Windspike – Druid Build for Diablo 4

17 November 2024 Note:

Hi friends! Ownership of the page has transferred. For now, this build is just being assessed for accuracy. A full review of the page will follow before season 7, assessing viability, readability and as necessary, rewriting what needs changed or setting the guide page to Legacy.

The Windspike Druid was a novel and reasonably competitive build in previous seasons next to its various counterparts like Wind Shear-Calm Breeze, Earth Spike- Seismic Shift and their Shard of Verathiel Basic Attack versions. All these Basic Attack versions have fallen behind as Core, Wrath or Ultimate based builds have gotten buffed and pulled ahead. This build was made at a point where the Greatstaff of the Crone was weaker and Stormclaw was not as competitive.

Of currently available Basic Attack Druid builds, Stormclaw is the strongest, and is the recommended build for this playstyle. Find our version here:

Icyveins Stormclaw Druid

As always, thank you for your continued support!

TheSteve

Build Introduction

This tanky build centers around using the Basic Attack Wind Shear to proc Earth Spike by using Nature’s Fury. It does not rely on any Spirit spenders and is based on Lucky Hit procs to make for a fun and interesting midrange line caster.

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

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Follow the points allocated in the Skill Tree above for the complete 71-point build. The additional 12 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 50% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive Skill
Scythe Talons	Eagle	Gain 15% increased Critical Strike Chance.
Gift of the Advantageous Beast	Deer	Gain 15% Movement Speed and 15% Impairment Reduction.
Obsidian Slam	Snake	Every 10th Kill will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower
Swooping Attacks	Eagle	Gain 20% Attack Speed.

Paragon

Starting Board

Grab the Rare nodes and place the Human glyph into the glyph socket and exit north placing the Thunderstruck board

Thunderstruck

Grab the Legendary and Rare nodes and place the Exploit Glyph into the glyph socket and exit North placing the Constricting Tendrils board

Constricting Tendrils

Grab the Legendary and Rare nodes placing the Earth and Sky glyph into the glyph socket and exit West placing the Heightened Malice board

Heightened Malice

Grab the Legendary and rare nodes and place the Territorial Glyph into the Glyph socket and exit West placing the Lust for Carnage board

Lust for Carnage

Grab the Rare nodes as shown in the Image and place the Headhunter Glyph into the Glyph socket, using left over points inside the glyph radius to fix your stats for Rare nodes you have taken.

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

For details on Tempering and Masterworking make sure to read our Tempering and Masterworking section below.

Legendary Aspects

Gear Slot	Gems	Aspect / Unique	Legendary Aspect / Unique Power
Helm	Grand Sapphire	Undying Aspect	When you cast a Skill, you heal for 0.5-2.5% Life. This heals for an additional 1% life while you are below 50% Life.
Chest	Grand Sapphire	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for 2-8 seconds.
Gloves	N/A	Seismic-shift Aspect	Earth Spike deal 50-70% increased damage and launches Spikes in a line
Pants	Grand Sapphire	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	Aspect of Metamorphosis	When you Evade you turn into a cloud of bats, becoming Unstoppable for 2.5 seconds. Enemies along your path take Physical damage and are inflicted with Vampiric Curse. Evade’s Cooldown is increased by 10-5 seconds.
Amulets(50% bonus)	Grand Diamond	Symbiotic Aspect	When the Nature’s Fury Key Passive triggers a free Skill, your non Ultimate Cooldowns of the opposite type are reduced by 2.5-6 seconds.
Ring	Grand Diamond	Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain 15-35% Attack Speed.
Ring	Grand Diamond	Aspect of Adaptability	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.
2 Handed Weapon (Axe or Staff)	Grand 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 40-100%Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.

Gems and Runewords

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
Grand Topaz For Basic Skill Damage.	Grand Sapphire For increased Willpower.	Grand Diamond Or Whatever Resist you need

Runewords are a flexible power to help strengthen a build or fill its weaknesses. Two Runes combine for the effect:

• A conditional trigger Runeword of Ritual that supplies Offerings when the condition is met
• An effect Runeword of Invocation that costs Offerings.

Once the Runeword of Ritual has supplied enough Offerings, the Runeword of Invocation will trigger its effect. Some Runewords 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 Combination	Effects
Xol Yom	Gain: 150 Offering Evoke power from another Class. Requires: 500 Offering Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies and increasing your Critical Strike Damage against them.
Cir Wat	Gain: 30 Offering Cast the same non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row. Requires: 100 Offering Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.

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. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides 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: Chance for Wind Shear Projectiles to Cast Twice
• Worldly Fortune: Lucky Hit: 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 Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Endurance: 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: Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Endurance:Total Armor or Natural Resistance: Any Res you need
Gloves	1. % Lucky Hit Chance 2. % Attack Speed 3. % Critical Strike Chance	Natural Finesse: Damage to Distant Enemies Natural Schemes: Barrier Generation
Pants	1. Ranks to Basic Skills 2. Maximum Life 3. % to any Resistance or Armor	Worldly Fortune: Lucky Hit: Up to a Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Endurance:Total Armor or Natural Resistance: Any Res you need
Boots	1. % Movement Speed 2. Maximum Life 3. % to any Resistance	Druid Motion: Trample Cooldown Reduction Natural Schemes: Barrier Generation
Amulet	1. Ranks to Nature’s Reach/Resonance/Natural Disaster 2. % Lucky Hit Chance 3. % Critical Strike Chance/% Attack Speed	Natural Finesse: Damage to Distant Enemies Natural Motion: Movement Speed
Rings	1. % Lucky Hit Chance 2. % Critical Strike Chance 3. % Attack Speed	Natural Finesse: Damage to Distant Enemies Ultimate Efficiency —  Druid Petrify Cooldown Reduction
2H-Weapons	1. % Critical Strike Damage 2. Willpower 3. Life	Storm Augments: 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.

Mercenaries

Defensive

Main Mercenary – Raheir, The Shieldbearer

• Core Skill: Shield Charge
• Core Passive: Raheir’s Guard
• Iconic Skill: Provoke
• Iconic Passive: Mocking Lure

Reinforcement – Subo, The Drunken Archer

• Reinforcement Ability – Wire Trap
• Opportunity: Wind Shear

Offensive

Main Mercenary – Varyana, the Berserker

• Core Skill: Cleave
• Core Passive: Hysteria
• Iconic Skill: Bloodthirst
• Iconic Passive: Bloodlust

Reinforcement – Subo, The Drunken Archer

• Reinforcement Ability – Wire Trap
• Opportunity: Wind Shear

Rotation and Playstyle

Our damage rotation is actually a priority system and it is the same for AoE and Single Target situations:

1. Keep Earthen Bulwark up.
2. Use Cyclone Armor if surrounded.
3. Use Petrify on elites and bosses.
4. Use Poison Creeper at the start of each pack.
5. Use Trample if you need to escape a pack.
6. 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. If a Unique or Mythic Unique is not listed here, it is NOT recommended and won’t benefit this specific build in any way.

• Harlequin Crest – Mastercraft Cooldown Reduction
• Heir of Perdition – Mastercraft the Critical Strike Chance or Attack Speed
• Shroud of False Death – Mastercraft All Stats

Season 6: Vessel of Hatred

The following list details the changes in the Season 6 Update (Patch 2.0.2) that may pertain to Druid.

• Fixed an issue where the Druid Legendary Nodes Devastation and Thunderstruck did not function.
• Fixed an issue where Earthen Bulwark’s barrier scaled off Base Life instead of Maximum Life.
• Uniques:
• Tempering:
  • Storm Augments
    • +X% Chance for Wind Shear Projectiles to Cast Twice
    • +X% Chance for Tornado Projectiles to Cast Twice
    • +X% Chance for Hurricane to Deal Double Damage
• Gem stat updates, starting with Chipp
  • Ruby (+ Strength), Emerald (+ Dexterity), Topaz (+ Intelligence), Sapphire (+ Willpower): +25/50/75/100/150.
  • Amethyst (+% Barrier Generation): +2/4/6/8/12.
  • Diamond (+ All Stats): +8/16/24/32/50.
  • Skull (+% Healing Received): +4/6/8/10/15.
• Passives/Skills
  • Backlash
    • You deal 4%[x] increased damage for 5 seconds after casting a Defensive Skill.
  • Earthen Bulwark
    • Innate Earthen Bulwark’s damage increased from 30% to 60% Weapon Damage.
  • Trample
    • Updated to more consistently Trample to your target destination, rather than stopping immediately upon hitting terrain.
  • Petrify
    • Previous: Encase all Nearby enemies in stone, Stunning them for 3 seconds. You deal 30%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage to enemies affected by Petrify. Against Bosses the Critical Strike Damage bonus is increased to 50%[x] and its duration is increased to 6 seconds.
    • Now: Generates 100 Spirit. Encase all Nearby enemies in stone, Stunning them for 4 seconds.
  • Prime Petrify
    • Previous: Petrify grants 50 Spirit when cast and its effect durations are increased by 1 second.
    • Now: You deal 30%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage to enemies affected by Petrify. Against Bosses the Critical Strike Damage bonus is increased to 50%[x] and its duration is increased to 7 seconds.
    • Bonus Critical Strike Damage now applies to damage done by your Companions.
  • Nature’s Fury
    • Fixed an issue where the Passive incorrectly triggered from skills other than Casts.
  • Bolster Spirit Boon
    • Fortify amount increased from 25% to 50% of Maximum Life.
• Aspects
  • Seismic-shift Aspect
    • Ranks increased from 17 to 21.
    • Earth Spike bonus damage increased from 35-59%[x] to 50-70%[x].
• Uniques
  • Greatstaff of the Crone
    • Critical Strike Damage Affix replaced with Chance for Stormstrike to Hit Twice.
    • Bonus Stormstrike damage increased from 120-200%[x] to 170-250%[x].
• Paragon
  • Thunderstruck
    • Concentrated
      • Elite Damage changed to Damage to Close Enemies.
    • Deluge
      • Critical Strike Damage changed to Damage to Distant Enemies.
    • Tempest
      • Critical Strike Damage changed to Critical Strike Chance.
  • Earthen Devastation
    • Earthen Power
      • Earth Critical Strike Damage changed to Earth Damage.
    • Oppress
      • Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled changed to Critical Strike Damage.
  • Heightened Malice
    • Poison Conditioned changed to Denial.
    • Toxic Bane changed to All Damage.
    • Overturn changed to Recuperate.
  • Ferocity: +2.5% Companion Cooldown Reduction, +20 Armor
  • Eminence: +6.5% Damage Reduction from Elites, 4% Maximum Life
  • Fortune: +25% Companion Damage, +10 Willpower
  • Resolve: +3% Resistance to All Elements, +10 Willpower
  • Lucky Winds: +5% Lucky Hit Chance, +10% Vulnerable Damage
  • Thunderstruck Board
    • Concentrated (replacing Hubris)
      • Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies / +10 Willpower
      • Now: (Concentrated) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Willpower
    • Hubris (replacing Restorative)
      • Previous: +4% Potion Healing / 4% Maximum Life
      • Now: (Hubris) 4% Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies / +4% Healing Received
  • Earthen Devastation Board
    • Crushing Earth (replacing Resolve)
      • Previous: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +10 Willpower
      • Now: (Crushing Earth) +15% Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies / +10 Willpower
    • Resolve (replacing Crushing Earth)
      • Previous: +10% Earth Damage / +15% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
      • Now: (Resolve) +3% Resistance to All Elements / 4% Maximum Life
  • Heightened Malice Board
    • Toxic Bane (replacing Nature-born)
      • Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies / +10 Willpower
      • Now: (Toxic Bane) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Willpower
    • Nature-born (replacing Toxic Bane)
      • Previous: +10% Damage to Poisoned Enemies / +10% Poison Damage
      • Now: (Nature-born) 4% Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies / +4% Healing Received
  • Constricting Tendrils Board
    • Devastation (replacing Courage)
      • Previous: 4% Maximum Life / +10 Willpower
      • Now: (Devastation) +10% Nature Magic Damage / +10 Willpower
    • Courage (replacing Devastation)
      • Previous: +10% Nature Magic Damage / +16% Damage to Elites
      • Now: (Courage) 4% Maximum Life / +20 Armor

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 spam the spikes 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.

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 60, giving player power through Common stat Nodes, Magic affix Nodes, 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.

Changelog

• November 17, 2024: Ownership of Page transferred. Conducted initial Review of current build for accuracy. A longer Review for viability, readability and build optimization pending before Season 7.
• October 3rd, 2024: Updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2)
• 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.