Hello! Have you ever looked at the Avatar of Mogdrogen and said to yourself “wow, I wish I could be that guy”? Well I did! I also was motivated by a few other things…
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I was/am sad that Druids suck currently. I wanted to design a Druid build in such a way that no other class combo could do what the build did better…whatever that thing was. No Ultos ripoffs or cookie-cutter TSS builds here!
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I wanted to figure out how to make Shaman pets worthwhile. Based off DaShiv’s builds, it’s clear that the best way to maximize DPS on pet builds is to focus on OA, Flat damage, and resist reduction. Occultist does this waaaaay better than Shaman. The only thing Shaman has going for it pet-wise is tankiness and retaliation, so I wanted to incorporate those strengths into the build.
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I wanted to have a reason to use Manifestation on the IEE tree for once. Don’t ask me why, I guess I’m a masochist that likes to throw skill points away.
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In order to prove that the build was actually decent, and just because I’d never done it before, I wanted to conquer Hardcore mode for the first time with it. That means this character was played solo/self-found gear, making it approachable by anyone!
This build is a Lightning/Pet Hybrid that uses Wind Devils and Storm Totems (“put-and-forget” skills) for character DPS while sitting in the back, letting tanky minions take your hits and do your dirty work because you’re the Avatar of Mogdrogen, an arrogant asshole who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice a mortal to keep his/her boots clean. These minions are further buffed with elemental DoT damage (with some extra focus on lightning of course) from the IEE tree to provide some extra DPS.
Before attempting hardcore with any character, I would strongly recommend checking out the hardcore guide written by ForgottenKane here. It is extremely thorough and well-written, and will give you a good idea of what to expect. I strongly suggest that you follow that guide in tandem with this one while attempting your first run.
Pros and Cons
[spoiler]
Pros
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Pretty darn safe. Your devotions and masteries make you decently tanky already, but your minions will be very tanky as well and the nature of the build means they’ll be taking most of the damage throughout the game. Aggro is drawn when your character directly damages an enemy frequently, and very few if any of your skills will do this (for example, Wind Devils don’t draw enemy aggro at all). The more patient you are with sending your minions to engage in front of you, the safer you will be, although I personally went in guns blazing throughout all of Ultimate and only had a few close calls. This is without using any consumables either.
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Very active/fun. This may be more of a con to some people, but this is definitely not a passive pet build. You will have several Devotion cooldowns to manage through your skills, and juggling them in addition to throwing down your Devils and Totems plus dodging enemy abilities and kiting plus managing your Mirror and healing potions means you won’t ever have a dull moment.
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Easy to learn, hard to master. Basic idea of the build is simple, throw pets forward while spamming Devils and Totems in the back. However managing all the Devotion cooldowns, knowing when to Mirror or heal potion or when to hold off, when to kite more or when to stop running to use an ability, all takes practice and even now I still don’t think I’m playing as optimally as I could.
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Zero gear requirement. Obviously starting off twinked would be even better, but I played this build from zero to hero without any real issues (except the final fight, see below). The core of the build will enable you to be successful with whatever you find, provided you know what to focus on (which I’ll explain later).
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Work in progress! This build is more of a template and I’m not confident I have the best version of this build. Devotions could certainly be experimented with (I’ll post an alternate version that some daring soul could try out), so you can easily take this build and make it your own if you wanted (although if you don’t know what you’re doing, I can’t guarantee you’ll survive ;))
Cons
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Lowish DPS, especially for a pet build. This is due to less specific focus on pet offense (you’re a hybrid after all) and lack of resist reduction (only hits 68 for Lightning, 35 for Fire/Cold). You’ll still be clearing trash and lesser bosses without issues, but the Ultimate Log fight took 20 minutes and had a few close calls (by far the most epic, fun fight I’ve had in my GD experience, but long none-the-less). I couldn’t clear adds quick enough and damage him safely at the same time, so I had to retreat to the back when it got too crowded and clear them out before re-engaging. You’ll notice slow kill times on Yetis as well. Keep in mind this is with my character (whose grimtools I will post as well), so depending on what gear you find your mileage may vary.
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Damage numbers won’t be impressive. Pet DoT damage (including player based pets) are not displayed, so you won’t be seeing mind-boggling numbers. You can still watch the HP bars melt though.
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Not a Tier 1 build. DaShiv’s Pyromancer is pretty amazing, and even if I had all the gear in the game I don’t think the build would ever have the DPS/kill times that his does (Occultist >>> Shaman for this). I could probably make it as survivable or more though…maybe.
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Work in progress. By this I mean I haven’t tried to beat Ultimate roguelike dungeons yet, MQ, Sentinel, Edge, Nemeses, or Mog. I’ll update as I attempt these milestones, unfortunately I feel I may not be able to beat some of these as is so gear farming may be necessary end-game (but eh, what else are you gonna’ do?).[/spoiler]
Skills
[spoiler]
Shaman (50 points):
At least 10/16 Summon Briarthorn – Your main tank. Max this ASAP when starting out, but you can take some points out when you hit the high levels and you have more pets to tank for you.
12/12 Raging Tempest – Your flat RR source.
MAX Maelstrom – One of your two sources of lightning damage
MAX Storm Totem – One of your two sources of lightning damage
10/10 Heart of the Wild – Need for survivability, extra health is great.
12/12 Emboldening Roar – Very good buff, physical resistance and OA are great and bleed resist isn’t bad either.
At least 10/12 Conjure Primal Spirit – Your off-tank, if you will. Does great DPS, max if you can but you might need to spread points to get everything else so don’t feel bad taking a few points out.
MAX Stormcaller’s Pact – Great buff to crit damage and lightning/electrocute damage.
Arcanist (32 points):
12/12 Inner Focus – Spirit and OA are good for you.
6/12 Mirror of Ereoctes – Your “oh shit” button. Don’t wait for an emergency to use it in case it’s too late, pop it whenever you’re getting mobbed or if you’re trapped by a skeleton monster or obsidian monster. If you die with this off cooldown you’re going to feel really sad.
3/12 Maiven’s Sphere of Protection – 10% Damage Absorb for a skill point or 2 and -3% damage is pretty good.
5/10 Conversion – Protects you from getting rooted/stunned, which will probably be your #1 danger with this build.
MAX Overload – A good source of elemental DPS for your pets. Each pet procs its own, so the more pets the better!
MAX Elemental Balance – Great source of crit damage and buffs Overload and your lightning skills.
MAX Manifestation – Helps the DPS of your pets. Honestly you don’t really need this, but this build is made for it and you’ll never use it on any other build so why not. If you want to min/max, I’d ignore it.
One Point Wonders:
Grasping Vines – Used for proccing devotions (specifically Shepherd’s Call when you no longer have Squall relic)
Mogdrogen’s Pact – Needed for Heart of the Wild
Wind Devil – Needed for Maelstrom and Raging Tempest. Not worth investing more points in.
Ground Slam – Useful taunt for Briarthorn, but doesn’t really get better with more skill points.
Oak Skin – Nice little buff for everyone, just 1 point though and let +skills make it higher.
Iskandra’s Elemental Exchange – Needed for Overload/Elemental Balance. More levels only give flat Elemental which is OK, but points are better spent elsewhere.
Callidor’s Tempest – Used for proccing Eldritch Hound.
Wrath of Agrivix – Makes Callidor’s Tempest better at proccing devotions, and useful to knock back enemies.
Trozan’s Sky Shard – Used for proccing Arcane Bomb.
NOTE: Alternative Build…
0/12 Raging Tempest (get 3 points in Rhowan’s Crown devotion for Elemental Storm instead)
0/12 Stormcaller’s Pact
-3 points in Summon Briarthorn
-3 points in Conjure Primal Spirit
Arcanist (50 points)
13/12 Star Pact
Doing this alternative has you lose out on the 35% crit damage modifier and makes your pets base stats slightly weaker, but gives you more stats (due to 18 more points in mastery trees) and more importantly, 10% or 11% cooldown reduction. This combined with your use of off-hand plus any bonuses from your helm/amulet/weapon can theoretically allow you to reach up to 45% CDR, which is super useful for a number of your important abilities like Emboldening Roar, Conjure Primal Spirit, Storm Totem, Mirror of Ereoctes and devotion skills like Shepherd’s Call, Eldritch Hound, and Healing Rain. I didn’t do the run with this variant, so please feel free to try it out and let me know how it goes![/spoiler]
Devotions
In order of where to put points…
Green Crossroads
Bat (assign to Wind Devil)
Remove Green Crossroads
Hawk
Viper
Bysmiel’s Bonds (assign to Squall if you have it, otherwise Callidor’s Tempest)
Remove Hawk
Blue Crossroads
Widow (assign to Trozan’s Sky Shard)
Remove Blue Crossroads
Purple Crossroads
Shepherd’s Crook (assign to Callidor’s Tempest, assign either Squall or Grasping Vines to Bysmiel’s Bonds)
Remove Purple Crossroads
Yellow Crossroads
Panther
Remove Yellow Crossroads
Lion
Ulo, Keeper of the Waters
Eel
Hound
Tree of Life (assign to Maiven’s Sphere of Protection)
Targo the Builder (one point)
Alternatively, you can choose Solemn Watcher instead of Ulo, Keeper of the Waters. This will reduce pet resistances, but increase your DA.
NOTE:
If using the Star Pact variant (without Raging Tempest), it is important to put 3 points in Rhowan’s Crown as soon as possible to access Elemental Storm (bound to Storm Totem later game). To do this follow this progression…
Green Crossroads
Bat
Raven
When you hit 11 devotion points…
Remove Bat, replace with Spider
Remove Raven, replace with Purple Crossroads, Hammer
Remove Purple Crossroads
Remove Green Crossroads
3 points into Rhowan’s Crown (assign to Wind Devil)
Pink Crossroads
Jackal
Bysmiel’s Bonds (assign to Callidor’s Tempest)
Hawk
Remove Spider, replace with Bat
Remove Pink Crossroads
Remove Hawk
Viper
Remove Jackal
Shepherd’s Crook (assign to Callidor’s Tempest, assign Squall/Grasping Vines to Bysmiel’s Bonds)
Remove Hammer
Blue Crossroads
Widow (assign to Trozan’s Sky Shard)
Remove Blue Crossroads
Yellow Crossroads
Panther
Remove Yellow Crossroads
Lion
Ulo, Keeper of the Waters
Eel
Hound
Tree of Life (assign to Maiven’s Sphere of Protection)
