It is well known that Druid can be a bit sluggish in the early game, but once it has Companions, it is a completely different story. In Season 5, Druid leveling builds are completely focused on Companions, and the result is a small “army” with super high damage all the time.

So what is the best Druid leveling build this season? It’s Friends of the Forest! This build is very focused on the safety of this Class in the early fights and maximizing damage until the end of the fight. This guide will bring you detailed information about this build’s skill, so you can copy it directly into the game and win more battles in the end.

Build Details

As mentioned above, the damage in Friends of the Forest build will all come from your Companions, so first we need to use Storm Strike skill, and you can even use it in the endgame build. In addition, Tornado can also be used in this build, but you can re-assign it or put it aside later in the endgame build.

If you don’t mind re-speccing, you can do it a little later when you use Diablo 4 Gold to upgrade and get the passive skill. Or if you just want to use Tornado, you can put it in the second defensive skill slot.

It should be noted that this build does not use Key Passive, because it mainly relies on Unique and Legendary Aspects to make the bonuses you get increase level by level.

Skills

The following are the final skills in Friends of the Forest build. You can also use other skills belonging to Druid, but they are not as good as the following ones.

Storm Strike

In the game, Storm Strike is known as one of the best skills of Druid because it can continuously apply vulnerability to enemies and also reduce some of the damage you take in the early stage, which is very practical.

This way you won’t be so easily defeated in the early stage. You can also upgrade it to Fierce Storm Strike using Diablo 4 Gold, so that you can get more Vulnerable effect and chance to Immobilize.

Blood Howl

Blood Howl is the first defensive skill you can get, giving you a burst of healing so you can stay in top form against all enemies. When it upgrades to Preserving Blood Howl, it also briefly increases your attack speed.

Earthen Bulwark

This is the second defensive skill. Earthen Bulwark gives you a barrier for a period, which scales with your base health. So not only will you be safe in battle, but you should also increase your health a bit for this barrier.

Earthen Bulwark will eventually upgrade to Innate Earthen Bulwark, which will give you a little more damage besides the barrier. Combined with some easy-to-get Aspects, your damage will become even stronger.

Wolves

This is one of your three Companion Skills, and as the name suggests, it summons two wolves to fight with you. These wolves will periodically attack nearby enemies, but you can also use the active part of this skill to have them deal heavy damage to enemies. Wolves will eventually upgrade to Brutal Wolf Pack, which increases their damage potential.

Ravens

Ravens are also a Companion Skill. You can use the active part of Ravens to summon a flock of crows to fight with you. As the battle progresses, they will deal extremely high damage to a very large area. And after upgrading to Brutal Ravens, the number of crows summoned is three times the basic number.

Poison Creeper

This is the last Companion Skill. When you use it, a venomous snake will appear to deal poison damage to the enemy. When you use the active skill, the crawling range of this venomous snake will become larger, and it can also restrict the enemy’s movement, gaining a lot of advantages for you in battle. After being upgraded to Brutal Poison Creeper, it can also become a buff to other summons awarded to you.

Passive Skills

Predatory Instincts

Predatory Instincts is a passive skill that increases your Critical Strike Chance against enemies that are close to you. You may need it later in the game, as Predatory Instincts can be used as a replacement for Tornado when you re-speccing. While it’s not the strongest effect, it’s the only one you can use early in the skill tree.

Vigilance

Vigilance will temporarily reduce the damage you take when you use your first few defensive skills. However, it should be noted that you need to choose Ancestral Fortitude at the same time as Vigilance, but there are two defensive skill slots in Season 5, which is not a big deal. If you combine these two skills well, you will get more benefits by cycling through defensive skills.

Call Of The Wild

This passive skill is not for you, but for your Companion, and it increases the damage of Companion Skills. As mentioned above, this build relies on Companion, so you have to choose it. Also, one more reason to pick it up - it can be a multiplier on the rewards you get after combat, especially Diablo 4 Gold.

Envenom

Envenom increases your damage to enemies that have been poisoned. This passive skill is very important for both your Companion and you, but more so for Companion. This is very useful for when you summon that venomous snake with Poison Creeper, and after you get Aspect of Alpha, Wolves skill also emits poison.

How To Allocate Your Skill Points?

Once you have identified the skills in your Friends of the Forest build, you can start selecting skill points for them. First, you should upgrade Storm Strike to Fierce Storm Strike and Tornado to Primal Tornado. This will both allow you to deal damage more safely in the early stages of the fight.

Next, start working on your defensive skills by upgrading Blood Howl to Preserving Blood Howl and Earthen Bulwark to Enhanced Earthen Bulwark. Next, start maxing out Predatory Instincts, and once you have that, you can restore Tornado, take out the skill points and give them to the three Companion Skills, Poison Creeper, Ravens, and Wolves.

From here, we will focus on upgrading our companions. First, upgrade Raven to Savage Raven, as this will give us the extra passive damage. Then our Wolves will be upgraded next, upgrading them to Brutal Wolf Pack. Finally, your Poison Creeper will be upgraded to Brutal Poison Creeper. Maximize all three Companion Skills so that your Companion can deal with the most damage. Also, Call of the Wild needs to be maxed out.

That’s an overview of the skills in Friends of the Forest build. Hopefully, you can build a similarly powerful build based on the skill allocation method in this guide. If you have questions about Friends of the Forest build, ask in IGGM Discord. You can also participate in a lottery here and have a chance to get Gold and some crafting materials. The winner list will be officially announced on August 19. Wish you good luck!