Beginning:
In this guide we will look at a melee Druid build with some talents the pet tree.
This build is very difficult in PvP and in PvE because of relatively low instantaneous damage (In comparison to caster druid), however, it has many advantages at which we will look at below. As can be read from the name, we will be using Fist Weaponry as our weapons. Fist Weapons have many advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that Fist Weapons are very fast which allow the Druid to keep attacking without having to watch out for a cooldown. The disadvantages – the inability to equip magical equipment in the left hand(offhand) and low damage. As well Fist Weapons have(or had) a very big disadvantage in that it is so hard to find good Fist Weapons for your lvl. Of course there are ‘white’ Fist Weapons from vendors but they are not something you should pick. Easiest place to find Fist Weapons are on the auction house for a relatively low price (probably cause no one but us uses them…looks like they prefer other weapons) or from vendors in the Resell section (they are very pricey but almost always better then the ones on the auction)
Well, lets get started…
Quick Dictionary for beginning Druids:
«Wolf», «Snakey», «Tiger», «Boar» - are «Wolf Strike», «Snake Strike», «Tiger Strike», «Boar Strike», respectively.
«Refresh» - skill «Refresh»
«Sleep» - Sleep Potion
«NA» - skill «Natural Aid»
«Wasps, Wasp, Swarm» - skill «Wasp Swarm»
Physicals – classes that have and use Energy
Mana Users – classes with mana or mana using classes
Max – increase something to the max, sometimes even by sacrificing something else
Section 1 «Main Characteristics»
«Intelligence» is same as «Strength» for us and affects the melee and magical damage we do. Simple: gotta max it.
«Spirit» is same as «Finesse» for us and is very important for melee Druids because it allows us to reduce the opponent’s armor, (player or mob) while at the same time increasing our mana pool.
«Intuition» is same as «Expertise» for us, when we hit the target with magic (yea, we are going to use magic too) this characteristic will reduce their resistance, at the same time it will reduce our chance to miss with our attacks. «Intuition» for melee is secondary (unlike the caster Druid build) and all you need to do is cross a certain line after which there are almost no misses/blocks/parries. At the moment you will have to decide where that line is by experimenting.
Here is an odd relation made by the developers — melee Druids will have to heavy stack up on Spirit, in order to have effective armor penetration, which also greatly increases their mana pool which already «doesn’t end» for melee Druids. It would have been more logical to tie «Finesse» to «Intuition», and «Expertise» to «Spirit», this way we would have fair magic damage and there would be enough mana, but… as they say: «we don’t make the decisions here»
«Luck» One of the most important stats for melee and caster Druid build because it affects our chance to inflict a critical hit.
«Stamina» Elementary: more «Stamina» - bigger health pool – greater life span. Should max it but only if none of the other characteristics are sacrificed in the process.
«Agility» Secondary characteristic but with the affect it has on PvP and PvE, it is probably the most important one. Affects your chance to parry/dodge attacks. Is doubly important for melee Druid build because we fight «face to face». And while parry is just a nice additional thing to have, we can increase Dodge till it reaches the sky. Thanks to the talents (talk about them later) and «Natural Agility» we can increase 35% dodge from «agility» to ~90% evasion of all melee attacks.
«Instinct» Secondary characteristic which is very important. Its fairly simple with this stat. It shows the chance to receive a critical hit. The more Instinct, the merrier, especially considering at high lvls there’s more then enough of it on high end gear.
«Persistance»/«Willpower»/«Rage» These are true secondary characteristics that your really shouldn’t pay great attention to. It is enough to have «persistence» at 100% and 100% duration, «willpower» at 20% resistance to disables, «rage» will increase by itself. It is easy to keep these stats at those levels because they exist on almost every single piece of equipment out there.
«Wisdom» Finally we made it to this fairly controversial stat. From one side it increases the healing done by «Refresh», «Curing Potion» и «Natural Balance», from the other hand, «wisdom» usually goes hand in hand with «intuition» (of which we need way less then caster Druids). So you should keep «wisdom» at ~15-25% which is enough for PvE and PvP, how ever if you are going into an instance you need to find a way to get your «wisdom» to 3-5%, because if the main healer dies you can keep the party alive for long enough for the main healer to resurrect.
Other Characteristics: Are «Armour» and «Resistances». And if you don’t need to care about your «Resistances» until lvl 40, that is not the case with «armour» which must be kept at 35-45% damage reduction. It isn’t really that hard all you need is for most of your gear to be your lvl (ie. If your lvl 29 you need to have at least some lvl 29 gear)if its green gear, if you have at least half of blue gear then you can have it 2-3 lvls below you.
Summary: For a melee build you need to max «Intelligence», «Spirit», «Luck» and «Stamina». «Agility», «Instinct», «Intuition» and «Wisdom» need to be on a decent lvl because if you max them you will have to sacrifice on of the main stats. From experimental data it could be gathered that you need: «Characteristic displays = 5(5,3)*char lvl». Sometimes you need a bit more. And finally, «Persistence», «Willpower», «Rage» - don’t require any special attention and are easily acquired from gear that also has the main characteristics (On high lvls you will have to look at it more carefully and grab more but not at the cost of the main characteristics).
Section 2 «Skills»
Skills:
A druid has 25 active skills total (9 in talents). However you cannot use all of them (either wont have enough talent/skill points or the build will be completely unplayable), but we will only actively use 16-18 of them, depending on your personal choices in talents/skills selection!
REMEMBER THAT UNTIL YOU ARE LVL 14 IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT WEAPON YOU ARE USING(I WOULD SUGGEST 1HAND SPEAR + OFFHAND BUT THIS IS IMHO).
You can see them here: Druid Talents viewable at http://playallodsonline.org.ru/talent-calculator.html#n:
Lets get started:
1) «Face Slap» - first skill we get, is main attacking skill. Will always be lvl 1 because at lvl 12 it is replaced by «Snake Strike»
2) «Lightning Bolt» - second skill we get(lvl2) and is used until we get «Tiger Strike». When we get «Tiger Strike» we will only use Lightning Bolt if we want to «pull» a mob or interrupt a caster channeling some thing up. Will have to lvl it to lvl 2 or we wont be able to proceed to abilities further in the skill tree. It would be better to lvl up«Lightning Bolt», because the other abilities at this lvl are sketchy.
3) «Grab!» - the only attacking skill for pets until lvl 10 and is always lvl 1 or we can take it to lvl 2 instead of «Lightning Bolt» for lvl 4.
4) «Boar Strike» - has pretty good dmg compared to «Face Slap», but has a crazy 20sec cooldown at first lvl. It is useless to take «Boar Strike» to above rank 1 because it will be used only to interrupt casters.
5) «Refresh» - is beyond doubt, the MOST needed/important Druid skill. This is a HoT that will heal you to full in 20-25 sec out side of combat, in combat it’s effectiveness decreases 2-3 times. Max it! Without «Refresh» your druid will most likely be a gimp by lvl 12-15 with any build!
6) «Great Hunt» - aka «GH» - Is a great skill for druids in general and is extremely important for melee druids. Max it! Thanks to «GH» we not only increase the dmg of our pet by 65%, the pet will also put up «Open Wounds» on the target which increases the dmg we do with Fist Weaponry by 15% which is extremely important for us!
7) «Vortex» - fairly useful skill. Is used by melee druids to interrupt casters at range because it applies «Silence» effect on the target. Can take it at lvl 25+ and keep it at lvl 1. You won’t need it before then.
8) «Charge!» - 2nd and most useful pet skill both in PvP and PvE. Skill uses up 10% of pet’s energy to do fair damage and apply «Knockdown» and «Silence» effects on the target. Incredibly useful to interrupt casters. Has a fairly low Cooldown but you cant spam it! Closer to lvl cap it would be useful to max it but you can put those points into other skills.
9) «Secret of Curing Potion» - From ingredients farmed from «Kingdom of Nature» the druid creates a Curing Potion which restores some health and mana to the drinker. Is useful both in PvE and PvP. Due to the 2 minutes cooldown it is not as awesome as it sounds. One of the most useful things about it is that you can create the potion INTO an ally’s bag. For example, before starting an instance you should give all your party members this potion. Almost always people underestimate this potion but in a critical moment, when every second matters it can DRASTICALLY! Increase your chances to win the battle. Usually people take rank 1-2 of this but I would suggest to take rank 1 and then later to the lvl cap decided whether you want the second rank.
10) «Wolf Strike» - The most important skill for melee Druids. Does fair damage and with a 66% chance destroys some mana (based on your Intelligence) or energy (constant. On 3rd rank of «Wolf Strike» its 15 energy). This helps greatly in PvP when it doesn’t let the opponent use huge dmg attacks that consume a lot of energy (An example is a fight with a Paladin who couldn’t use any abilities other then barrier controlling ones. But most of the times it only prevents the opponent from using one of their beloved combos). As well, the talent «Strength of Werewolf» with «Wolf Strike» gives a 66% chance to restore a good amount of mana which with mana regeneration will cover all your mana costs. Conclusion: Max it, because with «Tiger Strike» its our main damaging skill.
11) «Natural Aid» -aka «NA» - Is useful in PvP and PvE. Calls 1/2/3 spirits that will attack what ever the pet is attacking. Has a 5 minute cooldown on all ranks. The best part about this skill is not the damage but the fact that it removes all reflections/barriers on a mage in 1-2 seconds and will overflow the Paladin’s barriers. As well «NA» helps us by activating «Bestial Sense», which gives us a 150% dmg boost for the next melee attack. Basically, with an active «NA», «Bestial Sense» just keeps proccing(ie: keeps refreshing the 150% dmg boost). =) Conclusion: Its best to max it because it will help us in PvP, in raids and on elite mobs.
12) «Secret of a Sleep Potion» - the potion slows the opponent by 17,5/22,5/27,5%, and if the opponent has «Open Wounds» (yea the ones the pet applies during «GH») then by 35/45/55%. Fairly useful but not all that great because it only increases the cooldown of an ability. As well it only affects those that use physical damage only but is useful on bosses and elite mobs.The mechanic is such that it makes sense to take either 1 rank or 3 ranks of «Sleep Potion». Is more effective for melee then caster because unlike casters melee cannot kite with «snakey + Lightning Bolt» due to the long cooldown of «Lightning Bolt». However, 1 rank is enough to not die where you might have died in 50% of the cases.
13) «Storm» - Very useful AoE ability of a druid. Deals pretty good damage in a 10 yrd AoE. Best to max it.(another use of «Шторм» is that if anyone with a weak computer is near it will make their game into a slide show =Р ). Due to high spirit, our mana allows us to spam Strom as much as possible thus increasing our DPS.
14) «Secret of Deadly Potion» - Useful skill for all builds. Blocks the opponent from receiving any heals (potions, healing spells(his and others)), and if the opponent has «Open Wounds» then any heal he receives will instead damage him. (bye bye Necros and Pallies =Р) Practice shows: 1 rank is enough.
15) «Bear Strike» and «Bite!» - Skills only for AoE grinds (very doubtful near cap). Usefulness is below average. May help in mass PvP but its probably more effective to attack a single target. You can take it by sacrificing 2 points from Curing Potion but IMHO, it’s a waste of talents.
So in the end we get:
Level 1 - Rank 1 «Face Slap»
Level 2 - Rank 1 «Lightning Bolt»
Level 3 - Rank 1 «Grab!»
Level 4 - Rank 2 «Lightning Bolt»
Level 5 - Rank 1 «Boar Strike»
Level 6 - Rank 1 «Refresh»
Level 8 - Rank 2 «Refresh»
Level 10 - Rank 3 «Refresh»
Level 11 - Rank 1 «Charge!»
Level 12 - Rank 1 «Secret of Curing Potion»
Level 13 - Rank 1 «Great Hunt»
Level 15 - Rank 2 «Great Hunt»
Level 17 - Rank 3 «Great Hunt»
Level 18 - Rank 1 «Wolf Strike»
Level 19 - Rank 1 «Natural Aid»
Level 20 - Rank 1 «Secret of a Sleep Potion»
Level 21 - Rank 2 «Wolf Strike»
Level 24 - Rank 3 «Wolf Strike»
Level 25 - Rank 1 «Storm»
Level 26 - Rank 2 «Natural Aid»
Level 29 - Rank 3 «Natural Aid»
Level 30 - Rank 2 «Storm»
Level 31 - Rank 1 «Secret of Deadly Potion»
Level 32 - Rank 1 «Vortex»
Level 34 - Rank 2 «Charge!»
Level 36 - Rank 3 «Charge!»
Level 39 - Rank 3 «Storm»
Level 40 You can put in your last 2 Points where ever you want. I put mine into Curing Potion
Going to Talent Trees and what we will take:
So we will grab stuff from melee tree and some from pet tree (even though we wont really take anything for the pet himself). In what order you take these is up to your personal choice and game priorities, but a couple of them I would like to point out.
All talents can be viewed via Druid Talents at http://playallodsonline.org.ru/talent-calculator.html#n:
Lets start from the «Lightning Bolt» tree
Why start from it? Because there’s very few things of interest there to us. In this tree only «Instant Evasion» which increases our chance to dodge by 50/100/150% from base (the other 2 are taken from pet and melee trees). This isn’t just needed, it essential for survival. The greater your Dodge, the less the chance that stalkers, paladins, warriors, melee-druids hit us.
There are more now, melee tree!
This is our main tree. There are more talents of interest to us here then anywhere else.
1) «Snake Strike» (Удар Змеи) Before we can take «Wolf» and «Tiger» this is our main damage skill. Not only does it damage the target it also slows their movement speed by 50%. «Snakey» rank 2 doesnt matter to us because after we get «Wolf» and «Tiger» it becomes a secondary skill used only to slow stuff trying to run away, or let us run away. Can be used for «Snakey kite»: ie: mob gets slowed by snakey and is kited while being damaged by «lightning bolt» and pet.
2) «Tiger Strike»(Удар Тигра) The MOST important skill for a melee druid! WORKS ONLY WITH FIST WEAPONRY!!! Is a MUST to take (and preferably – both ranks). Also has a 20/25% chance to debuff the target with «Open Wounds» which deal damage and change (to the better) the function of «Sleep» and «Deadly Potion»
3) «Natural Hunter»( Прирожденный охотник) Increases your damage by 5/10/15% during «GH». Is very useful! Not only are they in our way to «Torn Wounds» and «Strength of a Werewolf», they also give us some additional damage.(there is never “too much” damage)
4) «Strength of a Werewolf»(Сила оборотня) Very tasty addition to «Wolf Strike», it regenerates N mana (depends on Intelligence) with a 66% chance on hit with «Wolf». From first rank it allows you not to pay great attention to mana, from 2nd rank it allows you to forget about all mana problems and not worry about it in PvP. 2nd level covers all mana costs of a melee druid and allows you not to care about regenerating it.
5) «Torn Wounds»(Рваные раны) Increases the damage dealt by your critical hits dealt with Fist Weaponry by 15/30/45%. This is a very good addition. From my personal experience with a Fist Weapon 4 lvls below and 1 rank of «Torn Wounds», the crits from «Tiger» was equal to criticals from «Lightning Bolt». You can never get too much damage, but it’s a must not to sacrifice «Luck» if you want this ability at its finest.
Of course it’s a must to take «Instant Evade»(Мгновенное уклонение) (and its kinda hard not to take it anyway). Talents «Experienced Hunter»(Опытный охотник) we take just because they are in the way – and because they increase the time of «БО», and as a result increasing the duration of «Natural Hunter».
And finally, the pet tree…
It should be noted that the left side of this tree is present in ALL builds because of 2 things: «Tree Bark»(Кора дуба) and «Wasp Swarm»(Осиный рой). But everything has its turn…
There are several ways you can set up your tree, here are 3 variations:
As you can see, in all 3 variations there are 3 talents of «Healing Power of Nature»(Целебной силы природы), «Wasp Swarm»(Осиный Рой) and «Tree Bark»(Кора дуба). We can state with almost 100% accuracy that those talents are present in absolutely all builds.
1) «Healing Power of Nature»(Целебной силы природы) Strengthens your «Refresh» and regenerates some health when «Natural Balance» is used, and of course, extra healing is never bad.
2) «Wasp Swarm»(Осиный рой) One of the most useful spells in PvP. Is at the same time a disable and a DoT. Deals damage over 12 seconds and causes the target to run around in circles around a point (Which prevents them from using any skills with a cast). The damage apparently ignores the target’s defences (at least many testers think so). While the target is running around, you can attack it, send pet at it, and the best pat – hit it with a «Storm».
3) «Tree Bark»(Кора дуба) – Extremely useful ability for both PvP and PvE. Exists, just like «Wasp Swarm», in all builds. When used, reduces all incoming damage by 50%, but INCREASES the damage taken from Fire spells by 100%! Is handy in saving your skin in many situations but be careful using «Tree Bark» Against Stalkers, Mages and Priests who hit hard with fire!
4) «Beastly Senses»(Звериное чутье) – Is a must for a melee Druid. When its activated (25% chance to trigger it from pet’s attacks), debuffs the target with «Vulnerability», which increases the damage done by next attack by 150%. During a battle with a normal mob it triggers 1-2 times. Allows you to have crits as crazy as caster Druids with «Static Charge». When «NA» debuff is active then this spell just doesn’t stop triggering and will stay up almost the entire fight.
These are the basic talents required for all melee druids. How you get to them and what you take while getting to them is up to you. Basically how you will get them is beside the point, it depends on your preferences (I took the ones shown on the 3rd picture).
Remember! There are no walls when creating a build. You are free to alter/tweak or discard this build as you wish. This is just a build that is most liveable from a practical point of view.
Section 3 «Tactics and Advice»
PvЕ: Fairly easy here. Use «Bite!»(Kуси!) (if you have it from talents) or «Grab!». If you want you can hit the mob with «Lightning Bolt» while you’re running. When we are in close combat range spam «Tiger»-«Wolf»-«Tiger»-«Wolf». In between «Tigers» (if enough mana) you can use other spells or give commands to pet instead of using «Wolf» you can order commands to your pet or use spells. Don’t forget to interrupt the mob’s spell casting with «Boar», «Charge!» or, if the are on cooldown, with «Lightning Bolt». If the mob is a mana user then spam «Vortex» and «Charge!». Don’t forget to use «GH» when ever its off cooldown.
PvP: Not so simple here. The most important thing is to get in melee range of your opponent and this is where they will do everything to prevent that. You can start from far away by ordering your pet to attack with «Bite!» if the opponent is physical class or «Charge!» (because it Silences the opponent) if it’s a mana user. When you are in melee range, activate «GH» and hit him with everything you have. Don’t forget to «disable» your opponent – interrupt casts and put up «Silence». We have a great advantage – we have very fast attack speed which allows us to remove mage/necromancer barriers and overflow paladin barriers very fast. Try to hit your opponent with «Tiger Strike» when they have a vulnerability on them. Don’t forget to use «Sleep» against physics and «Deadly Potion» against healers (try to set it up so that they have «Open Wounds» at the time). Don’t forget to use defensive and healing skills. «Curing Potion» and «Natural Balance» should be used as a last resort (but don’t delay too long or you will die). Against stalkers it is best not to use «Tree Bark» at the beginning of the fight but rather near the middle when they finished using all of their «enchanted arrows». Another tactic is to send pet it, then use «Wasp Swarm» and put a «Storm» on their head, while your running up use another pet command and hit them with «Lightning Bolt». However, this is just general advice, every fight can be drastically different and as such your tactics should change accordingly.
Party: Because Druids are so well rounded our role in the party can vary greatly, depending on the situation. Usually our role is to damage/control/weaken the mob. A good druid can tank a little if main tank is down, heal for a while if the main healer died, control for a bit if a mob is on the loose that is determined to kill the healer or another party member
Result: We get a well rounded and interesting character that in the right hands can do miracles in PvP and PvE. However, he needs care – gear him well, feed him and so on. To be serious, melee Druids have many challenges to overcome but once you do overcome them you will become a guru for this interesting and unpredictable class!!
Some good, general advice:
- Don’t forget to use Elixirs made by alchemists, sold by vendors or the ones from cash shop if you have crystals – they make your life easier by a lot.
- Poisons made by alchemists do pretty good damage and because we are going to be fighting close combat they are pretty good to have.
- Anti-poisons made by alchemists really help in PvP and PvE so don’t forget to grab them.
- Don’t forget to hand out «Curing Potion» to your group and if it’s a PUG then tell them that you handed them out and instruct how to use them.
- Don’t forget to visit «resell» (3rd vendor tab), sometimes you will see excellent gear there that you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.
- If you have «Fever» from an enemy Necromancer, please move away from the party so you don’t infect them all with it.
- Don’t forget to use your environment to your advantage in PvP, for example run behind a tree to prevent a caster from doing something bad to you.
P.S. And anyway, a melee Druid is just AWESOME!!!
Guide by Sly_Lynx
Brought to you by Dchipeev(translator)
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