Tornado – Druid Build for Diablo 4

Build Introduction

Embrace the tempest as the Tornado Werewolf Druid whirls through the battlefield, unleashing a storm of destruction upon the enemies of Sanctuary! Equip your Tempest Roar and send out twisting and twirling tornados!

Get started on your Tornado adventure with everything you need including Skill Tree points, Paragon, Gearing, and Seasonal updates. The guide will primarily cover Endgame pushing, but will also give alternative options and in-depth gameplay information.

Season 6 Patch 2.0.5: Stormchaser’s Aspect now gives Tornado a welcome multiplier in addition to its target-seeking effect. This does not shift it’s Tier list position.

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 Unique Items and Legendary Aspects are required for build functionality to get started on the Tornado Druid:

Required Uniques

Tempest Roar

Mjölnic Ryng

Required Aspects

Stormchaser’s Aspect

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Recommended

Skill Bar for Tornado Druid

Cyclone Armor Earthen Bulwark Blood Howl Cataclysm Maul Tornado

Use Key Passive Perfect Storm while leveling and gearing.

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.

While leveling and gearing, use the Wolf’s Energize for Spirit management. Replaces Calamity.

Paragon Board

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

The road to max paragon level is long. Pathing priority should be the following:

• Path for the Legendary Node effects and the board’s Glyph Slots, filling out enough surrounding nodes to activate the Additional Bonus for the Glyph.
• Fill out Rare Nodes along the path taken for Legendary Nodes and Glyphs.
• Take the rest of the paths inside the Glyph Radius, such as filling in all Dexterity nodes for Spirit for their additive bonuses.
• Take the branching paths to the rest of the Rare Nodes.
• Fill out the remaining Magic Nodes near their Rare Nodes.
• Complete the rest of the board.

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 a more defensive setup, exchange Outmatch for Territorial.

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 Tornado 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
1 Handed Axe	Grand Emerald	Accelerating Aspect (Optional Defensive Mythic) Doombringer	Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by 10-30% for 5 seconds.
Totem	Grand Emerald	Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt	You deal 25-65% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf.
Helm	Grand Sapphire	(Required Unique) Tempest Roar	Lucky Hit: Storm Skills have up to a 15-35% chance to grant 4 Spirit. Your base Storm Skills are now also Werewolf Skills
Chest	Grand Sapphire	(Recommended Mythic) Shroud of False Death (Recommended Unique) Mad Wolf’s Glee OR Juggernaut’s Aspect	If you haven’t attacked in the last 2 seconds, gain Stealth and 40% Movement Speed.
Gloves		Stormchaser’s Aspect	Tornado will seek up to 1-5 targets and increased Tornado damage by 30-50%.
Pants	Grand Sapphire	Vigorous Aspect	Gain 7.5-17.5% Damage Reduction while Shapeshifted into a Werewolf.
Boots		(Optional Minmax Unique) Wildheart Hunger Aspect of Metamorphosis	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 Amethyst	Aspect of Retaliation	Your Core Skills deal up to 35-75% increased damage based on your amount of Fortify.
Ring 1	Grand Ruby	(Recommended Unique) Mjölnic Ryng Aspect of the Dark Dance	While Cataclysm is active, you gain unlimited Spirit and deal 40-100% increased damage.
Ring 2	Grand Sapphire	(Recommended Mythic) Ring of Starless Skies (Recommended Unique) Hunter’s Zenith Aspect of the Unsatiated	Spending your Primary Resource reduces the Resource cost of your Skills and increases your damage by 10% for 3 seconds, up to 50%.

For information on Legendary Aspects and the updated Codex of Power, see here.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the final column. 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
One-Handed Dagger	Willpower Maximum Life Critical Strike Damage Resource Cost Reduction Spirit on Kill	Storm Augments – Chance for Extra Tornado Projectiles Natural Finesse – Damage to Close/Distant Enemies
One Handed Sword- (Optional Defensive Mythic) Doombringer	All Stats Maximum Life% Damage Reduction Lucky Hit: Chance to Heal
Totem – Legendary Aspect	Willpower Critical Strike Chance Cooldown Reduction Maximum Life	Storm Augments – Chance for Extra Tornado Projectiles Natural Finesse – Damage to Close/Distant Enemies
Helm – (Required Unique)Tempest Roar	Willpower Maximum Resource Lightning Resistance Ranks to Wild Impulses
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	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor% Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Gloves – Legendary Aspect	Attack Speed Ranks to Tornado Critical Strike Chance Willpower	Natural Finesse – Damage to Close/Distant Enemies Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Pants – Legendary Aspect	Armor Willpower Max Life Dodge Chance	Worldly Endurance – Total Armor% Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Boots – Wildheart Hunger (Optional Minmax Unique)	Movement Speed Shapeshifting Attack Speed Cold Resistance Ranks to Heightened Senses
Boots – Legendary Aspect	Impicit: 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 Worldly Fortune – Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize/Stun for 2 Seconds
Amulet – Legendary Aspect	Ranks to Envenom Critical Strike Chance Ranks to Quickshift Attack Speed Willpower%	Druid Motion – Ranks to Digitigrade Gait OR Movement Speed Natural Finesse – Damage to Close/Distant Enemies
Ring – (Recommended Unique) Mjölnic Ryng	Willpower Critical Strike Chance Movement Speed While Cataclysm is Active Ranks to Endless Tempest
Ring – (Recommended Unique) Hunter’s Zenith	Willpower Ranks to Predatory Instinct Ranks to Quickshift Ranks to Heightened Senses
Ring – (Recommended) Ring of Starless Skies	Attack Speed Critical Strike Chance Lucky Hit Chance Ranks to Core Skills
Rings – Legendary Aspect	Critical Strike Chance Maximum Life Resource Cost Reduction Critical Strike Damage	Natural Finesse – Damage to Close/Distant Enemies Ultimate Efficiency – Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction

• Damage to Close or Damage to Distant Enemies for the Offensive Tempers is taken until the Thunderstruck cap at 60% contribution. After that, the tempers can take Storm Finesse – Storm Critical Strike Chance.
• Chance for Double Tornado Projectiles is priority for total output.
• Some Gear Affixes like Cost Reduction, Spirit on Kill or Spirit Per Second can be useful in early gearing or leveling, especially if not using the Mjölnic Ryng with full Cataclysm uptime.
• 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.
• Daggers are usable for Druids. Daggers have a faster base attack speed and give Damage to Close which is a bonus for Thunderstruck.

For the dedicated page for Gear Systems and Itemization Overview, check here.

Gems and Runewords

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

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Emerald for Critical Strike Damage	Grand Sapphire for Willpower	Grand Amethyst for Shadow Resistance Grand Sapphire for Cold Resistance Grand Ruby for Fire Resistance

Poison and Lightning Resistance are covered by Paragon nodes.

Runewords

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 combination options for the Lightning Storm Druid, placed in Armor slots:

Runeword Combination	Runeword Effects
Lith Wat	Lith – Gain: 25 Offering. Stand still for 0.3 seconds while fighting. Wat – Requires: 100 Offering Cooldown: 1 Second. Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.
Xol Que	Xol – Gain: 150 Offering. Evoke power from another Class. Que – Requires: 300 Offering (Overflow: Increased Duration) Cooldown: 1 second. Evoke the Druid’s Earthen Bulwark, granting yourself a Barrier.

Horrid Decrepify is an efficient trigger for Xol. Que will constantly upkeep Earthen Bulwark, granting Barrier, Unstoppable and Fortify. This is an effective defensive combination.

Other more offensive setups could trade Que for options such as Ohm for War Cry, Kry for Vortex or Gar for Critical Strike Chance.

Depending on the content, other Runes may give more Offering than Lith or Xol, such as Tam for non-channeled Core Skill, Moni for Skill after Moving, Bac for Travel or Feo for getting Crowd Controlled.

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!

Unique Items

The following Unique Items are required, recommended, or optional for the Tornado Druid.

• (Required) Tempest Roar is required for the build to be considered functional; making Tornado a Werewolf Skill and providing significant Spirit Generation. This also will enable Tornado to benefit from Shapeshifting passives like Envenom, and synergize with other Uniques Mad Wolf’s Glee and Wildheart Hunger.

• (Recommended) Mad Wolf’s Glee is an excellent offensive Unique Item, giving movement speed, Damage Reduction and and Skill Ranks to Werewolf Skills.

• (Optional Minmax) – Wildheart Hunger has gear affixes and grants a stacking bonus to Bestial Rampage. For a boot slot, this is a strong offensive option. However, the stacks decay unless maintained by constant shifting. This bonus can be well worth maintaining by cycling between and to Werewolf or Werebear forms, but makes the rotation much more frenetic.

• (Recommended) The Mjölnic Ryng grants a high damage multiplier during Cataclysm and makes Tornado cost zero Spirit. See the Cataclysm and Spirit Management section for more information about Cataclysm uptime.

• (Recommended) Hunter’s Zenith provides occasional Critical Overpowers. With the fast rate of attack with the Tornado druid, this will happen frequently as a nice bonus.

Tempest Roar can be target-farmed from Duriel.

Mythic Unique Items

The following Mythic Unique Items are useful to the build:

• (Recommended) Ring of Starless Skies is a powerful Resource Cost Reduction tool and damage multiplier with exellent Gear Affixes. Replaces Aspect of the Unsatiated. The damage buff will stack even while using Mjölnic Ryng.

• (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.

• (Optional Defensive) Doombringer – Doombringer’s Gear Affixes for Large Maximum Life, Damage Reduction, and Lucky Hits to Heal and apply Damage Reduction debuffs from enemies is a great way to clear content safely. This will be at a minor damage loss from losing access to a Weapon Temper for Tornado projectiles.

• (Optional Defensive) Tyrael’s Might – High Defensive capability usable in high push content. Damage loss compared to Mad Wolf’s Glee.

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 Tornado 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
• Opportunity – Tornado

Hysteria and Bloodlust will both give strong Attack Speed bonuses.

Rotation and Playstyle

1. Maul in place to activate Werebear Shapeshifting buffs like Bestial Rampage.
2. Cataclysm as you engage enemies.
3. Maintain Preserving Blood Howl for Attack Speed bonuses.
4. Cast Tornado to slay your foes!

Use Earthen Bulwark for Barrier and Unstoppable, as needed.

Maul does not need to hit a target for Werebear Shapeshifting buffs. Make sure you’re familiar with your Force Hold keybind to easily Maul in place.

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 6: Season of Hatred Rising

The following list details the important changes in the Season 6 Patch Updates that are specific to the Tornado Druid. For general Season 6 information, check out our Season 6 Hub.

Itemization:

• New items including Shroud of False Death.
• Hunter’s Zenith – New Effect – 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 Shapeshifting Skills reduces this timer by 1 second, or 2 seconds if you change to a new animal form.
• Wildheart Hunger – New Effect – Shapeshifting into a new animal form increases the value of your Bestial Rampage bonuses by 2.0-5.0%, up to 20-50%. This bonus decays by 2% per second.
• Mad Wolf’s Glee Ranks of Werewolf Skills increased from 2-5 to 4-7.
• Aspect of Retaliation increased to 35-75%.

Skills and Stats:

• Paragon Boards are now limited to 5 boards; the Starter Board and up to four Class Boards.
• Several Paragon Boards have shifted their nodes around.
• New Skill Passives including Feral Aptitude.
• Quickshift – New Effect – Shapeshifting into a new animal form grants 1/2/3% increased damage, up to 6/12/18%. This bonus is lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
• Heightened Senses – New Effect – When Shapeshifting, Werebear grants 3/6/9% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 2/4/6% Movement Speed. Both bonuses persist as long as you are in either animal form and are doubled while both are active. They are lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
• Bestial Rampage – New Effect – When Shapeshifting, Werebear grants 30% increases damage and Werewolf grants 20% Attack Speed. Both bonuses persist as long as you are in either animal form, but are lost after 3 seconds in Human form.
• Cataclysm – Lightning Strike damage increased from 95% to 115% Weapon Damage. Lightning Strikes now cannot hit the same target more than once every 0.5 seconds.
• Ancestral Guidance increased from 30% to 40%.
• Lust for Carnage now also gives 50% more damage to Werewolf Critical Strikes.

2.0.5

• Stormchaser’s Aspect now also makes Tornado deal 30-50% more damage.
• Tornado Spirit Cost reduced from 40 to 35.
• Bestial Rampage
  • Werebear damage increased from 30% to 40%.
  • Werewolf attack speed increased from 20% to 30%.
• Perfect Storm
  • Spirit Gain increased from 1 to 2.
  • Damage increased from 45% to 60%.
• Calamity Spirit Boon increased to 35%.
• Swooping Attacks increased to 20%.
• Avian Wrath increased to 40%.

Advanced Information

It is time to get started on your Tornado journey!

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

Build Mechanics

The Tornado Druid is a simple to play and effective build with high damage that speeds through content. Our primary Skill is Tornado, which benefits from several interactions from Skill Passives, Legendary Powers, Gearing, and supporting Skills.

Tempest Roar makes all Storm Skills into Werewolf Skills, which allows Tornado to benefit from Shapeshifting Passives like Quickshift and Envenom.

Stormchaser’s Aspect allows cast tornadoes to seek out enemies.

Both the Initial Tornado and the extra Tornado from Enhanced Tornado can trigger the Weapon Temper for Chance for Tornado Projectiles to Cast twice. That’s right, there’s a chance for up to 4 Tornadoes per cast!

Supporting Skills

Maul is Werebear buff maintenance Skill to help maintain Shapeshifting skills like Quickshift, Heightened Senses, Bestial Rampage and Unique Item Wildheart Hunger. This does not need to hit an enemy, it’s just the Form change that matters. Force Hold and swipe at the air before engaging enemies for the Bestial Rampage buff. Alternatively, other Werebear abilities like Innate Debilitating Roar or Trample could be used to maintain Werebear buffs.

Blood Howl is maintained for the Attack Speed bonus and Vigilance buff.

Earthen Bulwark is used for Barrier and a source of Unstoppable.

Cyclone Armor is passive elemental defense, and the Pushback active will rarely be used.

Ultimate and Key Passive

Cataclysm casts Lightning Storm and Tornado frequently, and with Mjölnic Ryng can provide a hefty 100% multiplier to all damage and make Tornado cost zero Spirit. Cooldown Reduction Gear Affix, Inner Beast, Endless Tempest ranks and Calm Before the Storm and Calamity Spirit Boons help keep this Skill active. See the Cataclysm and Spirit Management section for more info on maintaining Cataclysm.

Our Key Passive is Bestial Rampage for the high damage and attack speed multipliers. These are maintained easily with Maul for Werebear and Tornado for Werewolf. While leveling and gearing, especially before full Cataclysm uptime or you have gotten your Mjölnic Ryng, use Perfect Storm for better Spirit Generation.

Paragon

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 with images for the Tornado Druid are listed above. The following section goes over some explanations and descriptions for the pathing process for the Tornado 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 as Outmatch and Headhunter.
  • Legendary Nodes such as Heightened Malice and Thunderstruck.
  • 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 individual nodes providing bonuses like Damage Reduction against Vulnerable enemies.
  • Resistances are improved from Magic and Rare Resistance nodes.
  • Max Life and Armor nodes raising Effective Health.
• Build Functionality – The paragon boards improve Spirit Generation for the build from a few sources, including:
  • Lust for Carnage to help with Spirit Generation while leveling and gearing or during Cataclysm downtime.

Cataclysm and Spirit Management

With the new Unique Item Mjölnic Ryng, many Druid builds will play around Cataclysm for the significant Damage Multiplier and full Spirit Cost Reduction while Cataclysm is active. We make several choices on Spirit Generation and Spirit Boons that enable or make this choice shine. This also means downtime can be punishing, so we want to keep Cataclysm up to avoid Spirit problems.

To Maintain Cataclysm, we use:

• Calm Before the Storm for Ultimate Cooldown Reduction and Calamity Spirit Boon for Longer Ultimate duration.
• Ranks in Endless Tempest extend the duration of Cataclysm.
• Ranks in Cataclysm reduce Cataclysm cooldown.
• Ultimate Efficiency —  Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction on the 2nd ring slot if using a Legendary Aspect.

If this is not sufficient for uptime, we can optionally use:

• Target Cooldown Reductions or Lucky Hit Chance with Greater Affix or Mastercrafting.
• Flickerstep for Ultimate Cooldown Reduction when evading through enemies. This competes with other good options so is not a default choice.

Spirit Management

In Early Gearing and Leveling, or before using the Mjölnic Ryng, consider doing the following for Spirit Generation and Management:

• Use Key Passive Perfect Storm.
• Take the Wolf’s Energize Spirit Boon, replacing Swooping Attacks.
• Use Aspect of the Umbral for Spirit against Crowd Controlled enemies.
• Adjust Gear affixes: Resource Cost Reduction on Weapon, and Resource Generation on Rings. Spirit on Kill on weapon, or Spirit Per Second on Helm, Chest, or Boots can all be useful.
• Use Tibault’s Will. Periodic casts of Enhanced Earthen Bulwark from hard casts and Runeword triggers will give significant Spirit.
• Use the PocLum Runeword Setup.
• Use Rahair’s Iron Wolf’s Call Iconic Passive, with Varyana’s Bloodthirst with Tornado Opportunity.
• Worst case, use Maul as an attack to build Spirit.

Changelog

• 17 November, 2024: Minor updates for 2.0.5.
• 15 October, 2024: Updated for new onsite Paragon Tool.
• 29 September, 2024: Updated for Season 6. Changes to Paragon, Skill Tree, Skill Bar, and recommended Uniques.
• 5 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. Because of the nerf to the Resource Cost Reduction affix on weapon, now recommending Perfect Storm over Ursine Strength.
• 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.
• 11 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.