Life Lost)

200 (Base Life Lost) + 200 * 3 (Base Life Lost + BO/Oak Rounded Up) = 800 Total Life Lost.

Now this may seem like a big number to you, but for a druid its not. You should be able to easily hit 5.5k Life in max damage mode and still have a max block option.


Max Damage Gear:
Now this is the fun gear. You will have over 7K Tornado damage. 5.5-6K life, 99 FCR/99FHR. This is the gear you will use in most public games or 4 v 4 duels because of its effectiveness against most characters.

Helm: Rare Pelt
Amulet: +2 Druid + Str + Dex Amulet
Weapon: “Heart of the Oak” Runeword Flail (40% Resistance)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate
Shield: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch (35% FCR)
Gloves: Magefist (Trang Oul’s Claws vs Cold Based Characters)
Ring 1: SoJ / BK
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Ring 2: SoJ / BK
Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks 15/15

Weapon 2: “Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6 / 6 / x)
Shield 2: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch

Charms:
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
8x Ele GC’s with 30+ Life
1x Ele GC’s with 12% Fhr
10x 20 Life SC’s

What is Achieved with this setup:
99% FCR
99% FHR
Max Damage

Fast Recovery Gear:
You will rarely use this, but you may find that you need it against some Bone Necros or against Trappers, so I am going to include this as well. You will hit the 174% FHR BP with this setup.

Helm: Rare Pelt
Amulet: +2 Druid + 10 FCR + Str Amulet
Weapon: “Spirit” Runeword Sword (35% FCR)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword Mage Plate
Shield: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch (35% FCR)
Gloves: Magefist (Trang Oul’s Claws vs Cold Based Characters)
Ring 1: SoJ / BK
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Ring 2: SoJ / BK
Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks 15/15

Weapon 2: “Call to Arms” Runeword Weapon (6 / 6 / x)
Shield 2: “Spirit” Runeword Monarch

Charms:
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
7x Ele GC’s with 30+ Life
2x Ele GC’s with 12% Fhr
9x 20 Life SC’s
1x 5 FHR SC

What is Achieved with this setup:
99% FCR
174% FHR

*Note: Vs Trappers, you may want to replace 20 Life SC’s with 11% Light resistance small charms. You want your light resistance to be 30 Over Maximum to account for the Anya Glitch.

PvP Strategy:
General Tips
Always Cast Battle Command, then Oak Sage, 5x Wolves, 5x Ravens, Cyclone Armor, Hurricane then Cast Battle Command AGAIN and then Battle Orders. This will give your Oak Sage an extra skill level and will get you a little extra life.
Always Tele in Place or directly on top of an opponent to stack your wolves and Oak Sage. They will take the damage BEFORE you and this is a key to dueling.
Always recast wolves, Oak, Armor when you can.
When dueling casters, Teleport directly onto your opponent and spam 'nados in their face.
Cast Poison Creeper under you and teleport back a bit when you encounter an agressive opponent that tries to teleport in your face.
DO NOT try to Teleport on top of a WW-Barb
Don't Underestimate anyone

Below I will list what gear setup to use vs each character.

Amazons
Bowazons: Max Block
CS Zons: Fast Cast
Plague-Zons: Fast Cast

Assassins
WW-Sin: Max Block
Trappers: Fast Cast or Fast Recovery
Kickers: Max Block Cast
Martial Arts: Duel them without body to make it fair

Barbarians
War Cry: Max Block OR Fast Recovery
BvC: Max Block
WW Barb: Fast Cast OR Fast Recovery

Druids
Shapeshifter: Max Block
Fire Druid Max Damage
Wind Druid: Max Damage or Max Block OR Combination of Both

Paladins
Hammerdin: Max Damage
Zealer/Smiter/Charger Max Block
V/T or FoH: Fast Cast

Sorceresses
All: Fast Cast


Outro:
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide. I hope this will help you make your Wind Druid the best that he can possible be. I left out in depth dueling strategies against character classes intentionally. I think that is the most fun in the game, coming up with different strategies on your own. If you are stuck on something or have a specific question on how to beat a certain character class, please post it or PM me and I will be happy to help you the best that I can. If you have ANY questions or comments, please post or PM and I will be happy to help.

Special Thanks
njaguar (Paul) for running the best D2 Forum.
All the people of the D2JSP Strategy and Guides Sub-Forum.
This_Is_My_Username for helping to g-rush and chaos all of my remakes of my Druid
Morbid and d2bomber for taking the time to proof read my guide

This post was edited by MrShowtime on May 30 2006 02:11pm

yes, it's here!

Well done

Great guide mike. I can see why it took you so long to make. All the info's right there, it will help many people out.

Thanks for mentioning me too, but with all they help you give me it is the least i can do.

thank you. Sorry to everyone that had to wait. Any questions or comments, please don't hesitate. I'm happy to help.

I think the Faster Hit recovery should be added as a second to dueling trappers, I know this from experience.

Good Catch, I had it in there before must have gotten lost in my formatting frenzy. I fixed it.

Very good job...
Mind if I post this on my clan forum? You will get credit of course and a donation

nice guide, now i know what fcr/fhr/block i can use on my hc ele druid, and maybe i'll have the chance to tele to hc hell baal (maybe -.-)

great guide, mods should sticky this

@ Splatius/Everyone: If anyone wants to repost this guide, all I ask is that you let me know before you repost it, that I get credit for my work, and that you send me a link after it is posted so that I can see it. I probably won't be able to answer questions in other forums, please direct any questions to me via PM or by posting here.

@fear1115: thanks, I would recommed the Max Block Mode at ALL Times though in HC, gotta be safe

@Morbid. : sorry I left out the period on the end of your name. The link does however link to your profile. I got it half right at least

This post was edited by MrShowtime on May 30 2006 02:37pm