Build Introduction
Smash through the enemies of Sanctuary with the Shifter Pulverize! This is your guide for the balanced and dependable Shifter Pulverize Druid. This build is a basic builder-spender with high volume of Overpower attacks.
This guide covers everything necessary to get started on your Pulverize adventure including Skill Tree points, Paragon, Gearing, and Seasonal updates. The guide will primarily cover Endgame pushing, but will also offer alternative options and in-depth gameplay explanations.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Consistent gameplay as a Builder-Spender
- Leveling friendly, low requirements
- High sustained damage at all target counts
- Highest burst can take setup
- Has some resource management to balance
- Overpower gaps can be unreliable
To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.
Build Requirements
The following Legendary Aspects are required for build functionality to get started on the Pulverize Druid:
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
Spirit Boons – The Druid 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 15% reduced damage from Elites. |
| Iron Feather | Eagle | Gain 30% Maximum Life. |
| Avian Wrath | Eagle | Gain x40% Critical Strike damage. |
| Energize | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% chance to fully restore your Spirit. |
| Obsidian Slam | Snake | Every 6th attack cast will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower. |
While leveling and gearing, Gift of the Stag can replace Wariness to help with Spirit Management.
Gear, Stats, Gems and Elixirs
The following are the recommended Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems and Elixirs for the Pulverize Druid.
Legendary Aspects
Gear Slots with multiple options are listed in recommended priority. Any slot with an Optional Mythic Unique or Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power to use while still leveling and gearing.
| Slot | Gem | Aspect | Unique/Legendary Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Handed Mace | Grand Ruby | Shockwave Aspect | Pulverize creates a shockwave that travels forward, dealing 80-120% of its damage to targets in the path. |
| Helm | Grand Sapphire | (Recommended Mythic) Heir of Perdition (Recommended Unique) Godslayer Crown Aspect of Might | Give in to hatred and earn Lilith’s Favor, increasing your damage dealt by 60%. Slaughter enemies to briefly steal Lilith’s Favor from Nearby allies. |
| Chest | Grand Sapphire | (Recommended Mythic) Shroud of False Death (recommended Unique) Insatiable Fury  Juggernaut’s Aspect | If you haven’t attacked in the last 2 seconds, gain Stealth and 40% Movement Speed. |
| 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 | Grand Sapphire | Skinwalker’s Aspect | When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, Heal for 5-25% of your Maximum Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify. |
| Boots | N/A | (Offensive) Ballistic Aspect (Defensive, Unstoppable) Aspect of Metamorphosis | When you have Fortify your Earth Skills gain +2 Ranks. |
| Amulet | Grand Diamond | Aspect of Retaliation | Your Core Skills deal up to 35-75% increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. |
| Ring 1 | Grand Diamond | (Recommended Unique)Hunter’s Zenith Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt | Every 30 seconds you spend in an animal form, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to Overpower and Critically Strike, and deals 30-60% increased damage. Casting a Shapeshifting Skill reduces this timer by 1 second, or 2 seconds if it changes you to a new animal form. |
| Ring 2 | Grand Diamond | (Recommended Mythic) Ring of Starless Skies (Convenience Unique) Airidah’s Inexorable Will Raw Might Aspect | Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by 10% for 3 seconds, up to 50%. |
Use a 2-Handed Mace for Overpower damage.
For the dedicated page for Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check here.
Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes
Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. The bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. Unique Items cannot be Tempered, but can be Masterworked. Check the Tempering guide and Masterworking guide for more details about these topics.
Any slot with an Optional Mythic Unique or Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power to use while still leveling and gearing.
| Slot | Gearing Affixes | Tempering Affixes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Handed Mace | Willpower Max Life Chance on Hit to Restore Spirit Critical Strike Damage | Werebear Augments – Chance to Cast Pulverize Twice Natural Finesse – Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies |
| Helm – (Recommended Mythic) Heir of Perdition | Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Movement Speed Ranks to Core Skills | |
| Helm – (Recommended Unique) Godslayer Crown | All Stats Maximum Life Damage to Elites Cooldown Reduction | |
| Helm – Legendary Aspect | Cooldown Reduction Max Life Willpower Spirit Per Second | Worldly Endurance – Max Life Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration OR Worldly Fortune – Chance to [Stun/Freeze] Enemies |
| Chest – (Recommended Mythic) Shroud of False Death | All Stats Maximum Life Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Resource Generation | |
| Chest – (Recommended Unique) Insatiable Fury | 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 – Max Life Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration |
| Gloves – Legendary Aspect | Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Ranks to Pulverize Lucky Hit: Chance to make enemies Vulnerable | Earth Finesse – Earth Critical Strike Chance Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration |
| Pants – Legendary Aspect | Willpower Max Life Armor Dodge Chance | Worldly Endurance – Total Armor% Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration |
| Boots – Legendary Aspect | Implicit: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown By 1.5 Seconds Movement Speed Max Life Resistance to All Elements Spirit Per Second | Natural Motion – Movement Speed Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration |
| Amulet | Ranks to Envenom Ranks to Quickshift Willpower% Max Life | Earth Finesse – Earth Critical Strike Chance Worldly Endurance – Maximum Life |
| Ring – (Recommended Mythic)Ring of Starless Skies | Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Ranks to Core Skills | |
| Ring – (Recommended Unique) Hunter’s Zenith | Willpower Ranks to Predatory Instinct Ranks to Heightened Senses Ranks to Quickshift | |
| Ring – (Convenience Unique) Airidah’s Inexorable Will | Willpower% Damage to Close Enemies Lucky Hit Chance Ultimate Cooldown Reduction | |
| Rings – Legendary Aspect | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Resource Cost Reduction | Earth Finesse – Earth Critical Strike Chance Worldly Stability – Resource Generation |
Armor cap is 1000 for up to 85% Physical Damage Reduction. This is generally reached with either one Armor Gear Affix and one Total Armor% Temper or using a Juggernaut’s Aspect.
For information on Legendary Aspects and the updated Codex of Power, see here.
Gems and Runewords
The following are the recommended Gem and Runeword setups for the Pulverize Druid:
Gems
| Weapon Gems | Armor Gems | Jewelry Gems |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Ruby for Overpower Damage | Grand Sapphire for Willpower | Grand Diamond for Resistance to all Elements |
Seasonal: Use the recommended Occult Gem Setup for Jewelry.
- Moonlight Ward – For each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and .5% Maximum Resistance to All Elements.
- Voice of the Stars – While you have an Aura active, your Ultimate Skills gain each Witchcraft tag and deal 10% increased damage.
- Friend of the Bog – While you have three or more Growth & Decay Witch Powers slotted, you gain 10% primary stat, 10% Maximum Life and you are always Unhindered.
Runewords
Use these Runeword combinations, placed in 2-Handed Weapon and one Armor slot:
| Runeword Combination | Runeword Effects |
|---|---|
| Lith Wat | Lith – Gain: 25 Offering. Stand still for 0.3 seconds while fighting. Wat – Requires: 100 Offering Cooldown: 1 Second. Overflow: Increase duration. Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them. |
| Xol Yom | Xol – Gain: 150 Offering. Evoke power from another Class Yom – 500 Offering. Cooldown: 5 Seconds. Overflow: Increase Stun Duration. Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies and restoring 100 Spirit. |
Runewords use a conditional Rune of Ritual to generate Offering. The Offering is consumed by the Rune of Invocation to trigger its effect. Runes replace Gems in gear with two sockets. Up to two sets of Runeword Pairs can be placed at a time.
Horrid Decrepify is an efficient trigger for Xol. Periodic casts of Petrify will be a strong Stun, Critical Strike Damage multiplier and Spirit Generator. Tempering for Petrify Duration will mean significant uptime on Petrify.
Other combinations can also situationally work well; adjust to the content you are running. These can include:
- (Offering Efficiency) other Ritual options such as Bac for Move, Tam for Cast Core Skill, or Feo for get Crowd Controlled may trigger more often.
- (Gathering) Kry rune for Vortex can be a strong quality of life increase.
- (Spirit Management) Poc
Lum in combination can give strong Spirit Refund. - (Early Gearing) While leveling and gearing before legendary Runes become accessible, many Magic and Rare runewords such as Gar for Critical Strike Chance will be viable.
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 Fortitude for Maximum Life%. Max Life% is significant for Overpower.
- One of each Incense Category can be used, for a total of three active Incenses at a time. In priority:
- Defensive – Reddamine Buzz for Max Life, or Song of the Mountain if you need the Armor, up to 1000 armor cap.
- Core Stat – Blessed Guide for Willpower.
- Resistance – Soothing Spices for All Resist, All Resist Maximum, and Armor.
- Upgrade your Potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion!
Paragon Board
The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Shifter Pulverize Druid.
The road to max paragon level is long. The above Paragon tabs show the following:
- The BASE SETUP tab spends 50 fewer points than the max 328 points, taking stricter pathing to take all most all Legendary, Rare and Magic Nodes, and activates all Glyph Nodes with their secondary effects.
- The FULL SETUP tab completes the paragon board in its final form, filling in the rest of the board to give additional additive bonuses especially within the Glyph areas.
Glyphs have two significant breakpoint increases. At level 15, the glyph grows in radius and gains a special effect. At level 46, the glyph grows to its max radius and gains a strong conditional damage multiplier.
Glyphs are placed as if they are at least level 15+ in radius. Total Boards placed are now limited to a max of 5; the Starter Board and four Class Boards. Rotate boards as necessary.
For a more defensive setup, Dominate can be exchanged for Undaunted, and Spirit for Territorial.
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. Witchcraft Powers gain additional effects at higher ranks. Occult gems are placed into the jewelry sockets, and can be crafted at the Tree of Whispers. Use the following setup for the Pulverize Druid:
Witchcraft Powers
Unique Power
The Cycle – Growth and Decay
- Dealing any damage with your skills has a 15% chance to grow a flower from the ground. When an enemy is near, the flower deals X Poison damage to that enemy over 5 seconds. If an ally is near, the flower heals for 6% maximum Life. The flower withers away after use. A flower may grow once every 2 seconds per enemy. Frequency limited to a maximum of 3 per second.
- Rank 5: The damage and healing affects all enemies or allies near the flower.
Normal Powers
Aura Specialization – Lost Power
- The size of your Aura Effects is increased.
- Rank 10: Increase the Critical Strike Damage by 50% against enemies inside your Aura Effects.
Force of Will – Psyche
- When you kill an enemy, your next Overpower deals X% increased damage, up to 100%.
- Rank 4: The damage bonus extends to the next 2 Overpowers instead of 1.
- When bossing or in low kill content where you do not get good Overpower stacks from Force of Will, this can be exchanged for another useful power like (Defensive) Hex of Shattering or (Vulnerable) Shaken Soul.
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 3% per monster for X seconds.
- Rank 9: Soul Harvest does not lose duration so long as enemies are nearby.
Breath of the Coven – Lost Power
- Dealing damage or applying a Crowd Control effect with any of your Witchcraft Effects increases your Attack Speed by X for 10 Seconds, stacking once per unique Witchcraft Effect (Eldritch, Psyche, and Growth & Decay).
- Rank 8: Gain 40% Lucky Hit chance while bonuses from Eldritch, Psyche, Growth & Decay are active at once.
This is a Friends of the Bog – Breath of the Coven setup that will give strong Damage, Willpower, Max Life, Attack Speed and Lucky Hit bonuses.
Occult Gems
- Moonlight Ward – For each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and .5% Maximum Resistance to All Elements.
- Voice of the Stars – While you have an Aura active, your Ultimate Skills gain each Witchcraft tag and deal 10% increased damage.
- With the Witchcraft tags, Stuns from Petrify will fully trigger Breath of the Coven.
- Friend of the Bog – While you have three or more Growth & Decay Witch Powers slotted, you gain 10% primary stat, 10% Maximum Life and you are always Unhindered.
Optionally, for farm or quality of life, swap Friend of the Bog for Hungering Void.
- Hungering Void – While you have an Aura active, pull Nearby enemies toward you every 8 seconds.
Unique Items
The following Uniques are recommended for the Pulverize Druid:
- (Recommended) Insatiable Fury gives Skill ranks to all Werebear Skills, including Pulverize, and the ranks to Iron Fur are a welcome defensive boost.
- (Recommended) Godslayer Crown is an effective grouping tool and strong damage multiplier. Crowd Control Lucky Hits from Tempers, Raw Might Aspect, Raging Pulverize, Immobilize from Poison Creeper and Utility Tempers for Crowd Control can trigger the effect.
- (Recommended) Hunter’s Zenith – This is a ring with strong gear affix ranks to several skill passives and a strong rate of Critical Overpowers for Pulverize. It will need to be well rolled to compete with an alternative Legendary Aspect ring.
- (Convenience Unique) Airidah’s Inexorable Will – This ring yoinks Distant enemies dealing physical damage to them, and groups them. Between native casts of Petrify and Runeword casts, this effect will trigger often. May be a mild damage topend loss to other options.
- (Optional Early Gearing) Banished Lord’s Talisman can be a usable Amulet while still hunting for an Amulet with Envenom and other strong affixes.
Mythic Unique Items
- (Recommended) Heir of Perdition has Strong Gear Affixes and a steady damage multiplier. The multiplier can be stolen occasionally from others that also use this helm for a higher damage multiplier.
- (Recommended) Shroud of False Death gives +1 rank to all Skill Passives which means several bonuses to Damage Multipliers, Damage Reductions, Resistances, Fortify, Healing and Critical Strike Chance.
- (Recommended) Ring of Starless Skies is a powerful Resource Cost Reduction tool and damage multiplier, with strong Gear Affixes.
- (Optional Defensive) Doombringer– Druids can now use swords! Doombringer is a chonky Damage Reduction and Max Health item. The Max Health% is a nice damage offset since it will boost our Overpowers. It may be a valid choice when pushing dangerous content where dying is punished, such as Infernal Hordes or high Pit. To use this item:
- Move Shockwave Aspect to Amulet.
- Move Aspect of Retaliation to Totem.
- On the Totem, look for Willpower, Critical Strike Chance, and Max Life. Temper (Mastercrafted) Chance for Pulverize to Cast Twice and Earth Critical Strike Chance.
- Mastercraft Damage Reduction or Max Life on the Doombringer.
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.
The following Mercenary options are recommended for the Pulverize Druid:
Main Mercenary – Varyana, the Berserker
- Skills: Cleave, Hysteria, Bloodthirst, Bloodlust
Reinforcement – Raheir, the Shieldbearer
Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed bonuses.
For a Spirit Management setup, try Raheir’s Iron Wolf’s Call for periodic free casts of Pulverize or Aldkin’s Ember’s Gift for Spirit Per Second while in Storm of Fire.
Rotation and Playstyle
- Blood Howl to increase Attack Speed and upkeep Werewolf Shapeshifting buffs such as Heightened Senses.
- Poison Creeper to Immobilize and apply Poison.
- Petrify to apply Stun and a heavy Critical Strike Damage multiplier.
- Pulverize your enemies.
- Claw as filler for Spirit.
Use Earthen Bulwark defensively and as a source of Unstoppable to break Crowd-Control effects.
Check out the advanced Build Mechanics section for a more in-depth description on how the build works, what synergies exist, and what to look out for.
Season 7 Updates: Season of Witchcraft
Not much changes with the gameplay of the Pulverize Druid in season 7. Damage is up thanks to changes to Paragon nodes like Heightened Malice. Changes to Spirit Boons give easier Spirit Management and more frequent Overpowers vs Bosses. Some Damage Reduction sources like Heightened Senses have been nerfed.
The following are important changes in the Season 7 Patch Updates that are specific to the Pulverize Druid. For general Season 7 information, check out our Season 7 Hub.
Skills and Stats
- Petrify – New effect at Rank 5: Casting Petrify resets all your non-Ultimate Skill Cooldowns.
- Heightened Senses – New Effect – When Shapeshifting, Werebear grants 3% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 3% Movement Speed. Both bonuses persist as long as you are in either animal form. They are lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
- Note: This is a significant nerf, effectively killing the 17 ranks immortality cheese.
- Spirit Boon Gift of the Stag new effect – Gain 40 Maximum Spirit. You gain 5 Spirit every second.
- Spirit Boon Energize new effect – Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has a 15% chance to fully restore your Spirit.
- Spirit Boon Obsidian Slam new effect – Every 6th attack cast will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower.
- Heightened Malice – New Effect – While a Poisoned enemy is Nearby, you deal 35% increased damage plus an additional 5% for each additional Poisoned enemy, up to 4.
- Ancestral Guidance – New Effect – After spending 75 Spirit, you deal 40% increased damage for 5 seconds. Your Ultimate Skills deal 1% increased damage per Spirit when cast.
- Survival Instincts – New Effect – Now: While in Werebear form, you deal 30% increased damage or 45% when you are at full Life. You have 1% increased Overpower damage, up to 25%, for every 1% difference in current Life percent and Fortified Life percent between you and the enemy.
- Territorial – Increased Damage Reduction against Close enemies from 10% to 15%.
- Undaunted -Increased Damage Reduction while Fortified from 10% to 15%.
Patch 2.1.3
- Fixed an issue where Raging Pulverize did less damage than displayed in the tooltip.
Advanced Information
It is time to get started on your Pulverize journey!
Or see below for further information on how the build works, as well as further explanations for Paragon, Gearing, and Gameplay, and available playstyle options.
Build Mechanics
Pulverize is our primary, high-damage Skill. Two Legendary Aspects modify the Skill:
- Shockwave Aspect creates a damaging wave along the path of the Pulverize. There is an overlap between the initial Pulverize and its shockwave, so enemies can be double-hit each Pulverize!
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror makes Pulverize an Earth Skill. Earth Skills are also Nature Skills, and this allows Pulverize to benefit from Nature-based modifiers such as Defiance or Crushing Earth.
Claw is used for Poison application, Werewolf buff upkeep like Quickshift, and to increase the cooldown rate on Hunter’s Zenith. Other Basic Skills can function with this build as well. For example, Wind Shear could be used to enable a more ranged playstyle. Eventually, once spirit generation is solved from other sources of Spirit Generation, Claw will be unncessary and could be traded out for a utility choice like Trample.
Overpower
Periodic Overpowered attacks will deal massive damage to enemies. We get Overpowers from several sources:
- Enhanced Pulverize grants an Overpower every 12 seconds while Healthy. Healthy means Life is above 80%.
- Spirit Boon Obsidian Slam causes Earth Skills to Overpower after casting Six Earth Skills.
- Provocation gives Overpowers as you remain in Bear Form. Some uptime is lost while casting any non-Werebear skills. This is a buff to watch, as it can be triggered on any non-defensive Skill. Try to only use it on Pulverize.
- Hunter’s Zenith will give periodic casts of Core Overpower Criticals.
- If used, Banished Lord’s Talisman grants Core Skill Overpowers after spending Spirit.
- If used, Blood Boiling Aspect will Overpower a Skill every 20 seconds. Try to only use this effect on Pulverize.
- If used, Xan rune can periodically give Critical Overpowers. Just be careful to only use this on Pulverize.
- A natural 3% chance for any non-channeled Skill to Overpower.
There’s several damage multipliers to Overpower, including Survival Instincts, Raging Pulverize and Ursine Strength. Max Life and Fortify amount scales the Overpower strikes further. We get Max Life from Gear and Paragon, and Fortify from Safeguard and Skinwalker’s Aspect.
Supporting Skills are Blood Howl, Poison Creeper, and Earthen Bulwark:
- Blood Howl gives Attack Speed and is also the method to refresh Werewolf buffs like Heightened Senses.
- Poison Creeper periodically poisons enemies, and the active Skill use Immobilizes and Poisons enemies in a wide area.
- Earthen Bulwark is another defensive layer, also applying Unstoppable.
This build uses Petrify as its Ultimate Skill. It is a welcome Crowd Control, Spirit Generator, and heavy Critical Strike Damage multiplier. At rank 5, it will also reset the cooldown on any non-Ultimate Skills.
The Key Passive for this build is Ursine Strength, for the consistent damage multiplier, Overpower damage, and Max life.
Bestial Rampage can potentially be faster play during speedfarming in combination with Wildheart Hunger, but requires constant shapeshifting between Werebear and Werewolf to maintain the bonuses. This can be a disruptive combination.
Paragon
The Paragon Board is a progression system unlocked at Level 60, giving player power through Common stat Nodes, Magic affix Nodes, Rare leveled Glyphs, and Legendary board-exclusive Nodes. For general paragon board information, check the guide here. Paragon Points are earned from leveling, Renown and Altars of Lilith.
The recommended Paragon boards for the Shifter Pulverize Druid are listed above. The following section goes over some explanations and descriptions for the pathing process for the Shifter Pulverize Druid.
Broadly speaking, decisions for pathing through the Druid paragon board are divided into three categories:
- Damage – The paragon boards provide a significant amount of Damage Multipliers and Additives. This includes:
- Socketed Glyphs such as Fang and Claw
- Legendary Nodes such as Ancestral Guidance and Earthen Devastation.
- Magic and Rare nodes such as Impel and Reclaim.
- Defense – The paragon boards help reach goals on Damage Reduction, Armor and Resistances. This includes:
- Damage Reduction is improved from nodes like Bulwark and Nature-born.
- Resistance Nodes increase resistance against non-physical attacks.
- Armor goals are reached with the help of Armor nodes like Spearhead.
- Build Functionality – The paragon boards improve Spirit Generation for the build from a few sources, including:
- Various Max Spirit and Spirit on kill Magic and Rare nodes on the Ancestral Guidance board.
- Intelligence nodes increase Spirit Generation.
Spirit Generation
This build is a Basic Attack and Spender alternating build; cast your Basic Skill, cast your Pulverize. Spirit is managed from a variety of sources:
- Resource Cost Reduction on 2-handed weapon, and Spirit Generation Tempers on Rings.
- Paragon Nodes in Ancestral Guidance for Spirit on Kill, Spirit Generation and Max Spirit.
- The Wolf’s Spirit Boon Energize.
- Casts of Claw.
This is generally sufficient in the Endgame to maintain the Spirit balance for an Alternator playstyle. However, if these are insufficient sources while leveling and gearing, consider using one or more of the following supplementary options:
- Use Spirit Boon Gift of the Stag, replacing Wariness.
- Use the Spirit Management Runeword Setup.
- User the Spirit Management Mercenary Setup.
- Spirit Per Second on Boots, Chest and Helm.
- Use Starlight Aspect, replacing Raw Might Aspect.
- Use Aspect of Quicksand with Aspect of the Umbral.
- Use Aspect of the Dark Dance for periodic free casts of Pulverize.
Changelog
- 3 March, 2025: Minor updates for 2.1.3.
- 19 Jan, 2025: Updated for on Season 7 and Patch 2.1 updates. Two tab paragon board introduced.
- 15 October, 2024: Updated for new onsite Paragon Tool.
- 27 September, 2024: Updated for Season 6. Changes to Paragon, Skill Tree, Skill Bar, and recommended Uniques.
- 7 August, 2024: Updated for post-launch of season 5. Small changes to weapon type and optional unique item recommendations.
- 5 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.
- May 6, 2024: Guide reworked for the significant 1.4.0 changes to gearing and for season 4 speculative changes. Format changed to frontload basic build information and offer extra information and options afterwards. Paragon Board redesigned for better Damage Reduction and output.
