Big mistakes:
Not using meta
not using a big 2h weapon
the whole merc
Minor mistakes:
rings and inv
They fucked the shifters in D2R, but then they introduced meta to fix them.
This helm is completely busted... it's like wearing at the same time :
jalal + guillaume + coa + 5x 15ias jewel + 8x Jah + cham + 3 SS skillers
all in 1 item (add some extra ar% and dr%, remove some res, you end up with the same stats as the above give you)
Now...
All you want is a big 2h weapon.
Highest dps vs everything except bosses: eBotD TM
Highest dps vs bosses: eDeath Glorious/Decap (glorious is a bit better due to +1 range and higher min dmg, decap is only +1 avg dmg)
I'd suggest using eReaper zod on swap (you REALLY don't need cta when you already got some 250% life from lycan/MotW)
Using reaper on swap is an easy instant access to decrep. You only need it against phys immunes and bosses as you will already obliterate anything else.
This is freeing up your merc to be might+pride.
As a shifter, you can't reposition your merc with tele, so you shouldn't rely on him to proc decrep.
He will often be lagging behind as you run/kill faster than he can follow... but both might and pride have a huge range, so he'll always be supporting you from a distance.
Further boost his might aura with coh + andy, for an extra +4 skills, but also allowing him to survive more easily with dual leech and stacked res.
If you want super casual gameplay and you feel like pressing w sometimes is too hard, then you can use reaper as your main weapon... just not optimal, but still good enough.
You already got:
LoH, Gores, HL, SoE
Perfect! Don't change that, those are BiS.
Armor?
Fort is solid. My choice for p8.
On low player count I use either enigma or hustle, for the mobility.
I'd keep using them even on p8 if that wasn't of the lack of resist...
But you can normally reach max fire/light res with 30@ fort, high torch/anni, HL+LoH and a few good res scs.
As long as you have max fire/light res you're fine.
Cold/psn is useless, pretty low dmg in pvm and you have the ability to go full life in 1 fury, so all you need is to be able to tank those big sudden fire/light burst of dmg.
MotB and SoE already give you 35% DR, paired with chilling armor from fort you are gucci vs phys dmg.
Rings?
2x BK would be very hard to beat.
Paired with SoE it's all the leech you need.
You'll be using either botd or death, both already some with mana leech.
But those 2 extra skills are working wonders!
Big life%, ar% and ed% from increasing lycan/wolf/fury/HoW.
Wolf lvl is now a big factor of your ias breakpoint.
Inv?
SS skillers.
Again... ed%, ar%, life%, and boosting your wolf lvl to help reach your desired ias bp.
I'd aim to reach lvl 38 wolf
This way, you reach max ias with reaper (40ias + MotB) -> 4+(3)+5
You also reach the penultimate ias bp with TM (100ias, but you need 80, or 120 for the last bp) -> 4+(3)+6
If using death glorious/decap, you could be fine with wolf lvl 31+, allowing you to reach the previous pb (still at 3 frames middle hits) -> 5+(3)+6
Skill?
20 wolf
20 lycan
20 fury
20 HoW
1 bear (to active MotB each 3 mins)
... you're already pretty much capped with tons of skill points you can waste however you like (anything else feels 100% useless to me)
You can use feral each 20s to keep the frw/leech active (I rarely do it, feels like I waste as much time as I gain some)
Stats?
IMO 3.5k life feels very comfortable. Would aim for 4k if HC.
Dump everything else in STR (depends on your life from gear/inv)
Here's a planner link just to give an overview of my min/maxed build after playing way too much fury druids:
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/q5gp90u3There are many ways to build it. And you really don't need all those perfect gear for it to work.
But adapting your current build to something in this direction would be a greatr improvement :)
This is really good info. Thanks for the response and all the details!
Most of these changes will take me some time to incorporate as I'll need to find some runes and bases (zod, another cham, jah, eth TM, eth dec/GA, pelt). I'm sitting on 1x Cham, 4x Sur, 3x Gul, 1x Ohm, 1x Vex, then some rand mid, lower runes.
I found a Cham a few weeks back so I feel like my main goal right now is finding a base pelt to make Metamorphosis. I see pelts dropping all the time in Pits, just haven't found a Fury (and how/fr bonus) yet. I also see decapitators dropping all the time in Pits and thought I had stashed an eth one a while back but couldn't find it on mules. I did stash an eth glorious axe a while back but it's superior so can't roll for 5os :/ Might start running LK some again and see if I can get lucky on a pelt rack while searching for runes
I didn't realize you could stack motb and motw so that's nice to know. I was wondering why some people out there recommended adding +1 skill to werebear and maul lol
D2:R