Annihilator Druid Build for Diablo 4 (Season 1)

Introduction

Do you want to unleash the true power of your Druid? Look no further than the Annihilator Druid Build. This build will turn your Druid into a devastating force, obliterating everything in its path with overwhelming damage. In this article, we will cover everything you need to know to embark on your own Annihilator adventure!

The primary focus of this build is to unleash Landslide, the most powerful ability in your arsenal. By utilizing the Aspect of the Trampled Earth and Subterranean Aspect, you will summon waves of Landslide through Trample and Poison Creeper. In addition, you will constantly reset these abilities to maintain a continuous onslaught of devastating damage.

Strengths and Weaknesses

To get a better understanding of how this build compares to others, we recommend checking out our build tier list.

Build Requirements

To unleash the full potential of the Annihilator Druid Build, you will need the following non-Codex Legendary Aspects:

1. Aspect of the Trampled Earth – This aspect will summon waves of Landslide as you Trample.
2. Symbiotic Aspect – This aspect will allow your Storm damage, like Storm Strike, to reset your Trample through Nature’s Fury.
3. Aspect of The Aftershock – This aspect will double the Landslide you generate and significantly ramp up your damage.

Without these Aspects, the build simply isn’t Annihilator-worthy, and we highly recommend farming for them before diving into this build. If you’re still in the process of acquiring these Aspects, our Landslide Leveling Build is a great alternative to keep you on track.

Variants

There are a few variant playstyles for the Annihilator Druid Build, including:

• Creeperslide: This variant focuses more on chain resetting Poison Creeper rather than Trample. It capitalizes on Primal Landslide Terramote generation for big Critical Strikes without the disruptive Trample knockbacks.

Season of the Malignant

For general information on Season 1, be sure to check out our Season 1 Hub.

Season 1 Patch Updates

The Annihilator Druid Build has been affected by several balance changes in Patch 1.1. Here are the key changes to consider:

• Masochistic Boon now requires a Lucky Hit chance of 75%.
• Bolster Boon Fortify has been increased from 10% to 15% of Maximum Life.
• Storm Strike Damage Reduction has been reduced from 25% to 15%.
• Cataclysm Lightning damage has been increased from 64% to 77%, and Tornado damage from 19% to 23%.
• Supreme Cataclysm Vulnerable duration has been increased from 2 to 3 seconds.
• Prime Cataclysm duration has been increased from 2 to 4 seconds.
• Aspect of Disobedience maximum stacks have been reduced from 100 to 60, resulting in a decrease in maximum Bonus Armor % from 25-50% to 15-30%.
• Symbiotic Aspect Cooldown reduction has been reduced from 4-8 to 3-5.
• Several Gear Affix scalings, including Damage Reductions, Cooldown Reduction, Critical Strike Damage, and Vulnerable damage, have been reduced.

Additionally, Patch 1.1.1 did not introduce any significant changes related to the Annihilator Druid Build.

Malignant Hearts

For general seasonal information, refer to our Malignant Hearts Guide. Here are the recommended Malignant Hearts in order of importance:

1. Caged Heart of Revenge (Brutal, Defensive-World Tier III): This heart suppresses 10-20% of incoming damage. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, the suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies. While the damage burst may not be too exciting, this heart provides an extra layer of defense, especially given the nerfs to Damage Reduction Gearing Affixes in Patch 1.1.
2. Caged Heart of Inexorable Force (Devious, Utility): This heart pulls up to 30-50 Distant enemies towards you while you have an Ultimate Skill active.
3. Caged Heart of The Barber (Wrathful, Super-World Tier III): Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds are absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. The stored damage is increased by 10% per second. Aim for a lower duration to avoid debuffs falling off.
4. Caged Heart of the Malignant Pact (Wrathful, Super): This heart cycles through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills. Vicious grants 20% Attack Speed, Devious offers a 15% chance for Core and Basic Skills to fully restore your Primary Resource, and Brutal grants a Barrier absorbing 85-102 damage every 21 seconds. While not ideal in all scenarios, the Malignant Pact is worth considering, especially during boss fights or against Uber bosses.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Priority Skills Cluster:

• Only invest one point in Trample since most of your damage comes from Landslide.
• Only invest one point in Quickshift as it only boosts Trample.
• Primal Landslide is recommended over Raging Landslide due to the guaranteed Critical Strike and Critical Strike Damage boost, which is beneficial against all opponents, including bosses. Relying on the Crowd Control necessary to trigger Raging Landslide won’t always be feasible.

Alternative Skills

As with many builds, there are plenty of options available for min-maxing output, maintaining Fortify, changing gameplay tempo, fitting the build to gearing and stat needs, or for different content such as bosses vs. non-bosses. The Annihilator Druid Build has several flexible points for finding your balance in the game:

• Cataclysm is a strong Ultimate Skill that synergizes well with Trample’s reset needs. It sends out Storm events for more Symbiotic Aspect resets and applies Vulnerable to enemies. Alternatively, Petrify offers periodic and reliable boosts to Critical Strike Damage and applies a Stun to feed Crowd Control-based interactions.
• If your Fortify generation is sufficient, you can reallocate points from Safeguard.

Spirit Boons – The Druid Class Specialization

Druids unlock powerful Spirit Boon passives, allowing them to receive blessings from animal spirits. Once fully unlocked, you can activate the final Boon by Spirit Bonding with one of the four animal spirits to acquire two passives from that row.

• If you already have a high Critical Strike Chance or Lucky Hit on your gear, consider switching your Spirit Bond from the Eagle’s Scythe Talons increased Critical Strike Chance to the Snake’s Calm Before the Storm for more casts of your Ultimate Skill.
• If your Defense is already sufficient and you don’t require extra self-healing, you can switch from Masochistic to Calm Before the Storm.

Paragon

The Paragon Board is a progression system that unlocks at level 50. It empowers players through Common stat Nodes, Magic affix Nodes, Rare leveled Glyphs, and Legendary board-exclusive Nodes. Here’s our recommended setup for the Annihilator Druid Build:

Starting Board:

1. Path right and up to take Prime.
2. Continue to the Glyph Socket and place Werebear, filling in all Willpower Nodes.
3. Take Resolve and Impel, heading towards the Heightened Malice board.
4. Go down and take Tenacity and the nearby Magic Nodes for Maximum Life. You can do this later in your leveling journey.
5. Attach the Heightened Malice board by rotating it clockwise three times, with the Glyph Socket on the bottom right.

Heightened Malice (2nd Board):

1. Head up and right towards the Glyph Socket, taking Sinking Fangs and Nature-Born along the way.
2. Place Exploit into the Glyph Socket and fill in nearby Dexterity Nodes.
3. Backtrack to the right and take Poison Conditioned.
4. Continue up and left to take the Heightened Malice Legendary Node.
5. From the Glyph Socket, go up and right to attach the Earthen Devastation board by rotating it clockwise three times, with the Glyph Socket in the upper right.

Earthen Devastation (3rd Board):

1. Go right and up to take Oppress and all five of its nearby Magic Nodes.
2. Head right towards the Glyph Socket.
3. Place Earth and Sky in the Glyph Socket, and take Resolve and Earthen Power.
4. Take the nearby Magic Nodes for Critical Strike Damage with Earth Skills, as well as one Willpower Node to activate the Earth and Sky Additional Bonus.
5. Backtrack and take the Earthen Devastation Legendary Node.

Survival Instincts (4th Board):

1. Attach the Survival Instincts board from the right side of the Heightened Malice board by rotating it clockwise once, with the Glyph Socket below the Legendary Node.
2. Go right and down to take Zealous.
3. Continue up and right towards the Glyph Socket.
4. Place Spirit in the Glyph Socket, take Grizzly and Battleworn Hide, and fill in nearby Dexterity Nodes.

Thunderstruck (5th Board):

1. From the Earthen Devastation Board, go right from the Glyph Socket to attach the Thunderstruck board by rotating it clockwise twice, with the Glyph Socket in the bottom left.
2. Go down and right towards the Glyph Socket.
3. Place Undaunted in the Glyph Socket, take Hubris and all five nearby Magic Nodes, and fill in nearby Intelligence Nodes.
4. Continue up and right to take Deluge and all five nearby Magic Nodes.

Constricting Tendrils (6th Board):

1. From the Survival Instincts board, go down from the Glyph Socket to attach the Constricting Tendrils board by rotating it clockwise once, with the Glyph Socket on the top left.
2. Go down and left to the Glyph Socket.
3. Place Territorial in the Glyph Socket, take Courage and Nature’s Will, and fill in nearby Dexterity Nodes.
4. Take the two Magic Nodes for Nature Magic Skill Damage.

Legendary Aspects and Gearing Affixes

Here are the recommended Legendary Aspects and Gear Affixes for each slot of the Annihilator Druid Build. The Gear Affixes in Bold are ideal, but there are alternate options available.

Please refer to our Legendary Aspect and Codex of Power Guide to see which Legendary Aspects can be equipped in each slot. For example, the helm can have either Defensive or Utility powers. This allows for interchangeable options. Aspects like Ballistic Aspect can be placed on either the helm or chest, allowing room for other necessary Legendary Aspects. Make sure to pick up and check all Rare items, as there are numerous combinations of Gear Affix rolls possible. Amulets, in particular, offer more than 45 Gear Affixes for the Druid.

Alternative Legendary Aspects

While the Annihilator Druid Build doesn’t require any Uniques to function, there are a few that can provide advantages:

• Vasily’s Prayer and Insatiable Fury: These Uniques turn your Earth Skills into Werebear Skills and provide a boost to your damage. While Vasily’s Prayer offers additional Fortify, Insatiable Fury provides extra ranks to all Werebear Skills. Combining both Uniques can significantly increase your Landslide damage. Keep in mind that the defensive aspects of these Uniques may vary depending on the Affixes on your non-unique Chest and Helm pieces.

Gems

Properly socketing gems into your gear is crucial for maximizing your potential. Here are the recommended gems for each category:

• Weapon: Royal Emerald for Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies.
• Armor: Royal Sapphire for Damage Reduction while Fortified.
• Jewelry: Check out the Seasonal affix Malignant Heart section for a priority shortlist. Malignant Hearts scale higher than Skulls in Armor, along with granting their specific powers. Use Royal Skull for Armor if you’re playing on the Eternal Realm.

Elixirs, Incense, and Health Potions

The Alchemist offers helpful Elixirs and Incense, but they require specific materials to craft. Craft the highest Assault Elixir available for Attack Speed bonuses. This will allow you to trigger Nature’s Fury more frequently. Defensive elixirs like Iron Skin Elixir and Elixir of Fortitude can be considered for increased armor and max life. However, keep in mind that these elixirs may not be consistently farmable.

Incenses are costly to craft and may not be viable for everyday use. However, they can be valuable in push content. Chorus of War provides additional stats and Critical Strike Damage, while Spirit Dance grants increased Dodge Chance for each nearby player. However, be mindful that playing a Trampleslide build in a group setting may not be well-received.

Remember to upgrade your health potion as you progress. Each upgrade increases the instant healing provided by the potion.

Changelog

• August 8th, 2023: Added Patch 1.1.1 section and checked guide for accuracy.
• July 24th, 2023: Restructured introduction. Changed Skill Tree to recommend Predatory Instinct over Nature’s Reach due to the introduction of the Subterranean Aspect and Seasonal Malignant Heart Inexorable Force.
• July 23rd, 2023: Referenced Malignant Hearts in the Gems section. Added Creeperslide Variant section.
• July 19th, 2023: Updated guide for Season 1 and 1.1 balance changes.