Tomorrow’s 0.4.0 “The Last of the Druids” update for Path of Exile 2 has got me more hyped than any ARPG in years, and if you’re planning to dive into Fate of the Vaal at launch, you should really think about your opener and how you’re funding it with something like u4gm poe currency before the rush hits. I’ve had some hands-on time with the new Druid and it did not feel like a throwaway hybrid at all. I blew through Act 1 in about half an hour without really sweating, and that wasn’t because I was wildly overgeared. The big thing is the flow: skills chain together in a way that just feels right, and swapping forms never kills your momentum.
Shapeshifting That Actually Feels Good
The shapeshift system is what sells the class. Older games usually make you pay for form swaps with clunky animations or harsh cooldowns, so you end up sitting in one form and pretending it’s “build identity.” Here you just equip a Talisman and suddenly form swapping feels like part of your rotation, not a penalty. Human form lays the groundwork: you drop a Volcano, scatter those magma craters across the arena, then snap into Bear and slam. Furious Slam setting off all those craters at once is wild. Screen shakes, boss health just falls off a cliff. That STR and INT mix doesn’t feel like a gimmick; you’re actually encouraged to weave spells and melee rather than pick one lane and forget the rest.
Bear, Wolf And Wyvern All Have A Job
The class really opens up once you stop thinking “I’m a Bear player” or “I’m a Wolf player” and start treating each form like a tool you pull out when needed. Bear form is your early league safety net: chunky life, satisfying hits, and that Volcano Slam setup that just melts early bosses. Wolf runs on Moon Energy and is built for pace. You pop into it when you see a long corridor or a packed room, freeze everything up, and just keep moving. Then there’s Wyvern, which feels like cheating when you first try it. You ride your Power Charges, get airborne, and drop fire from above while most ground nonsense can’t really touch you. You end up swapping forms every few seconds, not to show off, but because it’s simply faster and safer that way.
League Start Power And Early Builds
If you care about league start power, the Bear Volcano Slammer setup looks like an easy win. You get reliable clear from Volcano, strong single-target from Furious Slam, and enough tankiness that you’re not constantly alt-tabbing to check death logs. It feels like the sort of build you can recommend to friends who don’t no-life the game but still want to hit yellow maps fast. The nice part is that you don’t have to lock yourself in, either. Wolf and Wyvern both scale well with the same character, so if you get the right Talismans or find a juicy spell combo, you can lean harder into speed or aerial damage without rerolling.
New Temples, Passives And Early Economy
On top of the class itself, the new modular Vaal temples add a different kind of planning to your runs. You’re not just charging into random side content; you’re piecing together rooms that actually support your build or your loot goals. Add 250+ new passives on top and you’ve got a tree that feels fresh enough that theorycrafters are going to be busy for a while. With servers going live in the morning for US players and later for EU, plus a free weekend where progress sticks, it’s a good moment to pull new people in and get a group rolling. If you want to smooth out those first few hours, grab a bit of extra chaos orbs or early uniques through something like poe 2 cheap currency so you can focus on learning the class and smashing content rather than staring at empty stash tabs.
