(Image: Blizzard Entertainment via HGG / Jeffrey Hsu)

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The Druid class in Diablo 4 returns from earlier versions of the game, and naturally, you’re looking for the best build to wreak havoc with nature-based magic and ferocious shapeshifting abilities.

Druids are a great choice if you want to be a versatile front-line fighter with crowd control abilities, and are widely regarded as the top class for End-Game Nightmare Dungeons.

To that end, we’ve constructed four different powerful builds that will help you use your new Druid to the best of your abilities here in Diablo 4, Season 1: Season of the Malignant.

The 4 Best Druid Builds in Diablo 4

The real meat for you to sink your werewolf teeth into starts here. Today, we’ll be diving into the active skills, passive abilities, ideal gear selection, and overall strategy that makes your ideal Druid build operate to the best of its ability in Diablo 4.

These are not ranked in any particular order, although the first two builds are ideal for leveling up a new Druid compared to the latter two.

Landslide Build – Best for New Druid Players

The Landslide Druid build is our pick for the best build if you’re just starting out with a freshly made Druid in Diablo 4.

It relies mostly on the core skill of Landslide, which does more damage than the other core skill options at the cost of reduced accuracy. Compared to other leveling builds, this one also greatly enhances the survivability of your Druid.

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Skills

Storm Strike will be the first basic skill you select, and you’ll want to level it up further with the “Enhanced” and “Fierce” skill modifications. Choosing these makes it a solid basic skill for controlling an area by adding a chance to immobilize enemies and give them the “vulnerable” condition. Both of these serve to tee enemies up for a hard-hitting Landslide attack.

Landslide is of course part of this build, being the only core Druid skill that can one-shot most early basic enemies. It also hits elites and unique enemies hard, since it strikes them twice with a single attack. You’ll want “Enhanced” and “Primal” mods for your Landside attacks, massively expanding the crowd control capabilities of your Druid while also getting some nearly guaranteed critical strikes.

Cyclone Armor only takes a single point to get most of its benefits for this build. Druids have plenty of abilities that provide a passive effect just from having this skill slotted on your skill bar. This will provide a bonus for your non-physical damage reduction without even needing to activate it.

Earthen Bulwark is a defensive skill that you can pop if you’re expecting to take a ton of damage all at once. Once you upgrade it with the “Enhanced” and “Preserving” modifications, you’ll be able to move through enemies with the “Unstoppable” condition and gain a huge chunk of your life as a fortified barrier. This skill also gets numerous enhancements from the chosen passives for this build.

Trample is the only shapeshifting skill we’ve included with this build, turning you into a Werebear and pushing you forward. It’s best used in enclosed areas like basements, where targets have a chance to be pushed into environmental features like walls and stunned for a life-saving three seconds. Add the “Enhanced” and “Natural” modifications to further improve its versatility and your resilience to damage.

Petrify is another great skill to pop when you’re heavily surrounded and need to turn a battle around in your favor. With a 50-second cooldown similar to most classes’ Ultimate skills, you might not be able to use it often, but after enhancing it with the “Prime” and “Supreme” mods, you’ll be able to instantly stun all enemies in a wide radius around you for 4 seconds. This stun raises your critical strike rate massively, as you shatter the petrified statues around you.

Passives

Gear

Many other Druid builds have some gear that is absolutely necessary for the build to function, especially any shapeshifting-centric builds. Luckily, as a build mostly intended for leveling up your character, the Landslide Druid does not have any gear that makes or breaks it.

You’ll want to focus on weapons that raise your critical strike damage and overall DPS, with two-handed weapons generally functioning best for Druids. Ranks of Landslide will of course be welcome.

Focus on emeralds for your gem slots, since these also help with critical strikes, with sapphires filling in other slots to improve your Fortify abilities.

De-prioritize movement speed, cooldown reductions, and overall bonuses to life, as these are of minimal importance for this build.

Strategy & Rotation

Start particularly tough fights with a Petrify in the hopes you can cast it again before the end of the battle, while also giving you a chance to take stock of your next moves and prioritize the softest enemies in the room.

Whenever Trample and Earthen Bulwark are off cooldown, use them, making sure to target large groups of enemies whenever possible. The rest of the time you will be alternating between Storm Strike to build spirit and then spending that spirit on Landslide.

Cast Storm Strike at least once in between each cast of Landslide for maximum damage, while also keeping as many enemies immobilized as possible.

Companion Build – Best Druid Build for Leveling

This Druid build is one of the most relaxing you can play among any class in Diablo 4, since your pet vines and wolves will be doing a lot of the work for you.

Most of the damage from this Druid build comes from focusing your wolves directly on one target at a time, while also giving yourself enough life and fortifications that your companions can whittle down even the toughest of bosses in the game.

This build is ideal for leveling up, although you will need to choose some alternative skills until level 15 – where you can respec into this build and go full-blast with your companion abilities.

(Image: Blizzard Entertainment via HGG / Nathan Hart)

Skills

Storm Strike is a good pick for basic skills for this character, with the “Enhanced” and “Fierce” abilities giving it some crowd-control capabilities that will help to pin down enemies and give your wolves time to rip them to pieces.

Tornado would be our pick for the ideal Core skill, although if you find any Legendary items that enhance other Core skills while you’re leveling up, pick those instead. This build doesn’t rely heavily on Core abilities compared to other builds, primarily being used for AoE damage and as a good way to burn up all of your extra spirit.

Wolves are the defining skill of this build, giving you a couple of companions that do a fraction of your basic damage to enemies all on their own. You’ll also gain an active skill with a relatively short cooldown, letting you sic both your wolves on a single target at once. Adding the “Enhanced” and “Brutal” skill mods increase their viability against crowd-controlled or Vulnerable enemies.

Poison Creeper is one of the most awesome of companion skills, providing you with a vine that will randomly strike targets on your screen every few moments. It also gives you an active ability that immobilizes all targets that are surrounding you, striking them down with a huge dose of poison damage as well. The “Enhanced” and “Brutal” mods for this skill have excellent synergy with your other abilities.

Cyclone Armor is an easy choice since it provides you with a passive bonus to damage resistance, and this build is all about making passive choices that strike your enemies down without you lifting a finger.

Blood Howl lets you swap over to Werewolf form and regain a chunk of your life every 15 seconds by default. “Enhanced” lets you do it slightly more often while “Preserving” gives you an offensive bonus to your attack speed when you regain that big helping of extra life points.

Passives

Gear

With this build, you are not required to have any particular Aspects added to your gear. Although, if any of them give bonuses to your companions, that would be quite welcomed.

“Aspect of the Alpha” is a particularly good random drop item that turns your wolf companions into werewolves instead, giving them a huge boost to their damage and letting them spread the “rabies” condition.

Focus on items that give you a baseline boost to your DPS, as well as anything with a bonus to Wolves, Poison Creeper, or Companion Damage.

Your last choices should be items that focus on movement speed, armor, or elemental resistances. For gems, focus on Topaz and Rubies for basic attack damage and bonus life.

Strategy & Rotation

Start fights by summoning your Poison Creeper to add some poison damage and area-based crowd control to the battle. Your Poison Creeper will likely wipe out the first grouping of basic enemies that charges you, and if they don’t, activate Cyclone Armor as an active to finish them off.

Hit groups of targets with your Storm Strike to soften them up and add the vulnerable condition before sending your Wolves after them.

Pulverizing Werebear Build – Best Druid Build for PvP & Endgame

This Druid build is oriented around the Pulverize Core ability and works best as a PVP or Endgame build in Diablo 4.

It relies heavily on having the “Shockwave Aspect” to make the best use of Pulverize. Don’t bother swapping to this build until you’ve unlocked the Shockwave Aspect, as it will under-perform without this vital boost to damage and range.

(Image: Blizzard Entertainment via HGG / Nathan Hart)

Skills

Earth Spike is the ideal basic choice for this build, as long as you’ve unlocked the “Vasily’s Prayer” unique helm that lets you stay in Werebear form while casting it. If you haven’t unlocked this yet, choose the Fierce Maul ability instead, since it does let you stay in Werebear form.

Pulverize is of course the focal point of this build, and you should add the “Enhanced” and “Primal” modifications to give it a bit of a defensive edge, while also raising its damage potential so long as you keep your life in the “Healthy” range.

Earthen Bulwark is an excellent defensive choice for this build. You should cast it right before shifting into Werebear form for maximum damage reduction and fortification bonuses.

Debilitating Roar is another damage-reducing ability, drastically lowering the damage output of nearby enemies while also letting you shift into Werebear with all the defensive bonuses that come with it. Take “Enhanced” and “Preserving” to also gain some life and fortification points.

Trample is another hallmark of this build, giving you plenty of AoE abilities while also giving you a bonus to your spirit generation, so long as you take the “Enhanced” and “Savage” bonuses.

Grizzly Rage is your ultimate ace-in-the-hole ability, shifting you into a nearly invulnerable Dire Werebear. Use this right away at the top of a fight alongside Trample to clear out swathes of enemies, as it works best when you’re sure to score some kills right away.

Passives

Gear

Shockwave Aspect is basically necessary to run this Druid build to its maximum effectiveness in Diablo 4. That being said, getting the Aspect of the Ursine Horror will also provide your Pulverize ability with some fantastic bonuses on account of your numerous passive skills.

Focus on gear that provides bonuses to damage reduction while fortified, spirit cost reductions to send out more Pulverizing strikes, gloves with ranks of Pulverize, as well as critical strike damage.

Don’t worry as much about willpower or overpower damage as this build doesn’t rely on either of them very much.

Strategy & Rotation

Pop Grizzly Rage right away in a tough fight, then pop Debilitating Roar and Earthen Bulwark immediately after to give yourself a huge defensive edge against your targets that you can now whittle down in a war of attrition.

After that, use Pulverize until you run out of spirit. Then switch to basic attacks until you can continue spamming Pulverize at every target you can see. Repeat this until the only thing on your screen is an angry bear.

Shred Tornado Build – Best Druid Build for Endgame DPS

Lastly, we’ve got the Shred Tornado Druid build, which sounds like something straight out of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. This Druid build is more geared towards the endgame in Diablo 4, turning you into an elemental werewolf with vicious swirling winds surrounding you and blasting enemies to bits.

With its massive AoE capabilities, this is easily one of the strongest DPS builds in Diablo 4. However, this build also relies heavily on one unique helmet and at least four very necessary Legendary Aspects in order to maximize its potential.

Due to that, it’s more geared towards long-term players with a big catalog of Aspects on hand, ready to imprint onto your favorite items.

(Image: Blizzard Entertainment via HGG / Nathan Hart)

Skills

Shred is of course one of the primary skills for this unusual build. Take “Enhanced” and “Primal” mods for your Shred ability to rapidly tear apart elite enemies. This skill lets you rapidly position yourself across the battlefield while dealing massive damage to individual targets.

Tornado is the compliment to Shred in this build, dealing AoE damage and pairing with one of your Legendary Aspects to spread poison damage to wide swathes of targets. As another core ability, one of the downsides of this build is that it can be difficult to generate enough spirit to use these abilities properly. Take the “Primal” upgrade to add a slow effect to anyone hit by it.

Debilitating Roar is a defensive ability that would usually shift you into a werebear form, but one of the Legendary Aspects you’ll use for this build turns into a werewolf skill. This gives you a little more longevity in the knifes-edge dungeons of Nightmare Tier.

Grizzly Rage also gets altered by a Legendary Aspect to turn you into a dire werewolf instead of a dire werebear. Instead of gaining armor and damage reduction from this transformation, you’ll gain a bunch of movement speed and life-on-kill effects to keep you upright while you tear through hordes of enemies.

Hurricane is a cooldown skill that helps to clear any weaker enemies from surrounding you, while also helping untargeted enemies get pinned down with extra damage. You want to keep Hurricane active at all times, as using Lucky Hits from Hurricane is this build’s best option for generating mass amounts of spirit to fuel your core attacks.

Blood Howl heals you, giving you a backup pool of health if you get stuck in an unlucky situation during a difficult dungeon. It also helps to pop your Vigilance passive ability that gives you some percentage-based damage reduction.

Passives

Gear

The one piece of gear that is absolutely necessary to run this build is the “Tempest Roar” unique helmet that turns all your “Storm” skills into “Werewolf” skills. It also lets “Storm” skills generate spirit for you, letting you skip over having a basic attack assigned in favor of more tornadoes.

You also will need the following aspects: Stormchaser’s Aspect, Aspect of the Blurred Beast, Aspect of the Dark Howl, and Dire Wolf’s Aspect. This combination turns this build into an almost endless damage machine.

Using a one-handed weapon and accompanying totem gives you one extra slot to assign aspects to. For gems, you should focus on emeralds and sapphires.

Items should give you a bonus to damage reduction while fortified as well as movement speed, cooldown time reduction, and ranks of Shred or Tornado.

Strategy & Rotation

With all of the above Legendary Aspects applied, your Tornado ability will spread poison among your enemies, which can then be turned into even more damage via Shred.

Start fights by activating Grizzly Rage and letting loose mass Tornadoes to clear every weaker enemy from the map, with Hurricane generating all the spirit you need to keep the winds wailing. Wade through enemies while they die around you until you run into a tougher target.

Stack as much Tornado-based poison on your elite target as possible for the biggest payoff when you hit them with Shred. If you start taking too much damage, pop your defensive cooldowns and back off until you can unleash another cluster of Tornadoes.

Join the High Ground

Regardless of which Druid build you choose from this group of four, you’re bound to achieve your nature-loving goals, no matter what playstyle you prefer you in Diablo 4.

Let us know your thoughts about these builds in the comments below, and make sure to subscribe to always stay up-to-date with the latest guides and news on all things game-related.

Happy gaming!