In this Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Druid Class Guide, I’ll be helping you understand how the Druid Class changes for the D4 Vessel of Hatred expansion affect it and give you an easy overview of what to expect for your builds and Gameplay.
The new expansion is adding 1 new Earth Core Skill, 1 Key Passive and 4 regular passives to the Druid as well as a new Paragon board. On the itemization side, we’ll be getting new Uniques, and Legendary Aspects.
The New Druid in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred – Patch 2.0
Before we get into the specifics of Druid though, let me tell you about some huge changes coming to the game itself. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible, and we’ll have full detailed coverage of all these changes in a future video, but for now let me tell you about the most important ones.
First of all, the max level has been reduced to 60 (from 100), and players will begin receiving Paragon Points once they reach this level. These Points can be used by any level 60 character on your account. This not only means that you can gain Paragon Points for your Druid while playing on your Sorcerer, it also means that you will have an additional 10 Skill Points to allocate into your build (from levels 51-60), for a total of 69 Skill Points in Patch 2.0, up from 59 before.
Additionally, stats like Armor, Health, and Damage have been drastically reduced in order to simplify the game and make mathing easier for players. This doesn’t result in a nerfing of your character, it’s more of a backend change that is reflected in new numbers in your UI. Don’t freak out if you see your weapon no longer deals the same damage, it will still be as effective as it was before.
And lastly, the difficulty system of Diablo IV is changing, and there are now new Torment levels along with new difficulty levels, much like there were in Diablo III. Regular difficulty levels will be unlocked by advancing your character, but Torment levels will need to be unlocked through an End Game activity called The Pit of Artificers, which is much like Rifts in Diablo III, which are randomized dungeons essentially with a Boss at the end. This shouldn’t change the way you play the game fundamentally, and hopefully allows players to customize their preferred difficulty a bit better.
Table of contents
New Skills
Active Skill
The new Earth Core Skill is called Stone Burst, and it gathers stones in an AoE beneath your target’s feet, detonating for 80% Weapon Damage. However, you can channel this ability for increased damage and AoE which drastically improves the effectiveness of the skill, which means you’ll want to hold still when using it as much as possible.
It’s hard to say if this will actually be able to replace Landslide as the go-to Earth Skill, and that’s primarily because of the amount of Uniques and Aspects that affect it, with only a couple impacting Stone Burst.
- Enhanced Stone Burst increases Stone Burst’s final explosion damage is increased by 25% within the initial radius.
- Primal Stone Burst: makes is so while Channeling Stone Burst, and for 2 seconds after it ends, you gain 30% Attack Speed.
- Raging Stone Burst: makes Stone Burst costs 66% more Spirit, and its final explosion deals 50% more damage.
Primal Stone Burst seems like the better choice on the surface, as it offers increased damage without any drawbacks, but we’ll have to see how it shakes out in the long run, as the Spirit Cost can be offset somewhat easily by Earthen Might provided you have decent Lucky Hit Chance.
Passive Skills
One with Nature is the new Key Passive, which makes it so your Companion Skills each gain 1 additional companion and deal 50% increased damage. You also gain the Passive Effect of Ravens, Wolves and Poison Creeper. This is clearly aimed at making Companion Builds more viable, and Druids definitely need some love in this area, though there are many Aspects that now effect Companions for them to choose from.
The 4 regular passives being added are as follow:
- Humanity: You deal 5/10/15% more damage while in Human form.
- Catastrophe: You deal 5/10/15% more damage for 8 seconds after casting an Ultimate skill.
- Feral Aptitude: You deal 3% increased damage while Healthy and 3% increased damage while above 100% Movement Speed. These bonuses can stack.
- Backlash: You deal 4% increased damage for 5 seconds after casting a Defensive Skill.
Humanity will be great for builds that don’t utilize Shapeshifting whatsoever, while Catastrophe will impact every Druid Build and is likely going to be added to most of them out there. Feral Aptitude will likely find a good home in Werebear Builds, while Backlash is another all around solid skill that should find its way into most Druid Builds since just about all of them utilize at least one defensive Skill.
Changes to Skills & Trees
There have been multiple changes to Druid skills since release, so if you are a returning player you will probably need to tweak your build to match the new effects. The latest patch also brings a new wave of changes, starting with the Debilitating Roar.
Active Skills
Debilitating Roar
The two optional upgrades have been buffed. Innate Debilitating Roar now increases your damage for its duration, instead of slowing enemies. And Preserving Debilitating Roar heals for 6% of Max Life each second up from 4%. CC is not hard to come by on a Druid, so both of these are good changes.
Earthen Bulwark
Innate Earthen Bulwark’s damage has been increased from 30% to 60% Weapon Damage, making it a much more compelling choice than it was previously.
Trample
Trample has been updated to more consistently Trample to your target destination, rather than stopping immediately upon hitting terrain. This should just make it easier to use in general, which is great.
Cataclysm
Cataclysm is seeing a significant nerf because Lightning Strikes now cannot hit the same target more than once every 0.5 seconds. This makes it much less effective against Bosses and other single target scenarios, and only really makes it good in groups of enemies where players often don’t struggle anyway. However, it has had its damage increased from 95% Weapon Damage to 115% per strike, which helps to offset this a tiny bit.
Ursine Strength (Key Passive)
This has had its damage reduced from 30% to 15% while Healthy, but Health has been increased to 30% and Overpower Damage has been increased to 45%. This will make players using it more tanky, but have less overall damage.
Grizzly Rage
Overpowering Bosses now extends the duration of this Ultimate by 5 seconds. This is huge because previously you could stay in Grizzly form almost constantly when in dungeons or during Hordes, but couldn’t during Boss fights. This ensures that Grizzly Rage Druids have a way to do this, making it more useful in some of the hardest fights in the game.
Passive Skills
This passive now provides less damage and for a shorter duration if you don’t remain in Werebear or Werewolf form.
This passive got a HUGE buff making this passive viable for Werebears and Werewolves that don’t utilize both forms, but still better if you do use at least one skill from Werebear and Werewolf.
Bestial Rampage was nerfed through lower damage and attack speed, however, the changes make it easier to manage these buffs in general, which is a fair trade off I think.
Changes to Paragon Boards & Glyphs
In 2.0, players will now only be able to equip 5 Paragon Boards at a time, including your base board, so you cannot just ninja through a board for one node and out quickly. Instead, players will need to utilize their boards wisely. However, each Class has gained a new Board, for a total of 9 Boards (up from 8), and some Rare Nodes have changed. On top of that, players can now earn a total of 300 Paragon Points (up from 200), which should allow for a serious power increase across all Builds.
Glyphs have also seen a significant change. They no longer improve via experience, but instead level up by completing levels of The Pit of Artificers and trying to improve them at the end, again much like Diablo III. The higher level of Pit you complete, the higher your chances of improving your Glyph. Glyphs now go up to level 100, further expanding their power, and the higher level they are, the more difficult it becomes to improve them without progressing to higher levels in The Pit of Artificers.
Starter Board
- Reclaim (replacing Resolve)
- Previous: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Reclaim) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Willpower
Thunderstruck Board
- Concentrated (replacing Hubris)
- Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Concentrated) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Willpower
- Hubris (replacing Restorative)
- Previous: +4% Potion Healing / 4% Maximum Life
- Now: (Hubris) 4% Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies / +4% Healing Received
Earthen Devastation Board
- Crushing Earth (replacing Resolve)
- Previous: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Crushing Earth) +15% Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies / +10 Willpower
- Resolve (replacing Crushing Earth)
- Previous: +10% Earth Damage / +15% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
- Now: (Resolve) +3% Resistance to All Elements / 4% Maximum Life
Survival Instincts Board
- Battleworn Hide
- Previous: +2% Total Armor while in Werebear Form / +10 Willpower
- Now: +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Willpower
- Ursine
- Previous: +10% Damage while in Werebear Form / +45% Overpower Damage
- Now: +2% Total Armor while in Werebear Form / 4% Maximum Life
Lust for Carnage Board
- Ripper (replacing Regenerative)
- Previous: +4% Healing Received / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Ripper) +15% Critical Strike Damage / +10 Willpower
- Ferocity
- Previous: +10% Werewolf Damage / +15% Critical Strike Damage
- Now: +3% Resistance to All Elements / 4% Maximum Life
Heightened Malice Board
- Toxic Bane (replacing Nature-born)
- Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Toxic Bane) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Willpower
- Nature-born (replacing Toxic Bane)
- Previous: +10% Damage to Poisoned Enemies / +10% Poison Damage
- Now: (Nature-born) 4% Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies / +4% Healing Received
Inner Beast Board
- Determination
- Previous: +100 Armor / +10 Willpower
- Now: +15% Critical Strike Damage / +10 Willpower
- Wilds (replacing Havoc)
- Previous: +15% Critical Strike Damage / +10% Physical Damage
- Now: (Wilds) +3% Resistance to All Elements / +4% Healing Received
Constricting Tendrils Board
- Devastation (replacing Courage)
- Previous: 4% Maximum Life / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Devastation) +10% Nature Magic Damage / +10 Willpower
- Courage (replacing Devastation)
- Previous: +10% Nature Magic Damage / +16% Damage to Elites
- Now: (Courage) 4% Maximum Life / +20 Armor
Ancestral Guidance Board
- Resolve (replacing Recuperate)
- Previous: +4% Potion Healing / +10 Life per Second
- Now: (Resolve) +3% Resistance to All Elements / 4% Maximum Life
- Guidance (replacing Resolve)
- Previous: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +10 Willpower
- Now: (Guidance) +10% Damage / +10 Willpower
New Druid Paragon Board
The new Paragon board is called “Untamed”, and its unique node makes it so casting a Companion Skill grants +4 Ranks to all Companion Skills for 5 seconds. Between this and the new One with Nature Key Passive, you can see that Blizzard is trying to get Druids to make more Companion-focused Builds.
The rare nodes are as follows and will help with Companion Damage and general damage:
- Apex: +25.0% Companion Damage, +6.5% Damage Reduction from Elites
- Ferocity: +2.5% Companion Cooldown Reduction, +20 Armor
- Fortune: +5.0% Lucky Hit Chance, +10 Willpower
- Resolve: +3.0% Resistance to All Elements, +10 Willpower
- Tempest: +10.0% Vulnerable Damage, +15.0% Critical Strike Damage
- Superiority: +15.0% Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies, +4.0% Maximum Life
The Apex node is the obvious choice if you’re taking this board, since Damage Reduction from Elites is good, but the focus is on Companion Damage. Additionally, Fortune is a nice addition for Lucky Hit and Willpower. Tempest is sure to find a home in many Druid Builds as well.
Changes to Aspects
Remember that the Codex of Power was changed in Season 4, and now stores Legendary Aspects of the highest roll you’ve obtained for that particular Aspect. You can also use the Codex of Power as many times as you want on items, provided you have the gold and materials. If you haven’t played in a while, you should probably head over to your storage, pull items you’ve been saving for a rainy day, and Salvage many of them at the Blacksmith as soon as possible to unlock higher rolls in the Codex of Power and free up space.
Druids have had no Legendary Aspects changed with this update, which makes them the only Class that didn’t have any rebalancing or rewording done.
New Uniques & Aspects
4 new offensive aspects and 1 utility aspect can be acquired for the Druid:
Aspect of the Agile Wolf – Utility Aspect
- Shred gains a 4th attack that hits all surrounding enemies, deals 20-60%[x] increased damage and Knocks Down enemies for 2 seconds.
This is a great addition to any Werewolf Build using Shred, and should become a staple for many Werewolf Builds in general.
Aspect of the Rabid Bear – Offensive Aspect
- While Grizzly Rage is active, Skills that Critically Strike apply Rabies and your Poison damage is increased by 30-90%[x].
This is a huge buff to builds that use this Ultimate, which is many, allowing players to add poison damage with Werebear somewhat easily. I can see many players finding a home for this one on their Druid Builds.
Stormcrow’s Aspect – Offensive Aspect
- Ravens now deal Lightning damage which is increased by 30-50%[x]. Ravens Active deals its full damage in half the time, and enemies inside it are Stunned.
This aspect is another push to make Druid Companions useful, and it might find a home in Lightning Druid Builds if it can add enough damage, but we’ll have to see for sure.
Aspect of Shattered Defenses – Offensive Aspect
- Stone Burst causes enemies to take 30-50%[x] increased damage from your other Skills for 5 seconds. Stone Burst’s Spirit cost is reduced by 10.
This is one of two legendary aspects that apply to the new Stone Burst skill, and this is a strange one since you need to channel Stone Burst to increase its effectiveness, so stopping to cast another skill seems less than ideal.
Aspect of Anticline Burst – Offensive Aspect
- Stone Burst deals 15-35%[x] increased damage and when Cast at or above 75 Spirit, it is immediately at its maximum size.
This aspect will definitely find a home in any Druid builds running Stone Burst as their Core Skill since it’s just more damage and the extra max size part is great if you can trigger Earthen Might regularly, and keep your resources up.
Unique Item
Stone of Vehemen – Unique Totem
- Affixes
- Inherent: +X% Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
- +X Willpower
- +X% Critical Strike Damage
- +X% Chance for Stone Burst Projectiles to Cast Twice
- +X to Stone Burst
- Power
- While Channeling Stone Burst, and for 2 seconds afterwards, gain 15% Damage Reduction.
- Stone Burst’s final explosion deals 10-15%[x] increased damage, further increased by 10-15%[x] for each size increase.
This unique is pretty much a must for any serious Stone Burst builds not only for the double cast of Stone Burst, but also the damage reduction and damage increase. If you plan to use Stone Burst, plan to farm this Unique.
What this all means for the Druid
The changes to Druid are mostly positive, and you can see that Blizzard is focusing on shoring up areas where the Druid is weak—Companions, cough cough. It will be interesting to see what Companion-focused Builds people use, as well as new Builds revolving around Stone Burst. Of the two, the Companion Build seems far more interesting because Stone Burst should play more or less like Landslide.
With the passive changes and Legendary Aspect additions, I can see more variety in Builds for the Druid in the future, and hopefully, this means there are fewer “meta” Builds, or at the very least, a wider selection of them. Will we see a Grizzly Rage Poison Build? That would be interesting, no doubt!
So that rounds up our introduction to the 2.0 Druid in Diablo IV. I’m excited to try all these changes and experiment with many new Builds, and even revisit some old ones that were nerfed. As always, you can find our Builds on the blog at fextralife.com and make full use of our interactive map and wiki to keep track of where to get all items! We’ve already been working on the expansion content, and it’s shaping up nicely.
Will you be playing a Druid? Or are you going all in on Spiritborn? Let us know in the comments below!
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