Stormclaw Druid Endgame Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 5)

Build Introduction

The Stormclaw Druid is a fast, simple, and tanky Basic Skill build with a melee playstyle, using Greatstaff of the Crone to deliver a high volume of Claw and Storm Strike. Speed between enemies, grouping packs, and cleaving them down.

This guide covers everything necessary to get started on your Stormclaw adventure including Skill Tree points, Paragon, Gearing, and Seasonal updates. The guide will primarily cover Endgame pushing, but will also cover alternative options, in-depth gameplay information as well as Gauntlet considerations.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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 Unique Items are required for build functionality to get started on the Stormclaw Druid:

Required Uniques

Greatstaff of the Crone

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Skill Bar for Stormclaw Druid

Earthen Bulwark Poison Creeper Hurricane Cataclysm Claw Maul

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.

• If you need more Fortify generation, swap Calamity for Bolster.
• In farm or speed content, swap Iron Feather for Swooping Attacks.

Paragon

The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Stormclaw Druid. All Glyphs are placed as if they are max radius (Level 15+).

Starting Board

Click this link to see the paragon board in its entirety! Paragon Board images are courtesy of d4builds.gg.

From the starting board, path up, placing the Territorial Glyph into the Glyph Socket.

Inner Beast

For the second board, choose Inner Beast, placed against the Starting Board. Socket the Werewolf glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

Thunderstruck

For the third board, choose Thunderstruck, placed against the right exit of the Inner Beast board. Socket the Spirit glyph, and take the Thunderstruck Legendary Node.

Ancestral Guidance

For the fourth board, choose Ancestral Guidance, placed against the bottom exit of the Thunderstruck board. Socket the Fang and Claw Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

Heightened Malice

For the fifth board, choose Heightened Malice, placed against the right exit of the Ancestral Guidance board. Socket the Undaunted glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

Constricting Tendrils

For the sixth board, choose Constricting Tendrils, placed against the top exit of the Inner Beast board. Socket the Exploit Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

Survival Instincts

For the final board, choose Survival Instincts, placed against the bottom side of the Heightened Malice board, rotated once. take the Bulwark Rare node and surrounding Damage Reduction to Fortify Magic nodes.

For further info on Paragon choices, check the Paragon Information in the Additional Information Section.

Gear, Stats, Gems and Elixirs

The following are the recommended Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems, and Elixirs for the Stormclaw Druid.

Legendary Aspects

Gear Slots with multiple options are listed in recommended priority. Any slot with an Optional Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power.

Slot	Gem	Aspect	Unique/Legendary Aspect Power
Weapon	Royal Topaz	(Required) Greatstaff of the Crone	Claw is now a Storm Skill and also casts Storm Strike at 120-200% normal damage.
Helm	Royal Ruby	(Recommended) Godslayer Crown OR Juggernaut’s Aspect	When you Stun, Freeze, or Immobilize an Elite enemy, or damage a Boss, it Pulls In Nearby enemies. You deal 30-60% increased damage to them for 3 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 12 seconds.
Chest	Royal Ruby	(Recommended)Mad Wolf’s Glee OR Hectic Aspect	Werewolf form is now your true form, and you gain +2-5 Ranks to all Werewolf Skills.
Gloves		Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain 15-30%[+] Attack Speed.
Pants	Royal Ruby	(Defensive) Aspect of Might OR (Offensive) Wildbolt Aspect	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for 2.0-7.0 seconds.
Boots		(Recommended) Wildheart Hunger OR Aspect of Concussive Strikes	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 Moonrise	Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining 40-80% Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
Ring 1	Royal Diamond	(Recommended) Mjölnic Ryng OR Runeworker’s Conduit Aspect	While Cataclysm is active, you gain unlimited Spirit and deal [X] [40-100]% increased damage.
Ring 2	Royal Diamond	(single target) Aspect of Adaptability OR (multitarget) Overcharged Aspect	When cast below 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource, once per cast. When cast at or above 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills deal 40-80% increased damage.

For information on Legendary Aspects and the updated Codex of Power, see here.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the final 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
Weapon – Greatstaff of the Crone (Required)	Critical Strike Damage Damage to Close Enemies Storm Strike Chains to extra Targets ranks in Basic Skills
Helm – Godslayer Crown (Recommended)	Cooldown Reduction Maximum Life Elite Damage All Stats
Helm – Legendary Aspect	Max Life Willpower Cooldown Reduction Lucky Hit Chance	Worldly Endurance – Max Life Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Chest – Mad Wolf’s Glee (Recommended)	Max Life Werewolf Attack Speed Lupine Ferocity’s Damage Bonus Ranks to Digitigrade Gait
Chest – Legendary Aspect	Willpower Max Life Armor Ranks to Defensive Skills	Worldly Endurance – Maximum Life Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Gloves	Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Willpower Lucky Hit Chance	Shapeshifting Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Pants	Ranks to Claw OR Storm Strike OR Ranks to Basic Skill Willpower Armor Max Life	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor% Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Boots – Wildheart Hunger	Movement Speed Shapeshifting Attack Speed Cold Resistance Ranks to Heightened Senses
Boots – Legendary Aspect	Impicit: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown By 1.5 Seconds Willpower Movement Speed Max Life	Natural Motion – Movement Speed Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Amulet	Ranks to Envenom Critical Strike Chance Movement Speed Resource Cost Reduction	Natural Motion – Movement Speed Shapeshifting Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance
Ring – Mjölnic Ryng	Willpower Critical Strike Chance Movement Speed While Cataclysm is Active Ranks to Endless Tempest
Rings – Legendary Aspect	Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Critical Strike Damage	Shapeshifting Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance Ultimate Efficiency —   Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction

• Damage to Close is important for Thunderstruck. The Gear Affix on Greatstaff of the Crone is sufficient to cap this Node.
• Chance to Immobilize or Stun is useful for Godslayer Crown.
• Armor cap is 9230 against any enemies level 100 and above, for up to 85% Damage Reduction. This is generally reached at 925 Item Power with either one Armor Gear Affix with one Total Armor% Temper, or a maxed Juggernaut’s Aspect.

For the dedicated page for Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check here.

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Royal Topaz for Basic Skill 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 bonuses.
• 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 required, recommended or situational for the Stormclaw Druid:

• (Required) Greatstaff of the Crone is necessary for the build to function well, making Claw a Storm ability, boosting Claw and Storm Strike damage, and doubling the amount of Basic Attacks you are able to cast at once. The Damage to Close on the Staff is sufficient to cap Thunderstruck.
• (Recommended) Godslayer Crown is a strong multiplier and grouping tool, triggered when Elite enemies are stunned, frozen, or immobilized, or when dealing any damage to a Boss. The active cast of Poison Creeper, and Immobilization or Stun Tempers on gear to trigger this effect.
• (Recommended) Mad Wolf’s Glee is an excellent offensive Unique Item, giving movement speed, Bonuses to Lupine Ferocity and and Skill Ranks to Werewolf Skills, including Claw.
• (Recommended) Wildheart Hunger Gives a 5 second buff that boosts a stacking damage buff every 2 second, up to 20 stacks of the damage buff. This means a shapeshift to Werebear or Werewolf needs to happen at least every 5 seconds, to maintain the damage stacks. This can be a disruptive Unique Item to gameplay, but the multiplier is hard to ignore. Use Maul to periodically refresh the Wildheart buff.
• (Optional) Tempest Roar is another optional helm that could be beneficial. It makes storm skills like Hurricane, Storm Strike and Cataclysm into werewolf Skills, which would receive Shapeshifting passive boosts and keep you in Shapeshift Form.
• (Optional, convenience) Airidah’s Inexorable Will is a quality of life grip with strong affixes, but at a marked tradeoff in this Aspect heavy build. Can be useful for speed/farm where you do not need the Legendary Aspect’s damage.

Mythic Unique Items

If acquired, the following Mythic Unique Items are recommended for the build:

• (High Value)Harlequin Crest is better defensively over Godslayer Crown, with strong Gear Affixes and ranks to all Skills. This can allow the build to push higher while staying safer.
• (Offensive, multitarget) Andariel’s Visage can be a stronger cleave damage option, with high Poison damage and strong affixes. If used, pair this with a Fists of Fate to heavily improve the rate that the Visage’s effect triggers. Move Rapid Aspect to ring.
• (Defensive) Tyrael’s Might is a strong Defensive option over Mad Wolf’s Glee.

Rotation

1. Maul in place before engaging to activate Werebear form for Bestial Rampage.
2. Maintain Hurricane while engaged with enemies for Damage Reduction.
3. Maintain Cataclysm for the Mjölnic Ryng Damage Buff.
4. Maintain Shapeshifting Buffs such as Bestial Rampage and Heightened Senses. Use Maul for Werebear buffs and Claw for Werewolf buffs.
5. Apply Crowd Controls and Poison to packs with Poison Creeper. The immobilize can trigger Godslayer Crown.
6. Claw your enemies!

Maul does not need to hit a target for the beneficial Werebear Shapeshifting effects. It may be convenient to Force Hold and cast.

Earthen Bulwark is a Defensive Skill providing Barrier and Unstoppable. Use as needed.

Check out the advanced Mechanics and Playstyle section for a more in-depth description on how the build works, what synergies exist and what to look out for.

Season 5: Season of the Infernal Hordes

The following list details the important changes in the Season 5 Patch Updates that are specific to the Hurricane Druid. For general Season 5 information, check out our Season 5 Hub.

Itemization:

• Several Changes to all Unique Item Gear Affixes, including buffs to Greatstaff of the Crone!
• New Item – Mjölnic Ryng – -While Cataclysm is active, you gain unlimited Spirit and deal 40-100%X increased damage.
• New Aspect – Wildbolt Aspect – Every 3.5-2.0 seconds, Distant enemies are Pulled In to you and take 10% increased damage for 3 seconds.
• New Temper – Ultimate Efficiency – for Ultimate Skill cooldown reduction.
• Runeworker’s Conduit Aspect – New Effect – Critical Strikes with Storm skills that you cast charge the air around you for 3 seconds causing a Lightning Bolt to periodically hit an enemy in the area for (250%-350% Weapon Damage) Lightning damage. Your Lightning Bolts deal 20-40%[x] increased damage.

Skills and Stats:

• Gain 1% increased Skill Damage for every 8 primary Core Stat, reduced from 10 primary Core Stat.
• Hurricane Damage buffed from 187% to 346%.
• Poison Creeper can now be cast while moving.
• Cataclysm Lightning Strike rate is doubled. Now more consistently hits enemies with its lightning strikes.
• Lupine Ferocity Reduced amount of hits from 6 to 3 to benefit from the effect.
• Heightened Senses increased for each Skill Rank from 2% to 3%.
• Thunderstruck Now has a maximum bonus capped at 60%.
• Werewolf Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Advanced Information

Time to get started on your Stormclaw 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.

Mechanics and Playstyle

The Stormclaw Druid has simple gameplay. Use Claw to kill your enemies. Greatstaff of the Crone boosts Claw and Storm Strike damage, makes Claw a Storm skill so it can benefit from Nature damage passives and effects, and casts Storm Strike with every Claw cast. Since Storm Strike is a triggered effect from Claw, it does not need to be on the Skill Bar.

Supporting Abilities and Effects

Earthen Bulwark provide defensive benefits and give Unstoppable.

Maul will help refresh buffs from Wildheart Hunger, Bestial Rampage, Quickshift, and Heightened Senses.

Hurricane provides a Damage Reduction debuff on enemies, and triggers damage events for Calm Before the Storm to maintain Cataclysm uptime.

Poison Creeper poisons enemies, applies Immobilize in a large area. This Immobilize can trigger effects for Godslayer Crown.

Cataclysm casts Lightning Storm and Tornado frequently, and with Mjölnic Ryng can provide a hefty 100% multiplier to all damage. Cooldown Reduction Gear Affix, Endless Tempest ranks and Calm Before the Storm and Calamity Spirit Boons help keep this Skill active.

Bestial Rampage gives strong damage and attack speed, and is a Key Passive well worth using. However, this requires disruptive maintenance to keep the buffs active. Maul will have to be cast and the Werebear form held for 2 seconds every 15 seconds. Since we are also juggling other Shapeshifting effects like Wildheart Hunger, Quickshift and Heightened Senses, the playstyle requirements are already there. Other options can include:

• Lupine Ferocity now triggers every 3rd attack event. This boosts our Claw damage significantly, especially when the enemies are in the Injured State. This multiplier is boosted further with Mad Wolf’s Glee. At a slight damage loss, it can be used over Bestial Rampage as a convenience choice.
• Ursine Strength provides a smaller, more consistent damage buff and bonus to Max Life. The damage multiplier is active in any form, so long as you are Healthy. Healthy means current Life is above 80%. The health bonus can be periodically refreshed with casts of Maul.

We benefit from several layered Attack Speed buffs, including Paragon nodes Aspect of the Moonrise, Rapid Aspect, and Attack Speed Gear Affixes, Paragon and Tempers.

Paragon Information

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. For general paragon board information, check the guide here.

The recommended Paragon boards with images for the Stormclaw Druid are listed above. The following section goes over some explanations and descriptions for the pathing process for the Stormclaw 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 asFang and Claw, Spirit and Territorial.
  • Legendary Nodes such as Thunderstruck.
  • Magic and Rare nodes such as Shapeshifter for Willpower and Shapeshifting Skill Damage or Havoc for Critical Strike Damage and Physical Damage
  • Debuff application such as Exploit to apply Vulnerable.
• Defense – The paragon boards help reach goals on Damage Reduction, Armor, and Resistances. This includes:
  • Damage Reduction is improved from Werewolf, Undaunted, and Territorial secondary effects, as well as individual nodes providing bonuses like Damage Reduction against Vulnerable enemies.
  • Resistances are improved from Magic and Rare Resistance nodes, with Fang and Claw bonuses improving their nearby Resistance nodes.
  • Armor goals are reached with the help of Armor nodes in Inner Beast.
• Build Functionality – While some other Druid builds can benefit directly from utility nodes like Max Spirit, Spirit on Kill, or Spirit on Critical, the Stormclaw Druid does not use Spirit spenders so does not need these things.

Controller vs Keyboard and Mouse

Stormclaw can play smoother on a controller. Controllers default to allowing movement while holding Basic Attacks. Keyboard and mouse users will find some restrictions in movement while casting and may have to click a lot to retarget. Some ways to improve quality of life on keyboard and mouse can include any of the following in combination:

• Change Keybind settings to deselect ‘Combine Move / Interact / Basic Skill slot’ along with rebinding their Basic Skill to not be left clicked.
• Use Claw on another keybind.
• Change Preset movement setting to WASD.

Gauntlet Optimization

The Gauntlet is a Trial event dungeon that changes weekly. The format is a point score system over 8 minutes, and players will compete in weekly Leaderboards for fame and prize.

The enemies are level 124, which is the equivalent to Tier 70 nightmare dungeons. Compared to a Tier 100 Nightmare dungeon, the enemies will hurt less, but speed counts even more!

Stormclaw is a fast and competitive build that can speed through content. However, it lacks in the multitarget and AoE map clearing that may show up in the Gauntlet.

The Gearing and Paragon setups for Gauntlet will take less Armor, Max Life, Damage Reductions, and top-end multipliers, and instead tune for speed, uptime, and efficiency. The following recommendations are for generic Gauntlet play, and considerations may change week to week as new maps are shown.

Gearing and Legendary Affixes for Gauntlet

Use the same Legendary Aspects and Unique Items for the Gauntlet.

Gauntlet Skills

To make the most of the Stomclaw Druid inside the Gauntlet, a few changes are made to the build for more output and mobility.

• For active abilities, swap Poison Creeper for Shred, Enhanced Shred and Primal Shred. Shred will be used as a gap closer and mobility tool to keep you moving through the Gauntlet.

Gauntlet Paragon Board

The Paragon Board has a similar layout, but gives up some Armor and Max Life nodes to take some more damage nodes. CLICK THIS LINK to see the Paragon Board in its entirety. Paragon Board is courtesy of d4builds.gg.

Changelog

• 7 August, 2024: Updated for post-launch of season 5. Some changes to Tempering recommendations and improving readability.
• 3 August, 2024: Updated for patch 1.5.0 and Season of the Infernal Horde.
• 17 June, 2024: Updated for mid-season patch 1.4.3.
• 5 May, 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.
• 9 March 2024: Guide Created, fully replacing previous guide.

• Ownership transferred.
• Adjusted Gear, Skills, and Paragon sections to hit defensive stats targets and improve overall damage output.
• Improved readability, explanations, and options.