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#338800 02/09/06 08:47 PM
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I have only played the first Diablo once in single player and finished the game. Diablo 2 I didn't find as interesting, so after a format I never did get back to finishing the game. I was playing a Druid that summoned in the early acts.

Well, I finished Vampire Redemption a while back and only have Sanitarium an adventure game to mess around with. With this weekend being a wash out, I am going to give the Druid another run.

This time I will be playing an Elemental Druid.

I checked out some builds to point me in the right direction. The only thing that confuses me is the energy stat. Every build always seems to say to leave this at its base 20.

Until just now, I finally saw a build that says if you want a good mana pool to increase this stat. It's confusing me that 99% of the players say to leave it as is.

As an Elemental Druid in single player, should I increase my energy stat or leave it at base 20?

#338801 02/09/06 09:19 PM
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I wrote a poison creeper druid guide for v. 1.09 in which I wrote

Quote
Energy -- Your goal here is to arrive at over 500 mana. (Over 600 mana is even better.) If you can do this without placing any points in energy then go for it. If you are unable to attain this amount of mana using only equipment than you might place as much as 35 points into energy. Usually this amount of mana is fully adequate for all your summoning and casting needs. There are a few battles, however, during which you will need to drink a potion. Fighting Lister and his gang in hell comes to mind.
I stopped playing at v. 1.09 so I don't know if my advice holds true for later patches. The poison creeper druid is a variant build--not cookie cutter--and I am very proud of it.


The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?
~Jeremy Bentham
#338802 03/09/06 12:26 AM
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Cool, that's exactly what I needed.

The build I was looking at didn't go into any detail. I was trying to compare how people did the skill tree and I would feel the rest out.

I'm playing with just the expansion patching the game to 1.07. I'm not really worried about exploits or a new game balance, since I won't be playing online.

#338803 03/09/06 10:13 AM
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Playing an elemental druid single player and keep energy at 20 sounds difficult to say the least (you won't find THAT many charms, and you'll need charms in order to boost your mana). Another problem with an elemental druid single player, is that the skills you want are both lvl 30 (armageddon and hurricane) (so you'll have to rely on melee and lvl 1 spells until then, which is NOT easy).

But if you'd single minded want to go for an elemental druid, I suggest getting energy (and if you are playing single player, you can't go for exclusivlly Hurricane or Armageddon due to imunities).

If you really want to build a druid, I'd suggest going for a wolf druid. Get Wolf Form (durp), some Lycantropy and fury. This will make you a quite forminable fighter. Add Oak Sage of Heart of the Wolverine for increased abilities (just one level gives a nice and cheap bonus). You could allso add some points into Carrion Vine.

Another fun combo could be to add Armageddon, sice you can cast that while in wolf form <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />.

Übereil


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#338804 03/09/06 05:32 PM
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I just hit level 12 and already dropped 10-points into energy.

Without a doubt, I am going to focus on energy and vitality. I havn't decided what my base strength or dex will be yet. Right now cheap armor is doing the trick but I know that won't last long.

I have 7-points in Oak sage and that boosts my health from 111 to 178. I have 1-point in Artic Blast to slow creatures down. So basically I am just all melee at the moment and fighting with a mace.

I just got Cyclone Armor for 1-point so that's really nothing yet. I'm waiting on Twister to be my first main attack spell. Then I was just going to follow the tree down to Tornado and Hurricane.

So what you are saying is that I won't make it to Hurricane in single player? I was just trying to keep it simple and follow one spell path and the only thing extra would be Oak sage.

How high of a level can you become in single player?

Edit:

Oh yeah, I do have a few Druid Helms already that let me cast other spells. I can change into a Werewolf also, that would bump my health even higher ontop of Oak sage.

Edit:

One other thing...

My save folder has four files in it.

Tempo.d2s
Tempo.key
Tempo.ma0
Tempo.map

The times are different on the files, but should I save them all on a floppy? If I am not happy and want to go back, is this all I need for saving a character?

#338805 03/09/06 07:30 PM
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it is only the *.2ds file that is the actual character, however the easiest thing to do to save your charcter is make a New folder in your Diablo directory, name it "Characters" and just copy your character files in there, if you are worried about the other files and or space on your drive simply highlite all files, right click and select add to archive which will zip it up and then you can drop the Tempo.zip file into your character folder <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Mea Culpa's Demesne Note; artwork for Avatar courtesy of NWN and CEP Old Elven Saying: "Never say Never if you're gonna live forever!!!" "I didn't do it, it wasn't my fault"
#338806 04/09/06 12:26 AM
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I haven't played in a long time, but I do remember that hurricane and twister hasve a bad rep--I just don't remember why.


The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?
~Jeremy Bentham
#338807 04/09/06 01:34 AM
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Thank you all, I just got in and saved my level 12 character to floppy.

Well, I guess I am creating a so called Wind Druid. All the builds I am reading are doing nothing more than confusing me, so I am just going to go for it. I'm hoping it's about play style too, because that's what got me through Lionheart when a lot of people were getting bashed up.

I'm hearing the samething you heard about these spells, because of physical resistance I am going to get busted up in Hell. I'm hoping once again to become powerful enough to over come this.

If anything, the Druid is suppose to be tough for a caster. So lets see what happens.

Edit:

MeaCulpa I saved to floppy incase of more formats. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Edit:

I see what the problem is now, I won't be high enough level for my spells in single player. Already dropping most my points in Oak sage and Cyclone armor, my wind spells are going to be weak.

Well that sucks.

#338808 06/09/06 03:37 AM
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Quote
If you really want to build a druid, I'd suggest going for a wolf druid. Get Wolf Form (durp), some Lycantropy and fury. This will make you a quite forminable fighter. Add Oak Sage of Heart of the Wolverine for increased abilities (just one level gives a nice and cheap bonus). You could allso add some points into Carrion Vine.


I hear you and I need a new plan.

I just made it to level 18 and finally got Twister. It's way too weak for the enemies I am fighting. I'll cast it over and over until all my mana is gone, it's just a waste.

I did save my character to floppy before spending any points, so now I am ready to change paths. The problem is I am still one point shy of doing what I want to do.

I don't think I can go Wolf druid because I put too many points into Oak sage and Cyclone armor already. It seems like the best thing to do is to jump on the Summon tree.

I thought I could go straight from Oak sage to Dire wolf, because the tree shows an arrow that way. But I guess I have to drop one point in Raven and Spirit wolf first. I have those 2 points but that means I have to wait until level 19 to get Dire wolf.

Basically this is as good as it gets. I had the 3rd skill point before I knew I was going to change my build.

You think I can make it with Dire wolf and later on with the Grizzly? With the expansion I should be able to take the Grizzly into the new Act.

I'm going to have my druid in the middle of the battles as crowd control, freezing and fighting.

Edit:

To make things more clear of what I am working with.

Oak sage - 10
Cyclone armor - 6
Arctic Blast - 1

Now I have to add.

Raven - 1
Spirit wolf - 1

One more level.

Dire wolf -1

Because of the Oak sage, it seems like I don't have a choice but to go Summon.

#338809 06/09/06 10:07 AM
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How many free sillpoints do you have? I'd suggest investing in fire up to armageddon, for the extra firedmg (both armageddon and hurricane is passive, so you activate both, then just run around and watch everything die around you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />). Will probablly be more worth haveing two skills syncronized than one extremelly good skill...

Übereil


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Ambrose Bierce
#338810 07/09/06 12:13 AM
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If I stay with a Wind druid I will be one skill point extra. If I change to Fire or Summon, I will be one skill point behind. You're right about Fire. I can still do that path and the low level spells are good enough to get to the high ones.

I actually can continue with a Wind druid and do good. Twister is weak and while casting it I can't freeze anything to attack melee. That's why the battles seem harder. If I hold out for Tornado, that's when you get powerful casting for low mana.

Summon is fine for normal difficulty but after that it's suppose to be a problem. It's one of those, you got help now but how much help will they be later on for you.

I'm going to play it out and see what happens. I just don't want to have to do it twenty times to figure it out. I'm liking the game more now than I did before, so that's a good thing. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" />

Edit:

I'm going to go with those passive spells you metioned.

Since I am a freeze junky, I want some summons now. I will ride Dire wolf out until level 27 and hope that my Oak sage gives us all enough health. Then for three levels I won't spend any skill points.

At level 30 I will get Grizzly, Armaggedon and Hurricane. I'm guessing I won't be able to use these final spells until act 5.

#338811 07/09/06 08:20 AM
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Probablly not. Diablo will be a pain <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />.

Übereil


Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think.

Ambrose Bierce
#338812 07/09/06 10:43 PM
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Change of plan again, since I keep worrying about the end game. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

I just put my forth point into Dire wolf and see that I still only get three. So I am going to back off that now. I'm going to push Artic blast until level 27 and see how that works out. Artic blast is only at level one now.

When I reach level 27 my build should look like this with the bonus skill point.

Oak sage - 10
Cylone armor - 6
Artic blast - 6
Dire wolf - 4
Spirit wolf - 1
Raven - 1

I won't fight Diablo until I reach level 30 and get the extra spells. I also found out that there are two more bonus points.

Grizzly - 1
Twister - 1
Tornado - 1
Hurricane - 1

That's my build and it should leave me 1 extra skill point at 30.

Edit:

Quote

"In addition to the four/five acts there are also three difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare and Hell. A character must complete these difficulty levels in order; only once a character completes Normal difficulty, that character may play at Nightmare difficulty, and similarly for Hell difficulty. A character retains all abilities, equipment, etc, between difficulties, and may return to earlier difficulties at any time. Upon completion of the game in Normal difficulty, a player may create a Hardcore character. The game ends when a Hardcore character is killed."

So I can do this in single player if I win? I can restart the game and play the higher difficulty keeping my character?

Here is the PvP guide that gave me the thought of creating a Wind druid but of course I am changing things.

http://www.alanbarber.org/index.php/weblog/comments/pvp_elemental_druid_guide/

I plan on dropping the Twister/Tornado and doing Artic/Grizzly/Hurricane on my build. Of course this is only if I can beat the game first on normal difficulty. I've been dropping points into energy, so my base stats will be different also.

#338813 10/09/06 01:10 AM
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Sorry about the double posts but I beat Diablo.

I didn't feel like sitting around so I fought him at level 27. My character did great all the way up to the final fight.

I'm glad I didn't underestimate Arctic blast because it was my main spell through out the whole game. I had no problem keeping my Dire wolves alive as long as I was freeze burning everything. Of course I would lose them now and then but that is why you have summon.

With Oak sage as an extra tank, three Dire wolves, three Ravens from a helm and Arctic blast, I walked through the whole game without any problems. I also kept Aliza from the beginning, she seemed to do good damage and stayed alive.

Fighting Diablo was another story, it seemed like I was the only one that could stay alive. Oak sage and the wolves would turn to dust the first spell Diablo cast. If it wasn't for Cyclone armor I wouldn't even of had a chance.

There was no special trick in killing him besides taking a real long time. All I needed was something to distract him while I would freeze burn. It was just me and three ravens for a while. I would resurrect Aliza now and then for an extra distraction.

I finally changed helms and used a level three Poison creeper instead of the birds. It was cool to see Diablo turn green and be annoyed by this thing. When he turned to kill it, I would lay in with a stream of Arctic blast. Other than that, it was just running around and throwing handfuls of blasts at him.

I guess I'll get to check out the new spells in Act 5

Edit:

One last change. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

I finally got the Grizzly and really don't care for it that much. It just seems harder to control the mobs with one slow moving tank. I'll eat the point and start working on Dire wolf again. Not as much for the damage but more so to increase their health.


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