Druid Leveling Build Guide

Playstyle & Progression

• Enter Lut Gholein and pick up a Belt from Farah.
• Kill Radament first, then continue with the story progression through Act 2. Fissure struggles a little in the Maggot Lair and Arcane Sanctuary. Use Firestorm against Maggots and Molten Boulder against anything else in the narrow corridors of Maggot Lair.
• Create and equip your Stealth Runeword at Level 17.
• Check Farah for a 3 Socketed Large Shield or Kite Shield whenever you are in town.
• Proceed through Act 3 and create your Leaf when you hit Level 19. Put additional Ral Runes into your helmet, if you have some.
• Your target for the end of Act 3 is at least Level 19.8.
• Hire an Act 2 Mercenary after you enter Act 4 and equip him with a Pike from Halbu. You'll need him to kill Grandvizier of Chaos in the Chaos Sanctuary and Colenzo the Annihilator on the first Wave in the Throne of Destruction.
• When you reach Level 20, go to Act 3 and shop for a Battle Staff of Teleportation at Ormus. Use a Waypoint you pick up along the way and re-enter Kurast Docks through a Town Portal to reset his inventory. You only need to check Staves with a red background because the Level required for it is 24, meaning you can't equip it right now.
• Continue your progress all the way to Baal. Kill Izual for the extra Skill Points before killing Diablo. Finish Quest 1 and 2 in Act 5 for the Socket reward and the Runes required for Ancient's Pledge. Create the Runeword as soon as you have them and put it into your stash. You won't use it until you have your Spirit.
• If you feel comfortable, use Firestorm against Diablo and Baal at close range to hit them with all 3 projectiles. This requires some dodging of their abilities, but because they don't move around much, the damage turns out to be more than fissure.
• Kill Izual along the way for the extra Skill Points and finish Quest 1 and 2 in Act 5 for the Socket reward and the Runes required for Ancient's Pledge. Create the Runeword as soon as you have them and put it into your stash. You won't use it until you have your Spirit.
• Wait to pick up the Quest reward from Anya until Level 30. At this Level there is a chance for it to give +1 to Skills.
• After killing Baal, open up The Secret Cow Level and look for a Crystal Sword or Broad Sword while Leveling up to 25. Equip the Battle Staff of Teleportation when you hit Level 24. Once you have a Sword Base for Spirit, use your Act 5 Quest 1 reward to socket it. Then kill the Waves in the Throne of Destruction to reach Level 26 before entering Nightmare difficulty. Wave 5 might be a bit tricky. Skip them and fill up on Potions from Malah, then enter Nightmare. You'll reach Level 26 by the time you need to refill on them.

Gear Checklist

Playstyle & Progression

• Start the Nightmare difficulty by shopping for Coral Heavy Gloves, a Coral Belt of the Mammoth and Russet Heavy Boots of Haste (or similar).
• Complete Quest 1 for the Skill Point and continue to the Black Marsh Waypoint.
• Farm The Countess until you acquired the Runes mentioned from the checklist below. Create Spirit Crystal Sword and Lore Helmet. Equip them as soon as you can. You have reached the final equipment at this point.
• Continue with the Fissure build until Mephisto. Respec to Hurricane + tornado before you fight him. The fight goes faster than with Fissure.

Gear Checklist

The respec assumes that you are Level 38. You can respec as early as Act 2, but always before Mephisto at the latest.
Note: The respec leaves 5 Skill Points unallocated. This allows you to put points into Tornado and Hurricane simultaneously until Tornado is maxed out.

Playstyle & Progression

• Before you kill Mephisto, respec into Hurricane and Tornado as shown above. Buff yourself with Cyclone Armor to shield yourself from Fire/Lightning/Cold damage. Recast it often if you’re taking elemental damage, even if the shield hasn’t gone down yet.
• Hurricane can only be cast outside of town. Cast it and close in on your enemies and start casting tornado. Most monsters are put into Hit Recovery when they run into the Hurricane area, even if they are Immune to Cold.
• Use all of your summons as distractions whenever needed. Summon Grizzly is the most durable and can take a beating. The others are fairly squishy but can take a couple of additional hits for you as well.
• The biggest challenge of this build is hitting enemies with tornado. Each cast feels like they are using a different path, making you miss a lot of them. They use the same path if you continuously cast them without moving your mouse. Adjust your position in small ways to figure out a good spot to hit your target if your first cast misses.
• This Skill build can kill every monster apart from the extremely rare Elite Group bosses that are immune to both Physical and Cold Damage. The Cold Damage is fairly low. It is best to skip monsters Immune to Physical.
• The Ancients in Hell can be a bit tricky. The fight takes quite a bit of time. Run in circles and cast tornado behind you. Use the summons to distract them for a moment. This allows you to cast a couple more tornados.
• The fight against Baal is the final and arguably the hardest challenge for this build. He deals pretty hefty damage against your low Life pool. Recast your Cyclone Armor often to negate some of his damage. Cast tornado from as far away as possible, because you cannot survive his melee attacks for very long. When he spawns his clone, run away until they are off-screen. Return to town and refill on Potions. When you return, the clone should be de-spawned. If not, repeat the process until it is. Fighting both at the same time is very hard!