Fury Druid Guide
Last Updated:August 10, 2024|Change Log
The Fury Druid is an extremely powerful melee build that can achieve some of the highest possible Damage and Life values in Diablo 2. This Druid build centers around maximizing the Shape Shifting Skill Tree with some support from the Summoning Skill Tree. It excels at crushing single targets such as Uber Bosses, while also being able to farm practically any area in the game (especially with Bone Break).
Fury is your main source of Physical Damage, while Feral Rage provides additional Faster Run/Walk and Life Leech bonuses. Heart of Wolverine grants more Attack Rating and Physical Damage for Fury. In Patch 2.6, Metamorphosis provides separate, powerful bonuses for striking a monster in Werewolf and Werebear form. With his powerful melee attacks and trusty Summons, the Fury Druid is an absolute animal! (literally)
This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 75 before transitioning to it. Check out our Druid Leveling Guide and our General Leveling Strategies to reach Level 75.
Extremely Tanky ✔
Crushes Uber Bosses ✔
Farms Most Areas With Ease ✔
Massive Single Target Damage ✔
❌ Lacks Mobility
❌ Lacks Area Of Effect Damage
❌ Limited Actions In Shapeshift Form
❌ Requires GG Gear For Full Potential
Sunder Charm Setup
Patch 2.5 introduced a new way of breaking Immunities: Sunder Charms. Any enemy that would be Immune to your damage type is instead reduced to 95% Resistance, before any other Resistance reductions apply. (e.g. Lower Resist, Conviction) The Charm also reduces YOUR Resistance against the sundered damage type! Check out our post on Sunder Charms to learn more about these new Charms. The following setup uses Bone Break, allowing you to farm anywhere you want.
Gear Changes
To optimize this Sunder Charm, make use of Amplify Damage or Decrepify procs for a large amount of -% Enemy Physical Resistance. Great sources of these are Atma's Scarab, Brand on Weapon-Swap, and The Reaper's Toll on your Mercenary.
Counteract the negative effect of Bone Break with gear that grants Damage Reduction such as Metamorphosis, Crown of Ages, Vampire Gaze, String of Ears, and Verdungo's Hearty Cord.
Terror Zones
The new Terror Zone mechanic combined with Sunder Charms open up a wide range of farmable areas. The following list highlights the best and worst Terror Zones for this build. With the Sunder Charm Setup, more Terror Zones become accessible. Learn more about Terror Zones here and see how they stack up in our Terror Zone Tier List.
Best
✔ Travincal - Quick Access, Few Immunities, Council Members
✔ Frigid Highlands (Eldritch ONLY) - No Immunities, Quick Access
✔ Pit - No Immunities, Many Elite Groups, Easy Mobility
✔ Rocky Waste + Stony Tomb - No Immunities, Many Elite Groups, Easy Mobility, Quick Access
✔ Act 2 Sewers - No Immunities, Many Elite Groups, Easy Mobility, Quick Access
Worst
❌ The Tower Cellar - Trash Mobility, Slow Access, Immunities
❌ Arcane Sanctuary - Trash Mobility, Immunities
❌ Ancients' Way + Icy Cellar - High Physical Damage, Immunities
❌ Burial Grounds + Crypt + Mausoleum - Low Density, Few Elite Groups, Trash Mobility, Slow Access
❌ Arreat Plateau + Pit of Acheron - Low Density, High Physical Damage, Immunities
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
3. Werebear
4. Maul
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Heart of Wolverine
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Damage
Utility
Attributes
Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants may require different allocations!
Strength
Allocate 200-300 Stat Points into Strength to gain additional Physical Damage on melee attacks.
Dexterity
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Dexterity your gear provides when equipped.
Vitality
Allocate any remaining Stat Points into Vitality after meeting Strength, Dexterity and Energy requirements.
Energy
Do not allocate any Stat Points into Energy. Mana costs are covered by “x% Mana stolen per hit” on gear.
Essentials
Gear Options
Farming Spots
Mercenary
Playstyle
Breakpoints
Hardcore
Build Variants
Setup
The Starter variant of the Fury Druid meets the minimum gear requirements for farming the Starter ✔ tagged areas in the "Farming Spots" section above. These areas can be Solo-farmed by this setup (/Players1 on Single Player) in both Nightmare and Hell difficulty. Hustle and Unbending Will are strong, relatively easy to acquire weapons that can provide this build with sufficient power. Beyond a decently strong weapon, make sure to prioritize Attack Speed, Attack Rating, Damage, Resistances, Cannot Be Frozen, and Life/Attributes on your gear. A Harmony on Weapon-Swap greatly boosts your travel speed in-between monster packs. Follow the Druid Leveling Guide to get your Druid to Level 75.
Mercenary
The Starter Fury Druid uses an Act 5 Frenzy Mercenary with 2x Lawbringers for their ability to proc Decrepify. Decrepify increases your Damage, provides a Slow, and breaks most Physical Immunes. Sanctuary Aura also provides additional Crowd Control. Mercenaries require Resistances, Life Leech, and/or Damage Reduction to stay alive. Smoke provides Resistances on this setup.
Note: You can also use an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Hustle if you are using Unbending Will on your Character.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
Put 10 Skill Points into the following Skills:
1. Feral Rage
2. Heart of Wolverine
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
The Budget Fury Druid achieves solid results with gear that is much easier to acquire than the gear on the Standard Build. This variant can farm almost every Farming Spot the Standard Build can, and almost just as well, albeit on a lower Player Count. With 1-3 Players in the game or /Players1-3 on Single Player, the Budget setup dominates The Pit and Act Bosses. Swapping in a Dwarf Star allows this build to smash Travincal as well. The Budget Fury Druid makes use of several lower-end gear options that still provide solid Damage, Attack Rating, Resistances, Life, and the Cannot Be Frozen stat. Oath Feral Axe is a relatively cheap, fast weapon that does the job. If you can acquire Bone Break you can smash Immune to Physical mobs on this setup.
Mercenary
The Budget Fury Druid uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with The Reaper's Toll for its Decrepify proc. Decrepify increases your Damage, provides a Slow, and breaks most Physical Immunes. Treachery and Guillaume's Face add to his damage and allow him to reach the 75% Increased Attack Speed Breakpoint for maximum Decrepify procs.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Heart of Wolverine
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
This is the Standard Best in Slot (BiS) Fury Druid featured in the beginning of the guide. It is the balanced "jack-of-all-trades" version, capable of performing the most tasks well. This variant is the point of comparison for all other variants. It carefully balances Damage, Magic Find, and Defensive Stats. Breath of the Dying in an Archon Staff provides extremely high, consistent damage. Other Breath of the Dying Bases can be used depending on preference. Metamorphosis provides incredible "Mark of the Wolf" and "Mark of the Bear" stat bonuses.
Mercenary
The Standard Fury Druid uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Pride to boost your damage as much as possible. Shaftstop and Vampire Gaze provide him with much needed Damage Reduction, as Pride does not do much damage.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
3. Werebear
4. Maul
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Heart of Wolverine
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Attributes
Allocate 200-300 Stat Points into Strength to increase Fury's Physical Damage and enough Stat Points into Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
The Magic Find variant achieves extremely high Magic Find on a Fury Druid by using Tomb Reaver, Harlequin Crest, War Traveler, and Magic Find Charms. This setup is also tankier than the Standard Build, achieving higher Resistances and Damage Reduction. Make sure to still prioritize Attack Speed and Damage on the rest of your gear. This variant sacrifices Damage for Magic Find, making it more efficient in Low Player Count (/Players1-3 on Single Player) games.
Mercenary
Just as with the Standard Build, the Magic Find Fury Druid uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Pride to boost your damage as much as possible. Shaftstop and Vampire Gaze provide him with much needed Damage Reduction, as Pride does not do much damage.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
3. Werebear
4. Maul
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Heart of Wolverine
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Attributes
Allocate 200-300 Stat Points into Strength to increase Fury's Physical Damage and enough Stat Points into Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
The Damage Fury Druid uses Brand on Weapon-Swap for a reliable Amplify Damage proc. It also sacrifices survivability for the extra damage provided by Guillaume's Face. This variant performs the best in High Player Count games or /Players7-8 in Single Player. Amplify Damage allows this setup to one-shot most monsters with any number of Players in the game. It absolutely massacres. Most of the time, Amplify Damage procs quickly after running into a monster pack with Brand equipped. However, certain monsters with abilities that do not trigger it (such as Hydra and Inferno) can prove quite troublesome. Purposely not putting enough Stat Points into Strength to wear your armor gear while on your Brand-swap makes it more likely that you are struck, increasing the likelihood of procing Amplify Damage. Bone Break makes it possible for the Damage Fury Druid to smash Immune to Physical mobs. Briefly swapping Guillaume's Face for Metamorphosis can provide you with its incredible "Mark of the Wolf" and "Mark of the Bear" stat bonuses.
Mercenary
Just as with the Standard Build, the Damage Fury Druid uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Pride to boost your damage as much as possible. Shaftstop and Vampire Gaze provide him with much needed Damage Reduction, as Pride does not do much damage.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
3. Werebear
4. Maul
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Heart of Wolverine
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Attributes
Allocate 200-300 Stat Points into Strength to increase Fury's Physical Damage and enough Stat Points into Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality. Alternatively, only put enough Stat Points into Strength to wear your gear, but not enough to wear all of your gear while on Brand-swap.
Setup
The Ubers variant specializes in defeating the Uber Bosses, including mini-Ubers such as Lilith. Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, Deadly Strike, Enhanced Damage, Damage Reduction, Resistances, and Life are priority stats on this setup. Ribcracker is arguably the best Weapon on an Uber-killing Fury Druid. A Dracul's Grasp, or a Life Tap Charges Wand on Weapon-Swap can also be used to provide Life Tap for additional Life Sustain. Dracul's Grasp also increases your Open Wounds stat. Pre-buffing Enchant with Demon Limb provides additional Attack Rating and pre-buffing Fade with Treachery provides Damage Reduction, Resistances, and Curse Duration Reduction. Briefly swapping Guillaume's Face for Metamorphosis can provide your with its incredible "Mark of the Wolf" and "Mark of the Bear" stat bonuses. Thundergod's Vigor and stacked Lightning Resistance allows this build to tank Uber Mephisto.
Mercenary
The Ubers Fury Druid uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with The Reaper's Toll for its Decrepify proc. Decrepify massively increases your Damage against Uber Bosses while Slowing them down. Along with Bone Break, Decrepify also allows you destroy Uber Baal's Physical Immune Summons. Treachery and Guillaume's Face add to his damage and allow him to reach the 75% Increased Attack Speed Breakpoint for maximum Decrepify procs.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Heart of Wolverine (Max Last)
3. Werebear
4. Maul
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Heart of Wolverine
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality. Allocate additional Stat Points into Dexterity to increase your Attack Rating if it is below 10K (after buffs).
Setup
For the Hardcore mode variant, aim for high Damage Reduction to guard against taking extreme amounts of Physical Damage. Additionally, overcap Resistances beyond the natural cap of 75% if possible to counteract hostile Conviction or Lower Resist. Metamorphosis provides you with insane Life and Damage Reduction stats with its "Mark of the Wolf" and "Mark of the Bear". You can also equip Grief Phase Blade and Stormshield to achieve an even more tanky setup with maximum Chance to Block (75%). Consult the "Hardcore" section for more detailed information.
Mercenary
Just as with the Standard Build, the Hardcore Fury Druid uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Pride to boost your damage as much as possible. Shaftstop and Vampire Gaze provide him with much needed Damage Reduction, as Pride does not do much damage.
Skills
Max Oak Sage instead of Heart of Wolverine for as much Life as possible. The rest is the same as the Standard Build.
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Summon Grizzly
2. Oak Sage (Max Last)
3. Werebear
4. Maul
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Werewolf
2. Lycanthropy
3. Fury
4. Feral Rage
5. Oak Sage
Allocate any remaining Skill Points past Level 97 into Summon Dire Wolf for increased Summon Grizzly Life.
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Video Guide
Summary
- Keep Feral Rage stacks up for maximum bonuses. Hit monsters with it occasionally in-between bouts of Fury.
- Remember to consistently re-cast Summons such as Heart of Wolverine and Summon Grizzly as needed.
- Maintain your Battle Command and Battle Orders buffs on you and your Summons at all times.
- With Metamorphosis equipped, transform into a Werebear and attack the first monster you encounter with Maul to gain the "Mark of the Bear" bonuses. Once its stat bonus Aura is confirmed, transform into a Werewolf.
- The Damage Fury Druid Build Variant uses Brand on Weapon-Swap to easily decimate monsters in High Player Count (/Players7-8 in Single Player) with its fairly reliable Amplify Damage proc.
- Crush Uber Bosses to make full use of this dangerous animal!
We hope you enjoy this build! Become a monster to defeat the monsters. Enjoy tearing your enemies to shreds with this absolute beast!
Good luck!
Credits
Written by DarkHumility
Original Post by BTNeandertha1
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi