Build Introduction
The Stormclaw Druid is a fast, simple, and tanky Basic Skill build with a melee playstyle, using
Greatstaff of the Crone to deliver a high volume of
Claw and
Storm Strike. Speed between enemies, grouping packs, and cleaving them down.
This guide covers everything necessary to get started on your Stormclaw 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
- Straight-forward gameplay
- Fast and mobile build
- Melee range build
- Lots of Basic Attack spam
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 Unique Items are required for build functionality to get started on the Stormclaw Druid:
![Greatstaff of the Crone](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/static/d4/latest/images/icons/2DInventory_Staff_44.webp)
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
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.
Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
---|---|---|
Wariness | Deer | Take 10% reduced damage from Elites. |
Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain +10% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
Avian Wrath | Eagle | Gain 30%[x] Critical Strike Damage. |
Bolster | Wolf | Fortify for 25% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive Skill. |
Masochistic | Snake | Lucky Hit chance of 75%. Critical Strikes with Shapeshifting Skills Heal you for 3% Maximum Life (#). |
Alternative Boons
- In hard-hitting push content where more health is necessary, change the Eagle’s Scythe Talons for the Eagle’s Iron Feather.
- If the Fortify generation is sufficient, change Wolf’s Bolster to the Wolf’s Packleader for more coverage of
Brutal Poison Creeper.
Paragon
The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Stormclaw Druid. All Glyphs are placed as if they are max radius (Level 15+).
Starting Board
Click this link to see the paragon board in its entirety! Paragon Board images are courtesy of d4builds.gg.
From the starting board, path up, placing the Territorial Glyph into the Glyph Socket.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw1.jpg)
Inner Beast
For the second board, choose Inner Beast, placed against the Starting Board. Socket the Werewolf glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw2.jpg)
Thunderstruck
For the third board, choose Thunderstruck, placed against the right exit of the Inner Beast board. Socket the Spirit glyph, and take the
Thunderstruck Legendary Node.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw3.jpg)
Ancestral Guidance
For the fourth board, choose Ancestral Guidance, placed against the bottom exit of the Thunderstruck board. Socket the Fang and Claw Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw4.jpg)
Heightened Malice
For the fifth board, choose Heightened Malice, placed against the right exit of the Ancestral Guidance board. Socket the Undaunted glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw5.jpg)
Constricting Tendrils
For the sixth board, choose Constricting Tendrils, placed against the top exit of the Inner Beast board. Socket the Exploit Glyph. The Legendary Node is not taken.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw6.jpg)
Survival Instincts
For the final board, choose Survival Instincts, placed against the bottom side of the Heightened Malice board, rotated once. take the Bulwark Rare node and surrounding Damage Reduction to Fortify Magic nodes.
![](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aclaw7.jpg)
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() | (Required) ![]() | Claw is now a Storm Skill and also casts Storm Strike at [120 – 150]% normal damage. |
Helm | ![]() | (Recommended) ![]() ![]() | 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 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | After casting 5 Basic Skills, one of your active Cooldowns is reduced by [1.0 – 2.0] seconds. |
Gloves | ![]() | Basic Skills gain [15 – 30]%[+] Attack Speed. | |
Pants | ![]() | ![]() | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0 – 6.0] seconds. |
Boots | ![]() | Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal 5-20%[x] increased damage to Dazed enemies. | |
Amulet | ![]() | ![]() | Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% Attack Speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a Vampiric Bloodrage, gaining [40 – 80]%[x] Basic Skill damage and 15% Movement Speed for 10 seconds. |
Ring 1 | ![]() | ![]() (Optional) ![]() (Optional) ![]() | Critical Strikes with Storm Skills that you cast charge the air around you for [1.0 – 2.0] seconds causing a Lightning Bolt to periodically hit an enemy in the area for 9,652 Lightning damage. This duration can be extended by additional Critical Strikes. |
Ring 2 | ![]() | (single target) ![]() (multitarget) ![]() | When cast below 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource, once per cast. When cast at or above 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills deal [40 – 80]%[x] increased damage. |
Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes
Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. To masterwork, you will need rare materials that only drop from The Pit. Be sure to check our Tempering guide, our Masterworking guide, as well as our guide about The Pit for more details about these topics.
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 |
---|---|---|
Weapon – ![]() | Damage to Close Enemies Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies Non-physical Damage Ranks to Claw | |
Helm – ![]() | Cooldown Reduction Maximum Life Damage Crowd Control Duration | |
Helm – Legendary Aspect | Max Life Willpower Cooldown Reduction Lucky Hit Chance | ![]() ![]() |
Chest – ![]() | Max Life Poison Damage Damage Reduction from Enemies that are Poisoned Movement Speed | |
Chest – Legendary Aspect | Willpower Max Life Armor Ranks to Defensive Skills | ![]() ![]() |
Gloves | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Willpower Lucky Hit Chance | ![]() ![]() |
Pants | Ranks to ![]() ![]() Ranks to ![]() Willpower Max Life Armor | ![]() ![]() |
Boots – Legendary Aspect | Impicit: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown By 1.5 Seconds Willpower Movement Speed Max Life | ![]() ![]() |
Amulet | Ranks to ![]() Critical Strike Chance Movement Speed Resource Cost Reduction | ![]() ![]() |
Ring – ![]() | Damage While Shapeshifted Critical Strike Chance Ranks in ![]() Ranks in ![]() | |
Ring – ![]() | Damage to Close Enemies Willpower% Lucky Hit Chance Ultimate Skill Cooldown Reduction | |
Rings – Legendary Aspect | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Critical Strike Damage | ![]() ![]() |
No gear affixes are required for build functionality. However, the most important affixes for the Stormclaw druid are:
- Ranks to Basic Skills, Ranks to
Claw or
Storm Strike.
- Damage to Close or Distant for
Thunderstruck.
- Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance
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 a maxed Juggernaut’s Aspect.
Gems
Weapon Gems | Armor Gems | Jewelry Gems |
---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
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 required, recommended or situational for the Stormclaw Druid:
- (Required)
Greatstaff of the Crone is necessary for the build to function well, making
Claw and Storm ability, boosting
Claw damage, and doubling the amount of Basic Attacks you are able to cast at once. Unfortunately this means no Weapon tempers, but there are not any
Claw or
Storm Strike specific ones anyways!
- (Recommended)
Godslayer Crown is a strong multiplier and grouping tool, triggered when Elite enemies are stunned, frozen, or immobilized, or when dealing any damage to a Boss. This build uses both
Petrify, the active cast of
Poison Creeper, and Immobilization Tempers on gear to trigger this effect.
- (Optional)
Mad Wolf’s Glee is an excellent offensive Unique Item, giving movement speed, Damage Reduction and and Skill Ranks to Werewolf Skills, including
Claw.
- (Optional)
Airidah’s Inexorable Will is a powerful screenwide damage and grouping tool, triggered from casts of
Petrify.
Hectic Aspect allows for more casts of
Petrify to trigger this Unique’s effect. If used, swap to the Calm Before the Storm boon on the Snake.
- (Optional)
Hunter’s Zenith can be a strong defensive option, giving resets to Werebear skills and better coverage to passives like
Heightened Senses. If used, replace
Earthen Bulwark with
Debilitating Roar.
The downside of using either Hunter’s Zenith or
Airidah’s Inexorable Will is less damage multipliers from a Legendary Aspects like
Overcharged Aspect or
Runeworker’s Conduit Aspect, and Ring Tempers like Damage to Close Enemies giving a stronger
Thunderstruck multiplier.
Uber Unique Items
If acquired, the following Uber Unique Items are recommended for the build:
- (High Value)
Harlequin Crest is better defensively over
Godslayer Crown, with strong Gear Affixes and ranks to all Skills. This can allow the build to push higher while staying safer.
Rotation
- Maintain Shapeshifting Buffs such as
Bestial Rampage and
Heightened Senses. Use
Trample for Werebear buffs and
Blood Howl or
Claw for Werewolf buffs.
- Apply Crowd Controls and Poison to packs with
Poison Creeper. The immobilize can trigger
Godslayer Crown.
- Use
Petrify against Elites and Bosses for heavy Critical Strike Damage Multipliers.
- Use defensives as needed;
Earthen Bulwark and
Trample provide Unstoppable sources. If used, maintain
Debilitating Roar.
Claw your enemies!
Check out the advanced Mechanics and Playstyle 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 Stormclaw Druid. For general Season 4 information, check out our Season 4 Hub.
Itemization:
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.
Hectic Aspect Cooldown Reduction reduced from 2-4 seconds to 1-2 seconds.
Stats and Skills:
- Damage Reduction from Fortify is now 15%, from 10%.
- Wariness Spirit Boon damage reduction from Elites increased to 15%.
- Masochistic Critical Strike Healing increased from 3% to 5%.
Claw – Damage increased by ~10%.
Enhanced Claw Attack Speed increased from 15% to 20%.
Debilitating Roar is now a Shout skill.
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:
- Fixed an issue where Storm Strike and Claw could attack in place instead of attempting to path the player.
Patch 1.4.3
- Scythe Talons – Critical Strike Chance increased from 5% to 10%.
- Iron Feather – Maximum Life increased from 14% to 20%.
- Bolster – Fortify amount increased from 15% to 25% of your Maximum Life.
Toxic Claws – Poisoning amount increased from 8/15/23% to 12/24/36% of the Skill’s Base damage.
Quickshift – Maximum damage bonus increased from 6/12/18%[x] to 8/16/24%[x].
Advanced Information
Time to get started on your Stormclaw journey!
Or see below for further information on how the build works, as well as further explanations for Paragon, Gearing, and Gameplay, and available playstyle options.
Mechanics and Playstyle
The Stormclaw Druid has simple gameplay. Use Claw to kill your enemies.
Greatstaff of the Crone boosts
Claw damage, makes it a Storm skill so it can benefit from Nature damage passives and effects, and casts
Storm Strike with every
Claw cast. Since
Storm Strike is a triggered effect from
Claw, it does not need to be on the Skill Bar.
Supporting Abilities and Effects
Trample and
Earthen Bulwark provide defensive benefits and give Unstoppable.
Trample will also help refresh buffs from
Bestial Rampage,
Quickshift, and
Heightened Senses.
Blood Howl is a strong attack speed addition, and along with
Earthen Bulwark activate defensive passives like the Bolster Spirit Boon and
Vigilance.
Poison Creeper poisons enemies, applies Immobilize in a large area, and increase Critical Strike Chance against them with
Brutal Poison Creeper. This Immobilize can trigger effects for
Godslayer Crown and activate multipliers like
Natural Disaster.
Petrify is our Ultimate ability, Stunning and applying a heavy Critical Strike Damage multiplier to our enemies. This also activates the effects of
Godslayer Crown to group enemies to be cleaved down.
Hectic Aspect will help reduce Petrify’s cooldown.
The Key Passive Bestial Rampage has been buffed several times to give both a high damage multiplier and a strong Attack Speed bonus, and both buffs are well worth maintaining. we will naturally keep up the Werewolf buff, and we maintain the Werebear buff by using
Trample and waiting two seconds until the buff shows up.
For a more passive playstyle, Ursine Strength can also be used. The damage multiplier is active in any form, so long as you are Healthy. Healthy means current Life is above 80%
We benefit from several layered Attack Speed buffs, including Paragon nodes, Bestial Rampage, Aspect of Moonrise,
Rapid Aspect, and
Blood Howl.
Put together, we engage enemies with Basic Attacks. Get buffs, Unstoppable, and damage with your supporting abilities Earthen Bulwark,
Blood Howl, and
Trample. Apply
Poison Creeper and
Petrify to crowd control and group enemies, then cleave them down.
Paragon Information
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 Stormclaw Druid are listed above. The following section goes over some explanations and descriptions for the pathing process for the Stormclaw 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 as
Fang and Claw,
Spirit and
Territorial.
- Legendary Nodes such as
Thunderstruck.
- Magic and Rare nodes such as Shapeshifter for Willpower and Shapeshifting Skill Damage or Havoc for Critical Strike Damage and Physical Damage
- Debuff application such as
Exploit to apply Vulnerable.
- Socketed Glyphs such as
- 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.
- Damage Reduction is improved from
- Build Functionality – While some other Druid builds can benefit directly from utility nodes like Max Spirit, Spirit on Kill, or Spirit on Critical, the Stormclaw Druid does not use Spirit spenders so does not need these things.
Name | Effect |
---|---|
![]() | 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. |
![]() | 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. |
![]() | Storm Skills deal increased damage equal to 20%[x] of your Damage vs Close and Damage vs Distant bonuses. |
![]() | 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]. |
![]() | 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. |
![]() | 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. |
![]() | 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. |
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 Might of a higher rank than you currently have in your codex improves the Codex. All future applications of
Aspect of Might 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.
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.
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.
Other Considerations
Hectic Aspect‘s Cooldown Reduction effect can be triggered without hitting a target. Cast your Basic Skill while moving between packs for some extra Cooldown off your abilities!
Controller vs Keyboard and Mouse
Stormclaw can play smoother on a controller. Controllers default to allowing movement while holding Basic Attacks. Keyboard and mouse users will find some restrictions in movement while casting and may have to click a lot to retarget. Some ways to improve quality of life on keyboard and mouse can include any of the following in combination:
- Change Keybind settings to deselect ‘Combine Move / Interact / Basic Skill slot’ along with rebinding their Basic Skill to not be left clicked.
- Use
Claw on another keybind.
- Change Preset movement setting to WASD.
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.
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!
Stormclaw is a fast and competitive build that can speed through content. However, it lacks in the multitarget and AoE map clearing that may show up in the Gauntlet.
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
Use the same Legendary Aspects and Unique Items for the Gauntlet.
Gauntlet Skills
To make the most of the Stomclaw Druid inside the Gauntlet, a few changes are made to the build for more output and mobility.
- For active abilities, swap
Poison Creeper for
Shred,
Enhanced Shred and
Primal Shred. Shred will be used as a gap closer and mobility tool to keep you moving through the Gauntlet.
- Since the content needs less defense, remove the following Skills
- 3 ranks in
Vigilance, and 1 point in
Ancestral Fortitude
Enhanced Trample and
Natural Trample
- 3 ranks in
- Take the following Skills
Elemental Exposure rank 1,
Charged Atmosphere rank 1,
Electric Shock rank 1,
Bad Omen rank 3
Gauntlet Paragon Board
The Paragon Board has a similar layout, but gives up some Armor and Max Life nodes to take some more damage nodes. CLICK THIS LINK to see the Paragon Board in its entirety. Paragon Board is courtesy of d4builds.gg.
Changelog
- 17 June, 2024: Updated for mid-season patch 1.4.3.
- 5 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.
- 9 March 2024: Guide Created, fully replacing 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.