The best Baldur's Gate 3 Druid build is about making you into something of a melee tank, mixing your animal form "Wild Shape" power and select spells to make you into something of a frontline bruiser who can also sling out support abilities in a pinch. Druids have become fairly iconic in Baldur's Gate 3, not least because of our romanceable bear-boy Halsin, and there's no shortage of players who want to embrace a certain amount of animal magnetism. For those who want to bring that same energy to bear (har de har), here's how to make the best Druid build in Baldur's Gate 3.
Best Druid build in Baldur's Gate 3
The best Druid build in Baldur's Gate 3 focuses on the following three elements:
- Quarterstaff and melee fighting
- Tanking blows through armor and wild shape powers
- Diverse spells and skills that use Wisdom
Melee might be a focus that surprises some people, what with the Druid being a spellcaster, but it's a very unique kind of spellcaster and comes with a very special ability: Wild Shape, which allows you to transform into deadly animals, and acts as a free pool of hit points that can take damage instead of you… but we get ahead of ourselves. Here's how you can make the best Druid build.
- Race: Half-Orc
- Highest attributes: Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity
- Subclass: Circle of the Moon
- Background: Folk Hero
- Class Skills: Perception, Insight
- Equipment: Medium Armor, Shield, Quarterstaff
- Cantrips: Produce Flame, Shillelagh
- Spells: Healing Word, Speak With Animals, Entangle, Ice Knife or Thunderwave.
This Druid build is focused around three elements in particular: the Quarterstaff with Shillelagh, the empowered Wild Shape, and the resilience and melee power of the Half-Orc, all of which lends towards a bruiser build that still has some extra magical abilities in the bank that can act as wild cards.
Shillelagh is a real powerhouse, even though it looks unassuming at first glance, turning your Quarterstaff into a magic weapon and adding your Wisdom to its rolls - and cast as a bonus action. Casting this spell should be your first priority if you're about to get into melee combat, closing the distance and using spells like Entangle to hamper foes before clubbing them into oblivion.
Then there's your Wild Shape. Use this in every important fight, as it'll serve to make you a tank and a melee force to be reckoned with, and get the Circle of the Moon subclass later in order to double down on these powers - you want to be able to use Wild Shape as much as possible, as effectively as possible.
Finally, Druids' abilities to choose their spells whenever out of combat gives them some extra versatility that can be a lifesaver. Swap these around liberally, and think about what's ahead whenever you're not in combat. We've also chosen one of the Baldur's Gate 3 backgrounds and skill options that'll really support Wisdom classes, because you should always double down on what works, and Perception is very important when exploring.
Later level Druid builds: The obvious point to make is swapping out spells as you level up, trading for greater versatility and capacity, as well as increasing your Wisdom score whenever you get a Feat. You definitely want to grab Heat Metal when you get those second level spells, but then you have to decide whether you want to level up in Druid for better Wild Shapes or multiclass - and it might be worth considering the Monk class, which also excels in close quarters combat and high Wisdom. When gaining control of Halsin, we ended up multiclassing him between Monk and Druid to spectacular effect!
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