Edit: This post derailed into Maul Druid setups, so feel free to contribute.

I was wondering if anybody had tips concerning tanking/killing Samhain. I've been attempting to take him down in Nightmare, but keep wiping at 30%.

I am using my Maul Druid which has the following gear/stats:

Stats:
10,326 Life w/ Oak
68,460 Defense (17% Samhain will hit you)
9,268 Attack Rating (92% to hit Samhain)
Max Resistances and then some

Gear:
Upped Jalals, 3 Blood Stones
Highlord's Wrath
Executioner's Justice, Ether Eye
Steelrends
String of Ears
Upped War Traveler's
Shock Absorber
Dwarf Star
'War' Ethereal Sacred Armor

Potions:
16 Rejuv



I can fight Samhain down to 30% but eventually just run out of potions and die. I have to be ridiculously careful about Mauling if he puts Iron Maiden up, which slows things down considerably. I was hoping that some of the more experienced players could offer some suggestions about taking him down - which resists/absorbs should I be focusing on, any tricks that help (positioning, stacking slow, anything). A bit tired, sorry if the post is a nightmare to read.

tl;dr: Need tips on how to take down Nightmare Samhain with a Maul Druid. General tips about Samhain's Stats and accepted strategies also welcome. How the f**k do people take this guy down in Hell??

http://gamersunleashed.freeforums.org/t ... r-t49.html

I could handle Hell Sammy last season with this guy. But afaik he's been buffed so I cant be sure how well he would fare today. The only thing that could get me was IM, but I could take one IM hit so as long as I werent just mindlessly swinging away I was fine. His attacks would do some damage to me but not so badly that juvs and ll wouldn't help me.

1.Bring more juvs.
2.Your life is way to low.
3.Get more leech.
4.Use Metalgrid.
5.Get someone to run with you. Barb with a SoB would be good.

10k life sounds extremely low - my friend's windy is like 11k with oak, but regardless, your problem is that you run out of potion. Bring more, put them in your cube/ground/inventory and it'll likely be an easy fight.

Thanks for the advice. I completely filled my inventory with life charms, and got some battle orders from my brother before entering. I had about 15,000 life, and filled my belt/cube with rejuvs and dropped them on the ground. Ended up only using 8 rejuvs the time I killed him, he went easy on the Iron Maiden. But it seems getting that extra 5k life made a huge difference.

Leeching seemed almost impossible on him though.

erm, isnt he undead?

keep summoning the odd wolf at the oposite side of him from you and you should be fine. That will cut your incoming attacks by 30% or more if he attends to them every so often. 10k life is reallylow, you should be around 18k at that stage. Thats from a hc player perspective though. If he starts tohit you for major damage, step back a half screen and compose yourself before going in for another flurry of attacks.

Drop a spare belt full of juvs on the floor before you go after him and restock after using 8 or so if you need to.

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It seems that my life is way too low according to everyone - so I'm wondering where I went wrong. I tried to keep the minimum amount of strength to use my gear and even used strength charms/bugged gear when needed. I put very few points into dex and none into energy. When you guys say 18k life, do you mean by summoning a maxed oak with tons of +skills, shifting, and having inventory filled with 20 life small charms?

no, IIRC utters druid was hitting 18k life with his own buffs, ie. his own oak and nothing more.

follow his link to the guide he wrote up for screenies.

My pally this season was hitting 20k life with oak alone and was up over 27k with bo in the mix too.

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Perhaps I completely bombed somewhere. My druid comes no where even close to Utter's -- I'm going to post pics of stats and gear. I'm about 200 vitality behind him. I am using almost the exact same setup.

Differences: Maul uses Metalgrid, I don't have that yet. Maul uses 2 bloodcrafted druid rings. Maul uses Tyrael's. Maul uses Nos Coil - I prefer to keep the damage reduction on String but am thinking about switching to Worldstone if I can find one.








Not shown: String of ears to cap Damage Reduction, and wearing Dwarf Star and Shock Absorber in that pic. Amulet is Highlord's Wrath, trying to get Metalgrid. I'm trying to craft some Druid Skill Blood Rings with +100 life. But as you can see, that still won't bring me anywhere near Maul.

Since War has Increase Stamina oskill, I'm guessing that when I get a few +1 to all skills pieces/charms - that it will significantly impact my life. But for now this is what I can afford.



A side by side of Maul and Sloki:

change the belt for sure, nos coil not only gives absorbs but it gives added str too.

What are your charms like? I think utter was sporting a good few 40+ life charms and some decent ar/max damage charms too. In his weapon he has an ed/ias/ar jewel iirc. It wasnt 60ed but more like 47 but it did make a decent impact.

The problem I always had with war on a shifter is that you already have MASS amounts of +% life. with your equip atm you are only getting level 5 inc stamina, (4 overall from armour and 1 from amu) that I can see anyway.

What happened to your AR also? that is very very low for that level. Start crafting some blood rings with ar and decent life. The unique rings are only really of use on specific bosses like ardual/diablo. most of the time you dont really need them. You should always run at least 1 really good blood craft ring and have one you can change with an absorb ring depending on the boss.

Utters vita is high because he had 120 from rubys in his armour alone. If you think about it, an armour with 4 rubys in will grant 30 vita and 10% life (as far as I know they have been changed back to granting % life again...BOOO) That will outdo your war by a very very long way since each + skill you can get will only give an extra % life (that you already have a TON of from oak and lycan. I would never suggest way to a shifter for those reasons. The best use of war is a char with very little +% life already like a paladin or sin etc.

You really need to look at your AR though. That is my main concern. At level 95 you want to be at 18-20k. Ar blood rings will help with that.

If your bear a mauler? Did you make werebear for the added bonuses? let me know yout skill layout if you could so people can throw some more ideas around to increase ar/life and damage.

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One of my biggest sources of AR in the end will be Metalgrid - which I am trying really hard to find. I'll keep my eyes open for a Nos Coil as well -- However, is it really worth losing 50% DR? Would Worldstone Granite be better? I'm sitting at exactly 50% with:
10% Executioner's Justice
5% Steelrends
20% War
15% String of Ears

With Nos Coil, I'd be at 35%?

As for my skills, they are as follows.

Prereqs:
1 Raven
1 Spirit wolf
1 Dire wolf
1 Poison creeper
1 Heart of wolverine
1 Werewolf

Main skills:
20 Maul
20 Werebear
20 Lycanthropy
20 Oak
14 Grizzly (and going -- haven't done Hell Izzy or Radament yet)

1 Pointers:
1 Spirit of Barbs
1 Carrion Vine
1 Feral Rage
1 Shockwave

Trading for a Worldstone Granite to keep myself at 45% DR. This will give me 20 vitality and Strength, some more FHR, some extra resistances, and 1 to all skills to help with Lycan/Oak/Werebear/FR leech.

I'm also thinking about keeping an extra set of +skill weapon/shield to shift/cast oak in. Then I can manually equip Absolute Zero when I need to frozen armor. Not fun, but it might really help out. Any recommendations for a pre-buff set would be appreciated.

I'm still a bit worried about that last 5% damage reduction; I hear that in LoS the druid hits for 15,000 with max damage reduction. Is Maul Druid not a viable tank for LoS? Or will stacking Shapeshifting/Life charms and obtaining Anni make a big enough impact and allow me to tank? Would it be worth socketing a Tyrael's with 1 Ber, and 3 Blood Stones?

WSG will probably work nicely. You could use a ondals on the switch for both bo and +skills. I also hate to have more than one setup needed on the switch. I went with a absolute zero for the added def and more importantly, slowing the monsters if they hit me.

As for Los, I had a couple of close calls on the Druid last season, and that was with a seriously good team. I wouldn't trust him at the druid this season as he was buffed above and beyond

Got a Worldstone Granite and Metalgrid. Also equipped two shitty Blood Crafted rings, with a bit of life and one has +druid skills. It seems I need to obtain better rings, and some AR/Life charms.



Before:


Maul:

Use coa to boost stamina on war.

All life charms in inventory so you get upwards of 18k life.

AR is still too low.

Personally I prefer amp+faster weapon. Exec axe isn't fast and decrep is only 33% dmg. I have a crafted Thundermaul with 69 base ias. Does like 1389 dmg. With 4 ether you would reach 3 frame maul (break is 172ias) with 1200AR. Free if you want it.

Sure, I'd love to try it out. I'll probably keep Executor's on me for Iron Maiden areas and boss fights where I need Damage Reduction and Resistances.

With the increased AR from Ether Eyes, I could use CoA instead of Jalal's to help boost War until I can find a Tyrael's.

What is your tag in-game?

Decrep also slows and weaken the enemies, that's why I prefer it. But I play hc so safety is priority one. And I think the mods on exe far outweighs one frame faster attackspeed.

not to mention its harder to stop after 1 attack when IM is cast on you.

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Made a few changes. Wearing IK Gloves and Feet for huge AR/IAS boosts. This leaves me with 40% Damage Reduction, and the following stats. The drawback is I lost 10% crushing blow. I figure for bosses though I can equip Crown of Ages, Steelrends, and Gores for crushing blow, more damage reduction, and increased life from War (until I can find a Tyrael's).



Overall I think it is an improvement. Now let me hear the criticism!

Also, I'm loving Worldstone Granite. The shockwave on struck is really potent and helps when you get caught off guard.

Too low HP!!!!!!!!!

where is that 4k!!!!

<3

I would stick to bloodcrafted gloves or rends since off weapon ias is pretty useless on a shifter. You could stick to ik boots though for the ar and added life.

as others mention your hp is a bit on the low side , same with ar , rest seems to be ok , i wouldnt worry about the dr on executioners as the main thing it adds to your build , if you really wanted safety you should go 1handed , ward or stormshield comes to mind , gris caddy or rare zerker axe , im not very familiar with 1h maulers , i know my biter did well with shield / caddy .

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'may the force be with you' - Yoda??

+500% Enhanced Damage
10% Chance of Crushing Blow Essential
Ignore Target's Defense
12% Chance to Cast Level 6 Decrepify when Striking awesome imo
+80% Increased Attack Speed
50% Chance of Deadly Strike
Damage Reduced by 10% helps alot
Resist All +50% also helps alot on a char without a shield
+2-3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+2-3 to Druid Skill Levels
Reanimate Slain as: Returned (5%)

As for one handed/shield, I guess you could go that route if you get a one hander with atleast 800 max dmg and the speed to match. No idea what that could be.