[0.4] Woolie's WOLFMAN - Druid Leaguestarter

I'm a big hairy man IRL, therefore, I WILL NOT LEAD YOU ASTRAY WITH THE BIG HAIRY WOLFMAN BUILD RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!

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SKILL ROTATION

Single Target

-----------PRE Cross Slash (Act 1)------------

spam Shred (Bleed I > Rage I) and use Pounce (Fist of War I > Stomping Ground) and Savage Fury whenever they are off cooldown

----------AFTER YOU HAVE Cross Slash------------

open with Ferocious Roar to generate Rage, if you do not have Eternal Rage yet

pop Savage Fury whenever you remember to (ideally, at the start but it works whenever)

however, ALWAYS ensure that Lunar Blessing is active - it grants a MASSIVE damage boost

1. Pounce (to use Freezing Mark - THIS IS A REGULAR SKILL GEM, NOT A SUPPORT)
2. Lunar Assault until enemy is "primed for freeze" (blue circle indicator on them)
3. Arctic Howl on primed (60% freeze buildup for Rare enemies; 70% for Uniques) OR frozen enemy
   if you froze them with Lunar Assault, still use Arctic Howl for its buff and Cold Exposure
4. Shred to generate Ice Fragments (use until the "Final Strike" occurs)
   you should have time to do two full Shreds
5. Cross Slash to pop all Ice Fragments

repeat!

sometimes, Lunar Assault will freeze the target before you can Arctic Howl - this is not a big deal (if they're easily frozen, they're easily killed!)
still, remember to pop Arctic Howl on tankier enemies anyway due to its buff and Cold Exposure

Clearing

use Lunar Blessing whenever it's off cooldown
ENSURE YOU HAVE Prolonged Duration II SOCKETED FOR PERMA-UPTIME!
press dodge SLIGHTLY after Lunar Blessing to animation-cancel
if you do it immediately, you may cancel the cast entirely (you'll quickly learn the correct timing)
be sure to generate rage with Ferocious Roar beforehand, if you don't have Eternal Rage yet

then, just Lunar Assault and Pounce from pack to pack
Herald of Ice and Lunar Blessing do the rest

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CAMPAIGN CHOICES

Valley of the Titans (Act 2)
30% Increased Charm Charges Gained

The Venom Crypts (Act 3)
30% Elemental Ailment Threshold

Halls of the Dead (Act 4)
+5 Strength, Dexterity & Intelligence
%Resistance is fine too

Abandoned Prison [CHAPEL STATUE] (Act 4)
30% Increased Life Recovery from Flasks

Qimah - 7 Pillars (Interlude Act 2)
12% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate

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CRAFTING A WEAPON

I have a dedicated video to crafting a weapon for this exact build

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IF YOU'RE STUCK

remember, you're playing melee (lol), which means your WEAPON is your LIFEBLOOD - if it has low flat damage, that is almost certainly the reason you're getting booty blasted.
phys & cold damage are ideal but any damage type works in Acts 1-2
"+lvl melee skills" is also a VERY good stat to have (also rolls on gloves!)

either gamble for an upgrade OR buy a decent one off a vendor and "craft" it (read: also gamble) if you are in dire straits

and, obviously, buying an upgrade from a player is absolutely the easiest and most cost-efficient!

if you're having mana issues...

once you each mid endgame and have invested a bit of $$, you will swap over to Blood Magic and ignore mana entirely.

however, until then... do these in order (likely on steps 1 and 2 will be necessary, though):

1. get a Sapphire with "recover %max mana on kill"
2. socket Mark of Siphoning II in Pounce (for bosses)
3. grab "%phys att dmg leeched as mana" on a ring (Lunar Assault deals 20% dmg as phys)
   you can also get life leech while you're at it
4. upgrade your mana flask (Lavianga's Spirits is expensive but nice QoL)

12/12 - LEAGUESTART DAY WOO! all early gems & passive tree stuff has been added and also added a brief section on "Forced Outcome Breakpoint" in the Passive Tree section, for when we progress more

12/13 - added new build variant for act 4+ (t4 supports)

12/13 update 2 - added another variant for Early Endgame (buy Bhatair's Vengeance!)
also, Day 2 update vid is out

12/14 - made some sweeping changes to skill gems & passive tree in the "Early Endgame" setup
do NOT use Scarred Faith early on! (we may spec into it once we have a LOT more armor)

12/14 update 2 - added another variant ("Mid Endgame"; includes Entwined Realities tech) and added detailed section on solving mana issues. also continued to modify support gems and passives!

12/15 - added new "Late Endgame" variant with the swap to Blood Magic

12/15 update 2 - added info on BiS life flask (for Blood Magic), adding a Heart of the Well and using a Time-Lost Emerald and (finally!) updated Cross Slash supports lol (and swapped Mark of Siphoning II to Holy Descent on Pounce)

12/16 - added 6L supports to Shred, Lunar Assault and Lunar Blessing

12/16 update 2 - updated all gear in "Late Endgame" to match my current character (~20div spent)

12/17 - added Atlas Tree to "Late Endgame" variant

12/17 update 2 - added Rakiata's Flow to Shred (seems to be better than Garukhan's Resolve)

12/18 - patch just dropped and buffed Lunar Blessing; we no longer need to use Second Wind III (use Cold Penetration instead)

12/19 - added new "HYPER Endgame" Variant, including a swap to Morior Invictus (life regeneration), Zealot's Oath and adding in Mind Over Matter for some more Entwined Realities synergy!

12/21 - added gem swap info for Pinnacle bosses (replace Ancestral Call II with Freeze in Lunar Assault)

12/21 update 2 - added update vid 6

*BIG UPDATE* 12/21 update 3 - for Shred, swapped out Concentrated Area for Overextend AND Long Fuse II for Garukhan's Resolve (only "HYPER" Endgame variant!)

ALSO, for the "HYPER Endgame" variant (using Zealot's Oath) - optimized the passive tree start to gain dmg and save 1 point - special thanks to Kasey on Discord :)

*ANOTHER BIG UPDATE* 12/22 - swapped around gems again on Shred (final time for sure!) and updated Herald of Ice gems for Late / Hyper Endgame setups for a bit better clear. also added in Deadly Thorns. ensure you are running Elemental Armament III in Shred (Mid Endgame+)

12/22 update 2 - changed Cross Slash supports around a bit (swapped Elemental Armament II to Elemental Armament III and Cold Attunement to Heavy Swing)

12/23 - modified Cross Slash again, swapping Close Combat II with Culmination II

12/23 update 2 - adjusted Campaign variants' support gems (and ordering)

12/24 - FULL BUILD GUIDE IS DONE! enjoy & Merry Christmas!

12/28 - clarified various support gem info in the "HYPER Endgame" setup (Garukhan's Resolve, Rakiata's Flow, removed Tul's Stillness description entirely)