Few questions about 2h melee lighting Druid

Hello,

It’s my first character, and I am currently level 74, cutting through act 2 Elite like hot knife thru butter. Enjoying the game a lot. This is my build grimcalc.com/build/1009-i3ZUtH. (sorry, can’t post links yet)

I have few questions tho:

  • I am going offensive devotion route, as you can see. Will I miss stuff like Giant’s blood or Healing rain on Ultimate? Because so far I am just face tanking and melting everything, only Steps of Misery boss made me kite couple of times

  • Is Blessed Steel viable for end game? So far it helps a lot versus boss type of enemies (everyone else is just dying from savagery/primal strike). Can’t think of a good alternative for Lighting based melee build (Amber is more of a low tier component imo)

  • Arcane Will - yay or nay? 25% damage boost for free 100% of the time in battle - at least that what it looks like in theory. Or is it useless?

  • Storm Totem - viable alternative? It’s a nice skill, but doesn’t do too much damage really, also takes time to drop it when you are surrounded by enemies and mashing buttons.

  • Any good farming spots on elite? or should I go straight to ultimate? I have nemesis status against everyone except Cronley and Necros, I have tried Steps of Torment, got Soulrend and Alkamos ring (both items I have no use for). Still using level 50 Black Legion two-handed sword, and level 50 Glory of the Silver Knight helmet (pretty good item, would love an empowered version of it). Still farming vendors for good rings/amulets/medals.

  • What do you think about my build as an end-game build? I have only Stormcaller’s pact left to max out (as well as savagery and primal) and Spear of Heavens devotions.

Thanks for your attention :slight_smile:

Hey!

First off, using both Savagery and Primal Strike is a pretty inefficient use of your skill points. Pick one and focus on it; I think Savagery is the stronger of the two, especially if you don’t have amazing end-game gear, but Primal Strike is loads of fun with its transmuter.

Second, you absolutely want Giant’s Blood or Tree of Life. You don’t need both, but at least one will make a big difference later in the game.

I’m not personally a fan of Blessed Steel but the resist reduction on it is very nice, it’s certainly a viable choice.

Eh, I don’t like Arcane Will very much. Or Storm Totem (especially on a Primal Strike character, should you go that route). Try them and see if you like them I guess.

More generally, I’d put some points into Wind Devil and specifically Raging Tempest (1 point in the base skill is fine, the resist reduction from Tempest is what you’re after). Oak Skin probably isn’t worth more than one point for the type of character you seem to want, either. Finally, strongly consider putting a point in Nullification; you can use it on hero monsters to strip their auras, and it can cripple enemies that do a lot of elemental damage.

Thanks for the reply!

I am using both Savagery and Primal Strike because I am following Thunderaja’s guide. And it works great so far. I build up charges with savagery and nuke with Primal Strike every three seconds. Great synergy, imo.

How do I incorparate wind devils in my build?

Eh… Giant’s Blood and Tree are good, but not your only options. Turtle, Dryad, Ghoul, Chariot… Just depends on what affinities you’re gathering. And OFC more is better. The only offensive skill devotion that goes well with lightning is Tempest, IMO, so you shouldn’t lack for binding skills. Elemental Storm can be handy as well, but if you’re running Wind Devils or some other RR source, it’s hardly required.

I have Ghoul maxed out. I have Tsunami on Savagery, Ghoul on something, Reckless Tempest on Upheaval and planning to put Arcane Bomb on vines and Spear of Heaven on Maiven’s sphere.

I have just face tanked level 75 Aetherial Nemesis. Thought it was another hero during my Warden run, didn’t get why he was so fat at first :).

Just cruised thru Port Valbury. Last bosses’ trio was a tad annoying, made me kite a little. Overall had no problems.

Ghoul is helping a lot. I wonder if I really should go for Spear of Heavens or Chariot as my last constellation.

Wind Devil with Raging Tempest is so much better than Storm Totem. Easier to use and synergizes greatly with Blessed Steel and Arcan Bomb debuffs. At Fort Ikon right now (elite), not even popping Wendigo Totem for most mobs, just cutting through.

Generally I only think Spear is good in Aether Lightning builds… And those are rather rare. I’d go Chariot, or some other T1/2 options. Scythe, Crown, Turtle… You’ve got various good options.

Scythe? As in Harvester’s Scythe? Seems like a useless tree to me. What does Chariot devotion special do? How effective is it?

Spear of Heavens is good despite one star being +80% Aether damage because it adds insane amout to lighting damage and its skill procs off defensive skills. It also adds stun.

I really don’t know, gotta try Ultimate with different end game devotions I guess to see for myself, because so far this build destroys everything and facetanks almost everything.

Scythe is loaded with raw stats. That’s its purpose. Chariot is a heal. Spear’s skill is half Aether, so you’re getting half use. Also, anything that you CAN stun, you don’t need to stun. Currently, after you leave Elite, basically all CC becomes worthless. You need it on heroes and bosses, and it doesn’t function there. That’s generally why I avoid Spear, I’d only ever be buffing half of the skill, and it’d be just a damage proc, nothing else. I did think about making a Blood Orb and Albrecht Duality build to try and get use from it, by making it all into Chaos… Hardly seemed worth the effort for one constellation though, especially with Dying God around.

Spear gets a bad rap but it gives a ton of OA and I like its proc skill, so if you like it too I say stick with it.

I am loving Raging Tempest so far, should I put one point to Maelstrom so my Wind Devils do some damage? Is it worth it? (can’t afford more than 1-2 points tho, need to buff Stormcaller’s Pact)

You should put Reckless Tempest on Wind Devils. Each devil can proc separately, so you can theoretically have 3 (or more depending on how much CDR you have) Tempest storms going at once, which absolutely destroys trash and makes bosses rather unhappy as well.

Might not want to bank on that. I’ve heard a few people mention that that is getting “fixed” in the expansion.

:confused:

:cry:

:mad:

Dude wtf, no wonder we dont get along :smiley:

P.S. I never took chariots because of heal and I dont see how massive boost to OA and crit % can be ˝half used˝ but nwm.

“Massive”… Debatable, and even if we agreed, replaceable. The stats unique to Spear are the combo of Aether and Lightning, and the skill is the same. Everything else can be obtained elsewhere.

Ofc, everything in this game is replaceable, except maybe AD rings that are converting to Aether, couldn’t find ones that are converting to chaos to replace them :smiley:

Chariot gives the most OA of all the T2 devotions by far and is competitive with the T3 ones as well. It also gives a chunk of vit resist.

Ofc, everything in this game is replaceable, except maybe AD rings that are converting to Aether, couldn’t find ones that are converting to chaos to replace them

Equipping 3*Mantle of the Black Flame is what you’re looking for here :rolleyes:.

I want those rings you are using.

Yeah, no, not gonna use Chariot. 8 devotions points (nice OA, sure, but) for a lackluster healing skill (searched this forum and reviews for this Devotion proc are “mixed” at best).

So far I have Tsunami on Savagery, Ghoul on Modgrogen’s Pact (very very useful constellation), Reckless Tempest on Upheaval, Arcane Bomb on Vines. I also have Owl, Snake and plan to use last 9 points on Sailor’s guide and Spear of Heaven. Considered all other options and everything else seems pretty meh for my build (except that Hourglass constellation, but I have little use for the proc).

So should I put one point to Maelstrom to add some spice to Wind Devil? Or is it not worth it?

Also, how does +25% damage from Arcane Will works? is it +25% to my sheet dps? Or is it equivalent to +25% lighting damage or something?