I'm sorry for offending any one. Hmm, I like using a vine tree and either sunfire amulet or mana flower. From there I often like deployingn lots of stranglevines and tanglevines. I'll often include 2-4 animals in case of the plants being destroyed.
No worries, man. So, my opening is the standard vine tree + harmonize. I also like getting teratree out giving my vine tree 3 mana per turn. What my mage does depends on what my opponent does. If he takes a few rounds to build up his defenses, etc., then I will take the opportunity to build up a garden. I try to target the two adjacent zones from my mages starting zone, keeping my mage well hidden in the starting zone. I simply make the enemy mage come after me. I also spellbind a heal spell to mage wand. With the plant creatures having regenerate and my mage healing as necessary, they are very difficult to kill, while my vine tree continues to add to the garden. I will throw out a seedling pod or two in home base that will eventually deploy Kralathor. At the same time, I'll summon an Asp or another cheap animal to feed Kralathor so he receives a growth marker right from the beginning.
Opposing Thornslashers playing tennis with enemies thru bloodspine wall is a fun defense.
Personally, I would ditch the sunfire amulet for the meditation amulet. With Barkskin and some basic equipment and the ability to lifebond with your tree, she is very hard to kill as is. I find the extra mana helpful as sometimes she doesn't have a whole lot to do as the garden takes care of itself.
Two weaknesses of the druid: Flying creatures and rush melee mages. The one time I came close to losing is when I got too aggressive with my mage early on. Fortunately, I recognized my mistake and retreated. If you're confronted with flying creatures, I play Gravikor and if the enemy mage rushes me, I make good use of the druid's vinewhip snap and tanglevine to slow the enemy down until I can get some growth going. I do have a few spitting raptors and a spider as well for mobility and ranged attacks, though I'm thinking about adding a grizzly for a bit more versatility. Spellbinding burst of thorns to mage wand can also trip the enemy up pretty good. By time they get close creatures will have already received several damage.
The secret to the druid (in my opinion) is patience. I'm sure others have very different strategies, but like I said, my druid is undefeated and most in my gaming group won't even play 1:1 with me if they know I'm playing druid. I would encourage you to keep giving her a try until you find what works for you. She's bad ass.
