User blog:Breywood/Trials of a Rabies Druid Build

Since my Assassin went Matriarch, I decided that if my druid couldn't kill Diablo Clone I should at least get him to Patriarch. He was just starting Act 5 around the time I had Sabolita tangle with Diablo Clone the second time. And why should I be making edits on pages of builds I haven't played? I think that if I at least get them to kill Hell Baal, I have some right to make suggestions on building.

The Build. Rabies/Feral Rage. Usually people go into Fury because it allows them to attack multiple targets at the same time. When you're Boss Killing, however, I find it's a problem when I can't focus all my attacks on an opponent. And Feral Rage is a lot like Frenzy, another skill I'm really soft on.

Skills:

Shapeshifting Tab Feral Rage: 20 Rabies:20 Werewolf:4 Lycanthropy:14

Summons Tab Oak Sage:1 Heart of the Wolverine:1 Poison Creeper:20 Raven:1 Spirit Wolf:1 Dire Wolf:1 Grizzly:6 Carrion Vine:1 Solar Creeper:1

Elemental Tab None

Gear

Helmet: I swapped between Jalal's Mane and Iratha's Coil Armor: Angelic Mantle Belt:Iratha's Cord Amulet:+3 Summons for minions, +3 Shapeshifting when I wasn't in need of resistances and Iratha's Collar when I did. Rings: Two Angelic Halo rings or one Halo and a blue +15 to resistances. Gloves: Iratha's Cuff Boots: Goblin Toes.

Weapon/Shield: Fleshrender, a Malice Grand Scepter (because the noise registers differently than other weapons) or an Aldur's Rhythm with 3 +15% IAS Jewels. Rhyme Runeword Spiked Shield Weapon/Shield switch: Sigon's Guard Tower Shield. Spirit long sword.

Hireling:

Act 5 Hireling. Double Upgraded perfect Hawkmail(Just because!) Double Upgraded Ethereal Shadowfang(again, JUST BECAUSE!) and an Undead Crown.

Details

Act 4

Well, the fight with Diablo was a bit tough, but I still managed to bring him down in less than ten minutes with the gear I have listed and I only died three times in the process. It's a huge shame that his Lightning Hose is something that any melee character can ignore. That Firestorm, however, was something that even when I'm at 85% can still really smart.

Act 5

You know what I love about Lord of Destruction? The fact that you can have more guest monsters than the monsters that they designed for the damed expansion. The Bloody Foothills run? Double quantities of Burning Dead Archers (Poison Immune) and Quill Rats. I didn't see any Act 5 monsters until I hit Dac Farren, and then until Shenk. The same in the Frigid Highlands. Aside from Eldritch there were only Siege Beasts and Demon Imps to break up the overwhelming quantities of guest monsters. I freed the prisoners and then moved on.

Moving on up to Arreat Plateau. I always try to snag this waypoint because aside from the walk from the Worldstone Keep to the Worldstone Chamber, it is the longest walk between waypoints, and I didn't want to die in the Crystalline Passage and have to walk even further. At least the guest monsters were a little less prevalent.

After I backtracked to the waypoint, I tackled the Crystalline Passage. I don't remember much at this point aside from the lack of usual game-disrupting monsters like Succubi, who can get you booted into the lobby for having an anxiety disorder over the right curse to use for the situation. After I secured the waypoint, I began the "Anya Quest"

Succubi. Reanimated Horde and Poison Immune Skeletons. It was painfully slow making my way to Anya, but I didn't want to attempt a reboot. I'd rather face Succubi that can get me booted out of my own game than hordes of Burning Dead which would infest in double quantities every time after that. Anya was freed and the +10 to all resistance scroll was secured.

I'll elaborate on the rest of my walk in my next post...