Celtic Heroes

So before I start, I am not a moron, I know that the absolute best way to level a Druid is through focus (unless your guides were wrong )

That said, I will have 230 str from my main's lux I am not looking to invest 1m+ for a new offhand and amulet to fit my Druids needs.
Axe and wyldgrove sun ammy 80 str/dex 30 (ring of haste)

Has anyone ever tried using a strength and focus mixed build to do both melee and skill damage on mobs?
If so, share your ideas.

Should I...

stay with my novelty white cloudburst? 15 energy 50% camo (no physical dmg) 20 cold medium speed
Or
Hand to hand (for axe offhand dmg and interrupts)
Or
Totem (slow but 235 str to go with crush damage)
Or
Something I haven't thought of.


At level 100, my stats will look something like,

5 (205) strength
5 (85) dexterity
315 (365) focus
dark shadow armor
200 Vitality
+500 hp(amulet bonus)
For skills,
With dex, looking to run a winds build with max vines, lightning strike, winds, and touch. As I level, the rest will go into stinging swarm for added damage.

Let me hear your thoughts!! On stats, armor, and skills.

I made an alt and used a str/vit (with a bit of focus) build to try it out, here were my results:

To be fair, I had maxed out dps gear. Bloodlust helm, greater solstice Bp and legs, heroic gloves and boots, golden axe of carnage (and later golden ice blade), and a good totem (bear from 1-60, around 50 fairie totems from 60-105, meteoric afterwards). So.. My results may be a bit extreme, but useful nonetheless.

For skills I used bark, touch, double Attack, and lightning strike, and during this build I would test out my auto damage vs lightning strike. As expected, at first LS was far below the auto attack, however with time and levels and skill points LS gradually met up with and barely surpassed the auto attack at around level 100. Since I don't expect your auto to be as high as mine, it should surpass at around lvl 70-80.

Another surprise I had was vines: they sucked. They are slow, don't deal too much damage, and I found that double Attack was a MUCH better skill option.

My greatest loves were the 50 fairie totems I went through. Their high damage (matching the meteoric weapon) coupled with a fast attack speed and helpful proc skill was the key to my success and incredibly rapid skill speeds. I would single-handle clear a pirate room using only a know and health elixir. It was beautiful.

However.. At around 100-105 the str became a bit of a hassle,and it became apparent that I would be far better off using a foc/vit build along with a totem/sword combo. Eventually, the autos hit a stopping point and lightning/vine's potential overcame it.

Overall, from 1-100 the str build was amazing, and I would never go back to leveling a druid purely off skills. I do remember dying a bit more than with skills, and requiring a few more resto pots when I didn't have bark, but in general it was far quicker and funner than your standard build. After 100 though, it would be best to switch to a skill-based build.

Hopefully this helps

At level 100, I did a winds build concentrating on def gear.

I like what the poster above said and gather dmg gear. With an axe off hand and totem on haste your autos will be decent.

At the moment I'm running a semi str build with a 600 geared str stat. My autos are pretty and I like dbl strike. I found with this build, I was doing more dmg autoing than using lightening while my vines and swarm were hitting high dmg. This also allowed the points I would use in strike to go to a support skill which helps save on reskilling quite a bit.

I'm all for experimenting and finding a playing style you enjoy, specially if it's outside the box