Today, I want to explore one of the most formidable endgame Druid builds I’ve tested so far in Diablo 4 Season 4 – the Stormclaw Druid. To unleash its full potential, you’ll require a particular Diablo 4 Unique item known as the Greatstaff of the Crone. Its unique effect converts Claw into a Storm skill and enhances Storm Strike to inflict up to 150% of its usual damage. As a result, whenever you utilize Claw, Storm Strike activates concurrently, magnifying Claw’s power with additional scaling.
Table of Contents
Gear Setup
When it comes to gear, prioritize basic damage increase for the gems in your weapon. For your gear, focus on increasing Max Life, while ensuring capped resistances of at least 70% on your jewelry. Once resistances are capped, consider adding armor gems, aiming for the Level 100 cap of around 9300 armor.
Moving on to Uniques, apart from the previously mentioned Greatstaff of the Crone, consider incorporating thec, especially for an endgame build. Its special ability marks enemies hit by non-basic skills for 3 seconds. When a marked enemy is hit by a basic skill, the damage is echoed to all marked enemies, resulting in up to a 200% increased multiplicative damage. This significant damage boost enhances basic skills, making it essential for maximizing damage output.
Due to the potency of Paingorger’s Gauntlets, it complements skills like Hurricane and Poison Creeper, with Hurricane potentially having a high duration, allowing flexibility in swapping out Poison Creeper for another defensive option. The existence of a Tempering roll on rings that reduces the cooldown of Hurricane.
Skill Tree
Let’s delve into our skill tree, beginning with 5 points into Claw, the basic skill of the Stormclaw Druid build. When activated, the claws will also trigger Storm Strike. Then, invest 5 points into the Storm Strike itself. Allocate points into Blood Howl for substantial healing and Debilitating Roar for AoE damage reduction.
Opt for Poison Creeper to immobilize enemies and inflict Poison damage, thereby boosting Critical Strike Chance against affected enemies. Acquire the Hurricane to deal AoE damage. Lastly, obtain the Petrify ultimate skill, stunning enemies and increasing Critical Strike damage against endgame bosses.
Move on to the passives: Predatory Instinct provides increased Critical Strike Chance to close enemies. Invest 3 points into the Digitigrade Gait for enhanced movement speed while in the Werewolf form. Allocates points in Ancestral Fortitude for increased resistances.
Vigilance grants damage reduction after using a defensive skill, which remains active most of the time because of its effectiveness, especially in Season 4. Invest 1 point into Elemental Exposure to exploit vulnerabilities in enemies with Storm skills. Endless Tempest enhances the duration of the Hurricane by 3 points.
With 3 points in Bad Omen, there’s a chance for a Lightning Bolt to spawn when dealing damage to vulnerable or CCed enemies, providing additional damage and having important effects. Invest 2 points into Electric Shock for a chance to immobilize enemies when dealing lightning damage, with increased damage if the target is already immobilized.
The Neurotoxin allows access to Toxic Claws, poisoning enemies upon crits with Werewolf skills, synergizing with Envenom for increased Critical Strike damage to poisoned enemies. Allocates 3 points into Defiance for increased damage from Nature skills against Elites.
After 2 seconds in Werewolf form, the Bestial Rampage ability provides a 30% boost in attack speed for 15 seconds. And after 2 seconds in the Werebear form, deals 50% increased damage for 15 seconds, which is a multiplicative damage increase. Playing around this skill, particularly with Debilitating Roar to transition to Werebear form, significantly boosts damage output.
Spirit Boons
Next, we will discuss the Spirit Boons of this build. Starting with Wariness, which reduces damage taken from Elites. Then we have Avian Wrath, increasing Critical Strike damage. Packleader, a Lucky Hit, can reset the cooldown of your companion skills, allowing to reset our Poison Creeper. Bolster fortifies for 15% of your Max Life when you use a defensive skill.
Lastly, Call Before the Storm is another Lucky Hit where Nature skills have up to a 10% chance to reduce the cooldown of your ultimate by 2 seconds, enabling more frequent use of Petrify. This is particularly effective against bosses. Of course, it is also a good idea to buy Diablo 4 Gold in advance.
Legendary Aspects
For Legendary Aspects, prioritize offensive and defensive capabilities. The necklace power amplifies basic skill damage when cast above 50% max resource, offering a substantial damage increase consistently. Offensive powers like Vampiric Bloodrage enhance basic skill damage and attack speed, while defensive powers like healing upon skill cast and damage reduction offer survivability. Shape-shifting into a Werewolf grants additional damage reduction.
Additionally, the boots power provides invincibility upon evasion. Optimal rolls on Diablo 4 Items, such as reducing Evade cooldown upon enemy attack, maximize this power’s effectiveness. Consider adjustments to Storm Strike upgrades based on ring rolls. Storm Strike’s potential to chain to additional enemies can increase AoE damage, especially with specific ring rolls that guarantee enemy vulnerability.
Paragon Boards
Let’s break down the Paragon Board for this build. The Paragon Board is flexible depending on gear and preferences. Starting with the Territorial glyph, prioritize increasing damage and reducing damage from nearby enemies. Thunderstruck enhances storm skills damage, with Earth and Sky glyph boosting magic nodes and providing damage to vulnerable enemies.
Heightened Malice amplifies damage against poisoned enemies, paired with the Fang and Claw glyph for increased damage and secondary stats. Inner Beast offers damage and damage reduction bonuses in Werewolf form, while Earthen Devastation, coupled with the Electrocution glyph, significantly enhances Lightning Bolt damage and grants a damage multiplier against affected enemies. Lust For Carnage with the Spirit glyph can elevate Critical Strike damage and amplify enemy damage taken.
Overall, this Stormclaw Druid build for Diablo 4 Season 4 endgame balances damage output and survivability, making it a strong choice for endgame progression. While it may be outperformed by specialized builds in certain aspects, its versatility ensures continued progress and resource acquisition for experimenting with meta builds.
