classic newbie question

Hello, I would like to ask your help.
I am a novice player this mod and I confess that I am lost. I can not pass the Act 1 on destruction. And I am only with initial charms. I have a bow amazon 120, summ barb 117, 120 bow druid, unholy caster paladin 78.
The zon was very strong but dies easily with zero defense.
The barb found interesting the summons but he n follow, mobs often ignore them and come at me and did not seemed to be a build to be strong.
The druid has the summons to meatshield. Okay, but the damage does not seem to be anything like the zon and it takes a lot to kill bosses.
Pala really did not play much. I do not know what to say.

I would like your help to better understand the game. It has some class or build is for all purposes? Or have any class / strong build and easier to play so I can learn and pick up all the charms?

provide more info - stats,gear etc. For bow druid,Nova Shot in melee range is a good single target killer,if you can afford to get close to enemies and survive. Otherwise I would recommend switching to caster druid,he's got good aoe,3 damage types(4 if you count physical from minions,5 with tremor)and a great single target killer - Rain of Fire. Cannot speak about summoner barb because I haven't played him since fuck knows when,but he used to be pretty damn powerful. With amazon,you have to shoot stuff from far away with dragonforce and survive by manually dodging. If anything gets close - run and use barrage. Since you have 0 def,paragon is a must have - socket every piece of gear with gems. That's some general advice though,for anything more specific you have to give us more data

Also check out the guides section. Even if you're not going to follow the guides there you will get some nice tips for various situations.

Bowzon
weapon: Ice breaker rw in stag bow (sac), moed %ed, %life stolen
helm: siegfried rw
armor: jitan's kamon (t6)
gloves: Kali rw
belt: deadfall (t6)
boots: death spur
quiver: locust hive
amulet: 2 all skills, 17%spell damage, 208 life
ring: 15%spell damage, 3%stolen life, 5% reanimate twilight templar
ring: 1 all skills, 15% spell damage, 43 life,

Resistis: fire and poison 91, cold and light 77. on dest.

stats: 113 str, 545 dex, without bonus.

Charms: sunstone, harkon crystal, class charm (with tal rasha and ennead skill), optical detector (gift)

Skills: 8 spell blind, 8 paragon, 14 wild and flee, 20 ecstatic frenzy, 19 defensive harmony, 22 barrage, 15 phalanx, 20 dragonlore.

Druid - Lvl 114
weapon: phanton rw (viper bow sacred) moed %ed
helm: umbaru's jinx (t6)
armor: soul mantle field plate (crafted) + summ life and res
gloves: emerald growth
belt: marchosias hatred
boots: celestial charge
quiver: cindercone
amulet: 2 all skills, 13% fire spell
ring: 1 all skills
ring: 1 all skills, 7% light, -3% enemy cold.

Charms: same.

stats: 415 str, 200 dex

Skills: 7 goodberry, 7 force of nature, 21 cascade, 31 elfin weapons, 1 nova, 22 poison flash, 18 acid fiends, 6 remain skills.

I am following the topic of the mini guides (ChuckNorris)

If I were in your position I'd make the following changes for Druid:

Roll double orb viper bow, use blessed oil from terror griswold and make

Cernunnos

Cernunnos
Druid Bows
'JahOhmBer'
Runeword Level: 80
2% Chance to cast level 9 Cascade on Death Blow
30% Attack Speed
15% Hit Recovery
+(110 to 140) to Maximum Damage
+(130 to 170)% Enhanced Damage
Weapon Physical Damage +50%
Slow Target 10%
+90% to Summoned Minion Life
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster

bow. Orb with enhanced damage orbs to 350% before adding the rune and use jewels with attack speed. Faster hit recovery, flat life, attack rating and strength % are also good affixes on jewels. Ideally you want a high reanimate chance for stone clans so save any perfect gems you find to reroll the bow.

Find a T6 or sacred druid helm and make

Natha

Natha
Druid Helms
'GulEl'
Runeword Level: 65
4% Chance to cast level 2 Arrow on Striking
20% Attack Speed
50% Hit Recovery
(31 to 50)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(58 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+5 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 10%

you can orb with enhanced defense before making the runeword and resists or whatever else you need afterwards. Same stats for jewels in bow are good here, you wanna hit 125% increased attack speed and 133% faster hit recovery.

Featherclaw

are good for early/mid game weapon damage builds and they are cheap. They also have tons of orb space.

Deadfall

Deadfall
Heavy Belt (4)
Defense: (135 - 159) to (178 - 210)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 2 Shower of Rocks on Kill
1% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(16 to 25) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (485 - 551) to (616 - 700)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 4 Shower of Rocks on Kill
2% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 45) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1270 - 1400) to (1595 - 1758)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 8 Shower of Rocks on Kill
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 65) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1918 - 2095) to (2403 - 2626)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
2% Chance to cast level 12 Shower of Rocks on Kill
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(66 to 75) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)

for belt or

Truce

Truce
Belts
'Jah'
Runeword Level: 80
5% Combat Speeds
Stun Attack
Slows Attacker by 5%
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 10%

but the reanimates from bow should tank most enemies so deadfall should be fine.

Lionpaw

Lionpaw
Chain Boots (4)
Defense: (49 - 54) to (71 - 78)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 29
Item Level: 10
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(7 to 10) to all Attributes
+(31 to 50) to Life
+(16 to 25) to Mana
(3 to 5)% Bonus to Defense
10% Gold Find
Socketed (1)
Defense: (203 - 218) to (267 - 288)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 58
Item Level: 31
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(15 to 18) to all Attributes
+(71 to 90) to Life
+(36 to 45) to Mana
(9 to 11)% Bonus to Defense
15% Gold Find
Socketed (2)
Defense: (519 - 554) to (667 - 712)
Required Level: 39
Required Strength: 202
Item Level: 51
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 26) to all Attributes
+(111 to 130) to Life
+(56 to 65) to Mana
(15 to 17)% Bonus to Defense
20% Gold Find
Socketed (3)
Defense: (759 - 807) to (974 - 1036)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 403
Item Level: 77
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to all Attributes
+(131 to 150) to Life
+(66 to 75) to Mana
(18 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
25% Gold Find
Socketed (4)

,

Zealot Rush

Zealot Rush
Light Plated Boots (4)
Defense: (67 - 78) to (102 - 119)
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 31
Item Level: 10
5% Attack Speed
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
(11 to 25)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(21 to 40)% Enhanced Defense
(3 to 5)% to Dexterity
1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (1)
Defense: (248 - 281) to (338 - 384)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
10% Attack Speed
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
(41 to 55)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
(9 to 11)% to Dexterity
2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (2)
Defense: (613 - 685) to (817 - 914)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
20% Attack Speed
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
(71 to 85)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(61 to 80)% Enhanced Defense
(15 to 17)% to Dexterity
3% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (3)
Defense: (944 - 1044) to (1247 - 1378)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
30% Attack Speed
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
(86 to 100)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
(18 to 20)% to Dexterity
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)

or craft/honorific - any of these are fine.

You wanna have enough attack rating to have 90% chance to hit mobs while going through destruction. The gloves, helm, boots(lionpaw has flat dex) and jewels with attack rating in bow/helm will help you achieve this with fewer points invested into dexterity. Try to find good sacred armor and make

Erawan

Erawan
Body Armors
'LemKoCham'
Runeword Level: 83
15% Combat Speeds
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
(27 to 30)% to Strength
(27 to 30)% to Vitality
Physical Resist (13 to 15)%
(15 to 20)% Bonus to Defense

, jewels should have faster hit recovery, resists, flat life, attack rating etc.

Locust Hive

Locust Hive
Arrow Quiver
Required Level: 5
Item Level: 1
4% Chance to cast level 1 Arrow on Striking
Adds (2 to 3)-(8 to 10) Magic Damage
(4 to 6)% Life stolen per Hit

or

Hanabigami

Hanabigami
Arrow Quiver
Required Level: 60
Item Level: 80
5% Chance to cast level 36 Ice Lance on Kill
5% Chance to cast level 36 Forked Lightning on Kill
5% Chance to cast level 36 Flamefront on Kill
Adds 13-25 Fire Damage
Adds 13-25 Lightning Damage
Adds 13-25 Cold Damage
-(1 to 10)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances

work nicely and can be made with unique recipe

Amulet - a rare works fine, try rolling a skills amulet with lightning arena and maybe banish. Flat life, attributes, flat damage reduce and resists are also good affixes.
Rares will work for rings too, +1 to skills and fire spell damage/enemy fire pierce. Reanimates if you're lucky.
Orb rings/amulet with more fire pierce'/fire spell damage.

For sockets, perfect gems for max resists are probably the way to go. For left over orb space just wait and see if you need anything.

Find a sacred or t6 druid staff in destruction and roll it to rare. Then reroll with renewals til you get a nice + to druid skill levels and fire spell dmg/pierce. Orb with fire pierce/spell damage.

The skillplan you're using should be okay, but leave acid fiends at one point and dump the rest into rain of fire. Use rain of fire with the staff on bosses. You can also use the staff to summon acid fiends so they have a little more life. They only need to tank while until you have an army of stone clan so one point will be sufficient.

If you don't already, head to act 2 terror and grab a shapeshifter merc. Give him the weapon, helm and gloves that Stoya posted in the link below.
http://www.medianxl.com/t2061-gearing-shapeshifter-merc - For the rest of the gear just use what you have. A high defense armor and deadfall belt would be great. Shapeshifters are nearly capped for % damage reduction so concentrade on defense and resists if needed. Use whatever you have for socket fillers.

This should be a decent improvement to your current bow setup. If not, pm chuck and ask him if that phantom bow was a typo.

if you're using ecstatic frenzy then switch from barrage to dragonforce because you can't just use a short range spell with 0 def and no shield. keep your distance and use 1p barrage only when kiting fast melee enemies,use phalanx for summoning ubers and dragonforce for pretty much everything else. also get some points out of paragon,def harmony and wild&free,you've spent too much there.

I used this guide : viewtopic.php?f=40&t=253 (though I did get bored eventually cause I couldn't complete the bow set)

not exactly top tier,I'm shit at this game,but I can at least farm some basic ubers,and getting through act 1 was never an issue. gear is mainly t6 uniques,with hanabigami quiver,royal circlet,deadman's hand(used t6 snakehair and honorific gloves before that) and random shitty rare jewelery. idk if this helps but I thought it might give you an idea of what to aim for to get through dest at least.