LLD101

skygoneblue · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:04 pm Post subject: I need a good level 30 build

Can you guys help me out with a level 30 LLD that hasn't really been done yet. I'm not really interested in Zealers, Jabbers, or the typical Sorc builds. I had some ideas floating around; are any of these builds doable at level 30?

Fire Trapper
Fire Druid
Bowazon

If you have any suggestions as to which would be best, any input would be appreciated! Smile

VoicesLLD · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:44 pm Post subject:

bowanecro. all points into bone armor, and if you have any left over, dont use them. the red box looks pretty.

all stats into dexterity.

for charms, use only fire charms. no lifers, or poison.

seriously though, make up your own. take some time and think about it yourself. we're a community here to discuss llding and builds. not giving out custom guides to people who are too lazy to do the work themselves.

Belarathon · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:57 pm Post subject:

bowzon and fire druid are both viable at level 30, fire trapper less viable but still good mainly for stunlock

Phyre · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 10:03 pm Post subject:

Fire Druids can be pretty nasty if made right, although they can be fairly easily negated with Hotspurs. They look like a heck of alot of fun to play though.

OSA · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 8:33 am Post subject:

Could try a singer barb. Once ladder ends they should be a pretty good build with duel Spirit Crystal swords.

skygoneblue · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:24 am Post subject:

OSA · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:37 am Post subject:

I think what Voices ment was that custom builds are something that you come up with on your own.

VoicesLLD · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:36 am Post subject:

skygoneblue · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:38 am Post subject:

Well, then is it wrong for me to come here and ask for some good suggestions with a custom build? I know I have some good ideas, but I know there are definately things that you guys can help me with. Voices, I apologize if I came off rudely, but I just never see the point of overly sarcastic comments like that that do nothing to help anyone, especially from a moderator who should be setting an example for the rest of the forum. Anyway...back to the topic at hand...

How about this, I will spread out my ideas, and you guys can critique them. Is that better?
It seems like a Fire Druid would be both fun and effective. Here are the thoughts I have collected:

Skills (41 with full rush) at level 30:

15 Firestorm (spam on top of Fissure)
1 Molten Boulder (this skill is just annoying and doesn't do any damage)
19 Fissure (main skill)
7 Volcano (for support)

My questions: Are summons necessary, is this layout ok?

Gear (going for + skills, good resists, blocking, damage to mana, and life):

Helm: +2 Elemental Circlet w/ FHR and Life (w/ Shael or PRuby)
Poor: Peasant Crown (w/ Shael or PRuby)

Amulet: +2 Elemental Amulet w/ Life, Mana
Poor: +2 Elemental Amulet

Weapon: Spectral Shard (50 FCR, Resists)

Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi (+1 skills, 30 FCR, Resists)

Shield: Moser's Blessed Circle (FBR, Good Block %, Godly resists w/ 2 PDiamonds) - should I gor for Vulpine BS of Deflecting instead, or are resists more important?

Gloves: Magefist (+1 Fire skills, 20 FCR)

Rings: 2x SoJ (Skills and mana)

Belt: Nightsmoke (Resists, Damage to Mana, Mana)

Boots: Sanders' (STR and DEX bonuses, Run Walk)

I figure that between Skin of the Vipermagi, Magefists, and Spectral Shard, I am easily hitting the 99% FCR breakpoint, and the next breakpoint is so high into the 160s that it's not worth striving for. With this gear, I can get +8 to my skills, and Fissure will hit for 1233-1288 (several times if I'm lucky).

Depending on what gear I wind up with, I may need to include some GC of Balance (12 FHR) in my inventory to compensate for lack of FHR on my gear.

So, there are my thoughts so far. Any constructive insight and additional ideas or suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

VoicesLLD · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:59 am Post subject:

for your circlet and armor, i would always go with shaels. shaels save you more life than a pruby adds, so thats always a good thing.

shael = 20% fhr = 4 5% FHR SCs = 4 more 15 life SCs you can have in your inventory. 15*4 = 60, pruby = 38. also, you could try to get a +2 elemental +3 fissure magic druid type helm (nm/hell cows is a good place to look), and socket quest it. and pray you get 2 sockets.

never use grand charms for FHR. if anything, use SCs for FHR. 5%FHR per SC*3 spaces is 3% more efficient than 12% FHR per 3 spaces. plus you can get more second mods per 3 spaces wth SCs, than youll get per GC.

all your skills you will be using have a casting delay. meaning FCR wont help you in casting them faster.

Druid
Firestorm - 0.6 seconds
Molten Boulder - 2 seconds
Fissure - 2 seconds
Volcano - 4 seconds
Armageddon - 6 seconds
Hurricane - 6 seconds
Werewolf - 1 second
Werebear - 1 second
Grizzly Bear - 1 second

shard adds 10% resist all, and 50 mana, which is nice, but there are a few others i suggest you consider.

Gravenspine
Bone Wand
One-Hand Damage: 3 To 7 (5 Avg)
Required Level: 20
Durability: 15
Base Weapon Speed: [-20]
+50% Damage To Undead
+2 To Necromancer Skill Levels
Adds 4-8 Cold Damage, Cold Duration: 3 seconds
5% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+25-50 Mana(varies)
+10 To Dexterity
+10 To Strength

this will save you 40 life (20 stats *2 life per stat), and add some blocking, as well as 50 mana if you get a perfect one.

Culwen's Point
War Sword
One-Hand Damage: (13-14) To (34-36) (23.5-25 Avg)
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 71
Required Dexterity: 45
Durability: 44
Base Weapon Speed: [0]
+70-80% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+1 to All skills
Poison Length Reduced By 50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
+60 to Attack Rating

culwens has some ok mods on it, mainly the +1 skill and 20%FHR. however, the strength and dex required to use it, are slightly high. if you go this route, i suggest getting an ETH one (ethereal items start off with having -10% requirements), and putting a 9dex/-15% requierments/other mods jewel in it. if you cant afford that, a hel rune will work just as well.

nightsmoke is an ok belt, but remember, DTM only works when you are hit by melee. casters spells and ranged attacks will not trigger it. other choices are: a rare 17-24%FHR/5-9str/20-50life belt, with other icing mods such as +resists/+mana/+dex. etc. or a perfect string of ears.

i would suggest putting atleast 1 point into grizzly bear, as most caster druids require one to be successful. as well as since you are going to be fire, and thus easily resisted, it wont hurt having another form of a different kind of damage in your arsenal.

you are also forgetting the caster druids main life line. cyclone armor. this is a must, if you want to survive any sort of duel for longer than 30 seconds. putting 1 point into it, along with your +8 skills in items, will give you +124 dmg absorb. which is alright, youll just have to be casting it more often, of course more iabsorb s always better.

see how much more info you get when you put a little effort in?

skygoneblue · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:12 am Post subject:

Well, I HAD put the effort in, but I guess I was looking for a general statement like "Oh, Fire Trappers are no good at level 30 cuz _____" or "Bowazons rock at level 30 cuz ______".
I wasn't asking for a guide to be written, so I'm sorry if it came off that way.

Good call on the Shaels in the helm - I hadn't thought about that (see what I mean?). Now, if only I had 15 life SCs to justify your reasoning, I would be golden.

Also, thanks for suggesting a place to look for the Terra's mod (Nightmare/Hell Cows).

As for the Faster Cast Rate issue, I know it doesn't help much with Fissure, but it would really improve my "spam" ability with Firestorm. But, I suppose having a bear out in front of me tanking hits while I fire off Fissures might be a better idea than tanking on my own and trying block and cast Firestorm at the same time. So, I would have to sacrifice a synergy for Fissue to get the bear - is it worth it?

1233-1288 with no bear
989-1003 with bear (-5 skill points to get the bear)

I realize that finding a +2 Elemental, +1 Grizzly Bear helm would be super nice, but it's so unrealistic for me to expect to find one that I wouldn't really consider it an option. Heck, even +2 Elemental, +1 Spirit Wolves would work as I will be able to cast 5 of them with my gear.

I have always heard to not compare your elemental druid to a sorc, but 989 damage looks pretty crappy in the face of a 3000 damage fireball (average, I'm guessing) coming from a fire sorc. But hey, I suppose that's the challange.

Thanks again bro!

VoicesLLD · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:22 am Post subject:

i gauruntee youll die without a bear. bears can be cast as decoys, to draw away necro spirits, as well as to deal damage (plus they knock the opponent back, putting them into FHR animation). spirit wolves, in theory, are better because there is 5 of them. but consider the fact that that is 5 times the mana you have to cast, 5 times the amount of time you have to stand there casting non-attacks, and they are weaker damage and life wise. so is it worth it? yes.

and however unrealistic, trying to find a helm with +2 elemental +fissure +volcano +grizzly should be one of your main goals for this build.

firestorm has a .6 second casting delay as well, so i dont think FCR will help you cast it faster, either.

yes you may not be successful right away, but thats what tweaking and testing is for. and not every build is a superstar killer right away. some take more rare/expensive gear than others. that is why they are uncommon/non-cookie cutter.

also, yes, the damage may be low compared to a fire sorc, but keep this in mind. a fire sorc has to aim and hope you wont dodge their projectiles. a fissure/volcano druid can cast their attack ontop of the opponent. no aiming required.

SoaringSquirrel · Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 1549 0.00 Silvarrr

Fire Druids are probably one of your best choices, and they're also more make-able than either of those two builds.

I wouldn't put any points into Volcano, because it's blockable, just like Molten Boulder. Just stick the extra points in Firestorm, in case you have to go close range sometime.

Instead of a +2 elemental circlet, your best bet would probably be either a lore'd +3 fissure helm or a 3 os +3 fissure helm with prubies (unless you can afford/find a +2 elemental +3 fissure helm). Personally, I'd go with the lore for the damage reduced by 7, 30% lightnign resist, and +1 to skills, which gives you both more damage and a life bonus by adding to oak sage. The only reason I would use a +2 elemental circlet is if it had 30% frw, and you had to fight somebody who you have to retreat from or chase after a lot.

As for the weapon, since Voices already mentioned that fcr isn't the highest priority, you might want to go with Hellplague for +2 to fire skills until ladder ends and you can grab a spirit. Culwen's isn't a bad choice because it's +1 to all skills so you get a life bonus from the Oak Sage too and FHR, so deciding between higher damage or more life and fhr is your decision. I would personally go with Hellplague, because your damage won't be too much more than a blizz sorcs', just without the - resists. And I believe that ethereal items only take 10 off the req, not 10%, but I may be wrong, Voices.

Moser's is a level 31 required shield, in case you weren't aware. As far as sheilds go, I think Rhyme grim is most likely as good as it gets, because you get high blocking, mana regen, cannot be frozen, and 25% all resists. I can't really think of any shields that would be better for a druid at level 30.

You might want to shael your Vmagi for FHR, or pskull it for replenish life/regen mana, which in longer duels is much more effective than the 38 life of a pruby.

I'd go with a perfect SoE over fhr/life belt unless you're fighting a trapper. The mdr and dr are very valuable in LLD.

I don't think Grizzly is a good idea because of the prerequisites it has, and is not worth the damage sacrifice you make. It also won't do any noticeable damage to other LLDs, nor will it have too much of an effect in LLD ranged duels, where it'll die in 1 hit anyway. Unless you get a +3 fissure +1 Grizzly pelt, it's not worth it, in my opinion.

VoicesLLD · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 11:32 am Post subject:

whichever way ethereal works (i believe you are right, -10 stats, not -10%) it is a better choice than non-eth.

but i disagree with your point about the bear. with 1 point into it, and +8skills in gear, itll haev 825-1125 life, not including oak sage. it will not die in 1 hit. on top of that, itll be doing 235-297 dmg, with knock back. and can be cast right on the person, or to absorb tracking spirits.

and nuts, i completely missed hellplague when i was looking through the weapons. Embarassed

skygoneblue · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:29 pm Post subject:

Wow, good calls! I forgot about being able to use low level rune words at level 30. Lore (Ort Sol, right) would be a sweet choice for a good Fissure helm - looks like it's off to cowing for me!
How the heck did we BOTH forget about Hellplague? Laughing

I am a big fan of those "+X to Fire Skills" items that work for any character. Magefists are just crazy good for this build for that reason. Smile

Also, I could have sworn that Moser's was only a level 29 required, but I suppose an LLD expert would know better than me.

As for the Spirit Wolves, Bear discussion, I would most likely cast the Wolves in town and then not recast them in battle (unless I had an opening). I guess I'll see what the search for pelts yeilds me and decide from there.

I suppose that point about Volcano sucking is a good one (well, maybe not suck, but not as effective as it could be). One good strategy I can think of is using the bear to knock opponents back into the Fissure after it has already been cast. Volcano has a much smaller area of "good damage" than Fissure, so I think I'll opt to respend the points.

5 to get Bear (unless I get a godly pelt)
19 Fissure
1 Molten Boulder
16 Firestorm

Thanks again for all the suggestions guys!