With a weapon chosen, the next step is to determine the rest of his equipment. Here is another area where the Werewolf is quite flexible. There are many types of armors and jewelry available in the world of Diablo II and quite a lot of it is useful, depending upon the situation. However, some combinations are more useful than others and I hope to lay out some guidelines here that can help you piece together the right combination of gear, for your Werewolf.
Basically, there are five things that a Werewolf should take into account when choosing gear:
1. Having enough OIAS to reach the desired attack rate for your weapon of choice should you choose a slow weapon (see the Weapons Section and look it up on the tables if you're not sure if you need nay additional OIAS or not)
2. Having at least one piece of equipment with the "Cannot be Frozen" modifier
3. Maintaining a good amount of Defense Modifiers like Damage Reduction as well as decent Resistances
4. Life Leech/Mana Leech
5. And lastly, Deadly Strike and/or +Skills Gear
Also bear in mind that you will need a good Attack Rating/Hit Percentage. However, since Werewolves generally get a lot of bonus attack rating from their skills, this is often taken care of without specifically thinking about it.
Obviously, there are many different items that fit into these categories. The secret is to find a combination of items that will take all of these categories into account. To help in this, I will list items that fit into these classes, as well as point out some especially notable items which often fit into multiple categories.
OIAS Gear
The first thing that I take care of when planning the rest of my equipment is OIAS gear. I always like to get my attack rate as fast as is possible for the weapon that I choose. After all, a faster weapon means more damage dealt as well as more flexibility to changing situations. For the most part, however, with a slvl 20 Werewolf, most weapons will not need this. But if you choose to go with a very slow weapon of some sort (Thunder Mauls, Bardiches, etc.) you'll want a small amount of OIAS. Thus, I will just list my favorite sources of OIAS.
OIAS Sources:
Gloves - Gloves are the easiest place to look for OIAS. Many magical and rare gloves spawn with IAS mods on them (up to 20%). If you can find IAS gloves with other good mods on them (particularly crafted Blood Gloves) these gloves can often out-strip the other Set or Unique gloves.
Noteable Unique or Set gloves:
Sanders Taboo
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Easy to find, these come with 20% IAS as well as +40 life. These are quite useful early on or for people who are new to the game.
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Magnus' Skin
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A bit more rare than Sanders' Gloves, these gloves (from the Orphan's Call set) have 20% IAS, +100 Attack Rating, and +15% Fire Resistance. Because these gloves combine abilities from multiple categories, they are particularly good (and my personal favorite).
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Bloodfist
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A low level unique, these gloves offer 10% IAS, 30% Faster Hit Recovery, and +40 to Life. While the IAS is less on these than other gloves, if you only need a small amount of OIAS to reach the animation length that you want, the additional modifiers on these gloves are excellent.
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Lava Gout
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A more rare unique, these gloves feature 20% IAS and a decent amount of fire damage and resistance. I'm not as much a fan of these gloves as the additional modifiers here are not quite as essential to a Werewolf, but they are still quite decent. A fast attacking Fury Werewolf can deal out a lot of fire damage with these gloves.
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Sigon's Set
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A partial set bonus for Sigon's Set is 30% IAS on the gloves when combined with one other item from the set. In addition, for 2 items of the set, another partial bonus is 10% life steal. Because of this combination (and the high amount of IAS) of abilities, many people use the gauntlets from this set combined with either the boots (there aren't that many GREAT boots out there) or the helmet (for a HUGE increase in Attack Rating). However, there are better helmets out there, so, depending upon the situation, it might not be the best choice to use the gloves/helmet combination. Either way, this set is extremely useful in the early stages of the game (required level of 6, and the gloves give +10 to Strength).
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Armor, Helmet, Shield - All of these items can be socketed by the socket quest, and 15% IAS jewels can be stuck into them. However, most of the time other items are even better to socket into these locations as a Perfect Ruby in a helmet or armor can greatly increase one's life, an Um Rune can add much needed resistances (or a Perfect Diamond in a shield), or a Shael Rune will add 20% Faster Hit Recovery in a helmet or armor, or Faster Blocking Rate in a shield. I see socketing items as a way to make up any deficiencies in my choice of gear (be it IAS, Hit Recovery, or Resistances) so this is usually one of the last things that I would look at. For the most part, a Werewolf should never really need to socket IAS jewels into his armors.
However, if you are using a REALLY slow weapon, there are ways other than socketing to get IAS on armors.
Noteable Uniques:
Twitchthroe
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This armor has an inherent 20% IAS and Faster Hit Recovery. However, its low defense and lack of other defensive modifiers are not really helpful for a Werewolf so I would not recommend it.
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Crow Caw
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This armor also has 15% IAS and Faster Hit Recovery and significantly more defense than Twitchthroe but, again, the rest of the mods on it are not particularly helpful for a Werewolf (I like to choose a good defensive armor with some form of Damage Reduction). Also this armor is heavy, making you run quite slowly so I tend not to look here for IAS if I can avoid it.
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Black Hades
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With three sockets and a huge defense, this armor can be quite useful to a Werewolf. In addition, its resistances are fairly good, making this armor a great choice if you need a lot of OIAS for your weapon. But, as usual, you won't need that much, so you can steer clear, here.
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Stealskull
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10% IAS and Faster Hit Recovery in addition to 5% mana/life leech and magic find makes this helmet one of my favorites. If you need the extra 10% IAS, this helmet is a great source for it.
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Belt: Well, there are two choices here, Goldwrap and Nosferatu's Coil.
Goldwrap
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This belt is fairly low level so it should not be particularly hard to find. It provides 10% IAS as well as a healthy dose of Magic and Gold Find. This is one of my favorite belts that are available. However, I tend to use String of Ears (which I shall discuss later) which leaves Goldwrap out in the cold.
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Nosferatu's Coil
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This belt adds 10% IAS, 5% life steal, 10% slow target and +15 to strength. Very powerful, but also very rare, so don't expect to be finding this one any time soon. =)
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Jewelry: Here, there are two choice, the Cat's Eye Amulet or Highlord's Wrath.
Cat's Eye Amulet
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This amulet gives 20% IAS as well as +25 to Dexterity (think additional Attack Rating) and the ever-fun 30% Faster Run/Walk. This amulet is a favorite of anyone that needs more than 20% OIAS for their weapon, as it is quite good. However, since a Werewolf already has a large bonus to run/walk speed, you probably won't notice this much. Personally, I'd look for a different amulet.
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Highlord's Wrath
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This amulet is fairly hard to find, but is quite powerful, should you find it. It has +1 to all Skill Levels, Deadly Strike based upon Character Level (up to 37%), +1-30 lightning damage, and a good amount of Lightning Resistance in addition to its 20% IAS. This is definitely my amulet of choice if I need to find a source of IAS as the +1 to all Skills is quite nice and the Deadly Strike can make a HUGE difference in the damage of a Werewolf.
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"Cannot be Frozen"
In my opinion, this is an essential modifier for a Werewolf. Chilled Werewolves are painful to watch because they are so unbelievably SLOW! Thus, to avoid being chilled, use at least one "Cannot be Frozen" item at all times. This modifier can be found on the following pieces of equipment:
Raven Frost
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This is a very good source of Attack Rating. Up to +250 to AR as well as up to +20 to Dexterity makes this Ring almost a single source solution to the AR problems of a Werewolf. In addition, this ring has the powerful (and very necessary) "Cannot be Frozen" modifier. I use one of these on many of my Werewolves, as it is just such a powerful source of Attack Rating and Freeze Resistance. The only drawback is that it is a ring, so you will probably be giving up some resistance or life/mana leech by using this.
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Hawkmail
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Hawkmail is a solid low-level armor providing the "Cannot be Frozen" modifier. Its drawback is that it is a heavy armor and so you tend to run out of stamina when running around in it at low levels.
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Duriel's Shell
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This armor is great! It has good resistances, a high defense, additional life, and of course the "Cannot be Frozen" mod. I have always loved this armor and have used it on many a Werewolf. Sure, it looks kind of funny on a Druid, but since you'll be shifted most of the time, you will hardly notice!
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Death's Guard
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If you don't have a good belt, this sash can be a good place to pick up the "Cannot be Frozen" modifier. However, this is the only major ability on this sash, and it has a low durability in addition to only 2 rows for potions, so it is not necessarily the best place to get it. This is a great belt for a low-level Werewolf, however, and when combined with the gloves, gives you additional resistances and 30% IAS. |
Trang-Oul's Girth
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For higher level characters that have their belt open to change, this belt can be a great source of "Cannot be Frozen." With good defense, low requirements, +66 to Life, +30 to Stamina and +25-50 to Mana, this belt can help to crank up the life total of a Werewolf. |
Rhyme (Shael-Eth) Shield
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If you choose to use a One-Handed Weapon, this shield is also a great source of this mod. With 20% Increased Blocking, 40% Faster Block Rate, +25% Resist All, and Magic/Gold Find, this shield has a great combination of abilities and can be socketed into the basic shield of your choice. |
Defensive Equipment
Let's face it a Werewolf is not the most defensive of characters and is going to take some hits. Thus, it is a good idea to have some form of Damage Reduction and Resistance as well as a good amount of Faster Hit Recovery Equipment. Here is a list of breakpoints for Faster Hit Recovery and Faster Block Rate (for those Shield users) for a Werewolf:
Faster Hit Recovery Breakpoints
| Frames | Hit Recovery |
| 7 | 0% |
| 6 | 9% |
| 5 | 20% |
| 4 | 42% |
| 3 | 86% |
| 2 | 280% |
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Faster Block Rate Breakpoints
| Frames | Block Rate |
| 9 | 0% |
| 8 | 7% |
| 7 | 15% |
| 6 | 27% |
| 5 | 48% |
| 4 | 86% |
| 3 | 200% |
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Often, these types of abilities can be picked up on items that fit into other categories. After all, a good body armor might combine a good Defense, Resistance, Faster Hit Recovery and can be socketed to make up for any deficiencies. Thus, a good Rare or Magical armor can often suffice to fill many of these roles. However, there are some items that are particularly good at taking care of these categories:
Noteable Defensive Items
Arkaine's Valor
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A very rare, expensive, powerful armor, this is definitely an end-game armor. Though I have never, personally, used it, I know of many Druids who have, and they always end up with tremendous amounts of life. If you've got one of these, definitely use it if you so desire!
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Shaftstop
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Yes, it can be somewhat hard to come by, but this armor combines a great Defense and 30% Damage Reduction. Alone, this armor would probably fill much or all of the Defense and Damage Reduction that you might need. I socketed my Shaftstop with an Um Rune, as resistances are the only things this armor lacks.
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Duriel's Shell
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Mentioned earlier, I love this armor for the defense, life, and resistances.
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Smoke Runeword Armor (Nef-Lum)
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This runeword grants the user +50% to All Resistances. Definitely not something to be laughed at. In addition, the +75% Defense of this runeword makes it especially useful to a Werewolf when socketed into a high defense armor to try and achieve a decent level of defense.
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Goldskin
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Goldskin is a great armor for the mid-game as it has a decent defense and the 30-35% Resist All. Its drawback, however, is that it is a heavy armor so you tend to run kind of slow when using it, and can run out of stamina fairly easily with it.
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Iron Pelt
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I love this armor. First off, a Druid looks awesome in it when he's un-shifted. Secondly, it has a good amount of Damage Reduction (though numeric, not by percent) and Magic Damage Reduction. In addition, its defense is as good as it gets for the end of normal difficulty and beginning of nightmare. This is definitely a useful armor either before you can find something better or even as an end-game armor.
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Rockfleece
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This armor is useful for the mid-game as it has 10% Damage Reduction, Damage Reduced by 5 as well as reduced requirements. However, this is not really an end-game type armor.
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Rockstopper
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This helmet has awesome resistances as well as 10% Damage Reduction, 30% Faster Hit Recovery and +15 to Vitality. This is one of my personal favorite helms and one of my top 5 for a Werewolf.
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Vampire Gaze
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Let's face it, it's a really good helmet. 6-8% dual leech, 15-20% Damage Reduction, Cold Damage, Magic Damage Reduction and Stamina Drain Reduction combined with a great defense makes for an awesome hat. The one problem with this is the lack of resistances. Also, this is a bit harder to find/trade for because it is so useful to ALL characters, but if you want to use it, it is definitely a good choice. One of the BEST choices for a Werewolf.
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Harlequin Crest
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This elite unique (think rare and expensive) hat gives +2 to All Skills, +A Bunch (to be exact) to life and mana, as well as 10% Damage Reduction. An awesome helmet that shares one of the weakness of Vampire Gaze in the lack of resistances, this is another favorite helmet of a wide variety of classes. I tend not to use it because I like having resistances on my helmet and it looks really ugly on your Druid, but I have seen people use it very effectively.
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Jalal's Mane
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As a class specific unique, this helmet is a bit harder to come by than the others, but it is definitely the end-all, be-all of Werewolf helmets. Combining 30% Faster Hit Recovery, with a 20% Attack Rating Bonus, +2 to Druid Skills, +2 to Shapeshifting Skills, +30% Resist All, +5 to Mana after Each Kill, +20 to Strength, and an awesome defense, this is definitely one of my favorite choices for Werewolf headwear. The fact that this helmet looks very cool is an added bonus! Socketing this thing with a Shael rune makes it the single-item solution to maxing your Faster Hit Recovery out.
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Veil of Steel
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This helmet is the ultimate in Resistances and Defense. Featuring +50% Resist All and a Massive Defense, this helmet, although rare, is extremely good for a Werewolf in need of Resistance.
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String of Ears
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This belt is my favorite belt in Diablo II. It features Damage Reduction, life leech, and Magic Damage Reduction. This is definitely an end-game belt.
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Stormshield
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Should you plan to use a shield, this is the shield that you will probably want. It blocks very quickly, has a great blocking %, good resistances, +30 to strength and 35% Damage Reduction. With this shield equipped, a Werewolf would likely be nearly immortal (though perhaps very slow at killing as he is using a One-Handed Weapon). Also, the high blocking % of this shield could lead to block-lock.
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The Ward
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This shield has huge resistances, and a good blocking percentage, making it one of the best low-level shields you could find. I have used this shield often when playing paladins, but never with a druid (because I like my Two-Handers) and it IS as good as it seems.
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Moser's Blessed Circle
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This shield comes with +25% Resist All, a good blocking % and blocking speed, and 2 sockets. These sockets can be a good place to put Perfect Diamonds for additional resistances, or IAS jewels for additional OIAS though you usually won't need OIAS. A very good, under-rated shield.
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Life/Mana Leech
Life and mana leech can be found on a wide range of equipment. Thus, the goal for this section is to find equipment with leeching abilities that falls into multiple categories. Gloves can be found with leech, IAS, and resistances if you're lucky. Such cross-category equipment is what I look for when thinking about leech. However, in a pinch one can resort to using just generic life/mana leech rings (hopefully with resistances or AR bonuses). I have found that a Werewolf only needs one mana leech item to leech back enough mana to keep attacking with Fury and occasionally using Feral Rage due to the large damage that each swing of a Werewolf deals. However, the more life leech that a Werewolf has, the better since, in this way, you can overcome the relatively weak defenses of a Werewolf with a blistering, leeching offense. I generally use at LEAST 14% life leech and never really have too much trouble (unless my resistances are bad and I run into an LEB). But remember that a high level Feral Rage can help out a TON here!
One other thing to consider is to use items with "Percent Damage goes to Mana" to keep your mana ball full instead of Mana Leech items. Since Werewolves take a lot of hits, these items will basically fill your mana ball constantly. They even work against Physical Immune monsters! =)
Possible sources of life/mana leech include:
Vampire Gaze
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As stated before, 6-8% dual leech. Very good helmet.
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Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
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With 10% dual leech, this helm is probably the greatest leech source in the game. In addition, it comes with a built in +15 Resist All, decent defense, +30 to mana and +60 to life. This helmet can give Vampire Gaze a run for its money, though I'd prefer the Damage Reduction of Vampire Gaze on a Werewolf.
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Stealskull
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Again, as before, 5% dual leech, very good for magic finding.
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Crown of Thieves
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This is a solid helm which features 9-12% life leech, good bonuses to life and mana, +25 to Dexterity, and great Defense. This helm is quite under-rated and would be easier to acquire than the others if you are new to Diablo II.
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Greyform
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This is an excellent low level armor which has life leeching abilities and good resistances. The major drawback is the extremely low defense.
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Skin of the Flayed One
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This armor is the exceptional version of Greyform. It has more defense, and useful life replenishing abilities. This is a decent armor for the mid-game.
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Cathan's Seal
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This ring is extremely good early on, with its level 11 requirement, 6% life leech and Damage Reduced by 2 modifier. This ring is the basic life leech ring that will hopefully be replaced later in the game, though it is still decently good toward the end of the game as a mere life leech ring.
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Manald Heal
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The mana leech equivalent of Cathan's Seal, this ring is very useful. I have often used this even toward the end of the game as my only source of mana leech.
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Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
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For those super-rich people out there, this is the ultimate life leech ring. It grants life leech comparable to Cathan's Seal, but also grants additional life, stamina and +1 to All Skills. Very good, very expensive.
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Eye of Etlich
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This is a great item which could be considered an end-game amulet. +1 skills, life leech, chilling duration, and cold damage make this amulet incredibly powerful.
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Crescent Moon
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This amulet is a bit rarer than the Eye of Etlich, but it is definitely worth using, if you can find it. This amulet has a huge mana leech percentage (11-15%), good life steal (3-6%) as well as +45 to mana and 10% Damage goes to mana. I use this amulet a lot of the time, as it is a very good source of my mana leech as well as a source of life leech.
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String of Ears
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As stated before, one of the best belts out there for any character.
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Nosferatu's Coil
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As before, this is a very good life leech belt if you can find it.
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Gorefoot
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If your damage is high enough, Gorefoot can supply all the mana leech you need. 2% isn't much, but 2% of 2500 is not to be laughed at! These boots are a bit slow at 20% Faster Run/Walk, but are still quite good (VERY good in the early parts of the game).
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The Hand of Broc
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These gloves are very good in the early game with 3% dual leech. However, later on you can craft blood gloves to use here, so I tend not to use these except at the very beginning.
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Venom Grip
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These are very good gloves as they supply 5% life leech and 5% Crushing Blow. I personally don't use them, but I have known several people that do use them to very good effect.
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Blood Crafts
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These crafts can be performed on rings and gloves to good effect, ending up with very high amounts of life leech and possibly resistances if you're lucky!
Blood Gloves: Magic Heavy Gloves/Sharkskin Gloves/Vampirebone Gloves, Nef Rune, Perfect Ruby, Magic Jewel
Blood Rings: Magic Ring, Sol Rune, Perfect Ruby, Magic Jewel
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Other Abilities
Other useful abilities to Druids are Deadly Strike and +Skills. If you can find any items with these that fall into any of the other categories (or have already filled the other categories and have an equipment spot available) these types of items are quite useful.
Items that give +skills include:
Harlequin Crest, Tarnhelm, Eye of Etlich, Highlord's Wrath, Arkaine's Valor, Spirit Shroud, Skins of the Vipermagi and Jalal's Mane.
Items that give Deadly Strike include:
Highlord's Wrath, Gore Rider, and
Guillaume's Face |
With Deadly Strike, Crushing Blow, Hit Recovery and a Strength bonus, this helmet can go a long ways toward improving the damage output of a Werewolf. Not the most defensive of helmets, however.
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Attack Rating
Basically, this is an area that you should hope will take care of itself. However, if you feel you need just a little bit more Attack Rating, I will go through a myriad of possibilties for choosing gear to help you in that area. There are a couple great sources of Attack Rating to be found out there and hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to come by. The goal is to obtain enough Attack Rating equipment to put your AR into the range of 3000 to 4000 or more by the time you reach the Hell difficulty. This may sound like a lot, but it is actually not that bad when you factor in the +% attack rating by Werewolf and Feral Rage/Fury (and Heart of the Wolverine you choose that spirit). In a pinch, a newer player to Diablo might not have these items and he can compensate by raising his dexterity and using the Heart of the Wolverine spirit.
Noteable Sources for Attack Rating:
Raven Frost
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Discussed above, this ring gives a HUGE bonus to AR and if you use this, you need never worry about Attack Rating again! =)
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Magnus' Skin
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Sander's Boots
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These boots are quite useful. First, they are fast with 40% Faster Run/Walk Speed. Second, they give +100 to AR just like Magnus' Skin. Third, they give +10 to Dexterity and +5 to Strength. These bonuses help out a lot, and if you decide to use these boots, they can cut down on your points spent on raising your strength to give you more vitality (and so more life).
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Sigon's Visor
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The helmet from Sigon's set, this thing gives a ton of AR but does fill the helmet spot of your equipment. This, like Raven Frost, is a single-item fix to your AR problems.
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Angelic Halo
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This ring, when combined with another item of the Angelic Set, gives a huge bonus to AR (comparable to that of Sigon's Visor). This is great for low level AR as the level requirements are very low, but the problem with this ring is that it fills the spot of a ring which would otherwise be taken by a leech ring or something. Also, the rest of the set is pretty bad (though the amulet is good for low levels). This is most often used in tandem with the amulet (Angelic Wings) by low-level characters. Once you are able to use Raven Frost, however, this ring has probably outlived its usefulness.
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Waterwalk
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These boots have +15 to dexterity in addition to a large bonus to life and other useful mods. This is a decent AR boot, though Sander's Boots are probably better.
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Example Equipment Choices
Now, even broken down into categories, it might seem a bit overwhelming. Well, it is. It's quite hard to balance all of the equipment's abilities. Thus, I will now give an example of a few possible setups so that you can see some examples of it all coming together.
High Level Equipment
Weapon: Shaeled Stormspire
Armor: Duriel's Shell socketed with an Um Rune
Helmet: Vampire Gaze socketed with an Um Rune
Belt: String of Ears
Gloves: Blood Crafted Gloves
Boots: Gore Rider
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
Ring #1: Blood Craft Ring with AR, big Life Leech, Resistances
Ring #2: Bul Kathos' Wedding Band
Weapon Switch: Baranar's Star + Tiamat's Rebuke (for Physical Immune Monsters)
Charms: I would use lots of +life charms to make up for all of the points spent in strength and dexterity to use Stormspire.
Lower Level Equipment
Weapon: Shaeled Ribcracker/Shaeled Buriza
Armor: Iron Pelt Socketed with a Perfect Ruby
Helmet: Jalal's Mane socketed with a Shael
Belt: Rare belt with +Life, Mana, Hit Recovery and Resistances
Gloves: Sigon's Gage
Boots: Sigon's Sabot
Amulet: Good Rare Amulet/Eye of Etlich
Ring #1: Cathan's Seal/Raven Frost
Ring #1: Manald Heal
Really Low Level Equipment
Weapon: Khalim's Will/The General's Tan Do Li Ga
Armor: Greyform/Twitchthroe
Helmet: Tarnhelm
Belt: Rare/Magical/Nightsmoke
Gloves: Hand of Broc
Boots: Gorefoot
Amulet: Angelic Wings
Ring #1: Cathan's Seal
Ring #2: Angelic Halo
Basically, each grouping has enough OIAS to boost its weapon up to its maximum speed (none in these cases!), has some items to increase AR, has one mana leech item, has a decent amount of life leech, uses some form of damage reduction/resistances to bolster the defenses of a Werewolf, and has other good modifications, too. All three sets are configured for speed to grant the absolute maximum flexibility when fighting as well as enough defense to keep the Werewolf alive.
Stat Point Allocation
Once you have determined what types of equipment you want to be able to use, it is time to figure out how to spend your stat points. I would recommend using the minimum number of points that you can on Dexterity and Strength for the equipment that you can, conceivably, see yourself using. Also, if you think that you will find something better, give yourself some breathing room by perhaps adding a bit more into the category that you might need it. Just remember that every point you spend in strength and dexterity is a point that could have been spent in vitality, getting you more life. :-)
The one exception to this rule that I follow is that I always raise my base dexterity to 50 or 60, even if I'm going for a Maul-class weapon. I've found that 50 or 60 dexterity helps to decrease my reliance upon AR equipment just enough to allow myself flexibility in creating my character. Other people may advocate leaving the dexterity at a bare minimum if you won't need it for your weapon, but I would respond that those people are painting themselves into a corner, making it so that they can't change their character part-way through the game if they so desire.
Once you've figured out how much strength and dexterity you will be needing, (Giant Threshers are 188 strength, 140 dexterity, Ogre Mauls are 225 Strength, Thunder Mauls 253 Strength, Champion Axes 167 Strength and 59 Dexterity, Buriza is 110 Strength and 88 Dexterity) then the rest of the points can go into Vitality, hopefully raising your life to insane levels!
As for how to go about assigning these points as you level, I would suggest a moderate approach. Place as many points into vitality as you can, while still having enough strength and dexterity to use your next "step-up" weapon. To clarify, I'll give the example of how I place my stat points.
Initially I put the first two levels into vitality. I've found that this makes it easier to stay alive in the early levels as well as increasing my stamina so that I can run father distances without having to stand around waiting for it to recharge. Next, I pump strength up so that I can equip Sigon's Gage and Sabot. I do this because the extra run/walk speed of the Sabot is quite useful early on and the life leech/IAS of the Gage (as well as the +10 strength) makes the early going a piece of cake.
Having reached 60 strength I spend some time placing points into dexterity and vitality until I feel that both are doing well. Usually, this means 50 of each.
Upon reaching what I consider to be my minimum for vitality points in normal difficulty, I continue to pump strength/dexterity up so that I can use my next weapon at as low a level as possible (ie 95 strength at level 28 for Hwanin's Bill and then more strength/dex if I have a good exceptional or elite rare to switch to from Ribcracker/Steeldriver.... Currently, my next step is a 240 damage, 40% IAS, level 45 Ogre Axe... 195 strength and 75 dexterity). When I get a chance, I continue to improve my vitality so that I have at least 80 or 100 vitality at the end of nightmare difficulty.
Finally, I finish off my strength/dexterity so that I can reach the requirements for my end-game weapon. After this, it is all vitality.
There is only one more thing that must be looked at when choosing your equipment: your choice of mercenary.
Mercenaries
If chosen wisely, a mercenary can make a big difference in how easily you move through the game. There are basically two trains of thought for this subject:
1. Use the Mercenary to enhance your strengths
2. Use the Mercenary to try to shore up your weaknesses |
Both of these ideas are valid. It is useful to be able to increase your power by non-equipment means. Likewise, it can be just as useful to eliminate any weaknesses you might have. At this point, it really comes down to personal preference so rather than state one end-all, be-all selection for mercenary, I will merely look at the available possibilities and give my advice for how they can fit into these groups.
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Rogues
These mercs provide a ranged attack that is dependent upon their equipment. This, by itself, is not particularly useful for a Werewolf that can dish out huge amounts of physical damage, but the Rogues also can use special attacks. Fire and Cold Arrow are useful attacks for dealing with physical immunes. As of right now, Fire Arrows convert ALL of their damage to fire damage, rather than just the damage from the Fire, thus it can be very useful for a Werewolf who meets a monster it just can't dent.
However, the real power of this merc appears once you outfit it with +3 to all skills (this can be found with items such as Tarnhelm, Harlequin Crest, Silks of the Victor, Skins of the Vipermagi, Skystrike, or Cliffkiller). Although generally considered a bug (so many people refuse to use it) +3 to skills makes a Rogue mercenary use a short-range lightning blast attack similar to Diablo's. This attack can make quick work of physical immunes as well as looking very cool! Again, this is widely considered a bug and so might be changed with a patch. However, if you would like to try it out for the time being, it is quite powerful and is my choice of mercenary for my Werewolf as it can definitely help with physical immunes (thus fitting into the category of shoring up the major weakness of Werewolves). This is a very useful merc if you're willing to use it.
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Town Guards
These guys can come with various Auras, so I will go through, Aura by Aura, giving my take on each one.
Prayer: Since a Werewolf has a ton of life/life leech and Prayer only gives a small amount of replenish life, this mercenary is nearly worthless.
Thorns: Werewolves get hit a lot. However, monsters don't do nearly as much damage as a player character. Thus, the damage returns from Thorns will be rather pathetic compared to the Fury damage of a Werewolf. This mercenary is somewhat useful, but there are better.
Defiance: This mercenary can be a definite step toward enhancing one of the Werewolf's weaknesses, its defense. Defiance will add a huge amount of defense, making Werewolves even better tanks. However, this ability is moot if you can leech back your life faster than the monsters can deal damage to you. Of course, this has its uses against physical immunes (who you don't leech from) but I'd prefer to just kill the physical immunes faster (and so pick one of the elemental mercs). I would say that this merc is useful, but there are better ones out there.
Holy Freeze: This aura can be a huge help for a Werewolf tank. Similar to Defiance, this aura will help you to tank for longer since the monsters will be moving very slowly. This is especially useful in that it slows the game down, a definite advantage to a Werewolf who selects a slow weapon. However, just like Defiance, this can be completely useless if just leech back enough life with little problem. That being said, this is a popular choice of merc as it helps quite a bit and is less prone to dying than the other act 2 mercs.
Blessed Aim: Mercenaries with this aura can be a huge boon to a Werewolf who is short on Attack Rating. However, if AR is your problem, why not just raise your Werewolf skill or pick up the single Attack Rating charm that it takes to take care of this? Again, there are better mercs out there.
Might: Might can help maximize a Werewolf's damage and so this merc is quite popular. However, like a Blessed Aim merc, this mercenary tends to die off quite easily and so might be more trouble than it is worth. This being said, for those of you out there that can't stand to play unless you have the MOST damage possible, then this is the merc for you. As this mercenary definitely enhances a Werewolf's strength, it can be quite useful. Also, should you pick the Oak Sage spirit, it will make the mercenary more durable!
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Sorcerers
These mercenaries come in two basic varieties: high damage/easily dying, and lower damage/more durable types. The lightning and fire Sorcerers are good at dishing out damage, but they tend to die off quite easily due to their low hp values. The fire version is particularly bad at this, as it will tend to cast Inferno when at melee range rather than run away. However, these mercenaries do decent amounts of elemental damage and so can take care of physical immunes. Remember, also, that the Oak Sage spirit will make these guys slightly more durable.
The more durable Sorcerer is the cold Sorcerer. By using Glacial Spike and other cold spells, this mercenary can freeze monsters in their tracks. This can be of great use to a Werewolf as it helps the player concentrate on mowing down monsters. However, it won't work against cold immunes and these mercs tend to die off quickly. That being said, this is a very popular merc for many Werewolves as it also helps to increase the ability to deal with physical immunes!
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Barbarians
These are the mercs that do the most physical damage and are quite good at tanking, thus making them great for mage-type characters. However, no matter how hard you try, a Werewolf will ALWAYS be a better tank that does more damage than these guys will. In addition, they offer a Werewolf exactly no tactical advantage. Thus, if you want to increase your physical damage output, I would suggest a Might Town Guard over a Barbarian because you are much better off just enhancing your own damage than having another, weaker version of yourself following you around. The way I see it, this is definitely NOT the merc for a Werewolf. |
Now with equipment information taken care of, it's time to move on to the Strategies for Werewolf Combat.
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