CompanyofThree’s Variant Shaman Druid



This guide cannot be used in whole or in part, without due credit to the author. This guide does not belong to D2jsp.org, but is simply the medium it is being presented through.

Overview:
Introduction (to myself and the build)
Pros and Cons
Skills and Stats
Why the Pelt is Important
Gear:
- Maxblock setup 1
- Maxblock setup 2
- Verse caster setup
Inventory
Extra Stash Gear
My stats
99 fcr/ 99 fhr verse 163/ 99
Why 99 fcr is Essential
Oak Sage verse Heart of the Wolverine
20/ -20 JMod verse Stormshield/ Spirit Monarch
Fire Druid verse Shaman Druid
Hotkeys
How to Control a Shaman
Tactics and Techniques
Advanced Mechanics of the Build
Basic Strategies
Team verse Team
How to BM
Some Videos
Credits


Introduction:
Hello everyone, my name is CompanyofThree. I have been playing Diablo on and off for the past couple years, but it wasn’t until last summer that I actually became dedicated to the game. I started out the usual way, doing Player verse Monster, but that got a little boring and repetitive for my taste and I soon started taking my PvM Throw Barb into duel games for fun. Even though I was wearing terrible and noobish gear at the time, I was still getting mad props by the people in the game, “omg a throw barb!!!1” “I didn’t know people still made throwers!” It was nice attention and that was what got me on my path here. Going through duel games I always saw the same characters; hammerdins, fireball sorcs, wind druids, and bonemancers. These characters are good for a reason and that’s why they are known as cookie-cutters, so I wanted to make characters that one did not see often and then beat down those pubs. I originally made my Shaman druid back in October of 2009 if I remember correctly, and I built it according to Varsity’s and Clan_Iraq’s shaman guides earlier posted. It was a disaster. I deleted my original druid named Placebo_Effect on USEast Ladder, and remade him in December 2009 as maxblock with the most terrifying name, CompanyofThree. This guide will show you a different way to gear a shaman than the pure vita build and will help create a more effective character. Even for the ones not interested in building this, at least take the time to read the guide because some of the facts found you may not have known, or maybe something in here will spike your interest. Happy reading

So what is a Shaman Druid? A Shaman druid is a fire and summoning druid who deals in both physical damage and fire damage. The three main damage dealers are Fissure, Volcano, and Grizzly Bear, while the massive special effect spell Armageddon will be obtained from our pelt. This is a character that is defined by patience and skill, and as thus, is not for everyone. I have helped three of my friends make a shaman and two of them sold theirs, and I have helped numerous people on East construct them also, and then get sold within days. This is not due to the character; this is the flaw of the player. A good bone necromancer can clear a game and dominate it within minutes, but a bad player will have trouble even getting their body back. A Shaman will take a ton of patience to learn based on the fact that we have cooldown timers for EVERY spell, but once the learning curve has been achieved pubs can, and will, be dominated. This character is not for everyone, indeed, it is only for an elite few, but in the few months I have taken Diablo seriously the Shaman has become my all time favorite Player verse Player character. Not even hotspurs can save you from me…

Pros and Cons:
The pro of this build is that it will easily kill everyone and no one will be able to kill you; a Shaman is the true King of the Mountain. Lol, no I’m just kidding there really are no immediate pros to this build that other characters posses. What this build does have is something special and unique that no other characters have: this character can last long in duels, summons act as meat shields, both an AoW and stunning fire attack, fire spells have a namelocking range of 3 screens, 3000 damage physical attack, and a nice WTF-Factor takes opponents by surprise. After enough experience and practice this character can become beastly and the pros will overwhelm the cons by so much there won’t appear to be any. But until that point, here are the cons to this build: fire damage can easily be sorbed, cooldown timers for fire spells leave you vulnerable for attack, and initially it can be hard to kill people due to ground spells (similar to blizzard, compared to line-of-sight spells such as fireball or bonespear). Sorb is a problem for every class and every beginner struggles to master their respected builds at first, so the real con is the cooldown timer, which as stated a moment ago, is easily mastered with practice and once done, actually becomes a scary character to have hassling you as you panic in the Blood Moor.

Skills:
Because you are a fire and summoning druid here the skills you will need to stat the following skills:

Elemental- 1 cyclone armor, 20 fissure, 20 volcano, 20 molten boulder
Summoning- 1 oak sage, 20 grizzly bear
The rest go into firestorm

If you do all your skill quests, this build will be totally maxed out at level 97, but don’t feel you need to get that high. My druid is level 94 and does quite well. Speaking in basic terms you only need to get to level 80 to max your main spells without doing skill quests, but of course getting a higher level means more damage and more life, so I strongly suggest you get as high as you can; at least to level 90.

Stats:
Strength- enough to wear Spirit Monarch/ Stormshield
Dexterity- enough to hit 75% block
Vitality- the rest
Energy- none

Why the Pelt is Important:
As said earlier, this build revolves around the pelt because that’s how we obtain Armageddon. Without the pelt it costs 6 skill points to obtain Armageddon and then you will lose out on fire damage when maxing synergies. That being said, any pelt with Armageddon can work, but to be a true menace to the public games in your realm you want the right pelt (this is also covered in the Gear section). There are three different types of pelts that I use: shaman verse melee, shaman verse caster, and pure fire damage. Here are the best combinations to get for your Shaman—

Shaman verse physical damage: 2 druid/ 10 fhr/ armageddon/ fissure/ grizzly/ 2 sockets
Shaman verse caster: 2 druid/ 10 fhr/ armageddon/ volcano/ grizzly or cyclone armor/ resists or life/ 2 sockets
Pure damage: 2 druid/ 10 fhr/ armageddon/ volcano/ fissure/ life/ 2 sockets

These pelts are incredibly hard to obtain and I actually have yet to see a pelt with these stats. This section is merely to point out the “goal” of an amazing pelt but lesser pelts can and will suffice. The reasons for these stats are pointed out in the gear section and explained there.

Maxblock verse Vita Build:
Why maxblock? Easy. Fire spells for a Shaman have cooldowns, similar to a Sorceress’s Blizzard attack or a Paladin’s Fist of the Heavens. While those two cooldowns are relatively low, a Shaman’s cooldowns are extremely high. Fissure has about a 2 second cooldown timer, volcano a 4 second timer, and armageddon a 6 second timer. What this means is that after casting a spell you are open season and the game is serving YOU. What maxblock accomplishes is that you can cast a fissure or volcano, and not worry about that Smiter or BvC destroying you in one hit. While a vita build will give you more life (it does about 300-400 extra life), the ability to block lets you live longer and hit harder, and it’s much better. If you’re still skeptical, here is an example: fissure can be stacked up to 3 times. Pretend you do 5,000 fissure damage, you cast a fissure waiting for someone to run through it, they do, but then the BvC/ Fury Druid/ Charger/ Bow Amazon hits you, and you die. You’ve done barely any damage to them with the PvP penalty and fire resistances. With maxblock, on the other hand, you can cast a fissure, block a hit, cast a fissure, block a hit, cast a fissure, etc. You now have three fissures, doing 15,000 damage (before PvP penalty and resistances) each and they hit hard and they hit fast. The make-it or break-it curve in this learning ability is being able to outlive your opponent and beat them down through perserverance and combo attacks which can only be obtained by living longer.

Gear Setups:

Melee Setup #1 (this is the setup I have due to acquiring an amulet at an affordable price)

Pelt- 2 druid/ 10 fhr/ fire mods [best combination is Armageddon/ Fissure/ Grizzly] (Shael)
For this particular setup, the pelt needs 10 fhr to hit the 99 fhr breakpoint and the skill list is the best option to maximize the damage. Against non-teleporting characters fissure is better than volcano as the enemy has to walk through it and the stun aspect won’t do much as these enemies usually have good fhr.

Armor- Enigma
2 to all skills, 8% damage reduction, teleport, and massive strength boost. No other options here.

Weapon- Hoto
3 skills, 40% faster cast rate, 20 to dexterity, and 10 life replenish make this very good for easily obtaining maxblock, and the life replenish is amazing as most duels will last between 1-3 minutes. The only other weapon you’ll need for maxblock is a Spirit Sword and that’s covered in the other setup.

Shield- Stormshield (Eld)
With nice blocking mods, 35% damage reduction, and 30 to strength, this shield is the only one usable for blocking. 35% from Stormshield + 8% from Enigma give you 43% damage reduction in total, which you’re going to need when you get, and Eld verse Ber saves you a few extra points in dexterity which then turn into life. Overall, this shield is a must.

Switch- Call to Arms/ Spirit Monarch
Really no need for explanation… the extra boost in life is a must and there really is no alternative switch here.

Gloves- Bloodfists
30 faster hit recovery and 40 bo-able life, these gloves have no opposition and are essential to this setup.

Belt- Arachnids Mesh
1 all skills and 20% faster cast rate, what’s not to love?

Boots- Shadowdancers
With a strength requirement of 167, no extra points need to be put into strength after you can wear your Stormshield because the strength attribute allows you to wear it. Offering 30% faster hit recovery and 25 points into dexterity, these things are a beast.

Ring 1- 10 fcr/ 15 dexterity/ 40 life/ life replenish
Ring 2- 10 fcr/ 15 dexterity/ 40 life/ life replenish
The faster cast rate is your priority here, because without these you won’t hit the 99 faster cast rate breakpoint. Mods to look for are 15 dexterity (saves you 15 points), 40 life (bo-able), and replenish life (for those long duels). Good combos of these rings can often times make-or-break the fight against physical damage dealing characters.

Amulet- 2 druid/ 19 fcr
2 to druid skills would be the best, but 2 to elemental or 1 to druid skills can suffice as these amulets can get pricey. The bare mods are just druid skills/ 19 faster cast rate, but other mods that can be useful are dexterity, life, and life replenish. This is the only way to complete this setup.

You’ll need 2x 5 fhr small charms to hit 99 fhr with this setup

Melee Setup #2

Pelt- 2 druid/ fire mods [best combination is Armageddon/ Fissure/ Grizzly] (7 fhr/ str/ dex jewel)
The fire mods are the same as in the setup listed above, but without base faster hit recovery a jewel is needed and these stats are extremely helpful when equipping gear. Only option here.

Armor- Enigma
No other option unless you want to be a joke character, in which case you should wear 20/ -20 armor and die.

Weapon- Spirit Sword 35 fcr
2 skills, 35% faster cast rate, 55% faster hit recovery, and 22 points into vitality, what’s not to love? This weapon is great as it offers you everything you need that Hoto does not have. Either one of these will be your main weapon against physical opponents.

Shield- Stormshield (Eld)
See first setup.

Switch- Call to Arms/ Spirit Monarch
See first setup.

Gloves- Magefist
1 to fire skills and 20% faster cast rate, amazing. Bloodfist’s 30% faster hit recover will not be needed so it’s +1 fire skills and hitting the 99 breakpoint, or 40 more bo-able life. Not a hard choice.

Belt- Arachnids Mesh
See first setup.

Boots- Shadowdancers
See first setup.

Ring 1- Soj
You will hit the 99 faster cast rate breakpoint, so have 2x fcr rings is pointless. Wear a Stone of Jordan for that +1 to all skills and nice mana boost! Bul-Kathos is a no-go as the life is not applied to Battle Orders and is not worth it.

Ring 2- 10 fcr/ 15 dex/ 40 life/ life rep
You need this for the faster cast rate breakpoint, see the first setup if you have already forgotten when this good.

Amulet- 2 druid/ 15 fcr
You need at least 15 faster cast rate to hit the breakpoint and the +2 druid skills is good to have to boost your damage. Other nice mods are dexterity, life, and life replenish, as these duels will take a while and the more life and life rep you have, the longer you’ll last.

You’ll need 1x 5 fhr small charm to hit the 99 fhr breakpoint with this setup

Verse Caster Setup:

Pelt- 2 druid/ fire mods [best combination is Armageddon/ Volcano/ Grizzly] (7 fhr/ str/ dex/ light res)
Against casters and teleporting characters this pelt is the best: as fissure works amazing well with non-teleporting characters, volcano works marvelously with teleporting characters! Volcano is easier to namelock and use on a 200 fcr sorc than planting a fissure and hoping they’ll land in it, so you’ll want that as your pelt mod. Grizzly is always useful, whether as a tank or a beast he’ll play his part, so you want him as jacked as possible. The jewel is needed for the faster hit recovery breakpoint, and the other mods with it are also very helpful when equipping gear and facing opponents.

Armor- Enigma
See above setups.

Weapon- Hoto
3 skills, 40 faster cast rate, and 40 resistance, this weapon is amazing. The only time you’ll swap it out is to equip Wizspike for the extra resistance, and over time you won’t need it because you’ll be a better and smarter dueler, or to wear a 30/ -30 against Hammerdins or Bonenecros (these setups are in the strategy section). This runeword offers everything you need and nothing can substitute it, this is your anti-caster weapon.

Shield- Spirit Monarch 35 fcr
35% faster cast rate, 55% faster hit recovery, 35 light/ cold/ poison resistance, vitality points… What doesn’t this shield have? The 156 strength requirement is defiantly worth wearing this shield as it will make your life 10 times better.

Switch- Call to Arms/ Spirit Monarch
If you even read this part for the third time you’re retarded.

Gloves- Magefist
1 to fire skills and 20% faster cast rate, awesome! You’re a fire druid so it makes sense to wear gloves that will boost your damage, yes? The other option here are Trang-Oul’s gloves (20% faster cast rate, cold resistance), but these should only be used against Blizz sorcs, so they will not be your primary gloves.

Belt- Arachnids Mesh
1 to all skills and 20% faster cast rate, very much needed and enjoyed.

Boots- Tri res boots
The majority of casters do elemental damage, so you’ll want boots with the following stats: base fhr, cold res, light res, fire res. Other mods would be faster run walk or life replenish. Wear these at all times to make sure your resistances are well above 75% for maximum pwnage. Treks have been brought up as nice boots also, but the strength cannot be build around as there is much gear switching and 15 points in vitality is nothing compared to good resistances.

Ring 1- Soj
Ring 2- Soj
The 99 faster cast rate breakpoint is already hit, so wear these big studs on your hands for +2 skills and a huge mana boost! Again, Bul-Kathos are NOT advised because the life add is miniscule, and two, you will be abusing your mana pots a lot, and running out of mana quickly a lot.

Amulet- Maras
As stated you already hit the 99 faster cast rate breakpoint, so this amulet is dope. 2 skills and 30 resistances are much needed for more life and damage, as well more resistance to get well above the 75% marker. There really is no other option than can compete with +2 skills/ +30 all resistance.

Extra Stash Gear:
Thundergod’s (for sorbing lightning characters- 85% lightning res)
Wizspike (for extra resistance against cold/ lightning based characters)
Nokozan Relic (gm sorb- 85 fire res)
Trang-Oul’s Gloves (replacement for Magefists against Blizz sorcs)
30/-30 Weap (replacement for Hoto against Hammerdins and Bonenecromancers in order to do more damage and break their resistance)
Other Pelts (the more the merrier, i.e. different match-ups you may prefer different pelts)
1x Elemental Grand Charms (explained in the Strategies section)
2x 10 fcr/ 40 life/ resistance rings (for mixing and matching with different matchups, primarily with the 30/ -30)
Crown of Ages (ber ber) - you will be using this in only one setup
10 fcr/ 20 strength ring (to equip CoA)

Inventory:
The inventory is the usual stuff, you’ll need;
20/ xx Druid Torch
20/ xx/ x Anni small charm
8-9x life/ all resistance small charms (keep spares in your stash as you won’t need as many with the Melee setup)
6x Elemental grand charms; 5x ele charms in your inventory (mix of lifers/ fhr), and then 1x in your stash
4x Summoning grand charms; 4x lifers

5x ele/ 4x summoning is the best overall ratio of skillers, but in some cases it is better to have more fire damage than more bear damage. These characters will be covered in the strategy section.

My Stats (with self Bo/ Bc):

Verse Caster Setup
Life (with Oak): 4924
Armageddon: 5884- 6852
Fissure: 4367- 4564
Volcano (physical): 1183-1190
Volcano (fire): 1254- 1404
Grizzly damage: 4408- 4562

Verse Melee Setup
Life (with Oak): 4464
Armageddon: 4427- 5254
Fissure: 3984- 4164
Volcano (physical): 911- 918
Volcano (fire): 955- 1050
Grizzly damage: 3075- 3212

Other people’s stats will vary according to their gear, helms, and ratio of elemental grand charms to summoning grand charms. This is just to give an idea of the type of damage you can do

99 fcr/ 99 fhr versus 163 fcr/ 99 fhr:
99 faster cast rate is really the only option here. After experimenting with the 163 build I have come to the conclusion that it is detrimental to the build. Too much gear is sacrificed to hit the breakpoint, and in the process we lose valuable life and damage which negates the build. The shaman will become more like an annoying house fly than the fire God that he has the potential to be. Even in Team verse Team games; I would suggest sticking to the Verse Melee or Verse Caster setup as that will allow you to be more beneficial to the team. The other point that hasn’t been mentioned is the cooldown timers completely destroy the 163 fcr; oh sure, you may be able to catch up to the faster characters, but then what? You missed a volcano 2 second ago and now you can just follow in pursuit hoping your bear can smack them. It’s not worth it.

Why 99 Faster Cast Rate is Essential:
99 faster cast rate allows the shaman to teleport at 11 frames per second. Although the build does have cooldown timers and thus, cannot cast, the FCR is needed to teleport out of danger and to resummon (quickly!) Cyclone Armor, Oak Sage, and Grizzly Bear, and that is also why 20/ -20 Armors are no longer in use. Do you see casters running around the Moor? No, so Enigma is the only choice obviously and we need the 99 FCR breakpoint to resummon and teleport to run away or Bear-Strike. To put this into perspective, most BvCs have 37 faster cast rate and teleport at 10 frames per second, which is just another reason we don’t use crappy facetted gear for pure damage. As you can see, our opponents are not going to be dogging it and if we cast and slower, let’s say at the 68 FCR breakpoint, game over.

Oak Sage verse Heart of the Wolverine (HoW):
There has been debate on this issue in the realm of Shaman druids for quite some time ever since this build made the headlines back in ’09: Oak Sage verse HoW. I have come to terms that Oak Sage is in fact the better spirit to have with you compared to HoW. Why is this? Without Oak my druid has 2.5k life (maxblock setup) and with HoW up Grizzly does a lot more damage. This can be useful verse lower life characters; i.e. glass cannons, bow amazons, ES sorcs, etc. The only problem is… if you’re died, you lose! Oak Sage will nearly double your life with Bo and thus make you live longer, which goes back to the argument that this build is made around patience and timing. You can’t be patient if you die in a few hits, and as thus, Oak Sage is the better of the two spirits in all aspects of this build.

20/ -20 Jewelers Monarch of Deflecting verse Stormshield/ Spirit Monarch:
Back when nubtards made fissure druids before 1.13, the towning variant always had 20/ -20 shields for more damage. While that makes sense for a towning druid, who hopes never to get hit, it does not make sense for us. More commonly, I have seen other players use the expensive and prestigious Jewelers Monarch of Deflecting, or JMoD, socketed with four 5/ -5 fire facets for massive damage and block. This does not, and will not, work. Let us compare a JMoD against our trusty Spirit Monarch in our anti-caster setup: against casters you will not need block, there goes half of the JMoD’s abilities; the 20/ -20 aspect is overkill as a 1k volcano is more than enough to whittle down a casters life. If they wear Hotspurs and BM you, change your setup and wear a 30/ -30 (while maintaining 99/ 99 and over 75% all res) and destroy the noob and then camp his body. Spirit offers amazing mods that make you stronger and you’re opponent have to work harder, and JMoD is not offering that to you. On the other hand, against melee, a lot of players assume “I need block AND I’ll have damage! Whoop dee doo!” I’ll use only Molton Boulder and slam that JMoD until you have to repair it. Stormshield offers better block, strength to wear Shadowdancers, and damage reduction. If you’ve ever been hit by a Charger or a Glass Cannon, they hurt. Good luck getting out of that one with zero damage reduction when you DO manage to get hit.
Now, you may be wondering, why am I bashing JMoD but supporting a 30/ -30 sword? Easy. Hammerdins and Bonemancers deal in magic damage. Neither Hoto, Wizspike, nor Spirit Sword offers magical resistance and more often than not these characters have very high stacked res. That means the only way you can break them is by wearing this sword and giving up the mods of your usual weapon, but you still get the great benefits of Spirit Monarch! JMoD is not as useful in this build as it is for a Javazon, so what I’m asking is that you think: this is a build about patience and timing, what better way to lose than to give up the ability to control the speed of the game?

Fire Druid verse Shaman:
The average player knows that dealing in one type of damage risks the infamous BM sorb: the End-All Be-All answer from players who can’t beat you. Most players will do this after their first death, or right away before dueling, and just slip on Hotspurs. If you’re a pure fire druid then yes, you’ll be doing more fire damage than a shaman due to a synergized Armageddon, but against a 95% res opponent you’ll be hard pressed to win. Even if they are not sorbing, you’ll still have trouble killing opponents without a stacked bear because you’ll have to wait 2-4 seconds in between every attack! A shaman on the other hand, will still have to wait for the cooldowns, but has a huge bear to use in the meantime and haze enemy players! Then when the player looses and wears Hotspurs after an embarrassing lose, you’ll still have the physical damage of your Grizzly for nice damage they can’t stop. A shaman is a safer and more effective character to make than a pure fire druid, and now you can see why.


Hotkeys:
Hotkeys can be done in any format you like. Clan_Iraq uses the F-keys, Master_Zappy uses the ASDF key area, and similarly, I like to use the letters on my left hand. You do not have to do your hotkeys in any similar fashion, but this just to help people get comfortable in starting. But no matter what you chose to do, you should always keep Teleport and Volcano next to each other for easy namelocking. I always keep Molten Boulder on my Left Click for anti-telestomp: simply click them when they stomp you and a boulder will simply knock them far, far away.
E- Armageddon
W- Switch weapons
A- Cyclone Armor
S- Teleport
D- Volcano
F- Fissure
Z- Battle Command
X- Battle Orders
C- Summon Grizzly
V- Summon Oak Sage

How to Control a Shaman:
Here are two basic forms of movement for a Shaman druid to maximize it’s effectiveness verse other characters. What you mainly want to do is constantly keep moving, never stop. As soon as you do cast a spell, teleport. Taken from the website: http://postabout.com/index.php?showtopic=249584 (I do not advise the build this person has advised, it is terrible, but the strategy section is fairly good and for that reason it is being used as a reference).



Tactics and Techniques:
Unlike most cookie-cutter PvP builds who only have a few different types of attacks, a Shaman has numerous attacks and I haven’t even mastered all of them yet copied with permission from Clan_Iraq’s guide: http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=38040648&f=87, he has proposed many different types of attacks that I cannot dispute with.

Advanced Mechanics of the Build:
Similar to how a Bonemancer uses Teeth, Bone Spear, and Bone Spirit to kill his enemies, you will also be using many different attacks. Taken from Clan_Iraq’s Shaman guide (http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=38040648&f=87), here are some specs about the attacks you may or may not know:

nice

Basic Strategies:

Warning: These are just basic ideas that I have found worked. These do not work verse everyone and you will not beat everyone. The basic strategy subsection is just for reference and information for starting shaman characters and for observers to see how a shaman can fare in different character matchups. Everyone has their own style of playing and these have worked decently for me.

Barbarians

Barb verse Casters- (Melee setup, switch to 7 ele/ 2 summoning ratio) These guys are usually pretty easy if they aren’t sorbing. Use the Verse Melee setup and stack fissures underneath you. The goal is to continually stack fissures in an area over the whole screen (3x fissures) and when the BvC tries to teleport in and WW you, simple move out of the way a little and watch him get destroyed. A good BvC will try and spam Leap to move you out of the fissures, if that’s the case simply cast fissures behind you so that when he pushes you out, you’ll both land in the fissures and he’ll take more damage than you. Grizzly strikes can be difficult as you’ll have to predict WW lengths, so in the beginning stick to fissure mining.

Barb verse Barb- (Melee setup, switch to 7 ele/ 2 summoning ratio) Easiest duel. Stay away from them and plant fissures in front of you and hopefully they WW right through it. Constantly keep fissures between the both of you, as BvBs can HURT. Keep your block setup on and stay away, because sometimes whirlwind can desynch and you’ll get raped.
Singers- (Maxblock setup) This battle isn’t hard at all, but it is long. Singer barbs have massive health so whittling them down with fissures can be a while. Warcry generally doesn’t do great damage and you can WSG out of the stun, so winning these battles isn’t hard: simply cast a fissure where you want to go, and teleport into it, rinse and repeat. If the barb departs to regen, follow him and cast a fissure underneath his tired toes to warm them up.

Amazons

Bowzon- (Melee setup, maxblock/ DR is needed) These buggers are tricky. Multishot outranges a Shaman by a mile so you have to play aggressive and you’ll have maxblock and damage reduction; teleport in zig-zags or circles and then hit the zon with a volcano right in the face. If you’re lucky, the volcano will put the amazon in a fhr lock for a few seconds allowing you to jump right on top of them. Armageddon and the Grizzly will hopefully destroy the zon in that short amount of time, along with the previous damage from Volcano. If the zon survives and runs away, namelock her and follow until you can cast fissure, and then place one right where she’s about to run. Do this until she’s dead.

Javazons- (Caster setup; switch Arachs to Thundergod’s and change Maras to a 2/ 19 amulet, if you don’t have a 2/ 19 amulet then exchange a Soj for a Wisp) A lightning bolt can hit you across the screen and Charged Strike will destroy you within seconds so this is a duel about tactics. Keep the javazon at the top of your screen and walk south or towards the sides, always casting fissures above you. Once you have enough fissures, swing above the javazon (but not close enough to get hit) and force them south into your fissures. Patience is key here as a Lightning Fury or Charged Strike will tear through Grizzly and Oak and devour your health points.

Sorceresses

Fireball- (Caster setup and exchange Maras for Nokozan amulet) A good fireball sorc can kill a shaman in 2-3 direct hits. The best way to defeat this type of sorc is to not get hit! Spam fissures in between you and the sorc and then teleport three screens away, and cast another fissure in line with the previous one. By teleporting so far off screen the fissures become invisible and if the sorc is chasing you she’ll unintentionally land in one of these fissures and lose a decent amount of life. Continue doing this until dead. The other strategy is, if careful enough, to land a volcano on her, and instantly teleport on/ off, so that Grizzly can hit her. Use these two moves in combination and you’ll have a very good chance at success.

Blizzard- (Caster setup, exchange a Soj for a Ravenfrost) In this duel you’ll have to play very defensive as Blizzard’s can hit hard. Camp in your fissures and hide about a screen away from them, so if the sorc decides to get offensive she’ll land right in your fissures. If she survives, hit her with a volcano and run back into your fissures, or if she has low HP, chase her down with Grizzly/ Volc combos.

Lightning- (Caster setup, see javazon) Lightning sorcs are fairly easy; keep cyclone armor up at all times because these guys can do massive damage. Stay far away and when you see them cast lightning teleport behind them for a Bear-Strike and then volcano them, rinse and repeat. The important object is to stay out of lightning’s range.

Nova- (Caster setup, see javazon) These fellows are also decently easy; if they try and play offensively by stomping you, then camp in your fissures similarly to the BvC strat, and try and hit them with a volcano if they are tentative to stomp you. Keep Armageddon and Cyclone Armor up for maximum damage and sorb

Zealsorcs- (Caster setup, see javazon) No need for a maxblock setup here, because as soon as you get hit you’re dead. So don’t get hit! Instead, tele around the bloodmoor nonstop spamming fissures in the places you are going to teleport. This way when you land in it, the zealsorc will become very toasty. Do not try to telestomp these guys.

Paladins

Hammerdins- (Caster gear, 5/4 ratio. Replace Hoto with 30/-30 and switch to fcr ring/ soj and 19 fcr amulet). These duels are easy most of the time, constantly walk south and keep fissures JUST above your head. If a hammerdin does manage to telestomp, boulder him immediately and then Grizzly/ Volc him
Smiters- (Maxblock, 7 ele/ 2 summoning ratio) There are a few ways to deal with smiters as there are a few ways in which a smiter can attack. If they desynch and come upon you that way, then cover the screens in fissures and teleport in the opposite direction that he went in. Continually stack fissures, and then teleport in and out and wait for him to come to you. When he chases you out; teleport randomly and place fissures in the places you are going to land. Likewise, if he’s a tele-smiter, use the same strategy and don’t stop teleporting unless it’s to place fissures where you will be.

Foher’s- (Caster gear, 5/4 ratio. Switch Arachnids Mesh to Thundergod’s and Maras to a 2/19 amulet, or both Sojs to fcr rings) Incredibly easy duels and most of the time you won’t even need TGods, but sometimes you can get lazy when you’re messing with your prey always keep up Grizzly, Oak, and Cyclone armor, and as soon as they appear on your screen Volcano them and Tele-bearstrike. Volcano will pester them so they will have trouble FoHing and with you RIGHT on top of them FoH will not hit and Grizzly will beat him down. Continue doing this until dead.

Zealot- (Maxblock setup) If they’re GM Melee Zealots try these guys like a BvB and lure them towards you with fissures. If they decide to Charge you, camp in 2 fissures and cast the third one where they will enter your screen; they will either ignore you or run through your fissures. The key here is patience is they can do very good damage but usually have bad resistances. If they are a Tele-Zeal variant, keep the maxblock setup and treat these guys like a BvC; cover the whole screen with fissures and continually lure him into them. If he decides not to come into the fissures hit him with a volcano or two so he knows he cannot sit the party out and that you mean business!

Auradin- (Caster gear, sorb if needed) In 1.13 these guys are even less of a character than they were in 1.12 (although I did see one in a pub recently). If sorbing, then do whatever you want because you really should not die. My strategy is to go into the Bloodmoor and then afk to the bathroom or make pizza. If you’re not sorbing, Tele-Strike and Fissure combo them until death and if they try to sorb you switch Hoto to the 30/ -30 and make up the lack of fcr. Once dead take their gold, pots, and camp their bodies while typing out insults.

V/T – (Foh oriented, Caster setup // Smite oriented, Melee setup) These dins, if good, are incredibly difficult to defeat. Good ones will desynch charge/ smite you so I suggest stacking 3 fissures right beneath your feet. Keep stacking fissures and teleport over them in hopes that he’ll follow, but if he runs away, Volcano him but DO NOT Tele-Strike as if he’s quick enough he’ll smite you good.

Assassins

Ghosts- (Maxblock setup) Asides from Wind Druids, this matchup is incredibly difficult. Only with practice will these matchups become “tolerable” than ‘oh fuck, a ghost’. Spam fissures and play defensively and if you see an opening Bear-Strike them. Because of the nature of assassins, your fire damage won’t do a huge amount and you’ll have to rely on the physical aspect of your bear and volcano hits to do good enough physical damage. Because of the nature of our build, we can’t and have a 5 minute duel and be happy as hell, but your opponent, not so much. Wait until they start to get careless and overly aggressive and then swoop in and out, but never let her leave your screen. Chainlock madness will continually let your grizzly tear her apart and you should hopefully have won that duel. When she asks for a rematch politely decline and leave the game.

Lightning Trappers- (Caster setup, switch to Thundergod’s and make up the lost fcr of Arachs) These duels are tough as you don’t want to get stuck in the traps/ mind blast area and they don’t want to get picked off by your bear. The best bet here is to encircle them and wait until the time is “just right”, then swoop right next to the sin, Tele Bear-Strike, and when they run cast a fissure in the direction they are going, and run out. Spam “W” repeatedly to WSG out of mindblast and repeat. If possible, try and load up on life rep for this matchup.

Fire Trappers- (Caster setup, switch Maras to Nokozan) Fire trappers are made around stunning an opponent; Wake of Fire and Mind Blast will keep you stationary and eat through your life like locusts at a cornfield. Use the technique stated before with the javazon if the sin is being defensive and force them where you want them to be. If they’re being offensive then play defensively and run through your fissures and volcanoes so they get hit. The key component here is to keep moving and to not stay in the same area for longer than a few seconds; shake namelocks and continually WSG if stunned.

Kickers- (Maxblock setup)Similar to a fire trapper, the few duels I’ve had with PvP kickers (not those crap Lastwish/Phoenix PvM ones) have revolved around stun. They aren’t quite a physical damage player, but they aren’t a trapper either. If they put traps around and you play aggressive, camp in your fissures and wait for the telestomp. If they play defensively then haze them with Volc/ Bear combos from afar and make fun of them.

Druid

Shapeshifting- (Maxblock setup) I saw use maxblock, but you really don’t need it as you shouldn’t be getting hit. Ever. Treat these guys like BvBs; constantly keep fissures between you and them so they cannot get to you without running through a minefield. If they decide to wait out your encampment, haze them with volcanoes/ fissures from afar and make them move, or cut off their movement by having them run through fissures unintentionally.

Rabies- (Caster setup) Once hit with rabies there is a time limit on the duel until your life expires; that being said, maxblock isn’t an issue because it doesn’t matter if you block the hit or not. Treat this duel like a matchup against a fury druid, but watch your Grizzly and Oak, because if attacked, they can transfer rabies to you. To avoid this, instantly recast them if attacked, and teleport away all the while avoiding close contact. Keep fissures between you and him or teleport into fissures and the game will go easily.

Windies- (equip Crown of Ages and replace a Soj with the 10 fcr/ 20 strength ring) – this setup is incredibly hard as the chips are all on his side of the table. Cyclone armor and summons will absorb your fissures and volcanoes, windies have a spammable attack while you do not, and you can’t stomp them without risk of getting annihilated. With this setup you’ll have no block but very high damage reduction to lower tornado damage; the idea in this battle is to hit them extremely hard to take out their summons and cyclone armor as fast as possible, hopefully in one hit. This can only be done by stacking up fissures for massive damage and a brief stunning effect. When they teleport away to recast, telestomp them with a volcano/ grizzly combo and tell them to respec because shamans are moving in

Fire Druids/ Shamans- (Caster setup, switch Maras to Nokozan) If they go pure fire damage route (30/-30, 20/-20, Ravenlore), then constantly haze them with Volcano/ Grizzly combos and the game will be over fast. These builds that are built around Rainbow Facets do not work and will not work, because you are the better druid.

Necromancers

Summoners- (Maxblock setup/ or if he Amps Caster setup) If you’re playing a BM summoner simply stack up fissures and sit in them until he stomps you and then volcano him when his summons are dead. The more aggressive way is to haze him with fissures and then teleport away and wait for him to become impatient and stomp you in your fissure camp. If he has revived fire immunes then you call him names from town and get another character.

Bonemancers- (Caster setup, load up on life rep if possible) These duels can actually become fairly even paced when a shaman becomes skilled enough. The nature of bone armor won’t break from fissures, so chainlocking volcanoes will become key as well as combining it with Grizzly Strikes. Be careful not to over commit as consecutive bone spears will hurt a lot, especially if you got namelocked when you teleport away

Poisonmancers- (Caster Gear) Similar to a bone necromancer, fissures are pretty much negated because of bone armor. Whereas these characters have to get decently close to get you, you do not have to get close to them; a poisonmancer has to hit you with Lower Resistance and then get within range to cast Poison Nova. By working this to our advantage you can kill this necromancer without ever being poisoned. When they get near, simply teleport past them very quickly so you can get a Bear-Strike in to take down Bone Armor, if your Grizzly connects, cast a Volcano, Bear-Strike them again, and run away and repeat. If they start playing very aggressive then keep them at the edge of your screen and wait for a right moment to Volcano/ Grizzly strike them. If you manage to get poisoned keep Cyclone Armor up as it will absorb the Fire Golem’s pulses, continually namelock spam Volcanoes on them and if you can manage, Bear-Strike them also.

Some of these matchups I switch my inventory around because using the bear isn't as tactically advantageous as it would be against another character, so this is when I tend to aim for more fire damage than risk a drive-by and getting hit for massive damage.

Team verse Team:
A shaman is a great addition for any team; be it 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4, your team will greatly benefit. I will only cover 2v2 because 3v3 and 4v4 have too many combinations to count and customize. For a 2v2 team we’ll break it down into what a shaman has to offer; Oak sage is a huge life booster, Volcano is a great caster interrupter, fissure is an amazing AoE/ camping spell. That being said, here’s what would work best: a trap sin, because she mindblast and traps do damage and stun, used in combination with fissure and volcano the stun becomes so ridiculous it’s an easy PK; a bow amazon, this combo is like a bow amazon and a hammerdin, spam fissures underneath the bowzon so she can spam with the safety of not being stomped; a BvC/ BvA, while your partner is spamming leap you spam tactical fissures while the opposing team is stunned, gfg life boost from Bo and Oak here; and lastly, another Shaman, which is just whack and I highly suggest doing as it is amazingly fun!

How to BM:
Fissure can no longer be cast at the edge of town while you run in, and still be effective. Patch 1.13 fixed this nifty little bug making town guarding fissure druids a thing of the past. Boo hoo. This character isn’t quite as affective as a BM Hammerdin or Bonemancer, but can BM and BM hard. The first way to do this is to buy an Act 2 Mercenary from NM (Holy Freeze) and equip him with an Infinity weapon; the Conviction aura will lower enemies’ fire resistances and make them EZPKs. Another technique, similar to the TG Fissure Druid, is to stand parallel to the opening between the Moor and Town and cast fissures there. That way they won’t disappear and you’ll be relatively safe. The easiest, and most successful tactic, is to camp someone’s body: whether they NK’d you or whatever the deal is, when they die, sit RIGHT ON TOP of the bodies and continually cast fissures on it while calling the other person names, thus proving you to be the better player and person with the bigger penis. Now if you get BM’d (happens to me all the time, pubs can’t stand it when a fire druid wrecks their precious cookie-cutter) you are kind of in a jam. If they are a low life/ low defense character, cast Grizzly behind them or at their sides, thus forcing them to address your summon, and if you’re lucky, you can usually make them town or kill them! If it’s a high life/ high defense character, act like you are away, and when they are fighting someone else, cast fissures in their duel. And if you’re naked, have some decency and cover up by getting your body.
I really do not suggest using this character as a Bad Mannered weapon, Town Fissure Druids already gave fire druids enough of a bad rap. This is merely another “strategy” that you can utilize if so chosen.

Some Videos of Shamans and Fire Druids in Action:

None of these videos are me playing, but they are given as an example of the gameplay of a shaman. I hope to someday incorporate a video of myself, but at this time Fraps laggs me to much in-game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6Flt2NUWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a243RcXW3Eo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fforums%2Ed2jsp%2Eorg%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fshowtopic%3D33894269%26f%3D87%26st%3D10&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPiE_aMEw6s&feature=related

Credits:
Ah yes, the part everyone skims over regardless, there are people who were vital in the process of this guide.

Clan_Iraq and multies – for initially sparking my interest in the build and answering my many questions, you stopped me from making cookie-cutters

Joe (xennon222) – helping me plan out a maxblock setup and giving me the time and patience to teach me to namelock and many, many enjoyable duels for the past few months and on into the future.

Luca and Andy (Kbk and LewlWC) – many enjoyable practice duels- I wouldn’t be where I am today without you guys. And Luca, congrats of getting out of D2; you will be missed

Ewya -- for initially giving me the idea to write this guide


Chris, Bacon, and Tinj (ScaryGhoul, Aube, Tinhajj) – My pub slamming/ trash talking partnersyou guys helped me learn how to TvT with this guy, especially when other teams raged after losing to a fire druid and a Tommyvv’s Infinite Mana Boner Nec or Trangs poisonmancer screenshots are priceless, you guys are awesome.

Sara (Master_Zappy) – Shaman v Shaman is a class all to itself really cannot replicate this matchup anywhere else and our duels are always entertaining and really force me to pay a lot more attention than usual. Always fun landing in the other person’s fissures thinking it’s ours

Damon (drt1245) – My best hater, lets me know I’m doing alright (even though I know you're mad jealous and try and hack my account daily ^^)

SnG Team – First and only guild, you guys make this site for me with the jokes, trolls, flames, spam, actual intelligence about builds and setups, and the family. I love you guys

And lastly… The East Ladder and Non-Ladder Public Duels – keep the rage coming guys, because it makes me meni stronk! Originally where I learned how to duel in a Live-or-Die environment, I wouldn’t be anywhere without you guys


This post was edited by CompanyOfThree on Jun 7 2010 10:47am

oops sorry

orly?

This post was edited by Tails chao on Jun 7 2010 10:52am

didn't read all yet. Knowing you I know I won't be disappointed though.

Great job!

Dwarf, rising sun, hotspurs, 50dr, block with decent fbr with Shael SS, 9frame fcr blizz sorc (Vita, not that ES shit). Eats shamans real good if you ever need to go that bm anyway. Usually just WW + Sun or Nokozan + a dwarf will do.

Nice guide and well presented, I admit shamans have their uses vs some characters, but they really aint that good overall.