I’ve been testing Summon Druid on the 2.4 PTR for some time and wanted to give my detailed feedback of the changes.
Full disclaimer though. There is definitely a lack gear on the PTS, especially Torch and Annihilus which causes the overall level of the Summons to be lower than what it is for most Summon Druids on the live server. This makes it quite hard to compare the changes and leads me right into the first point of feedback.
1. Gear
On live server a typical endgame build has Summons at roughly level 45 which is not obtainable on the PTR. Please Blizzard give us access to to Torch and Anni. It is very important because of how the synergies work for Summon Druid.
For reference on the further points here is what I used on the PTR for my testing:
Jalal’s Mane, Enigma, Beast (CtA on swap), Spirit, Arachnid Mesh, Magefist, Sandstorm Trek, Mara’s Amulet, 2 Stone of Jordan and 8 Skill Charms. My merc was using a Pride, Fortitude and Andariel’s Visage.
2. QoL changes / wishes
Please, please Blizzard let us teleport and use Battle Orders from CtA while being in Werebear form. There is no reason to not let us do so. It is very annoying to always have to switch forms for that and it accomplishes nothing and doesn’t add any flavor to the class/build either. Make it happen.
As far as the implemented QoL changes such as normalized HP on Summons, tooltips, etc go those are all great.
3. Let me finally be a Summoner / Zoologist
It’s a huge missed opportunity to finally let the Summoner feel like he is one. Let us summon one set of Wolves in addition to the Grizzly. It would add so much flavor to the class and I doubt anybody would have a problem with such a change.
If you are worried about too much damage when having both out at the same time then this can be adjusted by their individual damage numbers or by reducing the damage of the newly buffed Ravens.
4. Ravens
The damage the Ravens can put out now is crazy high and way above what I expected. However part of what made Summoner great for me is the lazyness of the build. Now I’m almost forced to spam the Ravens continously and I’m not sure if I like it.
I’d love to see them getting at least slightly more hits, let’s say 10, even if that means that their damage is reduced a bit or simply just make them cost more mana to use.
5. Dire Wolves
They are supposed to deal more damage now and the numbers displayed on the skill itself show that. But due to the lack of gear I could not test how this plays out in battle compared to live server as their overall skill level and therefore damage was lower than what I have there.
6. Spiriti Wolves
Oh my … Let’s start with something positive. I like the idea of giving them cold damage to have a tool to deal with physical immunes and not needing Reaper’s Toll on merc.
Now the bad part. Their damage is incredible low especially if we factor in resistances. Now I did not test it with an Infinity on Merc but that somewhat defeats the purpose as Infinity doesn’t so anything for your other Summons or the merc itself.
Spirit Wolves in the current form on PTR are not viable as main damage source and they barely even cut it for dealing with immunes. I think their damage needs to be at least trippled to be effective.
6. Grizzly
I don’t think there were any changes and if so I didn’t notice anything.
7. Vines
I really like that the vines now restore are sizable amount of life/mana. But their core issue is that they don’t have enough hitpoints and die way too quickly. It’s just not possible to have them stick around all the time.
Therefore I suggest to either buff their hitpoints significantly or change the skills to a more “on demand” base making them cost less mana and then just don’t care when they die after doing their job.
8. Spirit of Barbs
I only briefly tested this maxing out the skill and I have to say it’s completely lackluster.
Maybe I’m missing specialized gear or just don’t get the playstyle but I just don’t see why anyone would want to use that skill. I guess not everything needs to be viable but it’s a shame that this is a lvl 30 skill that does nothing on its own.
Thank you very much for reading and feel free to leave your own feedback and suggestions in the comments.