Druid — Achaea's Forums

Druid Combat

Lyrei — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 21:57:22 +0000

I was wondering if someone could break down Druid combat a bit. I have a knowledge of combat in general, but I am unsure of where to go from what knowledge I have.

I know I have asked a few people in game but explaining it here seems like it may be a bit easier. So far all I know is you can combine CLAMPS with either STAFF SWING or the other hydra head abilities. Maybe with jabbing too for venoms?

I just am not sure of the general direction to even begin so any help would be appreciated.

Hives and harvesting

Ryssa — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:20:31 +0000

Is there a way to tell if harvesting one's hive gives the druid lessons to a skill, and is there anyway to know which? Or is it just at an unknown random?

Druid and archery?

ReiLarkmir — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 05:11:31 +0000

I'm new to MUD's, Achaea is my first one. I always liked being an archer in MMOs before, and I'm having a ton of fun so far being a tsol'aa druid, although, being only lvl 12, I have a lot to learn.
Is it silly to consider learning archery in the future, if it's even possible? Will my abilities as a pure druid make it useless?
Thank you for considering my newbie question.

Using up Willpower and Endurance

Meihui — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 10:46:13 +0000

I am a Horkval, a race that happens to have a high capacity for endurance. My willpower is also quite high, as my second greatest stat after endurance.

I was wondering, are there any ways that I can turn my endurance and willpower into combat potential as a Druid? I use my quarterstaff frequently, which does use up some endurance -but not nearly enough. Theoretically, continually using a metamorphosis should strain one and use up their willpower, but I haven’t seen any drains on my stats when I keep up a morph. Is metamorphosis cost bugged?

As a Druid, what is the best way to Dismantle a City?

Meihui — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 13:52:25 +0000

I am still pretty low level and pretty new to Achaea but I do already have two goals:

1) Destroy All Cities everywhere, period. Return Achaea to the Dark Ages of Civilization and the Golden Ages of Nature! Help and input needed. Are there any likeminded Druids that have put serious thought into tactics to accomplish this goal, that are willing to share them with a fledgling Druid like me?

2) Create a Forest AND/OR the ultimate Garden....Somehow. It doesn’t seem to be possible in Achaea and/or is quite possibly the Domain of Gods. Please let me know if you have any insight or ideas. I am sure that I am not the first Achaean to pose such a query, particularly of the Druid variety! Here—> https://forums.achaea.com/discussion/6704/is-there-any-way-to-grow-a-forest-can-enough-planting-harvesting-skill-ability-do-so#latest

Squishy Druid Wanting To Learn Combat

Jalia — Mon, 24 Dec 2018 06:42:04 +0000

so im transed in meta, almost there in groves. Barely done anything in reclamation. Can anyone give me some good aliases for combat? Or some tips on reflexes? I have a feeling reflexes are the bread and butter. I connect with nexus. thanks!

-Jalia-

Reclamation Begin/Expand/Relinquish Mechanics

Mcdougall — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 19:15:33 +0000

Hi All,

I've been playing with these three a little, to see how they affect Druid mobility. I was hoping someone could check my understanding:

1) It seems like RECLAMATION BEGIN takes a few seconds, but is not channeled, so you can do things while doing it. You can only use RECLAMATION BEGIN once until you use RECLAMATION RELINQUISH.
2) Once you've used RELINQUISH you can RECLAMATION BEGIN another room.
3) RECLAMATION EXPAND seems to be the only real way to claim more than one room at a time (i.e. you have to expand from your initial reclaimed room). The only exception is the skill that absorbs bodies, but I'm counting that out as only semi-reliable.
4) RECLAMATION RELINQUISH removes all of your claimed rooms. This means you can't get around 1), 2) and 3) by using BEGIN, then EXPAND, then RELINQUISH only the room you claimed via BEGIN.

If I'm understanding correctly, the above four mechanics leads to the following restrictions/combat styles:

a) All of your reclaimed rooms need to be connected (i.e. start with BEGIN, expand adjacently with EXPAND or other skills).
b) If someone runs more than one room, you either need to follow them slowly and RECLAMATION EXPAND each time you move, or;
c) you need to claim then expand into a bunch of rooms to try and pre-empt their movement/control an area, or;
d) you need to treat this as a one-room skill, and use RECLAMATION RELINQUISH then RECLAMATION BEGIN each time someone moves.

Am I misunderstanding the basics here?

Beyond that, what happens if you RELINQUISH a single room? Do your Reclamation passives shut down, forcing you to set them back up again?

Appreciate anyone's insight.

@Rom - if you're still around, pinging you as I've seen a lot of good answers from you on Hydra combos, Groves, and some info on Reclamation.

Thanks all!

Edits: typos and clarity about expand being the "only" skill to claim more than one room.

Reclamation

Renrifrur — Sun, 28 Oct 2018 14:21:41 +0000

Reclamation seems like it has great potential, but at the same time feels slightly... Empty.

The first three abilities could easily be packaged into one.
Status should really be the second ability in the tree, or in this first package.
Forestwalk is just Flow, except on your claimed land. I'd rather just be able to Flow to people within my claimed land.
Sleep Spores... Well... I'm not sure how useful those are, but I'm imagining the answer is somewhere near "Not very."
Windwhisper is nice. It feels like a Groves ability though.
Knowledge is just Eyes.
Omniscience is Forestwatch.
Poison Spores could be okay, until you realise you can only have one effect.
Consume is... Cool... I guess...?
Constrict seems fair, but you can already do that without the cooldown limitation using Hydra, which uses a whole other balance.
Regrowth is nice. It's another Rejuvenate though.
Pollen can't be used with other spores.
Signal feels like it should be built into Reclamation by default.
Polarity... I didn't even realise you could have one effect at a time until reading this, and it left me actually mind boggled.
Subsume would be useless if Reclamation just made your reclaimed land Forest and allowed you to use your Groves skills in it.
Ward should maybe be a passive, though having an extra defence that needs to be stripped is nice.
Revive is incredible... But we already have it in Groves, it's just not mobile, and Revive is free.
Embrace, killpath, nice.
Wrath? ALL MY HARD WORK. But seriously, it does sound like an incredibly strong ability, even if it's only a Lash 2.0, which also removes all your claim.

Suggestions:

Make Reclamation more of a Long-Term skill, make it create forests that last and can be used with groves.
Allow ability to nurture existing forests and the new ones you're creating afresh with nice utility.
Allow Forestals to actually claim the world back in some way, but in a manageable way.
More Refresh and Smother like abilities, those are the really good ones!

These are obviously just my opinions, but Reclamation as an actual skill... It holds little that's actually new.

Reclaim (Relinquish, Expand, Status)

Lash

SleepSpores

WindWhisper

Poisonspores

Consume

Pollen

Smother

Refresh

Embrace

Wrath

When I look at Reclamation abilities, this is what I see the skill as being, in terms of new stuff, with the stricken abilities being ones that'd take me a lot of convincing to use.
Stuff like Refresh, Windwhisper and Smother is nice.
I mean absolutely no offence, but this is just what I feel at the moment.

Druid Combat Role?

Darkstal — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 15:51:28 +0000

Hello again Sapience!

When I had originally played, I had set forth to embrace the Metamorph side of things while using the staff from Groves for support/defense, though now Reclamation adds a level of control that I'm still wrapping my mind around and determining how useful it can be.

What has everyone's experience been with regards to a Druid's Best role in both Bashing/PvP within Achaea? Below is what I'm reflecting on so far so please correct me where I am wrong:

Metamorphosis: Mana heavy initial setup, Endurance heavy once Powers are being utilized. Monk-style combos with multiple Hydra heads for PvP, fairly potent Wyvern Bashing setup with Maul. Could be argued that almost all the offense and most control can be done through this branch of Druids, with the right setup for afflictions leading to deadly combos.
Groves: Staff and Grove provide a 3rd Resources as Sunlight which is spent in combination with mana. Can be used to enhance defenses and provide a wide range of support (Healing and Affliction Mitigation) with little in the way of offense (Staff Swing/Sharpen/Stab, Blizzard, and Lightning). Hives can be useful, and the Golem is nice if setup in advance and druid can declare own terms. Can portal grove to new locations for more support/potency when needed (limited to forests only). Can be situational and limits heavily to environment, with some utility through the use of the staff.
Reclamation: Mana Heavy, seems to be a full counter to Extermination which wasn't there when I last played, having replaced concoctions. Use a "creep" like effect to branch out in a forest, which adds an additional layer to a grove/forest that prevents Extermination. Provides Lashing (Offense) and Spores (Control/Afflictions), with a unique variety of utility movement/remote scrying abilities. Potential offensive ability usable in any room, easier in Forests, and instant in a grove

From what I can gather from the above, the class is fairly potent with stacking afflictions, control, and support with a few combos offensively to be potent. I'm still wrapping my mind around the new Rage abilities, which I imagine can alter combat in some way but not entirely sure yet.

Has everyone else's experience been about the same? Thanks for all the feedback!

What is new from 2006?

Darkstal — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 15:41:19 +0000

Hello fellow Druids!

Darkstal has returned to Achaea after a massively long hiatus (almost 12 years if memory serves?) and I dare say the culture shock is a bit overwhelming as a LOT has changed. I've noticed the introduction of specializations (eyeballing that Satyr Galant Specialisation...), traits (so many to pick from!), and a wide range of other changes/improvements to skills.

I signed in to check my guild to find Auto-classing paving the way to Houses?

It has been a long time out of the works, and if anyone happens to have some direction on how to get back into the swing of things without nuking myself I'd appreciate it.

In joyful service,
formerly Apprentice Druid Darkstal Ravenclaw, Hoof of the Druids, now Darkstal the Lost?

Hydra Prepping

Jeslyn — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 22:45:25 +0000

I've been trying to get this question answered for a couple days now and I thought I'd try here, but I'm new to Druid and even newer to prepping. As a priest, I could get away with just using afflictions to get a kill, even as a beginner, but it is hard to get one as a new unartied Druid. I'm fairly decent with flight and curing, but that won't win a battle. (I'm also tri-transed and have survival/weaponry maxed.)

My question is how do you do hydra limb prepping -effectively- to get a kill? My desire is to prep, bind, freeze, and then pound. My method right now is flame, snap, and prep with clamp × 3 each limb and then try to break, bind, icewyrm freeze × 3, and then gorilla pound. I know this is hard to accomplish, but I'm new at this and like to try to stay away from the typical mauling someone to death. Thanks for the help!

Edit: also like to add, I tried the method before twice above and it goes to shit. I have no idea how to get it to work!

Skill Changes

Prythe — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 17:54:50 +0000

Is anybody planning to _not_ relearn the two skills which will together reform "Concoctions?"

If not, why not?

which artifacts?

Pathris — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 04:13:22 +0000

Got some credits to burn. Level 1 sip ring and +1 con, or just level 2 sip?

Duel-wielding over traditional fighting tactics

Masaryk — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 12:27:23 +0000

I've always been curious (though never have tested) about whether a tactic like transing weaponry, duel-wielding blades, and using the jaguar reflexes for delivering faster blows would work well compared to the traditional tactics that druids have used for pvp in the past. Has anyone looked into this before, or is this just some stupid pipe dream?

Sentinel vs Druid

Valdus — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:55:21 +0000

So @Aepas made an excellent post in the What are the differences in the classes? thread that has made me think about the class and I've come up with a question I'd like the community to help me answer.

Which is the more effective class against the rest of the world - Sentinel or Druid?

For this exercise I'd like to mention a couple of things that should be considered. First, the character would have Trans skills in everything relevant. Guild skills, Survival, Evasion, Vision, Weaponry, Tattoos, Miniskills, etc. So pretty much omnitrans I suppose. Secondly, they would have artifacts. This would include the creme de la creme. Level 3 knuckles and level 3 strength artifact for maximum Metamorphosis damage. A diadem for faster EQ recovery. In the case of the druid, level 3 Int/Collar for better Lightning, etc. Basically pimp these guys out. Assume defensive artifacts also.

So, they're both on an even playing field when concerning artifact and skill level, so the deciding factor should come down to class ability, as we're going to assume the opponents they face are of equal skill and ability.

Am I incorrect in thinking that the Sentinel would have an easier time? With much of the Druid's power being tied to their grove, the obvious strategy to fighting them is to not fight them inside it, whereas a Hunter would have much more mobility with their pets traveling with them.

What do you guys think about this hypothetical question?

Future Druid Combatant

Cerulean — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:31:29 +0000

Hello! I was wondering what recommendations people have for a Druid wanting to get into combat (or at least effective defense) in the future. I'd like to know what skills/abilities/equipment/artifacts (if any)/what have you are essential or suggested.

If I'm just completely crazy for wanting to get into combat as a Druid/new player, you can tell me that too.

Assume that money/time is no object. Money sort of is... but let's just pretend it's not for now. Pretending is fun.

More backslashes because I didn't use enough of those in this post! /// Slash, slash, slash.

Them droods pounding away

Aepas — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:50:18 +0000

I've gone into a few battles now, and had tons of fun as a druid. I typically go in as Hydra and work towards the freezepound. It normally works like a charm, except against those particularly tanky opponents who just refuse to die..

Freezepound- What I always assumed the druids true instant-kill should be. It's pretty hard to pull off, yet it does not fully kill. It does get it's own killing message, much like BBT, but it's still not a true kill. It's a pretty superficial problem, not a lot of people are actually able to tank a full pound as it is, especially if there was a good momentum going into it or you get lucky with the bees right before or after the pound actually hits. Freezepound hits at about a 97% damage. Why? why is the number this high, and not simply an instant kill? This mainly becomes a problem when fighting classes with vitality, or runies. (I may be wrong, but I think Algiz is the only thing that changes the 97% damage blast.)

I assumed that the refusal to allow this to be an instant kill had something to do with abusable properties of freezing, but I can not really find many. It requires less to freeze someone then say, prep for a vivisection, but with how systems cure anymore, two knights could be just as effective for a vivisection as two druids could be blasting ice, so that seems out of the question. Just as well the pound is prevented by shield, and freezing will not stop the arms.

The main problem I've found is with high health regeneration and a good parry system. Hydra heads are quite slow, and so is jaguar, even with reflexes on. It's difficult to stack enough salves to get all the freezing on top of that to get a good freezepound. Hydra generally seems the most versatile at breaking limbs and multitasking, but it's damage is horrible. If you have to get around parry with an axe or staffswing, the actual clamping head does around 100 damage, and that's to high health opponents. Once the opponent is fully broken and on the ground, you still have to freeze them up before the pound. We'll assume this process takes about five seconds. Even if the momentum was good going into it, this last part deals virtually no damage to the opponent, and even gives them the time to heal up quite a bit, between passive/health/moss which they might get one of each in before the pound hits. As I said before, if the vitality hits, it's all back from stage one, and the heavy artied ones will sip for more then a druid can deal to kill after a pound. Balance there is pretty long.

Tl:DR
Freezepound should be an instantkill