most op character possible?

Discuss Median XL!
Esubane
Dark Huntress
10 | 0
From very old median builds, such as aerial's mentioned.

Judgesin (M2008): very strong farming build that utilizes level 17 runeword (CtC Thunder Hammer on striking) and bunch of crafted jewellery with similar effects. It was very strong because Hades Gate had extremely long range, way past a screen's reach when maxed.

The Invincible Barb (M2008): yeah, this one was more for show and for clearing harder uberquests which does not really require speed. Also very cheap to make, utilizes two TIERED uniques: Darkspite (CtC Unholy Armor when struck) and Razorscale (CtC Spike Nova when struck - yeah, you also need to do damage, not only be immune to it). Basically it was like socket as much buff / debuff as you can (there was a cap but it was high), then use Conquest (level 24 barb skill) which is 6 sec invincibility. Then, during these 6 sec you get hit a lot, which triggers UA proc - a much longer invulnerability shield. Then you just get hit alot, triggering more UA and killing stuff with Spike Novas and whatever damage stance you're using.

Apoc/STF Sorc (M2008): also overpowered due to extreme range on those spells. Median XL fixed those issues and limited the range on most stuff like that. In Median 2008 the range was like 70 yards, so you just spammed Apocalypse and exploded the corpses with STF. You rarely seen a living monster. It was easy to hit damage cap in Median 2008, as you had 10 stats per level up and items were very strong.

Tempest sorc (MXL): this was really OP when Tempest had uncapped amount of bolts and could reach 25+ with good gear. Nowhere near truly broken builds but i had such sorceress and it was very good at clearing TA.

Dfzon (MXL): yeah this one was OP as well, DF was nerfed multiple times, at first it had like 5 attacks per second, after nerfs just 2 or 3. An even stronger weapon for this character was realm bow "Vizjun's Scitek" which had a ridiculous CC proc (it was this assasin piercing icebolt, forgot the name). This thing froze everything AND it had like 6k elemental damage on it (that's like a maxed Way on an assasin).

Proc spam waysin: tons of variants of this build, my favorite was using a RW bow (40% CtC Arrow on striking) together with untimered Wyrd oskill. This was an unorthodox assasin becasue she didn't use any assasin attacks except queen of blades to generate even more arrows. Just wyrds that nicely cover a wide area and produce a massive arrow spray. Damage off passive ways ofc, all the skill points went there because you really didn't need any other skills.

A fun build but not sure if even possible now: Hermanubis druid.
Uses the great RW of the same name, which gives alot of fast-moving zombie reanimates. Then you made those reanimates melt face with pet commands (such as killer instinct which gave them a boatload of damage). Druids no longer have pet command tree so this build is basically dead.

Also there was a time, when signets of learning didn't had any cap on them. You could pump the stat points up to whatever the game engine allowed (it was like 8191?) Obviously this was a bit silly. IDK if anyone actually reached 10k+ signets but with a fast build it wasn't a huge grind to get like 2-3k extra stat points (which was many times more than your leveling stat points and obviously unintended).
lordalexander74
Bone Archer
77 | 0
Good lord I remember playing a Bowzon with OP Dragonforce. Picked up the Demonstorm bow at some point, and had the Love Bucket quiver. Back then the love Bucket charm proc was on striking. Made K3K runs really easy.
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shnurr214
Ice Clan
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wow, these builds are amazing looking! thanks for the inspiration guys keep it rolling! :yay:
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Bardamu
Gravedigger
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INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone. This guide is a 4 hands work between Mortimer_85 and me. We are avid Caster Druid players and so it was natural at one point to join forces and start to work on a guide about what we believe is a really fun and a perfect starter character to play, who can do most ubers and can face up to endgame with different specs, all using different main skills. Also, one of the things that unifies the different specs is an all around accessibility and easiness in terms of playstyle, that's really well suited for new players or for anyone who doesn't like skill switching a lot, since most of the times you'll be simply spamming your main skill after one or two little self buffs. The fact that there wasn't already a Caster Druid guide updated to Sigma made us also realize that we really wanted to fill this void, expecially after the Seer tree buffs in 1.2 and the sweet gifts to the char given by the latest 1.3 patch.



PROS AND CONS

Pros:
  • Easy to play, newbie friendly
  • Little to none skill switching
  • Doesn't require expensive gear to farm
  • Easy life farming places until level 120 even in T4 gear
  • Good boss killer

Cons:
  • Pretty squishy early game. Can be easily solved by practicing playstyle
  • Can have some mana problems early
  • Boring playstyle if you don't like spamming the same skill over and over



BUILD AND GENERAL PLAYSTYLE
Caster Druid is a newbie friendly build that requires no skill switching, has pretty intuitive stats placement, demands no expensive gear to clear most farming areas, and has an easy farming life expecially in usually annoying places like Teganze and Toraja. It is also a pretty safe build, since in the end game you will benefit from a nice amount of defense for a caster, some cheeky meat shields in acid fiends, a good amount of life from Lifeshield, outstanding life after kill courtesy of Feed The Pack/Circle of Life, and some nice life regen and avoid thanks to Symbiosis skill synergies and Faerie Fire uberskill. Also, the recent Sigma change on monsters immunities made one-element builds possible, so now you can effectively specialize in one type of element without spending much more skill points in a secondary one, since with enough elemental pierce and damage output you can just annihilate everything on screen.




SKILL POINTS

Depending on progression, spec and preferred play style, the distribution of skill points can differ. However, since all builds are Caster specs, only the Seer and the Corruption Tree will be of use for us, with the exception of the devotion passive from Bear or Wolf tree.

► SKILL UTILIZATION




BREAKPOINTS

FCR:
24/46/86/174 (6 fpa) - Stave
11/24/78/142 (7 fpa) - 1 Hand Swing (Swords, Daggers, Sceptres,...)
FHR:
24/40/70/133/360 (4 fpa) - Stave
39/56/86/152/377 (4 fpa) - 1 Hand Swing (Swords, Daggers, Sceptres,...)
FBR:
32/42/52/68/86/120/174/280/600 (7 fpa)

Source: Speed Calculator v. 1.2 by Terryys.




Pierce
► Pierce Stats




Stave vs 1 Hand + Shield

We are aware of the fact that a 1 Hand + Shield setup can have it's uses for a caster Druid:
  • more available sockets
  • easier access to PR% with Crafted Shields
  • easier access to max res due to items like
    Dreamflange
    Dreamflange
    Mace (Sacred)

    One-Hand Damage: 44 to 50
    Required Level: 100
    Required Strength: 442
    Item Level: 105
    Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
    +(3 to 4) to All Skills
    +(51 to 75) Spell Focus
    50% Cast Speed
    +50% Damage to Undead
    +(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
    +(51 to 100) to Energy
    Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
    +2 to Light Radius
    Socketed (3)
    or
    Wheel of Fortune
    Wheel of Fortune
    Large Shield (4)

    Defense: 85 to 162
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 4
    Required Strength: 27
    Required Dexterity: 45
    Item Level: 10
    +(21 to 30) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
    Elemental Resists +(6 to 10)%
    Fire Absorb 1%
    Lightning Absorb 1%
    Cold Absorb 1%
    (4 to 7)% Gold Find
    (5 to 10)% Magic Find
    Socketed (1)
    Defense: 240 to 405
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 21
    Required Strength: 53
    Required Dexterity: 67
    Item Level: 31
    +(31 to 40) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
    Elemental Resists +(11 to 20)%
    Fire Absorb 2%
    Lightning Absorb 2%
    Cold Absorb 2%
    (9 to 12)% Gold Find
    (11 to 20)% Magic Find
    Socketed (3)
    Defense: 501 to 817
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 39
    Required Strength: 184
    Required Dexterity: 139
    Item Level: 51
    +(41 to 50) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
    Elemental Resists +(21 to 30)%
    Fire Absorb 2%
    Lightning Absorb 2%
    Cold Absorb 2%
    (14 to 17)% Gold Find
    (21 to 30)% Magic Find
    Socketed (4)
    Defense: 684 to 1113
    Chance to Block: Class%
    Required Level: 48
    Required Strength: 368
    Required Dexterity: 288
    Item Level: 77
    +(51 to 60) to Vitality
    Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
    Elemental Resists +(31 to 40)%
    Fire Absorb 3%
    Lightning Absorb 3%
    Cold Absorb 3%
    (17 to 19)% Gold Find
    (31 to 40)% Magic Find
    Socketed (4)
  • presence of actual good ele caster Endgame Shields like
    Celestial Barrier
    Celestial Barrier
    Spiked Shield (Sacred)

    Defense: (2525 - 2828) to (3012 - 3374)
    Chance to Block: 1% + Class%
    Required Level: 100
    Required Dexterity: 550
    Item Level: 120
    +(4 to 5) to All Skills
    1% Base Block Chance
    -50% Attack Speed
    30% Cast Speed
    -(20 to 25)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
    +(150 to 180)% Enhanced Defense
    50% Bonus to Defense
    1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
    Socketed (6)
But the downsides of worse hit recovery frames and 7 fpa maximum cast speed are enough for us to only cover Stave setups in this guide.
However we encourage you to experiment and come up with nice setups, especially in encounters were max res and phys res is very important.



MERCENARY Taken from: Melee Sorceress Guide by Solfege.

Personally both of us prefer playing without a merc, however a good support Merc can be helpful in many situations.
If you are going to use a merc we suggest an A2 Fighter Mage. He is tanky, has good crowd control skills and can Buff us and our Acid fiends with Bloodlust.
Note:
Mercs have an innate +100% Elemental res. They still suffer from the res penalties in later difficulties.
Tip:
Mercs inherit both your GF and MF, on top of any they get from gear, as long as they get the kill. They also benefit from the + all skills modifier. Mercs cannot use oskills.



SUMMONS Taken from: Melee Sorceress Guide by Solfege.

Summons gain 15% Elemental resistances per Skill Point up to a maximum of 75%. They can gain more res with the Summoned Minion Resistances mod from gear/skills/Charms, but they cannot utilize more than +75% from these sources. They suffer the same res penalties you do in later difficulties.

Summoned Minion Resistance Penalties per Difficulty (assuming at least 5 Skill Points in a summon skill):

Normal (+/-0% Res Penalty)
75% innate resistances. An additional +25% Minion Res will make them immune.
Nightmare (-50% Res Penalty)
25% innate resistances. An additional +75% Minion Res will make them immune.
Hell (-100% Res Penalty)
-25% innate resistances. An additional +75% Minion Res will give them 50% resistances.

Tip:
Summoned Minions (and Reanimates) inherit your MF, as long as they get the kill.



EARLY GAME
Our playstyle in early game is really simple: we will use Plague Avatar as our main damage dealer skill, while using Rain of Fire for dealing with bosses, "immunes", and in general for immobile non-resistant monsters. Prebuff with Mark of The Wild, summon your Acid Fiends and kill every monster in sight with your Poison Avatar when they approach your summons. In early game, we will be really squishy, so try to play safe behind your minions and to not rush or overxtend, healing yourself with Pagan Rites when needed. Your fiends are pretty tanky early game, but try to always keep an eye on their number so you can avoid to get suddenly swarmed. Also, try to not spam constantly your Poison Avatar, since its high mana cost will empty your mana pool really fast.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

► expand


GEAR

Various gear choices are possible early game. We selected different and best possibilities for each slot so you can then try them and personalize it yourself:

► expand


SKILLPLAN

► expand





MID GAME
Starting from lvl 115 we can start farming with our current t4 gear Kurast 3000 KBA for sets/SUs, and consequentially work up to find some better pieces in order to boost our damage and increase our general killspeed. You can actually farm even 120 uberlevels like Duncraig and Teganze quite comfortably with t4 stuff. From now on, we'll list two different specs for skills and gears you can start working toward.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

► expand



SPEC.1: ICE

For this particular spec we opt for easy to find gear and go with full Lone Wolf set coupled with some basic SUs, using Hunting Banshee as our main damage dealer skill. Full Lone Wolf bonus gives you a delicious +1 projectile to your Hunting Banshee skill and will be your transitioning gear before going for SSU Flamen Staff Biting Frost in endgame.


GEAR

► expand


SKILLPLAN
► expand



SPEC.2: STORM

If you feel more fancy, you can start building toward this powerful spec, based on the Stormfront oskill found on several SUs we will use as our core gear of choice. Rest of gear will be mostly craft to easily reach 135 light pierce and start melting everything. This build is pretty strong and will develop even stronger in endgame when we will get our hands on our Hide of The Basilisk SSU Chain Mail. Overall Storm>Ice, but the latter is easier and faster to assemble. If you can, try to max the Stormfront rolls up to 20 on every gear piece, so we can reach level 75 and get 4 bolts per cast.


GEAR
► expand


SKILLPLAN
► expand


MID GAME PLAYSTYLE

Honestly there is not much difference in playstyle between early and mid game, and it is still pretty basic and simple. You have overall more safety thanks to added defense from items, more life from Lifeshield, tons of life regeneration and 20%+ avoid thanks to Symbiosis and Elvensong. Of course enemies hit harder so try as always to not overextend and never go in melee with anything. Buff yourself with Mark of the Wild and Symbiosis, summon your Fiends and then spam Hunting Banshees to your enemies face. Lone Wolf set gives you also Firedance oskill, a small circle of fire that buffs your spell damage when you're inside it. Has a little cooldown, so if you want a little bit of damage added, alternate the use with your main damage skill. Heal with Pagan Rites when needed.
On Storm side, your main damage skill will be Stormfront. While Banshee has autoaim, Stormfront bolts need to explode on impact with target in order to do damage, so you actually have to aim. Mechanically it works sorta like Elemental: the more bolts you have, the easier it is to hit.




END GAME

Once you have done 120 ubers, have collected your 400 signets of learning and have farmed Duncraig/Teganze till level 125 you are ready to move through end game. In this section we'll list the natural evolution of our two mid game specs of choice in terms of gear. For skillplan and gameplay, nothing changes from the mid game lists above. Just for the smaxing skills, abuse all of +1 to maximum skill level you get from uber charms.

We think that Ice and expecially Storm spec are the most effective available at our disposal in terms of damage and efficiency, but Fire and Poison actually got a great damage buff in patch 1.3 thanks to Vine Companion uberskill. Moreover,
The Searing Heat
The Searing Heat
Flamen Staff (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 48 to 51
(Druid Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 240
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.06 per Strength)%
Hunting Banshee Nullified
+3 Ember Spirit Projectiles
+(9 to 10) to Druid Skill Levels
+150 Spell Focus
25% Cast Speed
+50% Damage to Undead
+(25 to 40)% to Fire Spell Damage
-(20 to 30)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
15% to Energy
Physical Resist 5%
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)
now adds +3 (!) elementals, which can lead to a crazy total amount of them. So more testing will be done and eventually end game sections will be expanded with more specs.
In the future we would also like to cover two extremely interesting endgame builds based on oskills: 1) Mana Druid using Arcane Torrent on
Lincos (Xis)
.
2) Ice Druid using Glacial Nova, found on
Absolute Zero
Absolute Zero
Battle Staff (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: 61 to 66
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 234
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
Glacial Nova: +150% Total Damage
Fire Spell Damage Reduces Cold Spell Damage
Fire Pierce Reduces Cold Pierce
Glacial Nova Cooldown Reduced by 4 seconds
+50% Damage to Undead
-40% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(20 to 30) to Glacial Nova
Maximum Fire Resist -5%
Maximum Cold Resist +10%
(50 to 100)% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (4)
, crafted Flamen Staves and crafted Druid Helms.


SPEC.1: ICE


GEAR

► expand



SPEC.2: STORM


GEAR


► expand






We would like to thank:

Brother Laz, Marco and the awesome Sigma team for the never ending, amazing effort they all make in gifting us with tons of hours of pure fun.
Ben-, for his time, politeness, quality checks and quality gear suggestions.
The Median XL discord friendly community for the quality memes.
Edited by Bardamu 4 years.
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nikolaipka
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arcology
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Goodkidscc wrote:I believe the pounce cotw has a timer.


Treewarden cotw.
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Frytas
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In M2008 there was this skill called Fire Fountain iirc, and it was pretty fucking powerful, but it was also incredibly laggy and weird to use. I had a FF/Gamma field druid, solid stuff and really good at cheesing summoning ubers, but I don't think it would qualify as op, especially when compared to judgesin, fortress barb etc.

Btw, what was the name of that necro minion which had an aura that increased your minion limit? I remember that it existed and had the same sprite as Inarius, but I can't recall its name.
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Goodkidscc
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Frytas wrote:In M2008 there was this skill called Fire Fountain iirc, and it was pretty fucking powerful, but it was also incredibly laggy and weird to use. I had a FF/Gamma field druid, solid stuff and really good at cheesing summoning ubers, but I don't think it would qualify as op, especially when compared to judgesin, fortress barb etc.

Btw, what was the name of that necro minion which had an aura that increased your minion limit? I remember that it existed and had the same sprite as Inarius, but I can't recall its name.

Summon overlord. I think it had the izual sprite.
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Frytas
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Goodkidscc wrote:
Frytas wrote:In M2008 there was this skill called Fire Fountain iirc, and it was pretty fucking powerful, but it was also incredibly laggy and weird to use. I had a FF/Gamma field druid, solid stuff and really good at cheesing summoning ubers, but I don't think it would qualify as op, especially when compared to judgesin, fortress barb etc.

Btw, what was the name of that necro minion which had an aura that increased your minion limit? I remember that it existed and had the same sprite as Inarius, but I can't recall its name.

Summon overlord. I think it had the izual sprite.

You're right, thanks
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Jampula
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Crazy reading. :)
Pouncesin and Soulshatter nec were crazy strong. And sorcs became goddesses when Azmodan's Heart (and some others) used to give random skills.

If we are talking about ultimate uber boss killer it has to be assa with the claw that reanimated Andariel. You use sacrifice until Andy spawns and let the uber boss kill her and it dies with her. Cheesy as fuck but...

cron