Build Introduction
The Landslide Druid leveling build crushes foes under the might of the Earth. The Landslide druid excels at ranged attacks, targeted zone control and strong defense to quickly and effectively level.
After progressing through the Main Story and reaching level 60, continue your Landslide adventure with the Landslide Druid Endgame Guide, or choose any of our Endgame Builds.
For general tips and information about leveling a Druid in Diablo 4, check out our Druid Leveling Page.
Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar
The table below outlines the recommended order for allocating Skill Points. 59 Points are gained from leveling, and the remaining 12 are from completing Renown events in each zone, for a total of 71 Skill Points.
Spirit Boons – The Druid Class Specialization
Druids unlock powerful Spirit Boon passives, giving offerings to the animal spirits to receive their Blessing. Once fully unlocked, activate the final Boon by Spirit Bonding with one of the four animal spirits to take two passives from that row. To access Spirit Boons:
- Reach Level 15, accepting the quest chain beginning with Druid: Spirits of the Lost Grove.
- Clear the Túr Dúlra Stronghold scenario in Scosglen.
- Complete the quest chain to gain access to the Animal Spirits.
Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
---|---|---|
Advantageous Beast | Deer | Gain 15% Movement Speed and 15% Impairment Reduction. |
Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain +15% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
Pack Leader | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 30% chance to reset the Cooldowns of your Companion Skills. |
Energize | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Dealing damage has up to a 15% chance to restore 30 Spirit. |
Obsidian Slam | Snake | Every 10th kill will cause your next Earth Skill to Overpower. |
Prioritize your first 25 Spirit Offerings to unlock the Wolf’s Pack Leader; Poison Creeper is a significant source of our damage so cooldown resets go a long way. This is especially potent once Subterranean Aspect is found.
Gear, Gems, Elixirs, and Stats
The following sections cover the Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems, and Runewords important for your character’s progression while leveling.
Legendary Aspects and Codex of Power
The Codex of Power updates and improves the quality of the Aspects by salvaging Legendary Powers. Legendary Items with Aspect powers can be found across all content in Diablo 4. Randomly dropped Legendary Aspects can have a specific range of power on them. For example, Aspect of The Aftershock can roll between 5.5% and 15.5% for the effect. Salvaging a higher rank will improve the Aspect’s rank within your Codex from then on.
Aspects gained from Dungeons will enter the Codex of Power at rank 1. This makes Dungeons a great way to get started when putting together a build without relying on random drops. For example, to access Aspect of Quicksand directly without needing a random drop, you can clear Feral’s Den in Scosglen. A Rank 1 Aspect of Quicksand is just as good as any rank since the slow application is what matters for synergies with other aspects like Crashstone Aspect or Aspect of the Umbral.
The build defining aspects for Landslide are the following, found from random drops:
Aspect | Aspect Type | Legendary Aspect Power | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Subterranean Aspect | Offensive | Poison Creeper’s active also casts Landslide in a circle around you. Earth Skills deal 15-35% increased damage to Poisoned enemies. | Random Drop |
Aspect of The Aftershock | Offensive | Landslide’s earth pillars each strike a second time and deal an additional 5.5-15.5% bonus damage per hit. | Random Drop |
While hunting for the random drop aspects listed, these dungeon-sourced Aspects are effective Aspects for the build, sorted by type:
Aspect | Aspect Type | Legendary Aspect Power | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Crashstone Aspect | Offensive | Earth Skills deal 35-75% increased damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. | Stockades, Scosglen |
Aspect of Retaliation | Offensive | Your Core Skills deal up to 35-75% increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. | Seaside Descent, Dry Steppes |
Aspect of Quicksand | Utility | Damage from Earth Skills Slow enemies hit by 20-60% for 5 seconds. | Feral’s Den, Scosglen |
Ballistic Aspect | Utility | When you have Fortify your Earth Skills gain +2 Ranks. | Whispering Pines, Scosglen |
Aspect of the Umbral | Resource | Restore 1-8 of your Primary Resource when you Crowd Control an enemy. | Champion’s Demise, Dry Steppes |
Aspect of the Calm Breeze | Resource | Wind Shear now deals Poisoning damage over 4 seconds. Lucky Hit: Wind Shear has up to a 6-14% chance to fully restore your Spirit. | Grinning Labyrinth, Dry Steppes |
Skinwalker’s Aspect | Defensive | When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain 5-25% Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify. | Fading Echo, Kehjistan |
Aspect of Might | Defensive | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for 2-10 seconds. | Dark Ravine, Dry Steppes |
Aspect of Disobedience | Defensive | You gain 0.4-.8% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to 25-40%. | Halls of the Damned, Kehjistan |
Gear Affix and Stat Priority
Below are the recommended Gear Affixes for each slot for the Landslide Leveling Build. Gear Affixes are listed by importance. Affixes in Bold are the most important for the build, and alternatives are added as well.
Slot | Gem | Stats |
---|---|---|
2 Handed Mace | Emerald | Resource Cost Reduction Willpower Max Life Overpower Damage Chance on Hit for Spirit |
Helm | Sapphire | Ranks in Poison Creeper Ranks to Companion Skills Willpower Max Life Spirit Per Second |
Chest | Sapphire | Max Life Spirit Per Second Willpower Armor |
Gloves | N/A | Ranks in Landslide Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Willpower Critical Strike Damage |
Pants | Sapphire | Max Life Armor Willpower Dodge Chance |
Boots | N/A | Movement Speed Spirit Per Second Willpower Dodge Chance |
Amulet | Diamond | Movement Speed Ranks to Envenom Critical Strike Chance Willpower% Resource Cost Reduction |
Rings | Diamond | Critical Strike Chance Attack Speed Maximum Life Resource Generation Chance on Hit to makes enemies Vulnerable |
- Critical Strike Chance is important for Pack Leader Spirit boon resets and overall damage.
- Resource Cost Reduction and Spirit Per Second will go a long way to help us keep sending out waves of Landslides.
- A couple Armor Affixes will help us stay ahead of the Damage.
Tempering
Tempering manuals are found across Sanctuary. The Blacksmith is able to apply extra Tempering affixes on items. Manuals are divided by types similar to Legendary Aspect Powers; a Resource manual like Worldly Stability has Resource type tempers, and can only be placed on rings and amulet.
When tempering at the Blacksmith, the item will randomly select one of the listed affixes from the chosen Tempering Manual. There is a limit to the number of times a temper can be rerolled to try to get the desired affix. This means the item can get ruined for the build, and you must try again with a new item. Unique Items cannot be Tempered. Here’s a list of Useful tempers to look out for, sorted by type.
Manual Type | Manual Name | Manual Effect |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Earth Augments | Chance for Landslide to Hit Twice |
Offensive | Earth Finesse | Earth Critical Strike Chance Earth Lucky Hit Chance Earth Damage Earth Overpower Damage |
Offensive | Natural Finesse | Damage to Close Enemies Damage to Distant Enemies Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies |
Utility | Worldly Fortune | Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize Lucky Hit: Chance to Stun |
Defensive | Worldly Endurance | Total Armor% |
Mobility | Natural Motion | Movement Speed |
Resource | Worldly Stability | Resource Generation |
Gems and Runewords
See below for the best Gems to socket into your gear for each category:
- Weapon: Emerald for Critical Strike Damage.
- Armor: Sapphire for Willpower.
- Jewelry: Diamonds for All Resistances
Runewords are a flexible power to help strengthen a build or fill its weaknesses. Two Runes combine for the total Runeword effect:
- A conditional trigger Rune of Ritual that supplies Offerings when the condition is met.
- An effect Rune of Invocation that costs Offerings.
Once the Rune of Ritual has supplied enough Offerings, the Rune of Invocation will trigger its effect. Some Runes of Invocation will have overflow effects, where excess Offerings will spillover to empower the triggered effect.
Runewords replace Gems in gear. Up to two sets of Runeword pairs can be placed at a time. Runeword combinations are placed within 2 sockets of the same item e.g. Helm, Chest, Pants or 2-handed Weapon.
The following are Runeword combinations for the Landslide Leveling Druid. These leveling recommendations are limited to Magic and Rare quality runes, and are placed in 2-Handed Weapon and one Armor slot:
Runeword Combination | Runeword Effects |
---|---|
Poc Lum | Poc – Gain: 5 Offering. Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource. Lum – Requires: 5 Offering (Overflow: Increased Resource Restored) Cooldown: 1 Second. Restore 2.5 Primary Resource. |
Moni Gar | Moni – Gain: 35 Offering. Cast a Skill after moving. (Cooldown: 0.2 seconds) Gar – Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%. |
PocLum will give a refund on Spirit after spending. MoniGar will be a tidy Critical Strike Chance increase for damage and Packleader Boon resets.
There will be several Runeword combinations that help out and work, feel free to try them all out as you acquire the runes. For example, some of the damage effect triggers like Ton will do especially good damage in very early levels.
Elixirs and Health Potions
The Alchemist offers helpful consumables at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary.
- Craft the highest Elixir of Precision for Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage and bonus Experience. Or Iron Skin Elixir can help push the Capstone Dungeons earlier and easier.
- Remember to upgrade your potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion. Upgrades are available when you reach Level 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60.
Unique Items
Here’s a list of useful Unique Items for the Landslide Druid to look out for while leveling:
- Earthbreaker has strong affixes for Landslide and creates Tectonic Spikes that when hit by further casts of Landslide will spawn another Landslide.
- Vasily’s Prayer is a source for Fortify and gives Landslide a Werebear tag, which allows Landslide to benefit from various Shapeshifting Buffs. This also opens options for other Werebear Uniques like Insatiable Fury, Wildheart Hunger (with Bestial Rampage) and Hunter’s Zenith.
Mercenaries
Once unlocked, Mercenaries are followers that aid the Player in combat. A main mercenary is chosen to fight alongside you, granting strong buffs or perks, and a secondary Mercenary is chosen to periodically Reinforce you under a chosen Opportunity condition. As you build Rapport with your Mercenary, you gain more access to their Skills and Perks.
The following Mercenary options are recommended for the Landslide Leveling Druid:
Main Mercenary – Varyana, the Berserker
- Core Skill: Cleave
- Core Passive: Hysteria
- Iconic Skill: Bloodthirst
- Iconic Passive: Bloodlust
Reinforcement – Raheir, the Shieldbearer
- Reinforcement Ability – Crater
Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed bonuses.
Damage Rotation
- Poison Creeper on gathered enemies for lethal Poison Damage.
- Petrify against Elites and Bosses to stun and apply a Critical Strike Damage debuff.
- Landslide to crush your enemies.
- Blood Howl to heal and generate Spirit, and Trample as a mobility tool and to generate Spirit.
- Wind Shear as filler to generate Spirit and activate bonuses like Resonance.
Advanced Information
It is time to start your Landslide journey!
Or see below for further information on how the build works, Skill and gameplay options, and what to do after level 60, including a starter Paragon board to help you transition to the Endgame Landslide build.
Mechanics and Playstyle
The primary sources of damage for the Landslide Leveling Druid are Landslide and Poison Creeper.
Landslide summons pillars at the cast location that crush enemies between them.
- Enhanced Landslide is a counter on the Landslide icon, and after damaging enemies 4 times, the next hit will also Immobilize enemies.
- Primal Landslide generates Terramotes when Immobilizing or Stunning an enemy, or a flat chance when damaging a boss. Terramotes are then consumed on subsequent hits to guarantee a Critical Strike and deal an additional 40% Critical Strike Damage.
- Terramotes will be generated from your sources of Immobilize and Stun, including:
- Enhanced Landslide
- Poison Creeper‘s Active Cast Immobilize.
- Utility Tempers for Chance to Stun or Chance to Immobilize.
- Knockbacks from Trample when enemies hit walls.
- Cast of Petrify that Stun your enemies.
Poison Creeper is a Companion that passively attacks to apply a small Poison. The Active Skill deals significant Poison damage over time in a wide area around the player and Immobilizes enemies.
- Enhanced Poison Creeper increases the Immobilize duration.
- Ferocious Poison Creeper increases the duration of the active cast Poison, increasing total damage appropriately.
The active cast of Poison Creeper, especially in early levels, is lethal damage to all but the toughest enemies, making it very efficient to use on most leveling builds. We take Pack Leader boon to reset the Companion Active Skill.
Supporting Skills
Wind Shear is our filler Basic Attack, generating Spirit, increasing Movement Speed, and applying Vulnerable to enemies. With Aspect of the Calm Breeze it becomes a strong Damage over Time attack that applies Poison to enemies.
Blood Howl heals and generates Spirit with Innate Blood Howl on cast. This can be cast frequently, and the cooldown is reduced when you kill enemies.
Trample is a mobility tool that grants Unstoppable, knocks enemies, and generates Spirit on cast from Savage Trample.
Ultimate Skill and Key Passive
Petrify is a Stun, Critical Strike Damage debuff on enemies, and Spirit Generator. Use this against Elites and Bosses to help take them down, or as a periodic cast to give back Spirit.
Earthen Might is a Lucky Hit Chance to guarantee 100% Earth Critical Strike Chance and fill Spirit. The Lucky Hit Chance increases when the enemy is Stunned, Immobilized, Knocked Back, or the attack is a Critical Strike.
Druids Have Options!
Any of the Supporting Skills can be substituted for another desirable supporting Skill depending on looted Legendary Aspects, leveling content, or by playstyle preference. Some examples can include:
- For the Basic Skill builder, Wind Shear is taken to enable the Landslide ranged playstyle, and for Poison application with Aspect of the Calm Breeze. Storm Strike could also be taken for the higher Vulnerable application and Chance to Immobilize, potentially increasing Terramote generation.
- This build recommends the Spirit Generation on Blood Howl and Trample for smoothness of play, but the other passives, such as Enhanced Blood Howl for Attack Speed and Natural Trample for Fortify Generation work as well.
- If more defensives are wanted, Preserving Earthen Bulwark can provide Barrier, Unstoppable, and Fortify, or Cyclone Armor for a low investment passive increase to defense.
- Cataclysm can be a strong Ultimate Skill alternative to Petrify, guaranteeing Vulnerable and dealing good damage in early leveling. If you found Blood Boiling Aspect, line casts with the Aspect to deal large Overpower damage for the duration of the cast.
- The Key Passive Earthen Might is used for periodic Spirit and guaranteed Critical Strikes for Earth Skills, which plays well with Terramotes and Petrify Critical Strike Damage buffs. If you found your Vasily’s Prayer, Bestial Rampage can now be used instead for a persistent Damage and Attack Speed increase; use Landslide for Werebear, and Blood Howl for Werewolf buffs.
Roadmap at Level 60
Once you’re ready at level 60 or even sooner it’s time to start those Endgame Activities.
Paragon
After Level 60, you gain no more Skill Points and instead start progressing in the Paragon Board. Allocate Paragon Points into nodes along the path to gain further power. Rare Glyphs start at 3 Radius, growing by 1 Radius at level 15, and then at level 46. Level up your glyphs by running The Pit.
Here is an early 3 board setup to get you started. It prioritizes Spirit Generation nodes from theAncestral Guidance board, and Earth Damage Multipliers from the Earthen Devastation board. Remember to rotate the boards as necessary! This will get you ready for that transition to the Landslide Endgame Guide or other Endgame Druid Builds.
Thanks so much for reading and good luck on leveling!
Changelog
- November 17, 2024: Minor updates for patch 2.0.5.
- October 17, 2024: Ownership of page transferred, replacing previous guide.
- page restructured for improved readability, explanations and options.
- Changes to recommended Skill Bar and Skill Tree, Legendary Aspects, Gearing, and Mechanics.
- October 3rd, 2024: Updated for Season 6 (Patch 2.0.2)
- August 3rd, 2024: Updated for Season 5 (Patch 1.5.0)
- June 17th, 2024: Updated for Season 4 Midseason (Patch 1.4.3)
- May 10th, 2024: Updated for Season 4 (Patch 1.4.0)
- January 22nd, 2024: Updated for Season 3 (Patch 1.3.0)
- October 17th, 2023: Updated for Season 2 (Patch 1.2.0)
- July 18th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.