The arrival of the Druid class in Path of Exile 2, patch 0.4 The Last of the Druids, marks a game-changing addition for both new and veteran players. With its highly anticipated shape-shifting mechanics and a blend of elemental and melee combat, the Druid introduces a wealth of new playstyles and build opportunities. This guide will provide a thorough look at the Druid’s capabilities, the top leveling and endgame builds, and key mechanics to help you enjoy the fresh gameplay of this transformative class.
POE 2 0.4 Best Druid Builds
The Druid stands out as Path of Exile 2's first hybrid strength and intelligence class, combining robust melee attacks with potent spellcasting. The character harnesses the wild's essence, shifting between human and three animal forms: Bear, Wolf, and Wyvern, each bringing its own playstyle and elemental affinity. As a human, the Druid can wield magical staves and summon nature's fury with spells like volcano and thunderstorm, setting up persistent effects before shapeshifting.
A new weapon type, the animal talisman, is central to the Druid’s design. Equipping a talisman determines the animal form and its basic attack: Bear (maul), Werewolf (rake), or Wyvern (rend). Swapping between forms is instant and fluid, allowing players to weave together spells, attacks, and transformations mid-combat. The Druid can allocate passive points specific to forms, further personalizing their approach for human or shapeshifted states.
The class also introduces powerful synergies. For example, human-cast volcanoes can be slammed by Bear form for explosive damage, and thunderstorms can drench enemies to boost freeze or shock effects for Wolf and Wyvern forms. Shape-shifting, persistent spells, and animal companions all blend into a versatile toolkit, offering countless possibilities for creative builds.
Shaman and Oracle, Which is the Better Druid Ascendancy?
The Druid offers two initial ascendancies: Shaman and Oracle, each with unique mechanics and build paths:
Shaman Ascendancy
Shaman focuses on rage and elemental fury. Every two rage increases spell damage, and the Shaman can generate rage continuously, spending it to empower spells and attacks. This ascendancy enables you to combine nature’s elemental force with spellcasting, unifying animalistic and magical skills. Shaman also enhances runes and idols with extra modifiers, opening up further build customization. The Bringer of the Apocalypse skill from this ascendancy lets you become a walking disaster, raining elemental storms around you after enough elemental damage is dealt.
Oracle Ascendancy
Oracle is all about foresight and tactical advantage. You gain visions of your future self using specific skills, and if you follow those paths, your skills will deal much more damage. During boss fights, Oracle can duplicate a boss, so your damage hits both the duplicate and the original, effectively doubling your single-target output for a period. The Oracle also adds over 130 passive nodes to the Druid section of the tree, offering heavy specialization—such as reduced spirit reservation, improved minion efficiency, or even a chance to avoid death.
Which to choose?
Shaman is a natural fit for those who want to maximize rage, elemental synergy, and aggressive hybrid playstyles. It’s perfect if you want to blend melee, spells, and elemental effects. On the other hand, Oracle is ideal for advanced customization, exploiting skill duplication, minion builds, or high-damage strategies that revolve around foresight and unique passives. Both ascendancies have unique modifiers unavailable to other classes.
Bear, Wolf, Wyvern: Which is the Best Form for Druid?
Each of the Druid’s three animal shapeshifting forms brings a unique approach to combat:
Bear Form
Bear form is a walking calamity tank, generating rage and endurance charges. Its playstyle revolves around heavy slam skills, massive AoE, and fire-based damage. Walking Calamity, one of its signature abilities, brings down meteors and firestorms, amplifying rage and area damage even further. Bear can socket warcries such as Infernal Cry into Ferocious Roar, causing enemies to explode on death and adding even more control and AoE.
Bear excels in melee brawler builds, especially for players who enjoy a slower, heavy-hitting, and resilient approach. It also synergizes well with spell totems and slam totems for hybrid strategies.
Wolf Form
Wolf form is all about speed, attack mobility, and cold damage. Lunar Assault freezes enemies, then follow-up swipes knock ice shards off targets, which then explode. The wolf’s mark system enables summoning a wolf pack for extra damage, and Cross Slash allows you to consume marks for a backward leap and burst. Lunar Blessing transforms you into an arctic werewolf, granting movement and attack speed, cold damage, and buffs for your wolf minions.
Wolf form appeals to those who love swift, agile combat and cold-based explosions. It’s ideal for mapping and clear speed, with the added benefit of minion support through summoned wolves.
Wyvern Form
Wyvern, inspired by dragon-like creatures, is a lightning-focused melee/ranged hybrid. Power charges are core to this form: Wing Blast, Devour, and other attacks build charges for potent burst attacks. Wyvern offers breath attacks, such as Rolling Magma and Oil Barrage, which can interact with volcanoes or drench foes in oil for further ignites. Flame Breath lets you fly and rain fire for several seconds. The Wyvern excels in both melee and ranged combat, and synergizes well with elemental effects like shock and ignite.
Wyvern is perfect for players who want versatility, combining melee, spellcasting, and ranged attacks. It’s especially strong for those who enjoy stacking power charges and unleashing elemental devastation.
Which is best?
Bear is suited for those who want a tanky, fire-damage, AoE playstyle.
Wolf shines for mobility, freezing, and summoning minions.
Wyvern stands out for players who prefer hybrid melee/ranged, lightning/fire attacks, and power charge mechanics.
Many top builds combine these forms, swapping between them to take advantage of their respective strengths for different situations.
PoE 2 Best Druid Starter Builds For Leveling
For leveling, Druids benefit from builds that are simple to gear, have strong early-game damage, and scale well with available passives and gems. Here are some of the most effective starter builds:
1. Bear Slam & Volcano Hybrid
Start as a Bear, focusing on maul for rage generation and Furious Slam for AoE. Use the Volcano spell in human form to set up persistent damage zones, then shift back to Bear to slam the volcano for extra projectile bursts. Passive points should enhance rage generation, fire damage, and slam effects. This combination provides excellent clear and bossing potential early on, with strong defenses from endurance charges.
Leveling Tips:
Prioritize gear with life, armor, and fire damage.
Use Ferocious Roar with war cry gems for crowd control and bonus damage.
Transition into spell totem support as you progress for added versatility.
2. Wolf Cold Strike & Pack Minions
Wolf form’s Lunar Assault and Cross Slash offer fast, high-damage clears. Mark enemies with Pounce, summon wolf minions, and freeze groups with cold-based attacks. Passive points should support attack speed, cold damage, and minion bonuses. This build is ideal for players who want to move quickly through acts, with minions providing extra safety and single-target damage.
Leveling Tips:
Gear for attack speed, cold damage, and movement speed.
Use Thunderstorm to drench enemies and increase freeze chance.
Keep your wolf pack strong by marking new targets and using Cross Slash on bosses.
3. Wyvern Lightning Caster
Start with Wyvern form and focus on generating power charges with Devour and Wing Blast. Use lightning-infused attacks for AoE, and add Rolling Magma and Thunderstorm in human form to pre-damage packs. This build is great for those who enjoy spellcasting and elemental explosions, with power charges fueling both survivability and offense.
Leveling Tips:
Seek gear with lightning damage, cast speed, and life.
Use Herald of Thunder for extra clear.
Channel flame breath against tough enemies, making full use of rage and power charges.
PoE 2 Best Druid Builds for Endgame
Once you reach the endgame, Druid builds can be further refined with the ascendancies, unique items, and advanced passive synergies. Here are the standout endgame builds:
1. Elemental Bear Slam
Ascendancy: Shaman
Core Mechanics: Stack rage and endurance charges for empowered slams. Utilize Ferocious Roar with socketed warcries like Infernal Cry to add explodes-on-death and armor break. Walking Calamity provides a firestorm aura while generating more rage.
Endgame Strengths: Tankiness, exceptional area clear, and reliable single-target damage through empowered slams. Synergizes well with volcanoes and spell totems for automated extra damage.
2. Wolf Pack Minion Oracle
Ascendancy: Oracle (or Shaman for rage synergy)
Core Mechanics: Specialize in cold conversion and freeze stacking. Lunar Assault and Cross Slash enable constant crowd control, while Pounce and mark mechanics summon a persistent wolf pack. Use thunderstorm to drench enemies, increasing freeze build-up.
Endgame Strengths: High mobility, explosive AoE with Herald of Ice, and strong boss damage from wolf minions and cross slash combos. Oracle’s skill duplication can further boost damage.
3. Wyvern Power Charge Caster
Ascendancy: Shaman
Core Mechanics: Devour for power charge generation, spent on lightning-infused melee and breath attacks. Oil Barrage and Rolling Magma add ranged firepower, while flame breath converts physical to fire for massive ignite potential. Pair with thunderstorm to increase shock chance.
Endgame Strengths: Flexible between melee and ranged, excellent for both clear speed and bosses. Power charge scaling with Shaman ascendancy provides high spell and attack damage. Can automate spell casting with totems.
4. Hybrid Totem-Nature Caster
Ascendancy: Shaman or Oracle
Core Mechanics: Focus on spell totems casting volcanoes or thunderstorms. Generate endurance or power charges via animal forms to fuel totems. Use entangle and thunderstorm to boost plant damage and crowd control.
Endgame Strengths: Safe, ranged gameplay with automated spell damage, strong area denial, and versatile support for party play.
5. Nature Spell Druid (Human Form)
Ascendancy: Either Shaman for spell power or Oracle for passive expansion and unique defenses.
Core Mechanics: Stay primarily in human form, using spells like Volcano, Thunderstorm, and Entangle. Supplement with spell totems that automate spellcasting, and utilize advanced supports for persistent AoE effects.
Strengths: Ranged safety, strong AoE, flexible playstyle.
Endgame Scaling: Prioritize spell damage, area effect, and spell totem duration.
PoE 2 Best Shaman Druid Builds
Below, we sort out the best shaman druid builds based on the current situation in the game:
1. Lunar Werewolf Shaman Druid
Leveling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Excellent freeze and clear potential, straightforward mechanics for early progress.
Endgame: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Promises strong boss control and scaling, but true single-target may need refining.
SSF: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Leverages self-found gear and utility, with some unique items as optional bonuses.
The Lunar Werewolf Druid Shaman build is crafted around freezing enemies solid with cold-based werewolf skills, using Lunar Assault to stack powerful freeze buildup and then detonating ice shards for burst damage with Cross Slash. Lunar Blessing provides a substantial boost to cold damage, while a rapid attack speed ensures both clear and boss potential. The plan focuses on combining smooth freeze chaining, explosive AoE, and a toolkit that includes marks, a pack of wolves for utility, and effective rage management provided by the Shaman ascendancy. For defense, the build leans into scaling armor and energy shield, with additional layers like elemental damage reduction and leech options in the mix. With flexibility for further optimization as more information becomes available, this setup aims for both strong crowd control and reliable damage windows.
Check out the Lunar Werewolf Shaman Druid Setup Guide
2. Meteor Bear Shaman Druid
Leveling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Strong early clear, consistent rage sustain, and easy ramp-up; may need tweaks for single target.
Endgame: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
High damage potential on large bosses and enduring mapping, though full scaling depends on gear.
SSF: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Shaman's rage sustain works well, but optimal scaling and uptime may be gear-dependent.
The Meteor Bear Druid Shaman build centers around using Walking Calamity, a skill that transforms your bear form into a walking storm of meteors, unleashing a barrage of small meteors every second and a massive meteor at intervals for outstanding mapping power. The appeal of this setup comes from its ability to create an autobomber-like experience, where activating the skill leaves destruction in your wake as you move. With Shaman ascendancy, maintaining maximum rage becomes effortless thanks to Furious Wellspring, enabling rapid glory generation and near-constant uptime on Walking Calamity. This approach promises consistent mapping speed and the potential for great damage, especially against larger bosses where overlapping meteors can deal substantial hits. Investment in skill effect duration, cooldown recovery, and rage generation all come together to keep the meteors falling and your bear form at peak performance throughout your journey.
Check out the Meteor Bear Shaman Druid Setup Guide
3. Frozen Rampage Shaman Druid
Leveling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Fast map clear, strong AoE, self-sustained rage and good survivability; single-target is weaker.
Endgame: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Great clearing and defenses, but unproven boss damage and untested single-target scaling.
SSF: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Accessible with self-found gear, but relies on certain uniques (like Scold’s Bridal) for max power; alternatives possible but not as smooth.
The Frozen Rampage Shaman Druid Build offers a fresh take for the upcoming Path of Exile league, designed as a theorycrafted approach focused on fast-paced map clearing. This build combines Rampage in bear form, where you sprint and slam enemies while consuming rage, with powerful interactions from Herald of Ice for explosive cold-based AoE and Infernal Cry for added fire damage and combust effects. With the Shaman ascendancy providing passive rage regeneration and the ability to sustain rampage nearly indefinitely, the build leverages sources like extra cold damage, mana regeneration, and clever use of war cries to maximize both offense and survivability. Though single-target potential remains a question, this build excels at rapidly mowing down packs by chaining freezes and Herald of Ice explosions, all while enjoying strong elemental damage reduction and robust resource recovery.
Check out the Frozen Rampage Shaman Build Setup Guide
PoE 2 Best Oracle Druids
Below, we sort out the best Oracle druid builds based on the current situation in the game:
1. Lunar Frost Werewolf Oracle Druid
Leveling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Fast attack speed and effective cold skills enable efficient early progression and crowd control.
Endgame: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Strong crit scaling, defensive layering, and skill variety support both bossing and mapping.
SSF: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Relies on core class mechanics and flexible gearing, making it reliable for self-found progression.
The Oracle Lunar Frost Werewolf build for the Druid class thrives on a fast-paced playstyle, making the most of talisman weapons with high attack speed and solid crit potential to deliver rapid cold-damage attacks. By utilizing Oracle ascendancy, this setup focuses on maximizing both crit and elemental damage, while cleverly picking strong passive nodes through features like Travel Wisdom for efficient scaling. Skills such as Cross Slash provide both clear and single-target power, while Luna Blessing and companions offer versatile buffs and crowd control. Defensive options are notably flexible, with the potential for mana-based mitigation and energy shield layering, and the build is designed to adapt as more information about the new class and tree becomes available. The overall concept promises a smooth mapping experience with plenty of room for optimization and powerful burst windows.
Check out the Lunar Frost Werewolf Oracle Druid Setup Guide
2. Pouncing Wolf Pack Oracle Druid (Minion Hybrid)
Leveling: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Good early minion access and hybrid melee/minion gameplay allow for steady progression; wolf skills and marks help with clear speed.
Endgame: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Paths Not Taken nodes from Oracle ascendancy enable high minion survivability and personal tankiness, making all content approachable.
SSF: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Flexible skill options, low dependence on uniques, and strong Oracle nodes make this one of the safest, most reliable choices for self-found.
Wolfpack Druid is a perfect choice for players who like mixing melee with minion gameplay, offering great survivability through Oracle’s powerful passive nodes and a dynamic playstyle that feels rewarding in both mapping and bossing. Paths Not Taken gives access to unique tree nodes, including substantial death avoidance, making the Druid much harder to kill. Summoning and scaling a wolf pack with minion damage while buffing them through warcries and marks creates a flexible, low-maintenance build that handles all content and can be tailored to personal preferences.
Leveling to Endgame Setup:
Skills:
Begin with Rake and Lunar Assault for easy early clearing.
Transition to Pounce for marking and summoning your wolf pack.
Use Pounce Slash and Freezing Mark for bossing and utility.
Enhance minion damage with Arctic Howl and Lunar Blessing, consuming rage as needed.
Passives:
Take minion damage, life, and specific Oracle ascendancy nodes for death avoidance and Paths Not Taken.
Pick up cold and frenzy-related passives if you want to specialize your wolf minions.
Gear:
Boost minion and melee damage, life, and resistances on armor.
Get weapons with minion modifiers and attack speed.
Seek added cold damage to attacks and minions for synergy.
Playstyle:
Summon and support your wolf pack, using marks and warcries to maximize their output.
Rotate into human or other animal forms as needed for utility or spellcasting.
Keep rage high for Lunar Blessing and faster clearing.