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: 11 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: 11 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 is interrupted and (← not true anymore in D2R, see comment at the bottom) 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)


EDIT (in case anyone finds this old post via searching):
D2R patch 2.4 changed it so that blocking no longer interrupts attack sequences. The blocking still happens, damage is still negated, but no blocking animation is played and thus no block recovery is needed. Blocking animation & recovery still happens normally if blocking while moving or being passive, just not while in the middle of an attack sequence.
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article ... r-now-live

Blizzard wrote:

• Blocking will no longer interrupt a player while performing a skill or attack. If a player character triggers a block during this time, the damage will still be negated, but the animation will not play