General Leveling Tips
To find out more general information about leveling as a Druid in Diablo 4, you can check out our main Druid Leveling guide. You can also go to our Druid Builds page for a list of other leveling and endgame Druid builds for you to choose from.
In regard to leveling up on the seasonal realm, you might also want to check out our season checklist, as it will give you some useful tips and tricks for Season 1 of Diablo 4. Don’t miss this chance to make the most out of your leveling journey!
Season ChecklistBuild Introduction
The 
Landslide Druid leveling build pulverizes foes under the might of the Earth. This is your leveling guide for Diablo 4, with the maximum Skill Point allocation at Level 50. From previous testing, we currently believe Landslide is one of the best options for leveling a new Druid character. Let us go over the build mechanics, character progression, and playstyle!
Landslide has the most starting damage of all Druid Core Skills, killing most enemies in one cast during early leveling. It also hits twice to take down tough elites and bosses quickly. Extra Skill Points are allocated to increase Landslide damage even further, making it effective all the way into the endgame.
In addition to the massive damage, Landslide Druid is one of the tankiest leveling builds in Diablo 4. Survivability is easily enhanced through various defensive skills and passives as you progress your character. Become an unstoppable force with the Landslide Druid!
Season of the Malignant
Season 1 Patch Updates
The following list details the changes in the Season 1 Patch Update that may pertain to leveling a Druid.
- Savage Trample Spirit gain increased from 20 to 40.
- Prime Grizzly Rage now grants Unstoppable for 6 seconds instead of while active.
- Aspect of Disobedience maximum stacks reduced from 100 to 60, reducing maximum Bonus Armor % from 25%-50% to 15%-30%.
In addition to the build specific changes, multiple sources of Critical Strike Damage and Vulnerable Damage were reduced globally for all classes. There are no major changes made directly to Landslide, and it remains as the best leveling build for Druid.
Malignant Hearts
The Season 1 theme introduces Malignant Hearts that provide build-altering bonuses. The hearts are divided into 4 categories, each with a color that needs to be socketed in the corresponding colored Malignant Socket on equipped jewelry. Wrathful Hearts are a special case due to their rarity, and can be placed in any Socket.
Always socket Malignant Hearts instead of a 
Skull in Jewelry. Malignant Hearts provide an Armor bonus that scales with its Item Power.
Listed below are the Malignant Hearts that are useful while leveling a Druid, ranked by importance. Stats displayed reflect what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop.
Caged Heart of The Barber (Wrathful, Super-World Tier III): Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second. – Fixed in Patch 1.1.1 to work with “on hit” effects and Lucky Hit chance.
Caged Heart of Revenge (Brutal, Defensive-World Tier III): 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies.
Caged Heart of the Picana (Vicious, Offensive): Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage.- Caged Heart of the Dark Dance (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
- Caged Heart of the Unconstrained Beast (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): When you are hit with a Stun, Freeze, or Knock Down effect, there is a 40-60% chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for 3 seconds.
Caged Heart of Inexorable Force (Devious, Utility): Up to 30-50 Distant enemies are pulled toward you while you have an Ultimate Skill active.- Caged Heart of Tempting Fate (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.
Skill Tree Points
The following table shows the order in which to allocate your Skill Points for the Landslide Druid leveling build. You gain 48 points at Level 50 and 2 points from completing Renown in each Act zone, for a total of 58.
Mechanics and Playstyle
The Landslide Druid leveling build utilizes the hardest hitting Core Skill to start. However, its small AoE and delay can be difficult to aim. Practice using it as if it were a melee skill, dragging enemies and casting it when they gather near you. 
Abundance, 
Wild Impulses, 
Predatory Instinct, 
Stone Guard, 
Defiance, 
Natural Disaster, 
Resonance and 
Ursine Strength are all allocated to make Landside more powerful.
The Immobilize from 
Enhanced Storm Strike and Enhanced Landslide grants Primal Landslide a guaranteed Critical Strike with 40%[x] Critical Strike Damage.
Storm Strike provides generous benefits for a Basic Skill with 25% Damage Reduction, 50% chance to makes enemies Vulnerable, and 15% chance to Immobilize.
Cyclone Armor is a one-point wonder Skill. Just having it on your Skill Bar passively provides Damage Reduction. Survivability is further increased with 
Earthen Bulwark, 
Ancestral Fortitude, 
Vigilance and 
Unrestrained.
Trample is used for stuns, mobility, and Fortify generation. 
Aspect of the Trampled Earth makes it a screen-wide clearing skill. When combined with Aspect of The Aftershock, the pillars summoned by Trample each strike a second time.
Fortify
Fortify is generated through Savage Trample, Preserving Earthen Bulwark and 
Safeguard. Once Fortify amount is greater than or equal to current life, you become Fortified and gain a starting default of 10% Damage Reduction. Obtain additional Damage Reduction while Fortified on gear affixes and Sapphires socketed into armor for more effectiveness.
Damage Rotation
Use the following rotation to maximize damage.
- (Optional) Against tough elites and bosses, activate
Petrify for more Critical Strike Damage. - Use Trample and Earthen Bulwark whenever available to generate Fortify.
- Keep casting Storm Strike to generate Spirit, while applying Vulnerable and Immobilize on enemies.
- Spend Spirit with Landslide. Group up enemies to efficiently kill them. Weave in at least one Storm Strike between each cast of Landslide to activate Resonance repeatedly.
Spirit Boons
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain 5% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
| Bolster | Wolf | Fortify for 10% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive skill. |
| Gift of the Stag | Deer | Gain 10 Maximum Spirit. |
| Calm Before the Storm | Snake | Lucky Hit: Nature Magic Skills have up to 15% chance to reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds. |
| Avian Wrath | Eagle | Gain 30%[x] Critical Strike Damage. |
Gear Choice and Stat Priority while Leveling
Make sure to pick up all Rare equipment drops that may be upgrades while you are leveling Landslide Druid. Save Legendary items with useful aspects in your stash to be used later for extraction and imprinting onto well rolled Rare items.
Prioritize the highest damage per hit weapon setup available. When comparing weapons with similar item levels, Two-Handed weapons are usually preferred.
Listed below are the stat affixes to prioritize on gear for Landslide Druid leveling, ranked by their importance. Affixes on the same level have roughly the same importance.
| Importance | Affixes |
|---|---|
| 1 | DPS value on weapon(s) |
| 2 | + Rank of Landslide |
| 3 | + All Damage + Damage to Close, Healthy and Injured Enemies + Damage with Earth and Core Skills + Damage while Healthy + Vulnerable Damage + Critical Strike Chance and Damage + Attack Speed and Basic Skill Attack Speed + Willpower |
| 4 | + Damage Reduction + Damage Reduction while Fortified + Any Elemental Resistances |
| 5 | + Cooldown Reduction + Movement Speed + Life |
Legendary Item Aspects
To unlock Aspects in the Codex of Power, you must complete the corresponding Dungeon where the specific Aspect drops. Visit the Occultist to imprint this Aspect onto an item. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used often on weapons.
Aspects found on dropped Legendary Items have stronger effects than those applied from the Codex of Power. Additionally, it is important to know that certain Aspects can only be obtained by finding them on a legendary item, and are not accessible through the Codex of Power. Extract Aspects from unusable Legendary Items to imprint them onto well-rolled Rare Items. Avoid imprinting valuable extracted Aspects onto weapons, because weapons they get replaced often while leveling.
We have a dedicated in-depth Aspect and Codex of Power guide that you can check out for more information.
Listed below are the Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for the Landslide Druid leveling build. They are listed in order of priority.
| Aspect Name | Legendary Aspect Power | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect of The Aftershock | Landslide’s earth pillars each strike a second time and deal an additional #% bonus damage per hit. | Random Drop Only |
| Aspect of the Trampled Earth | Trample now summons 6 Landslide pillars of earth during its duration that deal #% normal damage. Trample is now also a Nature Magic and Earth Skill. | Random Drop Only |
 Ballistic Aspect | When you have Fortify your Earth Skills gain +2 Ranks. | Whispering Pines, Scosglen |
| Aspect of Retaliation | Your Core Skills deal up to #%[x] increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. | Seaside Descent, Dry Steppes |
| Edgemaster’s Aspect | Skills deal up to #%[x] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource. | Oldstones, Scosglen |
| Aspect of the Expectant | Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by #%[x], up to 30%[x]. | Underroot, Scosglen |
| Aspect of Natural Balance | Casting a Storm Skill grants your Earth Skills #%[x] Critical Strike Damage for 4 seconds. Casting a Earth Skill increases the Critical Strike Chance of Storm Skills by #%[+] for 4 seconds. | Random Drop Only |
| Crashstone Aspect | Earth Skills deal #%[x] more Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. | Stockades, Scosglen |
| Rapid Aspect | Basic Skills gain #%[+] Attack Speed. | Buried Halls, Dry Steppes |
 Aspect of Might | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for # seconds. | Dark Ravine, Dry Steppes |
| Aspect of Cyclonic Force | Cyclone Armor also provides Physical Damage Reduction. In addition, Cyclone Armor will also be applied to all Nearby Allies. | Collapsed Vault, Kehjistan |
 Ghostwalker Aspect | While Unstoppable and for 2 seconds after, you gain #%[+} increased Movement Speed and can move freely through enemies. | Broken Bulwark, Scosglen |
Gems
Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each slot type for the Landslide Druid leveling build.
- Weapon:
Emerald for Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies. - Armor:
Sapphire for Damage Reduction while Fortified. - Jewelry: Malignant Hearts if playing Season 1. Otherwise,
Royal Skull for Armor.
Elixirs and Health Potions
Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials. Use an 
Assault Elixir to increase Attack Speed.
Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.
Changelog
- July 18th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.
