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Tornado Druid Leveling Guide

Last Updated: January 24th 2024

Season 3 - ConstructB-Tier

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The Tornado Druid Leveling build is a simple to play, ranged build that is great for progressing through the early game of Diablo 4. Tornado is a Core Skill that deals periodic damage to enemies in its range. Due to its semi-random pathing, it is pretty hard to aim. With any luck, you'll find the Stormchaser's Offensive Aspect, which makes the Tornado Druid a breeze to play.

Once you have the main setup together, it's smooth sailing until the endgame. Wind Shear generates the bulk of your Spirit, increasing your ability to cast Tornado. The Slow provided by Tornado's upgrade adds a consistent form of Crowd Control to the build. Poison Creeper is exceptionally strong in the early game, dealing a massive amount of damage and holding enemies in place. Trample is utilized for mobility and Spirit generation, while Earthen Bulwark and Blood Howl provide a variety of offensive and defensive buffs.

This guide teaches you all about how to reach the endgame in Diablo 4 with the Tornado Druid. Let's get started!

Tornado Druid Leveling Gear

This build guide takes you through the Campaign up to Level 50. Endgame guides will follow soon in our Druid Guides section. Stay tuned!

Pros
  • Ranged Combat
  • Extremely Tanky
  • Consistent Damage
  • Easy To Understand
Cons
  • Low Mobility
  • Mediocre Single Target
  • Main Skill Hard To Aim
  • Intensive Spirit Management

Season 3 - Season of the Construct

In Season 3, you obtain the Seneschal Construct through the Season Questline, then collect Governing Stones or Tuning Stones to add attacks and augment them to support your build. Only certain Tuning Stones work with a particular Governing Stone. Look at the bottom of any Tuning Stone tooltip to see if it is compatible with your Construct's currently equipped Stones. Lastly, they can be leveled up by getting duplicates to max out their power. Check out our full Season 3 guide for more information.

  1. Gyrate - Attack around the Construct
    1. Resource Support - More Spirit!
    2. Swift Support - Faster attacks enables the Resource Support to provide more Spirit!
    3. Mockery Support - Taunt.
  2. Lightning Bolt - Good way to hit many monsters at once
    1. Arcing Support - Even more enemies get chained!
    2. Efficiency Support - Increased Critical means more ‍Packleader resets.
    3. Slowing Support -
Tornado Druid Construct

Alternative Stones

  1. Gripping Support - Druids of all classes know how effective grouping mechanics like this one can be.
  2. Breaking Support - Application of Vulnerable for increased damage.
  3. Voluminous Support - Improving the coverage will affect more monsters.

If you are lucky enough to get either Evernight or Genesis from Uber Malphas, you want to swap them in on your Construct for their powerful effects.

Skill Showcase

Tornado summons little twisters that travel semi-randomly in the direction you aimed. With Stormchaser's Offensive Aspect, Tornado seeks out a number of targets before it disappears.
Tornado Druid in Action

Skill Tree & Gameplay

Getting Started

To start off we have to put 2 points into Basic Skills to unlock the Core Skill section. Wind Shear is our choice because it is a melee skill that generates Spirit extremely reliably, and it provides massive damage reduction.

Unlocking Tornado

Tornado is the centerpiece of this build. Due to its irregular pathing, it is beneficial to get close to your targets before you cast it. The mobility of Tornado Druid is very low, so make sure to get them gains with Fierce Wind Shear.

Damage, Healing & Poison

Continue to increase your damage output by maxing out Tornado.

Blood Howl is added as an extra option for healing rather than using potions to help top off your health.

Poison Creeper is the Druid's highest damage ability in the early game, Poisoning and Immobilizing enemies in a massive area of effect around you!

Tornado Druid Leveling Skill Tree
Use the slider on the bottom to see the Skill progression

Spirit, Mobility & Unstoppable

Trample is the only mobility Skill on the Druid. It also adds a solid amount of single target damage with Enhanced Trample and generates 40 Spirit with Savage Trample! Before we can skill into that, we need to unlock another Spirit generator with Innate Blood Howl.

Earthen Bulwark creates a ring of rocks around you that absorbs a large amount of damage for 3 seconds. You also become Unstoppable once you select Enhanced Earthen Bulwark. Use it to break or prevent Crowd Control effects!

Unlocking Key Passive

We are unlocking the Perfect Storm Key Passive in this section by first maxing out our Poison Creeper, then by allocating points into a variety of useful Passives. Perfect Storm increases damage against Vulnerable, Immobilized or Slowed enemies. Storm Skills also generate Spirit, drastically improving resource management.

The Final Stretch

In this section, we exhaust most of the remaining offensive options on this build until we find new Legendary Aspects. Prioritize the damage Passives first, then allocate points into Utility options.

Spending Renown

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 reached the end, put them into these nodes to build toward the Tornado Druid Endgame Build Guide:

Check out our Renown Guide to unlock all your additional rewards efficiently. 

Druid Spirit Boons

Packleader is used to reset ‍Poison Creeper. This is the most important ability for leveling early. Scythe Talons, ‍and Swooping Attacks provide some extra damage, whileWariness is there for defense. Masochistic does very little except for when using Trample. Your main focus is to unlock ‍Packleader as soon as Level 15.

Unlocking Spirit Boons

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.

Learn more details in our full Druid Spirit Boons Guide.

Gear Progression & Stat Priorities

Ultimately, the best weapon for a leveling Tornado Druid is a Two-Handed Staff for as much damage as possible. Always go for higher DPS over the rest of a weapon's stats during leveling.

If you have multiple weapons with the same DPS, prioritize these stats:

  • 2-Handed Weapon: Preferably Staves, prioritizing Weapon Damage, then Willpower, Core Skill Damage, Damage to Slowed, Critical Strike Damage and Vulnerable Damage

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

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

Armor

Armor pieces typically grant us Defense and Utility stats, except the Gloves which offer a tidal wave of Offense. Here are the important stats to look for:

  • Helm: Life, Cooldown Reduction, Ranks to Poison Creeper, Willpower
  • Armor: Life, Willpower, Physical and Human Damage
  • Gloves: Ranks to Tornado, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance
  • Pants: Life, Damage Reduction from Distant or Close Enemies, Willpower, Armor, Ranks to Trample
  • Boots: Movement Speed, Spirit Cost Reduction, Willpower

Jewelry

Jewelry provides powerful Offensive stats that help us on our leveling journey. Pay close attention to the rolls as higher leveled pieces aren't always better:

  • Amulet: Spirit Cost Reduction, Movement Speed, Cooldown Reduction, Damage, Skill Ranks
  • Rings: Life, Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage, Vulnerable Damage, Damage to Slowed Enemies, Physical Damage

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

Read more about itemization in our Damage Explained, Defense Explained, and Stats Explained articles.

Codex of Power

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:

Codex Leveling Aspects in Order of Priority:

POWERDUNGEON
Aspect of the ExpectantUnderroot - Scosglen
Rapid Offensive AspectBuried Halls - Dry Steppes
Aspect of the UmbralChampions Demise - Dry Steppes
Defensive Aspect of Mending StoneSealed Archives - Dry Steppes
Aspect of MightDark Ravine - Dry Steppes
Aspect of the ProtectorLost Archives - Fractured Peaks
Edgemaster’s Offensive AspectOldstones - Scosglen
Wind Striker AspectShivta Ruins - Kehjistan

Warning: DO NOT imprint your Weapons as they are constantly replaced while leveling. Put Offensive Aspects on your Amulet, Rings, or Gloves instead.

Learn more details in our article covering the Codex of Power.

Helpful Legendary Aspects

Here are all helpful Legendary Aspects for the Blight Corpse Explosion Necromancer that can either be found in the Codex of Power or Extracted from an item drop. Note that all Legendary Aspects can be found from item drops, and that these can roll better and often significantly better than ones sourced from the Codex of Power.

  • Stormchaser's Offensive Aspect
    • Gamble Totems
    • If you get this, use it to replace Edgemaster’s Offensive Aspect
  • Accelerating Offensive Aspect
    • Gamble Totems
    • If you get this, use it to replace Rapid Aspect
    • Apply it to your amulet
  • Conceited Offensive Aspect
    • Combines with Defensive Aspect of Mending Stone and Earthen Bulwark
    • Gamble Totems

Discover every Druid Legendary Power in our Druid Overview.

How To Level

You level in Diablo 4 by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, grinding Dungeons, or interacting with Seasonal mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are made equal.

Campaign Leveling

  • For your first character in Diablo 4, completing the Campaign provides the best gameplay experience and gives you access to key unlocks like your Mount.
    • If you don't have your Mount, you MUST progress the Campaign until you complete the quest Donan's Favor at the start of Act 4.
    • After obtaining your Mount you can skip the remainder of the campaign at any time.
    • The Campaign is the slowest way to level, but it's worth experiencing the Campaign and Diablo 4's storyline at least once.
    • To play Seasonal Content you need to have completed or skipped the Campaign.

Seasonal/Alt Leveling

  • Complete the Season questline, progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock Legendary Aspects, and work on your Seasonal powers.
  • If your account is below Rank 5 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
    • This only needs to be done once.
  • Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
  • From level 1-50 you should focus on getting experience, by completing dungeons with high monster density like the Domhainne Tunnels, or Sirocco Caverns.
  • After level 50 you need to balance leveling up, Glyph Experience, and participating in endgame activities like Helltide, and Bosses.
    • The fastest experience possible is completing Nightmare dungeons with monsters up to 10 levels above your current level.
      • Check out our Nightmare Dungeon Tier List for the best layouts!
      • Around level 45-50 you should move to World Tier 3.
      • Around level 60-70 you should move to World Tier 4.
  • Alternatively: Get boosted by a friend to World Tier 4 then leech experience/loot and Glyph exp (post 50), in Nightmare dungeons.

Leveling Tips and Tricks

Let's look at some tips and tricks to remember when leveling up!

  • Level Up Your Potion. You need to farm materials to upgrade your character's potion.
    • Make sure you collect all materials as you explore Sanctuary, especially Gallowvine which is used in many Elixir recipes!
  • Compare your Items... Literally. Press Shift over an item in your inventory to compare it to what you're wearing.
    • This makes it easy to determine what is and isn't an upgrade.
  • Don't Imprint Your Best Aspect Onto Your Weapon. The most critical piece of gear while leveling up is your weapon, which gets replaced constantly.
    • This makes imprinting a Legendary Aspect that CANNOT be found in the Codex of Power onto your weapon a bad idea in the long run.
    • While leveling, only imprint Legendary Aspects from the Codex of Power onto your weapon if any at all.
    • It is a better idea to put your best Offensive Aspect on your Amulet, which can be used for a long time.
  • Sacred is just better. Between level 45 and 50 you're able to beat the Capstone Dungeon and enter World Tier 3, you gain access to powerful Sacred items which have higher item power and better stats. Getting a Sacred weapon significantly improves your farming speed.
    • There's little point to entering World Tier 3 before 45 because that's the minimum level where you can equip Sacred items.
    • The same happens with World Tier 4 and Ancestral gear at level 60.

Next Steps

Summary

  • The Tornado Druid is a great all-round build, combining decent area damage at range with healthy defenses.
  • Your Poison Creeper has a long cooldown, so group as many monsters as you can prior to using this powerful skill.
  • Focus on improving your 2-Handed Weapon, ideally Staves.
  • If you find Stormchaser's Offensive Aspect, put it on one of your Rings, as these are the least likely item slots to be replaced while leveling.
  • Look out for helpful Legendary Aspects in the Codex of Power, especially those that generate Spirit and buff your damage & damage reduction.

Credits

Written by Jymnasium
Reviewed by IBoilerUp, Binashole

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