The Windspike build
This build centers around using the Basic Attack Wind Shear to proc Earth Spike by using Nature’s Fury. It is focused on defensiveness and being able to take any hit. It does not rely on any Spirit spenders and is based on Lucky Hit procs to make for a fun and interesting ranged caster build.
We have what is going to be one of the most sought after Uniques in the game, the Melted Heart of Selig. This makes it so that when we take damage, it drains our Spirit first, at a rate of 3-6 Spirit per 1% of Life that would have been lost.
This Unique, combined with the Skill Tree, Paragon Boards and Legendary Aspects as shown below, will make you an un-killable damage machine capable of face-tanking anything the game can throw at you, taking you into the endgame all the way to Level 100 and beyond.
Note: Expect changes to this guide after more testing is done when Patch 1.5.0 goes live.
Strengths and Weaknesses
- Very tanky due to Amulet
- Fun to play due to lucky hit procs
- No Spirit management problems
- Amulet is one of the rarest items in the game
- Ranged requires targeting
- Dependant on procs
To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.
Build Requirements
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
This endgame build guide assumes your character is at least Level 50 and that you have access to all the aforementioned Unique items. Check the Druid Leveling Guide for a smooth path to Level 50.
Follow the points allocated in the Skill Tree above for the complete 58-point build. The additional 10 skill points are completed using the Renown system.
Spirit Boons – The Druid Specialization
Below is the order in which you should unlock your Spirit Boons. Only offer enough Druidic Spirit Offerings to unlock the first 4 listed Boons and then fully unlock the rest to activate the final Boon with Spirit Bonding.
Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
---|---|---|
Bolster | Wolf | Fortify for 25% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive Skill |
Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain 10% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
Gift of the Stag | Deer | Gain 40 Maximum Spirit. |
Obsidian Slam | Snake | Every 10th Kill will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower |
Swooping Attacks | Eagle | Gain 15% Attack Speed. |
Paragon
We recommend using the following Legendary nodes and Rare Glyphs to truly take this build into the endgame. Note that each Rare Glyph’s information and radius listed below is for the Level 21 version.
1. Starting Board
For the Starting Board, we path along the right side and cross through the middle to place the Territorial Rare Glyph, making sure to allocate enough Dexterity within its radiance as soon as we can. From there we up the left side towards the top and the exit, attaching Thunderstruck without rotating it.
2. Thunderstruck
For Thunderstruck, start by pathing along the bottom over to the Rare Node on the left and then up through the Thunderstruck Legendary Node heading all the way up to the top right to place the Human Rare Glyph in the glyph slot and grab the Rare and Magic Nodes along with every Willpower node within the radius of the glyph. We then path to the right and attach Constricting Tendrils without rotating it.
3. Constricting Tendrils
With the next Paragon Board, Constricting Tendrils, path to the right and place the Exploit Rare Glyph into the socket. Grab all the Dexterity within the radius and all of the Rare and Magic nodes as well. After that, follow along the bottom of the board and go up the middle and along the right, grabbing the Rare and Magic Nodes on the way toward the Constricting Tendrils Legendary Node. Follow the path to the top of the board and attach Earthen Devastation without rotating the board.
4. Earthen Devastation
For this Paragon Board we are simply heading straight up and grabbing the glyph socket and putting the Earth and Sky Rare Glyph in, making sure to grab all the Willpower nodes inside the radius along with the nodes taken in the image above. We will then head back down to the Constricting Tendrils board and exit out the right side placing the Survival Instincts board without rotating it.
5. Survival Insticnts
Our final board is Survival Instincts. We use it just to grab the quick glyph slot that is provides the perfect amount of Dexterity for our last Rare Glyph Spirit. Simply take all the nodes as shown in the image above to get as much Dexterity as possible within the radius of the glyph to increase our Critical Strike Damage.
Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg.
For an in-depth analysis of each board and our particular node choices, please see the detailed Paragon section here.
Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats
The Season of Loot Reborn brought us an incredible shift in how gear and itemization are done. It is a major and will affect the game beyond Season 5‘s confines. For further details, make sure to read our Tempering and Masterworking section below.
Legendary Aspects
Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the assigned slot. Additionally, if you are trying to farm a specific item, we recommend using your Obols to target farm them!
Gear Slot | Gems | Aspect / Unique | Legendary Aspect / Unique Power |
---|---|---|---|
Helm | Royal Ruby | Undying Aspect | When you cast a Skill, you heal for [0.5 – 2.0]% Life. This heals for an additional 1% life while you are below 50% Life. |
Chest | Royal Ruby | Aspect of Might | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0 – 6.0] seconds. |
Gloves | N/A | Seismic-shift Aspect | Earth Spike gains x [35 – 50%] bonus damage, launches spikes in a line, and has a [2 – 1] second Cooldown. |
Pants | Royal Ruby | Aspect of Cyclonic Force | Cyclone Armor also provides Physical Damage Reduction. In addition, Cyclone Armor will also be applied to all Nearby Allies. |
Boots | N/A | If you have Melted Heart of Selig use Symbiotic Aspect Otherwise Use Aspect of Metamorphosis | When the Nature’s Fury Key Passive triggers a free Skill, your non Ultimate Cooldowns of the opposite type are reduced by [3 – 5] seconds. When you Evade you turn into a cloud of bats, becoming Unstoppable for 2.5 seconds. Enemies along your path take [X] Physical damage and are inflicted with Vampiric Curse. Evade’s Cooldown is increased by [10 – 5] seconds. |
Amulets(50% bonus) | Royal Diamond | Melted Heart of Selig If No Heart; then use Symbiotic Aspect here | When the Nature’s Fury Key Passive triggers a free Skill, your non Ultimate Cooldowns of the opposite type are reduced by [3 – 5] seconds. |
Ring | Royal Diamond | Rapid Aspect | Basic Skills gain [15 – 30%] Attack Speed. |
Ring | Royal Diamond | Single Target Aspect of Adaptability OR MultiTarget Overcharged Aspect | Skills deal up to [10 – 20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource. Lucky Hit: Up to a [15 – 25%] chance when dealing Lightning damage to overload the target for 3 seconds, causing any direct damage you deal to them to pulse [X] additional damage to surrounding enemies. |
2 Handed Weapon (Axe or Staff) | Royal Topaz | 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. |
Gems
See below for a more detailed explanation of the best Gems to socket into your gear for each category.
Weapon Gems | Armor Gems | Jewelry Gems |
---|---|---|
Royal Topaz For Basic Skill Damage. | Royal Ruby For increased Maximum Life. | Royal Diamond |
Which Elixirs Should You Use?
Visit the Alchemist and craft an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Elixir of Advantage to increase Attack Speed. Some Elixirs cannot be crafted and only drop from things like Helltides or Nightmare Dungeons. Additionally, make sure to keep your health potion upgraded!
Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes
Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Affixes on the same line are considered to be equally important, but their benefits may vary depending on how much is stacked or other character stats. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. To masterwork, you will need rare materials that only drop from The Pit. Be sure to check our Tempering guide, our Masterworking guide, as well as our guide about The Pit for more details about these topics.
Additionally, there are several very specific affixes that are required to make the build work, they are as follows:
- Storm Augments: [23.5 – 32.5%] Chance for Wind Shear Projectiles to Cast Twice
- Worldly Fortune: Lucky Hit: Up to a [13.5 – 22.5%] Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds
Note: You only need 1 Armor Temper to hit armor cap with 1 armor affix on helm, pants, or chest.
Slot | Targeted Gear Affixes | Tempering Affixes |
---|---|---|
Helm | 1. % Lucky Hit Chance 2. % Cooldown Reduction 3. Maximum Life or Armor | Worldly Fortune: Lucky Hit: Up to a [13.5 – 22.5%] Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Endurance:[10.5-15%] Total Armor or Natural Resistance: Any Res you need |
Chest | 1. Ranks to Defensive Skills OR Ranks to Earthen Bulwark 2. Maximum Life 3. % to any Resistance or Armor | Worldly Fortune: Lucky Hit: Up to a [13.5 – 22.5%] Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Endurance:[10.5-15%] Total Armor or Natural Resistance: Any Res you need |
Gloves | 1. % Lucky Hit Chance 2. % Attack Speed 3. % Critical Strike Chance | Natural Finesse: [72.5 – 95%] Damage to Distant Enemies Natural Schemes: [8 – 12.5%] Barrier Generation |
Pants | 1. Ranks to Basic Skills 2. Maximum Life 3. % to any Resistance or Armor | Worldly Fortune: Lucky Hit: Up to a [13.5 – 22.5%] Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Endurance:[10.5-15%] Total Armor or Natural Resistance: Any Res you need |
Boots | 1. % Movement Speed 2. Maximum Life 3. % to any Resistance | Druid Motion: [8 – 10%] Trample Cooldown Reduction Natural Schemes: [8 – 12.5%] Barrier Generation |
Amulet | 1. Ranks to Nature’s Reach/Resonance/Natural Disaster 2. % Lucky Hit Chance 3. % Critical Strike Chance/% Attack Speed | Natural Finesse: [72.5 – 95%] Damage to Distant Enemies Natural Motion: [8-12.5] Movement Speed |
Rings | 1. % Lucky Hit Chance 2. % Critical Strike Chance 3. % Attack Speed | Natural Finesse: [72.5 – 95%] Damage to Distant Enemies Worldly Stability: [8 – 12.5%] Resource Generation |
2H-Weapons | 1. % Critical Strike Damage 2. Willpower 3. Life | Storm Augments: [23.5 – 32.5%] Chance for Wind Shear Projectiles to Cast Twice Natural Finesse: [72.5 – 95%] Damage to Distant Enemies |
Keep in mind that the maximum Resistance is 70% by default for each element and can be increased to 85% by various sources.
Rotation and Playstyle
Our damage rotation is actually a priority system and it is the same for AoE and Single Target situations:
- Keep Earthen Bulwark up.
- Use Cyclone Armor if surrounded.
- Use Petrify on elites and bosses.
- Use Poison Creeper at the start of each pack.
- Use Trample if you need to escape a pack.
- Use Wind Shear to proc Earth Spike and kill things.
Make sure to check out the advanced Build Mechanics section for a more in-depth description of how the build works, what synergies exist, and what to look out for.
Uniques and Mythic Uniques
Below you will find information on Uniques and Mythic Uniques that are useful for this build. Moreover, if you are interested in target farming Mythic Uniques, check out our How to Farm Mythic Uniques guide.
Uniques
This build does not have a list of recommended Uniques, as none are required.
Mythic Uniques
The information below lists our recommendations for which Mythic Uniques will work best with this build and which Aspects they should replace. Mythic Uniques can start dropping from monsters Level 55 or higher and will always drop at 925 item power. If a Unique or Mythic Unique is not listed here, it is NOT recommended and won’t benefit this specific build in any way.
- Melted Heart of Selig
- Harlequin Crest – Replaces Undying Aspect
Season 5: Infernal Hordes
The following list details the changes in the Season 5 Update (Patch 1.5.0) that may pertain to Druid.
- Cyclone Armor
- Non-Physical Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
- Thunderstruck Legendary Node
- Now has a maximum bonus capped at 60%.
- Human Glyph
- Damage bonus increased from 6.6% to 9.9%.
- Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
- Vigilance
- Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 5% to 7%.
Advanced Information
Below, you will find every additional piece of information you need to know for a more in-depth look at this build.
Build Mechanics
This build utilizes Nature’s Fury along with Wind Shear to proc Earth Spike. This combination along with an incredibly high attack speed from our gear and the new tempering affixes to have a chance to cast an additional Wind Shear will allow us to bypass the cooldown that Seismic-shift Aspect gives to Earth Spike allowing us to stack a ton of damage while immobilizing and stunning everything. Due to Nature’s Fury making any proc’d skill count as both Storm and Earth our Earth Spike will scale off of our increased Lightning damage from our paragon tree.
Defenses
The multilayered defenses of this build start with the damage reduction nodes we take on our skill tree and in our paragon board. From there we combine it with an almost permanent uptime on our Earthen Bulwark to constantly have an extra barrier layer of defense and a near permanent fortify status due to constantly using our defensive skills Earthen Bulwark and Cyclone Armor.
Once you obtain Melted Heart of Selig then your defenses will skyrocket as 75% of the damage you take will be taken from your spirit first before it comes from your life, with the main skills of our build being Wind Shear and Earth Spike we do not use any Spirit spenders and will be constantly at Max Spirit.
Fortify
Fortify is generated through Preserving Earthen Bulwark. Once the Fortify amount is greater than or equal to your current life, you become Fortified and gain a starting default of 15% Damage Reduction.
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 Windspike Druid Endgame Build are listed above. The following section goes over some explanation and descriptions for the pathing process for the Windspike Druid Endgame Build.
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 Spirit, Human, and Exploit
- Legendary Nodes such as Thunderstruck and Constricting Tendrils
- Magic and Rare nodes such as Impel and Prime
- Defense – The paragon boards help reach goals on Damage Reduction, Armor, and Resistances. This includes:
- Damage Reduction is improved from nodes like Hubris and Glyphs like Territorial
- Resistances are improved from Magic and Rare Resistance nodes such as Denial and Resolve
- Build Functionality – The paragon boards improve our build functionality by including the following nodes:
- The Legendary Node Constricting Tendrils allows our nature skills to immobilize our enemies and increases our damage.
Obol Gambling
Obol gambling is a great way to potentially find item upgrades or items missing from your build. Check out the new tool from Icy Veins for gambling Obols in the link below:
Changelog
- August 4th, 2024: Updated for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0)
- June 17th, 2024: Updated for Season 4 Midseason (Patch 1.4.3)
- May 10th, 2024: Updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0)
- March 5th, 2024: Updated for Midseason patch Season 3 (Patch 1.3.3) Changed Legendary Aspects to include two of the new vampiric aspects added in 1.3.3
- January 22nd, 2024: Updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0)
- October 17th, 2023: Updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0)
- August 7th, 2023: Updated for patch 1.1.1.
- July 23rd, 2023: Updated Gems section to reflect the presence of Malignant Hearts
- July 18th, 2023: Updated for Season 1 added Malignant Hearts, updated item affixes, Changed Skill Tree and Skill Bar.