Rishab The Venomancer - Caster Druid

Brocco
Skeleton
2 | 0
Thanks for the swift reply :), I'm brand new to MXL so I din't realize we'd get that much +Max skill level.

So far following your guide I have all the base gear you showed in #3 Phase 1 and I have upgraded them all to Tier 6.. It was really handy that all of them come from just farming Tristrum (Gris boxes).. that and just destroying the random uniques I got lvling made it very easy to follow this guide and upgrade it with 0 previous knowledge of MXL.

I also had 0 issues doing Tran (Challenge 1) and did it at lvl 36.. I'd have done it sooner but I was waiting on a friend to catch up on his new character he re-rolled (Ended up doing it solo anyways though lol)

Had no real issues or blocks all the way up to where I am now clearing destruction (Main story line)

I have got my Level 1 challenge, Enead challenge, Witch queen Mini game, Level 2 challenge, Mirror mirror mini game, Act boss Dogma scrolls, Veteran tokens, Half of the black road challenge, butcher, infernal machine, and about to do judgement day.

(all this in 1 day playthrough - Just started day 2 though)

My 1 issue is normally I'm a hardcore player, In D2-lod official and POD... It doesn't seem very viable in MXL though since all guides are class cannon builds and things like "The witch queen Mini game" seem impossible for hardcore players (Unless you have giant balls and use a necro to lure them)... lemme stress the giant balls part again hehe.

What are your thoughts on the current meta? are there any builds that have maybe a little slower farm/clear time but can just faceroll content without shooting practically off screen? It seems like with all the crafting and orbs and +max resist ect... it shouldn't be too impossible to be tanky and have decent damage? Thoughts?

Thanks again! really appreciate your time in making this guide
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demonshalo
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Brocco wrote:Thanks for the swift reply :), I'm brand new to MXL so I din't realize we'd get that much +Max skill level.

So far following your guide I have all the base gear you showed in #3 Phase 1 and I have upgraded them all to Tier 6.. It was really handy that all of them come from just farming Tristrum (Gris boxes).. that and just destroying the random uniques I got lvling made it very easy to follow this guide and upgrade it with 0 previous knowledge of MXL.

I also had 0 issues doing Tran (Challenge 1) and did it at lvl 36.. I'd have done it sooner but I was waiting on a friend to catch up on his new character he re-rolled (Ended up doing it solo anyways though lol)

Had no real issues or blocks all the way up to where I am now clearing destruction (Main story line)

I have got my Level 1 challenge, Enead challenge, Witch queen Mini game, Level 2 challenge, Mirror mirror mini game, Act boss Dogma scrolls, Veteran tokens, Half of the black road challenge, butcher, infernal machine, and about to do judgement day.

(all this in 1 day playthrough - Just started day 2 though)

My 1 issue is normally I'm a hardcore player, In D2-lod official and POD... It doesn't seem very viable in MXL though since all guides are class cannon builds and things like "The witch queen Mini game" seem impossible for hardcore players (Unless you have giant balls and use a necro to lure them)... lemme stress the giant balls part again hehe.

What are your thoughts on the current meta? are there any builds that have maybe a little slower farm/clear time but can just faceroll content without shooting practically off screen? It seems like with all the crafting and orbs and +max resist ect... it shouldn't be too impossible to be tanky and have decent damage? Thoughts?

Thanks again! really appreciate your time in making this guide


You're more than welcome :)

Glad to hear that. Median was patched to reduce the density of amazons so that might have helped a bit. But it's great to hear that the build is working out as intended in destruction. Take your time and enjoy the game. There are a ton of hard ubers that you will have to play smart against so lots more to come!

Regarding hardcore mode. Problem is that median is an extremely inflated mod in terms of damage and modifiers. The latest patch addressed that with dmg and hp nerfs across the board but with that said, death is inevitable. What you could do is play the ubers the way I play them which is if I die once, I exit the game and restart the whole thing. Just to make things a bit more challenging.

The game itself kicks in at the later stages of destruction. There are a ton of builds out there most of which I haven't even had the pleasure of trying myself. So lots of variety. If you find yourself bored with this caster kinda playstyle, try something different such as a melee barb or some of the "troll" builds like 2h sword Amazon.

All in all, experiment with some char and gears and if you don't like the result, respec into something different. If you do find some interesting ideas, talk to ppl here on the forum and see what they think.

Cheers!
Jaxon
Azure Drake
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Duncraig idea to solve the Blink "problem". if you actually Blink, you stun your enemies. make a tp quick. kill what you can. if you see a barrel, go inside the tp, wait a few sec, go back and make a new tp. I use a pounce zon and do it like this as well. works perfect if you get used to it
TheUnderling
Monkey King
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Jaxon wrote:Duncraig idea to solve the Blink "problem". if you actually Blink, you stun your enemies. make a tp quick. kill what you can. if you see a barrel, go inside the tp, wait a few sec, go back and make a new tp. I use a pounce zon and do it like this as well. works perfect if you get used to it

Shouldn't pounce alone be enough to dodge barrels, along with shunpo, harbinger, and other 0 cd teleportion abilities? Currently playing a pouncezon on sp
and having difficulties so I haven't been to duncraig yet, but wouldn't all the mobs body block your portal?
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Crash
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TheUnderling wrote:
Jaxon wrote:Duncraig idea to solve the Blink "problem". if you actually Blink, you stun your enemies. make a tp quick. kill what you can. if you see a barrel, go inside the tp, wait a few sec, go back and make a new tp. I use a pounce zon and do it like this as well. works perfect if you get used to it

Shouldn't pounce alone be enough to dodge barrels, along with shunpo, harbinger, and other 0 cd teleportion abilities? Currently playing a pouncezon on sp
and having difficulties so I haven't been to duncraig yet, but wouldn't all the mobs body block your portal?


You can usually aim at the top edge of the TP and be fine.
Jaxon
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TheUnderling wrote:
Jaxon wrote:Duncraig idea to solve the Blink "problem". if you actually Blink, you stun your enemies. make a tp quick. kill what you can. if you see a barrel, go inside the tp, wait a few sec, go back and make a new tp. I use a pounce zon and do it like this as well. works perfect if you get used to it

Shouldn't pounce alone be enough to dodge barrels, along with shunpo, harbinger, and other 0 cd teleportion abilities? Currently playing a pouncezon on sp
and having difficulties so I haven't been to duncraig yet, but wouldn't all the mobs body block your portal?


sometimes pounce might aim on a random mob as they move quickly. might result in a teleport into a barrel if you dont take care. also pounce needs an enemy the teleport on. you cannot use it into free area. also if you are in a very tiny room, the barrel fills it out. there are some rooms where you can port to the corner and pounce to the other corner when you see barrel inc.
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silicondream
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Nice work. I didn't see any breakpoints.That will be a great addition.
ElPato
Imp
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I've finished hatred with the build, so far i've felt very squishy if enemies ignore the summons and go directly for me i die very fast.

Also the Rain of fire skill feels kind of bad to use, the delay and small aoe makes it really hard to hit anything, could i change it for elemental or freezing gale? Freezing gale has great aoe and elemetal gives me the option to offscreen enemies (which really helped me clear LC1) plus both got buffed in the 2017 patch (+ damage + mana cost) unlike rain which got nerfed (- aoe - duration), since i'm new i don't know if i would need to change any itens for this.
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demonshalo
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silicondream wrote:Nice work. I didn't see any breakpoints.That will be a great addition.


Thanks. Break Points are under Phase 4 as we don't care about them before that.
FHR breakpoint: 133
FCR breakpoint: 152
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demonshalo
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ElPato wrote:I've finished hatred with the build, so far i've felt very squishy if enemies ignore the summons and go directly for me i die very fast.

Also the Rain of fire skill feels kind of bad to use, the delay and small aoe makes it really hard to hit anything, could i change it for elemental or freezing gale? Freezing gale has great aoe and elemetal gives me the option to offscreen enemies (which really helped me clear LC1) plus both got buffed in the 2017 patch (+ damage + mana cost) unlike rain which got nerfed (- aoe - duration), since i'm new i don't know if i would need to change any itens for this.



You are a squishy character in general. Mainly because you don't have access to goodberry, lifeshield or any charms to increase your vita. However, if summons are utilized properly, monsters will rarely ignore them. What you need to do is summon a long distance ahead of you in the direction you are walking, that way summons will tank incoming monsters.

Rain of fire is not mean to be used on mobile targets and I mentioned that in the guide. Use rain of fire on bosses or ubers as your summons surround them. Freezing Gale has great AOE but you are standing still when you cast which generally = death. I do use Gale occasionally when I want a wide clear against mobile psn immunes like Harpies. But with that said RoF is a way better skill!

Feel free to make your own spinoff and try freezing gale and let me know if it works. Would love to see if it does.