PoE 2 Best Bear/Werewolf/Wyvern Shapeshift Builds for Each Class (0.4)

With Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids and the launch of patch 0.4, the game introduces the ability for all classes to shapeshift into druid forms: Bear, Werewolf, and Wyvern. This opens up a wide variety of build options, as you aren’t limited to playing Druid just to experience these animal transformations. Instead, your ascendancy and starting class now play a much larger role in determining how effective you are in each form. This shapeshifting build guide discusses how each druid shapeshifting form plays in patch 0.4 and recommends the best ascendancies and builds for Bear, Werewolf, and Wyvern, with attention to how the passive tree and ascendancy bonuses interact.

PoE 2 0.4 Best Druid Forms & Builds for Each Ascendancy

In Path of Exile 0.4, Shapeshifting is not Druid-exclusive; any class can wield a unique talisman, which functions as a weapon and grants specific Druid skills to shapeshift into bear, wolf, and wyvern form. Since all druidic abilities are in the Primal category, you can play Bear, Wolf, or Wyvern form on any character. That means what really matters is your chosen ascendancy and where your class starts on the passive tree. For instance, a Warrior begins near nodes that are perfect for melee, rage, and area of effect, while a Druid starts closer to spell and spirit nodes. With this system, the question shifts from "which class plays druid best?"  to "which ascendancy brings out the most from each druid form?"

PoE 2 Bear Shapeshifting Builds

Bear form specializes in melee slams, rage management, and aftershocks. The main attack, Furious Slam, uses rage to perform massive slams, while Ferocious Roar is a war cry that further fuels your rage and can power up your next attack to break enemy armor.

Best Ascendancies for Bear:

• Titan (Warrior): Titan is the top pick for Bear. Starting as a Warrior places you close to all the rage, melee, and area of effect nodes. Earthbreaker gives your slams a 25% chance to cause aftershocks, and Mountain Splitter adds even more aftershocks, essentially multiplying your damage. Bonus rage from hulking form and easy access to maximum rage nodes enable frequent Walking Calamity procs (meteors raining down as you overcap rage). With all these nodes nearby, the Warrior passive tree massively increases your melee damage and slam effectiveness.

• Warbringer (Warrior): If you want to focus on war cries, Warbringer allows for increased war cry speed and lets you spam Ferocious Roar by ignoring cooldowns. War cries also detonate corpses for extra physical damage and allow you to break armor below zero, boosting all types of damage.

• Smith of Kitava (Warrior): Smith brings utility and defense, adding 60% increased glory generation with Katavan Impring body armor, which is great for sustaining Walking Calamity. The ability to use fire spells synergizes well with Bear form’s melee focus, and extra spirit from armor supports potential hybrid spell/melee setups.

• Pathfinder: Uniquely, Pathfinder can start from the Warrior or Sorceress side. It offers flexibility by allowing you to invest in both melee and defensive nodes, and its cost efficiency and global damage bonuses are handy for Bear’s rage-hungry playstyle.

Build Notes:
Bear builds benefit most from stacking melee, area of effect, rage, and slam nodes. The Titan ascendancy provides everything Bear form needs to excel: huge damage, stuns, and aftershocks. Pathfinder also impresses because of its access to both defensive and offensive clusters. The Druid’s own Shaman ascendancy is more suited to hybrid spell builds and has less synergy with pure Bear slams, as its best bonuses require going deep into spirit and spell nodes.

PoE 2 Werewolf Shapeshifting Builds

Werewolf form is all about fast melee attacks, cold conversion, freeze, and summoning a wolf pack. Lunar Assault converts physical to cold, and the Lunar Blessing boosts your cold damage as you spend rage. Your summoned wolves aren’t minions in the traditional sense but fight alongside you as allies, scaling with buffs to allies rather than standard minion nodes.

Best Ascendancies for Werewolf:

• Invoker (Monk): The Invoker ascendancy offers skill speed, flat attack damage, and cold/lightning bonuses. Nodes nearby increase elemental damage, cold scaling, and attack speed, perfect for Werewolf’s rapid, cold-focused melee attacks. Invoker also lets you ignore elemental resistances with critical hits, and provides plenty of defensive and offensive tools.

• Tactician: Tactician shines if you want to focus on buffing your wolf pack. It starts with increased spirit and reduced reservation, access to unlimited banners, and provides added attack damage to all your allies based on your weapon’s power. With the right talisman, you and your wolves can deal huge fire or physical damage together.

• Pathfinder: Pathfinder allows you to mix and match passive nodes from multiple parts of the tree, which is great for blending cold, melee, and area of effect bonuses.

• Witch Hunter: Witch Hunter converts passive skill points to weapon skill points, letting you invest heavily in both minion and direct attack nodes—offering a hybrid of personal and companion strength.

Build Notes:
Werewolf builds should focus on melee, area of effect, cold damage, and ally buffs. The Invoker ascendancy is especially effective for elemental melee, while Tactician is ideal for a wolf-pack support build. The Druid’s own ascendancies (Shaman and Oracle) offer very little for companion scaling, so branching out is advised.

PoE 2 Wyvern Shapeshifting Builds

Wyvern form is for those who love power charges, lightning, and combining melee with projectiles. Wing Blast and Devour generate power charges and can be fueled by rage for even more damage. Flame Breath is a major nuke, scaling with both power charges and rage, and allows you to stay airborne for up to 4 seconds of devastation.

Best Ascendancies for Wyvern:

• Amazon: Amazon is the go-to ascendancy for Wyvern, as it leverages power charges for elemental surge bonuses. With Elemental Surge, you can gain lightning, fire, and cold surges, causing your projectiles to explode for massive area damage. Amazon also boosts projectile speed, attack speed, and overall elemental damage.

• Shaman (Druid): Shaman works if you want to focus on spell scaling with rage. Furious Wellspring ensures you never lose rage, and nodes to boost maximum rage and spell damage are close at hand.

• Blood Mage: Blood Mage lets you experiment with combined ignite and bleed builds, thanks to Flame Bear’s huge ignite magnitude and the synergy between fire damage and bleeding. This makes for a creative and powerful Wyvern playstyle.

• Pathfinder: Pathfinder’s ability to invest in both rage and spell-related nodes, plus its movement bonuses and flexible passive choices, allows you to build a fast, resilient Wyvern that handles both melee and projectiles smoothly.

• Ritualist: Ritualist offers bonus damage to blood-boiled enemies and can boost the power of rings and amulets. Its generalist bonuses fit well for melee Wyvern setups.

Build Notes:
Wyvern excels with builds that combine quick power charge generation, high spell or elemental scaling, and a mix of melee/projectile attacks. Amazon and Pathfinder are both excellent, with Amazon being especially strong for maximizing elemental surges and projectile effects.

PoE 2 Human Form Druid Spellcasting Builds

While not an animal form, Human form supports elemental storm and spell builds. Volcano, Thunderstorm, and Firestorm skills can be multiplied using the Stormweaver ascendancy, which increases the maximum number of active storms and boosts their area and power.

Best Ascendancies for Human/Spell:

• Stormweaver: Stormweaver is the best for spellcasters, as it lets you maintain up to three volcanoes, thunderstorms, and firestorms at once. This creates a mobile elemental barrage that can travel with you and devastate large areas.

• Ritualist: Ritualist is a great passive buff ascendancy, improving overall power with rings and amulets, and boosting rare monster modifiers for extended buffs.

• Pathfinder: Pathfinder’s flexibility allows for easy access to increased damage and global defenses, making it a solid pick for spell builds as well.

• Oracle: Oracle is more generic, giving bonuses to unlucky enemies and inevitable critical hits, but doesn’t offer much for shapeshifting or spell synergy.

Build Notes:
Human form casters focus on stacking storm skills and elemental infusions, with the ability to move storms with you for constant area control. Stormweaver’s increased storm limits and duration are key.