Hello all. Speaking of Blacktalon, what race would be the best overall? From what I understand, the most important thing for a druid is to survive a few first bursts of damage/afflictions - in a long run it becomes easier. Correct me if I'm wrong - most likely I am :) So what would make a better choice: human (90+ level, so high health and no weaknesses) or muwgwump (level 3 eq says it all, but extremely frail)? Faeling is in question: sip bonus and lightning fast balance. Would it help if you were to take Runes? Speaking of the tertiary skill, I don't have anything to say here. so would be glad to hear any thoughts. Thanks!

Whee! More Blacktalon.

Ahem.

Hmmm. I haven't really run the numbers or thought through the races question. Do consider, though, that having a fast equilbrium can be very helpful in sealing a saplock, and things like small size can help with things like tumbling - essential for the inevitable dodging around that druids have to engage in. I can much more authoritatively comment on tertiaries.

Runes

Runes can be the strongest of the three. Remember, all you need to do to perpetuate saplock is them not using a cleanse enchantment, so ger (impatience) and gyfu (paralysis) are essentially what you need. Downside? Runes cost money. If you go ahead and embed them in your demesne, you're looking at thousands of sovereigns spent per fight. Again, though, a solid and straightforward choice.

Ecology

Practically every Hartstone takes Ecology because of Transmigration, the xp-saver. We have Darkrebirth, so that isn't necessary. To perpetuate the saplock here, you're going to be using the mountain smudge to knock them down and mactans poison (confusion) with your fetish to keep them generally screwed - also morphite (sleep). It's considered (by people I consider intelligent) to be the worst of the BT tertiaries. Interesting flavour, though.

Dreamweaving

This is the skillset that I use, and it falls somewhere in between Runes and Ecology. You -can- try to set up a sleeping demesne and just knock them out - that involves removing all your damaging effects, because damage wakes people up. Otherwise, try embedding memoryloss motes and flicking them - blackout - also narcolepsy, sleeping. Daydreaming and Epilepsy are okay, but not as effective. If you get some good illusions together, Hallucination might help out as well. Note: on days when you're filling up your dreamcatcher with motes, you'll run out of power even faster then normal (!).

If you want a more detailed dissection of fighting as a druid, specifically Blacktalon look down at this thread, and pay attention to what Xavius and Nirrti say. Good luck in the BT, hope to figure out who the you are!

More Blacktalon? *pours haematox into the water supply to thin the numbers*

Arix, your wit is razor-sharp, as usual.

How ironic.

it's 5 in the morning and I have insomnia. I like to think that sleep-deprivation only adds to my skills with witty repartee

Shiri.

Back on topic!

In a 1 on 1 fight, your offense is the most important aspect of all. Reason being, is a great offense leads to an ultimate defense. Why would you need health against a knight if he is completely unable to let his swords connect with you?

However, in a group situation, things tend to be different. You can't focus on a pure 1 on 1 offensive because of the other fighters around you which will be hitting you. This is where your frailty hits.

For insane blacktalon offensive, your best bet would be to go Mugwump. Lots of things use equilibrium, vines, fetish (ecology), motes (dreamweaving), cudgel, and most important, sap. Cudgel kills become wickedly easy as a Mugwump, the bleeding stack is insane, and if you can sap lock an enemy, a fast blasting cudgel can dispose of any enemy, tanky or not, in a few seconds.

For a better defensive, while mainting a good offense, faeling would be a good choice to go. The level 2 sip bonus rocks, and the level 3 balance is killer if you choose to go runes. Though taking this route will lead to extremely frustrating bashing at higher levels when you simply cannot land enough critical hits and your low constitution hinders you from heading to astral. Also, spit (a crow skill), is based off balance. Extreme underrated, spit can be used very good in conjunction to demesne afflicts, and infused runes/motes, and spit deals very good afflictions (Epilepsy, Rigormrotis, Sunallergy, Pox, Itch, Vomiting, Dysentery, Worms, Black Lung.) Epilepsy, rigormortis, scabies and/or blacklung mean a dead enemy in sap.

What Thoros said is pretty good, especially the suggestion to go with Faeling if you want to be a Runist.

If you want to be a Dreamweaver, there are a few other perfectly good options, such as going Furrikin to survive the longest while in Dreamform, or that other race with level 3 magic resistance. If you want to be mostly support, being tanky is a very good thing. Faelings are far more tanky in the long run than they appear due to their massive sip bonus, but they are extremely fragile when confronted with massive burst damage.

Dreamweaving is FAR more interesting than Runes, though Runes is probably slightly better offensively, especially at low skill. Runes is perhaps THE most boring and least versatile skillset in the game, sadly =(


And yes, don't take Ecology. It's nice in theory, and alright in group combat, but it sucks compared to Dreamweaving/Runes, especially for Blacktalon.

What Thoros said is actually pretty bad if you're not going dreamweaver. You win fights by timing, not kamikaze offense. That's a good way to get yourself killed.

Faeling and furrikin are solid choices if you have no qualms with "strategic withdrawl" and take runes. Loboshigaru has the staying power you need to take the hits and count the seconds and would probably be the best ecology race.

Krokani, who have 8 Intelligence?

I was going to leave this alone, but my friend convinced me to correct you because of your whining for unreasonable hex upgrades.

Epilepsy, rigormortis, and sunallergy are not spit afflictions. Scabies is not the same as itch.

EDIT: And I'm not sure that pox is one either. I'm inclined to believe no, but I can't say for certain.

Int matters for druids why?

well he probably means that cause cudgel is based on int but it's the bleeding from cudgel most people count on anyways.

I'm actually making a new Hartstone alt with runes and was wandering about that as well. I'm debating between aslaran, furrikin (either is good for speed, aslaran are a little faster but have the sip and herb penalties) or something like taurian (tanky and slight regen, and the magic weakness doesn't look that bad), krokani (somewhat tanky, but I don't like the cutting weakness), or even loboshigaru (even more tanky, big regen, but a bigger magic penalty too).

I would lean mostly toward lobo, but I'm not sure about the magic penalties. I won't have to worry about MDs, so it's not as bad as if I were going BT, but does it make other attacks with a big magic component (cosmicfire, minorsecond, possibly nightkiss/aqua staff, I don't know what else) too dangerous?

absolutely, you'll be prone to nightkiss. one of the favorites is just damaging out our bards when we raid. plus you'll likely have no magic resistance from magic. I still think you should go furrikin. You want to be as tanky as you can and as nimble as you can. Xavius keeps saying it's all about timing anyways.

I haven't fought much as a druid, but in group fights it seems like it should be impossible for a druid to be killed in his/her own demesne. With treelife/treebane/cudgel/briarwalls/etc, even the weakest should be able to get away. I am not all that scared of dying to damage, but if I'm constantly running I'm not actually doing much good offensively. Krokani could be good, since they don't have the magic penalty, so I could stand around longer in a group. The timing and speed are important, but it seems like the speed is much more important in 1-on-1. In groups, I think being able to stay alive is more important for the demesne holder.

It was upgraded. If your going to be posting in a combat section of the forums, I would suggest you be active in this art which is not intended for the weak and dim-witted.

Loboshigaru? For a Druid?

...

Why not?

Seriously. Druid kills are about timing.

EDIT: Elaboration.

Our affliction comes from our demesne. Runes, dreamweaving, and ecology don't really have any afflicting capability to note when not being stacked on top of sap. The advantage of high-eq is one: being able to vine fast. Overwhelming mugwump offense is a guardian/wiccan thing, mages maybe. Not druid.

EDIT2: Hammering the point home.

A main disadvantage is that druid defense sucks. Thus races like loboshigaru and kephera are useful because they help you tank.

EDIT3: Revision

Alright, maybe runes has some potential for afflicting, but not that significantly synergizes, and it's expensive. I'd need to see it to believe it.