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 is basically an elemental summoner build which places emphasis on the poison creeper. Once you get to hell most of the killing will be done by the grizzly and volcano.
For both poison creeper builds (see Posin Shockbear) I am listing the skill point assignments which you will make in order to become a patriarch. Should you opt to continue playing your character after making patriarch then you should make your further skill point assignments based on your own assessment of your character's needs.
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.
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. At level 24 I begin working on volcano, and then I max the grizzly and volcano with only the occasional point here and there in dire wolves if I find myself having to recast the grizzly too often. Having as many points as possible in dire wolves is important when you get to the tough battle in hell with the Ancients. Prior to that I believe that it is more important for the grizzly to deal high damage rather than have a high life.
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 will 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.
Volcano 20
Invest 1 skill point in each of volcano's prerequisites. You'll find that firestorm is not terribly useful or effective, but molten boulder and fissure will definitely be useful. Don't be tempted to place additional points into molten boulder and fissure. A volcano will work a lot better.
Arctic Blast 1
I actually had to use Arctic blast to kill Colenzo in hell. He spawned as immune to both fire and physical damage, and while my mercenary and minions fought his minions I used Arctic blast to kill Colenzo. However, I had invested the point in this skill solely as a prerequisite.
Cyclone Armor 1
Cyclone armor is an essential skill. The druid is usually well out of the fray most of the time and during these times cyclone armor is not important. However, against monsters like Diablo and Baal and LEB cyclone armor is invaluable as it will keep you alive. You can certainly place more than one point in this skill, but I found one point adequate for my needs.
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 unless you intend to equip a bow.
Energy Your goal here is to arrive at over 500 mana. (Over 600 mana is even better.) If you can do this without placing any points in energy then go for it. If you are unable to attain this amount of mana using only equipment than you might place as much as 35 points into energy. Usually this amount of mana is fully adequate for all your summoning and casting needs. There are a few battles, however, during which you will need to drink a potion. Fighting Lister and his gang in hell comes to mind.
Vitality The rest of your stat points go here.
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.
Your equipment should focus on mana, plus to skills, and fast cast. When you have a choice between boosting your summoning skills or your elemental skills, go for an increase in your summoning skills as they are synergistic with one another and will provide you with the greatest benefit. Since your character will usually be in the rear and not in the front line of battle, defense and resistance are not as important. However when you meet up with an LEB his sparks will travel and so you should endeavor to have good solid resistance to lightning -- as close to 75 percent as possible. Before fighting Diablo make sure you adjust your equipment so that you have maximum fire resistance as it will make your battle with Diablo a lot easier.
Jalal's Mane is probably the best choice with the Harlequin's Crest coming in second. Any 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.
A crafted caster belt might be the best choice. Otherwise there are any number of belts which will provide a nice set of attributes such as Nightsmoke for mana and resistance.
Mage Fist for + 1 to fire skills and improved mana regeneration is the best choice I believe. The Frostburn Gauntlets might make a good second choice, and there are rare gloves that will work.
Increased running speed is a nice attribute to have for those occasions when your druid stumbles into the front line of battle. There are a large number of magical, rare and unique boots which will provide increased running speed. Select your boots based on what other attributes your character requires such as lightning resistance.
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.
Perhaps the biggest equipment choice which faces you is whether or not to equip a bow. The advantage of a bow is that it provides you with an additional source of damage. Much of the time the druid himself is not actually engaged in combat, and it would be a simple matter for him to fire some shots with his bow. The disadvantage of a bow is that it requires you to invest stat points in dexterity and decreases the number of equipment slots which you can use to provide + to skills. Also you must address the question of maintaining an adequate attack rating. I choose to go with Islestrike, an axe, because it gives + 2 to all druid skills. Some elemental summoners prefer to use Earthshaker which gives + 3 to druid elemental skills, but as mentioned before I believe that it is more important/beneficial to boost your summoning skills rather than your elemental skills. Your character will not be engaging in melee fighting, so in the early game equip a weapon which provides some other desirable attribute such as mana or lightning resistance.
The choice of the correct mercenary is critical to success. The mercenary will be performing much of the monster killing and in single player mode especially needs to provide a versatile array of elemental damage in order to deal with the various monster immunities in hell. In my opinion the act 1 fire arrow rogue is the best choice with the equipment necessary to give her a + 3 to skills lightning hose. When I played this druid unfortunately my mercenary was woefully underequipped and if you can put better equipment on your mercenary you will have an easier time of it. Here is how I equipped mine.
Bow: Endlesshail. This was the best bow which I owned at the time.
Headgear: a rare circlet which adds 22-57 fire damage.
Armor: Sparking Mail. I selected this armor because of the small amount of lightning damage and the lightning resistance which it adds.
Since you will be dealing a considerable amount of fire damage with your volcano, a possible alternative to the rogue mercenary might be an act three lightning mercenary, but this is only speculation on my part. I have not actually played an act three lightning mercenary.
Once you get the poison creeper hang back and let the vine do the damage. Stay out of the fray. Recast the vine or other minions as needed. Cast your fire spells to make the killing quicker. Keep cyclone armor active all the time. While you are on normal level you might get complacent; that's how easy it is. But look out for frenzied moon lords on act 5; they require you to step up your rhythm.
The most important thing you have to do the throughout the game is to keep your minions in play at all times and keep the monsters occupied. Even against physical immunes cast your grizzly in their face and keep him there. He will pin down the monster making it easy for you to finish it off with your volcano, your mercenary, and your vine. At times you have to keep one eye on the upper left-hand corner of the screen to monitor your minions' life, another eye on the action, your third eye on the mini map, and your mind on your life and mana bulbs. 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. Of course you could cast the grizzly as a scout, but that is more mana intensive.
Andariel On normal she was killed by the poison creeper without any damage from my mercenary (who died) or me. You just have to run around keeping your distance until she is poisoned to death. Run her back and forth across the poisonous mat. On nightmare with help from the ravens she once again was killed by my poison creeper. Andariel in hell is easy.
Duriel keep Duriel occupied with your minions and you should have no trouble with him. Keep away from him and keep your eye on your mana bulb. Travel to town if you need to in order to replenish your mana.
Mephisto fighting Mephisto is like fighting Duriel except that it is easier to keep your distance or even put a wall between you and Mephisto.
Diablo on normal difficulty you can kill Diablo using only your poison creeper. Your mercenary will die and your bear will not survive the elemental attacks. The poison creeper will be unaffected by the elemental attacks. Remember one thing. Keep Diablo green. Toss in some fire damage when feasible. Make sure you have maximum fire resistance and keep your cyclone armor active. When you get to hell your grizzly will actually survive better, though not forever. Try to get the rhythm of keeping the grizzly alive, pinning Diablo down and casting volcano as much as possible. I actually had to kill Diablo twice in hell. The first time I killed him while he was offscreen and so I did not receive credit for the quest.
Baal on all three difficulty level the tentacles will tend to distract your minions. Feel free to recast them into more advantageous locations -- that is right next to Baal. When you fight him in hell once you have him pinned down with his life total dwindling, make sure you have volcano on your right click button locked onto him so that when he teleports the volcano will still be right under him.
The hell Ancients are going to be the most difficult battle you fight. Make sure you scatter full rejuvenation potions on the ground around the area. You will spend a lot of time running away and avoiding leap attacks, but again the secret of success will be to keep your grizzly alive so that he occupies the Ancients while you cast volcano in their midst. Cast the poison creeper into the fray as well in order to help your grizzly last longer. If you have the presence of mind and the time to do it then alternate casting of Oak Sage with Heart of Wolverine so as to bestow the benefits of both auras on your grizzly. If this is simply not feasible then use Oak Sage in order to keep your grizzly alive longer vs. the Ancients. Two out of the three Ancients I fought and killed were immune to fire with my volcano useless against them.
The first time I faced the ancients my character level was 60. I died several times. Finally I backed off and levelled up, pumping my vitality and the dire wolves. I suggest that you have your dire wolves at level 27 before facing the Ancients. When you face the Ancients on normal level you can actually kill all of them off with the poison creeper alone should you so choose. You simply have to run away and lead them across the poisonous mat. With a different poison creeper druid I once got killed by the nightmare Ancients due to lag caused by my ravens.
MorphMurph has suggested using 3 dire wolves to occupy the Ancients and pick them off one at a time. The wolves must be at a high skill point level with the Oak aura active. "Cast them while the ancients are transforming from stone so that they will target the wolf first and not you. make sure that you and your merc are next to the leaper so you avoid the 1hit kill."
Baal's minions in hell deserve some special mention. When you fight Bartuc and later Lister you will need to gradually retreat while you cast your grizzly, the vine, ravens and volcano in their faces.
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.