The Rabies Werewolf or Rabies Druid is a Druid build that focuses on the Rabies skill, most often attacking using a "hit and run" strategy, infecting a few enemies with Rabies, and then leaving the infection to spread to other vulnerable monsters. Even if the monster is immune, it will still carry the disease for its duration, giving it an opportunity to spread to those that are vulnerable. Rabies is the only poison attack in the game that can kill another player and is only capable of being cured by a town healer. Due to the excess of skill points left over, some players opt to invest into Fury.
Skills[]
Because Poison Creeper is the only synergy for Rabies, the skill allocations leave a lot of room for customization, so the following is by no means set in stone. There are many variants.
Basic:[]
- 20 Rabies
- 20 Poison Creeper (Rabies synergy)
- 5-10 Werewolf : Werewolf has diminishing returns on attack speed and static for maximum Life, and shows after level 5
- 20 Lycanthropy Progression statistics are linear. Will increase maximum life.
- 20 Oak Sage or Heart of the Wolverine: Based on preference.
Equipment:[]
The Rabies Druid is essentially a melee fighter. The basic goal when building a successful Rabies druid is similar to any other melee character: Some amount of Crushing Blow, Cannot Be Frozen, and stacking resistances to an adequate amount.
Helm:[]
Jalal's Mane: The helmet of choice for a shapeshifter druid.
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest: Dual Leech and Resistance Bonus.
Stealskull: Increased Attack Speed Dual Leech and Faster Hit Recovery.
Guillaume's Face: Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike make this a good choice for more than just hirelings.
Rockstopper: Resistance Bonuses and Physical Damage Reduction.
Crown of Ages: Damage Reduction, Faster Hit recovery, Resistance Bonus
Weapon:[]
Death's Web: The penalty to your opponent's poison resistance make this wand a big perk.
Grief Rune Word: If you have high runes to burn, this will not disappoint.
Plague Bearer: +5 bonus to Rabies, keep in swap slot and switch as necessary.
Fleshrender or Islestrike: Come with bonuses to skills and Crushing Blow as an attribute to initially remove large chunks from enemy health.
Call to Arms: for the warcries
Ribcracker: 50% Crushing Blow, 50% Increased Attack Speed, 50% Faster Hit Recovery.
Aldur's Rhythm: The increased attack speed, sockets and its 200% damage versus demons can be made very useful to a shifter druid. Often, shael runes are added to make this weapon extremely fast.
Gloves:[]
Trang-Oul's Claws: The gloves of choice due to their boost to poison damage.
Cleglaw's Pincers: Knockback and slow opponent are useful attributes if the player doesn't possess Trang-Oul's Claws.
Chest:[]
Leviathan: Shaftstop's big brother for reducing damage
Duress Runeword: For added crushing blow
Chains of Honor: For skill boost and resistances.
Duriel's Shell: Cannot be Frozen, resistance bonuses and vitality bonus
Enigma Rune Word (for teleporting in and out of combat)
Belt:[]
Verdungo's Hearty Cord: String of Ears' big brother
Arachnid Mesh: Skill boost and some added poison damage
Nosferatu's Coil: The slow effect is helpful for successful hit-and run.
Shield:[]
Stormshield: High Defense, Block Related Bonuses and Physical Damage Reduction.
Spirit Rune Word: Skill Bonus, Resistance Bonuses.
Rhyme Runeword: Resistance bonus, Cannot be Frozen and Vulpine Attribute.
Ancient's Pledge: Resistance Bonuses and Vulpine Attribute
Boots[]
Gore Riders: For the melee attributes. Goblin Toe's big brother
Rare boots with resistance bonuses.
Rings:[]
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band: +skills and life related bonuses
Stone of Jordan: +skills and mana related bonuses
Raven Frost: If missing the Cannot Be Frozen attribute.
Amulet:[]
Mara's Kaleidoscope: +2 to all skills and resistance bonus.
Highlord's Wrath: +1 to all skills, Increased Attack Speed.