3.2 RotW Summon Druid Guide

tmGrunty wrote: 3 years ago

Patch 2.7 doesn't come with any changes to Summon Druid so there will not be any changes to my guide.

The one thing possibly worth noting is that you could now skip the oft used Shock Wave in favor of Twister without sabotaging your group.
Given, the Stun isn't even close to comparable but you can stay out of bear form for it.

Pre-patch, using it would've blocked all NHD-affected damage from the rest of your group. Now, no longer a problem.

I still prefer the Shock Wave.
It's more reliable and you get the extra HP from the Bear form.
Also Twister stun duration is so short because unlike Shock Wave it doesn't increase per level.

You usually only need the Stun in emergency situations or for stationary fights (e.g. Baal waves).
And in those cases the additional HP from the Werebear is great too.

Agreed. If you actually need a Stun, Shock Wave is far superior.

Personally, tbh, I'm specced for Shock Wave but never use it. I don't even shift into bear form as shockwave just isn't necessary and I prefer to just keep telestomping instead.

Either way, Twister is at least an option now.

Zookeeper for life.

Updated for ladder season 5.

There have been no content additions or changes to anything that affect Summon Druid.
Therefore nothing has changed about my guide.

However I finally reached level 99 on my own char and I managed to get some better boots and better charms which is reflected in my "Valak" layout.

Just looked - your Boots are absolutely crazy !

Necrarch wrote: 2 years ago

Just looked - your Boots are absolutely crazy !

Thank you.
They were quite expensive but pretty much exactly what I wanted.

I would make 2 changes to your build. The less impact full would be to go for Poison Creeper in order to get aoe poison damage (who stop monster regen). It would help but would not change much.

However your should use Bramble for your mervenary, it would drasticly improve your damage espacially with Decrepify. You would maybe loose a bit survivability for your merc but he should be ok around the zoo

There is no need to stop monster regeneration whatsoever unless you do Ubers and DiaClone for which I have a different Merc setup anyway to stop it.
The Poison Creeper is a good skill to get through normal difficulty if you want to level with it.
After that it falls off hard.

Bramble doesn't do much. The Thorns aura does way less damage than what you'd lose on damage from the Fortitude on the Merc.
I have tried one on a Maul Druid's merc and the damage is just pitiful.

Updated for season 6.

Re-added Bramble as an armor option for Merc for the Thorns aura for specifically high player counts (I stil think Fortitude is better).

Also updated my own gear with a shiny new pelt

Small update:

I actually started this season with a Druid using my guide and recommended items while leveling.
It worked very well but as stated it is not the fastest char out there.
I used items from the "leveling" section while leveling, transitioned over to the "budget" section and am now working towards the " Raven" setup.

I do have to say that while the Act 5 Merc with Lawbringer works to break physical immunes it is so much less reliable than Act 2 Merc with The Reaper's Toll.
Not only does the Lawbringer proc less, the Act 5 Merc also often immediately overwrites it again with his Taunt and the Sanctuary Aura is very annoying.

No changes to the guide for Season 7 because there were no changes to the game.

tmGrunty wrote: 2 years ago

Small update:

I actually started this season with a Druid using my guide and recommended items while leveling.
It worked very well but as stated it is not the fastest char out there.
I used items from the "leveling" section while leveling, transitioned over to the "budget" section and am now working towards the " Raven" setup.

I do have to say that while the Act 5 Merc with Lawbringer works to break physical immunes it is so much less reliable than Act 2 Merc with The Reaper's Toll.
Not only does the Lawbringer proc less, the Act 5 Merc also often immediately overwrites it again with his Taunt and the Sanctuary Aura is very annoying.

While it might not be as good as A2 with reapers, Lawbringer is at least farmable leveling SSF. Farmed up Hustle, Treachery and Lawbringer and he makes a speedy companion.

Hoping to get some luck on finding some of your gear recommendations if I survive the HC SSF journey.

This is a great guide. I used the "Valak" as reference, just changed the pelt for a Jalal's Mane I had around. Oh, and I used an act 3 Enchant merc for the lulz.

It's probably the easiest and chillest char I've ever leveled from normal to hell, never having been close to dying and almost never used a potion. Next char I leveled was a Mosaic sin, and it is the other end of the spectrum, I was constantly counting to 15 in my head and barely having time to breath.

areeyeseakay wrote: 2 years ago

While it might not be as good as A2 with reapers, Lawbringer is at least farmable leveling SSF. Farmed up Hustle, Treachery and Lawbringer and he makes a speedy companion.

Hoping to get some luck on finding some of your gear recommendations if I survive the HC SSF journey.

Yeah if you are are SSF and still leveling then Act 5 Merc is definitely the way to go.
That being said, I'd switch as soon as a Reaper's Toll is available.

Good luck.

This is the best I could find/trade ever, and luckily I got 2os. What to socket, though, is a question in my mind. Any ideas?

basicnecromancy wrote: 4 years ago

What do you say about Pride instead of Eth RToll? I have one but doubts about PIs.

@basicnecromancy
Mister Basic, do you have an opinion about this topic after 2 years? I need your input for educational purposes

Pride sucks. Your Merc is too important for being used as an aura slave.

Reapers or A1 merc is the way to go. If you play P1-P3 the rogue with Mist will handle immunes faster than any other merc is able to.

If you wanna play P4+ or if you primarily hunt bosses, you need Reapers, but you won't kill much anyway in high multiplayer games.

Byczq wrote: 1 year ago

basicnecromancy wrote: 4 years ago

What do you say about Pride instead of Eth RToll? I have one but doubts about PIs.

@basicnecromancy
Mister Basic, do you have an opinion about this topic after 2 years? I need your input for educational purposes

Once I tried it but didn't like so RToll is the decision.

Hi,

I am still newcomer Summoner Druid Very informative and well written guide from which I profited also. Thank you for the effort you have put in it! When I started playing D2R "from scratch" in June after a break of ca. 20 years I first have read some guides on Maxroll. I started playing with my two boys and needed a char which was able to complete hell on selffound gear. Because my elder son wanted to play a Summoner Nec I decided to start a Summoner Druid. The youngest played a Paladin Zealer so that all of us could profit especially from his Fanaticism aura. It played out very well and after some farming and trading our chars have overall really usable gear.

Now, my Druid is far from perfect equipment (I suggest in sum it is worth 5-6 JAHs - e.g. I only use bare skillers because I have enough life and all small charms with MF and RES are selffound. The rest of the gear is a Jalal´s (with a Topaz), a perf. Maras, BK Ring (because selffound ), SOJ, Arachnid, Enigma, War Traveller (selffound), Chance Guards (selffound), HOTO + CTA, two Spirits, an anni (18/20/9) and a Torch (15/20).

But I noticed that most improvements I made in the near past really had very little effect. E.g. my merc was for a long time equipped with a Reapers Toll (not Eth., not socketed), Eth. Smoke and a Crown of Thieves. Overall, he survived very well and had a decent proc rate - even in eight player games with solo trav runs.

Not long ago I found an Andriel`s and yesterday I made a Fortitude in an Eth. Wire Fleece. Then I also socketed the RT with a Shael and Andriel`s with a 24 fires res + 9 strength jewel (this was the best I have found so far - sadly not one with IAS so I still miss one frame). I did a lot of Clone killing for the last two weeks (I suggest 80-100 kills) but even after these improvements my Merc sometimes still needs one or two reju potions during the fight (he has 20 LL and all res max). Maybe less often than before but in my opinion the difference is very subtle considering with what I have equipped him now in comparison what he had before.

I have a Beast Axe in my stash but currently I only use my HOTO with 36 res + CTA (4/4/4) because I want my res maxed out and also a good MF rate (with CTA my summons are currently on lvl 47). Do you think loosing the res and the +3 skills is worth the change with my current gear (at least when playing without my zealer son ) or would you too stay with the HOTO on my setup?