Corvus: Introduction

Patch 2.4 of Diablo 2 Resurrected introduced the first gameplay changes to Diablo 2 in more than a decade, tweaking the numbers and bringing several different skills up to the point of viability. Raven had traditionally been a skill that existed only for flavor purposes on the Druid, with damage numbers far too low to be anything other than an ubervariant skill. The old Raven skill did all of 21-23 damage at SLVL 20 and had no skill synergies whatsoever - clearly not something that any character could be based around. Summoning Druids were obviously intended to place a single prerequisite point into the Raven skill before pushing onto the wolves and bears that were the main focus of the build. The ravens might occasionally blind an enemy as they flew around but were otherwise irrelevant in combat.

The new patch in Diablo 2 Resurrected massively buffed the Raven skill's base damage while also adding skill synergies from the Druid's other summoning abilities. While it still begins at 2-4 damage at SLVL 1, the maxed out version of the skill now reaches 73-94 damage at SLVL 20 and picked up a trio of synergies: +12% additional damage from each of Summon Spirit Wolf, Summon Dire Wolf, and Summon Grizzly. The patch also allowed Druids to have more than one type of summoned animal on the field at a time, likely intending players to run spirit wolves and dire wolves and the grizzly bear simultaneously and then maybe dumping leftover skill points into the Raven skill after everything else was maxed out. However, the increased base damage and the skill synergies look like they might be enough to make a Raven-based character viable, for Normal and Nightmare difficulties at least. SLVL 25 Raven with fully maxed synergies in Summon Spirit Wolf and Summon Dire Wolf will deal 759-910 damage (per raven) and that's certainly enough to clear Nightmare difficulty.

This was such a ridiculous concept that I wanted to try it out for myself. Thus the basic variant restriction for this character would be Raven as the only allowable skill for the class, with its synergy skills allowed for the increased damage but not to be used for their actual summons. I'll make an exception for Physical Immune targets since they otherwise can't be damaged by the ravens, pulling out the spirit wolves (which now deal cold element damage after the 2.4 patch) to handle them, and I'll also allow the spirit wolves to serve as blocking dummies against Duriel since that boss is such an unfair uncounter. Otherwise it's just Corvus and his ravens though, nothing else - and that includes not having a mercenary hireling. I already know what the gameplay will look like with a mercenary, standing around in the background as the merc tanks for the ravens. Boring! Things will be significantly more interesting (and dangerous!) with Corvus forced to rely on his own movement for safety. The ravens are untargetable by monsters which means that there will be absolutely nothing standing between them and Corvus.

The character build for Corvus looks to be pretty simple. I shouldn't need anything more than the minimal 43 Strength for a Crystal Sword since the Spirit runeword out-performs all other caster options in the weapon slot to such a ridiculous extent. A 3 Diamond Large shield should be plenty for the other hand slot along with a Stealth for chest armor, the standard caster setup until hitting higher tier runewords. I would love to find some unique items with +skills but of course that can't be relied on in pure play. Corvus has a huge incentive to find more +skills items to take the base damage of the Raven skill up above SLVL 20 so that the percentage-based increase from skill synergies will be more effective. Druids can get +skills (to either everything or to the Druid summoning tree, functionally identical for this character) in the weapon slot from clubs and the helmet slot from Druid pelts in addition to the standard circlets and amulets. The Spirit runeword will outdo anything that I could realistically get from a club and then I'll have to hope for good luck in terms of what appears from Druid pelts (which can't be purchased or gambled). None of this stuff requires more points of Strength or Dexterity and Raven is one of the most mana-friendly skills in existence as it never goes above 6 mana per cast regardless of the skill level. This should allow virtually everything to get dumped into Vitality as usual - Corvus is going to need the extra HP.

As usual for my characters, I intend to do a single pass through the game while full clearing each area one time through. I'll have to make use of what I find along the way without repeating areas or trading/twinking/sharing gear. I've always felt that Diablo 2 is much more interesting when each character has to come up with their own stuff rather than pooling it all together and god-moding new characters past every challenge. I'll also be able to play in offline Single Player mode which should reduce issues that can pop up from lag and disconnects when running online characters on the Blizzard servers. I still don't trust Diablo 2 Resurrected enough to create a Hardcore character but I'll do my best to clear the whole game deathless and let readers know if I fall short of that goal (as I've done with several previous characters). Despite the buffs to Raven, this is not a character build that looks viable for Hell difficulty and therefore I'll be content to finish the first two difficulties. With Corvus unable to do anything other than summon ravens that he can't directly control, it should make for a memorable journey. Stay tuned!