Werewolf

Transform into a werewolf.

Werewolf is the Druid's level 1 Shape Shifting skill, with no prerequisite; it unlocks Lycanthropy and Feral Rage. The table calls it "Wearwolf". It is a self-buff that changes your form for a fixed time and gives the form's bonuses: attack rating of +50% at level 1 and +335% at level 20, an attack speed bonus that starts at 20 and tops out below 80, and +25% life and stamina. Its duration is 40 seconds on its own and only Lycanthropy makes it longer.

The numbers

• Attack Speed is the diminishing curve dm34 between Param3 (10, "Attack Speed % Min") and Param4 (80, "Attack Speed % Max"): 20 at level 1, 45 at level 5, 68 at level 20, 73 at level 30. The Basin's formula for the same line is min(10 + [70 × [110 × slvl ÷ (slvl + 6)] ÷ 100], 80), and its table reaches 80 only at level 60. The row applies it as the attackrate stat, a bonus to your attack rate, not an item-style Increased Attack Speed; see Attack Speed.
• Attack Rating is ToHit 50 plus LevToHit 15 a level, applied as item_tohit_percent.
• Max Stamina is a flat +25% (Param1) and Max Life a flat +25% (Param2) plus Lycanthropy's line; both are constants on this row, so they are not in the table.
• Duration is 1000 + Lycanthropy.ln12 frames: 40 seconds at every level of Werewolf, plus whatever Lycanthropy adds. The evaluator cannot print the line here because it reads the other skill.
• Casting delay is a flat 1 second (globaldelay 25 frames), shared with Werebear. Mana is a flat 15.

The attack rating and attack speed lines read lvl, so +skills from items raise them; the duration and life lines read Lycanthropy's level, not Werewolf's.

How it works

Casting Werewolf changes your form; the Basin says the transformation takes 16 frames, 0.64 second. The row's Param12 ("Allow Instant Direct Transformation") lets you cast it straight from bear form. While a wolf you are restricted to the form's skills: the Basin lists Attack, Unsummon, scrolls and tomes, Werewolf, Werebear, Feral Rage, Rabies, Fire Claws, Hunger, Fury, the Summoning skills, Armageddon and, since D2R patch 2.4, Cyclone Armor and Hurricane. Passives still work, buffs cast before shifting last until they expire, and pets summoned before shifting remain.

The Basin adds: a missile weapon is used as a melee weapon in wolf form, and Fires Magic Arrows and Fires Explosive Arrows do not apply; a Druid werewolf who takes lethal damage returns to human form with one life instead of dying, which a Barbarian using the Werewolf oskill does not; and weapon speed and weapon increased attack speed remain the main factors in the attack rate.

The form's duration is 40 seconds with no Lycanthropy points; every cast costs 15 mana and a one-second delay, and the Basin's page lists the mana as 0 when recast while already a wolf.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies in the skill's own lines. Two of its stats are fed by Lycanthropy: the duration adds Lycanthropy's ln12 (its Param1 1000 + Param2 500 a level, in frames) and the life adds Lycanthropy's ln34 (its Param3 20 + Param4 5 a level); both read lvl, so +skills raise them. Werewolf gives no synergy.

Against players

Werewolf never touches a player by itself; its attack rating and speed ride on the attack you make, and a player's hit on another player is cut to 17% (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player. The Basin's page says nothing more about the form against players.

Build notes

• Attack speed diminishes: the first point gives 20, level 5 gives 45, level 20 gives 68 and the next ten levels from +skills add 5 more, so hard points past the mid-teens buy mostly attack rating.
• Attack rating is 15% a level with no cap, +335% at 20 and +485% at 30.
• Life and stamina are flat 25% and do not grow with the skill; the life that grows is Lycanthropy's.