Companion – Druid Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 13)

Build Introduction

Embrace the pack and let your Companions lead the hunt!

The Companion Druid leveling build focuses on a pet playstyle. Command your Wolves, Poison Creeper, and Ravens to quickly clear enemies. By stacking powerful multipliers like Shepherd’s Aspect, Companions scale rapidly and do the heavy lifting for you.

After progressing through the Main Story and reaching level 70, continue your Companion adventure with the Wolf Companion Druid Endgame Guide, or choose any of our Endgame Builds.

For general tips and information about leveling a Druid in Diablo 4, check out our Druid Leveling Page.

Quick Navigation

This guide covers everything necessary to get started on the Companion Leveling Druid, including Skill Tree points, Paragon, Gearing, and Seasonal updates. Jump to the sections you’re looking for here:

Allocation of Skill Points

With the new Skill Tree design, each Skill has Side Upgrades, Form Options, and Variations. Form Options do not cost Skill Points.

The new Skill Tree setup unlocks in stages, permanently opening new sections for allocation. For example, Companion Skills unlock at level 8. From level 8, you could remove all previous skill points you have invested before that, and start from the Companion Skills area. Take note of when points are removed and shuffled around!

Bonus Skill Ranks from Journey or Renown do not affect these unlocks. Excess points can be placed in available ranks, such as Wolves.

This table outlines the recommended Skill Point progression. 69 Points are gained from leveling. The remaining 14 points are gained from completing Renown (Eternal) and Seasonal Journey (Seasonal), for a total of 83 Skill Points.

Order	Skill
1	Claw Rank 1/15
2	Claw Rank 2/15
3	Shred Rank 1/15
4	Shred Rank 2/15
5	Claw Ferocity Side Upgrade
6	Shred Berserking Upgrade
7	**Remove** Ranks in Shred to 1/15 **Remove** Ranks in Claw to 1/15 Wolves Rank 1/15 Wolves Rank 2/15 Poison Creeper Rank 1/15 Ravens Rank 1/15
8	Wolves Rank 3/15
9	Wolves Rank 4/15
10	Wolves Rank 5/15
11	**Remove** Ranks in Wolves to 3/15 Wolves – Stun Side Upgrade Poison Creeper – Active Poisoning Duration Side Upgrade Ravens – Active Damage Bonus Side Upgrade
12	Trample Rank 1
13	Wolves Rank 4/15
14	Wolves Rank 5/15
15	Wolves Rank 6/16
16	**Remove Ranks in Wolves to Rank 4/16** Wolves – Additional Wolf Side Upgrade Poison Creeper – Fortify Side Upgrade Ravens – Additional Ravens Side Upgrade
17	Wolves Rank 5/15
18	Wolves Rank 6/16
19	**Remove Ranks in Wolves to Rank 4/15** Wolves – Versatile Form Wolves – Werewolves Variation Poison Creeper – Versatile Form Poison Creeper – Germinate Variation Ravens – Versatile Form Ravens – Migration Variation
20	Trample – Unstoppable Side Upgrade
21	Trample – Cooldown Reduction
22-31	Trample – Werewolf Form Wolves to Rank 15/15
32	Claw Werewolf Form Claw Dash Variation
33-46	Ravens to Rank 15/15
47-60	Poison Creeper to Rank 15/15
61-75	Shred Variation Stormclaw Shred Rank to 15/15
76-83	Claw to rank 9/15

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

Werewolf PackTrampleRavensPoison CreeperClawShred

The Build Mechanics section helps explain how these Skills play and interact. Head there after setting up your skill bar.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Druid Class Mechanic – Spirit Boons

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. To access Spirit Boons:

• Reach Level 15, accepting the quest chain beginning with Druid: Spirits of the Lost Grove.
• Clear the Túr Dúlra Stronghold scenario in Scosglen.
• Complete the quest chain to gain access to the Animal Spirits.

Prioritize your first Spirit Offerings to unlock the Wolf’s Pack Leader; Companion Active Skills are a significant source of our damage, so cooldown resets go a long way! After that, take Scythe Talons for the increased Critical Strike chance for more Pack Leader resets.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes

The following sections cover the Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems, and Runewords important for your character’s progression while leveling.

Legendary Aspects

All Salvaged Legendary Powers will update within your Codex of Power. Legendary Items with Aspect powers can be found across all content in Diablo 4. Randomly dropped Legendary Aspects can have a specific range of power on them. For example, Shepherd’s Aspect can roll between 5% and 13% for the effect. Salvaging a higher rank will improve the Aspect’s rank within your Codex from then on. Aspects gained from finishing dungeons will always be Rank 1.

In general, Aspects are generic conditional multipliers, small utility, heavy defense, or quality of life improvements, rather than required to make the build function, so builds will not be restricted by not having a certain aspect unlocked. This is a big improvement over previous versions, where some builds could not function without a random drop legendary aspect.

Here are the high-value Legendary Aspects to look out for with the Companions Leveling Druid:

Offensive Aspects

• Shepherd’s Aspect – Companion Skills deal an additional 5-13% damage per Companion you have.
• Aspect of Reanimation – Your summons gain increased damage while alive, up to 60-90%.
• Hellbent Commander Aspect – You deal 50-70% increased Summon damage.

Defensive Aspects

• Aspect of Heavenly Strength – While wielding a 2-handed Weapon, gain 30-40% Damage Reduction
• Aspect of Glynn’s Anvil – Your Maximum Resolve is increased by 2, and you gain 4% Damage Reduction per Resolve.

Utility Aspects

• Aspect of Fortune – You have 15-20% increased Lucky Hit against Elites.
• Great Storm Aspect – Lucky Hit: Lightning Damage has up to a 15% chance to grant a stack of Ferocity. You gain 10-15% Damage Reduction while you have Ferocity.

Mobility Aspects

• Aspect of the Unholy Confederate – You gain 1-1.5% increased Movement Speed per active Summon. Casting a Summon Skill doubles this bonus for 3 seconds.
• Aspect of Slaughter – You gain 30-45% increased Movement Speed. Taking damage from Close enemies Slows you by 30% for 2 seconds.

Resource Aspects

• Aspect of the Wildrage – You Companion Skill cooldowns are reduced by 6-7.5 seconds.

Aspect of the Wildrage is especially notable while leveling. Placing it on the Amulet reduces your Wolves and Creeper cooldowns incredibly low, allowing them to be spammed without having to fish for Pack Leader resets. This will greatly speed up your leveling process!

Druids can adjust to what drops or to playstyles they enjoy when they level. See what flex choices are available in the Druids Have Options! section.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Below are the recommended Gear Affixes for each slot for the Companion Leveling Build. Gear Affixes are listed by importance. Affixes in Bold are the most important for the build, and alternatives are added as well.

• Critical Strike Chance is important for total Critical Strike events for Spirit Boon Pack Leader resets of Companion Skills.
• Cooldown Reduction is beneficial when there are periods of no resets on Pack Leader Spirit Boon.
• Once you obtain your Storm’s Companion, your Wolves will deal Lightning Damage instead of physical, and you will want Lightning Damage Multiplier over Physical.

Tempering manuals are found across Sanctuary. The Blacksmith applies Tempering affixes to items. Manuals are divided by types; a Resource manual like Worldly Stability has Resource type tempers, and can only be placed on rings or an amulet.

When tempering, the item will select one of the affixes from the chosen Manual. Unique Items cannot be Tempered.

Here’s a list of useful tempers to look out for, sorted by type.

Manual Type	Manual Name	Manual Effect
Weapon	Worldly Destruction	Critical Strike Chance
Offensive	Druid Finesse	Storm Damage
Defensive	Worldly Endurance	Maximum Life Maximum Resolve Stacks
Utility	Worldly Fortune	Lucky Hit Chance
Mobility	Natural Motion	Movement Speed
Resource	Worldly Stability	Cooldown Reduction

Defensive Tempers are strong while leveling, giving large amounts of Maximum Life and Armor.

Our endgame builds are designed for gameplay after level 70, including interactions and systems found in Torment difficulty and beyond. Check the Druid Builds page to progress your character further.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Uniques

The following are useful Unique Items for the Companion Druid to look out for while leveling:

• Storm’s Companion grants Wolves the Storm tag and has incredible Gear Affixes to boost your Wolves and their damage.
• Kilt of Blackwing empowers a Raven-centric playstyle, summoning extra ravens and boosting their damage.
• Greenwalker’s Oath grants the Germinate Variation for free, allowing us to grab the Carnivorous Variation on top.

Gems and Runewords

See below for the best Gems and Runes to socket into your gear for each category.

Gems

• Weapon: Skull for Physical Damage Multiplier (Topaz after getting your Storm’s Companion, which changes Wolves’ damage to Lightning)
• Armor: Sapphire for Willpower.
• Jewelry: Diamonds for All Resistances

Runewords

Use these Runeword combinations for the Companion Leveling Druid. These leveling recommendations are limited to Magic and Rare quality runes, and are placed in Armor slots:

Runeword Combination	Runeword Effects
Nagu Ceh	Nagu – Gain: 100 Offering. Maintain at least 1 active Summon for 5 seconds, gaining Offering for each up to 5 Summons. Ceh – Requires: 100 Offering (Overflow: Summon Multiple Wolves) Cooldown: 1 seconds Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds.
Noc Gar	Moni – Gain: 100 Offering. Cast 2 Mobility Skills. Gar – Requires 25 Offering. Overflow: Gain Multiple Stacks. Gain 2% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 10%.

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.

The Spirit Wolves from Ceh are counted as Summons, and will gain most modifiers for companions, as well as count towards Shepherd’s Aspect. Other trigger runes of ritual will also be effective; adjust to what drops for you while leveling.

Gar will be a consistent Critical Strike Chance that helps reset the Pack Leader spirit boon. Shred is a Mobility Skill, as is Claw once you get the Dash Variation at level 30. Both will contribute to the Offering.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Seasonal Mechanics

There are no specific seasonal mechanics in season 13. Instead, the Lord of Hatred DLC and all of its features are available to explore. This includes:

• War Plans
• New Skill Trees
• Talisman Sets
• The Horadric Cube
• Echoing Hatred

Enjoy the expansion!

Talisman

Lord of Hatred introduces Talisman sets. The Talisman is a Seal and the Charms placed within. Charms have general affixes from a limited pool and can have Set bonuses, which grant significant power.

You will receive a Seal and Charm early in the Lord of Hatred Campaign. While leveling, magic, rare, and generic set charms can drop. After unlocking Torment levels, Druid Set Talismans and Ancestral level seals will begin to drop.

Seals and Charms come with some gear affixes, and seals also have a conditional bonus if you match their desired Set placement.

Some of the better affixes for the Seal, Seal Bonuses, and Charms include the following:

• Ranks to Shapeshifting, Core, Storm, or Nature Magic Skills
• All Stats
• Armor or Max Life
• Critical Strike Chance
• Crowd Control Lucky Hit Chances

Feel free to mix and match whichever gives the largest bonuses while leveling, and look forward to the meaningful Druid set bonuses in the endgame! Companions get the best Talisman Set in the game: Nafain’s Bestiary, which adds BEAR COMPANIONS to our pack!

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 Companion Leveling Druid:

Main Mercenary – Varyana, the Berserker

• Core Skill: Cleave, Hysteria, Bloodthirst, Bloodlust

Reinforcement – Raheir, the Shieldbearer

• Reinforcement Ability – Crater
• Trigger – Wolves

Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed Bonuses. Other Mercenaries are also valid, including Subo for the minimap tracking, or Raheir for more Armor.

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Build Mechanics

Rotation and Playstyle

1. Keep Wolves on cooldown, cast on priority enemies.
2. Cast Poison Creeper on gathered enemies for lethal Poison Damage.
3. Place Ravens in areas of dense enemy packs to swarm them.
4. Use Shred Claw as filler to maintain Berserking and Ferocity, and to fish for Pack Leader Resets.

Trample is our mobility tool for Unstoppable or quick movement.

Skills, Support, and Synergies

Our primary sources of damage are our Companion Skills.

Companions inherit all your Stats. For example, your Attack Speed bonuses or Critical Strike Chance will directly improve your Companions’ Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance.

Wolves

Wolves are Companions that are out and active; they attack and can be attacked, and tank for you. Their Active Skill, Feral Dash, grants them Unstoppable and makes them leap onto your target for high damage. Each active Wolf makes a separate attack.

With the Werewolf Pack Variation, your wolves become werewolves, gaining the Werewolf tag, and they will occasionally leap at Distant Enemies with their Feral Dash for free.

Companions inherit all your Stats. For example, your Attack Speed bonuses or Critical Strike Chance will directly improve your Companions’ Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance.

We rely on the Spirit Boon Pack Leader for cooldown resets of our Companions. This means gearing for Critical Strike Chance and Lucky Hit is significant.

Ravens

Ravens are not actively controlled as Summons. Instead, they will periodically swoop down and attack enemies. The Active Use of Ravens creates a damaging zone that ticks damage over time. With the Migration Variation, the zone is larger, and searches for new enemies.

Poison Creeper

Poison Creeper, like Ravens, is not actively controlled as Summons. They will passively attack and poison enemies. The Active Use of Poison Creeper is an area of effect around the caster, immobilizing enemies and dealing significant poison damage over time. With the Germinate variation, when an enemy that is poisoned by the Active Use dies, there is a chance to get a free trigger of the Active Use, centered on that enemy.

Supporting Skills

• Trample is our mobility tool, granting Unstoppable and generating some Spirit. As a werebear, trample is a charge, and as a werewolf, trample becomes a targeted leap. Feel free to try out either Form option.

• Shred is useful as a filler spender to build Berserking and to fish for Pack Leader resets. It is also a dash, and useful as a trigger for Moni.

• Claw is our basic Spirit builder, and becomes a Mobility Tag dash with the Dash variation.

Druids Have Options!

Any of the Supporting Skills can be substituted for another desirable supporting Skill depending on looted Legendary Aspects, leveling content, or by playstyle preference. For example:

• While Claw and Shred are the default choice for this build, any preferred Basic and Core builder and spender is valid by preference. For basics, other options like Earth Spike are an easier generator as a ranged, targeted attack. For Core, you might try Lightning Storm for a larger area of attack.
• Any Defensive Skill can be grabbed if you need a little more toughness. Cyclone Armor is nice for passive defense, while Earthen Bulwark can provide Barrier, Resolve, Unstoppable, Overpower, or Fortify; a powerhouse of buffs! Blood Howl can help heal and gives dodge, while Debilitating Roar can add Maximum Life and make enemies deal less damage.
• If you wanted to play with an Ultimate Skill, try them out!
  • Cataclysm deals strong damage in early leveling.
  • Petrify stuns enemies and debuffs them to take extra Critical Strike Damage.
  • Grizzly Rage puts you into a Dire Werebear form for a large damage multiplier. Companion Skills are Versatile and can be cast in Grizzly Rage. Ramp up your Cornered Beast for large damage multipliers!
• Other variations of our Companion Skills can work out fine! Stormcrows will stun enemies and align Ravens damage to Lightning. Carnivorous Creepers add some upfront damage to the Active Use.

Wildrage Aspect

Aspect of the Wildrage is updated as a *Resource* Aspect, directly reducing the cooldown of Companion Skills. We have the option to put this onto the Amulet to directly reduce Wolves and Poison Creeper cooldowns to 0.5 seconds, making it spammable without having to fish for Pack Leader resets.

This is, of course, a potential damage loss because we have to move our Offensive Aspect off an amulet. However, this option can shine in early gearing when we still are not Critical Strike Chance capped, or be beneficial for a more stress-free farm. This is recommended for the leveling journey!

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Season Updates

Wolves are looking great this season, and a lot of their weaknesses have been fixed. Their Storm’s Companion Storm Howl finally scales in damage, so they have legitimate AoE cleave.

Wolves’ behavior has improved in general, and the bugginess of them getting stuck or not attacking things like Tower Pylons should be fixed. They still may run off occasionally, especially when they have a Distant target to autocast their Feral Dash.

Check out the Mechanics section for updated information on how the build plays, and for extra options!

I suggest having a Aspect of the Wildrage Amulet on hand for when you want to do more casual farming content. It is a lot less work when your Wolves and Creeper have a 0.5s cooldown.

Check the Patch Notes for a full list of updates. It is a lot. For general Season 13 information, check out our Season 13 Hub.

Difficulty and Endgame

Choosing your World Tier: The fastest experience at the start of the run is Normal or Hard. Each additional difficulty step increases experience and rewards, but can cause a total speed loss if enemies live too long, extending the leveling process. If you find a high-value Legendary Aspect multiplier like Shepherd’s Aspect, try out greater difficulties!

Once you’re ready at level 70 or even sooner, it’s time to start those Endgame Activities.

After Level 70, you gain no more Skill Points and instead start progressing in the Paragon Board. Allocate Paragon Points into nodes along the path to gain further power. Rare Glyphs start at 3 Radius, growing by 1 Radius at level 15, and then at level 46. Level up your glyphs by running The Pit. Early Investment might prioritize Companion buffs in the Untamed board.

This will get you ready for that transition to the Wolves Companion Endgame Guide or other Endgame Druid Builds.

Thanks so much for reading, and good luck on leveling!

↑ Back to Navigation Table

Changelog

• 29 April, 2026: Updated for Season 13 and Lord of Hatred.
• 8 March, 2026: Updated for patch 2.6 and Season 12.
• 6 December, 2025: Updated for patch 2.5 and Season 11.
• 3 October, 2025: Cleaned up some parts to improve readability, thanks for the feedback.
• 21 September, 2025: Updated for patch 2.4 and Season 10.