01-26-2008, 12:34 AM
Well, what I gather from this build is that you've made this Werewolf and played around with it a little, but haven't really done much research on the class.
I can see where you are going with Famine, but I'd not recommend it. Yes, it does have a lot of elemental + magical damage on it, but monsters also have generally higher resistances to elemental than to physical (because of the monsterous amounts of elemental damage that sorceresses dish out). Yes, it is better for taking down physical immunes, but vs. general monsters, it's not that great.
Also, forget about Great Axe, it's a barbage base for a weapon. Other thing: you have not mentioned polearms anywhere in this build. THE craziest weapons for a Werewolf in the game are polearms. What you can get hold of is an etheral Tomb Reaver with Zod and 5x15%/40ed%s. Insane damage, far more than BOTD or Famine. The single best Werewolf weapon is a 1.08 cubed 6sox cruel polearm, those were insanely rare back in the day, and even rarer now.
BOTD is a decent polearm, I think that it's generally used in War Pikes, not sure about that though. When thinking about Axes, you should definately be using Berserker Axe for either your Famine, or Grief. Yes, Grief is an easy to get runeword with nice speed and high damage. In addition, you can wear a shield with it. Even though it doesn't look like it, you CAN block in Werewolf form. Grief BA + Stormshield is a nice choice for damage and safety.
The other argument for Berserker Axe, with a range of 3, it has the single highest 1h weapon range in the game. And yes, that is important.
Now for armor, yes CoH is a nice armor, but what about Enigma or Fortitude? I know that you cannot Teleport in Werewolf, but the runeword is still great even without it. Many Smiters and Sorcs use Enigma. +STR is very handy indeed, +life is nice, and FRW% is something that every werewolf needs. Fortitude is far better than CoH, loads of damage, nice life and nice resists. CoH is generally just used for the +2 skills for casters, and even then it's not that great.
Oh and amulet, why Mara's? Sure, the resists are nice, but the +2 skills isn't all that handy... Why not Cat's Eye for more FRW%, DEX, IAS% (if you need it). There are far better choices than Mara's.
Now, for breakpoints. People don't just want to make any character, people want to make a great character. Breakpoints are what make it. There is no point in going for an IAS% overkill. Frankly, no rich D2 player will take you seriously if your character hasn't taken breakpoints into consideration. Use this calculator to see exactly how much you need:
Weapon Speed Calculator
FHR% isn't all that important since this is for PvM, however it is nice to hit the first few frames.
I'm not saying this is a bad guide, I'm just saying that it could use a little more exploration. Go to other forums and read other peoples' Werewolf guides, see what they have come up with.
I can see where you are going with Famine, but I'd not recommend it. Yes, it does have a lot of elemental + magical damage on it, but monsters also have generally higher resistances to elemental than to physical (because of the monsterous amounts of elemental damage that sorceresses dish out). Yes, it is better for taking down physical immunes, but vs. general monsters, it's not that great.
Also, forget about Great Axe, it's a barbage base for a weapon. Other thing: you have not mentioned polearms anywhere in this build. THE craziest weapons for a Werewolf in the game are polearms. What you can get hold of is an etheral Tomb Reaver with Zod and 5x15%/40ed%s. Insane damage, far more than BOTD or Famine. The single best Werewolf weapon is a 1.08 cubed 6sox cruel polearm, those were insanely rare back in the day, and even rarer now.
BOTD is a decent polearm, I think that it's generally used in War Pikes, not sure about that though. When thinking about Axes, you should definately be using Berserker Axe for either your Famine, or Grief. Yes, Grief is an easy to get runeword with nice speed and high damage. In addition, you can wear a shield with it. Even though it doesn't look like it, you CAN block in Werewolf form. Grief BA + Stormshield is a nice choice for damage and safety.
The other argument for Berserker Axe, with a range of 3, it has the single highest 1h weapon range in the game. And yes, that is important.
Now for armor, yes CoH is a nice armor, but what about Enigma or Fortitude? I know that you cannot Teleport in Werewolf, but the runeword is still great even without it. Many Smiters and Sorcs use Enigma. +STR is very handy indeed, +life is nice, and FRW% is something that every werewolf needs. Fortitude is far better than CoH, loads of damage, nice life and nice resists. CoH is generally just used for the +2 skills for casters, and even then it's not that great.
Oh and amulet, why Mara's? Sure, the resists are nice, but the +2 skills isn't all that handy... Why not Cat's Eye for more FRW%, DEX, IAS% (if you need it). There are far better choices than Mara's.
Now, for breakpoints. People don't just want to make any character, people want to make a great character. Breakpoints are what make it. There is no point in going for an IAS% overkill. Frankly, no rich D2 player will take you seriously if your character hasn't taken breakpoints into consideration. Use this calculator to see exactly how much you need:
Weapon Speed Calculator
FHR% isn't all that important since this is for PvM, however it is nice to hit the first few frames.
I'm not saying this is a bad guide, I'm just saying that it could use a little more exploration. Go to other forums and read other peoples' Werewolf guides, see what they have come up with.