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Malignant Powers in Diablo 4 Season 1 give passive buffs for classes like the Druid, whose best builds become even stronger with these new abilities.
Four kinds of Malignant Hearts give your character passive powers in Diablo 4 Season 1, giving you the best opportunity to strengthen builds for any class in the game, including the Druid. The shape-shifting and magics of nature wielded by Druids gain new properties with Malignant buffs, giving you new ways to play. For each type of Heart, there is at least one power available for this class, with even more universal effects to explore.
Vicious Hearts provide offensive bonuses to your character, while Brutal Hearts offer defensive traits. Devious Hearts are used to gain utility powers, while Wrathful Hearts grant a “super” ability that cannot be defined as easily. Malignant Hearts act like Gems in Diablo 4 when you collect them after a Ritual of Binding, but most can only go into Infested Slots of the same color except for Wrathful Hearts, which can go anywhere.
10. The Dark Dance (Vicious)
The Dark Dance Malignant power causes your character to spend Life instead of Spirit in Diablo 4 on skills whenever you are above 60% Health. While this may seem risky at first, it should be noted that any skill cast through Life does 10-20% more damage than it would before, making this power a great way to increase your Druid’s damage. Since this class has natural bulk, it may be worth experimenting with this power.
9. The Calculated (Devious)
For those who love using the Ultimate abilities of the Druid in their build, The Calculated power helps your character Stun enemies after spending 150-200 Spirit. Many of this class’ passive abilities and skill upgrades give great benefits when foes are stunned, turning this Heart into an opportunity to trigger several effects at once. Druid builds in Diablo 4 have a much better chance at victory in the Fields of Hatred’s PvP with this power.
8. Prudent Heart (Brutal)
Not every Druid build has defense as a focus, making some Werewolf and elemental magic paths vulnerable to heavy damage from bosses in Diablo 4. The Prudent Heart power is excellent for making up for this weakness, making your character Immune for a short time after losing more than 20% Life in a single hit. Although this trait only occurs every 110 seconds, it may let you escape a bad situation or get a killing blow against a tough enemy.
7. The Barber (Wrathful)
The Barber Wrathful Heart can go into any color Infested Slot, making it a fantastic universal power for Druids that deal tons of damage to their targets. Critical Strikes and any subsequent damage is absorbed by your enemies briefly before erupting in a massive attack on every foe in the area. The faster you can inflict hits on Hell’s armies, the more powerful this ability can be since the stored damage increases by 10% per second.
6. The Malignant Pact (Wrathful)
One of the most straightforward powers in Diablo 4 comes from The Malignant Pact Wrathful Heart, which cycles between a new ability every 20 kills. The Vicious trait gives your character a 20% increased Attack Speed, while the Brutal effect generates a Barrier every 21 seconds to protect you. Finally, the Devious feature allows you to fully restore your Spirit every time you use a Core or Basic skill for a truly versatile power.​​​​​​​
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5. The Agitated Winds (Brutal)
The Cyclone Armor skill is improved with The Agitated Winds power, which automatically activates that defensive nature magic when 8–13 enemies are considered Close to your character. Even though this power only activates once every 10–20 seconds, being able to gain Damage Reduction against physical attacks instantly cannot be underestimated. Those looking to fight against the overwhelming hordes of Malignant Tunnels in Diablo 4 may want this power.
4. Revenge (Brutal)
The Brutal Heart called Revenge helps to suppress nearly 10-20% of all incoming damage before creating an explosion that damages all surrounding enemies whenever you use a Defensive Skill. Blood Howl, Cyclone Armor, Debilitating Roar, and Earthen Bulwark are all incredible abilities for various Druid builds already. The unique upgrade paths of these skills combined with nearly 250% amplified Fire damage could be an essential piece to your gear in Diablo 4.
3. Inexorable Force (Devious)
Out of the four Ultimate Skills available to the Druid, many struggle to deal with enemies that stay far away unless you have the Inexorable Force Heart equipped. Whenever one of your Ultimate abilities are active, up to 30-50 Distant enemies are pulled toward your character. Grizzly Rage, Cataclysm, and Lacerate, all benefit from this, making it so no one can escape your wrath while in forms that can deal over one billion damage with the right build.
2. The Unconstrained Beast (Wrathful)
Speaking of Ultimate skills in Diablo 4, The Unconstrained Beast Wrathful Heart causes your Druid to have a 60% chance to enter Grizzly Rage instantly when hit with Stun, Freeze, or Knock Down effects. Powerful Elite enemies and bosses typically can impose at least one of these conditions, making this power an incredible way to gain a free Ultimate for 3 seconds. Getting kills while in Grizzly Rage could also extend how long it lasts.​​​​​​​
1. The Moonrage (Vicious)
The Vicious Moonrage Heart power is truly the best for Druid, mainly because it supplies +3 Ranks to the Wolves skill, which summons wolf companions that attack enemies for you. These allies act much like the Necromancer’s Minions, albeit with only two most of the time. Upgrades to this skill can Fortify your character or increase the Attack Speed on these companions, which deal even more damage on enemies inflicted with certain conditions.​​​​​​​
TIP: One of the strongest builds for Druids in Diablo 4 is called the “Storm Wolf” build, which combines skills such as Wolves with other Werewolf traits and Nature Magic.
The Moonrage works extremely well with Druids because it gives your character a 5% chance to summon an additional Wolf companion every time you get a kill. This includes enemies in hordes that die super easily, like bats or spider hatchlings, so this could lead to a large pack of wolves that will fight for you. The ridiculous number of wolves you could summon through this Malignant power makes it the best for Druid builds in Diablo 4.
NOTE: Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
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