This Build SOLVES ALL of Diablo 2's Melee Issues !!! The Apocalypse Druid

[@Dbrunski125]

*Have you tried this build out yet!?!?* Twitch: www.twitch.tv/dbrunski125 Discord: discord.gg/xy3EynP Twitter: twitter.com/dbrunski125

[@Tyrael538]

I currently have an apocalypse druid in N-L and i use faceted ravenlore with faceted ormus(trying to get a jeweler life chest) and i use crafted blood gloves with IAS/life leech/light-fire res. don't have access to metamorphosis so i can't even use it to pre-buff cuz that is how i would use it with the apocalypse druid, can't pass on the -25% ennemy fire res from faceted ravenlore. i only put 1 pt in fury and maxed synergies for firestorm procs from phoenix shield. I might give a try to fortitude+dual BK when i manage to get a metamorphosis.

[@Kurticus_Jaegerman_Swoodlebong]

So my Druid is currently set up with your Earth Shifter version of this build, and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing D2! I am curious though, how would you compare Earth shifter vrs destruction and Phoenix?

[@Nianque2]

Not that much different than my Fire Claw build. Same skills, but way more damage. Particularly against bosses.

[@krom9897]

@@Kurticus_Jaegerman_Swoodlebong Which build is stronger at boss killing?

[@shreyasks8708]

Real question is does this build beat ubers? Well I think that needs a lot, *A LOT* of theory crafting

[@NinjaSushi2]

14:15 lmao fucking *AMEN* brother. Sooooooo glad DBrunksi is back.

[@NinjaSushi2]

8:11 that's badass lol

[@nonamenosurname8516]

Cold A2 merc, CoH + delirium has huge crowd control.

[@Calvin1911]

It’s very expensive but man is it a sight to play! All the volcanos going off is crazy looking 🌋

[@connorsampson754]

build looks cool thanks db

[@whiskeySe7en]

I remember when the mobs in cs used to cast iron maiden and completely obliterate my ww lancer

[@Deific1]

Revisiting this video after a Year and considering the build. It's actually pretty decent even on players 8...busy screen though wowzers...I'm debating making a Stormlash, Fury/Hurricane build wondering how good that could be.

[@imRamaChandra]

I made a cool druid Fury build that shines now with the changes to next hit delay. It utilizes the chance to cast Twister on hit from eth Windhammer and 2x Carrion Wind rings. You could even use the "Rain" runeword for 5% lvl 15 twister on striking and nice lvl 15 Cyclone Armour proc (which has 2/3 synergies maxed). You fully synergize the Twister damage synergies and you get a sizeable boost to your dps from the twisters your autos generate (there's a lot of them!). Further increase your damage by running Reapers Toll or Lawbringer on your merc for the -50% phys resistance (-100 for undead w/ Lawbringer). Another variation for hardcore could be Feral Rage instead of Fury and putting some points into Arctic Blast to increase the stun duration (total stun lock in a huge cone in front of you) but I feel as though the micro stuns are frequent enough.

[@drewhaffner3484]

I've been using this same build, and I thought I was the only one. Nice.

[@scottybeats5328]

I like how this "Melee" build is basically just spells just proccing.

[@benjaminpyles1104]

We miss you DB, live your best life!

[@badcereal5924]

Really wish they’d just add some melee splash damage like PD2

[@paranhosguerreiro]

Você é TOP, cara! (translation: You are TOP, brother!) Hope we all can get more D2R Druids lessons and good moments.

[@ggfd4e6cccs21]

Looks fun but i would argue if this is most fun melee build. Assassin mosaic also looks fun😮

[@jeremyroberge1570]

Man, that next hit delay update is bigger then I thought.

[@Parasmunt]

It only requires the second most expensive runeword in the game.

[@whitekony1006]

I leaned harder into synergies,maxing firestorm,cano,boulder and geddon,leftover points ended up in ww just so i could hit ias bps more easily. Used fire faceted jewelers plate, 3 geddon/fury flickeringflame, metamorphosis might be better, most important part was having Brand demon xbow on the offhand. As you mentioned,life/cta isnt all that important for ss if youve already got 3k or so health,and having the ability to all but cast amp whenever you want MASSIVELY increases your dmg from geddon,cano,and boulder. This build destroys- I loved my dual pheonix geddon maul bear,who definitely did more physical damage,and was all but immortal,but this build kills so fast i dont think it matters.

[@rickpinelli7856]

the CoH cure merc is definitely better but ya its expensive, andys/fort for budget

[@daniDEE_tv]

24years later D2R > D4 ........ So, ill be 60years old when Blizzzard gets D4 to be a polished game.......... Gotta start eating heathy

[@PecheAventure]

Still waiting for another video :) hope you’re doing great! Bonne journée! 🇨🇦

[@markmauk8231]

Was hoping for a Two-Hander Build for once...no that d2r is its own thing they should definitely start fixing that issue. We beed Two Handers to be viable.

[@nathancawley8759]

I really wish I had the staggering number of high runes needed to try this kinda shit. Ill farm chaos and cows 2-3 hours a day, every day, for the entire season and Im lucky to end up with enigma and maybe 1-2 spare high runes.

[@TaylorJump1]

Omg! Finally a build that makes me want to play a druid! The druid is the only character I have not played to death inthis game. Awesome video. You are the man!

[@aribaker8179]

Melee builds suffered since I stopped playing in 2002. But I'm back. Players about to get killed in some weird ways.

[@joshsteiner5736]

It's pretty cool that one of my favorite d2 streamers made an almost identical build and called it the same exact thing. I made a post on d2jsp about this at the end of s3 and talking about how op it would be in s4. Hands down my favorite build just expensive. The only difference is I use hustle runeword witch let's u hit the max ias breakpoint. Also maxed everything fire tree wise besides valcano then went fury. Firestorm procs for 1400damage. Plus massive amount of volcanos. And 20ias/10cb gloves. It has I belivie 80% crushing blow and 125% ias.

[@Dbrunski125]

If you are original creator of the build cudos to you. Your post i think was where I got the name from. Great build idea. I definitely didn't mean to claim I created the build if it came off that way. Apologies

[@joshsteiner5736]

Nobody knows who I am but they know You. I want people to try new things. I'm stoked you mentioned the build.

[@balintmiklosy9138]

Soooo... any reason why Destruction is better than Earthsifter? 5-3-3-3-6 frame Fury is easily reachable now even with a Thunder Maul (lvl 32 Werewolf + Mark of the Bear + exactly 60 IAS for example). That's a Nosferatu's + Highlord + Gloves for example, and then you can have a Lo/Ber/Facet/whatever in the Eartshifter or even better an eth Earthshifter, and that's a big big bonker. Sure you lose Phoenix, but get a giant physical boost and a massive +7 to Geddon. 4x faceted armor can be used or a mix match of 15/15 jewels and facets, or just Fortitude/CoH or whatever you want really.

[@samtarioss]

nice, but pure physical fury with death decapilator would do it probably faster for a real fragment of rune price..but its looking fine:), guess that nice way to go when you wanna farm till the end of the season with classic fury druid..

[@richbadx]

I went fireclaw /armda/ fury hybrid with destruction pb, it's pretty neat

[@MMSieBreeze]

Richard: “ Well, I was going to give feedback, but i guess I’m not welcome here!”

[@Machokenn]

I made one of these guys, I used a Enigma Mage Plate and a Dragon Monarch Shield. So when the werewolf hits he procs Volcanos, Hydra, and Venom. Looks really cool. The Dragon Monarch has more defense than the Phoenix Shield. I have a Fire Sunder and a Physical Sunder. I'm using 2 Carrion Wind Rings. They have a total of +110% Poison Resist +18 Life Per hit, 20% Damage taken goes to mana. His Poison Resist is maxed plus now when he hits the rings Proc Tornados and Poison Nova's. My guy has stuff shooting EVERYWHERE. I'm using Jalal's Mane with Socketed Cham. Metamorphosis is Season 4 Ladder only. Ladder 4 is still going right now. I'm playing Non Ladder. I'm using 6 30+ Life Druid Elemental Skillers. Wouldn't you want more + to Elemental skills on this build with all the fire? This is a really cool build. The Best Druid build in my opinion.

[@victorhojgaard1769]

Its like all that matters in this game is is skill points and resistanses, cuz everyone Pick casters. You could make a… Zealer pala Fire claw druid A melee assassin Normal bowazon A double swing barb But you dont, cuz then you need Defence Attack speed Attack rating High enough damage output Faster hit recovery Faster Block rate. Instead you choose A sorc Or a hammerdin Cuz then all you need is gear that gives skill points and resistanses. And if you should choose to make a melee build, it end up being a build that cast spells when u melee, where your melee does no damage and your cast is doing all the work. And y’et, no one choose to make melee still. The game is very unbalanced, theres no reason to make a melee build, casters outperform Them with tripple efficiency!

[@DoubleBilly]

Ever considered changing up the background music? Instead of the usual

[@CASSD2RTV]

I hope druid can teleport when morphing.

[@teodortsonev4442]

Man, you just gimme an idea! Thx!

[@freyathejack]

Only a 30 HR investment (charms included) and we'll be crushing the game just like a budget cold sorc lol

[@kuksio92]

Thats why i play d2 offline with modded drops to get the gear i need. Family, children etc just makes normal gameplay a total waste of time and no fun if all u got is an hour to play. But still, the mod doesnt make everything drop like rain so u have to invest some time. But it feels good.

[@ibnudermawan7232]

I love how some of the comment still complain about the rune, dude for f sake just grind and trade online

[@jasonmoore442]

Love your videos DB!

[@lov3masterns]

I tried the Fire Bear one, and even tho it is still a meme build, boy it's fun to play. Yes it's a single target, but you are killing/hitting everything so fast you don't even notice... On top of that you are tanky and healthy as hell. I do like this idea of Apocalypse Woof that procs doom wherever he goes, if I get more JAHs and BERs I can 'waste' I'll surely make one and see how he goes.

[@asroyowironagoro6369]

Thanks a lot for uploading this video 🙏🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@ShaveItDown]

Dbrunksi’s head may be focused on D4 release, but homie still theorycrafting new builds in D2. ❤

[@pires11d]

damnnnnnnnnnnn dbruh! That's the build I'm using since the beginning of 2023 lol But I'm using a perfect Ravenlore instead (- enemy 20 fire res), with a fire facet in it. Also I'm using CoH instead of Fortitude, for the + to all skills and + damage to demons

[@cpd-s9p]

What about an armor with 4 facets 5/5 fire?

[@93Beefcake]

i am playing offline i have cubed a lo rune so far and built a almost perfect grief with it so my uber trist pala doesn't have to use azurewrath anymore still getting a vex lo ber jah just for one single build without even having an enigma seems idk too pricy

[@balintmiklosy9138]

I'd go for an eth Stormlash with synergized nados and hurricane. If I ever dropped an eth Stormlash on single... but only managed eth Horizon's so far... For fire I might actually prefer double Phoenix for the 80% ctc lvl 22 firestorm. Although I think a plain physical fury build might outperform both with the changes, just put a Brand bow on swap.

[@holysaintknight343]

GG I used to use spells on melee druids too for aoe

[@derbiber842]

I did mess around with this weapon as well and would rather recomend hustle for armor instead forti for faster attackspeed breakpoints. Anyway its lacking of survivability due to the low life leech. I found it more stable to use a 40% grief, forti and phoenix monarch. You need 40% ias on the phaseblade to reach the latest possible breakpoint with a lvl 33 werwolf skill. Now with draculs and high physical damage you will survice much more stable and better. Compared to an auradin the druid can't get any life back from his elemantal skills and the aura provided from the phoenix shield needs bodies on the floor to replish any life back. So, yes with this modification you won't see any vulcanos, but the dmg overall at players 8 is much higher. You will notice a significant difference at players 8 baal. The same way you can create a nice hurrican twister druid with windhammer.

[@raymondmiller3822]

Nice set of 3/20/20s😃

[@donutkillmehh]

I've been thinking awhile about making a Druid and i think this is the one id like to try

[@imRamaChandra]

If you're looking for a similar build but a lot cheaper and safer gameplay, I made a cool druid Fury build that shines now with the changes to next hit delay. It utilizes the chance to cast Twister on hit from eth Windhammer and 2x Carrion Wind rings. You could even use the "Rain" runeword for 5% lvl 15 twister on striking and nice lvl 15 Cyclone Armour proc (which has 2/3 synergies maxed). You fully synergize the Twister damage synergies and you get a sizeable boost to your dps from the twisters your autos generate (there's a lot of them!). Further increase your damage by running Reapers Toll or Lawbringer on your merc for the -50% phys resistance (-100 for undead w/ Lawbringer). Another variation for hardcore could be Feral Rage instead of Fury and putting some points into Arctic Blast to increase the stun duration (total stun lock in a huge cone in front of you) but I feel as though the micro stuns are frequent enough.

[@VileVamp]

Mosaic's success is based on how strong your base kit is, as well as having relatively cheap runewords as your most important item. Having to essentially grab the highest runes to be at a spot a fresh pally or sorc is already at is garbage.

[@connorgillispie7128]

Smart. You're good at this

[@nuadai]

I haven't played Diablo 2 for a long time now, but theoricrafting builds is what I do for fun and this includes D2/D2R as well. I've theorized a similar build to this one way before, not knowing that there is some feature of the game that actually prevented it from working (which they removed/fixed recently, from what I understand). I went for basically 2x Phoenix Runeword, casting Firestorm and leveling the synergies for it. As an active ability it used Fire Claws in Werebear form, as it had better AA breakpoints if I recall correctly. It was even more melee oriented, since yours is triggered by melee hits, but is essentially a massive AoE dmg build. I've pestered multiple of my actively playing friends to try it out, but unsuccessfully, so I'm happy to see something similar here. Thanks! :)

[@jonverrico3761]

can this build fight ubers? the only thing i havent done in this game is make an uber killing toon. ive played here and there since the original diablo 2 before LOD. so being able to finish that last task would be great. i was actually thinking about doing the death or grief fury druid this current ladder season (7) because i just recently came back to play. this build looks super fun and if it could kill ubers that would be legit af.

[@supertrix6628]

its nice but getting those runes is basically impossible - destructions runes / also infinity merc weapon ive not gotten runes for 1 infinity yet on d2r since its been out i primarily play solo

[@BengaIaas]

Fire Claws + Armageddon werewolf is perfectly viable with just an obedience and very basic stuff. I played that two seasons ago and i played elemental this season. Without endgame gear, fire claws is twice as fast as the ele druid, while being much safer and much more enjoyable.

[@rouxsebastien595]

I do 20k dmg whit eth earth shifhter and elem gcs whit 3k life dont neeed destruction 12k physical and 8.9 k fire dmg

[@fattymcgee123]

Nice DB. I just built a double dragon + HOJ firedin, just charging around with conviction on and most stuff melts on just pulse damage. Should check it out if you haven't already.

[@imRamaChandra]

he has made videos about that build.

[@fattymcgee123]

@@imRamaChandra ah, yeah that's why i said he should check it out if he hasn't already. Figured he may have, just haven't seen it. Thx tho

[@thomasforthe9274]

I really want to try this build. Thanks D.

[@mattshaw4016]

I never had a problem with melee 🤔. But I could see a lot of people having problems especially ones who don't know Diablo 2's mechanics 🤷

[@freedoms9961]

Very expensive build, I wish destruction was cheaper to make

[@traviscraig9445]

Made last season

[@javathehunt790]

This is pretty awesome, thank you!

[@TheDuckofLaw]

Thanks for making these cool build videos.

[@Aaron65444]

this build is so fun. i tried everything with my druid this season to make it fun and effective. I did nado, i did fury, i did zoo-none were fun and fast. I happen to have destruction and i tested it on a standard fury and a bud was with me and reminded me about flickering flame and meta. I was like I remember a video from dbrunski about this..... omg this is the best version of the druid. I love the build. right now im using flickering flam and just some res rings with leech and its still epic. no skillers. Everone should try this build. thank you for sharing it. so fun!

[@fabioc.9682]

I've been searching thru forums and I'm hoping you can clarify this.. there's debate on fury being interruptible or not by the firestorm proc on Phoenix. I've tested this shield a lot recently and though I can see various procs happening seamlessly in a sequence, sometimes the druid will do the fury animation but miss all the attacks. I've read that when the proc occurs in the first (some say last) fury attack, the proc will render the next 4 attacks useless. is that so? as always, thanks for putting out such great content!

[@jochenhermann7342]

being a ssf player i still have some melee issues...

[@dvdgamingthings289]

tell me about it, he's only rocking a 80 high rune build lmao

[@SuperKribbe88]

Nice, what about if you don't have 15 highrunes?

[@MarinGuitar]

try to play in project diablo 2. every melee weapon has aoe damage

[@jamesadkins3107]

You should use infinity since you're using this Phoenix

[@silencepain3233]

Looks fun

[@mischavandenburg]

So cool to see new variations appearing due to the changes. Keep up the good work!

[@chris5240]

I have been using Flickering Flame + CoH on my merc with my assassin wearing Plague (cleansing).

[@Squi44]

All you need is a team of 4 Apoc Druid and 4 Mosaic Sins and watch the server crash.

[@WandererFromYs]

As a console player, I can crash the servers with just 1 mosaic assassin.

[@kNOwWHEREtoR1]

I was actually considering a conviction paladin using this runeword. But I might try this instead. Thanks for the video, great insite!

[@traviscraig9445]

Made this last season

[@traviscraig9445]

No problem was trying to learn how to stream

[@quibed5522]

just get the runewords Destruction guys!

[@sethhinson9937]

How did this dbruski turn grey so fast? Is that fashion these days or real grey

[@itsnobbie1212]

Try maul werebear with an act 5 barb with that decrepify sword and full sazabi!

[@daipod3148]

you found? bioboy made a video on this a couple of days ago

[@patasan2]

quite nice!

[@sgtdimples6909]

with it being a fire character, i think the chaos run at players 8 was respectable, but I'd think it would serve better in an area with enemies with less fire resistance. I'd like to see it in cows, stony tomb, icy cellar, kurast sewers (all the lvl 85 areas w/o or with few fire immunes). I know that because the character can't teleport in were/bear/wolf form, it limits its mobility to effectively farm those places, but if that ever changes, It would be nice to see where the BEST place this build would be. Great content, love the optimizations on the most recent changes, so many people scoffed at how little the patch changed, but this build fully encompasses just how impactful those changes are, especially to the druids fire skills/metaphorphosis.

[@Xenosei]

Still a Meme build, waaay too expensive for the returns, you can use the Windhammer ogre maul build around twister procs, use hurricane instead, and gain a higher chance proc that deals more AOE dmg and stun, dealing more damage over all both AOE and physical with crowd control from stun and cold. Throw on a carrion wind or two for additional twister procs for more stuns, switch to A5 merc with Plague/Lawbringer twisters and your fury benefit from the decrep, and you have a better cleansing aura with lower res to help buff hurricane or stick with infin and swap in an atmas scarab. Either variation performs better at P8 than this. Destruction for its cost needs a buff period, if volcano proc was closer to level 20 it would be far more effective but as it stands now building around its procs being as low lvl(Volcano) and low chance(molten boulder). The points invested for a bit of damage in the hardest immunity to break can be better spent elsewhere. Your runes can be better invested elsewhere.

[@Tenkuuken]

whoa I thought you can't cast elemantas while in animal form?

[@GoatedGang]

Man this build looks amazing

[@marshallwoodruff3102]

What gear would you recommend for your Merc if you are playing non-ladder and cannot make the Cure runeword?

[@edslau7720]

Im playing offline coz i only have a crack version. Is it possible to still get the high runes like multiple jah ber and the likes without any trading? Man its quite next to impossible

[@meoncrack]

Solved the melee problem...by spec'ing into elemental tree and proccing spells.

[@DefineHatespeech]

modern problems require modern solutions

[@yorkshirelad3133]

no different from tesla-din with zeal though, bit of area, bit of melee, or zeal sorc for that matter

[@sujezz]

I guess it's good a to be a single player gamer, you roll with all those 3/20/20s without even a single slot empty for runes. I mean you don't really need to pick anything so what's the point but then again what's the point of playing a arpg if you're not looking for anything because you can just copy paste it in your inventory.

[@phoenixzohar]

Skin of the Flayed One is a good armor for a Prayer+Cure merc. Especially if you get and eth one and up it.

[@Uncle19]

Why 200 dex and AR on metamorphosis if we have ignores target defense ?

[@Dbrunski125]

ITD only applies to white monsters. Still want good AR for champions, elites, and bosses

[@Uncle19]

@@Dbrunski125 oh wow somehow I went 20 years not knowing this. This explains so much…

[@OGHawkeye]

There’s probably some substitutions you could make to have a more budget friendly build, for those that are hating, it would just be a bit less dmg, but not impossible to play with. It would be nice if they tuned the HR drops in the game. Of course there’s the easy way of just jumping on JSP and using that credit card to charge 100$ worth of forum gold. That’s probably what it would take to obtain the gear in this video on this one character if you were attempting to play fresh on ladder. You could play non ladder and maybe this would be more realistic but I personally don’t find much fun in not taking part of the current season. The character progression and story only lasts 3 days or so if your really into it and put the time in. The content itself just gets a little old after 20 years or even just the 2-3 years D2R has been out that it just gets so old so fast even after taking long breaks from the game. There really should be some loot adjustments or events it’s the only incentive I see anymore it just takes way too long to actually find items you need. The build looks really fun though!

[@feranks3211]

If you didn't try it yet, I highly recommend playing hardcore mode. feels like a completely different game because you're attention for affixes shifts dramatically. you will need a good amount of resilience because you will find grief a lot and you don't even need a Lo rune!

[@TheDiegomula]

is that necessary to have high physical damage? I mean you can give 5 hard points into fury just to have the 5 hits combo, and all remaining points into fire skills, so now you can use CoH and choose the blessed aim merc, at this point just need a infinity to do all that fire power

[@GO-nf5bp]

Ohh bro miss your videos

[@lostperkeles3398]

d2r really need melee splash.. like pd2

[@JGComments]

Wow D2 Druid just keep pulling further ahead of D4 Druid!

[@Tadiaki]

Pretty awesome tbh, nice build

[@dirkstadil8621]

It is really expensive and to get the mark of the bear is a little annoying, but it looks like a really good melee - build, where there is actually a lot going on on your screen.

[@RickBomhof]

yeah... but using VEX LO BER JAH just to make melee viable is way too god damn expensive. what were the devs thinking.... absolutely unusable

[@jjdrumworks]

Have you tried Dual Phoenix with a similar build, but focusing on Firestorm procs? It goes up to like 80% with 2 Phoenix, so it would proc like 4 times every fury...

[@RareFXChrisC]

I made a Melee Firestorm proc Druid back in D2R 2.4. It's super fun!

[@SickSlayer35]

I like this build and want to try it out, but do you have any ideas for a cheaper build with the same kind of idea with the changes in season 4?

[@thelastsamury2716]

What do you think about rocking double phoenix hybrid with firestorm synergies maxed?

[@whitekony1006]

I did that on a maul bear,who is my highest level favorite char on d2r. It's awesome if you're a melee main and not used to having aoe-built up I was doing 16k phys damage, about 11k firestorm damage, and a boatload of geddon damage. The firestorm cuts through mobs like a chainsaw.

[@Nianque2]

...Pretty sure dual-phoenix fire claw is more dps.