Path of Exile 2's Druid can tear up the ARPG's endgame, but be careful about your hitbox

The new Path of Exile 2 league has arrived, and with it the hottest-topic class in town. The PoE 2 Druid has long been the most highly anticipated addition to the ARPG, and I can already feel my fingers twitching at the potential to start testing out its three transformations. Capable of becoming a bear, wolf, or wyvern at will, the shapeshifter has a huge possibility space - but it also caused quite a few headaches for developer Grinding Gear Games. Ahead of launch, I sat down with game director Jonathan Rogers to talk about the design of the Druid and just how many different build varieties it could support.

One of the big challenges in designing the Druid for Path of Exile 2 was that "We effectively had to make four subclasses," Rogers tells me. "If you only pick human, [or] if you only pick wolf, do you have a good time?" He says it was important to cover all of the archetypes GGG wanted while not overlapping to the point where you could end up with "two identical skills, except for one I'm a bear and one I'm a wolf." Conversely, if you prefer to bring a hybrid build to the RPG, it needs to feel synergistic across all possible combinations without one stretching too notably ahead on the balance side of things.

The other big problem to be overcome was the hitboxes for the three creatures. "The hitbox that they have is smaller than what you'd expect," Rogers reveals, "but it is still bigger than what you have as a human, and that does result in taking more damage." GGG's solution to this was adding passive boons depending on your form. As a bear, for example, you'll get damage reduction to compensate for its large stature and slower movement.

As a wyvern, you get benefits to your energy shield recharge, allowing you to be a bit more hit and run with its ranged abilities. Wolf form, meanwhile, actually has almost the same size hitbox as an untransformed human, and because of that combined with its faster movement speed, Rogers says it's already in a good spot without additional help. He adds that you shouldn't feel any difference in terrain collision when transformed, so there's no worry of getting stuck awkwardly in doorways.

If I know one thing about ARPG fans, and Path of Exile enjoyers in particular, it's that they like to go fast. So does the wyvern's need to constantly munch on foes for power charges get in the way of blasting? No; instead you can leap quickly to bodies to chow down and then walk around while you're chewing through them. "It is chomp and go," Rogers says, "We did have to make that snappy, and it was quite a difficult balancing act to make it look reasonable while still being able to move while doing it."

Alongside the Druid comes another long-requested inclusion: Spell Totems. These let you socket a skill into a totem that can then be placed to repeatedly cast the ability. They work a little differently in PoE 2, however, requiring the use of charges to create. So while you theoretically could run a non-transforming totem build, Rogers notes that "you're going to have to find a way to generate charges" to replace what the bear and wyvern forms are capable of, and at that point, "maybe it's better to do it as a Witch or a Sorc."

The other persistent PoE question that the Druid brings into the light once more is the balance of melee vs ranged builds, which has almost always felt one-sided in favor of longer-range options. "The extra damage that melee has is irrelevant if you can kill everything in one hit anyway," Rogers remarks. "A melee skill might do twice as much damage as a ranged one, but since both can kill in one hit it doesn't end up mattering." He's therefore hopeful that the 0.4 endgame changes will help shift the balance somewhat.

"We're relying less on monster density as you scale up towards the endgame, and more on monster life," he continues. "That actually gives an opportunity for builds that do higher damage to matter more, because now there may be cases where the ranged stuff can't necessarily kill everything in one hit." That certainly makes a lot of sense on paper, although I'll wait to see what sort of nonsense Lightning Arrow Deadeyes are getting up to in the new patch despite the nerfs before I make any definitive judgment.

Of course, even if you don't want to use the Druid itself, you're able to use the Talisman weapon on other classes to give them the power of these transformations. Rogers says he's "not the best person to ask" about which particular ones might end up being the strongest, but says he's "very interested to see people experimenting" to find out which unusual build combinations end up surprising us all.

Speaking of other ascendancies, Grinding Gear Games couldn't let the new season kick off without sneaking in one extra treat. The Disciple of Varashta is the third option for the Sorceress, and game director Mark Roberts describes it as a 'build your own summoner' that's capable of employing the powers of up to three unique djinn. Each starts with one command skill, but you're able to spec into various additional abilities for each of them depending on how you want to play.

Path of Exile 2: The Last of the Druids launches Friday December 12. You can play for free from Friday December 12 at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET until Monday December 15 at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT / 8pm CET. Progress made will be saved on your account and can be used if you decide to buy the full game. You'll also earn bonus cosmetics for reaching certain progression milestones through act one during the opening weekend (even if you're on the free trial).