Best Druid build?

Hey y’all, I was hoping to get a barb torch today but found a Druid one instead: 19, 16, or 16, 19, I forget. So it’s better than average though.

I’m ssf offline, so I have a Druid mule where I put all “Druid” stuff, but I’ve never really played one. I’ve got like 3 jalals and a collections of the weapons that have +druid skills, some Druid ammys, charms, etc. I’ve probably got enough to outfit a decent character.

Trouble is I’ve never played a Druid, ever. When LoD came out back in the day I was like: “those characters are gimmicky versions of ones that already exist” - and there were some problems with how their skills worked back in the day, almost all of which I think are fixed now, so I think I, ready to give Druid a fair shake.

Is there a general consensus on what Druid builds/skills are the best? And by best I mean could they handle an act boss on players 3 with a decent amount of magic find and have good clear speeds in any of the level 85 areas?

If there are already guides out there a link is great! But mostly just wanting to gauge what everyone’s consensus is.

Thanks for all advice!

depends on what you want. if you wanna caster you could go windy druid or the new

Fissure druid. if you wanna melee you go Fury or rabbies. and of course you have summons. Kind of a non answer i know but druid is a pretty flexible class. and in my humble opinion one of the best classes at being a hybrid of two builds as well. my current buld is a summon variant with points in shapeshift for Fury. using a

Zod' in an

Eth reapers toll

I played a windy druid for my non-ladder start. I think that windy druid is considered the top tier druid build. It is a very decent MFer and doesn't have as much immunity problems as other classes because the build deals cold and physical damage if you follow the meta build. It makes for a very strong character but of course its clear speeds leave something to be desired compared to the broken meta build light sorc/hammerdin/javzon. But a well built windy druid can clear almost all content and barely break a sweat in doing so. I mained a (trav horker) barb in the ladder start and I can say I would certainly rather play a windy druid from a fun of play point of view.

I would advice to raise fire claw +

Armageddon shifter dru - but he needs to be properly geared to unlock all of his potential (requires Infinity, Chains of Honor, Plague, Phoenix, etc... not cheap ). For a start, you'd better try Fury

Werewolf with

Oak Sage and 1pt grizzly - nothing special, but reliable enough - he can complete hell even poorly geared.

I fell in love with

Fissure druid recently, but I think it's a one trick pony. He can easily and quickly farm Stony Tombs and some other new 85 areas, so if you are looking for something different than farming Pits and

Ancient Tunnels then go for it. It might be hard to get BiS gear on SSF though, because he shines with good

Ravenlore and Phoenix. He was massively buffed in recent updates (there are no global skill cooldowns etc)

I tried

Tornado druid also, he can farm more areas than

Fissure druid, but he is slower and he is not raining meteors from the sky all the time like a badass, so it was a no go for me.

I never played shapeshifters.

If you want to go SSF I'd go for the build that is ok with the least amount of gg gear.

I think those are the best guides: https://d2.maxroll.gg/guides/fissure-druid

I recently leveled a Wind Druid. They're cool in many ways. Really tanky with

Cyclone Armor,

Oak Sage, and a Zoo to tank for you. Having two sources of damage (cold/phys) makes it so there's not much you can't kill. I ran an Act 5 merc with Lawbringer to get

Decrepify on monsters on the cheap to break most phys immunes too. It's super easy to get good fcr frames, even with budget gear. I was wearing all SSF junk, like a Vipermagi, a pelt I picked up, random gambled fcr rings, etc, and he slew. Lot's of good to say!

However,

Tornado behavior can be really frustrating. They move weirdly and learning how to aim them is an acquired skill. Tornadoes are also slow moving and don't last long, meaning ineffective at long ranges, which makes archer packs really brutal without a source of

Teleport.

He's also really slow, in general.

So, Wind druid is a really great build that you can pull off pretty cheap and many people adore it, and for good reason, but he's a very different feel than basically any other caster I can think of.

I used to love

Werewolf builds to Death, but haven't played one in D2r, so IDK their state.

Thx everyone! I started a

Werewolf/summoning hybrid. I’m at level 25 right now. It’s fun and i can swat everything pretty well, I might respec when I get to nightmare and can wear some +skills gear, sounds like the best aloe build is a windy Druid?

The summons are great survivors right now, but they don’t really do much damage

I always enjoy the tornadostormer very much!