Best Druid builds in Diablo 4 season one

Diablo 4 is finally here and the Druid class is an early favorite for many among the five available at the game’s launch. And that may be because the Druid is a jack-of-all-trades class, one with many different playstyles to pick and choose from.

Players familiar with classes like the Druid and Shaman from World of Warcraft will be familiar with the archetypes and traits of the Druid class from Diablo 4: elemental powers, shape-shifting, and sustainability. How you fill out your skill tree is up to you, but it’s OK to look for help or suggestions.

Here, we’ve put together a couple of ideal Druid builds, one for up close and personal melee types, and one primarily built on ranged attacks, along with one for early-game leveling. This is what we think are the best Druid builds in Diablo 4.

How to play Druid in Diablo 4 season 1

Druid’s type of playability in Diablo 4 is highly dependent on what kind of build you use. Due to the class’ variety, there are several playstyles you can use, but Druid’s overall skillset is quite balanced.

In general, you want to use your Basic skill to generate Spirit, then follow up with your Core skill for damage and fortify yourself and your damage output with additional skills like your Defensive skill, or summon animal friends with your Companion skills.

Related: Best glyphs for Druid in Diablo 4

Read on for the best Druid builds to use in Diablo 4.

Best endgame build for Druid in Diablo 4 season 1

• Basic skill: Earth Spike
  • Enhanced Earth Spike
  • Fierce Maul
• Core skill: Pulverize (5)
  • Enhanced Pulverize
  • Primal Pulverize
• Core Tree Passives
  • Heart of the Wild (1)
  • Wild Impulses (3)
  • Abundance (3)
• Defensive skill: Debilitating Roar
  • Enhanced Debilitating Roar
  • Preserving Debilitating Roar
• Defensive skill: Earthen Bulwark
  • Enhanced Earthen Bulwark
  • Preserving Earthen Bulwalk
• Companion Tree Passives
  • Nature’s Reach (3)
• Wrath Skill: Trample
  • Enhanced Trample
  • Savage Trample
• Wrath Tree Passives
  • Crushing Earth (3)
  • Safeguard (2)
  • Stone Guard (3)
• Ultimate: Grizzly Rage
  • Prime Grizzly Rage
  • Supreme Grizzly Rage
• Ultimate Tree Passives
  • Defiance (3)
  • Natural Disaster (3)
  • Circle of Life (3)
  • Resonance (3)
• Key Passive: Earthen Might
• Aspects
  • Armor: Aspect of the Ursine Horror, Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast, Ballistic Aspect, Aspect of Might, Aspect of Disobedience, Aspect of Quicksand
  • Ring: Aspect of the Umbral
  • Amulet: Aspect of Retaliation
  • Weapon: Shockwave Aspect

How to play the best endgame build for Druid in Diablo 4

The most popular endgame Druid build is built around Pulverize’s power and maximizing the damage from your Earth skills, while also remaining extremely tanky thanks to Earthen Bulwark and Debilitating Roar.

Related: How to skip the campaign in Diablo 4

Grizzly Rage buffs your damage output and reduction and will make you unstoppable when upgraded. We recommend using this at the beginning of fights with elites and large groups of enemies, along with Debilitating Roar to debuff them.

We like to use Earthen Bulwark when swarmed to gain some barrier, all the while using Pulverize and Trample to deal damage on cooldown.

Best leveling build for Druid in Diablo 4 season 1

• Basic skill: Storm Strike
  • Enhanced Storm Strike
  • Fierce Storm Strike
• Core skill: Shred (5)
  • Enhanced Shred
  • Raging Shred
• Defensive skill: Blood Howl
  • Enhanced Blood Howl
  • Innate Blood Howl
• Companion Skill: Poison Creeper
  • Enhanced Poison Creeper
  • Brutal Poison Creeper
• Companion Skill: Wolves
  • Enhanced Wolf Pack
  • Brutal Wolf Pack
• Companion Skill: Ravens
  • Enhanced Ravens
  • Ferocious Ravens
• Key Passive: Lupine Ferocity
• Passives
  • Predatory Instinct
  • Clarity
  • Neurotoxin
  • Envenom
  • Quickshift
  • Natural Fortitude
• Aspects
  • Armor: Vigorous Aspect, Skinwalker’s Aspect, Aspect of Disobedience, Rapid Aspect
  • Ring: Aspect of the Unsatiated
  • Weapon: Nighthowler’s Aspect

How to play the best leveling build for Druid in Diablo 4

This is our favorite Druid build in the earliest moments of Diablo 4, especially great for leveling while playing the campaign. It’s an excellent combo of skills that will have the forces of hell fearing your next move.

We love to use Storm Strike as the basic attack since it makes enemies Vulnerable, followed up with Shred’s three-hit combo, which will also poison enemies and heal you up a bit, along with solid 20 percent healing from Blood Howl.

Related: Diablo 4 ‘run out of memory’ error: How to fix memory leaking

Poison Creeper is an excellent AoE attack that will fend off enemies in groups, and you can use your Companion skills with Wolves and Ravens without having to worry about draining your spirit.

An alternative to Ravens is the Lacerate Ultimate ability, which offers a large amount of damage output while also healing you and making you immune to damage in emergencies.

Best ranged elemental build for Druid in Diablo 4 season 1

• Basic skill: Wind Shear
  • Enhanced Wind Shear
  • Wild Wind Shear
• Core skill: Lightning Storm
  • Enhanced Lightning Storm
  • Primal Lightning Storm
• Defensive skill: Cyclone Armor
  • Enhanced Cyclone Armor
  • Innate Cyclone Armor
• Companion Skill: Vine Creeper
  • Enhanced Vine Creeper
  • Ferocious Vine Creeper
• Wrath Skill: Hurricane
  • Enhanced Hurricane
  • Natural Hurricane
• Ultimate: Cataclysm
• Key Passive: Perfect Storm
• Passives
  • Nature’s Reach
  • Elemental Exposure
  • Endless Tempest
  • Charged Atmosphere
  • Bad Omen
  • Electric Shock
  • Defiance
  • Circle of Life
  • Defensive Posture
• Aspects
  • Armor: Aspect of Might, Aspect of Cyclonic Force, Aspect of the Protector
  • Ring: Aspect of the Calm Breeze
  • Weapon: Overcharged Aspect

How to play the best ranged build for Druid in Diablo 4

This ranged Druid build is designed to keep enemies at bay, make them Vulnerable to deal more damage, and then pelt them with nature damage.

The channeled Lightning Storm should be your first go, and then you can use the upgraded Wind Shear and Cyclone Armor to increase your Focus and make enemies Vulnerable, thus giving you more charges of the powerful Lightning Storm.

Vine Creeper, as a passive, will periodically poison areas around you and has an active that strangles all surrounding enemies, immobilizes them, and poisons them. Hurricane is a massive AoE attack that slows enemies around you and makes them Vulnerable.

Related: Best Storm Wolf Druid build in Diablo 4

Finally, the Cataclysm ultimate pelts enemies with lightning and tornadoes, knocking them back and dealing tons of damage.

Best gems for Druids in Diablo 4

Best gems for Druid weapons

• Sapphire: Adds Critical Strike damage to Crowd-Controlled enemies

This is an excellent addition to any build centered around Poison Creeper, and we’ve had much success with this gem.

• Emerald: Adds Critical Strike damage to Vulnerable enemies

Just like Sapphires, Emeralds are great for your build that makes enemies Vulnerable.

Best gems for Druid armor

• Sapphire: Adds damage reduction while Fortified

All Fortify-centric builds should have Sapphires slotted into them, turning you into a survival machine.