Druids and tanking

[campsixpack]

Back in the day my main was a druid. I got him to level 58. I had 7 other characters but the druid was my favorite. Back then someone in a guide said that by level 25 a druids tanking days were over and they are pure casters. Any mob worth descent experience would clean a druids clock in a toe to toe fight and I believed it. So I mostly did kiting and root/rotting. I like to solo.

But now I'm thinking that's not necessarily true. My druid is now level 25 and I'm playing in Lake of Ill Omen. There's a particular mob, a Goblin Soothsayer, that has been giving me a hard time. Root/rotting doesn't work with them because they also have nukes and dots. And debuffs and a root. I can take them down but it takes a lot out of me and recovery time is long. It's not very time efficient so I decided to leave them alone.

I was pulling a skeleton when I bumped into a Soothsayer. Well now I had 2 on me so I figured I should run. That Soothsayer followed me around the whole damn zone. Turns out he had SoW too. He rooted me before I could find a way out so I had to fight. I was surprised to find out that a combination of magic and wailing on him with my club was pretty effective. Even though my hit points and mana were down from the start it wasn't that hard to beat him. Not only that I gained a point in defense which means my AC went up by 1 point.

I checked my level cap and found I had 13 more defense points to gain, which means 13 more AC. So now I'm going to get into more knock down drag outs to bring up my defense. I kinda like the idea of having a tough druid. I don't think this will work with all mobs. I was probably successful because as a shaman the goblin was a little on the squishy side. Should probably stick to root/rotting with the warrior types.

What I was wondering is, will there be a time, at some higher level that this won't work any more? At some point in my 30's or 40's or what ever will I'll have to stop doing this. What do you guys think?

[Naethyn]

Damage shield and a fungi goes a long way.

[campsixpack]

Yeah, I forgot about the damage shield. That should make a big difference. Thanks.

[Ravager]

My guess is that shaman spent most of the fight trying to cast on you, which made tanking him easier. I wouldn't expect it for every fight.

[Samoht]

The thing that's wrong here is that you're approaching dealing with casters as if they're non-casters/melees. The soothslayer is a caster, though, so you have to take a different strategy other than root rotting or kiting. It would actually be more mana efficient for you to just nuke him. You're going to out-nuke him every time because he's going to mix in other spells, but as long as you focus on nuke nuke nuking, you'll win.

[campsixpack]

I'm sure you're right about nuking. I'm tanking (with a dot and nukes as necessary) the casters right now to increase my defense. It's gone up by 5 points which has given me 16 more points of AC. The question is will there be a level where I won't be able to do this any more? Will all mobs be too tough? Anybody know?

[Samoht]

One of the determining factor is level difference for what will give you experience and how hard they can hit you. As you go up in level, the level range grows (it's basically 2/3's of your level). So you'll be able to keep doing it as long as you find targets on the lowest range of your experience window. At level 30, find something level 20. At level 45, find something level 30, and at level 60, find something level 40. You would be able to tank those the easiest.

[Ravager]

Pretty quickly I think the tanking will no longer be an option, probably early 30's, unless you really stack the HP. Druids don't get great AC gear, their Defense skills up dreadfully slow, their dodge caps at 75, they don't get block or parry or riposte, they only get to swing one weapon at a time that comes with lower damage caps.

[Jimjam]

If you keep on top of your defence skill and keep ac/hp in mind you should be able to facetanknukespam through the late 30s. As per Sam's notes you my need to fight mobs that are further and further from white con in order to do so.

My wizard used this strategy to kill gnolls in South Karana. I found binding in South Qeynos beneficial as it allowed me to hand in gnoll scrolls to nicely supplement my xp.

I'm sure you can tweak the strategy on a druid to be a bit more elegant than just spamming nukes as fast as they refresh :p.

[Troxx]

Damage shields are the most efficient damage per mana of any spells in the game for the classes that can cast them well (druid and mage).

39 druid thorns is 100 mana to cast for a 14 DS that lasts 4 minutes. If you get 10 hits a minute it works out to 5.5 damage per mana - more efficient than the level 34 quad spell. The question is whether or not you can survive the hits and whether the healing required allows for the efficiency to actually matter. This all boils down to gear. Obviously insane items like Fungi change the game entirely at the low to medium end. Items with high ac help a ton. Druid defense caps at 200 (lv 39). With a dodge of 75 and defense at cap ... reasonable gear ... it's a viable strategy though probably not the most efficient.

My druid is about to turn 40. I will probably pause there for a hot minute to get defense up to 200 and use the DS as a means of killing. After that - it will probably take a nose dive.

[Jimjam]

What are some good AC pad items for a druid?

http://wiki.project1999.com/Azure_Sleeves, http://wiki.project1999.com/Targishin%27s_Bone_Mask, http://wiki.project1999.com/Fine_Silk_Turban are some I can think from the top of my head, surely there are better / more for other slots.

[Muggens]

So what weapon should a "fighter druid" use? 2HB weapon like velium brawl sticks or a jade mace? I have fungi and CoF, wanna try this out.

[campsixpack]

I want to make him as tough as possible (so I don't die so much), which means getting defense up to 200. After that I'm not going to worry too much about it. As for a weapon, 1 hand slash or blunt. Either one. The other hand will have something for wisdom, and what ever other stats I can get.

If there's a way to boost survivability even more that would be great. Like I said before, I like the idea of having a tough druid. But I wouldn't want to sacrifice his over all effectiveness as a druid, so it would be kinda secondary.

[Egilmn]

The crook stole a hierophant.

[Qtip]

Just charm an animal, have him do the tanking and then break charm and kill both.

[Jimjam]

I want to make him as tough as possible (so I don't die so much), which means getting defense up to 200. After that I'm not going to worry too much about it. As for a weapon, 1 hand slash or blunt. Either one. The other hand will have something for wisdom, and what ever other stats I can get.

If there's a way to boost survivability even more that would be great. Like I said before, I like the idea of having a tough druid. But I wouldn't want to sacrifice his over all effectiveness as a druid, so it would be kinda secondary.

There is a rumour that AC on a shield gets counted twice on this server, so it may be worth reconsidering padding wis with that slot.

I have a friend who is a skill junky, and when he was levelling up his defence on his druid he would use a http://wiki.project1999.com/Garou_Bone_Club. I suppose his reasoning was to offset incoming damage with lifetap procs since he was standing in melee range anyway.

[Troxx]

There is a rumour that AC on a shield gets counted twice on this server, so it may be worth reconsidering padding wis with that slot.

I have a friend who is a skill junky, and when he was levelling up his defence on his druid he would use a http://wiki.project1999.com/Garou_Bone_Club. I suppose his reasoning was to offset incoming damage with lifetap procs since he was standing in melee range anyway.

It's not that it gets counted twice - ac from secondary slot items flagged as a 'shield' counts as actual raw ac not subject to soft/hard caps.

[Samoht]

Yeah, definitely use a shield.

[Baler]

Level 24 able to charm up to 33...
http://wiki.project1999.com/Charm_Animals
Level 34 able to charm up to 43...
http://wiki.project1999.com/Beguile_Animals
Level 44 able to charm up to level 49...
http://wiki.project1999.com/Allure_of_the_Wild

Start learning how to charm animals early on. They make great tanks and you can get 2 kills at once, roughly.
Open with a snare on your pet, Snare the mob you're fighting with your pet. Haste Pet,.. Meditate,.. if breaks,.. refresh snare as needed and recharm. Break charm before kill,. kill both for exp.
Loio -> OT -> EW

Do this till 46 then buy a lumi staff and start quading.
:)

---
http://wiki.project1999.com/Feral_Spirit level 19 pet haste+stat buff
http://wiki.project1999.com/Savage_Spirit level 44 pet haste+stat buff

[Remeygi]

I recommend using an Iksar Berserker Club (http://wiki.project1999.com/Iksar_Berserker_Club).
The low delay helps levelling your 1hb quickly.
And it even has some WIS and a STR proc.

[SiouxNation]

Jade Mace is another great weapon for a druid to melee.

I have plans to go this route to level up a porting toon.

[liquidki]

I've been doing this melee strategy with my druid and really enjoying it.

In my low 20s I headed to Highpass Hold and upgraded my Shiny Brass Shield to a Cracked Darkwood Shield (http://wiki.project1999.com/Cracked_Darkwood_Shield) (12 AC, 9 STR).

A couple levels ago at level 25 I headed to Warsliks Woods in Kunark to pick up a Forest Giant Hammer (http://wiki.project1999.com/Forest_Giant_Hammer) (10/35 1h blunt) and a Lumberjack's Cap (http://wiki.project1999.com/Lumberjack%27s_Cap) (10 AC head). Some of the giants are as low as level 17, so these could be obtained in the mid teens w/ a group.

In unrest in my low 20s I joined a Fireplace camp and got a Thick Leather Apron (http://wiki.project1999.com/Thick_Leather_Apron) (8 AC belt). In mid-late 20s also in Unrest I joined a basement group and picked up a Jagged Band (http://wiki.project1999.com/Jagged_Band) (5 AC, 3 STR ring).

Best of luck, battle druid!

[Boyblunder]

Umm you used "tough' and "druid" in the same sentence....