Dark and Darker: Best Druid Build Guide & How To Play

Dark and Darker offers a variety of classes that you can choose from. Each class has its own perks, skills and style of play. You will want to ensure that you can make the most out of the classes. This can only be done by using the best build. One great class that you can use in the game is the Druid. It is a unique class that utilizes that power of nature to be able to transform into a variety of different animals. In this guide, we’ll be looking at the best build for Druid and seeing the best way to play with it. Let’s dive in!

Best Druid Build Guide & How To Play

If you’re just starting out with Dark and Darker, you might be struggling with a lot of aspects of the game. This can include selecting which class and figuring out the combat. So, we recommend that you check out our 10 Tips and Tricks for Beginner Players before you dive into this class.

With that said, let’s turn our attention to the Best Druid Build. Keep in mind that we will be looking at the best build for solo play. Druid does have a lot of potential for team play, but we will not be looking at that.

If there is any particular aspect you want to check out for the Druid build in Dark and Darker, feel free to use the Table of Contents below!

Perks Explained

The Druid class in Dark and Darker relies a lot on its physical transformations and shapeshifting. Additionally, you will also be giving out a lot of melee damage – although this class does not have it by default. So, we’ll be choosing our perks based on these aspects of the Druid.

With that said, here are the Perks that you should pick for the Best Druid Build in Dark and Darker:

• Enhanced Wilderness
  • While in animal form, gain 5 additional move speed and 10 armor rating
  • Makes you more tankier as an animal, while also giving you extra speed to escape
• Thorn Coat
  • When melee attacked, return 5 true physical damage.
  • As Druid does not have much damage, you’ll want to get as much of it wherever you can
  • Druid will also be using a lot of melee attacks, so this gives him additional damage and protection
• Dreamwalk
  • When you take damage while in human form, gain 5 Magical Power for 4 seconds
  • Become spiritual, phasing through targets and becoming invulnerable
  • You will be unable to attack and use skills but still able to cast spells. 
  • It has a 12 second cooldown.
• Shapeshift Mastery
  • Allows you to change Shapeshift form instantly, bypassing cast time entirely.
  • Great for turning into whatever animal form you need at the moment.

If you really want to go for team play, you can try Sun and Moon or Natural Healing. We are not using them for solo play because they cause you to glow. This can affect the stealth aspects of your Druid build, which we’ll look at later in the guide.

There are so many different classes that you can enjoy playing in Dark and Darker. We recommend that you try all of them so that you can find the best one for your style of play. Check out our Best Warlock Build Guide to try out a class that uses its own health to create spells!

Spells Explained

The Druid Class in Dark and Darker can be used in a variety of different ways. While it does have some main Spells, the other spells can be used for different styles of play. You can use these Spells for both solo and team play. Here are the four main Spells we recommend for the Druid build in Dark and Darker:

• Summon Treant
  • Summons a Treant to fight for 24 seconds.
  • The Treant is more powerful if summoned underwater
  • You basically get an extra teammate that can dish out a lot of damage for you
  • However, it isn’t very tanky so keep that in mind
• Entangling Vines
  • Spreads roots across the floor in a 1m radius that lasts for 6 seconds.
  • Any targets that pass through the AoE are frozen in place for 1 second.
  • After the effect is removed, the target gets immunity to the entangling effects for 1 second.
  • You can only have one activate at a time
  • It’s a really good aerial denial Spell
• Mending Grove
  • Create a forest area centered around you within a 3m radius.
  • Targets gain 10% Max Health Bonus and gain 10 Health per second
  • You can use it to get from half to full health just by standing in it
  • Keep in mind that it can also heal your opponents
• Thorn Barrier
  • Creates a barrier that lasts for 10 seconds
  • Anyone standing near the barrier is dealt 3 Physical Damage per second
  • A great spell to lock people with you or separate mobs of enemies

For the final spell, you have a variety of options depending on what role or style of play you’re going for in Dark and Darker. Here are our recommendations based on the role:

• Restore (Healing Support)
  • Restore the health of all allies within a 3m radius by 30 health for 10 seconds
  • A big heal that can keep your team alive
• Nature’s Touch (Healing Support or Self Healing)
  • Target gains 15 additional recoverable heath and healed 15 health over 12 seconds
  • It has a 7m radius allowing you to heal your teammates
  • However, it casts instantly on yourself if no targets are found
  • You can think of it as an extra Healing Potion that can replenish really fast!
• Dreamfire (Hybrid)
  • Deals 15 magical damage within a 0.8m radius.
  • Any allies or self currently affected by Nature’s Touch are instantly healed for 10 health per target damaged.
  • It is the only Spell the Druid has for healing that can scale with magic
  • You can also use it aggressively, as its the only ranged ability you have to attack other ranged users

Did you know that there is a powerful class that you can actually use as a beginner? This is the Barbarian class because of their access to unique axes. Check out our Best Barbarian Axe Build Guide if you want to try it out for yourself!

Shapeshifting

The ability to shapeshift is what makes the Druid class stand out from the rest in Dark and Darker. You can shapeshift into a variety of animal forms – each of which offers something unique. We’ll go through the cliff notes version of each form – so that you know how and when you should use each animal form for the Druid. Here are the Shapeshifting forms that the Druid has access to:

• Bear
  • The damage the Bear deals scales with Strength
  • It’s very slow and cumbersome to use, so avoid using it frequently
  • You should only transform into a bear when you are in an open space. If there are walls or people nearby, you won’t be able to transform
• Chicken
  • Use this form for different movement advantages
  • You can use it to double jump and also get a really long dash
  • Eat insects on the ground to heal yourself when you’re damaged
• Rat
  • Extremely quick, but will die instantly because of low HP
  • Should be used for stealth, but avoid using AoE Buffs that will make you glow
  • Use this form to hide and run away when you’re in a difficult situation
• Panther
  • You become quick and jump higher, but lose a bit of HP
  • You deal physical damage with your claws that scales with Agility
  • If you have frenzy, you can silence other users which is very powerful
  • Overall, the Panther will be your main animal form

Have you come across the Cyclops Boss in Dark and Darker as you go through the various dungeons. It may be a beginner level boss, but it can be a challenge too if you don’t know what to do. Check out our How To Beat Cyclops Boss guide to see how you can defeat it!

Recommended Builds

Now that you have an understanding of the Druid Class, it is time to see the best build for it in Dark and Darker. You can actually use the Druid in two types of builds.

The first build will depend on Strength and HP. Here is what you need to do for that:

• Strength Scaling: Use Armor and Weapons that provide you with Strength and HP.
• Role: You’ll be playing primarily as a Support Caster that can also deal Melee DPS whenever needed. Additionally, your main role will be crowd control
• Form: You will be using the Bear form as this scales with strength for damage. Bear is also great for crowd control as you can block doorways

The second build will depend on Agility. Here is what you need for that:

• Agility Scaling: Pick Armor that provides you with additional Agility
• Memory Capacity: Use your Spellbooks for additional Memory Capacity so that you can use all your five Spells
• Form: You will be using the Panther form mainly as it scales with Agility. Panther has quite a lot of melee options and this build works well with that.

Tips and Tricks

There are a range of tricks that you can perform as the Druid class in Dark and Darker. This is primarily because of the various shapeshifting forms that you can utilize.

The first trick that we will be looking at is getting through doors without opening them. Doors in Dark and Darker tend to have a small window or peep hole above them. Using the Rat form, you can jump through it to the other side without interacting with the door.

You can do this by first standing at the right distance from the door: not too close and not too far. After that jump towards the window and transform into the Rat mid air. You will be able to go through the window easily.

Doing this trick can be more difficult when you are going upwards towards a door. For this, you will need to jump when you are closer to the door. Additionally, press the crouch button when you transform into the Rat, and you should be able to get through.

The second trick is actually a movement technique that you can use to jump really large distances. You can use it to escape enemies and also chase someone running away from you. We have it outlined in our How To Fly as Druid Guide – if you want a more detailed explanation.

In essence, you can do this movement trick by using the Panther and Chicken form. Additionally, you will need the Shapeshift Mastery Perk.

Start by being in the Panther form and dashing forward. While you’re in midair, transform into the Chicken. After that, double jump and you should be able to cover really large distances. You can use it to reach places that you wouldn’t have been able to normally.

Besides that, here are some additional tricks that you can do with the Druid class in Dark and Darker:

• Transform into the chicken midair to get over large obstacles, like ice blocks
• Use the Bear Form to break anything, like Chests, Doors, Crates and Ice Blocks
• Summon Treant to aggressively attack sleeping monsters
• Use Dreamwalk to skip mobs of enemies and instantly create a portal to escape without dying
• Use Entangling Vines to root Ghost King when he’s in his chase mode or block him with Thorn Barrier

You will also come across unique monsters in the Ice Abyss area. They can be a pain to dodge because of their distinct attack patterns. Check out our How to Dodge the Ice Abyss Monsters Guide if you want to mastering dodging them!

How To Play Druid

Now that you know all the tricks and builds you can make with the Druid, it’s time to see how to use all of it when you’re in a dungeon!

Starting off, we recommend that you use the Rat form to hide with the Druid. You can use the Rat to hide in shadows so people cannot find you. Additionally, you can also use the Rat to hide in objects, dead bodies and chests.

However, make sure that you do not use any Aura perks. This is because they will emit a glow that can make you very easy to detect as a Rat.

After you’ve managed to hide from enemies, slowly approach them. When they have their guard down, immediately transform into a Bear to surprise and deal damage to them! By surprising them, you can easily kill one or two people before they realize what’s going on.

You can then transform into a Panther if you have an agility build.  Otherwise, you can stay as a Bear and continue to melee them if you have a Strength build. Use the Panther form to chase enemies if they start running from you.

Even in the human form, you can use the Druid’s spells to prevent people from escaping. You can use the Entangling Vines or Thorn Barrier on doorways to block any enemies that are trying to escape. By blocking them, you can use your Weapons to finish them off. This is also very useful if you have a teammate with you, as you can root enemies for them.

That’s everything you need to know for the Best Druid Build and learning how to play this class. In essence, you must take full advantage of your Spells and Shapeshifting to make the most out of this class. It will make you a truly formidable opponent.

As you progress through the game, you might find that you’re not leveling up as fast you would like. So, how can you get access to all that sweet XP? Check out our Best Way To Level Up Guide to find out more!