Build Introduction
The Pulverize Druid is a dependable Werebear build, with large smashes of 
Pulverize and wide casts of 
Poison Creeper to clear areas of enemies and level swiftly! Supporting abilities help keep up Spirit, heal, and apply debuffs to enemies.
After clearing the Capstone Dungeon Cathedral of Light to unlock World Tier 3, or upon reaching level 50, continue your Pulverize adventure with the Pulverize 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!
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
Trample 
Blood Howl 
Wolves 
Poison Creeper 
Storm Strike 
Pulverize The table below outlines the recommended order for allocating Skill Points. 48 Points are gained from leveling, and the remaining 10 are from completing Renown events in each zone, for a total of 58 Skill Points.
Raging Pulverize can be used as a damage option over Primal Pulverize.
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. 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.
| Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Wariness | Deer | Take 15% reduced damage from Elites. |
| Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain +10% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
| Packleader | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 20% chance to reset the Cooldowns of your Companion Skills. |
| Energize | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% chance to restore 30 Spirit. |
| Obsidian Slam | Snake | Every 10th kill will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower. |
Prioritize your first 25 Spirit Offerings to unlock the Wolf’s Packleader; Poison Creeper is a significant source of our damage so cooldown resets go a long way!
Legendary Aspects and Codex of Power
The Codex of Power has updated for Patch 1.4.0. All Salvaged Legendary Powers will update within your Codex. Legendary Items with Aspect powers can be found across all content in Diablo 4. Random dropped Legendary Aspects can have a specific range of power on them. For example, 
Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt can roll between 25% and 40% for the effect. Salvaging a higher rank will improve the Aspect’s rank within your Codex from then on.
Aspects gained from Dungeons will enter the Codex of Power at rank 1. This makes Dungeons a great way to get started when putting together a build, without having to rely on random drops. For example, to access Aspect of the Ursine Horror directly without needing a random drop, you can clear Belfry Zakara in Hawezar.
The most significant aspects for the Pulverize Druid are Shockwave Aspect and Aspect of the Ursine Horror.
| Aspect | Legendary Aspect Power | Location | Recommended Slot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shockwave Aspect | Pulverize creates a shockwave that travels forward, dealing 50-100% of its damage to targets in the path. | Salved Legendary, Season Journey (S4) | Weapon or Amulet |
| Aspect of the Ursine Horror | Pulverize is now also an Earth Skill. After casting Pulverize, tectonic spikes continue to deal damage over 2 seconds. | Belfry Zakara, Hawezar | Gloves or Ring |
- Shockwave Aspect gives Pulverize a shockwave effect from the initial impact. There is some overlap between the initial Pulverize and the Shockwave where enemies can be by both effects for a double hit!
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror makes Pulverize an Earth Skill. This is useful for getting damage multipliers related to Nature an Earth abilities like
Defiance and 
Crushing Earth. This will also allow aspects like Crashstone Aspect to become useful.
See below for a list of Dungeon Legendary Powers that can be useful to the Pulverize Druid while leveling.
| Legendary Aspect | Aspect Type | Aspect Power | Dungeon Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt | Offensive | You deal 25-55% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf. | Conclave, Kejistan |
| Aspect of Retaliation | Offensive | Your Core Skills deal up to [20 – 30]%[x] increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. | Seaside descent, Dry Steppes |
| Crashstone Aspect | Offensive | Earth Skills deal 30 – 40% more Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. | Stockades, Scosglen |
| Edgemaster’s Aspect | Offensive | Skills deal up to [10 – 20]%[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 | Offensive | After attacking enemies with a Basic Skill, increase the damage of your next Core Skill cast within 5 seconds by [5 – 10]%[x], up to 30%[x]. | Underroot, Scosglen |
| Shepherd’s Aspect | Offensive | Core Skills deal an additional [6.0 – 10.0]%[x] damage for each active Companion. | Bloodsoaked Crag, Dry Steppes |
 Mangled Aspect | Resource | While in Werebear form, you gain 10-25 Spirit every 8 seconds. | Immortal Emanation, Fractured Peaks |
| Aspect of the Umbral | Resource | Restore 1 – 5 of your Primary Resource when you Crowd Control an enemy. | Champion’s Demise, Dry Steppes |
 Aspect of Disobedience | Defensive | You gain [0.6 – 1.1]%[+] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [36.0 – 66.0]%[+]. | Halls of the Damned, Kehjistan |
| Aspect of Might | Defensive | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0 – 6.0] seconds. | Dark Ravine, Dry Steppes |
| Skinwalker’s Aspect | Defensive | When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain [184 – 315] Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify. | Fading Echo, Kehjistan |
 Ghostwalker Aspect | Mobility | While Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after, you gain [10 – 25]%[+] increased Movement Speed and can move freely through enemies. | Broken Bulwark, Scosglen |
 Aspect of Quicksand | Utility | Damage from Earth Skills Slow enemies hit by [25 – 50]% for 5 seconds. | |
| Ballistic Aspect | Utility | When you have Fortify your Earth Skills gain +2 Ranks. | Whispering Pines, Scosglen |
| Eluding Aspect | Utility | Becoming Injured while Crowd Controlled grants you Unstoppable for 4 seconds. This effect has a [40 – 20] second Cooldown. | Oblivion, Hawezar |
Some aspects only become useful in combination. For example:
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror, Aspect of Quicksand and Aspect of the Umbral would all come together to make your Pulverize be Earth type, apply a slow, and then that slow gives Spirit back!
- Ballistic Aspect would become useful only after having Aspect of the Ursine Horror to make Pulverize be an Earth Skill.
Check our Legendary Aspect and Codex of Power Guide for general Codex information.
Gear Affix and Stat Priority while Leveling
Below are the recommended Gear Affixes for each slot for the Pulverize Leveling Build. Gear Affixes are listed by importance. Affixes in Bold are the most important for the build, and alternatives are added as well.
| Slot | Gem | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Handed Weapon |  Ruby | Resource Cost Reduction Willpower Max Life Overpower Damage Spirit on Kill |
| Helm | Ruby | Ranks in Poison Creeper Ranks to Companion Skills Willpower Max Life Spirit Per Second |
| Chest | Ruby | Max Life Spirit Per Second Willpower Armor |
| Gloves | N/A | Ranks in Pulverize Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Willpower Critical Strike Damage |
| Pants | Ruby | Max Life Armor Willpower Dodge Chance |
| Boots | N/A | Movement Speed Spirit Per Second Willpower Dodge Chance |
| Amulet |  Diamond | Movement Speed Ranks to  EnvenomCritical Strike Chance Ranks in Companion Skills Resource Cost Reduction |
| Rings | Diamond | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Resource Generation Critical Strike Damage |
- Critical Strike Chance is important for Packleader Spirit boon resets and overall damage.
- Resource Cost Reduction and Spirit Per Second will go a long way to help us keep Smashing out our Pulverizes.
- A couple Armor Affixes will help us stay ahead of the Damage.
Remember to pick up and check all those Rare items! There are many combinations of gear affix rolls possible. Going from two favorable gear affixes to three will help focus and optimize the build.
Tempering
Tempering manuals are found across Sanctuary. The Blacksmith is able to apply extra affixes on items. While leveling, non-Sacred items found in World Tier I and II and Sacred items found in World Tier III can have one Temper affix on the item. This increases to two Tempers on the Ancestral quality items found in World Tier IV. Manuals are divided by types similar to Legendary Aspect Powers; a Resource manual like Druid Mobility has Resource type tempers, and can only be placed on rings.
When tempering at the Blacksmith, the item will randomly select one of the listed affixes from the chosen Tempering Manual. For example, the Offensive Manual 
Shapeshifting Finesse can give Werebear Overpower Damage, or give something utterly useless to the build like Werewolf Attack Speed. There is a limit to the number of times a temper can be rerolled to try to get the desired affix. This means the item can get ruined for the build, and you must try again with a new item. 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 | Werebear Augments | Pulverize Size |
| Offensive | Earth Finesse | Earth Critical Strike Chance Earth Lucky Hit Chance Earth Damage Earth Overpower Damage |
| Offensive | Shapeshifting Finesse | Werebear Overpower Damage |
| Offensive | Natural Finesse | Damage to Close Enemies |
| Offensive | Companion Finesse | Poison Creeper Damage |
| Utility | Worldly Fortune | Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize Lucky Hit: Chance to Stun Lucky Hit: Chance to Slow |
| Defensive | Worldly Endurance | Total Armor% |
| Mobility | Natural Motion | Movement Speed |
| Resource | Worldly Stability | Resource Generation |
Gems
See below for the best Gems to socket into your gear for each category:
- Weapon: Ruby for Overpower Damage.
- Armor: Rubies for Maximum Life
- Jewelry: Diamonds for All Resistances
Elixirs, Incense and Health Potions
The Alchemist offers helpful consumables at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary.
- Craft the highest
Elixir of Precision for Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage and bonus Experience. Or 
Iron Skin Elixir can help push the Capstone Dungeons earlier and easier. - Remember to upgrade your potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion. Upgrades are available when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90.
Unique Items
Unique Items that previously dropped in World Tier III now also drop in World Tier I and II! Here’s a list of useful ones from World Tiers I-III for the Pulverize Bear to look out for while leveling:
Insatiable Fury has strong gear affixes and extra ranks in all Werebear Skills.
Damage Rotation
- Poison Creeper on gathered enemies for lethal Poison damage.
Wolves against strong Single Target enemies like Elites or Bosses- Pulverize, fishing for resets of Poison Creeper from Spirit Boon Packleader.
Blood Howl and 
Trample for Spirit generation.
Storm Strike as filler to generate Spirit and to apply Vulnerable status.
Advanced Information
It is time to start your Pulverize journey!
Or see below for further information on how the build works, patch and hotfix information, Spirit Generation explanations, Skill and gameplay options, and what to do after level 50, including a starter Paragon board to help you transition to the Endgame Pulverize build.
Season 4: Loot Reborn
Patch 1.4.0 and Season 4 bring significant changes. The following list details the important changes in the Season 4 Patch Updates that are specific to the Pulverize Leveling Druid. For general Season 4 information, check out our Season 4 Hub.
- The Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown affix has been increased from .8 to 1.5 seconds.
- Physical Damage against Damage Reduction now caps at level 100. Note: this means Armor only needs to be 9230 to cap Armor against enemies level 100 and above.
- Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt redesigned – You deal 25-55% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf.
- Shepherd’s Aspect now includes Wrath Skills.
Skills and Stats:
- Druid Companions now receive 100% of Player Attributes.
- Damage Reduction from Fortify is now 15%, from 10%.
- Energize Spirit Boon Spirit Restoration increased from 10 to 20.
- Wariness Spirit Boon damage reduction from Elites increased to 15%.
- Masochistic Critical Strike Healing increased from 3% to 5%.
- Wolves
- Wolves now gain Unstoppable when the Skill is cast.
- Health increased by 200%.
- Respawn reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
Petrify - Prime Petrify now grants 50 Spirit when cast and its effect durations are increased by 1s.
- Supreme Petrify – Killing an enemy affected by Petrify reduces its Cooldown by 1 second. Hitting a Boss with Petrify reduces its Cooldown by 10 seconds.
Quickshift redesigned. When Shapeshifting into a new animal form, you deal 1% increased damage for 3 seconds, up to 6%.
Heightened Senses redesigned – When Shapeshifting into an animal form, Werebear grants 2% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 2% Movement Speed, each for 6 seconds. Bonuses are doubled while both are active.
Bug Fixes:
Wild Impulses bonus damage is now correctly Multiplicative instead of Additive.
Patch 1.4.3
- Scythe Talons – Critical Strike Chance increased from 5% to 10%.
- Iron Feather – Maximum Life increased from 14% to 20%.
- Energize – Spirit restored increased from 20 to 30.
- Bolster – Fortify amount increased from 15% to 25% of your Maximum Life.
- Obsidian Slam – Kills required for guaranteed Overpower reduced from 20 to 10.
- Pulverize Damage increased by 76%.
- Raging Pulverize – New Effect – Pulverize deals 30%[x] increased Overpower Damage. Enemies Overpowered by Pulverize are Stunned for 3 seconds.
- Quickshift Maximum damage bonus increased from 6/12/18%[x] to 8/16/24%[x].
Mechanics and Playstyle
The primary sources of damage for the Pulverize Leveling Druid are Pulverize and Poison Creeper.
Pulverize smashes in front of you, dealing physical damage in a wide circle.
- Enhanced Pulverize makes Pulverize Overpower every 12 seconds while you remain Healthy. Overpower deals extra damage based on current Health and Fortify, and Healthy means Current Life is at least 80% of Max Life.
- Primal Pulverize makes enemies hit with Pulverize deal 20% reduced damage for 4 seconds.
Two Legendary Aspects can modify Pulverize:
- Shockwave Aspect, a secondary shockwave line will erupt from the edge of the Pulverize. There is a small overlap between these two hits where enemies can be struck by both effects.
- Aspect of the Ursine Horror makes Pulverize an Earth Skill, allowing Pulverize to benefit from Earth and Nature modifiers like Defiance and
Stone Guard. This also makes Pulverize leave Tectonic Spikes that deal extra damage over two seconds.
Poison Creeper is a Companion that passively attacks to apply a small Poison. The Active Skill deals significant Poison damage over time in a wide area around the player and Immobilizes enemies.
- Enhanced Poison Creeper increases the Immobilize duration.
- Brutal Poison Creeper Increases Critical Strike Chance against enemies Immobilized by the Creeper.
The active cast of Poison Creeper, especially in early levels, is lethal damage to all but the toughest enemies, making it very efficient to use on most leveling builds. We take Packleader boon to reset the Companion Active Skill.
Supporting abilities for the build include Storm Strike, Blood Howl, Trample and Wolves.
- Storm Strike is our Basic Skill to generate spirit, apply Vulnerable status, and gain Damage Reduction.
- Blood Howl is a handy heal and with Innate Blood Howl, a Spirit Generator.
- Trample is a damage and mobility tool, knockback, and source of Unstoppable for Crowd Control prevention or removal. With Savage Trample it is another Spirit Generator. Trample also upkeeps Werebear Shapeshifting buffs like Heightened Senses and Quickshift.
- Wolves are useful as a single target focused damage attack, and to help tank enemies. They are also good boys.
Our Key Passive is 
Ursine Strength. The Damage and Overpower multipliers are active in any form as long as the player is in the Healthy Status, which is 80% Life or higher.
Spirit Generation
This build has a few sources of Spirit Generation to keep Pulverizing. These include:
- Our Basic Skill Storm Strike generates Spirit when hitting enemies.
- Innate Blood Howl and Trample generate Spirit on Active Skill use.
- The Wolf’s Energize Boon grants a Lucky Hit for 20 Spirit.
Druids Have Options!
Any of the supporting skills Blood Howl, Trample, or Wolves can be substituted for another desirable supporting Skill depending on looted Legendary Aspects, playstyle, leveling content, or preference. Some examples to try can include:
- Want to use an Ultimate Skill for a big burst cooldown? Try out Petrify to stun enemies, regenerate Spirit and apply a large Critical Strike Damage debuff. Or try the newly changed
Lacerate; a shorter cooldown that gives a strong damage buff and helps upkeep Werewolf passives like Heightened Senses. - Want the whole Companion Zoo? Sure! Take
Ravens. Use them with Shepherd’s Aspect from Bloodsoaked Crag in Dry Steppes. - This build recommends the Spirit Generation on Blood Howl and Trample for smoothness of play, but the other passives, such as Enhanced Blood Howl for Attack Speed and Natural Trample for Fortify Generation work too!
- Want an additional Defensive?
Earthen Bulwark can provide Barrier, Unstoppable, and Fortify. - In super dense content that isnt instantly dying?
Rabies could be used to apply a spreading Poison and let you move on to the next pack.
Looking at the other Basic Attacks? Storm Strike gives great Damage Reduction and can apply Vulnerable status. The other Basic Attacks are usable as well! 
Fierce Wind Shear gives some nice movement speed and add a single target option with Aspect of the Calm Breeze! 
Claw could be used for easier access to buffs from Quickshift and Heightened Senses.
The Key Passive Ursine Strength is used for the reliable passive damage multiplier, Overpower damage and Max Life. 
Bestial Rampage can be more total damage but is disruptive, requiring 2 second in Werewolf form from Skills like Blood Howl to maintain the attack speed.
Roadmap at Level 50
Once you’re ready, at level 50 or even sooner, it’s time to start those Endgame Activities, including clearing the Cathedral of Light and unlocking World Tier 3.
Paragon
After Level 50, 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.
Here is an early 3 board setup to get you started. It prioritizes Damage Reduction Glyphs, Spirit Generation nodes from 
Ancestral Guidance board, and Spirit Cost Reduction from Inner Beast board. Remember to rotate the boards as necessary! This will get you ready for that transition to the Pulverize Endgame Guide or other Endgame Druid Builds.
Starting Board
From the Starting Board, path up, placing the 
Territorial Glyph into the Glyph Socket
Inner Beast
From the Starting Board, choose Inner Beast, placed against the Starting Board, rotated once. Place the 
Werebear Glyph into the Glyph socket.
Ancestral Guidance
For the third board, choose Ancestral Guidance, placed against the left side of the Inner Beast board. Take the Legendary Node Ancestral Guidance and finish up by grabbing the Spirit Rare Nodes 
Reclamation and Natural Attunement.
Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg.
Thanks so much for reading and good luck on leveling!
Changelog
- 17 June, 2024: Updated for mid-season patch 1.4.3.
- May 15, 2024: Small changes in gear affixes to adjust for season launch changes from PTR.
- 8 May 2024: Guide created for the launch Season 4.
