[Diablo 4] My suggestion for the Druid's Class System

Oblivion-1520 · November 29, 2020, 11:15pm

First, let me state that there’s been no new Diablo 4 news/updates since the last Quarterly Update (that I’m aware of), and also that I have no idea what class system the developers have decided on for the Druid. This thread is merely me posting my own idea on what the class system could be.

Now I’m guessing that the Diablo 4 developers already have an idea as to what kind of class system the Druid would have, but I figure I may as well post this idea as it’s been rolling around my head for some weeks (along with many others that I may or mayn’t get to eventually posting).

Assuming that we don’t see any new skills added in Diablo 4, or any changes or implementations to the talents that’ll allow Druid classes to extend their Shapeshifting forms duration or improve their summoning capabilities. I think the Druid’s unique class system (Like the Barbarian’s Arsenal System, or the Sorceress’s Enchantment System) could be used to achieve those goals.

                       Druid Class System: Attunement System

The Attunement System would have a spirit act as a Druid’s permanent Companion. The Spirit gives a minor boost to the Druid’s life and healing, this boost increases as the Druid levels (approx. 10% maximum). The Druid can also make offerings to the spirit in order to gain a variety of bonuses and/or abilities. Druid can gain offerings by collecting Loot with “ Animal Spirit ”, “ Beast Spirit ”, “ Element Spirit ” affixes on them. These affixes can be found on all Druid specific gear and on a few non-class specific gear pieces. Magic rarity gear pieces will only have one of the “Spirit” affixes on them, Rare rarity gear can have 1-2 different “Spirit” affixes on them, while Legendary, Set, and Mythic(assuming that Mythic tier items will still be a thing) items will have all 3 of the “Spirit” affix on them.

(These unique affixes have no effect when worn and such won’t take up potential item affixes, meaning if you find a pair boots that normally would roll with 6 affixes; none of the “Spirit” affixes will take up any of those slots).

When offering an item with any of the “Spirit” affixes to the Druid’s spirit companion, the item is consumed while the “Spirit” affixes is used to empower the Spirit with “Spirit Points”. The spirit companion can be empowered with a total of 30 spirit points, with each different “Spirit” affix adding to the total number. The bonuses that the Spirit Companion can bestow upon the Druid are separated by three categories as named: “ Spirit of the Animal ”, “ Spirit of the Beast ”, and “ Spirit of the Elements ”, with each of the “Spirit” affix adding a point to said categories when an offering is consumed.

For example if a player find a pair of gloves that have “Animal Spirit” and “Element Spirit” affixes on them (two “spirit” affixes total, and offered them to the Spirit companion, then the Spirit companion would gain a spirit point in both the “Spirit of the Animal” and “Spirit of the Elements” categories meaning the player spirit would then be at (2/30) capacity, and can be offered 28 more “Spirit” points. Each category possesses thresholds that provide bonuses when reached.

For example:

Spirit of the Animal
- Rank 1
  - Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper deal 5% more damage
- Rank 3
  - 10% of the damage you take is given to your Wolves instead
- Rank 7
  - Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper deal 2% more damage. Wolves gain 10% more toughness.
- Rank 12 (Requires Character Level 18)
  - Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper can now passively inflict poison with their attacks, and activating their skills now grant them 50% bonus chance to critical strike, stun their enemies for 2 seconds, and inflict them with Vulnerability for 6 seconds. Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper Cooldown become 15 seconds, and are now shared.
- Rank 15 (Requires Character Level 27)
  - Gain 2 additional wolves and 1 additional Vine Creeper. Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper deal 5% more damage.
- Rank 20 (Requires Character Level 35))
  - Activating Wolves, Ravens, or Vine Creeper now grants spirit animal charges, up to 6 charges max. Activating Wolves, Ravens, or Vine Creeper at 6 charges resets the charges and does the following depending on the skill that was activated.
    - Wolves: Summons a Great Ferocious Wolf that’ll attack alongside you for 5 seconds. For 5 seconds afterwards, increase your damage by 5%.
    - Ravens: Summons a Great Fierce Raven that’ll attack alongside you for 5 seconds. For 5 seconds afterwards, increase your movement speed by 10%.
    - Vine Creeper: Summons a Great Serpentine Viper Creeper that’ll spew Venomous Gas around the area for 5 seconds. For 5 seconds afterwards, increase your regeneration by 7%.
Spirit of the Beast
- Rank 1
  - Werewolf and Werebear can now last 7 more seconds (10 seconds total).
- Rank 3
  - Gain 5% more life while transformed.
- Rank 7
  - Werewolf and Werebear can now last 10 more seconds (20 seconds total).
- Rank 12 (Requires Character Level 18)
  - Gain 5% increased attack speed while in Werewolf form
  - Gain 2.5% more damage while in Werebear form
- Rank 15 (Requires Character Level 27)
  - Werewolf and Werebear can now last 20 more seconds (40 seconds total).
  - Gain 2.5% more life and damage while transformed
  - Consecutive attacks while transformed has the following effect for each form:
    - Werewolf: Increase damage, attack speed, and movement speed by 2% for 5 seconds. This effect stacks 5 times.
    - Werebear: Increase damage, attack speed, and fortification effect by 1.5% for 5 seconds. This effect stacks 4 times.
- Rank 20 (Requires Character Level 35)
  - Werewolf and Werebear can now last 40 more seconds (80 seconds total).
  - Werewolf: Have 15% chance of attacks hitting an additional time while transformed. Attacks also have a 10% chance of being ravenous (as in they will heal you for a fixed amount of life).
  - Werebear: Attacks in Werebear form has a 5% chance of activating Grizzly Rage without cooldown.
Spirit of the Elements
- Rank 1
  - Earth and Storm skills deal 3% more damage
- Rank 3
  - Earth and Storm skills that cost spirit have a 20% chance to refund 50% of the spirit cost.
- Rank 7
  - Earth and Storm skills deal 5% more damage
  - Reduce Earth and Storm skills cooldown by 2%
- Rank 12 (Requires Character Level 18)
  - Using Storm skills has a 20% to provide a cyclone armor that also provides melee damage reduction along with ranged.
  - Using Earth skills will also activate Earthen Bulwark for the Druid. This effect has a 24 second cooldown.
- Rank 15 (Requires Character Level 27)
  - Earth and Storm skills deal 8% more damage.
  - Earth and Storm skills have a 10% chance of generating spirit.
- Rank 20 (Requires Character Level 35)
  - Storm Skills have a 10% chance of lowering Cataclysms cooldown by 1 second. Cataclysm lasts 5 seconds longer.
  - Earth Skills have a 5% chance of lowering Petrify cooldown by 2 second. Petrified enemies take 8% more damage.

So if I were to have a druid and empowered my spirit with 15 animal spirit points, 10 beast spirit points, and 5 element spirit points (30/30 spirit point capacity); I would gain the following bonuses:

Spirit of the Animal
- Rank 1
  - Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper deal 5% more damage
- Rank 3
  - 10% of the damage you take is given to your Wolves instead
- Rank 7
  - Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper deal 2% more damage. Wolves gain 10% more toughness.
- Rank 12 (Requires Character Level 18)
  - Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper can now passively inflict poison with their attacks, and activating their skills now grant them 50% bonus chance to critical strike, stun their enemies for 2 seconds, and inflict them with Vulnerability for 6 seconds. Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper Cooldown become 15 seconds, and are now shared.
- Rank 15 (Requires Character Level 27)
  - Gain 2 additional wolves and 1 additional Vine Creeper. Wolves, Ravens, and Vine Creeper deal 5% more damage.
Spirit of the Beast
- Rank 1
  - Werewolf and Werebear can now last 7 more seconds (10 seconds total).
- Rank 3
  - Gain 5% more life while transformed.
- Rank 7
  - Werewolf and Werebear can now last 10 more seconds (20 seconds total).
Spirit of the Elements
- Rank 1
  - Earth and Storm skills deal 3% more damage
- Rank 3
  - Earth and Storm skills that cost spirit have a 20% chance to refund 50% of the spirit cost.

Some minor notes:

Most of these were made in accordance and/or in consideration to the Druid’s existing skills and talents.
If you’re dissatisfied with how you’ve set your attunement system, then it would be possible to reset it, however you will have to start at 0/30 spirit point capacity and find the appropriate items again to offer to your spirit.
For every item you would offer up, there will be a box that will ask for your confirmation in order to make sure a person doesn’t accidentally offer up the wrong item.
Your spirit companion possesses the same toughness as the player druid, and while it cannot fight, it can be attacked by enemies and killed/destroyed. After its destruction, the spirit will be revived 5-10 seconds later when the Druid uses any of their skills.
If destroyed, some of the bonuses may be disabled (such as summoning additional wolves and vines), while other bonuses may yield only partial their benefit and/or remain unaffected.
While admittedly this system is more expansive than the Arsenal and Enchantment system, the basic idea of it is that the proposed Attunement system would grant Druids additional Talents to build for, just as the Arsenal System grants the Barbarian additional weapons to wear, and the Enchantment system grants the Sorceress additional skills with differing effects than normal. Also this was a bit of a fun write-up, so there’s a win there.

If anyone else has any ideas for the Druid’s unique class system, or would like to make changes/improvements to the other 2 class’s unique systems; please don’t hesitate to do so below.