Fissure/Fire Druid questions

I built a Fissure/Fire druid for fun and really enjoy playing him so far but I have a few questions on making him better and What Merc to run. He can die pretty easily sometimes so trying to find a way to beef him up some if possible.

Pretty basic setup: Ravenlore, HOTO, Phoenix, Enigma, 2/9 Crafted ammy, Soj, 10 FCR ring, Magefist, Arachs, Travs, Anni, Torch, Sunder, Skillers. Total of 99 FCR.

My res are low but in the positive except fire which is at +74%.

My main question is what Merc to use and gearing.

Only thing I do know is Flickering Flame for the fire res aura. Not sure if A5 Merc with dual Plaugue or A2 Merc with Infinity is better. Also Fort or COH?

Just a couple general thoughts:

Playing as a fire druid, you'll have a distinct lack of -res from yourself/your class.

Simply based on that, Infinity will make a world of a difference dmg-wise.

If you move the flickering to yourself, you also get some more -res out of it and free your merc's head up to something actually of use to him.
(Ignore that..still half asleep when I posted that and forgot Raven had -res ^^)

played a lot of Fissure/fire druid.

your gear is nice, maby switch that Phoenix for a Spirit Monarch? more res, life, mana fhr. think it will give you more survivability and boost your bear summon to.
your Helm is ok, i would trade it out for a sexy pelt with 2 sk and some Fissure/ Armageddon.
as for merc it kinda depends, pure fire druid works ok with infy. i would do trechery or forti on merc.

if you are more of a hybrid druid that uses Armageddon and Fissure i would get a reapers toll on my merc for the decrep, you can Stun with Volcano, cast a Fissure and run trough mobs and let Armageddon do the jobb. Armageddon gives good phys and fire dmg.

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Just a couple general thoughts:

Playing as a fire druid, you'll have a distinct lack of -res from yourself/your class.

Simply based on that, Infinity will make a world of a difference dmg-wise.

If you move the flickering to yourself, you also get some more -res out of it and free your merc's head up to something actually of use to him.

Ravenlore gives more too - fire res than Flickering Flame and can have a Facet put in it, and Phoenix give -28 fire res plus gives redemtion.

I like the Infinity Idea better also since it's Conviction is more reliable than Plague's Lower Resist curse but Plague does give cleanse which could be helpful. The Flickering Flame on the Merc is just for the Fire Res Aura that it adds, W/o it my fire res is awful because of the Sunder. That's why I was curious if COH would be good for the life steal.

Onibasso wrote: 2 years ago

played a lot of Fissure/fire druid.

your gear is nice, maby switch that Phoenix for a Spirit Monarch? more res, life, mana fhr. think it will give you more survivability and boost your bear summon to.
your Helm is ok, i would trade it out for a sexy pelt with 2 sk and some Fissure/ Armageddon.
as for merc it kinda depends, pure fire druid works ok with infy. i would do trechery or forti on merc.

if you are more of a hybrid druid that uses Armageddon and Fissure i would get a reapers toll on my merc for the decrep, you can Stun with Volcano, cast a Fissure and run trough mobs and let Armageddon do the jobb. Armageddon gives good phys and fire dmg.

The Phoenix was for -Res and Redmption, otherwise I'm consuming mana pots like a madman.

As for the Helm, price was the issue, at least for now. Ravenlore was cheaper than finding a good flickering base with + skills or a Helm with good + skills and sockets, but maybe in the future when I have more resources haha.

I do use Armageddon and Fissure. I pop Armageddon, Tele to a pack, near a pack not on having issues with tele-stomping hence the post, pop Fissure then Firestorm until dead/ Fissure CD is done.

Oddly enough Merc is using Reapers right now but was planning to switch to Infinity or A5 dual Plague setup. Considered COH simply because of the Life Leech w/o Andy's head and run Infinity for -res.

Blindfire187 wrote: 2 years ago

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Just a couple general thoughts:

Playing as a fire druid, you'll have a distinct lack of -res from yourself/your class.

Simply based on that, Infinity will make a world of a difference dmg-wise.

If you move the flickering to yourself, you also get some more -res out of it and free your merc's head up to something actually of use to him.

Ravenlore gives more too - fire res than Flickering Flame and can have a Facet put in it, and Phoenix give -28 fire res plus gives redemtion.

I like the Infinity Idea better also since it's Conviction is more reliable than Plague's Lower Resist curse but Plague does give cleanse which could be helpful. The Flickering Flame on the Merc is just for the Fire Res Aura that it adds, W/o it my fire res is awful because of the Sunder. That's why I was curious if COH would be good for the life steal.

Yeah, barely woke up yet and forgot Raven had -res...

Infinity isn't only more reliable, it also gets you higher -res than Plague's LR does.

The res problem you could just fix with charms or similar instead so you don't have to bother with CoH on your merc and can leave him actually dealing real dmg with fort.