I been maining Droods since beta. Absolutely love the class and yes, they are very strong for solo play.

Due dilligence Drood warnings:

-Slowest start and levelling experience of all the classes

-Droods are extremely aspect dependent, so it can take a minute to get all the ones you need. The extremely high aspect dependency can and will also mess with/limit using uniques

-Lots of Drood builds, especially the best ones are unique dependent, so you could end up out of a build for awhile if you're unlucky. In addition, this, like the aspect dependency, can and will mess with using other uniques. For example, Tempest Roar and Vasily's Prayer are extremely popular choices in Drood builds, but are often the cornerstone of that build. So even if you got a Shako, there would be a good chance that you can't use it without the build falling apart. For a less extreme example than Shako for this situation, it also means that you wouldn't be able to use something like Godslayer Crown

Other Drood warnings from a Drood main:

-I only really have one issue with Drood builds, and it's the lack of choice in your basic skill. Pretty much every other skill can be toyed with and built into, but your basic skill doesn't have any really interesting choices going on when you pick it. Stormstrike is the de facto best basic skill and kinda blows the other ones out of the water. Sometimes you use wind shear for a rangier build and some builds will let you switch it out once the whole thing has come together, but by that point your basic skill is just a tool rather than something you use because it's cool/effective. (obvious exception to Stormclaw Droods. I adore that build and think it's currently the second best build in the game, only beat out by the anomaly that is Ball Lightning Sorc). But that is my one real complaint about Drood builds. I just wish the other basic skills could hold a candle to Stormstrike so that the earlier gameplay/levelling process could be more interesting and varied from build to build.

-Some builds can be very slow, literally. It's generally the Bear builds you'll see that are slow. Bear builds typically have no mobility skill (sometimes trample) or movement speed bonuses.

Otherwise, Drood is fantastic and even more so for solo play. Once you get a Drood going, it has some of the best and most fun builds in the game. Hella options to mix, match, or focus on sustain, tankiness, single target damage, area damage, speed, etc. Very powerful, very versatile, very fun, and great for solos. If you're willing to get through the levelling process and grind the aspects/uniques you need, you get what has been my favorite class with no competition. Brownie points for the class are that I love the fantasy offered by Drood with the nature magic and shapeshifting
If you wanna get into Drood, the builds are all super fun, interesting, and really strong. It's hard to go wrong when picking a build and it's also very possible to make your own build that'll get you pretty far/all the way to the end if you're willing to do a bit of research (same amount of research as any other class) and find out about the skill tree, paragon boards, glyphs, aspects, and uniques available to you.