Experience the Lunar Awakening, a time-limited event amplifying Shrines in Diablo 4 Season 3.

Running from February 6th to the 20th, Lunar Shrines grant 50% XP per monster kill, a 30% movement speed boost, and an extra modifier beyond their usual effects. For instance, Lethal Shrines, in their Lunar New Year variant, provide a chance for instant enemy execution alongside critical strikes. Lunar-variant Shrines feature distinctive dragon skins for easy identification.

This guide delves into all Lunar additions and more.

Begin Participating In This Event By Initiating The Following Steps

Once the event is active, fast-travel to Ked Bardu and head to the northern section of town. There you'll meet Ying-Yue, who runs the Lunar Night Market, your main event hub for Lunar Awakening.

You can ask her about some interesting lore, check your Ancestral Favor reputation, and claim some sick rewards. There are 10 reputation levels to earn and 6 different Lunar-themed rewards to unlock.

The weapon skins for the event are the Lunar Scepter Wand, the Dragon's Courage Two-Handed Axe and the Moonshot Bow. If you're a fan of markings, there is a Dragon's Tapestry marking to unlock, as well as a Moon's Bounty mount trophy and the Moonborn Stallion mount.

Lunar Shrines are spread throughout Sanctuary, so just play as you normally would. You can find them in the overworld Vaults, Whisper bounties, and dungeons.

Speaking of dungeons, during the event, Nightmare Sigils have a chance to roll an Ancestor's Favor Dungeon Affix. This guarantees extra Shrines can spawn for that dungeon, and you will receive 10% bonus Glyph XP once complete.

Remember, you can only earn Ancestral Favor reputation while the Lunar Shrine effect is active, so make sure to rack up as many kills as you can before the time runs out.

What Other Shrine Powers Do We Have For The Event?

Lunar Awakening Shrines are enhanced versions of regular Shrines, offering bonus XP, increased movement speed, and all the familiar powers along with an additional ability. Here are some examples.

The Blast Wave Shrine maintains its usual periodic explosions but, with the Lunar New Year variant, it also scatters cluster bombs. The Channeling Shrine not only provides attack speed but also has a chance to reset cooldowns, making it potentially beneficial for various builds. Conduit becomes even more charged during the event, summoning more potent shocking strikes across the area. The Artillery Shrine, when activated, has the potential to summon a holy bomb, putting our demon adversaries in a tough spot this season. The Lethal Shrine introduces a chance to instantly execute enemies on hit, excluding Bosses. Empowered by the Greed Shrine, goblins spawn at the 25th and 50th kill milestones. Lastly, the Protection Shrine now reflects incoming damage throughout its duration.

Tips & Tricks For This Event

For the Lunar Awakening Event in Diablo 4 Season 3, you must master these 2 tips.

Tip 1: Lunar Celebrant Event Efficiency

Engage in the Lunar Celebrant local event for a classic monster-defense experience. Completing the Mastery objective triggers a bonus frenzy wave, making it more efficient than regular Shrines.

Tip 2: Lunar Affix Rewards And Reputation Grind

Earn bonus Glyph XP with Lunar Affix Nightmare Dungeon Sigils. Guaranteed Lunar Affix Nightmare Sigils in reputation reward tiers make the reputation grind self-reinforcing. Optimize efficiency by completing Whisper bounties parallel to events.

In summary, play Diablo 4 Season as you wish, reinforcing your preferred gameplay loop. Efficiently tackle Lunar events and dabble with Shrines for a rewarding experience.

Shrine Nuances

There are some interesting lesser-known nuances with the Shrines in Diablo 4 Season 3.

Protection Shrine: Reflection damage scales with Level and World Tier. Channeling Shrine: Enables frequent ability spam due to instant cooldowns; beneficial in specific situations. Lethal Shrine: Triggers Fear in monsters during execution, creating a unique and satisfying experience. Greed Shrine: Offers a 30% movement speed bonus, allowing for swift actions and decisions.

Explore these lesser-known nuances with Shrines for an enhanced and strategic gameplay experience in Diablo 4 Season 3.

How To Optimize Shrines & Rewards

Here are some tips on how you can optimize Shrines and get more rewards.

Strategic Shrine Activation

Slay demons swiftly to align with the pace of conversation.

Personally wait for a good monster density before popping a Shrine for optimal impact.

Event Mastery Objective Bonus

Miserly Spirits contribute as a bonus to the local event Mastery objective.

The focus is on maximizing player enjoyment through rapid monster shredding.

Nightmare Sigils & Ancestor's Favor Affix

Stockpiling Nightmare Sigils with Ancestor's Favor Affix is viable for post-event use.

Bonus Glyph XP remains on crafted Nightmare Dungeon Sigils even after the event concludes.

Persistent Rewards

Inspired by the popularity of Gileon's Brew from Midwinter Blight, rewards are designed to persist.

This encourages players to stockpile for future use, ensuring rewards endure beyond the event.

Go ahead and stockpile for doomsday.

Occultist, as an Ascendancy class, is mainly related to Explode construction in Path of Exile. The monster actually explodes and does considerable damage to nearby enemies. In POE 3.23, however, Occultist reaches new heights, thanks to the new Transfigured Gem: Penance Brand of Dissipation!

Here I’m going to share our build guide for Penance Brand of Dissipation Occultist! If you’re interested in creating this character, don’t miss this build guide!

Skill Itself

Our skill choice is Penance Brand of Dissipation. You create a brand, which will connect to an enemy and start collecting energy, dealing more and more damage per energy. When the maximum energy is 20, the brand will deal maximum damage until the end or the target dies and jumps to another target.

But to be honest, I don’t think the build will ever reach max stack because in Sanctum, most people will die after the first damage. Even the supreme boss will die after 2 seconds. But we can use the new Specters added to the game in this patch.

Specters And Other Minions

So why am I not using any Specters in Affliction League? Since I always try out some Uber Boss content, and Specters die easily on the map, it’s annoying to buy new ones every time. What’s more, if they weren’t in Sanctum, they were zero threat.

However, in Sanctum, the effect of Specters is completely different. So we use Specter, Perfect Spirit of Fortune. It will bring us Wrath Aura.

Another Specter is Perfect Hulking Miscreation. This gives us 20% of physical damage as bonus lightning damage. This is a big damage buff for this build.

To further increase our damage, we will use Animate Guardian in a basic setup, with Dying Breath as a weapon, which will give us more damage and also increase the aura effect used by Guardian.

Because we use Guardian’s Blessing, and select Haste Aura, we will move faster and cast spells faster.

We also use Leer Cast as a helmet, which also gives us more damage. Gruthkul’s Pelt acts as body armor, which will give him health regeneration. Southbound Gloves will also increase his maximum health.

To keep Specter and Animate Guardian at their best, we’ll use Convocation on left-click. This way they will transfer to us every few seconds and gain life regeneration.

How We Scale Damage Even More?

Because this build is focused on critical hit damage, we’ll be using a lot of unique items that will give us more and more damage.

But I want to talk more about body armor, Dialla’s Malefaction. We need 2 red sockets because red sockets increase the gem level by 2. We insert Penance Brand and Empower here.

Other sockets need to be green. In green slots, they will gain +30% quality. This is the biggest damage increase and is much better than gem levels.

With all this, our gemstones will have 50% quality and Penance Brand will also reach level 27.

We’re going to convert all damage to lightning, and then convert it to cold with Call of the Brotherhood. This is because we can deal with cold damage better than lightning damage. And we can also freeze enemies so we can reduce the risk of getting hit in Sanctum.

Since this build has such high cold damage, we can also use Heatshiver. Based on cold damage, we take additional fire damage. We also take more damage if we hit a frozen target.

Malachai’s Loop deals with more spell damage and also grants 2 additional Power Charges. We can also use Badge of the Brotherhood to increase our maximum Frenzy Charges to 10.

Also, we cannot ignore Ralakesh’s Impatience, which will give our character Power Charges. So all 10 Power and Frenzy Charges will be activated and it will also give us Endurance Charges.

Items

In this build we also use some unique items which will give us extra damage.

Weapon: Void Battery Helmet: Heatshiver Shield: Malachai’s Loop Body Armor: Dialla’s Malefaction Amulet: Badge of the Brotherhood Ring: Call of the Brotherhood Gloves: Pandemonium Hold Belt: Ambush Trap Boots: Ralakesh’s Impatience

Flask

Next, let’s take a look at some of the important flasks you’ll need in this build.

Divine Life Flask: Restores minion health. I’m not sure if our minions are strong enough to survive, so I just use it to play it safe. Silver Flask: Has cast speed. Quicksilver Flask: Has higher movement speed. Diamond Flask: Has critical damage for the duration of the effect. Taste of Hate Unique Flask: Deals extra cold damage. Passive Tree

Then I would like to highlight some key points from Penance Brand of Dissipation Occultist on Passive Tree, as well as some of the unique jewelry used.

Each Frenzy Charge deals with damage at 2% movement speed and penetrates elemental and all elemental resistances.

Watcher’s Eye takes additional physical damage as lightning damage while affected by Wrath. We get Wrath Aura from Specters, so it’s always active. And its movement skills have a good cooldown recovery rate when affected by Haste. This will give our Flame Dash a very short cooldown.

Militant Faith Timeless Jewel with carved to glorify a new faithful converted by high Templar Dominus. Note that we assign Inner Conviction here because it may convert the node you are using into a bad node.

Green Dream Viridian Jewel will give us extra cold damage.

Ascendancy

We use Occultist as Ascendancy.

First Lab: Void Beacon. This reduces the enemy’s cold resistance and they cannot regenerate health. Second Lab: Frigid Wake. You will deal with more cold damage and cannot be frozen and chilled. You also take less damage from frozen enemies. Third Lab: Forbidden Power. You gain additional energy and increase the area of effect and damage per energy. Last Lab: Vile Bastion. Each recent enemy kill by you or your minions restores 2% of Energy Shield per second, up to a maximum of 10% per second.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Penance Brand of Dissipation Occultist is one of the best builds in Path of Exile 3.23 in terms of bosses and maps. While this build feels clunky at first, it gets better later on, especially if you’re already equipped with everything mentioned in this build guide!

Finesse Shot and Controlled Sprint are both old meta on FC 24, so what is the new meta on FC 24? That’s exactly what we’re going to learn today. In this guide, we’ll take a look at 4 game-changing new meta Skill Moves. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Flair Nutmeg

First, there is a new Skill Move introduced at FC 24 this year, and that is Flair Nutmeg. Even at the highest levels of the game, Flair Nutmeg and Flair Nutmeg Pass are the most impactful weapons.

I’m talking about Pro vs Pro gameplay, but not many people are using it in their games. I rarely encounter players using Flair Nutmeg Pass. As a new meta-Skill Move, this is definitely worth learning.

Flair Nutmeg is a new 5-star skill in EA FC. This means you can only use it on players with a 5-star Skill Move. To get the most out of Flair Nutmeg, it is necessary to spend FC 24 Coins on explosive players such as Kylian Mbappé, Marcus Rashford, or Ousmane Dembélé.

In fact, executing Flair Nutmeg is actually pretty simple. All you have to do is hold down L1/LB and R1/RB, flick the right analog stick to cancel the movement and rush in the specified direction. While we recommend using Flair Nutmeg to get into the side areas, you can go wherever you want.

So what is Flair Nutmeg Pass? It’s best used on wings. While we’re doing Flair Nutmeg, I’m going to press X, which will cancel Nutmeg animation. Then I’ll pass the ball to the excellent players. It’s a game-changer!

When you go down the side, your opponent may expect you to go straight in this game, but you have to surprise it. At this moment, the best way to surprise him is to use Flair Nutmeg Pass. This way, you can take a clever shot when your opponent isn’t expecting it. Now you have a new weapon to use on Wings.

One way to defend against Flair Nutmeg is to take a few steps back and hold L2 in line with Skill Move to make a tackle. However, be careful with this strategy, as missed tackles can leave a lot of room for the opposing striker.

Inverted Trivela

Next on our list is Inverted Trivela. This Trivela technique involves hitting the ball with the outside of the foot, creating a turning effect. Use this technique during a match to surprise your opponents.

The goal is approached from that corner based on the player’s dominant foot. For example, if you are a right-footed football player, run towards the goal from the right side. Make sure to stay diagonal to the goal; otherwise, you won’t be able to get the shooting angle Trivela needs.

Before shooting, press and hold L2/LT button on your gamepad. Aim for the far post and keep shooting.

The far post detail is crucial here. The goal is to use the outside of your foot to shoot the ball into a corner that the goalkeeper cannot reach. So, no matter which corner you attack from, aim in the opposite direction of the goalkeeper on your gamepad.

Shooting ability is also something to pay attention to. It is crucial to adjust the power based on the distance from the target. Failure to do so could result in a shot being deflected or leaving it too easy for the goalkeeper to catch the ball.

Crossing

Next we have Crossing. Crossing is the best trick we’ve seen since FIFA 19. And FC 24 Crossing is crazy and you really need to master it. Even at the highest levels of play, it’s the most threatening skill.

Classic Crossing in EA FC 24 is one of the best ways to get the ball into the box, especially when the forward is in a suitable position. However, it is important not to use too much force when passing the ball, lest the ball fly over the player’s head. Before you pass the ball, make sure your attacker is ready to receive the ball and shoot to complete the move.

There are many players in the game who can fill this role for you. As you can see, we have Ronaldo as RF and RAM, and what you want to do is you want to use L1 Square Cross. You can use it once you are in and around the area, or even inside the box. It will increase the force by 1 to 1.5 bars, making it more difficult for the goalkeeper to catch crosses.

Player Lock Fake

The last one on the list is Player Lock Fake. Player Lock Fake is a game-changing move that you really need to master.

So how to implement Player Lock? You just need to hold down L3 and R3, then flick the right stick toward the player. So how do you fake it? You can cancel it by pressing R3 and L3 again.

Just like you can see in the example. If you’re running down the wing and a player moves inside. After you do this, most opponents will try to track the run. Then you just cancel it and choose another option directly. It’s all about finding space, utilizing space and creating space.

That’s it for the four new meta Skill Moves we’re talking about here: Flair Nutmeg Pass, Inverted Trivela, Crossing and Player Lock Fake. These are powerful skills that can change the rules of the game, so come and try them out!

Talking about defending in FC 24, there are 3 types of defending, which are Legacy, Tactical, and Advanced Defending. However, you can’t use Legacy Defending in competitive mode, meaning you can’t use it to play online games. 

So, if you want to learn how to defend in FC 24, Tactical and Advanced Defending is what you need to learn.

Why Choose To Use Tactical & Advanced Defending?

In Legacy Defending, by holding X, your player will press the ball holder. 

But that’s not how it works in Tactical and Advanced Defending. This is what will happen if you hold X or A to contain in Tactical and Advanced Defending: observe the behavior of the player with the indicator. 

Instead of the player standing in front of the attacker and challenging him, he will just run beside him. That means, in Tactical and Advanced Defending, you need to be the one to control the behavior of your defenders.

Jockeying

Jockeying is crucial to control the behavior of your players when defending. 

Whenever your opponent is approaching, instead of holding X or A to press the attacker, what you need to do is hold L2 or LT button. By holding the L2 or LT button, your player will stand in a good shape to defend. 

Then, use your left analog to move your player while holding the L2 or LT button.

Whenever you’re using the Jockey, your first objective is to deny him of free passage. Your second objective is to place yourself in a position to block any shot he plays. Your third objective is to wait for him to try and dribble past you. But since you’re standing in front of him, you will win the ball. 

The last thing is to wait for the perfect time to use Stand Tackle to win the ball.

Stand Tackle

To use Stand Tackle in Tactical or Advanced Defending, press the button you used to shoot. 

You can also use Hard Stand Tackle. This is more effective than a normal Stand Tackle. Hold R1 or RB, then press Circle to use this. 

Whenever you want to make the tackle, make sure it’s from forward to avoid any foul. If you tackle from behind, you will give away a free kick or penalty inside the box. 

Also, get the timing right because if you miss a tackle, it won’t be easy to recover with that player.

How To Use Speed Jockey?

Now, let’s go back to Jockey and talk about how to use Speed Jockey and when to use it. 

Once you hold L2 or LT to activate your Jockey, your player’s speed will reduce. So, if the attacker is moving fast in front of you, you need to use the Speed Jockey to keep up with him. 

To perform this, hold your Sprint button together with the Jockey button. There are some situations in which your opponent will get past you while using Jockey. 

Then, you need to take your hands off the Jockey button and let your player run at full speed to get the ball. To do this, use your left analog and Sprint button only to control your player.

How To Keep A Good Defensive Structure?

Let’s talk about how to keep a good defensive structure when playing the game. 

If you use all the defensive techniques very well but can’t keep a good structure when defending, it won’t be enough. That is why I’m going to teach you how to avoid those common mistakes that always make your defense slack.

Firstly, whenever your opponent is attacking, don’t ever press with any one of your 2 center backs. Pressing with either one of them will destroy your defensive shape. If your opponent is a good attacker, he will utilize the opportunity you gave him.

To keep a good defensive shape, your right back, left back, and 2 center backs should be intact with no cursor on them. If you rush out to press with one of your center backs with no 100% guarantee of winning the ball back, you will leave your defense vulnerable. 

It’s not forbidden to switch to your center backs. You can switch to your center back to anticipate and stop your opponent’s movement. Once I see his opponent making a run, I switch to the center back to stop the run. The difference here is that I switch to my center back to drop back. The other one is that I switch to my center back to press. You should know the difference and avoid making mistakes.

Anytime your opponent is attacking, press with your midfielders or any other players except the center back. Pressing with your midfielders will keep your defensive shape, and your opponents will find it hard to go through. 

Of course, if you learn these tips and know how to properly invest your FC 24 Coins in your players, winning various games easily will be a piece of cake for you!

Greetings and welcome to the latest guide for WoW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 2, with a primary emphasis on the Feral Druid within PvP.

I've labeled it as speculation due to the uncertainty surrounding the runes scheduled for the upcoming phase. Thus, our discussion will revolve around the runes speculated on forums and the essential abilities that Feral Druids urgently require for improved playability in PvP.

Feral Druid In Phase 1

Phase 1 was and still is very rough and unfair for Feral when it comes to PvP. We are forced to play every kind of hybrid build with Cat Form kiting and Sunfire spams. But that’s not the cat we want. I mean, we are not even using Feral abilities and Feral talents, so we can’t really consider it as a Feral. On the other side, if you try to use cat abilities as the main source of DPS, we still run the balance tree to get the clarity and pray for it to proc for the instant Shred because it’s unusable with 60 energy and not so good DPS. The only good thing is the Feral talent that allows us to refresh 40 energy instantly whenever we shape-shift, but that’s also limited because of mana problems.

Our other spells are Rake and Shred. Rake has so low DPS even with Savage Roar and Mangle bleed buff, and it costs the same as Mangle but does less DPS. Feral is almost made as a one-ability class in this phase, which I can’t accept.

But before we jump into runes’ prediction and the things we hope we get in the next phase, let’s talk about abilities and talents.

New Abilities

At Level 40, there is some fantastic news for new abilities. We are finally getting our stealth opener ability, Pounce. So, we don’t walk cluelessly around in stealth just to hit a Mangle. Pounce allows us to hit 1 free ability, get 2 combo points, and hit a couple of auto attacks while our target is still stunned. However, we still have energy issues.

Another opener ability we got between Levels 20 and 40 is Ravage, which actually deals with some nice damage but costs 60 energy and doesn’t stun the target. So, we need Pounce to get actual opening damage with these 2 different abilities. Having in mind that with Pounce, we deal with a couple of auto attacks while the target is stunned.

Next, the brand-new ability is finally another combo point finisher called Ferocious Bite. It deals instant damage, unlike Rip, which deals damage over time. However, the use of these 2 is situational, but Rip still remains the best DPS finisher with numbers.

But it’s not always about the numbers in PvP. New levels don’t bring us just attacking potential news but also defensive ones. At Level 40, we are getting Dire Bear Form and Frenzied Regeneration, which boosts our defensive capabilities a lot. A Level 40 Druid with proper PvP items and the talent Survival of the Fittest had some insane HP, like 4,500 health and about 40% to 50% reduced damage. And when we add Frenzied Regeneration on top of that, that makes Druids insanely hard to kill in Phase 2 in Bear Form.

Next to offensive and defensive capabilities, we also have a Cat Form Dash and Travel Form so we can actually close the gap with enemies or kite them and heal. But wait, a lot of shape-shifting also requires a lot of manas. But there is also a solution for that. We are getting innervate at Level 40, which regens our mana on some insane scales, so we can actually shape-shift and heal in the middle of the fight.

These abilities and possibilities bring Feral Druid surely onto another level when it comes to PvP. We are not a one-ability spec anymore.

New Talents

For talents, we can finally spend our points where they belong - in a Feral tree. Some of the important and matchable talents would be Sharpened Claws, which increases our crit chance in Cat Form by 6%, and Blood Frenzy, which adds another combo point whenever we make a Critical Strike with an ability. This is one of the game-changers and the start of the better times that will come for Feral Druids.

On top of that, this talent will make Druids actually stack agility instead of strength because now we have direct advantages for our Critical Strike, which wasn’t the case in Phase 1. Strength still gives us 2 points of attack power, while Agility gives us 1 point and gives us bonus armor, dodge, and crit. For every 20 points of Agility, we get 1% of critical chance.

The next important talent we are getting is Improved Shred, which reduces its cost by 11 energy. And by the time we hit level 40, we will have a Level 3 Shred with some increased damage, plus a 30% bonus scale from Mangle bleed effect. So prepare yourself in case these crits.

Other mentions would be Savage Fury, which finally boosts our Rake damage and will probably make it worth with Savage Roar and Mangle bonus, like in Phase 1, where damage sucked hard. But this talent also increases the Claw damage, which means our Mangle is getting buffed once again for the same energy cost.

There are also Predatory Strikes and Heart of the Wild for Faerie Fire (Feral), and even Feral Aggres sion in case we decide to go for Ferocious Bite damage.

Rune's Prediction

As I mentioned because there are a lot of variations we can try, and all that still depends on runes we are actually getting in Phase 2. And with runes being mentioned, let’s see what we had on the runes’ wishlist: Eclipse, Berserk and Tree of Life. So, they are more or less aiming for each spec to have their ultimate rune. These 3 would be surely the game-changers in both PvP and PvE.

Berserk would surely make a big difference, especially in PvP, where we could hit 5, 6, or 7 Mangles in a row, which on this damage scale would be probably absurd. While in PvE, Berserk is already decent with DPS, so getting this ability would be a blast. But I don’t think we are getting Berserk in this phase. I think that’s an ability saved for later phases.

Things We Need

Still, it’s not impossible because we don’t know what runes other specs are getting. So, I would rather talk about realistic things that Feral lacks at the moment and the runes that would be nice to get for a much better experience in PvP.

The first thing that comes to my mind, thinking about PvP and PvE, is a Tiger’s Fury. This ability is completely useless at the moment. With a 30 energy cost, this energy cost should be zero, or even better for Feral, would be something like a talent from the Cat called King of the Jungle to make our Tiger’s Fury restore 20, 30, or 40 energy when used and keep the ability damage bonus. That would be a blast in both PvP and PvE, especially in PvP because now we got Pounce opener, and this would lead to instant 3 to 4 combo points in the opener without our enemy moving at all.

While we still talk about offensive runes, I have to mention Primal Gore. This one would be amazing, but I think it’s less likely to happen, and we would probably need to sacrifice one of the other PvP runes we are talking about now if we want to use it. Probably, this one would be used much more in PvE.

The next game-changing rune for PvP would surely be Predatory Strikes. With 5 combo points, we get an instant ability, which we can use either for Entangling Roots to kite or instant healing like Healing Touch. This rune would improve survivability and stability in fights, so we don’t need to constantly shift into Travel Form and waste tons of mana on shape-shifting. I don’t even think this is something unfair when I compare it to the Priest survival ability and damage in Phase 1, which is insane.

And the last thing Feral Druid needs is some kind of slow to control the fight and make Shreds easier to land. A perfect solution could be Infected Wounds with a 50% movement speed reduction debuff from Mangle. But this one wouldn’t be a game-changer to actually waste 1 whole rune on this. For example, a combination of 70% from agility into healing done and a 50% slow on Mangle should be a nice combination for just 1 rune, which would add much more stability in our fights.

Something that could also be considered adding in Phase 2, for example, Apex Predator’s Craving, where our Rip has a chance to proc Ferocious Bite. Because I feel that Ferocious Bite won’t be used much since we have so much bonus bleed damage, and Rip just outperforms it for pure numbers. This free Ferocious Bite damage doesn’t need to be at maximum 5 combo points.

Leveling with Druid has never been better. In Diablo 4 Season 3, we managed to combine poison with lightning to create one of the best hybrid builds that lets you level with ease. This build has insane AOE damage, raining lightning from the sky continuously, all the while spreading poison, which infects the entire screen.

Unlike other early-level Druid builds, this one has absolutely no issue with Spirit, as we have 2 skills that instantly give us large chunks of spirit, again and again. There are absolutely no items or RNG aspects that are required for the build. Everything is obtained from the Codex or very early in the seasonal quest line.

How It Works

If you have zero or low amounts of spirit, the first 2 skills you want to use are Blood Howl and Trample. Blood Howl provides you with 20% Health instantly, and then, thanks to Innate Blood Howl, you also gain a chunk of spirit. Trample is a great movement tool and good for burst damage, but thanks to Savage Trample, it now also provides a large amount of spirit on the cast.

The first attack you want to use in a pack of enemies is Rabies, which spreads poisoning damage to them. This season, we also have the Virulent Aspect, which is unlocked from the very first chapter of the season and will cause your Rabies cooldown to significantly lessen, which means you can use Rabies more often, and that is absolutely huge for that damage boost.

With Envenom, you’ll deal much larger crits against enemies that are poisoned, and thanks to Neurotoxin, any poisoned enemies are slow, which is important because Nature’s Reach, another passive, causes you to deal double the damage bonus against slowed enemies.

Poison Creeper is another ability you want to pop early on, as it immobilizes enemies, meaning Nature’s Reach is active, and thanks to Brutal Poison Creeper, your Critical Strike Chance goes up by a whopping 20%. Now, you can use your Lightning Storm ability, which can cause massive crits.

With the combination of abilities and passive stacking, clearing out large enemy packs will be a breeze. Thanks to Enhanced Blood Howl, once you start killing enormous packs of enemies, Blood Howl’s cooldown will be significantly reduced, and then you should use Blood Howl to constantly get your spirit and health back whenever it’s off cooldown.

If Trample and Blood Howl are on cooldown and you need Spirit, then we can use our Wind Shear basic attack, which is the best basic attack for Druid because it causes enemies to become vulnerable and increases your movement speed, which makes Druid much more efficient at speed leveling.

To summarize, use your spirit generators, then pop Rabies and Poison Creeper whenever off cooldown, then spam Lightning Storm. Then, pop your spirit generators again whenever they’re off cooldown. And if they’re on cooldown, you need to chuck in a few Wind Shears for that spirit.

The same rotation applies to bosses. This build may not have the best single-target boss damage, but because of the constant healing, you’re not going to struggle at all. It’ll just take slightly longer than some of the other classes out there.

Skill Tree

So, let’s go over the skill tree in more detail. The priority when you’re leveling is to unlock a new skill on the toolbar rather than upgrading an already existing ability, and some of the earlier passive packs we actually get later on as we’re leveling. So, put one point into Wind Shear, which is our main spirit generator, and then one point into Enhanced Wind Shear and Fierce Wind Shear.

1 point into Lightning Storm, 1 point into Enhanced Lightning Storm, and then 1 point into Primal Lightning Storm, so we can immobilize enemies and take advantage of the several damage boosts. This build provides. You’ll want to max out Lightning Storm to 5 out of 5 ranks pretty quickly, as it’s your main DPS option. Along with unlocking new skills, side by side, unlock Blood Howl, along with Enhanced and Innate Blood Howl as soon as possible, so you can get healing and spirit more efficiently.

Then go for Poison Creeper, alongside Enhanced and Brutal Poison Creeper. Once Lightning Storm is 5 out of 5, put 1 point into Rabies, then go and put 1 point into Trample, which will help with mobility and burst damage. 1 point into Enhanced Trample and Savage Trample so you can then have another ability which generates spirits.

Then go back and get Enhanced and Natural Rabies, which will make the skill much more efficient. Eventually, you’ll want to get Rabies to 5 out of 5. Now, the rest of the skill tree focuses on passives. Put 1 point into Neurotoxin, so you can put 3 points into Envenom, 3 points into Nature’s Reach for more damage against crowd-controlled enemies, 3 points into Defiance for more damage against elites, 3 points into Circle of Life for constant healing whenever you cast Lightning Storm or Wind Shear.

Thanks to Circle of Life, whenever we cast Lightning Storm, we gain back even more healing. So just combined with Blood Howl, you’ll never need to pop a potion. All this healing is great because it means we can use our key passive, Ursine Strength, and deal 25% increased damage whenever we have more than 80% Health, which seems to be nearly all the time, thanks to the constant healing.

Put 3 points into Natural Disaster, one point into Heart of the Wild, so you can put 3 points into Wild Impulses, and 3 points into Abundance. 3 points into Predatory Instinct for more Critical Strike chance, and finally, 1 point into Elemental Exposure and 1 point into Charged Atmosphere, so you can put 3 points into Electric Shock, which can further increase damage against immobilized enemies.

Aspects

Let’s go over the aspects I recommend while leveling. Every single aspect comes from the codex or seasonal quest line early on, so you aren’t at the mercy of RNG. For offensive aspects, Edgemaster's Aspect is good at increasing damage based on how much spirit you have when you cast Lightning Storm. Aspect of Inner Calm boosts damage for each second you standstill, which is because you’re channeling Lightning Storm and getting constant healing, is very much possible.

Shepherd’s Aspect increases your damage by 6% for each companion. Poison Creeper is a companion, so that does count for that little boost. Nighthowler's Aspect boosts Critical Strike chance whenever you use Blood Howl. For Utility or resource aspects, the Virulent Aspect, as I mentioned before, is very good as it reduces Rabies cooldown as it spreads.

And then, Aspect of the Umbal is another one I’d recommend to maybe put on one of your rings, as it will boost spirit generation quite a bit, as we constantly slow or immobilize enemies with this build, which all counts as crowd control. There are no defensive aspects that are a requirement, but Aspect of Disobedience to boost armor and Aspect of Might for easy damage reduction are beneficial aspects. But trust me, you won’t need these because of the constant healing the build provides.

There’s not much to say for gear. You’re going to be constantly out leveling gear, so keep on replacing it. This especially applies to your weapon, which you want the highest GPS weapon for.

Seneshcal Construct

If you’re playing on the seasonal realm, you’ll have the Seneshcal Construct. There are obviously some very strong legendary and unique stones, but these are dropped much later on in the game, so you won’t encounter a lot of them early on while leveling.

Early on, for leveling, I found the Utility Aspects more useful. Reconstruct helps even more with healing and survivability, while Protect gives you a barrier on top to help with survivability. If you don’t have these, then an attacking skill with Poison support can help to poison more enemies and apply slow to them through Neurotoxin. You’ll deal more damage efficiently. Support boosts Critical Strike Chance even more, and Slowing support adds even more slow to the mix.

If you do have Arcing support alongside an attack, you can use Resource support. You can gain back massive amounts of spirit. Unfortunately, I don’t have this combo unlocked, but if you do, by chance, get these stones, do use them, as that will help your spirit generation a lot. Have a play around with the combinations. There are some useful ones, but don’t get caught up too much on this while leveling. Most of the power from this comes from the endgame.

So there you have it, my Poison Lightning Hybrid build for Level 1 to 50. It’s faster, stronger, and just better than all previous Druid leveling builds, and you’ll be level 50 in no time.