Diablo IV State of the Druid Class - What Needs To Change?

Diablo IV Posted 2023/04/04 at 12:21 PM by RenataKane

RenataKane: During Open Beta, I tested a Werewolf build and a Werebear build. In both cases, I wanted to see how these shapeshifting builds performed, how the synergies worked together, and how to make these beloved D2-reminiscent builds work. I ran both builds up to 25 on separate characters to test not only their abilities, but also how well they leveled.

Put simply: neither work best as "pure" versions. The Werewolf is in a far better place, but the Werebear skills, particularly in the 1-25 range we were given for Beta, are a conflicting mess of abilities that don't hang together. The Werebear abilities lack good synergies and have abilities that outright conflict with one another. This was disappointing because early theorycrafting seemed to indicate that the Werebear build, particularly with Overpower, would be a great, tanky build that could dish out as much damage as it took. Sadly, this was not the case.

I did not switch out to any Elemental abilities, because I wanted to test these two shifter builds as laid out within the Werewolf- and Werebear-specific skills. While I definitely believe that making a shifter/elemental hybrid would work very well, particularly with interesting Legendary aspects combining Lightning with Werewolf and Earth with Werebear, testing things on straight shifter builds allowed me to study the shifter trees in detail and pick out the strengths, weaknesses, and places where the skills simply break or don't make sense when you run the numbers.
Shapeshifter Druid Skill Nodes in Diablo IVProblems with Spirit GenerationClaw Maul Problem 1: Maul is significantly slower than Claw. Problem 2: Maul's ability to hit multiple targets relies on striking into tightly clumped mobs.Pretty much sums up the Werebear Maul experience.Heart of the Wild Abundance Verdict: If you're playing a shifter of either type, use Claw for Spirit generation. Maul is broken. Must invest 4 points early into Spirit generation passives for good performance.

Winner: Claw. Maul performs poorly for Spirit generation.Spirit Node Skill ChoiceShred Pulverize There is a Legendary aspect that turns your Pulverize into a Shockwave-type effect, but you shouldn't have to rely on an aspect to fix a fundamental skill issue.while you remain Healthydying Verdict: Pulverize is visually impressive and can do a lot more damage to packed mobs, but its short range and reliance on tight grouping for good damage wastes a lot of precious Spirit. Pulverize is a better stand-alone melee-range attack for Elemental hybrids. Shred does less damage and hits fewer total mobs, but handles spread-out mobs much more effectively. Shred's upgrades not only speed up damage but add in an underrated defense: increased damage avoidance.

Winner: Pulverize for fun and high damage, Shred for movement, defense, and versatility. Defensive Node Skill ChoiceBlood Howl Debilitating RoarNotice how Debilitating Roar boosts my health significantly.Verdict: Never waste points on Blood Howl unless they improve the ability and add better defensives to the upgrades.

Winner: Debilitating Roar - 100% game changer.Wrath Node Skill ChoiceRabies Trample Notice how a small group, quickly scattered, becomes much harder to land a good Pulverize on.Verdict: Rabies is great. Trample couldWinner: Overall Issues with Werewolf and Werebear in Diablo IVWerebear Damage Mitigation IssuesNot enough Fortify for mitigation, but closeavoiding Overpower DisappointmentsOh, pretty orange range numbers, I didn't see you as often as I should.while you remain HealthyWhat Needs to Change for Shapeshifting Druids in Diablo IVWerewolves are in an OK place, as long as you switch to Debilitating Roar instead of Blood Howl.Spirit generation for both is poor, but Werebear Maul is just brokenrequiresGive Werebears more damage management options.Revisit Overpower.Take a hard look at Werebear's actively conflicting abilities and lack of synergies.

Comment by dembroNot sure why the author thinks a Skill Point only gets you a 1s CD reduction on Blood Howl, but this is what the upgrade actually is:

"Kills reduce the Cooldown of Blood Howl by 1 second."

So, yeah. Instead of 15s, it's more like every 6-8s, at least from what I was noticing with an unoptimized build. I agree with most of the other points, though. Werebear definitely felt weak.Comment by RenataKaneNot sure why the author thinks a Skill Point only gets you a 1s CD reduction on Blood Howl, but this is what the upgrade actually is:

"Kills reduce the Cooldown of Blood Howl by 1 second."

So, yeah. Instead of 15s, it's more like every 6-8s, at least from what I was noticing with an unoptimized build. I agree with most of the other points, though. Werebear definitely felt weak.Comment by StraataThose Teal numbers are all Overpower damage as well, the Orange one is a Crit OverpowerComment by LazerzDOESNT HELP that theres no normalization on spirit gen for swing speed between slow and fast weaponsComment by RiotThis game already has more experts after 2 beta weekends than wow has after decades of existence.Comment by PMMickThe fortify mechanics make no sense to me. I mean, I understand what is being described, but it makes no sense that they would be designed that way. It puts fortify into a weird binary state where all your fortified health is pretty much useless until you cross some threshold (I'm intentionally ignoring the contribution to overpower damage and focusing on mitigation only).Comment by tyr2009I love all the advertisers that post on wowhead articles now. If only it was real so I could quit my job with that one simple trick.

On topic but you shouldn't have to rely on an aspect to fix a fundamental skill issue.Comment by MetternicI don't know what you were trying to accomplish in this article but you missed the mark.

Firstly, talking about having to take min/max talents early in the form of spirit generation and extra spirit are going to be automatic. Every class has them, they are they to push your build into harder content. This has been a thing since Diablo. You are going to take those talents either way.

Secondly, I am glad that you enjoyed the werewolf build. You did a great job of covering that specific build as well as Werebear. You did not cover any of the elemental builds floating around.

Lastly, its a 25 level cap demo. You cant ascertain overall changes that need to be made with such a small sample. We didn't even get synergies or our class ability for cripes sake.Comment by Ragutlook how much this guy typed and its all wasted cuz it doesnt matter xd
imagine spending this much time to think about this after a level 25 beta when they had lots of ppl test max level characters in closed alphaComment by hamhelth213I agree that Trample could use an option that removes the knockback. Every other criticism seems to fit into the category of "Were-bear is not very effective against spread-out enemies" which seems to be entirely the point. Seems weird to provide all this feedback on what is obviously an intentional design choice.

Still a good job from Renata and I'm excited to see more "state of the classes".Comment by IceWolfDKYes, Blood Howl is pretty bad compared to the alternative, which is pretty sad for werewolf purists.Comment by AzraelUltimaI think i'd like to see what the class specialty is (as in, what it actually does, not just the outline) before making any judgements on this.Comment by CarlBarkerI really don't understand the disappointment with Werebear. I leveled to 25 with a Storm Strike/Pulverize build and it was a blast. 2 storm strikes filled my spirit and then Pulverize basically one shot every group of mobs. The only downside was the single target damage for bosses, but I never ever died. Charging in and clapping a screen worth of mobs was so satisfying. I'm assuming people using Maul over Storm Strike has a lot to do with it. There are a lot of benefits to swapping back and forth from Bear and Human form, such as gaining spirit every time you enter human form, that you really miss by using exclusively bear abilities.

I definitely agree that, overall, the class does need some work. But mostly because there's barely any synergy between anything. I think the forms need to be the class specific mechanic that you specialize in outside of your ability tree, with all of the classes abilities having some sort of difference depending on what form you're in. Like I feel like you should be able to choose to be a bear with tanky properties, or an agile wolf, and then be able to play a storm, earth, or feral build within those forms.Comment by zakerumTheir Weight.Comment by ThreefloydsFunny that blood howl is regarded as an avoid skill. My beta experience on werewolf druid was very different. Found legendaries that buffed my wolf companions and turned them into werewolves. That with a blood howl legendary that gives you a crit buff as well, I took the path of getting extra life back on blood howl use, and used this combo as a tanking means. Definitely saved me while solo'ing the Butcher.Comment by bvbdragonlook how much this guy typed and its all wasted cuz it doesnt matter xd
imagine spending this much time to think about this after a level 25 beta when they had lots of ppl test max level characters in closed alphaComment by csjaniIt seems, the author is ok with one of the biggest issue (I assume bug) with the Druid in general. While other classes can use their powers simultaneously, if those powers are not channeling spells. But druid can't. Or technically you can try, but it won't work. And I think it's because of the form change animation. When you are changing to form or to another form, or back to human form, the animation causes a delay for other spells being cast - even if those spells are just to activate your pets' active abilities - and this delay causes the other spells either to be cast later (which is obviously really bad for area targeted spells, like your raven follower's active ability), or not at all (I guess it depends if you still fit into the timeout on the queue). This is very annoying, as you are forced to constantly double-check your spells if they were cast (so they are on CD), or not. Then use the spell again and check again. And too many times they are not being used at all. This definitely needs to be fixed.Comment by PMMickIt seems, the author is ok with one of the biggest issue (I assume bug) with the Druid in general. While other classes can use their powers simultaneously, if those powers are not channeling spells. But druid can't. Or technically you can try, but it won't work. And I think it's because of the form change animation. When you are changing to form or to another form, or back to human form, the animation causes a delay for other spells being cast - even if those spells are just to activate your pets' active abilities - and this delay causes the other spells either to be cast later (which is obviously really bad for area targeted spells, like your raven follower's active ability), or not at all (I guess it depends if you still fit into the timeout on the queue). This is very annoying, as you are forced to constantly double-check your spells if they were cast (so they are on CD), or not. Then use the spell again and check again. And too many times they are not being used at all. This definitely needs to be fixed.Comment by VijhkalI had the same resource limitation issue running a storm druid. A combination of low spirit generation and insufficient damage mitigation to sustain staying in the thick of things to build said spirit. To be fair, however, regardless of the beta status of the game, we experienced druid with a severe handicap since we didn't have access to the spirit animal system. This would likely make a substantial difference.Comment by bighardturdI played 5 druid builds, 3 of them were absolutely terrible. All 3 being shapeshifting builds. The two I played that weren't shapeshifting one of them was actually pretty good (lightning earth hybrid) while the other (lightning) wasn't as good but it was still good. Bear and Wolf should have a shared passive that grants extra damage as a bleed, because a bear and a wolf both have claws, ie "Gain 50% extra damage as a bleed over 3 seconds" and each form should also have their own passive that persist for a few seconds after leaving the form. ie "While in bear form you gain 20% damage reduction, persist for 4 seconds after leaving bear form" and "While in Werewolf form you deal 20% increased damage, persist for 4 seconds after leaving Werewolf form"