Path of Exile 2 Druid: Forms, Skills, and How the Class Works

The Druid is the highlight of The Last of the Druids update, and easily one of the most unique classes Path of Exile 2 has shown so far. He is a Strength and Intelligence hybrid who mixes spellcasting and shapeshifting into one efficient playstyle, all while carrying a tragic story about losing his people and wandering the Mists as a beast.

If you want to know what this new class can actually do before the patch drops next week, here is a full breakdown of the Druid’s forms, mechanics, and ascendancies coming at launch.

How the Druid Works

Unlike other classes, the Druid is not locked into a single combat style. He switches between:

• Human form casts nature magic
• Animal forms let you turn into a bear, wolf, or wyvern
• Spell-to-animal synergies with spells that persist as you transform at the same time
• Different Resources – Rage (bear), Moon energy (wolf), Power charges (wyvern)

This makes him a hybrid class in the literal sense! You can play as a melee, range, mage, and change forms, all in one rotation.

His transformations come from Animal Talismans, a new weapon type unique to the Druid. Your talisman determines the animal form you change into and unlocks the associated skill tree.

Human Form

As a Human, you use staves to manipulate the elements on the battlefield before you turn into an animal.

Key Spells

• Volcano – Spawns small volcanoes that spit magma balls at enemies over time.
• Entangle – Creates roots that trap enemies in place.
• Thunderstorm – Calls down lightning, makes enemies “wet” for cold/shock combos.
• Spell Totems – Auto-casts a spell using endurance or power charges.

The most important part to remember is that these spells keep working even if you shift, so your animal forms fight with natural disasters happening around them. You can use these elemental spells and combine them with your animal powers. For example, cast a thunderstorm and turn into the wolf to freeze enemies.

To switch back to human, simply cast a normal spell, and to turn into an animal, cast their specific primary skill.

Bear Form

Bear is the most dominant form. It is tanky, loud, and built to smash and clean your screen. To turn into a bear, you will have to use his primary skill, Maul. Upon casting it, you will turn into the Bear.

Main Abilities

• Maul – Heavy-hitting swipe. This is also the best way to generate Rage.
• Furious Slam – AoE shockwave. If the runes on your back are glowing, it means you have enough Rage to cast an even more powerful version.
• Rampage – Momentum-based damage, great for chain-fighting. The more Rage you have, the longer it lasts. If you do it over volcanoes, it even makes it better because it triggers the volcanoes to spit out more balls.
• Ferocious Roar – A Warcry that can even use other classes’ Warcries if socketed.

Bear is perfect for players who love big hits, Warcries, tanky builds, and fire.

Wolf Form

Wolf form is all about agility, burst damage, and freezing everything on the screen. He is fast, deadly, and can even use the moon’s power.

Main Abilities

• Lunar Assault – Freezes enemies and infuses attacks with Moon energy.
• Rake – Physical slashes you can scale with cold, or use to knock shards of ice off your enemies, that then land on the ground nearby and explode.
• Pounce – Marks enemies and summons wolves when that marked enemy dies. You can also socket other Mark skills from other classes in this gem.

Pack Mechanics

Killing marked enemies expands your wolf pack. Your goal as a Wolf is to mark, kill, and summon as many wolves as possible, and build up a sizable pack!

Your wolves will prioritize attacking the next marked enemy. The more wolves you have, the more damage you deal.

This can be an issue during boss fights, since there are no enemies to mark and kill. To deal with this, you have an ability called Cross Slash. This will allow you to jump backwards and do a double slash that causes any marks on the boss to explode. This allows you to then Pounce on the boss and summon a wolf even without killing anything.

Arctic Werewolf

The wolf has the ability to call down the power of the moon and turn into an Arctic Werewolf with Lunar Blessing:

• Faster movement
• Extra cold damage
• Duration extended by consuming Rage

Wolf is the go-to form for players who want speed, cold burst, and minion support.

Wyvern Form

The last form, and probably the coolest, is the Wyvern. This one combines feral melee with ranged elemental attacks and corpse consumption.

Main Abilities

• Rend – Main skill. Jump forward towards enemies and slash the enemies
  • When consuming Power Charges, charges up your wings with Lightning
• Wing Blast – Explosive AoE knockback.
  • If your wings are charged with lightning, the blast will also do lightning explosions
• Rolling Magma – Range attack. Spit balls of fire that bounce on the ground. These trigger the volcanoes as you can create in human form, so you want to put those down first.
• Oil Spit – Leaves oil on enemies, making it easier to set them on fire.
• If you have power charges, you can create a barrage of Lightning infused projectiles. The more charges you have, the longer you can channel the skill. But be careful, you are vulnerable during that time.
• Flame Breath – Fly high in the skies and rain down a stream of fire on your enemies. You can take advantage of having wings this way.

Corpse Feasting

When your enemies are dead on the ground, it is time to feed on them. Consuming corpses grants Power Charges, and those are needed in order to upgrade:

• Attack speed
• Spell intensity
• Elemental damage
• A blue marker can appear on enemies that allow you to devour them even before they die

Wyvern works amazingly with human-form spells like Volcano and Thunderstorm, creating multilayered elemental combos.

Druid Ascendancies

Two ascendancies will be available for now, with a third teased for later.

• Shaman, the Elemental Rage Caster
  • Channels Rage into devastating elemental storms.
  • Highlights:
    • Wisdom of the Maji – Unlocks new mods on runes and idols.
    • Bringer of the Apocalypse – Turns Rage into apocalyptic storms.
  • This is the “storm lord” path, perfect for players who love chaos.

• Oracle, the Druid with Foresight
  • A more mysterious ascendancy centered around predictions and manipulating the future.
  • Highlights:
    • Fateful Vision – Anticipate future actions.
    • Moment of Vulnerability – Exploit enemies at their weakest.
    • The Unseen Path – Learn from alternate futures to learn skills you would otherwise not have access to.
  • Oracle is ideal for players who love complexity, timing, and original mechanics.

The Druid is not just another shapeshifter. His entire kit is built around:

• Maintaining spells through transformations
• Rotating between human and animal form
• Having three complete combat identities
• Combining resources (rage, moon, power charges)
• Fusing melee, range, and nature magic in one kit

He is dynamic, expressive, and insanely fun to play! Easily one of the most ambitious classes Grinding Gear Games has revealed so far.

With the class you will also have access to over 30 new support skills, and more! You can also get all the details on the upcoming league and overall changes made to the game if you check out our detailed hub for the Last of the Druids!