I've met some people that remembered me from last season "Hey oxygen, the druid that kept dying!"; I've been living up to my name, it seems, for my wireless internet has been shittier than shitty. This being said, I thought I'd stack the odds against me an go for an entirely offensive build, a cold, hard, massively boss countering, 100 points and fully synergized fire druid! I mean, hey, it's softcore, right?

I could use some hints, though.

Firestorm is weird; sometimes it does massive damage, sometimes nothing; how am I supposed to use it effectively (am I even supposed to use it?)?

Molten Boulder doesn't look like it's worth the hassle using; did not level it yet.

Fissure is my personal favorite. Steady, pretty high damage and can be casted from far. Definitely my current right click.

Volcano is the most puzzling. Where should you set it up? Directly on top of something? In addition, just as Firestorm and Armageddon, its damage appears to be really random. Is that one worth using over Fissure?

Armageddon: Big damage, HUGE synergy (From 5 skills!!! 120 points!) but, I haven't just gotten to use it yet. Is it good? Is it worth leveling asap?

What should I level asap, anyway? Any mid level item suggestions?

I have limited experience with Elementalists.

Firestorm - Each jet of fire does damage seperately, similar to ChargedBolt. If you're in melee range against your target, this can be one of the most powerful fire spells.

MoltenBoulder - It's ability to knock several targets back is really quite handy, and can be a lot of damage depending on how well you used it. It's nearly useless in big parties where the targets are surrounded or against a wall and unable to be knocked back. I think the Juggernaught is your best teacher of how to use this. Study with care.

Volcano - As mentioned, this has some randomness, but can be a devestatingly powerful spell. Each little boulder-thingy spewed from the crater does it's own damage to any target it touches. If you cast this under a large creature (Wyrm, Yeti, Baal) then more of the boulders are likely to hit. I forget if this spell was "fixed" by having the next-hit-delay modified. If there's no next-hit-delay, then larger targets will die extrememly fast. Ths will spawn boss-counters nealry as fast as ChargedBolt.

Armageddon - The damage can get pretty good last I saw, but there's even more randomness to this than Volcano. There's very little testing with this skill since almost all Elementalists go the Ice route. My limited experience with Armageddon is that each meteor has a small radius where it damages stuff (you can test best by going back to Normal A3 difficulty some day, getting yourself totoally swamped with Fetishes, and then casting Armageddon). I think it's 2 yard radius each. Statistically speaking, most of your damage is dealth in a radius of about 2-4 yards around your character, so you have to be very close most of the time. Due to the randomness of the meteors' fall pattern, this skill could do very little damage, or quite a lot (very few lvl it, so I'm not sure).

Right, well, looks like I'll be a pioneer of some sort, since I'm planning on playing my character far no matter what

Firestorm is your best bet, with 1 pt in bear you can solo alot of mini bosses with it. Armageddon is amazing, if you run or walk it will hit in a trail behind you.

Oh, and hai Oxy

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Firestorm was my favorite spell. It has 0 counters. It can be cast in bear form. It can do massive damage if you use it right. I usually stood to the bottom right of the monster in melee range to get max damage. If you need something to hit a boss to keep it from regenerating, use ravens or armageddon after you get high enough.

Molten boulder is really good against monsters that it can knock back. Unfortunately this usually isn't the monsters that you would have a problem with.

Volcano is very dangerous due to crazy counters. I never put much into it due to this. The best way to use it though is to cast it on top of a monster and keep the monster from moving.

Armageddon does nice damage, but is unreliable. My fire druid didn't get it high enough level for it to be really useful.

Welcome back!

I wasn't aware that the bear could cast spells~

ive played on my buddies fire druid a few times, best fire druid ever, arguably the best elemental character. anyway, heres some stuff to chew on.

Advantages:
1. fireclaw druids get all the benefits of a tank ->oak+lycanthropy+block unlike physical druids, since damage does NOT come from your weapon! You do not use a 2 hander.
2. they do not collapse in the face of iron maiden since the majority of damage is elemental. This makes them incredibly sturdy and long term builds.
3. The situation where you cannot do anytihng to the enemy is incredibly rare, being that you have fire and some physical. unlike frostbite druids, YOU RAPE IZUAL.
4. one single shapeshift skiller gives you a-life,b-fire damage, c-physical damage.
5. he destroys single targets faster than most things you can field if equipped with the correct gear.

Disadvantages:
1. Because of their very low physical output, they don't really get much in the way of leach.
2. they require far more advanced gear than a physical build, i wouldn't reccomend them as the first character you make. they are sort of a late-endgame build and sucks early on.
3. they might not have as high numbers as a purely physical build.
4. he only hits one target at a time, he cannot do anything about packs whatsoever. ESPECIALY IF YOU GOT WITH A CONVICTION MERC instead of a1 bow merc.

tips- the 3 most important things on this druid in this order are:
1. attack speed. you want your weapon as fast as possible,over damage.
2. block rate. you wont be leaching, you want hits not to land on you.
3.-enemy resist. this is important of course in your gear. you want to build him more like a caster than a traditional melee. facets are a good idea if you can get them. Endgame you want a "TIME" on switch