So the Fireclaw build has been improved significantly, freeing up 40 skill points was a fantastic change allowing for more options while still focusing on Fireclaws.
That being said I think MrllamaSC suggested in his wishlist video for the druid another fantastic change building on these existing changes:
Move the synergy from Firestorm to Fissure and allow is to cast Fissure while shapeshifted
This would offer an amazing aoe option to Fireclaw druids as well as further strengthen the hybrid nature between caster and melee the build provides.
In density/aoe farming scenarios a pure fire druid would still be the better option but the Fireclaw variant would probably be stronger against bosses, making it a nice all-purpose build all the while being really fun to play.
I hope the devs consider this change, here is hoping.
I thought about this in one of my last posts… Firestorm is definitely not the best synergy for fireclaw and should be changed, totally agree… It’s duration and damage is too low, so a SS druid will never use it…
But I’m not sure fissure is the best one… You see, Armageddon is a nice skill for Shapeshifters, and fissure is a less important synergy for Armageddon. Fissure only affects duration, and now with global cooldown removed, it’s easy to recast Armageddon when you need to - so I think 5-pt fissure is all you really need to make Armageddon useful in SS form (20 second duration). The damage is the most important thing to make Armageddon worthwhile, so Molten Boulder, Firestorm, and Volcano are more important synergies…
So I think Molten Boulder is an okay synergy for fireclaw…
I think the other good synergy would be Volcano, because it has a long duration, and could be a good opener spell before turning into a WW or WB…
Regarding casting spells in SS form, I am strongly against that… Skilled players who play druid every day should have their hotkeys optimised and their brains programmed so they can shape shift without ever thinking… If sorc-mains want to be a shape-shifting druid AND cast spells, they can learn the bloody hotkeys and play the character on a regular basis to learn it properly…
You must also consider that werebears have shockwave, so the ability to cast strong spells in WB form would be absolutely broken - just stunlock the monsters and burn them to a crisp… So absolutely no, casting spells in SS form would be broken… Or Shockwave would need to be nerfed…
If skilled players can do this with the current spell casting rules, then they deserve to be rewarded for being skilled players… I for one know that this is possible
You can already do this now!!! The devs changed the IAS mechanics of SS druids, so you can hit high attack frames on weapons that traditionally would be considered garbage on SS Druids!
Test the Destruction, Doom, Phoenix runewords on the SS druid with high IAS gear like treachery, laying of hands, highlords, nosferatu’s etc, etc… Windhammer, Earthshifter, Stormlash are also prime candidates for SS druids also, but PTR doesn’t give us all those toys to test…
PROC-Bears, and Proc-Wolves should be possible now, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before we can develop these builds
Nononono… I want to actually cast all the skills in wereforms. Not procing them. I want to decide when and where I want to cast a skill while i’m in wereform. And don’t say it’s going to OP, we allready can make a WindBear or WindWolf facetanking everything while shreding down monsters whit Hurricane.
Nice video tho.
Well then they need to nerf FCR rates for WW and WB, because currently WW and WB have faster cast frames than human form. Wind and Fire druids will just put 1-pt into WW/WB so they can cast spells at higher breakpoints. If you are a WW or a WB, don’t you want to be focusing on dealing melee attacks, not getting stuck in slow cast frame animations?
Windhammer, Earthshifter, Stormlash, Destruction, Doom, Phoenix are all honestly going to be better weapons to use now with the new IAS mechanics - my vote is buff them if the spells they proc are too weak
A good roll on Doom gives -60% enemy cold resist and it’s got good stats for a melee fighter… Only reason it’s been a terrible weapon is because you could never boost the attack frames on it in WW form, but now off-weapon IAS matters… That -60% cold res boosts hurricane damage nicely, and on a high level character you can go 20-twister, 20-tornado, 20-hurricane and only 5-cyclone armour (for 20 second hurricane). That leaves enough skill points to max fury and dump remaining points into shapeshift skills. I think it’s a nice build
doom can push fury into 5F speed, 1F slowing than tome reaver, but on per with ribcracker, and is perfect weapon of choice if you wanna go hurricane fury wolf build
These are Fissure synergies, which means that if you want a powerful Fissure, you get:
Full synergy for Earth Shifter or Earthshaker Fissure proc
Option to add 20 points into Fissure to get a fully synergized skill if you will
Option to have full physical damage portion of synergies for Armageddon if you go that route
These will still leave you with 20 points left for Maul, Werebear, summons or smth else.
You could also go with Fissure + Volcano. This option would retain most benefits above, but maxing out Armageddon duration at cost of its fire damage component. You would then have to add 20 points into Firestorm if you want a fully synergized Fissure for casting or procing.
I wouldn’t want Shape Shifting to be just another health buff for Elemental Druids. If you want spell casting Shape Shifters, then commit to using a spell triggering weapon.
Fire Claw should be a “physical to fire damage conversion” skill, so it synergizes with damage mods. Anything else is stupid.
There are some interesting points in this thread I’d like to expand upon.
Firstly, Shockwave+dmg spell = op when shifting between forms is not required.
Hard disagree, shifting between forms is not diffucult/not an expression of skill, just inconvenient, I really don’t think there is a balance concern in that regard.
Next up, enabling spellcadting while shifted would lead to any elemental druid to dump some points in WB for survivability.
Yeah that’s a problem. I think generally allowing to cast everything would be wrong. I advocate just for Fissure as it in my opinion would compliment fire claws the best as an active spell. We got Armageddon and, since PTR, Hurricane. I am personally not a big fan of Armageddon and while I like hurricane more, it does not synergize with fireclaw in any way.
In regards to simply using weapons that proc spells, well, there isn’t any aktive gameplay involved so I don’t consider them as a sufficient substitute.
Procing is not quite the same as actually casting. And what’s the problem whit shifter/caster hybrid? If casters can use summons, why can’t they use SS skills? Everybody should play like, what is the most fun for them. I tested SS casters, WindBear/Wolf, FireBear/Wolf and it was soooo much fun. And it also looks cool.
I would agree with Fully 20 hard points into lychantropy would give the benefit of cast while shapeshifitng. In fact i would create many 20 hard points bonus on one point wonders so they would be more focused too.
I think “shredding” is being a bit too kind.
