Am I crazy or are druids totally useless?

[Fozzforus]

I'm dragging Hiravias around just to insult me. The damage spells kind of suck and also hit your people. Best idea I had for him was taking spell mastery on Bark Skin so we get it every encounter. But I in a big fight, he has nothing to contribute. Dies easily, outputs very little.

What's the secret?

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Lvl 5 spells are good (relentless storm, plague of insects, earth talon) and the cat spiritshift has the highest single target dps in the game. Just try to paralzye oder better petrify a dragon and you will kill it in some seconds.

[Armanz]

Priests, Wizards & Druids are OP if you know how to use em. Positioning is key and knowing what the spells do. Both Storms are really good spells for Druids and his lvl 5 pool is pretty insane.

[Du-Vu]

Druids are all about AOE damage, so you just have to keep your other characters from getting caught, but they can also push and lure enemies into clusters and hold them there, either by positioning or crowd control abilities.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

The damage spells kind of suck and also hit your people.

That is your fault.

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

Best idea I had for him was taking spell mastery on Bark Skin so we get it every encounter.

There is no such spell in PoE. Seems to me you have not evaluated the druid spells in this game at all yet, if Barkskin from BG/IWD is in your mind. With regard to Woodskin in PoE, why would you you feel like casting that one often? Druids can give a little bit of support (including healing) and quick summons, but their strength is offensive spells. Use them to as combat openers.

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

Dies easily, outputs very little.

Druid class in PoE is one of the classes with very fragile base traits. Very Low Endurance, Low Health, Average Deflection, Very Low Accuracy. And they cannot access an arsenal of protection/support spells. So, depending on chosen difficulty mode, you need to keep them out of trouble.

That said, how to play a druid can also depend on your party members and your personal playstyle.

[Fozzforus]

What I'm gathering from this discussion is "high difficulty with high potential" unlike the Priests who are op af right out of the box.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Druids are meant to achieve different things. Just examine their spells and let them do what they can do best. Even level 1 spells like Nature's Mark vs Will can change the tide of combat already. Druids also know many spells that target Fortitude defense rather than just Reflex or Deflection.

If there is a wizard in your party and you cast many wizard spells during combat (like Fireball "all in" for quick damage), don't expect a druid to be a wizard clone. Similarly with a priest, who is the best supporter class in PoE (and a Chanter doesn't come close either). However, if either a wizard or priest is absent, the druid may fill a more active and more important role. Spells like Moonwell are quite nice, if the Priest is busy casting other spells.

Btw, whether and how to play a druid can become a role-playing choice. Some players like hiding behind a heavy armored overly defensive weapon'n'shield tank while companions save the show. Other players storm in with a bunch of offensive warriors and don't depend on casters as damage dealers.

[Du-Vu]

They have some pretty good buffs, along with wildshape, so you can definitely play them as an off-frontliner if you want. It's just a matter of spell selection. Maybe not what they're best at, but it's doable. They're very deliberately a jack of all trades class in general, but they do have some of the biggest and best damage AOEs. Just not as many buffs or heals as priests, and not as many spell options as wizards but also not quite as squishy.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

What I'm gathering from this discussion is "high difficulty with high potential" unlike the Priests who are op af right out of the box.

Priests are pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ on their own in the beginning, maybe the worst class.

[Armanz]

Originally posted by Baldurs_Gate_2:

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

What I'm gathering from this discussion is "high difficulty with high potential" unlike the Priests who are op af right out of the box.

Priests are pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ on their own in the beginning, maybe the worst class.

Priests are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ broken my friend.

[Fozzforus]

I have half my characters using that priest heal aoe from the cross class ability and its heavy awesome. I was going to make a paladin on my evil playthru, but now I'm thinking Priest of Wael.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Originally posted by Armanz:

Originally posted by Baldurs_Gate_2:

Priests are pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ on their own in the beginning, maybe the worst class.

Priests are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ broken my friend.

Chapter 1 max level 5 = bad. At least when you play solo, every other class is better there.

[Du-Vu]

I mean, it's a completely different game if you're playing solo. OP was asking about how to use Hiravias. Pretty clear they're playing with a party.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

I have half my characters using that priest heal aoe from the cross class ability and its heavy awesome.

Whether and how much healing you need mostly depends on personal playstyle. Trying to survive a "damage vs healing" race can be a bad idea not only in this game.

Originally posted by Fozzforus:

I was going to make a paladin on my evil playthru, but now I'm thinking Priest of Wael.

Well, Bleak Walkers Paladin is one of the most interesting picks because Aggressive/Cruel (plus Deceptive) disposition is their favored behavior, and that matches the unique actions in the game, particulary those extra attribute bonuses. Btw, Priest of Wael targets Deceptive/Clever, and contact with Wael happens no earlier than in Breith Eaman.

Rather than using Durance, a battle priest vessel killer is very entertaining in PoE. Increased DEX=PER>INT, spare points in RES, and then be sure to stay within the AoE of all buffs that target your body guards before adding any self-only buffs. On top of that the weapons favored by your god for the extra Accuracy bonus.