WearBear and Elemental Druid FAQ by willis5225 (AKA Absolut Wil, AKA
Froggy W, AKA Lobster Magnet, AKA The Prince of Lies)
Version History:
1.0 9/21/01:
First version of the FAQ. Explains the strategy fully, but I was
missing the hard numbers on skills, so I got them from another FAQ and
credited the author fully. Sue me.
1: Introduction
Yes, I know there are other Druid guides. But you know something?
Every one of them says that elemental skills are worthless and werebear
shouldn't be used because werewolf is better. I say they're wrong, so
I made a guide to demonstrate some winning strategies with both these
unloved druid builds.
Contents:
1: Introduction: You just saw it.
2: The Philosophy Behind the Strategy: Before you can maul, you must
understand why you maul. Before you can burn to the ground, you must
be one with the fire.
3: Skills and You: Hint: First skills are wearbear.
a. Elemental
b. Shapeshifting
c. Summoning
4: Where Points Go: Stat points. You know, those things that improve
your stats.
5: A Few Words on Weapons: Yes, giant bears and weak-as-hell mages DO
use weapons.
6: Closing Thoughts and Legal Mumbo Jumbo
Section 2: Philsophy
Why You Kill Things with Fire
This way, you expose yourself to the minimal amount of combat, and
therefore damage, possible. Why not make a sorceress, you ask?
Because elemental druids CAN go melee when they need to, and they can
also summon helpful little beasts to act as targets. Oh sure, he
doesn't have even close to the melee power of the Wearbear (WB) or
Wearwolf (WW) druid, but can they wipe out a whole screen full of
enemies at once? No.
Why You Become a Giant Bear
Why, you ask? Well because you get an awesome damage and HP bonus when
in bear form, that's why! The wearbear form is a tank, able to take
more damage and give more damage in melee than the elemental (Elem)
druid. Yeah, he can only attack one target at a time, but that
target's goin' down.
Why You Don't Become a Giant Wolf
Because I'm not giving you advice on how to. Actually, GameFAQs.com
already has a WW FAQ, so go see that if you want to build a WW druid.
Section 3: Skills
a. Elemental Skills
Note: When in wearbear or wearwolf form, you cannot cast any elemental
spells. Since you'll ideally be in either of these forms constantly,
when making a transformation druid, don't put any points in these
skills. None. I don't care if you need offense early on, I said "no".
Firestorm:
Description: Well, it's pretty useless. Actually, for a transformation
druid, it's completely useless. It's nearly impossible to target
without tons of practice (which isn't worth it because of the low
damage). And just remember that that damage is per second, and it's
constantly moving.
Elem: 1 point, as it's a needed prerequisite and it's actually mildly
useful for the early parts of act 1.
WB: N/A
Molten Boulder:
Description: It's a boulder that leaves a trail of fire and, when it
hits a target, knocks the target back. The best part: when it hits a
wall or certain enemies (that it doesn't knock back) it explodes and
deals even more fire damage. Level 20 is a pretty 205-209 damage.
Still, it's not much better than firestorm, although it is targeted
fairly easily.
Elem: 1 point, again as a prerequisite. I know it's tempting, but hold
out for volcano at least.
WB: N/A
Arctic Blast:
Description: Since I've never used it and can never remember the name
without the manual, I call it "Cold Inferno" mostly because it's a
cold-damage version of the popular sorceress spell. Except it doesn't
deal as much damage. And isn't as useful.
Elem: 1 point if you want hurricane, tornado or Armageddon. My elem
uses Volcano primarily (and he's kicking some [backside] in NM
(Nightmare difficulty))
WB: N/A
Fissure:
Description: Opens up little holes in the ground for about a quarter of
the screen (on the default setting) that your enemies run into
sometimes. Here's a little tip, the corners of the square are usually
the first to open up. If you take a look, the damage isn't much better
than boulder, which is more easily targeted, though it hits a smaller
target. Still, if you listen to me you won't be using it past level 24
anyway, seeing as all but the last few skills are kinda useless later
in the game.
Elem: 1 point. Prerequisite for volcano, my favorite spell. But if
you're just going to use hurricane (I don't recommend it) leave this
one and all the other fire skills I listed as "necessary prerequisites"
out.
WB: N/A
Cyclone Armor:
Description: If you take the points to get it to level 20, you can stop
worrying about those lightning enchanted uniques. Of course I don't
have the attention span to remember to keep it up around him, which is
the same reason my sorceress keeps dying. (Energy shield... oh, never
mind) Even at lower levels, it absorbs all the damage from a hit even
if some spills over, so you can last against one of those Mephisto
charged bolts before the other ones stop your heart from electrocution.
Elem: You won't actually be fighting a whole lot, as your minions and
spells will do it for you, so you shouldn't find use for it very often.
It does protect against at least one elemental hit, no matter how
strong each time you cast it, so you may as well put a point in here,
especially since it's a hurricane and Armageddon prerequisite.
WB: Actually, you may want to drop a few in here so you can take a few
more hits from that nasty light enchanted multi-shooter. Just cast it,
transform and away you go (Note: I haven't actually tried this yet
because there's no way I'm going to waste a precious skill point on
arctic blast, so it may not work. Hey, try it out and e-mail me.)
Twister:
Description: 3 tornadoes appear out of nowhere to stun your opponents
for a fraction of a second. Whoopee.
Elem: The initial damage is only a little better than firestorm's, and
the level 20 is less. 1 point for prerequisites.
WB: N/A
Volcano
Description: A little volcano appears and spews out dozens of little
missiles. I think if you cast it where an enemy is standing, it also
takes damage similar to how fissure works, but no one believes me.
Anyway, I consider this one of the more useful spells, because it has a
great blanket effect. And because my elemental druid has 10 points in
it.
Elem: Pretty much the first skill you can start pouring the points
into. Great support for melee attacking, because at about the time you
can use it you'll start adding strength and HP in large quantities.
WB: N/A
Description: Eh... it hits one target. Even though it passes through,
it's not really a worthwhile pursuit, seeing as volcano does more
damage in the long run, and so do Armageddon and hurricane.
Hurricane:
Description: The ultimate melee helper, by the time you get up to them,
they're up to 200 HP weaker. And that spells results. Walk into the
middle of a battle with this thing on and drop a volcano underneath
yourself, and that's the end of... well, everyone.
Elem: Max. Or nearly so. It's the last of two abilities, so it's not
like you've got much else to do with those skill points.
WB: If you're fast enough and have enough unused skill points, you can
drop your transformation, cast this puppy, retransform and run into the
fray. Again, not sure if it works or not.
Armageddon:
Description: Ahh, here we go. The good stuff. Fire raining from the
sky, striking your opponents dead. Like blizzard, but oh, oh so much
better. Send your bear, or wolves, into the middle of the battle and
then let this puppy loose overhead. Pardon me while I kiss the sky.
Elem: The Cream of the Crop. Max for best effect.
WB: N/A
So that about wraps it up for elemental skills. To summarize:
Hurricane, volcano and Armageddon good
Everything else bad
Don't use if transformation druid
b. Shapeshifting
For simplicity's sake, I'll skip all the werewolf skills. I'm gonna
say right now that you need werewolf and feral rage, as they are
prerequisites for some fairly useful (and in werewolf's case,
essential) skills.
Lycanthropy:
Description: For these skills, I'm going to include my suggestion for
levelin' in this section. I would've done it with elemental, but I
didn't think of it until now and I'm too lazy to go back and change it.
Anyway, this skill is fairly essential for the successful Werebear. It
may not seem like much to have a little extra time transformed, as you
can always just switch back for a measly 15 mana, but you don't want to
un-transform in the middle of, say, a boss battle. There's also a
little semi-bug I've found you can exploit. If you're running out of
HP, you can go back to regular form, and when you go back to being a
bear, your HP will increase by the percentage bonus you get from both
lycanthropy and the bear. So max this skill. Or nearly so.
Werebear
Description: Become a big, muscular grizzly. I don't think I need to
tell you to get this one pretty high.
Maul
Description: Well, it's sorta like the Assassin's charge-up skills,
except that when you attack, it doesn't get released, but keeps you
powered up until you haven't mauled anything for 20 seconds. You can
tell how much power you're getting from what the green thing circling
around you looks like. By the time it's trailing and has ridges,
you're maxed out. Now, my suggestion is to have only 1 point in this
skill. Here's why. The only thing that extra skill points adds is AR.
As a bear, you don't need AR because you can add extra points to dex,
as you need less strength. And the extra points can be used to max one
of the wolves, or heart of the wolverine or grizzly.
Fire Claws
Description: You can see by my less-than-complete graph what I think of
this skill. Still, it's a way to deal with those nasty physical immune
uniques. As for physical\fire immunes... well I say rabies, but, as a
colleague of mine at the GameFAQs.com LoD board says, "Rabies never
solved anything". I tried his theory out on open and he was right. So
yes, the truth is out. I'm actually a 1337 h4x0r in single player.
Yipee.
Shockwave
Description: It sends out a little shockwave. Yes, the damage is
unimpressive, but that's what maul's for. This is for that nice 13
second stun length.
Hunger
Description: Like I said before, if you want damage, use maul. If you
want 36% dual leech, use this. 'Course you can't max this, werebear
and shockwave and still have enough left over for critters. You'd
better make a decision.
So that wraps up Shapeshifting. Now, on to what has killed the use of
the necro in pop culture: Summoning.
c. Summoning
Raven:
I had a rant here about how I wasn't going to be adding anymore skill
charts. Then I took out the skill charts.
Anyway, no one should put more than one point in this skill.
Oak Sage:
The HP bonus increases 10% each skill level. Now, this one is more
useful for the elemental druid. He relies very heavily on his minions
for cover fire (taking the hits for him, actually) and they're better
off living longer. Actually, if they deal more damage they also live
longer. It's six of one, half-dozen of the other with Heart of the
Wolverine. The WB druid, on the other hand, has an inherent HP bonus.
So it's about 500% HP with a maxed oak sage, bear and lycanthropy.
Poison Creeper:
Don't bother.
Spirit Wolf:
Put some points in here. They're useful early on, and no points wasted
since there's a passive bonus to all bears and wolves. For spirit
wolves, AR and def, 10% per level.
Carrion Vine:
Restores some life for every body it eats up. If you're elemental, you
shouldn't be fighting all that much and if you're a bear you can have
up to 500% life bonus. Just forget this whole section of the tree.
Heart of the Wolverine:
This is the one for you Werebear druids out there. Increase to attack
rating, defense and damage. A truly find skill. Less useful for an
elemental druid, as he won't be doing as much melee and won't take as
much advantage.
Dire Wolf:
Same deal as spirit wolf. These guys increase the HP of your spirit
mammals. They're also about a dozen times better than spirit wolves,
so once you have 3 points in this skill, go to these guys instead (keep
the spirit wolves until then). If you're an elemental druid, you may
want to keep these guys out even after you get the grizzly, seeing as
they provide even more targets.
Solar Creeper:
Same as carrion vine, but it increases your mana recovery rate. WBs
shouldn't use enough mana for this to be worth it, and the spell timers
do an excellent job of making sure that elemental druids never actually
spend any mana.
Spirit of Barbs:
It's widely regarded as worst level-30 skill. I can't really say the
masses are wrong. First off, you have to take damage to give it back,
the same problem with the paladin's Thorns, or the necro's Iron Maiden,
except that it's less damage returned. And on top of that, it makes it
so you can't use Oak Sage or Heart of the Wolverine.
Grizzly:
Ok, now we've hit the big time. The Bear. His hits stun and knock
back. He's a tank. He gives a passive damage bonus. He is the bear.
Or she, I suppose. I'll just say it. It is the best companion for the
WB and the WW druid. I prefer three dire wolves for my Elemental
druid, but the Bear is useful for those nasty uniques that cut their
way through your poor wolves while they whimper in agony and dying.
4: Stat Points
You'll actually find that the werebear and Elemental druids both tend
to have the same point distribution in the end. In the beginning,
however, they're pretty different.
Elemental:
To begin, you'll need a lot of dex and vit. And some mana. Strength
isn't important until level 12 or so. I subscribe to the "put all 5
points into one stat each level" theory. I'll usually play it by ear,
see what weapons I get and if I'm running out of mana too often. My
li'l guide will go up to level 12, because you should be able to tell
what you need by then.
Level 1: Dexterity
Level 2: Energy
Level 3: Vitality
Level 4: Energy
Level 5: Strength
Level 6: Strength
Level 7: Vitality
Level 8: Strength
Level 9: Energy
Level 10: Energy
Level 11: Strength
Level 12: Dexterity
That should create a fairly well-rounded character, who can use a good
majority of the equipment he finds. Remember that as a druid, you only
need about 50 energy total. Inordinate spell timers serve to make sure
that you can't actually spend mana, as you will regain it by the time
you can cast another spell.
Werebear:
Strength and vitality are the big ones here. Sound strange that I just
suggested that you get all the skills that increase these two factors?
That should tell you something.
a)The bear is a hulking beast. He needs to run, thus he needs stamina.
b) HP is good for a bear. He takes about 12 minutes to attack, so even
though he makes his enemies fall down, he'll suffer a bit for it first.
This guy also needs about 50 energy in total, because the regen should
be enough by that point; your main skill should be maul and you only
need 3 mana every 10 seconds or so to keep it going strong. Same rules
for my guidelines apply as above:
Level 1: Strength
Level 2: Vitality
Level 3: Vitality
Level 4: Strength
Level 5: Energy
Level 6: Dexterity
Level 7: Dexterity
Level 8: Strength
Level 9: Energy
Level 10: Vitality
Level 11: Strength
Level 12: Energy
So there's my talk on stat points.
Chapter 5: Weapons, armor and all that good stuff.
Elemental: You want something that can attack fairly quickly and
repeatedly. A halberd is a good weapon for act 4 or before. This is
because you need to be able to get in and out fairly quickly, hopefully
doing some hurricane damage, as your minions and spells should be doing
the better part of the damage. It doesn't do you any good to be
standing there getting killed while you're swinging your maul while
your spell timer is still ticking. As for armor, some resistance would
be good. Assuming you'll be staying back, most of what hits you will
be some kind of missile. A good number of those missiles will have
some elemental tacked on. Helms should have nice mods before nice def.
Remember, you're supposed to run around the battle, hitting enemies
with hurricane and volcano. And your weapon, when you get the chance.
You're not standing there and trading blows. As for everything else,
same rules apply. Don't go completely without defense, but a +3
hurricane, +3 Armageddon spirit mask is much better than a godly
exceptional crown. Well not much better, but a little better.
Werebear: There's an important thing to know about the werebear's
weaponry: speed doesn't matter in the slightest. You still attack slow
as hell. Now everything I just said about elemental druid is untrue
here. You will be trading blows, hopefully with you as the winner.
The best thing to look for in armor is a high def or good hit point
mods. And of course everyone needs resistance. Now assuming that
falcon mask has +3 wearbear and +3 lycanthropy, I really couldn't tell
you if the crown is better. It's actually your call.
Chapter 6: Some Closing Words and Legal Stuff
First of all, let me thank depthcharge for writing the FAQ from which I
got the few exact figures I used for skills.
I guess that's it actually.
This document is copyright 2001 Wil "Willis" Cerbone.
It may not be reproduced in any way shape or form without the express
permission of the author.
