Guardians of nature, friends to animals, and shapeshifters, all of these describe the Druid class. Druids are one of the many classes that blend magic ability with fighting ability, and when used in tandem, it can be a deadly combo.

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There are many types of Druids as well. Some focus on animals, others hone in on plants, and others still focus on the more spiritual side of nature. Those who become Druids can be sturdy and intent on dealing damage, or they can be healers in the absence of a cleric. Here are ways to make a Druid who is, as a whole, overpowered.

Updated August 22, 2021 by Jessica Filby: The addition of over ten new Dungeons & Dragons books, namely Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything, Van Richten's Guide To Ravenloft, and the wonderful Heroes' Feast has brought with it new rules, spells, and of course brilliant stories to indulge in. However, with new content comes new ways to make your next D&D character unbelievably badass and overpowered. So if you want to make a Druid that can take on the messed-up world of Barovia with ease, or kill the threats lurking within Icewind Dale, look no further.

10 Spells

DnD Druid Spells Spike Growth and Faerie Fire

Spells are how a Druid thrives. They can, of course, choose to be more or less reliant on such spells, but no matter what you choose, these spells will be a lifesaver, even if they don't seem like it at first glance.

Spike Growth

Spike Growth is unbelievable on its own; it creates a 20-foot radius of vicious thorns that will do 2d4 piercing damage for every 5 feet a creature moves when in the growth. It also classes as difficult terrain so movement is halved. It's perfect for multiple enemies at once, or cast it, get someone to fly over, pick the enemy up and just drag them across the spikes over and over again. It just becomes laughable.

Faerie Fire

The idea of Faerie Fire seems like it's a good spell but nothing too overpowered. However, with the combination of a rogue and a druid, you'll be one of the best pairings in the game. The spell sheds light onto a creature and gives it advantage to attack. It also stops it from being invisible if that's a problem.

The advantage will mean your rogue should get sneak attack and all your other party members will be closer to criticals too. It's a first level spell and will be perfect for that frustrating invisible creature or tough boss.

Summon Beast

Added in from Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything, Summon Beast is a second-level spell that will stop you from dying on multiple occasions. It might cost you 200g to do it but as you get to higher levels, that isn't a huge amount of money.

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Summon Beast calls upon a bestial spirit with a multi-attack and varied elemental powers depending on your choice. It actually outpowers a considerable amount of animals you can wild shape into at this point, and you get to attack while it's fighting for you for an hour, unless it drops to 0hp.

Revivify

Healing is great, but sometimes you just need a little more, really quickly. Revivify is one of those spells you just can't live without, no pun intended. It's a third-level spell and will cost you 300g to cast but bringing someone back to life? It's hardly a worry, isn't it?

If you have the money and the level required to cast it, always have this or something similar available, just in case.

Reverse Gravity

This is a much higher-level spell but one that can turn the tides of any battle. Reverse Gravity does what you'd imagine it to do, it reverses gravity and sends everything within a 50-foot-radius, 100 feet in the air.

It can be used to get enemies out the way of your dying companions, or to bring your friends face to face with the flying foe. Alternatively, you could bring enemies 100 feet up and dismiss the spell, sending them falling to their death.

Heal

Heal is one of the most powerful healing spells in the game. It can restore 70 hp to a creature in need, its essentially a long rest spell for a fighter!

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Always have this on your spell list, you never know when you might need it.

Heroes Feast

Speak to anyone who's played a Druid to level 20 and they'll tell you the brilliant spell that is Heroes Feast. It costs a fair amount, 1,000g to be precise. But this feast lasts 24 hours, cures you for all diseases and poison, makes you immune to poison and being frightened, and allows you to make all Wisdom saving throws with advantage.

It also increased your hitpoint maximum by 2d10 which is game-changing if you're just about to go into the final boss of the campaign.

9 Feats

DnD Druid Feat

Observant

Perception is a great skill for anyone, especially Druids. Now while the Observant feat isn't anything insane, it does give you a plus one to your wisdom so could be ideal for just bumping your odd wisdom score up to a new modifier.

Metamagic Adept

While the Observant feat is ideal for any spellcaster, there are some great options to pick like Darkvision.

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The spell itself essentially allows you to choose two Metamagic options of your choice from the sorcerer class. It's really up to you regarding what spell you want to choose, it depends on what you feel you're weakest at. Nevertheless, if you find you don't use one of them much, you can replace it the next time you reach a level that gets you an Ability Score Improvement.

8 Armor

DnD Druid Armor Hide of the feral guardian

Hide Of The Feral Guardian

Coming from Wildermount, the Hide of the Feral Guardian is made to make Druids powerful. It has three different stages to it, each increasing your AC by one, two, and three respectively, it also gives you a plus to your hits when in wild shape. Lastly, you get one polymorph a day. The beast depends on the stage of the armor. Check this armor out and you'll be begging your DM to let you have it.

Armor Of The Beast

If you mainly use wild shape, the Armor of the Beast is ideal. It essentially functions as wild studded leather armor but gives you the ability to gain a few extra wild shapes per day!

There's a mantle, ring, and armor that all contribute to a pretty useful set, just make sure you're good at haggling, the armor is known to be drastically overpriced considering what you're getting.

7 Guilds

golgari art mtg
  • Golgari Swarm
  • Gruul Clans
  • Selesnya Conclave

If you are creating a Druid in Ravnica, there are three guilds that will give you the most benefit from being in: the Golgari Swarm, the Gruul Clans, and the Selesnya Conclave. Which one you choose will depend on which way you lean as a Druid. A darker, more necrotic Druid is best suited in the Golgari as you’ll receive more spells of that nature.

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The Gruul are more damage-oriented along with a savage animal focus. Lastly, the Selesnya Conclave is the opposite of the Gruul by being about support and the more peaceful aspects of nature. Whichever guild you pick will give you some free prepared spells and you can choose one that fits your character’s personality.

6 Ravnica Races

Loxodon, D&D race from Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
  • Loxodon
  • Centaur

If the DM lets you use content from the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica or if you’re playing in Ravnica, then the Loxodon or the Centaur are both solid options. Loxodons get a plus two to their Constitution (always an important stat for longevity) and a plus one to their Wisdom which is a stat that will give you bonuses for your spells. Your other option is the Centaur. The Centaur will give you the same point boost for Wisdom but give you a plus two in Strength instead of Constitution. This will be good for boosting your attack. In addition, you get to choose a proficiency with nature, survival, or animal handling.

5 Standard Races

elf casting time magic
Intelligence Check by Tom Babbey
  • Hill Dwarf
  • Wood Elf

If Ravnica material is unavailable, then your next best options are the Hill Dwarf and the Wood Elf. The Hill Dwarf gives the same stat bonuses as the Loxodon. In addition, you get darkvision, resistance against poison, and every level you get one extra hit point. This race is built for longevity. The versatile Wood Elf is also a good choice for a druid. You get the single point to Wisdom, as well as the elven benefits. If you use a Wood Elf, you’ll want to have finesse weapons or ranged weapons to take advantage of the Dexterity that comes with the race.

4 Ravnica Subclass

A woman wearing a bunch of steampunk mechanical gadgets, surrounded by lightning.
via Wizards of the Coast

Circle Of Spores Subclass

The Circle of Spores is a unique take on a Druid from the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica. Normally, Druids are all about nature and life but these Druids embrace death and decay just as much. Their Circle spells are more necrotic based and their Wild Shape, while it can still be used to transform into a beast, its primary function in this subclass is to activate an ability called Symbiotic Entity. This adds poison damage to your attacks as well as doubles your aura of damage given by Halo of Spores. The Halo of Spores allows you to continuously do damage to your foes every turn so this makes you quite a dangerous presence on the battlefield.

3 Standard Subclass

Art of a druid in the forest from Dungeons & Dragons

Circle Of The Moon Subclass

If Ravnica material is out of the question for you then the Circle of the Moon is the next best option. The main feature of a Druid is the Wild Shape. The Circle of the Moon takes this and enhances it to the max. It makes your Wild Shape a bonus action so that simply activating it doesn’t take up your entire turn.

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In addition, you can shift into stronger animals much sooner. At 10th level, you can shift into an elemental of air, water, fire, or earth. The Wild Shape can be a burden with other subclasses as it takes an entire action to activate but with this choice, you can execute your plans quickly and with more powerful forms (which we’ll mention in the following sections), and you can unleash devastation.

2 Wild Shape

DnD Druid Wildshape Mammoth and Dinosaur

Mammoth

The Mammoth is a great wildshape option since it has a whopping 126 hit points and has two devastating attacks. The gore attack does 4d8 plus seven piercing damage and the stomp attack does 4d10 plus seven bludgeoning damage. Not to mention in this form you can act as a transport for your party or help them move heavy obstacles.

Giant Crocodile

The Giant Crocodile has a challenge rating of five so you’ll have to be at least level 15 to transform into it, but it has 85 hit points, an impressive swim speed of 50 feet, and two attacks.

Its bite attack does 3d10 piercing damage on a hit and grapples the target. Its tail attack does 2d8 bludgeoning damage and has a chance to knock the target to the ground.

Dinosaurs

As mentioned, the Circle of the Moon Subclass dramatically increases the challenge rating of the beast you can shift into with your Wild Shape. This opens up an entire category of beasts in the Monster Manual to you: Dinosaurs. The pteranodon is the weakest but gives you 60 feet of flying speed. The plesiosaurus is a weaker substitute for the crocodile in the last section. The allosaurus is a vicious predator with a pounce ability allowing you to close up to 30 feet of distance between you and your prey. The ankylosaurus is a sturdy beast with a wrecking ball tail capable of knocking foes to the ground. Lastly, the Triceratops is the strongest dinosaur you can access. Its horns and stomp attack are a force to be reckoned with.

1 Weapon: Staff Of The Woodlands

Staff of the Woodlands from Dungeons & Dragons via Wizards of the Coast
Official art via Wizards of the Coast

The Staff of the Woodlands is the perfect magical item for a Druid. It can be used as a weapon, granting you a bonus of plus two to your attacks and damage, as well as being a magical conduit, giving you a two-point bonus to your spells. It comes with ten charges and if it loses all of them, there is a chance it will lose its magic. You can use the charges to cast a number of druid spells. This is good because it allows you to conserve your own spell slots. Lastly, you can use one of the charges to temporarily turn the staff into a 60-foot tall healthy tree.

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