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Druid Build

ares#7140 ares Posts: 40 Arc User
PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name:

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats:
Level 6: Presence (Primary)
Level 10: Recovery (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Hero
Level 6: Amazing Stamina
Level 9: Prodigy
Level 12: Investigator
Level 15: Survival Training
Level 18: Accurate
Level 21: Boundless Reserves

Powers:
Level 1: Eldritch Bolts
Level 1: Gust
Level 6: Hurricane (Rank 2, Perfect Storm)
Level 8: Compassion
Level 11: Aura of Ebon Destruction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Command Animals (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Dust Devil (Rank 2, Triple Threat)
Level 20: Arctic Beast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Ball Lightning (Rank 2, Triplicity)
Level 26: Arcane Vitality (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Lightning Arc (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Ionic Reverberation
Level 35: Circle of Primal Dominion (Rank 2)
Level 38: Masterful Dodge

Travel Powers:
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations:
Presence: Repurpose (2/3)
Presence: Selfless Ally (2/2)
Presence: Grandeur (3/3)
Presence: Moment of Glory (3/3)
Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Moment of Need (2/3)
Sentinel: Genesis (2/2)
Commander: Evasive Action (2/2)
Commander: Create An Opening (2/2)
Commander: Multitasker (3/3)
Commander: Savage (3/3)
Mastery: Commander Mastery (1/1)

Opinions and advice appreciated.

Comments

  • roughbearmattachroughbearmattach Posts: 4,784 Arc User
    Why take AoED? Wouldn't Stormbringer match this build better?
    ___________________________________________________________

    Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
  • ares#7140 ares Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited April 2016
    Because AoED also effects all your pets. So, you get a bpnus to damage based on your presence, your pets get a bonus to damage based on your presence and your team mates get a bonus to damage based on your presence. I'd say that's more value than Stormbringer.

    P.S.: My intent is to stay in the support role to benefit from the energy economy it gives to counteract what your pets take away from you, AoED just fit into the framework perfectly.
  • roughbearmattachroughbearmattach Posts: 4,784 Arc User
    I think your pets damage benefits from Stormbringer if it matches the right damage types.

    Well, if you are going with pets for damage, then AoED is the passive for you. The damage done by Ebon Lightning procs will actually be higher than the pets base DPS, assuming you stat Dex high enough and take the Commander specs that improve crits.

    Unfortunately, in late-game content, most pets simply don't work because they are quickly and repeatedly killed by boss AoEs. This includes Gravitar, Fire and Ice, Cybermind, Lemurian Invasion, and Teleios Ascendant. Also true against open-world cosmics.

    ___________________________________________________________

    Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,740 Arc User
    edited April 2016
    Yea, AoED is nice for pet-heavy builds, though the viability of pets in end-game content is a diff story. The other issue is that you only have 2 actual pet powers here; Ball of Lightning and Dust Devil aren't flagged as pets (they are untarget-able separate entities) and won't get aura/ally buffs (they can't crit to proc ebon lightning besides). So in this case, I prob wouldn't take AoED over AoPM (offense oriented) or AoRP (defense oriented), and get a diff spec than Commander (maybe Vindicator, Sentry, or Guardian).

    The build will also be a bit squishy as is. Since Compassion can already scale from Pres, ya dun need Rec SS and can replace that w/ Con SS. Force of Will in Pres PSS is another option to consider.

    R1 Gust is also kind of a waste of a power slot here. I'd prob rework the order of the powers and replace that w/ Conviction.

    -
    "I think your pets damage benefits from Stormbringer if it matches the right damage types."
    nope.jpg

    Stormbringer doesn't have an ally/aura component. Pets don't get buffed from non-aura passives (which is most of them). Separate entities (Dust Devil, Ball of Lightning, Firesnake, Strafe Run, etc) will, but that's cause those are treated like normal attacks (not pets), just that their dmg isn't sourced directly from you.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • roughbearmattachroughbearmattach Posts: 4,784 Arc User
    Fair enough.
    ___________________________________________________________

    Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
  • ares#7140 ares Posts: 40 Arc User
    Well, maybe I could take away Savage passive which boosts pet dps and replace it with the one that increases their HP based on my own secondary superstats.

    As for Dust Devil and Ball Lightning. I thought it would be cool, since the Arctic Wolf + Dust Devil + Ball Lightning combo essentialy synergize into one big heap of status effects that increase the damage of everyone involved. Plus, they're thematic to a druid. Spirits of the elements and all that.

    Is there no way to keep pets alive at all?
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,740 Arc User
    Pets can be healed, just like any player can. They also benefit from auras like AoRP or Sentinel or Sentry Aura. Unless ya have added devices from pets, I wouldn't really focus on them if ya only got 2 pet powers. At that point its less like a Pet Master build and more like a 'I'm a support/Hybrid w/ a few companions' deal, and then ya may want to consider AoPM over AoED. Generally, other players value AoPM over AoED as buff for group content, and then ur still providing a nice group buff even if the boss keeps killing ur pets.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • ares#7140 ares Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited April 2016
    Well the thought here was to boost my crit chance as high as possible and essentially cause my pets to gain that 20% crit chance increase buff from crit healing allies and/or pets.

    It's kind of a bummer that Dust Devil and Ball Lightning don't even count as pets. Seems weird, but whatever. Any of the other pets, such as the demon and the shadows really just visually violate the theme so much that I'd rather sacrifice efficiency than take them.

    If I take something other than commander, that means that AoED is useless because there is 0 chance that my pets will ever deliver a critical strike. If I take AoPM that means that my pets really aren't any more effective than they used to be, and to boot, I'm also not nearly as effective as I could be. Plus, AoPM is so overused, and I believe the same aura from different sources still doesn't stack, so I think that it's better if I take literally anything but AoPM.

    Here's what I came up with atm.

    PowerHouse (Link to this build)

    Name:

    Archetype: Freeform

    Super Stats:
    Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
    Level 10: Presence (Secondary)
    Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)

    Talents:
    Level 1: The Chiller
    Level 6: Accurate
    Level 9: Impresario
    Level 12: Amazing Stamina
    Level 15: Lasting Impression
    Level 18: Survival Training
    Level 21: Prodigy

    Powers:
    Level 1: Radiance
    Level 1: Compassion
    Level 6: Conviction
    Level 8: Hurricane (Rank 2, Perfect Storm)
    Level 11: Aura of Ebon Destruction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 14: Lightning Arc (Rank 2, Rank 3, Accelerated Metabolism)
    Level 17: Dust Devil (Triple Threat)
    Level 20: Ball Lightning (Triplicity)
    Level 23: Arctic Beast (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 26: Command Animals (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 29: Ritual of Primal Summoning (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 32: Redemption (Salvation)
    Level 35: Masterful Dodge
    Level 38: Arcane Vitality (Rank 2, Rank 3)

    Travel Powers:
    Level 6:
    Level 35:

    Specializations:
    Dexterity: Combat Training (2/3)
    Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
    Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
    Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
    Sentinel: Eternal Spring (1/2)
    Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
    Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
    Sentinel: Moment of Need (3/3)
    Commander: Rapid Response (2/2)
    Commander: Create An Opening (2/2)
    Commander: Multitasker (3/3)
    Commander: Savage (3/3)
    Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

    So, I removed gust for other stuff such as conviction as suggested, but I really wanted to keep the animal and spirit summoning theme I had going. I added in extra pet summoning spell, so now we've got 3 pets (Technically it's more, since most of these summon more than one). Since they were so squishy with AoE's and whatnot, instead I focused on just trying to get them to do more damage and just trying to resummon them as efficiently as possible after they get killed.

    I went with Dexterity primary to try and maximize my critical chance and critical severity, which effectively increases both my healing and damage if I can get it high enough. I could replace Compassion with Chilled Form and Sentinel for, for example, Overseer or something to get even more severity, but I've decided to just stop at this for now and see what further suggestions are offered.

    The reason why Recovery is used is actually because the pets really eat a lot of your energy economy, and instead of going into Circle of Arcane Power, I thought I'd just invest in recovery and rely on support role for that.

    One problem I found is this requires REALLY HEAVY investment in advancement points. So I would either have to drop Conviction for Ionic Reverberation since I can't upgrade it, or hurricane, and then I have no AoE damage option. Suggestions?

    P.S. Since I really just don't have space for a block enhancer, I could get that instead of conviction, or Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary to help the group's tank with aggro management as well as just not have the boss hitting me, or something.
  • roughbearmattachroughbearmattach Posts: 4,784 Arc User



    Is there no way to keep pets alive at all?

    Not in high-end content, no. They generally die in boss-level AoEs in one hit.
    ___________________________________________________________

    Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,424 Arc User
    Possibly pets could be useful in SC and LI because lots of minions are involved in those 2. I wager that in some of the lairs and Adventure Packs they can be useful, even at lvl 40 elite.

    I've never been clear on how Gravitar selects targets. Does she ignore pets for her cascades? If not, having some pets out might be useful as extra targets to soak up hits. I could very well be wrong though.

    I only have 1 pet build (also using AoED) but I made sure to have a couple attacks of my own for cases where pets are not so useful.
    JwLmWoa.png
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  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,740 Arc User


    If I take something other than commander, that means that AoED is useless because there is 0 chance that my pets will ever deliver a critical strike. If I take AoPM that means that my pets really aren't any more effective than they used to be, and to boot, I'm also not nearly as effective as I could be. Plus, AoPM is so overused, and I believe the same aura from different sources still doesn't stack, so I think that it's better if I take literally anything but AoPM.

    AoPM doesn't do any single thing the best- that is ofc the point of the passive: that it boosts so many areas that other passives don't all at once is its main draw. Ur pets would deal less dps, but also have more health, and ur non-pet allies have a more versatile buff than AoED. Also, ur pets can crit just fine w/o Commander spec, its just that the less pets you have the less good AoED and Commander spec becomes vs. other options.

    If ya wanna keep the pet focus, then by all means keep AoED. I was suggesting AoPM as a non-pet focused alternative, as AoPM (and AoRP) are typically more valuable to groups than AoED.

    Block enhancers aren't essential if ya have decent health and defensive options already. I'd prob prioritize a threat wipe before one here, actually. If I had to axe one power to make room I'd prob first get rid of Dust Devil, since its not providing Negative Ions and isn't technically a pet anyways. I'd also move the 1pt in Accel Metabolism to ranking ur travel powers more, if ya have a floater adv point leftover that is- AM is pretty weak due to the long icd on its procs.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
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