The long grind of Diablo 4 has begun, and that means it’s time to craft the best leveling build for your favorite class as you tear through the story on your way to endgame dungeons and more challenging activities.
If you’re looking to master your animalistic side while also becoming one with the powers of nature, you’ve come to the right place. Diablo 4’s Druid is one of the most well-balanced and fun classes to play, and we’ve got a build that’s great for leveling through the campaign.
It’s time to be hungry like the wolf, and you’ll really enjoy this early-game leveling build for Diablo 4’s Druid class centered around werewolf abilities.
Best early game build for Druid in Diablo 4 season 1
- Basic Skill: Storm Strike
- Enhanced Storm Strike
- Fierce Storm Strike
- Use this ability to regenerate Spirit and also make enemies Vulnerable. It also has a chance to chain to enemies.
- Core Skill: Shred (5)
- Enhanced Shred
- Raging Shred
- A three-pronged attack that deals its most damage on the third and final hit of the combo. Raging Shred will also poison enemies, weakening them.
- Defensive Skill: Blood Howl
- Enhanced Blood Howl
- Innate Blood Howl
- Blood Howl is used to shapeshift into a werewolf and heal yourself, so use it when low on potions.
- Companion Skill: Poison Creeper
- Enhanced Poison Creeper
- Brutal Poison Creeper
- The ultimate AoE ability, this will both poison enemies and stop them in their tracks.
- Companion Skill: Wolves
- Enhanced Wolf Pack
- Brutal Wolf Pack
- Your lupine friends will always follow you, but their direct attack is great for dealing big damage to elites and bosses.
- Companion Skill: Ravens
- Enhanced Ravens
- Ferocious Ravens
- A strong AoE attack, use this after Poison Creeper to tear through low-level foes.
- Passives
- Predatory Instinct
- Digitigrade Gait
- Call of the Wild
When it comes to leveling in the early game in Diablo 4, these are the abilities you should focus on for a werewolf-centric build that is balanced with both AoE and focused DPS damage.
Storm Strike is my favorite basic attack to use to regenerate Spirit, but Shred is where the bulk of your damage should come from as your Core Skill. I quickly got used to the cadence and rhythm of Storm Strike for a few hits, then Shred to drain my Spirit, and Storm Strike again to rebuild it.
I prefer Storm Strike to Claw because of its ability to make enemies Vulnerable, and also because it can hit multiple enemies at once, whereas Claw only hits one. But you should only really be using Storm Strike to regenerate Spirit and when all other abilities are on cooldown.
Related: How to skip the campaign in Diablo 4
We suggest unlocking all of your abilities first and then putting the maximum of five points into Shred to make it deal as much damage as possible. Become the werewolf and maximize your damage by looking for gear that focuses on critical strike chance and critical strike damage.
When surrounded by enemies, I love to use Poison Creeper to immobilize and poison enemies in your vicinity, giving you all the opportunity you need to Shred them to bits. Then, I supplement my damage with Ravens, another AoE attack.
For bosses and elites, Wolves deal big damage with their active attack, and it has a pretty short cooldown, so I like to use it as much as possible to keep doling out the DPS.
Using these Skill Points will get you to around level 25 or so, at which point you should have a much better idea of the build’s playstyle. You will then begin unlocking passive abilities, and we suggest passives like Predatory Instinct for an increase to critical damage on enemies up close and Digitigrade Gait to boost your werewolf movement speed and get you through the leveling process and into the endgame as fast as possible.
Related: How to get and equip Aspects in Diablo 4
This build should serve you well in the earliest hours of your Diablo 4 Druid fun. Once you begin reaching higher levels, there are way more passives to choose from, and you can consider things like Aspects and Gems.
Check out our list of the best Druid builds in Diablo 4 for some other builds for the higher levels.
