Stormclaw – Druid Build Guide for Diablo 4

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 and cleave 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 considerations, but will also cover alternative options and in-depth gameplay information.

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 Debilitating Roar

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.

Paragon

The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Stormclaw Druid.

The road to max paragon level is long. Pathing priority should be the following:

• Path for the Legendary Node effects and the board’s Glyph Slots, filling out enough surrounding nodes to activate the Additional Bonus for the Glyph.
• Fill out Rare Nodes along the path taken for Legendary Nodes and Glyphs.
• Take the rest of the paths inside the Glyph Radius, such as filling in all Dexterity nodes for Spirit for their additive bonuses.
• Take the branching paths to the rest of the Rare Nodes.
• Fill out the remaining Magic Nodes near their Rare Nodes.
• Complete the rest of the board.

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 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 Mythic Unique or Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power to use while still leveling and gearing.

Slot	Gem	Aspect	Unique/Legendary Aspect Power
Weapon	Grand Topaz	(Required Unique) Greatstaff of the Crone	Claw is now a Storm Skill and also casts Storm Strike at 175-250% normal damage.
Helm	Grand Sapphire	(Recommended Mythic) Heir of Perdition (Recommended Unique) Tempest Roar Juggernaut’s Aspect	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)Mad Wolf’s Glee Hectic Aspect	If you haven’t attacked in the last 2 seconds, gain Stealth and 40% Movement Speed.
Gloves		Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt	You deal 25-65% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf.
Pants	Grand Sapphire	(Defensive) Aspect of Might OR (Offensive) Wildbolt Aspect	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for 2-10 seconds.
Boots		(Recommended) Wildheart Hunger OR Aspect of Concussive Strikes	Shapeshifting into a new animal form increases the value of your Bestial Rampage bonuses by 2-5%, up to 20-50%. This bonus decays by 2% per second.
Amulet	Grand Amethyst	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 40-100% Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
Ring 1	Grand Sapphire	(Recommended) Mjölnic Ryng OR Aspect of the Unsatiated	While Cataclysm is active, you gain unlimited Spirit and deal 40-100% increased damage.
Ring 2	Grand Ruby	(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 20-100% 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. 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
Weapon – Greatstaff of the Crone (Required)	Chance for Stormstrike to Hit Twice Damage to Close Enemies Storm Strike Chains to extra Targets Ranks in Basic Skills
Helm – (Recommended Mythic) Heir of Perdition	Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Movement Speed Ranks to Core 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 – (Recommended Mythic) Shroud of False Death	All Stats Maximum Life Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Resource Generation
Chest – (Recommended Unique) Mad Wolf’s Glee	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 – Legendary Aspect	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 – Legendary Aspect	Ranks to Claw OR Storm Strike OR Ranks to Basic Skill Armor Willpower Max Life	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor% Nature Magic Innovation – Hurricane Duration
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.
• Get at least one Hurricane Duration temper for stronger coverage of the Skill.
• 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 the dedicated page for Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check here.

Gems and Runewords

The following are the recommended Gem and Runeword setups for the Stormclaw Druid:

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Topaz for Basic Skill damage	Grand Sapphire for Willpower	Grand Amethyst for Shadow Resistance Grand Sapphire for Cold Resistance Grand Ruby for Fire Resistance

Poison and Lightning Resistances are covered by Paragon nodes.

Runewords

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. Some 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 combination options for the Stormclaw Druid, placed in the 2 Handed Weapon and into one Armor slot:

Runeword Combination	Runeword Effects
Bac Wat	Bac – Gain: 50 Offering. Travel 5 meters. Wat – Requires: 100 Offering Cooldown: 1 Second. Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.
Xol Kry	Xol – Gain: 150 Offering. Evoke power from another Class. Kry – Requires: 300 Offering Cooldown: 3 Seconds. Evoke the Spiritborn’s, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies.

Horrid Decrepify is an efficient way to gain offering for Xol. Casts of Vortex can help group and cluster enemies efficiently.

Other combinations can also situationally work well; adjust to the content you are running. These can include:

• (Offering Efficiency) other Ritual options such as Lith for Stand Still, Moni for Skill after Moving, or Feo for get Crowd Controlled may trigger more often.
• (Defensive) Que Invocation for Earthen Bulwark can be strong Barrier and Unstoppable.
• (Early Gearing) While leveling and gearing, before legendary Runes become accessible, many Magic and Rare runeword combinations such as MoniGar for Critical Strike Chance will be beneficial for the build.

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:

• Greatstaff of the Crone (Required) is necessary for the build to function well, making Claw a Storm Skill, 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) Tempest Roar has poor gearing affixes for a non-spender build, but importantly it makes Storm Strike, Hurricane and Cataclysm into Werewolf Skills, allowing the skill to benefit from multipliers like Lust for Carnage, get ranks from Mad Wolf’s Glee and other Shapeshifting bonuses.

• (Recommended) Mad Wolf’s Glee is an excellent offensive Unique Item, giving movement speed and Skill Ranks to Werewolf Skills, including Claw.

• (Recommended) Wildheart Hunger Gives a stacking bonus to Bestial Rampage, and is a strong offensive option for the boots slot. Periodic casts of supporting abilities will force form change to give some stacks, but the general gameplay rotation will not keep stacks capped.

• (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:

• (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.

• (Optional Defensive)Harlequin Crest has 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.

• (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.

• (Optional Defensive) Tyrael’s Might is a strong Defensive option over Mad Wolf’s Glee. Generally the Stormclaw Druid will not have the topend damage to push content where this defensive level is necessary.

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 Stormclaw 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
• Opportunity – Claw

Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed bonuses.

Rotation

1. Maintain Hurricane while engaged with enemies for Damage Reduction.
2. Innate Debilitating Roar to activate Werebear form for Bestial Rampage.
3. Maintain Cataclysm for the Mjölnic Ryng Damage Buff.
4. Apply Crowd Controls and Poison to packs with Poison Creeper.
5. Claw your enemies!

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 6: Season of Hatred

The following list details the important changes in the Season 6 Patch Updates that are specific to the Stormclaw Druid. For general Season 6 information, check out our Season 6 Hub.

Persisting Issues:

• Aspect of Adaptability still does not work for hits from Storm Strike.

Itemization:

• New items including Shroud of False Death and Heir of Perdition.
• Hunter’s Zenith – New Effect – 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 Shapeshifting Skills reduces this timer by 1 second, or 2 seconds if you change to a new animal form.
• Wildheart Hunger no longer usable with Ursine Strength – New Effect – Shapeshifting into a new animal form increases the value of your Bestial Rampage bonuses by 2.0-5.0%, up to 20-50%. This bonus decays by 2% per second.
• Mad Wolf’s Glee Ranks of Werewolf Skills increased from 2-5 to 4-7.

Skills and Stats:

• Paragon Boards are now limited to 5 boards; the Starter Board and up to four Class Boards.
• Several Paragon Boards have shifted their nodes around.
• New Skill Passives including Feral Aptitude.
• Quickshift – New Effect – Shapeshifting into a new animal form grants 1/2/3% increased damage, up to 6/12/18%. This bonus is lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
• Heightened Senses – New Effect – When Shapeshifting, Werebear grants 3/6/9% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 2/4/6% Movement Speed. Both bonuses persist as long as you are in either animal form and are doubled while both are active. They are lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
• Bestial Rampage – New Effect – When Shapeshifting, Werebear grants 30% increases damage and Werewolf grants 20% Attack Speed. Both bonuses persist as long as you are in either animal form, but are lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
• Cataclysm – Lightning Strike damage increased from 95% to 115% Weapon Damage. Lightning Strikes now cannot hit the same target more than once every 0.5 seconds.
• Lust for Carnage now also gives 50% more damage to Werewolf Critical Strikes.

Patch 2.0.5

• Aspect of Adaptability – Both effects now apply to Basic Skills even when they are not Cast, such as the free Storm Strike triggered from Greatstaff of the Crone.
• Storm Strike – Removed the 20% reduced damage when Storm Strike chains to surrounding enemies.
• Bestial Rampage:
  • Werebear damage increased from 30% to 40%.
  • Werewolf attack speed increased from 20% to 30%.
• Spirit Boon Calamity increased to 35%
• Spirit Boon Avian Wrath increased to 40%
• Spirit Boon Swooping Attacks increased to 20%.
• Andariel’s Visage damage increased from 3000% to 4000%.
• Airidah’s Inexorable Will damage scaling increased from 2.0% to 10.0% per 1 point of Willpower.

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.

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.

Supporting Abilities and Effects

Earthen Bulwark provide defensive benefits and give Unstoppable.

Innate Debilitating Roar is used for Defense and a short Attack Buff, as well as maintaining Werebear buffs such as 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.

Alternative Skills that can be flexed in can include:

• Preserving Blood Howl for Attack Speed
• Trample for another mobility source and Unstoppable
• Primal Shred for a strong mobility option.

Ultimate and Key Passives

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. Debilitating Roar and Claw for Werewolf buffs. Since we are also juggling other Shapeshifting effects like Wildheart Hunger, Quickshift and Heightened Senses, the playstyle requirements are already there.

Petrify Variant:

Petrify is another valid Ultimate setup, offering periodic Stun and Critical Strike Damage debuffs on enemies. To play this style:

• Exchange ranks in Cataclysm for Petrify.
• Use the XolYom Runeword for periodic casts of Petrify.
• Use Airidah’s Inexorable Will instead of Mjölnic Ryng. Between Casts of Petrify and the Runeword setup, the yoink from Airidah will be a high Quality of Life increase and an effective grouping tool.
• Use Utility Tempers for Petrify Duration. At extreme counts of utility tempers this can mean enemies just stay Stunned.

Paragon Information

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 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 as Headhunter and Spirit.
  • Legendary Nodes such as Thunderstruck.
  • 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 individual nodes providing bonuses like Damage Reduction against Vulnerable enemies.
  • Resistances are improved from Magic and Rare Resistance nodes.
  • Armor goals are reached with the help of Armor nodes.
• 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.

Changelog

• 15 October, 2024: Updated for new onsite Paragon Tool.
• 29 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. 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.