Support Druid Endgame Guide

Welcome to the Support Druid Endgame Guide, our first dedicated support guide for Diablo 4! This build is overflowing with defensive and utility options for group play, as well as a handful of offensive choices that aren't to be overlooked. Recent itemization changes allow us to cap Movement Speed and boost Attack Speed, drastically improve Cooldown Reduction, and add Daze to our wide array of monster debuffs. With proper Cooldown Reduction and Tempering, it is newly possible to permanently inflict the damage debuff from Debilitating Roar!

Gear, Skill Tree, and Paragon

Alternate Skills: Shred is intended to improve mobility, inflict Poison via Toxic Claws, and help you set the pace for the party, but there are a number of other viable skills you can try here. You can take either Pulverize or Hurricane for additional Damage Reduction or Earthen Bulwark for a modest Barrier and additional way to break Crowd Controls.

Depending on your party composition, you may want to consider removing the Lucky Hit Crowd Control tempers from your Armor to prevent mobs from becoming Unstoppable. We elect Lacerate for its shorter Cooldown, ability to break CC, and lack of Crowd Control, but Petrify may be viable depending on your needs.

Paragon

See below for the selected Paragon Boards, Paragon point allocation, and the correct Glyphs you should use for the Support Druid. Note: The Paragon Boards below are the final setup with no steps.

Level 15 Glyphs required: Exploit, Protector, Poise, Territorial, Undaunted, Human

Season 5 - Infernal Hordes

In Season 5, the Season Theme brings your hero back into the bowels of Hell, in the Infernal Hordes endgame activity. You're first introduced to Hellbreach Dungeons, miniature Horde-like micro-dungeons that teach you the new mechanics and rewards systems. As you slay more powerful Demons and Bosses, you're rewarded with the new Reputation progression that comes with amazing rewards. These include Crafting Materials, unlocking Season's Journey tiers and even the coveted Resplendent Spark, needed to craft a mythic unique.

Follow the seasonal questline until you unlock the Reputation system, check which rewards suit you most and then follow your regular leveling path. To learn more, check out our full Season 5 guide for more information.

Gameplay

Use Shred to scout ahead and set the pace for your party. Once in range of enemies, inflict a massive Damage Reduction debuff on monsters with Debilitating Roar while bolstering your party's damage with Blood Howl and Nighthowler's Aspect. Get to the heart of the enemy hoard and cast Lacerate to begin grouping mobs around you with Airidah's Inexorable Will and Godslayer Crown. Spam Storm Strike on the pack to inflict Daze and Vulnerable, gain Damage Reduction, and recover Cooldowns via Hectic and Calm Before the Storm. Between casts of your Ultimate, Evade through mobs to reduce its Cooldown with Flickerstep. Rinse and repeat.

Gear and Stat Requirements

These builds require specific Aspects, Uniques, Uber Uniques, and Affixes on your gear to perform their primary function. Only deviate from the list below after you have fully learned the intended gameplay style and strategies.

1. Legendary Aspects:
   • Nighthowler's
   • Cyclonic Force
   • Bold Chieftain's
   • Hectic
2. Uniques:
   • Godslayer Crown (can be replaced by Harlequin Crest if you find it)
   • Airidah's Inexorable Will
   • Fleshrender
   • Flickerstep

Recommended Stat Thresholds

FAQ & Mechanics

Because the Support Druid is a Specialized build, the obvious Mechanics or build interactions may not be clear to most first time players. Search below for the answers you need or come check me out live via the link at the top of the article for more information!

Mechanics

Learn about the mechanical details that make the build tick.

Unstoppable Monsters

After being subjected to 10 consecutive seconds of "Hard" Crowd Control (freeze, immobilize, stun, etc.), regular monsters become Unstoppable for 10 seconds. For Elites, it only takes 5 seconds of "Hard" Crowd Control to activate this effect, decaying after about 8 seconds. "Soft" Crowd Controls, such as Innate Debilitating Roar's Slow, build up this immunity at about 1/5 the rate. Before provoking Unstoppable, you can leave the monsters to rest for a short time to let this buildup toward CC immunity decay.

As a result, it's important to assess and manage the Crowd Controls available across your party. It's also worth considering the addition of Exploiter's to your DPS's gear.

Note that the Damage Reduction from Debilitating Roar still applies to Unstoppable monsters.

Cooldown Reduction

• Cooldown Reduction is the #1 priority stat across this build. It's paramount to maintaining our Buffs and Debuffs.
• To supplement our Gear Affixes, we have a number of conditional Cooldown Reductions from Bold Chieftain's, Hectic, Inner Beast, and Enhanced Blood Howl.

Why not Petrify?

There are certainly some use cases for Petrify. It's much better at staggering Bosses. However, mobs that are slain while Unstoppable don't recover its Cooldown and it's very often optimal to cast your Ultimate between multiple packs rather than on top of one to improve Airidah's coverage. More importantly, mobs that are Unstoppable can't be pulled by Airidah's, meaning its secondary pull is completely wasted against Elites. Further, many DPS classes rely on enemies being Crowd Controlled to deal damage, and Petrify can waste precious seconds of Crowd Control on Elites before they become Unstoppable.

Lacerate, on the other hand, has a reliably short Cooldown, gives us an easy way to break Crowd Controls or avoid damage, and inflicts Poison on enemies for additional Damage Reduction and Slow. Try both and see which you prefer.

Video Guide

Coming Soon!

Credits

Written by IBoilerUp

Reviewed by Pandaglassjaw