Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion I can't wrap my head around Circle Land druid

I've used BG3's pair of druids tons and made a druid Tav, but I always feel like I'm doing land druid wrong and I don't know why. My BnB strategy for land druid has always been to cast a lot of area comtrol spells, keep back to avoid taking too many hits, and cast the occasional bit of healing or non-concentration spell as seems appropriate, but it still feels like I'm doing something wrong.

I'm thinking of maybe doing a light domain cleric dip for heavy armor proficiency to stay more in the front lines, but beyond that I'm not sure.

There's a few main ways to play Land Druid.

1) You can play as a mage. Using things like Moonbeam, Call Lightning, Wall of Fire, Lightning Bolt, Ice Storm, Cone of Cold and Sunbeam to nuke down enemies.

2) You can play as a support caster. Using things like Hold Person, Darkness, Spike Growth and Sleet Storm to help contol the battlefield. While supporting allies with spells like Healing Word and Haste. You can also summon a bunch of things with the Summon Elementals and Woodland Being.

3) You can play as a hybrid. Where you throw down a concentration spell like Darkness, Sleet Storm, Wall of Fire or Insect Plague and then transform into an Owlbear/Dilophosaurus and go smack things.

Which is probably why it can feel like you're playing the subclass "Wrong", it generally has so much flexibility that you can often find yourself underutilizing some aspect of the class because it does many other things so well. In general, it's hard to go too wrong with Land Druid.

Exactly, you basically have to meta every encounter because you have too many options - so you literally have to change spells in preparation for every single encounter. This has historically always been the problem with Druids - they are an advanced class that thematically tends to attract casual players who are more story driven. It's what my friend jenny would call a "too many colors" problem.

Druids in WoW had the exact same problem which is why they were the least played class in Vanilla. It was an exceptionally hard class to master because you had so many more abilities than other classes. The positive is there is very little you can't do or mimic in some way as the Druid is very much a mix between an arcane Spellcaster and a Wizard.

Druids4Ever.

Thanks, both of you. You've given me good ways to help frame druids in my mind.

I like Taril's option 2

Basically using Nature's Recovery so that your primary summon won't take up a spellslot. So for example, summoning the Woodland Being or a Greater Elemental, then recovering that spellslot immediately. Casting Longstrider (or later heroes feast) on everyone so that your summons will move further and have more HP and resistances.

Woodland being is probably the most versatile, since she comes online early and has a summon and spell-list of her own. Spike Growth is very useful and means you save that slot for another spell with your main. The Woodwoad puts up decent damage and has an entangling option. That one more High Strength Low Dex, so distance-wise it's better to jump the Woodwoad into position.

The only thing the Woodland Being is missing from her BG1/2 counterpart is a mass healing spell, but otherwise she hits pretty heavy here. With Woodland being Shillelagh going you can add maybe extra 100 dmg per encounter. if she gets off the Spikegrowth and a couple attacks, on top of what you've already got going. Once you have a Greater Elemental you can do the triple team thing, warp around and slam. They're all way better with the Longstrider buff, since usually the problem with the better summons is that their movement speed is pretty low (for normal point and click walking I mean). The flying and warping elementals can overcome this, since you'll always cover way more ground if you fly or warp into position as opposed to jogging. Especially for the summons who can't skip around as easily, having the extra movement will help them to actually land those melee attacks instead of falling short at the last meter. They're good for all druids, but the fact that you can recover the spellslot instantly with a Circle of the Land Druid makes them somewhat more formidable there.

You can do something similar with a potion of Arcane Cultivation or the Spellcrux Amulet obv, but those also work in-combat, so I think it's maybe better to hold them in reserve for emergencies. Like if you can remember to drink them that is, or hold that necklace in the bag. Spore Druids are probably more entertaining for the novelty Summons, but then you have to deal with hella mushroom spore VFX going on with your main character. I couldn't play that one until recently when I found the No spore VFX mod, cause it was just too distracting for me, so Land Druid was my go to. I just prefer the spellcaster thing to the Wildshape thing. Like if you want them striking, Moon Druid is optimal since you'll get the extra attacks, and can wildshipe for a bonus action. I wish we could choose to take Natural Recovery over Improved WIldshape, because then I would take that even with a Moon Druid probably. It just depends whether you want to play as a Myrmidon for like the whole second half of the game. Usually I have a Myrmidon anyway, so it ends up feeling kind of redundant even though the wildshape form is way better than the summon, with those extra attacks and Tavern Brawler-y options.

Click tedium with the Goodberry I think makes that one a bit lackluster, though it will save you bucko bucks over time if you use it constantly for every rest. My clicker finger felt like it was going to fall off though. Longstrider is similar trying to cast it 1 at a time on everyone. I think it would have been better with a radius of X ft so peeps would find it simpler to use consistently. All the dailies are sort of like that though. Least with the Circle of the Land you'll a few more spells preprepared so you can work in the more useful rituals spells without having to give up too much at the high end. Call Lightning is pretty solid for direct damage vs most enemies with a lvl 3 spellslot, it's just nice cause it's an AoE but has a pretty tight radius so you can often edge in on attack without zapping all your nearby summons and once you got it up doesn't consume any more spellslots for 10 rounds if you can maintain concentration. For the lvl 2 slot the options are a bit more limited, but holding is also solid and useful throughout the game even in Act II with a bunch of undead everywhere, failing that there's always double spike growth or more Ice Knives I guess.

I find Wildshape sorta awkward for the Circle of the Land Druid and wish we could choose an Animal Summoning type ability instead. I just get bored of always being an Owlbear, even though they're incredible, it's pretty OP with the crushing flight that almost always knocks everyone prone and then claws to wreck. I think they just made it way too badass and so you're never going to wildshape into a Wolf or whatever when that's on offer. I don't know maybe it should have required a spellslot to unlock more advanced forms as a way to pace things, so it isn't quite so all or nothing there. Playing as a Velociraptor is cool and all, but again, I'd probably have taken some sort of advanced Wolf form or Wolf buddy over that. If we could customize the look of our forms that also might have been fun. Or similarly to have a named Animal companion or some such. I guess Rangers get all that flavor now, but it would have been a nice touch for the Druids. I just feel like it's missing a bit of the standard Animal angle, as opposed to like Mushroom Zombies and Elemental type Monsters, just like a gang of angry Boars might be a nice change of pace hehe.

To add abit of a theme to your role play, make them an elemental master. Obviously lightning is their thing. At level 4, take the feat that allows your lightning spells to bust through resistance. Use thunder as secondary spell. And shape change to melee when in a pinch.

Old world wizards were actually Druidic in nature. Old stories of Merlin were that he was actually a celtic priest (aka Druid).

Yeah I like that, storm wizard basically with some fur in the backfield

One other thing, just cause the Druid's big power spikes come at off levels, if you're just trying to make it to the midgame best move is probably to Kite in almost every encounter. In BG3 kiting usually means drawing agro from a distance, pulling back and then skipping a bunch of turns, so that the enemies will defeat themselves against your spike growths and firewalls and such, with the minimal amount of work put in.

To me that's an awkward thing to get used to, just clicking End Turn a bunch of times and waiting for the enemy to reposition or run into their doom. Druids have some issues in that their standard kit doesn't involve a ranged weapon like a Bow for distance pings, but that's where Call Lightning really comes in handy since you can edge that AoE into frame, pull back, and watch as they all just die. Or you could just swoop the gloves of archery if you want a Long Bow. To kite with Spikes you can get your practice in at the Goblin camp main exterior area, since Goblins just run headlong half the time. Especially if you cast your Spikegrowth onto a spot where the enemy is already standing, so they don't try to walk around it but through it. Either way they'll cluster up and then you can use stuff like Ice Knife to edge em out. I think Flaming Sphere is pretty hard to use and instantly outmoded, easier to do the Spike Growth and ranged spells. Then later on in the game you'll basically do the same sort of thing, except instead of you, it'll be the Woodland Being running that sort of interference.

Once you've got Call Lightning at level 5, it will start to groove more because you can edge that little targeting radius into the spike growth traps where the enemies get clustered and ding a bunch at once that way. Like for the pentacrush! For the Circle Spells I tend to pick one of the options that gives a unique spell that isn't usually in the Druid list since those are fun. The first circle choices can be a little underwhelming, since it's usually a split between a very useful spell you'll use all the time and then a spell you'll probably only cast a couple times during the whole campaign lol. The top options are pretty reliable, Arctic is solid for example. Just depends if you like stealthy stuff, or invisibility type play or more attack oriented. I often pick Coast just cause Misty Step is so solid. You can pick it up from items and scolls pretty easily, but its nice to have in the bank. Mirror Image is alright though not really the best use of the lvl 2 slot probably or an action in-combat, but at least it's a non-concentration spell. Later on you'll almost always have a lvl 2 spell left to burn so it's not half bad for a pre-buff. Can come in handy vs Githyanki crossbows, which for me are always somehow the worst lol. I can't remember the last time I cast Barkskin, but every now and again I'll triple up there with Mirror Image if I know I'm likely to catch a bolt!

I think it's entertaining early on, because there's so much Druid-y stuff going down when we hit the beach. Then we got a couple other characters who tag along and make the campaign feel pretty Druid centered. I think those Druids are easier as Moon Druids since they're already set up that way from their initial presentation. It makes playing as a Circle of the Land druid feel a bit more worthwhile in that respect, like not stepping on anyone else's toes, or paws, or claws. If you want an Animal Companion, you can do Scratch's ball and get a more nature themed crew going. Druids don't get a bud by default sadly, although you could dip into Wizard or have someone else take a bird or a badger or the like for a familiar, so it feels easier to stay on theme in Act I. That's kinda enjoyable, the Corvid is pretty clutch early on with those Blinding strikes. Fly in fly out, that sorta thing, or try to draw an arrow away when setting up the spike growth runs. Wizard dip I think was my favorite, because it allows you to acquire cantrips that do elemental damage and also the cantrip Friends which is super useful in dialogue, along with an Animal Familiar for flavor. Costs a feat, but then you also get your pick of the Wizard spells and can stay on pace for the Spellslot unlocks using those via Wizard. The limit is 4 prepared Wizard spells with Lump's circlet, which isn't much but you can use those for the best in show from Wizard. 11 lvls in Druid are about as good as 12 levels in Druid, I mean aside from the feat you'll have to eat. Druids can also do a 10/2 split reasonably well, if you want to try other Multi-Class combinations that come online with 10 lvls in Druid and 2 in something else. Although it might just exacerbate the problem of already having too much versatility and that then leading to decision paralysis in the moment. Like Druids really don't need all those extra arcane spells, so when I tried that out, it did end up feeling like I was playing as a Wizard more than a Druid - summoning Skeletons or casting Artistry of War and doing other off-brand stuff like that. Later, depending on your choices, the innate abilities coming from tadpoles tend to blow everything else away. Like once someone has the Black Hole ya know. Or similarly once the Globe of Invulnerability scrolls are available for purchase, a lot of other considerations cease to really matter, though that's a ways off if the struggle is more in the early part of the game.

It gets much easier once you have the badass summon your own at lvl 7 though. The Woodland Being does a lot of the heavy lifting! I wish we could control the visualization a bit more. I think customizing summons could be just as entertaining as customizing PCs or hirelings, but the Woodland Being with different hairstyles or glows, that would be my top choice. Maybe with a few Woodwoad variants as well to compliment that.

ps. For equipment, the standard Attribute boosting stuff works very well for Druids, because you can use the Club of Hill Giant Strength with shillelagh for decent damage in the offhand. Or use it as your main with a Shield to make youself very hard to hit, like they basically have to AoE or hit you multiple times to break through something like mirror image with that Shield that grants +3 to AC. Or likewise with the DEX gloves if you want to dump that instead. 18 DEX is good enough to get the job done when paired with the medium armors that add the full modifier. Circlet gets you to 17 in INT, and Wisdom is already the prime, so it means you only have to worry about Charisma for the CHA saves and shopping if you want to splurge with ASI. Which is sorta amusing, like very BG1 in that way I guess. Back when all the druids were super charismatic hehe. Anyway, the itemization and feat stacking Ability increase for that one is sorta straight forward. Depending on Tav/Durge you can add a cape on top to pad the AC further. Or maybe try to hit a second 20 with Cat's Grace and Shield to achieve about the same AC. For Wildshape you can just think of it like an emergency health potion, like instead of trying to build the spellslinging rotation around the wildshape or tanking in animal form, you just do more crowd control and blast, using the shape as the last resort when the spellslots are mostly already expended. Sorta the reverse of Moon Druid where it's like Ice Storm and pounce, or trying to slash people into the firewalls as big bird, here BIg Bird would be at the very end of the rotation. I think healing word is the only spell you need for heal support, but then you want to be in the regular form to make the most of stuff like that. Sleet Storm is really usefull once you have Elementals who can float, or the right boots for no slip traction. It has the widest radius of any of those sorts of spells, so it's not a bad plan to save a lvl 3 spellslot for that and get it off right before wildshaping. The best part of that one is that it just almost always knocks half of everyone prone so they have to waste time standing up again, then slip, makes the turn order skip skip thing go a bit faster.

I often find myself planning to use certain classes in the support role but I always seem to end up giving into the temptation to just blast away with whatever offensive spells they have access to.

Druid should be a sub-class of Cleric. Simply use them that way.