Lightning Storm Druid Leveling Guide for Diablo IV Season 12 - Slaughter

The Season 12 theme brings Killstreaks and Bloodied Items to Diablo 4. Slay enemies in succession to begin a streak that grants increasingly greater benefits based on which affixes you roll on your gear in addition to seasonal reputation and experience. Tiers are divided as follows: Killstreak (0-99) - Carnage (100-249) - Devastation (250-499) - Bloodbath (500-999) - Massacre (1000-9000) - Fresh Meat! (9001+). For most instanced content types, you can typically expect to reach up to the 4th tier (Bloodbath). Additionally, you can find Bloodied Sigils for Nightmare Dungeons, Infernal Hordes and Lair Bosses that offer greater challenges and rewards (introducing "pseudo Torment 5").

Bloodied affixes are bonus affixes that can randomly roll on gear and come in three categories: Rampage (armor), Feast (weapons), and Hunger (jewelry). The first two offer minor combat effects while the latter boosts specific loot drops, which doesn't impact your build. Recommended affixes for this build are:

• Rampage: Movement Speed, Resource Cost Reduction, Attack Speed
• Feast: Berserking, Restore Primary Resource, BloodSplosion
• Hunger: Prioritize increased XP. Otherwise, use what you prefer/have access to.

To get started as a Lightning Storm Druid, focus the most on upgrading your weapon as its damage is the base for all further damage calculations. Otherwise, follow the priority list below. While you don't have all of the desired temper manuals available, simply try to get anything useful on your gear until you acquire the right ones. For example, % Damage, Damage to Close, Vulnerable Damage, etc. all work as long as you activate their conditions. Likewise, you can temper multiple defensive options such as Resistances, Life, Armor to fill gaps in your survivability. Tempering low level gear is relatively cheap and the results can be very impactful.

Tip: For the early game, Elemental Surge Weapon Tempers are very powerful due to their high base damage, especially if you are twinking. If you find these, you may want to keep imprinting them on your weapons for an easy time.

The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary or salvaging items with these powers. Check out our Map Tool to locate these Dungeons.

For leveling, there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them. In addition, keep an eye out for powerful Unique items you may find for this or other builds.

Must-have Dungeon unlocks

• Retaliation (Seaside Descent - Dry Steppes)
• Skinwalker's (Fading Echo - Kehjistan)

Nice-to-have Dungeon unlocks

1. Overcharged (Mariner's Refuge - Scosglen)
2. Nighthowler's (Forbidden City - Fractured Peaks)
3. Vocalized Empowerment (Sirocco Caverns - Kehjistan)
4. Disobedience (Halls of the Damned - Kehjistan)
5. Inner Calm (Raethwind Wilds - Scosglen)

Other useful Aspects (drop/gamble)

1. Lightning Dancer's
2. Spirit Bond
3. Rushing Wilds
4. Elements
5. Accelerating
6. Juggernaut's
7. Metamorphosis

What to Gamble

Great Uniques for this build

1. Unsung Ascetic's Wraps
2. Tempest Roar

As you level up, you may get lucky and find some great random drops. Some of these can massively amplify your power and speed up the leveling by switching to another build. Keep in mind that there are many more Aspects and Uniques that can be useful to multiple builds; this just lists some of the most impactful ones. While we usually recommend starting with Endgame Builds at level 60, you often can make them work earlier with these drops:

Build-defining Aspects

1. Shockwave (enables the Pulverize Druid)
2. Aftershock / Subterranean (enhances the Landslide Druid)
3. Stampede / Alpha / Stormcrow's (enhances the Companion Druid)
4. Anticline Burst (enhances the Stone Burst Druid)
5. Seismic-shift (enhances the Earth Spike Druid)

Build-defining Uniques

1. Dolmen Stone (enables the Boulder Druid)
2. Tempest Roar (enables the Tornado Druid)
3. Earthbreaker (enhances the Landslide Druid)
4. Kilt of Blackwing / Storm's Companion (enhances the Companion Druid)
5. Stone of Vehemen (enhances the Stone Burst Druid)
6. Fleshrender (enables the Fleshrender Druid)
7. Rotting Lightbringer (enhances the Pulverize Druid)
8. Waxing Gibbous (enhances the Shred Druid)

You can have up to two Runewords in your setup, each consisting of one Ritual and one Invocation Rune. Socket them in Two-Handed Weapons if your build calls for them, otherwise place them into your Armor pieces to replace normal gems. The Lightning Storm Druid focuses on the following combos:

Best in Slot for Leveling

• Cem + Lum - Grants a sizeable burst of Spirit when you Evade, helping you manage your Resource early on.
• Cir + Gar - Offers you a big chunk of Critical Strike Chance, which refreshes itself and persists for a few seconds.

Alternative choices

As long as you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top Runes, you can also benefit from these options:

• Kry - Grouping enemies massively improves your Lightning Storm's lethality, allowing your lightning strikes to hit multiple targets at once.
• Lith / Nagu / Igni / Ahu - Powerful alternatives of generating Offering, each having a different requirement.
• Xal - Grants a sizeable Maximum Life multiplier that aids your survivability.
• Ohm - War Cry is a good damage buff that lasts for a moderate duration.
• Que - Earthen Bulwark is an excellent defensive tool with additional benefits if you invest in it in your skill tree.
• Jah - Teleport is a versatile Mobility Skill used often in Speedfarming setups for faster clearing speeds.
• Qua - Helps you reach Movement Speed cap early on.

Mercenaries are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and assist you in battle. There are 4 separate Mercenaries to choose from, each with their own skill trees and abilities. You can have one Hired (permanent) mercenary during solo play and a Reinforcement who assists you from time to time in certain situations.

• Hired: Varyana

This Mercenary grants you increased Movement Speed as you gain Massacre Stacks. Remember that these stacks reset if you have not killed any enemies after 7 seconds. In addition to this, her Bloodthirst and Hysteria Skills offer some much appreciated Attack Speed.

• Reinforcement: Raheir

Bastion is a phenomenal defensive reinforcement, temporarily providing 90% Damage Reduction and granting you Unstoppable.

In Diablo 4, you can level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, clearing Strongholds, fighting in the Undercity of Kurast or interacting with the Seasonal Mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are equal.

As you approach level 60 with the Lightning Storm Druid, you unlock higher item power gear that represents a massive jump in character power. This is a good time to refresh your setup with new tempers and imprints.

After reaching level 60 and finishing the second Capstone Dungeon, Paragon Levels and The Pit unlock. Complete Tier 10 to enter Torment 1, where Diablo IV's Endgame begins.

At this point, your setup should look roughly like this before you dive into min/maxing with Aspects, Uniques, Mythics and more. With better gear, more levels and Glyphs, you can push further and eventually unlock higher difficulties for increased rewards.

This step marks the end of the leveling guide. Below is the Paragon setup to get you started in Torment difficulty, but ideally, you should now transition towards the endgame version of this build or choose another of your liking.