General Leveling Tips
The recommended World Tier to level in is 1 (Adventurer). This will provide you with the smoothest and fastest leveling experience. If you like the added challenge, you can of course play in World Tier 2 (Veteran), but the 20% extra experience 
Impairment from monsters does not make up for the added time it takes to kill them, and this will generally result in a slower and clunkier leveling process. 
Skill
Before you can engage in endgame activities like the Capstone Dungeon (which unlocks World Tier 3), Nightmare Dungeons, or the Tree of Whispers, you must complete the main storyline.
Getting a mount is an important step in your leveling journey, and we recommend generally saving your explorations of the world (such as for obtaining Altars of Lilith) for until after you get it. For more details, read our mount guide.
Leveling as a Druid with Companions or Landslide
Leveling a new Druid character can be done with either Companions or 
Landslide. This is your leveling guide for Diablo 4, with the maximum Skill Point allocation at level 50. We currently believe these builds to be the best options for leveling a new Druid character. Let us go over the build mechanics, character progression, and playstyle! You can find the Landslide build further down the page.
Wolves 
Poison Creeper 
Cyclone Armor 
Storm Strike 
Blood Howl 
Ravens If you are already level 50, we have put together a list of endgame activities you should do at the bottom of this guide, and you can check out any of our Endgame Druid builds.
1. Storm Strike and Companions Leveling Build
The Storm Strike and Companions leveling build strives to provide you with the damage and defensiveness to easily make it through the campaign and into World Tier 3 when you will be ready to jump into one of our endgame builds. We have the two best Druid Companions active, you have a good amount of passive minion damage and that allows us to run two defensive skills. You have your choice of Spirit spender based on what legendaries you pick up while leveling for a ton of flexibility.
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1.1 Skill Tree Points
We will use the following skill progression until we have the points available to respec at least 1 point into each of the minion skills which is around level 15.
Upon reaching level 15, your priority is to do the Druid Class quest to unlock Spirit Bonding and pick up the first bond as outlined below. Once you do that, you can do a respec into our main build as listed in the table below.
You should choose a Core skill for which you find a Legendary Item during your leveling process,. For example, even though we recommend Landslide ability as a default choice, if you find a Legendary Item like Stormchaser’s Aspect , you should use 
Tornado instead, since you will see a much higher power gain this way.
At this point you will have a few options based on what you feel you need more in your build whether it is single target, AoE clearing, or defensives.
All of the following points can be taken any time during the next levels. Poison Creeper for more AoE, Wolves for more single target, and Cyclone Armor and Blood Howl for more defensiveness.
| Order | Skill | Cluster |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Poison Creeper Level 2 |  Companion Skill |
| 29 | Poison Creeper Level 3 | Companion Skill |
| 30 | Poison Creeper Level 4 | Companion Skill |
| 31 | Poison Creeper Level 5 | Companion Skill |
| 32 | Wolves Level 2 | Companion Skill |
| 33 | Wolves Level 3 | Companion Skill |
| 34 |  Ursine Strength |  Key Passives |
| 35 | Wolves Level 4 | Companion Skill |
| 36 | Wolves Level 5 | Companion Skill |
| 37 | Cyclone Armor Level 2 |  Defensive Skill |
| 38 | Blood Howl Level 2 | Defensive Skill |
| 39 | Cyclone Armor Level 3 | Defensive Skill |
| 40 | Blood Howl Level 3 | Defensive Skill |
| 41 | Cyclone Armor Level 4 | Defensive Skill |
| 42 | Blood Howl Level 4 | Defensive Skill |
| 43 | Cyclone Armor Level 5 | Defensive Skill |
| 44 | Blood Howl Level 5 | Defensive Skill |
Lastly, we clean up the last point on Storm Strike and pick up some more utility talents, keeping in mind that talents number 49-58 will be from renown rewards in each of the five zones.
| Order | Skill | Cluster |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | Storm Strike |  Basic Skill |
| 46 |  Digitigrade Gait |  Core Skill |
| 47 | Digitigrade Gait Level 2 | Core Skill |
| 48 | Digitigrade Gait Level 3 | Core Skill |
| 49 |  Ancestral Fortitude | Defensive Skill |
| 50 | Ancestral Fortitude Level 2 | Defensive Skill |
| 51 | Ancestral Fortitude Level 3 | Defensive Skill |
| 52 |  Vigilance | Defensive Skill |
| 53 | Vigilance Level 2 | Defensive Skill |
| 54 | Vigilance Level 3 | Defensive Skill |
| 55 |  Quickshift |  Ultimate Skill |
| 56 |  Heightened Senses | Ultimate Skill |
| 57 | Heightened Senses Level 2 | Ultimate Skill |
| 58 | Heightened Senses Level 3 | Ultimate Skill |
1.2 Mechanics and Playstyle
This is one of the easiest builds you will play! We use Poison Creeper to clear out packs of mobs with the insane AoE damage that it provides, while our Wolves will be used as our main single target ability. Now, both of these have cooldowns, but thanks to some impressive datamining from the community, we have info on some of the Spirit Bonds that will be available to us, including a very important one that lets us reset the cooldowns of our Companion abilities on some of our crits! We use Storm Strike as our Basic skill due to being able to apply Vulnerable up to three mobs at a time, as well as giving us damage reduction.
We use our chosen Core Skill as a bit of extra damage for both single target and AoE as a spirit dump. It will greatly help carry you until you can go full Companions with gear and proper affixes later on in the endgame.
We take Cyclone Armor for defensiveness as well as a good knock back (note: If your Poison Creeper didn’t completely kill the pack of mobs, an activation of Cyclone Armor will finish them off) and Blood Howl as a self heal and damage increase. We use 
Predatory Instinct to increase our critical strike chance and the chance of activating our Packleader Spirit Bond and 
Call of the Wild to increase the damage of our Companions.
Heightened Senses, Vigilance, and Ancestral Fortitude all help us survive even more by increasing our damage reduction and resistances.
1.2.1 Spirit Boons
Below is the order in which you should unlock your Spirit Boons. Only offer enough Druidic Spirit Offerings to unlock the first 4 listed Boons and then fully unlock the rest to activate the final Boon with Spirit Bonding.
| Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Packleader | Wolf | Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to a 20% chance to reset the Cooldowns of your Companion Skills. |
| Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain 5% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
| Wariness | Stag | Take 10% reduced damage from Elites. |
| Overload | Snake | Lucky Hit: Dealing Lightning damage has up to a 20% chance to cause the target to emit a static discharge, dealing 20% Lightning damage to surrounding enemies. |
| Swooping Attacks | Eagle | Gain 10% Attack Speed. |
1.3 Gear Choice and Stat Priority while Leveling
Make sure to pick up all Rare equipment drops that may be upgrades while you are leveling Storm Strike and Companions Druid. Save Legendary items with useful aspects in your stash to be used later for extraction and imprinting onto well rolled Rare items.
When looking at weapons keep in mind that a higher level 1-handed may be better when paired with an off-hand than the 2-handed that you are using.
Listed below are the stat affixes to prioritize on gear for leveling a Storm Strike and Companions Druid, ranked by their importance. Affixes on the same level have roughly the same importance.
| Importance | Affix |
|---|---|
| 1 | DPS value of weapons and off-hands |
| 2 | Critical Strike Chance Cooldown Reduction Lucky Hit Chance Rank to Wolves and Poison Creeper All Damage Companion Damage Vulnerable Damage |
| 3 | Attack Speed and Basic Skill Attack Speed Willpower Basic Skill Damage |
| 4 | Life Damage Reduction Damage Reduction while Fortified Any Elemental Resistances Armor |
| 5 | Movement Speed Crowd Control Duration Healing Received |
1.4 Legendary Item Aspects
To unlock Aspects in the Codex of Power, you must complete the corresponding Dungeon where the specific Aspect drops. Visit the Occultist to imprint this Aspect onto an item. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used often on weapons.
Aspects found on dropped Legendary Items have stronger effects than those applied from the Codex of Power. Additionally, it is important to know that certain Aspects can only be obtained by finding them on a legendary item, and are not accessible through the Codex of Power. Extract Aspects from unusable Legendary Items to imprint them onto well-rolled Rare Items. Avoid imprinting valuable extracted Aspects onto weapons, because weapons they get replaced often while leveling.
We have a dedicated in-depth Aspect and Codex of Power guide that you can check out for more information.
Listed below are the Aspects that are important for the Companion Druid leveling build. They are listed in order of priority.
| Aspect Name | Legendary Aspect Power | Source |
|---|---|---|
 Aspect of the Alpha | Your Wolf Companions are now Werewolf Companions. Werewolf Companions deal +[75 – 100]% additional damage and can spread Rabies. | Drop Only |
| Nighthowler’s Aspect | Blood Howl increases Critical Strike Chance by +[5 – 10]%. In addition, Blood Howl also affects Nearby Companions and Players for 3 seconds. | Forbidden City Fractured Peaks |
 Aspect of Cyclonic Force | Cyclone Armor also provides Physical Damage Reduction. In addition, Cyclone Armor will also be applied to all Nearby Allies. | Collapsed Vault Kejistan |
| Aspect of Might | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2 – 6] seconds. | Dark Ravine Dry Steppes |
| Aspect of Might | Basic Skills gain +[15 – 30]% Attack Speed. | Buried Halls Dry Steppes |
| Edgemaster’s Aspect | Skills deal up to x[10 – 20]% increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource. | Oldstones Scosglen |
1.5 Gems
- Weapon: Topaz for Basic Attack Damage
- Armor: Ruby for Maximum Life.
- Jewelry: Any Gem that gives the Resistance type you are lacking the most.
1.6 Elixirs and Health Potions
Visit the Alchemist to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world. Use an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, Iron Barb for Armor, or Assault for Attack Speed.
Keep in mind if you are having issues in a dungeon with a certain mob you will eventually unlock elixirs that will give you a 20% damage increase against a specific mob type.
Return to the Alchemist at levels 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80, and 90 to upgrade your Health Potions.
2. Landslide Druid Leveling Build
The Landslide Druid leveling build pulverizes foes under the might of the Earth. This is your leveling guide for Diablo 4, with the maximum Skill Point allocation at level 50. From previous Beta testing, we currently believe Landslide is the best option for leveling a new Druid character. Let us go over the build mechanics, character progression, and playstyle!
Landslide has the most starting damage of all Druid Core Skills, killing most enemies in one cast during early leveling. It also hits twice to take down tough elites and bosses quickly. Extra Skill Points are allocated to increase Landslide damage even further, making it effective all the way into the endgame.
In addition to the massive damage, Landslide Druid is one of the tankiest leveling builds in Diablo 4. Survivability is easily enhanced through various defensive skills and passives as you progress your character. Become an unstoppable force with the Landslide Druid!
2.1 Skill Tree Points
The following table shows the order in which to allocate your Skill Points for the Landslide Druid leveling build. You gain 48 points at Level 50 and 2 points from completing Renown in each Act zone, for a total of 58.
2.2 Mechanics and Playstyle
The Landslide Druid leveling build utilizes the hardest hitting Core Skill to start. However, its small AoE and delay can be difficult to aim. Practice using it as if it were a melee skill, dragging enemies and casting it when they gather near you. 
Abundance, 
Wild Impulses, Predatory Instinct, 
Stone Guard, 
Defiance, 
Natural Disaster, 
Resonance and Ursine Strength are all allocated to make Landside more powerful.
The Immobilize from Enhanced Storm Strike and Enhanced Landslide grants Primal Landslide a guaranteed Critical Strike with 40%[x] Critical Strike Damage.
Storm Strike provides generous benefits for a Basic Skill with 25% Damage Reduction, 50% chance to makes enemies Vulnerable, and 15% chance to Immobilize.
Cyclone Armor is a one-point wonder Skill. Just having it on your Skill Bar passively provides Damage Reduction. Survivability is further increased with 
Earthen Bulwark, Ancestral Fortitude, Vigilance and 
Unrestrained.
Trample is used for stuns, mobility, and Fortify generation. Aspect of the Trampled Earth makes it a screen-wide clearing skill. When combined with Aspect of The Aftershock, the pillars summoned by Trample each strike a second time.
2.2.1 Fortify
Fortify is generated through Savage Trample, Preserving Earthen Bulwark and 
Safeguard. Once Fortify amount is greater than or equal to current life, you become Fortified and gain a starting default of 10% Damage Reduction. Obtain additional Damage Reduction while Fortified on gear affixes and Sapphires socketed into armor for more effectiveness.
2.2.2 Damage Rotation
Use the following rotation to maximize damage.
- (Optional) Against tough elites and bosses, activate
Petrify for more Critical Strike Damage. - Use Trample and Earthen Bulwark whenever available to generate Fortify.
- Keep casting Storm Strike to generate Spirit, while applying Vulnerable and Immobilize on enemies.
- Spend Spirit with Landslide. Group up enemies to efficiently kill them. Weave in at least one Storm Strike between each cast of Landslide to activate Resonance repeatedly.
2.2.3 Spirit Boons
Below is the order in which you should unlock your Spirit Boons. Only offer enough Druidic Spirit Offerings to unlock the first 4 listed Boons and then fully unlock the rest to activate the final Boon with Spirit Bonding.
| Boon Name | Animal | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Scythe Talons | Eagle | Gain 5% increased Critical Strike Chance. |
| Bolster | Wolf | Fortify for 10% of your Maximum Life when you use a Defensive skill. |
| Gift of the Stag | Stag | Gain 10 Maximum Spirit. |
| Calm Before the Storm | Snake | Lucky Hit: Nature Magic Skills have up to 15% chance to reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds. |
| Avian Wrath | Eagle | Gain 30%[x] Critical Strike Damage. |
2.3 Gear Choice and Stat Priority while Leveling
Make sure to pick up all Rare equipment drops that may be upgrades while you are leveling Landslide Druid. Save Legendary items with useful aspects in your stash to be used later for extraction and imprinting onto well rolled Rare items.
Prioritize the highest damage per hit weapon setup available. When comparing weapons with similar item levels, Two-Handed weapons are usually preferred.
Listed below are the stat affixes to prioritize on gear for Landslide Druid leveling, ranked by their importance. Affixes on the same level have roughly the same importance.
| Importance | Affixes |
|---|---|
| 1 | DPS value on weapon(s) |
| 2 | + Rank of Landslide |
| 3 | + All Damage + Damage to Close, Healthy and Injured Enemies + Damage with Earth and Core Skills + Damage while Healthy + Vulnerable Damage + Critical Strike Chance and Damage + Attack Speed and Basic Skill Attack Speed + Willpower |
| 4 | + Damage Reduction + Damage Reduction while Fortified + Any Elemental Resistances |
| 5 | + Cooldown Reduction + Movement Speed + Life |
2.4 Legendary Item Aspects
To unlock Aspects in the Codex of Power, you must complete the corresponding Dungeon where the specific Aspect drops. Visit the Occultist to imprint this Aspect onto an item. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used often on weapons.
Aspects found on dropped Legendary Items have stronger effects than those applied from the Codex of Power. Additionally, it is important to know that certain Aspects can only be obtained by finding them on a legendary item, and are not accessible through the Codex of Power. Extract Aspects from unusable Legendary Items to imprint them onto well-rolled Rare Items. Avoid imprinting valuable extracted Aspects onto weapons, because weapons they get replaced often while leveling.
We have a dedicated in-depth Aspect and Codex of Power guide that you can check out for more information.
Listed below are the Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for the Landslide Druid leveling build. They are listed in order of priority.
| Aspect Name | Legendary Aspect Power | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aspect of The Aftershock | Landslide’s earth pillars each strike a second time and deal an additional #% bonus damage per hit. | Random Drop Only |
| Aspect of the Trampled Earth | Trample now summons 6 Landslide pillars of earth during its duration that deal #% normal damage. Trample is now also a Nature Magic and Earth Skill. | Random Drop Only |
 Ballistic Aspect | When you have Fortify your Earth Skills gain +2 Ranks. | Whispering Pines, Scosglen |
| Aspect of Retaliation | Your Core Skills deal up to #%[x] increased damage based on your amount of Fortify. | Seaside Descent, Dry Steppes |
| Edgemaster’s Aspect | Skills deal up to #%[x] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource. | Oldstones, Scosglen |
| Aspect of the Expectant | Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by #%[x], up to 30%[x]. | Underroot, Scosglen |
| Aspect of Natural Balance | Casting a Storm Skill grants your Earth Skills #%[x] Critical Strike Damage for 4 seconds. Casting a Earth Skill increases the Critical Strike Chance of Storm Skills by #%[+] for 4 seconds. | Random Drop Only |
| Crashstone Aspect | Earth Skills deal #%[x] more Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled enemies. | Stockades, Scosglen |
| Rapid Aspect | Basic Skills gain #%[+] Attack Speed. | Buried Halls, Dry Steppes |
| Aspect of Might | Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for # seconds. | Dark Ravine, Dry Steppes |
| Aspect of Cyclonic Force | Cyclone Armor also provides Physical Damage Reduction. In addition, Cyclone Armor will also be applied to all Nearby Allies. | Collapsed Vault, Kehjistan |
 Ghostwalker Aspect | While Unstoppable and for 2 seconds after, you gain #%[+} increased Movement Speed and can move freely through enemies. | Broken Bulwark, Scosglen |
2.5 Gems
Listed below are the best Gems to socket into gear for each slot type for the Landslide Druid leveling build.
- Weapon: Emerald for Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies.
- Armor: Sapphire for Damage Reduction while Fortified.
- Jewelry: Diamond for all Resistance or any gem that provides you with the resistance type you lack the most.
2.6 Elixirs and Health Potions
Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials. Use an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Assault Elixir to increase Attack Speed by 7%.
Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.
Endgame Tips After Level 50
The leveling builds on this page are designed to get you to level 50, but as you approach or reach that milestone, you might be wondering what activities you should engage in in Diablo 4. Below, we will briefly go over some of the things you can and, in some cases, should be doing after level 50.
Finishing the storyline is necessary to unlock the various endgame activities on offer, so it is definitely something you should prioritize. Just make sure you always complete the yellow-marked quests, and you should have no trouble finding your way.
Keep in mind that after you complete the main storyline, the game is quite open-ended, leaving you with a choice of which activities to engage in and in what order, depending on your goals (leveling as quickly as possible, progressing Nightmare Dungeons, engaging in PvP, etc.). That said, in the sections that follow we have provided a quick list of the activities you should do, in approximate order.
Complete the Level 50 Capstone Dungeon
You should switch difficulty to World Tier 2 and complete the level 50 Capstone Dungeon, located in Kyovashad, within the Fractured Peaks.
The dungeon can be completed even below level 50, but the main storyline must be completed first. The dungeon is quite difficult (all the enemies are fixed at level 50), so attempting it before level 40 is not recommended. You must switch difficulty to World Tier 2 in order to see the dungeon and be able to enter it.
Once you have completed the Capstone dungeon, you should switch difficulty to World Tier 3, which enables Sacred items to drop, which are big upgrades over non-Sacred items.
Complete Renown in All Zones
Complete the remaining Renown stages in all of the zones. Since stages 4 and 5 are locked behind World Tier 3, doing the Capstone dungeon first is necessary.
Note that, depending on how you want to play, you can delay this step until you reach a higher level, like 65-70, when leveling up slows down and character power is harder to come by. This is because getting stage 5 Renown in each zone is quite time consuming, and your character can gain power more quickly at levels 50-60 from simply leveling up and acquiring Sacred gear from doing Nightmare dungeons or other endgame activities (see below).
Tree of Whispers
The Tree of Whispers, located in Hawezar, rewards you for completing bounties found all over the game world. These are generally profitable activities that will reward you with experience and items, and since they are found in many areas of the world, they can be paired well with completing other events and activities.
The Tree of Whispers is also your first source of Nightmare Sigils, items needed to activate Nightmare Dungeons, one of the primary endgame activities.
Nightmare Dungeons
Nightmare dungeons are arguably the main endgame activity in Diablo 4. Once you receive your first Sigil (likely from the Tree of Whispers), you can start to do these dungeons, which will drop more Sigils, and after that you should never really run out. Nightmare dungeons can only be performed in World Tier 3 or higher.
Nightmare dungeons are an essential part of the endgame (since their difficulty has a lot of potential for increase), providing you with a challenge in return for which you can receive great item rewards. Nightmare dungeons are also the only way to level up the Glyphs that are inserted into your Paragon board, which is crucial for increasing character power.
Helltides
Helltides appear on the map for players who are in World Tier 3 or higher, taking over large swathes of land for one hour. During this time, monsters killed in the affected area drop a special temporary currency that can be used to unlock chests found in the Helltide area.
Participating in Helltides often is highly recommended, if for no other reason that they are the only place where you can reliably obtain Forgotten Souls, a crafting material required to Enchant Sacred and Ancestral (World Tier 4) items at the Occultist. Enchanting items to replace an undesirable property is key to optimizing your gear, and that is simply not possible without Forgotten Souls.
Complete the Level 70 Capstone Dungeon
Completing level 70 Capstone dungeon (marked on your map with an orange dungeon entrance) unlocks World Tier 4, and with it the highest possible item type, Ancestral items.
The enemies in this Dungeon are fixed at level 70, and the final boss is very punishing, so we do not recommend attempting it before level 60 (or even 65).
Legion Events and World Bosses
Legion events and World Bosses are marked on the map, and these are good activities to engage in in World Tiers 3 or 4, since they reward potentially good items, as well as good experience, in the case of Legion events. Simply go to the marked area on the map and join the other players in killing the enemies.
Changelog
- June 12th, 2023 – Guide updated as per latest changes.
