starting Shapeshift Druid...

... the page for Oath recommends a

Feral Axe as the base, why not a 1-

Hand Axe plus shield?

(rip my bowazon...)

krathkor wrote: 2 months ago

... the page for Oath recommends a

Feral Axe as the base, why not a 1-

Hand Axe plus shield?

(rip my bowazon...)

Any 4 socket ethereal weapon - (one or two hand) is an eligible base for Oath. The advantage of 1 hand base is that can use a Phoenix shield. The only disadvatage of Phoenix is a very expensive runeword.

The recommendation is for the Shapeshift Druids (in special the

Fury: Skill one).

Druids are better with 2 hand axes/maces and Polearms than with other weapons (the attack is faster for the same base speed. Ex:

Berserker Axe and

Silver-Edged Axe have the same base speed - 0 - but Druids attack faster with second).
That's why most Shapeshift Druids focused on physical damage use 2 handed weapons instead of 1 hand weapon plus shield.

krathkor wrote: 2 months ago

... the page for Oath recommends a

Feral Axe as the base, why not a 1-

Hand Axe plus shield?

(rip my bowazon...)

Werewolf druids get much better attack speed frames with two-handed weapons. Given that two-handed weapons have higher damage, too, it makes them a clear better option for DPS.

Druids also have terrible block rate. Not block chance - I mean the recovery rate upon blocking an attack.

Compare to a Paladin - a Paladin with

Holy Shield will have 2 frame block rate even with 0% FBR (faster block rate). Blocking also doesn’t interrupt

Zeal.

A

Werewolf druid has 9 frame block rate with 0% FBR. That’s 4.5 times longer. Think about it for a second - every time you block, your

Fury: Skill is interrupted and you get locked in a block recovery animation for 9 frames.

Druid (Wolf)
FBR Frames
0% 9
7% 8
15% 7
27% 6
48% 5
86% 4
200% 3

From: https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=2450747

(it’s even worse in human form or in

Werebear form)