One of the most versatile classes out there, Druids are probably the most exciting spellcasters to play. They can work as scouts, support, strikers, controllers, and so much more. The flexibility within the class means that you have the power to create incredible and unstoppable builds.

At their core, they might feel very similar to a Cleric—support and healing—but that’s the thing about Druids, they take everyone by surprise. Whether you play as a pure Druid or you find yourself enjoying the various subclasses, they truly are a force of nature (hehe).

How to Use This Guide

Throughout this guide, you will see a series of emojis—we use these to rank how useful a feature or ability is for your chosen class.

✅ — A critical feature that you absolutely need in order to play your class to the best of its ability. May also provide exclusive bonuses.

🆗 — A good feature that should definitely be considered.

⚠️ — A weaker feature that might only work with specific builds. Definitely largely circumstantial.

⛔ — A terrible feature that could be detrimental to your class that often weighs you down. Can also be a dump stat that is completely useless.

The Basics of Druid 5e

For the Druid, wisdom is everything. You’re going to want to make it your priority when you are assigning rolls to attributes. If you’re a Moon Druid and you’re thinking about Wild Shape, you still don’t need to worry about physical scores, as you are using the scores and abilities of the shape you’ve taken.

What is Wild Shape? Well, it can be defined as an “at-will” utility power for Druids. It allows the Druid to switch between their humanoid form and beast form. While they are in their beast form they can use a wide range of spells and attacks, but cannot use most weapons.

Druids can be one of the easiest spellcaster classes to play, which makes them ideal for beginners. However, as your confidence grows you will find that you’re able to create truly complex and powerful builds that really take advantage of what this class has to offer.

Ability Scores

Let’s take a quick look at which scores are important for Druids, and which ones don’t matter so much (also known as ‘dump stats’).

⛔ Strength (STR)

This is a melee stat, therefore not particularly useful to a Druid. If in melee combat, you should be in animal form, which means you’re not using your own stats anyway.

🆗 Dexterity (DEX)

While not massively important, it does give you some extra Armor Class (AC) when you are in Wild Shape.

🆗 Constitution (CON)

This can be useful for gaining a few extra hit points while in your normal form. If you are a Moon Druid, it is not as handy because Wild Shape has its own set of hit points.

⚠️ Intelligence (INT)

This stat is only useful for a Druid if you want to gain knowledge skills, good for building a Druid based around arcana and religion.

✅ Wisdom (WIS)

The core stat for any Druid, Wisdom powers your spells and your rolls.

⛔ Charisma (CHA)

There is no specific need for this stat, but with it, you’ll be a smooth talker, convincing, and good looking—if you’re into that sort of thing.

Player Tip: Do Druids Need Dexterity?

Dexterity isn’t essential for Druids, but it can prove useful as a secondary stat. It boosts your AC while in Wild Shape, and considering the AC for Druids is fairly low as a standard, this is quite helpful when dodging blows and trying to take minimal damage.

If you are planning on wearing light armor instead of medium, the importance of Dexterity increases. If you are wearing medium armor, your DEX modifier for AC will max out at +2 (14 or 15 Dexterity).

Hit Dice

Druids use a d8 for their hit dice, which certainly makes them one of the better spellcasters to play. They aren’t as squishy as wizards, and while you’ll want to avoid charging into battle ahead of everyone else, you’ll be able to take a good hit if needed.

Saving Throws

You get two mental saves when you play as a Druid, which isn’t a surprise considering your primary stat is wisdom. However, making your second primary intelligence isn’t a great move unless you are putting a lot of focus on knowledge.

Proficiencies

The classic studded leather is everything a Druid needs (and it’s always been one of my favorite pieces of gear). Medium armor and shields will give you a great AC. Just remember, you can’t wear metal. As for weapon proficiencies, they don’t matter much for most builds.

Skills

The most important skills for a Druid are Perception, Arcana, Nature, Insight, and Religion. If you want to add Animal Handling you can, but the only thing this really does is add a little pizazz to your roleplaying. Survival can also be a handy one to have but it’s entirely situational.

⛔ Animal Handling (WIS)

This isn’t particularly useful except to enhance roleplay.

✅ Arcana (INT)

Definitely one of the most important Knowledge skills.

🆗 Insight (WIS)

Works really well for the face of the group.

⛔ Medicine (WIS)

Completely pointless, as you have magical healing capabilities.

🆗 Nature (INT)

A good Knowledge skill but less crucial than Arcana or Religion.

✅ Perception (WIS)

The most rolled skill in the game and great for Druids due to the Wisdom.

✅ Religion (INT)

Another one of the most important Knowledge skills.

⚠️ Survival (WIS)

The Wisdom is good, but this is definitely a situational skill.

What Race Is Best for Druids?

The key thing to remember when picking a race for your Druid is that any Wisdom bonuses are absolutely crucial to a successful build. There are some rare exceptions to this rule, such as a Circle of Spores Druid.

Furthermore, Dexterity and Constitution increases can also be incredibly useful— especially as they have a poorer AC, when compared to similar classes like Clerics. Otherwise, you have a lot of flexibility with racial traits and there is nothing too specific to look out for.

You might be thinking that racial traits such as Darkvision or Flight would be particularly useful, but these can be achieved using Wild Shape. Similarly, a Moon Druid doesn’t need to worry about Dexterity or Strength because of their Wild Shape forms.

🌿 Looking for the perfect name for your character? Check out our Druid name ideas

✅ Aarakocra

This race has the perfect ability score increase, while also offering flight. While this race can only fly in light armor, this isn’t an issue for Druids. The Dexterity increase offered by the Aarakocra balances out with the studded leather for a maximum of 14 AC.

Aasimar

⛔ Fallen: The ability spread here is pretty poor.
🆗 Protector: You get a great Wisdom bonus (which you need), and the transformation gives temporary flight—making it perfectly viable for any caster build.
⛔ Scourge: Just like Fallen, the ability spread here is really poor.

⚠️Centaur

They are built nicely for melee combat, which might make them appealing to those who want to play a Circle of Spores Druid – especially as most of their beneficial traits go away when in Wild Shape.

Dwarf

⛔ Duergar: This has a pretty bad ability spread.
🆗 Hill: Offers fantastic durability as well as a Wisdom bonus.
⛔ Mountain: Once again, we see a poor ability spread here.

Elf

⛔ Drow: Really poor ability spread.
⛔ Eladrin: Bad ability spread.
⛔ High Elf: Not a great ability spread for Druids.
⛔ Sea Elf: Poor ability spread (although some pretty cool homebrew options for Sea Druid).
⛔ Shadar-Kai: Bad ability spread.
🆗 Wood Elf: Great Wisdom bonus and you have the benefit of Mask of the Wild working while in Wild Shape.

✅ Firbolg

This is a great race option because it not only provides you with a wisdom increase, but also a load of innate spellcasting abilities that are all based around Nature.

Genasi

⛔ Air: This offers nothing useful for Druids.
⛔ Earth: Again, nothing good for Druids is offered.
⚠️ Fire: This makes spellcasting more effective since it is Constitution-based. However, it is the DM’s discretion whether or not the fire resistance applies during Wild Shape.
✅ Water: You get a great Wisdom bonus, which is crucial. shape water is also an exceptional innate spell to have at your disposal.

Gith

⛔ Githyanki: Nothing useful for Druids is offered here.
🆗 Githzerai: The Wisdom bonus is the obvious plus here, but it also gives you a nice range of spells that aren’t on the standard Druid spell list as well as mental discipline which works in Wild Shape.

Gnome

🆗 Deep: Not the best ability spread for Druid, but can be fun to play.
⚠️ Forest: Nothing particularly useful for Druid.
⛔ Rock: Once again, pretty bad ability spread.

⚠️ Goblin

If you are a Circle of the Moon Druid, Nimble Escape, and Fury of The Small can be useful abilities to have as they both work in Wild Shape. However, other Druid paths will struggle with this race, as there is no Wisdom increase.

⛔ Goliath

Very poor ability spread, which makes this race less-than-ideal for Druids. However, they can be quite beneficial if you go for a customized route and use Stone’s Endurance.

⚠️Grung

This race works really nicely with Circle of Spores, thanks to the natural poison, but the ability scores and traits aren’t the best for Druids when compared to existing capabilities.

Half-Elf

⚠️ Aquatic: This only really works in an aquatic campaign, and even then, there are loads of different spells you can use instead for breathing underwater and faster swimming speeds.
⚠️ Drow: Faerie fire is a great spell, but the DC is Charisma-based. This isn’t ideal for Druids unless you have a specific build or multi-class in mind.
⚠️ High: This only offers Wizard cantrips, which isn’t of much use to Druids, especially as they are intelligence-based a lot of the time. However, booming blade can be pretty tempting for Circle of Spores Druids.
🆗 Standard: The fact that you get two skill proficiencies is excellent here, but you’ll need to dig deep to find anything really worthwhile aside from the class and racial standards.
🆗 Wood: if you have Stealth proficiency, the Mask of the Wild trait is absolutely ideal. Both regular Wood Elf and Half Woof Elf are equally good for Druids.

⚠️ Half-Orc

If you want to create a really lethal build, using Savage Attacks and Relentless Endurance will make your Druid truly formidable as they work in Wild Shape. You also have the bonus of the Orcish Fury racial ability, which ensures the reliable triggering of Relentless Endurance in Wild Shape.

However, these abilities are only useful for Circle of the Moon Druids. Furthermore, they can cause a lag in spellcasting, despite the fact that they create quite a deadly combination.

Halfling

✅ Ghostwise: You get a great Wisdom boost, especially through Silent Speech. This can be used in Wild Shape, allowing for telepathic communication between you and party members.
⛔ Lightfoot: This has a poor ability spread.
⛔ Stout: Once again, the ability spread is pretty poor.

Human

⛔ Vanilla: The majority of the ability increases available with Vanilla Humans are wasted on Druids.
✅ Variant: If you put the bonuses into Constitution and Wisdom, you’re well on the way to success here. Feats aren’t crucial for most Druids, but caster Druids may find that there are benefits to things like Elemental Adept and Polearm Master feats (Moon and Spore, respectively).

✅ Kalashtar

This race offers an excellent wisdom increase that your Druid will certainly benefit from. If your DM allows it, you can also use your natural telepathic traits to communicate with your party and NPCs.

🆗 Kenku

You get that Wisdom increase you need, but you also benefit from a Dexterity boost, which really helps with the AC. While there are extra skill proficiencies that don’t quite align with the class, you can use it to fill in where other classes in your party are lacking—such as a Rogue.

⚠️ Kobold

While there is nothing massively useful for Druids from Kobolds, there is an interesting feature: Pack Tactics could work really well with the Moon Druid. And while it will likely cause you to lag behind on spellcasting, you will be creating a pretty interesting character.

Lizardfolk

🆗 This race has Wisdom bonuses and was built for durability. As a Moon Druid, you can easily survive falling out of Wild Shape a few times thanks to their improved durability, and their natural armor gives a generous boost to your AC. Their Hungry Jaws feature can be quite fun while in Wild Shape.

⚠️Locathah

There isn’t much going for this race if you want to be a Druid, but the Dexterity bonuses are certainly worth keeping in mind. There are also a few free skills that a Druid might be able to utilize efficiently, depending on the build.

✅Loxodon

There are some fantastic ability cores for Druid with this race as well as some helpful passive benefits. Their Natural Armor trait is also Constitution-based, which means you can play around with some impressive durability.

⛔ Orc

Half-Orc is definitely the better choice here. While Aggressive works really well in Wild Shape (it’s quite lethal), it really isn’t enough to justify this racial choice.

Shifter

⛔Beasthide: Bad ability spread.

⛔Longtooth: Very poor ability spread.

⛔Swiftstride: Poor ability spread.

🆗Wildhunt: The ability scores actually line up quite nicely with this ability. Wildhunt Shifting gives you an advantage on ability checks, including those made with Dispel Magic.

✅Simic Hybrid

This race offers loads of versatility and a nice wisdom bonus. However, if you are planning on going Circle of the Moon then this isn’t recommended as Animal Enhancement vanishes when you jump into Wild Shape.

⛔ Tabaxi

Like the Orc, Tabaxi don’t have much going for them if you decide to play a Druid. Feline Agility works nicely in Wild Shape and can be advantageous, but it’s really not enough.

Tiefling

⛔ Asmodeus: Poor ability spread for Druid.

⛔ Baalzebul: Poor ability spread.

⛔ Dispater: Once again, we have a pretty bad ability spread.

⚠️ Fierna: This does offer a Wisdom boost, but the spells are better suited to the face of the party. Some say Druids don’t make good faces, but this can make for a pretty interesting build.

⛔ Glasya: Poor ability spread.

⛔ Levistus: There’s a theme here, and it’s a poor ability spread.

⛔ Mammon: Bad ability spread for Druid.

⛔ Mephistopheles: Poor ability spread.

⛔ Zariel: Poor ability spread.

🆗 Tortle

While the Strength modifier is wasted on Druid, the Wisdom bonus is great. This isn’t the best race for Circle of the Moon Druids, but all other Druids should take a good look at this option. If you’re worried about your survivability and splitting ability scores between DEX, CON, and WIS, this race option takes that stress away.

This is because the Natural racial ability that comes with Tortles matches the maximum AC a Druid can achieve without magic.

⚠️Yuan-Ti Pureblood

This race doesn’t have the best ability spread, but, from a thematic perspective it would make a really interesting build. It is possible that the Magic Resistance and Poison Immunity traits would pass onto Wild Shape as well, although this is down to the discretion of your DM. Sometimes, setting-specific races can provide the most fun.

🆗Vedalken

There are better races to pick, but Vedalken do offer a nice Wisdom increase as well as Tireless Dispassion if you want a good defensive option while in Wild Shape. You can also try playing with the limitations of Tireless Precision if you want a challenge.

✅Warforged

Since there is a flexible ability increase, you can put that straight into Wisdom. There is a handy bonus to AC as well as a nice selection of resistances and immunities. However, since none of it works in Wild Shape, so avoid Circle of the Moon.

Other Races

Not every race is suited to being a Druid, usually, because they have a poor ability spread that doesn’t work to their advantage. Some also have melee-focused abilities that, while good for Spore Druids, aren’t great for the rest. The following races are not well-suited to being a Druid:

Bugbear
Dragonborn
Hobgoblin
Triton
Changeling
Leonin
Minotaur
Satyr
Verdan

Player Tip: Do Druids Have to Prepare Spells?

Druids do not learn spells. Instead, they need to prepare spells every day. There are no restrictions on the spells you can learn each day, but your level limits the number. So, if you wanted to prepare all of your level-one or level-two spells, you would be able to.

If you want to prepare new spells or re-prepare the ones you used that day, you will need a long rest. However, as the player, you cannot choose when a long rest takes place—only the DM can. Therefore, it is important to know how your DM is running the game and communicate.

What Are the Druid Circles (Subclasses)?

While the Druid subclass doesn’t impact the core of your class, it does expand it. Your choice of Circle opens you up to a whole new range of spells and abilities that can enhance your play experience and help you to create a truly powerful build.

In this guide, we keep the subclass information brief so that you have a good idea of what each one offers. Want to get right into the juicy details? Make sure you check out our dedicated guide so you can pick the perfect Circle for your Druid.

🆗Circle of Dreams

This circle has an interesting mix of utility and healing options, but its lack of definition means that it can be hard to determine the role of this circle in the party. It’s a good spellcaster circle, but it is important to remember that many of the traits are highly situational.

Hidden paths is the best spell this subclass has to offer, and it’s a solid Druid version of misty step. You also have balm of the summer court which can be pretty handy and works as a healing pool that is capable of keeping your entire party alive.

✅Circle of Spores

This is a really strong circle to choose from, and it has the added fun of bringing the undead to the party. Almost all of the circle features use your reaction and bonus actions, which frees up a lot of space and allows for some serious power.

Symbiotic entity does use an action, but it also provides you with masses of temporary hit points. This circle also thrives in melee without the need to shift into an animal, and while this does make a Circle of Spores build complicated, it’s also an exciting challenge that’s worth the complexity. Not to mention a fantastic spell list.

✅Circle of Stars

This is an incredibly powerful circle to choose, serving up some serious damage as well as having exceptional healing properties. Starry Form is the signature, similar to the Symbiotic Entity that Circle of Spores benefits from.

Even outside of this form, you’re sitting on a lot of power that you will want to take advantage of. Despite the power, it’s an approachable circle that is ideal for new players and veterans alike. If you ever felt Druid looked like an underwhelming class, well, you haven’t seen this circle yet.

🆗Circle of Wildfire

Your pet is a spirit made of fire, and if that’s not awesome, I don’t know what is. It’s a combination of fire-based magic and healing, and the Elemental Adept feat will help boost your power so that you fully benefit from everything this circle has to offer.

Elemental Bane is also a spell worth considering, although less reliable than Elemental Adept because it relies on a CON save. However, it suppresses resistance to your choice of magic, which means using fire against a fire-resistant enemy is highly effective for you.

🆗Circle of the Land

This circle is all about simplicity and boosting spellcasting, which m