THE BASIN |
Elemental Druid Reviewby Flickerstreak
Contents
I. PrefaceI hesitate to call this a "guide" because that would imply that I know more than you, the reader. That's a bit of a sham, and in many cases may be a complete lie. So I've labeled it a "review" instead. Think of it like a book report or a movie review. I'll tell you what I've discovered, and my opinions, about the elemental-skill-using Druid subclass. Along the way, hopefully you'll learn something new, and barring that, hopefully I've at least entertained you a bit. If you like my review and are intrigued, then you'll probably play an Elementalist sometime soon, and if you don't, that's OK too. Thank you for reading. In order to prepare you for the rest of this review, I'll start by naming off a few things that are not contained herein. I won't be discussing the Shapeshifting skill set, at all. This is the only mention you'll see of it. I won't be discussing the comparative zookeeping benefits to Wolves & Bears. You will not find a detailed "map" as to which skill points to distribute at which player levels. I won't give you any insight on how to PK annoying barbs and bowazons. In fact I know nothing of Player-vs-Player combat, except that I usually die. A lot. You won't find me saying "should" or "shouldn't" or "must" or even "absolutely". Okay, "absolutely" might creep in once in a while. I make no guarantees, and as with all guides, YMMV ("your mileage may vary"). This review is heavily skewed toward Realms play, since that's were I do the majority of my playing. It doesn't really matter that much, though: the only thing that's drastically different between Realms and the single-player game is the items available, and since the Druid isn't heavily reliant on items anyway, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. The big drag is that you can't (currently) make any of the good rune words, or use the crafted item recipes, since they're disabled in the initial shipping version of Lord of Destruction. Patches in the future will add that functionality in. This is not a guide for ladder play. It's a guide for fun play. Realistically, an elementalist doesn't have much of a shot at attaining a decent ranking, even on the Druid-only ladder, because werewolves have a much higher killing pace. But if you want to try, I'd suggest maxing Armageddon and Tornado, getting to Act V Hell as soon as possible, and then making endless monotonous Foothill runs the way the sorceresses do. Elementalists have the same strengths as sorcies, but a lot less firepower, so there's no chance you'll be able to keep pace with a sorceress with the same amount of playtime invested. I'll be using a few acronyms and abbreviations throughout the guide. Here is a partial list, and most of the others should be fairly evident from the context and preceding material:
I'll try to provide as thorough and accurate a review as possible, but I'm not going to blindly repeat statistics and observations which are widely available elsewhere. A good source to see exact statistics is The Arreat Summit, Blizzard's official site, although it is not without errors itself. This is not to say that the occasional stat won't make its way into this text. If you find errors or have more information, feel free to e-mail me at flickerstreak@yahoo.com. II. PrologueFlood waters covered the earth, the chill of a glacier was felt in the desert. Howling winds swept the unfaithful away, and the land was rent asunder. The clouds burst, mountains spewed hot ash into the air, and fiery death rained from the sky. If you like documentaries about nature's destructive forces, the Elemental Druid is for you. He is, in essence, a walking natural disaster, the embodiment of nature's wrath. He can summon hurricanes, tornados, volcanos, grass fires, and the frozen breath of winter. He can rip open the earth's crust and call a rain of fire from the sky. Even better, he can do all this in tight quarters, underground! Heh... so he's not very realistic, but he is certainly a whole load of fun to play. The Elementalist specializes in spells from the Druid Elemental tab, 10 of them in all. Some Elementalists might supplement their skills with a few minor summoning skills (notably a spirit and a vine) but in general these are strictly support skills, and the Elementalist typically refuses the services and comfort of any "furry" aspect to the class, whether that be Shapeshifting or Wolves & Bears. Many Druids may choose a path combining the Elemental skills with the Summoning skills: note that this guide is not specifically written for you, but you may find many useful tidbits in here nonetheless. Very few Druids will choose to use both Elemental and Shapeshifting skills regularly, since a Lycanthrope may not cast elemental spells while in were-form, nor may he cast an elemental spell and then shapeshift into wereform until the spell's casting delay is over. Those of you interested in furry critters (either summoning them or being one yourself) must realize that this review is written with the elemental-only Druid in mind. At first blush, the Druid class as a whole looks to be a great big wanna-be. Elementalists look like wanna-be Sorceresses, Summoners and hybrid Summoner/Elementalists seem to have wanted to be Necromancers. Werewolves appear to be Assassins with furry coats on, and Werebears are really just Barbarians with a good physique. Upon further examination, however, each type of Druid has a flavor distinctly his own, and need not feel at all like a "copycat", the opinions of our companions notwithstanding. It is true, though, that the Elementalist shares many traits with a Sorceress, particularly a Sorceress from 'classic' Diablo 2 who specialized in or made heavy use of her Fire or Cold trees and ignored Static Field. Both spellcasters focus on elemental damage, particularly the massive damage caused by Fire and the chilling effect of Cold, and employ diverse and varied tactics to take down foes in a highly situational manner. There is no one skill which the Elementalist can use to overcome every situation, as some classes used to be able to do in Classic Diablo 2. The Elemental Druid, like the sorceress, is heavily dependent on his Mana reserve and his skills, and equipment offers only enhancement rather than foundation. In fact, a naked Druid is only slightly less dangerous than one who is fully equipped! This is not to say that equipment is irrelevant to a Druid. In fact, good equipment can make or break a Druid's long-term survivability and enjoyability. Like most of Diablo 2, hunting for "just that right item" will occupy much of your time while playing a Druid, so those of you who enjoy collecting and amassing treasure will not be disappointed while playing this class. True, he does not generally look for the traditional "uber" items such as high-damage weapons and armor with great Defense and Resistance, but it's also fun to look for the weird stuff, too. And so we begin, not with the equipment section itself, but with the section which determines which equipment you will be looking for, player attributes... ( Next Page )
Intro
| Stats
| Skills
| Equipment
| Strategy
| Credits
|
Home | Diablo II | Star Wars: Galaxies | World of Warcraft | Guild Wars | Hellgate:London