The (Almost) Immortal Druid (Dual Form with Thorn Shield and Maelstrom) Build Guide

Extremely high EHP (1 million plus is possible)

Can do any monolith echo modifiers

Extremely high Endless Arena pushing (1000+ waves)

Can facetank virtually ANY boss in the game, even at high corruption

Ward that goes well over the display cap (65,535) at times, 30K+ is easily sustainable

Max armor (84-85%), moderate dodge (35-55%), and primalist damage reductions

2x Warcry freezes every 6 to 7 seconds enhances survivability even further

Virtually ignore enemy ailments with 3 ways to cleanse through skills

Only need 2 buttons/key presses

Only needs 1 unique

Damage is very low compared to other high corruption builds

Bosses will take some time to kill, but you won't die

Movement is jerky/slow when spamming Thorn Shield

Takes some time adjusting to the pace of using Thorn Shield and Rampage

Takes several seconds to ramp up armor/ward when entering a new area

Maelstrom range is melee, due to the need to reduce area to increase damage

Needs Frostbite Shackles to work well

Spriggan Form:

Gameplay, once you get used to it, is pretty simple. You start by transforming into Spriggan Form, and spam Thorn Shield. Thorn Shield not only gives us a lot of armor via Eterra's Bulwark 5/5, Deep Roots 3/3, and Bulb Growth 3/3, but also has a chance to cast Maelstrom (our primary damage source) via Glacial Grove 3/3, as well as casting Eterra's Blessing via Rosebloom 1/1, which will give you more SuffixCold Resistance via Safeguard 5/5 for even more ward, as well as spawning a Healing Totem, which via Totemic Fury 5/5, will increase our casting speed 25%. You can see that these skills synergize well with each other, making the build even more effective. In easier areas, you will want to learn how to press the Thorn Shield skill key in a rhythm, so that you're able to both generate stacks and move around at a comfortable pace. Eterra's Blessing also can cleanse ailments on us with each Thorn Shield cast via Purge 1/1, and knocks back enemies a little bit via Rebuke 2/3.

Werebear Form:

Once the cooldown on Werebear Form is over, transform into it via Roar of the Woodland 1/1, which also increases the duration of all Thorn Shield stacks by 4 sec. Then you can use Rampage to move around and attack enemies. Holding Rampage will also cast lightning strikes on enemies via Crackling Assault 5/5, which will help you Blind and Shock enemies, as well as cast Warcry, which will freeze enemies for 1.5 seconds and give them Frailty via Debilitating Shout 3/5. Warcry has the added bonus of making you invulnerable for 1 second after casting it via Juggernaut 1/1, but since most enemies around you will be frozen, this is mainly useful for anything which either is immune or out of range. In addition, Warcry also will cast 4 stacks of Maelstrom via Whirlpool 4/4, which is our main damage source. Maelstrom is further boosted by taking the Wisened Claws 1/1 node in Werebear Form. Warcry also will give us increased cold damage via Jormun's Wrath 1/1 and Frost Claw 5/5. Finally, it will also cleanse all ailments on you at time of cast via Purging Shout 1/1.

Other Gameplay:

Once the cooldown on Spriggan Form is over, cast back into it via Voice of the Thicket 1/1, and you will gain ward equal to your armor at time of cast, via Leaf Barrier 1/1. It is Leaf Barrier 1/1, which truly makes this build shine. It is possible, to generate as much as 100K armor with spamming Thorn Shield, so your ward can truly reach ridiculous proportions. As noted earlier, the display cap is 65,535, so when you go over it, it starts the numbers over. I have personally reached over 170K ward (65,535 + 65,535 + about another 40,000 on display), and 250-300K should be possible with optimal gear. Due to the way ward retention works, having ward that high will decay extremely fast, but maintaining a range of 20K to 80K is easily doable, with higher amounts possible vs rares/bosses due to Throne of Ambition. Note: Throne of Ambition is not necessary for this build to work properly, but it certainly helps the speed vs bosses, and vs rares in the arena.

Maelstrom also has the added benefit of greatly increasing our Dodge Rating via Sleet-Footed 3/3. This combined with Dodge Rating sources on a couple of gear pieces and blessings, can effectively double our EHP.

One other thing to note, is the use of Blind. This has 2 purposes. The first being, it greatly reduces the accuracy of ranged attacks on you, which is extremely helpful in Endless Arena in particular. The second, is it halves critical strike chance for enemies, which since we don't have maxed out SuffixCritical Strike Avoidance, further increases our defense.

Stat Summary:

Here's a quick summary of the numbers I've personally reached with gear that's mostly on the build planner but with a few affixes that are useless:

Mob damage: 12-15K, sometimes higher if Maelstrom stacks rng is good.

Boss damage: 30-35K, some reason Orobyss I've reached as high as 100K (believe he functions differently).

Armor: 100K+ (85%), normal range is going to be about 20-50K (a bit lower if clearing monos fast).

Dodge: about 30-55%, this will vary based on Maelstrom stack count

Cast Speed: 153% (200% is possible with optimal gear)

Cooldown recovery speed: 93% (121% is maximum possible with optimal gear)

Ward: 170K (as mentioned above). Usual range doing monos is 10-40K, and vs bosses usual range is 30-100K.

HP: who cares? I run with 1200 in Spriggan Form

Critical Avoidance: 36% (with Attunement being at 60 via Harmonious Wisdom 8/10. Since nothing can come close to 1 shotting you, maxing this is optional.

Monoliths/Bosses:

Not really a lot to say here that's not covered above in gameplay. Once you have most of the affixes needed, you're primarily just spamming Thorn Shield while in Spriggan Form and using Rampage while in Werebear Form. For running Monoliths, you want to learn how to ease up on casting Thorn Shield at times, so you can actually move in Spriggan Form. Vs bosses, you want to hold that key down constantly while in Spriggan Form. Since you're practically invincible, bosses are unlikely to kill you but they will take some time to kill even at low corruption. You should be able to facetank pretty much anything once you have most of the affixes at T4/T5+ (especially PrefixIncreased Cast Speed and SuffixIncreased Cooldown Recovery Speed). Bossing will be slow, but mechanics shouldn't be an issue. While I haven't personally pushed corruption high yet (I'm in the 300s comfortably), with others I've easily ran 600-700+ corruption with a decent kill rate (and laughing off mob and boss attacks).

Endless Arena:

For the Endless Arena, you want to move around as much as you can, and try to take out the ranged mobs first, as those from my experience are the most dangerous. If a rare mob is on the map, attack it so you can build up Throne of Ambition stacks. You want to make sure you freeze most of the mobs if possible with your Warcry casts. Maelstrom has a short range, so you have to move around to damage/kill the mobs. Higher wave mobs move very fast and attack very fast, so moving to take as few hits as possible is very important. The biggest threat isn't the mobs though, it's the bugs and lag still in the game, and playing Endless Arena for more than a few hours makes it worse. Spamming Thorn Shield in Spriggan Form as much as possible is a must, especially on higher waves.

Am I really immortal?

No, unfortunately not always. I can't count the number of times I've spawned in a new area, forgot to start spamming Thorn Shield right away, and died to a Spire. Particularly in the Endless Arena and vs bosses, you want to build up a large supply of Thorn Shield stacks and Ward ahead of time. Certain mechanics, like sustained DoT's (think T4 Julra or Heorot), you can't just sit in and expect to live. While you have extremely high EHP, you're not invincible.

How do I get high in the Arena?

This is pretty much covered in the above sections, but the biggest factor is pure luck (the game does tend to crash and get buggy in there once you're at a few hours). The mobs generated also are a factor, as certain packs of enemies are more dangerous than others. Before spawning the next set of waves, you absolutely must build up your Ward to a high level (40K+) first, especially once beyond Waves 500-600 or so.

Why do bosses take so long to kill?

Unfortunately, Maelstrom is a low damage source, because of its multiple cast sources and utility. This build tries to maximize such damage, at the cost of range. However, like a Cold DoT Werebear, bosses are not the strong suit of this build. Be patient, and they will die and you will not.