Shred Druid Endgame Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 4)

Build Introduction

The Shred Druid dashes and rips into the foes of Sanctuary, every strike echoing the ferocity of a werewolf under the moonlit sky. This build excels at speed, mobility, and Area of Effect attacks. Gather and destroy enemies with powerful Shred and cleave bursts of lightning with your Stormclaw’s Aspect.

This guide covers everything necessary to get started on your Shred adventure including Skill Tree points, Paragon, Gearing, and Seasonal updates. The guide will primarily cover Endgame pushing, but will also cover alternative options, in-depth gameplay information as well as Gauntlet considerations.

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

The following Legendary Aspects are required for build functionality to get started on the Shred Druid:

Required Aspects

Stormclaw’s Aspect

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Skill Bar for Shred Druid

Ravens Wolves Debilitating Roar Trample Petrify Shred

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.

• If Spirit Generation while leveling and gearing is not sufficient, replace the Wolf’s Bolster with the Wolf’s Energize.
• In hard hitting push content, change the Eagle’s Scythe Talons for the Eagle’s Iron Feather. Losing the Critical Strike Chance can be a Spirit loss from Lust for Carnage.

Paragon Board

The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Shred Druid. All Glyphs are placed as if they are max radius (Level 15+).

While leveling and gearing, prioritize the Spirit Generation Magic and Rare nodes from Ancestral Guidance and the Lust for Carnage Legendary Node.

Click this Link to see the Paragon Board in its Entirety! Paragon Board images are courtesy of d4builds.gg.

Starting Board

For the Starting Board path up, placing the Territorial Glyph into the Glyph Socket.

Inner Beast

For the second board, choose Inner Beast, placed against the Starting Board, rotated once. Socket the Werewolf glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

Ancestral Guidance

For the third board, choose Ancestral Guidance, placed against the Inner Beast board’s left side. Socket the Fang and Claw Glyph and take the Legendary Node Ancestral Guidance.

Lust for Carnage

For the fourth board, choose Lust for Carnage, placed against the Ancestral Guidance board’s left side, rotated once. Socket the Exploit Glyph and take the Legendary Node Lust for Carnage.

Thunderstruck

For the fifth board, choose Thunderstruck, placed against the right side of the Inner Beast board, rotated twice. Socket the Spirit Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

Heightened Malice

For the final board, choose Heightened Malice, placed against the top path of the Ancestral Guidance board, rotated three times. Socket the Undaunted Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.

For further info on Paragon choices, check the Paragon Information in the Additional Information Section.

Gear, Stats, Gems and Elixirs

Itemization has received significant changes with the Season 4 1.40 patch, and will affect the game going forward.

Legendary Aspects

Below are the recommended Legendary Aspects for each gear slot. Gear Slots with multiple options are listed in recommended priority. Any slot with an Optional Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power.

Slot	Gem	Aspect	Unique/Legendary Aspect Power
2 Handed Axe	Royal Emerald	Shepherd’s Aspect	Core and Wrath Skills deal an additional 5-10%[x] damage for each active Companion.
Helm	Royal Ruby	Godslayer Crown OR Harlequin Crest	When you Stun, Freeze, or Immobilize an Elite enemy, or damage a Boss, it Pulls In Nearby enemies. You deal [30 – 60]%[x] increased damage to them for 3 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 12 seconds.
Chest	Royal Ruby	Mad Wolf’s Glee OR Juggernaut’s Aspect	Werewolf form is now your true form, and you gain +3 Ranks to all Werewolf Skills.
Gloves		Stormclaw’s Aspect	Critical Strikes with Shred deal [20 – 30]% of the damage dealt as Lightning damage to the target and surrounding enemies.
Pants	Royal Ruby	Vigorous Aspect	Gain [10.0 – 15.0]% Damage Reduction while Shapeshifted into a Werewolf.
Boots		(Optional) Wildheart Hunger OR Aspect of Concussive Strikes	When you Shapeshift into a Werewolf or a Werebear, you gain Wildheart for 5 seconds. Wildheart grants you [1.0 – 1.5]%[x] increased damage every 2 seconds, stacking 20 times.
Amulet	Royal Diamond	Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt	You deal 25-55% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf.
Ring 1	Royal Diamond	Hunter’s Zenith OR Aspect of Retaliation	Gain a bonus when you kill with a Shapeshifting Skill: Werewolf: Your next Non-Ultimate Werebear Skill costs no Resource and has no Cooldown. Werebear: Your next Werewolf Skill will Heal you for [689 – 1,379] when damage is first dealt.
Ring 2	Royal Diamond	Aspect of the Unsatiated	After killing an enemy with Shred, you gain 20 Spirit. Your Werewolf Skills deal 10-25% increased damage when cast above 50 Spirit.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Affixes and Tempers are listed in priority with the desired three Gearing Affixes at the top, but alternatives are also added. Affixes in Bold are the most important to target with the Masterworking quality upgrades. Tempering affixes have their associated Tempering Manuals listed. Unique Items cannot be Tempered, but can be Mastercrafted. Any slot with an Optional Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power setup.

Slot	Gearing Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Two-Handed Axe	Resource Cost Reduction Willpower Max Life Critical Strike Damage Spirit on Kill	Werewolf Augments Werewolf Augments – Shred Critical Strike Chance Shapeshifting Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance
Helm – Godslayer Crown	Cooldown Reduction Max Life Damage Crowd Control Duration
Chest – Mad Wolf’s Glee (Optional)	Max Life Poison Damage Damage Reduction from Enemies that are Poisoned Movement Speed
Chest – Legendary Aspect	Willpower Max Life Spirit Per Second Armor	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds
Gloves	Critical Strike Chance Ranks to Shred Attack Speed Willpower	Shapeshifting Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds
Pants	Armor Willpower Max Life Dodge Chance	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds
Boots – Wildheart Hunger (optional)	Overpower Damage Damage Reduction Critical Strike Damage Movement Speed
Boots – Legendary Aspect	Implicit: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown By 1.5 Seconds Willpower Movement Speed Max Life Spirit Per Second	Natural Motion – Movement Speed Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds
Amulet	Ranks to Envenom Critical Strike Chance Movement Speed Resource Cost Reduction	Natural Motion – Movement Speed Shapeshifting Finesse Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance- Damage to Close Enemies
Ring – Hunter’s Zenith (recommended)	Damage While Shapeshifted Critical Strike Chance Ranks in Heightened Senses Ranks in Quickshift
Rings – Legendary Aspect	Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Resource Cost Reduction	Shapeshifting Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed OR Werewolf Critical Strike Chance Worldly Stability – Resource Generation

For pure functionality, the most important affixes for the Shred Druid are the following:

• Resource Cost Reduction on the 2h Weapon.
• Critical Strike Chance for Spirit Generation from Lust for Carnage.

Armor cap is 9230 against any enemies level 100 and above, for up to 85% Damage Reduction. This is generally reached at 925 Item Power with either one Armor Gear Affix with one Total Armor% Temper, or with a maxed Juggernaut’s Aspect.

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Royal Emerald for Critical Strike Damage	Royal Ruby For Max Life%	Royal Diamond for All Resistance

Elixirs, Incense and Health Potions

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

• Craft the highest available Elixir of Advantage for Attack Speed and Lucky Hit bonuses.
• If mats are available, craft Chorus of War.
• Remember to upgrade your potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion!

Unique Items

The following Unique Items are recommended for the Shred Druid.

• (Recommended) Godslayer Crown is an effective grouping tool, as well as a strong damage multiplier.
• (Recommended) Hunter’s Zenith will provide significant cooldown resets on Werebear SkillsDebilitating Roar and Trample, allowing the Skills to have strong uptime and availability. As well, this will help maintain Wildheart Hunger stacks and trigger shapeshifting bonuses such as Quickshift and Heightened Senses.
• (Optional) Mad Wolf’s Glee is an excellent offensive Unique Item that gives movement speed and Skill Points to Werewolf abilities.
  

Uber Unique Items

• (Recommended) Harlequin Crest is better defensively over Godslayer Crown, with strong Gear Affixes and a +4 to all Skills. This can allow the build to push higher while staying safer.
• (Situational) Ring of Starless Skies is a powerful Resource Cost Reduction tool and damage multiplier and can be useful for making gameplay a bit smoother. Replaces Accelerating Aspect. The downside is losing the better stats that a Legendary Ring can provide from affixes and tempers.
• (Situational) Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander can be useful for speed clearing lower farm content but gives up substantial top-end damage to use. Move Shepherd’s Aspect to Amulet.

Rotation and Playstyle

1. For bosses, pre-place Ravens for more Critical Strike Chance.
2. Dash with Evade or Shred to approach enemies.
3. Maintain Shapeshifting buffs like Quickshift, Heightened Senses, and Unique Item Wildheart Hunger.
4. Cast Petrify against Elites and Bosses, stunning enemies and applying a strong Critical Strike Damage Taken debuff.
5. Cast Shred on enemies.
6. Killed all your enemies? Excellent work, Champion of Sanctuary. Run, Evade, or Dash with Shred to the next threat.

Check out the advanced Build Mechanics section for a more in-depth description on how the build works, what synergies exist, and what to look out for.

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 Shred Druid. For general Season 4 information, check out our Season 4 Hub.

Itemization:

• New Item – Wildheart Hunger – When you Shapeshift into a Werewolf or a Werebear, you gain Wildheart for 5 seconds. Wildheart grants you 1%-1.5% increased damage with Shapeshifting Skills every 2 seconds, stacking 20 times.
• Tibault’s Will damage reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%.
• 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.
• Aspect of the Unsatiated redesigned – After killing an enemy with Shred, you gain 20 Spirit. Your Werewolf Skills deal 10-25% increased damage when cast above 50 Spirit.
• New – Aspect of Concussive Strikes – Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal 5-20% increased damage to Dazed enemies.

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%.
• Shred damage increased by 10%
• Enhanced Shred healing increased from 2% to 4%.
• Debilitating Roar is now a Shout skill.
• 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.
• Digitigrade Gait Movement Speed increased from 3% to 4%.

Bug Fixes:

• Wild Impulses bonus damage is now correctly Multiplicative instead of Additive.
• Fixed an issue where Shred could target invisible enemies.

Advanced Information

It is time to start your Shred journey!

Or see below for further information on how the build works, as well as further explanations for Paragon, Gearing, Gameplay, and available playstyle options.

Build Mechanics

The Shred Druid groups and dashes into enemies for strong Area of Effect damage from both Shred and Stormclaw’s Aspect. With high mobility, the Druid will attack, kill, and quickly get to the next enemies.

Several Damage multipliers are present, including Godslayer Crown, Shepherd’s Aspect, Paragon, and Gear Affixes to layer together for the strongest output.

With the change to Quickshift and Heightened Senses, as well as the new Wildheart Hunger Shapeshifting is incentivized heavily. This means sometimes disrupting the Shred spam with periodic casts of both Trample and Debilitating Roar. These are easily reset with Hunter’s Zenith.

Companion Skills go largely unused. Ravens can be pre-placed on bosses for the Critical Strike Chance but frequent casts of Companion Skills will be too disruptive.

Key Passive Ursine Strength is used for the Max Life and consistent Damage Multiplier. However, you could also run other Key Passives situationally:

• Bestial Rampage is higher potential damage but using the Werebear skills and staying in form for the 2 seconds can be disruptive.
• Lupine Ferocity is less reliable damage but can interact well with Stormclaw’s Aspect and other Critical Strike based abilities like Lust for Carnage.

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. For general paragon board information, check the guide here.

The recommended Paragon boards with images for the Shred Druid are listed above. The following section goes over some explanations and descriptions for the pathing process for the Shred Druid.

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 asFang and Claw and Spirit.
  • Legendary Nodes such as Ancestral Guidance.
  • Magic and Rare nodes such as Havoc for Critical Strike Damage and Physical Damage or Nimble for Attack Speed and Damage.
  • Debuff application such as Exploit giving an easy access to Vulnerable.
• Defense – The paragon boards help reach goals on Damage Reduction, Armor, and Resistances. This includes:
  • Damage Reduction is improved from Werewolf, Undaunted, and Territorial secondary effects, as well as individual nodes providing bonuses like Damage Reduction against Vulnerable enemies.
  • Resistances are improved from Magic and Rare Resistance nodes, with Fang and Claw bonuses improving their nearby Resistance nodes.
  • Armor goals are reached with the help of Armor nodes in Inner Beast.
• Build Functionality – The paragon boards improve Spirit Generation for the build from a few sources, including:
  • Lust for Carnage provides Spirit on Critical Strike from Werewolf abilities, including Shred.
  • Various Max Spirit and Spirit on kill Magic and Rare nodes on the Ancestral Guidance board.

Name	Effect
Territorial	For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [9.6%] increased damage to Close targets. Bonus (25 Dexterity): You gain 15% Damage Reduction against Close Enemies.
Werewolf	For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal + [6.24%] increased damage while in Werewolf form. Bonus (40 Willpower): You gain 10% Damage Reduction while in Werewolf form.
Ancestral Guidance	After spending 75 Spirit, you deal 30%[x] increased damage for 5 seconds.
Fang and Claw	Grants +50.0% bonus to all Magic Nodes within range. Bonus (40 Willpower): While in Werewolf or Werebear form, Close Enemies take x12% increased damage from you.
Lust for Carnage	Critical Strikes with Werewolf Skills restore 2 Spirit.
Exploit	For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [3.85%] 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.
Undaunted	For every 5 Intelligence purchased within range, you deal + [7.7%] increased damage while Fortified. Bonus (25 Intelligence): You gain up to 10% Damage Reduction the more Fortify you have.
Spirit	For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal +4.0% 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].

Spirit Generation

The Shred Druid does not use a Basic Attack spirit generator; instead, it relies on several alternative sources:

• Lust for Carnage legendary Node grants Spirit on Critical Strikes with Werewolf abilities, including Shred.
• Aspect of the Unsatiated grants Spirit on Kills with Shred.
• Paragon nodes for Spirit on Kill in the Ancestral Guidance board.
• Resource Cost Reduction on Weapon, and Resource Generation on Rings.

In the Endgame, these are sufficient sources for Spirit Cost needs. Shred is not an expensive spender. However, if the above are insufficient sources while leveling and gearing, consider the following supplementary options:

• The Wolf’s Energize Spirit Boon, replacing The Wolf’s Bolster.
• Use Starlight Aspect. Shred heals a lot so this is of big value.
• Shift points within the Inner Beast Paragon Board to take Inner Beast.
• Spirit Per Second on Helm, Chest, or Boots.
• Worst case in early leveling and gearing, use Claw as a Basic Attack Builder.

Controller vs Keyboard and Mouse

The Shred Druid can play smoother on a controller. When held, Shred can auto-move to the nearest enemies, or continue direction if no enemies are in range. The Dashes from casts of Shred auto-aim to the nearest enemy. Keyboard and Mouse can offer better control, allowing you to choose targets to Dash to. Both options are valid. Keyboard and Mouse can also access the auto-aim behavior by going into ESC -> Options -> Gameplay, and changing Skill Toggle Behavior to Toggle All.

Codex of Power and Gearing Affixes

With the release of Season 4 and Patch 1.4.0, Gearing has changed significantly. For the dedicated page, see the updated Gear Systems and Itemization Overview guide here.

The Codex of Power has changed. Extracting any aspect now upgrades it in the Codex of Power. All Aspects now exist in the Codex of Power. For example, extracting a Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt of a higher rank than you currently have in your codex improves the Codex. All future applications of Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt will have that higher value. This also means Gambling Obols can be a significant method of improving your Codex of power. Aspects in the Codex can be favorited.

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.

For Gearing Affixes, Normal Items have no affixes, Magic Items have 1 affix, Rare Items have 2 affixes, Legendary Items have 3 affixes, and Unique Items keep their 4 affixes. Applying Legendary Aspects from your Codex will not improve the amount of Affixes on items. In the Endgame, this means Legendary Items are desirable and the rest are largely going to be just salvaged without much inspection. Many available affixes and their ranges have been changed. This is beneficial for this build on some Slots such as 2 handed weapon, with large Spirit Cost Reduction and Attack Speed, but will be worse on other slots. For example, every single resistance is an option on armor slots so rerolling at the Enchantress for the ideal affix can take many more rolls.

Ancestral Legendary items can drop with Greater Affix, indicated with a special icon * both in Inventory and on the ground. Items can have multiple Greater Affixes. Greater Affixes have a 1.5 multiplier to the base Affix.

Tempering and Masterworking

Tempering manuals are found across Sanctuary. The Blacksmith is able to apply extra affixes on items, up to two on Ancestral quality items. This would bring an Ancestral Legendary item up to a total of 5 affixes. When tempering at the Blacksmith, an item will randomly select one of the listed affixes from the chosen Tempering Manual. For example, the Offensive type Shapeshifting Finesse manual can give Werewolf Attack Speed, or give something utterly useless to the build like Werebear Overpower. 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.

Legendary Ancestral Items and Ancestral Unique Items can then be upgraded in quality via Mastercrafting using materials from The Pit of Artificers. This increases affix, with special increases at levels 4, 8, and 12 that upgrade the Quality of a randomly chosen affix or temper by 25%. The same affix or temper can be chosen multiple times, further increasing the quality from Magic, to Rare, and finally to Legendary.

Gauntlet Optimization

The Gauntlet is a Trial event dungeon that changes weekly. The format is a point score system over 8 minutes, and players will compete in weekly Leaderboards for fame and prize.

Shred excels at high-density AoE and overall speed, but can lack Boss damage or not stand out in lower enemy density that may show up in Gauntlet maps.

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!

The Gearing and Paragon Setups for Gauntlet will take less Armor, Max Life, Damage Reductions, and top-end multipliers, and instead tune for speed, uptime, and efficiency. The following recommendations are for generic Gauntlet play, and considerations may change week to week as new maps are shown.

Gearing and Legendary Affixes for Gauntlet

Make the following changes for the Gauntlet:

• Use a 1-Handed Axe and Totem setup may pull ahead in Gauntlet. Totem can offer double Cooldown Reduction, Critical Strike Chance, and more Attack Speed and another aspect such as Accelerating Aspect or Aspect of the Stampede.
• Use a mobility aspect on Legendary Boots such as Aspect of Metamorphosis. Temper the boots for Movement Speed.

Gauntlet Skills

Instead, take Poison Creeper for more multiplier to Shepherd’s Aspect.

For Key Passive, use Bestial Rampage for the high damage multiplier over Ursine Strength. Use Trample to get the Werebear multiplier.

Gauntlet Paragon Board

The Paragon has a similar layout, but gives up some Armor and Max Life nodes to take some more damage nodes. This also swaps Undaunted for Guzzler.

CLICK THIS LINK to see the Gauntlet Paragon Board in its entirety. Paragon Board tool is courtesy of d4builds.gg.

Changelog

• May 15, 2024: Small changes in gear affixes to adjust for season launch changes from PTR.
• 3 May 2024: Guide reworked for the significant 1.4.0 changes to gearing and for season 4 speculative changes. Format changed to frontload basic build information and offer extra information and options afterwards.
• 8 March 2024: Guide created, fully replacing the previous guide.

• Ownership transferred.
• Adjusted Gear, Skills, and Paragon sections to hit defensive stats targets and improve overall damage output.
• Improved readability, explanations, and options.