Gauntlet Build Introduction
This is the Gauntlet build for Pulverize Shred Druid. This guide features a late-game setup, focused on speeding through and obtaining the highest score on the Gauntlet Leaderboards. Check our dedicated Gauntlet Guide for more information on this activity. The Shred Pulverize Druid excels at all requirements for the Gauntlet:
- Wide, map-clearing AoEs with Pulverize and Shockwave Aspect.
- High boss damage from large multipliers and Overpowers.
- Strong mobility to navigate the encounter-space with Shred and Trample.
There are key changes from the standard endgame Pulverize setup Shifter Pulverize:
- Several sources of defensives and Damage Reductions are traded in favor of maximizing speed and damage.
- The playstyle does not use a Basic Skill, instead relying on alternative sources of Spirit Generation.
This build guide assumes your character is Level 100, Paragon Glyphs are max radius from being Level 15+, and all Paragon and Skill points from Renown have been obtained. While the build recommends some Mythic Unique Items, there are alternative options listed. The build also offers some alternative Gearing Affix recommendations as well as some Skill and Playstyle options that can be beneficial as the Gauntlet changes layout week to week.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Huge Map Clearing AoE
- Large Overpowers to take out Bosses
- High Mobility and Unstoppable
- Lower survivability than the typical Endgame build
- High gearing investment including Mythic Items
To see how this build compares to other builds on Icy Veins, you can check out our Gauntlet build tier list.
Build Requirements
The following Legendary Aspects are required for build functionality to get started on the Pulverize Shred Druid:
Several Druid builds have shown to be popular and strong in the Gauntlet, and Druid has a large build diversity represented in the leaderboards. Short Gauntlet Consideration sections are now included in several of our endgame builds!
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
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, 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 |
---|---|---|
Advantageous Beast | Deer | Now – Gain 15% Movement Speed and 15% Impairment Reduction. |
Iron Feather | Eagle | Gain 20% Maximum Life. |
Avian Wrath | Eagle | Gain 30% Critical Strike Damage. |
Energize | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% chance to restore 30 Spirit. |
Obsidian Slam | Snake | Every 10th kill will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower. |
Paragon Board
The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Shred Pulverize Gauntlet Druid. All Glyphs are placed as if they are max radius (Level 15+).
Click this Link to see the Paragon Board in its entirety. Paragon Board images are courtesy of D4builds.gg.
Starting Board
From the Starting Board, path up, placing the Outmatch glyph into the Glyph Socket.
Ancestral Guidance
For the second board, choose Ancestral Guidance, placed against the Starting Board, rotated twice. Socket the Fang and Claw Glyph, and take the Ancestral Guidance Legendary Node.
Earthen Devastation
For the third board, choose Earthen Devastation, placed against the right side of the Ancestral Guidance board, rotated thrice. Socket Earth and Sky and take the Earthen Devastation Legendary Node.
Inner Beast
For the fourth board, take Inner Beast, placed against the right side of the Earthen Devastation board. Socket the Exploit Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.
Survival Instincts
For the fifth board, choose Survival Instincts, placed against the Inner Beast’s right side. Socket the Spirit and take the Survival Instincts Legendary Node.
Heightened Malice
For the final board, choose Heightened Malice, placed against the left side of the Ancestral Guidance board, rotated twice. Socket the Guzzler Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.
This build gives up the traditional Damage Reduction glyphs Undaunted, Territorial and Werebear in favor of offensive choices. If more Damage Reduction is necessary, trade Guzzler for Undaunted and Spirit for Territorial.
CLICK THIS LINK to see the Paragon Board in its entirety. Paragon Board images are courtesy of D4builds.gg.
Gear, Stats, Gems and Elixirs
The following are the recommended Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems and Elixirs for the Pulverize Shred Druid.
Legendary Aspects
Below are the recommended Aspects for each gear slot. Gear Slots with multiple options are listed in recommended priority. Any slot with an Optional Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power.
Gear Slot | Gem | Aspect | Unique/Legendary Power |
---|---|---|---|
2 Handed Mace | Royal Ruby | Shockwave Aspect | Pulverize creates a shockwave that travels forward, dealing 60 – 100% of its damage to targets in the path. |
Helm | Royal Ruby | Harlequin Crest OR Godslayer Crown | Gain 20% Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +4 Ranks to all Skills. |
Chest | Royal Ruby | Insatiable Fury OR Juggernaut’s Aspect | Werebear form is now your true form, and you gain +2-5 Ranks to all Werebear Skills. |
Gloves | N/A | Aspect of the Ursine Horror | Pulverize is now also an Earth Skill. After casting Pulverize, tectonic spikes continue to deal damage over 2 seconds. |
Pants | Royal Ruby | Wildbolt Aspect OR Tibault’s Will | Every 3.5-2.0 seconds, Distant enemies are Pulled In to you and take 10% increased damage for 3 seconds. |
Boots | N/A | Wildheart Hunger OR Aspect of Metamorphosis | When you Shapeshift into a Werewolf or a Werebear, you gain Wildheart for 5 seconds. Wildheart grants you 1-3% increased damage every 2 seconds, up to 20-60% |
Amulet | Royal Diamond | Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt | You deal 25-55% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf. |
Ring 1 | Royal Diamond | Accelerating Aspect OR Blood Boiling Aspect | Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by 10 – 25% for 5 seconds. |
Ring 2 | Royal Diamond | Ring of Starless Skies OR Starlight Aspect | Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by 10% for 3 seconds, up to 40%. |
Use a 2-Handed mace for Overpower Damage.
Check our Legendary Aspect and Codex of Power Guide for general information on Legendary Powers.
Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes
Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. To masterwork, you will need rare materials that only drop from The Pit. Be sure to check our Tempering guide, our Masterworking guide, as well as our guide about The Pit for more details about these topics.
Unique Items cannot be Tempered, but can be Mastercrafted. Any slot with an Optional Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power setup.
Slot | Gearing Affixes | Tempering Affixes |
---|---|---|
2 Handed Mace | Resource Cost Reduction Willpower Max Life Overpower Damage | Werebear Augments – Pulverize Size Natural Finesse – Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies |
Helm – Harlequin Crest (Recommended) | Max Life Maximum Resource Armor Cooldown Reduction | |
Helm – Godslayer Crown (Recommended) | All Stats Max Life Damage to Elites Cooldown Reduction | |
Chest – Insatiable Fury (recommended) | Max Life Werebear Overpower Damage Ursine Strength’s Bonuses Ranks to Iron Fur | |
Chest – Legendary Aspect | Willpower Max Life Armor Spirit Per Second | Worldly Endurance – Total Armor OR Dodge Chance Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: [Any of] Chance to Immobilize/Stun/Freeze for 2 Seconds |
Gloves | Critical Strike Chance Ranks to Pulverize Attack Speed Willpower | Earth Finesse – Earth Critical Strike Chance Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: [Any of] Chance to Immobilize/Stun/Freeze for 2 Seconds |
Pants | Willpower Max Life Armor Dodge Chance | Worldly Endurance – Total Armor% Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: [Any of] Chance to Immobilize/Stun/Freeze for 2 Seconds |
Boots – Legendary Aspect | Impicit: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown By 1.5 Seconds Movement Speed Max Life Resistance to All Elements Spirit Per Second | Natural Motion – Movement Speed Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: [Any of] Chance to Immobilize/Stun/Freeze for 2 Seconds |
Boots – Wildheart Hunger | Movement Speed Shapeshifting Attack Speed Cold Resistance Ranks to Heightened Senses | |
Amulet | Ranks to Envenom Critical Strike Chance Movement Speed Ranks to Resonance | Natural Motion – Movement Speed Earth Finesse – Earth Critical Strike Chance, |
Ring- (Recommended)Ring of Starless Skies | Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Ranks to Core Skills | |
Rings – Legendary Aspect | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Resource Cost Reduction | Earth Finesse – Earth Critical Strike Chance Worldly Stability – Resource Generation |
Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies is for maxing out the Earthen Devastation Legendary Node. After that is capped, Offensive Tempers for Earth Critical Strike can be taken.
Gems
Weapon Gems | Armor Gems | Jewelry Gems |
---|---|---|
Royal Ruby for Overpower Damage | Royal Ruby For Max Life% | Royal Diamond for Resistance to all Elements |
Elixirs, Incense and Health Potions
The Alchemist offers helpful consumables at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary.
- Craft the highest available Elixir of Advantage for Attack Speed and Lucky Hit.
- If mats are available, craft Chorus of War.
- Remember to upgrade your potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion!
Unique Items
The following Unique Items are recommended for the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid:
- (Recommended) Godslayer Crown gives a large multiplier and grouping tool that can be triggered from Raging Pulverize.
- (Recommended) Insatiable Fury adds Skill Ranks to all Werebear skills, including Pulverize and Trample, along with offering good Gear Affixes.
- (Optional)Tibault’s Will is a strong damage multiplier and source of Spirit. The trigger for these effects is gaining Unstoppable from both Trample and Aspect of Metamorphosis when Evading.
- (Recommended) – Wildheart Hunger gives a stacking damage multiplier to Shapeshifting Skills. The 5 second buff will add a stack every 2 seconds. The Shifter Pulverize playstyle can upkeep this buff well. The boots are also a valuable source of Damage Reduction. However, non-unique Boots can have both movement speed as a gearing affix and as a temper, for more total movement speed. The shifter playstyle of Pulverize makes this not awful to maintain.
Mythic Unique Items
- (Recommended) Harlequin Crest offers strong defense, great Gear Affixes, and 4 ranks to all Skills.
- (Recommended) Ring of Starless Skies is a strong multiplier and Spirit Cost Reduction. Worry less about resource, and Gear for less Spirit Cost Reduction.
Rotation and Playstyle
- Maintain Preserving Blood Howl.
- Shred to gap close, Poison and Slow enemies, and maintain the Attack Speed bonus of Bestial Rampage.
- For bosses and Elite packs, use Petrify for another layered Critical Strike Damage multiplier.
- Send out waves of Pulverize to destroy your enemies and gain Score.
- Use Shred and Trample to get to that next pack!
Season 5: Season of the Infernal Horde
The following list details the important changes in the Season 5 Patch Updates that are specific to the Pulverize Shred Druid. For general Season 5 information, check out our Season 5 Hub.
Itemization:
- Several changes to Unique Item Gear Affixes and Unique Effects, including buffs to Insatiable Fury.
- Shepherd’s Aspect now only boosts Companion Skills, rather than Core and Wrath Skills.
- Aspect of Retaliation – Core Skill bonus damage based on Fortify increased from 15-25% to 25-40%.
- New – Wildbolt Aspect – Every 3.5-2 seconds, Distance enemies are pulled in front of you and electrified causing them to take 10% bonus damage from all sources for 3 seconds. This effect may occur every 5 seconds per enemy.
Skills and Stats
- Gain 1% increased Skill Damage for every 8 primary Core Stat, reduced from 10 primary Core Stat.
- Pulverize damage buffed from 50 to 92.5%. Note: this line may be an error. Patch 1.4.3 put pulverize to 88% base, so either it got buffed up to 92.5% from 88 rather than 50, or will be much higher around the range to 162% if that’s a relative increase. Either way, Pulverize damage is going up which is great!
- Pulverize can now be cast while moving.
- Blood Howl now has the Shout tag.
- Cyclone Armor Non-Physical Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
- Vigilance Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 5% to 7%.
- Iron Fur Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 3% to 4%.
- Heightened Senses increased for each Skill Rank from 2% to 3%.
- Earthen Devastation now Capped at 60%, from 40%.
- Survival Instincts now Capped at 60%, from 50%.
- Werebear Damage increased from 6.6% to 9.9%, Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
Advanced Information
It is time to hit the Gauntlet!
Or see below for further information on how the build works, as well as further explanations Gearing and Gameplay, Gauntlet tips, and available playstyle options.
Build Mechanics
The Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid is a zoomy and smashy bear, using map-clearing hits of Pulverize, high-mobility Skills Shred and Trample, and lots of stacked multipliers including Overpowers to destroy the enemies found within the Gauntlet.
Pulverize is our primary Skill, clearing enemies with strong, Earth-type Physical damage smashes. Shockwave Aspect creates a shockwave with a higher multiplier in a line from the Pulverize.
Key Note: There is an overlap between the Pulverize and its Shockwave, near the outer radius of the Pulverize. Line your attacks on this overlap for a huge double hit!
Shred and Trample are our mobility tools. Use them to travel between and to packs. Shred also applies the Poison for Envenom and Slow for Crowd-Controlled multipliers, so is a useful opener.
Cyclone Armor is a passive defensive that will not interrupt play. The active portion of the skill is not used.
Blood Howl is maintained for Attack Speed.
Ultimate Skill Petrify Stuns and applies a heavy Critical Strike Damage multiplier to enemies. Stacked multipliers with Tibault’s Will, Overpower and if used, Godslayer Crown allow Bosses to be burst down quickly.
Key Passive Bestial Rampage gives both a high Attack Speed bonus and Damage Multiplier. These buffs are both easily maintained from frequent casts of Shred and Pulverize.
Several other Shapeshifting bonuses like Wildheart Hunger, Quickshift and Heightened Senses are maintained through casts of Shred and Pulverize.
Overpower
Like many Werebear builds, the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid has several sources of Overpower for Boss killing and map-clearing hits of Pulverize:
- Enhanced Pulverize will overpower Pulverize every 12 seconds while you remain Healthy. Healthy means being above 80% Life.
- If used, Aspect of Blood Boil guarantees a skill to Overpower every 20 seconds.
- A passive 3% chance for any non-channeled skill to Overpower.
Playing around having Overpower to kill a boss can mean some small map route adjustments, and taking some time to gather or leash bosses, but it can be worth it when the boss takes several fewer Pulverize to kill. These delays would be small adjustments; don’t make huge delays for this!
Spirit Generation
This build does not use a Basic Attack Spirit generator; instead, it relies on several alternative sources:
- Resource Cost Reduction on 2-handed weapon, and Resource Generation on Rings.
- The Wolf’s Energize Spirit Boon.
- If used, Tibault’s Will, with Unstoppable sources Trample and Aspect of Metamorphosis.
- Ring of Starless Skies for Spirt Cost Reduction.
- Paragon nodes for Spirit on Kill in the Ancestral Guidance board.
Once geared, these are sufficient sources of Spirit to keep smashing. While gearing or without access to some sources like Ring of Starless Skies or Aspect of Metamorphosis, do one or more of the following:
- Take Paragon points from Ancestral Guidance Legendary node, and place them in Inner Beast Legendary Node.
- Use Starlight Aspect. Enhanced Shred, Aspect of the Crowded Sage and other healing sources will keep your Spirit up.
- Exchange the Spirit Glyph for Tectonic. More Lucky Hit will be more triggers for Wolf Spirit Boon Energize.
Gauntlet Tips and Tricks
Here’s a couple tips, tricks, and observations for playing the Gauntlet:
- Overpower is a strong tool, and periodically up with trackable buffs from Enhanced Pulverize. Having these up when engaging a boss guarantees a faster kill.
- While the dungeon has fixed positioning and spawns for enemies, they can drift, be leashed or aggro’d into different positions as you do your circuits around the map.
- Variable access to Cooldown Reduction including shrines, total attack events and Lucky Hit triggers can mean mobility tool timings like Trample may not be consistent from pull to pull, or up as often. This is especially true if using Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander.
- Sometimes stopping to pick up that key for the chests isn’t worth the time! They stay on the ground after Pillar of Proving (respawn shrines) and in subsequent laps, and may be worth delaying the pickup to even near the end of the run when several are on the ground together.
- Bear🐻 in mind that the Pillar of Glory gives a high score multiplier for its duration. It can be worth planning around having this when routing to dense packs of Elites or Bosses.
- Proofs of Might from chests have to be walked over to be collected. However, drops from slain enemies are picked up automatically, which means you can kill and move on!
- Armor is capped for enemies 100 and above! You now only require 9230 for any enemy above level 100 to hit the 85% Damage Reduction cap.
- Heard about a cheat or exploit from your buddy? Don’t! That’s an easy way to have your run removed from the Leaderboard!
- Weekly Gauntlet Map updates can be found Here, with our friends at D4builds.gg.
Alternative Skill Options and Playstyles
Depending on weekly layout of the Gauntlet and personal playstyle, there’s a few alternative Skill Options and playstyles that are available, including one or more of the following in combination:
- Depending on mob density and map layout, Airidah’s Inexorable Will may be desirable. Replace Accelerating Aspect, and use the Snake’s Calm Before the Storm for cooldown Reduction on Petrify.
- For a Pet-less version of the build that offers more Active Skill options:
- Remove points in Wolves, Ravens, Enhanced Ravens and Brutal Ravens, and Nature’s Reach.
- Swap in Blood Howl, Enhanced Blood Howl Preserving Blood Howl, Hurricane, and Resonance. Keep Blood howl up for an Attack Speed bonus and Hurricane up to trigger extra damage events for Resonance and Lucky Hits like Wolf Boon Energize.
- Replace Shepherd’s Aspect, placing Aspect of Metamorphosis on Amulet and Ghostwalker Aspect on boots.
Changelog
- 7 August, 2024: Updated for post-launch of season 5.
- 5 August, 2024: Updated for Patch 1.5.0 and Season the Infernal Horde
- 17 June, 2024: Updated for mid-season patch 1.4.3.
- May 15, 2024: Small changes in gear affixes to adjust for season launch changes from PTR.
- 6 May, 2024: Speculative Changes for 1.4.0 and Season 4. Page restructured to frontload relevant information.
- 12 March, 2024: Build Created.