Pillars of Eternity - Ranking 11 Classes Part 4: Druid

[@alexel-ramahi2274]

You know I tried to play this game a year ago and I couldn’t find a new updated guide to this game and it’s classes and I struggled a bit, and now when I decided to get back to it I find your channel dominating the guides for this game and I’m absolutely grateful for you😍 thank you so so much you really made my walkthrough way better 🙏🏻

[@SlanderedGaming]

That's awesome to hear! Glad the guides were helpful for you.

[@stone321]

Some of these classes have so many spells available. Videos like this one really help me wrap my head around what to cast

[@brenndanc1112]

Dang, you are pumping these out fast. Thanks for the hard work.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Thanks! Trying to make up for lost time.

[@JohnnyOrc]

Did some thinking and started a druid of my own, a few thoughts: Spiritshifting: +2 DR from Bear is only really useful at lower levels, at higher levels you're not likely to notice it (it increases at the same rate as other forms, so it will always be +2 higher than normal). On the other hand, Boar gives +2 Endurance per 3 seconds (vastly lower than the fighter's Constant Recovery, but it is a passive heal), but also deals 20% of the damage over 5 seconds. I like it more than the wolf for a caster druid, as the higher Might a caster tends to have boosts this further. 2nd level up - Spiritshift damage, I recommend holding off on this at this level. Druids have a very poor Accuracy, so picking up Weapon Focus: Peasant at level 2 gives a large bonus to hit. 2nd level spell: Firebrand. I think you shortchanged this spell. It does *massive* burn damage, has a fast cast time, and counts as a Damaging 3 weapon (+45% to damage, +4 to hit). Against trolls, it cuts them to shreds, and it's still useful in the White March. 3rd level spell: Beetle shell. Unlike Withdraw, the priest spell at level 1, enemies don't stop attacking a BS'd target. What I find it useful for is to have the tank charge in, immediately beetle shell them, while the rest of my party opens up. The shell will protect them from the friendly AoE's at least partially, and keeps the enemies all grouped together, at least until aggro is lost.

[@Quaranyr]

You are correct about Corrode being objectively the least resisted elemental damage type. Firebrand is a VERY strong weapon damage-wise. Against enemies with high overall damage resistance or with low fire damage reduction this spell can be much more effective than low level damage spells or Spiritshifted melee. About Hold Beasts - dragons are beasts too and affected by this spell. With good accuracy it can make a dragon fight much easier. With a cipher (who has Mental Binding) you can literally stunlock dragon for easy kill. Works nicely on any difficulty. May feel anticlimatic through.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Nice that's a great call out.

[@maxmach4361]

7:25 you are mostly correct, I went with Corrode damage party for my first playthrough as it's basically Acid from Pathfinder/D&D and in those settings it's superior to all the other common damage types and it worked slightly better than other types of damage in subsequent runs.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Awesome thanks for confirming.

[@damipetr]

Lightning is by far most usefull,two of druids best (or any ) spells are lightning.

[@Michael-uk3pj]

Love druids in Pillars - some of the spells are so good...

[@TheRavenShadowsWolf]

One of the major complaints of Druid when I bought this - as I tried the original when it came out on Consoles, and then the complete edition later - was that the Shifter state really did not scale well. So you could stack your druid for intention of Melee, and be borked for a build fairly easily. No matter which shift you picked; and that's bad as it is the main hook of the class, even in current D&D [It was very much I think, a call out to Diablo 2's Druid - with more options for shape changing] The spells you gain as a druid aren't all bad, but they were nothing amazing until higher levels. Which you were less likely to reach with borked ability in combat. However, if they have finally patched the thing enough to actually scale in melee damage like it should; then it would be an amazingly fun way to take a walk on the wild side. A few of the spells are good, but they're very specific types of damage. They weren't as far as I recall, amazing. The healing was also decent, but not amazing. It can be a fun class to play, as long as you lower your expectations about what the shifts can pull off, and are okay at being the Jack of All Trades. You will master none. * Druid is more of a support class, that is utilitarian by versatility. Rather than outright support, like the Cleric. Mage is still probably the most powerful casting class for damage. Cleric for survivability overall, and the Druid sadly fell somewhere inbetween, but wasn't as satisfying as it should have been. If they'd gotten the shifter mechanics right. ** There is the point that I believe (and I'm not sure that this was patched out) you were SUPPOSED to be able to cast spells as a druid with the Shift active; but in practice you weren't allowed to - pretty sure it was one of the things that frustrated me when I tried this class. Point about Venombloom - it's one of the rare spells that does RAW damage: which means it doesn't care about enemy resistences. It will be decent at higher difficulties to actually do damage.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Yup Druid doesn't stand out enough which is why I could only give it B+.

[@rickmel-q7m]

i'm very late to this one, but: 1 - druids have by far the largest AOE on their spells, which makes them fantastic in encounters where the enemies are spread out 2 - their CC spells also have good damage, and they can easily deal dmg to multiple enemies with their fire spells (which makes the fire dmg talent great on them) 3 - melee druid actually deals a lot of dmg; they have high base damage, a big accuracy bonus, fast attack speed, DR pen AND a decent DR themselves (which doesn't have the downside of slowing you down). they can also switch to firebrand after shapeshift runs out, which is one of the strongests weapons in the game the only downside is that they're entirely single-target, BUT they can just cast spells against big groups and then switch forms to clean up (something other martial classes can't really do, aside from barb)

[@Chaotik_Pranxter]

I'm loving these class reviews! Do you plan to continue as time allows? Im rewatching your Cipher playthrough as I'm doing a run with a MC Cipher, a custom rogue and a custom Wizard on PotD and having a second wizard sure makes the harder fights trivial.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Yup in fact this series is starting back tomorrow. :)

[@yo3theguys980]

can’t wait for the priest episode!

[@SlanderedGaming]

Oh yeah I am looking forward to it!

[@qihaoliu3631]

Firebrand is easily the strongest weapon early game. Even lategame it's hard to get more damage from crits. Also note that Spiritshift is 1 per encounter until u get Gyrd Háewanes Sténes

[@SlanderedGaming]

Firebrand is fantastic but not for Druid's who are subpar in melee combat.

[@tadferd4340]

Wizard mixed with Priest, except made worse in every way. I often have spell slots remaining because those spell levels just have mediocre spells. Dropped what's his face for more damage and never looked back.

[@ellisjones3580]

Hey you should do a solasta class rank before the new dlc

[@SlanderedGaming]

Nope after the DLC comes out I'll rank all of the classes.

[@alirafati9340]

Do NOT underestimate firebrand mate that's one of the only weapons in the game that targets reflex and it also deals pure burn damage furthermore it is Enchanted with damaging 3... early on it is WAY stronger than your spirit shift even on a cat using flurry

[@CrazyxEnigma]

Ah the Druid I tend to be fond of the jack of all trades types and this is Druid in a nutshell for good and unfortunately for ill. Wade into melee as an awesome shapeshifted Were looking creature? Doesn't scale well and you'll be getting your ass whalloped by mid game. You get some great variety of spells, buffs and heals? Good but Priest is better and can't be replaced. Offensive? Good but Wizard outstrips it and like Priest can't be replaced(shout-out to Returning Storm). Imo its best to leave the Druiding to Hiravaais and have him in your sixth slot if you can spare it which is unfortunate as I like the flavor and kit.

[@matteochevara1108]

youre the shit. top notch. on all games.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Thank you so much!

[@TheCrimsonRevenger]

No Monks?! NO PEACE!!

[@SlanderedGaming]

😂😂

[@blackfistxu7953]

👍🏾👍🏾🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@phantomvulpe791]

In poe 2 druid is better. Multiclass it with barbarian and you're a force of nature.

[@SlanderedGaming]

Nice I am really looking forward to reviewing PoE 2 class mechanics.

[@phantomvulpe791]

@@SlanderedGaming can't wait