Mjolnirlol’s Meta Breaking Boulder Druid

Written by Jake “Mjolnirlol” Staab

My favorite band is…. The Rolling Stones

As great as that pun was, I am incredibly excited to bring you a build that is a bit different than what you're used to experiencing with the Druid class. Druid in general is a passion of mine and I wanted to try and find a way for Druids to be fun all while not following the typical norm of the current meta.

The Boulder Druid has been something that I have been working on before Season 1 got announced. With recent patches we have seen a buff to Boulder damage and with that, what a perfect time to try and get something out that’s fun to play and a bit different of a play style than your used to playing. My goal was to find something fun to play all while trying to break the meta or have something outside the meta that was fun and engaging to play. I guess you could say I’m killing two birds with one stone… ok I should probably stop.

Skill Tree:

So - let’s talk about the talent tree and skills. Below you will see both Talents and Skills. This indicates the difference between usable skill and passive/talent that is giving added damage based on the build itself.

Skill 1:

We take this down to Fierce Earth Spike for the +8% of Base Life as Fortify

Talent 1:

Take 3 into Heart of the Wild for the increase of Spirit

Talent 2:

Take 3 into Abundance for the x18% more spirit generation on basic skills.

Talent 3:

Take 3 into Predatory Instinct for the +6% increased Critical Strike Chance to Close enemies.

Talent 4:

Take 2 into Iron Fur for +6% Damage Reduction in Werebear

Skill 2:

Put 1 point into Poison Creeper

We will follow the tree on Poison Creeper to take Brutal Poison Creeper for the +20% Critical Strike Chance to enemies strangled by Poison Creeper.

Skill 3:

Take 5 points into Hurricane. This is all around great AOE damage while you are closed to enemies which you will be in a majority of situations.

We will follow Hurricane down and pick up Natural Hurricane for the 15% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

Skill 4:

The “spender” of this build and the key skill needed for this build to work. Take 5 points into boulder.

We will follow Boulder down to take Natural Boulder so that when you are Fortified by any amount, Boulder has an Increased Critical Strike Chance.

Talent 5:

Take 3 into Crushing Earth for x 15% increased damage to slowed, stunned, or immobilized enemies.

Talent 6:

Take 3 points into Safeguard. This will give you 6% Base Life as Fortify when any Earth Skill is a critical strike.

Talent 7:

Take 3 points into Stone Guard. When you have over 50% of Max Life as Fortify, your Earth Skills deal x 12% increased damage.

Talent 8:

Take 1 point into Neurotoxin. This is for the base 8% slow on enemies that are poisoned.

Talent 9:

Take 3 points into Envenom. Enemies that are poisoned will now take x 30% additional Critical Strike Damage.

Skill 5:

Take 1 point into Trample. This will be needed for movement as well as damage when we are using our Poison Creeper.

Talent 10:

Take 3 into Defiance. This will make all of our Earth Skills deal x 12% Increased Damage to Elites.

Talent 11:

Take 3 points into Natural Disaster. This makes our Earth Skills deal x 12% Increased Damage to Vulnerable Enemies.

Talent 12:

Take 3 points into Resonance. This makes our Earth/Hurricane Skills deal 6% Increased Damage. This bonus is TRIPLED if the next cast is either a Storm Skill or an Earth Skill after casting the latter on your next cast. For instance, If you casted Boulder and then casted Hurricane, Hurricane would now do 18% Increased Damage. If you casted Hurricane, it would make Boulder do 18% Increased Damage.

Skill 6:

Our last skill, we will be taking Grizzly Rage. This is especially important because when we use this, not only are we getting a damage bonus, but all of our Earth Skills now become available to cast while in Grizzly Rage!

Take Grizzly Rage all the way down to get Supreme Grizzly Rage. This is so we can gain 8% Base Life as Fortify per second while Grizzly Rage is active!

Finally, Talent 13:

We are going to take Earthen Might. We have options here to play with either Earthen Might or Nature’s Fury. Both are viable in this build.

Paragon Board:

Board 1:

Starter Board - Exploit Glyph

Board 2:

Earthen Devastation - Legendary Node - Tracker Glyph

Board 3:

Heightened Malice - Legendary Node - Spirit Glyph

Board 4:

Ancestral Guidance - Legendary Node - No Glyph

Board 5:

Constricting Tendrils - Legendary Node - Fang and Claw Glyph

Board 6:

Survival Instincts - Legendary Node - No Glyph

Legendary Aspects and where to put them:

With this build, we are hoping to get our hands on 2 Unique Items –

Our legendary aspects will be as follows (with the stats you want to find on the item):

Hands - Ballistic Aspect

Legs - Disobedience - 2x Royal Ruby

Boots - Stormshifter’s

Amulet - (w/ The Barber Socketed)

Ring 1 - Edgemaster’s (w/ Revenge Socketed)

Ring 2 - Crashstone (w/ Tempting Fate Socketed)

Main Hand Weapon - Royal Sapphire

Off-Hand Weapon - Royal Sapphire

Spirit Boons:

These spirit boons have been taken - as in my opinion - because they add the most utility to the Earth Boulder Bear Druid itself. With this we are getting +15% Base Life as Thorns, +5% Increased Critical Strike Chance, x30% Critical Strike Damage, Ultimate Skill extended by 25%, and a 10% chance to reduce the cooldown of our Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds when using a Nature Skill.

Deer:

Eagle:

Wolf:

Snake:

Builder’s Note:

Thank you for taking the time to check out my build. It’s not for everyone and may play a bit slower than other builds, but definitely is a contender for Druid purists out there and I find it really enjoyable. Please note that there are always small tweaks that can be made to squeak out more damage. As I find the ability to add more damage to the build, I will have an update to the build guide in the future, if we can find more damage. Again, really appreciate you taking the time to check out the build, and if you tested it for yourself, be sure to let me know how it plays in your opinion on Twitter by tagging @Mjolnirlol and @DiabloBuilds!

Skål! See you soon.

- Mjolnirlol