Wind Shear Druid Endgame Build Guide

Welcome to the Wind Shear Druid Endgame guide for Diablo 4! What this build lacks in area of effect it more than makes up for in damage, and it slates as a solid Pit Pusher and Bosser for Druids in Season 5 (though, admittedly, its lack of AoE is problematic for Infernal Hordes). It revolves around the reworked Aspect of the Calm Breeze, which inflicts Poison Damage over Time to all mobs it passes through. Interestingly, this DoT inherits the Storm and Basic Skill tags from the initial cast of Wind Shear, which allows for some incredible scalars in the form of Moonrise, Adaptability, and Thunderstruck. Past this, we stack a ton of Defensive Skills and some damage sponges in Wolves to stand in and keep blasting.

Though presented here as an endgame guide, this build is relatively straightforward and strong from the very early game. Simply grab Calm Breeze from Grinning Labyrinth and Rapid from Buried Halls and scale up from there!

Gear, Skill Tree, and Paragon

See below for the two main variants for this build. The Tempest Roar variant is the higher damage variant, but you can also try the Godslayer Crown variant for improved quality of life.

• Feel free to swap Rubies for Sapphires in your Armor to reach your desired toughness.
• For the Tempest Roar variant, you're hoping to have at least one Ring with a Poison Resistance secondary. If you don't have this, you can put additional points in Ancestral Fortitude to make up the difference, taking these from Circle of Life.
• A well-rolled Fists of Fate could prove best-in-slot for the Tempest Roar variant over Unsatiated. If you prefer immortality, Tyrael's Might can kick out Concussive Strikes in either variant.

Paragon

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

Level 15 Glyphs required: Bane, Tracker, Keeper, Earth and Sky, and Electrocution

Using the Tempest Roar variant, utilize Werewolf. Using the Godslayer Crown variant, go for 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

• Try to maintain your distance at all times!
• Use either Pulverize or Debilitating Roar at least every 5 seconds to maintain the Werebear bonus of Bestial Rampage and refresh Quickshift and Wildheart Hunger.
• Debilitating Roar inflicts a massive debuff on mobs in a screen-wide range and allows you to stand still to keep attacking in most situations. We scale its uptime through Ranks on Chest and Hectic.
• Cast Blood Howl on Cooldown to bolster your Attack Speed.
• Hectic prompts us to use Wolves, Earthen Bulwark, and Cyclone Armor as sparingly as possible to get more mileage out of Blood Howl and Debilitating Roar.
• Use Earthen Bulwark as a means to break Crowd Controls.
• Wolves serve as meat shields and help keep distance against melee Bosses.

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:
   • Calm Breeze
   • Moonrise
   • Adaptability
   • Creeping Death
2. Uniques:
   • Shard of Verathiel
   • Tempest Roar
   • Wildheart Hunger
3. Mythic Uniques:
   • Ring of Starless Skies is an excellent addition to either variant, replacing either Edgemaster's or Unsatiated.
4. Key Stat Requirements
   • Attack Speed: Attack speed is paramount on this build. There are two thresholds to aim for before Buffs: 65% and eventually 80%. At 65%, you can cap Attack Speed between Moonrise and an Elixir of Advantage II. Once you get to 80%, you can can afford to swap Elixirs to Elixir of Fortitude II.
   • Damage to Distant: We need at least 300% of this stat across our tempers to cap Thunderstruck, which should be fairly easy to achieve.
   • Chance for Wind Shear Projectiles to Cast Twice: It's not possible to reach 100% of this stat while wielding Shard of Verathiel, but it effectively acts as a multiplier and we want as much of it as we can get on Totem.

FAQ & Mechanics

Because the Wind Shear 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!

FAQ

What does and doesn't scale Calm Breeze's damage?

According to our resident mechanics tester, Ava:

Stats

• Damage% is doubled for the dot, making it equal to the DoT affix on weapons
• Crit Damage has no effect
• Basic Skill% works
• Willpower works
• Weapon damage works (formula for a maxed is [average weapon damage] x 1.465023495)
• Vulnerable works (snapshots)
• Damage vs Poisoned enemies work past the first hit
• It can lucky hit
• Ranks to skill has no effect on damage

Passives

• Quickshift works
• Bestial Rampage works (snapshots)
• Defiance works
• Natural Disaster works
• Resonance works
• Nature's Reach works

Aspects/Uniques

• Moonrise works
• Adaptability works
• Tempest Roar makes it benefit properly from wolf specific modifiers
• Elements works (only during poison cycle)
• Paingorger's Gauntlets does not work
• Mad Wolf's Glee ranks has no effect on damage

Glyphs/Paragon

• Tracker increases the top end by 40% when fights are long
• Tracker does not dilute the dot, it is the same damage per tick with and without tracker
• Keeper works
• Bane works
• Thunderstruck works
• Fang and Claw works (with Tempest Roar)
• Earth and Sky works (dynamic)

How do we proc Electrocution?

We utilize the Charged Atmosphere and Bad Omen Passives to activate Electrocution's 20% damage bonus. Without any additional Lucky Hit Chance, Wind Shear has a 6% chance to create a Lightning Bolt via Bad Omen. But at the high end of this build, we're attacking over 4 times per second, with a good chance at two Wind Shears at a time, translating to a practically 100% uptime of this buff (especially on Bosses).

Mechanics

Learn about the mechanical details that make the build tick.

Thunderstruck

• Thunderstruck provides a gigantic multiplier to Storm Skills based on our Damage to Close and Distant enemies, stats available to us through Tempering. Due to our ability to stay at range and it's higher roll range, we strongly recommend Damage to Distant here, but technically Damage to Close from the same manual is somewhat effective.

Video Showcase

Credits

Written by IBoilerUp

Reviewed by Pandaglassjaw