MMOexp: The Druid’s Revolution in Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2 has never been shy about pushing boundaries, but the reveal of The Last of the Druids marks one of the most ambitious class designs Grinding Gear Games has ever attempted. With a fully realized shape-shifting system, three distinct animal forms, hybrid spellcaster–melee gameplay, new meta gems, unique supports, intricate synergies, and two massive ascendancies, the Druid is easily the most complex class POE2 has shown so far.

But the class reveal is only half the story. Alongside the Druid, GGG unveiled Fate of the Vaal, a sprawling new league featuring time travel, customizable ancient temples, high-risk crafting, and a new multi-layered endgame-like progression system.

Let’s break down everything—Druid gameplay, animal forms, advanced mechanics, ascendancies, supports, and the Fate of the Vaal league—into a complete overview of this huge POE 2 Orbs update.

The Last of the Druids: A Broken Man Returning to the Natural World

The Druid’s campaign narrative opens dramatically. Once a guardian of nature, he loses everything—his people wiped out by King in the Mists—and wanders the forest of Agam for years as a feral beast. When he awakens, his mind fractured but determined, his sole goal is simple: find his lost wife and reclaim his humanity.

This bittersweet emotional core fits perfectly with a class that is half-man, half-beast, and wholly in tune with nature’s destructive power.

The Druid is also POE2’s first true Strength/Intelligence hybrid, meaning he casts spells through his human form and fights brutally in animal form. His entire identity revolves around fluidly switching between these two worlds.

Human Form: Earth, Storm, and the Power of Nature

As a human, the Druid relies on magical staves to manipulate the earth, storms, and plant life. His spells persist while he changes form, allowing players to weave long-lasting magic with fast-paced melee.

Core Human Abilities

Volcano – Persistent Earth Damage

You erupt the ground with a miniature volcano that spits molten projectiles. Once cast, you can immediately shapeshift and fight while it continues firing.

Volcano also synergizes directly with Bear Form—its eruptions intensify when hit with slams.

Entangling Vines – Crowd Control

Summon vines that root and slow enemies. Combined with storms, these vines last longer and attach to more targets.

Thunderstorm – Wet + Lightning Synergy

Periodic lightning strikes wet enemies, making them easier to shock. Because “wet” status also increases the chance to freeze, this links beautifully with Wolf Form’s cold combos.

Thrashing Vines – Nature’s Wrath

Create massive vine tendrils that smash the battlefield. Any vines produced in water grow larger and deal more damage.

Human form is all about setting up long-lasting zones of control, which your animal forms then exploit with devastating melee or elemental combos.

The Heart of the Class: Animal Talismans and Instant Shapeshifting

The key new mechanic behind the Druid is Animal Talismans—weapons that determine your animal form. Equip one, select a form, and its basic attack becomes available as a skill.

Use the skill → instantly shapeshift.

Cast a spell → instantly return to human.

No cooldowns. No clunkiness. The class revolves around rapid, instinctive switching, almost like a fighting game stance system.

Bear Form: Rage, Slams, and Elemental Destruction

The Druid’s Bear Form is a powerhouse of Strength-based melee, fueled by Rage and heavy hits.

Bear Core Mechanics

Generate Rage using Maul.

Consume Rage for stronger slams.

Generate Endurance Charges as Rage is spent.

Use Endurance Charges for Ferocious Roar, a meta gem enabling any Warcry in Bear Form.

Bear Key Abilities

Maul – The Foundation

Generates rage. When your back runes glow, your next Furious Slam becomes massively empowered.

Furious Slam – Molten Earth Synergy

Slamming near a volcano causes massive molten projectile bursts. This is the essence of hybrid design: human spell + animal melee = explosive combo potential.

Rampage – Rage-Fueled Mobility

A charging stomp that lasts longer with more Rage. Perfect when used atop volcanoes.

Ferocious Roar (Meta Gem) – Cross-Class Warcries

Allows warcries from any class:

Infernal Cry explodes enemies.

Seismic Cry doubles slams.

Ancestral Call turns you into a fire god-cow. Yes, really.

Walking Calamity – Bear Ultimate

A fiery storm envelops you, generating rage continuously. Picture an apocalyptic enraged god-bear wreathed in fire—this is POE2 spectacle at its finest.

Bear Form delivers impact. Everything hits hard, moves slow, and feels weighty—but with supports and synergies, you can smooth mobility and create highly tuned hybrid builds.

Wolf Form: Speed, Cold, and a Summoned Wolf Pack

Where Bear is brute strength, Wolf Form is speed, rhythm, and cold magic. Agile, fluid, and deadly, it’s all about momentum.

Wolf Core Mechanics

Many attacks apply or consume marks.

Killing marked enemies summons Wolfmen allies.

Applies Cold damage and freezes enemies easily.

Wolf Key Abilities

Rake – Agile Basic Attack

Leap, slash, reposition. Produces ice shards when attacking frozen targets.

Lunar Assault – Freeze Setup

A cold AoE attack that freezes enemies, enabling shard-producing Rakes.

Cross Slash – Key Mark Interaction

Jumps backward

Explodes marks

Fires ice shards toward enemies

This creates a freeze → rake → cross slash → explode combo loop.

Pounce (Meta Gem) – Mark Anything

Jump to targets and apply a mark. Because it’s a meta gem, you can socket marks from other classes, like:

Freezing Mark for instant cold bonuses

Vulnerable Mark for bossing

Arctic Howl – Cold Warcry

Adds chilled ground to slams, buffs wolf pack damage, and helps finish freeze setups.

Lunar Blessing – Werewolf Transformation

Enter an Arctic Werewolf state:

Faster attacks

Faster movement

Extended duration by consuming Rage

This enables hybrid Bear/Wolf builds where Bear builds Rage and Wolf consumes it.

Wolf Form is perfect for players who love mobility, summon synergies, and rhythmic combat loops.

Wyvern Form: Lightning, Fire, AoE, and Flight

The wildest of the three forms, Wyvern blends long-range breath attacks, corpse-eating charge generation, and airborne destruction.

Wyvern Core Mechanics

Devour corpses → gain Power Charges

Consume Power Charges → supercharge attacks

Uses Fire, Lightning, and hybrid AoEs

Wyvern Key Abilities

Rend – Melee with Wing-Charge Synergy

A jumping slash that consumes Power Charges to electrify your wings, turning you into an AoE blender.

Wing Blast – Stunning Wing Burst

Great follow-up after a charged Rend.

Devour – Eat Corpses

Generates Power Charges (and lets you eat living enemies about to die).

Rolling Magma – Fire Breath

Spits bouncing fireballs that also trigger existing Volcanoes.

Oil Spit – Ignition Setup

Covers enemies in flammable oil—a great setup before flame breath or molten slams.

Lightning Barrage – Channeling Artillery

With Power Charges, you unleash a torrent of lightning bolts. You become vulnerable while channeling, so human-form crowd control helps.

Flame Flight – Aerial Napalm

Take to the sky and rain down fire. It’s exactly as absurd and awesome as it sounds.

Wyvern is the perfect form for players who want spell-like attacks in a melee body and enjoy juggling charges and positioning.

Meta Gems and Spell Totems: System-Wide Build Diversity

The Druid showcases POE2’s philosophy of flexible skill identity.

Spell Totems

Available through a new meta gem:

Spend 3 Endurance Charges OR 3 Power Charges

Create a totem that automatically casts any spell in the game

Examples:

Fireball turrets

Comet storms

Lightning cannons

Since Druid naturally generates charges through Bear/Wyvern, he excels with them—but every class can experiment.

New Support Gems: Expanding the Build Universe

GGG revealed over 30 new supports. A few standouts:

Fan the Flames

Wind skills spread ignite. Excellent with Wyvern’s Wing Blast.

Accelerated Growth

Grow explosive plants when it rains.

Advancing Storm

Makes storm skills move across the battlefield—amazing for Tornado or Firestorm.

Echoing Cry

Warcries repeat automatically after a delay.

Grounding Shocks

Shocked enemies become living Tesla coils.

These open completely new archetypes for both old and new classes.

Ascendancy Classes: Shaman and Oracle

Druid launches with two ascendancies.

Shaman – Nature’s Fury Spellcaster

Shaman unifies magical and beastial elements, turning Rage into spellcasting power.

Key Notables:

Druídic Champion

More spell damage the angrier you are.

Furious Wellspring

Generate Rage continuously. Spend it to empower spells.

Wisdom of the Magi

Runes and idols gain Shaman-exclusive mods—huge build diversity.

Bringer of the Apocalypse

Trigger storms of all elements when you deal enough damage.

Shaman supports both hybrid and pure spellcaster builds.

Oracle – Foresight, Alternate Futures, and Timeline Shifting

Oracle manipulates fate itself.

Key Notables:

Fateful Vision

See visions of yourself using a skill. If you match the vision, the skill deals huge bonus damage.

Converging Paths

At peak vulnerability, merge future and present to deal double damage to enemies.

Unseen Path

Over 130 new passives appear on the tree. You learn abilities from alternate timelines.

Examples:

Summon more minions at the cost of Spirit

Small chance to avoid death

Oracle is incredibly deep and will create some of the strangest, most unique builds in POE2.

Unique Talisman: Fury of the King

Transforms Bear Form into a Fire Demon:

Converts damage to fire

Grants Molten Crash, a fiery slam that cracks the earth

Passively grants Glory for easier ultimates

This is just one example of the insane build-specific uniques designed for Druids.

Fate of the Vaal League: A Time-Bending Dungeon Crafter

Alongside the Druid, GGG introduced a huge new league—Fate of the Vaal.

Core Gameplay Flow

Discover corrupted Vaal remnants in the world.

Defeat monsters near the device to partially charge it.

Fully charge multiple devices → travel to a lost underground temple.

Customize the temple using six room placements per run.

Fight room-by-room, leveling interacting room types for greater rewards.

Rebuild, expand, and upgrade your temple over multiple runs.

This league is essentially:

Delve + Incursion + Heist + Rogue-lite crafting

But much more customizable

Temple Crafting: High Risk, High Reward

Rooms can be leveled by smart placement:

Commanders next to Garrisons → stronger mobs, better loot

Smithies powered by Golem Works and Generators

Corruption Chambers next to Thaumaturges → double corrupt items

Sacrificial Chambers → modify Vaal uniques

The double-corruption device is especially wild:

Accepts only already corrupted items

50% chance to destroy

50% chance to add a second mod

This is the most dangerous crafting POE has ever introduced.

Time Travel and the Architect

Eventually, you gain access to a prototype time portal that sends you back to the moments before Atziri triggered the Cataclysm buy Path of Exile 2 Currency.

You must:

Expand the temple dramatically

Unlock inaccessible chambers

Confront the architect

Prevent Atziri from destroying her civilization

This storyline ties directly into iconic POE history and Atziri’s legendary legacy.

Flesh Surgeon: Craft Your Own Body

One late-game room is the Flesh Surgeon, allowing you to:

Lay on the surgery table

Replace limbs

Gain random limb-specific bonuses

This is POE’s wildest form of crafting. You are the item.

Conclusion: The Biggest Class + League Update in POE2 Yet

Between:

The Druid’s triple-form shapeshifting

Meta gems and Spell Totems

Two massively complex ascendancies

Dozens of new supports

New unique talismans

And the sprawling Fate of the Vaal league

Path of Exile 2 has never looked more ambitious, more creative, or more mechanically deep.

The Last of the Druids isn’t just a new class—it’s a new way to think about builds in ARPGs. And Fate of the Vaal is one of the most replayable, customizable leagues GGG has ever crafted.

POE2’s future is bright—and very, very wild.