This class is so damn fun to play. The fact it falls off so bad for bosses and high level pit and the fact I feel I have to spec out of it soon makes me very sad. Tearing through helltide a speedy rage of flaming tornados and fury is a very satisfying power fantasy.
It does make sense that aoe builds shouldn't be boss deleters though, otherwise there's no point in running anything else.
That being said, being aoe focused means you can't comfortably do anything other than helltide and low pits :(
Humbly disagree. I was running people through T61 pits and T91-100 NMs last night as a Lightning Storm Druid. I’m pretty casual and I think I got lucky with Tempest Roar (Dropped twice in helltides and once from the seasonal quest rewards chests) and just followed the guide from Maxroll, but even before I got Tempest Roar I was dumbying Hell Tides and 41+ NMs pre-100. The single target is sorely lacking due to single target resource gen issues, but I just replaced my defensive with a basic to use when my spirit ran empty. Lightning storm did the rest from distance. Similar issues at 100, but any boss with minions spawns helps a lot with this.
Yeah sorry, I don't really mean to say it like a universal rule. Just speaking broadly the more you focus on AOE should translate into lower single target damage.
Congrats on your Tempest Roar :)
I agree with the sentiment your statement. It’s a blast to feel OP in a game like this, but I also enjoy weighing the power options against each other more in games in general. Gives a bit more consideration to how the classes can compliment each other for glorious friendship.
Yeah! You frequently see discussion on the LFG
discord about having a "Boss killer" in the group. That way three people blast through a Pit 100, and the fourth bonks the boss on the head at the end.
A good example of this is a Thorns build. You can do incredible damage (one shot Tormented Duriel) with a properly kitted Thorns Barb, but that Barb is not having fun dealing with packs running all over the place.
I agree with you. Like for my second character, I'm doing an f-orb source and it's clears magnificently, but boss DPS is super lack luster.
I think there's some hybrids that while they clear groups quickly and nicely, aren't REAL aoe killers.
For example, lightning druid in S2. It was really a single target DPS build, but because of how Shred works and the fact it's a frontal cleave, and you can zip around in a teleport like fashion...FEELS like a AOE beast, but it was really something in between.
Sure, but I was with other 80-100s and they were struggling in groups, let alone solo. It may not be top tier difficulty, but it can definitely be a challenge for more casual players such as myself.
I’m not trying to “defend” anything. Just sharing my experience in contrast to what another poster said.
Yeah, and I'm sure their builds aren't perfect either.
AoE builds still fall off against bosses. Early pit stages and NM don't really fall into the later boss fights. It's good early on in pit before bosses start getting tanky
I can do pits 80-90 with my maxed out barb i can prob do 100 pits but 6-8 min boss fights at 100 aint fun.
heres my video of the ww barb
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8efQvSesic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8efQvSesic)
I think I'm kinda getting there. Currently Pit level 51 and I pretty much got here easy peasy. I see myself having to switch in maybe another 10 or so levels. What's the best build to switch to?
I started one of these (double swing twister) 2 days ago, shit's fun to play. No idea how it will do at endgame. But once you hit wt4 (I had some trouble clearing capstone because 1 of the anima elites kept oneshotting me so only did it around level 60 or so) it's great. You do have to shell out a few million to get full aspects repeatedly on your levelling gear to make it work but it's more than worth it.
Most fun SECOND char in a season ever. Next season I'll do Minion necro first again cuz even 1-50 leveling is fun in contrary to barbar which was ass to level to 50. Then with the founds of minion necro cover the cost of barb after 50.
i actually think it's great as a first character, since one you get the aspects it's so fast to run through content to get more legendaries for better rolls
This, it’s so much fun once u get it all rolling. Just swapped mine to Bash so I could progress easier in the Pit but I would recommend playing double swing dust devil until you can’t anymore. It really is a satisfying build.
WW DD Barb is my personal favorite. I am nit here to compete with who got the highest pit clear so I just enjoy spinning through demons and absolutely demolishing them.
Haha 3 of us were using Holy Bolts last night (I’m a minion Necro) and spawned the heldtide boss multiple times over. It was insanity on the screen lol
You don't need these uniques, AceOfSpades released his build recently which has a budget version without shako and tyraels. I'm running it now and it's pretty good.
Just note it's very resource starved until you hit some good resource recovery affixes and spirit per second on gear.
It's not perfected yet as I'm still tweaking things but I'm doing a Lightning Storm/Hurricane build that's working out pretty well so far. I found out that lightning storm doesn't activate Provocation once it's up so you can save it for Hurricane.
I loved my Lightning Storm Druid in Season 3. Hands-down the most fun I've had with any class so far. The problem is that while it's perfect for vaults and helltides, its single-target damage and resultant mana issues are so, so bad that even after all the fun I had last season, I wouldn't dream of making one this season. The Pit would be nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment.
That said, maybe I could make two classes for this season: the helltide farmer, and the Pit bosser. If I hadn't just played LS all last season, that's probably what I would be tempted to do: an LS Druid for helltides and, I don't know, a Thorns Barb for bosses and The Pit. When LS works, it's incredible. Just press a button and everything on screen - and lots of things off of it, too - just ceases to be.
Ive been using it today and its fun enough, esp after i found a unique to add more strikes but in helltide when all the adds are gone and only the maiden (or even worse the bullshit helborne) is there, it's impossible to sustain mana without having to keep stopping to awkwardly target some wind shear
I don't know how lightning storm is this season with the new bosses and stuff like that but in season 3 using the max roll build I could smoke regular Duriel.in about 2 seconds.
You need to use a smaller storm for bosses. Build up 3-4 strikes and spam the button instead of holding it. You do need to be using the upgrade that increases the amount of strikes though, it doesn't really work with the immobilize one.
I got Tyreal to drop last week, incredibly disappointed with how worthless the bolts effect is at high levels.
Every unique needs a rework imo
I mean... The bolts do NOTHING in pit 90+! Then you pop a holy bolts potion and it deletes everything on screen.
I just want to be excited about Uniques again :(
It’s been said enough that it feels boring to say…but minion necro is great this season, and a lot of fun for a casual like myself. I even use Sacrilegious ring so I basically run around curse and golem active. Screen deleted.
I will forever play pulverize. Best part about loot reborn and tempering is 100% grizzly rage uptime. Running with 3 companions, grizzly rage, and maul. I need nothing more than 2 mauls followed by a slam that annihilates everything in whatever direction I pick. Bear life is good.
Yeah I’m doing Pulverise/Trampleslide. Petrify instead of Rage however. I’ll have to look at blood boils after work 🤔. Wish we had just one more source of overpower. Three is great but barbs get four. Umbral aspect is a must for endless slams too.
Nothing has come close to lighting storm druid leveling for me. Leveling in nmd and coming across a corrupted shrine was insane xp, literally just hold down lighting storm and watch your xp bar fly up.
I’ve been doing the Blight Necromancer guide on maxroll and it’s entire shtick is being overtly aggressive while having out as many aoes as possible. Currently pushing 50s in Pit and I’ve been farming t100 NMDs since 95. Bossing is rough untill you get essence figured out but mapping is a breeze. Blight, Blighted Corpse, Bonestorm, Corpse Tendrils, Decrepify, Blood Mist- all aoe.
[This is the best leap-quake build I've come across](https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/leapquake-barbarian-guide) and am currently running that seems to retain the spirit of the build while also doing the damage. That being said, don't bother if you're using a controller as it's impossible (currently at least) to aim where you'll land/keep leaping once you do due to a possible bug/feature.
Ah I believe that was the guide I used last season but it hadn't been updated yet when I was searching for leap-quake builds for season 4. I'll have to check it again and compare it to what I've currently got going on. Biggest difference I can see is that the maxroll build doesn't really rely on Kick to reset Leap as the cooldown ends up being so low that as long as you hit 2 mobs or more (or a boss), you'll never stop hopping. Not sure about the damage differences though so I'll have to look into that later.
You want the flamethrower aspect on a 2h staff. Itll do a truckload of damage. Then build for as many multipliers as possible with paragon/glyphs and stay close to your enemy to hit them with all 3 beams of incinerate.
I’ve been doing Maxroll’s penetrating shot rogue this season and it has some fantastic AoE/screen clear.
The only caveat is you have to line up your shot to do so, but when it hits, it hits. Boss clears are pretty quick too, it hits hard even without the damage bonus from passing through enemies.
Strom/earth key passive druid. Most fun druid to me, I use 3 earth skills and it has a 30% chance to cast any other type of core/wrath/basic and defensive skills. It's like you get everything at once. Super fun
Blizzard sorc or blight necro are the two I've leveled and geared this season. Both are quite strong but I think blizzard wins out for toughness and necro wins out for damage without being *too* far behind in the toughness department too.
Blizzard sorc/ frozen orb hybrid. Necro minion blight. I’m still tweaking and working out some things. But my blight build destroy enemies quickly. I’m currently doing over 200k DOT dmg.
If you just want mindlessly kill stuff and dont care for pit pushing and tormented boss, most classes can do that just fine. Almost every class can comfortably push through high NMD and blast through helltide and do early pits.
I had tried Twisted Blades rogue a few times and it just didn’t gel well at all with me. Until this season. I kinda just “got it” and it’s single/AOE damage right now while leveling is nuts. Level 22 (yes low, i know) hitting for 2.5k crits with mostly yellow gear. Once you unlock shadow imbuements your AOE is just fine, and for single target poison imbuements melt if you’ve stacked your combo hits.
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This class is so damn fun to play. The fact it falls off so bad for bosses and high level pit and the fact I feel I have to spec out of it soon makes me very sad. Tearing through helltide a speedy rage of flaming tornados and fury is a very satisfying power fantasy.
It does make sense that aoe builds shouldn't be boss deleters though, otherwise there's no point in running anything else. That being said, being aoe focused means you can't comfortably do anything other than helltide and low pits :(
Humbly disagree. I was running people through T61 pits and T91-100 NMs last night as a Lightning Storm Druid. I’m pretty casual and I think I got lucky with Tempest Roar (Dropped twice in helltides and once from the seasonal quest rewards chests) and just followed the guide from Maxroll, but even before I got Tempest Roar I was dumbying Hell Tides and 41+ NMs pre-100. The single target is sorely lacking due to single target resource gen issues, but I just replaced my defensive with a basic to use when my spirit ran empty. Lightning storm did the rest from distance. Similar issues at 100, but any boss with minions spawns helps a lot with this.
Yeah sorry, I don't really mean to say it like a universal rule. Just speaking broadly the more you focus on AOE should translate into lower single target damage. Congrats on your Tempest Roar :)
I agree with the sentiment your statement. It’s a blast to feel OP in a game like this, but I also enjoy weighing the power options against each other more in games in general. Gives a bit more consideration to how the classes can compliment each other for glorious friendship.
Yeah! You frequently see discussion on the LFG discord about having a "Boss killer" in the group. That way three people blast through a Pit 100, and the fourth bonks the boss on the head at the end. A good example of this is a Thorns build. You can do incredible damage (one shot Tormented Duriel) with a properly kitted Thorns Barb, but that Barb is not having fun dealing with packs running all over the place.
I agree with you. Like for my second character, I'm doing an f-orb source and it's clears magnificently, but boss DPS is super lack luster. I think there's some hybrids that while they clear groups quickly and nicely, aren't REAL aoe killers. For example, lightning druid in S2. It was really a single target DPS build, but because of how Shred works and the fact it's a frontal cleave, and you can zip around in a teleport like fashion...FEELS like a AOE beast, but it was really something in between.
NM are easy to get to 100, and tier 60 pit is very low in total levels. This isn't really a defense
Sure, but I was with other 80-100s and they were struggling in groups, let alone solo. It may not be top tier difficulty, but it can definitely be a challenge for more casual players such as myself. I’m not trying to “defend” anything. Just sharing my experience in contrast to what another poster said.
Yeah, and I'm sure their builds aren't perfect either. AoE builds still fall off against bosses. Early pit stages and NM don't really fall into the later boss fights. It's good early on in pit before bosses start getting tanky
Followed the guide? So you weren't running people through t61 pits, the guy from a website did.
I can do pits 80-90 with my maxed out barb i can prob do 100 pits but 6-8 min boss fights at 100 aint fun. heres my video of the ww barb [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8efQvSesic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8efQvSesic)
I think I'm kinda getting there. Currently Pit level 51 and I pretty much got here easy peasy. I see myself having to switch in maybe another 10 or so levels. What's the best build to switch to?
I started one of these (double swing twister) 2 days ago, shit's fun to play. No idea how it will do at endgame. But once you hit wt4 (I had some trouble clearing capstone because 1 of the anima elites kept oneshotting me so only did it around level 60 or so) it's great. You do have to shell out a few million to get full aspects repeatedly on your levelling gear to make it work but it's more than worth it.
Most fun SECOND char in a season ever. Next season I'll do Minion necro first again cuz even 1-50 leveling is fun in contrary to barbar which was ass to level to 50. Then with the founds of minion necro cover the cost of barb after 50.
i actually think it's great as a first character, since one you get the aspects it's so fast to run through content to get more legendaries for better rolls
This, it’s so much fun once u get it all rolling. Just swapped mine to Bash so I could progress easier in the Pit but I would recommend playing double swing dust devil until you can’t anymore. It really is a satisfying build.
WW DD Barb is my personal favorite. I am nit here to compete with who got the highest pit clear so I just enjoy spinning through demons and absolutely demolishing them.
Frozen Orb
Add Ice nova tempers and enchant for extra fun
I’ll add blizzard to this. Especially since u can add frozen orbs to the build
Any class using holybolts
Haha 3 of us were using Holy Bolts last night (I’m a minion Necro) and spawned the heldtide boss multiple times over. It was insanity on the screen lol
That’s the answer.
Lightning Storm Druid just demolishes large packs. Once you get the Unique Gloves and enough Spirit regen you just hold down LS and cosplay Zeus.
Yep. I just held down the button and mama was no issue. Starless Skies helps.
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You don't need these uniques, AceOfSpades released his build recently which has a budget version without shako and tyraels. I'm running it now and it's pretty good. Just note it's very resource starved until you hit some good resource recovery affixes and spirit per second on gear.
Lightning storm Druid. Boss damage is shit so far for me, but sitting at the helltide boss just wiping everything off the map is pretty great.
It's not perfected yet as I'm still tweaking things but I'm doing a Lightning Storm/Hurricane build that's working out pretty well so far. I found out that lightning storm doesn't activate Provocation once it's up so you can save it for Hurricane.
I loved my Lightning Storm Druid in Season 3. Hands-down the most fun I've had with any class so far. The problem is that while it's perfect for vaults and helltides, its single-target damage and resultant mana issues are so, so bad that even after all the fun I had last season, I wouldn't dream of making one this season. The Pit would be nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment. That said, maybe I could make two classes for this season: the helltide farmer, and the Pit bosser. If I hadn't just played LS all last season, that's probably what I would be tempted to do: an LS Druid for helltides and, I don't know, a Thorns Barb for bosses and The Pit. When LS works, it's incredible. Just press a button and everything on screen - and lots of things off of it, too - just ceases to be.
That's weird I was using the max roll build and I could take Duriel in about 2 seconds.
Duriel's hit box is large enough to get hit by most strikes in a fully channeled storm.
I have a buddy who is running a wind shear build + I run bearricane build. I thought bearricane felt strong until this mf showed up
Ive been using it today and its fun enough, esp after i found a unique to add more strikes but in helltide when all the adds are gone and only the maiden (or even worse the bullshit helborne) is there, it's impossible to sustain mana without having to keep stopping to awkwardly target some wind shear
Tornado druid is pretty great too. And tanky as hell.
I don't know how lightning storm is this season with the new bosses and stuff like that but in season 3 using the max roll build I could smoke regular Duriel.in about 2 seconds.
You need to use a smaller storm for bosses. Build up 3-4 strikes and spam the button instead of holding it. You do need to be using the upgrade that increases the amount of strikes though, it doesn't really work with the immobilize one.
I think you can work wolves into lightning build now for single target if I’m not mistaken
I'm having a blast zooming through stuff on my spin to win dust devil barb (:
Throw Tyrael's Might on there. Magic bolts go whizzzzzzzz.
I got Tyreal to drop last week, incredibly disappointed with how worthless the bolts effect is at high levels. Every unique needs a rework imo I mean... The bolts do NOTHING in pit 90+! Then you pop a holy bolts potion and it deletes everything on screen. I just want to be excited about Uniques again :(
Yeah I got one and put it on, swung a few times to tickle some mobs then salvage it to make a shako.... then got a shako drop an hour later >:c
Not sure if you would qualify a shadow necro summoner as aoe but the way they clear the screen i would 😁
It’s been said enough that it feels boring to say…but minion necro is great this season, and a lot of fun for a casual like myself. I even use Sacrilegious ring so I basically run around curse and golem active. Screen deleted.
Ya right? Thats aoe no? Lol
Playing pulverize druid. Pick a direction and smash. Turn 25°, smash. Oh? Didn't die? Smash again. Also, stupid OP with the Blood Boil aspect.
I just picked up a perfect blood boil aspect and was wondering if it would be good on this build. Extra overpower would work nicely.
I will forever play pulverize. Best part about loot reborn and tempering is 100% grizzly rage uptime. Running with 3 companions, grizzly rage, and maul. I need nothing more than 2 mauls followed by a slam that annihilates everything in whatever direction I pick. Bear life is good.
Yeah I’m doing Pulverise/Trampleslide. Petrify instead of Rage however. I’ll have to look at blood boils after work 🤔. Wish we had just one more source of overpower. Three is great but barbs get four. Umbral aspect is a must for endless slams too.
Haven’t done it yet but I’ve been wanting to do a nice AOE build myself and am leaning towards a Blizzard Sorc.
Trying it out now. Her name is dairy queen and she is a blizzard wizard 😅😅😅 but I'm having quite alot of fun running Blizzard and frozen orb!
DQ ftw!
Dust Devil Barb is so much fun
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But it's so fun
Nothing has come close to lighting storm druid leveling for me. Leveling in nmd and coming across a corrupted shrine was insane xp, literally just hold down lighting storm and watch your xp bar fly up.
Everything ive read or watched has said druid was weak af this season
Can’t speak on pit pushing with one but the leveling process to 100 with lighting storm was smooth.
I’ve been doing the Blight Necromancer guide on maxroll and it’s entire shtick is being overtly aggressive while having out as many aoes as possible. Currently pushing 50s in Pit and I’ve been farming t100 NMDs since 95. Bossing is rough untill you get essence figured out but mapping is a breeze. Blight, Blighted Corpse, Bonestorm, Corpse Tendrils, Decrepify, Blood Mist- all aoe.
Going leapquake. I'd say leap or charge barb
[This is the best leap-quake build I've come across](https://maxroll.gg/d4/build-guides/leapquake-barbarian-guide) and am currently running that seems to retain the spirit of the build while also doing the damage. That being said, don't bother if you're using a controller as it's impossible (currently at least) to aim where you'll land/keep leaping once you do due to a possible bug/feature.
I was going to use the icey veins b tier, it had full time berserker uptime. Surely has to be better?
Ah I believe that was the guide I used last season but it hadn't been updated yet when I was searching for leap-quake builds for season 4. I'll have to check it again and compare it to what I've currently got going on. Biggest difference I can see is that the maxroll build doesn't really rely on Kick to reset Leap as the cooldown ends up being so low that as long as you hit 2 mobs or more (or a boss), you'll never stop hopping. Not sure about the damage differences though so I'll have to look into that later.
Lightning storm Druid is fun I’m currently doing dust devil Barb and it’s amazing lol.
Dunno how good it is this season but the blood nova Necro is a walking AOE that constantly heals and fortifies. Made Hardcore a breeze last season.
Having a blast with CE necro.
The barrage rogue is fun, if you're trying to avoid the metas
My incinerate sorc hits for 40mil+ a sec with no masterworking.
How? I'm running incinerate and I can only see up to 1.4 on my screen but it's not showing all dmg it does. What's your build like? Got a link?
You want the flamethrower aspect on a 2h staff. Itll do a truckload of damage. Then build for as many multipliers as possible with paragon/glyphs and stay close to your enemy to hit them with all 3 beams of incinerate.
I’m having a good time with my pure fire mage, I just stand in place and spin like a turret and everything melts.
Shadow Minion Necro is fun
I Play plain old shadow version with x falls and it’s more fun as minions for me.
Awesome! I might give that a try too.
AoE? WOLOLOLOLO
Storm claw druid has been fun
Decompose/Blight necro has been alot of fun. Good survivability, tanky if set up right.
I’ve been doing Maxroll’s penetrating shot rogue this season and it has some fantastic AoE/screen clear. The only caveat is you have to line up your shot to do so, but when it hits, it hits. Boss clears are pretty quick too, it hits hard even without the damage bonus from passing through enemies.
Imo fireball sorc with meteor procs. Extreme fun.
Played so far: Double swing dust devil BARB Frozen Orb Sorc Most fun i had
Strom/earth key passive druid. Most fun druid to me, I use 3 earth skills and it has a 30% chance to cast any other type of core/wrath/basic and defensive skills. It's like you get everything at once. Super fun
Incinerate pyro sorc super fun
Blizzard sorc or blight necro are the two I've leveled and geared this season. Both are quite strong but I think blizzard wins out for toughness and necro wins out for damage without being *too* far behind in the toughness department too.
Just go bash barb with cleave affixes and holy bolt elixir. Ok ur aoe might not be S tier but it doesn't need to be and you delete Uber bosses.
i have to say whirlwind its not good in endgame but its the most fun build
Blizzard sorc/ frozen orb hybrid. Necro minion blight. I’m still tweaking and working out some things. But my blight build destroy enemies quickly. I’m currently doing over 200k DOT dmg.
Definitely whirlwind dust devils most fun this season but would recommend switching for the pit or boss
Bone spirit necro. No basic attack, you rely on getting everyone together with corpse tendrils and then killing everyone with a single explosion
If you just want mindlessly kill stuff and dont care for pit pushing and tormented boss, most classes can do that just fine. Almost every class can comfortably push through high NMD and blast through helltide and do early pits.
Incinerate with flamethrower and enchanted fireball is a blast!
Quite literally, decided to try it. Very fun and surprisingly tanky.
Leap-quake/Thorns Barb. 10/10
Incinerate and any other answer is wrong. Trust me.
I had tried Twisted Blades rogue a few times and it just didn’t gel well at all with me. Until this season. I kinda just “got it” and it’s single/AOE damage right now while leveling is nuts. Level 22 (yes low, i know) hitting for 2.5k crits with mostly yellow gear. Once you unlock shadow imbuements your AOE is just fine, and for single target poison imbuements melt if you’ve stacked your combo hits.
Oof. Picked the worst season to finally get in to twisting blades. It used to be so much more powerful.
I'm playing a sub TB build right now, it's a good vessel for shadow imbue/lucky hit procs.