With the recent June 27 patch notes, more and more players are experimenting with the buffed skills on all classes. We have a real winner with the Lightning Storm Druid Core Skill, with the Skill creeping closer to the current top Pulverize and Tornado Druid Builds. So, if you fancy something a little different, here’s a look at a Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build you can use.

Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build¶

But, regardless of which variation of the build you run, know that you are in for one of the strongest mapping builds, with Lightning Strikes AOE size and lightning storm and damage extension very good at clearing out huge waves of mobs. So, either way, you’re in for probably one of the better druid mobbing builds out there.

TOC:

1. Skills
2. Non-TR Build
3. TR Variation
4. Legendary & Unique Effects
5. Paragon
6. Non-TR Paragon & Glyphs
7. TR Paragon & Glyphs
8. Stat Priority

Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build: Skills¶

Below we will show you the two builds you can use, one considering Tempest Roar and the other for those who don’t have it. Both operate slightly different thanks to passives and gear, so there will be a few skill points you spend a little differently depending on where you are at with the build. You can follow these internal hyper links to fast scroll to the most relevant build you’re interested in.

1. Non-Tempest Roar Lightning Storm Build
2. Tempest Roar Lightning Storm Build

Non-Tempest Roar Skills & Passives:¶

1. Wind Shear > Enhanced > Wild Wind Shear
2. Lightning Storm x5 > Enhanced > Raging Lightning Storm - Enabled more Lightning and allows you to preserve lightning Storm size so you can move to the next pack and cast a full-size skill.
3. Cyclone Armor > Enhanced > Preserving Cyclone Armor - Slow knocked backed and offers better damage mitigation.
4. Hurricane > Enhanced Hurricane > Savage - Use this for better damage mitigation and more slows, similar to Cyclone Armor.
5. Boulder > Enhanced Boulder > Savage Boulder - Another tool to throw enemies away from you or to get more enemies into a bigger clump for your Lightning Strike
6. Cataclysm > Prime > Supreme - You cast more Lightning Strikes and Tornados for more Knockback, apply Vuln and have a better duration on the ulty.
7. Key Passive: Perfect Storm

The idea here is that you want as many tools to generate Spirit, with Wind Shear grabbing extra Spirit for you, in place of Tempest Roar’s Lucky Hit proc. In addition, you can use Cyclone and Boulder to keep enemies away from you while you are slower and need some extra kiting. Cata comes in as the only ultimate choice, thanks to its additional lightning strikes, helping you fight enemies and bosses.

Core Passives:

• Heart of the Wild x1 - Max Spirit by 3
• Wild Impulses x3 - Skills cost 9% more but deal 15% more damage

Defensive Passives

• Ancestral Fortitude x3 - Increases Non-Physical Resistances by 15%
• Vigilance x3 - 15% Damage Reduction when using a Defensive Skill for 6 seconds.

Companion Passives

• Nature’s Reach x3 - Deal 9% increased damage to Distant Enemies. Double if they are slowed, stunned, Immobilized or Knocked Back. You get this from Cyclone, Boulder and Cataclysm.

Wrath Passives

• Elemental Exposure x3 - Lucky Hit: Your Storm Skills have up to a 10% chance rto make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Endless Tempest x3 - Increase the duration of the Cataclysm and Hurricane for 15%.
• Bad Omen x3 - Lucky Hit: Up to a 30% chance when dealing damage to a Vulnerable, Immobilized or Stunned enemy that a Lightning Bolt also hits, dealing 55% attack power as damage.
• Electric Shock x1 - Lucky Hit: Dealing Lightning Damage to enemies has up to a 5% chance to Immobilize them for 3 seconds. If the target is already Immobilized, the Lightning damage dealt to them is increased by 6%.

Ultimate Passives

• Defiance x3 - better nature magic damage to Elites.
• Circle of Life x3 - Defensive sustain talent to keep you topped up.
• Resonance - 6% damage bonus, but can go higher thanks to weaving in Boulder.
• Natural Disaster - Bonus damage to Stunned, Immobilized or Knocked Back enemies with Storm Skills, which you can get via skills and the other Wrath passives.

Tempest Roar Skills¶

1. Wind Shear > Enhanced
2. Lightning Storm x5 > Enhanced > Raging - More damage and snapshot storm sizes.
3. Cyclone Armor > Enhanced > Preserving - Knock Back and better defensiveness.
4. Blood Howl > Enhanced > Innate Blood Howl - Defensive heal or Spirit tap.
5. Hurricane > Enhanced> Savage - better defensive tool once again.
6. Grizzly Rage > Prime > Supreme - You get Fortify and Unstoppable while this is active.
7. Key Passive: Lupine Ferocity - Every 6th !Werewolf skill crit, aka you Lightning Storm, benefits from this thanks to Tempest Roar.

The idea behind this playstyle is that you once again sit and channel Lightning Storm and beef it up for a huge mob cleave. However, since that skill becomes a !Werewolf skill, you can benefit from !Werewolf passives, meaning you can get extra sources of crit, and movement speed, making the playstyle slightly better. It also means your giant lightning storms can crit, as every 6th channel proc guarantees that damage bucket for some borderline map-wide juicy crits. You can see examples of all the passives you take to empower this playstyle below.

Core Passives

• Heart of the Wild x1 - Max Spirit by 3
• Wild Impulses x3 - Skills cost 9% more but deal 15% more damage
• Predatory Instincts x1 - Only using this to get to Digitigrade Gait
• Digitigrade Gait x3 - 9% movement speed in !Werewolf Form

Defensive Passives

• Ancestral Fortitude x1 - Increases Non-Physical Resistances by 5%
• Vigilance x3 - 15% Damage Reduction when using a Defensive Skill for 6 seconds.
  Companion Passives
• Nature’s Reach x3 - Deal 9% increased damage to Distant Enemies. Double if they are slowed, stunned, Immobilized or Knocked Back. You get this from Cyclone, and other passives in

Wrath Passives

• Elemental Exposure x3 - Lucky Hit: Your Storm Skills have up to a 10% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds. - This is a huge Vuln cleave considering the Lightning Strikes from a full-size Lightning Storm.
• Charged Atmosphere x1 - Only taking this for the connection to other Wrath passives
• Bad Omen x3 - Lucky Hit: Up to a 30% chance when dealing damage to a Vulnerable, Immobilized or Stunned enemy that a Lightning Bolt also hits, dealing 55% attack power as damage. This is great for bonus boss and elite damage.
• Electric Shock x1 - Lucky Hit: Dealing Lightning Damage to enemies has up to a 5% chance to Immobilize them for 3 seconds. If the target is already Immobilized, the Lightning damage dealt to them is increased by 6%. - You want this for added Immobilization chances to enable bad Omen opportunities to help with boss nuking.
• Neurotoxin - Poisoned enemies are slowed by 8%. This synergizes with Nature’s Reach granting the 18% damage bonus from that passive.
• Envenom x3 - Poisoned enemies take 30% additional Critical Strike Damage
• Toxic Claws - Crit Strikes with !Werewolf Skills deal 7.5% of their base damage as Poisoning damage over 4 seconds. - You want this as it means that Lightning Storm crits can spread poison damage, enabling the slows on all targets hit by a lightning bolt, and thus, get the bonus crit damage against them and spread the slow for Nature’s Reach damage amplification. It also enables some opportunities for Paragon board options later on.

Ultimate Passives

• Defiance x3 - Nature Magic Skills deal 12% increased damage to Elites.
• Circle of Life x3 - Nature Magic skills that consume Spirit heal you for 3% max HP.

Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build: Uniques & Legendaries¶

Here are the uniques you both need or desire for this build to take it to the extra step.

• Harlequin Crest - If, for some bizarre reason, you manage to get this before you get Tempest Roar, then you can use this and remain using your Storm build instead of switching to the !Werewolf playstyle, as you’ll have 9 ranks of your core skill, without needing the Stormshifter’s Aspect Legendary and Mad Wolf’s Glee.
• Mad Wolf’s Glee - This isn’t 100% required, but you can use it for additional ranks to !Werewolf skills, meaning your Lightning Storm gets even more ranks for more damage, with the same applying to Blood Howl, Cyclone, and Hurricane, as long as you are already wearing Tempest Roar.
• Mother’s Embrace or Ring of Starless Skies - Both are not entirely necessary, but, if you want to ensure you have as much spirit as possible, both work in different situations. Mother’s makes better Spirit management for mobbing while you don’t have Tempest, while Starless Skies is nice for consecutive procs of Lightning Storm, no matter which version of the build you’re running. You get Mothers via the campaign, while Starless Skies is a rare drop from world tier 3 level 85 mobs.
• Temerity - With the Circle of Life talent and Masochistic Spirit Boon, you can generate a fair amount of HP very easily using this build. So, Temerity will assist with turning that Max HP healing into a Barrier once you’re full HP, helping with defensiveness.
• Tempest Roar - Turns basic Storm skills into !Werewolf skills and grants a chance to generate more spirit, helping you hold the channel down for longer. - You absolutely need this to bring the smaller build to the next phase for the end-game progression.

As for legendary effects, you can consider the following legendary aspects; Any majorly important one for a build we have highlighted in bold.

• Aspect of Cyclonic Force - It is a weaker defensive legendary, but, it is easy to get your hands on if you need some added defensiveness while you’re just starting out in the end game.
• Aspect of The Calm Breeze - Wind Shear resource legendary for pure Lightning Storm builds.
• Aspect of Rampaging Werebeast - If you have Tempest Roar, you need the crit synergy and crit damage amp via Lupine Ferocity.
• Dire Wolf’s Aspect - Grizzly Rage turns you into a Dire !Werewolf rather than a Dire Bear, meaning you can still cast Lightning Storm while you’re using your ultimate. You need this for the build to work.
• Edgemaster’s Aspect - You can have a high stockpile of Spirit in this build while you have either a unique ring, Tempest Roar or Umbral, so, you can benefit from the Edgemaster’s a fair amount in this build.
• Lightning Dancer’s Aspect - Crits cause 3 Dancing Bolts to seek enemies, each dealing Lightning Damage.
• Overcharged Aspect - Chance to overload the target, allowing for damage against that target to trigger an AOE effect around the target, dealing damage to nearby enemies.
• Runeworkers Conduit Aspect - Crits with Storm Skills cause storms to form around you, hitting enemies with Lighting damage, and extending the duration with further crits.
• Stormshifter’s Aspect - If you have Tempest Roar, this is free to Lightning Storm, granting it more damage during its 8-second active window.
• Aspect of the Umbral - Restore Primary Resources when you Crowd Control an enemy. This can be done via your Knock Backs and Immobilizations.
• Vigorous Aspect - If you don’t use Mad Wolf’s Glee, then you can use this for a defensive chest armor legendary effect for the wolf build. For the non-Wolf version, you can use Aspect of Disobedience instead.

Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build: Paragon & Glyphs¶

Below are two summaries of what board and glyph combos you’re looking for.

• Non-Tempest Lightning Storm
• Tempest Roar !Werewolf Version

Non-Tempest Roar Glyphs and Paragon Board¶

• Fulmination / Starter. Path right, grab Prime Node, then grab the Dex Node two tiles below the Glyph slot before making your way to the Glyph. Once there, grab the four Dex Nodes to the right of the Glyph Slot, Now start going left from the glyph slot and move up to reach the Impel Node and then move up to complete the board.
• Ancestral Guidance / Human - Place the Legendary Node as close to your board gate as possible, then rush towards it. You then follow the long path towards Spiritual Power Rare Node. You now follow the path up again, then move towards the Glyph Slot. Place Human, grab the rare Willpower Node, and the clump of Willpower nearby to get your 40. Then move towards the gate 9 tiles away.
• Earth and Sky / Thunderstruck. Place the board so the legendary Node Node is in the bottom left section of the board. You then path down towards the Tempest Rare Node. You now start branching towards Thunderstruck from the Willpower Node. Travel diagonally up and right from the Legendary Node and work towards the Deluge Rare Node. Now take 8 Nodes via the Willpower route and grab the Glyph slot. Now move right and grab the Hubris Node. Move up from the Glyph slot and grab Stormcaller. Take the Willpower Node four tiles south from the Glyph Slot. Now grab the Storm Damage skill Node next to Stormcaller, and work your way to the northern board gate.
• Constricting Tendrils / Spirit. Spin the board around so that Nature’s Will Rare Node is to the right of the board gate. Follow the path and grab it, and its Magic Nodes for more Int and Nature Magic Damage. Now grab the Glyph slot, and move up from the slot, grabbing the Dexterity Nodes to the side of each upward tile to reach the 25 additional bonus requirement. Now move up the board towards the Devastation Node, taking as much Willpower as possible. Now move towards the Legendary Node, going straight down from the Willpower Node at the T junction on the board. Once you reach as far bottom, go right towards the legendary Node.
• Inner Beast / Exploit - Rotate the board so Havoc is on the top left and Slayer is at the bottom left. Path upwards towards Havoc, taking as many Dexterity Nodes as possible. Grab the three Crit Strike Damage Magic Nodes, and ignore the Physical Damage. Now path down from the board starter and grab Slayer, including all Rare Nodes for armor and potion healing. Now move towards the Nimble Node and grab the Damage Rare Nodes. Now start moving towards the glyph slot diagonally up and right from Nimble, taking the path that leads you to the Dexterity Magic Node, then move up to the Glyph Slot. Place Exploit and grab the Dexterity Nodes above and towards the left of the Slot, then branch towards Determinism Magic Node, and grab the armor Rare Nodes.

With your remaining few paragon Nodes, spend them on whatever stat you like to get closer to final board Node completion or on a stat you want on your gear. Alternatively pick up any defensive Magic Nodes spare on the Rare Nodes. It’s up to you depending on what you feel is missing.

Tempest Roar Lightning Storm Glyphs and Paragon Board¶

• Starter Board / !Werewolf Glyph: Head left, grab the Tenacity Node, then push up towards the Glyph Socket. Branch left, get the Willpower, and now branch right and go down and grab the Prime Rare Node and the three Magic Nodes above and left of it. Also, grab the resistance Nodes on the northeast side of the glyph before moving towards the board gate on the left side, taking the Damaged Nodes and Impel.
• Heightened Malice / Keeper. Flip the board so the Glyph slot is in the bottom right corner. Start progressing the board, taking the right path when you reach the T junction and move towards the Glyph, then grab it. Continue following the path right to reach the Rare Nodes with Intelligence. Take the Nature-Born Rare Node, and its Magic Nodes. Now get the Sinking Fangs Rare Node located three tiles below the glyph slot., taking the poisoned enemy Rare Nodes too. Now take the final intelligence Node found to the top right of the glyph slot. Now start making a trail left of the T Junction, and grab follow it all the way to the Board Gate on the left of the board. When you reach it, move northeast towards the Heightened Malice Legendary Node, grab the Poison Resilience Rare Node and then move towards the northern board gate.
• Inner Beat / Exploit: Spin the board so the Glyph spot is in the south-central area of the board. Travel diagonally up and right along the board to reach the Tenacity Rare Node. Now travel diagonally down and right to reach the Glyph Slot and socket Exploit. Grab the Dexterity Nodes around the Shapeshifter Rare Node, and the few loose ones at the bottom left of the glyph slot. Also, grab Determination before departing and its armor Nodes. Now you want to head north from the Tenacity Node you picked up earlier, and work your way towards the Havoc Node, only taking the Crit Strike Damage Magic Nodes. Now head left towards the Gate, and continue getting the Slayer Rare Node and its 150 armor worth of Magic Nodes.
• Thunderstruck / Earth and Sky: Now place this board on the north gate of Heightened Malice, and rotate it so the Glyph is in the bottom right area of the board. Now its time to make a path towards the Hubris Node and grab the Magic Nodes around it, before moving north and taking the glyph socket. Here you want to head right and grab the Stormcaller Rare Node, along with the Magic Nodes around it. Now go back to the Glyph socket and grab the willpower Nodes to get the bonus for the glyph.
• Lust for Carnage / Fulminate: Now you start the 5th board from the north gate at Inner Beast, with the board roasted so the legendary Node is in the center right side of the board. Move up the board naturally too you reach the Feral Rare Node, and grab its surrounding Magic Nodes. Now move up and take the Glyph and socket Fulminate. You now take the nearby Dexterity, which are around two tiles up and left and to the right, to complete the additional requirements of the glyph. With that done, move right and travel towards Lust for Carnage Node, and then down, and right again, till you make your way towards the east gate, connecting to Thunderstruck. From here, you want to path towards the Thunderstruck Node, which will cap out your Paragon points.

Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build Stat Priority¶

No matter which version of the build you are running, your stat priority is largely looking the same

1. Vulnerability damage
2. Spirit Cost Reduction
3. Lightning Damage
4. Core Skill Damage
5. Ranks to Lightning Storm
6. Ranks to Envenom (Better for the !Werewolf build, but it is fine for the regular Lightning Storm version when you get Constricting Tendrils from the Paragon Boards)
7. Defensive Stats

As for you Gems, you want:

• Emeralds for weapons, because its very easy to spread Vuln with this build.
• Ruby for armor, as you don’t need armor, since you’re playing a full ranged build. So, health is better.
• Skulls for Jewelry, for the better armor, or Diamonds for generic resistances.

With Season 1, you now get access to Malignant Hearts, which offer a variety of bonuses. For the Diablo 4 Druid Lightning Storm Build, you will want at least one of the following, depending on your needs at the time:

• The Agitated Winds - An extra knockback or automatic knockback comes in handy for while you’re channeling heavily.
• The Unconstrained Beast - With Grizzly Rage, you can a chance to get a free Unstoppable when you get CC’d.
• The Picana - More Lightning Synergy for damage.
• The Dark Dance - You’re a range build, so you can get synergy from losing life to empower your skills.
• Prudent Heart- Temporary immunity if you take more than 20% of your life in a single hit. Can be nice for continued channeling of your skill as a defensive option when Cyclone is down.

This concludes the Diablo 4 Lightning Storm Druid Build. Hopefully, you now know the two variations of this build. Again, if you get Tempest Roar, follow that version, as you get a lot more value out of the Paragon board than the regular version, which will allow you to push from that awkward level 70 zone to level 100 and melt foes.