Shred Druid Leveling Guide

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

• Breath of the Coven - Breath is a solid alternative to Force of Will for those Shred Druids seeking to boost their Attack Speed. We use a ton of powers that synergize with it!
• Shaken Soul - It's not too much trouble to apply Vulnerable with a Lucky Hit roll, but this Power does provide consistency in that department while adding to the Eldritch Power count.
• Aura Specialization - The bonus Critical Strike Multiplier is highly desirable, but you need to give up 2 Witchcraft Powers to incorporate this and an Aura.

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

• Witching Hour - This Gem enables multiple powerful synergies from our Witchcraft Powers by granting Shred the Eldritch tag. This means that, every second, it benefits from Purging Touch and Decay Augmentation!
• Toadling's Wish - Bolstering the effects of Soul Harvest and Decay Augmentation is extremely powerful.
• Phantom String - A straightforward damage multiplier for this build. Note that you need a Hex to activate it.

Alternate Occult Gems

• Friend of the Bog - The set of bonuses this Gem provides are excellent, but fitting in a third Growth & Decay Power and maintaining Witching Hour is harder than it sounds. You essentially trade this Gem and a Growth & Decay Power with Breath of the Coven and another Gem.
• Hungering Void - Another way to pull mobs together. It's less effective than Kry or Airidah's, though, and requires you to fit an Aura.

Spirit Boons

At this stage, you gain access to Spirit Boons - the Druid's unique class mechanic. Check out the Spirit Boon Progression below!

Ultimate and Key Passive

Fully allocate a few important passives in Ancestral Fortitude, Vigilance, and Envenom, as well as a single point in Toxic Claws. From here, invest in Petrify and drop Earthen Bulwark for amplified Critical Strike Damage, Stun, and Spirit. Use it as a reliable way to set up big hits and tear down Elites and Bosses alike.

After your Ultimate, take the Lupine Ferocity Key Passive, which is a good choice early on for Werewolf builds, providing a guaranteed Critical Strike every 3 attacks and Increased Damage. This synergizes perfectly with Shred, turning it into a high-damage finisher.

Damage Reduction

Focus on survivability by picking up key damage reduction passives. Start with Quickshift to gain a brief but powerful damage boost when shapeshifting, followed by Heightened Senses for further movement while in Werewolf form. Once these are maxed, grab Natural Fortitude to boost your Fortify while Shapeshifting, and round out your defenses with Defensive Posture to increase the effectiveness of your Fortify, ensuring you're more resilient in tough encounters.

Damage Passives

This is where your build really starts to shine and ramp up your damage output. First, take Wild Impulses to boost your Core skill's damage at the cost of more Spirit. Next, grab Backlash to increase your Damage, followed with Feral Aptitude . After that, pick up Clarity and finally, invest in Catastrophe to round out your damage passives, giving you a strong boost to overall damage.

Final Journey to 60

At this point, most of the key synergies are unlocked and the gameplay loop is almost complete. As you level up, you unlock a lot of extra points that go into various offensive and defensive passives or max out certain skills. Check out the skills progression above to see where to put your points as you go, but feel free to deviate from the order displayed as necessary.

Druid Spirit Boons

Unlocking Specializations

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 Druidic Spirit Offerings to unlock your first Boon when you complete the questline.

Each Spirit has 4 Boons that are unlocked with 15 Druidic Spirit Offerings each. On 3 of the Spirits, they unlock in a specific order (from left to right as displayed above). The outlier is the Snake Spirit - You have to unlock all his Boons simultaneously, meaning you need to collect 60 Druidic Spirit Offerings to gain access to its Boons. Once all Spirits have been completely unlocked, you can choose one to Bond with and select an additional Boon from that Spirit.

To get started as a Shred Druid, always equip your highest DPS melee weapon for maximum damage, preferring Two Handers when possible for their high damage range. Follow the priority list below to optimize your gear as you progress. While you may not have access to all the ideal affixes early on, focus on any useful stats that boost your damage output. Prioritize modifiers like Attack Speed, Willpower, and Critical Strike Chance.

Additionally, don’t overlook defensive stats to improve your survivability. Consider tempering your gear with Resistances, Maximum Life, and Armor to fill any defensive gaps. Upgrading and tempering low-level gear is relatively cheap, and the improvements can be highly effective early on.

Tip: For the early game, Elemental Surge Weapon Tempers are very powerful due to their high base damage, especially if you are twinking. If you find these, you may want to keep imprinting them on your weapons for an easy time.

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 or salvaging items with these powers. Check out our Map Tool to locate these Dungeons.

For leveling, there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them. In addition, keep an eye out for powerful Unique items you may find for this or other builds.

Must-have Dungeon unlocks

1. Calm Breeze (Grinning Labyrinth - Dry Steppes)
2. Stormclaw's (Anica's Claim - Fractured Peaks)
3. Retaliation (Sea Descent - Dry Steppes)

Nice-to-have Dungeon unlocks

1. Unsatiated (Tormented Ruins - Fractured Peak)
2. Changeling's Debt (Conclave - Kehjistan)
3. Might (Dark Ravine - Dry Steppes)
4. Vigorous (Steadfast Barracks - Hawezar)
5. Disobedience (Halls of the Damned - Kehjistan)
6. Wind Striker (Shivta Ruins - Kehjistan)

Great Uniques for this build

1. Mad Wolf's Glee
2. Wildheart Hunger
3. Waxing Gibbous

Jackpot Drops

As you level up, you may get lucky and find some great random drops. Some of these can massively amplify your power and speed up the leveling by switching to another build. Keep in mind that there are many more Aspects and Uniques that can be useful to multiple builds; this just lists some of the most impactful ones. While we usually recommend starting with Endgame Builds at level 60, you often can make them work earlier with these drops:

Build-defining Aspects

1. Shockwave (enables the Pulverize Druid)
2. Aftershock / Subterranean (enables the Landslide Druid)
3. Stampede (enables the Companion Druid)
4. Moonrise / Adaptability (enables the Wind Shear Druid)
5. Anticline Burst (enhances the Stone Burst Druid)

Build-defining Uniques

1. Dolmen Stone (enables the Boulder Druid)
2. Tempest Roar (enables the Tornado, Hurricane, and Lighting Storm Druids)
3. Unsung Ascetic's Wraps (enables the Lightning Storm Druid)
4. Earthbreaker (enables the Landslide Druid)
5. Storm's Companion (enables the Companion Druid)
6. Stone of Vehemen (enhances the Stone Burst Druid)

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 Shred Druid focuses on the following combos:

Best in Slot

• Tam + Kry - The pull effect of Vortex is amazing for grouping mobs and improving clear with Stormclaw's!
• Moni + Xan - Overpowers are, well, overpowered, and getting an extra source of them is very potent.

Alternative choices

As long as you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top Runes, you can also benefit from these options:

• Wat - Decrepify helps with stagger, defense and allows an execute at 10% HP. If combined with Xol in your other Runeword to generate large amounts of offering.
• Ohm - Though heavily nerfed, War Cry remains a popular choice.
• Gar - The Crit Chance bonus is great, especially early on.
• Mot - Dark Shroud is a strong and affordable defensive option.
• Bac - Since this is one of the most mobile builds in the game, Bac is great for generating Offering.
• Lith - A surprisingly strong Invocation, provided you can afford to stand still. Note that dashing with Shred does not count as moving!
• Cem - As a Magic Rune, it's a reasonable choice that you're more likely to find.

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: Varyana

She provides us with increased Movement Speed as you gain Massacre Stacks. Remember that these stacks reset if you have not killed any enemies after 7 seconds. She also provides passive Attack Speed and even more Attack Speed when she activates Bloodthirst and Bloodlust.

• Reinforcement: Raheir

Bastion is a great reinforcement ability that gives you brief periods of virtual immunity.

In Diablo 4, you can level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, clearing Strongholds, fighting in the Undercity of Kurast or interacting with the Seasonal Mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are equal.

Paragon & Glyphs

Use the slider to see 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

Coming soon.

• The Shred Druid is a super fast, fun to play leveling build that scales well into the late game.
• Unlock the three must have Codex Powers and start blasting!
• Focus on scaling generic damage modifiers and Shapeshifting/Werewolf-specific effects to boost your damage.
• Poison Creeper enemies to Crowd Control and increase you Damage with Poison synergies.
• Gather Critical Strike Chance, Attack speed & Willpower on your gear.
• Shred through your enemies like paper!

Written by thomasdatrain

Reviewed by IBoilerUp