Druid Subclasses 5e
Published on February 20, 2023, Last modified on March 3rd, 2023
What is this guide?
This guide is meant as a deep dive into the 5e druids subclasses. For the full overview of the druid class, check out our druid class guide.
To allow you to scan through the options quickly, we use the following color rating scheme:
- Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
- Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
- Green is a good option
- Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
- Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized
Circle of Dreams
The Circle of Dreams uses magic drawn from the Feywild to heal others. While all druids have decent healing capabilities, this Circle is more heavily focused on the craft.
2nd level
Balm of the Summer Court: Ranged healing as a bonus action is always awesome.
6th level
Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow: Solid way to make sure you are not ambushed during a short or long rest.
10th level
Hidden Paths: Being able to teleport as a bonus action up to 5 times per short rest is amazing. It can also be used to get your allies out of sticky situations.
14th level
Walker in Dreams: Getting a free 5th level spell is nice, but the spells aren’t particularly effective. This is especially true with the limitations that are put on teleportation circle.
Circle of Spores
Masters over life and death, Circle of Spores find beauty in decay. They use spores and fungi to improve your combat prowess, poison your enemies, and control the body of dead enemies.
2nd level
Circle of Spores spells:- Cantrip
- Chill Touch: Good damage and a solid debuff for creatures that are able to heal themselves. This cantrip because extremely effective when fighting undead creatures.
- 3rd level
- Blindness/Deafness: Very effective debuff that doesn’t require concentration. The only downside is that it targets CON.
- Gentle Repose: Extremely situational spell.
- 5th level
- Animate Dead: More options for your bonus action and another body between you and the baddies. For necromancers that are looking to guide a horde of undead, this is the best option you’re provided. Essentially, you can use a 3rd-level spell slot to animate one undead, or reassert your control over four undead. Depending on how many spell slots you have to work with, you can steadily grow your undead army. Just make sure you have the spell slots to reassert your control or your undead horde will revolt.
- Gaseous Form: This spell can honestly vie for the top “infiltration” spell over invisibility. Being able to fly and move through tiny cracks as an inconspicuous cloud can make getting into any heavily defended fortress a cinch.
- 7th level
- 9th level
- Cloudkill: Not great in an open field but if you can get the drop on an enemy or contain a group of enemies within the spell it can be very effective because it deals damage turn after turn, as long as the caster keeps concentration. It can also be effective to block off a vantage point used by ranged enemies.
- Contagion: The poisoned condition is a pretty strong one and this spell grants the condition on-hit for at least 3 turns. You get the potential for more turns under the poisoned condition and a lasting effect which are both quite strong. Make sure to avoid casting this on constructs, undead, fiends, or elementals.
Halo of Spores: Decent damage if you remember to use it every turn. The CON save to avoid the damage hurts this ability a lot.
Symbiotic Entity: This, combined with Shillelagh, helps the Druid become more viable in combat while still being able to cast spells. The fact that it ends when you lose your temporary hitpoints is super rough at low levels but fine at high levels when it starts to outpace your Wild Shapes.
6th level
Fungal Infestation: Being able to kill things and turn them into zombies is cool. You will likely only get one shot off with them because they only have 1hp, but luckily they come in right after your turn.
10th level
Spreading Spores: Decent bonus action battlefield control.
14th level
Fungal Body: Immunity to some common conditions and no more critical hits against you is very nice.
Circle of Stars
Draw power from the stars of the night sky. Druids following the Circle of Stars can channel the constellations through themselves with their Wild Shape to improve the abilties.
2nd level
Star Map: The guidance cantrip is extremely powerful outside of combat and the guiding bolt is a top-tier 1st level spell. Getting a number of free castings for guiding bolt equal to your prof. modifier will allow you to output solid damage for longer.
Starry Form: All of these forms are great in their own right and can be activated with a bonus action.
- Archer: Bonus action ranged attack with radiance damage that scales with your WIS modifier. This goes a long way to improve the druid’s damage output.
- Chalice: You must spend your resources on healing spells in order to activate this form, so it can be tricky to work around in combat. That said, if you are getting deep into combat and need to start handing out heals, this is a massive buff to your healing capabilities.
- Dragon: Having this form active goes a long way to never failing an INT, WIS, or Concentration check again. While it’s useful in and out of combat, it’s probably only worth it to activate if you find yourself surrounded by enemies while concentrating on a very powerful spell.
6th level
Cosmic Omen: This is essentially a lesser form of the bard’s Bardic Inspiration or the Lore bard’s Cutting Words, depending on if you roll Weal or Woe. While the d6 isn’t quite as good as Bardic Inspiration, you can use it as a reaction instead of a bonus action and it scales with your level.
10th level
Twinkling Constellations: A huge buff to your Starry Forms. The 2d8 helps the Archer and Chalice remain viable in later tier and the Dragon form grants a flying speed. The thing that makes this feature absolutely amazing is the fact that you can change the form at the beginning of every turn for free, meaning you always have the form for what you’re planning.
14th level
Full of Stars: By the 3rd tier of play most enemies will have magical attacks. Still, this feature doesn’t consume any additional resources and activates whenever you transform into your Starry Form.
Circle of the Land
Circle of the Land focuses on the caster nature of the druid. They get access to extra cantrips, can regenerate spell slots on a short rest, and get access to a larger spell list. Their features beyond 6th-level are particularly impressive, but they get extra spells as they level up, thanks to the Circle Spells feature.
2nd level
Bonus Cantrip: Bonus cantrips are great, but the Druid cantrip list has a severe damage-dealing deficiency. Being limited to a Druid cantrip with this feature limits its usefulness.
Natural Recovery: Essentially the Wizard’s Arcane Recovery ability which is very good.
Circle Spells: Depending on your “Land” you will have access to different spells:
- Arctic
- 3rd Level
- Hold Person: One of the best spells in the game against Humanoids.
- Spike Growth: Moderately good crowd control or can be used to stage an ambush because it is camouflaged.
- 5th Level
- Sleet Storm: Messes with enemy concentration, can extinguish flames, and has the potential to knock enemies prone.
- Slow: Great crowd control debuff where you can choose which creatures to debuff and it lasts through damage (unlike Hypnotic Pattern).
- 7th Level
- Freedom of Movement: It’s nice to give extra movement options to allies, but there are better buff spells and this one is pretty situational.
- Ice Storm: The damage for an AoE spell isn’t too shabby.
- 9th Level
- Commune with Nature: Great for roleplay and story progression, not so great for combat.
- Cone of Cold: It’s Fireball damage for a 5th Level spell slot, although it is easier to control and to reduce friendly fire than Fireball.
- 3rd Level
- Coast
- 3rd Level
- Mirror Image: Great self-buff.
- Misty Step: Who doesn’t want to teleport? And you can do so as a bonus action while avoiding opportunity attacks. This spell will save your butt on more than one occasion.
- 5th Level
- Water Breathing: Pretty useless because at this point you have a swimming Wild Shape. The only useful scenario would be if you wanted the rest of your party to follow you down underwater.
- Water Walk: This is likely not to see use in an entire campaign.
- 7th Level
- Freedom of Movement: Extremely good when your DM throws crowd control effects your way, or if you decide to take a trip underwater.
- Control Water: A truly versatile and flavorful spell.
- 9th Level
- Conjure Elemental: Great spell for a powerful ally. Careful about losing concentration or you could end causing more trouble than you’re solving.
- Scrying: Useful but niche.
- 3rd Level
- Desert
- 3rd Level
- Blur: Blur is best if you have a solid AC (think Eldritch Knights) but you really want Mirror Image otherwise.
- Silence: Silence is a niche spell with a high ceiling. It can be used in stealth scenarios but it’s most powerful usage is if you can target a caster who won’t be able to cast spells requiring a verbal component. Of course, it’s only a 20ft radius so you will either need to be fighting in close quarters or will need to find a way to prevent the caster from moving.
- 5th Level
- Create Food and Water: This only shines in survival situations and even in then it is overshadowed by Goodberry.
- Protection From Energy: This is typically outshined by Absorb Elements except in the specific circumstances when you are constantly being subjected to a type of damage.
- 7th Level
- Blight: 4th level single-target spell that targets a common save. It barely out damages 4th-level Fireball and flat-out doesn’t work on some common creature types.
- Hallucinatory Terrain: One of the spells, like Minor Illusion, where its ceiling is determined by your creativeness.
- 9th Level
- Insect Plague: Similar to Cloudkill in terms of damage and effect. The main difference is that Cloudkill heavily obscures the area, moves on its own, and can be dispelled by a strong wind. Insect Plague also creates difficult terrain, meaning escaping the AoE will be more difficult.
- Wall of Stone: Great tool to manipulate the battlefield to your party’s advantage.
- 3rd Level
- Forest
- 3rd Level
- Barkskin: Most Druids will take this so they can cast it before using Wild Shape.
- Spider Climb: This is made obsolete by your Wild Shapes.
- 5th Level
- Call Lightning: If you manage to keep concentration on this for the entire encounter it can be absolutely nasty but it certainly has its limitations.
- Plant Growth: Slows down pesky enemies moving around a lot or trying to escape, but not particularly good at either. Also cool for story beats to restore nature that has been devastated by war.
- 7th Level
- Freedom of Movement: Extremely good when your DM throws crowd control effects your way, or if you decide to take a trip underwater.
- Divination: In the same vein as Augury; it is a good way to keep an indecisive party moving. Plus, it’s loads of fun to put your DM on the spot!
- 9th Level
- Commune with Nature: Great for roleplay and story progression, not so great for combat.
- Tree Stride: A fun spell with a multitude of uses if you can get a bit creative. Without trees nearby you won’t be striding anywhere though.
- 3rd Level
- Grassland
- 3rd Level
- Invisibility: Good infiltration spell or to help out your Rogue.
- Pass Without Trace: Huge value for such a low spell slot, this spell can single-handedly solve your heavy armored Paladin’s stealth problem.
- 5th Level
- Daylight: The Light cantrip on steroids. Dispelling darkness could be situationally useful.
- Haste: Great buff for a 3rd Level spell slot. Keep an eye on the concentration because dropping this spell early has ramifications.
- 7th Level
- Freedom of Movement: Extremely good when your DM throws crowd control effects your way, or if you decide to take a trip underwater.
- Divination: In the same vein as Augury; it is a good way to keep an indecisive party moving. Plus, it’s loads of fun to put your DM on the spot!
- 9th Level
- Dream: Low key one of the best spells in the game. This can really mess with the BBEG of the campaign.
- Insect Plague: Similar to Cloudkill in terms of damage and effect. The main difference is that Cloudkill heavily obscures the area, moves on its own, and can be dispelled by a strong wind. Insect Plague also creates difficult terrain, meaning escaping the AoE will be more difficult.
- 3rd Level
- Mountain
- 3rd Level
- Spider Climb: This is made obsolete by your Wild Shapes.
- Spike Growth: Moderately good crowd control or can be used to stage an ambush because it is camouflaged.
- 5th Level
- Lightning Bolt: Just as powerful as Fireball but has a less effective AoE because it’s a line rather than a circle.
- Meld Into Stone: Good for long rests? Maybe?
- 7th Level
- Stone Shape: Can be used to deal damage if you get creative, or circumvent annoying parts of caves and dungeons since they are usually made of stone.
- Stone Skin: Effectively double the HP of a melee fighter (or your Wild Shape) against creatures without magical weapons or spells for an hour.
- 9th Level
- Passwall: This can just about nullify any door, barrier, or blocked off space the DM can throw at you. Not great in combat scenarios.
- Wall of Stone: Great tool to manipulate the battlefield to your party’s advantage.
- 3rd Level
- Swamp
- 3rd Level
- Darkness: Darkness has its uses but they usually heavily involve shenanigans.
- Acid Arrow: Just a straight-up subpar damage spell. Its only use is to make casters make two different concentration checks.
- 5th Level
- Water Walk: This is likely not to see use in an entire campaign.
- Stinking Cloud: Used in the right circumstances this can be effective, but it is a tough spell to nail.
- 7th Level
- Freedom of Movement: Extremely good when your DM throws crowd control effects your way, or if you decide to take a trip underwater.
- Locate Creature: This will be a lifesaver at least once in a campaign.
- 9th Level
- Insect Plague: Similar to Cloudkill in terms of damage and effect. The main difference is that Cloudkill heavily obscures the area, moves on its own, and can be dispelled by a strong wind. Insect Plague also creates difficult terrain, meaning escaping the AoE will be more difficult.
- Scrying: Useful but niche.
- 3rd Level
- Underdark
- 3rd Level
- Spider Climb: This is made obsolete by your Wild Shapes.
- Web: Web is an awesome area control spell and can combo into a lot of fire damage.
- 5th Level
- Gaseous Form: Underrated utility and infiltration spell. You will get a couple of solid uses out of this spell in most campaigns.
- Stinking Cloud: Used in the right circumstances this can be effective, but it is a tough spell to nail.
- 7th Level
- Greater Invisibility: Great spell to avoid damage in combat while also getting advantage on your attacks. Also, you can give it to a melee teammate for a very potent, hard to hit damage dealer.
- Stone Shape: Can be used to deal damage if you get creative, or circumvent annoying parts of caves and dungeons since they are usually made of stone.
- 9th Level
- Cloudkill: Not great in an open field but if you can get the drop on an enemy or contain a group of enemies within the spell it can be very effective because it deals damage turn after turn, as long as the caster keeps concentration. It can also be effective to block off a vantage point used by ranged enemies.
- Insect Plague: Similar to Cloudkill in terms of damage and effect. The main difference is that Cloudkill heavily obscures the area, moves on its own, and can be dispelled by a strong wind. Insect Plague also creates difficult terrain, meaning escaping the AoE will be more difficult.
- 3rd Level
6th level
Land’s Stride: No more nonmagical difficult terrain is nice but isn’t going to net you a whole lot of benefits. Advantage on saving throws against plants that want to impede your movement is very situational.
10th level
Nature’s Ward: Immunity to Charmed and Frightened against two common creature types is alright. Immunity to poison and disease is a good benefit but feels a bit bad to get it as a level 10 subclass feature when Paladins get it for free at 3rd Level.
14th level
Nature’s Sanctuary: Beasts are fairly common so this is a decent feature, it just isn’t impressive as a subclass capstone.
Circle of the Moon
The Circle of the Moon specializes in the art of the Wild Shape. Druids following the Circle of the Moon get access to more powerful Wild Shapes and make them more versatile in combat.
2nd level
Combat Wild Shape: Being able to get into your Wild Shape quicker and heal for expended spell slots makes Wild Shapes in combat a lot more effective.
Circle Forms: This is a huge buff to your Wild Shapes. Here are some of our favorite Wild Shapes at each level:
- 2nd Level | Max CR: 1 | No flying or swimming speed
- Brown Bear: More damage than the Direwolf but lower AC and HP. Also lacks synergy with other melee fighters in your party.
- Direwolf: Great AC and HP. Pack Tactics can come in handy if you have another melee fighter in your party and grants a chance to knock the target prone with a Bite.
- 4th Level | Max CR: 1 | No flying
- Giant Octopus: HP, Speed, Advantage on Stealth, and a strong attack make this the best water Wild Shape at this level.
- 6th Level | Max CR: 2 | No flying
- Giant Constrictor Snake: Damage potential and a high escape DC make the Giant Constrictor Snake a great Wild Shape to use against single targets, especially those that lack strength.
- Polar Bear: Slight upgrade from the Brown Bear with marginally better HP, AC, and damage.
- Saber-Toothed Tiger: Lacks the synergies of a Dire Wolf and the multi-attack of the Brown Bear. This is a disappointing choice for CR2 damage dealers.
- Hunter Shark: Higher damage and advantage on attack rolls make this option an arguably better choice than the Giant Octopus when in water.
- 8th Level | Max CR: 2 | No restrictions
- Quetzalcoatlus: Decent HP and AC, as well as Flyby, so it is the best aerial choice at this level. Good luck convincing your DM you’ve seen one.
- 9th Level | Max CR: 3 | No restrictions
- Ankylosaurus: Great AC and HP, solid damage, and a knockdown effect. Again, it’s a dinosaur so it will be tough to convince your DM you’ve ran into one unless the campaign setting calls for it.
- Giant Scorpion: This thing can hit way above its paygrade with its three attacks. Decent AC and HP to boot makes this the best Wild Shape melee damage dealer so far.
- 12th Level | Max CR: 4 | No restrictions
- Elephant: Only really viable with lots of space. If you can hit with Trampling Charge and the Stomp in one turn you can deal mega damage. Solid HP and bad AC, so the Elephant is overall a bit of a gamble over the Giant Scorpion.
- Stegosaurus: Another dino. The Stegosaurus is also a gamble over the Giant Scorpion but if you are hitting things with this it’s going to hurt.
- 15th Level | Max CR: 5 | No restrictions
- Brontosaurus: Good damage, AC, and loads of HP. Potential to knock creatures prone. Also, the 20ft reach means no one is safe. Dino.
- Giant Crocodile: Better damage than the Brontosaurus. Restrained and Prone effects make this Beast an extremely versatile combat form.
- Giant Shark: Huge pile of HP and great damage means the Giant Shark receives the crown for the top aquatic option.
- 18th Level | Max CR: 6 | No restrictions
- Mammoth: High DC on the Trampling Charge and huge damage make the Mammoth an undeniably great option. Depending on your circumstances, you will either go with the Mammoth or Giant Crocodile for straight-up melee fights.
6th level
Primal Strike: Necessary upgrade to keep your Wild Shape damage output similar to other martial classes.
Circle Forms: Lets you change into some outrageously powerful creatures and provides a huge amount of utility.
10th level
Elemental Wild Shape: Uses both of your Wild Shapes but provides even more utility because of the Elementals’ unique abilities. The Fire Elemental is really the only Elemental that can keep up with the Giant Scorpion in terms of raw combat potential.
14th level
Thousand Forms: Your problems will likely be solved more readily by a Wild Shape. Thousand Forms is really only useful for political infiltrations.
Circle of the Shepherd
Commune with spirits of the forest and summon them to aid you in combat.
2nd level
Speech of the Woods: Learn Sylvan and constant Speak with Animals. Can be useful but not overly so.
Spirit Totem: Summon a lasting, moveable AoE buff.
- Bear Spirit: The temp hit points are nice. Remember temp HP doesn’t stack but is permanent until they are used up or replaced so this can be an effective one to pop off before a rest.
- Hawk Spirit: Giving 1 ally per turn Advantage via a reaction is nice but the Perception check likely won’t help in combat.
- Unicorn: Advantage on detecting creatures in the aura is okay but this feature can turn your 1st-level healing word into a 3rd-level mass healing word mulitple times. Talk about value for your spell slots.
6th level
Mighty Summoner: This makes conjure animals, an already borderline busted spell, even more powerful.
10th level
Guardian Spirit: Awesome way to combo your Spirit Totem with conjure animals. If you can keep your concentration, your enemies are going to have a tough time putting down your animal and fey friends.
14th level
Faithful Summons: This is a hilariously good way to make sure you never get hit while unconscious. A great way to thank the enemy that knocked you out is to summon 4 Polar Bears in their face. At higher levels, these Polar Bears are still able to hit higher AC enemies and can average 21 damage a turn if their attacks land
Circle of Wildfire
The Circle of Wildfire druids knows that fire is a natural part of the forest’s lifecycle. Wildfire druids walk a fine line between destruction with fire and healing with magic.
2nd level
Circle of Wildfire spells: The Circle of Wildfire spell list provides a number of great damage-dealing spells, which are quite rare for the druid's spell list. The stellar healing options are always welcome.- 2nd level
- Burning Hands: One of the better AoE damage spells you can get at 1st-level but there are better direct damage spells and better mass effect spells. This filler spell can be great if you catch a group of enemies close together.
- Cure Wounds: Healing is important so pick it up if you think you’ll need it.
- 3rd level
- Flaming Sphere: Not the best damage, but AoE and the ability to move the sphere as a bonus action are useful if up against a horde of weak enemies.
- Scorching Ray: A potential 6d6 focused damage at a 2nd-level spell slot, can target multiple opponents, and has crit potential.
- 5th level
- Plant Growth: Slows down pesky enemies moving around a lot or trying to escape, but not particularly good at either. Also cool for story beats to restore nature that has been devastated by war.
- Revivify: Every party needs a party member with revivify. The nature of D&D is such that PC deaths happen fairly easily, so your friends will be looking to you to save them from that fate. Because each round of combat is 6 seconds, a party member that dies during combat can typically be revived within 1 minute. Make sure you’ve got diamonds worth 300 gp on you if you’re planning on stocking this spell.
- 7th level
- Aura of Life: Protection from hit point maximum reduction is very situational, although resistance to necrotic damage is handy when facing the undead. Bringing up all downed allies within the radius at the start of their turn sounds useful, but you will need to maintain your concentration until then for this to have an effect.
- Fire Shield: Fire shield is a decent buff for martial casters but casters that prefer to maintain a distance likely won’t find much use for it. The fact that it provides resistances to two different damage types can make it especially potent for builds looking to tank for their party.
- 9th level
- Flame Strike: Not particularly exciting when compared to fireball. It does the same amount of damage but has a better damage type (half radiant/half fire) and has a slightly larger radius. The “improved” damage type doesn’t mean much because it still does half of it’s damage as fire damage. So, if you’re looking to work around fire resistance, this won’t be a worthwhile choice.
- Mass Cure Wounds: Range, multiple targets, and decent healing power. One of the best bang-for-your-buck spells if you have multiple party members down.
Summon Wildfire Spirit: For one use of Wild Shape you get additional action economy and a body to soak damage, AoE damage upon summoning, ranged attack, flight, and teleportation abilities. This spirit is truly a versatile companion, even if it doesn’t output a ton of damage.
6th level
Enhanced Bond: While your Wildfire Spirit is summoned you get an extra average of 4.5 damage from spells you cast that deal fire damage or healing from healing spells. This certainly isn’t a ton of damage and doesn’t work on spells like Flaming Sphere which allow you to activate the spell on subsequent turns. This feature also allows you to cast spells from your Wildfire Spirit which allows you to deliver Cure Wounds to your downed teammates without wading into battle.
10th level
Cauterizing Flames: The damaging side of this feature will rarely happen unless you force an enemy to enter a space with your spirit fire but the healing side is wonderful. This is equal to 64 hitpoints of healing by the time you get the feature at 10th-level (assuming you’ve maxed your WIS). This will help free up your spell slots to sling fire spells around the battlefield.
14th level
Full of Stars: Being able to bounce back to half hp when knocked unconscious for the cost of one Wild Shape is simply amazing.
Sources Used in This Guide
- BR: Basic Rules
- GotG: Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
- SotDQ: Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
- ERLW: Eberron: Rising from the Last War
- EEPC: Elemental Evil Player’s Companion
- EGtW: Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
- FToD: Fizban's Treasury of Dragon
- GGtR: Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
- MotM: Monsters of the Multiverse
- MToF: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
- MOoT: Mythic Odyessys of Theros
- PAitM: Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
- PHB: Player's Handbook
- SAiS: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
- SCoC: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
- SCAG: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
- TCoE: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
- TTP: The Tortle Package
- WBtW: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight
- VRGtR: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
- VGtM: Volo's Guide to Monsters
- XGtE: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
Other Druid Guides
- Druid 5e Overview
- Best Feats for Druids
- A Comprehensive Guide for Every Druid Spell in D&D 5e
- Druid Races
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