I’m running a ‘Ranger’ build; basically a Druid with all Skill Points in Summoning & a Bow.
I just got the Horadric Cube…and I’m still using a yellow Longbow with a level requirement of THREE.
I can’t find better bows.
I’m level 17; STR and DEX are both 50 (Since some bows need STR and some need DEX, and I’m not sure what the cutoff on STR should be to use the best bows at high levels).
But I have gambled away about 50K in trying to find stronger Longbows, or just the next tier of bow.
What is the next Tier of bow?
What should my max STR be before I just pump into DEX for damage and VIT for HP?
Thank you for the offer but this is a Ladder character, just for fun. I don’t normally do Ladder stuff but I wanted to see if it was any different from Ladders back in D2OG.
Is 14-22 damage good for where I am? Getting the Staff and Headpiece?
But I’m not making a caster. I am enjoying running with a horde of wolves.
And I don’t see how ‘noob’ it is when my wolves basically killed Andariel without any help from me, and have not lost a single fight yet. I think only 2 wolves have died, in total, since I started, and I’m just about level 20.
Thank you but those seem like caster runewords. I don’t really have to cast anything. Though Lore does give +1 to all skills, which is good.
On my most recent ssf weapon based leveling experience I had a similar experience to you. I didn’t get a weapon upgrade from early act 1 until I was in the Claw Viper Temple. Not a fun experience.
Also if running minions may want to look into Edge RW for thorns aura on you or a merc. Tir-Tal-Amn so not a huge investment.
I am curious, how do you plan to do any real damage on your own with this build? You will basically just be auto attacking with a bow, which isn’t going to do that much. It seems like you will be relying on your summons and merc for damage.
Thank you. I will try to make that runeword!
It will go well with my Merc’s Prayer aura!
Pretty much. I wanted a Summons build. A Ranger out in the wilds with his wolves.
I just did not realize that the QLs for bows are somewhat far apart; 1, 5, 8, 12, 18.
Plus, Unique weapons are painful for bows, frequently being under-powered for the level requirements.
IE: The Raven Claw LONGBOW requires level 15 whereas Longbows themselves are level 8, and it’s boosts are pretty much level 8-quality boosts.
The QL breakpoints also mean getting yellows of that type are more difficult.
An interesting class idea to consider the druid as a ranger from an RPG point of view. How well that will work permanently is difficult to assess. But you don’t have to clear everything with all builds in Hell Mode.
If you don’t have a char that can pass you a bow from the rest of the game, it’s really not easy to get useful bows at the start. As a Bow Amazon you can sing a song about it.
Arctic equipment set makes a useful bow damage relatively early. But if you don’t have these things and you don’t have them all new… Bows triple socketed and then topaz gems in, but only does high lightning damage, no physical damage for manalech for example, ok that shouldn’t matter with the druid.
But it shows me again and again that games that are too much based on items to work, are just unspeakably tough and undermine the RPG progression through skills strongly. If you don’t find anything there then, the gameplay is totally tough. And if you overwhelm the player with them, the game loses its value and becomes boring.
A healthy challenge is ok, as D2 does, but the difficulty is not due to a rather tactical game style, but only due to the missing items. And this is where D1 worked much better. D1 has for me the much better feeling in the gameplay, precisely because it is slower and more tactical. With it, you can then also master situations to which you are inferior. You lure mibs away, position yourself better, think about a way.
All of that is rather broken away in the other Diablo titles, and you rely on mass and effect power and speed. But this also has its price. The subsequent titles don’t come close to the immersion of D1, because the game world is pushed into the background… A mistake that found its peak with D3 and it was also very bad and but to turn off soon.
I’m still waiting for a remasterd with a little improvements from D1 with the add on hellfire, because Hellfire had fancy zones and brought a good world expansion with it, which I do not want to miss. It’s a dream, but it dreams sweet. The gameplay and the atmosphere is simply in D1 in the strongest, because there you are just much closer to the character and a good survival factor resonates.
Bow druid could be fine. I would load up on crushing blow and not look back. CB does have a penalty for long range but it will eat a % of your enemies health. Then let your minions do the raw damage you need to finish them off. Can also max Heart of the Wolverine for more damage to you and minions.
am all for playing builds no one else does…
but yeah… i dont see this one working…
druid summons are basically just there to be tanks… not to do damage
and you are not running any damaging skills.
i mean i like the concept of actiing useing a bow and playing the game
but in that case you might be better of using something like lacerator for the amp proc
D1 strongest? Come on! Spells need to be learned in books, all 3 characters have the same spells, very few items… D1 is crap for today standards. Nostalgia is stupid.
They again put the game only on the mechanical part. But what makes D1, that makes it so much better than RPG.
That you can have deeper character development in D1, that you can distribute skills better, etc. those are all development stages. In its time, that was ok. Today it can definitely be done better, which I would welcome.
But the game as a game beats today’s end-game grinders hands down. The graphics are old, and the amenities are lower.
But we’re not debating a role-playing game, we’re still only concerned with how item collecting and number boosting works. That’s one of the big problems of the genre. We need the focus back on the game as a game.
