New Druid build?

I gotta confess I've never really played a druid past level 50 (somewhere along those lines), but I think I actually like druids and I'm gonna experiment with them and I was strolling around the Arreat Summit when one skill caught my eye, not much of an Elemental skill and I can hardly imagine anyone ever really bothered making a viable build like this...I was thinking along these lines:

I present to you: The Bluid (the Blast-druid?)

- Elemental skills:

- Arctic Blast - 20 Pts. (main skill)

- Hurricane - 20 Pts. (Synergy and our Cold-Immune basher)

- Cyclore Armour - 20 Pts. (Synergy)

- 2x Prereq. - 2 Pts.

________________________+

That's 62 Skill-points used...let's say we finish the build around Cb. level 85...that leaves us with 84+12 skill pts....so that's 96 points in total... 34 skill-pts left...

So, we're standing there freezing and bashing them baddies...What happens? They start whacking us! Ofcourse they do? I definitely would when someone is turning me into an ice-cone! So...how do we stay alive...I can think of 2 options...:

- Spirit of the barbs and thorn those critters, thing is: they're frozen and wont hit very often (This would go with max-vita build and a lot of FHR)

The variation I'm more inclined to is this one:

- Carrion Vine (would have to calculate the total +skills/+summ. skills because carrion vine doesn't do anything past level 15 (just more HP))

Let's say we have +5 skills (let's be reasonable). We would use 10 hard points on the Vine itself (later it always possible to relocate them anyway)

So, that leaves us with 24 skill-points left. 4 skill points in the pre-req for that big bad cuddly-bear called the Grizzly Bear...20 points left, so that's just enough to max the skill. I wouldn't know whether I would do this one with Vita or Max block.

So what do we got that's actually useful with this build:

- A maxed Arctic Blast

- A pretty decent cyclone armour

- A maxed carrion vine

- An ok Hurricane

- A big bad bear

- A one-point oak-sage

To me it seems ok and quite a lot of fun to try...Remaining points might be spent in either Spirit of the Barbs (to do some thorns damage anyway), Oak Sage or Spirit Wolfs to get a better Grizzly. I think I'd go with Oak-Sage (and therefore I'd also go with Max-vita I guess)

Whada'yall think?

Regards, le Feonn|||Remember that Arctic Blast's damage is 1/3 that listed due to the way it's calculated.

Also, Carrion Vine doesn't really need to be maxed IMO. It's a great one point wonder and other points are better spent. Instead, I'd max Dire Wolves and make a tanking Griz. You're going to be DoT so something that can hold the line against even crazy modded packs is a must.|||Ok, thanks for that!

On the other hand though: Arctic Blast is just 100% useles...? 1/3 of the damage...that's pretty bad...|||It's okay that you haven't played a class past lv XY.

But errr, Artic Blast kinda blows. (Ba dum tshhhh)|||lol @ nurm

Arctic Blast is more of a "Oh noews! AN IMMUNE!" for windy druids. Kinda useless... I have yet to use it in a "common" manner. Then again never wanted to use it. The tankagrizzly is a better idea than the vine and mabye the blast itself... Try doing a Cold/Summon Hybrid without AB. Like 20 Hurr, 20 CA, 20 DW, 20 GB, and 2 for 2 vines and work from there? AB is a weak move... You could synergize it... I don't know how "strong" it gets... I could check but then i'd have to waste a respec D: Although I probly will anyway.

Oh and for OS, that is a GREAT spirit for me. Increases you life, what else could you ask for?! I'd max it for a Tankabear... But thats just me... ^^|||Tornado would be your best option really. I know they are very cc but at least b.net is not filled with windys like hammerdins and light sorc's.|||I always liked the name "arctic shaman" for this build: fully synergized arctic blast, maxed grizzly, remaining skill points in dire wolves. I have one of these myself, and I actually quite enjoy the challenge of playing with him. He carries a Wizendraw unique long battle bow for enemy cold resistance reduction; that boosts his AB damage to about half of what the LCS displays, instead of just a third.

Even his fully synergized AB kills only slowly, but hey, at least he can brag that he has a fully synergized AB. This is a build that relies on a mercenary and the grizzly or dire wolves to do the killing. The druid himself just stands around in the hurricane and gently bathes the monsters in the cool minty-freshness of his breath. The slow depletion of monsters' life bars is quite noticeable, but it's almost always the mercenary or a furry pet that land killing blows.