Search the Community

A Summoner Druid still won’t compare to a Necro for speed. Curses and Corpse Explosion are a big advantage. But allowing the Druid to use all his summons will make it a much more viable build to get through Hell comfortably. Just Dire Wolves or a Grizzly alone struggle to stay alive in Hell. Note this should be a really fun “sit back and let the pets do the work” kind of build.

I am in the jungles of Act III now. This has always been my least favourite part of the game, though the first few areas of Act V give the jungles a run for their money... I'm gonna try to power through the dumb jungles this afternoon. It's all better once I hit... whatever area comes after the jungles... Lower Kurast? It's been so long.

I play single player so I just have to power through it. It’s best to do all the jungles in one session, if time allows, otherwise I get lost when I come back to them later I’m in Act V now. Working my way through and thinking about what class I might play next…

Nah, I'm happy playing offline I re-spec'd my Druid and changed up my gear a bit, and that has made life much easier. I am soldiering on through Act II NM more easily. Still need more resistances and a better weapon though. I'll probably whip up an Ancient's Pledge next time I come across a 3-socket shield with decent defense.

Act I Hell serves as a wake-up call for my Druid. I need to re-think this character to make it work…

Patch is live! I only had a few minutes last night to test out a couple of my characters. Zoo Druid is fun. My Singer Barb seems to be killing more efficiently too. War Cry got a damage buff and the mana cost was cut down a bit.

Been a while since I bumped this thread. Another character is through Hell, Patriarch gallagher, the summoning Necromancer Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- DONE Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- DONE Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- DONE Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb, re-spec'd into Singer / War Cry build -- DONE Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury Javazon -- Started a character and got her through to Act II Normal a couple weeks ago Pally -- Zealot, maybe re-spec'ing to Hammerdin in later difficulties -- Cruising through the game, in Act V NM now Assassin -- Trapsin probably -- Traps-based builds are less gear-dependent and I haven't found decent stuff for a Martial Arts build... still yet to create this character... edit: Got another Pat, my Singer Barb: Patriarch ken. It seems I forgot to grab Wirt's leg when I went through Act I Hell, so no Hell Cows for ken Oh well. This was by far the easiest trip through Act V Hell so far. It's a super safe build. My Paladin is next up to take on Hell, as he's sitting in Act V NM right now. So far, no need to change away from the Zealot built. He's walking all over everything.

Patch 2.4 is supposed to be coming tomorrow. Here's hoping there are no last minute showstoppers! I'm really looking forward to some of the balance changes. Gonna be fun to try out a Druid that can summon all the wolves, ravens, and bear at once.

A couple points in the Shapeshifting tree to get Werebear and Shockwave would help a lot. Stunning monster packs with Shockwave would make life easier for the summons. Throw in a Heart of the Wolverine and an Act II merc with Might aura, and those summons should hit pretty hard. Speaking of mercs, they’re also improving the other Act’s mercs in the new patch to make them more useful. Saw this video last night testing out the new Act V Frenzy Barb merc and he absolutely slays. (At the start of the video he’s got fairly expensive gear in the merc, but it looks like he’ll perform well with cheaper equipment too) I’m super excited for the patch to come out.

Bump Anybody else still playing? @h2ojunkie @webhead I am still putting a lot of time into D2:R. My Frenzy Barb is now in Act I Hell. Nightmare offered almost no challenge at all. I think Hell will be a different story though. My gear might start limiting me soon. I also started a summoning Necro, which has always been one of my favourite builds. I wasn't going to do it again, but I had to scratch the itch. This character is in Act II NM right now and got there at a blazing fast speed. This is such a fast and fun (and safe) build. At this rate, I might as well go for a Pat/Mat with every class. Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- DONE Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- DONE Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb -- In Act I Hell, if lack of gear becomes a problem then I might re-spec into a Singer to increase my odds of finishing Hell Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- In Act II NM and can probably clear Hell in a few more days if I don't get distracted Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury Javazon -- I found some great gear with my Druid and Sorc, so it should be very doable Assassin -- Trapsin probably -- Traps-based builds are less gear-dependent and I haven't found decent stuff for a Martial Arts build Pally -- Hammerdin probably -- Never played a Hammerdin and they're not super gear dependent, though I could also probably make a Zealot work... but I tried building a Zealot many years ago and found the style of play rather boring. Blessed Hammer might be more fun to work with...

Man, in wish I had discovered the Wind Druid sooner. This build has been super fun to play. The synergies between the Druid‘s cold/wind elemental skills are fantastic. I’m nearly done Act III Hell and it’s actually been an easier time in Hell compared to my Sorc.

Zipped through Act III NM today while I was working from home It was actually pretty easy, but I expect Act IV to be more troublesome.

I dunno. I play offline single player

The trials and tribulations of my Druid: - A pure Summoning Druid just ain't cutting it in Hell, so I re-spec'd to be a hybrid Werebear / Summoner (Grizzly) - The hybrid approach worked better, but I couldn't turn up a decent weapon... so I re-spec'd again to be a Wind Druid - The Wind Druid is performing *much* better and I'm starting to make some progress through Act I Hell now - Of course, not long after the re-spec, I'm clearing out the Crypt and Mausoleum and I get a unique club (Nord's Tenderizer) drop that would have been *perfect* for the Werebear... I ain't re-spec'ing again Also, my Fireball Sorc is steamrolling through NM. I'm in Act III now.

I'm still rocking a Leaf runeword staff with my Fireball Sorc. It's a very cheap runeword (Tir + Ral) with a low level requirement and big bonuses to fire skills. It's a big reason why this character totally plowed through Normal without much adversity. But I'm keeping my eye out for a Sorc Orb with +fire skills or +all skills, in case I need to re-spec and start using a shield for added resistances and defense in NM or Hell.

My Sorc -- henceforth known as Matriarch fira -- finished Hell at level 81 I basically used nothing but Fire Ball starting from level 12 until when I hit Act IV NM, where fire immunes start appearing, and then I re-spec'd to use a hybrid of Frozen Orb, Fire Ball, and Meteor. Ended up with: - Max points in Frozen Orb, Fire Ball, and Meteor - 10 points in Cold Mastery and 8 points in Fire Mastery - 1 point in all prereqs, and 1 point in each of Frozen Armor, Static Field, Telekinesis, Teleport, and Warmth My modest end-game gear, all found along the way: Sword: 'Spirit' (TalThulOrtAmn) Battle Sword (+2 all skills and other nice bonuses) Shield: 'Spirit' Monarch (another +2 all skills, helpful resistances, other nice bonuses) Armor: 'Smoke' (NefLum) Scarab Husk (Big resistances!) Helm: 'Lore' (OrtSol) Hyrdraskull (+1 all skills and lightning resist) Gloves: Magefist Boots: Natalya's Soul (big boost to walk speed plus extra cold and lightning resist) Belt: random magic belt with fire resist Amulet: magic ammy with +2 to cold skills Rings: rare rings with resists and reduced poison length Also, I outfitted my merc (Act II NM) with an 'Insight' (RalTirTalSol) Grim Scythe, which grants a high level Meditation aura, part-way through Hell. That was a game-changer. Never ran out of mana again with his Meditation aura. I got pretty lucky turning up a Lum rune fairly early on in Hell, which enabled me to make the 'Smoke' rune word. The Monarch shield didn't turn up until I was in the WSK in Act V! It can be tough finding a Monarch to make a 'Spirit' shield. Hell Cows are done, so this character is retired. I can recycled some of the gear with another character later if needed. I might equip her with some budget Magic Find gear for funsies. Might turn up something decent running Hell Andy and Meph.

Mephisto be dead The High Council was actually more of a handful than Meph. I made it as far as the River of Flame in Act IV Hell. Took me fooooorever to get through the Plains of Despair, one small step at a time. Sweet Jesus, I hate Burning Souls Lightning bolts just come flying across the screen before you can even see or target them. My poor merc bit the dust a few times from these out-of-nowhere attacks Clearing the City of the Damned was easy compared to the Plains of Despair. edit: Diablo is dead too

I got my Sorc as far as the Catacombs in Act I Hell. Level 70 now. Starting to progress more smoothly and easily compared to when I started Act I. Got some better gear for my character and the merc. Rune words with +skills have given my spells a nice boost, and I just made an 'Insight' polearm for the merc which has been a huge help. It grants a pretty high level Meditation aura when equipped, so I basically never run out of mana anymore. That makes life so much easier. I'll see if I can handle Andy this evening. If that goes smoothly then I'll probably run her a few more times to see if I can get some interesting drops. A SoJ or two would be lovely... edit: Andy's down Went back a few more times and got nothin' good, so we've moved on to Act II. Now that I've adjusted to immunities in Hell, things are going quite smoothly again, albeit at a slower pace of progress.