Teo1904 is one of the best Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction speedrunners in the world. From the inception of D2’s speedrunning scene, he was there to help shape the strategies and techniques people still use to this day. At the peak of his career, he held over two dozen Diablo 2 speedrunning World Records, and even two years later, his past records remain among the top 10 on Speedrun.com. He seeks out the competitive element of any game he plays and is always willing to share his knowledge and experience with others. 
The Druid Leveling Guide provides you with all the necessary information to get your favorite Character started!
Not every Skill is suitable to be used during early leveling for three reasons:
- Only a number of Skills work well without any previously farmed gear.
- A lot of builds lack damage during the leveling phase. It can become a big struggle or even straight up impossible to progress, starting with an end game build.
- Some builds have a hard time transitioning into hell due to Immunities.
We provide you with step by step Skill trees and easily accessible items that help you in your play through. Additionally, you get tips and insights on how to deal with Immunities and the more difficult fights.
At the end of this guide you'll have a Level 75 Druid that used 1 out of the 3 respecs the game provides. You can use these to transition into your build of choice.
If you like the build at the end of this guide, check out the Tornado Hurricane Druid Guide, which continues it to the end game.
Progression
The Druid Leveling Guide utilizes Firestorm, Molten Boulder, and Fissure until Act 3 in Nightmare. Respec into Tornado + Hurricane before you fight Mephisto in Nightmare. This is the spec for the remaining leveling progress.
- Act 1 N
(Up to Level 13) - Act 2 N - Act 5 N
(Up to Level 26) - Act 1 - Act 3 NM
(Up to Level 38) - Meph NM - Act 5 H
(Respec + Level 75)
Act 1 N<br>(Up to Level 13)
Skill Point Allocation
Level 1-5: Firestorm
Den of Evil: Firestorm
Level 6-7: Molten Boulder
Level 8-11: Firestorm
Level 12-13: Fissure
Attribute Allocation
Level 2-11: All into Vitality
Level 12-13: All into Strength
Playstyle & Progression
- Clear out the Den of Evil and pick up items to sell, like Rings, Amulets, Charms, etc. Start using Firestorm at Level 2. Try to hit as many targets as possible with each cast.
- Buy some Life, Mana and Stamina Potions. Add both the Tome of Town Portal, and the Tome of Identify if possible.
- Pick up a couple of Chipped Gems and put them into your Stash. You can use them to repair the Teleport Charges by putting 1 Chipped Gem + 1 Ort Rune and the Staff of Teleportation into the Horadric Cube and hit Transmute.
- From this point onwards, Elite Groups are your primary focus when it comes to killing monsters. Don't waste your time with individual monsters. They grant far less Experience!
- Pick up every Druid Pelt that you come across. Check them for +x to Skills used in this guide (Fissure and later Tornado as priority). 2 Sockets, especially on a Pelt with +x to Tornado are a great base for Lore. Keep 3 white Pelts in your stash touse the Imbue reward from Charsi later on.
- Start using Molten Boulder as soon as you reach Level 6. Larger monsters cause the boulder to explode when they get hit, instead of rolling through and hitting multiple targets. Use Firestorm against these instead.
- Fight your way to the Black Marsh. Find the Waypoint and start farming The Countess inside the Forgotten Tower for the below listed Runes. Put the Runes into your Stash for storage.
Check Charsi for the 2 Socketed Body Armor, and a 2 Socketed Helmet at the start of each run. Buy a 2 Socketed Staff from Akara when you need to get more potions. - Primarily use Fissure when you hit Level 12. Cast it into high density groups while running past them. Use Molten Boulder against Fire-Resistant monsters to finish them off.
- After acquiring all Runes, make your way to the Catacombs Level 4, where you face the first Act boss, Andariel - Maiden of Anguish.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Short Staff | Shop at Akara after the Den of Evil | This Staff is used for the Runeword Leaf later on. | ||||
| 1-2 2 Socketed Helmets | Shop at Charsi or drop from monsters | The first Helmet is used to put Ral Runes into. The second one is used for the Runeword Lore later on. These Helmets are ideally Pelts with useful +x to Skills. Make sure that one of them is NOT a Magic Item for the latter. | ||||
| Any 2 Socketed Body Armor | Shop at Charsi or drop from monsters | This Body Armor is used for the Runeword Stealth later on. Make sure that it is NOT a Magic Item. | ||||
| Mandatory: 1 Tal Rune 1 Eth Rune 1 Tir Rune 1 Ral Rune | Farm at The Countess | These Runes are used later for: - Stealth - Leaf | ||||
| Optional: 1-2 Ral Runes | Farm at The Countess | If acquired, these Runes are used for: - Gemmed Helmet | ||||
Act 2 N - Act 5 N<br>(Up to Level 26)
Skill Point Allocation
Level 14: Fissure
Radament: Firestorm
Level 15-20: Fissure
Izual: Firestorm
Level 21-26: Fissure
Attribute Allocation
Level 14-21: All into Vitality
Level 22-25: 2 Into Vitality, 18 into Strength
Level 26: 4-5 into Strength
5 if you use a Broad Sword for Spirit.
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
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Belt | Shop at Farah | More Potion slots = more Good. | ||||
| Large Shield or Kite Shield | Shop at Farah | This Shield is used for Ancient's Pledge. The Kite Shield is better for movement speed. Make sure that it is NOT a Magic Item for the latter. | ||||
| Stealth Body Armor | Stash / Inventory | Create Stealth from the previously farmed Runes. | ||||
| Leaf | Stash / Inventory | Create Leaf from the previously farmed Runes. | ||||
| Gemmed Helmet | Stash / Inventory | Add previously farmed Ral Runes to one of the Helmets. | ||||
| Staff of Teleportation | Shop from Ormus | Shop this Staff between Level 20 and 23. This reduces the amount of Staves you need to check down to those with a red background. | ||||
| Crystal Sword or Broad Sword | Drop in Cow Level | Add 4 Sockets with the Quest 1 reward from Act 5 to create a base for Spirit: Crystal Sword | ||||
Act 1 - Act 3 NM<br>(Up to Level 38)
Skill Point Allocation
Level 27: Firestorm
Den of Evil: Firestorm
28-31: Fissure
Radament: Firestorm
Level 32-37: Firestorm
Level 38: Volcano
Attribute Allocation
Level 27-38: All into Vitality
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
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Coral Belt of the Mammoth | Shop at Charsi or Gheed in Nightmare | Shop for a Belt with Resistances. Lightning and Fire are your priority. Life can be a nice bonus. | ||||
| Russet Heavy Boots of Haste | Shop at Charsi or Gheed in Nightmare | Shop for Boots with +x% Faster Run/Walk. Resistances are a nice bonus. Lightning and Fire are your priority. | ||||
| Coral Heavy Gloves | Shop at Charsi or Gheed in Nightmare | Shop for Gloves with +x% Increased Attack Speed. Resistances are a nice bonus. Lightning and Fire are your priority. | ||||
| Create Spirit Crystal Sword | Stash / Inventory | Create and equip as soon as the Runes are acquired. | ||||
| Create Lore Helmet | Stash / Inventory | Create and equip as soon as the Runes are acquired. | ||||
| Mandatory: 1x Tal Rune 1x Thul Rune 2x Ort Runes 1x Amn Rune 1x Sol Rune | Farm at The Countess in Nightmare | These Runes are used for: - Spirit Crystal Sword - Lore | ||||
| Optional: More Ort Runes | Farm at The Countess in Nightmare | Used to repair Staff of Teleportation | ||||
Meph NM - Act 5 H<br>(Respec + Level 75)
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.
Attribute Allocation
Allocate enough Strength to wear all of your gear. Put remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Level 39-75: All into Vitality
Respec
Elemental
Tornado - 15 Skill Point
Hurricane - 9 Skill Point
Cyclone Armor - 14 Skill Points
Summoning (Optional)
Summon Grizzly - 1 Skill Point
Note: You'll want to get the summons in Hell difficulty (Act 3+) and the shown build allocates them later. Less experienced and Hardcore players should skill them right away. Use the left-over Skill Points for this.
Max out in Order
Tornado
Hurricane
Cyclone Armor
If you haven't at the respec, get 1 Skill Point into the prerequisites and Summon Grizzly.
Twister
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!
Essentials
Hardcore
All of our Leveling Guides are viable for Hardcore.
Changes to consider:
- Over Level before you enter Nightmare / Hell. Suggested Target Levels are ~38-40 for Nightmare and 65+ for Hell.
- Make sure to have your Cold, Fire, and Lightning Resistances capped at 75% when you enter Nightmare and Hell. The easy way to check this is to enter the difficulty you want to play and open your Character screen.
- We recommend farming Flayer Jungle or The Secret Cow Level in Nightmare for Charms. They make it easy to cap your Resistances.
Gear Options
With a shared stash now available and the fact that this might not be your first Character we want to give you some gear options that can improve your leveling experience a lot!
- Spectral Shard, and Suicide Branch are great alternatives to Spirit Crystal Sword.
- Skin of the Vipermagi is the best Body Armor you can equip on any caster for Leveling.
- Magefist gives you 20% Faster Cast Rate which helps to improve your Cast Rate for Tornado. +1 to Fire Skills increases the Skill Level of Fissure.
- A rare Amulet with +x to Druid Skills or +x to Elemental Skills is very powerful. Unique options for the Amulet are The Eye of Etlich and later a Maras Kaleidoscope.
- Hsarus' Iron Heel and Sander's Riprap are strong options for the Boots slot. Both provide you with Faster Run/Walk and are very common drops.
- The Stone of Jordan provides you with +1 to All Skills, which scales our damage up significantly. It's a rather expensive option, but if you have one, put it on!
- Splendor or Lidless Wall can be a really nice option if you can get high Resistances without the help of Ancient's Pledge.
- Jalal's Mane is a very powerful Druid Pelt. With +2 to All Skills, +30% Faster Hit Recovery, and All Resistance +30, it gives huge utility. A Lore Antlers or an amazing Rare Pelt can provide more damage.
- Patch 2.6 added some interesting choices for Helmet Runewords. If you are struggling with Lightning Damage, farm the Countess in Nightmare to build Ground. Temper is a great option if you or your Mercenary struggle with Fire Damage.
Farming Spots at Level 75+
The areas below are efficient farming locations that make use of the build’s strengths. Other farming spots might not be as effective due to immunities or bad layouts.
Act 1
| Area | Rewards | ||
| The Countess | Runes Key of Terror | ||
| The Pit | All Item Types Max Area Level Leveling | ||
| Andariel | Uniques Sets Jewelry |
Act 3
| Area | Rewards | ||
| Travincal | Gearing Runes Charms / Gems / Jewels Gold | ||
| Mephisto | Uniques Sets |
Act 5
| Area | Rewards | ||
| Eldritch the Rectifier | Gearing Gold Leveling | ||
| Shenk the Overseer | Gearing Gold Leveling | ||
| Worldstone Keep / Throne of Destruction | All Item Types Max Area Level Leveling | ||
| Baal / Waves | Uniques Sets Max Area Level Leveling |
Video
Summary
- Destroy your enemies early on with the Fire Skills Firestorm, Molten Boulder, and Fissure.
- After respecing keep Cyclone Armor up at all times.
- Use your summons strategically as meat shields and distractions.
- Remember to cast Hurricane any time it runs out. You can't activate it in town!
- Play around with the pathing of Tornado. It can feel a little clunky, but you get used to it. If you struggle to hit an enemy, change your position.
- Farm The Countess in Normal and Nightmare for the key Runewords. Be careful with the item bases you buy from the vendors. Runewords do NOT work in Magic Items!
- Get the rewards from Anya after Level 30 and imbue Pelts for the chance of +1 to Druid Skills. Pick up all Druid Pelts for Skills used in this guide. (Mainly Fissure, Tornado, and Hurricane)
- Buy a Staff of Teleportation before Level 24.
We hope the Druid Guide helps you to get to your endgame build of choice. While Fissure is the destroyer of worlds in Normal, and early Nightmare, Tornado, and Hurricane can feel a little clunky at times.
Good luck!
Credits
Written by Teo1904
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi
Changelog
Feb 3rd 2023
Updated to Patch 2.6
- Added Temper and Ground to the Gear Options Sep 25th 2022
Fixed formatting issues 
