Shred – Druid Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 7)

Build Introduction

The Shred Druid dashes and rips into the foes of Sanctuary, every strike echoing the ferocity of a werewolf under the moonlit sky. This build excels at speed, mobility, and easy clear for farm content. Gather and destroy enemies with powerful Shred and cleave bursts of lightning with your Stormclaw’s Aspect.

This guide covers everything necessary to get started on your Shred adventure including Skill Tree points, Paragon, Gearing, and Seasonal updates. The guide will primarily cover Endgame pushing, but will also cover alternative options and in-depth gameplay.

Strengths and Weaknesses

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Build Requirements

The following Legendary Aspects are required for build functionality to get started on the Shred Druid:

Required Aspects

Stormclaw’s Aspect

Waxing Gibbous

• Stormclaw’s Aspect gives Shred Critical Strikes additional Lightning Damage in an area around the target.
• Waxing Gibbous gives periodic Stealth and guaranteed Critical Strikes after breaking Stealth.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Skill Bar for Shred Druid

Debilitating Roar Earthen Bulwark Blood Howl Hurricane Petrify Shred

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.

In early gearing and leveling, Gift of the Stag, Energize and Scythe Talons can all be used for easier Spirit Management.

Masochistic and Iron Feather are options for more survivability in push content. Replaces Calm Before the Storm and Swooping Attacks.

Paragon Board

The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Shred Druid.

The road to max Paragon is long. The above Paragon tabs show the following:

• The BASE SETUP tab spends 50 fewer points than the max 328 points, taking stricter pathing to take all most all Legendary, Rare and Magic Nodes, and activates all Glyph Nodes with their secondary effects.
• The FULL SETUP tab completes the paragon board in its final form, filling in the rest of the board to give additional additive bonuses especially within the Glyph areas.

Glyphs have two significant breakpoint increases. At level 15, the glyph grows in radius and gains a special effect. At level 46, the glyph grows to its max radius and gains a strong conditional damage multiplier.

Glyphs are placed as if they are at least level 15+ in radius. Total Boards placed are now limited to a max of 5; the Starter Board and four Class Boards. Rotate boards as necessary.

For further info on Paragon choices, check the Paragon Information in the Additional Information Section.

Gear, Stats, Gems and Elixirs

The following are the recommended Legendary Aspects, Gear Affixes, Gems and Elixirs for the Shred Druid.

Legendary Aspects

Gear Slots with multiple options are listed in recommended priority. Any slot with an Optional Mythic Unique or Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power to use while still leveling and gearing.

Slot	Gem	Aspect	Unique/Legendary Aspect Power
Weapon	Grand Emerald	(Recommended Unique)Waxing Gibbous	Killing an enemy with Shred grants Stealth for 2 seconds. Breaking Stealth with an attack grants guaranteed Critical Strikes for 1-4 seconds.
Totem	Grand Emerald	Aspect of the Blurred Beast	Shred deals 55-75% more damage, and Shred’s first dash lands up to 4 additional strikes based on distance travelled.
Helm	Grand Sapphire	(Recommended Mythic) Heir of Perdition (Recommended Unique)Godslayer Crown Vigorous Aspect	Give in to hatred and earn Lilith’s Favor, increasing your damage dealt by 60%. Slaughter enemies to briefly steal Lilith’s Favor from Nearby allies.
Chest	Grand Sapphire	(Recommended Mythic) Shroud of False Death (Recommended Unique)Mad Wolf’s Glee Juggernaut’s Aspect	If you haven’t attacked in the last 2 seconds, gain Stealth and 40% Movement Speed.
Gloves		Stormclaw’s Aspect	Critical Strikes with Shred deal 60-80% of the damage dealt as Lightning damage to the target and surrounding enemies.
Pants	Grand Sapphire	Aspect of the Agile Wolf	Shred gains a 4th Dash attack that hits all surrounding enemies, deals 20-60% increased damage, and Knocks Down enemies for 2 seconds.
Boots		(Recommended Offensive)Wildheart Hunger Stormshifter’s Aspect	Shapeshifting into a new animal form increases the value of your Bestial Rampage bonuses by 2-5%, up to 20-50%. This bonus decays by 2% per second.
Amulet	Grand Diamond	Aspect of the Unsatiated	After Critically Striking an enemy with Shred, you gain 15 Spirit. While at 100 Spirit, Werewolf Skills deal 20-40%[x] increased damage until you go below 30 Spirit.
Ring 1	Grand Diamond	(Push)Hunter’s Zenith (Farm) Airidah’s Inexorable Will  Aspect of Retaliation	Every 30 seconds you spend in an animal form, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to Overpower and Critically Strike, and deals 30-60% increased damage. Casting a Shapeshifting Skill reduces this timer by 1 second, or 2 seconds if it changes you to a new animal form.
Ring 2	Grand Diamond	(Recommended Mythic)Ring of Starless Skies (Spirit Management) Starlight Aspect	Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by 10% for 3 seconds, up to 50%.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. The bolded affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. Unique Items cannot be Tempered, but can be Masterworked.  Check the Tempering guide and Masterworking guide for more details about these topics.

Any slot with an Optional Mythic Unique or Unique Item will include a valid alternative legendary power to use while still leveling and gearing.

Slot	Gearing Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Weapon – (Recommended Unique) Waxing Gibbous	Critical Strike Damage Blood Howl Grants Stealth for 1-4 seconds Ranks to Shred Ranks to Toxic Claws
1 Handed Dagger	Willpower Max Life Chance to Restore Resource Critical Strike Damage	Werewolf Augments – Chance for Shred to Deal Double Damage Werewolf Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed
Totem	Cooldown Reduction Willpower Lucky Hit Chance Chance to Heal Chance to Restore Resource	Werewolf Augments – Chance for Shred to Deal Double Damage Werewolf Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed
Helm – (Recommended Mythic) Heir of Perdition	Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Movement Speed Ranks in Core Skills
Helm – (Recommended Unique) Godslayer Crown	All Stats Maximum Life Damage to Elites Cooldown Reduction
Helm – Legendary Aspect	Willpower Max Life Cooldown Reduction Armor	Shapeshifting Endurance – Blood Howl Cooldown Reduction Worldly Fortune – Chance to Stun/Freeze/Immobilize
Chest – (Recommended Mythic) Shroud of False Death	All Stats Maximum Life Damage on Next Attack After Entering Stealth Resource Generation
Chest – (Recommended Unique) Mad Wolf’s Glee	Max Life Werewolf Attack Speed Lupine Ferocity’s Damage Bonus Ranks to Digitigrade Gait
Chest – Legendary Aspect	Willpower Max Life Spirit Per Second Armor	Shapeshifting Endurance – Blood Howl Cooldown Reduction Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration
Gloves – Legendary Aspect	Critical Strike Chance Ranks to Shred Attack Speed Willpower	Werewolf Finesse – Werewolf Attack SpeedNature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration
Pants	Armor Willpower Max Life Dodge Chance	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor Nature Magic Innovation – Hurricane Duration
Boots – (Recommended Unique) Wildheart Hunger	Movement Speed Shapeshifting Attack Speed Cold Resistance Ranks to Heightened Senses
Boots – Legendary Aspect	Implicit: Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown By 1.5 Seconds Willpower Movement Speed Max Life Spirit Per Second	Druid Motion – Ranks to Digitigrade Gait OR Movement Speed Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration
Amulet – Legendary Aspect	Ranks to Envenom Ranks to Quickshift Movement Speed Resource Cost Reduction	Nature Magic Innovation – Petrify Duration Werewolf Finesse – Werewolf Attack Speed
Ring – (Recommended Mythic)Ring of Starless Skies	Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Ranks to Core Skills
Ring – (Recommended Unique) Hunter’s Zenith	Willpower Ranks in Predatory Instinct Ranks in Heightened Senses Ranks in Quickshift
Rings – Legendary Aspect	Attack Speed Willpower Chance to Make Enemies Vulnerable Max Life	Werewolf Finesse – Werewolf Attack SpeedUltimate Efficiency – Petrify Cooldown Reduction OR Worldly Stability – Resource Generation

2-Handed vs Waxing Gibbous and Totem

When choosing between using a 2-Handed setup and using Waxing Gibbous and Totem, consider the following:

• A 2-Handed Weapon setup has more potential Topend multipliers and a higher Temper range for Chance for Shred to deal double damage. That will be beneficial in push content but overkill in farm content.
• The Waxing Gibbous setup is faster casting and better at speed farming. If you are struggling to maintain the Waxing Gibbous Critical Strike buff from not killing fast enough, then that’s where the 2-Handed Weapon setup will pull ahead.
• To play the 2-Handed weapon setup, make the following changes:
  • Use Aspect of the Blurred Beast on 2-handed weapon.
  • Gear the 2-Handed weapon with for Max Life, Willpower, and Chance to Restore Resource. Temper for Chance for Shred to Deal Double Damage (Mastercrafted) and Critical Strike Damage.
  • Since Critical Strike Chance is no longer guaranteed without Waxing Gibbous, Gear and Mastercraft for Critical Strike Chance on armor pieces.

Have at least one Hurricane duration Utility Temper to maintain the Skill.

Armor cap is 1000 for up to 85% Physical Damage Reduction. This is generally reached with either one Armor Gear Affix and one Total Armor% Temper, or using a Juggernaut’s Aspect.

Gems and Runewords

The following are the recommended Gem and Runeword setups for the Shred Druid:

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Emerald for Critical Strike Damage	Grand Sapphire for Willpower	Grand Diamond for All Resistance

Seasonal: Use the recommended Occult Gem Setup for Jewelry.

• Moonlight Ward – For each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and .5% Maximum Resistance to All Elements.
• Voice of the Stars – While you have an Aura active, your Ultimate Skills gain each Witchcraft tag and deal 10% increased damage.
• Friend of the Bog – While you have three or more Growth & Decay Witch Powers slotted, you gain 10% primary stat, 10% Maximum Life and you are always Unhindered.

Runewords

Use these Runeword combinations for the Shred Druid, placed in Armor slots:

Runeword Combination	Runeword Effects
Moni Wat	Moni – Gain: 100 Offering. Cast 2 Mobility Skills. Wat – Requires: 100 Offering Cooldown: 1 Second. Overflow: Increased Duration. Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.
Xol Yom	Xol – Gain: 150 Offering. Evoke power from another Class Yom – 500 Offering Cooldown: 5 Seconds. Overflow: Increased Duration. Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies and restoring 100 Spirit.

Runewords use a conditional Rune of Ritual to generate Offering. The Offering is consumed by the Rune of Invocation to trigger its effect. Runes replace Gems in gear with two sockets. Up to two sets of Runeword Pairs can be placed at a time.

Shred is a fast attack and has the Mobility Tag, meaning Moni will work for it, and will trigger high volumes of Horrid Decrepify, which is an efficient trigger for Xol. Periodic casts of Petrify will be a strong Stun, Critical Strike Damage multiplier and Spirit Generator. Tempering for Petrify Duration will mean significant uptime on Petrify.

Other combinations can also situationally work well; adjust to the content you are running. These can include:

• (Offering Efficiency) other Ritual options such as Lith for Stand Still, Bac for Move, Feo for get Crowd Controlled, or Tam for Cast Non-Channeled Core Skill may trigger more often.
• (Offensive) Wat is a strong defensive tool but if that’s unnecessary for the content, use an offensive Rune of Invocation like Xan. For example, MoniXan TamYom would be a high output combination.
• (Gathering) Kry rune for Vortex can be a strong quality of life increase.
• (Spirit Management) Lum rune can give strong Spirit Refund. A combination like MoniLum would give more Spirit than you can spend!
• (Early Gearing) While leveling and gearing before legendary Runes become accessible, many Magic and Rare runewords such as Gar for Critical Strike Chance will be viable.

Elixirs, Incense and Health Potions

The Alchemist offers helpful consumables at the cost of foraged materials found throughout Sanctuary.

• Craft the highest available Elixir of Advantage for Attack Speed and Lucky Hit bonuses.
• If mats are available, craft Chorus of War.
• Remember to upgrade your potion as you level, increasing the instant healing of the potion!

Paragon Board

The following are the preferred Glyphs, Boards, and pathing recommended for making the most of the Shred Druid.

The road to max Paragon is long. The above Paragon tabs show the following:

• The BASE SETUP tab spends 50 fewer points than the max 328 points, taking stricter pathing to take all most all Legendary, Rare and Magic Nodes, and activates all Glyph Nodes with their secondary effects.
• The FULL SETUP tab completes the paragon board in its final form, filling in the rest of the board to give additional additive bonuses especially within the Glyph areas.

Glyphs have two significant breakpoint increases. At level 15, the glyph grows in radius and gains a special effect. At level 46, the glyph grows to its max radius and gains a strong conditional damage multiplier.

Glyphs are placed as if they are at least level 15+ in radius. Total Boards placed are now limited to a max of 5; the Starter Board and four Class Boards. Rotate boards as necessary.

For further info on Paragon choices, check the Paragon Information in the Additional Information Section.

Powers of Witchcraft and Occult Gems

Seasonal players can choose from a selection of Witchcraft powers and Occult gems to enhance their gameplay. 1 Unique and 5 Normal Witchcraft Powers can be equipped using the Witchcraft tab on the character sheet. Witchcraft Powers gain additional effects at higher ranks. Occult gems are placed into the jewelry sockets, and can be crafted at the Tree of Whispers. Use the following setup for the Shred Druid:

Witchcraft Powers

Unique Power

The Cycle – Growth and Decay

• Dealing any damage with your skills has a 15% chance to grow a flower from the ground. When an enemy is near, the flower deals X Poison damage to that enemy over 5 seconds. If an ally is near, the flower heals for 6% maximum Life. The flower withers away after use. A flower may grow once every 2 seconds per enemy. Frequency limited to a maximum of 3 per second.
• Rank 5: The damage and healing affects all enemies or allies near the flower.

Normal Powers

Aura Specialization – Lost Power

• The size of your Aura Effects is increased.
• Rank 10: Increase the Critical Strike Damage by 50% against enemies inside your Aura Effects.

Force of Will – Psyche

• When you kill an enemy, your next Overpower deals X% increased damage, up to 100%.
• Rank 4: The damage bonus extends to the next 2 Overpowers instead of 1.
• When bossing or in low kill content where you do not get good Overpower stacks from Force of Will, this can be exchanged for another useful power like (Defensive) Hex of Shattering or (Vulnerable) Shaken Soul.

Aura of Siphoning– Growth and Decay

• Conjure an aura of decay that deals Poison damage to enemies every second.
• Rank 10: Each time Aura of Siphoning deals damage, you are healed for 1% of Maximum Life.

Soul Harvest – Growth and Decay

• Feed upon the life force of nearby enemies whenever you use a skill with a cooldown, increasing your primary stat by 3% per monster for X seconds.
• Rank 9: Soul Harvest does not lose duration so long as enemies are nearby.

Breath of the Coven – Lost Power

• Dealing damage or applying a Crowd Control effect with any of your Witchcraft Effects increases your Attack Speed by X for 10 Seconds, stacking once per unique Witchcraft Effect (Eldritch, Psyche, and Growth & Decay).
• Rank 8: Gain 40% Lucky Hit chance while bonuses from Eldritch, Psyche, Growth & Decay are active at once.

This is a Friends of the Bog – Breath of the Coven setup that will give strong Damage, Willpower, Max Life, Attack Speed and Lucky Hit bonuses.

Occult Gems

• Moonlight Ward – For each rank in your slotted Unique Witchcraft Power, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and .5% Maximum Resistance to All Elements.
• Voice of the Stars – While you have an Aura active, your Ultimate Skills gain each Witchcraft tag and deal 10% increased damage.
  • With the Witchcraft tags, Stuns from Petrify will fully trigger Breath of the Coven.
• Friend of the Bog – While you have three or more Growth & Decay Witch Powers slotted, you gain 10% primary stat, 10% Maximum Life and you are always Unhindered.

Unique Items

The Shred Druid has several Unique Item options to consider:

• (Recommended) Waxing Gibbous gives strong coverage of full Critical Strike Chance which allows the player to gear other affixes.
  • If you’re having trouble keeping Stealth or the Critical Strike Buff after Stealth buff covered, consider using Bold Chieftain’s Aspect on a ring for more Cooldown Reduction on Blood Howl, or tempers for Blood Howl cooldown Reduction.

• (Recommended Unique) Godslayer Crown is an effective grouping tool, as well as a strong damage multiplier. If used, triggers of stun and immobilize from sources like Crowd Control Tempers will activate the bonus.

• (Recommended) Mad Wolf’s Glee is an excellent offensive Unique Item that gives high ranks to Werewolf Skills.

• (Recommended) Wildheart Hunger gives a stacking bonus to Bestial Rampage, gaining stacks as you shift to Werebear or Werewolf forms, including from Human form. Periodic casts of your supporting Skills will help keep these Wildheart stacks high, but may not stay capped. Nevertheless, it is a strong option for its Attack Speed and Damage bonuses.

• (Recommended) Hunter’s Zenith is strong gear affixes and periodic Critical Overpowers.

• (Farm Quality of Life) Airidah’s Inexorable Will gives up some topend multipliers and Overpower volume to make farming easier with its constant grips from casts and Runeword triggers of Petrify.

Mythic Unique Items

• (Recommended) Ring of Starless Skies is a powerful Resource Cost Reduction tool and damage multiplier and can be useful for making gameplay a bit smoother.

• (Recommended) Heir of Perdition has Strong Gear Affixes and a steady damage multiplier. The multiplier can be stolen occasionally from others that also use this helm for a higher damage multiplier.

• (Recommended) Shroud of False Death gives +1 rank to all Skill Passives which means several bonuses to Damage Multipliers, Damage Reductions, Resistances, Fortify, Healing and Critical Strike Chance. The Stealth effect and gear affix synergizes well with Waxing Gibbous.

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.

The following Mercenary options are recommended for the Shred Druid:

Main Mercenary – Varyana, the Berserker

• Skills: Cleave, Hysteria, Bloodthirst, Bloodlust

Reinforcement – Raheir, the Shieldbearer

• Reinforcement Ability – Crater
• Opportunity – Shred

Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed bonuses.

Rotation and Playstyle

1. Shred to approach enemies.
2. Blood Howl to trigger Stealth, activating the Critical Strike bonus for Waxing Gibbous.
3. Petrify to stun enemies, restore Spirit and apply a Critical Strike Damage debuff.
4. Maintain Hurricane for Damage Reduction and damage events for Calm before the Storm.
5. Debilitating Roar for the damage buff and maintenance of Werebear buffs including Bestial Rampage.
6. Cast Shred on enemies.
7. Killed all your enemies? Excellent work, Champion of Sanctuary. Run, Evade, or Dash with Shred to the next threat.

Use Earthen Bulwark as necessary for Fortify and as a source of Unstoppable to break Crowd Controls.

Check out the advanced Build Mechanics section for a more in-depth description on how the build works, what synergies exist, and what to look out for.

Season 7 Updates: Season of Witchcraft

The change to Aspect of the Blurred Beast always boosting Shred damage with a large amount of multi-attack chance is fantastic, as is the better Spirit management on Aspect of the Unsatiated. Bear 🐻 in mind that the Werewolf Attack Speed temper moved from Shapeshifting Finesse to Werewolf Finesse!

The new rank 5 effect for Petrify means it’s easier than ever to maintain all your supporting abilities; Blood Howl, Debilitating Roar, Hurricane and Earthen Bulwark.

The following list details the important changes in the Season 7 Patch Updates that are specific to the Shred Druid. For general Season 7 information, check out our Season 7 Hub.

Itemization:

• Aspect of the Blurred Beast – New Effect – Shred deals 55-70% more damage, and Shred has a 33% chance to land an additional strike, up to 4 times.
• Aspect of the Unsatiated – New Effect – After Critically Striking an enemy with Shred, you gain 15 Spirit. While at 100 Spirit, Werewolf Skills deal 20-40% increased damage until you go below 30 Spirit.
• Shapeshifting Finesse:
  • Removed +% Werewolf Attack Speed
  • Removed +% Werewolf Critical Chance
• Moni – New Effect – Cast 2 Mobility or Macabre Skills. Offering increased from 35 to 100.

Skills and Stats:

• Raging Shred – New Effect – Shred’s third combo attack is larger, applies an additional 143% Poisoning damage over 5 seconds, and causes enemies to take 150% increased Poisoning damage for 5 seconds.
  • Raging Shred will now scale up its damage with increased Skill Ranks of the base skill.
• Petrify – New Effect – Rank 5: Casting Petrify resets all your non-Ultimate Skill Cooldowns
• Toxic Claws – New Effect – Damage from Shred and Lacerate deal an additional 24% of their Base damage as Poisoning damage over 4 seconds.
• Heightened Senses – New Effect – When Shapeshifting, Werebear grants 3% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 3% Movement Speed. Both bonuses persist as long as you are in either animal form. They are lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
  • Note: This is a significant nerf, effectively killing the 17 ranks immortality cheese.
• Heightened Malice – New Effect – While a Poisoned enemy is Nearby, you deal 35% increased damage plus an additional 5% for each additional Poisoned enemy, up to 4.
• Ancestral Guidance – New Effect – After spending 75 Spirit, you deal 40% increased damage for 5 seconds. Your Ultimate Skills deal 1% increased damage per Spirit when cast.
• Werewolf – Increased Werewolf form damage from 11.12% to 16.6%.
• Territorial – Increased Damage Reduction against Close enemies from 10% to 15%.
• Undaunted -Increased Damage Reduction while Fortified from 10% to 15%.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where Shred could have visual issues when cast with high amounts of attack speed.
• Fixed an issue where Shred could Dash without the Primal Shred upgrade learned.

Advanced Information

It is time to start your Shred journey!

Or see below for further information on how the build works, as well as further explanations for Paragon, Gearing, Gameplay, and available playstyle options.

Build Mechanics

The Shred Druid groups and dashes into enemies for strong damage. Shred is a high mobility skill that is efficient for killing and then moving on.

• Stormclaw’s Aspect causes a secondary hit with Lightning damage when Shred Critically Strikes.
• If used, Waxing Gibbous will give full Critical Strike Chance, guaranteeing Stormclaw’s Aspect to deal its splash damage.

Primal Shred is taken for the extra Dash mobility, and the blanket Critical Strike Damage buff for all attacks with Shred. For farm and speed content it is the simple choice. Raging Shred has potential for higher damage depending on how long enemies are living; If it’s long enough for the Poison to get its full duration, it can be competitive. It’s worth noting that in previous seasons, Raging Shred was buggy, creating more damage events than it should have. This was not fixed yet ^.~

Supporting Skills

• Blood Howl gives attack speed, healing, and Stealth when used with Waxing Gibbous. With Waxing Gibbous and Shroud of False Death benefiting from Stealth, this means strong bursts of Shred damage.
• Debilitating Roar is a damage buff, damage debuff on enemies, source of Fortify and a way to upkeep Werebear bonuses like Bestial Rampage and Heightened Senses.
• Hurricane provides Damage Reduction and damage events to help trigger Calm Before the Storm Petrify.
• Earthen Bulwark provides Unstoppable, Fortify and Barrier as needed.

Ultimate and Key Passives

• Petrify is our Ultimate Skill. Casts will stun enemies, give Spirit and apply a Critical Strike Damage debuff. Our Runeword setup for Yom ritual of invocation will give high volume of Petrify casts, and Tempering for Petrify duration will keep the debuffs active on enemies for longer periods.
• Bestial Rampage is the Key Passive for this build, providing a Damage Multiplier from Werebear form, and Attack Speed from Werewolf form. These bonuses are lost if in Human Form for longer than 3 seconds. Use Debilitating Roar for Werebear buffs, and Shred covers Werewolf buffs.

Spirit Management

Shred does not use a Basic Attack Spirit builder, instead relying on several sources of alternative Spirit generation, including:

• Casts of Petrify.
• Lust for Carnage Critical Strikes grant resource.
• Ancestral Guidance nodes for Spirit on Kill and Max Spirit.
• Aspect of the Unsatiated granting Spirit on Critical Strike. With Waxing Gibbous, that’s all attacks while the Critical Strike Chance buff is active.

In Early Gearing and Leveling, consider doing the following for Spirit Generation and Management:

• Use Gift of the Stag, increasing Max Spirit and giving Spirit Per Second.
• Use the Wolf’s Energize Spirit Boon.
• Use the Lum Rune for Spirit Refund. Something like Moni Lum would generate more Spirit than it spends!
• Use Starlight Aspect or Aspect of the Umbral on rings. Enhanced Shred and Skinwalker’s Aspect is strong healing for Starlight, and Toxic Claws with Neurotoxin provide the Crowd Control needed for Umbral.
• Adjust Gear affixes: Chance to restore resource on Weapon, Resource Generation on Rings, Resource Temper Manuals on Jewelry, or Spirit Per Second on Helm, Chest, or Boots can all be helpful.
• Worst case in early leveling and gearing, use Maul as a Basic Attack Builder. Replace Debilitating Roar or Hurricane. Maul can be useful for upkeeping Werebear Shapeshifting buffs as well.

Paragon Information

The Paragon Board is a progression system unlocked at Level 60, giving player power through Common stat Nodes, Magic affix Nodes, Rare leveled Glyphs, and Legendary board-exclusive Nodes. For general paragon board information, check the guide here. Paragon Points are earned from leveling, Renown and Altars of Lilith.

The recommended Paragon boards for the Shred Druid are listed above. The following section goes over some explanations and descriptions for the pathing process for the Shred Druid.

Broadly speaking, decisions for pathing through the Druid paragon board are divided into three categories:

• Damage – The paragon boards provide a significant amount of Damage Multipliers and Additives. This includes:
  • Socketed Glyphs such asFang and Claw and Spirit.
  • Legendary Nodes such as Heightened Malice.
  • Magic and Rare nodes such as Impel and Reclaim.
• Defense – The paragon boards help reach goals on Damage Reduction, Armor, and Resistances. This includes:
  • Damage Reduction is improved from Werewolf secondary effects, as well as individual nodes providing bonuses like Damage Reduction from Poisoned Enemies.
  • Resistances are improved from Magic and Rare Resistance nodes.
• Build Functionality – The paragon boards improve functionality for the build, including:
  • Spirit Management is improved from Resource Generation, Spirit on Kill and Max Spirit nodes.

Controller vs Keyboard and Mouse

The Shred Druid can play smoother on a controller. When held, Shred can auto-move to the nearest enemies, or continue direction if no enemies are in range. The Dashes from casts of Shred auto-aim to the nearest enemy. Keyboard and Mouse can offer better control, allowing you to choose targets to Dash to. Both options are valid. Keyboard and Mouse can also access the auto-aim behavior by going into ESC -> Options -> Gameplay, and changing Skill Toggle Behavior to Toggle All.

Changelog

• 19 January, 2025: Updated for Season 7 and Patch 2.1 updates. Two tab paragon board introduced.
• 15 October, 2024: Updated for new onsite Paragon Tool.
• 27 September, 2024: Updated for Season 6. Changes to Paragon, Skill Tree, Skill Bar, and recommended Uniques.
• 7 August, 2024: Updated for post-launch of season 5. Small updates to Tempering recommendations. Improved readability and clarified case use and explanation for Waxing Gibbous.
• 3 August, 2024: Significant changes to Skills and Paragon to adjust for season 5, the change to Shepherd’s Aspect and the introduction of the Mjölnic Ryng.
• 17 June, 2024: Updated for mid-season patch 1.4.3.
• May 15, 2024: Small changes in gear affixes to adjust for season launch changes from PTR.
• 3 May 2024: Guide reworked for the significant 1.4.0 changes to gearing and for season 4 speculative changes. Format changed to frontload basic build information and offer extra information and options afterwards.
• 8 March 2024: Guide created, fully replacing the previous guide.
  • Ownership transferred.
  • Adjusted Gear, Skills, and Paragon sections to hit defensive stats targets and improve overall damage output.
  • Improved readability, explanations, and options.