These are a suggestions for quality of life and buff changes to the summoner. Hope to hear from you all.
Hi everyone. I wanted to re-iterate my hopes for the druid getting aditionnal bufs. I really hope Blizzard team reads this.
My hopes revolve mainly around the summoning tree but also with werbear.
IDEAS FOR BUFFS TO THE SUMMONER DRUID :
Passive : SPIRIT WOLVES AWAKENING
- Immunity to curses.
- Allies can phase through them. This Allows more allies to engage ennemies simultaneously and prevents the spirit wolves from getting in the way of their allies.
- Spirit wolves deal physical damage and convert it to cold. This allows auras and other modifiers to benefit spirit wolves the same way they do Dire wolves and Grizzly.
- When ennemies hit spirit wolves they take cold damage, getting frozen for a short moment.
This passive activates after investing 80 hard points into the summoning tree.
Passive : DIRE WOLVES UNLEASHED
- Cannot be slowed or frozen
- Maxed resistances( no immunities)
- Chance of open wounds on strike
- Two additionnal Dire wolves can be summoned
- While all 5 Dire wolves are alive their attack speed as well as that of the other summons is increased.
This passive activates after investing 80 hard points into the summoning tree.
PASSIVE : KODIAK GUARDIANSHIP ( applies to both grizzly and werbear) :
- Cannot be stunned or frozen
- Attacks cannot be interrupted
- 15% Chance the ennemy stuns himself when striking you
- 15% chance twice the damage recieved given back to striking ennemy
- 15% chance of crushing blow (exclusive to grizzly)
Second PASSIVE for Grizzly and Werbear :
PASSIVE : KODIAKāS WRATH (charge up ability and automatic trigger )
After being struck a certain amount of times The werbear has the ability to lash out in a roar, sending out a cleaving attack dealing double the damage. This attack goes out in a 180Ā° arc and goes through many ennemies at once, reaching the ones in the back (pierces). This attack is used manually by the player once the werbearās āwrath meterā is full and his ability becomes available. This ability is an answer to melee druidās lack of AOE compared to casters.
I believe another ability should be created for the werewolf but Iām not sure what it could look like
If the player or his grizzly are hit too often in a very short period of time ( for instance if surrounded and hit from all sides) the bear or druid in Werbear form use this ability automatically without having to spend the meter or needing it to be full for the Werebear. This ability helps the grizzly summon especially when it gets surrounded.
Both KODIAK passives apply either after investing 80 hard points into the summoning tree or 60 hard points into Werbear, grizzly and lycanthropy.
PASSIVE : Nature unleashed
After 70 hard points into the summoning tree, all wolves , the bear and all 3 vines can be summoned at the same time.
PASSIVE : GAIAāS ORDER
POISON VINE:
Poison vine`s damage stacks with rabies and reduces poison duration without lowering overall damage. Stacks with other sources of poison dmg as well.
Poison Vine`s special toxin reduces ennemy attack and movement speed.
CARRION VINE :
Infestation ability :
The infested ennemy has twice his usual HP. Any damage dealt to the infested ennemy simultaneously heals the druid for the same amount. In addition to this the druid also slowly regenerates life while the infested monster is alive. When the monster reaches 20% HP the Vineās infestation causes his body to mutate gruesomely. He enters into a panicked frenzy and runs towards his closest allies only to explode. The explosion causes severe AOE damage to his allies and heals the druid for a percentage of his maximum HP. The vine slithers away in search of another monster to infest. The vine can only be killed while outside of a monster or during the infestation process which takes a few seconds to complete.
SOLAR CREEPER :
Blight spores :
The vine plants into the ground and grows into a tree. Said tree launches spores which attach to the ennemies. Those spores significantly reduce enemy defense making it easier for your summons and yourself to hit them. It also reduces their chances of hitting you ( this includes ranged enemies)
Mana synthesis :
As long as the tree is alive and the enemies are affected by the spores, the druid recieves mana regen.
GAIAāS ORDER works as a passive buff to the Vines and activates once 80 hard points are invested into summoning OR 60 hard points are distributed either between spirits (oak sage, HOW, Barbs ) and vines or just vines.
Passive : SPIRIT WORLDāS BLESSING
Available once 80 hard points have been invested in the summoning tree, or a minimum of two spirits (oak sage, HOW, Barbs ) are given 20 hard points each.
All three spirits can be summoned at once.
Last point I would improve upon would be the summonās AI. They should work better. Be more aggressive. Also the enemy shouldnāt target the vines specifically the way he does it sometimes in the game. Some enemies seem to be laser focused on the vines even with 8 wolves a bear a merc and myself wailing on it. makes no sense. Either fix the priority given to the vines or significantly increase their survivability. The AI for spirits is also very frustrating at times with them literally running into enemy mobs to be killed quickly. Should also be addressed as they are not offensive summons they should naturally try to stay back.
I wanted to add that, the hard point limitations I put in were a way to prevent hybrid builds where a druid could be strong in elemental or shapeshifting and take advantage of the summoning buffs I proposed with the use of skillers. It seemed important to me that these buffs be limited to committed summoners willing to accept a tradeoff in the other trees in exchange for a stronger summoning build.
Iām not a diablo 2 expert and there are many things I may not have consideredā¦rune words off the top of my head might make these suggestions too strong but I seriously doubt it. Since patch 2.4 the summoner has become more viable yes, but he remains weak and slow going compared to many other characters and builds and a majority of popular and respected content creators for diablo have said as much.
I want this tree to be more than just playable. I want it to be powerful. Like many of you Iām tired of the same cold or lightning sorcs or hammerdin builds running around and having all the fun. Now to be clear I donāt need my summon druid to be as powerful as them. I just need him to be powerful in his own right and feel like it. Right now heās viable. Not powerful.
To be clear I love playing the summoner druid. I had one back in the day and when resurrected came out heās the first build I re-made. I had a summoner druid back in the days of lord of destruction ( yes I played with only 5 spirit wolves lol before all the recent buffs and I still managed to have fun ) but itās just frustrating at times when I see all the untapped potential this tree still has while other meta builds literally destroy everything effortlessly. Iām not asking to be OP like a palladin or a fully decked out sorc or amazon but I do think there is a lot of space for improvement for the summoner. Enough that he could get much more powerful while not being OP like some meta S-tier builds.
Hope to hear from everyone ! I also hope the critics remain respectful and positive.
PS : Regarding Hunger and spirit of barbs I believe both of these skills need to be re-worked entirely but Iām not quite sure how. Maybe some here have ideas.
Also I believe that if such a build is possible then the druid should lose the ability to teleport once he has invested 80 hard points into the summoning tree.
I dont think it should be allowed given all those improvements.