Regardless of what kind of druid build you make in Diablo 4, you must consider what kind of Key Passive you take eventually. Although they're all good in their own rights, some work better for highly specialized builds, and others work great if you combine certain types of skills.
Regardless, some Key Passives are undeniably better and more versatile, and they help make strong builds even better than before. Thankfully, refunding points in Diablo 4 and exchanging them for different skills is exceptionally easy and can be done so long as you have at least a few gold coins in your pouch.
6 Earthen Might
Earthen Might isn't bad by any means, but it's certainly not the best option, especially if you're trying to do a nature magic build. The Earthen Might Key Passive has a five percent chance to restore all of your Spirit and guarantee Critical Strikes for five seconds; this percent can increase by ten percent if you make a Critical Strike or if your target is stunned, immobilized, or knocked down.
The percentage of these events happening is incredibly low, even if you are repeatedly plowing through hoards of enemies. Where other nature-magic Key Passives seem to provide more benefit at a more noticeable rate, this one, unfortunately, sits at the bottom of the list.
5 Ursine Strength
Ursine's Strength is an alright passive, especially if you're doing a shifter build. Because your health is increased by 20 percent while in your Werebear form, and your damage is increased by 30 percent while you're healthy, this build strongly encourages druid characters to play as a tank.
However, this Key Passive has one critical flaw: while you're encouraged to be a tank because of how Werebears are built, you're simultaneously punished for being attacked a lot - especially if you're not right on top of your health and constantly healing. Once you're out of potions, you're left in the dark unless you use something like Blood Howl, but that's a Werewolf ability and, unfortunately, won't give you any benefits from the Ursine Strength skill Key Passive.
4 Perfect Storm
The Perfect Storm Key Passive makes your storm skills generate two Spirit and deal 20 percent more damage whenever your target is vulnerable, immobilized, or slowed. Considering that skills like Hurricane will almost certainly make any enemies in its range vulnerable, you're guaranteed 20 percent more damage while using storm skills.
Plus, with a guaranteed regular increase in Spirit generation, this druid Key Passive is reliable, and you'll likely get a lot of utility out of it. Really, the only downside to it is that it's restricted to storm abilities, which means that you'll have to be careful how you play and keep your distance during fights since you won't have as many of the tank abilities provided by the Werebear and Werewolf.
3 Lupine's Ferocity
If you're doing a pure werewolf build, then sure, Lupine's Ferocity is incredibly useful. In fact, it's arguably the best Key Passive that a werewolf-build druid can take in Diablo 4 because, with every sixth strike you make as a werewolf, you're guaranteed a critical hit with 60 percent increased damage.
It's still better than Ursine's Strength because the sixth attack will come sooner than you think. The Lupine's Ferocity Key Passive is exceptionally noticeable when you're going up against dungeon bosses and world bosses, and you're likely moving around so much and hacking away at enemies so quickly that you don't need the increased health that being a tank demands.
2 Bestial Rampage
Bestial Rampage gives you the best of both worlds if you're playing with a shifter build. The Bestial Rampage Key Passive will increase your attack speed by 20 percent for 15 seconds after you've been a Werewolf for about three seconds.
This means if you've been a Werebear for at least three seconds, you deal 20 percent increased damage for 15 seconds. Rather than leaning towards making you play either the tank Werebear or the speedy Werewolf, you're encouraged to mix and match skills. So if you play with the Werebear ultimate and have one or two Werewolf abilities equipped, you can experience this Key Passive at its fullest potential.
Yes, the percentages are technically lowered from the Ursine Strength and Lupine's Ferocity Key Passives, but only slightly. If you can't decide on which shifter form you like more or you enjoy mixing their skills, this is absolutely the Key Passive you need to take.
1 Nature's Fury
The Nature's Fury Key Passive gives you a 20 percent chance to trigger a free storm skill when using earth skills and a 20 percent chance to trigger a free earth skill when using storm skills. Although you might think that 20 percent is pretty low and thus not worth it with how often you end up in combat in situations where you're just endlessly attacking in Diablo 4, you'll notice the effects of Nature's Fury more often than not.
Even if you aren't opting for a nature magic-oriented build, you still have a chance to run across a legendary item with an aspect that will tag Werewolf abilities as storm skills and Werebear abilities as earth skills, allowing you to utilize this Key Passive instead of the ones oriented toward the shifting skills.
The free attacks with Nature's Fury are stronger than you'd expect, and you can even trigger them multiple times in a row, which means eliminating your enemies is exceptionally easy. Plus, it's more than likely that, regardless of your build, you're using at least one earth or storm skill.