Baldur’s Gate 3 will have you create a party of 4 adventurers in this D&D video game adaptation. Each of these characters will need to handle different roles in different situations. This includes providing valuable parts in combat but also handling skill checks outside of combat. Always have someone ready to cover an aspect of the game, lest you find yourself in an undesirable position.

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Out of the many different classes available in the game, the Druid offers a lot of versatility thanks to their ability to wild shape into various creatures. These forms allow you to change up how you approach many of the fights in the game, such as turning into a bear to control aggro or a spider to web up your enemies. They also offer ways to handle non-combat encounters, such as turning into a cat and just strolling past a would-be hostile. Here's what you need to know in order to build the best Druid possible.

Updated by Chad Thesen on August 21, 2023: This guide has been updated to feature a new section on the choices you should be making while leveling up your Druid for the Circle of the Land subclass. This includes all the choices you make at each level up and what pieces of gear you should go out and claim when at each of these levels to keep your performance high.

Best Druid Ability Distribution

A Druid’s bread and butter is Wisdom. It is what fuels their spells and how they discover new things about the world around them. Do not worry about trying to figure out puzzles or reading through many books. Leave that to the character handling all the Intelligence roles. You can also leave all the talking to the character with the highest Charisma.

Your role as a Druid will be to maximize your Wisdom to make your spells as potent as they can be and to have a really high perception check. You will not need to put any points into Strength or Dexterity since you are able to change these stats when you Wild Shape.

• Primary Abilities (Max these out): Wisdom and Constitution
• Secondary Abilities: Dexterity and Strength
• Dump Abilities (Ignore These): Intelligence and Charisma

Best Race For The Druid

There are a few good candidates for the Druid, but when you want to optimize them, the best result is Wood Elf. This race will give you a boost to your primary Ability, Wisdom. Their base speed is longer than the normal amount available to most races, and they have Darkvision. You will also have proficiency in both Perception and Stealth. Stealth is a skill not normally accessible to the Druid, making it a great pickup. As an elf, you are harder to Charm and immune to being put to sleep by magical means.

Alternative Race Option

Lightfoot Halflings and Gold Dwarves are both great picks. Lightfoot Halflings do not offer a Wisdom increase, which might make one weary of missing their target roll by 1. However, the odds are still in your favor, thanks to Lucky. This lets you reroll a skill check, attack roll, and saving throw if the result is a 1. They also offer Stealth Proficiency but do not get all the other benefits that come with being an elf. Dwarves, like elves, have Darkvision, which is always great. They also have higher than average health to survive a Rogue heavy-hitting attack. Finally, they give that well-received +1 to their Wisdom to help you max it out as early as possible.

Best Skills And Background For The Druid

Folk Hero will give you proficiency in two skills, Survival and Animal Handling, both of which use Wisdom as their Ability along with your Perception from being an Elf. That brings the total up to 3 out of 5 Wisdom skills covered. As a Druid, you can take both of the remaining skills at creation, Medicine, and Insight. Your Druid now covers all 5 of these skills and is a very valuable member of the team.

Alternative Background Options

Outlander is an option that will grant you proficiency in Survival and Athletics, which can be useful if you are using Athletics in a Wild Shape that uses high Strength.

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Best Subclass For The Druid

Circle of the Moon will let you have more Wild Shape options, and you can use Wild Shape as a Bonus Action rather than using your Action. These options come with a lot more “oomf,” including the very infamous Bear. Wild Shape will let you fill many different roles as they come up. The bear, and later elephant, will be great for taking up the frontline in combat. A badger has Burrow, which is like having flight and invisibility at the same time. Spiders are great at stunning and being stealthy. This lets you back up many of your allies in different ways.

If your HP should drop to zero while Wild Shaped, you can just Wild Shape again since you can do it multiple times per long rest. Each time you wild shape, you get the full HP of that Shape to act like a meat shield for your own HP. If you are on your last Wild Shape, you can use Lunar Mend to heal yourself by consuming Spell Slots.

What Do The Other Sub-classes Offer?

Circle of Spores is a great combat option, giving you a lot more damage output without needing to Wild Shape. In a party that has many backup roles, this lets you be more versatile, but for a party where each character is playing a specific role, this one does not measure up.

Circle of the Land may be the best option for beginners, as it lets them regain spell slots and fill the role of a dedicated healer much more efficiently, while Circle of the Moon adds the ability to swap between being a heavy damage dealer that turns into a healer when the role is required. Circle of the Land also offers some Wild Shape options, but you will need to expend an Action rather than just a Bonus Action to do so. This can slow things down in combat, so be mindful.

Best Feats For The Druid

You will only get two feats for this build since you will be multi-classing. Both of these feats will go to Ability Improvement to get your Wisdom up to 20.

You will be a barBEARian. Druids cannot cast spells while Wild Shaped, but they can still use the Barabian’s Rage feature. This will give them increased damage and make them resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. This means you will be spending more turns Wild Shaped thanks to how much longer it will take to get your Shape's HP down to 0. They will also have an Advantage on their Strength checks and saving throws. The level cap for the game is 12, so you should first take 2 levels in Druid, then 1 level in Barbarian, and the rest in Druid.

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Best Spells For The Druids

Druids come with a lot of versatile spells, even at low-level; some with a focus on damage, some utility, and some offer both at the same time. Below are some really useful ones to have in your arsenal.

Best Party Composition For The Druid

With the Druid covering Wisdom skills and checks and having the option to be a healer if the party needs it, this gives building around it a lot of combat potential. Make a dedicated Evocation Wizard to handle big spells and Intelligence skill coverage. A Paladin can take up the frontline and be the group’s Face for conversations. A Paladin uses their Charisma to cast spells and can keep a spell slot ready if they can heal, which will let the Druid stay in their Wild Shape for longer.

All that is left is someone sneaky. This can be a Rogue or a Ranger that is proficient with thieves’ tools. Their role will be to handle traps, pick locks, and deal damage from a safe distance while the Paladin and Wild-Shaped Raging Druid handle the frontline.

The Druid In Combat

Both your Combat Wild Shape and Rage require a Bonus Action, so it is best to use your Wild Shape before the start of an encounter. This allows you to be ready to rage on your first turn. This will give your Combat Wild Shape the most attack damage and damage reduction from the beginning of the encounter.

If an ally is heavily wounded and needs to be healed, a reserve healer, such as a Paladin, can heal them to allow you to stay Wild Shaped. You cannot cast spells while Wild Shaped, so if you burn through all your Wild Shape forms without using Lunar Mend, you will be able to pour on some spell damage to help finish off any stragglers, with the rest of your party also pouring on the damage.

The Druid Outside Of Combat

Druids have a lot of great utility spells to help the group, but a major selling point is how well they cover all 5 Wisdom Skills. This lets them always roll Perception checks to find objects, Medicine checks if an ally is ill, and Animal Handling for interactions with beasts, along with Insight and Survival. Druids cover a lot of ground both in and out of combat. Before an ally attempts to do something, use Guidance on them to help out on the roll, along with Enhance Ability for the really important ones.

Circle Of The Moon Leveling Choices

Druids can go down one of many different subclass routes. One will make them much more spell-caster-orientated, and others will have them focus on specific ways of playing. Circle of the Moon is all about Combat Wild Shapes.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose for character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose for character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Cantrips: A lot of guides for the Druid explain how great Shillelagh is. However, the Circle of the Moon gets very little from it. Your Combat Wild Shape is how you deal damage and deal with situations. Your spells and cantrips should focus more on utility for the group as a whole. Let the Fighters and Paladins handle using strong weapons. Thorn whip lets you pull things closer, and Guidance lets your allies have a much easier time rolling against hard challenges.
• Spells: You want a lot of utility and not be a dedicated healer at all times. Goodberry lets you create several berries you can give to your allies, so they can heal themselves. If an ally's health plummets, you can revert out of your Wild Shape to use Healing Word at a distance. Faerie Fire is an instance where you will not Wild Shape and instead concentrate on this spell for your allies' benefit. Heat Metal will deal a lot of damage so long as the target refuses to part with what you are causing damage through.
• Subclass: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Barbarian: You can use the Rage feature of the Barbarian class while in your Wild Shape. Getting 1 level in this after you get your Combat Wild Shape will allow you to be a raging bear, and then the rest of your levels in Druid will add more Wild Shape options to your arsenal.
• Staff of Crones: This is a free cast of Ray of Sickness for each long rest you make. This can be found in the Hag's Treasure room in the Sunlit Wetlands.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you close the gap on your targets. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village, which you will need to lockpick.
• Crusher's Ring: You can get this ring from Novice Crusher in the goblin village; how you choose to do that is up to you. This ring gives you +3 to your movement.
• Absolution's Talisman: When your health is below 25%, hitting targets lets you heal 1d8. This means you will stay in your Wild Shape for longer and stretch out the value of each use. This can be looted from True Soul Guts.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.

Circle Of The Spore Leveling Choices

Druids that go with Circle of Spores will have a lot more combat potential without the need for their Wild Shape feature. This allows them to always have access to their spell-casting options while contributing to combat. They have a very nice combo of using Halo of Spores after using their Action for Symbiotic Entity.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose for character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose for character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Cantrips: Thorn whip lets you pull things closer, and Guidance lets your allies have a much easier time rolling against hard challenges. As a Circle of Spires Druid, you will gain the Chill Touch cantrip. This will be your go-to damage-dealing option, and it gives Undead creatures Disadvantage.
• Spells: You want a lot of utility and not be a dedicated healer at all times. Goodberry lets you create several berries you can give to your allies, so they can heal themselves. If an ally's health plummets, you can revert out of your Wild Shape to use Healing Word at a distance. If you have another healer on the team, you can swap out Goodberry if you feel it is not needed. Faerie Fire is an instance where you will not Wild Shape and instead concentrate on this spell for your allies' benefit. Heat Metal will deal a lot of damage so long as the target refuses to part with what you are causing damage through. Detect Thoughts and Animate Dead are both unique options from the Circle of Spores spells list. These will add a lot of utility. Blight and Cloud Kill are amazing damage spells for this subclass.
• Subclass: This is the Subclass you should choose when given the option to pick one.
• Staff of Crones: This is a free cast of Ray of Sickness for each long rest you make. This can be found in the Hag's Treasure room in the Sunlit Wetlands.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you close the gap on your targets. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village, which you will need to lockpick.
• Crusher's Ring: You can get this ring from Novice Crusher in the goblin village; how you choose to do that is up to you. This ring gives you +3 to your movement.
• Absolution's Talisman: When your health is below 25%, hitting targets lets you heal 1d8. This means you will stay in your Wild Shape for longer and stretch out the value of each use. This can be looted from True Soul Guts.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels.

Circle Of The Land Leveling Choices

Both Circle of the Moon and Circle of Spores offer their own ways of being powerful in combat. Circle of the Moon however aims to be more versatile thanks to being very robust in the spellcasting department. While they can be built into almost any specific role, they can also be built to be extremely versatile to cover a very broad range of situations. This makes them one of the best Utility Caster options.

• Race: This is the race you should choose at character creation.
• Background: This is the Background you should choose for character creation.
• Skills: These are the skills you should choose for character creation to cover what your Background does not.
• Cantrips: Thorn whip lets you pull things closer, and Guidance lets your allies have a much easier time rolling against hard challenges.
• Subclass: Circle of the land will add a lot of extra prepared spells depending on the type of land you choose. After a lot of research and comparing various situations the game has included. The two that stand out the most are Mountain and Underdark. Both offer great versatility and outclass all other options.
• Bonus Cantrip: Circle of the Land lets you take one more cantrip. Produce Flame lets you have a means of creating light and dealing fire damage. Resistance lets you concentrate on a target and give an additional 1d4 to Saving Throws they make. Poison Spray is the last Cantrip choice you will have since you already have Guidence.
• Additional Spells: You will gain additional prepared spells at levels 3,5,7 and 9. These will be different in which land you chose. They will always be prepared so be sure to understand these spells and when they become relevant, pop them out.
• Spells: You want a lot of utility and not be a dedicated healer at all times. Goodberry lets you create several berries you can give to your allies, so they can heal themselves. If an ally's health plummets, you can use Healing Word at a distance. If you have another healer on the team, you can swap out Goodberry if you feel it is not needed. Faerie Fire greatly helps your damage dealers get better rolls and reveals invisible targets. Heat Metal will deal a lot of damage so long as the target refuses to part with what you are causing damage through.
• Staff of Crones: This is a free cast of Ray of Sickness for each long rest you make. This can be found in the Hag's Treasure room in the Sunlit Wetlands.
• Haste Helm: When combat starts, you will have 3 turns of Momentum to help you close the gap on your targets. You can find this item in a chest at Blighted Village, which you will need to lockpick.
• Crusher's Ring: You can get this ring from Novice Crusher in the goblin village; how you choose to do that is up to you. This ring gives you +3 to your movement.
• Absolution's Talisman: When your health is below 25%, hitting targets lets you heal 1d8. This means you will stay in your Wild Shape for longer and stretch out the value of each use. This can be looted from True Soul Guts.
• Feat: Take the corresponding feat for each of the corresponding levels. You will want War Caster over taking Wisdom up for the utility it brings to make your playthrough more constant. This will aid you more than that +1.

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