Solo SSF new character

So I bought a new PC and didn't save my old offline characters (purposely).

I am wanting to do a 1-99 SSF run and am looking for Fun and Off meta build recommendations. I don't wanna do Hammerdin or Blizzard/

Fireball Sorc. Looking for off meta, but fun builds. Any suggestions are welcome and I will pick which one sounds the most fun Thanks in advance!

Poison Dagger necro always felt like a cute concept. No clue if that's even fully viable through the game though. Never had the patience. Though I'd expect it is, seeing how most things are..just not as fast.

Sniper sorc and sniper assassin were both always quite fun to play with the assassin being my personal fav of the two. Essentially, push

Enchant or Venom respectively, slap on a bow (ideally

Widowmaker if you get lucky enough) and have at it. Both are actually very viable if done right, albeit obviously subject to the same "one target at a time" speed limitation as so many other builds.

Here's my suggestion: Hurricane & Fury Werewolf!
I haven't tried it myself, but I play a build very similar to it (

Armageddon +

Fire Claws

Werewolf). In short:

Hurricane does AoE damage;

Fury: Skill is single-target or pseudo-AoE depending on how you use it;

Werewolf grants offensive and defensive bonuses and enables the use of some of your skills. It could be tough (or at least slow) to truly get going in an SSF scenario, but it should be a capable build in the long run.
Pros:

• Two damage types: Cold (via
  Hurricane) and Physical (via
  Feral Rage and
  Fury: Skill);

• Synergistic:
  Hurricane does damage in a radius around the Druid, and a
  Werewolf naturally fights in melee;

• Speed and safety: Werewolves move quickly and leech life (via
  Feral Rage), have lots of health (via
  Lycanthropy), and can achieve great amounts of attack speed and attack rating (via
  Werewolf);
  Hurricane provides constant chilling against any vulnerable enemies;

• Elemental-damage mitigation:
  Cyclone Armor, one of the prerequisites for
  Hurricane, provides a tri-element damage shield;

• Hybrid: Both
  Cyclone Armor and
  Hurricane are castable while shapeshifted;

• Flexible: Can level as Elemental first, leaving the physical part of the build for later, or as Shape Shifting first, leaving the elemental part of the build for later. You could instead try going for something in-between, but I'm unsure it'd work well;

• Versatile: You can grab many optional skills, including the aura-granting
  Oak Sage (max life) and/or
  Heart of Wolverine (damage and attack rating), the one-point-wonder
  Summon Grizzly, the body-cleaning
  Carrion Vine and/or
  Solar Creeper, the AoE-stunning
  Shock Wave (requires being in
  Werebear), and the dual-leeching
  Hunger;

• Engaging: You'll be recasting
  Hurricane every 12 seconds (less frequently than that if you put extra points into
  Cyclone Armor), refreshing your
  Feral Rage stacks every 20 seconds, recasting your
  Cyclone Armor whenever its absorption is depleted, resummoning your minions whenever they fall, keeping a mental note of the remaining duration of your shapeshifted status and potentially refreshing it early, cleverly positioning to unleash your
  Fury: Skill on either one target or multiple, and generally watching for your survival within melee range;

• Cheap to start with and makes use of many different stats: Spirit is inexpensive to make, and you'll eventually (or from the very beginning if you try levelling as a hybrid) have the freedom to throw on a mix of whatever melee and caster pieces drop;

• Boss killer: A fully-invested
  Fury: Skill in combination with some Crushing Blow will let you obliterate uniques, superuniques, and act bosses;

• Can be built around specific weapons:
  Windhammer and
  Horizon's Tornado immediately come to mind since you can synergise their chance-to-cast procs. Doom, while not normally build-warping, can become that way if you're crazy enough to invest into
  Volcano's synergies;

• Integrated cooling: Your
  Werewolf will never have to pant again!

Cons:

• Not a levelling build: Due to the amount of skill points required to get both sides of the build going, its hybrid functionality is minimally viable by Hell at the earliest, and realistically only becomes robust post-Hell, so chances are you'll be playing as a Wind Druid or Fury Werewolf for a good while;

• Stretched thin: With a minimum of 60 hard points in
  Hurricane + synergies and 20 in
  Fury: Skill, you'll be relying on +Skills from gear and charms to make your support skills shine, get
  Werewolf high enough to aid you in hitting certain IAS breakpoints, and to have enough survivability coming from
  Lycanthropy;

• Hurricane trades power for reliability:
  Hurricane is perfectly accurate and ticks often, but the damage won't be as high as you'd expect from something with 40 points put into its synergies;

• Frequent repairs: You'll be losing overall durability not just from being a melee and thus frequently getting hit, but also tons of weapon durability from attacking so often with
  Fury: Skill;

• Horrible block frames: If you ever find yourself using a one-hander & shield rather than a two-hander, you'll cry from how slowly a
  Werewolf recovers from blocking;

• Have to gear as a melee AND caster: Reaching your desired breakpoints for attack speed, cast rate, and other stats may be tricky or impossible;

• Those damn squishy minions: In this build, that's every single one except for the Grizzly;

• Cannot teleport while shapeshifted: Whether you're using a
  Teleport staff, amulet, or helm, or you're persistent and lucky enough to have built an Enigma, you'll have to deshift whenever you want to warp around;

• "But I don't need air conditioning!": If you'd prefer to hit harder or already have chilling (the Act 2 mercenary's
  Holy Freeze is strictly better than
  Hurricane's chill because it works on more foes, and a cold-damage small charm may be good enough for your needs), you might prefer building for
  Armageddon over
  Hurricane. This build's warmer sibling is
  Armageddon +
  Fury: Skill
  Werewolf (
  Earth Shifter is one of its weapon options, and it's a fun one: look at that +Elemental Skills modifier!), and its truly toasty cousin is the
  Armageddon +
  Fire Claws
  Werewolf (here's my current Lvl 95 build as a sample). You could also build around
  Werebear instead of
  Werewolf, trading movement speed and life leech (
  Feral Rage) and sheer attack rate (
  Fury: Skill) for raw damage, defense, a SPAMmable AoE stun (
  Shock Wave), and immunity to stuns while you're attacking.

With all the considerations above having been stated, here's what you'll be looking to invest in:

Elemental
1

Arctic Blast (prerequisite; not usable while shapeshifted)
1+

Cyclone Armor (prerequisite; more points = less-frequent

Hurricane recasts)
20

Twister (prerequisite and synergy; not usable while shapeshifted)
20

Tornado (prerequisite and synergy; not usable while shapeshifted)
20

Hurricane

Shape Shifting
1+

Werewolf (level of investment depends on your amount of Increased Attack Speed and +Druid/Shape Shifting skills; this calculator is very useful)
1+

Lycanthropy (a multiple-point investment is highly recommended)
1+

Feral Rage (prerequisite)
1

Rabies (prerequisite)
20

Fury: Skill

Recommended extras:
1+

Oak Sage
1+

Heart of Wolverine
1

Summon Grizzly (preferably granted by your Druid pelt so you can skip the 3 points of prerequisites)

Even if you choose not to go for this build, maybe someone else will feel enticed to give it a go. If you want to see this Druid in action and/or get in-depth information, there are written and visual guides out there. Consider giving the chilly man-wolf a try this upcoming Winter!

I hope you helped the OP, but I'm definitely trying this next. Awesome.

Runasutaru wrote: 4 months ago

Here's my suggestion: Hurricane & Fury Werewolf!
I haven't tried it myself, but I play a build very similar to it (

Armageddon +

Fire Claws

Werewolf). In short:

Hurricane does AoE damage;

Fury: Skill is single-target or pseudo-AoE depending on how you use it;

Werewolf grants offensive and defensive bonuses and enables the use of some of your skills. It could be tough (or at least slow) to truly get going in an SSF scenario, but it should be a capable build in the long run.

core_hurricanefurywolf_build.jpg

Pros:

• Two damage types: Cold (via
  Hurricane) and Physical (via
  Feral Rage and
  Fury: Skill);

• Synergistic:
  Hurricane does damage in a radius around the Druid, and a
  Werewolf naturally fights in melee;

• Speed and safety: Werewolves move quickly and leech life (via
  Feral Rage), have lots of health (via
  Lycanthropy), and can achieve great amounts of attack speed and attack rating (via
  Werewolf);
  Hurricane provides constant chilling against any vulnerable enemies;

• Elemental-damage mitigation:
  Cyclone Armor, one of the prerequisites for
  Hurricane, provides a tri-element damage shield;

• Hybrid: Both
  Cyclone Armor and
  Hurricane are castable while shapeshifted;

• Flexible: Can level as Elemental first, leaving the physical part of the build for later, or as Shape Shifting first, leaving the elemental part of the build for later. You could instead try going for something in-between, but I'm unsure it'd work well;

• Versatile: You can grab many optional skills, including the aura-granting
  Oak Sage (max life) and/or
  Heart of Wolverine (damage and attack rating), the one-point-wonder
  Summon Grizzly, the body-cleaning
  Carrion Vine and/or
  Solar Creeper, the AoE-stunning
  Shock Wave (requires being in
  Werebear), and the dual-leeching
  Hunger;

• Engaging: You'll be recasting
  Hurricane every 12 seconds (less frequently than that if you put extra points into
  Cyclone Armor), refreshing your
  Feral Rage stacks every 20 seconds, recasting your
  Cyclone Armor whenever its absorption is depleted, resummoning your minions whenever they fall, keeping a mental note of the remaining duration of your shapeshifted status and potentially refreshing it early, cleverly positioning to unleash your
  Fury: Skill on either one target or multiple, and generally watching for your survival within melee range;

• Cheap to start with and makes use of many different stats: Spirit is inexpensive to make, and you'll eventually (or from the very beginning if you try levelling as a hybrid) have the freedom to throw on a mix of whatever melee and caster pieces drop;

• Boss killer: A fully-invested
  Fury: Skill in combination with some Crushing Blow will let you obliterate uniques, superuniques, and act bosses;

• Can be built around specific weapons:
  Windhammer and
  Horizon's Tornado immediately come to mind since you can synergise their chance-to-cast procs. Doom, while not normally build-warping, can become that way if you're crazy enough to invest into
  Volcano's synergies;

• Integrated cooling: Your
  Werewolf will never have to pant again!

Cons:

• Not a levelling build: Due to the amount of skill points required to get both sides of the build going, its hybrid functionality is minimally viable by Hell at the earliest, and realistically only becomes robust post-Hell, so chances are you'll be playing as a Wind Druid or Fury Werewolf for a good while;

• Stretched thin: With a minimum of 60 hard points in
  Hurricane + synergies and 20 in
  Fury: Skill, you'll be relying on +Skills from gear and charms to make your support skills shine, get
  Werewolf high enough to aid you in hitting certain IAS breakpoints, and to have enough survivability coming from
  Lycanthropy;

• Hurricane trades power for reliability:
  Hurricane is perfectly accurate and ticks often, but the damage won't be as high as you'd expect from something with 40 points put into its synergies;

• Frequent repairs: You'll be losing overall durability not just from being a melee and thus frequently getting hit, but also tons of weapon durability from attacking so often with
  Fury: Skill;

• Horrible block frames: If you ever find yourself using a one-hander & shield rather than a two-hander, you'll cry from how slowly a
  Werewolf recovers from blocking;

• Have to gear as a melee AND caster: Reaching your desired breakpoints for attack speed, cast rate, and other stats may be tricky or impossible;

• Those damn squishy minions: In this build, that's every single one except for the Grizzly;

• Cannot teleport while shapeshifted: Whether you're using a
  Teleport staff, amulet, or helm, or you're persistent and lucky enough to have built an Enigma, you'll have to deshift whenever you want to warp around;

• "But I don't need air conditioning!": If you'd prefer to hit harder or already have chilling (the Act 2 mercenary's
  Holy Freeze is strictly better than
  Hurricane's chill because it works on more foes, and a cold-damage small charm may be good enough for your needs), you might prefer building for
  Armageddon over
  Hurricane. This build's warmer sibling is
  Armageddon +
  Fury: Skill
  Werewolf (
  Earth Shifter is one of its weapon options, and it's a fun one: look at that +Elemental Skills modifier!), and its truly toasty cousin is the
  Armageddon +
  Fire Claws
  Werewolf (here's my current Lvl 95 build as a sample). You could also build around
  Werebear instead of
  Werewolf, trading movement speed and life leech (
  Feral Rage) and sheer attack rate (
  Fury: Skill) for raw damage, defense, a SPAMmable AoE stun (
  Shock Wave), and immunity to stuns while you're attacking.

With all the considerations above having been stated, here's what you'll be looking to invest in:

Elemental
1

Arctic Blast (prerequisite; not usable while shapeshifted)
1+

Cyclone Armor (prerequisite; more points = less-frequent

Hurricane recasts)
20

Twister (prerequisite and synergy; not usable while shapeshifted)
20

Tornado (prerequisite and synergy; not usable while shapeshifted)
20

Hurricane

Shape Shifting
1+

Werewolf (level of investment depends on your amount of Increased Attack Speed and +Druid/Shape Shifting skills; this calculator is very useful)
1+

Lycanthropy (a multiple-point investment is highly recommended)
1+

Feral Rage (prerequisite)
1

Rabies (prerequisite)
20

Fury: Skill

Recommended extras:
1+

Oak Sage
1+

Heart of Wolverine
1

Summon Grizzly (preferably granted by your Druid pelt so you can skip the 3 points of prerequisites)

Even if you choose not to go for this build, maybe someone else will feel enticed to give it a go. If you want to see this Druid in action and/or get in-depth information, there are written and visual guides out there. Consider giving the chilly man-wolf a try this upcoming Winter!

human_being wrote: 4 months ago

I hope you helped the OP, but I'm definitely trying this next. Awesome.

That's great to hear; I hope you enjoy it and perhaps give your thoughts on it later! On a separate note, I'm surprised more people haven't shared builds since my post. I suppose other threads bumping this off the "Latest discussion" spot is partly to blame.