Bow Druid Leveling Discussion

[Sprow]

The bow druid is too annoying. I mean one cast of the other skill and you are out of steady aim

Of course, it's not for players that prefer 1 button characters. I like new druid gameplay.

[lovejohnson]

What should happen for the bear to give its buff? He need to kill? Or mb he just need to hit someone?
It would be nice if this buff had a visual effect. Something like big black wings ... so I wouldn't miss them.

There is a visual indication. A shockwave radiates outward from the bear when it triggers. My problem with it is not its visibility but its range. Most of the time I'm out of range and don't get the benefit of the buff. I get maybe every third buff on average.

[Sprow]

What should happen for the bear to give its buff? He need to kill? Or mb he just need to hit someone?
It would be nice if this buff had a visual effect. Something like big black wings ... so I wouldn't miss them.

There is a visual indication. A shockwave radiates outward from the bear when it triggers. My problem with it is not its visibility but its range. Most of the time I'm out of range and don't get the benefit of the buff. I get maybe every third buff on average.

I'm talking about the visual effect on the character. So I can find out not only the beginning but also the end of the buff. Yes, the buff radius is so-so.

[SteelWings]

So far liking it with the Bow Dru, even if it's a bit awkward having 3 skills on a skill switch and constantly changing them (Don't use LMB besides move only, don't @ me)
What I'm not liking so far is the bear - he's either super passive and doesn't get to attack anything, or it goes to attack someone off-screen and I have seen aura trigger only once in like an hour of gameplay.

Perhaps, an AI change (so it's more like barb) or buff range increase would be nice. Or maybe make it so bear casts MotW periodically and base levels decrease cooldown?

Otherwise pretty cool mechanics with Steady Aim! I wonder if it can be used without mana exclusively, like a resource.

[irraticate]

What should happen for the bear to give its buff? He need to kill? Or mb he just need to hit someone?
It would be nice if this buff had a visual effect. Something like big black wings ... so I wouldn't miss them.

I did some testing for about 30 minutes of the bear just hitting and killing stuff. It seems that the bear just casts it like a normal spell. I've seen him do it after killing a monster, running to a monster, and during an attack animation.

As mentioned in other comments, the range isn't great either. Below is a picture from a video I recorded and I did not receive the buff from this distance. it does demonstrate what the shockwave looks like though, for anyone curious.

► Show Spoiler

To keep with the thread's theme, I've found a lot of luck with using

Wasp Sting

Wasp Sting
Maple Bow (4)
(Druid Only)
Required Level: 7
Required Dexterity: 84
Item Level: 19
Innate Fire Damage: (16.0% of Dexterity)
5% Chance to cast level 10 Seal of Fire on Death Blow
20% Attack Speed
Adds 7-9 Fire Damage
Adds 50-100 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-5% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-5% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+25 Life Regenerated per Second
Poison Length Reduced by (7 to 10)%
Socketed (2)
(Druid Only)
Required Level: 26
Required Dexterity: 126
Item Level: 40
Innate Fire Damage: (24.0% of Dexterity)
6% Chance to cast level 20 Seal of Fire on Death Blow
30% Attack Speed
Adds 20-25 Fire Damage
Adds 100-200 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-10% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-10% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+50 Life Regenerated per Second
Poison Length Reduced by (15 to 18)%
Socketed (4)
(Druid Only)
Required Level: 44
Required Dexterity: 249
Item Level: 59
Innate Fire Damage: (32.0% of Dexterity)
8% Chance to cast level 30 Seal of Fire on Death Blow
45% Attack Speed
Adds 60-80 Fire Damage
Adds 200-400 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-15% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+75 Life Regenerated per Second
Poison Length Reduced by (23 to 26)%
Socketed (5)
(Druid Only)
Required Level: 53
Required Dexterity: 492
Item Level: 85
Innate Fire Damage: (40.0% of Dexterity)
10% Chance to cast level 40 Seal of Fire on Death Blow
60% Attack Speed
Adds 150-210 Fire Damage
Adds 400-600 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
-20% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-20% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+100 Life Regenerated per Second
Poison Length Reduced by (27 to 30)%
Socketed (6)

. The rest of the items are the usual suspects mentioned in this thread: Werecat, Natha RW, Featherclaw, Death Spur, Wormtongue.

I've also found that the Necrolyte is great while leveling. Nice CC, nice damage. The Steady Shot skill itself isn't too bad for clear either if you just want to be super lazy. In fact, I find it more comfortable than Cascade most of the time; the little delay between firing Cascade and the arrows actually connecting to the targets can be a little feel bad at times, while Steady Shot is at least more responsive between button click to seeing damage happen.

Lastly, I've kind of just been putting points into everything in the Hunter tree when I get the chance (except Steady Shot where it is every 2 skill levels). I haven't yet had any mana issues and I don't have any mana regeneration nor do I use mana pots.

[Captcha]

What should happen for the bear to give its buff? He need to kill? Or mb he just need to hit someone?
It would be nice if this buff had a visual effect. Something like big black wings ... so I wouldn't miss them.

Yeah all you get is the tiny buff icon at the bottom of the screen to the right of the health globe. It's not something you can look at in combat.

I find I'm mashing the skills I really want to use and when nothing happens, I check for the icon and find it's not there. Painful.

I'm playing SP so I've re-specced to caster druid. I'm finding that a bit surprising as well. The Infected Roots spell has a really small aoe (not sure if it gets bigger with more points, skill desc doesn't mention it), but at least it's insta-cast at the place clicked. The Harvest skill is hard to understand - it seems to make me run to where I click. I'm not sure it actually does anything when I get there - I see a Pagan Rites animation but that's probably... Pagan Rites, since everything is already dead by then.

The new druid is turning out a bit disappointing.

[tranvanhieu]

Currently level 91 hardcore Druid. Some feedbacks:

-The bear buff range is too short, given bear is tied to bow druid, a range character, that range should be buffed a little.
-Leveling with Bow Druid is a bit annoying, I just let bear tank and mers kill, stay close and spam first skill, whenever I see the buff, switch to Heartseeker and hold right mouse to clear everything (range is a bit short to clear the whole screen, though).
-The potential of fire damage seems insane after getting pierce.
-Bear is very tanky , I let him eat several Diablo's Flame Strikes with no problem (no resist gear yet).

Overall I would say he has good potential, but not OP.

[Mr_Ali]

What should happen for the bear to give its buff? He need to kill? Or mb he just need to hit someone?
It would be nice if this buff had a visual effect. Something like big black wings ... so I wouldn't miss them.

Yeah all you get is the tiny buff icon at the bottom of the screen to the right of the health globe. It's not something you can look at in combat.

I find I'm mashing the skills I really want to use and when nothing happens, I check for the icon and find it's not there. Painful.

I'm playing SP so I've re-specced to caster druid. I'm finding that a bit surprising as well. The Infected Roots spell has a really small aoe (not sure if it gets bigger with more points, skill desc doesn't mention it), but at least it's insta-cast at the place clicked. The Harvest skill is hard to understand - it seems to make me run to where I click. I'm not sure it actually does anything when I get there - I see a Pagan Rites animation but that's probably... Pagan Rites, since everything is already dead by then.

The new druid is turning out a bit disappointing.

Try the new rain of fire. I've done all level 115 ubers and everything has just melted so far. It can be a bit clunky with the small delay but using summons to distract enemies makes this less of a problem

[Ruubel]

Q for steady aim and "space" heartseeker, index finger and thumb at works.

steady aim and cascade - I mean - why - steady aim already does what cascade does.

[CircaG]

Anyone else finding bow druid a bit clunky with Steady Shot being needed before using another bow skill?

I was hoping bear would fix it with his aura but the uptime is not much and it still uses the SS when you fire another skill, he just stops it expiring (I think?).

Currently lvl 45 with my bow druid. Yes it is a bit clunky. Constantly pressing "Q" (Steady Shot) then switching to either Cascade or Heatseaker is pretty annoying. It's not bad enough to play another class, but it is something to talk about. The bear does absolutely nothing with his aura. I honestly have only seen its aura on me maybe once or twice and I've had it for 21 levels.

I have Steady Shot on let click and Cascade/Heartseeker on right click. I also have Stand Still bound to spacebar so I just spacebar+L Click then immediately right click.

For the bear aura, yeah, it isn't very noticeable at first. However around 79, if I am actually paying attention, I have 7 seconds of spamming. It really, REALLY melts bosses if it pops during the appropriate time.

I'll try this out man. Thanks for the info, that's smart!