Dark and Darker Druid build: Best perks, skills, and spells

The Druid is the latest addition to Dark and Darker—and it’s absolutely amazing. This powerful class combines spell-casting and brute force for incredible effect and gameplay that cannot be replicated with other classes. Here’s our best Druid build in Dark and Darker.

Best perks for the Druid in Dark and Darker

For most of your combat situations you will be transforming into either the Bear or the Panther. What he lacks in mobility the Bear makes up for in pure strength, whereas the Panther sacrifices a bit of its stopping power for unmatched agility. Therefore, the perks you should be aiming for are ones enhancing your combat prowess while Shapeshifting to maximize your potential in PvP situations.

The perks we think work the best with the Druid at the moment (always subject to change, as the class is still being tweaked and balanced) are as follows:

• Enhanced Wildness: boosts your overall damage output and survivability in animal form.
• Thorn Coat: returns some of the damage you take to the enemy.
• Sun and Moon: boosts your allies’ Vigor and Magic Damage.
• Natural Healing: restores your and your allies’ health slowly (especially useful for new players).

The Druid’s perks were a tad stronger up until the class got nerfed, though they are still some of the more powerful in the game, both for PvP and PvE encounters.

Druid skills in Dark and Darker, explained

Unlike your usual Barbarian, the Druid doesn’t pick and choose skills. They come as default options, and include Shapeshift Memory and Spell Memory. The former gives the Druid several animal forms to transform into, while Spell memory stores several spells the Druid can cast to do either damage, spawn a Treeant, or heal himself and his team.

The Druid also gains new skills when he shapeshifts into any of the animals. Insect Predation (Chicken) allows Druid to eat insects to recover HP, boosted by the Resourcefulness stat; Wild Rush (Panther) is a nice dash that the Druid can use to pounce on enemies; Survival Instinct (Rat) boosts the Druid’s movement speed in Rat form and lowers it after the skill expires; Wild Fury (Bear) boosts the Druid’s Bear Form damage and defenses.

All of these additional skills are generally useful, especially the Bear one which can help the Druid shred through Barbarians with ease.

Best spells for the Druid in Dark and Darker

The Druid has access to numerous spells which he can forget or memorize at will. However, each Spell carries its own “Memory” value based on its Tier, meaning you cannot bring all the spells along with you at all times. Mixing and matching for the best build is the go-to strategy here, and we’ve devised our picks for the best Druid spells. The spells are divided into Spirit and Earth categories, and our choice is as follows:

• Nature’s Touch (1 Cost): heal self or ally for 15 over time and grant them another 15 recoverable health.
• Dreamfire (3 Cost): deal 15 Magic Damage in an area and instantly heal anyone afflicted by Nature’s Touch for 10 HP per damaged enemy.
• Thorn Barrier (4 cost): Create a barrier made of thorns in an area that does four damage per second to enemies that touch it.
• Restore (5 Cost): Heal self and all nearby allies by 30 HP over time.
• [Optional] Tree of Life (6 Cost): Spawn a Tree that grants five to all attributes and gives 40 recoverable HP over time.

Disclaimer for solo players: If you’re not running with allies, you should swap out Dreamfire for Barkskin Armor.

These spells work to boost your healing prowess while in Human form. You are bound to confront enemies directly as a Bear or Panther, meaning you will take a blow or two or even more depending on the combat situation. Keeping yourself and your allies healthy is the best way of ensuring an extraction and the gain of valuable loot. The Thorn Barrier will also help you to prevent enemies from running away through doors or corridors and even do damage to them if they’re persistent.