So I am building towards the “Top 20” Ludrigan Druid, and I realized that the devotion tree is one of those setups where you need to add and remove points as you go along, to get specific setups.
Thing is, I am not very good at doing that. I am trying my hardest to sort it out, and was hoping someone better could maybe lay out a path. Stuff like “Add Crossroads Blue, Do Sailors Guide, remove Crossroads Blue” etc
The grimtools for the build is here
I can handle the leveling (and in fact am already around 38 now, having a literal blast) and I got 18 points total. Right now my Devotion tree has Ghoul, Turtle, 3 Crossroads, and I am working on Behemoth. Thats kind of how I figured I should go but god only knows where to go from here cause I can clearly see several devotions that are self sustaining.
TBH the one thing I am horrible at is planning devotion setups. I can handle leveling up and skill selection and I am learning gear / affix stuff but devotion manipulation and planning hurts my brain so ANY assistance is appreciated.
small tip
don’t necessarily try to level 1:1 as an end devo map, by that i mean grabbing the skills the end map uses is fine, but using its affinity booster might not be the most optimal
in this case you can save points replacing hawk+crossroads with just scholar’s light
Lantern can be replaced by lotus, scythe (in terms of affinity rewards) can be replaced by wraith, then you can swap into scythe a bit later as the actual stats become more directly helpful and not just being used as min-maxed devo colour bonus
So look at the individual skills and take the fastest devo/lowest cost there, and it will be much smoother since the affinity stacking will be simpler to squeeze in when you can just look at requirements and rewards
I would somewhat disagree with you. Why get 3 temp devotions when you only need 1? Why waste crystals removing your points? I don’t ever recall having too many crystals.
unlocking skills faster is generally better during levelling, it’s also imo more fun to have powers earlier than later
meanwhile crystals is literally the easiest thing to get and the smallest possible consideration as such respeccing a few devo points should be no worry
easiest example in that build is probably lantern, it in itself requires 10 greens to use, which means you need 10 green +5 spare points to have it self sustain, meanwhile you could cover that with much less points and then unlocking Ultos+crab that earlier
not only is it easier, but on a technical level the “gains” over having devo proc vs small passive stat boost is usually in favour of the constellation carrying a proc
and it takes all the guesswork out of trying to fit in the end path passive devos 1:1 during levelling too, which can then be done in a single pot drink once all the points are there
I think TermNerdy’s devotion plan is way better than yours. It’s straightforward, has only a small deviation from the endgame build, all the devotions are useful, and won’t require a respec potion to fix it at the end.
it’s not about requiring a respec pot ffs, that’s just an easy way to solve your “grievance”
“and if you’re already deviating” ie requiring respeccing anyway, you might as well deviate where you maximize your powers and don’t struggle/get confused about the path on top, because the 1:1 path isnt’ meant for levelling so is optimized in a way that’s easiest done in a single go
it’s not really that complicated
but you for some reason insist on keeping it complicated or halfsies the simplification instead of just going full measure,
eg strangely concerned about a few aether crystals, or abundant potion (obtained for free even)
that is why it’s specifically a tip for levelling, especially when following a endgame build/endgame setup only cobbled together with endgame point in mind… or “the difference between a levelling guide vs a endgame guide”
you’re fine to disagree, same way i’m not saying this is mandatory and a tip, but your rationale is misguided and inconsistent if nothing else
edit. TLDR, respec is cheap, might as well take advantage of it
If someone is starting out, I wouldn’t recommend figuring out two devotion paths just because it’s confusing and requires you to solve two puzzles instead of just one. The crystals doesn’t matter. You can’t get the end game configuration as is, so you need to take some constellations and refund them anyway.
that’s my entire point about looking at the skills you want and what they cost, and go for their cost, and not trying to fit anything in or “puzzle”, when the end map is designed to be done with all 55 points/you’re following a map that is a puzzle
here you have tempest, cool, you take throne+eel → tempest, done
if you want giant’s blood early, eel+scholar+red, (since ghoul is already part of the picture that can then serve those reds) → Behemoth, done
now you also then just happen to have enough for widow → done
barrier is left, okay we need 2 gold asap, we can’t get that for free so it’s either lion for a surplus or lotus which then happens to cover other green, bam barrier done.
This can be done left and right upside and down and counter clockwise round, while still/in “every” permutation ending up more efficient and beneficial than trying to go 1:1 to an endgame map, in most cases, atleast for the top20.
Because they are not done with levelling devos consideration, remotely, but on the notion you can plop down 55 at once.
The only reason to want to level “as” an end devo map, is to not want respec “at end”, (because you’re still going to have to respec a few points here and there eventually during levelling to fit it in, - which makes it a weird kind of pseudo/reversed “laziness” reason)
and that’s totally fine, but it’s neither easy(“puzzle”) nor as “good” as it might can be for procs,
(and personally it’s also way less fun, because it means reaching the last round of powers towards the end too)
it’s literally the simpler approach to not have to think about it and just take the cheap affinity to beeline your powers, because it removes the puzzle. “Look at hot dog sign, says 5$, reach for 5$ in wallet”
Then you just chug a pot and do it all at once, when you have the 55, and can plop in the end map as intended.
