Rabies Druid Guide
Last Updated:February 12, 2025|Changelog
The Rabies Druid primarily focuses on dealing Poison Damage and Damage Over Time (DOT), which is great for being able to attack and move on to other targets, adding a consistent flow of gameplay.
This build hyper-specializes in farming The Secret Cow Level which has high density of weak to Poison Damage Cows, making Rabies the Skill of choice for our beef farming machine!. Heart of Wolverine grants Attack Rating and some Physical Damage for Feral Rage, allowing you to deal with Immune to Poison enemies as well. This build is fast moving, like playing a game of tag... as a Werewolf.
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.
Very Tanky ✔
Unique Playstyle ✔
Has High Survivability ✔
❌ Requires Niche Gear
❌ Limited Farming Spots
❌ Only Really Excels In End Game
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. Conviction, Lower Resist) 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 Rotting Fissure, allowing you to farm anywhere you want.
Gear Changes
To optimize this Sunder Charm you need as much -% Enemy Poison Resistance as possible. Equip Jeweler's Monarch of Deflecting and Death's Web in your Weapon Swap. Use your Main Weapon Swap to apply Rabies then switch to your Secondary Weapon Swap to increase your damage.
Counteract the negative effect of Rotting Fissure with an Antidote Potion or Emerald Small Charms. Poison isn't a major threat unless you remain poisoned for a while....
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 on the Starter or Budget setup. 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
✔ The Secret Cow Level - High Density, No Immunities
✔ Pit - Many Elite Groups, No Immunities
✔ The Tower Cellar - No Immunities, Many Elite Groups, Countess
Worst
❌ Tal Rasha's Tombs - Trash Mobility, Tanky enemies, High Physical Damage
❌ Chaos Sanctuary - Tanky enemies, High Physical Damage, High Elemental Damage
❌ Burial Grounds + Crypt + Mausoleum - Low Density, Trash Mobility
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Werebear
(to proc Mark of the Bear from Metamorphosis)
2. Fury
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Rabies
2. Poison Creeper
3. Werewolf
4. Lycanthropy
5. Feral Rage
Optional:
- Put 1 Point into summon grizzly.
- Put 1 Point into shockwave.
Rabies* is your main damage dealing attack. Run up and bite your enemies with a Poison Attack that spreads to other nearby enemies.
Feral Rage* acts as a "Power Up" Skill that provides additional Faster Run/Walk, Life Stolen per Hit, +x% Damage and +x% Attack Rating bonuses. A successful hit from Feral Rage triggers a "red ball" that will spin around your Character, indicating its power level. The bigger the ball, the more powerful the stat bonuses.
Fury* deals 5 Physical Damage attacks on a single target or five hits on five separate targets.
* Increased Attack Speed Skills (IAS)
Heart of Wolverine* provides an additional Physical Damage and Attack Rating for you and your Mercenary, Summons, and Party Members.
Oak Sage* provides an additional Life for you, your Mercenary, Summons, and Party Members.
Summon Grizzly* summons a grizzly bear to fight by your side and acts as a front-line tank.
Poison Creeper* summons a Vine pet that inflicts Poison Damage to monsters it attacks, and that run through its Poison cloud.
Lycanthropy* is a passive skill which provides you with Life and Duration for Werewolf.
Werewolf* grants you the ability to transform into a Werewolf! Your Attack Speed, Attack Rating, Life and Stamina are increased in this form.
Werebear* allows you to gain the Werebear mark and to cast shockwave to incapacitate enemies.
shockwave stuns enemies hit for up to 10 seconds.
* Faster Cast Rate Skills (FCR)
* Skills that do NOT utilize either FCR or IAS
Attributes
Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants can require a different allocation!
Strength
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Strength your gear provides when equipped.
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” or “+x Mana after each Kill” on gear.
Essentials
While every Stat in the Desirable Stats column is useful for this build, we highlighted the Priority Stats in Teal so you can easily identify the Most Important Stats on them.
Hover over any Item to see a pop-out with the full Item description.
Gear/Base Notes: Any Items with specialized or niche uses have a superscript that refers here.
1) Angelic Halo Ring and Angelic Wings are great for boosting your Attack Rating significantly. You can even add a second Angelic Halo to stack even more Attack Rating!
| Slot | Item Options | Desirable Stats |
| Weapons | Grief Phase Blade Plague Phase Blade Oath Conquest Sword Plague Bearer Death's Web with Zod Rune (Low Durability) | x% Chance to cast level x Lower Resist when struck Level x Cleansing Aura When Equipped +x to All Skills +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x% Enhanced Damage Damage +x Ignore Target's Defense -x% Target Defense -x% to Enemy Poison Resistance x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Deadly Strike x to Mana after each Kill x Life after each Kill +x to Rabies [Druid Only] |
| Off-Hand | Stormshield Head Hunter's Glory with 3x Rainbow Facet Jeweler's Monarch of Deflecting with 4x Rainbow Facet Phoenix Monarch Rhyme Bone Shield | Level x Redemption Aura When Equipped + x% Faster Hit Recovery +x% Faster Block Rate x% Increased Chance of Blocking +x% Enhanced Damage -x% to Enemy Poison Resistance +x% to Poison Skill Damage +x to Attribute +x Life +x% to Maximum X Resist X Resist +x% +x to Life after each Kill Cannot Be Frozen Socketed [x] |
| Weapon-Swap | Call to Arms Crystal Sword Wand of Lower Resistance | +x to All Skills +x to battlecommand +x to battleorders +x to battlecry Level x [/d2planner-skill]Lower Resist[/d2planner-skill] [x/x Charges] |
| Off-Hand-Swap | Spirit Monarch | +x to All Skills |
| Body Armors | Duress Archon Plate Rain Treachery Archon Plate Fortitude Archon Plate Bramble | x% Chance to cast level x Fade when struck +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Enhanced Damage +x% to Poison Skill Damage x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Chance of Open Wounds +x Life X Resist +x% |
| Helmets | Metamorphosis Wolf Head Jalal's Mane Cerebus' Bite Guillaume's Face Lore Cap Wisdom Totemic Mask | +x to Shape Shifting Skills [Druid Only] +x to Druid Skills +x% Faster Hit Recovery x% Bonus to Attack Rating x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Deadly Strike +x to Rabies [Druid Only] +x to Feral Rage [Druid Only] +x Life All Resistances +x Cannot Be Frozen |
| Gloves | Dracul's Grasp Soul Drainer Steelrend Venom Grip Laying of Hands Trang-Oul's Claws Magic Gloves | x% Chance to cast level x Life Tap on striking +x% Increased Attack Speed x% Enhanced Damage x% Enhanced Damage to Demons x% Enhanced Damage to Undead +x% Mana stolen per hit +x% Life stolen per hit +x% to Poison Skill Damage x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Chance of Open Wounds +x to Attribute X Resist +x% |
| Belts | String of Ears Verdungo's Hearty Cord Thundergod's Vigor Blood Crafted Belt Magic Belt | +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x% Life stolen per hit x% Chance of Open Wounds +x to Attribute +x Life +x% to Maximum Lightning Resist X Resist +x% +x Lightning Absorb Damage Reduced by x% Magic Damage Reduced by x |
| Boots | Goblin Toe Gore Rider Aldur's Advance Magic Boots | +x% Faster Run Walk x% Deadly Strike x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Chance of Open Wounds +x Life X Resist +x% |
| Amulets | The Eye of Etlich Highlord's Wrath Blood Crafted Angelic Wings1 | +x to All Skills +x to Shape Shifting Skills [Druid Only] +x to Druid Skills + x % Faster Run / Walk x% Deadly Strike +x% Life stolen per hit X Resist +x% +x to Attack Rating |
| Rings | Rare Ring Angelic Halo1 Raven Frost | +x to Attack Rating +x% Mana stolen per hit +x% Life stolen per hit +x to Attribute +x Life X Resist +x% Cannot Be Frozen x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items |
| Charms | Grand Charm Large Charm Small Charm | +x to Shape Shifting Skills [Druid Only] + x % Faster Run / Walk + x% Faster Hit Recovery +x to Maximum Damage +x to Attack Rating +x to Attribute + Life X Resist +x% x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items |
| Unique Charms | Gheed's Fortune Hellfire TorchAnnihilus Rotting Fissure | Monster Poison Immunity Is Sundered +x to All Skills +x to Druid Skills +x to all Attributes All Resistances +x x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items Reduces all Vendor Prices x% |
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. These areas are strong without a Sunder Charm.
Anything that has a ✔ in the "Starter" column can be farmed with the Starter or Budget Variant.
Act 1
| Area | Starter | Rewards | ||
| The Countess | ✔ | Runes Key of Terror | ||
| The Pit | ✔ | All Item Types Max Area Level Leveling | ||
| The Secret Cow Level | ✔ | Runes Runeword Bases Charms / Gems / Jewels | ||
Act 3
Act 5
| Area | Starter | Rewards | ||
| Eldritch the Rectifier | ✔ | Gearing Gold Leveling | ||
| Shenk the Overseer | ✔ | Gearing Gold Leveling | ||
| Nihlathak | - | Key of Destruction Leveling | ||
| Worldstone Keep / Throne of Destruction | - | All Item Types Max Area Level Leveling | ||
The Rabies Druid performs best when you can control the movement of your enemies. A Mercenary interrupts that control and also dies very frequently, slowing you down to revive him. If you are willing to put up with this, the Act 5 Frenzy Barbarian is your best option.
Your Mercenary serves an incredibly important role to the overall success of your build. They can be a front line tank, provide a pivotal Aura, and/or deal Physical Damage to kill enemies with Immunity to your Skill set.
Act 5 Barbarian
The Act 5 Barbarian is hired from Qual-kehk.
The Barbarian can be equipped with a One-Handed or Two-Handed Sword, a Body Armor and a Helmet (Including Barbarian Class Helmets). He attacks with Frenzy, uses taunt and has the Barbarian's passive stoneskin to increase his Defense.
Equip this Mercenary with Plague Mythical Sword for a Cleansing Aura and a 20% Chance to cast Lower Resist when struck. Lower Resist increases your Elemental and Poison Damage dealt to enemies, and can even break some Immunities. Use Vampire Gaze and Shaftstop for a total of 50% Physical Damage Reduction keeping him alive for more Lower Resist casts.
The Mercenary is hard to keep alive until you have the minimum gear recommended in this guide. Remember you can drag Healing Potions onto the portrait, or shift + 1/2/3/4 to directly feed them a Healing Potion from your Belt. The Mercenary also gains bonus Resistances from Thawing Potions and Antidote Potions.
If your Mercenary dies in battle, you can revive them from any of the Mercenary NPCs in each Act. This does come with an increasing cost, capping at 50,000 Gold. Keep that in mind and decide if the Mercenary is currently worth the cost.
General
- Start your combat with feral rage to charge it up to its maximum. It provides you with Faster Run/Walk, Life Steal, Damage and Attack Rating bonuses, so keep it fully charged at all times. Each successful hit will increase the size of the swirling red ball until it is maxed out, indicating the maximum strength of the skill.
- Run at mobs with Rabies and bite them. This Skill applies Poison Damage Over Time that spreads to other close by enemies. While Rabies is doing its job, lure in to become infected.
- Kite the poisoned monster in the direction you are going to find the next monster packs. Rinse and repeat through the area.
- Utilize your Summons to maneuver around your enemies or to distract them to get off some easy Rabies / feral rage hits.
Immunities
- Until you have access to the full Sundering Charm setup, you should skip any monster Immune to Poison.
- Rotting Fissure breaks ALL Poison Immune monsters and brings them to 95% resistance. Pair this with as much -% Enemy Poison Resistance as possible. With Death's Web and a 4 Facetted Monarch -75% Enemy Poison Resistance, making you deal 80% of your damage against sundered monsters.
Late-Game
- At the beginning of each run, buff yourself with the Mark of the Bear. Simply transform into a Werebear and use Attack while wearing metamorphosis. This buff grants you 20% Physical Damage Reduction and 25% Increased Attack Speed for 5 minutes.
- In addition, you can make use of Shockwave while in Werebear form. This 2 point investment makes surviving much easier.
- Min-Max-Strategy: Utilize your 2 Weapon Swaps to deal as much damage as possible. Use rabies on the Weapon Swap with the highest +x to rabies. Then swap over to your secondary Weapon Swap that contains Death's Web and a 4 Facetted Monarch to deal a ton more damage!
Tip: Put throw on your left-click on your Death's Web-Swap to always know which Weapon Swap you are in.
Breakpoints in Diablo 2 are the minimum values required to reduce the frames of an action. Below are the important breakpoints considered for this build. For more information on the mechanics involved, check out our in-depth Resource: Breakpoints.
Increased Attack Speed (IAS)
Increased Attack Speed speeds up your attack animations. Weapon bases have different IAS breakpoints. Values for recommended weapon options provided below. Consult the d2planner for other bases.
Grief Phase Blade
| Frames | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Rabies Gear IAS | 0 | 6 | 17 | 44 | 61 | 108 |
Faster Hit Recovery (FHR)
Faster Hit Recovery increases survivability. Aim for the 42% or 86% FHR Breakpoint.
| Frames | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| FHR | 0 | 9 | 20 | 42 | 86 | 280 |
For all Hardcore gameplay, your primary concern is increasing your Resistances, Damage Reduction, Chance to Block and Life pool. This can mean sacrificing overall power level for a more secure playstyle.
This build is Hardcore viable. If you are unaccustomed to this playstyle, we recommend trying this build on Softcore to gain experience on how to successfully pilot it.
Stat Point Changes
- The only thing that changes for Attributes point investment is Dexterity. Invest enough points into Dexterity until you have reached the maximum Chance to block 75%. This value will change based on equipment stats, Character Level, and the Chance to Block on your shield.
Item Changes
- The number one priority is your shield for a max block build. There are many budget, mid tier, and end game choices to choose from, but all options have some form of increased % Chance to blocking.
- Budget Example: Rhyme Gothic Shield
- Mid Tier Example: Gerke's Sanctuary
- End Game Example: Stormshield also has Physical Damage Reduction.
Build Variants
Setup
The Budget Rabies Druid aims to have as much +x to rabies with Plague Bearer, and a Wisdom Totemic Mask which also provides Cannot Be Frozen.
Rhyme Bone Shield, and Rain Light Plate are great budget options for this build and greatly impact the build's performance.
Mercenary
We don't recommend using a Mercenary because he interrupts your control over the enemies' movement. If you don't want to part with your trusty follower, a Might Act 2 Mercenary is your best option on a budget. Insight Poleaxe, bulwark, and Smoke Leather Armor are well-rounded options to keep him alive as much as possible.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Oak Sage
2. Summon Spirit Wolf
3. Heart of Wolverine
4. Summon Dire Wolf
5. Summon Grizzly
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Rabies
2. Poison Creeper
3. Werewolf
4. Lycanthropy
5. Feral Rage
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to equip your gear. Put remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
Rabies Druid uses Bramble Dusk Shroud, and Trang-Oul's Claws to massively increase Poison Skill Damage.
With Metamorphosis Wolf Head, Plague Bearer, and Spirit Monarch you achieve the highest rabies Skill Level before swapping to Death's Web, and Jeweler's Monarch of Deflecting.
Mercenary
We don't recommend using a Mercenary because he interrupts your control over the enemies' movement.
Your Mercenary is a tank and a large source of your survivability and Damage. Equip him with Plague Phase Blade for a Cleansing Aura and a 20% Chance to cast Lower Resist when struck. This increases your Poison Damage and breaks some Immunities. Use Vampire Gaze and Shaftstop for a total of 50% Physical Damage Reduction keeping him alive for more Lower Resist casts.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Werebear
(to proc Mark of the Bear from Metamorphosis)
2. Fury
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Rabies
2. Poison Creeper
3. Werewolf
4. Lycanthropy
5. Feral Rage
Optional: Put 1 Point into summon grizzly
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to equip your gear. Put remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
The Hardcore Fury Druid has lots of survivability including Physical Damage Reduction, over capped Resistances to counter enemy Conviction Aura, 75% Chance to Block and 86% Faster Hit Recovery. The biggest item changes are Stormshield and Chains of Honor Dusk Shroud. Use Summon Grizzly more often to check for dangerous situations and have him tank.
Mercenary
We don't recommend using a Mercenary because he interrupts your control over the enemies' movement.
Your Mercenary is a tank and a large source of your survivability and Damage. Equip him with Plague Phase Blade for a Cleansing Aura and a 20% Chance to cast Lower Resist when struck. This increases your Poison Damage and breaks some Immunities. Use Vampire Gaze and Shaftstop for a total of 50% Physical Damage Reduction keeping him alive for more Lower Resist casts.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Oak Sage
2. Summon Spirit Wolf
3. Summon Dire Wolf
4. Heart of Wolverine
5. Fury
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Rabies
2. Poison Creeper
3. Werewolf
4. Lycanthropy
5. Feral Rage
6. Summon Grizzly (Remaining Skill Points)
Attributes
Put enough Stat Points into Strength to wear your gear, Dexterity to reach 75% Chance to Block, and the remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Summary
- Remember to consistently re cast your Heart of Wolverine, Oak Sage, and Summon Grizzly.
- Keep Feral Rage stacks fully charged for maximum efficiency.
- Attack with Rabies in a "tag you're it" style. Ideally monsters are clumped up for it to spread around.
- If you need more DPS then use Feral Rage and Fury for additional Physical Damage.
- Use your Mercenary as an enticing piñata, making enemies group up and hit him to increase the chance of Lower Resist procs and deal with Poison Immunes.
- Keep your Battle Command and Battle Orders up at all times.
I hope you enjoy this build and unique playstyle as much as I have in the past. Watching the Poison spread across cows is quite satisfying as they Moo at you. Enjoy biting and spreading Rabies to your enemies!
Good luck!
Credits
Updated and Reviewed by Teo1904
Original Author BTNeandertha1