A more competitive build

So I am approaching level 45, and I have decided to respec (again) as I do not feel that my current build is competitive enough. Mostly I am seeing that my staff focus druid is more defensive than offensive. While that is fine, I lack the stamina to make the most out of my magnus blood and I am not running Ice Storm. So I am thinking of focusing completely on offense and go with wands and insect swarm to finish the opponent off in 5 turns using the build below. Attributes will all be put into perception to maximize damage.

http://www.duels.com/paths/skills#6opRRzppzV

So, would this be competitive? Any other suggestions? I really want to do better and contribute to this guild. Thanks in advance.

Are you planning on using an edged or blunt weapon, or are you using battle mage for the savings on staves and wands?

If it is the latter, I should point out that unless your dodge and resistance is really good, shimmer will probably save you more than what it would cost to actually acquire those defenses as compared to the power savings of battle mage. The downside would be a loss of flexibility over battle mage, if you didn't want dodge or resist for some reason you'd still be stuck with some and have less points to work with.

Just some food for thought for your build here.

IS and slow are very good but can be hard work! you cant spam they like gaze and ice storm! And you gotta have the items to pull it off like the Vision Shepherd's Mantle which is essental! also wands as you get higher up i noticed people everywhere seem to resist them so was even thinking of going staffie myself one day when i get the dead world! not sure about battle mage although i agree with jack. although you can overcome most openers with them though!(except ares16 TT grrrr!lol)

Well, I would go for gaze, but I have a nagging feeling that since every other druid is using it, opponents will most likely be ready for it. Therefore having something different might give me an edge.

Mint, you are absolutely right in that I need some really good legendaries. So far, the only one I have is the Crystal Focus on loan to me, and I was thinking of getting Dayshadow or that razan's dragon wand thingy, but nothing beats a dead world (or the new vortex).

I never really thought about shimmer, so thanks for that. Maybe playing defensively would work out for the best, as a lot of staffers would have high resistance, which might make the wands useless. I will try to do some scouting in the ladder matches first then.

Thanks for all of this. Please feel free to add more.

Morifet wrote:

I never really thought about shimmer, so thanks for that. Maybe playing defensively would work out for the best, as a lot of staffers would have high resistance, which might make the wands useless. I will try to do some scouting in the ladder matches first then.

Shimmer is actually more effective for wand users and for offensive builds. That is because the worse your dodge and resistance, the bigger a benefit shimmer gives you. For example, if you started with 0% dodge and resistance, you would get 16% dodge and 8% resistance respectively from shimmer. If you started with 50% dodge and 50% resistance however, you would gain 8% dodge and 4% resistance from your shimmer skill. It is still a useful skill either way, just more so for your original offensive wand build.

Dont get me worng the dead world IMO is prob one of the best artis in the game atm but for IS and slow RCF is fine and the razans wand is very good to and quite cheap to buy! dont bother with the day shadow go for the staff or breaches as there much for usefull for a druid and mage build! there are alot better wands out there. fell free to pm anytime about druid builds been through quite alot my self.

Okay, so http://www.duels.com/paths/skills#6nppRzppzV would be the new build. With main intent is to finish the opponent off within the first 5 turns, and hoping that I last that long. Does this look all right?

What about attributes? Is putting everything into perception in order to maximize Insect Swarm a good idea? Or is that way too dangerous with all the gaze running around? I am thinking of using Perception as a defense with slow, as my wand damage would still stay the same, and slow would make the opponent's attacks hit less often.

I do want a dead world (who doesn't?). But at the same time I need to be realistic. Spank was nice enough to loan me his Crytal Focus, so I am trying to save up fast in order to one day buy it from him. Maybe a Dragon Spine as well somewhere and finally the epic sink accessories. I also need the Vision Shepards items, which would also add to the build and the cost. But until then, would mechanlock serve the purpose well? Or do you guys have other recommendations?

Thanks again everyone!

EDIT: Oh, would feedback be worth the points to counter the high resistance against wands? And Mint, what is the name of your avatar in duels? I will be sure to bother you for some druid questions in the near future.

dragon spine is a fine wand, been thumped good by some is droods with that one. pm me if you want to try out a spine with your is... Maybe look at divexo as a good back-up to spine as you might be able to squeze some more armor, perc and int into your loadout. anyone using the new noble wand with perc and speed for their droods?!? actions really are a good key when using your is roots and price's talisman = doom for any low hp mage (ie me) with those damned bugs! Makes me have to use hp to even have a chance wich means I have to get really lucky with the crit. /me sprays raid over entire thread