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Vessel of Hatred

[D2R] Theorycrafting a post-patch Summon Druid

Nazdakka

Nazdakka

Well-known member
Jul 27, 2005
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Once the D2R patch drops, I'm keen to try out some of the new build possibilities that open up. One of the big buffs is to the Summon Druid, who can now keep all of his minions around at once and now benefits from a bunch of synergies. This is my current working plan (we're assuming here the Vex in HotO is the highest available rune): Maxroll Build Planner

Points to note:
  • All but three our skill points have gone into the summon tree, finished at level 95. I'd go pure summon, but Werebear gives a lot of life in exchange for those 3 skill points.
  • 3500-3895 is a lot of damage from Ravens. Those synergies are powerful!
  • Our plan against Physical immunes is a combination of the cold damage that the Spirit Wolves now deal and the Enchant that our Act 3 merc will hopefully be spamming. Act 3 fire mercs should be a bit more survivable than in LoD, given he won't stand around casting Inferno any more.
  • Act bosses are tough for summoners, they are why I have Gut Siphon on switch and Cleglaw's Pincers in the stash. 60% slow, knockback and open wounds should make them a little more vulnerable. It's also nice to have something meaningful for the character to do while questing beyond herding the pack (at least when I'm not in bear form). I'm probably going to twink on the Cleglaw's Pincers early; normal Duriel might be pretty rough otherwise.
  • The second ring and rare gloves are just arbitrary rares I invented, I don't think there's anything the character badly needs in those slots. Could easily be Chance Guards and a Nagelring.
As you can probably see from the profiles section in the bottom-left, I've brainstormed a lot of different versions of the build. Any bright ideas or things I've missed?
 
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I think your ideal Merc is still going to be act 2. Might, concentration or conviction are all going to be way more ideal than the act 3 Merc enchant.

Waheed will also give you an easier avenue with taking out PI. I haven't looked at the enchant damage the act 3 Merc can cast in 2.4 but I'm assuming it's not very high. It may be fine in player 1 games.

I just found out about 2.4 today and went ahead and bought d2:r. I'm speed leveling a couple of fire/summon druids. One on PC and one on switch. I like where your head is at. I'm currently thinking if untwinked gear options and end game gear options for a complete summon druid.

Is that raven damage accurate?
 
Nice plan, I would suggest getting at least 1 point in vines as a way to remove corpses. I know that wolves can do it but you have more control with vines.

If you have access to enchant through D-limb I would change the Merc to a3 lightning or a1. I think static will speed things up more then enchant.

You might have some problems hitting stuff with x-bow because of low AR even with HoW. I strongly recommend Widowmaker bow.

A fun option to try:
Using a1 Merc and grimward charges, create safe pocket and use as much CC mods as possible to support your summons.
 
MizzouFTW said:
I think your ideal Merc is still going to be act 2. Might, concentration or conviction are all going to be way more ideal than the act 3 Merc enchant.


Waheed will also give you an easier avenue with taking out PI. I haven't looked at the enchant damage the act 3 Merc can cast in 2.4 but I'm assuming it's not very high. It may be fine in player 1 games.
Click to expand...

Probably true, but it'll be interesting to find out. Enchant is adding about 200 damage per summon so long as the Merc casts it. I dunno how much he will or whether he'll do is sensibly. The AR from Enchant is massive overkill; my summons seem to get 20k AR just from the synergy bonusses and HoW.

MizzouFTW said:
I just found out about 2.4 today and went ahead and bought d2:r. I'm speed leveling a couple of fire/summon druids. One on PC and one on switch. I like where your head is at. I'm currently thinking if untwinked gear options and end game gear options for a complete summon druid.

Is that raven damage accurate?
Click to expand...
Assuming maxroll's character tree is the final version, I think the Raven damage is right, even if it looks mad. Unsynergised level 41 Ravens do 433-475. The synergy bonus is 12% per level * 60 points = 720%. That calculates to 3550-3895 base damage, which matches Maxroll's figure. I dunno if the Wolverine Aura works on Ravens, but if it does then things get extremely silly - 5 Ravens dealing 13,454–14,762 with an attack rating of 20k, and 52 hits per Raven before they need a refresh.

Miron said:
Nice plan, I would suggest getting at least 1 point in vines as a way to remove corpses. I know that wolves can do it but you have more control with vines.

If you have access to enchant through D-limb I would change the Merc to a3 lightning or a1. I think static will speed things up more then enchant.

You might have some problems hitting stuff with x-bow because of low AR even with HoW. I strongly recommend Widowmaker bow.

A fun option to try:
Using a1 Merc and grimward charges, create safe pocket and use as much CC mods as possible to support your summons.
Click to expand...

1pt Vine is useful, you're right. I might try a variety of mercs to see what works best. The AR issue is another reason to try the Enchant merc, it adds another big wodge of AR buff. Widowmaker is a good idea that I'll look at, Gut Siphon is an attempt to deal with bosses with slow target and open wounds, but experimentation will be needed to see if it works; I'm shaky on AR.
 
Following a pure Summoner Build my plan would be to strengthen the summonings as much as possible while neglecting everything else.

Considering we still don't know how well Act3 Hirelings will perform you could give them a try but I would still choose an Act2 Mercenary not only for the Auras but also for the variety of weapons you can use to them.

An Act2 Might Mercenay is already the most popular choice. Combine it with a Reaper's toll and your Summonings will deal TONS of extra damage which is what you should aim for. That is all that matters. But most importantly, don't treat your Mercenary as a supportive unit. He is your best damage dealer, invest to him and you will have the best possible result. An Act 2 Might Mercenary with an ethereal Reaper's toll will both support your summonings while dealing massive damage himself. It's the best combination that you can't go wrong with. If you still worry about the AR so much, I would probably go with an Act2 Combat Mercenary that comes with the Blessed Aim Aura which will grant massive AR bonus and still equip him with a Reaper's for the Decrepify Curse. Lastly, Reaper's Toll Decrepify stacks with your Bow's Slow.

Regarding the gear, I assume you don't have or don't want to invest in expensive gear so I won't add anything here!
 
You're right; an Act 2 merc with Reaper's is probably still right call, and stacking Decrepify, the slow from Gut Siphon and maybe even Holy Freeze would probably do a great job against bosses. I'd like to see how the new Act 3 fire merc behaves though; I choose to believe that the Act 2 merc meta can be ended!

The AR from Enchant is probably a luxury - without Enchant but with a bunch of Steel SCs I get ~3k AR and a 49% chance to hit Hell Baal at clvl 85 - poor but adequate given all I really care about is proc-ing Slow and Open Wounds once every 8 seconds.

There are obviously a whole bunch of equipment options. Ring #2 and the non-boss gloves in the setup I posted are just "insert generic rare here". Full Aldur's is decent - less +skills but better resists compared to the 'generic caster' setup, and Delirium in a good Pelt is competetive with Jalal's albeit a bit shaky on resists.

Given more high runes spent there's obviously even more to do. I do actually have a Jah and a Ber, the only high runes I ever found before D2R's release, that have been sitting around for 15 years while I figure out what the correct Enigma base is. With 10 minions + Ravens we could generate a pretty impressive telestomp. For the BowDruid setup a Faith seems like it would be amazing, or one could just accept the redundant oSkills from Beast to get the Fanaticism aura.
 
I've levelled a 2.4 d2r lvl 80 summoner druid into hell. Players 8 for norm/NM and players 3 for hell. Anything higher in hell and it slows down measurably to the point where it's not fun anymore.

Playstyle is basic. Some techniques work real well with a zookeeper like casting your bear into a pack or right by the boss.

It's a twinked character with decent gear using an act 2 Merc currently using regular reapers, treachery and crown of thieves iirc. Im going to try an act 5 barb Merc soon. I like those guys.

I do have a self found single player enigma and it's very very useful to move your army around and reposition when necessary.

Breast plate mage plate for lowest str reqs which is as always good. Others like archon for style points.

Characters that use high str reqs like Spirit shields will reduce the argument for lowest str so you can use pretty much any armor you want.

Besides, defense is a straight addition with enigma and does not scale up so pick what is best for you and what's available imo.
 
I don't know, myself I'd be tempted to do a hybrid just because

1. You can now
2. Getting amp out there reliably via something like Fury with Lacerator should be a big boost.
 
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Kitteh said:
I'm enjoying a pure summoner. Personally, especially in HC, I think a might merc with Reaper's is the best option. Definitely worth the points to grab bear/lycanthropy.
Click to expand...
@Kitteh
You used to do a lot of untwinked HC, right? You think this would be a good build?
 
Kitteh said:
I'm enjoying a pure summoner. Personally, especially in HC, I think a might merc with Reaper's is the best option. Definitely worth the points to grab bear/lycanthropy.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's too bad Shockwave is so point heavy. Is there a decent runeword helm for a summoner? Getting it as a staff mod would be really nice.
 
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