The NEW Druid in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred - Patch 2.0
Oct. 5, 2024The NEW Druid in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred – Patch 2.0
In thisDiablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Druid Class Guide, I’ll be helping you understand how theDruidClasschanges for the D4 Vessel of Hatred expansion affect it and give you an easy overview of what to expect for your builds and Gameplay.
The new expansion is adding 1 newEarth Core Skill, 1Key Passiveand 4regular passivesto theDruidas well as a newParagon board. On the itemization side, we’ll be getting new Uniques, and Legendary Aspects.
Before we get into the specifics ofDruidthough, let me tell you about some huge changes coming to the game itself. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible, and we’ll have full detailed coverage of all these changes in a future video, but for now let me tell you about the most important ones.
First of all, the max level has been reduced to60(from100), and players will begin receivingParagon Pointsonce they reach this level. These Points can be used by any level 60 character on your account. This not only means that you can gainParagon Pointsfor yourDruidwhile playing on yourSorcerer, it also means that you will have an additional10 Skill Pointsto allocate into your build (from levels51-60), for a total of69 Skill PointsinPatch 2.0, up from59before.
Additionally, stats likeArmor,Health, andDamagehave been drastically reduced in order to simplify the game and make mathing easier for players. This doesn’t result in a nerfing of your character, it’s more of a backend change that is reflected in new numbers in yourUI. Don’t freak out if you see your weapon no longer deals the same damage, it will still be as effective as it was before.
And lastly, the difficulty system ofDiablo IVis changing, and there are now newTorment levelsalong with newdifficulty levels, much like there were inDiablo III. Regulardifficulty levelswill be unlocked by advancing your character, butTorment levelswill need to be unlocked through anEnd Gameactivity calledThe Pit of Artificers, which is much likeRiftsinDiablo III, which are randomized dungeons essentially with aBossat the end. This shouldn’t change the way you play the game fundamentally, and hopefully allows players to customize their preferred difficulty a bit better.
The newEarth Core Skillis calledStone Burst, and it gathers stones in anAoEbeneath your target’s feet, detonating for80% Weapon Damage. However, you can channel this ability for increased damage andAoEwhich drastically improves the effectiveness of the skill, which means you’ll want to hold still when using it as much as possible.
It’s hard to say if this will actually be able to replaceLandslideas the go-toEarth Skill, and that’s primarily because of the amount ofUniquesandAspectsthat affect it, with only a couple impactingStone Burst.
Primal Stone Burstseems like the better choice on the surface, as it offers increased damage without any drawbacks, but we’ll have to see how it shakes out in the long run, as theSpirit Costcan be offset somewhat easily byEarthen Mightprovided you have decentLucky HitChance.
One with Natureis the new Key Passive, which makes it so yourCompanionSkills each gain 1 additional companion and deal 50% increased damage. You also gain the Passive Effect ofRavens,WolvesandPoison Creeper. This is clearly aimed at making Companion Builds more viable, and Druids definitely need some love in this area, though there are manyAspectsthat now effect Companions for them to choose from.
The 4 regular passives being added are as follow:
Humanitywill be great for builds that don’t utilizeShapeshiftingwhatsoever, whileCatastrophewill impact everyDruidBuild and is likely going to be added to most of them out there.Feral Aptitudewill likely find a good home in Werebear Builds, whileBacklashis another all around solid skill that should find its way into mostDruidBuilds since just about all of them utilize at least one defensive Skill.
There have been multiple changes to Druid skills since release, so if you are a returning player you will probably need to tweak your build to match the new effects. The latest patch also brings a new wave of changes, starting with the Debilitating Roar.
The two optional upgrades have been buffed. Innate Debilitating Roar now increases your damage for its duration, instead of slowing enemies. And Preserving Debilitating Roar heals for 6% of Max Life each second up from 4%. CC is not hard to come by on a Druid, so both of these are good changes.
Innate Earthen Bulwark’s damage has been increased from 30% to 60% Weapon Damage, making it a much more compelling choice than it was previously.
Trample has been updated to more consistently Trample to your target destination, rather than stopping immediately upon hitting terrain. This should just make it easier to use in general, which is great.
Cataclysm is seeing a significant nerf because Lightning Strikes now cannot hit the same target more than once every 0.5 seconds. This makes it much less effective against Bosses and other single target scenarios, and only really makes it good in groups of enemies where players often don’t struggle anyway. However, it has had its damage increased from 95% Weapon Damage to 115% per strike, which helps to offset this a tiny bit.
This has had its damage reduced from 30% to 15% while Healthy, but Health has been increased to 30% and Overpower Damage has been increased to 45%. This will make players using it more tanky, but have less overall damage.
Overpowering Bosses now extends the duration of this Ultimate by 5 seconds. This is huge because previously you could stay in Grizzly form almost constantly when in dungeons or during Hordes, but couldn’t during Boss fights. This ensures that Grizzly Rage Druids have a way to do this, making it more useful in some of the hardest fights in the game.
Quickshift
This passive now provides less damage and for a shorter duration if you don’t remain inWerebearorWerewolfform.
Heightened Senses
This passive got a HUGE buff making this passive viable forWerebearsandWerewolvesthat don’t utilize both forms, but still better if you do use at least one skill from Werebear and Werewolf.
Bestial Rampage
Bestial Rampage was nerfed through lower damage and attack speed, however, the changes make it easier to manage these buffs in general, which is a fair trade off I think.
In2.0, players will now only be able to equip5Paragon Boardsat a time, including yourbase board, so you cannot just ninja through a board for one node and out quickly. Instead, players will need to utilize their boards wisely. However, eachClasshas gained a newBoard, for a total of9 Boards(up from8), and someRare Nodeshave changed. On top of that, players can now earn a total of300 Paragon Points(up from200), which should allow for a serious power increase across allBuilds.
Glyphshave also seen a significant change. They no longer improve via experience, but instead level up by completing levels ofThe Pit of Artificersand trying to improve them at the end, again much likeDiablo III. The higher level ofPityou complete, the higher your chances of improving yourGlyph.Glyphsnow go up tolevel 100, further expanding their power, and the higher level they are, the more difficult it becomes to improve them without progressing to higher levels inThe Pit of Artificers.
Starter Board
Thunderstruck Board
Earthen Devastation Board
Survival Instincts Board
Lust for Carnage Board
Heightened Malice Board
Inner Beast Board
Constricting Tendrils Board
Ancestral Guidance Board
The newParagon boardis called“Untamed”, and itsunique nodemakes it so casting aCompanion Skillgrants+4 Ranksto allCompanion Skillsfor5 seconds. Between this and the newOne with Nature Key Passive, you can see thatBlizzardis trying to getDruidsto make moreCompanion-focusedBuilds.
Therare nodesare as follows and will help withCompanion Damageand general damage:
TheApex nodeis the obvious choice if you’re taking this board, sinceDamage Reduction from Elitesis good, but the focus is onCompanion Damage. Additionally,Fortuneis a nice addition forLucky HitandWillpower.Tempestis sure to find a home in manyDruid Buildsas well.
Remember that theCodex of Powerwas changed inSeason 4, and now storesLegendary Aspectsof the highest roll you’ve obtained for that particularAspect. You can also use theCodex of Poweras many times as you want on items, provided you have the gold and materials. If you haven’t played in a while, you should probably head over to your storage, pull items you’ve been saving for a rainy day, andSalvagemany of them at theBlacksmithas soon as possible to unlock higher rolls in theCodex of Powerand free up space.
Druidshave had noLegendary Aspectschanged with this update, which makes them the onlyClassthat didn’t have any rebalancing or rewording done.
4 new offensive aspects and 1 utility aspect can be acquired for the Druid:
Aspect of the Agile Wolf– Utility Aspect
This is a great addition to any Werewolf Build using Shred, and should become a staple for many Werewolf Builds in general.
Aspect of the Rabid Bear– Offensive Aspect
This is a huge buff to builds that use this Ultimate, which is many, allowing players to add poison damage with Werebear somewhat easily. I can see many players finding a home for this one on their Druid Builds.
Stormcrow’s Aspect– Offensive Aspect
This aspect is another push to make Druid Companions useful, and it might find a home in Lightning Druid Builds if it can add enough damage, but we’ll have to see for sure.
Aspect of Shattered Defenses– Offensive Aspect
This is one of two legendary aspects that apply to the new Stone Burst skill, and this is a strange one since you need to channel Stone Burst to increase its effectiveness, so stopping to cast another skill seems less than ideal.
Aspect of Anticline Burst– Offensive Aspect
This aspect will definitely find a home in anyDruidbuilds runningStone Burstas their Core Skill since it’s just more damage and the extra max size part is great if you can triggerEarthen Mightregularly, and keep your resources up.
Unique Item
Stone of Vehemen– Unique Totem
This unique is pretty much a must for any serious Stone Burst builds not only for the double cast of Stone Burst, but also the damage reduction and damage increase. If you plan to use Stone Burst, plan to farm this Unique.
The changes toDruidare mostly positive, and you can see thatBlizzardis focusing on shoring up areas where theDruidis weak—Companions, cough cough. It will be interesting to see whatCompanion-focusedBuildspeople use, as well as newBuildsrevolving aroundStone Burst. Of the two, theCompanion Buildseems far more interesting becauseStone Burstshould play more or less likeLandslide.
With the passive changes andLegendary Aspectadditions, I can see more variety inBuildsfor theDruidin the future, and hopefully, this means there are fewer “meta”Builds, or at the very least, a wider selection of them. Will we see aGrizzly Rage Poison Build? That would be interesting, no doubt!
So that rounds up our introduction to the2.0 DruidinDiablo IV. I’m excited to try all these changes and experiment with many newBuilds, and even revisit some old ones that were nerfed. As always, you can find ourBuildson the blog atfextralife.comand make full use of our interactive map and wiki to keep track of where to get all items! We’ve already been working on the expansion content, and it’s shaping up nicely.
Will you be playing aDruid? Or are you going all in onSpiritborn? Let us know in the comments below!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
