Diablo II - Druid Any% (55:42 at Act V start, -1:06 off 1:13:44 run) - Videos!

[LeWoVoc]

So, as probably only Skrat knows (or anyone that reads the Single Player Forum), I've been redoing my Any% druid run. My initial run was 1:53:xx (I completely missed a few segments when counting up my "just over 90 minutes" estimate...), and I managed to beat that by 25 minutes. The depressing part about this is, the Baal segment was 15 minutes long. I made a huge error in skill distribution, so I'm redoing the run from my 2nd Rak leveling segment. With tweaked skill spending and even more applications of a new trick I have up my sleeve, the 1:15 goal seems reasonable.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to bring up the discussion of a druid 100% run.  It will be my next task after I finish the any% run. So far, the only viable builds I can see are a Windy druid, which would have to hit 30 by the end of normal to be worth it's weight, and a fireclaw werewolf. With the FC/WW, I could level it as a normal fire druid until FC became viable. (It's worth noting that an incredible weapon for this build is a Shael'd Rogue's Bow, which is rather easily manip'd). Element fire skills could be used as leveling tools, but the problem of immunities is rather troubling.

Any input from you guys? I swear I've thought about this a lot more in depth, I'm just a bit crunched for time to post at the moment.  

Playlist link = here

[IcedCube]

I've not been involved with Diablo 2 for any reasonable amount of time, but in case you want to redo the first few segments as well, I recommend the Poison Shrine tactic from Siyko's Sub-Hour thread.

Other than that: upload videos for me to watch and good luck. =)

[LeWoVoc]

I do have a poison shrine segment, but it's not where you'd expect it. And I refuse to try to redo the 4th segment.... it took absolutely forever, and I got the perfect drop from it.

[shoop]

So far, the only viable builds I can see are a Windy druid, which would have to hit 30 by the end of normal to be worth it's weight, and a fireclaw werewolf. With the FC/WW, I could level it as a normal fire druid until FC became viable. (It's worth noting that an incredible weapon for this build is a Shael'd Rogue's Bow, which is rather easily manip'd). Element fire skills could be used as leveling tools, but the problem of immunities is rather troubling.

I'm not very familiar with druid, but I have to say I don't really believe in a fireclaw werewolf build. In addition to the immunity problems you mention, you would have to level to 60 without any kind of AoE damage! Or are you planning to also get a bow with explosive arrows? I don't really know if the explosions work in werewolf form.

[Zurreco]

What is your skill layout for the Fire Elemental build?

What skills will you be using as a Windy Druid before you get Twister/Tornado/Hurricane?  Honestly, that build is only good for the late game, and it takes a really really long time to get off the ground since he has no good skills early on.  Investing all your points in synergies early on doesn't really help you out until you get your good skills.

What would your skill layout be for a Shifter?  I honestly think that a Feral Rage build will be better than Fire Claws, since it's really only dependent on gear for AR and proc stats (Lava Gout and/or Demon Limb make this build own) rather than one strong damage skill.

[LeWoVoc]

I had planned on maniping an angelic ammy and ring. The fire elemental and fireclaw build use essentially the same skillset. I don't have specifics at the moment, but I can cast on weaponswitch, switch it, and melee on the other. Shael'd Rogues Bow = 6FPA with slvl 1 ww.

Oh, and I'd have a point in feral rage.

[MrHama]

My favourite build of all  is the buriwolf, but it would be useless in normal and it needs leveling before the damage really kicks in. But if you manip a lot of crushing blow items, have a high speed weapon (zephyr repeating crossbow?) and use fire claw, then you could be a pretty good melee fighter throughout large parts of the game. Especially to bosses when CB kicks in.

the big question is how he would survive in hell with a melee fire attack. In normal, the fire tree would pwn. In nightmare, fire claw would be really good against bosses. In hell; crushing blow and a fast and high damage weapon is needed when facing fire immunes and bosses.

But I dont know the ultimate druid build in hell when underleveled. Perhaps you could try a couple different builds with hacked chars?

[SkratMan]

I'll admit, I'm confused.  AFAIK, bows & feral forms don't mix.  I know you can't fire bows as a wolf/bear, but does the damage still work if the bow is used melee-style?  ...Very confused.

Is it correct that werewolves get a bonus to FRW? 

No matter what, though, I'm seeing lots of potholes to a 100% run: 
-Fire elementalists will run into too many immunes and you don't have the time to wait for boulders and Volcano. 
-Fire Clawer has the same immunity problem, and the one casting skill a wolf can use, Armageddon, doesn't synergize Fire Claws. 
-Any physical melee build will suffer heavily at low clvls in Hell since AR isn't the only thing used to calculate chance-to-hit.  Even with two Angelic rings, I don't think the CtH will be even close to acceptable.

Two things I may concede to, though.  One is that maybe a build could possibly be able to outrun all the FI monsters they encounter.  Some FRW boots and/or circlet could help, as would a teleport ammy/circlet or Naj's Puzzler. 

The second is that maybe a crystal sword stuffed with Eth runes could really help with CtH.  You lose all leeching ability and a slot for Crushing Blow, but at least you'd be able to hit stuff.  Still, you'd probably have to invest heavily into Feral Rage to add AR.  OOHHH, that's where the FRW comes from.  Yeah.  Lots to Feral Rage.

A random suggestion is to think about maybe a Rabies Druid.  Massive AoE when it works well, but don't take this completely seriously since I've never tried one before.  ...  Just to check it out, I took a look at the damage numbers.  At slvl20 with a fully synergized Poison Creeper, it works out to only ~300 damage per second against monsters with zero poison resist.  Man, this build must need a bunch of +skills to work...

Believe me, LeWo, I'm not trying to shut down your ideas.  It's just that I'm having a hard time visualizing how to go about a 100% run where you'll be able to kill many things.  I think melee builds will ultimately fail in Hell (which saddens me in terms of the Barbarian), and the incredible amount of FIs you'll encounter will suck.

...Enter the Windy.  I think it's your best bet.  Getting to clvl18 to start using Twister stinks; something needs to be done about that.  The fire tree gives you access to killing early in the game, but sinking points into them takes away from your main killers.  Maybe there could be a little give and take here.  However, a well synergized Tornado can give you 1k damage per cast.  And PIs are much less common than FIs. 


TL;DR - ...I dunno. 

[Zurreco]

I'll admit, I'm confused.  AFAIK, bows & feral forms don't mix.  I know you can't fire bows as a wolf/bear, but does the damage still work if the bow is used melee-style?  ...Very confused.

Is it correct that werewolves get a bonus to FRW? 

Any physical melee build will suffer heavily at low clvls in Hell since AR isn't the only thing used to calculate chance-to-hit.  Even with two Angelic rings, I don't think the CtH will be even close to acceptable.

The second is that maybe a crystal sword stuffed with Eth runes could really help with CtH.  You lose all leeching ability and a slot for Crushing Blow, but at least you'd be able to hit stuff.  Still, you'd probably have to invest heavily into Feral Rage to add AR.  OOHHH, that's where the FRW comes from.  Yeah.  Lots to Feral Rage.

A random suggestion is to think about maybe a Rabies Druid.

...Enter the Windy.  I think it's your best bet.  Getting to clvl18 to start using Twister stinks; something needs to be done about that.

Wolves can use bows if you glitch them, I think.  Just equip it with a dex charm, cast Werewolf, remove the charm.

Wolves get an FRW bonus from the skill, yes.

Wolves using Feral Rage with appropriate weapons will have huge huge huge AR bonuses that will help in hell.  FR Wolf Druids with Eth BotD Zerkers are one of the most stable end game melee builds.

Even without a godly weapon, you already get leech and FAS from Feral Rage, so the melee weapon really only needs good damage, some fancy proc stat, and an AR modifier.  Dark Clan Crusher can hold you over while you power up FR.

Rabies Druids can really destroy huge mobs with ease once you get the necessary items, but they are atrocious for killing small packs and bosses.

That beind said, I think most of us will agree that the Windy has the best chance at 100%, but the intro is too slow and underpowered.  Even if we rolled a nice +3 MB/+3 FS/+3 Fissure pelt to give some skills without using the points, you will still need more to hold you over.  You also need to determine if you want to have any summons (HotO obviously, but what about a bear tank?) and if having some weird wolf switch set up would be worth it.  Fleshrender and Lanceguard to shift, maybe?

[bimanc]

Did they change how wolf works? I remember that druid could use bows without any glitching, only the hits took arrows. But it was a couple years ago.

I think rabies doesn't work well on hell difficulty. The damage seems huge, but the enemies have a lot of hp. Try to kill a pack in a5.

I think that the windy is the only which can be good enough, with the help of a merc probably (a2 merc with crescent moon weapon). Remember that the tornado does physical  damage, so amplify and decrepify gives a nice boost.

And for the windy start, here's my idea: level up to 6 with poison shrines. From lvl 6, use strangling gas potions, and manipulate a +firestorm pelt. From lvl 12, use exploding potions, too. From lvl 16 to 18 you can use choking gas potions, and from lvl 18, you have your windy skills. I don't how well you can kill with them at that level, though.

[Zurreco]

Once you get Twister and Tornado, you do decent damage as is, but it chews through your mana and doesn't gain power fast enough.  Getting Hurricane, though, will speed through Normal very easily.

[mikwuyma]

I agree with everyone who says a wind druid has the best chance of getting 100%. I also agree you'll be feeble until level 18 (and even then you'll blow through your mana in 2 seconds).

Once you get Twister and Tornado, you do decent damage as is, but it chews through your mana and doesn't gain power fast enough.  Getting Hurricane, though, will speed through Normal very easily.

This is true, but hurricane starts to become really weak around hell because of the low rate of damage. Tornado will be your primary killing skill in the long run (if you can get enough +mana and regen gear). Leveling up both hurricane and tornado doesn't hurt since they both give each other synergies.

[bimanc]

And hurricane does cold damage which can be useful for immunes. Still, you need a lot of +skills, because even a decent geared eledruid kills relatively slow in hell.

[LeWoVoc]

Wolves get a STA bonus, IIRC, not a run bonus. The run bonus on feral rage has hugely diminishing returns. One point is all that's needed.
The bow works as a melee weapon. I didn't thing of a Zephyr, that's a really good idea.
Two words: Combat shrines
With 10% CB (Craft gloves) and a 6FPA, most bosses 'ain't no thang,' so to speak. A decent merc can help finish things off, and with a bow, durability isn't a problem.

As far as the windy goes, leveling would be done in Act III to 25 where slvl 3 Fissure still absolutely destroys.
I have a much more efficient leveling strat, but I'm keeping that to myself until I release my Any%.

[MrHama]

dont forget that Guillaume's Face gives 35% crushing blow and 15% deadly strike. It needs 115 str but with a hel rune it drops down to below 100. It starts to drop in nightmare act3 so mephisto has pretty good drop rate with 1:1700