Diablo 4: The Broken Earthquake Leap Build & Hot Splash Build – A Guide to Speed Farming the Pits

Jan-24-2025 PST Category: Diablo4
In the latest Diablo 4 update, earthquakes have become not just good, but completely broken. These builds are able to speed through Pits 90s and beyond, allowing you to clear dungeons effortlessly while having a ton of fun. What's even better? You can play both the Leapquake and Hot Splash builds with essentially the same gear, with only a few small changes. If you're looking to maximize your experience and potentially earn more Diablo 4 Gold along the way, mastering these builds is key. In this guide, we're going to break down both builds, covering everything you need to know—from how to spawn earthquakes to optimizing your gear, runes, and skill tree. Let's dive in!

How to Spawn Earthquakes: The Key to Your Build

Leapquake Build:

To start spawning earthquakes in the Leapquake version, you’ll need two key components:

1. Bull Kathos Aspect

This aspect grants you not just increased damage but also the ability to spawn earthquakes whenever you leap. And trust me, you're leaping a lot—it's pretty much your primary move.

2. Yul Rune + Tech Combination

By combining these, every time you press a cooldown (like Leap, Shout, etc.), you spawn an earthquake. This is how you stack earthquakes quickly, enabling massive damage.

3. Additionally, you can spawn smaller earthquakes when you use abilities like Overpower or Ground Stomp, but the earthquakes from these are a drop in the bucket compared to those generated by the two main methods.

Hot Splash Build:

For the Hot Splash build, earthquakes are spawned differently:

1. Tam Rune

This rune allows you to gain Offering every time you spam a core skill—specifically Hot in this case. The amount of earthquakes generated here is not as massive as in the Leapquake build, but the explosions are bigger.

2. Mantle of Mountains Fury

By slapping this on, the earthquakes will explode every time you hit them with Hot, and when they explode, so do your enemies.

Solving Leap Cooldown: How to Leap Non-Stop

One issue with the Leapquake build is the 20-second cooldown on Leap. But don't worry, we can reduce that cooldown by stacking a few key aspects:

1. Giant Strides Aspect

This aspect reduces the cooldown of Leap by up to 7 seconds. Now, we just need to focus on reducing the rest.

2. Leap Ranks & Cooldown Reduction

For this, you’ll want Temperings on your gear to reduce Leap’s cooldown even more. Specifically, look for Brawling Cooldown Reduction on your amulet and rings. And Tempering Leap Cooldown Reduction should be on your boots or amulet.

3. By combining these, you’ll have near-constant Leap uptime, allowing you to clear dungeons without pause.

The Gear Breakdown

Let’s talk about the gear you’ll need for both builds:

For the Leapquake Build:

1. Ugly Bastard Weapon

This weapon provides a massive DPS increase (up to 100%)—it’s broken and should be your go-to. You’ll also want to focus on Aggressive Resistance as your secondary stat.

2. Mantle of Mountains Fury

This piece boosts earthquake damage significantly (up to double damage). You’ll want to temper earthquake damage here for the best results.

3. Vement Brawlers Aspect

This aspect grants multiplicative damage that can be sustained permanently, plus it reduces the cooldown of your ultimate. It’s key to keeping up constant damage output.

4. Strength Stats

Focus on stacking Strength as high as possible. Strength increases your damage significantly, especially when combined with the Executioner Aspect.

5. Cool Down Reduction

Cooldown reduction is crucial for the Leapquake build, so make sure you’re stacking as much as possible. Don’t forget to get Leap Ranks and Cool Down Tempers to lower your Leap cooldown even further.

For the Hot Splash Build:

The Hot Splash build uses many of the same pieces of gear as the Leapquake build, but with a few tweaks:

1. Tam Rune

This is used instead of the Yul Rune for earthquake spawning. It’s more about consistent Offering generation rather than cooldown-heavy leaps.

2. Mantle of Mountains Fury

This is key for ensuring that your earthquakes explode on hit, dealing massive damage.

Skill Setup: Leapquake vs. Hot Splash

Leapquake Build:

· Leap – Your bread and butter for earthquake generation.

· Ground Stomp – This resets the cooldown of your ultimate. Make sure to hit enemies to reduce cooldowns!

· Call of the Ancients – Provides both damage and damage reduction. Always use this when available.

· Wrath of the Berserker – Offers even more damage, but make sure you spend Fury to stack the bonus.

· Triple Shout Combo – Rallying Cry for movement and Fortify, War Cry for damage, and Challenging Shout for survivability.

Hot Splash Build:

· Hot – Spam this to create offering and cause massive explosions.

· Ground Stomp – Use this in the same way as in Leapquake to reset your ultimate.

· Call of the Ancients – Same as before; it’s an excellent defensive and offensive tool.

· Shouts – Use them for defense and damage boost, keeping your earthquakes rolling.

The Paragon Board & Glyphs

1. Strength is Key – Aim to max out Strength on your Paragon board as it gives a huge damage bonus through the Executioner's Aspect.

2. Rumble Glyph – This is the best glyph for earthquake builds, as it provides a massive additive damage bonus for earthquakes.

3. Force of Nature & Blood Rage – Both help boost your damage, but Force of Nature requires a lot of Damage to Close to cap it out, while Blood Rage needs you to stack Damage While Berserking.

Playing the Build: How to Leap Like a Pro

The best part about this build? It’s incredibly easy to play! You’ll primarily be using Leap to spawn earthquakes on enemies, and with your cooldown reduction, you’ll be leaping constantly.

· Leaping Efficiency – Each earthquake lasts for 4 seconds, so don’t hang around longer than necessary. If the enemy will die within that time, just Leap, spawn your earthquakes, and move on to the next pack.

· Shout Combo – Use your shouts regularly to spawn earthquakes. A Triple Shout Wombo Combo can unleash six earthquakes at once, devastating everything in your path.

· Ground Stomp – This is used to reset your ultimate and keep those powerful Call of the Ancients up and running.

Conclusion

Both the Leapquake and Hot Splash builds are incredibly fun and ridiculously powerful in Diablo 4. Whether you want to zip through dungeons with non-stop leaping earthquakes or blow up enemies with fiery explosions, both playstyles are optimized for speed farming and maximum damage output. With the right gear, runes, and cooldown reduction, you'll be tearing through the toughest dungeons in Diablo 4 with ease. To get started, consider looking for cheap Diablo IV Items that can help you achieve the perfect gear setup. A great resource for this is MMOEXP, where you can find the items you need to enhance your builds. So, grab your gear, get your cooldowns sorted, and get ready to make the earth tremble beneath your feet! Good luck, and have fun with the new builds!