Wyvern form in Path of Exile 2 (The Last of the Druids) is one of those unlocks that sounds simple on paper, then eats an evening if you're not paying attention. You'll see people flexing it in town while you're still stuck choosing between early Bear fire stuff and that icy Werewolf kit. If you're already planning your upgrades and trading around PoE 2 Currency, it helps to know what you're aiming at, because Wyvern isn't just "another form". It changes how your Druid fights, how you path, and what gear actually feels good.

How the unlock really happens

You don't get Wyvern handed to you. You earn it by staying alert in the early grind. The key is a level three Uncut Gem, and it's easy to waste it if you're clicking through tooltips too fast. Once it drops, you need to cut it into a Wyvern-specific skill, the kind of thing that reads like a mix of aerial aggression and close-range punishment. After that, the game finally flags your character as eligible, and you can swap your Talisman over to Wyvern form. Miss the gem, or spend it on the wrong skill, and you're basically back to farming and hoping RNG feels generous.

What makes Wyvern feel so strong

Bear and Werewolf are fine. They do their jobs. Wyvern is different because it leans into lightning and impact at the same time, and the rhythm is nasty once you get used to it. You're not just spamming one safe combo. You'll be dipping in and out of form, looking for windows, then dumping a burst that makes bosses flinch and health bars disappear. You'll also notice the build rewards you for being close, which is scary at first. Then it clicks. You start playing more confident, more aggressive, and the form starts paying you back.

Ascendancy, passives, and the stuff people mess up

A lot of players gravitate to Oracle Ascendancy here, and yeah, it's popular for a reason. The passives help you stack up damage without turning the build into a glass cannon, which matters because you're juggling melee pressure and elemental scaling. On the passive tree, look for lightning boosts, general damage that doesn't lock you into one tag, and bonuses that trigger when you switch forms. If you built tanky early with options like Barkskin, you can keep that baseline and still pivot into serious output. The mistake is going all-in on one side. Pure spell-only or pure attack-only tends to feel awkward.

Gear priorities and quality-of-life

Wyvern can hit hard and still feel slow, so you're chasing comfort as much as damage. Attack speed makes the form feel less like it's stuck in mud. Mana sustain matters too, because lightning skills drink it fast and it's miserable going dry mid-fight. Weapon choice isn't as locked as people think: staves are classic, but some wand setups can surprise you if the rolls line up with your scaling. Read every line before you commit, though. If you're trying to smooth out the grind and set yourself up for endgame, planning your crafts and trades around u4gm poe2 can save you from that brutal "I built it wrong and now it feels awful" moment.