D2R 2.6 Metamorphosis Runeword Builds: Which Builds is Metamorphosis Best For in Diablo 2 Resurrected?

Metamorphosis is considered as the best new runewords added in D2R 2.6 patch, here we break down which builds can it be used for to grants more effective gameplay in Diablo 2 Resurrected Ladder Season 3!

Metamorphosis Stats, Buffs & Gameplay Mechanics

Metamorphosis runeword can be rolled in helmets only and uses the runes IoChamFal and foul but it grants two very unique abilities to The shapeshift Druids specifically, these include Mark of the wolf and Mark of the bear which add timed duration Buffs similar to feral rage and maul. 

So when you look at metamorphosis, there's a lot to take in here in a Brand new unique mechanics:

Mark of the wolf and Mark of the bear are non-skill based Buffs that your character can be granted when they successfully hit a target when transformed into either a Werewolf from Mark of the wolf or Werebear from Mark of the bear. They last for three minutes so if you get one of them and you get the other one, they're going to stack, you can take off the helmet and put on a different piece of gear, you can transform out of being either a werewolf or a werebearer and just use it on a base attack. 

When you have both Buffs together which just about every shapeshifter Druid should and even something like the Barbarian will be able to do, you will be granted an amazing overpowered Buffs:

• Gain 20% attack rating 

• Gain 40% increased maximum life this will add on to maximum life from Battle orders and other sources

• Gain 25% increased attack speed, this isn't the same thing as 25% increased attack speed on a piece of gear, skill increase attack speed is infinitely more powerful than gear based increase attack speed because gear base increased attack speed undergoes diminishing returns, that's why getting fanaticism ore is so important because that's skill increased attack speed. The same with burst of speed then you're going to gain 25% chance of crushing blow and 20% physical damage reduction.

• You could transform into a werewolf get your buff, transform into a werebearer get your buff, and then take off this helmet and go do something else. So just these two parts alone we think would be more than good enough for the cost of the Io Cham and Fal which shout outs to the fact that they're giving more reasons to use Cham runes and a higher value to Cham runes because every single melee based class in the game is going to make one of these for pre-buffing.

• Three Diablo 2 runes are going to grant you tender strength tend to vitality as well as cannot be Frozen, and then the base item Rune word for making it is going to gain you plus five to shape shifting skills, variable amount of enhanced defense, and then 10 all resistance. So they're really pushing here for an alternative to jalals for the Druid to use and before I talk about any of the other melee skills. Since you can put this into a barbarian helmet and into a druid helmet, you could actually get a plus eight to shock wave helmet from this item. They have absolutely busted Shockwave Druid, it has scaling enhanced damage on the skill that you can't see in your tool tip based off of your skill level, so every skill level that you increase it you get an additional 15 skill damage.

Which Builds is Metamorphosis Best Suited For in D2R 2.6 Season 3?

Considering the strongest helmet that we could have before would only be plus five to Shockwave on delirium, a plus 8 Shockwave helmet is actually nutty but all of that being said this item goes even even further in nuttiness when you start to think of the off Druid utilization of.

Metamorphosis is Powerful for Druid

Metamorphosis in the Druid it's powerful. For example, just have 20 points into lycanthropy enough points into Fury to get up to the five hits and he's currently using a grief phase blade, if you throw on a level 5 fanaticism which would gain you the same amount of increased attack speed as the mark of the bear. We are literally already at Max frame breakpoint for Fury attacks with no other increased attack speed on the character at all, if we go and we throw in a Breath of the Dying archon staff again with no other gear on at all, we are also already at the max frame breakpoint of 18 frames, this means that every other gear slot that you have can put any gear on it that you want in particular, you are not forced to use endarials or high Lords or laying of hands if those wouldn't be best in slot for that scenario.

Metamorphosis is powerful for Barbarian

Barbarian with a wolf howl to be able to turn to a wolf and a Beast to be able to turn into a bear. Typically you would swap over to your Call to Arms, turn into your werewolf and go hit somebody one time get your mark up, turn into a Werebear and walk over go hit somebody mark up. Then put on your actual helmet that you're going to be using and then just go Whirlwind until everything is dead. Now keep in mind even this character doesn't have on the additional Buffs, you could even continue to use the Beast if you wanted to as your primary weapon it is going to get you additional increased attack speed that will stack with the buff from Metamorphosis, also grants you attack rating a bunch of enhanced damage. There's an argument for why Beast is one of the best options in the offhand for Whirlwind Barbarian but if you're a real stickler here, you could even go swap this out for a Grief right now if you wanted to for the highest possible DPS potential.

So now that your Whirlwind Barbarian has 20 physical damage reduction increased to their attack rating, you're going to have 40 additional increase maximum life, which means that if you really wanted to go full glass Cannon to be able to max out your total amount of DPS potential, you could dump a bunch of additional points into strength as opposed to Vitality. Considering you're going to have a massive bow as well as the additional 40 from The Mark of the wolf.

The other really intro interesting part about the buff is that 25% crushing blow, now another one of the arguments that gets made all the time for Whirlwind is do you go dual Grief or do you go Grief death. The benefit of the Death is that's going to carry that 50% crushing blow which makes your boss clear speed all together that much faster. But putting 25% skill buff based crushing blow means that each grief attack that you make while World winding is going to have a minimum of 25% chance of crushing blow and then any additional stats that you put on from gear like Goblin toes. While it's not necessarily a great thing that this buff makes dual grief even better as the best Whirlwind Barbarian setup, it is really interesting just how much more efficient your clear speed will become with those Buffs active.

Being able to prioritize more damage over survivability, getting additional attack rating to make connecting with your weapons more likely to happen.

Best Barbarian Builds To Use Metamorphosis

Every single Barbarian would want these Buffs, Berserk Barbarian gaining even more survivability from Mark of the bear as well as crushing blow means you're not just a P1 pit farmer anymore you can take that in more easily Farm travel, as well as more easily farm places like the Chaos Sanctuary for seal popping and killing Diablo at the end.

• Double Throw Barbarian getting increased attack speed on skill as well meaning you're not as reliant on the frenzy buff, so that when that runs out you're not completely handicapped

• Frenzy Barbarian itself while it doesn't necessarily need the increased attack speed 40% increased maximum life, 20% AR and 25% crushing blow along with the PDR is absolutely nothing to sneeze at.

• Even Leap Attack Barbarian and War Cry Barbarian which we would argue benefit the least from these Buffs at the very least still gain a massive amount of survivability, and leap attack would actually love to have increased crushing blow since you would normally prefer to be running as much Max damage as possible, so you would sometimes use War traps over something more traditional like Gore riders or Goblin toe.

Other Builds Can Get Benefits from Metamorphosis

Now while the Barbarian can definitely benefit the most because of wolf howl, any other character can put on a Beast and go get Mark of the bear, and we definitely think that Mark of the bear is the much stronger buff here. 25 increase attack speed on skill and 25 crushing blow in 20 physical damage reduction, you have a kicks in a Werebear sorceress or an Uber smarter going in well, after you get your fade proc up go get your mark of the bear. 

• Martial arts assassin builds in general might be able to get away with using fade over burst of speed. 

• Physical Boazons don't need to use Faith in anymore if you can get this free 25% increased attack speed and then you can use Alternatives like Windforce if you like the knockback for more survivability as well as easier Mana management.

• Plague javasons that typically want to have as many plus skills as possible, so it's harder to stack increased attack speed to get this bonus to have the fastest animation on Plague and Poison Javelin possible.

• Physical Zealers even Dream paladins would love to throw this on for the additional survivability and attack speed being able to use slower bases for heavier damage and still be able to reach the max break point

• Phoenix strike martial arts assassin that's always had trouble surviving because you can't sustain enough off of your damage, how about 20 PDR and increased attack speeds that you can throw more damage onto your slots rather than attack speed in those same sockets.

• Spider, wear bear sorceress builds, even though were bear Necromancer that uses branbo to proc D2R spear will be able to hit a faster break point with this helmet's buff. 

So not only is it empowering the best builds in the game to be tankier do more crushing blow damage and also hit easier break points so that they can focus different gear in their jewels and sockets for higher damage as opposed to increased attack speed, but complete meme builds right now like the werewolf Barbarian as well as that wear bear Necromancer to name any other person trying to do something more fun but still be viable. As a legitimate tool now in this helmet, it's actually kind of ridiculous when you start to think of all the different possibilities and just how powerful getting a three minute buff that says, you are now an effective melee attacker really is for a lot of these different more Niche builds.