I've been character hopping constantly during my Diablo 2 experience (11 years) until I adapted this version of the Shock Summoner (originally developed by Jary), which is my favorite class thus far; the purpose of this guide is to: review the progress of my build, hear suggestions, display current gear and answer any questions.
***Skills, Attributes and Gear are all changed and kept up to date in this section; progress/statistics/research/tweaks in relation to the character's development can be read in the pages following this. I will do my best to add as much information as I can to this portion, and if that can't answer your question please ask me and I'll explain the answer to the best of my knowledge.
-Octo
v1.13 PvP Fire Claws/Shock Summoner Hybrid
Table of Contents
I. Basic Description
II. Skills
III. Base Attributes
IV. Items
V. Damage/Other Stats
VI. Stat Modifiers
VII. Max Damage Modifiers from Small Charms
VIII. Casting Summon Grizzly/Heart of Wolverine in/out of Combat
IX. Battle Analysis
X. Best Matchups
***Emboldened Sections have updated material
***Cmd+f is your friend.
I.Basic Description:
This druid hybrid has two primary damage sources; Fire Claws and Summon Grizzly. After boosting your Summon Grizzly's damage with Heart of Wolverine, +skills, auras and sometimes enchant he should be more than capable of 1-3 shotting other characters (depending on their defenses).
***Don't be afraid to use Oak Sage once in awhile against less defense-oriented characters (a large percentage of casters) for better survivability.
Since this is a hybrid Fire Claws build, your fire damage and attack rating suffer in comparison to a full-fledged Fire Claws druid; in order to counter this and maintain your Fire Claws damage viability in PvP combat without extra synergies, the rest of your damage must be from your weapon, making many high-IAS/low-damage weapons somewhat obsolete for the build.
***I do significantly less fire damage than a pure build so if I do use a high-IAS weapon it must have more than base damage on it (this rules out a 110 pb). The Perfect 110% IAS Griswold's Redemption caddy is a better choice than a phaseblade because it actually has some damage to multiply from.
Shockwave remains key to making this build successful; having high FCR that can dramatically slow (99% FCR Breakpoint) or even completely immobilize (163% FCR Breakpoint) enemies with Shockwave is too good to pass up when you have very few defenses besides run speed and a pet grizzly bear.
***Keep in mind that you do not have to use these FCR Breakpoints at all times and dropping below the 99% FCR Breakpoint to make room for defensive equipment makes melee PvP substantially more viable.
II.Skills:
20 Summon Grizzly
20 Heart of Wolverine
20 Fire Claws
20 Fissure
14 Fire Storm
1 Molten Boulder
1 Raven
1 Summon Spirit Wolf
1 Oak Sage
1 Summon Dire Wolf
1 Werewolf
1 Lycanthropy
1 Werebear
1 Feral Rage
1 Maul
0 Shockwave (+1 from Pelt)
***Swapped out 20 Firestorm and 15 Molten Boulder for 15 Firestorm, 1 Molten Boulder and 20 Fissure; Pre-fissure opponents while tele'ing in human form before switch.
Character Level: 94
***Freed up Cyclone Armor, Arctic Blast and Poison Creeper for higher Fire Claws synergy damage (Molten Boulder). I can hit for 10,600 Total PvM Damage; 541.54 PvP Damage after 50% Damage Reduction with Beast, 555.48 PvP Damage after 50% Damage Reduction with Breath of the Dying).
III.Base Attributes and Statistics:
Strength: 15 (no additional points added)
Dexterity: 300**
Vitality: 225**
Energy: 20 (no additional points added)
Life after Battle Orders (Human): 2317
Life after Battle Orders (Werebear): 4770
Life after Battle Orders (Werebear + Oak Sage): 6426
Mana: 667-856
Defense (Spirit): 5077
Defense (Stormshield): 5893
**Using items with +life is ideal for this high dexterity/low vitality character to succeed, especially charms, rings, boots and amulets (mostly because of the bonus life multiplier from another +3 to Lycanthropy with Beast on, not to mention Oak Sage).
IV.Items:
Weapons
-Perfect Griswold's Redemption (Caduceus); 4 Socket, 110% Increased Attack Speed/30 Resistance
-Perfect 285% Enhanced Damage/33 Strength Beast (Superior Berserker Axe)
-Ethereal Breath of the Dying (Berserker Axe); 403% Enhanced Damage
-Grief (Phase Blade); 35% Increased Attack Speed/400 Damage
-Doom (Berserker Axe); 385% Enhanced Damage/-57 Cold Resistance (for BM)
-Heart of the Oak; +35 to All Resists (for high-level Summon Grizzly)
-Wizardspike (for 163% FCR Breakpoint)
-Call to Arms (Phase Blade); +6 to Battle Orders, +6 to Battle Command
Shield(s):
-Perfect 15/15 Spirit; 106 mana (Monarch)
-B.O. Spirit (Monarch)
-Perfect Stormshield; Ber Rune
Armor:
-Near Perfect (774/775) 15% Enhanced Defense Enigma (Mage Plate)
Pelt:
Octogenarian's Storm Mask
Earth Spirit
Defense: 322
2 to Druid Skills
24% Faster Hit Recovery
+3 to Summon Grizzly
+1 to Shockwave
+2 to Heart of Wolverine
183% Enhanced Defense
+18 Strength
+16 Dexterity
+20 Resist All
Socketed [2]
Gloves/Belt/Boots:
-Perfect 2x Upgraded Magefist (Crusader Gauntlet)
-Perfect Arachnid Mesh (Spiderweb Sash)
-Perfect Waterwalk (Sharkskin Boots)
-Perfect Aldur's Advance (Battle Boots)
Amulet/Rings:
-Crafted Amulet
Rune Torc
+2 to Druid Skills
20% Faster Cast Rate
+72 to Mana
7% to Mana Regeneration
+17 to All Resists
-Crafted Ring
Stone Knot
10% Faster Cast Rate
3% Life Leech
+24 to Strength
+12 to Dexterity
+18 to Life
30% Fire Resist
-Near Perfect Raven Frost; 248/20
-Stone of Jordan
-Angelic set (1 ring/amulet)
Inventory:
-(5x) Druid Summon/40 Life Grand Charms
-(4x) Druid Shapeshifting/38-39 Life Grand Charms
-Perfect Druid Torch
-19/19/9 Annihilus
-(2x) 5% Faster Hit Recovery/3 to Maximum Damage/16+ to Attack Rating Small Charms
-(3x) 17-19 Life/5 Resist All Small Charms
-(3x) 3 to Maximum Damage/XX to Attack Rating/XX Life Small Charms
-36 Attack Rating/17 Life Small Charm
V.Damage/Other Stats:
Summon Grizzly Damage
Average PvM Summon Grizzly Damage after buffs: 10,464
Average PvP Summon Grizzly Damage after buffs and 50% Damage Reduction applied: 889.44
***Average PvP Damage is calculated by the following formula:
[(Average PvM Weapon Damage)/100]*17
***Average PvP Damage after 50% Damage Reduction (opponents' gear) is calculated by the following formula:
(Average PvP Damage)/2
Weapon Damage
PvM Weapon Damage Range (Breath of the Dying): 1,449-4,422
Average PvM Weapon Damage (Breath of the Dying): 2,935
Average PvP Weapon Damage after 50% Damage Reduction Applied (Breath of the Dying): 249.48
PvM Weapon Damage Range (Griswold's Redemption): 989-1320
Average PvM Weapon Damage (Griswold's Redemption): 1154.5
Average PvP Weapon Damage after 50% Damage Reduction Applied (Griswold's Redemption): 98.13
PvM Weapon Damage Range (Beast): 667-2104
Average PvM Weapon Damage (Beast): 1385.5
Average PvP Weapon Damage after 50% Damage Reduction Applied (Beast): 235.54
Fire Claws Damage
PvM Fire Claws Damage Range: 6,788-7439
Average PvP Fire Claws Damage: 1209.30
Average PvP Fire Claws Damage (after normal--75--resists applied): 306
Total Average PvP Damage from Weapon Damage and Fire Claws after 50% Damage Reduction and (75) Normal Max Fire Resist
Breath of the Dying: 555.48
Griswold's Redemption: 404.13
Beast: 541.54
***Depending on my opponent's Defense, Resistance, and XX% Bonus Damage Reduction the damage output will increase/decrease; all of the damage sums above are calculated at a forced minimum.
Range of Attack Rating on Fire Claws (no enchant) - 23,065 AR to 45,000 AR
Range of Increased Attack Speed (depends on weapon) - 60%-110%
F.H.R. (with Spirit) - 90% (4% Over-capped on break-point)
F.C.R. Range - 40%, 63%, 99%, 163%
Run/Walk Speed - 65%, 75%, 85%
VI.Stat Modifiers:
Heart of Wolverine (42)
Radius: 7.46 yards
Damage: 307%
Attack: 312%
Heart of Wolverine Damage Modifier: 3.07
Heart of Wolverine Attack Rating Modifier: 3.12
Oak Sage (21)
Radius: 46.6 yards
Life: 130%
Oak Sage Life Multiplier: 1.30
Werebear (22)
Life: 200%
Duration: 500 seconds
Damage: 223%
Defense: 151%
Werebear Life Modifier: 2.00
Werebear Damage Modifier: 2.23
Werebear Defense Modifier: 1.51
Fanaticism (9)
Radius: 12.6 yards
Party Damage +93%
Your Damage +186%
Attack Speed +29%
Attack +80%
Fanaticism (Your) Damage Modifier: 1.86
Fanaticism Attack Speed Modifier: .29
Fanaticism Attack Rating Modifier: .8
***Stat Modifiers are important because the modifiers' similar archetypes add together and multiply against their specific offensive/defensive stat. When calculating your Stat Modifiers' effects (particularly damage in this example): after all of your attributes have effected your weapon's damage, you can also seperately calculate the benefits of multiplying your Total Damage Modifier with any Minimum or Maximum Damage increase on your gear. Being able to greatly increase all Damage types and Attack Rating is very important to this build; this explains why the 3/XX/XX is one of your best friends on this build:
VII.Max Damage Modifiers from Small Charms:
Max Damage is effectively useful on this type of bear because all damage modifiers that are skills affect your total weapon damage only after it has been calculated from your base attributes in addition to your gear's bonus attributes; Max Damage is useful to me because I have a high damage modifier: 690% damage with Fanaticism from Beast and at least 504% otherwise, which works out to:
[(Fanaticism 1.86 + Heart of Wolverine 3.07 + Werebear 2.23)*(Average, Additional Maximum or Minimum Damage from gear)]
For this example, our formula will be:
[(6.90)*(1.0 point of Additional Maximum Damage)]
So:
[6.90(1.0)] = 6.90
^
1 extra point of Max Damage = 6.90 points of Max Damage after HoW/Bearform
So +3 Max Damage on my 3 Max Damage/XX Attack Rating/XX Life Small Charm actually ends up being 20.7 max damage, yielding a higher Overall Damage Average as well as extra Max Damage.
VIII.Casting Summon Grizzly/Heart of Wolverine in/out of Combat:
Sometimes I switch to Battle Orders gear to cast my first bear/HoW before a duel because I lack skill points on my primary set, so my non-Battle Command skill level with both are:
(First Cast) Battle Orders Gear
Summon Grizzly - 42 (without Battle Command)
Heart of Wolverine - 41 (without Battle Command)
***After/if these summons die I normally won't have time while dueling to switch to Battle Orders gear again and recast, so I'll just recast using (Melee Weapon)/Spirit or (Melee Weapon)/Stormshield if I have to, which yields:
Basic Melee Gear - Spirit
Summon Grizzly - 41 (without Battle Command)
Heart of Wolverine - 40 (without Battle Command)
Basic Melee Gear - Stormshield
Summon Grizzly - 39 (without Battle Command)
Heart of Wolverine - 38 (without Battle Command)
***At times the skill level for can drop further, like when I am gearing myself for combat against melee characters who bear isn't entirely important to use against and when I need a higher Attack Rating boost from 1x Angelic Ring/Amulet I lose +skills from my amulet, which yields:
(First Cast) Battle Orders Gear
Summon Grizzly - 40 (without Battle Command)
Heart of Wolverine - 39 (without Battle Command)
Advanced Melee Jewelry/Gear - Stormshield
Summon Grizzly - 37 (without Battle Command)
Heart of Wolverine - 36 (without Battle Command)
IX.Battle Analysis
"What matchups does it improve of those aforementioned (namely Hammerdins/Smiters/WW Barbs)" in comparison to Shock Summoner.
Hammerdins:
-The build definitely makes these guys more approachable (unless they mod of course); when you drop the skill points from Summon Grizzly's HP synergies you have to rely on recasting bear a lot because he can't take many hits, but making your bear into pure damage can really help with positioning opponents, especially hammerdins, sorceresses, smiters and necromancers.
-I like to use my bear as a meat shield for just about every ranged attack/telestomp (as well as charge), and this is done by recasting the bear on/around my position and forcing the opponent to choose an approachable route to attack me. By recasting bear you can "herd" your opponent where you want them to go in a fashion; it can also save your life if you cast it on top of yourself/where you're going to be (if running) when a hammerdin goes to telestomp, and instead he'll kill your bear (much like necro/clay golem tactic).
-Teleporting is great for mobility, which is definitely important in this fight, but keep in mind that hammerdins are meant to telestomp people while taking as minimal damage as possible so switching it up with some shapeshifting/running can help a lot. By running around more you also give yourself the option to aim your bear casts more accurately at hammerdins' blindspot (underneath their feet and slightly left of their central axis) instead of constantly teleporting and resetting your bear's position.
-With 34,000-45,000 Attack Rating you and your bear should both be able to take out hammerdins more easily than you would as pure shock summoner; a Beast is also your best friend against this opponent. I've had many make the mistake of teleporting directly on/around me; I just run below them and loop back up to the blindspot/spam Shockwave, recast Summon Grizzly in blind spot and then move to blind spot, swingin' hard. Just be careful that you don't lose your Heart of Wolverine when you go to attack, it is very unlikely that you will be able to make contact through holy shield without it.
Smiters
-Kiting smiters is very important with this setup, so i prefer to stay in bearform in this fight unless it is an emergency and i need to be mobile as soon as humanly possible. By using the swamp water pools in the moor you can effectively run in tightly-looped circles without coming in direct contact with your opponent, and there are usually many of them next to each other (just kite them through it like a maze); you also want to keep your bear in mind for this fight because he is your only offense against a smiter, and your best approach is to spam it on top/in front of yourself in whatever direction the smiter is running/charging from. Don't stop running. Keep the bear between yourself and your opponent; it is more likely that you will be successful and avoid death by doing this.
-I like to kite them in circles around my bear while constantly turning 180/shockwaving him to keep my distance at all times, if the hits connect easily i can down said smiter in 2-3 bear swings but if not, it's either a long fight or you're S.o.L.
***If your opponent is a telesmiter don't stop teleporting/recasting summons; after that all you can do is pray.
Whirlwind Barbarians:
-Put on advanced melee gear (Griswold's Redemption or Grief/Stormshield/Ravenfrost/Water Walk). Damage Reduction is extremely important on this fight; without any at all you will die, so I recommend 50% DR. Attack rating is also very important here (at least 24,000, and Ravenfrost is a very important part of this fight because of the Cannot Be Frozen attribute). Walk into directly into an oncoming Whirlwind to have the highest chance of hitting the Barbarian, do not chase Whirlwind; recast Heart of Wolverine only when they are Whirlwinding away from you, Spirit of Barbs is also effective once your opponent's life is low.
Everything Else:
Necromancers
-This class becomes way more approachable with the addition of Fire Claws; if you can kite them with teleport until they follow you willingly you can easily stop, shift, turn around, and spam shockwave to surprise them with a near inescapable trap (if they land in your shock). Poison Necromancers can be a bit easier if you're running in Werebear; stay out of Poison Nova's diameter and keep kiting them until they make the mistake of landing on you, which you should be expecting anyway so have Shockwave ready. Realistically, both Bone/Poison Necromancers will have a point in Bone Prison for bad-mannered play so you want to be able to shift and get away quickly. You only want to approach a Necromancer if you have the Faster Cast Rate to do so; do not try and attack one without at least 99% FCR, you need it to avoid Bone Spears/Bone Spirits/Bone Prison/Poison Nova.
-I recommend the 110% IAS Griswold's Redemption (hard FHR lock); it provides the easiest way to kill your opponent through their class's Faster Cast Rate and Faster Hit Recovery even with low damage.
***Unfortunately, max block Necromancers can be a problem, in which case you'll want Beast, instead.
Druids
-Wind Elemental: if all of their wolves are up it is near impossible to get close to them without some form of bad-mannered play, but without them I only have to worry about Tornado spam which is mostly very directional and easily teleported around. My bear also doesn't have the HP/Damage Reduction to survive Tornado spam if they decide to throw one his way, so even if I am able to FHR Lock them down I have to recast bear at some point during my spam if I want to win, leaving an opening for them to return the favor with a Tornado. I haven't tried out Stormshield yet against them (even though it has high Damage Reduction) because Spirit has a huge portion of my Faster Hit Recovery and Faster Cast Rate, which is extremely necessary for staying mobile when in close quarters with this type of druid.
-Fire Elemental: the only time you should have trouble with this setup is if your opponent is wearing an Infinity, but 90% of the time they won't be and my gear setup has the capability to achieve high Fire Resistance. Just teleport on top of them with Summon Grizzly/HoW up if they don't have Fissure down yet (should be an easy win here), otherwise stay in Werebear and don't stop moving/avoid being name-locked if possible/don't walk into Fissure/use Shockwave if you have an opening for it (rapes them)/the ol' 1-2 smack with Fire Claws (dead).
-Rabies: a very difficult fight if caught off guard, it is important to keep away from your opponent during this match, very similar to the Smiter/Charger fight. While kiting a Rabies druid remember to use teleport to your advantage if you feel that you are in trouble and avoid turning sharply; this leaves an opening for them to get one bite in when you corner your character too harshly/quickly, which is their whole expectation for you to begin with.
***Rabies Druids like to use a lot of additional Run/Walk bonuses; if you stop running from them it is likely that they will be right on top of you the moment you do.
-Fire Claws/Fury
-Put your character on walk, equip: Stormshield, Angelic Ring/Amulet, Waterwalk and your trusty ol' Griswold's Redemption. Stand in Blood Moor, keep Heart of Wolverine up and click opponent until they are dead.
Melee/Bear Sorceress
-If the Sorceress is in human form, you will want to equip Beast, a Stone of Jordan and 99% FCR equipment; if the Sorceress is in Werebear form then you'll want to equip Wizard Spike or Doom and the rest of your 163%/99% FCR Equipment. Always use Aldur's Advance for boots, the 40% bonus to Run/Walk Speed is extraordinarily important.
-This fight is similar to the Hammerdin and Smiter in the fashion that most of this archetype Teleport or run, so kiting remains your most viable way to defeat them. Against a human form Melee Sorceress, stay in bear form and continuously recast bear on yourself or your next location; against a Werebear form Sorceress you can effectively kite them and turn to spam Shockwave, which is amazingly effective in 163% FCR Equipment and should yield a victory for you. You do not want to be in melee range of your opponent at any time during the fight.
***Make sure to keep Heart of Wolverine up consistently as well, it makes your 43 Summon Grizzly hit as hard as a 46 Summon Grizzly when used in conjunction with Beast.
-Trapping your opponent in Shockwave can be effective as well, just like the Necromancer fight; remember that when you run off of their screen and provoke chase that it is the perfect opportunity to lay down a Shockwave field in their direction (65% of the time they will land in it and be stunlocked).
***Also, after Shockwave, remember to time your movements from standing to running so that you leave your standing position immediately when they Teleport on top of you; this ensures that they won't hit you, and they'll probably get annoyed after awhile and ruin their own strategy by giving chase again (which allows for another attempt at a Shockwave Trap).
*currently being edited, rest up soon*
X.Best Matchups:
1-Werebear Druid; this is my best match-up category.
2-Fireball Sorceress; this is my favorite fight.
3-Bone Necromancer; fun fight.|||Very interesting build. I like the creativity.
My suggestions:
cut cyclone armor & poison creeper in favor of more fire damage. Cyclone really wont save you from much of anything in the dueling world, even Windies with lvl45+ synergies can tank maybe one FB. Go for the damage and keep your SB items when you need.
For your inventory, I'd go all Summon/Lifers. The tradeoff on AR/Damage wont be as bad since HoW will boost you as well, but the main thing is to get your grizzly even stronger. +4 Skills will go a long ways, once your damage is at the point where you can one-hit most Bowazons and non-MS Sorcs you're sitting pretty good.
I like the build for being able to get in and fight-- gives you sort of a double threat, instead of relying on only finess and shockwave. The downside of course is being in the 3-5k (?) life range vs 9k+ being a straight Summon caster or FC, which can make it a lil more dangerous.
Using a Shock-Summoner for several years my least favorite matchups were Hammerdins, Smiters & WW barbs.. in the past I had some success switching in bramble/eBotd against the ladder; Hammers was all about switching HoW and teleporting like a maniac, if I' was lucky I could take out the weaker ones but any gg would just beat me up bad >.> My question for this build is... what matchups does it improve of those aforementioned? Which ones become easier and/or what are your worst matchups? For example, I'd expect your Windy matchup to become tougher but your Necro matchup could get easier with Fireclaw at your disposal ^^ Nice build|||your life and block rate is crap, you have low dr, you are slow, your damage is low and blockable/reducable. you cant beat any semi serious pvp char
shockwave is blockable...
what the hell you gona smack with wizzy?
you use gris caddy with 5 fpa instead of 4 fpa pb with 30 @...
doom,botd useless as attack weapon (read very slow)
max/ar charms useless on build
+1 poison creeper for what?
cyclone armor last how long? 1 sec?
1-3 shot other characters? give me a break. glass cannon bowas yes, but thing is you cant aproach her alive...
10 k damage on your grizzly is unrealistic with your set up. try this calculator:
http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~gottwald/dr...alculator.html|||Quote:
your life and block rate is crap, you have low dr, you are slow, your damage is low and blockable/reducable. you cant beat any semi serious pvp char
shockwave is blockable...
what the hell you gona smack with wizzy?
you use gris caddy with 5 fpa instead of 4 fpa pb with 30 @...
doom,botd useless as attack weapon (read very slow)
max/ar charms useless on build
+1 poison creeper for what?
cyclone armor last how long? 1 sec?
1-3 shot other characters? give me a break. glass cannon bowas yes, but thing is you cant aproach her alive...
10 k damage on your grizzly is unrealistic with your set up. try this calculator:
http://tph.tuwien.ac.at/~gottwald/dr...alculator.html
life/block rate: if you can't avoid attacks well enough when you have 99%/163% fcr then you shouldn't be playing this character; it is extremely mobile while teleporting (even to the point where i can kite glass cannon arrows) and i block extremely often, actually.
shockwave: whether or not it's blockable is not the issue; the fhr lock alone is still worth the investment and this skill has saved my *** in almost every fight, even against maxblock characters.
wizzy/doom/botd: if you forgot how to read maybe you should scroll up and check out the character name. this is a hybrid character and doom/wizzy are both extremely viable as pure shock summoner setup if i ever need to bounce to it; wizzy lets me hit the 163% fcr breakpoint for shock summon setup, doom is mega bm vs any amazon and hammerdin as a caster weapon (why would i choose a weapon with 30% ias to melee with), and breath of the dying zerker has the highest attack rating of all my weapons (33k fully buffed and 11k damage) and swings pretty god damn fast compared to a grief or last wish (who the **** says botd is a bad weapon?).
max/ar charms: yeah so you divide your total damage into two sections (physical and fire damage) because this is a HYBRID character, right? Then adding bonuses to each damage classification must improve your damage as a whole substantially, so therefore adding more maximum physical damage would actually be beneficial!? *gasp* When considering i use a level 40 fireclaw that has a 605% attack rating multiplier (not even going to go into damage with you), any attack rating is going to be worth the investment, especially on smallcharms (derp derp).
****attack rating multiplier example for the cave man:
3max damage/16 ar/15 life small charm
605% attack rating modifier from Fire Claws
(16*6.05)
96.8 attack rating
now let's toss my heart of wolverine multipliers in there:
3max damage/16 ar/15 life small charm
312% attack rating modifier from Heart of Wolverine
605% attack rating modifier from Fire Claws
(16*9.17)
146.72 attack rating
that's a 130.72 point increase from the 16 attack rating on the small charm, and means i get just over 9x more attack rating from every point; maybe you should have taken the college prep math courses at your high school, squiddo****
poison creeper: for lulz when nk'ing of course
cyclone armor: turns a 1 shot fireball sorc into a 2 shot fireball sorc with even one point
1-3 shot characters: mother****er i've 2 shot barbs and smiters with my grizzly bear; after all of the damage modifiers (level 42-45 heart of wolverine = duh?) that can be added to it 10.6k is completely attainable as an average for bear smite and guess what, i calculated it with the link you sent me too :/, and i even used it before about a year ago when i made this thing. also this unapproachable glass cannon zon that you've mentioned = lol; negro i stomp them in the dirt.
you should learn more about the game before you flame somebody's post; i've curbstomped modding necs harder than edward norton in american history x, and i did it with this summon druid. get on my level fat man|||Quote:
Very interesting build. I like the creativity.
My suggestions:
cut cyclone armor & poison creeper in favor of more fire damage. Cyclone really wont save you from much of anything in the dueling world, even Windies with lvl45+ synergies can tank maybe one FB. Go for the damage and keep your SB items when you need.
For your inventory, I'd go all Summon/Lifers. The tradeoff on AR/Damage wont be as bad since HoW will boost you as well, but the main thing is to get your grizzly even stronger. +4 Skills will go a long ways, once your damage is at the point where you can one-hit most Bowazons and non-MS Sorcs you're sitting pretty good.
I like the build for being able to get in and fight-- gives you sort of a double threat, instead of relying on only finess and shockwave. The downside of course is being in the 3-5k (?) life range vs 9k+ being a straight Summon caster or FC, which can make it a lil more dangerous.
Using a Shock-Summoner for several years my least favorite matchups were Hammerdins, Smiters & WW barbs.. in the past I had some success switching in bramble/eBotd against the ladder; Hammers was all about switching HoW and teleporting like a maniac, if I' was lucky I could take out the weaker ones but any gg would just beat me up bad >.> My question for this build is... what matchups does it improve of those aforementioned? Which ones become easier and/or what are your worst matchups? For example, I'd expect your Windy matchup to become tougher but your Necro matchup could get easier with Fireclaw at your disposal ^^ Nice build
Yeah I've been considering dropping the two for a long time, I just feel naked without them haha; I used to roll without a split inventory and used 9x summon/lifers (kinda miss it). I think you are right about this though and Summon Grizzly damage jumps up by about 325 per skill point, so another 1200 would put him at 6.6k base damage without hoto/soj on even; very good idea.
My hp usually hovers around 4k depending on my gear setup and is actually entirely manageable in pvp if you know how to avoid ranged attacks, but I am trying to concoct a way to increase my hp right now and am about to make some permanent upgrades to my low-end lifer gcs. It really is annoying to divide this into a more offensive hybrid because you do sacrifice a lot; as pure shock summoner i could hit 9.6k+ hp, but I'd have zero offensive potential (i'm sure you know already seeing as you've played one) and it gets old after awhile without being able to attack yourself.
As for the questions you asked:
What matchups does it improve of those aforementioned (namely Hammerdins/Smiters/WW Barbs)?
vs Hammerdin:
-definitely makes these guys more approachable; when you drop the skill points from Summon Grizzly's HP synergies you have to rely on recasting bear a lot because he can't take many hits, but making your bear into pure damage can really help with positioning opponents, especially hammerdins, sorceresses, smiters and necromancers.
-i like to use my bear as a meat shield for just about every ranged attack/telestomp (as well as charge), and this is done by recasting the bear on/around my position and forcing the opponent to choose an approachable route to attack me. By recasting bear you can "herd" your opponent where you want them to go in a fashion; it can also save your life if you cast it on top of yourself/where you're going to be (if running) when a hammerdin goes to telestomp, and instead he'll kill your bear (much like necro/clay golem tactic).
-teleporting is great for mobility, which is definitely important in this fight, but keep in mind that hammerdins are meant to telestomp people while taking as minimal damage as possible so switching it up with some shapeshifting/running can help a lot. By running around more you also give yourself the option to aim your bear casts more accurately at hammerdins' blindspot (underneath their feet and slightly left of their central axis) instead of constantly teleporting and resetting your bear's position.
-with 28k+ ar you and your bear should both be able to take out hammerdins more easily than you would as pure shock summoner. i've had many make the mistake of teleporting directly on me; i just run below them and loop back up to the blindspot, swingin' hard. just be careful that you don't lose your Heart of Wolverine when you go to attack, it is very unlikely that you will be able to make contact through holy shield without it.
vs Smiters
-Kiting smiters is very important with this setup, so i prefer to stay in bearform in this fight unless it is an emergency and i need to be mobile asap. By using the swamp water pools in the moor you can effectively run in tightly-looped circles without coming in direct contact with your opponent, and there are usually many of them next to each other (just kite them through it like a maze); you also want to keep your bear in mind for this fight because he is your only offense against a smiter. i like to kite them in circles around my bear while constantly turning 180/shockwaving him to keep my distance at all times, if the hits connect easily i can down said smiter in 2-3 bear swings but if not, it's either a long fight or you're **** outta luck (it's a smiter whatcha gonna do :/).
vs WW Barbs:
Still can't kill em (unless they are terrible).
As for my worst matchups:
1-WW Barb (gl hitting at all)
2-Wind Druid (gl getting thru summons)
3-WW/Trap Sin (mind blast ****s you)
4-Smiter (50/50 depends on how good they are)
*Necro becomes way easier with fireclaw; if you can kite them with teleport until they follow you willingly you can easily stop, shift, turn around, and spam shockwave to surprise them with an inescapable trap (if they land in your shock).|||I gotta give points for style on this one
Mines PVM and very similar. I have no pts in cyclone or creeper though.
Cast Bear on top of pally then run at pally and shockwave him before clawing him.
My bear never dies with this setup. Strong build.|||Quote:
I gotta give points for style on this one
Mines PVM and very similar. I have no pts in cyclone or creeper though.
My bear never dies with this setup. Strong build.
Thanks
About to drop Cyclone Armor and Poison Creeper for another damage test, actually haha; I'm looking to get a high ias fool's weapon (maybe phaseblade if the damage is good enough) to counteract low attack rating right now, it seems like it could be really viable with an AR boost of 1485+
FC 605% ar --> 6.05 multiplier
HoW 312% ar -->3.12 multiplier
-->9.17 total multiplier
(9.17)1485=13,617.45 total attack rating achieved from weapon after bonuses|||Quote:
As for my worst matchups:
1-WW Barb (gl hitting at all)
2-Wind Druid (gl getting thru summons)
3-WW/Trap Sin (mind blast ****s you)
4-Smiter (50/50 depends on how good they are)
*Necro becomes way easier with fireclaw; if you can kite them with teleport until they follow you willingly you can easily stop, shift, turn around, and spam shockwave to surprise them with an inescapable trap (if they land in your shock).
Hey, try stashing Bramble for WW barbs!! I had a lot of success... sort of more toward the end of my days, running it with eBotdZ/SS, if you continually recast your bear ontop of yourself and make sure to follow ontop it, you can really make the match very favorable. I'd give it a try and let me know what you think.
And that's a good point vs Hammerdins & Smiters. Lol, its just Guerilla War against them, not always pretty but whatever gets the job done!
I feel old... but here's the only vid I had which had a few scenes of me rocking Bramble vs some Barbs and melee mixed in if you care ^^
Post some screens or clips later if you can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V5apO3_rGw|||Quote:
Hey, try stashing Bramble for WW barbs!! I had a lot of success... sort of more toward the end of my days, running it with eBotdZ/SS, if you continually recast your bear ontop of yourself and make sure to follow ontop it, you can really make the match very favorable. I'd give it a try and let me know what you think.
And that's a good point vs Hammerdins & Smiters. Lol, its just Guerilla War against them, not always pretty but whatever gets the job done!
I feel old... but here's the only vid I had which had a few scenes of me rocking Bramble vs some Barbs and melee mixed in if you care ^^
Post some screens or clips later if you can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V5apO3_rGw
Gg video I've seen it before; I watched it right before I made mine haha
Yeah I could definitely kill WW Barbs as pure Shock Summoner with the gear I have but since I'm not I'll have to do some thinking because my bear's hp even with oak is much lower than a pure build's and it doesn't survive most of whirlwind's duration, but it definitely looks viable if i had bramble on; I might have to be trickier with my placement too
I'm going to post a video soon once I get everything and cut it together, and i'll post some s/s too.|||Bramble would do the trick with WW Barbs - definitely.
Mine is PVM - I use 3 Weps - Botd PB for stats/speed, up'd ribby for cb, and a shaeled Azurewrath with close to per stats for fun/plus skil. I think it would help vs necro summoners too. Griz caddy is probably good fast wep that you use most often tho - 15ias faster than my Botd PB!
Grab an AR/Life charm or 2 - to up your stats for hits/def
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