Werewolf Tornado Druid Endgame Guide
Last Updated:October 6, 2024|Change Log|FAQ
Welcome to the Tornado Druid Endgame Guide for Diablo 4!
This guide will help you power through the early game and into the endgame then turn your Tornado into a Werewolf Skill with Tempest Roar, creating the Werenado Build. This will help solve the high resource demand of the build by restoring resource on our critical strikes with Lust for Carnage.
Other unique items we will use are Mad Wolf's Glee for damage on Chest and Wildheart Hunger for damage on Boots. You can also consider the Crown of Lucion setup with Mjolnic.
If you enjoy shapeshifting and whipping up Tornadoes then this build will guide you in the right direction. Below you will find different setups for Leveling to 100, entering the Endgame, and destroying some demons.
This build guide assumes you have a Level 50 Character and finished the Campaign. Level up with our Tornado Druid Leveling Guide. If you are looking for a different Druid playstyle, check out all of our Druid Guides.
Season 5 - Infernal Hordes
In Season 5, the Season Theme brings your hero back into the bowels of Hell, in the Infernal Hordes endgame activity. You're first introduced to Hellbreach Dungeons, miniature Horde-like micro-dungeons that teach you the new mechanics and rewards systems. As you slay more powerful Demons and Bosses, you're rewarded with the new Reputation progression that comes with amazing rewards. These include Crafting Materials, unlocking Season's Journey tiers and even the coveted Resplendent Spark, needed to craft a mythic unique.
Follow the seasonal questline until you unlock the Reputation system, check which rewards suit you most and then follow your regular leveling path. To learn more, check out our full Season 5 guide for more information.
Skill Tree & Gameplay
Active Skills
- Maul is mainly used to shapeshift for sustain and fortify from Skinwalker's and extra damage reduction from Iron Fur and Heightened Senses. Iron Fur will only last 3 seconds but Heightened will last 6. Using Maul to keep up Heightened is recommended and will keep your damage bonus from Quickshift active. In more difficult content consider keeping Iron Fur active too.
- Tornado is our main damage skill. Demanding high resource early, we use Primal Tornado with Umbral until Werenado and then switch to Raging Tornado for consistent Vulnerable.
- Earthen Bulwark provides us with a barrier and unstoppable to break crowd control.
- Cyclone Armor gives us some extra non-physical damage reduction.
- Blood Howl will give us bonus attack speed and resets with kills, can maintain the buff easily while destroying demons.
- Petrify will give a large boost to our damage on bosses or for any enemy you dislike in particular (Wallers).
Passives
- Iron Fur and Heightened Senses will provide us with damage reduction after Maul.
- Bad Omen will give us access to the Electrocution glyph.
- Toxic Claws gives us access to poison for Envenom.
- Quickshift is a large damage increase that should be maintained by shifting, if you maintain Heightened Senses then this will stay active as it lasts 8 seconds.
- Bestial Rampage is our key passive, it will require you to spend time in both forms. Once you activate the buff, it will check form every 2 seconds whether you are in the right form or not, this means you can time your Bear shift in a way to refresh the cooldown without spending the full 2 seconds.
Spirit Boons
Druids can choose 5 out of 16 Passive bonuses (Boons) from 4 different spirits. You have to bond with one of the Spirits in Túr Dúlra to activate two of its Boons. The remaining Spirits can only have one Boon each. Use the following Boons:
- Deer Spirit: Wariness for additional defense. Consider Advantageous Beast for easier content.
- Eagle Spirit: Avian Wrath is our largest damage increase.
- Wolf Spirit: Energize will help your spirit generation. Calamity can extend the duration of our Petrify on bosses in the endgame once resource is solved.
- Snake Spirit: Calm Before the Storm will give better Ultimate uptime. Consider Masochistic for more sustain and potentially replacing Skinwalker's for Might but also requires points to be put into Natural Fortitude.
Bond with the Eagle Spirit and activate Iron Feather for a large health increase. If you'd prefer more damage, go for Scythe Talons but our critical strike chance will already be very high endgame.
Learn more details and how to unlock this class specification in our full Druid Spirit Boons Guide.
Buff Management
This build requires a good amount of effort to keep your maximum damage, defense, and speed active.
Damage
- Wildheart Hunger gives massive damage but takes 40 seconds to fully stack, meaning it is critical that you maintain it for maximum damage. You will receive a buff called Wildheart when you shift to Werebear or Werewolf, this buff is what gives you your damage stacks, which means staying in Werewolf with Mad Wolf's Glee doesn't provide stacks. Make sure you shift to Werebear with Maul at least every 5 seconds.
- Blood Howl will reset after destroying some demons, make sure to keep pressing it for the attack speed.
- Quickshift provdes a damage bonus when we shift into an animal form, stacking 8 times and lasts for 8 seconds. This should easily be maintained with Wildheart.
- Bestial Rampage requires us to spend at least 2 seconds in Bear form for our damage increase and Werewolf form for our attack speed increase. Bestial Rampage will check your form every 2 seconds, whether you are in the correct form or not. This means you can change to the correct form just before it checks and spend significantly less time in Bear form to maintain the damage bonus.
Defense
- Heightened Senses provides addition damage reduction from Bear form and lasts 6 seconds, this should be easy to maintain because of Wildheart Hunger.
- Iron Fur requires a more consistent form swap at 3 seconds but isn't needed unless you are tackling the most difficult content, consider only maintaining Heightened Senses if you feel comfortable.
- Vigilance lasts 6 seconds which means your Blood Howl will easily keep it active while destroying demons or you can rotate your Defensive skills for full uptime on an important target.
Resource Management
This build involves using your basic attacks through all stages of play. Including the endgame setup with unlimited spirit. You will also use Perfect Storm early on. Lust for Carnage helps out considerably in the Endgame. Early we should be getting plenty of Spirit per Second rolls as priority where available. Resource Generation tempers will help but Resource Cost Reduction will be needed to counteract Wild Impulses ranks in the Endgame. Petrify will restore spirit baseline and any crowd control, including our Primal Tornado will also restore resource while we use Umbral. Finally Energize Spirit Boon and Tempest Roar will have Lucky Hit Chance to restore. Consider using the Inner Beast paragon board.
Paragon Board
Carefully check your Paragon Boards to ensure correct board rotation. Glyphs go from a radius of 3 to 4 when they reach level 15! Use the slider at the bottom of the box to scroll through the leveling progression.
This board is used for an optimal leveling experience. Drag the slider under the paragon to the right to progress.
This paragon drops some damage and defense in order to make a rush for Inner Beast. This can help if you find yourself struggling with resource too much.
Level the Paragon Board by scrolling. Each step optimizes progression.
Glyphs
We need to level up our Glyphs to increase their power and activate their Additional Bonus with surrounding nodes. Glyphs have a radius of 3 by default; this increases to 4 at Glyph level 15. Complete Nightmare Dungeons to obtain Glyph experience.
Note: There are some Glyph position swaps and a few adjustments to surrounding Paragon nodes once they reach level 15. See the last steps in the Paragon progression above. The setup displayed by default is the final version of the build.
Glyph Leveling Priorities
Level 15
- Earth and Sky
- Outmatch
- Spirit
- Fang and Claw
- Electrocution
Level 21
- Spirit
- Fang and Claw
- Outmatch
- Earth and Sky
- Electrocution
Consider leveling Poise, Werewolf, and Human for defensive variations after these are finished.
Also check out our dedicated in-depth guides to learn more about Paragon Boards and Glyphs
Endgame Progression & Variants
When you start diving into the Endgame, you don't have all the tools available to achieve the final build versions. Let us guide you through different progression points to give you a smooth transition from our Leveling Guides to the final build version.
Progression Goals
Some of your Skill Tree choices depend on what Legendary Aspects and Unique items are available to you. These are listed in priority order:
- Unlock the following Aspects from Dungeons:
- Retaliation in Seaside Descent (Dry Steppes)
- Skinwalker's in Fading Echo (Kehjistan)
- Umbral in Champion's Demise (Dry Steppes)
- Rapid in Buried Halls (Dry Steppes)
- Expectant in Underroot (Scosglen)
- Edgemaster’s in Oldstones (Scosglen)
- Disobedience in Halls of The Damned (Kehjistan)
- Ghostwalker in Broken Bulwark (Scosglen)
- Might in Dark Ravine (Dry Steppes)
- Unsatiated in Tormented Ruins (Fractured Peaks)
- Find the following Legendary Aspects either as a random drop or by gambling with Obols:
- Stormchaser's: Gamble Totems
- Juggernaut's: Gamble Pants.
- Accelerating: Gamble Totems
- Metamorphosis: Gamble Boots
- Acquire the following Unique items either as a random drop or by farming specific Boss drops.
- Tempest Roar
- Wildheart Hunger
- Mad Wolf's Glee
- Crown of Lucion
- If you're lucky enough to obtain the following Mythic Uniques, they're useful for the build.
- Ring of Starless Skies
- Tyrael's Might (Maul variant)
Learn more details and how to farm Legendary Aspects and Uniques in our General Farming Guide.
Progression Setups
Once you have completed the leveling process to 50, only the Aspects unlocked through Dungeons for the Codex of Power are guaranteed. With this setup, you can farm the Legendary Aspects and Unique items you need for the next progression point.
Gear
- Put Retaliation on your Two-hander for maximum damage output.
- Calm Breeze goes on our Amulet for high damage while restoring resource.
- Rapid increases the attack speed of Wind Shear, which increases your Spirit generation. Put it on your Ring.
- Expectant can be placed on Gloves.
- Umbral on a Ring provides massive Spirit generation, especially when upgraded in the Codex.
- Skinwalker's, Might, and Disobedience onto your defensive items.
- Wind Striker will provide a consistent movement speed buff while enemies are around.
Skills
- Wind Shear is used to generate Spirit and stack Expectant. It also provides bonus Movement Speed, a chance to apply Vulnerable, and damage reduction via Might. It also provides us with a good source of damage with Calm Breeze.
- Maul will activate Quickshift, Iron Fur, Heightened Senses, Might, Expectant, and Skinwalker's.
- Primal Tornado as our main damage Skill. It provides a slow on every damage tick, allowing you to generate a ton of Spirit through Umbral. We temper Damage vs Close so don't be afraid to get in the action and can use the terrain to bounce Tornado off walls until we have Stormchaser's.
- Earthen Bulwark provides a massive Barrier, makes you Unstoppable for its duration, and grants Movement Speed through Ghostwalker.
- Poison Creeper damage falls off in the mid-game,
- Petrify provides a burst of spirit and locks down most enemies. It will also provide a large damage bonus, use it often for fun. If you accidentally use it before a boss, you could teleport to town and it will reset it if time allows.
Spirit Boons
We get movement speed and extra resource generation to start our leveling process to 100. Once you are destroying the demons, your movement may be the only thing slowing you down.
- Deer Spirit: Advantageous Beast
- Eagle Spirit: Avian Wrath
- Wolf Spirit: Energize
- Snake Spirit: Calm Before the Storm
Bond with the Eagle Spirit and activate Iron Feather. If you'd rather more damage use Scythe Talons.
In this setup, you have access to all Legendary Aspects, allowing you to pilot a much stronger version of this build. Additional Legendary Aspects are used to fill slots that may be replaced with Unique items later on.
Gear
- Replace Expectant with Stormchaser's as soon as you gain access to it.
- Juggernaut's takes the place of Disobedience as soon as you find it. This powerful Aspect solves Armor concerns unconditionally at all stages of the game.
- Replace Rapid with Accelerating to increase your damage output and Spirit generation. Consider moving this to amulet if you are full spirit often.
- Replace Calm Breeze with Blood Boiling and move it to a ring. You can also consider keeping Calm Breeze for the whole leveling process on Amulet.
Tempering
- Weapon: Chance for Tornado Projectiles to Cast Twice
- Offensive (Weapon, Gloves, Rings, Amulet): Damage to Close greatly increases the multiplicative bonus from our Thunderstruck Legendary node. For this reason, Damage to Distant from the same manual is a decent 2nd choice.
- Movement (Boots, Amulet): Movement Speed. Note that this is easier to roll using the Druid Motion Tempering Manual and we prefer ranks to Digitigrade Gait once we acquire Tempest Roar
- Resource (Rings): Resource Generation is ideal, but Resource Cost Reduction on the same Manual works, too and may be preferred once you equip enough unique items.
- Defensive (Helmet, Chest, Pants): Maximum Life - Resistance if you need.
- Utility (Helmet, Chest, Pants, Boots): Petrify Duration.
No Changes
There are no changes to the Skill Tree, Gameplay and Spirit Boons from the Starter section.
The Endgame Werenado setup will introduce the Tempest Roar into our build for the iconic Werenado. Giving us easier spirit management and looking awesome at the same time. Other uniques are optional but highly recommended. If you find yourself without spirit often even while rotating Maul for buffs, consider using Spirit per Second Chest or Boots.
Gear
- Tempest Roar enables a Werewolf version of our build and will enable many synergies.
- Wildheart Hunger gives a huge damage bonus but takes time to stack and requires buff management. If your spirit feels really poor, opt for Spirit per Second legendary Boots with Wind Striker or Metamorphosis instead.
- Mad Wolf's Glee gives lots of damage and mobility but will require a greater armor roll to give up your Juggernaut or second armor .
- Spirit generation can be rough before you get the appropriate Greater Affixes and Masterworks on your rolls of Spirit Per Second / Resource Generation / Resource Cost Reduction. Consider foregoing unique chest or boots for an extra roll of Spirit per Second or temporarily using the Perfect Storm Key Passive.
- If you are lucky enough to find Ring of Starless Skies, it's certainly best-in-slot and replaces Umbral.
Skills
- With enough spirit and additional from Tempest Roar swap we will drastically change our skills.
- Wind Shear finally gets removed for a little extra defense in Cyclone Armor.
- We replace Poison Creeper with Blood Howl for attack speed.
- We remove Provocation and get Bad Omen.
- We switch to Bestial Rampage from Perfect Storm.
The Lucion setup requires multiple unique items to begin to function and an equally active play style as Tempest Roar. If your dream is to hold down the Tornado button then this is for you. We still recommend rotating sometimes for some buffs.
Gear
- Crown of Lucion will provide a massive damage boost and it's negative is solved by Mjolnic. Affix will reset our Cataclysm for a spicy three piece combo.
- We replace Cyclone Armor with Poison Creeper for a way to poison our enemies for Envenom.
- Petrify is replaced with Cataclysm which now grants unlimited spirit thanks to Mjolnic.
Skills
- We replace Cyclone Armor with Poison Creeper for a way to poison our enemies for Envenom.
- Petrify is replaced with Cataclysm which now grants unlimited spirit thanks to Mjolnic.
Build Scaling & Stat Priorities
The answer to many questions can be found in the following section.
- Critical Strikes: Stacking Critical Strike Chance on Rings, Gloves, and Amulet is valuable to restore Spirit via Lust for Carnage and Poison enemies with Toxic Claws (which, in turn, activates the Damage bonus from Envenom). We have additional Critical Strike Multipliers in Avian Wrath and Spirit.
- Vulnerable: We get Vulnerable applied rapidly from Raging Tornado. While leveling we have limited options with just Wind Shear.
- Thunderstruck: Every temper of Damage to Close/Distant stacks this multiplier, so be sure to prioritize them! We prescribe Damage to Close in this guide, but in practice, you're often hitting enemies that are both Close and Distant, so either roll from the same Tempering Manual is fine. We want at least 300% as soon as possible.
- Crowd Controls: With the combination of Toxic Claws and Neurotoxin, every Critical Strike with Tornado Slows enemies for 4 seconds. This is great for activating bonuses against Crowd Controlled and Poisoned enemies.
- Shapeshifting: Alternating between Werebear and Werewolf is useful for both Offense and Defense thanks to a myriad of associated Passives and Aspects. Offensively, we can point to Wildheart Hunger, Quickshift, and our Key Passive, Bestial Rampage.
- Fortify: You receive fortify by shapeshifting at full life with Skinwalker's. We also put some points in Natural Fortitude for when Skinwalker's needs to heal us.
- Armor: Armor has become somewhat trivial to cap with the new, lower limit and Juggernaut's. Still, we can ensure that we'll be reducing incoming Physical damage by the maximum 85%. We will need multiple armor rolls or one greater roll to remove Juggernaut's for Mad Wolf's Glee.
- Unstoppable: Save your Earthen Bulwark to break crowd control or prevent a very large amount of damage. Consider Metamorphosis early game if available.
- Damage Reduction: We have access to a variety of damage reductions.Iron Fur, Heightened Senses, Hubris, Nature-born, and Might. We can also use our defensive skills for Vigilance in the endgame.
- Sustain: Skinwalker's will keep us healthy consistently as we maintain our buffs. Blood Howl will also help keep us topped off.
- Resistances: We cap our Resistances through a combination of Intelligence from Paragon, Ring and Amulet implicits, Ancestral Fortitude, Poison Resilience, Lightning Resilience, Resolve on our Starter and Ancestral Guidance boards, Tempest Roar's Lightning Resistance, Wildheart Hunger's Cold Resistance, and gems in jewelry that correspond to the what may be missing. Consider rolling resistances on gear early to reach your cap as soon as possible while unlocking more Paragon.
Our Damage Explained article explains how to scale your Offense.
Learn all you need to know to scale Defense with our Defense Explained Article.
Stat Priorities
To enable your build to perform optimally, you need to reach certain Stat "Breakpoints". Some examples are reaching 100% to Critically Strike, or 20 Resource per second. Since there are many values of these stats on different pieces of gear, read the checklist below and refer to the recommended Tempered Affixes and Masterwork Crits ↑. Desirable Greater Affixes will always be the top three recommended Affixes.
Damage Scaling
- >25% Increased Attack Speed
- >50% Critical Strike Chance
- Max Thunderstruck Bonus
- >10 Spirit Per Second before Unique items
- 6+ Ranks to Envenom
Defense and Utility
- Armor Capped 9,230
- Resistance Capped 70%
- >35,000 Life
- >30% Resource Generation before Unique items
- >20% Spirit Cost Reduction
- Helm: Tempest Roar
- Willpower ↑
- Maximum Resource
- Lightning Resist
- Ranks of Wild Impulses ↑ (Starless/Lucion)
- Otherwise Look For: Might or Juggernaut's
- Movement Speed ↑
- Spirit per Second ↑
- Willpower
- Max Life
- Resistance if needed
- ⚒️Maximum Life
- ⚒️Petrify Duration
- ⚒️Resistance if needed
- Chest: Mad Wolf's Glee
- Max Life ↑
- Willpower↑
- Dodge Chance
- Resistance if needed
- Otherwise Look For: Might or Juggernaut's
- Spirit per Second ↑
- Willpower ↑
- Armor if you want to give up Juggernaut's
- Maximum Life
- Dodge Chance
- Resistance if needed
- ⚒️Max Life
- ⚒️Petrify Duration
- ⚒️Resistance if needed
- Gloves: Stormchaser's
- Ranks to Tornado ↑
- Attack Speed
- Critical Strike Chance ↑
- Willpower
- Resistance if needed
- ⚒️Damage to Close Enemies
- ⚒️Petrify Duration
- Pants: Skinwalker's
- Armor ↑
- Maximum Life ↑
- Willpower
- Dodge Chance
- Resistance if needed
- ⚒️Max Life
- ⚒️Petrify Duration
- ⚒️Resistance if needed
- Boots: Wildheart Hunger
- Shapeshifting Attack Speed ↑
- Heightened Senses ↑
- Movement Speed
- Cold Resistance
- Otherwise Look For: Wind Striker
- Movement Speed ↑
- Spirit per Second ↑
- Willpower
- Max Life
- Resistance if needed
- ⚒️ Ranks to Digitigrade Gait > Movement Speed ↑
- ⚒️Petrify Duration
- Staff: Retaliation
- Willpower ↑
- Maximum Life
- Critical Strike Damage
- Vulnerable Damage
- Spirit on Kill (Leveling Priority)
- ⚒️Chance for Tornado Projectiles to Cast Twice ↑
- ⚒️Damage to Close Enemies
- Amulet: Unsatiated
- Ranks to Envenom ↑
- Ranks to Quickshift ↑
- Ranks to Defiance
- Movement Speed
- Critical Strike Chance
- Attack Speed
- ⚒️ Storm Critical Strike Chance
- ⚒️ Movement Speed (Digitigrade if Wolf)
- ⚒️ Resource Cost Reduction if needed
- ⚒️Resistance if needed
- Ring 1: Accelerating
- Critical Strike Chance ↑
- Attack Speed↑
- Willpower
- Maximum Life
- Resource Cost Reduction if needed
- ⚒️Damage to Close Enemies
- ⚒️Resource Cost Reduction / Resource Generation
- Ring 2: Umbral
- Critical Strike Chance ↑
- Attack Speed ↑
- Willpower
- Maximum Life
- Resource Cost Reduction if needed
- ⚒️Damage to Close Enemies
- ⚒️Resource Cost Reduction / Resource Generation
This build benefits the most from the following consumables:
- Elixirs: Elixir of Advantage II. Consider Elixir of Fortitude II for defense and Elixir of Resourcefulness II if your resources need help.
- Incense: Blessed Guide, Soothing Spices, and Chorus of War. Consider Reddamine Buzz for defense.
FAQ & Mechanics
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.
Where can I find Tempest Roar?
What can I do to improve Spirit generation?
Mechanics
Learn all you need to know about how to scale this build in the endgame.
Stormchaser's
Bestial Rampage
Summary
The Tornado Druid is a semi-ranged powerhouse, pairing incredible AoE-damage with consistent single target damage. The build is very fun to play once resource is unlocked and can reach movement speed cap if you want it to. You get incredible sustain and your damage reductions are very good.
Credits
Written by pandaglassjaw
Reviewed by IBoilerUp