Cataclysm Druid Endgame Build Guide

Requirements for this build to function:

• Airidah's Inexorable Will
• Mjölnic Ryng
• Tempest Roar
• Xan (and ideally both Runewords)
• Enough Cataclysm Cooldown to recover it within its duration

Season 7 is the Season of Witchcraft. It features two separate borrowed power mechanics in the forms of Witchcraft Powers and Occult Gems. Both Seasonal mechanics are unlocked and improved by new NPCs found at the Tree of Whispers after collecting resources from Headhunt Zones, Seasonal areas similar to Helltide that appear across Sanctuary.

There are 25 Witchcraft Powers, 6 of which can be equipped at a time. Each Power belongs to one of three Schools (Eldritch, Growth & Decay, and Psyche), tags that promote synergies within themselves and with Occult Gems. Each School has a single Unique Witchcraft Power, only one of which can be equipped at a time. These Unique Powers max out and gain an additional effect at rank 5, while the other Powers max at rank 20 and gain their bonus effects at various levels. To unlock and improve Witchcraft Powers, defeat Headrotten or complete Whispers within the Headhunt Zones to collect Restless Rot. Lost Powers are an exception, requiring you to randomly encounter a Forgotten Altar in Dungeons to unlock them.

Best-in-Slot Witchcraft Powers

Alternate Witchcraft Powers

• Aura Specialization - The AoE is nice but the Critical Damage Multiplier that comes with levels is even better.
• Aura of Misfortune - A viable alternative to Aura of Siphoning, this Power mitigates some incoming damage while boosting your Movement Speed. Unfortunately, it's ineffective against Bosses.
• Hex of Shattering - The Damage Reduction is great and it is the most consistent way to apply a Hex when paired with Voice of the Stars.

Rarely, Headrotten Bosses appear with a still-attached Fugitive Head stolen from the Tree of Whispers. Slay these enemies and return the Heads to Gelena to unlock and upgrade Occult Gems. These Gems are socketable in Jewelry and each provide +160 Armor and +8% Resistance to All Elements. More importantly, each Occult Gem grants a unique effect that synergizes with your equipped Witchcraft Powers to provide a variety of Offensive, Defensive, and Utility-based bonuses.

Best-in-Slot Occult Gems

• Voice of the Stars - This Gem enables multiple powerful synergies from our Witchcraft Powers by granting Cataclysm all applicable tags. These synergies include consistent Hex Application and two separate damage multipliers!
• Friend of the Bog - Core Stats improve both skill damage and your Runeworker's Conduit multiplier. Maximum Life improves defense and Overpower damage. Becoming Unhindered helps you move through groups of mobs.
• Wicked Pact - Boosts the effect of Purging Touch, resulting in a little over 7% more damage.

Alternate Occult Gems

• Phantom String - A straightforward damage multiplier. Note that you need a Hex applied to activate and, while better than Wicked Pact for Bossing, the uptime of Curses is rather low in density.
• Hungering Void - Yet another way to pull mobs together. It's less effective than Airidah's, though, and the opportunity cost is high.

Skill Passives

• Ursine Strength naturally harmonizes with the Cataclysm Druid due to its fantastic Overpower multiplier and Max Life benefits. Likewise, the Healthy damage bonus is a nice addition as this build prioritizes playing at full health.
• Envenom boosts Critical Strike damage as long as enemies are Poisoned. This damage bonus is achieved rather easily with Decay Augmentation and Voice of the Stars.

Skill Rotation

Start of Zone Snapshot

1. As you enter a new zone, alternate between Maul and any non-Werebear skill to begin stacking Quickshift. Be sure to include Hurricane as part of this process to activate Stormshifter's.
2. Prime your Xan Rune to be nearly full with Igni, then refrain from using any skill besides Maul for 6 seconds to store the maximum Offering, aiming to Overflow Xan with the next non-basic cast.
3. Move forward until your Bac Rune triggers Qax. When it does, immediately cast Earthen Bulwark to activate Resonance and Backlash and to expend Igni. Follow this up with Cataclysm as soon as possible. Hurricane has the potential to consume Xan when it deals damage, so a quick cast is essential.

Visually, that looks like:

Mobbing

• Good news! The hard part is over. This initial snapshot will persist for the rest of the zone provided you don't re-cast Cataclysm too late in its cycle. Cataclysm will trigger Airidah's to pull in the mobs that aren't instantly evaporated and Raheir will follow up with Crater to pack them even tighter. Stay on this clump until the majority of mobs become Unstoppable or are cleared, then move forward to start preparing the next pull.
• During your ultimate, be sure to keep Hurricane active and stay in Werebear form by using Pulverize to promote Survival Instincts and Ancestral Guidance.
• Evade through mobs as needed to recover Cataclysm's Cooldown via Flickerstep. Repeat this tactic to quickly accelerate Apogeic Furor's stack count. Slow down and spend more time in its later stages to maximize damage.
• There are some potential pitfalls with the Runes. In the unlikely event that a cast of Cataclysm lines up with the Provocation granted to you by Shroud of False Death, it will unfortunately override Xan (evidenced by blue damage numbers signifying non-critical Overpowers). Additionally, one or both of your invocation Runes have the potential to fall off if you cast Cataclysm too late in its duration. For this reason, it's important to have a generous overlap on its cooldown and to cast it as quickly as you can when it comes off cooldown. If, for either reason, you lose Xan or Qax, you need to let Cataclysm expire and start from the top of this rotation to regain the snapshots.

Bossing

Pit bosses can admittedly prove to be a challenge, and the optimal damage scenarios will take some practice to realize. To maximize single target damage, your goal is to lure the Boss to one of the edges of the arena, then move to a position where you are virtually on top of them. In essence, the aim is to minimize the area that random strikes can land and attempt to concentrate as many of them as possible onto the Boss, bypassing Cataclysm's restriction of hitting the same target just once every .5 seconds. But since the arenas vary in shape, and some bosses drift backwards (Resurrected Malice / Blood Bishop) while others follow you promptly (Scourge of the Land / Den Mother), there's no one-size-fits-all tactic.

Spirit Boons

Use the slider to see the progression steps. At around Paragon 200, leveling slows down significantly and all important Rare clusters, Legendary nodes and Glyph sockets should be unlocked. Afterwards, you can min/max your build with minor tweaks and by picking up additional smaller nodes.

Glyph Leveling Priorities

You can have up to two Runewords in your setup, each consisting of one Ritual and one Invocation Rune. Socket them in Two-Handed Weapons if your build calls for them, otherwise place them into your Armor pieces to replace normal gems. The Cataclysm Druid focuses on the following combos:

Best in Slot

• Igni + Xan - Capping critical strike chance through gear has a high opportunity cost for the Cataclysm Druid, so this Rune slots perfectly to cover both Critical Strikes and Overpowers.
• Bac + Qax - Provides our Cataclysm with double damage (or more!). Move carefully to maintain control over the buff, ensuring that it is not consumed by other skills.

Alternative choices

If you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top runes, you can also benefit from these options:

• Jah - Used in the Speedfarming variant for a ton of extra mobility!
• Kry - Grouping mobs together substantially improves Cataclysm damage, so this is a reasonable addition, even alongside Airidah's.
• Ohm - War Cry provides a modest increase in damage.
• Mot - Enables the Rogue's Dark Shroud, which is a strong and affordable defensive option.
• Lith - A solid alternative to Bac that requires a more stationary playstyle.

Mercenaries are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and assist you in battle. There are 4 separate Mercenaries to choose from, each with their own skill trees and abilities. You can have one hired (permanent) mercenary during solo play and a reinforcement who assists you from time to time in certain situations.

Hired: Subo

Subo's Seeker Passive is excellent for scouting mobs, while Ready At Hand periodically boosts Movement Speed. He also provides a solid Critical Strike multiplier with Opening Fire.

Reinforcement: Raheir

Perhaps even more important than your hired mercenary is the on-demand pixel stack Raheir generates with Crater. Provided your Cataclysm has a duration of 22 seconds or longer, Raheir will consistently condense Airidah's initial pull into an even tighter space while Stunning those mobs in place!

To enable the Cataclysm Druid to perform optimally, hunt for these stats on your gear with good rolls and aim to Temper ⚒️ & Masterwork Crit ↑ them accordingly. Keep in mind that certain stats, such as Armor, Resistances, Extra Size Tempers, Attack Speed and more, have caps that may affect your priorities according to the items and Paragon points available at that moment.

Recommended Endgame Stat Thresholds

Item Progression Goals

Before you dive into the endgame with the Cataclysm Druid, take a look at this overview of the items used in the build. See below for further details about the different progression steps and variants. Some of your Skill Tree choices depend on what Legendary Aspects and Unique items are available to you. Keep in mind that while we can guarantee that everyone has access to the same Codex of Power Aspects, the exact progression is different for everyone.

This section is designed to guide your Cataclysm Druid from a fresh level 60 into the very late endgame using the three variants Starter, Ancestral and Mythic. At the final step, you should be fully decked out with a great all-rounder build. From there, follow the other min/max variants if you want to optimize around certain activities such as Pit Pushing, Speedfarming and more.

Once a guide is released, many players have questions on why and how we are approaching certain choices. In this section you can find the answers to the questions that have been asked the most.

How do I get overlap on Cataclysm's Cooldown?

We get a continuous overlap on Cataclysm through a combination of Cooldown Reduction and Duration:

Sources of Cooldown Reduction

• Airidah's Inexorable Will
• Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction Temper on Amulet
• Cataclysm Ranks (including those from Mad Wolf's Glee and Stormshifter's)
• Rakanoth's Wake (Midgame) or Flickerstep (Endgame)

Sources of Cataclysm Duration

• Ranks of Endless Tempest (also available on Mjölnic Ryng)
• Calamity Spirit Boon (Shroud of False Death is bugged and giving a 2nd instance of this Boon)

What can I do to improve survivability?

The build works really well when you decimate everything in seconds, but may get overwhelmed if fights are long against high level monsters. There are several adjustments you can make when you have trouble with more difficult content:

• Check if your Armor & Resists are capped.
• Use defensive consumables.
• Roll Maximum Life instead of offensive stats on as many pieces as possible.
• Kite enemies when they become Unstoppable.

How can I trigger Unstoppable?

Druids have only two non-Ultimate sources of Unstoppable. Trample and Earthen Bulwark. If you're not subscribed to their long Cooldown, Metamorphosis is a great alternative to those skills.

Which adjustments should I make on Hardcore?

Generally hardcore and softcore share the same builds. Outside of being more prudent in your gameplay, you can also tweak the setup slightly to raise your survivability:

• Focus more on Armor & Resists, making sure that they are always capped especially as you transition into higher torment difficulties.
• Focus more on maximum life rolls, for example replacing DPS stats like main attributes, attack speed, critical strike chance and additive increased damage rolls. Also masterwork life more than normal if no other crucial stats have priority.
• Focus on adding defensive skills, passives and paragon nodes first as you level up.
• Play on a slightly lower difficulty than normal, don't push into difficult territory. As long as you can deal with all enemies swiftly, they can't retaliate.
• Include a source of Unstoppable if possible to get out of crowd controls.
• Use defensive elixirs and incenses instead of offensive ones.

Tempest Roar

• With ‍Tempest Roar equipped, ‍Cataclysm becomes a Werewolf Skill This interaction enables several multipliers in the build, including ‍Changeling's Debt, Stormshifter's, and Lust for Carnage.
• The act of Shapeshifting into Werewolf activates ‍Quickshift and ‍Heightened Senses.
• The %Willpower is great for improving skill damage and your Runeworker's Conduit multiplier. The Maximum Spirit strengthens the potential of Ancestral Guidance.

Mechanics

Snapshotting

As is the case with other Druid builds like Lightning Storm and Hurricane, the Cataclysm Druid is capable of capturing a number of damage bonuses over an extended duration, including but not limited to:

• Xan
• Qax
• Quickshift
• Resonance (triple damage)
• Backlash

However, unlike other Druid builds, Cataclysm can perpetually maintain these buffs under certain conditions. Namely, you must have a Cooldown on Cataclysm that sufficiently undercuts its duration, and you need to be prompt about recasting it when it comes off Cooldown.

Stagger

Bosses are immune to Crowd Control (CC) effects and instead take Stagger Damage when hit by one. The amount of stagger damage dealt depends on the type of CC and is proportional to its duration. After being hit by a CC effect, the Boss will temporarily take less Stagger Damage from a CC of the same type.

Effectively, this means that when you're just spamming one type of CC you don't need to spam any more of it than what you need to keep a normal enemy permanently CC-d. To stagger the Boss quickly you need to use as many different types of CC as possible. After the Boss is staggered it gains a certain amount of stacking Stagger Damage Reduction for the rest of the fight:

• After 1st Stagger: 20%
• After 2nd Stagger: 40%
• After 3rd Stagger: 60%
• After 4th Stagger: 90%

Bosses naturally regain 1% of their Stagger HP every second and when that regen is combined with 90% Stagger Damage Reduction it becomes borderline impossible to Stagger the Boss again unless you bring a serious amount of crowd controls.

The ‍Cataclysm Druid is a maelstrom of destruction, capable of almost immediately offscreening lesser foes while standing toe-to-toe with the strongest Druid builds in terms of Pit Pushing. The initial snapshot and unintuitive boss mechanics are easy to learn but tough to master. However, the payoff for proper execution is tremendous and catapults the Cataclysm Druid into the upper echelon of Druid builds.

Written by IBoilerUp

Reviewed by Danger