The Druid is a classic Diablo 2 class that was introduced in the Lord of Destruction expansion. This class brought together nature magic and summons seamlessly, which created a unique playstyle for the Druid. Now, in Diablo 4, the Druid can conjure up powerful disasters and transform into a native beast in battle if they so choose.
Our build of choice does both. The Werewolf Tornado build is a hybrid endgame build that brings out the best of the Druid’s shapeshifting skills and nature magic. Players who have played Diablo 2 would be familiar with the frustration of landing perfect Tornadoes, but all of that is alleviated in this build.
Diablo 4 Werewolf Tornado Druid build guide
The Werewolf Tornado Druid build combines two classic Diablo 2 builds together into one shapeshifting powerhouse of nature. While there are other endgame builds like the Pulverize build that perform amazingly well, the Werewolf Tornado build is one for you if you enjoy the nostalgia of casting Tornadoes. After Patch 1.0.3 and the release of season one, this build is even more potent.
Related: Best Druid builds in Diablo 4 season 1
Before we get into the build itself, you will need to know what the main skills do. Tornado sends a powerful twister ahead of the Druid, dealing damage to all enemies. The Tornado casts follow seemingly random paths but can be focused using Stormchaser’s Aspect that we will be discussing later. Just like other Core skills, Tornado has one mandatory upgrade and two optional ones.
- Enhanced Tornado: This upgrade grants you a 20 percent chance to create an additional Tornado for no cost each time you cast Tornado.
- Raging Tornado: Enemies have a 10 percent chance to turn vulnerable each time they are hit by a cast of Tornado.
- Primal Tornado: Enemies will be slowed by eight percent when they get hit by a Tornado. This effect can stack five times for a total slow of 40 percent.
Both upgrades are quite powerful on a Werewolf Tornado Druid. Raging Tornado is perfect for finishing off powerful targets while Primal Tornado is a great source of crowd control. Now that we know the Tornado portion of our build, we get into the shapeshifting part.
We will be focusing on Grizzly Rage for our transformation. Even though it transforms you into a Werebear, with Dire Wolf’s Aspect, the skill will transform the Druid into a Dire Werewolf instead with bonus movement speed and reduced spirit coasts for your skills. Since Grizzly Rage is an Ultimate skill, it has two upgrades to choose from.
- Prime Grizzly Rage: You become unstoppable for six seconds when Grizzly Rage is active.
- Supreme Grizzly Rage: You gain an eight percent increase in life per second as Fortify when Grizzly Rage is active.
The two upgrades will ensure that you can’t be slowed or stopped while you rampage through enemies. The bonus health per second as Fortify will let you tank through most incoming damage in your short duration as a Dire Werewolf.
Now that we have our main skills chosen, we select appropriate skills that synergize with the build.
Skill progression
Once you get to the endgame, this is what your six-skill toolbar should consist of.
- Tornado: The main Core skill of this build.
- Grizzly Rage: The main Ultimate skill of this build.
When it comes to survival, these two skills work best with this build.
- Cyclone Armor: Defensive winds swirl around your Druid, granting you damage reduction. When activated, these winds also knock back all surrounding enemies.
- Blood Howl: Shapeshift into a Werewolf with a powerful howl. This howl recovers 20 percent of your max life when you cast the skill.
Cyclone Armor is the perfect defense for your Druid, providing additional damage reduction with the fortification you gain from Grizzly Rage. With the right upgrades, Cyclone Armor triples its damage reduction for two seconds for every 10 seconds it remains active. Enemies knocked back by the active ability will also be slowed and turned vulnerable for a short duration.
Blood Howl is your healing ability when you find yourself in a pinch. A flat 20 percent max life recovery is quite amazing by itself but with upgrades, Blood Howl also recovers 20 spirit and grants additional attack speed. Additionally, for each enemy you kill, the skill’s cooldown will reduce by one second.
- Storm Strike: Your spirit generation skill. You deal lightning damage to your main target which can chain to up to three other targets. Also grants 15 percent damage reduction on cast.
- Hurricane: A swirling storm surrounds you for eight seconds, dealing constant damage per second to enemies in the vicinity.
Storm Strike is the best Basic skill you can choose on the Druid because of its rapid spirit regeneration when hitting multiple targets. The damage reduction from Storm Strike stacks with your other sources of damage reduction, making it perfect for dangerous endgame areas like Nightmare Dungeons or when farming Malignant Hearts.
Hurricane rounds off this build by granting even more damage while also slowing all enemies hit after you upgrade it. Further upgrades to this skill can either turn enemies vulnerable, allowing you to take them out quickly, or decrease their outgoing damage which further stacks with every source of your damage reduction.
Next, we select the best passives for this build.
Passive abilities
First, we choose the offensive passives.
- Wild Impulses: Your Core skills cost more spirit but deal increased damage.
- Predatory Instinct: Your critical strike chance against close enemies is increased.
- Toxic Claws: Your Werewolf critical strikes also poison enemies.
- Envenom: You gain bonus critical strike damage against poisoned enemies.
- Resonance: Your Nature Magic skills deal increased damage. This bonus is tripled when you alternatively cast Storm and Earth magic with subsequent casts.
- Defiance: Your Nature Magic skills deal bonus damage to elites.
Next, we choose the defensive passives that help us survive.
- Vigilance: You gain an increase to all your non-physical damage resistances.
- Ancestral Fortitude: You gain increased damage reduction whenever you cast a Defensive skill.
- Nature’s Resolve: You have a chance to Fortify yourself when you take direct damage.
- Defensive Posture: You can an increased amount of Fortify from all sources.
- Circle of Life: Your Nature Magic skills that consume spirit also heal you.
Following this, we choose the utility-based passives that help us crowd control.
- Digitigrade Gait: You gain increased movement speed in Werewolf form.
- Heart of the Wild: Your maximum spirit is increased.
- Elemental Exposure: Your Storm skills have a chance to turn affected enemies vulnerable.
- Neurotoxin: You slow enemies that are poisoned.
And finally, we choose the key passive ability that works as the backbone of the build.
- Perfect Storm: All of your Storm skills grant you one spirit per cast and deal bonus damage to vulnerable, immobilized, or slowed enemies.
Choose one level of each passive ability and then level them up as necessary when you have skill points to spare.
Spirit Boons
The Druid’s unique class ability, Spirit Boons, grants Druids the ability to commune with four different spirits: Deer, Eagle, Snake, and Wolf. Every spirit grants you four Spirit Boons each for a total of 16 different Spirit Boons. You can choose up to five Spirit Boons in your build and they work as additional passive abilities for your abilities.
Related: Best leveling Druid build in Diablo 4 Season 1
These are the five Spirit Boons we will be choosing for this build.
- Deer: Wariness – Take reduced damage from elites.
- Eagle: Swooping Attacks – Gain increased attack speed.
- Snake: Calm Before the Storm – Casting Nature Magic skills have a chance to reduce the cooldown of your Ultimate skills.
- Snake: Masochistic – Critical strikes with shapeshifting skills have a chance to heal you.
- Wolf: Calamity – Increases the duration of your Ultimate skills.
Aspects
Choosing the best aspects for your Druid is the final push you need to maximize the build’s power.
- Stormchaser’s Aspect: Your Tornado will now seek enemies on cast.
- Dire Wolf’s Aspect: Grizzly Rage transforms you into a Dire Werewolf. You gain increased movement speed and spirit cost reduction. Kills made in this form will heal you.
- Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast: The duration of Grizzly Rage is increased. Critical strike damage in this form is increased as well.
- Aspect of Cyclonic Force: Cyclone Armor now also provides Physical damage reduction and will be cast on all allies.
- Aspect of the Expectant: When you hit enemies with a Basic skill, the damage of your next Core skill increases.
- Aspect of Disobedience: Dealing damage grants you increased armor per attack.
- Aspect of the Umbral: You restore energy when you use crowd-controlling effects on enemies.
- Ghostwalker’s Aspect: While unstoppable, you gain increased movement speed and can run through enemies.
- Edgemaster’s Aspect: Your skills deal increased damage depending on how much energy you have. A higher energy pool translates to more damage.
- Rapid Aspect: Your Basic skills gain increased attack speed.
With these aspects, the best Unique Legendary item you can get is Tempest Roar. This Unique Legendary Helm changes your Storm skills to Werewolf skills and casting them restores your spirit.
Diablo 4 season one is currently ongoing till Oct 17, making it the best time to try out your Werewolf Tornado build while you farm Malignant Hearts.
