Shred Druid Leveling Guide

Diablo 4 Season 1 introduces a new questline to hunt Malignant Monsters across Sanctuary. Defeating them drops Caged Hearts that are placed in Jewelry infested sockets to gain build-altering powers. Check out the full Season 1 The Malignant guide from Chewingnom to learn more!

The Heart needs to match the color of the socket in your Jewelry (Ring and Amulet) to be able to socket it. We will update these guides as more information becomes available.

With this in mind, let's look at the top 3 best Caged Hearts (and alternatives) for this build:

Shred is the centerpiece of this build. The Spirit costs are decently high, but you get 3 hits per cast out of it. Keep an eye on your Skill bar. Once the first hit is executed, you find a bar there that indicates the time you have to hit with the second strike without additional Spirit costs.

Continue to increase your damage output by maxing out Shred.

Poison Creeper adds incredible burst damage against larger monster packs. Use it wisely.

Trample gives us another movement option that provides Unstoppable to get us out of Crowd Control effects. It also provides another source of Spirit Regeneration. Lupine Ferocity is a great all-around option that increases Damage and Critical Strike Chance.

Toxic Claws applies Poisoning to targets, which allows us to take advantage of several buffs that are conditional on the target being Poisoned, including Envenom. Debilitating Roar is an excellent defensive skill that will make it much easier to get through the first Capstone Dungeon.

After gathering all Renown in Diablo 4 you have 10 extra Skill Points to spend on every character. Your first priority is to spend them toward the leveling progression we've shown above. Once you've completed all of those, finish off your Skill Tree with the following:

The Druid Spirit Boons allow you to select a total of 5 Boons from 4 Spirits that act as a Passive buff to your character. You can select 1 Boon per Spirit by default. The 5th Boon can be allocated once ALL Spirit Boons have been unlocked. This requires you to bond with one of the Spirits, choose one and interact with it in Túr Dúlra.

Once you reach level 15, you have to complete a short questline starting in Túr Dúlra, Scosglen. To gain access to the Priority Quest, you first have to defeat the Stronghold of evil forces that has overrun Túr Dúlra. You receive 25 Druidic Spirit Offerings to unlock your first Boon when you complete the questline.

Each Spirit has 4 Boons that are unlocked with 25 Druidic Spirit Offerings each. On 3 of the Spirits, they unlock in a specific order. The outlier is the Snake Spirit - You have to unlock all his Boons simultaneously, meaning you need to collect 100 Druidic Spirit Offerings to gain access to its Boons.

Leveling up in Diablo 4 is similar to most other ARPGs and MMOs - we're at the mercy of what drops. For the most part this means replacing Rares with better Rares all the way up to 50. If you're lucky enough to find some Legendaries or Uniques they can provide a significant power boost (discussed in the next sections). Assuming you don't find any of those, let's look at some key stats to look for along the way:

Hint: Press SHIFT over an item to compare it to what you're wearing!

Always use your highest DPS 2-Handed Weapon available for more damage.

Only upgrade your Weapon at the Blacksmith and fill weapon sockets with a Sapphires.

Do not upgrade Armor or Jewelry while leveling. Socket Armor with Rubies and Jewelry with Skulls.

The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary. For leveling there are a few Aspects that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them:

Before we end this leveling guide, let's look at some general tips and tricks to remember for all classes and specs!

Renown is your Friend. While exploring the different zones, take time to gather Renown along the way. It has long-term benefits for your entire account, including more Skill/Paragon points and Potion charges. Renown is gained by activating Waypoints, finding Altars of Lilith, completing Side Quests/Dungeons and rescuing Strongholds.

Be Careful with Gold. A lot of endgame processes, like extracting and imprinting Legendary Aspects, are extremely expensive for a brand-new character. Don't spend all of your Gold along the way!

Don't Imprint Your Weapon. The most critical piece of gear while leveling up is your weapon, which gets replaced constantly. This makes imprinting a Legendary Aspect on it a waste of resources. Instead, put your best offensive Aspect on your Amulet, which can be used for a long time.

Written by McFluffin
Reviewed by Jymnasium