The best Druid builds for leveling and endgame in Diablo 4 season 3
Druids are one of the most interesting classes in Diablo 4. They’re not only able to control animals — they can turn into animals (and also cast powerful spells). The result is a class that’s packed with complex ability combinations that can deal massive damage. As such, designing an ideal Druid build is a puzzle in its own right. That’s where we come in, with our suggestions of the best Druid builds for Diablo 4 season 3.
Druids can cast storm spells, control the earth, summon companions, or shapeshift into one of two creatures: a Werebear or a Werewolf. But what makes the class really interesting is its host of Legendaries that can make certain skills behave like others, allowing you to mix and match skills regardless of type.
In this Diablo 4 guide, we’ve gathered and simplified the best Diablo 4 Druid builds for season 3. If you need even more information on item affixes or other more complex ideas, we’ve been sure to link out to the more detailed versions of these builds, as well as where to find their original creators.
Best Druid leveling build in Diablo 4 season 3
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
This build is based off browncoats’ Druid leveling guide at IcyVeins, and is purely for leveling: i.e., allocating your 58 skill points between levels 1 and 50. If you want more detailed information about the item affixes you want to look for on your gear, or which other Legendary powers are great for your build, check out the original IcyVeins guide.
Best skills for leveling
One of the easiest Druid leveling guides you can play is the companion build. It relies heavily on summoning allies like Wolves to fight alongside you, which reduces your own dependency on your Spirit resource, which is in short supply in those early levels. In this build, you’ll also be using Storm Strike, Blood Howl, Poison Creeper, Landslide/Tornado/Pulverize, and Cyclone Armor.
Here are the best skills for a Druid leveling build, organized by the exact order you should purchase them in — bearing in mind that some skills require you to allocate a number of skill points in the tree in order to unlock them. As such, you’ll need to unlock new skills before enhancing existing ones.
Note: browncoats’ guide recommends investing entirely in Storm Strike, Tornado, and Cyclone Armor until level 15. Then, once you unlock Spirit Bonds, you should reset and follow this order:
- Storm Strike / Enhanced Strom Strike / Fierce Storm Strike / Storm Strike (ranks 2-4)
- Cyclone Armor
- Blood Howl
- Enhanced Cyclone Armor / Preserving Cyclone Armor
- Enhanced Blood Howl
- Poison Creeper
- Wolves
- Landslide or Tornado or Pulverize (the Core skill is dependent on player preference)
- Enhanced Poison Creeper / Brutal Poison Creeper
- Enhanced Wolf Pack
- Enhanced Landslide or Tornado or Pulverize
- Brutal Wolf Pack
- Passive Choice for Landslide or Tornado or Pulverize
- Call of the Wild (rank 1-3)
- Predatory Instinct (rank 1-3)
- Preserving Blood Howl
- Poison Creeper (rank 2-5)
- Wolves (rank 2-3)
- Ursine Strength
- Wolves (rank 4-5)
- Cyclone Armor (rank 2-5) or Blood Howl (rank 2-5)
- Blood Howl (rank 2-5) or Cyclone Armor (rank 2-5)
- Storm Strike (rank 5)
- Digitigrade Gait (rank 1-3)
- Ancestral Fortitude (rank 1-3)
- Vigilance (rank 1-3)
- Quickshift
- Heightened Senses (rank 1-3)
Best Spirit Boon setup for leveling
Once you unlock the Spirit Boon system for your Druid, you’ll want to use your Druidic Spirit Offerings to select these five Boons in this order:
- Packleader – Wolf
- Scythe Talons – Eagle
- Wariness – Stag
- Overload – Snake
- Swooping Talons – Eagle
Best Legendary Aspects for Druid leveling build
When you first start your new character, complete these three dungeons first in order to collect their Aspects. Then place them on a piece of gear (ideally jewelry, when possible). Just keep in mind that you should replace these Legendaries with new versions using the imprint system every few levels.
- Nighthowler’s Aspect (Forbidden City in Fractured Peaks) — Blood Howl increases Critical Strike Chance X%. In addition, Blood Howl also affects nearby companions and players for 3 seconds.
- Aspect of Cyclonic Force (Collapsed Vault in Kehjistan) — Cyclone Armor also provides Physical Damage Reduction. In addition, Cyclone Armor will also be applied to all nearby allies
- Aspect of Might (Dark Ravine in Dry Steppes) — Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for X seconds.
Druid Season 3 build for endgame — Lightning Storm
This build is based off of Moxsy’s Lightning Storm Druid endgame guide at MaxRoll.gg, and is a general endgame guide capable of finding success in all activities. This guide assumes that you’re over level 50, have access to all 58 skill points, and are making progress on your Paragon Boards. If you want more detailed information about the item affixes you want to look for on your gear, or why these Legendary powers are great for your build, check out the original MaxRoll guide.
Best skill points for Lightning Storm Druid build for endgame
This build utilizes Lightning Storm as its core skill and main means of dealing damage. It also uses Grizzly Rage, Wind Shear, Cyclone Armor, Debilitating Roar, and Hurricane.
Since you need all 58 points for this build, the order you select these skills in doesn’t matter as long as you have the pre-requisite points in the earlier Skill Tree tiers. Here is how you should spend your Skill Points for this build:
- Wind Shear / Enhanced Wind Shear / Fierce Wind Shear
- Lightning Storm (rank 1-5) / Enhanced Lightning Storm / Primal Lightning Storm
- Heart of the Wild
- Wild Impulses (rank 1-3)
- Predatory Instinct
- Digitigrade Gait (rank 1-3)
- Cyclone Armor / Enhanced Cyclone Armor / Preserving Cyclone Armor
- Debilitating Roar / Enhanced Debilitating Roar / Preserving Debilitating Roar
- Ancestral Fortitude (rank 1-3)
- Vigilance (rank 1-3)
- Nature’s Reach (rank 1-3)
- Hurricane / Enhanced Hurricane / Savage Hurricane
- Elemental Exposure
- Charged Atmosphere
- Electric Shock (rank 1-3)
- Bad Omen (rank 1-2)
- Neurotoxin
- Toxic Claws
- Envenom (rank 1-3)
- Grizzly Rage / Prime Grizzly Rage / Supreme Grizzly Rage
- Defiance (rank 1-3)
- Circle of Life (rank 1-3)
- Earthen Might
Druid Spirit Boons for Lightning Storm build
Here are the five Spirit Boons you want to select for this Druid build:
- Wariness – Stag
- Avian Wrath – Eagle
- Iron Feather – Eagle
- Calamity – Wolf
- Calm Before the Storm – Snake
Seneschal for Governing and Tuning Stones for Lightning Storm build
Season 3 adds the new Seneschal Construct, which is a fun little companion who follows you around and casts abilities based on which Governing and Tuning Stones you apply to it. Governing Stones determine the Seneschal’s abilities while Tuning Stones amplify those abilities with new effects.
Moxsy recommends these Governing and Tuning Stones:
Lightning Bolt
- Resource Support
- Efficiency Support
- Arcing Support
Flash of Adrenaline
- Duration Support
- Tactical Support
- Fortify Support
Legendary Powers and Uniques for Lightning Storm Druid build
To make this build work, you’re going to need powerful Legendary Powers and Unique items to augment your build.
Moxsy recommends these items:
- Helm: Tempest Roar (unique)
- Chest: Mad Wolf’s Glee (unique) or Vigorous Aspect (dungeon drop)
- Gloves: Unsung Ascetic’s Wraps (unique) or Overcharged Aspect (dungeon drop)
- Pants: Aspect of Disobedience (dungeon drop)
- Boots: Aspect of the Dark Howl or Wind Striker Aspect (dungeon drop)
- Axe: Lightning Dancer’s Aspect
- Off-hand: Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast (dungeon drop)
- Amulet: Aspect of Retaliation (dungeon drop)
- Ring 1: Dire Wolf’s Aspect
- Ring 2: Mighty Storm’s Aspect
If you want to get into the nitty gritty of stat priorities, refer to Moxsy’s original guide.
Paragon Boards for Lightning Storm Druid build
The Paragon Board system is very complex, and you’ll want to carefully pair your Glyphs with specific boards for your class:
- Starter Board / Spirit Glyph
- Lust for Carnage / Electrocution Glyph
- Heightened Malice / Earth and Sky Glyph
- Thunderstruck / Keeper Glyph
- Inner Beast / Fulminate Glyph
You should level your Glyphs to 15 in this specific order:
- Keeper
- Fulminate
- Earth and Sky
- Electrocution
- Spirit
You can path your own way through the Paragon Boards following these basic guidelines. However, for the best results, follow Moxsy’s path exactly.
How to make a great Druid build
Image: Blizzard/Activision via Polygon
Druids is Diablo 4’s hybrid caster and melee class, but their most unique trait is their ability to shapeshift into either a Werebear or a Werewolf. Druids have access to six Key Passives, but four builds that primarily stem from them:
- Werebear
- Werewolf
- Storm
- Earth
Werebear is the Druid’s more defensive transformation, although it can be extremely deadly when built out correctly. Werebear’s will take advantage of either the Ursine Strength Key Passive or the Bestial Rampage Key Passive. Werewolf builds are the faster, deadlier Druid builds, but they’re also far less defensive. Werewolf builds will use either the Lupine Ferocity Key Passive or the Bestial Rampage Key Passive.
Druid’s caster builds mimic shapeshifts. Earth builds are the more defensive of the two (and are typically melee-based), and will use either the Earthen Might or Nature’s Fury Key Passives. Storm skills are heavy Spirit spenders, and can be cast from much further away. Storm builds benefit from the Perfect Storm or Nature’s Fury Key Passives.
Many of the class’ Legendaries allow you to transform certain skills into other skills (turning all Storm skills into Werewolf skills, for example). But if you’re building your own Druid class, keep in mind that you’ll end up building either a caster or a shapeshifter and selecting one of these Key Passives. However, it’s also important to keep in mind that — with the use of some powerful Legendaries and Uniques — you can make shapeshifter builds that are also casters.
Looking for other Diablo 4 builds? We have explainers on the Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian, and Necromancer classes.
Sign up for the
newsletter
Patch Notes