Druid Levelling Guide - D2R 2.6

Druid Levelling Guide

This guide will take you through an efficient method to level your Druid and complete the game on Hell difficulty.  There are various approaches to levelling and the method will change depending on your situation (for example if you have been rushed, you will level differently), this guide presents a method for playing through the game yourself and levelling the traditional way.  We will also discuss an efficient way of allocating your skill points and useful items to collect / farm along the way.

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Normal Difficulty

The Druid’s levelling build focuses on the elemental skill tree, in particular the fire skills which are extremely strong in the early game.  There is an alternative build that is more efficient for Act 1, which focuses on summoning the Poison Creeper – however this requires a skill reset at the end of Act 1 to change to the fire build and I prefer to save this reset for later in the game.

Our main spell will be Fissure (available at Level 12), however this receives bonus damage from Firestorm which is available from Level 2 onwards.  Place all of your points into Firestorm until you reach level 6 and can obtain the Molten Boulder skill, for levels 7 – 11 continue to place points into Firestorm again to build up the damage.  Fissure is available at Level 12 and is a huge power spike when available.  Place all of your available points into Fissure from this point onwards as this will be our main damage dealer.  This build is very smooth and one of the fastest ways to progress through the game with any character.  The mechanic of Fissure means that you can cast it beneath yourself and continue to run through the game, monsters will run over the fissure and take damage leaving a pile of bodies behind you as you progress!

For your stat points, the general rule is to put enough points into Strength and Dexterity for the equipment you need to use then spend the remainder into Vitality.

In Act 1 the best place to gain early experience is in the Forgotten Tower beneath the Black Marsh.  Each level in the tower has at least 1 Champion or Elite pack, so you will find a minimum of 5 packs and the Countess herself on level 5 making it very efficient.  Killing the Countess also provides us with early rune drops and there are some very strong low level Runewords that we can target for the Druid.  You will need to farm Countess until you find a Tal and an Eth rune to make the Runeword “Stealth” (Tal Eth) in a 2 socketed armour (you will find one of these as you play, and if you don’t Charsi sells them).  I would also recommend farming a Tir and a Ral rune to make “Leaf” in a 2 socketed Staff (any staff will do, this will either drop on your way to Countess or you can purchase from Akara).  “Leaf” seems like a Sorceress Runeword, however the +3 to Fire Skills is generic and applies to the Druid’s fire skills which is a huge boost so early in the game.

When you fight Andariel in Act 1 drink 5-6 Antidote potions before engaging, these provide a passive boost to your poison resistance.  Similarly, when fighting Duriel in Act 2 drink 5-6 Thawing potions which has the same affect on your cold resistance.  For boss fights in general you will want the bosses to run over your fissures to deal the most damage.  Keep casting fissures beneath yourself as you kite around the edge, making sure the bosses run over and receive damage.  If you are able to tank hits from the boss, you can stand still and cast Firestorm along with Fissure to deal extra damage.  Continue working your way through the game with the above build and you will have an easy run all the way through Normal difficulty.  In Act 4 you will encounter the Grand Vizier of Chaos in the Chaos Sanctuary who is immune to fire, to kill you will need to purchase an Act 2 Mercenary and equip him with a high damage Polearm purchased from Act 4.  Molten Boulder also deals a small amount of physical damage so can be used alongside the mercenary.  More experienced players should purchase a staff with Teleport charges from Ormus in Act 3 (you will likely need to reset his items by going in and out of town, however this should not take more than 15 minutes) and have this on your item swap to allow for quick progression through the game.

Once you have worked your way through Normal difficulty you can start doing Baalruns to gain experience and prepare yourself for Nightmare difficulty.  You should ensure you reach level 40 as a minimum before entering Nightmare, this can be done either playing solo or with a group.

Nightmare Difficulty

The Fissure build makes short work of Acts 1 and 2 and also progresses very smoothly through Act 3 up to Travincal.  At this point we will start to encounter more monsters that are immune to fire and it is time to reset our stat and skill points to focus on an alternative elemental build – the Wind Druid.  Our main damage dealer will be Tornado which deals physical damage, and you should put as many points as possible into here.  We also want to maximise points into Hurricane which supplements the physical damage from Tornado with cold damage reducing the potential for issues with immune monsters.  It is also worth gaining the Oak Sage and Summon Grizzle spells for a life boost and a meat shield to protect you from damage.  From this skill point allocation you will also gain the Cyclone Armor ability which absorbs some elemental damage.  All of these elemental spells synergise so it is a very efficient build in terms of both dealing damage and maximising your survivability.

There are 3 Runewords that we need to make for our new build – “Spirit” (Tal Thul Ort Amn), “Ancient’s Pledge” (Ral Ort Tal) and “Lore” (Ort Sol).  Once you reach the Countess you will want to farm her until you gain all of the required runes.  Make the spirit in a Long / Broad / Crystal Sword, a base can be found in Normal difficulty cows and the Act 5 Quest 1 reward to gain 4 sockets.  Make “Ancient’s Pledge” in either a 3 socketed Large Shield or Kite Shield, both of which can be purchased in Act 2 Normal.  The Sword and Shield combination will replace the “Leaf” staff which is no longer useful to us.  Lore can be made in any 2 socketed helmet, it really doesn’t matter which one you use.  Another useful Runeword is “Insight” (Ral Tir Tal Sol) which we can make in a 4 socketed Polearm (farmed in Normal Cows) and give this to an Act 2 Mercenary, providing him with the Meditation aura and sustaining our mana.

When you finish Nightmare Difficulty, you will want to do more Baalruns and reach a minimum level of 60 before progressing into Hell.

Hell Difficulty

The method for Hell Difficulty is very similar to Nightmare.  You will occasionally find monsters that are Immune to physical however this is where the cold damage from Hurricane helps.  If you are unlucky and find monsters that are immune to both Cold and Physical, admit defeat and skip them!

The Elemental Druid can farm The Chaos Sanctuary and Travincal very effectively and these should be your target locations.  Both areas are popular farming locations for High Runes and also high value and rare items.