Build Introduction
The Pulverize Druid is a dependable Werebear build, with large smashes of 
Pulverize and wide casts of 
Poison Creeper to clear areas of enemies and level swiftly! Supporting abilities help keep up Spirit, heal, and apply debuffs to enemies.
After progressing through the Main Story and reaching level 60, continue your Pulverize adventure with the Pulverize Druid Endgame Guide, or choose any of our Endgame Builds.
For general tips and information about leveling a Druid in Diablo 4, check out our Druid Leveling Page.
Seasonal: Looking for the right Witchcraft Powers for the build? Check them out here.
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
Trample 
Blood Howl 
Wolves 
Poison Creeper 
Wind Shear 
Pulverize The table below outlines the recommended order for allocating Skill Points. 59 Points are gained from leveling, and the remaining 12 are from completing Renown events in each zone, for a total of 71 Skill Points.
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. To access Spirit Boons:
- Reach Level 15, accepting the quest chain beginning with Druid: Spirits of the Lost Grove.
- Clear the Túr Dúlra Stronghold scenario in Scosglen.
- Complete the quest chain to gain access to the Animal Spirits.
| Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Gift of the Stag | Deer | Gain 40 Maximum Spirit. You gain 5 Spirit every second. |
| Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain +15% increased Critical Strike Chance and 15% increased Lucky Hit Chance. |
| Pack Leader | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 30% chance to reset the Cooldowns of your Companion Skills. |
| Energize | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% chance to fully restore Spirit. |
| Obsidian Slam | Snake | Every 6th attack cast will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower. |
Prioritize your first Spirit Offerings to unlock the Gift of the Stag for the Spirit Recovery and then Wolf’s Pack Leader for resets on Companion Skills, which is a significant source of our damage.
Obsidian Slam will only function with 
Aspect of the Ursine Horror, which makes Pulverize an Earth Skill.
Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats
The following sections cover the Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems, and Runewords important for your character’s progression while leveling.
Legendary Aspects and Codex of Power
The Codex of Power updates and improves quality of the Aspects by salvaging Legendary Powers. Legendary Items with Aspect powers can be found across all content in Diablo 4. Random dropped Legendary Aspects can have a specific range of power on them. For example, Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt can roll between 25% and 65% for the effect. Salvaging a higher rank will improve the Aspect’s rank within your Codex from then on.
Aspects gained from Dungeons will enter the Codex of Power at rank 1. This makes Dungeons a great way to get started when putting together a build, without having to rely on random drops. For example, to access Aspect of the Ursine Horror directly without needing a random drop, you can clear Belfry Zakara in Hawezar.
The most significant aspects for the Pulverize Leveling Druid are the following:
| Aspect | Legendary Aspect Power | Location | Recommended Slot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shockwave Aspect | Pulverize creates a shockwave that travels forward, dealing 80-120% of its damage to targets in the path. | Salvaged Legendary | Weapon or Amulet |
| Aspect of the Ursine Horror | Pulverize is now also an Earth Skill. After casting Pulverize, tectonic spikes continue to deal damage over 2 seconds. | Belfry Zakara, Hawezar | Gloves or Ring |
 Aspect of the Calm Breeze | Wind Shear now deals Poisoning damage over 4 seconds. Lucky Hit: Wind Shear has up to a 6-14% chance to fully restore your Spirit. | Grinning Labyrinth, Dry Steppes | Amulet or Ring |
- Shockwave Aspect gives Pulverize a shockwave effect from the initial impact. There is some overlap between the initial Pulverize and the Shockwave where enemies can be by both effects for a double hit!
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror makes Pulverize an Earth Skill. This is useful for getting damage multipliers related to Nature an Earth abilities like
Defiance and 
Crushing Earth. This also allows aspects like Crashstone Aspect to become useful. - Aspect of the Calm Breeze is a strong damage over time Poison that can help power through Single Target enemies.
See below for a list of Dungeon Legendary Powers that can be useful to the Pulverize Druid while leveling.
| Legendary Aspect | Aspect Type | Aspect Power | Dungeon Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt | Offensive | You deal 25-65% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf. | Conclave, Kejistan |
| Aspect of Retaliation | Offensive | Your Core Skills deal up to 35-75% increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. | Seaside descent, Dry Steppes |
| Crashstone Aspect | Offensive | Earth Skills deal 35-75%% more Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. | Stockades, Scosglen |
| Aspect of the Umbral | Resource | Restore 1 – 8 of your Primary Resource when you Crowd Control an enemy. | Champion’s Demise, Dry Steppes |
 Aspect of Disobedience | Defensive | You gain 0.4-.8% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to 25-40%. | Halls of the Damned, Kehjistan |
| Aspect of Might | Defensive | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for 2-10 seconds. | Dark Ravine, Dry Steppes |
| Skinwalker’s Aspect | Defensive | When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain 5-25% Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify. | Fading Echo, Kehjistan |
 Ghostwalker Aspect | Mobility | While Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after, you gain 10 – 30% increased Movement Speed and can move freely through enemies. | Broken Bulwark, Scosglen |
 Aspect of Quicksand | Utility | Damage from Earth Skills Slow enemies hit by 20-60% for 5 seconds. | Feral’s Den, Scosglen |
| Ballistic Aspect | Utility | When you have Fortify your Earth Skills gain +2 Ranks. | Whispering Pines, Scosglen |
Some aspects only become useful in combination. For example:
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror, Aspect of Quicksand and Aspect of the Umbral would all come together to make your Pulverize be Earth type, apply a slow, and then that slow gives Spirit back.
- Ballistic Aspect would become useful only after having Aspect of the Ursine Horror to make Pulverize be an Earth Skill.
Check our Legendary Aspect and Codex of Power Guide for general Codex information.
Gear Affix and Stat Priority
Below are the recommended Gear Affixes for each slot for the Pulverize Leveling Build. Gear Affixes are listed by importance. Affixes in Bold are the most important for the build, and alternatives are added as well.
| Slot | Gem | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Handed Mace |  Ruby | Chance on Hit for Spirit Willpower Max Life Overpower Damage |
| Helm |  Sapphire | Ranks in Poison Creeper Ranks to Companion Skills Willpower Max Life Spirit Per Second |
| Chest | Sapphire | Max Life Spirit Per Second Willpower Armor |
| Gloves | N/A | Ranks in Pulverize Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Willpower Critical Strike Damage |
| Pants | Sapphire | Max Life Armor Willpower Dodge Chance |
| Boots | N/A | Movement Speed Spirit Per Second Willpower Dodge Chance |
| Amulet |  Diamond | Movement Speed Ranks to  EnvenomCritical Strike Chance Willpower% Resource Cost Reduction |
| Rings | Diamond | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Resource Generation Chance on Hit to makes enemies Vulnerable |
- Critical Strike Chance is important for Pack Leader Spirit boon resets and overall damage.
- Resource Cost Reduction and Spirit Per Second will go a long way to help us keep smashing out our Pulverizes.
- A couple Armor Affixes will help us stay ahead of the Damage.
- 2 Handed Weapons are double budget for aspects. This means we can make our Shockwave Aspect or other strong multiplier even better. 2-handed Maces are recommended for the Overpower damage.
Tempering
Tempering manuals are found across Sanctuary. The Blacksmith is able to apply extra Tempering affixes on items. Manuals are divided by types similar to Legendary Aspect Powers; a Resource manual like 
Worldly Stability has Resource type tempers, and can only be placed on rings and amulet.
When tempering at the Blacksmith, the item will randomly select one of the listed affixes from the chosen Tempering Manual. For example, the Offensive Manual Shapeshifting Finesse can give Werebear Overpower Damage, or give something utterly useless to the build like Werewolf Attack Speed. There is a limit to the number of times a temper can be rerolled to try to get the desired affix. This means the item can get ruined for the build, and you must try again with a new item. Unique Items cannot be Tempered. Here’s a list of Useful tempers to look out for, sorted by type.
| Manual Type | Manual Name | Manual Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Werebear Augments | Chance for Pulverize to Hit Twice |
| Offensive | Earth Finesse | Earth Critical Strike Chance Earth Lucky Hit Chance Earth Damage Earth Overpower Damage |
| Offensive | Shapeshifting Finesse | Werebear Overpower Damage |
| Offensive | Natural Finesse | Damage to Close Enemies Damage to Distant Enemies |
| Utility | Worldly Fortune | Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize Lucky Hit: Chance to Stun Lucky Hit: Chance to Slow |
| Defensive | Worldly Endurance | Total Armor% |
| Mobility | Natural Motion | Movement Speed |
| Resource | Worldly Stability | Resource Generation |
Gems and Runewords
The following are the best Gems to socket into your gear for each category:
- Weapon: Ruby for Overpower Damage.
- Armor: Sapphire for Willpower.
- Jewelry: Diamonds for All Resistances
Seasonal: Seasonal players can socket Occult Gems in their Jewelry, which are stronger than standard gems. While endgame setups will use Legendary Gems, notable Magic and Rare Gems to use while leveling include the following:
Pointed Finger – Your Summons deal 15% more direct damage to Hexed Elites.- Phantom String – You deal 15% more Overpower damage to Hexed enemies.
- Hungering Void – While you have an Aura active, pull Nearby enemies toward you every 8 seconds.
Runewords are a flexible power to help strengthen a build or fill its weaknesses. Two Runes combine for the total Runeword effect:
- A conditional trigger Rune of Ritual that supplies Offerings when the condition is met.
- An effect Rune of Invocation that costs Offerings.
Once the Rune of Ritual has supplied enough Offerings, the Rune of Invocation will trigger its effect. Runes of Invocation will have overflow effects, where excess Offerings will spillover to empower the triggered effect.
Runewords replace Gems in gear. Up to two sets of Runeword pairs can be placed at a time. Runeword combinations are placed within 2 sockets of the same item e.g. Helm, Chest, Pants or 2-handed Weapon.
The following are Runeword combinations for the Pulverize Leveling Druid. These leveling recommendations are limited to Magic and Rare quality runes, and are placed in 2-Handed Weapon and one Armor slot:
| Runeword Combination | Runeword Effects |
|---|---|
| Poc Lum |  Poc – Gain: 5 Offering. Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource. Lum – Requires: 5 Offering, Overflow: Increased Resource Restored. Cooldown: 1 Second.Restore 2.5 Primary Resource. |
| Noc Gar |  Noc – Gain: 5 Offering. Inflict a Crowd Control, gain double offering if it isn’t a Slow or Chill. Gar – Requires 25 Offering. Overflow: Gain Multiple Stacks. Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%. |
Poc Lum will give a refund on Spirit after spending. Noc Gar will be a tidy Critical Strike Chance increase for damage and Packleader Boon resets. Crowd Controls for Noc are applied with things like 
Neurotoxin, Poison Creeper and Aspect of Quicksand.
There will be several Runeword combinations that help out and work, feel free to try them all out as you acquire the runes. For example, some of the damage effect triggers like 
Ton will do especially good damage in very early levels.
Elixirs and Health Potions
The Alchemist offers helpful consumables at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary.
- Craft the highest
Elixir of Precision for Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage and bonus Experience. Or 
Iron Skin Elixir can help push the Capstone Dungeons earlier and easier. - Remember to upgrade your potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion. Upgrades are available when you reach Level 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60.
Powers of Witchcraft and Occult Gems
Seasonal players can choose from a selection of Witchcraft powers and Occult gems to enhance their gameplay. 1 Unique and 5 Normal Witchcraft Powers can be equipped using the Witchcraft tab on the character sheet. Occult gems are placed into the jewelry sockets, and can be crafted at the Tree of Whispers. Witch Powers are unlocked as your seasonal reputation increases, and will need leveled up. Feel free to try out powers as you find them. The following setup is recommended for the build:
Witchcraft Powers
Lost Powers are a low rate spawn inside dungeon content. Chance to find them does not improve noticeably until the Torment Difficulties. Here’s some options from the powers purchasable at the Tree of Whispers:
Unique Power
Doom Orb – Eldritch
- An ominous orb of pure Eldritch energy circles you, damaging any enemy it touches for X Fire damage. Doom Orb may launch itself at distant enemies before returning.
- Rank 5: Kills or damage to Bosses empower the orb’s damage by 5%. After 100%, the orb explodes dealing X damage to nearby enemies before reforming 3 seconds later.
Normal Powers
Decay Augmentation – Growth and Decay
- Your Witchcraft Effects deal a portion of the damage dealt over 5 seconds. The damage type is based on your class. Note: For Druid, this means Poison damage over time, an easy way to applied the Poisoned condition!
- Rank 10: When your damage-over-time effects exceed 85% of the target’s total Life, they immediately die.
Hex of Shattering – Psyche
- Damage done by your Witchcraft Effects afflicts enemies with Hex of Shattering causing them to deal reduced damage for 5 seconds.
- Rank 8: When any Hex Effect is applied to Headrotten, all damage will be guaranteed Critical Strikes for 5 seconds.
Aura of Siphoning – Growth and Decay
- Conjure an aura of decay that deals Poison damage to enemies every second.
- Rank 10: Each time Aura of Siphoning deals damage, you are healed for 1% of Maximum Life.
Soul Harvest – Growth and Decay
- Feed upon the life force of nearby enemies whenever you use a skill with a cooldown, increasing your primary stat by 1% per monster for X seconds.
- Rank 9: Soul Harvest does not lose duration so long as enemies are nearby.
Poison Frog Servant – Growth and Decay
- Summon a Poison Frog Servant that attacks and Poisons enemies for damage over 3 seconds. On death, the frog explodes violently dealing Poison instantly damage to nearby enemies. This explosion will always Critically Strike.
- Rank 5: Poison Frog attacks will pull enemies towards itself and Taunt enemies for 1 second.
Occult Gems
Occult Gems take significant materials to create, and the grimoires for their recipes drop in the Torment Difficulties. Here are some notable Magic and Rare Gems to look out for in early to mid endgame:
- Pointed Finger – Your Summons deal 15% more direct damage to Hexed Elites.
- Phantom String – You deal 15% more Overpower damage to Hexed enemies.
- Hungering Void – While you have an Aura active, pull Nearby enemies toward you every 8 seconds.
Unique Items
Here’s a list of useful Unique Items for the Pulverize Bear to look out for while leveling:
Insatiable Fury has strong gear affixes and extra ranks in all Werebear Skills.
Hunter’s Zenith – strong gear affixes and effect that grants periodic Critical Overpowers.
Mercenaries
Once unlocked, Mercenaries are followers that aid the Player in combat. A main mercenary is chosen to fight alongside you, granting strong buffs or perks, and a secondary Mercenary is chosen to periodically Reinforce you under a chosen Opportunity condition. As you build Rapport with your Mercenary, you gain more access to their Skills and Perks.
The following Mercenary options are recommended for the Pulverize Leveling Druid:
Main Mercenary – Varyana, the Berserker
- Core Skill:
Cleave - Core Passive:
Hysteria - Iconic Skill:
Bloodthirst - Iconic Passive:
Bloodlust
Reinforcement – Raheir, the Shieldbearer
- Reinforcement Ability –
Crater
Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed bonuses.
Damage Rotation
- Poison Creeper on gathered enemies for lethal Poison damage.
Wolves against strong Single Target enemies like Elites or Bosses.- Pulverize your enemies, and take note of when Enhanced Pulverize is going to cause Pulverize to Overpower.
Blood Howl and 
Trample for Spirit generation and to help maintain Shapeshifting buffs such as 
Quickshift.
Wind Shear as filler to generate Spirit.
Advanced Information
It is time to start your Pulverize journey!
Or see below for further information on how the build works, Spirit Generation explanations, Skill and gameplay options, and what to do after level 60, including a starter Paragon board to help you transition to the Endgame Pulverize build.
Mechanics and Playstyle
The primary sources of damage for the Pulverize Leveling Druid are Pulverize and Poison Creeper.
Pulverize smashes in front of you, dealing physical damage in a wide circle.
- Enhanced Pulverize makes Pulverize Overpower every 12 seconds while you remain Healthy. Overpower deals extra damage based on current Health and Fortify, and Healthy means Current Life is at least 80% of Max Life.
- Raging Pulverize Pulverize deals 75% increased Overpower Damage. Enemies Overpowered by Pulverize are Stunned for 3 seconds.
Two Legendary Aspects modify Pulverize:
- Shockwave Aspect, a secondary shockwave line will erupt from the edge of the Pulverize. There is a small overlap between these two hits where enemies can be struck by both effects.
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror makes Pulverize an Earth Skill, allowing Pulverize to benefit from Earth and Nature modifiers like Defiance and
Stone Guard. This also makes Pulverize leave Tectonic Spikes that deal extra damage over two seconds.
Poison Creeper is a Companion that passively attacks to apply a small Poison. The Active Skill deals significant Poison damage over time in a wide area around the player and Immobilizes enemies.
- Enhanced Poison Creeper increases the Immobilize duration.
- Brutal Poison Creeper Increases Critical Strike Chance against enemies Immobilized by the Creeper.
The active cast of Poison Creeper, especially in early levels, is lethal damage to all but the toughest enemies, making it very efficient to use on most leveling builds. We take Pack Leader boon to reset the Companion Active Skill.
Supporting abilities for the build include 
Storm Strike, Blood Howl, Trample and Wolves.
- Wind Shear is a ranged projectile Basic Attack, giving some movement speed and with Aspect of the Calm Breeze, applying Poison for high damage.
- Blood Howl is a handy heal and with Innate Blood Howl is a Spirit Generator. Blood Howl also helps maintain Werewolf buffs from Quickshift and
Heightened Senses. - Trample is a damage and mobility tool, knockback, and source of Unstoppable for Crowd Control prevention or removal. With Savage Trample it is another Spirit Generator. Trample also help upkeep Werebear Shapeshifting buffs like Heightened Senses and Quickshift.
- Wolves are useful as a single target focused damage attack, and to help tank enemies. They are also good boys.
Our Key Passive is 
Ursine Strength. The Damage and Overpower multipliers are active in any form as long as the player is in the Healthy Status, which is 80% Life or higher.
Spirit Generation
This build has a few sources of Spirit Generation to keep Pulverizing. These include:
- Our Basic Skill Wind Shear generates Spirit when hitting enemies.
- Innate Blood Howl and Trample generate Spirit on Active Skill use.
- The Wolf’s Energize Boon grants a Lucky Hit to fully restore Spirit.
- The Gift of the Stag Spirit Boon gives 5 Spirit Per Second and raises our max Spirit.
- Runeword setups like Lum offer Resource refund.
Druids Have Options!
Any of the supporting skills Blood Howl, Trample, or Wolves can be substituted for another desirable supporting Skill depending on looted Legendary Aspects, playstyle, leveling content, or preference. Some examples to try can include:
- Want to use an Ultimate Skill for a big burst cooldown? Try out
Petrify to stun enemies, regenerate Spirit and apply a large Critical Strike Damage debuff. If you found a Blood Boiling Aspect, line it up with 
Cataclysm for Overpower screenwide attacks. - This build recommends the Spirit Generation on Blood Howl and Trample for smoothness of play, but the other passives, such as Enhanced Blood Howl for Attack Speed and Natural Trample for Fortify Generation work too!
- Want extra Defensives?
Earthen Bulwark can provide Barrier, Unstoppable, and Fortify. Primal Pulverize can be used as a Damage Reduction debuff on enemies. Spirit Boon Wariness can help against Elites and Bosses.
The Key Passive Ursine Strength is used for the reliable passive damage multiplier, Overpower damage and Max Life. 
Bestial Rampage can be more total damage but requires you to be more careful about maintaining Forms. 
Claw can be used as your Basic Skill to help upkeep these buffs.
Roadmap at Level 60
Once you’re ready, at level 60 or even sooner, it’s time to start those Endgame Activities.
Paragon
After Level 60, you gain no more Skill Points and instead start progressing in the Paragon Board. Allocate Paragon Points into nodes along the path to gain further power. Rare Glyphs start at 3 Radius, growing by 1 Radius at level 15, and then at level 46. Level up your glyphs by running The Pit.
Here is an early 3 board setup to get you started. It prioritizes Spirit Generation nodes from 
Ancestral Guidance board, and Spirit Cost Reduction from Inner Beast board. Remember to rotate the boards as necessary! This will get you ready for that transition to the Pulverize Endgame Guide or other Endgame Druid Builds.
Thanks so much for reading and good luck on leveling!
Changelog
- 22 January, 2025: Adjusted recommended Witch Powers. This accounts for Lost Powers and Occult Gems being hard to get while leveling.
- 14 January, 2025: Updated for season 7 and patch 2.1.
- 17 November, 2024: Minor updates for patch 2.0.5.
- 15 October, 2024: Updated for new onsite Paragon tool.
- 26 September, 2024: Updated for season 6, Season of Hatred Rising, including more Skill Points, new Paragon, Runeword and Mercenary systems.
- 7 August, 2024: Updated for post-launch of season 5. Some changes to Skill Tree recommendations and improving readability.
- 2 August, 2024: Updated for Patch 1.5.0 and Season of the Infernal Hordes.
- 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.
- 8 May 2024: Guide created for the launch Season 4.
