Oak Sage

Summon a spirit pet that increases life for you and your party.

Oak Sage is the Druid's level 6 spirit (Summoning tree, no prerequisite); it unlocks Heart of Wolverine and Summon Dire Wolf. It is a summon that does nothing but carry an aura: +% maximum life for you, your party and your pets inside its radius. The two numbers are the life bonus, 30% at level 1 and 125% at level 20, and the radius, 20 yards at level 1 and 45⅓ at level 20.

The numbers

• Max Life is Param1 (30, "Aura HP % baseline") plus Param2 (5) a level. The row's comments say both must match the Oak Sage Aura row's Param3 and Param4: the spirit casts a separate "Oak Sage Aura" skill (sumskill1) at the Oak Sage level, and the tooltip reads this row's copy of the same numbers.
• Radius is Param7 (30) plus Param8 (2) a level, in the game's sub-tile units, × ⅔ for yards.
• Mana is 15 at level 1 and +1 a level (lvlmana): 34 at level 20.
• The spirit's own life is calc1 = Param3 × (lvl − 1) = +30% a level; the Basin's D2R table prints it as 60 at level 1 and 402 at level 20. Its level is your character level (calc2 = ulvl).

The lines read lvl, so +skills from items raise the bonus and the radius.

How it works

The aura raises Life by the percentage, and the Basin's page lists it as applying to Oak Sage itself and to your pets, but not to Raven, the three vines or Returned reanimates. The Basin gives the aura a 10-second duration, and notes that when several players each have an Oak Sage out only the highest-level aura applies. The aura lives only while the spirit does.

The spirit is a totem (pettype) that follows you at a walk; the Basin lists its defense rating as 49 plus the monster-level value, 25% resistance to physical, magic, fire, lightning and cold, and poison immunity, which the row shows as poisonresist and maxpoisonresist 100. Knockback does not apply to it. Everything else does: the Basin says other auras, buffs and debuffs apply to Oak Sage, so an enemy aura or a curse lands on it like on any pet. Oak Sage can be cast in town.

When the spirit dies the life it granted goes with it. On a party at 125% that is more than half of their life gone at once.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Oak Sage neither gives nor receives one, and nothing in the row reads another skill. The Basin notes that the aura's level is the Oak Sage level at the moment of casting, so Battle Command cast before summoning raises it by one, and cast on the spirit afterward raises it again.

Against players

Oak Sage never touches a player; it only raises life for your side. See Player versus Player for how your own hits are cut.

Build notes

• Each level is +5% life and +1⅓ yards of radius, and +skills count, so Oak Sage is a skill that gear levels cheaply.
• Only one of Oak Sage, Heart of Wolverine and Spirit of Barbs can be out at a time; the choice is life against damage.
• The spirit's 402 life at level 20 is its weakness; keeping it behind you is part of using it.
• Mana climbs to 34 at level 20, which matters only because the spirit needs recasting every time it dies.