Pulverize Shred Druid Gauntlet Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 3)

Gauntlet Build Introduction

This is the Gauntlet build for Pulverize Shred Druid. This guide features a lategame setup, focused on speeding through and obtaining the highest score on the Gauntlet Leaderboards. Check our dedicated Gauntlet Guide for more information on this activity. The Shred Pulverize Druid excels at all requirements for the Gauntlet:

• Wide, map-clearing AoEs with Pulverize and Shockwave Aspect.
• High boss damage from large multipliers and Overpowers.
• Strong mobility to navigate the encounter-space with Shred and Trample.

There are key changes from the standard endgame Pulverize setup Shifter Pulverize:

• Several sources of defensives and Damage Reductions are traded in favor of maximizing speed and damage.
• The playstyle does not use a Basic Skill, instead relying on alternative sources of Spirit Generation.
• This is a partial Companion setup for high damage multipliers from Shepherd’s Aspect.

This Gauntlet build guide assumes your character is Level 100, Paragon Glyphs are max radius from being Level 15+, and all Paragon and Skill points from Renown have been obtained. While the build recommends some Uber Unique Items, there are alternative options listed. The build also offers some alternative Gearing Affix recommendations as well as some Skill and Playstyle options that can be beneficial as the Gauntlet changes layout week to week.

Strengths and Weaknesses

To see how this build compares to other builds on Icy Veins, you can check out our Gauntlet build tier list.

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Tibault’s Will

Insatiable Fury

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Shockwave Aspect

The following Unique Items and Legendary Aspects are recommended for the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid:

• Tibault’s Will is a strong multiplier and easy access to Resource.
• Insatiable Fury for Skill Point bonuses to Werebear skills.
• Shockwave Aspect creates a large shockwave with a higher multiplier in a line from casts of Pulverize.

If acquired, this build will greatly benefit from the following Uber Unique Items:

• Ring of Starless Skies
• Harlequin Crest

Several Druid builds have shown to be popular and strong in the Gauntlet, and Druid has large build diversity represented in the leaderboards. Short Gauntlet Consideration sections are now included in several of our endgame builds!

Season of the Construct

Season 3 Patch Updates

The following list details the changes and additions in the Season 3 Patch Updates that are specific to this build. For general Season 3 information, check out our Season 3 Hub.

Items

• New- 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 5-10 seconds.
• New – Aspect of Blood Boil: When your Core skills Overpower an enemy, you spawn 3 Volatile Blood Drops. Collecting a Volatile Blood Drop causes it to explode, dealing Physical Damage around you. Every 20 seconds, your next Skill is guaranteed to Overpower.
• Aspect of Retaliation – Bonus damage reduced from 20–40% to 20–30%.
• Ring of Starless Skies – New Effect: Spending resources reduces your resource costs and increases your damage by x10% for 3 seconds, up to 40%. Now shows a buff on the bar while active.

Skills and Stats

• Mending – Additional Healing received increased from 5% to 6% per rank.
• Bestial Rampage:
  • Damage bonus while in Werebear form increased from 30% to 50%.
  • Required Shapeshift duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds.
  • Attack Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%.
• Fixed an issue where the Guaranteed Overpower granted by the Druid’s Enhanced Pulverize did not apply immediately after acquiring 12 stacks.
• Overpower
  • Overpower attacks now gain +1% damage, down from +2%, per 1% of your Base Life you have in Fortify.
  • Overpower attacks now gain +1% damage, down from +2%, per 1% of your Base Life that you have in bonus life above your Base Life.
  • Fixed an issue where effects that increased Max Life by a percentage (such as an Elixir of Fortitude) did not account for certain other Max Life bonuses, such as granted by an Affix on equipment. (Note: This bug fix largely offsets the nerf to Overpower percentages.)

Boons

• Spirit Boon: Avian Wrath – Critical Strike Damage bonus is now Multiplicative instead of Additive.

Seneschal Construct

The seasonal theme adds a Seneschal Construct companion to aid your character throughout their adventures in Sanctuary. The Construct’s playstyle and support is modified by Governing Stones that grant the construct abilities, with up to three Tuning Stones per Governing Stone to supplement that ability. Stones can be obtained through Vaults, Arcane Tremors, Journey rewards, or crafting.

The Uber Unique Seneschal Tuning Stones Evernight and Genesis are powerful Tuning Stones that drop from the new boss, Malphas. If obtained, they replace non-uber options.

• Evernight: The supported Skill grants you +4 to all Skills when used for 2.0s.
• Genesis: Increase the effectiveness of the supported Skill by 150%

For this build, use Flash of Adrenaline for a strong personal damage buff, and a Ranged Governing Stone for strong Damage Reduction and Spirit Generation.

Flash of Adrenaline

• Duration Support
• Tactical Support
• Fortify Support (Replace with Genesis)

Tempest

• Efficiency Support
• Resource Support
• Swift Support (Replace with Evernight)

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Skill Bar the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid

Ravens Wolves Petrify Trample Shred Pulverize

Skills	Cluster
Storm Strike rank 1, Enhanced Storm Strike	Basic Skill
Pulverize rank 5, Enhanced Pulverize, Raging Pulverize, Shred rank 1, Enhanced Shred, Primal Shred, Predatory Instinct rank 3	Core Skill
Ancestral Fortitude rank 3	Defensive Skill
Wolves rank 1, Ravens rank 1, Enhanced Ravens, Brutal Ravens, Nature’s Reach rank 3	Companion Skill
Trample, Enhanced Trample, Natural Trample, Crushing Earth rank 3, Safeguard rank 3, Stone Guard rank 3, Mending rank 1, Provocation rank 3, Neurotoxin rank 1, Envenom rank 3, Toxic Claws rank 1	Wrath Skill
Petrify, Prime Petrify, Defiance rank 3, Natural Disaster rank 3, Quickshift rank 3	Ultimate Skill
Bestial Rampage	Key Passive

Warning! This Skill Tree differs from the standard Endgame push build Shifter Pulverize. It gives up several sources of defense and Damage Reductions for speed, damage and more Overpower events.

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 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. Below you will find the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid. All Glyphs are placed as if they are max radius (Level 15+).

Name	Effect
Outmatch	Grants +125% bonus to all Rare nodes within range. Bonus (25 Dexterity): You deal 16%[x] increased Physical damage to Non-Elites and Bosses.
Ancestral Guidance	After spending 75 Spirit, you deal 30%[x] increased damage for 5 seconds.
Fang and Claw	Grants +150% bonus to all Magic nodes within range. Bonus (40 Willpower): While in Werewolf or Werebear form, Close enemies take 12%[x] increased damage from you.
Earthen Devastation	Your Earth Skills deal 10%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage, increased by 20%[x] of your Damage vs Crowd Controlled bonus, up to 40%[x].
Earth and Sky	Grants +150.0% bonus to all Magic nodes within range. Bonus (40 Willpower): Nature Magic Skills deal 10%[x] increased damage to Crowd Controlled or Vulnerable enemies.
Inner Beast	After Shapeshifting, your Spirit costs are reduced by 10% for 5 seconds, up to 30% (Legendary Node not taken.)
Exploit	For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal +7.9% increased damage to Vulnerable targets. Bonus (25 Dexterity): When an enemy is damaged by you, they become Vulnerable for 3 seconds. This cannot happen more than once every 20 seconds per enemy.
Survival Instincts	While in Werebear form, you deal 1%[x] increased damage, up to 50%[x], for every 1% difference in current Life percent between you and the enemy.
Guzzler	For every 5 Intelligence purchased within range, you deal +9.9% increased damage while Healthy. Bonus (25 Intelligence): You gain 30%[+] increased Potion Healing.
Heightened Malice	While there are 3 or more Poisoned enemies Nearby, you deal 45%[x] increased damage (Legendary Node not taken.)
Spirit	For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal +19.8% increased Critical Strike Damage. Bonus (25 Dexterity): Critical Strikes increase the damage an enemy takes from you by 2%[x] for 20 seconds, up to 12%[x].

Starting Board

Ancestral Guidance

Earthen Devastation

Inner Beast

Survival Instincts

Heightened Malice

This build gives up the traditional Damage Reduction glyphs Undaunted, Territorial and Werebear in favor of offensive choices. If more Damage Reduction is necessary, trade Guzzler for Undaunted and Spirit for Territorial.

CLICK THIS LINK to see the paragon board in its entirety. Paragon Board images are courtesy of D4builds.gg.

Gear and Legendary Aspects for the Gauntlet

Below are the recommended Legendary Aspects and Gear Affixes for each gear slot. Aspects and Unique Items are listed by priority. Gear Affixes in Bold are the ideal Affixes, but alternatives are added until the best Gear Affixes or Unique Item are obtained.

Gear Slot	Aspect	Stats
2 Handed Staff	Shockwave Aspect	Willpower All Stats Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies Critical Strike Damage Core Skill Damage
Helm	Harlequin Crest OR Godslayer Crown	Willpower Max Life Total Armor Cooldown Reduction
Chest	Insatiable Fury	Total Armor Max Life Damage Reduction from Close Enemies Damage Reduction while Fortified
Gloves	Aspect of the Ursine Horror	Ranks in Pulverize Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Willpower Lucky Hit Chance Ranks in Shred
Pants	Tibault’s Will	Unique Item Required
Boots	Aspect of Metamorphosis OR Ghostwalker Aspect	Inherent – Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by X Seconds Movement Speed Shrine Buff Duration Movement Speed after Killing an Elite Spirit Cost Reduction Willpower All Stats
Amulet	Shepherd’s Aspect	Movement Speed Shrine Buff Duration Ranks in Envenom Movement Speed after Killing an Elite Total Armor Spirit Cost Reduction
Ring 1	Accelerating Aspect	Critical Strike Chance Max Life Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance
Ring 2	Ring of Starless Skies OR Aspect of Blood Boil	Critical Strike Chance Max Life Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance

2 Handed Staff is used for the Inherent bonus to Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies, which boosts Earthen Devastation.

The Inherent affix on Boots, Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by X Seconds, is important for Aspect of Metamorphosis.

Check our Legendary Aspect and Codex of Power Guide to see which slots can have which legendary powers. For example, Rings can have either Offensive or Resource powers, so there are interchangeable options listed above. Accelerating Aspect could be on Gloves or Ring, and there is still room for all the rest of the Legendary Aspects that complete the build.

Unique Items

The following Unique Items are recommended for the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid:

• Tibault’s Will is a strong damage multiplier and source of Spirit. The trigger for these effects is gaining Unstoppable from both Trample and Aspect of Metamorphosis when Evading.
• Helm can be either Godslayer Crown or if acquired, the Uber UniqueHarlequin Crest. Godslayer Crown gives a large multiplier and grouping tool that can be triggered from Raging Pulverize. Harlequin Crest offers strong defense, great Gear Affixes, and 4 ranks to all Skills.
• Insatiable Fury also adds Skill Ranks to all Werebear skills, including Pulverize and Trample, along with offering good Gear Affixes.
• If acquired, the Uber Unique Ring of Starless Skies is a strong multiplier and Spirit Cost Reduction. Worry less about resource, and Gear for less Spirit Cost Reduction.

The following Unique Items are situational to the build:

Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander can be a powerful but highly unpredictable Uber Unique for the Gauntlet. The Spear has great Gear Affixes with high Critical Strike Chance and Attack Speed. The Gauntlet is a format with a lot of shrines and the build gears for Shrine Buff Duration. This plays into the Spear’s effect; random Shrine Effects triggered every 30 seconds. Which shrine effect that is triggered is uncontrollable which makes it a situational gain and big gamble. Another tradeoff is it takes up the 2 Handed Weapon Slot, so several top-end multipliers from Shockwave Aspect and Shepherd’s Aspect are diminished.

To use this item:

• Move Shockwave Aspect to Amulet.
• Move Shepherd’s Aspect to ring, replacing Accelerating Aspect.

Mechanics and Playstyle

The Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid is a zoomy and smashy bear, using map-clearing hits of Pulverize, high-mobility Skills Shred and Trample, and lots of stacked multipliers including Overpowers to destroy the enemies found within the Gauntlet.

Pulverize is our primary Skill, clearing enemies with strong, Earth-type Physical damage smashes. Shockwave Aspect creates a shockwave with a higher multiplier in a line from the Pulverize.

Key Note: There is overlap between the Pulverize and its Shockwave, near the outer radius of the Pulverize. line your attacks on this overlap for a huge double hit!

Shred and Trample are our mobility tools. Use them to travel between and to packs. Shred also applies the Poison for Envenom and Slow for Crowd-Controlled multipliers, so is a useful opener.

Companion Active Skills are not used. They are there to morally support you and give multipliers from Shepherd’s Aspect.

Ultimate Skill Petrify Stuns and applies and heavy Critical Strike Damage multiplier to enemies. Stacked multipliers with Tibault’s Will, Overpower and if used, Godslayer Crown allow Bosses to be burst down quickly.

Key Passive Bestial Rampage gives both a high Attack Speed bonus and Damage Multiplier. These buffs are both easily maintained from frequent casts of Shred and Pulverize.

Overpower

Like many Werebear builds, the Pulverize Shred Gauntlet Druid has several sources of Overpower for Boss killing and map-clearing hits of Pulverize:

• Enhanced Pulverize will overpower Pulverize every 12 seconds while you remain Healthy. Healthy means being above 80% Life.
• Provocation allows the next non-Defensive Skill to Overpower for every 16s. Try to make sure this happens for Pulverize rather than other Active Skills.
• if used, Aspect of Blood Boil guarantees a skill to Overpower every 20 seconds.
• A passive 3% chance for any non-channeled skill to Overpower.

Playing around having Overpower to kill that Boss can mean some small map route adjustments, taking some time to gather or leash Bosses, but can be worth when the boss takes several fewer Pulverize to kill. These delays would be small adjustments; don’t make huge delays for this!

Spirit Generation

This build does not use a Basic Attack Spirit generator; instead it relies on several alternative sources:

• Paragon nodes for Spirit on Kill in the Ancestral Guidance board.
• The Wolf’s Energize Spirit Boon.
• Tibault’s Will, with Unstoppable sources Trample and Aspect of Metamorphosis.
• Seasonal: The Resource Support Tuning Stone on the Seneschal Construct.
• Ring of Starless Skies for Spirt Cost Reduction.

Once geared, these are sufficient sources of Spirit to keep smashing. While gearing or without access to some sources like Ring of Starless Skies or Aspect of Metamorphosis, do one or more of the following:

• Gear for Spirit Cost Reduction Gear Affixes on Boots and Amulet.
• Take Paragon points from Ancestral Guidance Legendary node, and place them in Inner Beast Legendary Node.

Damage Rotation

1. Maintain Spirit with Tibault’s Will. Trample and Aspect of Metamorphosis are our Unstoppable sources.
2. Shred to gap close, maintain the attack speed bonus of Bestial Rampage, Poison and Slow enemies.
3. For bosses and Elite packs, use Petrify for another layered Critical Strike Damage multiplier.
4. Send out waves of Pulverize to destroy your enemies and gain Score.
5. Use Shred and Trample to get to that next pack!

Gauntlet Tips and Tricks

Here’s a couple tips, tricks and observations for playing the Gauntlet:

• Overpower is a strong tool, and periodically up with trackable buffs from Enhanced Pulverize and Provocation. Having these up when engaging a boss guarantees a faster kill.
• While the dungeon has fixed positioning and spawns for enemies, they can drift, be leashed or aggro’d into different positions as you do your circuits around the map.
• Variable access to Cooldown Reduction including shrines, total attack events and Lucky Hit triggers can mean mobility tool timings like Trample may not be consistent from pull to pull, or up as often. This is especially true if using Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander.
• Sometimes stopping to pick up that key for the chests isn’t worth the time! They stay on the ground after Pillar of Proving (respawn shrines) and in subsequent laps, and may be worth delaying the pickup to even near the end of the run when several are on the ground together.
• Bear🐻 in mind that the Pillar of Glory gives a high score multiplier for its duration. It can be worth planning around having this when routing to dense packs of Elites or Bosses.
• Proofs of Might from chests have to be walked over to be collected. However, drops from slain enemies are picked up automatically, which means you can kill and move on!
• 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! In terms of Armor, where 13341 is necessary to hit the 85% Armor cap vs Tier 100 level 154 mobs, Tier 70 enemies only need around 11k Armor to hit the Armor cap. For the gauntlet, hitting this cap is unnecessary.
• Heard about a cheat or exploit from your buddy? Don’t! That’s an easy way to have your run removed from the Leaderboard!
• Weekly Gauntlet Map updates can be found Here, with our friends at D4builds.gg.

Alternative Skill Options and Playstyles

Depending on weekly layout of the Gauntlet and personal playstyle, there’s a few alternative Skill Options and playstyles that are available, including one or more of the following in combination:

• Petrify is used as a high Critical Strike Damage multiplier. If bosses are not as prominent in the layout, change Poison Creeper for Petrify for a higher base multiplier to Shepherd’s Aspect and as a single target source to apply Poison.
• Depending on mob density, Shred may be all the mobility tool needed, making Trample overkill for movement needs. Swap Trample for Poison Creeper for a higher base multiplier to Shepherd’s Aspect and as a single target source to apply Poison.
• Depending on mob density and map layout, Airidah’s Inexorable Will may be desirable. Replace Accelerating Aspect, and use the Snake’s Calm Before the Storm for cooldown Reduction on Petrify.
• For a Pet-less version of the build that offers more Active Skill options:
  • Remove points in Wolves, Ravens, Enhanced Ravens and Brutal Ravens, and Nature’s Reach.
  • Swap in Blood Howl, Enhanced Blood Howl Preserving Blood Howl, and Hurricane, and Resonance. Keep Blood howl up for an Attack Speed bonus and Hurricane up to trigger extra damage events for Resonance and Lucky Hits like Wolf Boon Energize.
  • Replace Shepherd’s Aspect, placing Aspect of Metamorphosis on Amulet and Ghostwalker Aspect on boots.

Gems, Elixirs and Incense

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

• Weapon: Royal Ruby
• Armor: Royal Ruby
• Jewelry: Royal Skull

The Alchemist offers helpful consumables at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary.

• Craft the highest Assault Elixir available for Attack Speed bonuses.
• If mats are available, craft Chorus of War incense.

Changelog

12 March, 2024: Build Created.