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Capricious Hunter/Nature Weaver Hybrid question


abreen28

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With hunter and nature weaver you probably don't have room to fit in twisted totem etc for damage.

 

Options - all need concentration mastery because bark and sinister are mandatory buffs for a nature weaver/hunter:

 

1) no Voodoo - Your pet will not be very high level or have any mods. It will be pretty pointless. Except for eye candy I think a waste of 74 points in concentration.

 

2) 9 pts Voodoo Focus + skills. Modded pet and if you have a lot of +skills you can have a decent pet. The first 20 or so points in focus really bump the CA level up a lot and then diminishing returns start happening. The mods really increase the damage. You should eat a lot of runes or else there is no damage on the pet and it is pointless. Having a pet is a big choice. They can be very good and I think it can work out for a hybrid because of regeneration per hit (rph).

 

3) Voodoo Focus Mastery 75 points. Now you are on a new curve and your pet will be at the zenith of its power. I would do #2 until you master everything else you need then switch to 3.. For your other skills to mod I would suggest modding black curse and twisted torment for head hunting. Don't modify the pet for head hunts, mod it for damage. Farm or trade for some good heads. Black curse is pretty decent in any case if you can throw it in a combo.

 

It might be hard to fit everything in with a tri-aspect dryad. I am experimenting with a no armor lore dryad with accelerated xp gain in SP. I will post the results some time this month. So maybe leave armor lore as last pick at least. So far I am wearing mostly plate (chest/shoulders) but my regeneration is only slightly above 100 or baseline. I think armor lore is unnecessary for dryad! The lions share of armor comes from bark and the regeneration of dryad armor penalty is small. But I am only level 38 so far, just started. Nothing has scratched me just with bark (and GG for boss). Took down silver banshee with no problem except damage as I am using no transferred gear/smithing.

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the build I am going with is:

enhanced perc.

ranged wep.

concentration

hunter focus

nature focs

bargain

combat discipline

voodoo focus

combat reflexes

tactics lore

 

So hopefully it turns out to be alright :thumbsup: I did leave out armor too so we'll see if that works. Well like you said it's hard to fit everything into the 3 aspects I really love the pet so what is a good setup then without using all 3? It's so hard with Dryad to pick bc all 3 aspects have really good spells

Edited by abreen28
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A easy two aspect build is one without the voodoo aspect. Ranged weapons plus the capricious aspect kills everything, nature aspect provides defense through bark and ggt. Also, edaphic lances could be used as a damage source and tangled vine or whatever it's called to lock up bosses and champs.

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Your build is pretty much a hunter who is using bark and GG for defense.. With voodoo pet.

 

My build is similar except I'm dual wield instead of ranged. And I am only using left clicks/buffs/GG so damage lore instead of combat discipline. Also only left clicks so constitution instead of hunting focus.

 

I'm out of my area of expertise but I'll let you know how no armor goes. Mod bark for reflect and armor :)

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Abreen28, taking the porous mod for black curse will aid you greatly in your boss encounters. For that reason, dont stop at 9 hard points in voodoo focus, take it to 14. It seems odd to leave a skill so low but all you really need is the mod points from voodoo (for pet and black curse).

 

You could also have dropped combat discipline for armor lore if you wish (if you really want bargaining). Not being able to wear higher level gear is an annoyance and armor lore mastery mitigation (sometimes yielding double mitigation mods on one armor piece) is very attractive. The damage bonuses from CD are not so great in the end, especially with a Dryads DPS (test it out one day, at varying levels and situations). Especially with bargaining, you can easily surpass the damage bonus of CD with items shopped or found. 3 or 4 CA combos shouldnt be needed for a dryad and the cast speed isnt much of a bonus either. Please reconsider on these.

 

The "perfect" (in my eyes) ranged Dryad build only uses 8/10 skills so I usually go voodoo focus/enhanced perception or suggest EP/bargain for someone wanting a shopper for the last 2 skills. If the character is one you plan to take to high levels, you will regret skipping both armor lore and nature lore in favor of "extra" skills such as bargaining and combat discipline.

 

Consider the standard unbreakable ranged build with EP/Voodoo focus as your last two skills. Either way, have fun.

 

 

 

Source: Dryad Player since release and self proclaimed guru

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This guy has way more experience than me with dryads. Still something new can always be discovered. Did the guru (forgot your name and I'm in post window, no sarcasm) ever play a dryad with no armor lore? How can they know?

 

You can still wear high level armor but your run speed will be penalized. If you are mounted that will be negated.

 

 

Abreen28, taking the porous mod for black curse will aid you greatly in your boss encounters. For that reason, dont stop at 9 hard points in voodoo focus, take it to 14. It seems odd to leave a skill so low but all you really need is the mod points from voodoo (for pet and black curse).

 

You could also have dropped combat discipline for armor lore if you wish (if you really want bargaining). Not being able to wear higher level gear is an annoyance and armor lore mastery mitigation (sometimes yielding double mitigation mods on one armor piece) is very attractive. The damage bonuses from CD are not so great in the end, especially with a Dryads DPS (test it out one day, at varying levels and situations). Especially with bargaining, you can easily surpass the damage bonus of CD with items shopped or found. 3 or 4 CA combos shouldnt be needed for a dryad and the cast speed isnt much of a bonus either. Please reconsider on these.

 

The "perfect" (in my eyes) ranged Dryad build only uses 8/10 skills so I usually go voodoo focus/enhanced perception or suggest EP/bargain for someone wanting a shopper for the last 2 skills. If the character is one you plan to take to high levels, you will regret skipping both armor lore and nature lore in favor of "extra" skills such as bargaining and combat discipline.

 

Consider the standard unbreakable ranged build with EP/Voodoo focus as your last two skills. Either way, have fun.

 

 

 

Source: Dryad Player since release and self proclaimed guru

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You can still wear high level armor but your run speed will be penalized. If you are mounted that will be negated.

 

That is a good point, the run speed can be canceled out with gear (easily found gear mind you, nothing fancy) and the "greater regen penalties" wont affect anything of the build. Though if these armor pieces you are out to wear are too much higher, the % to run speed will be extreme. Sacrificing the armor lore and sacrificing combat discipline can be looked at in the same light this way (each provides bonuses/removes penalties that can be reversed with gear or level). Bear in mind that the damage mitigation stands out for the armor lore mastery and with bargaining chances are you will find a nice chest piece and shoulders to shrug off all the damage. In the end, hmmm.

 

That is the end for that dispute, I havent the 40 hrs to run a new HC dryad through Niob. "lol"

I will however anxiously await the "no armor lore" run details.

 

P.S. A "self proclaimed" guru is always full of it (or rather, full of himself)

 

Looking through all relevant posts (and topics such as no armor lore) I still see a bit that I can do to help still, perhaps saving skill points and slots for the optimal build for the topic creator.

 

A low level rune count in animus (say 30 at character level 90) will still yield a level 110-120 pet with the elevation mod and this pet/dryad/pet/enemy ratio stays consistent with rune consumption. And with bargaining, is 75 voodoo focus really worth it? Perhaps not, you will likely have +skills items from shopping around. Perhaps those skill points can go to more potent use?

 

Damage and cast speed can be augmented by the proficiency acute mind mod and combat discipline respectfully. Though every (yes, all 5) nature CAs benefit from the lore, it can be worked around (while sacrificing some efficiency). Mod points will be scarce, choose wisely the order of mods. Though 75 in lore and focus as level 75 (nature) will give enough mod points and power to keep everything up to par (with nice bark health regen if you snag that mod).

 

If you do happen to go without armor lore, or the possibility of it why bother with a primary defense skill? Evade shouldnt be a problem as a dryad and that can potentially work another angle to your build. Criticals can hurt but with AB/healing most if not all damage is healed upon receiving it. Can this be tied to everything else? Does the insane mitigation/instant heal of damage come from AB? Or does armor lore make it so? The more I sit here and try to rip apart a simple build idea and forge a new one, the more I want to know about needing armor lore. Or not needing it. Keep that no armor lore run up to date, we are watching.

 

I will stop while I can still climb out of this hole, but I wont fill it.

-Oges

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I've run triple-aspect dryads without any defensive skills at all, to some success.

 

They are quite prone to Sacred's "lucky streaks" where you get hit 3 or 4 or 5 times in succession; and even with decent armour values from AB's rugged modification, if 1 or 2 of those hits procs a critical, you can/will die. GGT, if kept at penalty levels, can save you in most of those circumstances, but not guaranteed... especially in Niobium.

 

It is annoying not having armour lore, mostly for the "level without penalty" aspect but for regen times as well. I never tried the Lizard, but I theorized that riding the mount makes you a bigger target, and more enemies can surround you, so I just stayed afoot.

 

Most of the deaths I took while playing "defenceless" were my own fault - pushing the toon too far ahead of herself (ie in Niob @ level 80), or not keeping GGT active 24/7, etc... but I have had deaths where I got what I deserved for not having D-skills.

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Damage and cast speed can be augmented by the proficiency acute mind mod and combat discipline respectfully.

Sorry, Last Call... I saw this and wanted to clarify... the Combat Discipline skill itself does not improve cast speed. It increases damage, and reduces regeneration times... but it is a bug/exploit/whatever that causes combinations to use your attack speed and not cast speed when used on the consoles.

 

This is a boon for the hybrids (who typically want +attack speed), but a major pain for pure-casters who want/need to use combinations.

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