Everyone know that some spells are better, stromger and faster. But after 20 years, its not possible for me to make another pala or sorc. A variable walk through build with some difference, Can add som Spice 
Agree.
My Druid is lvl97, and has no points in shape shift or elemental.
As cast in town my Ravens are doing 4534-4928 damage, and there are 5 of them, and they can hit 58 times (each) before they expire… and they will hit 58 times, because they cannot be targeted.
The Bear hits for 6236-6411… but there is only 1 of him… he is essentially unkillable.
Agree, and even in end game he’s still usefull… cast him on Baal and DClone to stop regen… and watch him tear stuff up at the edge of the screen on TZ clears. He dies easy but is easy on mana and a hoot to watch.
Early game, 5 Ravens in the air ASAP, then bring out the creeper.
True.
This is true as well, but run with an Act1 merc and a Bow on the Druid, and he’s not as bad as you see on all the U-tubes where the Druid is just standing there doing nothing.
Start out by picking up a couple 3os bows from Charsie and stuff them with gems as you roll, fire and lightening are good, as the Act1 Merc I roll is cold.
Pick up yellow bows as you play and keep equipping the better for you and your Merc.
Early game I like to get 5 Ravens in the air ASAP, and the Poison Creeper.
Once you get rolling you really want to find/trade for a WizenDraw, and then Kuko… 2 Kuko’s will take you through Hell. WitchWild String is nice too esp with 2 Shaels.
Ideally in end game you want Faith on the Druid and Mist on the Merc.
Off hand is casting gear with plus skills, HOTO or Spirit… you don’t need CTA, you have Oak Sage and HoW… you don’t really need the life anyways because with 5 Ravens, 5 Spirit Wolves, 3 wolves and a Bear, with an Act1 Merc standing beside you, you rarely take damage.
Really only use Oak Sage for Baal and DClone… or group play…
If going where there are going to be lots of PI’s, he swaps in a BoneBreak and a Atma’s.
Could also run with WitchWild or Wrath.
I’m not saying he’s keeping up with a Javazon, but a friend mains a couple Barb’s (1 is lvl96 the other 99), and the Barbs and the Zoo make an awesome Duo.
I mean, it’s really a melee build at the end of the day… so it’s going to cruise around at melee speed.
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Been leveling an Amazon, and finally got her to lvl97… this thread has made me go dig out my DooDoo… forgot just how much fun he is.
Was going to campaign my Amazon to be my next lvl99 character… but… I think I’ll go with DooDoo instead.
He’s a blast, and looks like a complete HoBo in his DuskShroud and Jalals.
And he just dropped a 6os PB with 15%ed and +2 attack rating… dang.
Anyone want to buy a LashWish base?
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Not all summons. Ravens are hard points only. I’m unsure if psn creeper benefits from soft points in rabies.
Both wolves and bear definitely get synergy bonuses from soft points
Are you going to play a summon druid to lvl 99? Damn!
Yes, been paying him for sometime now, took a break to build my first Amazon, got her to lvl97 yesterday… Druid is just inside lvl97 (not even a full bar yet)… and I play mostly solo, so, it’ll take a while… months…
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Haha gl, m8! Seems like a harsh time
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It is indeed… in the last 10 days, as a casual, playing mostly solo, I have only gained 118.5 million exp… long way to go… but loving it.
Back to the Ravens;
When I loose a wolf, or, several, it takes me a minute to notice, the Bear I notice a little quicker… sometimes… however if the Ravens go down I immediately wonder where the damage has gone.
That’s all.
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After this thread, my ladder starter is a summon druid, and i love him. Haha!
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Well, I would not refer to him as fast… sturdy/steady, for sure… but for ladder race… probably a bad choice… depending on your goals.
Just cleared 97.7… leveling in the mid-high 90’s, clearing .3 and .7 always seems to be a struggle… getting through 97.7 makes me think 98 is around the corner… 98.4 will be a struggle… LOL!
Just hit 90, and i Got an Enigma. I think hes doing really good, my merc is a beast aswell. I play solo, so i Can beat Everything pretty fast.
10/10 would use him as a starter again
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- You need points other summons just to boost raven damage (they need the synergy bonus).
- You will likely want other summons so they can tank. Without other summons your char will be the only tank (not good).
Because of #2, you will likely need up to 5 points spirit wolves sometime in act 1. You only want enough points in spirit wolves for 5 wolves (for example with angelic set and sigon shield equipped you only need 3 hard points for 5 wolves at level 13). Other than that all points should go into ravens till maxed.
Once ravens are maxed, i usually put points in dire wolves (better tanks/damage than spirit wolves) and heart of wolverine (I usually alternate between the two, but only dire wolves synergize with ravens).
At level 30 I start dumping points into grizzly until maxed.
Then go back to dire wolves till maxed.
Then back to spirit wolves till maxed.
Then finally back to heart of the wolverine till it is maxed (okay, I have never played far enough to max this…).
Of course this all depends how long you stick with summons…
But they are strong enough to do both normal and nightmare quite easily.
If you play a pure summoner and max out ravens, grizzly, and both wolves, then raven, dire wolves, and grizzly will all do good damage. But ravens will do the most at till BOTH grizzly and dire wolves are maxed.
I haven’t played a pure druid summoner in hell much at all, so I cannot comment on that…
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In my experience that is when it really starts to slow down. The majority of the damage comes from the ravens (which must be spammed 
) and ravens do not get any damage boosts from auras or heart of the wolverine, and their blind overrides any amp damage curse or decrepify 
Never mind that they seem to miss a lot (especially against moving targets 
).
It is definitely faster and more fun than the pre-zoo version… but I find it still leaves a lot to be desired.
With the same effort to get +skills stacked on most other caster class or other skill-based damage options (+5 skill threshold or +10 or +15) I get much better returns (read: speed of killing) with practically anything else.
I do not agree. Its pretty fast, and with 50hits pr raven, i dont spam Them. The Enigma did give a pretty good management boost 
even in full baalruns i clear the throne easyli with exeption of wave 2 and 5.
It seems like you misses the whole point with this thread. No doubt alot of builds could be better at clearing some zones, but after 20+ years, the meta builds are not even an option, because i Will litteraly die of boredom with another Nova sorc.
You spam Ravens not to resummon them once they expire, but to make them target the specific monster.
Again telestomp pretty much fix this, but you are correct, i do that sometimes. Doesnt feel awkward tho, Maybe a little engaging tbh.
Agree.
Yep.
Agree.
Likely a playstyle difference, but until I get rolling in Hell I’m investing in Oak Sage, and saving points for HoW.
All of the 4 legged Zoo gives 12% damage per level to Ravens.
I prefer to Max Dire Wolves then Spirit wolves before Bear.
Bear is but 1, and there is only so much crowd control he can provide.
3 Dire wolves do more damage than 1 bear.
5 Spirit wolves are not doing much damage, but they typically lead the attack all on their own, and 8 healthy wolves is a much safer shield than 1 strong bear… and doing more damage.
With 1 point in Bear, and Dire wolves giving him +15% life per level (and to the Spirit Wolves too), he can get cast onto the most miserable monster in the zone and do quite fine at keeping it busy/occupied while dogs and birds clean up the room.
Dire Wolves and Bear only out damage Ravens when Heart of the Wolverine is applied. Granted, that will be your go to the majority of the time when playing solo.
For group play, damage doesn’t seem to be lacking, so, it makes more sense to run Oak Sage to keep all the squishy Sorc’s and Javazon’s vertical.
For Frozen River, Nihlathak, Baal Runs, Great Marsh… essentially anywhere Souls are coming to get you, or Countess, Arcane, Travincal, Crystalline Passage, essentially anywhere there is a concentration of Physically Immunes… you want Oak Sage… which is when the Ravens become your biggest damage dealer again.
Hell seems to be where a lot of Zoo Druids break off and become a hybrid - Wolf or Bear build - to more easily deal with immunity(s) and Baal and DClone.
It’s for that reason I run with a bow, and swap to a Bone Break and Atma’s for PI areas.
My Casting gear is on swap.
I enjoyed your input, and offer mine only as my experience/observations…
I do not mean to come across as one way is better than another.
In the end it comes down to personal playstyles/preferences… The important thing is rolling the Zoo :).
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Thank you for your input! Im doing only zoo, and i use Heart of the wolverine for Everything. I even wreck d-clone in about 30s to 1 minute. I feel like alot still hate on the zoo keeper because of the State in the previous versions.
Also a BIG + for the zoo man, is the skillers coat about 2random pgms and the torch is almost free with mid to low Rolls. My gear isnt even that great
Helm - Random 2druid skills circ
Amu - 1 all skills amu
Weapon - hoto37
Shield - spirit
Armor - Enigma
Gloves - trang ouls
Rings - random with mf
Belt - tal with bad rolls
Boots - aldurs
5 skillers, torch, Anni
I suppose my “hate” on it is because I am not using gear such as a heart-of-the-oak, a torch, or an enigma, or even more than 1 grand skill charm. Things you call “not that great” are things I have never found. Note that I mentioned +5 +10 and maybe +15 skill thresholds earlier, not +20 or more.
I still suspect most other classes would fare better given the same level of gearing.
I have played zoo keeper since start hell. And i have only played this charr for the ladder so far. Even with budget gear, i think its pretty good, you just need a tele staff.
As stated earlier, the charms and torch are very cheap for a zoo keeper. The skillers are 1-3 pgms / rals, and the torch is almost free if you get a low one.
But yes. A hammerdin would be stronger with that gear.