What are the best druid builds in D&D?

Among the many classes in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, Druids are extremely popular. Building a great druid takes a little planning and forethought. How do you choose what skills you will have? That depends on how you play as a druid. Do you focus on plant-based magic? Animal companions and Wildshape? Elemental damage? These factors will determine how you should build your druid character. Of course, you will also want to talk with your DM and other players to determine what abilities their characters have so you can see what the party needs. Below are ten potential options for creating a strong druid, along with their dedicated Circle.

10. The Healing Shepherd (Circle of the Shepherd)

I’m never alone! Whether I want to be or not.

The Healing Shepherd is a supportive healer with a knack for controlling the battlefield. The focus of this build is healing and buffing your allies, as well as summoning animal companions to aid in battle. This build works great as a party’s dedicated healer, or as a backup healer. It’s also a good build for summoning animals to the field, giving your team a few more numbers to turn the tide in a tough fight.

Why The Healing Shepherd is great:

• This build works well as your party’s healer, in the event that you don’t have a cleric handy.
• Summoning creatures to the field to help in battle gives your team a tactical advantage, depending on the creature’s abilities.
• This build serves mostly as a support role, healing your allies and giving them buffs when needed.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Conjure Animals, Guardian of Nature, Aura of Vitality
• Good Feats: Inspiring Leader will give your allies a small HP buff. War Caster allows you to better maintain concentration on spells.
• Race: Variant Human is a good choice to get an extra feat right away. You can also use a halfling for the added benefits of Nimble and Lucky.

9. The Moonlit Guardian (Circle of the Moon)

I love cold drinks, moonlit walks, and slashing the throats of my enemies.

The Moonlit Guardian is a tank-style build that relies on brute strength and shapeshifting to deal damage to your enemies. Using the right spells and feats combined with Wildshape, you can boost your own abilities and attributes to increase your own power and take down any who stand before you. Rather than relying on ranged spells, this build focuses on melee combat while transformed into a creature.

Why The Moonlit Guardian is great:

• Unlike other druids, this build focuses on melee combat and physical damage, not magical or elemental damage.
• A focus on Wildshape and body alteration gives you natural weapons and armor.
• Throw your enemies off guard by presenting yourself as a humble druid, then turning into a terrifying creature and annihilating them.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Enhance Ability (specifically, Bull’s Strength), Barkskin, Freedom of Movement, Elemental Form
• Good Feats: Mobile will give you a bonus to your movement speed, and help you avoid attacks of opportunity while you are in Wildshape. Tough will give you a few extra hit points to help you last in battle.
• Race: Because this build relies almost entirely on Wildshape and personal buffs, any race will suit you well. However, for optimal results, consider a Hill Dwarf for bonus hit points and Stonecunning.

8. The Blaster Druid (Circle of Stars)

Let’s start this party with a bang!

The Blaster Druid specializes in spellcasting damage, using magic to obliterate opponents and overcome obstacles. By evoking powerful elemental spells and using the Circle ability Starry Form, this druid can mete out incredible damage in a short period of time. Add in the right feats, and your enemies will have nowhere left to hide from your terrifying might.

Why The Blaster Druid is Great:

• With a focus on elemental magic, you can focus on a certain type of elemental damage (fire, frost, lightning, etc).
• Starry Form has a myriad of useful effects that will benefit you and your party.
• This build is designed to have maximum range, trap your enemies, and ignore cover as much as possible.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Entangle, Faerie Fire, Call Lightning, Starry Form (for bonus damage and starry form abilities)
• Feats: Spell Sniper will give you increased spell attack range and allows you to ignore most cover. Elemental Adept will give you an advantage with certain elemental damage.
• Race: A High Elf is best for this build, as you can choose a bonus cantrip and gain proficiency in certain weapons. You could also go with a Tiefling for the Darkness spell and bonus damage.

7. The Controller of the Land (Circle of the Land)

Full-service lawn care for the last 300 years!

The Controller of the Land is a utility caster with a focus on the land type you choose for your Circle abilities (Forest, Desert, Mountain, etc). This build relies on spells and abilities that control the  terrain of an area, shaping the environment to your advantage. The type of spells you have access to will depend on what Land type you choose when joining the Circle of the Land.

Why The Controller of the Land is great:

• Using the spells from your chosen Land type, you can alter the terrain around you to defeat enemies and overcome obstacles.
• With the proper feats, you will always be aware of your surroundings and be able to quickly come up with a plan of attack.
• This build is versatile, with the abilities you have depending on the Land type you choose. Any Land type is suitable for this particular build.

Build Details:

• Key spells will depend on the type of Land chosen for your Circle path. For Forest, you may have Spike Growth or Plant Growth. For Mountain, you may choose Earth Tremor or Stone Shape. 
• Good Feats: Observant will grant you better perception to analyze your surroundings, and give you small advantages like lip reading. War Caster helps you concentrate on spellcasting better during melee.
• Race: A variant Human is a good choice if you want to gain an extra feat right away. This build also works well with a Wood Elf for the speed bonus, as well as the stealthy Mask of the Wild ability.

6. The Spores Druid (Circle of Spores)

You might want to close your eyes for this. And your nose. And your mouth. Just…move.

This build focuses on dealing damage using necrotic spells and utilizing symbiotic abilities, spreading spores for damage and control on the field. This druid finds beauty in decay, and acknowledges that death is a part of the cycle of life and is completely natural. This build tends to have weaker healing abilities and reduced movement, but the widespread damage and entropy will more than make up for them.

Why The Spores Druid is great:

• Using spores from Circle abilities, this druid can cause serious damage and debuff your enemies from a distance.
• Certain abilities grant you extra necrotic damage to enemies, whether it’s from spells or melee.
• How you play this build will change and evolve as you gain levels and acquire new spells and abilities, allowing for dynamic gameplay that won’t get stale.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Shillelagh, Thorn Whip, Spike Growth, Symbiotic Entity, Halo of Spores
• Good Feats: War Caster will help you concentrate on spells while fighting in melee, and Fey Touched will give you a bonus spell as well as a decent Charisma boos.
• Race: Half-Orc is an excellent choice for a Spore Druid, as you will have bonus damage as well as the Savage Attacks trait. 

5. The Wildfire Druid (Circle of Wildfire)

You wanna be original, or extra-crispy?

The Wildfire Druid is an offensive spellcaster with a focus on (surprise, surprise) fire and controlling the battlefield. When done properly, this build will cause massive fire damage, create difficult terrain, and buff your allies to help them out. This build is designed to create absolute devastation in an area, burning the world around you.

Why the Wildfire Druid is great:

• By focusing on fire and explosions, this druid build can annihilate enemies and destroy almost any obstacle you come across.
• With proper planning, your druid’s attacks will be even more powerful, creating fire that burns like the sun.
• This is a great build for those who don’t care about collateral damage or keeping things intact.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Produce Flame, Burning Hands, Wall of Fire, Wildfire Spirit, Eruption.
• Good Feats: War Caster is excellent to help maintain concentration on spells in battle. Elemental Adept will give you bonus damage when using your chosen element, in this case fire.
• Race: This is a great build for Tieflings. Not only will you get a bonus damage type for fire, you will also have the Darkness spell, great for disorienting your enemies. Variant Humans are good for this build as well, having an extra feat at level one.

4. The Shapeshifting Scout (Circle of Dreams)

Being lost in these woods is unbearable! Wait, where are you going?!

The Shapeshifting Scout serves as a utility druid, specializing in exploration, with a minor focus on healing. Using various spells and skills that allow better exploration, these druids can scout ahead and do reconnaissance with ease. This druid can even enter a target’s dream and communicate, or influence, that target willingly. If you want your druid to function as a sort of spy, then this is the build for you.

Why The Shapeshifting Scout is great:

• Using perks that ignore difficult terrain, this druid is able to easily traverse an area.
• This build is an excellent template for a spy character, being able to Wildshape and travel almost anywhere without much difficulty. 
• This build can enter the dreams of various creatures, whether just to observe, communicate, or try to influence a creature’s actions.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Speak with Animals, Pass Without Trace, Healing Word, and Dream
• Good Feats: Mobile will give you a bonus to movement speed. Observant will help you glean information from your surroundings, and give you the ability to read lips from afar.
• Race: Playing this build as a Wood Elf will grant you a speed bonus and give you access to the stealthy Mask of the Wild. As a cat-like Tabaxi, you will have feline agility and bonus movement speed.

3. The Summoning Specialist (Circle of the Shepherd)

 I get by with a little help from my friends.

The Summoning Specialist is a support spellcaster that focuses on summoning powerful creatures to aid in battle. This build is excellent for when you have a small party, or if you get separated, so you can bring the advantage of numbers to your side. This druid can also give buffs to summoned allies, making them stronger and more durable.

Why the Summoning Specialist is so great:

• This druid can summon multiple creatures to the battlefield to aid your party in battle.
• Using various spells and abilities can grant buffs and bonuses to your summoned companions as well as anyone in your party.
• This build is good for surprising your enemies by making an army of animals suddenly appear. 

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Conjure Animals, Speak with Animals, Summon Fey, Enhance Ability (Focus on Constitution for summoned creatures), and Polymorph.
• Good Feats: The old standby War Caster is good for concentration. Augment Summoning will give summoned beasts a boost in strength to help you in battle.
• Race: Hill Dwarf has an extra point in Wisdom, a must for any druid. You will also have Dwarven Toughness, which will gradually increase your hit points as you level up.

2. The Elemental Adept (Circle of the Land- Mountain)

This is going to come as a shock…

The Elemental Adept is a druid that issues serious spell damage tied mostly to fire and earth magic. By utilizing the Mountain Land’s abilities and fire and earth magic, this build is designed to put some serious hurt on your enemies. These skills can also be used to reshape the terrain around you and deal with problems outside of combat.

Why the Elemental Adept is great:

• This build focuses on fire and earth magic, mostly in a destructive manner, but is also able to alter the environment. 
• As a member of the Circle of the Land, this druid will call upon the power of the Mountain to solve problems.
• This build is good for any alignment. You can choose to be a champion of the battlefield, or a warmonger of ill repute.

Build Details:

• Key Spells: Produce Flame, Burning Hands, Earth Tremor, Stone Shape, and Eruption.
• Good Feats: Pick Elemental Adept for bonus damage with both fire and earth spells. And as always, War Caster is a must for concentration in battle.
• Race: Dragonborn is the absolute best race to choose for this particular build. You gain bonus damage depending on your character’s ancestry- choose red or gold for fire focus. You could also choose a Dwarf for this build, for bonus armor and tool proficiencies. 

1. The Blight Druid (Circle of Spores-Multiclass with Grave Domain Cleric)

Land of the free, home of the grave.

The Blight Druid is Death Incarnate. This build deals in necromantic damage and debuffs, causing entropy all around. It should be noted that this build is multiclassed with a Grave Domain Cleric, so before choosing this path, discuss it with your DM to determine their rules on adding another class.

Why the Blight Druid is great:

• This druid combines a Spores Druid’s necrotic damage with a Grave Cleric’s divine channeling to debuff enemies.
• They embrace the more macabre aspects of nature and turn them to their advantage.
• Blight Druids are usually caretakers of areas ravaged by natural disasters, typically aiding in restoration by helping dead matter decompose.

Build Details:

• Key Spells (Druid): Thorn Whip, Spike Growth, Wither and Bloom, Symbiotic Entity, Halo of Spores.
• Key Spells (Cleric): Toll of the Dead (cantrip), Inflict Wounds, Cure Wounds, Blight, Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave
• Good Feats: War Caster is a classic for maintaining concentration in battle. Fey Touched will give you a bonus spell and a moderate Charisma boost, just in case your Blight Druid is feeling chatty.
• Race: Half-Elf is good for bonus skills and proficiencies. A Variant Human is also a good choice for the extra feat right away. 

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