Guide written by Alram on the DiabloII.Net Single Player Forums.
Before I go into the details of the builds I would like to state that in no way whatsoever do I make the claim that my approach is the only correct way. Use my ideas as guidelines to help you come up with your own better version of a poison creeper druid. In fact when it comes to equipment I am sure that many of you will be able to do better than me because I do not have all of the superior equipment necessary to make the best build possible. For example I used Skin of the Viper Magi v 1.07 for my armor which is inferior to v 1.09 in that it does not give plus 1 to skills. But unfortunately I did not own any armor which gives plus 1 to skills when I played these druids.
In both of these builds throughout the normal level the poison creeper will be your primary killer and it will steamroll over almost anything.
On the nightmare level the poison creeper will significantly reduce the life and health of your monsters making it easy for your mercenary and grizzly to perform one-hit kills.
In hell the poison creeper will score an occasional kill in combination with ravens, but its primary uses are as follows:
For more information on the Creeper, see the Poison Creeper Overview on this site.
This build was originally suggested to me by TheOther and I'm glad he did because it is a heck of a lot of fun to play. The shockbear is tougher and more versatile than the volcano summoner making him easier and perhaps more interesting to play. But the PvM shockbear is possibly more demanding in terms of equipment needs and reliance upon the mercenary. The shockwave skill provides powerful crowd control, and your werebear form enables you to be a formidable tank. When it suits you you can hit something, or when the occasion arises and things get too hot for you in the front lines you can retreat to the rear and play a more passive style. Since shockwave does physical damage when you meet up with a physical immune monster you will have to rely upon your mercenary to kill it. Since monsters can spawn as both immune to physical damage as well as to some form of elemental damage your mercenary must be capable of providing a powerful source of at least two different types of elemental damage.
The recommendations for skill point assignment in the summoning tree are very similar with only minor differences to those of the volcano summoner.
Poison Creeper 15 - 20
Initially all of your skill points should be invested in the poison creeper as it is your primary killing machine when on the normal difficulty level. When you find that the poison creeper is fully adequate for all of your monster killing needs then intersperse some points into your shapeshifting skills and do of a bit of melee fighting if it suits you.
Ravens 1
They look cool and make a small contribution.
Spirit Wolf 1 skill point as a prerequisite only.
Once you have placed 15 to 20 points in the poison creeper then begin working on the rest of the summons tree. I like to fight Duriel using the poison creeper only. You may find this hairy and scary and prefer to have your one point in dire wolf' and ravens prior to entering Duriel's chamber.
Dire Wolf and Grizzly 20
The question arises as to which skill to max first -- dire wolves or the grizzly. I place three points in dire wolves at the beginning so that I'll have three wolves until the grizzly comes along at level 30. I max the grizzly with only the occasional point here and there in dire wolves if I find myself having to recast the grizzly too often. It is much easier to battle the Ancients in hell with the shockbear and you will not need the full 20 points in dire wolves before you get to the Mt. Arreat summit.
Heart of Wolverine 1
Oak sage 1
Most guides and reports which I have read choose to max one or both of the spirits. I was able to get both of the spirits to level 9 with + to skills equipment. That proved to be fully adequate. Be aware that if you to choose to place additional points in either of these skills that you will not receive additional benefit past level 20. Ideally you will be wearing equipment which provide you with + to skills. So calculate ahead of time how much + to skills you'll anticipate having and don't go over 20 total.
Werewolf 1
Only one point should be invested in the skill as a prerequisite only.
Lycanthropy 1
This is an essential skill which adds life and extends the time during which you can remain in werebear form before shifting. Probably everyone who plays a melee werebear places as many points as possible in this skill. However, for a shockbear who is not going to do any melee fighting one point is fully adequate. Your equipment will of course provide additional + to skills.
Werebear 1
As you play you will remain in werebear form all of the time and will be recasting this skill periodically. Make it a habit at the end of every battle to shift back to human form and then once again into werebear form.
Maul 1
Only one point should be invested in the skill as a prerequisite only.
Shockwave 10 or more.
There are several considerations to take into account when deciding how many points to invest in shockwave. Shockwave will be your source of crowd control. All monsters except for champions and bosses will be stunned by the shockwave when it hits them. The more points you invest in shockwave the longer the monsters will remain stunned.
Stat point assignment for the shockbear is identical to that of the volcano summoner. I reproduce it here for the convenience of the reader with a few additional remarks.
When I made the poison creeper druid I was in uncharted territory and so initially I left many of my stat points unassigned as I was uncertain as to just what my strength and dexterity needs might be. In fact it was not until act two or three of hell that I finally committed all of my stat points. So you can certainly do the same.
Strength Only enough to wear the equipment you need. Probably 85-95 will be adequate.
Dexterity Do not place any points in dexterity.
Energy Your goal here is to arrive at over 500 mana. If you can do this without placing any points in energy then go for it. If you have to place more than 5 points in energy then you had better make sure you can boost your life totals with your equipment.
Vitality The rest of your stat points go here. It is very important to have a high life total so that you will be a durable tank. When I beat Baal in hell my life total in the werebear form with the oak sage aura active was 2,873.
The equipment of the volcano summoner focuses on mana, plus to skills, and fast cast. The werebear also requires a high life total and at least 75% lightning resistance is practically mandatory. A high level of fire resistance is also recommended not only for fighting Diablo but also to keep yourself alive when fire enchanted bosses die. When you have a choice between boosting your summoning skills or your shape shifting skills, go for an increase in your summoning skills as they are synergistic with one another and will provide you with the greatest benefit.
I have finished the game without having all of the uber equipment. I will make some specific recommendations/suggestions about equipment, but I feel that it is more important for you first to understand the needs of the character, and then find equipment which satisfies those needs. This is a better approach then memorizing a list of all the best possible equipment there is. If you already have all of the best possible equipment then you probably already know what you need. If you don't already own all of the uber equipment then you are likely to feel as though you absolutely must have it in order to play this build and that is not true.
Jalal's Mane is even a better choice for a shockbear then it is for the volcano summoner due to the + 2 to shape shifting skills which it grants. I used a Harlequin's Crest as I do not have Jalal's Mane. A Coronet or Druid's Pelt which provides an ample boost to your summoning skills would also be a good choice.
Skin of the Viper Magi for fast cast, resistances and + 1 to all skills is an excellent choice.
Lidless Eye is the best as it gives you fast cast as well as + 1 to all skills.
I eventually settled on Trang Oul's belt which grants a life and mana bonus and the special attribute "cannot be frozen."
I started out with Mage Fist, but as I did not need the + 1 to fire skills I eventually settled on Trang Oul's gloves which when worn in combination with the belt still gave me a boost to my mana regeneration.
Increased running speed is always a nice attribute to have. I used Natalya's boots to get some lightning resistance as well. Select your boots based on what other attributes your character requires.
Rare or magical amulets which gives a bonus to druid or summoning skills can be gambled for.
Rare rings can come with a wide variety of different attributes. Use your rings to help make up for any deficits in your other equipment. I ended up using a Dwarf Star for the life, fire absorbtion, and magic damage reduction as well as a magical ring which gave me five points in energy and 120 mana.
At times you may be tempted to get in some melee hits. After all the monsters are standing right in front of you stunned and vulnerable and unable to hit you back. The problem here is twofold. First of all if you use Islestrike for the + 2 to skills your attack will be very slow. Secondly your attack rating will be low and you will miss a great deal. An obvious solution would be to use a fast weapon which has the special ability "ignore target defense" and which does not require any investment in dexterity. Guess what! Such a weapon exists -- Spineripper, a unique dagger. Of course, the damage which Spineripper deals is not terribly huge. Nothing in life is perfect. An alternative consideration for a weapon which might be useful on the weapon switch is Hexfire. Hexfire also has the special ability "ignore target defense" and in addition provides an extra boost to your fire resistance. It does have a modest requirement in dexterity. So you would need to decide whether you want to adjust your equipment set up to provide enough dexterity for Hexfire. Be aware that if you use a weapon which has "ignore target defense" that this special ability does not work against champions and bosses. Of course having said all of that, you really don’t need to melee - Plus to skills is far more important.
The choice of the correct mercenary is critical to success. In hell the mercenary will be performing all of the significant elemental damage. Don't use an act three mercenary; when you encounter a PI in hell which is also immune to your Iron Wolf's form of elemental damage it will take an excessively long time to make the kill using the poison creeper alone. A fire arrow rogue mercenary which can deal lightning damage is the only possibility here. Give her the equipment for a lightning hose --+ 3 to skills. Additionally you must make sure that she has the maximum possible resistance to lightning so that she stays alive. I equipped my mercenary with the following items:
Sazabi's Basinet Plus 1 to skills with fire and lightning resistance.
Cliffkiller bow Plus 2 to bow skills with high physical damage and knockback.
Skin of the Viper Magi with an Ort rune-- elemental resistance(in version 1.09 + 1 to skills as well)
Once you get the poison creeper let the vine do the killing. Early on some melee fighting in the werebear form will work. Stop the melee fighting if you find yourself having to consume too many potions and having too many close calls. Recast the vine or other minions as needed. Particularly once you have the shockwave skill and adequate mana to cast it repeatedly stay out in the front of your minions, stun the monsters, and keep them stunned while your mercenary and your minions do the killing. There might be some occasions when the battle gets too hot and heavy and you need to retreat to the back from where you will repeatedly recast the grizzly and the vine until you have worn your enemy down. On some occasions however if you find that this solution is not working it might actually be better to go right up front and tank in spite of the apparent ferocity of the battle. Remain in the werebear form at all times. Keep your minions in play at all times. Use your grizzly to pin down monsters which you cannot stun. Stay alert. As you move along the terrain cast your poison creeper far ahead of you as a scout so that you don't get caught unawares. The hell ancients were not hard. The end of act Bosses can be tanked including Diablo and Baal. On the whole you will have a much easier time with them than you will have with the volcano summoner.
Many people contributed information and feedback in their posts which has gone into this report.
I'd like to give special mention to TheOther AKA Fiddler are on the Roof for his enthusiastic support and his posting of my preliminary report on diabloii.net.
Fenris Wolf for his observations, suggestions, and questions.
MorphMurph for his quoted suggestions on fighting the hell Ancients with the volcano summoner.
Stickels for his enthusiasm and innovative spirit.
Mother Of Daemons for translating the preliminary report into Czech.
Casperi for his observations on the poisonous mat.
Deadpan for his astute and creative additions. He has an excellent creative Multiplayer build which utilizes the poison creeper.