In this Diablo 4 Lightning Druid Leveling Build (for Vessel of Hatred or 2.0 works with both!), I’ll teach you how to make an easy to play and powerful Lightning Druid Build with few gear requirements, good damage, and excellent growth to carry you all the way to Torment I. This is a solid Lightning Druid Build that isn’t 100% min/maxed because you will continue to change your gear from this point onward, but it will get you to Torment I and through Torment I without issues.
Diablo 4 Lightning Druid Leveling Build Season 6 – Endless Cataclysm
The Stormcrow Build is a Diablo 4 Druid Build that takes advantage of the buff to Cataclysm’s damage, makes use of its 5 skill point investment for even more damage and cooldown, a long with a couple of new Legendary Aspects that absolutely crank it to the next level, and Druid passives that make reducing your Ultimate’s cooldown rather easy.
The idea is to keep Cataclysm up 100% of the time, or to maintain 100% uptime on Cataclysm so that every time it is off cooldown you just pop it again and continue to decimate enemies and bosses on the screen. Cooldown reduction is of course crucial for this, as it makes it possible, so you’ll want this on every piece of gear that you can have it on: Head, Amulet, Totem, and Cataclysm Cooldown Tempered onto both Rings if possible.
Additionally, you’ll want to take Calamity, which increases the duration of your Ultimate Skills by 25%, and Calm Before The Storm which helps reduce Ultimate Cooldown by 2 seconds through Lucky Hit with Nature Skills. These make this much easier to accomplish, and allows you to reduce Cataclysm’s cooldown with your other Skills while it is active.
Lastly, the new Blood Boiling Aspect guarantees you an Overpower every 20 Seconds. This allows us to Overpower Cataclysm once every 20 seconds, which means every hit dealt by it will be Overpowered, which is incredible! Cataclysm lasts 17.5 seconds with this setup, and as you get your cooldown closer to 25 seconds you can pretty much cast Cataclysm Overpowered each time you cast it, which is devastating. 100% uptime on Overpowered Cataclysm? Yes Please!
Diablo 4 Lightning Druid Leveling Build – Skills & Distribution
The Skills we’ll be taking for this Diablo 4 Lightning Druid Build will mostly be Storm Skills, but we will also pick up 2 other Skills, Earthen Bulwark and Ravens in order to round out our Build. Earthen Bulwark is a staple Barrier in many Druid Builds, and Ravens is used with a new Aspect in order to deal Lightning Damage and to stun enemies.
Wind Shear
We use Wind Shear for our Basic Skill and we don’t use it often, but it’s a good way to build up Spirit if we need it, which we do need sometimes at this point in the game. This will likely be swapped out in a more End Game focused Build, but we combine it with the Hectic Aspect, which reduces Cooldowns with every 5 basic attacks in order to help get Cataclysm’s cooldown lower when needed, though this Aspect will not be needed once you have its cooldown low enough. Make sure you take the Wild Wind Shear upgrade for more Spirit build up per hit.
Lightning Storm
Lightning Storm is our go to Core Skill for when we have enemies grouped up or we just have Spirit to burn. You won’t need it all that often, but it will help burn down packs of elites and Bosses while Cataclysm is running, so get used to using it. Alternate with Wind Sheer when you need resources so you can keep casting. Which upgrade you choose is not super important at this point.
Earthen Bulwark is our Barrier against damage and also works to get us out of Crowd Control since it grants Unstoppable when taking the Enhanced Earthen Bulwark upgrade. You can use Aspect of Mending Stone to increase its duration if you wish, or use Earthguard Aspect to increase its potency, or both if you need them. Either upgrade is fine to take.
Next we have Ravens which we use for Lightning Damage with the new Stormcrow’s Aspect, and also and more importantly for the Stun. This allows us some Crowd Control that we can cast at range, rather than having to be up close like with Poison Creeper, keeping us out of harm’s way. Often you’ll use this to CC enemies trying to kill you while waiting for Cataclysm to come off of Cooldown when your Cooldown Reduction isn’t high enough, and it can save your life. Which upgrade you take isn’t super important.
Hurricane is another Storm Skill we use to try to trigger Calm Before The Storm while Cataclysm is running, it deals a bit of Physical Damage, and it reduces the damage enemies deal that are hit by it by 20% when taking the Savage Hurricane upgrade, helping to keep us alive. Use this pretty much every time it’s off cooldown as long as there is something near by to hit.
This is our Ultimate Skill, and you should know the drill by this point with this skill. It throws out Lightning Bolts and Tornados all over the screen for 17.5 seconds when full upgraded and using Calamity, and its damage was buffed with the Vessel of Hatred update. This is the main source of damage for this Build, and we lean into it as much as we can.
Full Stormcrow Lightning Druid Skill Distribution:
| Skill | Points |
| Wind Shear | 1 |
| Enhanced Wind Shear | 1 |
| Wild Wind Shear | 1 |
| Lightning Storm | 1 |
| Enhanced Lightning Storm | 1 |
| Primal Lightning Storm | 1 |
| Earthen Bulwark | 1 (get as many +Ranks from Chest Armor) |
| Enhanced Bulwark | 1 |
| Preserving Bulwark | 1 |
| Ancestral Fortitude | 3 |
| Vigilance | 3 |
| Ravens | 5 (get as many +Ranks from Head Armor) |
| Enhanced Ravens | 1 |
| Brutal Ravens | 1 |
| Call of the Wild | 3 |
| Feral Aptitude | 3 |
| Nature’s Reach | 3 |
| Humanity | 3 |
| Hurricane | 1 |
| Enhanced Hurricane | 1 |
| Savage Hurricane | 1 |
| Endless Tempest | 3 |
| Bad Omen | 3 |
| Electric Shock | 3 |
| Cataclysm | 5 |
| Enhanced Cataclysm | 1 |
| Supreme Cataclysm | 1 |
| Defiance | 3 |
| Circle of Life | 3 |
| Natural Disaster | 3 |
| Catastrophe | 3 |
| Perfect Storm | 1 |
Diablo 4 Lightning Druid Leveling Build Spirit Boons
I have Wariness, for less damage from Elites, which almost becomes mandatory as you get to harder difficulties. Scythe Talons for Critical Chance, Calamity for Ultimate Duration and I’ve bonded with the Snake in order to get both Calm Before The Storm and Overload, which helps to improve our damage. Cataclysm has a very high Lucky Hit Chance, so this can be triggered often by it.
Lightning Druid Leveling Build – Aspects, Affixes & Tempering
Equipment is the most important part of any build, but because it is random it should not stop your leveling build from being able to progress through content. With this specific build, the skill distribution is powerful and you can be very unoptimized and progress, but you can look at the gear recommendations to see what you should be looking for. Try to use Legendary Aspects to adjust to your needs while you farm levels and better gear. In general you should not bother tempering items until after level 60, when you will get Item Power 750 items that will be your default for a while.
Lighting Druid Leveling Build – Legendary Aspects and Uniques
My current Lightning Druid Build is making use of two unique items that I got really early, but this Build will work just fine without them, and I mainly use them for their Cooldown Reduction. These are Godslayer Crown and Airidah’s Inexorable Will. You can replace these with a Helmet with Cooldown Reduction and any Ring with a Tempered Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction and it will come out the same, however, they do pull enemies together which allows for all your Dancing Bolts to hit everything easily, and it pulls enemies automatically so you don’t even have to do anything which is great.
As a general note, try to prioritize Cooldown Reduction, Willpower, Lucky Hit Chance, and Critical Strike Chance. Cooldown is needed for Cataclysm, Willpower for damage, Lucky Hit to help trigger Cooldown Reduction from Calm Before the Storm, as well as extra damage from Overload and Overcharged Aspect. Critical Strike Chance boosts damage, and also helps to trigger the Runeworker’s Aspect.
Helm
Godslayer Crown (Unique) or Earthguard Aspect: Gain [10 – 30]% bonus amount to your next Earthen Bulwark for each enemy you Crowd Control up to a maximum of 100%
Affixes to look for:
- Cooldown Reduction
- +3 Ravens
- Maximum Life or +Total Armor
- Temper: Earthen Bulwark Duration or Cooldown
- Temper: Ravens Active Size
Gloves
Unsung Ascetic’s Wraps or Stormcrow’s Aspect: Ravens now deal Lightning Damage which is increased by [60-100]%. Active deals its full damage in half the time, and enemies inside are stunned.
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Critical Strike Chance
- Critical Strike Damage or Vulnerable Damage
- Temper: Ultimate Damage, Storm Damage, Lightning Bolt Damage or Storm Critical Strike Chance
- Temper: Ravens Active Size
Chest
Hectic Aspect: After casting 5 Basic Skills, one of your active Cooldowns is reduced by [1.0-2.5] seconds.
- +3 Earthen Bulwark
- Maximum Life or +Total Armor
- Willpower
- Temper: Earthen Bulwark Duration or Cooldown
- Temper: Ravens Active Size
Legs
Aspect of the Protector: Damaging an Elite enemy grants you a Barrier absorbing up to [X] damage for 10 seconds. This effect can only happen once every 30 seconds.
- Maximum Life
- Total Armor
- Willpower
- Temper: Earthen Bulwark Duration or Cooldown
- Temper: Hurricane Size
Boots
Windbolt Aspect: Every [3.5-2.0] seconds, Distant enemies are Pulled In to you an take 10% increased damage for 3 seconds.
- Movement Speed
- Willpower
- Maximum Life
- Temper: Movement Speed
- Temper: Hurricane Size
Weapon
One-Handed Sword or One-Handed Mace – Blood Boiling Aspect: When your Core Skills Overpower an enemy, you spawn 3 Volatile Blood Drops. Collecting a Volatile Blood Drop causes it to explode dealing [x] Physical damage around you. Every 20 seconds, your next skill is guaranteed to Overpower.
- Willpower
- Maximum Life
- Critical Strike Damage or Vulnerable Damage
- Temper: Chance for Cataclysm to Deal Double Damage
- Temper: Ultimate Damage, Storm Damage, Lightning Bolt Damage or Storm Critical Strike Chance
Totem
Critical Strikes with Storm Skills that you cast charge the air around you for 3 seconds causing a Lightning Bolt to periodically hit an enemy in the area for [x] Lightning damage. Your Lightning Bolts deal [20 – 50]%[x] increased damage.
- Cooldown Reduction
- Critical Strike Chance
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Temper: Chance for Cataclysm to Deal Double Damage
- Temper: Ultimate Damage, Storm Damage, Lightning Bolt Damage or Storm Critical Strike Chance
Neck
Lightning Dancer’s Aspect: Lightning Storm Critical Strikes spawn 3 Dancing Bolts that seek enemies in the area dealing [x] Lightning damage.
- Cooldown Reduction
- Critical Strike Chance
- Willpower
- Temper: Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction
- Temper: Ultimate Damage, Storm Damage, Lightning Bolt Damage or Storm Critical Strike Chance
Ring 1
Mjolnic Ring or Overcharged Aspect: Lucky Hit: Up to a [15-31%] chance when dealing Lightning damage to overload the target for 3 seconds, causing any direct damage you deal to them to pulse [x] additional damage to surrounding enemies.
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Critical Strike Chance
- Willpower
- Temper: Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction
- Temper: Ultimate Damage, Storm Damage, Lightning Bolt Damage or Storm Critical Strike Chance
Ring 2
Airidah’s Inexorable Will or Aspect of Calm Breeze: Wind Shear now deals [x] Poison damage over 4 seconds. Lucky Hit: Wind Shear has up to a [6-14]% chance to fully restore your Spirit
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Critical Strike Chance
- Willpower
- Temper: Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction
- Temper: Ultimate Damage, Storm Damage, Lightning Bolt Damage or Storm Critical Strike Chance
Gems or Runewords
I played around a lot with Runewords trying to find something that worked, and so far they have been a thoroughly disappointing experience, at least for levelling builds. The Runeword casts do not count towards your Key Passive for the stat boost, and the skills that I found where overall lame. So I decided to simply focus on gems. For gems, you’ll want to slot:
- Weapon: Emeralds to increase your critical damage.
- Armor: Sapphire to boost your Willpower
- Jewelry: Skulls to boost your armor. You can use other gems to shore up areas of elemental resistances as needed as well, depending on what you need. Try to aim for 1000 total armor and 70% Resistances on each element.
Progressing to Paragon and Final Tips – Lightning Druid Build
This is a Diablo 4 Lightning Druid leveling build intended to get your feet wet with the class and allow you to have fun exploring the areas of the game and starting activities. However, this is also a powerful and engaging build that can make content exciting and you will probably want to stick to this gamestyle as you continue.
I will be releasing a higher level build with actually optimized gear, aspects and progression aimed at completing the new activity, the Dark Citadel, that is a new and unique mode with full on raid mechanics that you are probably unprepared for. Your Torment progression will be heavily based on finding Ancestral gear with Greater Affixes that matches the right bonuses and gives you the right amount of resistances while not nerfing your damage, while you hunt for the legendary manuals so you can temper the best stuff in.
If you want to continue this build and begin your paragon progression, you will want to work toward these boards and glyphs:
Paragon Boards:
Glyphs:
So that wraps up our Stormcrow Lightning Druid Build Guide that focuses on endless Cataclysm, which absolutely decimates content and is rather easy to put together because there are not a ton of necessary Aspects to make it work and because there are some great Uniques that support its gameplay style. Be sure to check out the Diablo IV Wiki for any help you might need, and stay tuned for our other Class Build Leveling and End Game Guides!
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