Druid Hunting and RP Questions

Lapis

I know nothing about Druid aside from what I've found by using the search function on these forums. I hope you all can help me.

1.  How does unartied druid hunting compare to other classes?  In the newbie areas, druid hunting seems frustratingly slow (even with more STR) compared to other classes I've been trying out (serpent, runewarden, monk), but I don't know how much better it gets.

2.  I'd like to get into combat at some point.  How far can druid get with no artifacts? Are they good at supporting and healing others or are they better at 1-on-1? Do they use blades or other weaponry?

3.  Do abilities in the Reclamation skill work on any environment? Will they even work on ships and such!?

4.  I've never played a forestal character in any game I've experienced: are there any "rules" about how a druid can or should be played?  In addition to loving nature, Can they love luxury suites and money?  Bounty hunting?  Pirating/privateering?  Foie gras?

Krypton

1. It's a fairly middle-of-the-road bashing class. Damage output is mediocre, tankiness is on the higher end, but not the highest.

Some of 2. Druid is popularly seen as a support/utility class (because it is jam-packed full of support and utility abilities), and less so as a 1v.1 class, though arguments have been laid out for its potential in combat. Only weapon in their arsenal is the quarterstaff.

3. Yes & yes.

4. There are no rules except you cannot oppose Nature. The only city open for Druids to join is Eleusis, which comes with a stricter code of adherence to Nature and the two Nature Goddesses -- but you can be cityless just fine. As long as you don't hurt Nature or side with her enemies (e.g., forest-exterminating Mhaldorians, etc.), you can go on with your dandy Druid self in love or pursuit of anything.

Sarathai

Lapis said:

I know nothing about Druid aside from what I've found by using the search function on these forums. I hope you all can help me.

1.  How does unartied druid hunting compare to other classes?  In the newbie areas, druid hunting seems frustratingly slow (even with more STR) compared to other classes I've been trying out (serpent, runewarden, monk), but I don't know how much better it gets.

2.  I'd like to get into combat at some point.  How far can druid get with no artifacts? Are they good at supporting and healing others or are they better at 1-on-1? Do they use blades or other weaponry?

3.  Do abilities in the Reclamation skill work on any environment? Will they even work on ships and such!?

4.  I've never played a forestal character in any game I've experienced: are there any "rules" about how a druid can or should be played?  In addition to loving nature, Can they love luxury suites and money?  Bounty hunting?  Pirating/privateering?  Foie gras?

1. Average tankyness, slow attack speed. I usually jab with a Tfang rather than mauling if I'm in lesserform Druid bashing for some weird reason rather than Dragon (at least after Reflexed maul was taken away, I miss Reflexed maul).

2. Reasonably well, depending on your skill. They can definitely be support behemoths (following on from what Krypton mentioned). Sit in the room, wildgrowth, constrict, hydra bind (just hydra in general, some almost ridiculously fast prep). People will hate you, scream and rant and rage at you in tells (Hail Hydra). They have both Metamorphosis and Groves, which are probably some of the most utility-heavy skillsets in the game. You wind up paying a lot of credits for all the arties that give utility to match Metamorphosis. Weapon-wise, you'll use quarterstaff, sometimes with throwing axes for limb prep (qstaff got a boost last classlead round though).

Other than that, @Rom could say a bit more.

3. Yes and yes. They just take longer to set up depending on environment (grove is instant, forest a second or two, elsewhere takes longer).

4. Avoid siding against Eleusis. Don't help forest enemies, and if you wind up enemied to the forests, you're SOL because you'll get no more sunlight to your grove and get hit by forest defs. Other than that, limitations are relatively loose for the most part. It's nowhere near as strictly limited as, say, Devotion is nowadays.

Rom

Man I wish I could edit Pound out of that post you linked, haha. People still message me citing that thread.

1) Krypton's got it, mostly tanky. It's worth noting that Druid's bashing damage is also based off the ability you are using
(Bite sucks -> Claw is a little better -> maul wallops) You get access to maul first with Icewyrm, claw starts with Hyena.

2) Druid is fantastic for group support, their proning/hindering capability is insane. They are also a very solid 1v1 class with zero artefacts since they are inherently tanky and have pretty great damage that isn't largely modified by artefacts (but the maul artefact is good if you get it). You will ideally want to have your strength stat pretty high through traits and specialization though. They also have a somewhat complex instakill that you can pull off eventually to kill tankier people.

3) yeah

4) In Eleusis you can do your own personal thing but you have to prioritize Nature's prosperity and such first, which includes defending it or at least aiding those that actively defend it. Your character is in Eleusis already so you can go read the Viridian Charter near the Great Oak, and the Eleusian oath in CHELP OATH.

Edit: Sarathai posted most of this while I was typing mine

Cynlael

Krypton said:

less so as a 1v.1 class

Interestingly, Makarios rated it as the best 1v1 class currently.

Krypton

Yeah, I may have been thinking group combat. Reclamation has no drawbacks in 1v.1!

Also the rarity of Druid combatants might mean people are woefully unprepared when they do come across a good one!

Cynlael

Krypton said:

Yeah, I may have been thinking group combat. Reclamation has no drawbacks in 1v.1!

Also the rarity of Druid combatants might mean people are woefully unprepared when they do come across a good one!

Yep. The second part of what he said, is that he's yet to see someone actually utilise it's full potential He was hyping it up pretty hard when we spoke  

Sarathai

 @Makarios needs to come down from the Garden and show us all how it's done more often.

Krypton

Rom said:

Man I wish I could edit Pound out of that post you linked, haha. People still message me citing that thread.

Why? What would you say now?

Rom

Krypton said:

Rom said:

Man I wish I could edit Pound out of that post you linked, haha. People still message me citing that thread.

Why? What would you say now?

Hydra combos (bite nechamandra, snap, clamp left leg) are simply higher DPS and have a secondary effect of freezing so that you can threaten freezepound simultaneously with no added cost. Objectively better 90% of the time.

Also I'd add something about how strong flame mauls are now. INFERNO was hugely buffed so you can now prep most/all of the way in hydra, then switch to wyvern to build your flame up. Inferno, break and prone with blaze, and you can do some serious damage with wreathe before you ignite+incinerate right before they stand. This method benefits from artefacts way more though, can supplement that with lots of pre-damage from bees and reclamation though.