Wind druids need some love

i nearly play wind druids exclusively, and im finding with all the buff’s and changes classes have gotten including the shapeshifting tree’s, fire and summoning wind seems to fall behind. while end game gear for fire with sunder charms and infinity can make a fire druid very destructive wind doesnt have that level of accessibility. while reapers troll is a 33% chance on level 1 decrep, that hits (if your lucky) 3 targets for maybe 10 seconds?

Id like to see a large buff to Tornado damage. in high end gear with full charms your looking at 6.5k ish unless your running a 5 nado helm which its roughly 7k? this is keeping in mind if we’re attempting to stay at 163 fcr.

while Tornado doesnt get any additive bonus’s like true physical like crushing blow or open wounds it doesnt scale with any Aura like true physical.

if tornado doesnt get any access to these id like to see base damage with full synergies be around 4 to 4.8k. if my math is is roughly correct that should bring the damage up to around 9-10k in complete end game gear. (maybe alitle more)

another welcome change could be making the tornado hit 3 times to make up for the lack of damage. i understand it pulses a aoe damage on cast then another a second or 2 later but it simply isnt something that can compete with any other end game farm character. ( im simply talking for PVM not pvp) like the exploding epileptic Martial arts sin , Javazon, Sorc builds even Posion Nova Necro’s and hammerdin’s.

while at the moment we have the metamorphosis runeword for shifters we dont have a solid option for the caster builds unless you get a god tier 5 nado pelt or a 2/20 circlet with good mods. maybe make a better caster shield runeword that cant be put into a paladin shield?

of course this abit of a rant, id like to see some damage buff’s to Tornado druids please.

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I would like to see hurricane have less synergies to get max damage. I would like to do ice wolf or bear.

I do not know what has changed since Aug of 23… so there is that.

Skip to TLDR if you are that type…

My history;
I started this Druid as a Summoner (love the Summoner), then switched to Fire - complete with Destruction and Phoenix (Armagedon deal)… and… he played almost identical to my Fury Wolf, buuuutttt… the Fury Wolf was better, so the Fire build bored me… especially since you have to attack from the top o the screen to make it work well.
So…
I respec’d him to Wind, having never played a Wind Druid.
This was at lvl91, so, lots of points to distribute.
I fooled around with him to lvl92, trying to learn how to play him, and, it was fun and he was safe… and I went to concentrate on my Summons Druid.
I finally got my Summons Druid to lvl99 and decided to dust off the Wind build.

Never played a public Cows P8 game before, but was invited by a friend yesterday.
I’m not a zoom-zoom type player, so it wasn’t long before I got stranded/solo in said Cow P8 game… and, not only survived, but, got some decent work done. WHAT!?

I have yet to run WSK or Nihla… otherwise the Windy Druid wrecks.
I typically avoid Flayer Dungeon and Durance of Hate on most characters, but Wind Druid doesn’t care… he wrecks.

Just completed TZ’d Travincal runs, and, possibly my lvl97 Javazon does better… but not as safely… Wind Druid wrecked that place so fast I found myself running around while the dust was settling wondering what/who we missed.

As reference I have;
lvl99 Tesladin
lvl99 Zealot
lvl99 Summon Druid
lvl97 Javazon (complete train wreck, making mockery of all)
lvl95 Fury Druid.

TLDR
What frustrates me is;
To cast Tornadoes at distance you need to aim behind your target… not a big deal, until they are standing against a wall/pillar/barricade… where upon if you are at some distance and aiming behind your target (at a wall), you will not cast at all… what the heck?
And typically, if you aim on the target, the Tornadoes go seemingly wherever they please… sometimes… especially when really needed to focus on a single target.
I like that the Tornadoes go whilly-nilly when fighting mobs, and just take out masses of monsters, but, trying to single target is virtually pointless… there is tele-stomp-with-the-zoo, but, it would be nice if there was a way to hold “shift” or “something” to actually aim/focus single target when needed/wanted.

My .02.

If any of you have advise for targeting Tornadoes at distance when you foe is against a wall/pillar/barricade, please share.

ETA;
Maybe, the Tornadoes could travel a little bit faster… hmmm…

I share your sentiments insofar as the Wind Druid build is concerned. Blizzard Entertainment , now Activision Blizzard, will never buff the D2 skill ‘Tornado’ or ‘Hurricane’, or they would have done so in the nearly four years since D2R came out. And , unless you have a backpack full of hurricane grand skill charms, you’ll never solo the uber Tristam bosses. What you can do is find me at Battle Tag #1753 account character name “Westwinds” and I’ll give the first responding Diablo2R player all the free gear they can load into their backpack in a pass -
worded North American realm game !!!

Following up…
Been away from the game for a while, but recently got back to the game and killing time with my (still) lvl95 wind Druid.
Was able to get my hands on a +2 Druid skills, +3 Nado Pelt (blue antlers) and ran a mule up to get Larzuk, to add 2 sockets.
Tossed 2 5/5 cold facets in it… not sure that was smart, but, that’s that.
Respec’d and max’d Wind skills and Oak Sage, with remaining points into the Zoo, the leftover point went into Dire Wolves since they add life to the other furries.
Stole the Plague sword and Phoenix shield from my Javazon to wear on swap for Cleansing/Redemption.
Stole a LastWish from my Tesladin (used O/H), and another from my Zealot (used O/H).
Stole all my Summons skillers from my Summon DooDoo.
Had a 11% Bonebreak on a mule…
Ran another mule up to Larzuk a GFace, and put a Cham in it.
Rolled a lvl21 Thorns Bramble Archon plate… and hired a Act.5 Frenzy Merc…Ulric.
Loaded Ulric up with Cham’d GFace, (2) lastWish(s) and Bramble armor.
Zoo gets cast in town at lvl26 (lvl27 for Dire Wolves) with summons charms, Oak Sage at lvl45.
Swap Summons charms for elemental charms in town and roll out.
Olric and the Zoo roll out with lvl34 Might, and lvl21 Thorns…
I roll out with lvl44 Cyclone, Twister and Hurricane, and lvl47 Nado.

He is pretty darn impressive… I would say ~on par~ with my lvl99 Zealot.

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So, ya, he’s got end game gear, but how many years has the game been out?
I didn’t want to brag… but…
Couple nights ago I joined a P8 TZ Ball run game…
Seemed like most of the players knew one another.
After a few runs, they said, something to the effect of “go get them Druid”… and all pulled back…
I fought all the Baal waves in a P8 lvl 96 TZ run alone…
Got some positive comments.
After that, we were a team again.

So, can Windy get it done? Well, save up your runes and bases, but, ya, he can.
Have not tried Ubers… so there is that.

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