This is a legacy build that is not viable for the current version of Diablo 4, and which we do not recommend using. It only exists for documentation purposes.
If you’re looking for updated and competitive Basic Skill druid builds, check out the following builds:
Stormclaw DruidThe Stormclaw Druid is a fast and mobile Basic Attack build for speeding through content and focusing attacks onto small groups of gathered enemies.
Build Introduction
The Earthen Bulwark Detonation build is a legacy endgame push build capable of clearing the highest Nightmare Dungeons efficiently, and one of the few Druid builds that competes well in a PvP environment.
This build leverages the Key Passive Nature’s Fury and Legendary Aspect Symbiotic Aspect in combination to constantly reset your Earthen Bulwark.
- Offensively, damage from Innate Earthen Bulwark, high volume of Basic Attack and other supplementary damage kills your enemies, then
- Defensively, the high coverage and refresh of Earthen Bulwark Barrier on top of all other Damage Reductions keep you the safest possible while you kill your enemies.
This guide will cover the basic needs of the build, as well as offer in-depth explanations of the mechanics in play, and give alternative skills, boons, and gearing considerations for the available variant playstyles to fit your needs.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- 100 Nightmare Dungeon capable
- Straight-forward gameplay
- PvP capable
- Melee range build
- Lots of basic attack spam to fish for Bulwark resets
To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.
Build Requirements
This build requires a high-rolled non-codex Symbiotic Aspect to function in its endgame state. Without it, you cannot chain together your Innate Earthen Bulwark casts, and we recommend continuing to farm for it using your existing build, or check out our other Druid builds!
While the build defaults to using Greatstaff of the Crone, it is playable without any Unique. Without it, you can still trigger a reasonable amount of Symbiotic Aspect events with the following:
- Use Claw with non-codex Aspect of Nature’s Savagery to be able to trigger both Masochistic Boon and Symbiotic Aspect, or
- Use Storm Strike as your builder.
Variants
Variant Playstyles recommended to make the most of this build include the following:
- Damage Reduction while Injured variant, using the strongest Damage Reduction Gear Affix multiplier to have the highest Effective Health and Effective Barrier to push the hardest hitting content.
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
druid Skills1 / 7
| Priority Skills | Cluster |
|---|---|
| Claw Level 5, Enhanced Claw, Wild Claw Storm Strike Level 5, Enhanced Storm Strike, Fierce Storm Strike | Basic Skill |
| Predatory Instinct Level 3 | Core Skill |
| Earthen Bulwark Level 5, Enhanced Earthen Bulwark, Innate Earthen Bulwark Cyclone Armor Level 1, Ancestral Fortitude Level 3, Vigilance Level 3 | Defensive Skill |
| Poison Creeper Level 1, Enhanced Poison Creeper, Brutal Poison Creeper | Companion Skill |
| Hurricane Level 1, Enhanced Hurricane, Savage Hurricane Crushing Earth Level 3, Safeguard Level 3, Stone Guard Level 3 Neurotoxin Level 1, Envenom Level 3, Toxic Claws Level 1 | Wrath Skill |
| Petrify, Prime Petrify Quickshift Level 1, Heightened Senses Level 3 | Ultimate Skill |
| Nature’s Fury | Key Passive |
Alternative Skills
Below are the Skill options available to fit your needs. For Active Skills:
Poison Creeper gives Critical Strike Chance from Brutal Poison Creeper and AoE application of Immobilize and Poison. Cyclone Armor is taken for passive magical defense and direct casts of Earthen Bulwark through Nature’s Fury. Valid alternatives in these Skill Slots can be:
- Blood Howl for more attack speed or for group play if you choose Nighthowler’s Aspect.
- Debilitating Roar may be used as a strong tempo Defensive Skill.
Petrify is the default Ultimate Skill for its frequent Stun and Critical Strike Damage adding even more damage to our Earthen Bulwark. Cataclysm can also be used for Storm events to trigger more Nature’s Fury resets on your Earthen Bulwark. In PvP, Cataclysm can get more value because enemy players will often be Unstoppable.
As with most builds, there’s room to move around Passive Skill Points to meet your needs. Some examples include:
- If your Fortify generation is sufficient, take point(s) from Safeguard.
- For farming content efficiently or chasing down other players, Digitigrade Gait can help.
Spirit Boons – The Druid Class Specialization
Druids unlock powerful Spirit Boon passives, giving offerings to the animal spirits to receive their blessing. Once fully unlocked, you can activate the final Boon by Spirit Bonding with one of the four animal spirits to take two passives from that row.
| Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Wariness | Deer | Take 10% reduced damage from Elites. |
| Swooping Attack | Eagle | Gain +10% Attack Speed. |
| Packleader | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 20% chance to reset the Cooldowns of your Companion Skills. |
| Bolster | Wolf | Fortify for 15% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive Skill. |
| Calm Before The Storm | Snake | Lucky Hit: Nature Magic Skills have up to a 10% chance to reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds. |
Alternative Boons
- If Poison Creeper is not taken, swap Packleader to the Wolf’s Calamity for longerUltimate Skill Casts or the Eagle’s Iron Feather for more Effective Health in hard hitting content.
- If Fortify generation is sufficient, swap Bolster to the Snake’s Overload for more multitarget damage, or the Eagle’s Iron Feather for more Effective Health in hard hitting content.
Paragon
The Paragon Board is a progression system unlocked at Level 50, giving player power through Common stat Nodes, Magic affix Nodes, Rare leveled Glyphs, and Legendary board-exclusive Nodes. Below you will find the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the build. All Glyphs are placed as if they are max radius (Level 15+).
While leveling, prioritize placing the Shapeshifter, Territorial, and Werewolf glyphs, as these offer the best damage.
The Rare Glyphs in the Paragon progression system are often the strongest player power, placed in the Glyph Sockets of each Board. Only one Glyph Socket is available per board. We cover a total of six Boards to optimize the volume of Rare Glyphs to slot.
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Werewolf | • For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal + [6.24%] increased damage while in Werewolf form. • Bonus (40 Willpower): You gain 10% Damage Reduction while in Werewolf form. |
| Inner Beast | Legendary Node is not taken. |
| Territorial | For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [9.6%] increased damage to Close targets. Bonus (25 Dexterity): You gain 15% Damage Reduction against Close Enemies. |
| Heightened Malice | While there are 3 or more Poisoned enemies Nearby, you deal 45% increased damage. |
| Fang and Claw | Grants +50.0% bonus to all Magic Nodes within range. Bonus (40 Willpower): While in Werewolf or Werebear form, Close Enemies take x12% increased damage from you. |
| Earthen Devastation | Earth Skills deal 10%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage, increased by 20%[x] of the total amount of your Bonus Damage to Crowd Controlled up to 40%[x]. |
| Earth and Sky | Grants +50.0% bonus to all Magic Nodes within range. Bonus (40 Willpower): Nature Magic Skills deal x10% increased damage to Crowd Controlled or Vulnerable enemies. |
| Thunderstruck | Legendary Node is not taken. |
| Shapeshifter | Grants +50.0% bonus to all Magic Nodes within range. Bonus (25 Dexterity): Shapeshifting has a 20% chance to cause the Skill’s damage to Critically Strike. |
| Lust for Carnage | Legendary Node is not taken. |
| Undaunted | For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal + [7.7%] increased damage while Fortified. Bonus (40 Willpower): You gain up to 10% Damage Reduction the more Fortify you have. |
Starter Board
CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE THE PARAGON BOARD IN ITS ENTIRETY! Paragon Board images are courtesy of d4builds.gg.
Inner Beast
Heightened Malice
Earthen Devastation
Lust for Carnage
Thunderstruck
Legendary Aspects and Gearing Affixes
Below are the recommended Legendary Aspects and Gear Affixes for each slot of the Earthen Bulwark Detonation build. Gear Affixes in Bold are the ideal Affixes, but alternates are added.
| Slot | Aspect | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Greatstaff of the Crone | Unique |
| Helm | Vigorous Aspect OR Aspect of Mending Stone | Basic Skills Attack Speed Barrier Generation Total Armor Maximum Life Willpower Cooldown Reduction |
| Chest | Aspect of Disobedience OR Aspect of Mending Stone | Total Armor Damage Reduction from Close Enemies Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies Ranks in Earthen Bulwark Maximum Life Barrier Generation Damage Reduction while Fortified* |
| Gloves | Symbiotic Aspect | Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Willpower Critical Strike Damage |
| Pants | Aspect of Might | Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies Damage Reduction from Close enemies Damage Reduction while Injured* Total Armor Max Life Damage Reduction While Fortified* |
| Boots | Ghostwalker Aspect | Movement Speed Total Armor while in Werewolf Form Fortify Generation Willpower Dodge Chance Damage Reduction while Injured* |
| Amulet | Rapid Aspect | Cooldown Reduction Movement Speed Ranks to Envenom or Resonance Total Armor Damage Reduction while Injured* Damage Reduction While Fortified* |
| Rings | Aspect of Natural Balance (NEW to S3) Aspect of Adaptability | Critical Strike Chance Barrier Generation Max Life Critical Strike Damage Fortify Generation |
- High Damage Reduction while Injured is required on all three available slots of Pants, Boots, and Amulet to use the Injured Variant Playstyle.
- Damage Reduction While Fortified will not function while a Barrier is active and fully consumes the damage, including Barrier from Earthen Bulwark. Nature’s Fury gives high coverage of Barrier availability so until this bug is fixed, Damage Reduction while Fortified is low value.
- Aspect of Mending Stone can be used to extend the duration of your Earthen Bulwark for travel between packs or as a quality of life improvement. Replaces Vigorous Aspect or Aspect of Disobedience if your armor is sufficient.
- Armor has a cap of 85% Damage Reduction, scaling against your enemy’s level. If your armor is sufficient from getting 2+ well rolled Total Armor items, it is safe to drop Aspect of Disobedience.
Check our Legendary Aspect and Codex of Power Guide to see which slots can have which Legendary Aspects. For example, all three above Defensive Aspects are interchangeable between Helm, Chest, and Pants slots. Aspect of Might would function identically no matter if it were on the helm, chest, or pants. Likewise, the Offensive Aspects would function identically between the glove and ring slots.
Remember to pick up and check all of those Rare items! There are many combinations of Gear Affix rolls possible. Amulets in particular have more than 45 Gear Affixes for the Druid! Going from 2 favorable Affixes to 3, then 4, then high Affix rolls on each Gear Slot will help focus and optimize your build to compete in the highest content.
Unique Items
The following Unique Items are recommended to make the most of the build.
Greatstaff of the Crone – Using Greatstaff of the Crone allows for higher event casts for Nature’s Fury Resets. This is because:
- Claw is the default Basic Skill on the Skill Bar, giving more attack volume than Storm Strike because of the effects of Enhanced Claw and Wild Claw.
- Each cast of Claw will also trigger a Storm Strike for a strong source of Damage Reduction and Vulnerable, as well as helping to trigger Nature’s Fury.
(New to Season 3) Paingorger’s Gauntlets – Unique Gloves – Damaging enemies with a cast Non–Basic Skill marks them for 3 seconds. When a Basic Skill first hits a marked enemy, the Basic Skill’s damage is echoed to all marked enemies, dealing 100–200%[x] increased damage. This is a strong addition to our damage, especially in multitarget. To make the most of this item:
- Replace Cyclone Armor with Hurricane to apply frequent Marks.
- Marks will also be applied by Poison Creeper and Innate Earthen Bulwark.
- Move Symbiotic Aspect to ring, replacing Aspect of Natural Balance.
- Take the Snake’s Boon Overlord, replacing Bolster.
The following are situational or rare options for the build.
Harlequin Crest – Congratulations, Hero of Sanctuary, you have looted the chase Unique. Wear it with pride, it will perform well with this build! Replaces Vigorous Aspect.
Tibault’s Will – A strong offensive multiplier with weaker Gear Affixes. Use Trample or Earthen Bulwark to trigger the effect. This is a heavy defensive tradeoff to use over a non-Unique piece with Damage Reductions, Armor or Max Life.
Airidah’s Inexorable Will in combination with Flickerstep – This can be a good quality of life addition for farm content, frequently gripping in enemies and dealing reasonable damage. Replaces Aspect of Natural Balance and Ghostwalker Aspect.
Mechanics and Playstyle
Rotation
- If needed, pre-build Fortify and defensive boosts like Vigilance with Earthen Bulwark.
- Cast Hurricane for Damage Reduction, AoE slow and if taken, Calm Before the Storm events.
- Apply Poison effects for Poison-based boosts and Damage Reduction. Claw for single target, Poison Creeper for multitarget/AoE.
- Cast Earthen Bulwark on cooldown for big damage and defensive upkeep.
- Cast Claw to fish for Nature’s Fury Symbiotic Aspect triggers to reset Earthen Bulwark.
Tip! Abilities do not need to successfully hit a target to trigger Nature’s Fury. If you need a reset, you can safely just stand and cast your Basic Skill. This means you can do things like pre-build Fortify via the Wolf’s Bolster Boon, casting Earthen Bulwark to generate Fortify, Basic Skill the air to reset Earthen Bulwark, then repeat until you have the Fortify you need to engage your enemies.
The active use for Cyclone Armor is not used. This is a melee/close-range build and the skill is taken largely for its passive defense.
Tip! On the controller, you can cast your Basic Skill while moving!
Storm Strike does not need to be on your Skill Bar to receive its Damage Reduction or to apply Vulnerable to enemies. Your Claw attacks with Greatstaff of the Crone take care of that for you!
Earthen Bulwark
The Earthen Bulwark Detonation build puts out a high volume of Earthen Bulwark to trigger Innate Earthen Bulwark damage events and keep you Barrier refreshed. There are a few things to consider:
- Recasting Earthen Bulwark while it is active will refresh your Barrier and trigger a detonation.
- Innate Earthen Bulwark has a high Base Damage, scaling with weapon Item Power/DPS. This damage benefits from all the usual multipliers such as Critical Strike, Critical Strike Damage, Crowd Control, Poisons boosts, and Earth or Nature-based boosts and Critical Strike Damage.
- Because Earthen Bulwark is an active skill, the detonation damage will benefit from Willpower and Quickshift.
- Innate Earthen Bulwark damage does not interact with things like Earthguard Aspect.
- Skill ranks in Earthen Bulwark itself do not affect Innate Earthen Bulwark damage.
- Earthen Bulwark‘s max amount of Barrier is based on base life, so it is possible to overcommit Skill Points. This means if you have enough Barrier Generation, you can flex Skill Points out of Earthen Bulwark. This also means the Maximum Life Gear Affix will not raise the cap.
Since 1.2.0, Innate Earthen Bulwark now scales with weapon item power/dps.
Variant Min-Max Playstyles
Damage Reduction while Injured
One variant min-max option is to play while Injured for the highest possible Damage Reduction, Effective Health, and Effective Barrier available. Injured is the health category when your health is below 35% of its maximum.
All damage reductions are multiplicative within their Category when determining your defense, and Multiplicative against all other Damage Reduction Categories. The strongest Gear Affix category available is Damage Reduction while Injured. This can roll on your Pants, Boots, and Amulet, up to 43.3% on each at the highest Item Power threshold. If well rolled on all three slots, they can offer up to a total of 81% Damage Reduction within their category. No other Damage Reduction category is even close!
Barriers are applied post-mitigation, so the further your Damage Reductions go, the higher your Effective Barrier. Because Earthen Bulwark is constantly being reset and refreshed, the health bar is protected.
This will play similarly to the standard build, except for a few notable changes:
- You will not take the Masochistic Boon, because it is an uncontrolled source of healing.
- Any “While Healthy” boosts will not be active.
- You will have to pre-Injure yourself before going into your content. If you drop too low, you can keep an item with Skinwalker’s Aspect on it in your inventory to get your health where you want it.
Tip! Damage Reduction categories are not dynamic! Damage Reduction while Injured only functions while in the Injured state; a damage event that takes you from above the 35% threshold to 0% in a single hit will not be mitigated with Damage Reduction While Injured. This is why it is important to pre-Injure yourself.
PvP
Season 3 update: For seasonal players, this build will not be viable in PvP environments. The Seneschal Construct with Breaking Support deletes our Barrier from Earthen Bulwark. At the min-max top-end of PvP, this leaves Druid with no top-end viable build that can compete with the best builds of other classes. This will be updated as we move past season 3 or if there are further balance chances that let’s Druid perform competitively. Other Druid endgame builds can be enjoyable or okay outside of top-end PvP situations. Eternal Realm players can still enjoy this build.
The Earthen Bulwark Detonation build has the potential to be one of the strongest and most competitive PvP builds available.
Defensively, the Druid gets access to several extra Gear Affix Armor and Damage Reductions such as Armor while in Werewolf Form, or Damage Reduction vs Poisoned Enemies. With high mitigations, the constant refresh on your Earthen Bulwark means you are exceptionally hard to kill.
Offensively, your high multipliers on your Basic Attack, Innate Earthen Bulwark and other damage sources can destroy your enemies.
The Injured Playstyle Variant can be used in PvP combat to give a further defensive and offensive edge.
Changes in PvP vs PvE
There are a few things to consider in a PvP environment that can change how you play or gear to slay your enemies and collect their Ears.
- Petrify will have reduced effectiveness vs Unstoppable players so use Cataclysm for more events to reset your Earthen Bulwark.
- You should not need the AoE Poison application from Poison Creeper so this opens up Alternative Skill Options, and skip the Packleader Boon.
- Armor’s Damage Reduction is capped at 85% (despite the Armor tooltip indicating it goes over that!) and Armor needs will scale against opponent level. This means when fighting Level 100 players, you will need less armor than you would need vs Level 154 opponents in Level 100 Nightmare Dungeons to reach the Armor cap. If you have sufficient Total Armor, Armor While in Werewolf, or Armor sources through Gear and Paragon, you can change out Aspect of Disobedience for an Alternative Legendary Aspect such as Aspect of Mending Stone for a longer Earthen Bulwark while chasing down your enemies.
- Because this is largely a melee spec, you may choose to take movement options like Digitigrade Gait or Shred to help close gaps and chase down your enemies. More Movement Speed is available on Boots or Amulets, Cursed Scrolls, and Legendary Aspects like Ghostwalker Aspect.
- Players have reduced Elemental Resistance in higher World Tiers.
- Many stats are less effective in PvP content. For example, any Unstoppable player will not get your vs any of your Crowd Control-based boosts.
- Rotation considerations like pre-building Fortify and applying Debuffs can be essential.
- Remember to keep your Earthen Bulwark up!
Gems
See below for the best Gems to socket into your gear for each category.
- Weapon: Royal Topaz for higher Basic Skill damage.
- Armor: Defensively, use Royal Ruby for Max Health. Offensively, use Royal Diamond for Barrier Generation to boost your Innate Earthen Bulwark damage.
- Jewelry: For content that requires a significant elemental resistance, use the appropriate elemental resistance gem, such as Royal Emerald for poison resistance against Duriel. Royal Diamond for general use.
Elixirs, Incense, and Health Potions
The Alchemist offers helpful Elixirs and Incense, at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary. Herbs spawn around the world or are given as quest rewards, while other crafting materials will be looted from specific enemies. Craft the highest Elixir vailable for Attack Speed bonuses.
Incenses are costly to craft, and may be prohibitive for any farming lifestyle, but may be valuable in push content. Use Chorus of War for Stats and Critical Strike Damage. In a group setting, the Spirit Dance is a great alternative, granting increased Dodge Chance for each nearby player.
Be sure to return to the Alchemist often to upgrade your potion as you progress your character. Each upgrade increases the instant healing of the potion!
Changelog
- 5 May, 2024: Build marked as legacy and will not be updated further. thanks for enjoying the guide!
- February 5, 2024: Added separate Bossing and non-Bossing options to Construct Stone recommendations. Changes to Gear Affix Recommendations to give better total Damage, Life and Armor. Minor Skill Tree Changes to move more points into Ancestral Guidance.
- January 26, 2024: Adjustments to Construct Stone recommendations. Adjustments to Legendary Power and Unique recommendations.
- January 22, 2024: Initial review and reevaluation for Season 3 and 1.3.0 balance changes has begun.
- December 7, 2023: Updates to paragon board for Abattoir of Zir.
- October 18, 2023: With the 1.2.0 changes to Innate Earthen Bulwark, significant changes to Skill Points, boons, Gearing, Gems and focus on the build have been made. Vampiric Power section updated.
- October 15, 2023: Initial review and reevaluation has begun to update the guide for Season 2 and 1.2.0 balance changes.
- August 8th, 2023: Added Patch 1.1.1 section and checked guide for accuracy.
- July 25th, 2023: Restructured Introduction.
- July 23rd, 2023: Referenced Malignant Hearts in the Gems section.
- July 19th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1 and 1.1 balance changes.
