SSF Bow Druid

[Siosilvar]

Neat. what about Nihlithak's bombard? are the loss of skills that big a deal? seems like an insane amount of flat fire and attack speed.

The attack speed is counteracted by the fact that druid has slower crossbow attacks than bow attacks.

If you want a faster weapon, I've heard good things about short battle bows - the 6 frame breakpoint is actually reachable and you benefit from both lightning and fire pierce (which means double effect from generic elemental pierce).

[Fridgey]

Neat. what about Nihlithak's bombard? are the loss of skills that big a deal? seems like an insane amount of flat fire and attack speed.

The attack speed is counteracted by the fact that druid has slower crossbow attacks than bow attacks.

If you want a faster weapon[...].

If anything, I find im having a hard time fully utilising the attack speed. Weaving two type of shots is basically giving me an RSI at this point and I was hoping the 1800 fire damage would outweigh any reduction in speed.

Is it even that much slower? 414 attack speed for 7 fpa seems pretty easy when the xbow gives 180 as itself.

[SilentSin]

Since the Bear Companion snapshots your stats when summoned, which Mercenary buffs would actually affect it?
- Ranger - Dark Power
- Priestess - Vindicate
- Shapeshifter - Bloodlust
- Bloodmage - Firedance - +75% Physical Damage sounds pretty hefty

Also, I was just messing around and noticed that if you swap weapons as a Werewolf (but not the other morphs), you can actually use Steady Shot. The buff disappears immediately though, so I doubt there's anything useful you can do with that combo.

[smercholeg]

Has there been any changes for Druid build this season?

[dertill]

Has there been any changes for Druid build this season?

Yes, u no longer need to cast steady shot before casting the other bowskills. However u still can and it will be consumed. Guess skipping steady shot and just spaming cascade/heartseeker is the way to go now. Although switching skills should be a bit more comfortable with quick cast now.

[CircaG]

Has there been any changes for Druid build this season?

Yes, u no longer need to cast steady shot before casting the other bowskills. However u still can and it will be consumed. Guess skipping steady shot and just spaming cascade/heartseeker is the way to go now. Although switching skills should be a bit more comfortable with quick cast now.

First, you cannot cast Heartseeker without steady shot. This only works for Cascade.

Second, if you are playing phys, you will never use Cascade since you max Steady Shot and it will do more dmg than Cascade.

So if you are doing phys (which is where the buffs are), it is the same playstyle. You have to use steady shot everytime you want to use Heartseeker unless you bear procs heart of the pack.

My druid is currently lvl 117. I'm enjoying it so far and have done every dungeon/challenge so far. A few things I wish would change a bit:

1.) The bear AI is pretty bad. Sometimes he gets stuck on corners. Even when an enemy is close to us, the bear just stands still. When the bear gets stunned, he will stand there indefinitely unless you port.
2.) I wish Heart of the Pack had a 10% proc chance instead of 8%, or the bear had a faster attack to proc it more consistently. Sometimes he will proc it like 4 times in a row, but there are MULTIPLE times where when I'm killing a boss, he will literally never proc it the whole time. It's just extremely inconsistent, but that's the build I guess!
3.) The build is very squishy. There aren't many ways to get phys res, which isn't a terrible thing because we are a ranged char and the bear is a good distraction (and crazy good tank. SUPER tanky now). But sometimes you will die from 1.5 screens away from a random phys dmg enemy.

[TechC]

How is the 750% WD buff feeling?

[Maertsy]

Hellreach

Hellreach
Long War Bow (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (232 - 260) to (255 - 287)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 650
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Adds 140% of Your Fire Spell Damage as Bonus Weapon Physical Damage
Adds 140% of Your Physical/Magic Spell Damage as Bonus Weapon Physical Damage
2% Chance to cast level 50 Flamefront on Striking
2% Chance to cast level 50 Drakemaw on Striking
+50 Damage
+(160 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(250 to 500) to Life
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (6)

is a physical bow that has strong fire proc. Do you guys think it's worth on a farming setup bow-Druid? Should we focus on the fire proc of it, and using Cascade as the main skill?

[Helzopro]

Hellreach

Hellreach
Long War Bow (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (232 - 260) to (255 - 287)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 650
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Adds 140% of Your Fire Spell Damage as Bonus Weapon Physical Damage
Adds 140% of Your Physical/Magic Spell Damage as Bonus Weapon Physical Damage
2% Chance to cast level 50 Flamefront on Striking
2% Chance to cast level 50 Drakemaw on Striking
+50 Damage
+(160 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(250 to 500) to Life
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (6)

is a physical bow that has strong fire proc. Do you guys think it's worth on a farming setup bow-Druid? Should we focus on the fire proc of it, and using Cascade as the main skill?

Cascade doesn't trigger on striking, so no.

[Newbking]

The build is great, but the build itself (Bow druid)... is really disappointing. Even with great gear it felt underwhelming. Maybe if there was a bow oskill worth using, with guardian of scosglen bow.. but even still.