How the engine works
Landslide with the Land Mine variation becomes a trap. It lies dormant for a second, then goes off under enemies for 500% bonus damage split between whatever it hits, and you can have five waiting at once. The Song of the Old Mountain talisman set Fossilizes enemies hit by Earth skills; at four stacks they are Petrified, soak up your damage, and then explode it onto everything nearby. The Basilisk makes Petrified enemies far easier to crit and makes them take much more damage. Around that you run Grizzly Rage for the multiplier, a toggled Lightning Storm with Overcharged for permanent Vulnerable, and Cyclone Armor to drag enemies onto the mines.
Who it's for
The pick if you want the strongest Druid: bosses, Elites, the Pit and deep Tower runs. It is also the friendliest start on the class, because a version of it works at a fresh level 70 with no uniques at all.
- Rating
- S to A-Tier
- Difficulty
- Easy — watch Spirit
- Key stat
- Critical Strike Damage
- Must have
- Nothing to start — The Basilisk is the first big jump
The bar
There are two ways to run the ultimate. The Grizzly Rage bar below is the one for bosses and pushing, and the rest of this page follows it. The Cataclysm bar (Landslide, Hurricane, Cataclysm, Trample, Wolves, Poison Creeper) keeps a permanent storm up for area damage; it farms better and needs no uniques. Start on Cataclysm if you have nothing, and move to Grizzly Rage when you want to push.
Rank 15. Take Initial Damage Bonus (+100% to the first enemy hit), Critical Strike Chance (+5%, and up to 15% more from Fortify) and the Werebear form node, which Might of the Ursine needs. 30 Spirit a cast.
Press — constantlyTake Avatar of Nature: Earth and Storm skills can be cast as a Werebear, for 35% more damage. Cornered Beast with more ranks is the alternative if you lean on Calm Before the Storm to keep it up.
Press — on cooldownHero of the Storm toggle. With Overcharged it keeps everything Vulnerable. It cannot be switched back on during Grizzly Rage, and it switches itself off if Spirit hits zero.
Toggle — before Grizzly RageRank 15 with Reversal, so the active pulls enemies in. That puts them on your mines and chains the Petrify explosions.
Press — to groupBooming Roar. Enemies deal less damage and you gain maximum life.
Keep it upOne point, never pressed. Thrill of the Hunt gives 40% attack speed when a wolf crits.
PassivePassives
The Druid tree has no passive nodes and no Key Passive this season; Ancestral Guidance, Survival Instincts and Constricting Tendrils are Paragon boards now. One skill works off the bar: Earthen Bulwark, cast by the Que rune. Take Unstoppable, Fortify and Healing, and Travertine Bulwark, which gives 3 Resolve and Tectonic Spikes, an Earth hit that feeds the talisman set. Use Nature Magic ranks to push its Barrier to 100% of your maximum life. If Spirit is tight, Earth Spike can take Debilitating Roar's slot: it refills Spirit and stacks Overpower and Resolve, as long as you cast it at least once every 4 seconds.
Spirit Boons
Bond the Snake for Obsidian Slam and Calm Before the Storm. Obsidian Slam is the important one: every Earth cast hands you Resolve, and gaining or losing Resolve gives Earth skills 20% more damage, so Landslide buffs itself constantly. The Eagle slot is a choice. Scythe Talons gives Critical Strike Chance and Lucky Hit; Avian Wrath gives Critical Strike Damage. Take Scythe Talons until The Basilisk is handling your crit, then Avian Wrath. On the Cataclysm bar, bond the Eagle and take both. If you are starved of Spirit, Energize in the Wolf slot helps.
| Pick | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Deer: Gift of the Stag | +30 maximum Spirit and steady Spirit every second. |
| Eagle: Scythe Talons | +10% Critical Strike Chance and +15% Lucky Hit Chance. |
| Wolf: Calamity | Ultimates last 35% longer. |
| Snake: Obsidian Slam | Casting an Earth skill grants 1 Resolve. Gaining or losing Resolve gives Earth skills 20% more damage for 4 seconds. |
| Snake (bonded): Calm Before the Storm | Lucky Hit: Nature Magic skills have up to a 10% chance to cut your Ultimate's cooldown by 2 seconds. |
What to wear
The finished build is gear-hungry, but the road there is gentle. Only two uniques are needed for smooth play, and each has an aspect that stands in for it until it drops.
Uniques
| Item | What it does | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| The Basilisk | Two-handed staff. Petrified enemies are 80–100% more likely to be crit and take 60–90% more damage, and your Earth skills Petrify Healthy enemies for 3 seconds. The heart of the build. Drops from Grigoire, or craft it in the Cube. | Core |
| Tibault's Will | Pants. 15–20% more damage and 25 Resource Regeneration (your Spirit) while Unstoppable and for 5 seconds after. Earthen Bulwark, Trample or a Jah-rune Teleport all trigger it. Cube only. | Core |
| Ring of Starless Skies | Ring. Spending Spirit cuts your skill costs and gives 10% more damage for 3 seconds, stacking to 50%. With Tibault's Will it ends your Spirit problems. Wear Vulpine's Aspect until you have it. | Mythic |
| Leoric's Crown | Helm. Counts as jewellery and makes gems in it 35–50% stronger, so it holds your two best Soul Splinters. The seasonal questline guarantees one. | Core |
| Might of the Ursine | Ring. Werebear skills deal 7–9% more per Resolve stack while you are a Werebear, and you gain 1 Resolve a second. It only counts Werebear-tagged skills, which is why Landslide takes the Werebear form node. Drops from the Harbinger of Hatred. | Recommended |
| Locran's Talisman | Amulet. Your crits hit far harder, but you lose 50% Critical Strike Chance. Only worth wearing once The Basilisk and Leoric's Crown are Mythic. Cube only. | Optional |
| Fists of Fate | Gloves. Attacks deal anywhere from 1% to 250–300% of normal damage. Below Mythic quality, legendary gloves with Crushing Aspect are about as good. Cube only. | Optional |
| Mjölnic Ryng | Ring, Cataclysm bar only. While Cataclysm is active you have unlimited Spirit and deal 30–40% more damage. Pair it with Fractured Runestone in the other ring slot. | Variant |
Before they drop
At a fresh 70 you need no uniques. Craft a rare two-handed polearm and put Crushing Aspect on it. Wear Debilitating Toxins on the helm, Snowveiled on the chest, Archdruid's on the gloves, Anger Management on the pants, Overcharged on the boots, Orange Herald and Vulpine's on the rings and Conceited on the amulet. Run three Den Mother talisman charms, which don't care about your crit chance. Spirit comes from Resource Regeneration affixes, Vulpine's, Gift of the Stag and Energize.
Legendary aspects
| Aspect | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| Overcharged Aspect | Boots, or moved onto the amulet. Storm skill damage makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds and you deal 20% more to them. With Lightning Storm running, Vulnerable is permanent. |
| Exploiter's Aspect | Boots, or the amulet when pushing. +50% crowd control duration and 30–50% more damage to Unstoppable enemies. |
| Crushing Aspect | Weapon before The Basilisk, then amulet or gloves. 65% more damage while Fortified, and Earthen Bulwark keeps you Fortified. |
| Vulpine's Aspect | Ring. 25 Spirit a second while you have a Barrier. Your stand-in for Ring of Starless Skies. |
| Balanced Aspect | Ring. +50 maximum Spirit, and casting a cooldown skill gives +35 Spirit generation for 8 seconds. A second Spirit stop-gap until Tibault's Will and Ring of Starless Skies are both in. |
| Glynn's Anvil | Defensive slot. +2 maximum Resolve and 4% damage reduction per Resolve stack. Your toughness is Resolve, so this is worth a lot. |
| Aspect of Anger Management | Pants or boots, Cataclysm bar. Above 50 Spirit you deal 20% more damage and are Berserking, at the cost of 3 Resource Regeneration. It replaces the Berserking you would get from Grizzly Rage. |
| Aspect of the Orange Herald | Ring, Cataclysm bar. Core skill damage cuts a cooldown by 1 second. Landslide and Hurricane both trigger it, which keeps Cataclysm up until your cooldown reduction can do it alone. |
Don't wear Locran's Talisman early
It takes away 50% Critical Strike Chance. Until The Basilisk and Leoric's Crown are both Mythic, you can't afford that: a legendary amulet with Crushing Aspect does more damage. Put Locran's on last.
Stats, gems and paragon
Roll and masterwork toward these, in this order.
| # | Stat | Where you roll it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maximum Life | Every item. It stops one-shots, and your Barrier scales with it. |
| 2 | Critical Strike Damage | Staff, gloves, amulet and rings. Your main Greater Affix and masterwork target. |
| 3 | Willpower | Staff and every armour slot, with Sapphires in the sockets. |
| 4 | Critical Strike Chance | Gloves, amulet and rings, plus a temper on the staff. The Basilisk, Scythe Talons and Landslide's own upgrade do a lot of the work; remember Locran's Talisman takes 50% away. |
| 5 | Attack Speed | Helm and rings. |
| 6 | Vulnerable Damage | Gloves and amulet. |
| 7 | Cooldown Reduction | Ring temper. Just enough to keep your ultimate up all the time. |
| 8 | Armour and All Resistance | Pants. At least one Armour affix somewhere. |
Hard targets
Critical Strike Chance does nothing past 100%. Attack speed has two separate +100% caps: one for gear rolls, paragon nodes, Ferocity, Swooping Attacks and Artillery Shrines, and one for cast speed effects such as Overload. Movement speed caps at 200%. Cooldown reduction has no number to hit; stop when your ultimate is permanent.
Tempering & masterworking
Every defensive temper is Maximum Resolve Stacks. Staff: Critical Strike Chance. Gloves: Crowd Control Duration. Ring of Starless Skies: Lucky Hit chance to restore Resource (your Spirit). Might of the Ursine: Cooldown Reduction. Masterwork into Weapon Damage on the staff, Critical Strike Damage on gloves, Critical Strike Chance on jewellery, Willpower on Tibault's Will, Damage Reduction on the chest, Resource Generation on Leoric's Crown and Movement Speed on boots. When you transfigure, aim for multiplicative Physical Damage on weapon and armour.
Gems, runewords & Splinters
- Gems: Flawless Horadric Skull in the staff for the Physical damage multiplier, Sapphires in armour for Willpower. On the Cataclysm bar use Diamonds in the staff, because Cataclysm scales with Earth bonuses but deals Lightning damage.
- Runewords: there are two ways to run these. With the Azurewrath charm, take Igni + Thul (its Frost Nova supplies the Freeze) and Poc + Que. Otherwise take Nagu + Que for constant Earthen Bulwark and Bac + Jah, whose Teleport makes you Unstoppable and triggers Tibault's Will. Once you own Enigma, Bac + Gar replaces Bac + Jah. Cir + Qua is fine early for movement speed.
- Enigma: a runeword chest made from a Common chest plus Jah, Ith and Ber in the Cube. Evade becomes Teleport for 33 Spirit. Roll Damage Reduction, Maximum Life, Movement Speed and Ranks to All Skills.
- Soul Splinters: Black Soulstone and Anguish in Leoric's Crown; Pain, Sin and Lies in the jewellery. Early on, when you have little crit to lose, Hellfire is a strong crown Splinter. Splinters raise skill costs, which is why this build watches its Spirit so closely.
- Talisman: five Song of the Old Mountain charms (in game the charms are named "of the Old Mountain") on a seal with an extra slot. Until you have The Basilisk and some crit, run the Den Mother set instead. Ranks to Nature Magic are the best charm affix, covering Lightning Storm, Cyclone Armor and Earthen Bulwark.
- Unique charm: The Furnace (75–100% more damage to Elites) for farming. Azurewrath for pushing, if you have Freeze from Igni + Thul and Chance to Freeze on a weapon temper and charms. Fractured Runestone is the third option: up to 80–100% Earth crit damage with 4 or more Overpower stacks, which Earth Spike provides.
Paragon
Starter, then Ancestral Guidance, Survival Instincts, Constricting Tendrils and Earthen Devastation. Take legendary nodes before anything else. Level glyphs in board order, all to 25 and then all to 50. Until you own The Basilisk, run the Werebear glyph in place of Spirit, because your crit is too low for Spirit to pay off. For pushing, swap Headhunter for Outmatch.
| Glyph | Where and why |
|---|---|
| Earth and Sky | Starter board. Level it first. |
| Dominate | Ancestral Guidance. |
| Fang and Claw | Survival Instincts. |
| Spirit | Constricting Tendrils. Use Werebear here until The Basilisk drops. |
| Headhunter | Earthen Devastation. Outmatch replaces it when pushing. |
Mercenary
On the Grizzly Rage bar hire Raheir for All Resistance, Bastion and Valiance, with Varyana as reinforcement for attack speed, or Aldkin's Field of Languish if you need defence instead. Raheir doesn't appear when you play in a group. On the Cataclysm bar hire Subo: his marks restore Spirit on kills and Thrillseeker cuts Cataclysm's cooldown, with Raheir's Bastion as reinforcement when you are Injured.
From fresh 70 to finished
No other Druid build asks for so little on day one. Each unique below is a clear step up, not a gate.
Play the Cataclysm bar with the aspect set from the gear section, a crafted polearm with Crushing, Cir + Qua and Nagu + Que, three Den Mother charms and the Werebear glyph. Put points into Earthen Bulwark, because its Barrier is most of your defence.
Farm Grigoire for it, or craft it in the Cube. It brings crit and Petrify, so switch your talisman to Song of the Old Mountain and your glyph from Werebear to Spirit.
Upgrade Common pants to Unique in the Cube. It turns every Unstoppable into Spirit, which takes most of the pressure off your Spirit aspects.
Ring of Starless Skies finishes the Grizzly Rage bar; Mjölnic Ryng does the same job for the Cataclysm bar. Either way, the stop-gap Spirit aspects can go and Landslide stops running dry.
Five Old Mountain charms, the crown with two Splinters in it, Might of the Ursine from the Harbinger of Hatred and a unique charm. This is the build at full strength.
Make The Basilisk and Leoric's Crown Mythic first. Only then add Locran's Talisman. Fists of Fate and Fractured Runestone (from Duriel) are the final polish.
The rotation
If you run Earth Spike, cast it to build Overpower and Resolve and keep them at maximum throughout the fight.
Toggle it on before Grizzly Rage. You cannot switch it on once you are in bear form.
Press Grizzly Rage and keep Debilitating Roar up.
Cyclone Armor with Reversal drags the pack into one spot.
Lay Land Mines under them and keep pressing Landslide. Petrified enemies absorb the damage and burst it onto their neighbours.
If it drops, tap Earth Spike. If it hits zero Lightning Storm turns off, and you lose Vulnerable until Grizzly Rage ends.
Toggle Hurricane, cast Cataclysm on cooldown, press Landslide on Elites and bosses, drop Poison Creeper to poison them and use Trample to break crowd control or move. Stay a Werebear for the defences.
On bosses
Land Mines wait for their target, so lay all five where a boss is about to appear and open with a burst. After a Stagger, a boss is five times harder to Stagger for the next 20 seconds, and each party member raises the threshold by 50%. Your defence is Resolve, which starts at zero, so you are at your weakest in the first seconds of a Pit or Tower run.
Strengths, weaknesses, mistakes
What it's good at
- The strongest and most consistently rated Druid build this season.
- Very high single-target damage with good area damage on top, thanks to Petrify explosions.
- Playable at a fresh 70 with no uniques, and every upgrade after that is a clear step.
- Simple caster play: group them, mine them.
- Tanky once Resolve and the Barrier are up.
Where it struggles
- Slower across the map than Storm Shred.
- Spirit needs watching until Tibault's Will and a Spirit ring are in.
- Leans on cooldowns: a lapsed ultimate is a large damage loss.
- Fragile at the start of a run, before Resolve has stacked.
- The finished version needs a lot of gear, including Mythics.
Mistakes that ruin it
- Equipping Locran's Talisman too early. Minus 50% crit chance is ruinous before The Basilisk and Leoric's Crown are Mythic.
- Letting Spirit hit zero during Grizzly Rage. Lightning Storm turns off and can't be turned back on until the ultimate ends.
- Skipping Maximum Life. You want it on every piece: it prevents one-shots, and your Barrier is a percentage of it.
- Letting Cataclysm lapse. On the Cataclysm bar, your damage and your unlimited Spirit both end with it.
- Toggling Lightning Storm after Grizzly Rage. It has to go on first.
Not for you? The other Druid builds: Storm Shred · Wolf Companion.