Introduction:Today I'd like to share with you a character build I've been working on through the years. The Hunter Druid.
This character answers the question: 'How do I make a fissure druid fun when there's that annoying cast delay?'
My Answer: Give him a bow.
The most fun aspect of this largely PVM build is that there are very few item mods he doesn't benefit from, and it
introduces new fun ways to incorporate interesting pelts, and items with stats that straddle melee and caster.
Because he relies on a balance of melee and elemental skills, he is very versatile and customizable. I've built him a
few times, and he's very fun at the low levels. For Hell difficulty, he becomes a little more expensive as he needs some
of the big runewords like faith, COH and infinity, but if you like oldschool gameplay, monster hunting, team leading,
and using a diverse build that will test your PVM skills, the hunter druid is your dude.
And yes, he is capable of beating any boss on any difficulty (I've been flirting with an uber build). He can solo hell chaos
and hell baal (even 2x baal), as well as clear all 5 throne waves. Of course, if your d2 chops are lacking, he will not.
The Hunter is great solo, but also a natural team leader. Most often I am leading my team, even with pallys around. His
summons provide good cover, his sage gives high life, hurricane slows down encroaching mobs, whatever aura you choose
for your merc will benefit all, as will the aura of your bow - if faith, that's fanaticism.
The Hunter benefits from summons and elemental skills, and potentially shapeshifting as well depending on how you play.
Skill/Stat BreakdownThe Hunter Druid's main skill is Fissure, a somewhat overpowered skill that at high levels does over 3k fire damage per second.
This is clutch for crowd control, and easily takes apart notoriously hard enemies like tomb vipers, burning souls and dolls.
Fissure is also good for controlling mobs that like to scatter, like demon imps. More about this in strategy.
Skills:
Open entire elemental tree:
Max Fissure
Max Firestorm
Max Volcano
With a high level character you should be pushing 3k fissure damage
After that the rest are up to you. I found what works best is:
Max Oak Sage
Max Cyclone Armor
You could also open up werewolf or werebear and put a point in lycanthropy and an attack skill, if you need the extra life or want to
go in for melee.
As for summons, oak is the only spirit I like because you can't beat the life. I would open all three vines because sometimes you need
each one, and then a point in wolves and bear. I find I use either wolves or bear for specific enemies and levels. If you have a strong
preference, go with that!
Stats:
No surprises here:
Strength: enough for gear (or if you want high damage)
Dexterity: Enough for bow (or if you want high AR)
Vitality: all the rest
Energy: none
Gear+InventoryThe only breakpoints you want to hit are for FHR and IAS (also FRW). If you're really rich you can try to build up cast (kinda pointless with cast delay
skills like fissure). Generally you want 63 FHR. You'll have to dig into the math to get the IAS breakpoints.
My Hunter Druid (FunkyDude) is currently level 85 and has 65 FHR, and 55 IAS (from gloves, highlords and a jewel). He can solo hell D and Baal.
As you will see, we want to use bows that rate druid IAS the fastest. You can find this info at Arreat Summit. Generally the two I like are
Great Bow and Blade Bow. With just that IAS and those bows, he has VERY fast rate of fire. However if IAS isn't important to you, try a stronger bow like
a Crusader Bow or Hydra Bow.
Normal: level (1-30)
For Normal there are lots of options, mainly I go for items that give FHR, FRW, FCR, life and res.
Bow: Zephyr for low level, Edge for higher. Can't beat Edge thorn Aura.
Armor: Stealth, good runeword with some Dex and poisen Res. Most unique normal armors will work well.
Hat: Nadir is good in a 2os pelt with fissure or firestorm or something. Biggins or Tarnhelm is good too.
Gloves: Craft kb gloves. use chain gloves, you might get 10ias on them. Bloodfist or magies depending on if you like melee or magic more.
Boots: rare res boots. Spurs or Treads work too.
Rings: Few mods he can't benefit from. FCR, AR, life and res are all good. Manald will give him good life and mana.
Ammy: magic 1 druid with 30+ life is great, you can usually gamble these.
Belt: I like a rare life belt with FHR and maybe some Str and res. for uniques try Nightsmoke, Goldwrap or Bladebuckle
Fissure will be your main skill and I recommend spirit wolf, annoying to recast but gives a baby druid good cover.
Merc: act 2, blessed aim aura. not much in way of gear - with something like malice, tarnhelm and a good armor, he should be good.
Nightmare: level (30-60)
Nightmare build is definitely a fun one. There is only one bow for this: Harmony.
Bow: Harmony. you get Valkyrie and revive charges. expensive repair but oh so worth it. Vigor makes your mob a menace.
Armor: Vmagi. maybe Que-Hegan. Best is a rare 2 socket armor with FHR, life, Dex and res. Put 2x IAS jewels in it.
Hat: there are great low level pelts with fissure. find a 2os pelt with fissure or a useful skill and make a Lore. many unique exceptional helms work too.
Gloves: craft kb still the best, mods like '5% chance of frost nova when struck' are great for slowing down enemies. lots of options.
Boots: rare res boots. now you can look at higher level unique options. walks or travs are great.
Rings: now you can start to use Raven + dwarf.
Ammy: best is still a magic 1 druid 30+ life. Some good rare ones can spawn at lower levels that the hunter will love.
Belt: rare life belt with FHR is still good. maybe a low level blood belt.
For nightmare I recommend grizzly, your wolves may not be strong enough w/o torch and anni. valk and revive will make your mob epic.
Merc: Act 2 might aura (or keep blessed aim). make him an eth low level insight, maybe duriels and guillies.
Hell: level (60-90)
Hell is expensive build but worth it. And with a good player, he will own.
Bow: only one option, 15/2 Faith great bow. I keep a Wrath great bow in cube to break duel fire/physical immunes. with those he can kill anything.
Armor: only one armor. AP COH. I feel no explanation is needed. best PVM armor.
Hat: 2os +5 fissure pelt with viso mod, life and res. socket with 2x 15/15.
Poor man hat: 2os Gskull with ias jewels (complemented with magefist gloves for fire+cast).
Rich man hat: 2os 2/30/20 druid circlet with life, str and res. put 2x 15/15's in that sucker. godly.
Gloves: crafted KB with 20ias, some res str or dex. find one with charges of strafe, guided or multiple arrow for style points. dracs if you want leach.
Boots: 30/10 tri res boots (+30 fire, cold, poisen) maybe an extra mod like rep life or dex. Alternatively, treks work great.
Rings: you're probably gonna want a raven and 5ll BK. Theres not much better for him.
Ammy: only one, Highlords for sure. ias, lite res, deadly strike, 1 skill, he needs this. If you're rich try a 2/20 caster ammy with teleport charges.
Belt: blood belt. stats to look for are 24FHR, life, str, res, and high open wounds percentage.
Switch: CTA with spirit monarch (he should have enough str for the monarch)
Inventory: again, highly customizable. Torch/anni and ele lifers. Also he benefits from AR/life Gcs, small charms with max/ar/life, mods like frw, poisen,
lifers, all res, again anything makes the hunter better. This is a highly versatile build. go summon lifers if you want.
Merc: Act 2 merc with might aura. You can try holy freeze, but the hunter druid already does lots of cold damage. eth infinity, ap ebugged fort and
I'd recommend ebugged dream bone visage. confuse is great for crowd control, and holy shock gives his -lite res some bite.
https://i.imgur.com/KgGHXXB.pngThe Hunter Druid can do about 3k fissure, should have around 8k AR, 4k life, and max res is attainable. In the photo above, you can see my res
is maxed (I use 30/10 duel res boots gold find boots) except for poison. Shouldn't be hard to max his res. His normal attack is seen as about 2k with
faith bow and merc might aura, however this does not include the damage to demons/undead from COH which will raise his PVM damage a lot.
https://i.imgur.com/LRsj6x3.pngRune Visor - This is the hat ive been using for my current build, I bought it as a temp but its proved very powerful, and without jewels its a lvl 30 req. I have no doubt
there are much better pelts that spawn all the time, most are probably thrown away because they aren't 5nado. sad. As you can see, these mods all
benefit the Hunter. This is actually a gg pelt for him. the ideal version is 2 druid 3 fissure 1 oak viso fhr life and res with 2 sockets.
Alternative Goldfind build:
The hunter is surprisingly good with a gold find build. Here are some items to play with:
Faith - has 75% gold from monsters
Ice - not as strong as faith, but has massive goldfind (3.125-309.375 Extra Gold From Monsters (Based on Character Level))
dwarfstar - 2x dwarf will give 200% goldfind, as well as good life and fire absorb.
Goldwrap, chancies, all good alternatives.
I just happen to have rare duel res goldfind boots that made this build get up to 20k gold drops.
StrategyThe Hunter Druid is almost entirely ranged in his attack patterns. Don't run up on mobs like a fool, like most casters, you will die.
Stay back, and let fissure and your summons do the work. Your bow is all about knockback, mob control and getting the stragglers.
The Hunter's Bow is probably more deadly than you think, even with just a normal attack.
Shoot arrows, cast fissure. Easy enough?
Here are a few more tips:
- Cast fissure from far away into middle of a mob. watch souls and ghosts that confound melee chars evaporate.
- For monsters that spread out or teleport, cast fissure in a wide pattern. chase monsters no longer.
- Use Dire wolf for mobs, and Grizzly for bosses. Dire wolves do huge damage when enraged. (dires + Faith reanimation skeles will make your mob huge).
- When recasting summons, BO, cast hurricane and cyclone first, then summons and BO. This will keep you and your mob protected.
- Keep cyclone armor on a quick command, and recast lots, especially against monsters like fire immune venom lords.
- Cast Armageddon lots. It has high damage and only helps with mob control. also it looks cool and fire will trigger monster FHR animation.
- For projectile monsters, just strafe. Dodge, shoot arrows, dodge, cast fissure, dodge, shoot arrows, repeat.
- Getting overrun? Cast fissure on yourself. oldest trick for the fire druid.
- Summons getting defeated by bosses? Pop a grizzly in his face and recast summons. recast oak at a safe distance, and protect him.
- Find a set of attacks that works for you.
Fire Immunes:
Typically these aren't a problem, but if they are a large and strong mob (like venom lords) it's not wise to rush them. Stay back, take advantage
of your knockback gloves, cast hurricane and fissure, and shoot those arrow as fast as you can! This should make them pretty easy.
https://i.imgur.com/UGVeI39.pngEven a fire immune Lister the Tormentor is no match for a skilled D2 player behind the controls of a hunter druid.
Fire/Physical Immunes:
It is possible to beat one of these without a switch. Merc dream helps, conviction+fissure will chip away at him. Casting hurricane will slow him down (but
not do much damage) and knockback+summons will keep him away from his cronies and help you isolate him. However, keeping a wrath bow in the
cube will make it go much faster. It has decrepify, life leech, magic and elemental damage, prevent monster heal - it will make short work of these duel immunes.
Try Ice or Brand on switch too.
ConclusionI can safely safe this is one of the most fun characters ive ever played. Additionally, I have tried this character with nigma and
found tele wasn't worth having. I have a caster ammy with tele charges, and that's enough to skip around, but I even prefer
highlord's to that. Experiment and find whats best for you!
Here are some pros and cons I've noticed:
Pros:
-Team leader
-Good at crowd control
-High life
-can break almost all immunes
-makes good use of item mods
-has his own mob
Cons:
-Weak close range
-runs out of arrows
-lots of casting (depending on your gameplay style)
-average clear speed
-no tele
Every time someone is in a room with my Hunter, I get two questions:
"What the hell kind of druid are you?"
"How are you wrecking so much with a bow?"
This character is very strong and worth building for sure, and I hope you have many fun times playing him just as I have.
If you're looking for a new character build, try Thoth's Hunter Druid!
Happy Hunting!
Thoth
This post was edited by Thoth on Oct 21 2018 08:48pm