Celtic Heroes

Hello again been a few weeks since I last posted. I am now level 105. I have my diamond gear except for boots and helm. I used the crown with 50 focus and heroic boots of speed in those slots,and a masters grimorie in offhand slot. I have 635 focus and 150 vit with the gear bonus and my stats. Just figured I'd give an update as to how I'm doing with my progression since a few of u all helped me get here and might have been curious.

Now onto my new problem. I've out leveled most of my leveling buddies and find myself stuck solo a lot more lately. I'm at the kelpie area now when I'm training. Die a lot it seems while trying to get a heal off. My problem is this as of right now I have a 952 touch,which gets me called to a lot of boss fights. I'm scared that if I dump any of my focus in favor of some dex I won't get the call as much.

So now for the solution I'm thinking of taking is saving for a offhand trident. Although I seem to be pretty broke after getting my last piece of gear I "needed". So in the mean time I might try to buy a book of reb. What would be an "acceptable" amount of dex to use without out taking to big of a shot at my healing.

As always thanks in advance for your time adding any constructive feedback in advance.


Stretch

Hi Stretch, good to know you are still having fun with Druid. Impressive btw, hitting 635 focus on lv 105.

Yes, Kelpie can be quite painful, esp with Deluge. You should try to lv 110 asap and move on to trees. That will be last time you ever see Kelpies. You need not be afraid of getting some focus off for dex. Assuming you have read TeaW guide, there’s a diminishing rate of returns from 300 focus and above. I also gather you are getting about 180 focus from gear. So whatever focus you take off will probably reduce yr heal by 10% odd. Its not too bad of an impact so I would definitely suggest taking some focus off and dumping into dex or vit.

The tricky bit is your definition of *acceptable* amount of dex as it varies across ppl. Personally, I think you need at least 130 dex to feel the impact. It is a fair chunk so saving to buy the trident may be the correct move. To stop interruptions (Dieing) is all about increasing your defence . So apart from trident, you should also aim to secure any earthstone boots or greaves you may come across to. The defence boost is fantastic and work wonders. You can also use lv 1 howling wind to reduce 100 odd attack on the mob. You may also need to consider abundance as 150 vit to me is abit low. Every bit helps.

All in all, while it is always sad to see your touch decrease, the bigger picture is to level up asap. For you, if you can get to lv 120, you will hit the next skill cap which means you can increase yr touch by another 120 heal odd. This should compensate for your focus lost.

PS: These will be type of mobs you be facing further down the track. May be beneficial if you start planning ahead if you are going to invest in wards
lv 100 - 130: Trees Crush, Golems Crush, Wraiths Slash & Magic, Blue horses: Crush & Magic
Lv 130 and above: Lava Golems Fire & Crush, Wyvems Slash & Fire, Red horses: Pierce, Black Mages: Crush & Fire

Hey Stretch. Good to see you back with an update. Very impressive... do you sleep?

I can't really give you any advice at all about dex itself, as I don't use it. But I can talk about some substitutes. (I may add some down the road if I reach a Focus cap, however.)

As Morph mentioned, you could pick up some green dragon gear which will help with evasions. The other thing to check is... do you have all of your ancient statue abilities? Raising these abilities will increase your chance of dodging skill attacks, thus will decrease your interruptions. If they are low, you could buy an ability multiplier and let something cast on you (Defectors and their place holders are a good low level option).

Morph touched on it a bit, but Wards are golden. You asked about your stats, but I think you can do a lot with your skills. Ward of Giants and Ward of Magic will help you a lot against Kelpies. (I only have Ward of Magic, and find Kelpies a breeze... I do have a fair amount of DPS, however.)

Even taking some points out of Touch to use in your Wards isn't a bad thing. Remember: a heal of a certain level is only important if your target has lost more hp than you can heal for. Taking your heal down some, but being able to increase your target's defense will have the same overall effect. ie. if your tank is taking less damage, you need to heal less.

I am round-about the same level as you but my heal is about 750. I have no problems with this. When I solo, I can buff myself well and can pack a punch. In boss/group fights, I can buff, Touch and Breeze. It is the total package, rather than the heal itself, which is important.

All that Dersu have mentioned are valid points. Tho I like to add ward of magic will only go as far as u hit 110. After that yr main mobs will be trees and golems. Crush Crushing Crusher This will stay the same all the way till u hit lv 130 odd. Unless u plan to challenge wraiths - Slash & Magic. Again as already mentioned, you need to consider carefully which wards will be most beneficial for you going forward for the next 20 levels. Probably crush but its entirely up to u.

Honestly, just putting an opinion out there (i don't know if this helps much), as of now my status is Full Support. I have 120 vitality and the rest to be focus. Right now, i have basically surpassed most of my partners but some, if i get the chance, i level with. For my whole druid career, I have found that being purely support has helped me level faster than a hybrid or a dps druid. When i want to become a dps druid or hybrid, all i have to do is buy two alternate books and max natures touch, strangling vines, lightning strike, storm touch, and the rest is on meditate, since i have no sigils. I dont know if this would help you, not having buffs but maxed out damage. My friend in a nother game had a motto, which i also lived by, "The faster you kill, the less damage you take." So basically, his philosophy was that he would rather have (a little health) high damage over surplus of health. My health right now with my gear is around 1,100 ( approximately) with this, i have hit 1,000 and more when i go dps. I didnt need dexterity, but i am sure it does help. As dexterity also helps if you prosper from the extra melee while your skills are at cooldown.

At your level ( i started around yours, like 104 or so, now I'm 107) i have fought against the level 100-112 ghosts, around the green eyes area. I go dps when leveling partners are inactive. Honestly, since i had the pure support experience, i found that it was way faster way of leveling for me compared to my clan mate who i leveled at the same time with, kind of. I had my first druid at 39 and decommissioned it. I created a new one, while my friend is at 60, note this. Now i am 107 while he is at his 100's. He is more active than me as i have school work and such, he stays up all night leveling as a hybrid, mostly dps if he can not find a partner. Now, i am trying to experiment with different build, as you may say, only using an alternate book as i have believed that my status is more than enough to survive both support and dps situations. As of now, i have a master's grimoire as i am working on leveling as a pure support druid. I was just experimenting for fun to see which was a faster way of experience. I am in the same world as morph, Taranis, as he has given me great advice! He once told me that at around 140, it helps to have a hybrid or a support druid that also fights since it helps with killing wyverns and such in the cavern. But also, from another perspective, a friend of mine has also leveled with him, no offense morph, just saying some stuff. The warrior has died numerous times since the druid is mostly trying to help kill the mob at task, forgetting to heal efficiently. Also, if you want to help in a group level or something, i have notice that a druid's touch may go over the top along with magic lure to go with it. Sometimes a druid may get aggro even at low level (around 5-10 levels under). So i would suggest upgrading calm as a precaution if you want to go group level. Morph has great heals, i highly respect his opinions and creative criticism towards me and others, meaning that he puts his opinion to show how mine is less appealing an such. (Get a dictionary, hard to explain)

In case your wondering, stretch, my skill slot goes as is ( going left to right, continuing down): Ward of Giants (1/25), Ward of Fire (1/25), Natures Touch (27/25), Ward of Magic (1/25), Shield of Bark (1/25), Meditate (25/25), Abundance (29/25), and Nature's Embrace (25/25). If you calculate these skill point total compared to my level, you will find that i have 10 skill points left over, this is due to me saving my skill points for the next milestone. Whenever the skill points change its cap point, i upgrade my Natures Touch, Meditate, Abundance (yes i favor abundance over shield of bark. Abundance gives me a higher window of oppurtunity to heal.), and Nature's Embrace.

Lastly, the only reason why i have not upgraded my wards is because i usually boss hunt to try to earn gold and help my druid progress more with better gear; basically saying that i am coordinating with 3 druids in my clan to see who upgrades what. I am focused on Abundance, another is of wards, last is for Shield of Bark, and Nature's Embrace.

Regards, RoyalSeraphim of Taranis

Lol I agree on what royal said about my carelessness in letting the warrior died a couple of times. But to be honest, at the very begining I always asked the same question. Whether the group wants me to heal more or dmg more and its always dmg more as they are all on exlirs. Hence its not easy multi tasking , esp when the group attract two wyvems together. As for creative criticisim, apologies Royal as I got a bit irriated when u said DPS druids are useless during a certain period. Anyway, off topic

U did mention a good point in terms of group leveling. Group leveling is now so much better and quicker than solo leveling. This applies to all classes though, not just druids. Any class who choose to solo will lose out to group leveling. I only choose to remain my dps role probably for the glory of it. Pure satisfaction from being able to solo kill star spell and 140 wyvems etc. That and I can farm gold so much quicker due to DPS. Easy 20k gold with Star spell, 1 to 2k gold on gem mobs. Just on the calm side, its very true some times the druid can get aggro in a group even when it is not attacking. lv 1 calm usually works and some may consider a few extra points to be a waste but its whatever works for you. I usually just log after i nature touch the warrior to remove the aggro. There is no one perfect built. U need to decide what suits yr game style.

If you get dragon gear you can solo or duo without respeccing. Haste gloves. H2H.

I sometimes use the trident for the dex on different toons. Have you tried Wind? I know it is not favored.

Lol I agree on what royal said about my carelessness in letting the warrior died a couple of times. But to be honest, at the very begining I always asked the same question. Whether the group wants me to heal more or dmg more and its always dmg more as they are all on exlirs. Hence its not easy multi tasking , esp when the group attract two wyvems together. As for creative criticisim, apologies Royal as I got a bit irriated when u said DPS druids are useless during a certain period. Anyway, off topic

U did mention a good point in terms of group leveling. Group leveling is now so much better and quicker than solo leveling. This applies to all classes though, not just druids. Any class who choose to solo will lose out to group leveling. I only choose to remain my dps role probably for the glory of it. Pure satisfaction from being able to solo kill star spell and 140 wyvems etc. That and I can farm gold so much quicker due to DPS. Easy 20k gold with Star spell, 1 to 2k gold on gem mobs. Just on the calm side, its very true some times the druid can get aggro in a group even when it is not attacking. lv 1 calm usually works and some may consider a few extra points to be a waste but its whatever works for you. I usually just log after i nature touch the warrior to remove the aggro. There is no one perfect built. U need to decide what suits yr game style.

No morph, if you don't do creative criticism, i dont learn. I like learning. I am not offended by criticism at all, i take it, and learn upon it. I do understand where you're getting at. No harm done, and i also apologize for saying a dps is useless, it truly is the decision of the user to what build best suits him or her. These posts on any class threads are just opinions on their experience and observations, some help more than others. I also have seen that some druids start out as dps to level and use upon, but gradually revert to full support once it gets hard to solo or go hybrid, relying on other classes, as druids as i have noticed, have less damage on icon and battlestaes compared to other classes' weapons, meaning slower kills with melee.

If you get dragon gear you can solo or duo without respeccing. Haste gloves. H2H.

I sometimes use the trident for the dex on different toons. Have you tried Wind? I know it is not favored.

And Caliban, i will get in touch with you soon, right now i am experimenting. Once i saw that grasping roots i see it is not capable of being used in boss hunting, the cooldown is too high whilst the skill stays on the mob shorter than it. So it is not a good substitute for bolas. Anyways, getting in touch with your topic or post, i am still experimenting, as i have said, i will experiment with other druid skills soon to see what benefits with what. I will not be able to reply to this topic as i will soon or maybe later post a thread of my observations on all the skills, having to do with leveling, general use, boss hunting, etc.

Thanks for all the replies. A lot of good valid points. I made Druid to role mainly as support. I only use the damage specs when for some odd reason my play time varies and no one is online that wants to group.


So I redid my skills to be full support. At the same time the clan i am in realizing how much I'm more of a healer at heart has been helping me lvl in group more. Also I have made a tight bond with a few people outside of the clan that do big group lvling sessions and love having a person with a group heal on the lava floor.


I went max points in touch breath embrace. Heavy points in ward of giant with a +4 skill ring for it. Mixed rest in abundance and bark. More points in bark. Like 15 in bark and like 8 in abundance. Plan on saving 10 points to max out touch and heal when I hit 120. Also like to add no points in meditate I have 150 energy sigals that seem to really do the trick.

Honostly after going full support and making the friends that love adding a healer to there lvling mix ,I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to try solo lvling again till I have all the dragon pieces and maybe the trident. And as always thx for everyone's input. Nice hearing it from other Druids that been through same thing.